Books That Challenge Your Perception of Reality

A Scanner Darkly

307 pages

This novel offers a gripping look at identity and reality, making it a must-read for those interested in psychological depth.

Solaris

224 pages

When Kris Kelvin arrives at the planet Solaris to study the ocean that covers its surface he is forced to confront a painful, hitherto unconscious memory embodied in the physical likeness of a long-dead lover. Others suffer from the same affliction and speculation rises among scientists that the Solaris ocean may be a massive brain that creates incarnate memories, but its purpose in doing so remains a mystery . . .Solaris raises a question that has been at the heart of human experience and literature for centuries: can we truly understand the universe around us without first understanding what lies within?

Stories of Your Life and Others

353 pages

This collection of short stories is packed with mind-blowing concepts, and one story even inspired the movie Arrival.

2001: A Space Odyssey

178 pages

If you've seen the movie, you'll find the book quite similar and intriguing.

The Southern Reach Trilogy: Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance

756 pages

’A contemporary masterpiece’ Guardian ALL THREE VOLUMES OF THE EXTRAORDINARY SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY – NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ALEX GARLAND (EX MACHINA) AND STARRING NATALIE PORTMAN, OSCAR ISAAC, GINA RODRIGUEZ AND TESSA THOMPSON

Ubik

234 pages

Vom Mond kehrte Glen Runciter nur als Toter zurück. Aber wer schreibt dann die Botschaften auf Streichholzbriefchen und aufgerissenen Zigarettenpackungen? Die Dinge haben sich selbständig gemacht, sie reisen in ihre eigene Zeit zurück – das Auto ist ein Modell aus den Dreißigern, der Fahrstuhl aus den Zwanzigern. Und was soll Ubik sein – Biermarke, Pfandhaus oder Raumspray? Oder ist Ubik die Rettung gegen den Zerfall der Realität? Mit unseren simulierten Wirklichkeiten und virtuellen Wahrnehmungen waren wir ›Ubik‹ (1969) nie näher als heute. Dick lässt Raum- wie Zeitblasen platzen und stellt so die Existenz einer durchgängigen Realität in Frage.

Dark Matter (Movie Tie-In)

369 pages

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD! • NOW STREAMING ON APPLE TV+ A “mind-blowing” (Entertainment Weekly) speculative thriller about an ordinary man who awakens in a world inexplicably different from the reality he thought he knew—from the author of Upgrade, Recursion, and the Wayward Pines trilogy “Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the kidnapper knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man he’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college professor but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this life or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how will Jason make it back to the family he loves? From the bestselling author Blake Crouch, Dark Matter is a mind-bending thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

The Dark Forest

688 pages

This book is part of a series that delves into the unsettling themes of Fermi's paradox, making it a thought-provoking read.

Blindsight

388 pages

This book will definitely make you question the value of sentience.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

824 pages

Similar to 1Q84, this novel intertwines reality and dreams in a way that profoundly affects your understanding of the world outside the book.

1Q84. Buch 3

472 pages

This book blurs the lines between reality and dreams with subtle yet disturbing twists that can leave a lasting impact on your perception of reality.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

258 pages

This book takes you on a mind-bending journey that can leave you questioning reality, especially as the plot twists and turns near the middle.

I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream

167 pages

Seven stunning stories of speculative fiction by the author of A Boy and His Dog. In a post-apocalyptic world, four men and one woman are all that remain of the human race, brought to near extinction by an artificial intelligence. Programmed to wage war on behalf of its creators, the AI became self-aware and turned against humanity. The five survivors are prisoners, kept alive and subjected to brutal torture by the hateful and sadistic machine in an endless cycle of violence. This story and six more groundbreaking and inventive tales that probe the depths of mortal experience prove why Grand Master of Science Fiction Harlan Ellison has earned the many accolades to his credit and remains one of the most original voices in American literature. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream also includes “Big Sam Was My Friend,” “Eyes of Dust,” “World of the Myth,” “Lonelyache,” Hugo Award finalist “Delusion for a Dragon Slayer,” and Hugo and Nebula Award finalist “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes.”

