Gwyneth Jones

Gwyneth Jones was born in Manchester, England, studied at a local convent school and then at the University of Sussex, where she took an undergraduate degree in History of Ideas, specialising in seventeenth century Europe, which gave her a taste for studying the structure of scientific revolutions, and societies in phase transition, a background that still resonates in her work. In the eighties she spent two years in gainful employment, writing scripts for a tv cartoon series called The Telebugs (which now gives her a curious cult status with twenty-something UK fans). Since then, she's been writing (and occasionally teaching creative writing) full time. She's written more than twenty novels for teenagers, mostly using the pseudonym Ann Halam, and several highly regarded science fiction novels for adults, notably the Aleutian Trilogy, 'White Queen' (co-winner of the James Tiptree Memorial Award); 'North Wind' and 'Phoenix Café'. Bold As Love, the first novel of a sequence tackling pop-culture in the near future, won the Arthur C. Clarke award for 2001. Her short story collection `Seven Tales And A Fable' won two World Fantasy Awards, 1996. Her critical writings and essays (Deconstructing The Starships) have been published by the Liverpool University Press.

The codeword came to England in June. Only one man understood it, Ax Preston, rockstar warlord, leader of the English people, icon of the embattled techno-Utopians of Europe. And he decided to do nothing. Ax took a gamble. He knew the price would be high, but he believed he saw a chance of winning the game. His partners - Sage Pender and Fiorinda Slater - believed it too; and they were formidable allies. The Chinese had invincible military superiority, but they didn't have the secret of the superweapon. Maybe they'd come to England to find it. Or maybe they'd come to obliterate the existence of the Neurobomb, write it out of history, at whatever cost.

In September the Chinese arrived, and slaughtered the innocents. In January a winter journey to the drowned world and a propaganda rock show in a labour camp called Rainbow Bridge led Ax to the secret identity of the Fifth General.

And the game of risk began...