Xuya Universe

From the author of the Xuya universe comes a rich space opera and an intensely soft romance... When tech scavenger Xích Si is captured and imprisoned by the infamous pirates of the Red Banner, she expects to be tortured or killed. Instead, their leader, Rice Fish, makes Xích Si an utterly incredible proposition: an offer of marriage. Both have their reasons for this arrangement: Xích Si needs protection; Rice Fish, a sentient spaceship, needs a technical expert to investigate the death of her first wife, the Red Scholar. That's all there is to it. But as the interstellar war against piracy rages on and their own investigation reaches a dire conclusion, the two of them discover that their arrangement has evolved into something much less business-focused and more personal...and tender. And maybe the best thing that's ever happened to either of them-but only if they can find a way to survive together. Advance Praise for The Red Scholar's Wake: "So romantic I may simply perish." -Tasha Suri, author of The Jasmine Throne "LESBIAN SPACE PIRATES. Enough said." -Katee Robert, NYT bestselling author of Neon Gods "The Red Scholar's Wake is a fizzingly inventive space opera, quite unlike anything I've encountered before, and told with style, grace, and a big dose of heart. SF is lucky to have Aliette de Bodard." -Alastair Reynolds, Sunday Times bestselling author "The Red Scholar's Wake takes you on an exhilarating dive into space piracy with passion, politics, dazzling settings, and-even better-a profound core of love transcending hopelessness that rings throughout the story." -Everina Maxwell, author of WINTER'S ORBIT

A new edition of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards novella finalist, from the author of the acclaimed Dragons and Blades series, and set in the same universe as the Clarke Award finalist The Red Scholar's Wake... For generations Prosper Station has thrived under the guidance of its Honoured Ancestress: born of a human womb, the station's artificial intelligence has offered guidance and protection to its human relatives. But war has come to the Dai Viet Empire. Prosper's brightest minds have been called away to defend the Emperor; and a flood of disorientated refugees strain the station's resources. As deprivations cause the station's ordinary life to unravel, uncovering old grudges and tearing apart the decimated family, Station Mistress Quyen and the Honoured Ancestress struggle to keep their relatives united and safe. What Quven does not know is that the Honoured Ancestress herself is faltering, her mind eaten away by a disease that seems to have no cure; and that the future of the station itself might hang in the balance... Praise for On a Red Station, Drifting and Aliette de Bodard: "Riven with tension... emotional and social... I for one rejoice in its difference." -Liz Bourke, Reactor.com "SF is lucky to have Aliette de Bodard." -Alastair Reynolds, The Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies

Winner of the Nebula Award and British Fantasy Award for Best Novella Finalist for the Hugo Award, Locus Award, and World Fantasy Award for Best Novella "A window onto a beautifully developed world that widens the meaning of space opera." -The New York Times Once, the mindship known as The Shadow's Child was a military transport. Once, she leapt effortlessly between stars and planets, carrying troops and crew for a war that tore the Empire apart. Until an ambush killed her crew and left her wounded and broken. Now the war is over, and The Shadow's Child, surviving against all odds, has run away. Discharged and struggling to make a living, she has no plans to go back into space. Until the abrasive and arrogant scholar Long Chau comes to see her. Long Chau wants to retrieve a corpse for her scientific studies: a simple enough, well-paid assignment. But when the corpse they find turns out to have been murdered, the simple assignment becomes a vast and tangled investigation, inexorably leading back to the past--and, once again, to that unbearable void where The Shadow's Child almost lost both sanity and life... "[The Tea Master and the Detective] is a window onto a beautifully developed world that widens the meaning of space opera, one that centers on Chinese and Vietnamese cultures and customs instead of Western military conventions, and is all the more welcome for it." -Amal El-Mohtar, The New York Times "The Tea Master and the Detective is the Sherlock Holmes retelling I always wanted and now I have it. And I want so much more of it." -Ana Grilo, Kirkus "The Tea Master is an astonishing Holmesian mystery, in which Holmes is a woman and Watson is a spaceship. It is everything I wanted it to be. Tea, space, and mysteries within mysteries." -Mary Robinette Kowal "Ingenious… As a classical blend of far-future SF and traditional murder mystery, The Tea Master and the Detective should satisfy readers unfamiliar with the Xuya universe, but at the same time it's an intriguing introduction to that universe, much of which seems to lie just outside the borders of this entertaining tale." -Gary K. Wolfe, Locus "De Bodard constructs a convincingly gritty setting and a pair of unique characters with provocative histories and compelling motivations. The story works as well as both science fiction and murder mystery, exploring a future where pride, guilt, and mercy are not solely the province of humans." -Publishers' Weekly