Chris Beckett

A marooned outpost of humanity struggles to survive on a startlingly alien world.

Dark Eden

A hugely ambitious, genre-defying novel about humanity and the secrets of the unconscious mind, by an Arthur C. Clarke Award-winner.

Beneath the World, a Sea

A tale set 150 years after the events of Dark Eden finds the world of John Redlantern and the Family transformed by a thriving civilization that hides underlying evils realized by young Starlight Brooking when she lands at the center of a power struggle. Original.

Mother of Eden

America, one century on: a warmer climate is causing vast movements of people. Droughts, floods and hurricanes force entire populations to simply abandon their homes. Tensions are mounting between north and south, and some northern states are threatening to close their borders against homeless fellow-Americans from the south. Against this backdrop, an ambitious young British-born publicist, Holly Peacock, meets a new client, the charismatic Senator Slaymaker, a politician whose sole mission is to keep America together, reconfiguring the entire country in order to meet the challenge of the new climate realities as a single, united nation. When he runs for President, Holly becomes his right hand woman, doing battle on the whisperstream, where stories are everything and truth counts for little. But can they bring America together--or have they set the country on a new, but equally devastating, path?

America City

Daughter of Eden

The fascinating new novel from Chris Beckett, the Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author. 'Tomorrow I'm going to begin my novel...' A would-be author has taken time out from life in the city to live in a cabin by a river and write a novel. And not just any novel. A novel that will avoid all the pitfalls and limitations of other novels, a novel that will include everything. At first these new surroundings are so idyllic that it's hard to find the motivation to get started. And then, in all its brutality, the outside world intervenes... Ranging constantly backwards and forwards in time and space, Tomorrow becomes a restless search for meaning in a precarious and elusive world.

Tomorrow

Hilary Taylor

Human Growth and Development

Messias-Maschine

A thought-provoking collection of contemporary short stories from the winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award 2013. Chris Beckett's thought-provoking and wide-ranging collection of contemporary short stories is a joy to read, rich in detail and texture. From stories about first love, to a man who discovers a labyrinth beneath his house, to an angel left alone at the end of the universe, Beckett displays both incredible range and extraordinary subtlety as a writer. Every story is a world unto itself - each one beautifully realized and brilliantly imagined.

Spring Tide

George Simling has grown up in the city-state of Illyria, an enclave of logic and reason founded as a refuge from the Reaction, a wave of religious fundamentalism that swept away the nations of the twenty-first century. Yet to George, Illyria's militant rationalism is as stifling as the faith-based superstition that dominates the world outside its walls. For George has fallen in love with Lucy. A prostitute. A robot. She might be a machine, but the semblance of life is perfect. To the city authorities, robot sentience is a malfunction, curable by erasing and resetting silicon minds. But George knows that Lucy is something more. His only alternative is to flee Illyria, taking Lucy deep into the religious Outlands where she must pass as human because robots are seen as mockeries of God, burned at the stake, dismembered, crucified. Their odyssey leads them through betrayal, war and madness, ending only at the monastery of the Holy Machine...

The Holy Machine

'Brilliantly and chillingly imagined' Guardian 'Explored with wit, thoughtfulness and emotional weight' Spectator As a historian in the bleak, climate-ravaged twenty-third century, it's Zoe's job to record and archive the past, not to recreate it. But when she comes across the diaries of Harry and Michelle, who lived two hundred years ago, she becomes fascinated by the minutiae of their lives and decides to write a novel about them, filling in the gaps with her own imaginings. Harry and Michelle meet just after the Brexit referendum when Harry's car breaks down outside a small town in Norfolk. Despite their different backgrounds, and Michelle having voted Leave while Harry voted Remain, they are drawn to each other and begin a relationship. From her long perspective, the way Zoe sees their world is somewhat different from the way we see it now. Two Tribes becomes a reflection on the way our ideas are shaped by class and social circumstances, and how they change without us even noticing. It explores what divides us and what brings us together. And it asks where we may be headed next.

From the Arthur C. Clarke winner and bestselling author of the Eden Trilogy

Two Tribes

These 14 stories contain, among other things, robots, alien planets, genetic manipulation and virtual reality, but their centre focuses on individuals rather than technology, and how they deal with love and loneliness, authenticity, reality and what it really means to be human.

