Sticks and stones break bones.
Words kill.

They recruited Emily from the streets. They said it was because she's good with words.

They'll live to regret it.

Wil survived something he shouldn't have. But he doesn't remember it.

Now they're after him and he doesn't know why.

There's a word, they say. It shouldn't have got out. But it did.

And they want it back...

Find out why in one of the most mind-bending, page-turning, thrilling novels you'll ever read.


*Winner of the Aurealis Award for science fiction and GoodReads Choice Awards finalist for best science fiction*

'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.'

In Queens, New York, 22-year-old real estate agent Madison May is showing a house. The buyer, a man she's never met, is friendly, engaging . . . and claims to be her soulmate from a parallel life. She's in danger, he tells her. He's come to save her.

Later that day, newspaper journalist Felicity Staples is assigned to report on Madison May's murder. Discontent with her own life, Felicity finds herself drawn into a shocking conspiracy involving a powerful group who have harnessed the ability to slip between lives - to move between one version of reality to another.

On the run, turned into an imposter in her own life, Felicity is forced to seek the truth behind Madison May, the woman who is murdered over and over, in different ways, wherever she goes. For only by saving Madison May can Felicity reassemble the broken pieces of herself.

'With unrelenting tension, Max Barry weaves a complex tapestry where a sociopath's insatiable obsession knows no bounds, not even time and space, and only two things are certain - he will kill her again because he's killed her before. I devoured this novel in one sitting.' J.D. Barker, author of A Caller's Game

'A crime thriller that tripped and fell through a manhole and into the multiverse. It's frenetic and funny and gut-wrenching by turns, and I absolutely could not put it down. You need to read this book. Do it. Do it now.' Edward Ashton, author of The End of Ordinary

'Beware Max Barry. Once his story grabs hold, you will forget to eat, sleep, and bathe until you're left with the world's worst book hangover. An exhilarating rocket shot of a thriller tempered with Barry's trademark wit and warmth.' David Yoon, author of Version Zero

An inventive, speculative adventure and the intimate tale of four people facing their most desperate hour - alone, together, at the edge of the universe.

The video changed everything. Before that, we could believe that we were safe. Special. Chosen. We thought the universe was a twinkling ocean of opportunity, waiting to be explored.

Afterward, we knew better.

Seven years after first contact, Providence Five launches. It is an enormous and deadly warship, built to protect humanity from its greatest ever threat. On board is a crew of just four-tasked with monitoring the ship and reporting the war's progress to a mesmerized global audience by way of social media.

But while pursuing the enemy across space, Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson confront the unthinkable: their communications are cut, their ship decreasingly trustworthy and effective. To survive, they must win a fight that is suddenly and terrifyingly real.


'Providence is Philip K. Dick and William Gibson fueled by pure adrenaline (with a bit of Spielberg and Ridley Scott thrown in.) The brilliant, unstoppable imagination of Max Barry glows on every page of this action-filled yet emotionally resonant tale. It will keep you riveted from first page till last.' - Jeffery Deaver, author of The Never Game

When scientist Charles Neumann loses a leg in an industrial accident, it’s not a tragedy. It’s an opportunity.

Charlie always thought his body could be better. His employer, military contractor Better Future, has the resources he needs to explore a few ideas. So he begins to build parts. Better parts. Charlie’s prosthetist, Lola, is impressed by his artificial limbs. But some see him as a madman. Others, a product. Or even a weapon.

Existing at the intersection between mind and body, in the dawn of the age of pervasive technology, Machine Man is a gruesomely funny tale about one man’s quest for the ultimate in self-improvement.

In Max Barry's twisted, hilarious and terrifying vision of the near future, the world is run by giant corporations and employees take the last names of the companies they work for. It's a globalised, ultra-capitalist free market paradise!

Hack Nike is a lowly merchandising officer who's not very good at negotiating his salary. So when John Nike and John Nike, executives from the promised land of Marketing, offer him a contract, he signs without reading it. Unfortunately, Hack's new contract involves shooting teenagers to build up street cred for Nike's new line of $2,500 trainers. Hack goes to the police - but they assume that he's asking for a subcontracting deal and lease the assassination to the more experienced NRA.

Enter Jennifer Government, a tough-talking agent with a barcode tattoo under her eye and a personal problem with John Nike (the boss of the other John Nike). And a gun. Hack is about to find out what it really means to mess with market forces.

When is physical violence an appropriate response to management policy? Why is that one reserved parking space always empty? And when does helping yourself to an extra doughnut at morning tea become a criminal act?

At Zephyr Holdings, no one has ever seen the CEO. The floors are numbered in reverse, the Mission Statement could mean almost anything, and the beautiful receptionist is paid twice as much as anybody else, but appears to do no work. One of the sales reps uses relationship books as sales manuals, and another is on the warpath because somebody stole his doughnut.

