Discover the beginnings of the Quantum Evolution with The House of Styx, the start of a groundbreaking new series set 250 years before The Quantum Magician. Life can exist anywhere. And anywhere there is life, there is home. In the swirling clouds of Venus, the families of la colonie live on floating plant-like trawlers, salvaging what they can in the fierce acid rain and crackling storms. Outside is dangerous, but humankind’s hold on the planet is fragile and they spend most of their days simply surviving. But Venus carries its own secrets, too. In the depths, there is a wind that shouldn’t exist. And the House of Styx wants to harness it. “Künsken’s vivid worldbuilding is a knockout…This is a must-read” – Publishers Weekly, starred review “An audacious con job, scintillating future technology, and meditations on the nature of fractured humanity” - Yoon Ha Lee on The Quantum Magician “Technology changes us—even our bodies—in fundamental ways, and Künsken handles this wonderfully” - Cixin Liu on The Quantum Magician “Künsken has a wonderfully ingenious imagination.” – Adam Roberts, Locus

George-Étienne and his children have formed The House of Styx, after finding a mysterious artefact on the surface of Venus herself. But with the discovery comes great risk, not only from a planet that kills with its very touch but also from the banks and powers of old Earth, who will stop at nothing to claim this new technology for themselves. From humble origins, The House of Styx is determined to become one of the most powerful families in the known galaxy or die trying.

The war rages onward and the Union’s premier fighter pilots, the Homo Eridanus, start encountering deadly resistance from strange pilots on the Congregate side. Among wreckage, they find that new Congregate pilots are, in fact, Homo quantus, with strange wiring and AI connections. At the same time, the Puppets come to the Union with offers of an alliance for a dangerous price: the rescue of the geneticist Antonio Del Casal who is a captive on Venus, with over a hundred Homo quantus. Only one person might be able to break through the Congregate defenses at Venus, and he’s a con man.

Major Chenesai Okonkwo is an Auditor for the Sub-Saharan Union. Her mission: to find out if the Sixth Expeditionary Force’s newly discovered time gate has been compromised. Is the Union’s revolutionary discovery already doomed, eleven years in the future?

THE ULTIMATE CHASE Days ago, Belisarius pulled off the most audacious con job in history. He’s rich, he’s back with the love of his life, and he has the Time Gates, the most valuable things in existence. Nothing could spoil this… …except the utter destruction of his people and their world. To save them, he has to make a new deal with the boss he just double-crossed, travel back in time and work his quantum magic once again. If he can avoid detection, dodge paradox and stay ahead of the eerie, relentless Scarecrow, he might just get back to his own time alive. “Künsken has a wonderfully ingenious imagination.” - Adam Roberts, Locus “An audacious con job, scintillating future technology, and meditations on the nature of fractured humanity” - Yoon Ha Lee “Technology changes us—even our bodies—in fundamental ways, and Kunsken handles this wonderfully” - Cixin Liu

Within these pages lie eighteen stories, from eighteen worlds shaped by some of today’s best writers of science fiction and fantasy, all guests on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers during its first year. Some are international bestsellers. Among them are winners and nominees for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, Aurealis, Ditmar, British Science Fiction Association, and Dragon Awards. Some have been writing for decades, others are at the beginning of their careers. All have honed their craft to razor-sharpness. A teenage girl finds something strange in the middle of the Canadian prairie. An exobiologist tries to liberate a giant alien enslaved on its homeworld by humans. The music of the spheres becomes literal for an Earth ship far from home. A superhero league interviews for new members. Strangers share a drink on a world where giant starships fall. Two boys, one a werewolf, one a mage, get more than they bargained for when they volunteer to fight an evil Empire. A man with amnesia accepts a most unusual offer. A young woman finds unexpected allies as she tries to win a flying-machine race in steampunk London . . . Ranging from boisterous to bleak, from humorous to harrowing, from action-filled to quiet and meditative; taking place in alternate pasts, the present day, the far, far future, and times that never were; set on Earth, in the distant reaches of space, in fantasy worlds, and in metaphysical realms, each of these stories is as unique as its creator. And yet, they all showcase one thing: the irrepressible need of human beings to create, to imagine, to tell stories. To shape worlds.

From the clouds of Venus to the origins of the time gates, this collection of novellas and short fiction visits many favourite worlds of the Quantum Evolution universe, as well as some new to the series. With two 20,000 plus novellas and four long short stories, this collection is a stunning showcase of talent. Collecting: “Persephone Descending”, “Schools of Clay”, “Beneath Sunlit Shallows”, “Flight From the Ages”, Pollen From a Future Harvest and Tool Use By Humans of Danzhai County, this is a must for all fans of forward-thinking science fiction.

The Stunning conclusion to the Venus Ascendant series, from the world of The Quantum Magician. George-Étienne and his children have formed The House of Styx, after finding a mysterious artefact on the surface of Venus herself. But with the discovery comes great risk, not only from a planet that kills with its very touch but also from the banks and powers of old Earth, who will stop at nothing to claim this new technology for themselves. From humble origins, The House of Styx is determined to become one of the most powerful families in the known galaxy or die trying.

« La technologie est capable de nous changer de façon fondamentale, jusque dans nos corps, et Derek Künsken témoigne de cette révolution avec un talent fou. » Liu Cixin, lauréat du Prix Hugo et auteur du Problème à trois corps. Belisarius Arjona est un homme quantique. Ses pairs ont été créés pour pousser les capacités cognitives de l'humain à un niveau extrême. En fugue quantique, Belisarius est capable de transformer la probabilité en réalité. Toujours sur le fil, de par sa nature-même, il a trouvé un équilibre précaire en tant qu'escroc. Et quand un client lui offre une immense richesse pour déplacer une flotte de vaisseaux de guerre à travers un trou de ver ennemi, Belisarius accepte la mission et se met en quête d'un équipage composé de post-humains comme lui, mais aussi d'une Intelligence Artificielle surpuissante répondant au doux nom de saint Mathieu. Réussiront-ils leur mission, au risque de déclencher une guerre interstellaire ? Derek Künsken est l'étoile montante de la science-fiction canadienne. Le Magicien quantique, son premier roman, a été comparé à Ocean's Eleven et a connu un succès considérable aux Etats-Unis, au Canada et... en Chine. Roman traduit de l'anglais (Canada) par Gilles Goullet Illustration de couverture : Manchu