A Summer Special Magazine of Science FictionJoin us on the beach with your plutonium powered bucket and spade. We have some great new stories from great writers such as Gary Gibson and Holly Schofield;  interviews with Ken MacLeod and Tricia Sullivan; a new column by BSFA award winning writer Ruth EJ Booth; poetry from Shelly Bryant and Benjamin Dodds. We have a fine selection of book reviews, a fresh Beachcomber, and our journey through classic Scottish science fiction continues with Lewis Grassic Gibbon. StoriesSenseless-Gary GibsonThe Stilt Men of the Lunar Swamps-Andrew J WilsonModel Organisms-Caroline GrebbellFrom the Closet-Robert NeilsonNote to Self-Michael Strohgeefourdotalpha-Clive TernWell Enough Alone-Holly SchofieldGay Hunter (sample chapter)- J Leslie Mitchell (Lewis Grassic Gibbon)Book ReviewsThe Corporation Wars: Dissidence, Ken MacleodCentral Station, Lavie TidharChildren of Earth and Sky, Guy Gavriel KayNinefox Gambit, Yoon Ha LeeWinter, Dan GraceTracer, Rob BoffardCover by Sara Julia

Shoreline of Infinity 4 - Shoreline of Infinity science fiction magazine, #4

Dans un univers de mondes parallèles à l’infini, la vie est une denrée fragile et l’humanité plus encore. Toutes les apocalypses sont possibles. Entre l’hiver volcanique, l’astéroïde dévastateur et l’épidémie ultime, qu’elle soit d’origine naturelle ou délibérément provoquée, le choix est sans limites.Telle que racontée par lui-même, ce livre est l’aventure de Jerry Beche, le dernier homme d’une Terre ravagée où il sombrait dans la folie. Il est désormais un éclaireur des mondes éteints. Avec ses compagnons, tous survivants d’autres Terres agonisantes, il explore les ruines des civilisations disparues pour le compte d’une mystérieuse « Autorité » qui les tient sous son joug.Par quels moyens ? Dans quel but ? Les éclaireurs l’ignorent. Mais ils cachent eux aussi à Jerry des vérités insupportables. Et des accidents inexplicables ne viennent-ils pas gangrener leurs missions ? Le voile devra se lever s’il faut continuer de vivre.

Extinction Game (The Apocalypse Duology, #1)

But this new mode of transportation comes at a price and there are risks. Saul Dumont knows this better than anyone. He's still trying to cope with the loss of the wormhole link to the Galileo system, which has stranded him on Earth far from his wife and child for the past several years. Only weeks away from the link with Galileo finally being re-established, he stumbles across a conspiracy to suppress the discovery of a second, alien network of wormholes which lead billions of years in the future. A covert expedition is sent to what is named Site 17 to investigate, but when an accident occurs and one of the expedition, Mitchell Stone, disappears - they realise that they are dealing with something far beyond their understanding. When a second expedition travels via the wormholes to Earth in the near future of 2245 they discover a devastated, lifeless solar system - all except for one man, Mitchell Stone, recovered from an experimental cryogenics facility in the ruins of a lunar city. Stone may be the only surviving witness to the coming destruction of the Earth. But why is he the only survivor - and once he's brought back to the present, is there any way he and Saul can prevent the destruction that's coming?

Final Days

Against Gravity is a stunning sci-fi thriller from Gary Gibson, author of the Shoal Sequence. In the late twenty-first century, you will find a very different world. Little is as it used to be, and many are not what they seem. Kendrick Gallmon, survivor of an infamous research facility called the Maze, is trying to pick up the pieces of his life, even though he knows the Labrat augments are slowly killing him. Then one day his heart stops beating, forever, and a ghost urges him to return to the source of all his nightmares, a long-abandoned military complex filled with entirely real voices of the dead.

Against Gravity

New short stories E. M. Faulds - A Flight of Birds Simon Nagel - They Came To Hear Him Play His Music When The Sun Went Down Gary Gibson - The President is Possessed Elana Gomel - DanaeCat Hellisen - The Death and Resurrection of Mantis-Class Destroyer 'Sentimental Journey', previously 'General Patty Styne', deceasedDavid L Clements -  What is Hard Science Fiction?ReviewsCitizens of Nowhere: an Anthology of Utopic Fiction - Rowan B. Fortune (Ed), Review by Matthew Castle Ten low by Stark Holborn, review by Callum McSorley Axiom's End by Lindsay Ellis, review by Andrew Chidwick A Science Fiction Ghost Story  - Flash fiction competition for Shoreline of Infinity Readers

Shoreline of Infinity 25 - Shoreline of Infinity science fiction magazine

For an age, humanity has borrowed from caches of alien technology found in space. Among these artefacts are portals known as Stations, which our spacecraft now use to traverse the galaxy. The 'Angels' who created this technology vanished aeons ago, but they left behind powerful enemies with long memories. These are about to target the Stations with a wave of destruction - and nearby worlds will suffer the same fate. One Station orbits the distant planet Kaspar, now occupied by scientists and armed militia who monitor life on the surface. Here, ignorant of our existence, the only known sentient species other than humankind is slowly evolving. But things are about to change. As devastation sweeps the galaxy, Kaspar's mysterious 'Citadel' may be key to repelling this threat. But at what cost to its native inhabitants - and its human guardians?

