Vintage Books

A smart, incisive take-down of so-called 'artificial intelligence', exposing the real harm these technologies do to our jobs, health, society and environment, who stands to gain from them, and how to fight back. Have tech companies created artificial minds? Are they going to replace all our jobs? Will they take over the world? The answers to these questions, as the expert authors of The AI Con make clear, are 'no', 'they wish' and 'LOL, definitely not'. In fact, these fears are all symptoms of the hype being used to justify data theft, motivate surveillance capitalism and devalue human creativity in order to replace meaningful work with jobs that treat people like machines. Packed with real-world examples of the injustices and harms already being done in the name of 'AI', The AI Con arms you to spot the hype in all its guises, expose the exploitation it aims to hide and push back against it at work and in your daily life.

A psychedelic post-apocalyptic vision of a world on the brink of civil war... In iDEATH, the sun shines a different colour every day. It is a happy place, made of watermelon, and its inhabitants travel the length of their dreams. But outside its sugared limits a gang of dissenters live among the trash heaps of the Forgotten Works, stewing in violence, hate - and the promise of revenge. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

When the woman you love may be dead, or worse - unknowable - obsession takes over. A young woman is found dead in her Manhattan apartment. In the aftermath, the men who knew her begin to tell their stories: a possessive mentor, a devoted fiancé, a cynical columnist. At the centre of it all is Laura: dazzling, ambitious and impossible to pin down. As Detective Mark McPherson pieces together her life, he finds himself drawn not just to the crime, but to the woman she seemed to be.... BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

An intimate, magical novel about one enduring church in a rural Icelandic valley - an ode to a quiet way of life now lost to time forever The resting place of legendary Viking warrior Egil Skallagrimsson's skull, Mosfell Church is a lonely, country church, fated to be destroyed. But as the plans to destroy it take shape, stories, myth and folklore abound in one magical last attempt to leave Mosfell standing. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Four of Kurt Vonnegut's best dystopian stories, Monkey Business distils his darkly comic vision of the modern world and the cost of trying to engineer a better life. In a future where everyone is forced to be equal, a gifted teenager dares to rebel. A suburban family discovers a device that delivers perfect happiness. A world frightened of death turns to drugs to slow the march of time. And in a quiet American town, a couple must decide how many children they are willing to raise - for ever. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Huxley's dystopian classic is a nightmare vision of the fate of humanity in a post-nuclear world. After a devastating global catastrophe, a group of scientists arrives in a ruined future shaped by fear, ritual and violence. Humanity has survived - but at a terrible cost, and not in any form they recognise. Ape and Essence is Aldous Huxley's bleak, satirical vision of civilisation after collapse. Fierce, strange and provocative, it confronts the destructive impulses that persist even after the world has ended. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Edith Wharton's ghost stories whisper of passion, exile, and the things we cannot forget In an old Dorset house, a couple settle into a life of quiet comfort - until a presence makes itself felt. At a country gathering, a man is forced to confront a long-buried secret he has tried to outrun. In a small New England community, suspicion gathers around a widower believed to be under the spell of a dead woman. Bewitched brings together three of Edith Wharton's most unsettling ghost stories. Elegant and controlled, they trace the lingering effects of guilt, secrecy and moral judgement - and the moment when the repressed makes its reappearance. Includes the stories: Afterward, The Eyes and Bewitched BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

A dazzling, daring tale of poets at the end of the world, Distant Star is Roberto Bolano's miniature dystopian masterpiece Alberto Ruiz-Tagle was once the quiet, unpromising member of Chile's young poetry scene. But the military coup of 1973 sees Alberto reborn as Chile's leading celebrity poet, Carlos Wieder, known for his daring sky poems, penned in smoke high above the cities. Where did this talent suddenly spring from? And, how is it connected to the disappearance of the beautiful Garmendia twins? Told from across the years in exile in Europe, the narrator's attempts to trace the fate of his old circle will lead him to one last confrontation with the brutality of their generation. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's stories of rebellion and sacrifice, where ordinary lives burn with extraordinary courage In these tales of rebellion and sacrifice, ordinary lives burn with extraordinary courage. From fighters taking up arms against colonial rule to martyrs confronting impossible choices, these stories of struggle and resilience explore the cost of freedom and the endurance of the human spirit. Includes the stories: The Village Priest, The Black Bird, The Martyr, The Return, A Meeting in the Dark and Goodbye Africa BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

In a single afternoon's walk, Virginia Woolf captures the infinite life of a garden... A couple pause among the flowerbeds, their thoughts drifting apart. A woman's mind fixes on a small, troubling mark on the wall. A chance meeting becomes an imagined life, rich with longing and regret. In six luminous, experimental stories, Virginia Woolf remakes the short story as a space of transcendence. Moving fluidly between inner lives and outward scenes, Kew Gardens captures moments of consciousness as they shimmer, fracture and pass, revealing the beauty and strangeness of everyday existence. Includes the stories: Kew Gardens, The Mark on the Wall, An Unwritten Novel, Monday or Tuesday, The String Quartet and Blue & Green BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Masks is Enchi's elegant, seductive story of sexual deception, revenge, and the haunting legacy of the past. Ibuki loves widow Yasuko, who is young, charming and sparkling with intelligence. His friend, Mikame, desires her too but that is not the difficulty. What troubles Ibuki is the curious bond that has grown between Yasuko and her mother-in-law, a beautiful, cultivated yet jealous woman, who is manipulating the relationship between Yasuko and the two men who love her. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Five stories of desire and discovery set in 1970s Japan, from weird fiction's most influential pioneer - Angela Carter An Englishwoman muses on her affair with a younger Japanese man. A spurned lover seeks intimacy in another chance encounter. A boy stumbles upon a mirror world while walking in the woods. In five mesmerising, fantastical tales of 1970s Japan, Angela Carter explores what it means to arrive in a world different from one's own, and to transform profoundly - sometimes terrifyingly - in the process. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Five of Franz Kafka's most compelling short animal stories, where fable, dark humour and unease collide A community gathers to listen to the singing of a mouse. An ape addresses an academy to explain how he became human. A creature digs ever deeper into its burrow, gripped by fear of what might be lurking outside. In these strange and unsettling stories, animals speak plainly about their hopes, fears and fixations. Includes the stories: Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk, A Report to an Academy, The Burrow, The New Advocate and Investigations of a Dog BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Herman Melville's enduringly comic and affecting tale of a man who takes quiet quitting to its extreme A new clerk in a Wall Street lawyer’s office causes dismay and confusion when, after a productive start, he suddenly refuses to do his job. But how to deal with Bartleby, the Scrivener, when he refuses to leave the office altogether? BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Written in the last years of Saramago's life, Cain is a controversial and witty story of a wilful, authoritarian God. After killing his brother, Cain is condemned to wander the earth. As he moves through time, he encounters moments from the Old Testament - acts of faith, violence and divine judgement that he cannot accept without question. Cain is José Saramago's bold, darkly playful reimagining of a biblical outcast. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

A flood brings not only rising waters but the full force of a brutal, racist world With the Mississippi flooding, a Black farmer struggles to get his pregnant wife to safety. In the chaos, a single desperate decision sets off a chain of events that cannot be undone. Down By the Riverside is Richard Wright's unflinching novella of race, power and consequence. Starkly told and painfully resonant, it captures how quickly the world can turn - and who is forced to pay the price. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days