We, Yevgeny Zamyatin

173 pages

We is a dystopian novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin completed in 1921. One thousand years after the One State's conquest of the entire world, the spaceship Integral is being built in order to invade and conquer extraterrestrial planets. Meanwhile, the project's chief engineer, D-503, begins a journal that he intends to be carried upon the completed spaceship.Like all other citizens of One State, D-503 lives in a glass apartment building and is carefully watched by the secret police, or Bureau of Guardians. D-503's lover, O-90, has been assigned by One State to visit him on certain nights. She is considered too short to bear children and is deeply grieved by her state in life.O-90's other lover and D-503's best friend is R-13, a State poet who reads his verse at public executions.While on an assigned walk with O-90, D-503 meets a woman named I-330. I-330 smokes cigarettes, drinks alcohol, and shamelessly flirts with D-503 instead of applying for an impersonal sex visit; all of these are highly illegal according to the laws of One State.Both repelled and fascinated, D-503 struggles to overcome his attraction to I-330. I-330 invites him to visit the Ancient House, notable for being the only opaque building in One State, except for windows. Objects of aesthetic and historical importance dug up from around the city are stored there. There, I-330 offers him the services of a corrupt doctor to explain his absence from work. Leaving in horror D-503 vows to denounce her to the Bureau of Guardians, but finds that he cannot.He begins to have dreams, which disturbs him, as dreams are thought to be a symptom of mental illness. Slowly, I-330 reveals to D-503 that she is involved with the Mephi, an organization plotting to bring down the One State. She takes him through secret tunnels inside the Ancient House to the world outside the Green Wall, which surrounds the city-state. There, D-503 meets the inhabitants of the outside world: humans whose bodies are covered with animal fur. The aims of the Mephi are to destroy the Green Wall and reunite the citizens of One State with the outside world.Despite the recent rift between them, O-90 pleads with D-503 to impregnate her illegally. After O-90 insists that she will obey the law by turning over their child to be raised by the One State, D-503 obliges. However, as her pregnancy progresses, O-90 realizes that she cannot bear to be parted from her baby under any circumstances. At D-503's request, I-330 arranges for O-90 to be smuggled outside the Green Wall.

Valis

307 pages

Philip K. Dick's VALIS trilogy is a fascinating exploration of reality and spirituality, stemming from a mysterious experience he had in 1974.

The Three-Body Problem

365 pages

This book is a thrilling ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat, filled with tension and thought-provoking concepts that can really stir up anxiety!

The Transmigration of Timothy Archer

259 pages

The final book in the VALIS trilogy, it continues to challenge readers with its strange and powerful narrative.

Dhalgren

801 pages

Describes life after the cataclysm in the American city of Bellona, where the skyies are darkened from burning buildings, the population consists of youth gangs and drifters, and a charismatic poet leads them to a better life

The Lathe Of Heaven

208 pages

This book is pretty mind-boggling and offers a unique perspective on dreams and reality.

House Of Leaves

Discover the nightmarish tale of a house that is bigger on the inside than the outside - a tale that continues to inspire devotion among its ever-growing army of fans... 'Phenomenal . . . thrillingly alive, sublimely creepy, distressingly scary, breathtakingly intelligent.' BRET EASTON ELLIS 'At once a genuinely scary chiller, a satire on the business of criticism and a meditation on the way we read.' OBSERVER 'Genuinely clever and learned, often funny, brilliantly constructed and surprisingly touching . . . a debut of scintillating intelligence and scope.' MAIL ON SUNDAY ******************************************************************************************** A young couple - Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson and his partner Karen Green - move into a small house on Ash Tree Lane. But something is terribly wrong - their new home is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside . . . Neither Will nor Karen are prepared to face the consequences of this impossibility until the day their two small children wandered off, and their voices eerily began to tell another story - of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams and create nightmares. What happened next is loosely recorded on videotapes and interviews, and impelled an eccentric old man to compile - on loose sheets of paper, stained napkins, crammed notebooks - a definitive account of what took place at Ash Tree Lane that seems to unveil a thrilling and terrifying history. Because these scraps prove to be far more than the deranged ramblings of a reclusive old man . . . Immensely imaginative. Impossible to put down. Impossible to forget. House of Leaves is thrilling, terrifying and unlike anything you have read before. ******************************************************************************************** WHAT READERS ARE SAYING: 'I've never read anything like it' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Strange, highly addictive and slowly creepy' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'The creativity and originality is astonishing' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Buy it, read it, and explore it' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five

