The Serene Invasion (54 page)

Somewhere in the garden, a man was counting down and the guests joined in, chanting, “Ten... nine... eight...”

Sally said, “I would like to propose a toast.” She smiled at Ana Devi, who returned her smile; then she turned to Kath Kemp and said, “To humanity...”

“To humanity,” her friends replied.

And seconds later, high in the sky above them, something exploded like a supernova and bathed the land with light.

Five hundred years from its launch, the colony vessel Lovelock is deep into its sub-lightspeed journey, carrying four thousand humans in search of a habitable planet. When a series of explosions tear the ship apart, it, it is forced to land on the nearest possible location: a polar section of the Helix - a vast, spiral construct of worlds, wound about a G-type sun.

While most of the colonists remain in coldsleep, the surviving crew members of the Lovelock must proceed upspiral in search of a habitable section. On their expedition they encounter extraordinary landscapes and alien races, meet with conflict and assistance, and attempt to solve the epic mystery that surrounds the origin of the Helix.

Helix combines engrossing scientific mystery, high adventure, and a depth of moving characterisation, written by one of the true talents of the genre.

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SPIRAL INTO WAR!

The Helix: a vast spiral of ten thousand worlds turning around its sun. Aeons ago, the enigmatic Builders constructed the Helix as a refuge for alien races on the verge of extinction.

Two hundred years ago, humankind came to the Helix aboard a great colony ship, and the builders conferred on them the mantle of peacekeepers. For that long, peace has reigned on the Helix. But when shuttle pilot Jeff Ellis crash-lands on the world of Phandra, he interrupts a barbarous invasion from the neighbouring Sporelli, who are now racing to catch and exterminate Ellis before he can return to New Earth and inform the peacekeepers.

Eric Brown returns to the rich worlds he created in the best-selling
Helix
with a vast science-fiction adventure populated with strange characters and fascinating creatures.

‘SF infused with a cosmopolitan and literary sensibility... Accomplished and affecting.’

Paul McAuley on
Helix

‘Brown’s spectacular creativity creates a constantly compelling read.’

Kirkus Book Reviews
on
Helix

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IT TAKES AN ALIEN RACE TO SHOW US OUR HUMANITY

When a mysterious alien race known as the Kéthani make contact with the people of Earth they bring with them the dubious gift of eternal life.These enigmatic aliens will change the course of the human race forever but also touch people’s lives on a personal level, not least in a small town in the English countryside. But do the Kéthani have a hidden agenda and will the human race choose to evolve or turn in on itself in the face of this momentous revelation?

Kéthani
is a superbly crafted novel that examines the consequences of first contact with an alien race, and the choices faced by those whose lives are touched by these visitors from the stars. This is moving and powerful science fiction.

“
Kéthani
deserves to be read.”

–
Financial Times

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1999, on the threshold of a new millennium, the novelist Daniel Langham lives a reclusive life on an idyllic Greek island, hiding away from humanity and the events of the past. All that changes, however, when he meets artist Caroline Platt and finds himself falling in love. But what is his secret, and what are the horrors that haunt him?

1935. Writers Jonathon Langham and Edward Vaughan are summoned from London by their editor friend Jasper Carnegie to help investigate strange goings on in Hopton Wood. What they discover there - no less than a strange creature from another world - will change their lives forever. What they become, and their link to the novelist of the future, is the subject of Eric Brown's most ambitious novel to date. Almost ten years in the writing, The Kings of Eternity is a novel of vast scope and depth, full of the staple tropes of the genre and yet imbued with humanity and characters you'll come to love.

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