Helix is a fast-paced action adventure novel following the plight of four humans when they crashland on what they think is a desolate, ice-bound planet. Daylight brings the discovery that the planet is one of thousands arranged in a vast spiral wound about a central sun. They set off to discover a more habitable, Earth-like world and come across strange races of aliens, and life-threatening perils, on their way.

StoriesTargets – Eric BrownGoddess with a Human Heart – Jeannette NgThe Pink Life(La Vie En Rose) – Nathan SusnikThe Black Tide – Laura DuerrThe Starchitect – Barry CharmanThese Are the Ways – Premee MohamedArthur Kovic’s Days of Change – Michael TeasdaleThe Folger Variation – Chris KelsoSF Poetry by Lauren Harwyn, Louise Peterkin, Colin McGuireCover – The Rescue of Sister,  by Stephen PickeringFlash Fiction CompetitionNoise and Sparks: Ruth EJ BoothSF Caledonia – interview with Chris KelsoTales of the Beachcomber—Mark Toner & Stephen PickeringBook ReviewsAll the Galaxies by Philip MillerThe Last Days of New Paris by China MiévilleRaven Stratagem by Yoon Ha LeeRupert Wong and the Ends of the Earth (Gods and Monsters: Rupert...

For ten years, Paul has scrabbled for survival among the sand-shrouded ruins of the once-great city of Paris. The seas have dried up, deserts cover much of the Earth's surface, and humanity has been all but annihilated, as much by the drought as by the nuclear and biological conflicts following the great Breakdown.Desperate bands of humans still survive. Some scrape a living in the remains of shattered cities; others resort to murder and cannibalism to survive. When Paul is rescued from one such group of killers, he joins his benefactors in their journey south in search of water and salvation.Guardians of the Phoenix tells the story of the last survivors on planet Earth, their desperate fight for survival and their last hope to save the world.

Donald Langham and Maria Dupré must navigate a rocky road to find a killer when a body is found next to a standing stone. Newlyweds Donald Langham and Maria Dupré have moved to the country. They're excited about starting a new life in the picturesque village of Ingoldby-over-Water – and about meeting their new neighbours. But they've barely moved into Yew Tree Cottage when their new neighbour at Standing Stone Manor, Professor Edwin Robertshaw, invites Donald over to discuss some 'fishy business'. Shortly after, a body is found by the professor's precious standing stone in the manor grounds. Donald and Maria discover tensions, disputes and resentment raging below the surface of this idyllic village, but can they find out which of the villagers is a cold-blooded killer?

As usual we have a great mix of stories and poems, this time by writers from Scotland, England, Finland, Japan and USA.We have a piece on Space Opera by Samantha Dolan, moonlighting from her day job as Reviews Editor, and we feature Eric Brown in 'Back Story'. Eric talks about the inspiration for his new novella Ace Doubles, from which we extracted Chapter One for you here.The Contents The Sentinel Falls - John J KennedyBoy or Girl? - Haruka Mugihara, translated by Toshiya KameiCrossed Paws - Marc A . CrileyOne Small Victory - Konstantina Scott-Barrett BraoudakiQuadrillion Vigintillion, Ink blue - Maija HaavistoSpace Opera: To Boldly Go Where No Man Wanted To - Samantha DolanReviews: The Breach by MT Hill and The X-Men and the Avengers Gamma Quest, by Greg Cox.Ace Doubles (Chapter One) - Eric BrownBack Story - Ace Doubles by Eric BrownAnd with thanks to Luna Press and Barrie Condon for...

A new addition to the Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series from science fiction and crime author Eric Brown.A second wave of Martians has come to Earth - the first wave having succumbed to lethal Terran pathogens. The second wave, arriving some five years later, did so with the aid of a cure for the various ills that scuppered their earlier plans - and these Martians claim to have come in peace. Humankind, lulled into a false sense of security, welcomes the Martians who bring with them a host of technological and scientific wonders, and for several years an entente exists between the two races. It is only when Holmes and Watson travel to the Red Planet, ostensibly to track down the killer of an eminent Martian philosopher, that they learn the truth: the Martians who invaded Earth are tyrannical despots who subjugated a 'lesser' race of their own kind, and are merely biding their time to enslave the citizens of Earth. With the...

And then there was one . . . can Donald Langham and Maria Dupré stop a killer who's picking off victims one by one? December, 1956. Donald Langham's wife Maria Dupré receives a chilling invitation to attend a death at the home of Maxwell Falwell Fenton in Essex. The once-prominent artist has a number of enemies, and has faded into obscurity since the war ended. Is the invitation to his own death or someone else's? Arriving at Winterfield on a cold winter evening, Donald and Maria meet five strangers who have also received numbered invitations. They all had a reason to hate or fear Maxwell, including Maria, who reveals a secret from her own past. But is she telling the whole truth? The soiree produces a gruesome and dramatic twist, but it's about to get much worse when someone starts picking off the six, one by one. Can Donald untangle lies, betrayal, and incredible revelations to identify the killer before Maria becomes the next victim?

Telepath Jeff Vaughan is approached by billionaire tycoon Rabindranath Chandrasakar, who wants him to read the mind of a spacer on an unexplored world on the edge of known space. There's only one problem – the spacer is dead. On Delta Cephei VII, Vaughan finds himself drawn into a web of treachery and deceit in a bid to discover what an alien race is concealing from humanity – a secret that could change forever the course of human expansion through the galaxy.

THE DISCIPLES OF APOLLO collects Eric Brown's finest short fiction, from the contemporary title story, in which the victims of a terrible malaise retreat to a sequestered island to see out their final months, to the far future of Dark Calvary, set on the dying world of Tartarus Major whose sun is about to go nova. Whether set is space of the future, or Earth of the here and now, Brown's stories are imbued with a passionate concern for the human condition and the need to deliver compelling narratives. 'The Children of Winter' and 'Hunting the Slarque' won the BSFA Award for the best short story of 1999 and 2001 respectively, while 'Zarla's World" is original to the collection.

An eighty year old cold case murder investigation that stretches across light years and risks the future of mankind’s new home. A hard SF/crime crossover from two respected and well-likednames in SF.—-2110. Earth is suffering major resource shortages, and the impact of climate change is peaking, with much of the planet’s equatorial regions turned to lifeless desert and populations displaced. Colonies have been established on Mars and the Moon, but these cannot hope to sustain any more than a scant population of hundreds of citizens.Attention has turned to the need to discover an extra-solar colony world. European scientists, using discoveries made at CERN, have identified the means of creating a wormhole in the space-time continuum, which would allow interstellar travel. However, to do so they must first physically transport one end of the wormhole to where they want it to be, so settingup a wormhole will always rely on physical travel...