192 pages

This book leaves you with a profound 'post-trip' feeling that lingers long after you've finished reading.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

257 pages

Brimming with alternative universes, futuristic landscapes and gleeful metaphysics... Yu's spirit of invention is infectious. - Sunday Times Highly inventive and hilarious - The Times _______________________________________________________________________________________ With only TAMMY - a slightly tearful computer with self-esteem issues - a software boss called Phil - Microsoft Middle Manager 3.0 - and an imaginary dog called Ed for company, fixing time machines is a lonely business and Charles Yu is stuck in a rut. He's spent the better part of a decade navel-gazing, spying on 39 different versions of himself in alternate universes (and discovered that 35 of them are total jerks). And he's kind of fallen in love with TAMMY, which is bad because she doesn't have a module for that. With all that's on his mind, perhaps it's no surprise that when he meets his future self, he shoots him in the stomach. And that's a beginner's mistake for a time machine repairman. Now he's stuck in a time loop, going in circles forever. All he has, wrapped in brown paper, is the book his future self was trying to press into his hands. It's called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. And he's the author. And somewhere inside it is the information that could save him.

Cat's Cradle

305 pages

Reading this book also evokes a unique emotional response that stays with you for days.

The Illuminatus! Trilogy

811 pages

It's a crazy book, over 1,000 pages and very difficult to follow, but worth it. It's about the conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories, and it left me feeling more paranoid in real life while reading it.

The Crying of Lot 49

134 pages

This book is filled with intriguing references to science and evokes a sense of paranoia and unsettling feelings that make it a captivating read.

On Writing

320 pages

This book is a unique experience; I've never read anything like it before.

The Doors of Perception

148 pages

It's a fascinating exploration of perception and consciousness that blurs the lines between science fiction and reality.

Roadside Picnic

148 pages

The Strugatsky brothers' poignant and introspective novel of first contact that inspired the classic film Stalker Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those strange misfits who are compelled by some unknown force to venture illegally into the Zone and, in spite of the extreme danger, collect the mysterious artefacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the Zone and the thriving black market in the alien products. Even the nature of his daughter has been determined by the Zone. And it is for her that Red makes his last, tragic foray into the hazardous and hostile depths. Readers can't stop thinking about Roadside Picnic: 'A story of a horrific yet fascinating place, a story of an ordinary and unlikable man just trying to get by, a philosophical interlude on humanity and its significance or lack thereof, of greed and wonder, and the fever dream of the soul scream. It still speaks to me' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Such an intriguing setting for me, such an unusual take on alien interaction' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'It is a thought-provoking, hard-to-put down masterpiece, most probably the best introduction to Soviet science fiction. A must read for any sci-fi fan' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'A fantastic and creative exploration of what first contact might be like' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'The tone of the book is akin to that of some noir works, dark, gritty, getting darker and grittier as the tale wears on . . . Like many great books, the meaning of the ending is left up to the reader' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'A beautifully depressive and wonderfully atmospheric science fiction novel about life on Earth after an alien "Visitation" that leaves humans with more questions than answers . . . Once I started reading it today, I couldn't stop. The story captured my heart and held my attention' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'This is the sort of book that you read and then immediately feel the need to lend it to someone you know so that they can experience and enjoy it themselves . . . I was truly astonished-by both the poignancy and the deceptive(?) simplicity of this relatively short novel' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

