Human or otherwise, regardless of race, creed or dimension of origin, if you're looking for a good time in a place where the beer is always flowing, and the stories always out of this world, step up to the bar at Callahan's. There'll be tales—Oh, are there tales! Like the one about a loud-mouthed time traveler who capitalized on a rip in the space-time continuum; or the one about Ralph the talking, gin-drinking German Shepherd created by a demented genius shrink. But don't believe us. Ask Ralph. He'll tell you himself. Also don't forget to watch out for the deadly toasts—especially the Melba toast! And above all, remember...Time Travelers Strictly Cash.

Two men and a woman discover a form of mind control that can bring people to the height of ecstasy, but it can also kill the patient. Reissue. NYT.

A HOUSE OF HEALTHY REPUTE...

Welcome to Lady Sally's, the House that is a home — the internationally (hell, interplanetarily) notorious bordello. At Lady Sally's House, the customer doesn't necessarily come first: even the staff are genuinely enjoying themselves.

Wife of time traveling bartender Mike Callahan, and employer of some of the most unusual and talented performing artists ever to work in the field of hedonic interface, Her Ladyship has designed her House to be an "equal opportunity enjoyer," discreetly, tastefully and joyfully catering to all erotic tastes and fantasies, however unusual. Like her famous husband, Lady Sally doesn't even insist that her customers be human...as long as they have good manners.

Small wonder, then, that she and her staff encounter beings as unique and memorable as the superhuman Colt, whose banner never, ever flags...Diana, the deadly dominatrix who cannot be disobeyed...Tony Donuts, the moronic man-monster even the Mafia doesn't want to mess with...or Charles, the werewolf with a distinct difference...

Paced like a cheetah and clever as anything, Justina Robson's second novel Mappa Mundi offers us a particularly scary take on the possibilities of technology, on what it is to be, and to remain. Half-Cheyenne FBI man Jude tracks down criminal masterminds who play with genetic perfection; his supposed partner Mary is there to stop him getting too close to those illegal experiments the US government wants to succeed. Disturbed psychologist Natalie is caught up with attempts to re-engineer sanity in human brains, horridly aware of the possibility that this new technology might be misused and anxious about her feckless drug-using flatmate and best friend.

This is a book that endlessly spins off intelligent ideas and keeps its momentum without ever bogging down in dumps of crude information. Justina Robson has a solid sense of where her characters come from, both geographically and emotionally, and even her villainess Mary is credibly motivated in every last shabby thing she does. Mappa Mundi asks some terrifying questions about technology—there are some things that cannot be uninvented, and, invented, are going to be used for good or ill. Justina Robson's first novel Silver Screen demonstrated her skill and intelligence; Mappa Mundi reveals her entire emotional and intellectual maturity. —Roz Kaveney

Mappa Mundi is joint winner of the Amazon.co.uk Writers' Bursaries 2000