{"title":"Peter Watts","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePeter Watts\u003c\/strong\u003e crafts gripping science fiction that delves into the complexities of consciousness and the unknown. His narratives, like \u003cem\u003eBlindsight\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eFirefall\u003c\/em\u003e, challenge readers with thoughtful explorations of post-human futures and alien encounters, blending hard science with philosophical inquiry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFans of cerebral and provocative speculative fiction will appreciate Watts' ability to combine intricate scientific concepts with intense, atmospheric storytelling. His work often pushes boundaries, inviting reflection on what it means to be human in an ever-changing universe.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"firefall-by-peter-watts-9781786696106","title":"Firefall","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFirefall\u003c\/i\u003e is the omnibus edition of the novels \u003ci\u003eBlindsight\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eEchopraxia\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFebruary 13, 2082, First Contact. Sixty-two thousand objects of unknown origin plunge into Earth's atmosphere – a perfect grid of falling stars screaming across the radio spectrum as they burn. Not even ashes reach the ground. Three hundred and sixty degrees of global surveillance: something just took a snapshot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then... nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut from deep space, whispers. Something out there talks – but not to us. Two ships, Theseus and the Crown of Thorns, are launched to discover the origin of Earth's visitation, one bound for the outer dark of the Kuiper Belt, the other for the heart of the Solar System.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTheir crews can barely be called human; what they will face certainly can't.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'A tour de force, redefining the First Contact story for good'\u003c\/em\u003e - Charles Stross.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'If you only read one science fiction novel this year, make it this one!... It puts the whole of the rest of the genre in the shade... It deserves to walk away with the Clarke, the Hugo, the Nebula, the BSFA, and pretty much any other genre award for which it's eligible. It's off the scale... F\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eking awesome!'\u003c\/em\u003e - Richard Morgan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'State-of-the-art science fiction: smart, dark and it grabs you by the throat from page one'\u003c\/em\u003e - Neal Ascher.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46768066986220,"sku":"9781786696106","price":40.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/3490103482824.jpg?v=1756358394"},{"product_id":"blindsight-by-peter-watts-9781250237484","title":"Blindsight","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHugo and Shirley Jackson award-winning Peter Watts stands on the cutting edge of hard SF with his acclaimed novel, \u003cem\u003eBlindsight\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo months since the stars fell...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo months of silence, while a world held its breath.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune's orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever's out there isn't talking to us. It's talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something \u003cem\u003een route\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo who do you send to force introductions with an unknown and unknowable alien intellect that doesn't wish to be met?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYou send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees x-rays and tastes ultrasound. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won't be needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called \u003cem\u003evampire\u003c\/em\u003e, recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a \u003cem\u003esynthesist\u003c\/em\u003e—an informational topologist with half his mind gone—as an interface between \u003cem\u003ehere\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003ethere\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePray they can be trusted with the fate of a world. They may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ingram Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47642798817516,"sku":"9781250237484","price":53.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781250237484-blindsight.jpg?v=1779158148"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/peter-watts.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}