The Sparrow

450 pages

A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: to make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end. Praise for The Sparrow “A startling, engrossing, and moral work of fiction.”—The New York Times Book Review “Important novels leave deep cracks in our beliefs, our prejudices, and our blinders. The Sparrow is one of them.”—Entertainment Weekly “Powerful . . . The Sparrow tackles a difficult subject with grace and intelligence.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Provocative, challenging . . . recalls both Arthur C. Clarke and H. G. Wells, with a dash of Ray Bradbury for good measure.”—The Dallas Morning News “[Mary Doria] Russell shows herself to be a skillful storyteller who subtly and expertly builds suspense.”—USA Today

Sum

128 pages

The short stories in this collection are perfect for a quick read, yet they provoke deep philosophical and existential thoughts that linger long after. With the author's background as a neuroscientist, the tales offer an intriguing layer of fascination.

Therapy

268 pages

The startlingly powerful psychological thriller by international bestselling author Sebastian Fitzek. Twelve-year-old Josy has an inexplicable illness. One day she goes to her doctor's surgery and disappears without trace. Josy's psychiatrist father Viktor withdraws to an isolated island in order to deal with the tragedy. It's there he is visited four years later by a beautiful stranger. Anna Glass is a novelist who suffers from an unusual form of schizophrenia: all the characters she creates for her books become real to her. Her latest work features a young girl with an unknown illness who has disappeared without trace... Could her delusions really describe Josy's last days? Reluctantly, Viktor agrees to become Anna's therapist in a final attempt to uncover the truth. As the past is dragged back into the light, the sessions and their consequences become ever more terrifying. Reviews for Sebastian Fitzek 'Fitzek's thrillers are breathtaking, full of wild twists.' Harlan Coben 'Fitzek is without question one of the crime world's most evocative storytellers.' Karin Slaughter '[A] superior German thriller.' Daily Telegraph

Simulacron-3

182 pages

Part of the exclusive new CAEZIK Notable line of books. In the 1960's, before anyone had even conceived of the concept of virtual reality, before computers were even in main-stream thought, Daniel F. Galouye imagined the unimaginable. In doing so, he wrote one of the most influential science fiction books of the day, and one that continues to not only influence modern writers but continues to resonate with science fiction readers everywhere. He conceived of a world that exists only virtually...one of the first stories about virtual reality. This is Matrix, decades before Matrix was conceived. Douglas Hall is part of a team that builds an artificial environment to simulate reality. This enables them to get public opinion polls without waiting for the opinions of people around them. But then something goes terribly wrong and his partners on the program start disappearing. But is it a simulated disappearance, or is someone out to get them all? And what is the true nature of reality? Stories based on Simulacron-3 have been adapted for both television and movies, and the book is considered a favorite of many of the masters of science fiction.

The Genius Plague

400 pages

WINNER of the 2018 Campbell Award for Best Novel A WALL STREET JOURNAL Best Science Fiction Book of 2017 In this science fiction thriller, brothers are pitted against each other as a pandemic threatens to destabilize world governments by exerting a subtle mind control over survivors. Neil Johns has just started his dream job as a code breaker in the NSA when his brother, Paul, a mycologist, goes missing on a trip to collect samples in the Amazon jungle. Paul returns with a gap in his memory and a fungal infection that almost kills him. But once he recuperates, he has enhanced communication, memory, and pattern recognition. Meanwhile, something is happening in South America; others, like Paul, have also fallen ill and recovered with abilities they didn't have before. But that's not the only pattern--the survivors, from entire remote Brazilian tribes to American tourists, all seem to be working toward a common, and deadly, goal. Neil soon uncovers a secret and unexplained alliance between governments that have traditionally been enemies. Meanwhile Paul becomes increasingly secretive and erratic. Paul sees the fungus as the next stage of human evolution, while Neil is convinced that it is driving its human hosts to destruction. Brother must oppose brother on an increasingly fraught international stage, with the stakes: the free will of every human on earth. Can humanity use this force for good, or are we becoming the pawns of an utterly alien intelligence?

