Showing results by publisher "Penguin Audio" in Science Fiction

Firewalkers are brave. Firewalkers are resourceful. Firewalkers are expendable. The Earth is burning. Nothing can survive at the Anchor, not without water and power. But the ultra-rich, waiting for their ride off the dying Earth? They can buy water. And thanks to their investment, the sun can provide power. But someone has to repair the solar panels when they fail, down in the deserts below. Kids like Mao, and Lupé, and Hotep, kids with brains and guts but no hope. The Firewalkers.

Captain Hammond Roystan is a simple cargo runner who has stumbled across the find of a lifetime: the Hassim, a disabled exploration ship - and its valuable record of unexplored worlds. His junior engineer, Josune Arriola, said her last assignment was in the uncharted rim. A renowned body-modification artist, Nika Rik Terri has run afoul of clients who will not take no for an answer, and she is dragging along a rookie modder. Together this mismatched crew will end up on one ship, hurtling through the lawless reaches of deep space with Roystan at the helm.

He was a shadow, ever shifting and insinuating, able to blend in everywhere and anywhere. The elusive ideal conceived and created by the Genetics Council, he went by just as many names as he had identities - the last one being Gideon. Now calling himself Graeme, he hides in plain sight, terrifyingly close to his goal. A rogue Bengal Breed, he has loyalties to no one but himself. And he has a need for vengeance that surges hot and swift through his veins. Graeme plans to exact an extreme and ruthless vendetta against those who wronged him - Breed and human alike.

Kamal Agha is a patriot. A Special Investigator for the secret police, Kamal is part of the battle against increasing political turmoil throughout the continent. But the Caliphate's iron fist spares no one, and Kamal's own family has attracted the regime's ever-watchful eye. Into his troubled life comes a mysterious stranger, Ayman Rasheed, found near the banks of the River Seine, naked and covered in tattoos. Tattoos which hint at an enormous secret - one which has changed the history of the world beyond recognition.

Jacob Underwood is not like other people. He has Cotard's syndrome. He believes he is dead. Which makes his job as a hired assassin neutralising 'problems' for DBG, a massive multinational corporation, very simple. He carries out the task - and feels nothing. Now DBG has such a problem. A key employee, Emily Buchanan, has disappeared, taking with her a fortune and priceless information which could destroy the company. Jacob must track her down.

Every saga has a beginning: In barren desert lands and seedy spaceports, in vast underwater cities and in the blackest depths of space unfolds a tale of good and evil, of myth and magic, of innocence and power. At last the saga that captured the imagination of millions turns back in time to reveal its cloaked origins, the start of a legend, the story of Star Wars.

A decade ago Katy Chavos was a proud misfit who had her heart broken, crushed by a man who drew her close with one breath and pulled away the next. He left a mark she’s done everything in her power to erase. But when Katy’s job brings her back to the hometown she couldn’t wait to escape, seeing Dane again awakens something inside her that won’t be tamed.

Four hundred years ago, Ed and Alice Rico threw themselves through a mysterious portal on the London Underground, hunting for Ed's lost brother - Alice's husband - Verne. Now, starship captain Katherine Abdulov embarks on a desperate race against ruthless rival captain - and her former lover - Victor Luciano, to try and earn back her family's trust. Tomorrow, all their lives will be thrown together by disaster, as an ancient evil stirs among the stars, threatening the survival of all life.

United States of America, 2051 AD It has been 20 years since Eustace Fargo's justice bill was passed. There are new weapons on the streets, and vast city blocks rising to the sky, as the first human being sets out to visit another star system. New York, California and Texas cry out for autonomy, chafing against a federal government they feel has lost control. Reeling from news of Chief Justice Fargo's death in service, the nation asks: has it all been worth it?

