Exiles

OUR CONTINUED EXISTENCE WAS NEVER A GIVEN.Year after year, humanity has survived the main pitfalls awaiting us - natural disasters, nuclear war, rising seas. But when an alien artefact is found floating in Earth's orbit, it pushes our troubled world to the brink of chaos.Is this a message in a bottle bringing peace and enlightenment from the stars? Or a warning, threatening to destroy what little stability mankind has achieved? The world is divided - holding its breath. Soon we will know the secret of existence.Brilliant and gripping, David Brin's novel of the near future is the work of a modern master of science fiction.

The second book in David Brin's second Uplift trilogy is a magnificent addition to one of science fiction's most ambitious and compelling series. The six races had been living in exile on the planet Jijo for two thousand years before they were discovered by the Five Galaxies. Now they are alone again, but they know it is only a reprieve . . . Fleeing across space following an alien attack on Earth, the spaceship Streaker finds itself stranded near an uninhabited planet. Kaa is sent to the surface to investigate. All seems quiet. He doesn't yet know that the planet is Jijo.

WINNER OF THE HUGO, LOCUS AND NEBULA AWARDSUnder the caverns of Mercury, the Sundiver Mission prepares for a momentous voyage: a journey into the blazing inferno of the sun, to seek our destiny in the cosmic order of life.For in a universe where no species can reach sentience without being 'uplifted' by a patron race, only humanity - it seems - may have climbed to the stars unaided. This is a feat that puzzles and even angers some of the ancient, mighty Galactic Clans.Now, in a saga that warps from Earth to the far-reaches of five galaxies, the greatest mystery of all may be explained . . .This omnibus contains the first three novels in David Brin's classic and award-winning science fiction series, the Uplift Saga: SUNDIVER, STARTIDE RISING and THE UPLIFT WAR.

Al Morris is a private investigator. Actually, he's lots of private investigators. For he lives in a world in which every person, every day, can be in any number of places at the same time. It's the world of dittos. It is our world. Welcome to the future.In a business where information is the currency, Al's dittos are loaded. And with a number of cases on the go at once, it is crucial that Al keeps track of what's going on. What he doesn't know is that he is about to be drawn into a plot that could throw this delicately balanced world into chaos. It seems that the technology has been developed for dittos to replicate themselves. It seems that real people may no longer be necessary. And, suddenly, it seems that mankind's dream of immortality could turn into a nightmare.Look out for more information about this book and others at www.orbitbooks.co.uk

Long ago, the Founding Mothers left old Earth and the Phylum Worlds, seeking a hidden place to reforge human destiny. Through genetic wizardry, they have altered human sexual patterns. For most of the year, any child born on the planet Stratos is a clone of her mother, identical to all the sisters in her veritable clan. Only in summer are 'vars' conceived - old-fashioned, gene-mixed girls, and even sometimes boys - each one garishly, ignobly unique. Maia, one lonely young var, grows up knowing she must summon all her skill to win a place in this world run by and for high-caste clanswomen, a world far gentler than those of the old Phylum . . . except for those rare seasons of change, when the planet seems to call its people forth to glory. Rich in texture, universal in theme, monumental in scope, GLORY SEASON is a saga of remarkable passion and drama, set in a faraway place and time but shining light upon issues vexing our own confused era.

Circling the Sun, under the caverns of Mercury, Expedition Sundiver prepares for the most momentous voyage in our history. A journey into the boiling inferno of the sun, to seek our destiny in the cosmic order of life.For in a universe in which no species can reach sentience without being 'uplifted' by a patron race, it seems that only mankind has reached for the stars unaided. And now, the greatest mystery of all may be explained...Sundiver is the firs book in David Brin's magnificent Uplift series.

A wide-ranging and thought-provoking collection of short stories which confirms David Brin as one of the foremost writers of science fiction. It brings together stories like 'The Giving Plague' and 'Dr Pak's Preschool' which are among the most powerful and affecting of recent years. Brin's is an eloquent, incisive voice, always dealing with profound ideas and important issues, taking the genre to new heights.

Upon its first publication, A Different Mirror was hailed by critics and academics as a dramatic retelling of America's past. Beginning with the colonisation of the New World, it recounted the history of America in the voice of the non-Anglo peoples of the United States - Native Americans, African Americans, Jews, Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and others - groups who helped create this country's rich mosaic culture. Now, Ronald Takaki has revised his landmark work and made it even more relevant and important. Among the new additions to the book are: -The role of black soldiers in preserving the Union -The history of Chinese Americans from 1900-1941- An investigation into the hot-button issue of 'illegal' immigrants from Mexico - A look at the sudden visibility of Muslim refugees from Afghanistan.

Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's calorie representative in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, he combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs long thought to be extinct. There he meets the windup girl - the beautiful and enigmatic Emiko - now abandoned to the slums. She is one of the New People, bred to suit the whims of the rich. Engineered as slaves, soldiers and toys, they are the new underclass in a chilling near future where oil has run out, calorie companies dominate nations and bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.And as Lake becomes increasingly obsessed with Emiko, conspiracies breed in the heat and political tensions threaten to spiral out of control. Businessmen and ministry officials, wealthy foreigners and landless refugees all have their own agendas. But no one anticipates the devastating influence of the Windup Girl.

Surrounded by a vast, toxic desert, the inhabitants of labyrinthine Echo City believe there is no other life in their world. Some like it that way, so when a stranger arrives he is anathema to powerful interest groups. But Peer Nadawa found the stranger and she is determined to keep him and the freedom he represents alive. A political exile herself, she calls on her ex-lover Gorham, now leader of their anti-establishment network. Then they recruit the Baker, whose macabre genetic experiments seem close to sorcery. However, while factions prepare for war, an ancient peril is stirring. In the city's depths something deadly is rising, and it will soon reach the levels where men dwell.