Adam Roberts

An interstellar craft is decelerating after its century-long voyage. Its destination is V538 Aurigae ?, a now-empty planet dominated by one gigantic megastructure, a conical mountain of such height that its summit is high above the atmosphere. The ship's crew of five hope to discover how the long-departed builders made such a colossal thing, and why: a space elevator? a temple? a work of art? Its resemblance to the mountain of purgatory lead the crew to call this world Dante.In our near future, the United States is falling apart. A neurotoxin has interfered with the memory function of many of the population, leaving them reliant on their phones as makeshift memory prostheses. But life goes on. For Ottoline Barragão, a regular kid juggling school and her friends and her beehives in the back garden, things are about to get very dangerous, chased across the north-east by competing groups, each willing to do whatever it takes to get inside Ottoline's private network and recover the secret inside.Purgatory Mount, Adam Roberts's first SF novel for three years, combines wry space opera and a fast-paced thriller in equal measure. It is a novel about memory and atonement, about exploration and passion, and like all of Roberts's novels it's not quite like anything else.Shortlisted for the 2021 BSFA award for Best Novel!

First published in 1999, this is a guide which provides easy access to a fairly complete range of the long poetry written in the Romantic and Victorian periods: epics, narrative poems, verse-novels and other work of over a certain length. The format provides title, author, length of work and prosodic description. Texts are then summarized according to the internal divisions. Each poem is accompanied by an objective summary and the poems as a whole are preceded by an introduction which advances a particular argument as to why the nineteenth century was so fascinated with the length that was the ultimate aesthetic rationale for the long poem.

Shortlisted for The British Science Fiction Association Best Non-Fiction 2020 Are we doomed? Is an almighty power or an earth-shattering meteor waiting for us just around the corner? In this thought-provoking book, Professor Adam Roberts explores our many different cultural visions of the end of the world - likely and unlikely, mundane and bizarre - and what they say about how we see ourselves and our societies. What is it is that we are really afraid of? An uncaring universe; an uncontrollable environment; the human capacity for destruction; or just our own, personal apocalypse - our mortality? From last man and dying earth fiction to zombies swarming on screen and the ruined landscapes of immersive gaming, via sweeping contagions, invading aliens, falling bombs and rising robots, buckle up for the end of the world.

It is the dawn of the twentieth century.Following the Martians' failed invasion of Earth, the British Empire has seized their technology and unlocked its secrets for themselves. It is a Golden Age of discovery, adventure, culture, invention—and of domination, and rebellion.Scarlet Traces reveals a world of ant-headed nightmares; vacuum salesmen; war machines; deadly secrets; clockwork marvels; and Sherlock Holmes, T. S. Eliot and Thomas Edison as you've never seen them before...Including stories by Stephen Baxter, I. N. J. Culbard, Adam Roberts, Emma Beeby, James Lovegrove, Nathan Duck, Mark Morris, Dan Whitehead, Chris Roberson, Maura McHugh, Jonathan Green and Andrew Lane.

There are few things in life more delicious, satisfying and universally loved than glistening, slow cooked ribs, piled high on a plate with a variety of delicious sides. Ribs and Sides is the ultimate collection of the very best recipes, tips and techniques from barbecue aficionado Adam Roberts.Roberts walks you through the big, bold tastes for all levels of expertise with all you need to know about different rib types, marinades, rubs and cooking methods for both indoor and outdoor kitchens.

Private Investigator Alma is caught up in another impossible murder. One of the world's four richest people may be dead - but nobody is sure which one. Hired to discover the truth behind the increasingly bizarre behaviour of the ultra-rich, Alma must juggle treating her terminally ill lover with a case which may not have a victim.Inspired by the films of Kubrick, this stand-alone novel returns to the near-future of THE REAL-TOWN MURDERS, and puts Alma on a path to a world she can barely understand. Witty, moving and with a mystery deep at its heart, this novel again shows Adam Roberts' mastery of the form.

‘I’m working on a novel intended to express the feel of England in Edward III’s time ... The fourteenth century of my novel will be mainly evoked in terms of smell and visceral feelings, and it will carry an undertone of general disgust rather than hey-nonny nostalgia’ – Anthony Burgess, 1973 The Black Prince is a brutal historical tale of chivalry, religious belief, obsession, siege and bloody warfare. From disorientating depictions of medieval battles to court intrigues and betrayals, the campaigns of Edward, the Black Prince, are brought to vivid life.This rambunctious book, based on a completed screenplay by Anthony Burgess, showcases Adam Roberts in complete control of the novel as a way of making us look at history with fresh eyes, all while staying true to the linguistic pyrotechnics and narrative verve of Burgess’s best work.