Supersymmetry

328 pages

Ryan Oronzi is a paranoid, neurotic, and brilliant physicist who has developed a quantum military technology that could make soldiers nearly invincible in the field. The technology, however, gives power to the quantum creature known as the varcolac, which slowly begins to manipulate Dr. Oronzi and take over his mind. Oronzi eventually becomes the unwilling pawn of the varcolac in its bid to control the world. The creature immediately starts attacking those responsible for defeating it fifteen years earlier, including Sandra and Alex Kelley—the two versions of Alessandra Kelley who are still living as separate people. The two young women must fight the varcolac, despite the fact that defeating it may mean resolving once again into a single person. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Superposition

345 pages

A QUANTUM PHYSICS MURDER MYSTERY. A Mind-Bending, Near-Future, Science Fiction Technothriller. Jacob Kelley's family is turned upside down when an old friend turns up, waving a gun and babbling about an alien quantum intelligence. The mystery deepens when the friend is found dead in an underground bunker…apparently murdered the night he appeared at Jacob's house. Jacob is arrested for the murder and put on trial. As the details of the crime slowly come to light, the weave of reality becomes ever more tangled, twisted by a miraculous new technology and a quantum creature unconstrained by the normal limits of space and matter. With the help of his daughter, Alessandra, Jacob must find the true murderer before the creature destroys his family and everything he loves. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Night of Delusions

320 pages

It starts out as a weird but seemingly understandable assignment, bodyguarding a mad politician whose keepers have decided to let him "escape" as a sort of reality therapy. But to understand the Senator, Florin must enter the Machine, an reality will never be the same. From now on he's a Knight of Delusions.

Splinter

The Clinic is a world leader in memory research, they say they can permanently erase your traumatic memories, leaving you free to start a new life. Marc Lucas is trapped in a nightmare from which he can't wake. Should he visit the clinic? Or has he been there already? The problem is, he can't remember...

The Santaroga Barrier

260 pages

Santaroga seems to be nothing more than a prosperous farming community, but there is something different about it. It has no crime at all. Outsiders find no houses for sale or rent in the valley, and no one ever moves out. Maybe Santaroga is the last outpost of American individualism. Or maybe there is something extraordinary at work there--something far more disturbing than anyone imagines.

The Donor

368 pages

You've heard the urban legend about a man who wakes up in a tub of ice in a hotel room with a kidney missing. In fact, organ thefts are a real phenomenon and the occurrence of the crime is on the increase. The legend comes to life in this dramatic and scary story ripped from the headlines of tomorrow's newspaper. Dennis, a college-age young man and an adoptee, wakes up in a small private hospital in San Francisco after a minor car accident to discover that one of his organs is missing. He's an involuntary transplant donor. He flees to a municipal hospital, only to learn that this is the second organ to be harvested from him. He runs for his life. Clearly someone, somewhere, is a close match for him, needs his organs, and knows his every move. The next time, he might lose his heart or lungs. He won't wake up after that. Dennis heads home to Boston to confront his adoptive father, who seems to have forged his name to a donor card. And so the hunt is on: Dennis must find his harvester before the harvester finds him again.

Influx

320 pages

Change is dangerous, technology lethal. So what if our civilization is more advanced than we know? Particle physicist Jon Grady is ecstatic when his team achieves a major breakthrough: a device that can reflect gravity. Their research will revolutionise the field of physics. But at Grady's moment of triumph, his lab is locked down by a shadowy organisation whose mission is to prevent the social upheaval caused by sudden technological advances - advances they use to retain total command. They are living in the future we were promised. Now Grady finds himself in a nightmarish high-tech prison built to hold other rebellious geniuses. Can he and his fellow prisoners escape? And even if they can, is it possible to defeat an enemy that wields a technological advantage half a century in the making? The dark ages are ending. Our future is here...

Realtime Interrupt

193 pages

Virtual reality is turned upside down and inside out in this tale of a man named Joe who finds himself within the walls of a strange place, greeted by a strange doctor. When Joe looks in the mirror, he sees a person 12 years younger and 15 pounds leaner.

