Eighteen stories, five original to this collection plus
thirteen that have appeared previously in various venues, including both pieces
featured in the science journal Nature and
the BSFA Award shortlisted title story. Eighteen
tales that take you to distant futures and disturbing tomorrows, to strange new
worlds and others that may seem uncomfortably familiar. 1. Introduction ~ Ian Watson 2. The Gift of Joy 3. A Hint of Mystery 4. The Key 5. Gossamer 6. In Fear of Fog 7. One Night in London 8. Ghosts in the Machine 9. Knowing How to Look 10. The Sum of the Past 11. Flesh and Metal 12. Hanging on Her Every Word 13. The Final Hour 14. Darkchild 15. A Piratical Sabbatical 16. Glitch in the System 17. The Battle for Paradise 18. It’s About Time! 19. The Laughter of Ghosts “Planetary escapades and vivid battle action rub shoulders
with charming yet eerie rural tales and with perilous urban nightmares.” Ian Watson “Ian Whates has a way with words
and a storyteller's sensibility… Definitely one to watch.” Jon Courtenay Grimwood. “Darkly funny tales of the
unexpected, with a deft science-fictional turn of the knife.” Ken MacLeod “It is his characters who live
through the story and make the reader need to know just how it’s all going to
pan out, human characters who may seem familiar but then there’s that one
thing, that shifted alteration that changes the world and changes the reader
too.” Michael Cobley in Interzone. |