Collection of book covers for sci-fi/fantasy Ukrainian publisher Lobster
"Vagabonds" by Hao Jingfang
A century after the Martian war of independence, a group of kids are sent to Earth as delegates from Mars, but when they return home, they are caught between the two worlds, unable to reconcile the beauty and culture of Mars with their experiences on Earth in this spellbinding novel from Hugo Award–winning author Hao Jingfang.
In 2096, the war of independence erupts when a colony of people living on Mars rebel against Earth’s rule. The war results in two different and mutually incompatible worlds. In 2196, one hundred years later, Earth and Mars attempt to initiate a dialogue, hoping a reconciliation is on the horizon. Representing Mars, a group of young delegates are sent to Earth to study the history and culture of the rival planet, all while teaching others about life on Mars.
Collection of Robert Sheckley stories
The Status Civilisation
Will Barrent had no memory of his crime . . . but he found himself shipped across space to a brutal prison-planet. On Omega, his only chance to advance himself -- and stay alive -- is to commit an endless series of violent crimes. The average inmate's life expectancy from time of arrival is three years. Can Barrett survive, escape, and return to Earth to clear his name?
Immortality Inc.
Thomas Blaine awoke in a white bed in a white room, and heard someone say, "He's alive now." Then they asked him his name, age and marital status. Yes, that seemed normal enough---but what was this talk about "death trauma"?
Thus was Thomas Blaine introduced to the year 2110, where science had discovered the technique of transferring a man's consciousness from one body to another. Where a man's mind could be snatched from the past, when his body was at the point of death, and brought forward into a "host body" in this fantastic future world.
"The Speed of Dark" By Elizabeth Moon
Lou Arrendale is a bioinformatics specialist who is autistic, and has made a good life for himself working in pattern recognition. A new manager at the firm where he works puts pressure on his department, where many autistic people work. Lou is pressured to undergo an experimental treatment that might "cure" his autism. Lou does not think he needs curing, but he risks losing his job and other accommodations the company has put in place for its autistic employees if he does not undergo it.
Lou struggles with the idea of going through this "treatment" for his autism while he pursues fencing with his "normal" friends and continues to go to work. His autistic friends, as well as himself, meet together after work and discuss what or what not to do.
(version not chosen for the final print)
"Juice" By Tim Winton
"Juice" is a tense, emotionally charged story by Tim Winton about ecological catastrophe, human endurance and the limits of moral choice in a rapidly collapsing world.
Winton, one of the most powerful Australian writers of his generation, creates a disturbing and at the same time lyrical dystopian landscape: parched lands, dead rivers, desperate attempts by people to find the last source of water - the "juice" of life, which becomes the main currency of the future. At the epicenter of the plot are two young people trying to survive in a zone of ecological collapse and the use they have in a world where humanity is becoming a luxury.
(chosen for the final print)
"The Daughter of Doctor Moreau" By Silvia Moreno-Garcia
A lavish historical drama reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico.
Carlota Moreau: growing up in a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatan peninsula, she is the only daughter of an eccentric, and dangerous, genius. His experiments, a motley group of hybrid monstrosities, are blindly loyal to their creator.
Into Carlota's strange but perfectly balanced world comes Eduardo Lizalde, the charming, careless son of Doctor Moreau's patrons. In the sweltering heat of the jungle, amidst her father's secrets and her own awakening feelings, Carlota will begin asking questions that could ignite a conflagration.