Raising The Stones

404 pages

A moving, compulsive science fiction novel from one of the best writers in the field When the human settlers arrived on Hobbs Land, the native intelligent species, the Owlbrit, were already almost extinct. Before the last one died, a few years later, the humans had learned a little of their language, their ideas and their religion. It seemed the natural thing for the settlers to maintain the last Owlbrit temple, with the strange statue that was its God. When that God died - disintegrating overnight - it seemed equally natural to start preparing its replacement. Maire Manone came to Hobbs Land to escape the harsh patriarchal religion of Voorstod, but Voorstod hasn't forgotten her - or forgiven her. But the men who arrive on Hobbs Land to find and return Maire to her homeland haven't taken Hobbs Land's God into account ...

Quarantine

185 pages

It's late in the 21st century and bioengineering is now so common that people are able to modify their minds in any way they wish. It is an era which has been shaped by information systems so vast that security, in any form, is easily breached. Now you can be whatever you want to be, and do whatever you want to do. On Earth anyway. One night, thirty three years ago, the stars went out. 'The Bubble' - a perfect sphere centred on the sun - appeared in the sky, isolating the solar system from the rest of the universe. For thirty-three years, humanity has lived with the religious cults and terrorism which spawned in the wake of the darkness. We are now alone. Humanity has been cut off. Quarantined.

The Fold

386 pages

A page-turning science-fiction thriller from the author of Paradox Bound and the Ex-Heroes series. Step into the fold. It's perfectly safe. The folks in Mike Erikson's small New England town would say he's just your average, everyday guy. And that's exactly how Mike likes it. Sure, the life he's chosen isn’t much of a challenge to someone with his unique gifts, but he’s content with his quiet and peaceful existence. That is, until an old friend presents him with an irresistible mystery, one that Mike is uniquely qualified to solve: far out in the California desert, a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device they affectionately call the Albuquerque Door. Using a cryptic computer equation and magnetic fields to “fold” dimensions, it shrinks distances so that a traveler can travel hundreds of feet with a single step. The invention promises to make mankind’s dreams of teleportation a reality. And, the scientists insist, traveling through the Door is completely safe. Yet evidence is mounting that this miraculous machine isn’t quite what it seems—and that its creators are harboring a dangerous secret. As his investigations draw him deeper into the puzzle, Mike begins to fear there’s only one answer that makes sense. And if he’s right, it may only be a matter of time before the project destroys…everything. A cunningly inventive mystery featuring a hero worthy of Sherlock Holmes and a terrifying final twist you’ll never see coming, The Fold is that rarest of things: a genuinely page-turning science-fiction thriller.

The Fold

421 pages

A page-turning science-fiction thriller from the author of Paradox Bound and the Ex-Heroes series. Step into the fold. It's perfectly safe. The folks in Mike Erikson's small New England town would say he's just your average, everyday guy. And that's exactly how Mike likes it. Sure, the life he's chosen isn’t much of a challenge to someone with his unique gifts, but he’s content with his quiet and peaceful existence. That is, until an old friend presents him with an irresistible mystery, one that Mike is uniquely qualified to solve: far out in the California desert, a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device they affectionately call the Albuquerque Door. Using a cryptic computer equation and magnetic fields to “fold” dimensions, it shrinks distances so that a traveler can travel hundreds of feet with a single step. The invention promises to make mankind’s dreams of teleportation a reality. And, the scientists insist, traveling through the Door is completely safe. Yet evidence is mounting that this miraculous machine isn’t quite what it seems—and that its creators are harboring a dangerous secret. As his investigations draw him deeper into the puzzle, Mike begins to fear there’s only one answer that makes sense. And if he’s right, it may only be a matter of time before the project destroys…everything. A cunningly inventive mystery featuring a hero worthy of Sherlock Holmes and a terrifying final twist you’ll never see coming, The Fold is that rarest of things: a genuinely page-turning science-fiction thriller.

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

243 pages

This book offers a fascinating exploration of humans escaping a harsh reality through psychedelic drugs, blurring the lines between their trips and actual life, making it a compelling read.

