Helliconia Spring

Winner of two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, Brian W. Aldiss has, for over fifty years, continued to challenge readers' minds with literate, thought-provoking, and inventive fiction. Now, E-Reads is proud to make available in eBook format the classic works of Aldiss. Now with a New Introduction by the Author! HELLICONIA SPRING Book One of the Helliconia Trilogy 2012 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the original publication of HELLICONIA SPRING, the first volume of the Helliconia Trilogy, and E-Reads celebrates that anniversary with a brand-new re-publication of the entire trilogy, complete with map and afterward material compiled for a follow-up release of the whole series. Helliconia is a world in a very eccentric orbit about its home star which results in a very, very long "year" orbit around the central sun. After long decades of frozen winter, signs of the long-awaited thaw begin to show and an entire civilization essentially existing in suspended animation once again emerges into a world growing warmer, greener and more hospitable climatically. Old knowledge must re-emerge. Old customs begin to repeat--and old conflicts arise once again, renewed in misunderstanding, disagreement and violence. From Brian Aldiss: NASA's telescopes in 2011 detected a planet with two suns, a lesser sun and a bigger sun. Some astronomers thought this was impossible but of course it is precisely what Helliconia is all about. As yet, it seems that the planet involved is called Kepler 16B. I think they should call it Helliconia--in acknowledgement of the way in which science fiction writers can be totally perceptive about something, without necessarily making predictions. Several fans and readers wrote to me pointing to this discovery in deep space. Some of them lauded my prescience.... So here's a case where what in general was considered to be impossible has proved to be possible. This discovery surely adds depth and weight to the Helliconia Trilogy. "There's the sense, even after such a long career, that (Aldiss) may still have something astonishing left to say." -- Locus Magazine Other E-Reads titles from Brian W. Aldiss: Helliconia Spring; Helliconia Summer; Helliconia Winter; Greybeard; Earthworks; Galaxies Like Grains of Sand; Cryptozoic!; The Shape of Further Things; The Dark Light Years; Barefoot in the Head; and The Squire Quartet, including Life in the West; Forgotten Life; Remembrance Day; and Somewhere East of Life.