Five hundred years in the future, earth is no longer populated by humans. The new guardians of Earth, the genetically engineered Erta, have reversed climate change. They are now faced with a dilemma; if they reintroduce the rebellious and violent Homo sapiens, all of their work will be undone. They decide to raise one final child, a sole human to help decide if humanity should again inherit the Earth. But the quiet and clinical Ima finds that there is more to raising a human than she had expected and that there is more to humanity's history than she has been told.

After the Iron Duke freed England from Horde control, he instantly became a national hero. Now Rhys Trahaearn has built a merchant empire on the power-and fear-of his name. And when a dead body is dropped from an airship onto his doorstep, bringing Detective Inspector Mina Wentworth into his dangerous world, he intends to make her his next possession. But when Mina uncovers the victim's identity, she stumbles upon a conspiracy that threatens the lives of everyone in England.

For six years Anya Korbin worked with Del-Rey Delgato—the genetically altered rebel known as the Coyote Ghost—to free a group of coyote women kept in her father’s lab. As Anya matured into a woman, she and Del-Rey grew close…but then he broke his promise and killed her father. Now she must deal with her animalistic desire for the one who betrayed her.

After journeying across the stars, a man from Earth finds himself lost among the scarlet deserts, black cliffs and semi-sentient oceans of Tormance, a world lit by the star Arcturus. Pulled northward by the sound of drums, and undergoing strange physical transformations, the Earthman's adventures with the planet's inhabitants begin to shine with arcane significance - ending finally in startling and unforgettable revelations.

A small southern town was evacuated after a freak power-plant accident. As the first anniversary of the mishap approaches, some residents are allowed to return past the national guard roadblocks. Mount Hope natives Maggie and Jordan quickly discover that their hometown is not as it was before. Downed cellular networks fail to resume service. Animals savagely attack humans. And the damaged power plant, where Jordan’s father is an engineer, is under military lockdown.

Thomas Cale has been running from his enemies. Raised and trained in an underground programme - the Sanctuary - he was sent to destroy God's greatest mistake, mankind itself. Cale is a paradox: arrogant and innocent, generous and pitiless. Feared and revered by those that created him, he has already used his terrifying talent for violence and destruction to bring down the most powerful civilisation in the world. But Thomas Cale has been caught.

After cry pilot Maseo Kaytu's white-knuckled victory over the mysterious lampreys at Ayko Base, military command develops new weapons and a new strategy. The updated mission is simple: pinpoint the Hatchery, the "spawn point" of the lampreys, and blast it into a fine powder. Kaytu's battle-tested squad tracks the enemy from remote bases to elegant cities to subterranean caverns, but the lampreys start hitting harder and faster. While the squad is winning battles, Earth is losing the war.

Months after a super-EMP attack devastated the United States, the country is now unrecognizable. Major cities are run by gangs, survivors are dying of starvation and the government is falling victim to lawlessness. Those who were prepared for the end find that they weren't really prepared at all. While some seek vengeance for their losses, others are determined to restore the nation. Gordon, Samantha, Sebastian, Barone, Connor and Pablo are all on different paths, but they are all in search of a home away from chaos.

When Chase sees the little girl in umbrella socks savaging the Rottweiler, he‘s not too concerned. As someone who‘s been smoking meth every day for as long as he can remember, he‘s no stranger to such horrifying, drug-fueled hallucinations. But as he and his fellow junkies discover, the little girl is no illusion. The end of the world really has arrived.

Every dog has its day. And for Lineker, a happy-go-lucky mongrel from Peckham, the day the world ends is his: finally a chance to prove to his owner just how loyal he can be. Reg, an agoraphobic writer with an obsession for 90s football, plans to wait out the impending doom in his second-floor flat, hiding himself away from the riots outside. But when an abandoned orphan shows up in the stairwell of their building, Reg and Lineker must brave the outside in order to save not only the child, but themselves....

This celebration of Chinese science fiction - 13 stories, all translated for the first time into English - represents a unique exploration of the nation's speculative fiction from the late 20th century onwards, curated and translated by critically acclaimed writer and essayist Xueting Christine Ni.