SUMMARY:There's likely no more of a thankless job in the Federation than temporal investigation. While starship explorers get to live the human adventure of traveling to other times and realities, it's up to the dedicated agents of the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations to deal with the consequences to the timestream that the rest of the Galaxy has to live with day by day. But when history as we know it could be wiped out at any moment by time warriors from the future, misused relics of ancient races, or accident-prone starships, only the most disciplined, obsessive, and unimaginative government employees have what it takes to face the existential uncertainty of it all on a daily basis . . . and still stay sane enough to complete their assignments. That's where Agents Lucsly and Dulmur come instalwart and unflappable, these men are the Federation's unsung anchors in a chaotic universe. Together with their colleagues in the DTIand with the help and sometimes hindrance of Starfleet's finestthey do what they can to keep the timestream, or at least the paperwork, as neat and orderly as they are. But when a series of escalating temporal incursions threatens to open a new front of the history-spanning Temporal Cold War in the twenty-fourth century, Agents Lucsly and Dulmur will need all their investigative skill and unbending determination to stop those who wish to rewrite the past for their own advantage, and to keep the present and the future from devolving into the kind of chaos they really, really hate. Views: 41
A little knowledge can be a very dangerous thing… Innocent in the ways of the world, an ingénue when it comes to pop and fashion, the Elect of God of a small but committed Stirlingshire religious cult: Isis Whit is no ordinary teenager. When her cousin Morag - Guest of Honour at the Luskentyrian's four-yearly Festival of Love - disappears after renouncing her faith, Isis is marked out to venture among the Unsaved and bring the apostate back into the fold. But the road to Babylondon (as Sister Angela puts it) is a treacherous one, particularly when Isis discovers the Morag appears to have embraced the ways of the Unsaved with spectacular abandon … Truth and falsehood; kinship and betrayal; 'herbal' cigarettes and compact discs - Whit is an exploration of the techno-ridden barrenness of modern Britain from a unique perspective. 'Fierce contemporaneity, an acrobatic imagination, social comment, sardonic wit ... the peculiar sub-culture of cult religion is a natural for Banks, and Luskentyrianism is a fine creation' The Times 'One of the most relentlessly voyaging imaginations around' Scotsman 'Banks is a phenomenon ...I suspect we have actual laws against this sort of thing, in the United States, but Iain Banks, whether you take him with the "M" or without, is currently a legal import' William Gibson 'Entertaining ... comically inspired' Guardian Views: 41
It has been six years since the orphan boy Darian escaped the sacking and burning of his villge by barbarians, and found sanctuary with the mysterious Tayledras Hawkbrothers. This once troubled youth has now grown into a mature and responsible adult who has acheived more than he ever dreamed possible. Not only is he a Master Mage, but he is the titular head of a new community-the Vale of k'Valdemar-which houses a diplomatic council comprised of Hawkbrothers, Valdemarans, and representatives of the mor peaceful barbarian clans of the north. But despite Darian's glowing success, life is not completely rosy for this brave young man. For he is still haunted by the pain of not knowing what happened to his missing parents-not even knowing if they are alive or dead. Now that he has made Master Mage, his skills are finally sufficient to try to resolve this mystery once and for all. And as a series of clues lead Darian to believe that his parents may indeed be alive, he mounts a small search party to try to locate them. But their trail leads far to the north-deep into little-known territory, rife with bellicose barbarian tribes as well as treacherous mountain terrain. And though Darian is desperate to know what became of his parents, he can't be completely certain that they are alive or totally confident that he can find them. Is it worth risking his life and the lives of his companions to chase what could be a dream? Views: 40
