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There Is no Antimemetics Division by qntm (Del Rey, £18.99)
There have been stories before about mysterious alien entities existing, hidden, within our world, and secret government departments tasked with protecting humanity. This debut novel by software engineer Sam Hughes writing under the pen name qntm pushes the idea to the most terrifying extreme: the antimeme. Memes are ideas that easily spread; antimemes are literally unthinkable, “self-keeping secrets”, impossible to record or to remember. Some feed on memories and pose an existential threat. But how is it possible to win a war when there’s no identifiable enemy, and every attack is immediately forgotten? Against these odds, the Antimemetics Division somehow exists, part of a secret organisation with bases deep underground in the English countryside, as related in this unforgettable, mind-bendingly brilliant novel.
The Merge by Grace Walker (Magpie, £12.99)
In a near-future, dystopian Britain, population pressures on scarce resources have resulted in a new technology that promises to cut the problem in half. Any two people who agree to “merge” by having the consciousness of one transported into the other’s body will be rewarded with lower taxes and a better standard of living. The promise is that the two minds will gradually meld into one new person, preserving the best of both. When Laurie is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, her daughter Amelia signs them up to join a trial group, hoping the merge will preserve Laurie’s mind. They have three months to learn how the process will work, and if they are still doubtful they can call it off – but it seems no one ever does. Moving between the viewpoints of the two women, this is a compelling and disturbing story of love and sacrifice, control and resistance.
Lightbreakers by Aja Gabel (Fleet, £16.99)
Early in his career, Noah wrote a paper proposing that human consciousness was the result of quantum physics. Years later he’s invited to take part in a billionaire’s secret project, exploring the nature of consciousness, memory and time. It is not his theory so much as Noah’s experience of losing his only child, Serena, who died in infancy, that makes him a suitable subject to test an experimental time machine. For Noah, the chance of seeing Serena again leads to an obsession that threatens his health and his second marriage. His wife, Maya, responds by going back to visit her parents in Japan, where she also meets her former lover and remembers being young struggling artists together. A rich, compassionate study of love, regret and memory.
Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin (Titan, £11.99)
In 1980s New York, Ellen, a deeply depressed and repressed lesbian employed by a film archive, is assigned to restore the damaged prints of a legendary pornographic film from Germany, long believed to have been destroyed by the Nazis. Very soon, she starts glimpsing figures from the film in her own life, and it becomes harder to differentiate between her nightmares, fantasies and reality. Explicitly violent and sexual, it’s a queasily compelling horror.
The Strength of the Few by James Islington (Text, £20)
The second book in the Hierarchy series, following The Will of the Many, continues the story of Vis Telimus. His world, modelled on Imperial Rome, is run on a sort of spiritual pyramid scheme, where each social class cedes a portion of their life force to the class above, with the result that the ruling Princeps possess godlike powers, while at the base, the Octavii have very diminished lives. Vis has become “synchronous” – split into three identical selves. While one life continues in the Republic, another Vis finds himself in Obiteum (which has an Ancient Egyptian vibe), and there’s a third in a Celtic-flavoured world of druids and warring tribes. Unusually for this type of high-action epic fantasy, there’s first-person narration by the hero, which works extremely well to ensure close reader engagement. Full of excitement, danger and mystery, this thrilling adventure leaves us gasping in anticipation of the next instalment.
