The Modern World (Gollancz)

Steph Swainston

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Gollancz

Unique among his fellow immortals and mortal folk alike, Jant Comet can fly. His talent is a gift and a curse that has earned him a place in the Castle Circle as Messenger to the Emperor San -- soaring high and free above the bloody battlefields of his world, carrying word back to his master of progress and regress in the ever-escalating conflict between man and the awful armies of giant, flesh-devouring insects.But while Jant's duty is to remain neutral in the petty squabbles and power plays of the fifty who will neither age nor die naturally, bitter rivalries that have festered for centuries now threaten to incite a savage civil war. And Jant may be the only being alive capable of stemming the onrushing tide of destruction and the unstoppable insect infestation. For only he can gain entrance -- through extreme doses of the narcotic that owns his soul -- into a place of darkest wonders and revelations; a strange and horrific alternate reality that none but Jant Comet believes exists.A literary triumph of the first water -- bold, stylish, and breathtakingly original -- Steph Swainston's The Year of Our War ascends like a rocket to the upper reaches of the imagination and loudly heralds the arrival of a true modern master of the fantastic.

Year of Our War (Gollancz)

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

The incredible follow-up to Steph Swainston's acclaimed first novel, The Year of Our War, No Present Like Time is a superb work of literary fantasy.   God is still on vacation, the Emperor still leads the war against the insects, and his cadre of immortals is still quarreling among themselves. But a new land has been discovered, one that holds the secrets of centuries, and one of their own, now exiled, foments rebellion against the Circle. In the brutal battle that follows, Jant Comet will discover that even immortals can fall. . . .   Wildly inventive, engaging, and witty, Steph Swainston's trilogy is building to be a landmark of modern imagination.

No Present Like Time

Fantasy

Orion (an Imprint of The Orion P

A superb work of literary fantasy. In a truly original imagined world of breathtaking, sometimes surreal, beauty, fifty utterly alien but disarmingly human immortals lead mankind in a centuries-long war. Jant is the Messenger, one of The Circle, a cadre of fifty immortals who serve the Emperor, and the only immortal - indeed the only man alive - who can fly. The Emperor is seeking to protect mankind from the hordes of giant insects who have plagued the land for centuries, overwhelming towns with their beautiful nests, eating everything and everyone in their path. But he must also contend with the rivalries and petty squabblings of his chosen immortals. These are squabbles that will soon spill over into open civil war. Steph Swainston has written an astonishingly original literary fantasy. She writes beautifully. Her novel places her in a tradition of writing typified by Mervyn Peake, M. John Harrison and, latterly, China Mieville. This is a breathtaking debut novel of the finest quality.

The Year of Our War

Gollancz Paperbacks

<p>50 immortals - chosen by the emperor - lead humanity in a war against hordes of giant insects. Their immortality, conferred to them by the emperor, can be taken away if they lose a challenge to be part of the circle of 50. Jant, the emperor's drug-addicted messenger, tells the story of mankind's savage fight for survival.</p>

The Castle Omnibus

Literary

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Books by Steph Swainston