First published in 1999, this is a guide which provides easy access to a fairly complete range of the long poetry written in the Romantic and Victorian periods: epics, narrative poems, verse-novels and other work of over a certain length. The format provides title, author, length of work and prosodic description. Texts are then summarized according to the internal divisions. Each poem is accompanied by an objective summary and the poems as a whole are preceded by an introduction which advances a particular argument as to why the nineteenth century was so fascinated with the length that was the ultimate aesthetic rationale for the long poem.

In The Man Who Would Be Kling, award-winning author Adam Roberts delivers an intriguing story that evokes the spirit of the Strugatsky Brothers' Roadside Picnic while also paying homage to both Rudyard Kipling's classic tale and to fans of Star Trek.

Private Investigator Alma is caught up in another impossible murder. One of the world's four richest people may be dead - but nobody is sure which one. Hired to discover the truth behind the increasingly bizarre behaviour of the ultra-rich, Alma must juggle treating her terminally ill lover with a case which may not have a victim.Inspired by the films of Kubrick, this stand-alone novel returns to the near-future of THE REAL-TOWN MURDERS, and puts Alma on a path to a world she can barely understand. Witty, moving and with a mystery deep at its heart, this novel again shows Adam Roberts' mastery of the form.

Historical fiction meets science fiction and the paranormal in this gripping novella set in the Lake District. Cynthia lives in a lakeside parish in Cumbria, where none suspect her blemished past. Then a ghostly scar-faced boy starts to appear to her and strange lights manifest over Blaswater. What of the astromomer Mr Sales, who comes to study the lights but disappears, presumed drowned, only to be found wandering naked days later with a fanciful tale of being 'hopped' into the sky and held within a brass-walled room? What of married mother of two Eliza, who sets Cynthia's heart so aflutter?

Alma is a private detective in a near-future England, a country desperately trying to tempt people away from the delights of Shine, the immersive successor to the internet. But most people are happy to spend their lives plugged in, and the country is decaying.Alma's partner is ill, and has to be treated without fail every 4 hours, a task that only Alma can do. If she misses the 5 minute window her lover will die. She is one of the few not to access the Shine.So when Alma is called to an automated car factory to be shown an impossible death and finds herself caught up in a political coup, she knows that getting too deep may leave her unable to get home. What follows is a fast-paced Hitchcockian thriller as Alma evades arrest, digs into the conspiracy, and tries to work out how on earth a dead body appeared in the boot of a freshly-made car in a fully-automated factory.

Editor Donna Scott has selected the very best short fiction by British authors published during 2017. Twenty-two stories, from established names and rising stars of genre fiction.Introduction - Donna Scott Blinders - Tyler Keevil In the Night of the Comet - Adam Roberts The Walls of Tithonium Chasma - Tim Major 3.8 Missions - Katie Gray Over You - Jaine Fenn The Ghosts of Europa Will Keep You Trapped in a Prison You Make for Yourself - Matt Dovey Uniquo - Aliya Whiteley Looking for Laika - Laura Mauro A Good Citizen - Anne Charnock Mercury Teardrops - Jeff Noon The Nightingales in Pl tres - Natalia Theodoridou The Road to the Sea - Lavie Tidhar When I Close My Eyes - Chris Barnham Targets - Eric Brown London Calling - Philip A. Suggars The Last Word - Ken MacLeod After the Atrocity - Ian Creasey Voicemail - Karen McCreedy Green Boughs Will Cover Thee - Sarah Byrne Airless - N.J. Ramsden Product Recall - Robert Bagnall The Endling Market - E. J. Swift About the Authors.