Stories

The Turing Test

To George Simling, first generation son of a former geneticist who was left emotionally and psychically crippled by the persecution she encountered in her native Chicago, science-dominated Illyria is becoming as closed-minded and stifling as the religion-dominated world outside.

"Chris Beckett's thought-provoking and wide-ranging collection of contemporary short stories is a joy to read, rich in detail and texture. From stories about first love, to a man who discovers a labyrinth beneath his house, to an angel left alone at the end of the universe, Beckett displays both incredible range and extraordinary subtlety as a writer. Every story is a world unto itself - each one beautifully realised and brilliantly imagined." --Publisher description.

Charles Bowen is an immigration officer with a difference: the migrants he deals with don't come from other countries but from other universes. Known as shifters, they materialize from parallel timelines, bringing with them a mysterious drug called slip which breaks down the boundary between what is and what might have been, and offers the desperate and the dispossessed the tantalizing possibility of escape. Summoned to investigate a case at the Thurston Meadows Social Inclusion Zone, Bowen struggles to keep track of his place in the world and to uphold the values of the system he has fought so long to maintain... One of Britain's most exciting and innovative science fiction writers, Chris Beckett is the winner of the 2013 Arthur C Clarke Award and the 2009 Edge Hill Prize. Marcher is perhaps his finest work to date. This is the author's preferred text, significantly revised, and the book's first release in the UK.

Marcher

A new short story collection from Edge Hill Prize winning author Chris Beckett, containing previously uncollected stories.

The Peacock Cloak

From a rising star of British Science Fiction comes a richly imagined, thought-provoking sequel to Dark Eden, winner of the 2013 Arthur C. Clarke Award.

As a historian in the bleak, climate-ravaged twenty-third century, it's Zoe's job to record and archive the past, not to recreate it. But when she comes across the diaries of Harry and Michelle, who lived two hundred years ago, she becomes fascinated by the minutiae of their lives and decides to write a novel about them, filling in the gaps with her own imaginings. Harry and Michelle meet just after the Brexit referendum when Harry's car breaks down outside a small town in Norfolk. Despite their different backgrounds, and Michelle having voted Leave while Harry voted Remain, they are drawn to each other and begin a relationship. From her long perspective, the way Zoe sees their world is somewhat different from the way we see it now. Two Tribes becomes a reflection on the way our ideas are shaped by class and social circumstances, and how they change without us even noticing. It explores what divides us and what brings us together. And it asks where we may be headed next.

Praise for the First Edition: `All readers will be drawn to the style of the book as well as its content. The structure will make sure that it is not just a "one-off", being read as part of a course of study, but a book which is used frequently as a source of reference' - Child Abuse Review The Second Edition of this best-selling textbook provides students and practitioners with a broad introduction to, and critical analysis of, the complex issues involved in child protection work. Beckett unpacks these complexities in a clear and engaging way, all the time encouraging reflection and debate through such features as case examples and interactive exercises. The book is fully comprehensive, considering key topics such as: the consequences for children of abuse and neglect; the reasons why some adults abuse and neglect children; the personal challenges involved in doing child protection work; and the organizational framework within which child protection work takes place. Other key features of this thoroughly revised Second Edition include: " Fully updated content: the book has been revised to incorporate new literature, research, legal and policy developments, including the recent Working Together guidelines " Two new chapters: these comprise a chapter on domestic violence in families, and a chapter on bringing about change " Interprofessional appeal: the author addresses all the professionals involved in child protection work, ensuring relevance across a range of disciplines and professions. The new edition of this highly successful textbook will be required reading for students studying social work and allied subjects, and an essential resource for all professionals involved in child protection work. Chris Beckett is based at the Division of Social Work and Social Policy, Anglia Ruskin University. He is the author of three best-selling SAGE textbooks: Human Growth and Development; Values and Ethics in Social Work (with Andrew Maynard); Essential Theory for Social Work Practice. Find out more about Chris Beckett at the Anglia Ruskin University website

Chris Beckett

Books

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