infinity plus singles

Series · 20

books · 1981-2012

By Anna Tambour, Garry Kilworth, David D. Levine, and more

Books in series

One Step Closer

2011

Life jumps the rails, runs away from you and there’s no catching it up. Not ever. Winner of the Derringer Award for best short crime story. "I mean it," the gunman shrieked, and he pointed the revolver at Ward, the end of the barrel moving in tiny circles with the shaking of his hands. "I mean it. One step closer..." Ward stopped where he was. Other than the man with the gun, no-one else was standing. The sun was shining bright through the frosted windows, and somewhere in the bank a lazy dying fly buzzed and battered against the glass. The bank smelt of floor polish. Ward could taste the pickle from the sandwich he had eaten an hour earlier. Everything was very real, as sharp and defined as the stars on a cold and cloudless November night. I've not been a bad man, Ward thought, although I could have been a better one. But I've not been a bad man. There's always that. He thought about how blue and perfect the sky had been that morning. He thought of Sarah, of how they were before it had all gone wrong, and he wondered what she was doing now. He hoped that she was happy. I don't think I have ever felt more alive, he thought. And now I know I've wasted so many things. So much time.

Has Anyone Here Seen Kristie?

2011

When he arrives in Edinburgh, he sees his future as an infinitely bleak expanse. But then he meets Kristie ... Award-winning author John Grant has created not just a tender, erotic tale about the conquest of grief and a fantasy of the highest order, but also a marvelously evocative Edinburgh story.I thought the best novelette \[of The Third Alternative's year\] was John Grant's "Has Anyone Here Seen Kristie?" (Summer), a lovely erotically-charged piece about a man mourning his wife.—Rich Horton, Speculative Literature Foundation"Has Anyone Here Seen Kristie?" by John Grant really touched me.—Donna Jones, SF Crowsnest. . . like a Ray Bradbury story for mature audiences only.—Matthew Cheney, SF Contains explicit sex.

The Time-Lapsed Man

1988

Emerging from flux after three months of mind-pushing a starship through the nada-continuum, Thorn realised he could not hear. He was on his second drink, an hour later, when a sound startled him. But it was the wrong sound... Classic short science fiction, and winner of the 1988 Interzone poll for best story of the year.

Head Shots

2001

What if the paparazzi could read their targets' minds? Anna-Louise is a young and ambitious reporter, on the trail of an adulterous footballer, trying to hear through the mind noise to find out what he's really up to. Contemporary SF from an author described by Locus as belonging in "the recognized front ranks of SF writers".

Old Soldiers

2011

In the room across the hall the old soldier shouts, just as he has done for years... And behind her, something in the shadows stirs. "One of our brightest cultural commentators" —Publishers Weekly

The Life Business

2011

With astonishing power, award-winning author John Grant portrays the human facility to falsify history, using as his backdrop the beginnings of the late-20th-century troubles in Northern Ireland, as an unwitting mainland schoolboy finds himself caught up in a violence he barely understands. "...a compelling coming-of-age tale" (Declan Burke, Crime Always Pays)

The Bone Flute

1981

Venn, a fickle and restless young musician, is drawn to the “lost planet” of Habille where, it is said, human nature has changed, and love once experienced can never die. In an afterword written especially for this edition, Lisa Tuttle explains her controversial decision to refuse the Nebula Award for this story.

The Death of Cassandra Quebec

1990

Cassandra an artist who had shown the world her soul. At the height of her career she was the world's most celebrated artist, but then she announced her betrothal to minor laser-sculptor Nathaniel Maltravers. A year later she was dead. And now... her death has become a work of art. Powerful and clever science fiction from the two times winner of the BSFA short story award."British writing with a deft, understated wonderful"— New Scientist"SF infused with a cosmopolitan and literary sensibility" — Paul McAuley"One of the very best of the new generation of British SF writers" — Vector"Eric Brown has an enviable talent for writing stories which are the essence of modern science fiction and yet show a passionate concern for the human predicament and human values"— Bob Shaw

Playmate

2011

The little boy next door is just so good. In fact, he's pretty much perfect. And he has a strangely powerful influence on Danny. A disturbing story from an author whose short fiction has been described by scifi.com as "Brilliant on all levels"."Reed has a prose style that's pure dry ice, displayed in dystopian stories that specialize in bitterness and dislocation." —The New York Times Book Review "Kit Reed calls herself 'transgenred...' Her new collection, What Wolves Know... is confirmation of an extraordinary talent." —The Financial Times

