Marjorie Dawson

All Systems Red is the tense first science fiction adventure novella in Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries. For fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans.

Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah - its former owner (protector? friend?) - submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit. But who's going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue? And what will become of it when it's caught?

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there's an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can't have the planet, they're sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize. But there's something wrong with Murderbot; it isn't running within normal operational parameters.

Benedict Sorellin-Lancaster hasn't even broken in his lieutenant's insignia when he's summoned to meet with the Spirearch of Spire Albion himself for a very special—and very secret—purpose. The Spirearch needs Benedict to retrieve a bag he's "misplaced" on the Colony Spire known as Dependence, which has strangely cut off all contact with the outside world. It's a delicate mission at best, a potential bloodbath at worst. To this end, the Spirearch has supplied Benedict with backup in the form of three Warriorborn.

Since time immemorial the Spires have sheltered humanity, towering for miles over the mist-shrouded surface of the world. Within their halls aristocratic houses have ruled for generations, developing scientific marvels, fostering trade alliances, and building fleets of airships to keep the peace. Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship Predator. Fiercely loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy's shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels.

Spensa made it out of the Nowhere, but what she saw in the space between the stars has changed her forever. She came face to face with the Delvers, and finally got answers to the questions she's had about her own strange Cytonic gifts. The Superiority didn't stop in it's fight for galactic dominance while she was gone, though. Spensa's team, Skyward Flight, was able to hold Winzik off, and even collect allies to help with the cause, but it's only a matter of time until humanity - and the rest of the galaxy - falls.

Welcome to the North Pole, the town where Christmas is everyone’s job. Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost's daughter, Santa Claus's niece, heir to the Winter Throne, and soon to be newlywed. She and fiancé Sinclair (and their cats, Spider and Sugar) have moved back to the North Pole, they’re firmly entrenched in planning their wedding. Sinclair suggests calling a friend to help, the ever-resourceful Birdie Caruthers. Not long after she arrives, however, the trio discovers the most terrible thing in the wedding carriage.

Spensa's life as a Defiant Defense Force pilot has been far from ordinary. She proved herself one of the best starfighters in the human enclave of Detritus and she saved her people from extermination at the hands of the Krell—the enigmatic alien species that has been holding them captive for decades. What's more, she travelled light-years from home as a spy to infiltrate the Superiority, where she learned of the galaxy beyond her small, desolate planet home. Now, the Superiority—the governing galactic alliance bent on dominating all human life—has started a galaxy-wide war.

The devastating Phryne Fisher is under fire again in her fourth mystery. A very young man with muddied hair, a pierced ear and a blue tattoo lies cradled in Phryne's arms. But sadly it's not another scene of glorious seduction – this time it's death. The Honourable Miss Phryne Fisher, beautifully dressed in loose trousers, a cream silk shirt and a red-fox fur has just had her windscreen shot out inches in front of her divine nose.

The lost city lies beyond a locked gateway. But the key is not what it seems.... Now a map-maker extraordinaire, Finch must find the place Erebus so desperately seeks - although the “how” and “why” remain unclear. And a certain vengeful Necromancer is bent on beating Erebus to the punch, and he’d be more than happy to make Finch collateral damage. With his friends’ lives on the line, Finch will fall back on his old trickster ways to get his hands on the gateway’s key. In secret, he plans to uncover a loophole, a way to end his servitude for good.