Fifteen year old Alex and his three friends start an evening’s mayhem by hitting an old man, tearing up his books and stripping him of moneyand clothes.

Or rather Alex and his three droogs tolchok an old vek, razrez his books, pull off his outer platties and take a malenky bit of cutter.

For Alex’s confessions are written in ‘nadsat’ – the teenage argot of a not too distant future.

Because of his delinquent excesses, Alex is jailed and made subject

to ‘Ludoveco’s Technique’, a chilling experiment

in Reclaimation Treatment.

Horror farce? Social prophecy? Penetrating study of human choice between good and evil?A Clockwork Orange is all three, dazzling proof of Anthony Burgess’ vast talents.

About the author:Anthony Burgess was an English writer and composer. From relatively modest beginnings in a Manchester Catholic family in the North of England, he eventually became one of the best known English literary figures of the latter half of the twentieth century.

Although Burgess was predominantly a comic writer, his dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange remains his best known novel. In 1971 it was adapted into a highly controversial filmby Stanley Kubrick, which Burgess

said was chiefly responsible for the popularity of the book.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Brave New World was written in 1931 and first published in 1932.

Set in London of AD 2540(632 A.F. – ”After Ford” – in the book), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation,and classical conditioning that combine to profoundlychange society.

Huxley said that Brave New Worldwas inspired by the utopian novels ofH.G. Wells, including A Modern Utopia

(1905) and Men Like Gods (1923). Wells’ hopeful vision of the future’s possibilities gave Huxley the idea to begin writing a parody of the novel, which became Brave New World.

In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Brave New World fifth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

In 2003, Robert McCrum writing for The Observer listed Brave New World number 53 in “the top 100 greatest novels of all time”.

Brave New WorldAbout the author:Best known for his novels including Brave New World, set in a dystopian London, The Doors of Perception, which recalls experiences when taking a psychedelic drug, and a wide ranging output of essays. Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel writing, film stories and scripts.

Huxley was a humanist, pacifist, and satirist. He became deeply concerned that human beings might become subjugated through the

sophisticated use of the mass media or mood altering drugs, or tragically impacted by misunderstanding or the misapplication of increasingly sophisticated technology.

Huxley later became interested in spiritual subjects such as parapsychology and philosophical mysticism, in particular, Universalism. He is also well known for his use of psychedelic drugs. By the end of his life Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the preeminent intellectuals of his time.

by Aldous Huxley

The title is the name of a fictional, eccentric, electronic travel guide, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, prominently featured in the series.

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out of work actor.

Together this dynamic pair journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker’s Guide (“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have”)

and a galaxy full of fellow travelers including Zaphod Beeblebrox and Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot.

About the author:Adams is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which originated in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a “trilogy” of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime.

This also generated a television series, several stage plays and a feature film.

Adams’s contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy’s Hall of Fame.

Hitch Hiker’s Guideto the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Nineteen Eighty–Four, sometimes published as 1984, is a dystopian novel first published in 1949.

The novel is set in Airstrip One (formerly known as Great Britain), a province of the superstate Oceania in a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public manipulation, dictated by a political system euphemistically named English Socialism (or Ingsoc in the government’s invented language, Newspeak) under the control of a privileged Inner Party elite that persecutes all individualismand independent thinkingas “thoughtcrimes”.

The tyranny is epitomized by Big Brother, the quasi-divine Party leader who enjoys an intense cult of personality, but who may not even exist. Big Brother and the Party justify their oppressive rule in the name of a supposed greater good.

About the author:George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic.

His work is marked by lucid prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and commitment to democratic socialism.

Commonly ranked as one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century and as one of the most important chroniclersof English culture of his generation, Orwell wrote literary criticism,poetry, fiction and polemical journalism.

He is best known for the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty–Four and the allegorical novella Animal Farm.

Nineteen Eighty-FourOrwell’s work continues to influence popular and political culture, and the term Orwellian – descriptive of

totalitarian or authoritarian

social practices, has entered the language together with several of his neologisms, including cold war, Big Brother, thought police, Room 101, doublethink, and thoughtcrime.

by George Orwell

First published in 1968, the book served as the primary basis for the 1982 film Blade Runner.

The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic near future, where Earth and its populations have been damaged greatly by nuclear war during World War Terminus.

Most types of animals are endangered or extinct due to extreme radiation poisoning from the war. To own an animal is a sign of status, but what is emphasized more is the empathic emotions humans experience towardsan animal.

The main plot follows Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter who is faced with “retiring” six escaped Nexus-6 brain model androids, the latest and most advanced model, while a secondary plot follows John Isidore, a man of sub-normal intelligence who aids the fugitive androids.

In connection with Deckard’s mission, the novel explores the issue of what it is to be human.

Unlike humans, the androids possess no sense of empathy. In essence, Deckard probes the existence of defining qualities that separate humans from androids.

About the author:Philip K. Dick was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist and philosopher whose published work is almost entirely accepted as being in the science fiction genre.

Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments, and altered states.

In his later works Dick’s thematic focus strongly reflected his personal interest in metaphysics and theology.

He often drew upon his own life experiences in addressing the nature of drug abuse, paranoia, schizophrenia, and transcendental experiences in novels such asA Scanner Darkly and VALIS.

Do Androids DreamOf Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick

Welcome to Waterstone’s book month.

This month we are showcasingScience Fiction, an eclectic mix ofnew and old titles from establishedand emerging authors.

Every book that is part of thispromotion will have a special Book Month sticker attached to the front cover, so watch out for them.

We are also holding special readings, competitions and promotions throughout the month.

Check online atwww.waterstones.co.ukto find out what is happeningat your local store.