A volume written as homage to Arthur C. Clarke's Tales from the White Hart, featuring original stories from many of today's top genre writers, including Neil Gaiman, Charles Stross, Stephen Baxter, James Lovegrove, Liz Williams, Adam Roberts, Eric Brown, Ian Watson, and David Langford.The Fountain: a traditional London pub situated in Holborn, just off Chancery Lane, where Michael, the landlord, serves excellent real ales and dodgy ploughman's, ably assisted by barmaids Sally and Bogna.The Fountain, in whose Paradise bar a group of friends - scientists, writers and genre fans - meet regularly on a Tuesday night to swap anecdotes, reveal wondrous events from their past, tell tall tales, talk of classified invention and, maybe, just maybe, save the world...1. Introduction - Peter Weston 2. No Smoke without Fire - Ian Whates 3. Transients - Stephen Baxter 4. Forever Blowing Bubbles - Ian Watson 5. On the Messdecks of Madness - Paul Graham Raven 6. The Story Bug - James Lovegrove 7. "And Weep Like Alexander" - Neil Gaiman 8. The Ghost in the Machine - Colin Bruce 9. The Hidden Depths of Bogna - Liz Williams 10. A Bird in Hand - Charles Stross 11. In Pursuit of the Chuchunaa - Eric Brown 12. The Cyberseeds - Steve Longworth 13. Feathers of the Dinosaur - Henry Gee 14. Book Wurms - Andy West 15. The Pocklington Poltergeist - David Langford 16. The Last Man in Space - Andrew J Wilson 17. A Multiplicity of Phaedra Lament - Peter Crowther 18. The Girl With the White Ant Tattoo - Tom Hunter 19. The 9,000,000,001st Name of God - Adam Roberts 20. About the Authors

Don't know your Baby Back Ribs from your St Louis-Style Sparerib? Pork? Beef ? Lamb? Chicken? Which beast is best? There are few things in life more delicious and satisfying than barbecue. And at the centrepiece of barbecue culture are glistening, smoky, slow-cooked racks of ribs. Ribs are universally loved & found in almost every country's cuisine; but they are most identifiable with America. Ribs are traditional in the American South - in Texas in particular - where ribs and barbecuing are akin to religion. The big, bold flavours of ribs bring people together and divide them too. Different rib types; marinades; rubs and cooking methods can lead to passionate discussions with discerning meat lovers around the BBQ. What exactly makes a perfect rib? Is it tenderness? Sauce-to- meat ratio? Smokiness? Good charring? BBQ aficionado Adam Roberts weighs in on the debate with this ultimate cookbook on all things that make ribs great. As co-founder of the Australasian Barbeque Alliance, Roberts is a self-confessed food fanatic and expert on all things ribs. Unlocking the secrets to this hugely popular cuisine will win everyone over.Ribs aims to promote the low & slow barbeque method.

In contrast to the common perception that the United Nations is, or should become, a system of collective security, this paper advances the proposition that the UN Security Council embodies a necessarily selective approach. Analysis of its record since 1945 suggests that the Council cannot address all security threats effectively. The reasons for this include not only the veto power of the five permanent members, but also the selectivity of all UN member states: their unwillingness to provide forces for peacekeeping or other purposes except on a case-by-case basis, and their reluctance to involve the Council in certain conflicts to which they are parties, or which they perceive as distant, complex and resistant to outside involvement. The Council‘s selectivity is generally seen as a problem, even a threat to its legitimacy. Yet selectivity, which is rooted in prudence and in the UN Charter itself, has some virtues. Acknowledging the necessary limitations within which the Security Council operates, this paper evaluates the Council‘s achievements in tackling the problem of war since 1945. In doing so, it sheds light on the division of labour among the Council, regional security bodies and states, and offers a pioneering contribution to public and governmental understanding of the UN‘s past, present and future roles.

Following the great success of our Gothic Fantasy, deluxe edition short story compilations, Ghosts, Horror, Science Fiction, Murder Mayhem and Crime & Mystery this latest title is packed with dark valleys, high mountain passes, dinosaurs and endless dark creations. Contains a fabulous mix of classic and brand new writing, with authors from the US, Canada, and the UK. New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Rachel Verkade, Thomas Canfield, Kevin M. Folliard, David Sklar, David Tallerman, Sara M. Harvey, Sarah L. Byrne, John Walters, Ronald D. Ferguson, Michael Penncavage, James C. Simpson, Rebecca Schwarz, K.G. McAbee, and Mike Adamson. These appear alongside classic stories by authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, H. Rider Haggard, Jonathan Swift and Jules Verne.

This book is the definitive critical history of science fiction. The 2006 first edition of this work traced the development of the genre from Ancient Greece and the European Reformation through to the end of the 20th century. This new 2nd edition has been revised thoroughly and very significantly expanded. An all-new final chapter discusses 21st-century science fiction, and there is new material in every chapter: a wealth of new readings and original research. The author’s groundbreaking thesis that science fiction is born out of the 17th-century Reformation is here bolstered with a wide range of new supporting material and many hundreds of 17th- and 18th-century science fiction texts, some of which have never been discussed before. The account of 19th-century science fiction has been expanded, and the various chapters tracing the twentieth-century bring in more writing by women, and science fiction in other media including cinema, TV, comics, fan-culture and other modes.