Angel Stations

The nova war spreads across the galaxy, as the Emissaries wage a fierce and reckless campaign. They've already reached human-occupied space and forced the alien Shoal into a desperate retreat. And when Dakota leaves to pursue a lead, Corso's luck turns bad. Now commanding a fleet of human-piloted Magi ships, his authority crumbles before assassination attempts and politically motivated sabotage. Their best hope lies with Ty Whitecloud, currently light years beyond Consortium borders. Only Ty can decipher messages left behind by ancient star travellers - which could be crucial to their cause. But Whitecloud is imprisoned onboard a dying coreship, awaiting execution for war crimes against Corso's own people. For humanity's very survival, Corso must get to Whitecloud and keep him alive. If Dakota doesn't kill him first. 'A sharp, distinctive piece of Sci-Fi, and Gibson has certainly proved himself a name to watch out for' SFX 'Amazing energy . establishes Gary Gibson as a leading light of modern SF' FantasyBookCritic blog

Empire of Light

Found adrift far from Consortium space, pilot Dakota Merrick and Lucas Corso are taken prisoner by the alien Bandati. There, Dakota discovers that humanity's knowledge of the galaxy is frighteningly inaccurate. The Shoal has apparently been fighting a frontier war with a rival species, the Emissaries, for thousands of years. As yet, the latter seem unaware of their FTL technology's full destructive capabilities. But the Bandati now have this information, and they will use it for profit. Dakota realises, to her shock, that the Shoal may therefore hold the Galaxy's best chance for peace. Forging an alliance with Trader, a Shoal-member, she's determined to prevent the Bandati's deadly knowledge from reaching the Emissaries. Yet despite her efforts, a nova war now seems inevitable - a war that will destroy millions of inhabited worlds.

Nova War

Extinction Game is a riveting, action-packed post-apocalyptic survival story from master of SF, Gary Gibson. When your life is based on lies, how do you hunt down the truth?Jerry Beche should be dead. Instead, he's rescued from a desolate Earth where he was the last man alive. He's then trained for the toughest conditions imaginable and placed with a crack team of specialists on an isolated island. Every one of them is a survivor, as each withstood the violent ending of their own alternate Earth. And their new specialism? To retrieve weapons and data in missions to other apocalyptic versions of our world. But what is 'the Authority', the shadowy organization that rescued Beche and his fellow survivors? How does it access timelines to find other Earths? And why does it need these instruments of death?As Jerry struggles to obey his new masters, he begins to distrust his new companions. A strange bunch, their motivations are less than clear, and accidents start plaguing their missions. Jerry suspects the Authority is feeding them lies, and team members are spying on him. As a dangerous situation spirals into catastrophe, is there anybody he can trust?

Extinction Game - The Apocalypse Duology: Book One

MUST HE DIE TO KNOW THE TRUTH? Archivist Luc Gabion is dying, slowly, victim of a forced technology implant while on assignment. He brought down a powerful terrorist, but at great cost, and this new tech brings unexpected dangers. Luc must investigate the Thousand Emperors, rulers of the Tian Di's stellar empire. One of their number has been murdered and he needs to find the killer. But the technology he now carries supersedes anything he's encountered, and Luc sees things he knows are forbidden. As the truth emerges, he's in trouble. Any of these leaders could be guilty - and could execute him on a whim. Worse, the murder victim was brokering the coming Reunification. Two great warring civilisations, separated for centuries, due to unite in a new age of peace. But it becomes clear that someone will do anything to ensure that day never comes.

The Thousand Emperors

For a hundred and fifty thousand years, the alien Shoal have been hiding a terrible secret behind a façade of power. In the twenty-fifth century, they dominate the galaxy and control all trade and exploration, possessing the secret of faster-than-light travel. Mankind has established just a handful of interstellar colonies; their freedom and knowledge of the galaxy limited by the Shoal's punitive colonial charter. Dakota Merrick is a machine-head pilot on the run from one of the Consortium's most powerful criminals. Desperate for escape, she contracts to ferry an expert team to a remote star system. Her passengers hope to scavenge a functioning FTL-drive from a derelict starship - rumoured to pre date the Shoal. But they'll expose an ancient genocide the Shoal will do anything to hide. And Dakota will be forced to face demons from her own military past. 'Packed with massive concepts and dark psychological twists .

Livres