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Death of a Clone

Page 19

by Alex Thomson


  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Alex Thomson is a French and Spanish teacher from Letchworth Garden City. This is his debut novel, though his short fiction has been published in the Nocturne anthologies. He wrote Death of a Clone on the train during his daily commute to London, scribbling away in biro in a notebook, surrounded by sweaty commuters.

  The Cull Begins...

  Before the Blight had a name – before the world died – there was a chance to stop the AB-Virus in its tracks. It almost worked.

  Astronaut Alvin Burrows holds the key: a literal Pandora’s box full of infected lab mice. But time is running out, and even orbit isn’t far enough to escape the pandemic. Burrows’ and his crewmates’ families are caught in quarantines on the ground, the death toll is rising, and maddened gangs are beginning their rampage.

  The International Space Station is a world all its own, two hundred and sixty miles above the Earth, circling the globe every ninety-two minutes, fifty-four seconds; a fragile metal shell in which six men and women are trapped in close confines for months at a time. And something more sinister than the plague is loose on Station. Something driving one of the astronauts to murder the crew, one by one...

  www.abaddonbooks.com

  Ed Carew and his small ragtag crew are smugglers and ne’er-do-wells, thumbing their noses at the Expansion, the vast human hegemony extending across thousands of worlds... until the day they are caught, and offered a choice between working for the Expansion and an ignominious death. They must trespass across the domain of humanity’s neighbours, the Vetch – the inscrutable alien race with whom humanity has warred, at terrible cost of life, and only recently arrived at an uneasy peace – and into uncharted space beyond, among the strange worlds of the Devil’s Nebula, looking for long-lost settlers.

  A new evil threatens not only the Expansion itself, but the Vetch as well. In the long run, the survival of both races may depend on their ability to lay aside their differences and co-operate.

  ‘In the end, Helix is equal parts adventure, drama and wonder. A delightful read, and an excellent reminder of why we read science fiction: it’s fun!’

  SF Signal on Helix

  ‘Brown tells his story with clarity, depth, and no small amount of love, capturing with graceful prose a story that is as fresh as it is as old as time.’

  Rob Will Review on The Kings of Eternity

  www.abaddonbooks.com

  ‘I’m not saying the internet made me kill, but it certainly helped.’

  Is there someone online who really grates on you? That friend who’s always bragging about their awesome life and endlessly sharing tired memes, and who just doesn’t get jokes? Look at your Twitter feed: don’t you get cross at the endless rage, the thoughtless bigotry and the pleading for celebrity retweets? Meet Dave, a street fundraiser and fan of cat pictures. He’s decided that unfollowing just isn’t enough. He’s determined to make the internet a nicer place, whatever it takes.

  When he killed his best friend’s girlfriend, he wasn’t planning on changing the world. She was just really annoying on Facebook. But someone saw, and made him an offer. Someone who knows what he’s capable of, and wants to use him to take control of the darkness at the heart of the internet. And now the bodies – the comment trolls, the sexual predators, the obnoxious pop stars – are starting to mount up...

  ‘James Goss is dangerous. His work makes you laugh one moment then, just as he’s weakened your defenses, he attacks with a killing blow.’

  Guy Adams, author of The Clown Service

  www.solarisbooks.com

  Table of Contents

  Title

  Indicia

  Death of a Clone

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Also by Abaddon Books

  'The Devil's Nebula' by Eric Brown

  'Haterz' by James Goss

 

 

 


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