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Science fiction begins, wrote Algis J. Budrys, where unreality leaves off. In these unforgettable stories Budrys creates an alien but familiar world stripped of the lies of everyday life: a world where cannibalism is a medical, not an ethical problem; where “not-dying” is the alternative to both life and death; where the last man on Earth dances in hideous and exquisite joy.

Lavan Chitward is a very unhappy young man; pulled away from his country home by his parents’ ambitions and resettled in the big city of Haven, he is desperately lonely, bullied and beaten at school, ignored by his parents. It is not surprising that he falls ill — but his illness is the first manifestation of a terrible power, the Gift of the Firestorm, a power which can and does kill. If controlled, the Gift of the Firestorm can save Valdemar, but if it is uncontrolled, it will destroy the country — and him. Chosen by the Companion Kalira, brought into the ranks of the Heralds of Valdemar, Lavan finds acceptance and hope for the first time. But war with Karse threatens to engulf the Kingdom and only Lavan Firestorm stands between Valdemar and destruction — and only then if he can harness his dreadful power to his will.

Boston landlady Harriet Sutton discovers a note about a conspiracy to murder someone – a note that must have come from one of her tenants.

When a tenant is murdered, she asks psychiatrist-sleuth Dr Basil Willing to investigate. Her son, a Vietnam veteran whom the police consider a victim of combat fatigue who may be capable of anything, is under suspicion. And as the mystery unfolds, Harriet Sutton tries desperately to prove them wrong.

BURNING SKY is a collection of twenty-seven short stories by award-winning author Rachel Pollack. These stories – many of which have remained almost wholly unknown until now – reflect the author’s interests in unorthodox sexuality and subjectivity of experience, as well her wry sense of humor and impressive imagination.

One October night in the middle of the twentieth century Detective Inspector John Cheviot got into a taxi, bound for New Scotland Yard. When he stepped out it was from a horse-drawn cab, the year was 1829, and a beautiful woman was beckoning him in front of Old Scotland Yard.

There were things Cheviot remembered but couldn’t use – like how to analyse fingerprints; and things he didn’t know that he could have used – like how advanced his romance with Lady Flora really was. And there wasn’t even time to learn, because in the midst of helping Robert Peel establish the respectability and competence of his new police force, Cheviot suddenly finds himself and his lady accused of cruel murder.

John Sladek wrote some of the best science fiction stories of the 20th-century and his parodies of famous s/f authors are uproariously “right-on”. His talent went under-appreciated except by a few devoted followers, even though his satirical writing was on a par with the early Kurt Vonnegut.

Keep The Giraffe Burning is Sladek’s second short story collection (of four published during his life-time) and contains seventeen stories originally published in (mostly) various SF magazines between 1968 and 1975.

In its northern fastness Britannia – despite all the benefits of the Pax Romana, with its technology and brutally rationalist philosophy – has kept its mysterious secrets, hidden deep in the wild forests that still cover much of the land.

As the Empire gathers its forces, three young people hold the future in their hands: the Roman Viti, now known as Coll, Angus the mechanic-turned-revolutionary and Mirana the student, now in touch with strange powers.

And as the cold, rational imperatives of Rome meet the wild magic of an older world, the Empire’s dominion will at last be challenged.

The Burning Forest: the triumphant conclusion to the magical epic A Land Fit for Heroes.

It was a sultry summer day in 1981, and the 3 billion or so inhabitants of the world went about their daily routine unaware that, possibly, the fate of the human race lay in the shaking hands of one George Mercer, an insignificant and slightly neurotic employee of the New York City Department of Welfare.

For George had been informed, by an accredited emissary of the Galactic Overlords, that he had 12 hours in which to prove the people of the Earth worthy of admission into the Galactic Federation. George, and George alone, would represent all of mankind. If he failed the entire planet would be destroyed.

Was this all a nightmare of delusions dredged up by his tortured subconscious? Or a very real nightmare that would end in the Day of the Burning . . .