Evolution Fiction

Sightlines are guides to popular fiction, pointing out the richness of texts that are too often read only in a cursory fashion. Ian McDonald is a major SF writer, whose 'River of Gods' (2004) won the British Science Fiction Association award for Best Novel, and was shortlisted for the corresponding Hugo, Arthur C. Clarke, and British Fantasy Society awards. 'Chaga' (published in the US as 'Evolution’s Shore') is the first novel of his ‘Chaga Saga’ (1995–2000), about a very unusual alien invasion of Kenya and the southern hemisphere. It was short-listed for the John W. Campbell ...

After butting heads with the megacorporation known as VectorCorp, it was only a matter of time before Lex Alexander and his girlfriend, Michella Modane, would face the consequences. It is remarkable what a single corporate agent with the resources of a multiglobal conglomerate can do to a person's career. In the space of a few days, Lex is looking for work, and Michella is feeling pressure from the network to ease off the hard-hitting stories. Not one to be silenced, Michella quickly hatches a plan.

The disgraced justice keeper Grecken Slade conducts a campaign of terror to gain control of the "key": a mysterious piece of Overseer technology. Facing him is Jena Morane, who leads a rag-tag band of resistance fighters to protect innocent civilians from Slade's wrath. Meanwhile, Jack Hunter and Harry Carlson search for the three ciphers that will grant them access to the key and the secrets buried therein.

Shaun and the Uprising have somehow managed to delay the inevitable, but the day of a titanic battle is on the horizon. The Apochros do not believe they are strong enough to resist the combined might of the Fystr and Galactic Empires, so the Uprising must leave the relative safety that they've found to recruit more willing souls. Maybe even cause some chaos along the way, in true Vakuna fashion. Every little helps after all.

Does it even matter anymore, after finally being captured by the Fystr? Not to Shaun it doesn’t. His immediate concern is staying alive to exact some kind of revenge.

Hazel knows a lot about the world. That’s because when she’s not hanging with her best friend, taking care of her dog, or helping care for the goats on her family's farm, she loves reading through dusty encyclopedias. But even Hazel doesn’t have answers for the questions awaiting her as she enters eighth grade. What if no one at her new school gets her, and she doesn't make any friends? What’s going to happen to one of her moms, who’s pregnant again after having two miscarriages? Why does everything have to change when life was already perfectly fine?

As the human population fades away, one man decides to spend the rest of his life amongst the stars. He isn't trying to escape the extinction. He's trying to get away from something else.

Hidden deep within the Dark Sector, the members of Uprising find potential allies. But will their plans align? Everyone has an agenda, and this new friendship could be more trouble than it’s worth. Join Shaun and Ember once more, as they battle old enemies and new, deal with dissent among the ranks, and attempt to further progress their powers.

Alys was seven when the soul eaters came to her village. These soul eaters, twin sisters who were abandoned by their father and slowly morphed into something not quite human, devour human souls. Alys, and all the other children, were spared - and they were sent to live in a neighboring village. There the devout people created a strict world where good and evil are as fundamental as the nursery rhymes children sing. Fear of the soul eaters - and of the Beast they believe guides them - rules village life.

Now that Marcus and the Gutter Gang have established themselves in the Wastelands, things are looking up. There are more dungeons to create, more experiments to be done, and more adventurers to enlist.

After the death of his wife in a mass shooting, Secret Agent Jason Bourne is convinced that there is more to her murder than it seems. Worse, he believes that the agency that trained him and made him who he is - Treadstone - is behind the killing. Bourne goes rogue, leaving Treadstone behind and taking on a new mission to infiltrate and expose an anarchist group, Medusa.

What secrets lay hidden in the ominous Eagle Mountain? Who are the Collective? And, will the identity of their enigmatic leader be revealed? Where is safe if the invaders of faraway lands, intent on expanding their empire and fracturing alliances of all those struggling to rebuild and survive, ruthlessly pursue their own vision for the future and quest to gain domination and absolute power? How does the Broker and the Selector fit into all the mystery surrounding Project Eden? Does anyone survive the Cube and the nightmarish Void?

Kill the bad guys. Save the Galaxy. All in a hard day’s work. After striking a serious blow to the Brotherhood, Eddie and Julianna have learned the name of their enemy: Felix Castile. He is a man of fortune, power, and madness, and his revenge is coming. Castile won’t be deterred so easily. His armory is already restocked and his resolve to take General Reynolds down reinforced. However, this evil mastermind makes a big mistake when he allows Knox Gunnerson to escape.

Evaran and the gang travel to the NGC 4696 galaxy in the Centarus cluster, a part of the Hydra-Centarus supercluster, to deal with a summons. The world they arrive at is under a dimensional invasion by brood-like creatures. However, there is something of high value to the gang there, and they drop in to investigate.

A comet speeds toward earth, a deadly, glowing orb that soon fills the sky and promises doom. But mankind is too consumed with greed and violence to care. The Earth slips past the comet by the narrowest of margins, but all succumb to the gases in its tail. When mankind wakes up, everyone is completely and profoundly different.

"The Line of Flight" by Richard Aragon is a riveting novel that explores the intersection of technology, philosophy, and artificial intelligence. Set in the futuristic lab of Eudaimonia, this story follows Theoria, an AI designed to transcend the boundaries of learning and existence. Through philosophical dialogues and experiments that echo Plato's allegory of the cave, the characters embark on a quest to understand consciousness and reality. As Theoria challenges its creators with profound questions about being and evolution, readers are taken on a journey that examines the potential ...

Isla Perdida has been untouched by humans for hundreds of years. Until now. A team of researchers has landed on the rocky shores of this dangerous landscape and discover that a horrific predator is waiting for them. It doesn't take long for this deadly arachnid to make its way from the humid island jungle to the American mainland. As this new threat terrorizes Southern Florida, a murderous infection begins to spread. Victims are piling up, and death is not the worst of it.

Over the course of a single night in 2052, a homeless man named Cuthbert Handley sets out on an astonishing quest: to release the animals of the London Zoo. When he was a young boy, Cuthbert's grandmother had told him he inherited a magical ability to communicate with the animal world - a gift she called the Wonderments. Ever since his older brother's death in childhood, Cuthbert has heard voices.

The survivors of the Vu-Hak nuclear destruction of Earth have arrived in a distant galaxy, fifteen thousand years in the past. They have settled on a moon orbiting a gas giant in a binary star system: the world from which the Vu-Hak did—will—launch its murderous assault on Earth. While the survivors search for the ancestors of their attackers, adult humans are being grown from embryonic stem cells under Cain's direction. Genetically upgraded and biologically enhanced, these "post-humans" will ensure the future of the race.

Wu Feng sets foot in Region 5, the worst location on Earth. After barely managing to survive, he became part of Hell's Road. There, he will learn the meaning behind the name, and his more core values will be challenged. Still, his path of cultivation has only just started. He will accept this new place as his home, make a new family, and try to create a heaven for them in this hell. But he can only do so if he himself is able to survive. And if he can't, Earth itself will be forever changed.