Regalos de cumpleaños

El domingo pasado fue mi cumpleaños (no, no voy a decir cuántos llevo ya a mis espaldas) y, por supuesto, los regalos que más me ilusión me hicieron fueron los libros. Todo en ebook, eso sí, que en mi casa pocos libros físicos pueden entrar ya. 

Por si a alguien le interesa, éstas son las nuevas incorporaciones a mi biblioteca. Muchas gracias a los que me las regalaron (ellos saben quiénes son). A algunos de estos libros les tenía muchas ganas desde hace tiempo, así que espero poder ir leyéndolos muy pronto y comentar aquí mis impresiones.

Sin más preámbulos, los protagonistas:

Heavy Water and Other Stories, de Martin Amis

In Martin Amis's short stories whole worlds are created - or inverted. In 'Straight Fiction', everyone is gay, apart from the beleaguered 'straight' community; in 'Career Move', screenplay writers submit their works to little magazines, while poets are flown first-class to Los Angeles; in 'The Janitor of Mars', a sardonic robot gives us some strange news about life in the solar system. In 'Let Me Count the Times' a man has a mad affair with himself. 'Heavy Water', portrays the exhaustion of working-class culture, and 'State of England' its weird resuscitation. And in 'The Coincidence of the Arts' an English baronet becomes entangled with an African-American chess hustler.

Twisted Metal, de Tony Ballantyne

On a world of intelligent robots who seem to have forgotten their own distant past, it is a time of war as the soldiers of Artemis City set out to conquer everything within range on the continent of Shull, killing or converting every robot they capture to their philosophy, while viewing their own wire-based minds as nothing but metal to be used or recycled for the cause. Elsewhere, the more individualistic robots of Turing City believe they are something more than metal, but when the Artemisian robot Kavan sets out on a determined crusade to prove himself, even Turing City can’t stand against him. Increasingly tied up with Kavan’s destiny is Karel, a Turing robot with elements of Artemis’s philosophy already woven into his mind … as well as Karel’s wife Susan, and their recently created child.. Following the inevitable violence and destruction, Artemisian ambition focuses elsewhere and a journey begins towards the frozen kingdoms of the north … and towards the truth about the legendary ‘Book of Robots’, a text which may finally explain the real history of this strange world … In a completely alien but brilliantly realized landscape, here is a powerful story of superb action, barbaric cruelty and intense emotional impact.

Emissaries from the Dead, de Adam-Troy Castro

Two murders have occurred on One One One, an artificial ecosystem created by the universe's dominant AIs to house several engineered species, including a violent, sentient race of sloth-like creatures. Under order from the Diplomatic Corps, Counselor Andrea Cort has come to this cylinder world where an indentured human community hangs suspended high above a poisoned, acid atmosphere. Her assignment is to choose a suitable homicide suspect from among those who have sold their futures to escape existences even worse than this one. And no matter where the trail leads her she must do nothing to implicate the hosts, who hold the power to obliterate humankind in an instant.

But Andrea Cort is not about to hold back in her hunt for a killer. For she has nothing to lose and harbors no love for her masters or fellow indentures. And she herself has felt the terrible exhilaration of taking life . . . .  

Uezen, de Snowdon King

Democles and Z’Davaar, the equivalents of God and the Devil, agree to create the first humans and place them on the planet of Eden. The Edeneans subsequently spread their race throughout the galaxy, but, when their most important sun goes nova, the survivors begin falling ill and dying. In order to prevent their total extinction, they build the Arka and head for the nearest wormhole. But on their way there they have to fight Anuk, who has agreed to obey Z’Davaar’s orders and destroy the other Edeneans, in order to have his lover resurrected. Only Lerman Kruger has the strength to oppose him... A philosophical science fiction adventure that spans the entire galaxy! 

The Lord of the Sands of Time, de Issui Ogawa

Sixty-two years after human life on Earth was annihilated by rampaging alien invaders, the enigmatic Messenger O is sent back in time with a mission to unite humanity of past eras--during the Second World War and ancient Japan, and even back to the dawn of the species itself--to defeat the invasion before it begins. However, in a future shredded by love and genocide, love waits for O. Will O save humanity only to doom himself?

 

The Rithmatist, de Brandon Sanderson

Joel is fascinated by the magical art of Rithmatics, but unfortunately only a chosen few have the necessary gift and Joel is not one of them. Undaunted, Joel persuades Professor Fitch to teach him Rithmatic theory - and soon finds that his knowledge is put to the test when someone starts murdering the top Rithmatic students at his school.

But can Joel work out the identity of the killer and stop them before they realize just what a threat Joel actually is?