#10

Picking Blueberries

2011

A powerfully evocative portrait of an alternative community in the early 1970s, told with a child's-eye simplicity by a young resident. Short fiction from an author whose work has been described by World Fantasy Award-winner Jeff VanderMeer as "Rapacious, intelligent and witty"."Monterra's Deliciosa & Other Tales & could never be mistaken for ordinary genre fiction ... don't imagine this as high falutin' 'lit'rature' accessible only to people with advanced degrees. Anyone with a taste for beauty, audacity, sensuality, and wit can find much to enjoy here."—Faren Miller, Locus"... odd and surreal ... sometimes whimsical, and often wonderfully strange." —Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, Year's Best Fantasy and Horror"Anna Tambour is an Australian writer of decidedly offbeat stories... she has a supremely quirky viewpoint and a tendency toward genre-bending and strange humour. But I had no idea to what extent! Monterra's Deliciosa & Other Tales & is a revelation and a delight. Tambour's writing ranges from mainstream to slipstream, to animal and plant fantasies, metafiction, horror, science fiction, and stories odd enough that they can hardly be described as anything but 'Tambour fiction'."—Rich Horton, "A Different Anna Tambour's First Collection Reviewed", Lost Pages"Anna Tambour for me is one of those underrated speculative fiction authors."—Charles Tan, Bibliophile Stalker

#11

Jurassic and the Great Tree

2011

We come to Pavonis Minor, invited by the Burul'chasi, descendants of the first wave of human settlement. They have successfully resisted intrusion into their territories for many years, yet now they want someone to come, now they want someone to see. "Only one man," they said, through their intermediary. "Only one man may come." And so we three are here, riding in the body of one. Which is all very well until the three begin to disagree... "'Jurassic and the Great Tree', with its brilliant and remorseless anthropological logic, resembles Michael Bishop at his best. But that's because it's well-argued anthropology, rather than well-copied Bishop" (Simon Ings, Foundation)

#12

The Euonymist

2011

In a future where naming is vital and the labelling of a new species can have major ramifications, what hope is there for an ancient tongue that is effectively linguistically dead? "A rich and rewarding read from a stylish new Scottish talent" (World Fantasy Award-winner Jeff VanderMeer).

#13

The Sculptor

2011

An artist pays tribute to a cruel and powerful leader. Cunning and elegant short fiction from an author whose "Sumi Dreams of a Paper Frog" was described by JG Ballard as "The best short story I have read for many years" and who has been described by New Scientist as "the best short story writer in any genre". This story was winner of the Interzone readers' poll for best story of the year.

#14

Lizard Lust

2011

“They say that the sight of a lizard drives a woman wild with desire. Any woman, any lizard, the merest glimpse. But lizards belong to men; they’re death to women.” An ordinary woman is torn from her normal life and thrust into a weird alternate reality where the power to structure human relationships, and even to travel between worlds, resides in the living bodies of small green lizards.“Tuttle creates out of a genuinely strange imagination.” – Josephine Saxton in The New Statesman“Tuttle manages to combine the restless, biting curiosity of a natural SF writer with an ability to project a real feeling.” – Evening Standard“Simply one of the very best writers in the field.” – Science Fiction and Fantasy Review

#15

Valley of the Sugars of Salt

2011

Tim Thornbourne, successful in business but not in marriage, retreats to the country to grow gourmet and largely forgotten fruit. In time his orchard would become a Mecca for foodies and he, Tim Thornbourne, would be The Man Who Rediscovered the Medlar. But the last thing he expected was for the orchard to become a cooperative venture. Moving and surprising fiction from an author described by World Fantasy Award-winner Jeff VanderMeer as "Rapacious, intelligent and witty".

#16

Pilots of the Purple Twilight

2012

The wives spent every day by the pool – this was where the men had left them, after all. A moving, incisive story that gets right under your skin from an author whose prose style has been described as "pure dry ice" by The New York Times Book Review.

#17

Memories of the Flying Ball Bike Shop

2012

"Understand the one you hate." What did the old Chinese man smoke? He smoked his enemy, and when he had smoked the hated man he would know him."The best short story writer in any genre" (New Scientist).

#18

All the Little Gods We Are

2012

A moving tale by award-winning author John Grant about a man discovering that somehow the story of his past has been written all wrong. A superbly measured fantasy about loss, and sorrow, and the pain of dealing with past passions. "... a powerful, tragic, magic tale in which a man named John makes a fateful phone call one day, and reaches himself. The bizarre call stirs up memories of John's past, bringing back a time when he and his best friend Justine were inseparable. But what happened to tear them apart? How close was their relationship, and how did it end ... or did it? Whatever you think the truth is, it's weirder. One of the most emotionally powerful stories in \[the anthology Clockwork Phoenix\], it really needs multiple readings to understand its depths." –Michael M. Jones, SF Site "I found John Grant's 'All the Little Gods We Are' the most captivating piece in the book. ... his imagery, his description of what it means to be soulmates, two halves of one whole, is absolutely wonderful." –Ian Randall Strock, SF Scope "Grant takes an old trope of science fiction and refurbishes it on two levels. The parallel universes work as an SF construct and also as a powerful metaphor for the strength of wishes, denial, and memory. \[A\] sad and satisfying story." –Elizabeth A. Allen, The Fix

#19

Closet Dreams

2012

“Something terrible happened to me when I was a little girl...” so begins this extraordinary, International Horror Guild Award-winning tale of abduction, survival and escape from the author Stephen Jones has called “a major force in macabre fiction.” “Lisa Tuttle’s stories have a way of lingering long after you’ve read them.” – The Good Book Guide“Tuttle is at her best as a short story writer. The power and sheer quality of her work are unmistakable on every page.” – Chris Morgan“For those of us who cherish short fiction, Tuttle’s work is a treasure trove, a vast and fearful kingdom in itself.” – Thomas Tessier

#20

Fear of Widths

2012

Home for his parents' funeral ... all the familiar, yet unfamiliar, things. And the horizon. How could he have forgotten the horizon? Mind-bending fiction from a Hugo-winning author.