In other words, it’s a typical big company. Or at least, that’s what everyone thinks, until fresh-faced employee Jones—too new to understand you just don’t ask some questions—starts investigating. Soon Jones uncovers the company’s secret: the answer to everything, what Zephyr Holdings really does, and why every manager carries a copy of the Omega Management System. It plunges him into a maelstrom of love, loyalty, management, and corporate immorality—and whether he can get out again. Now that’s a good question.

In the tradition of William Gibson, Joseph Heller, and Douglas Coupland, Company is a biting, incisive, and delightful satire of corporate culture.

Sieben Jahre nach dem fatalen Erstkontakt startet die Providence Five. Es ist das größte und modernste Kampfschiff und soll die Menschheit vor ihrem bisher schlimmsten Feind schützen: Aliens, die sich so grundlegend von uns unterscheiden, dass keine Kommunikation mit ihnen möglich ist. Die Besatzung der Providence besteht nur aus vier Personen, deren Aufgabe es ist, das Schiff zu überwachen und durch Videos in den Sozialen Netzwerken den Menschen auf der Erde von ihren vermeintlich heroischen Taten zu berichten. Doch die Schiffs-KI hat andere Pläne: Sie fliegt einen Bereich an, der so weit von der Erde entfernt ist, dass der Kontakt zur Flotte abbricht. Hier befindet sich die Hauptbasis der Außerirdischen. Für Gilly, Talia, Anders und Jackson wird der Kampf im All plötzlich sehr, sehr real ...

Uma organização treina jovens talentosos para controlar a mente e o comportamento das pessoas usando combinações específicas de palavras. Os iniciados deixam suas verdadeiras identidades para trás e passam a usar nomes de poetas.

Identificada como um prodígio na arte da persuasão, Emily Ruff, que ganha a vida com truques de cartas nas ruas de São Francisco, é enviada para o treinamento em uma escola da organização e começa a aprender a técnica letal. Quando os líderes da instituição descobrem que ela está se envolvendo com outro aluno, Emily recebe uma missão aterrorizante.

Wil Parke, carpinteiro, sofre de amnésia. Um dia ele já soube o significado da palavrárida, um artefato com o poder de colocar o planeta em risco. No entanto, não lembra mais. Wil é sequestrado por dois agentes brutais, que acabaram de matar sua namorada, desesperados para impedir que um membro da organização, de codinome Virginia Woolf, cause uma grande destruição.

Em seu novo livro, Max Barry constrói uma trama sombria na qual as palavras são como armas e os tipos mais vis usam como pseudônimos grandes nomes da literatura.

“Um dos melhores livros que li em muitos anos. Obra-prima.”Hugh Howey, autor da trilogia Silo

“Uma combinação de excelentes personagens, trama criativa usando aspectos linguísticos e uma história aterrorizante.”The Guardian

A los llamados «Poetas» se les enseña a persuadir, a emplear el lenguaje para manipular mentes, a utilizar las palabras como armas...

Max Barry nos trae un thriller lleno de suspense y ciencia ficción.

En algún lugar a las afueras de Arlington, Virginia, existe una escuela exclusiva a cuyos estudiantes no se les enseña historia, geografía o matemáticas, al menos en el sentido habitual. Se les enseña a persuadir, a emplear el lenguaje para manipular mentes, a utilizar las palabras como armas.

A estos estudiantes se los llama «Poetas», y aquel que se gradúe con una mejor puntuación podrá entrar en una organización anónima que actúa con un propósito desconocido.

La joven Emily Ruff lleva una vida tranquila en San Francisco cuando de pronto atrae la atención de los reclutadores de la organización. Emily promete y todo apunta a que llegará a convertirse en uno de los talentos más prodigiosos de la organización, hasta el día en que comete un error catastrófico.

Mientras, en Australia, en una ciudad tóxica llamada Broken Hill, un hombre llamado Wil Parke parece ser inmune a las palabras y puede convertirse en la clave heroica de lo que tiene todo el aspecto de ser una guerra secreta#

Opiniones:
«Lo major que he leído en mucho, mucho tiempo.»
Hugh Howey, autor de Wool

«Rabiosamente inteligente, ridículamente divertida e ingeniosa.»
Lev Grossman, autor de El bosque mágico

Charles Neumann é engenheiro e trabalha em um sofisticado laboratório de pesquisas. Ele não tem amigos ou qualquer tipo de habilidade social, e ama máquinas e tecnologia. Por isso, quando perde uma das pernas em um acidente de trabalho, Charlie não encara a situação como uma tragédia, e sim como uma oportunidade. Ele sempre achou que o frágil corpo humano poderia ser aperfeiçoado, e então decide colocar em prática algumas ideias. E começa a construir partes. Partes mecânicas. Partes melhores.

A especialista em próteses Lola Shanks é apaixonada por membros e órgãos artificiais. Quando conhece Charlie, ela fica fascinada com a possibilidade de ter encontrado um homem capaz de produzir um corpo totalmente mecânico. Mas as outras pessoas acham que ele é um louco. Ou um produto. Ou uma arma.

Em uma sátira sobre como a sociedade se tornou tão dependente da tecnologia, Homem-máquina narra a estranha e divertida jornada de um homem em busca do autoaprimoramento.