Gwyneth Jones

"These essays and reviews have been selected from work by a practising SF writer produced during a decade in which the stuff of science fiction became part of everyday life. Dreams of galactic empire did not come true, the Invaders from Mars (or from any other alien planet in our locality) are consigned to fantasy. But a great deal of the future imagined by Gwyneth Jones' generation of SF writers is actually with us; reality and science fiction are moving into close conjunction, so that SF is no longer the strange reflection and artistic elaboration of current pre-occupations. The subject matter of this collection is varied, but displays Jones' stance as a practising SF writer and a feminist; the writing is characterised by both an incisive engagement with the texts and a refusal to dress that engagement in jargon. This very readable book both provides insight into the work of one of our most interesting writers and presents strongsometimes even subversive - views of a range of modern SF and fantasy."--BOOK JACKET.

It's 2038 and the earth has been devastated by tectonic shifts accompanied by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The U.S. has undergone a socialist revolution, retro-viruses are rampant and most technology relies on a powerful organic "clay" instead of microprocessors. When aliens land near American-exile Johnny Guglio's adopted African home, Braemar Wilson, a cutthroat reporter, befriends him to get a jump on the story. Though no one knows the alien's intent, White Queen, an anti-alien group, begins working to undermine human trust. Even as ambassadors from both worlds talk, Braemar and Johnny must work together find themselves in a unique position to uncover the truth. The book won the 1991 James Tiptree Jr. Award.

A young girl rescues a seemingly dead salmon and finds that the fish's determination to repay her has far-reaching consequences on her life and that of her brother.

In 1960s Norfolk, England, seventeen-year-old Clem Ackroyd lives with his mother and grandmother in a tiny cottage, but his life is transformed when he falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy farmer in this tale that flashes back through the stories of three generations.