Authors

Garry Douglas Kilworth is a historical novelist who also published sci-fi, fantasy, and juvenile fiction. Kilworth is a graduate of King's College London. He was previously a science fiction author, having published one hundred twenty short stories and seventy novels.

David D. Levine

Author · 14 books

David D. Levine is the author of novel Arabella of Mars (Tor 2016) and over fifty SF and fantasy stories. His story "Tk'Tk'Tk" won the Hugo Award, and he has been shortlisted for awards including the Hugo, Nebula, Campbell, and Sturgeon. Stories have appeared in Asimov's, Analog, F&SF, and five Year's Best anthologies as well as award-winning collection Space Magic from Wheatland Press. David is a contributor to George R. R. Martin's bestselling shared-world series Wild Cards. He is also a member of publishing cooperative Book View Cafe and of nonprofit organization Oregon Science Fiction Conventions Inc. He has narrated podcasts for Escape Pod, PodCastle, and StarShipSofa, and his video "Dr. Talon's Letter to the Editor" was a finalist for the Parsec Award. In 2010 he spent two weeks at a simulated Mars base in the Utah desert. David lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Kate Yule. His web site is www.daviddlevine.com.

John Grant is author of over eighty books, of which about twenty-five are fiction, including novels like The World, The Hundredfold Problem, The Far-Enough Window and most recently The Dragons of Manhattan and Leaving Fortusa. His “book-length fiction” Dragonhenge, illustrated by Bob Eggleton, was shortlisted for a Hugo Award in 2003; its successor was The Stardragons. His first story collection, Take No Prisoners, appeared in 2004. He is editor of the anthology New Writings in the Fantastic, which was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award. His novellas The City in These Pages and The Lonely Hunter have appeared from PS Publishing. His latest fiction book is Tell No Lies , his second story collection; it's published by Alchemy Press. His most recent nonfiction is A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir . Earlier, he coedited with John Clute The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and wrote in their entirety all three editions of The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters; both encyclopedias are standard reference works in their field. Among other recent nonfictions have been Discarded Science, Corrupted Science (a USA Today Book of the Year), Bogus Science and Denying Science. As John Grant he has to date received two Hugo Awards, the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and a number of other international literary awards. He has written books under other names, even including his real one: as Paul Barnett, he has written a few books (like the space operas Strider’s Galaxy and Strider’s Universe) and for a number of years ran the world-famous fantasy-artbook imprint Paper Tiger, for this work earning a Chesley Award and a nomination for the World Fantasy Award.

Kit Reed

Author · 26 books

Kit Reed was an American author of both speculative fiction and literary fiction, as well as psychological thrillers under the pseudonym Kit Craig. Her 2013 "best-of" collection, The Story Until Now, A Great Big Book of Stories was a 2013 Shirley Jackson Award nominee. A Guggenheim fellow, she was the first American recipient of an international literary grant from the Abraham Woursell Foundation. She's had stories in, among others, The Yale Review, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Omni and The Norton Anthology of Contemporary Literature. Her books Weird Women, Wired Women and Little Sisters of the Apocalypse were finalists for the Tiptree Prize. A member of the board of the Authors League Fund, she served as Resident Writer at Wesleyan University.

Eric Brown was born in Haworth, West Yorkshire, in 1960, and has lived in Australia, India and Greece. He began writing in 1975, influenced by Agatha Christie and the science fiction writer Robert Silverberg. Since then he has written over forty-five books and published over a hundred and twenty short stories, selling his first story in 1986 and his first novel in 1992. He has written a dozen books for children; young adult titles as well as books for reluctant readers. He has been nominated for the British Science Fiction Award five times, winning it twice for his short stories in 2000 and 2002. His work has been translated into sixteen languages and he writes a monthly science fiction review column for the Guardian. His hobbies include collecting books and cooking (particularly Indian curries). He lives in Dunbar, East Lothian, with his wife and daughter.

Iain Rowan

Author · 4 books

I've had a lot of short stories published, and some of those have won awards and been reprinted in anthologies. I was shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger novel award a while back. I'm now working on something else. ONE OF US is the crime novel that was shortlisted for the Debut Dagger, and which is now published in paperback and ebook by Infinity Plus. NOWHERE TO GO is a collection of eleven of my previously published crime stories, which includes the Derringer Award-winning One Step Closer, and is available for all e-readers. It's published by Infinity Plus. ICE AGE is a collection of eight stories of the strange and the chilling that have been published in various places over the last few years, and it's also available for all e-readers. Stories in ICE AGE have been reprinted in Year's Best anthologies or were first published in anthologies that ended up being nominated for the Stoker or Shirley Jackson Awards. You can read more about all of this at my website, www.iainrowan.com.

John Grant

Author · 1 books

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.