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Skyward Inn
ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD FINALIST 2022 Drink down the brew and dream of a better Earth. Skyward Inn, within the high walls of the Western Protectorate, is a place of safety, where people come together to tell stories of the time before the war with Qita. But safety from what? Qita surrendered without complaint when Earth invaded; Innkeepers Jem and Isley, veterans from either side, have regrets but few scars. Their peace is disturbed when a visitor known to Isley comes to the Inn asking for help, bringing reminders of an unnerving past and triggering an uncertain future. Did humanity really win the war?
The Beauty
Nominated for the Shirley Jackson and Saboteur awards. The tenth anniversary edition of the critically acclaimed short novel, with an introduction by M. R. Carey. Somewhere away from the cities and towns, in the Valley of the Rocks, a society of men and boys gather around the fire each night to listen to their history recounted by Nate, the storyteller. Requested most often by the group is the tale of the death of all women. They are the last generation. One evening, Nate brings back new secrets from the woods; peculiar mushrooms are growing from the ground where the women’s bodies lie buried. These are the first signs of a strange and insidious presence unlike anything ever known before… Discover the Beauty. Also includes the novella The Arrival of Missives.
Light Reading
Prudence Green is a troubled woman. Stifled by her existence as an RAF wife, she’s dying for a bit of excitement. When one of the other women on the base commits suicide, having discovered that her husband is having an affair with a male comrade in Iraq, Pru and her best friend Lena are prompted to set off on a memorably surreal journey—a criminal investigation, a search for love, and an exploration of Pru’s own dark past. The discontented pair escape the base and arrive in a blighted seaside town, Allcombe, determined to find out the truth behind the supposed suicide of one-time TV star Crystal Tynee. But as they explore the lawless town, Pru and Lena find that Allcombe hides more than one hideous secret. This is a wickedly clever detective story and a pitch-black mystery, seething with grotesque and unforgettable characters.
Skein Island
From the author of The Loosening Skin and The Beauty, Aliya Whiteley, Skein Island is a powerful and disturbing look at the roles we play, and how they form and divide us. This new edition features a brand new novellette set in the world of Skein Island. Skein Island, a private refuge twelve miles off the coast, lies in turbulent waters. Few receive the invitation to stay for one week, free of charge. If you are chosen, you must pay for your stay with a story from your past; a Declaration for the Island's vast library. What happens to your Declaration after you leave the island is none of your concern. From the monsters of Ancient Greece to the atrocities of World War II, from heroes to villains with their seers and sidekicks by their sides, Skein Island looks through the roles we play, and how they form and divide us. Powerful and disturbing, it is a story over which the characters will fight for control. Until they realise the true enemy is the story itself.
Three Eight One
In January 2314, Rowena Savalas – a curator of the vast archive of the twenty-first century’s primitive internet – stumbles upon a story posted in the summer of 2024. She’s quickly drawn into the mystery of the text: Is it autobiography, fantasy or fraud? What’s the significance of the recurring number 381? In the story, the protagonist Fairly walks the Horned Road – a quest undertaken by youngsters in her village when they come of age. She is followed by the “breathing man,” a looming presence, dogging her heels every step of the way. Everything she was taught about her world is overturned. Following Fairly’s quest, Rowena comes to question her own choices, and a predictable life of curation becomes one of exploration, adventure and love. As both women’s stories draw to a close, she realises it doesn’t matter whether the story is true or not: as with the quest itself, it’s the journey that matters.
From the Neck Up and Other Stories
“Feels like a major collection” – The Washington Post A short fiction collection to stand with Ted Chiang's Exhalation and Kelly Link's Magic for Beginners. The new collection of beautiful, strange and disarming short stories from the award-winning author of The Beauty, Clarke Award nominee The Loosening Skin and The Arrival of Missives, Aliya Whiteley. In 16 stories Whiteley deftly unpeels the strangeness of everyday life through beguiling gardens, rebellious bodies and journeys across familiar worlds, with her trademark wit and compassion. Witness the future of farming in a new Ice Age, or the artist bringing life to glass; the many-eyed monsters we carry and the secret cities inside our bodies; the alien invasion through our language to the Chantress and her twists on the fairy tale. Fascinating and always unexpected, Whiteley is unlike any other writer working today.
Arrival of Missives
From Aliya Whiteley, author of the critically-acclaimed The Beauty, comes a genre-defying story of fate, free-will and the choices we make in life.In the aftermath of the Great War, Shirley Fearn dreams of challenging the conventions of rural England, where life is as predictable as the changing of the seasons.The scarred veteran Mr. Tiller, left disfigured by an impossible accident on the battlefields of France, brings with him a message: part prophecy, part warning. Will it prevent her mastering her own destiny?As the village prepares for the annual May Day celebrations, where a new queen will be crowned and the future will be reborn again, Shirley must choose: change or renewal?The Arrival of Missives is a unique work, deftly marrying literary and genre influences. It heralds the arrival of a major new voice in speculative fiction.
Beyond the Veil
Beyond the Veil is the second volume in an annual, non-themed horror series of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer, and edited by Mark Morris. This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 16 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in the genre, and 4 of which have been selected from the 100s of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window. Contents List: THE GOD BAG by Christopher Golden CAKER’S MAN by Matthew Holness THE BEECHFIELD MIRACLES by Priya Sharma CLOCKWORK by Dan Coxon SOAPSTONE by Aliya Whiteley THE DARK BIT by Toby Litt PROVENANCE POND by Josh Malerman FOR ALL THE DEAD...
The Loosening Skin
Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, John W. Campbell Award, British Fantasy Awards and the Brave New Words Award. A gripping and strange story of shedding skins, love and moving on from the award-winning author of The Beauty. Includes an exclusive short story set in the world of The Loosening Skin. Rose Allington is a bodyguard for celebrities, and she suffers from a rare disease. Her moults come quickly, changing everything about her life, who she is, who she loves, who she trusts. In a world where people shed their skin, it's a fact of life that we move on and cast off the attachments of our old life. But those memories of love can be touched - and bought - if you know the right people. Rose's former client, superstar actor Max Black, is hooked on Suscutin, a new wonderdrug that prevents the moult. Max knows his skins are priceless, and moulting could cost him his career. When one of his skins is stolen, and the theft is an inside job, Max needs the best who ever worked for him - even if she's not the same person. Includes an exclusive short story set in the world of The Loosening Skin.
The Secret Life of Fungi
Fungi are not like us - they are entirely, magically something else... Erupting, spreading, decaying, changing. Aliya Whiteley has always been in love with fungi - from a childhood taking blurry photographs of strange fungal eruptions on Exmoor to a career as a writer inspired by their surreal and alien beauty. This love for fungi is a love for life, from single-cell spores to the largest living organism on the planet; a story stretching from Aliya's lawn into Space and back again via every continent. Despite their familiar presence, there's still much for us to learn about the eruption, growth and decay of fungi's connected world - one that Aliya lays out before us, linking fungal geography and history with myth; fiction and culture with science. From fields, feasts and fairy rings to death caps, puffballs and ambrosia beetles, this is an intoxicating personal journey into the life of extraordinary organism, one that we have barely begun to understand.