The Madman's Tale

687 pages

It’s been twenty years since Western State Hospital was closed down and the last of its inmates reintegrated into society. Francis Petrel was barely out of his teens when his family committed him to the asylum, after his erratic behavior culminated in a terrifying outburst. Now middle-aged, he leads an aimless, solitary life housed in a cheap apartment, periodically tended to by his sisters, and perpetually medicated to quiet the chorus of voices in his head. But a reunion on the grounds of the shuttered institution stirs something deep in Francis’s troubled mind: dark memories he thought he had laid to rest, about the grisly events that led to Western State Hospital’s demise. It begins in 1979, when twenty-one-year-old Petrel descends into the state-run purgatory of an overcrowded, understaffed Massachusetts mental hospital. Surrounded by inmates roaming the halls like drugged zombies and raving behind locked doors, well-meaning orderlies, jaded nurses, and patronizing doctors, Francis finds friendship with a motley assortment of fellow patients: a would-be Napoleon, a wise ex-firefighter, and a man obsessed with battling imagined devils. But there’s nothing imaginary about the young nurse found sexually assaulted and brutally murdered late one night after lights-out. The police suspect an inmate, while patients whisper about visions of a white-shrouded “angel.” But the striking and mysterious prosecuting attorney who arrives to investigate has her own chilling theory—about the grim, telltale “signature” left on the victim’s body, a string of unsolved sex killings, and a very real devil who, by chance or design, has come to turn a madhouse into a slaughterhouse. Now, with the past creeping back to haunt his thoughts, and nothing but a pencil and the bare walls of his bleak apartment, Francis surrenders to the overwhelming need to tell the story of those nightmarish days. But because the crime was never solved, it’s a story doomed to remain unfinished. Until, like Francis’s long-buried recollections, the killer resurfaces . . . with a vengeance. A tour de force narrative journey through the eerily unpredictable mind of an utterly unusual hero, The Madman’s Tale will keep even the most astute thriller reader uncertain, unnerved, and unable to resist the tantalizing twists and turns of this fiendishly suspenseful shadow show.

Shadow's End

464 pages

“Tepper takes the traditional icons of fantasy, restores their resonance, and makes them her own.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune A century ago, a mysterious force wiped out human life on all surrounding worlds, leaving the planet Dinadh untouched. Now the unknown force is back—and this time humanity’s only hope lies with a woman who’d give anything not to get involved. Lutha Tallstaff’s mission is to locate the famed adventurer Leelson Famber, who has disappeared, taking with him what may be the only clue to the nature of the deadly threat. But Lutha cannot know that finding Famber will be the easy part of her journey. Through terrain alive with savage winged wraiths and fountains of fire, she will fight her way to the holiest place on the planet. And only then will she discover the shocking truth about the coldly inhuman force that threatens the future of mankind.

Grass

477 pages

“One of the most satisfying science fiction novels I have read in years.”—The New York Times Book Review Here is a novel as original as the breathtaking, unspoiled world for which it is named, a place where all appears to be in idyllic balance. Generations ago, humans fled to the cosmic anomaly known as Grass. Over time, they evolved a new and intricate society. But before humanity arrived, another species had already claimed Grass for its own. It, too, had developed a culture. . . . Now, a deadly plague is spreading across the stars. No world save Grass has been left untouched. Marjorie Westriding Yrarier has been sent from Earth to discover the secret of the planet’s immunity. Amid the alien social structure and strange life-forms of Grass, Lady Westriding unravels the planet’s mysteries to find a truth so shattering it could mean the end of life itself.

Anathem

1013 pages

This book explores the intricacies of thought and the process of thinking itself, wrapped in a plot that, while okay, presents ideas that linger in your mind long after reading.

Sphere

386 pages

"A page-turner...Chichton's writing is cinematic, with powerful visual images and nonstop action. This book should come with hot buttered popcorn." NEWSWEEK A group of American scientists are rushed to a huge vessel that has been discovered resting on the ocean floor in the middle of the South Pacific. What they find defines their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently, undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old.... "The suspense is real." THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW