Cirrus@Austlit

'It begins and ends with a flash of light, the last thing remembered by anyone using d-mat A flash of perfectly white light issuing from all eight corners of the booth that somehow doesn't leave an afterimage. People never talk about the last part, which is symptomatic of their willingness to ignore the discomfiting obvious. The flash of light is their final memory before they're torn into atoms. It's also the first thing they see when a perfect replica of their brain comes alive at the other end of their journey. However, what they think of as a single, near-instantaneous event is actually the beginning and end of a two-minute process that a philosopher much smarter than I once described as the most savage evisceration imaginable°. My darlings will endure much, provided they forget entirely afterwards. (Introduction) 
 

A group of hikers planning on using d-mat (transport) technology to 'climb' a mesa in Venezuela are stranded when the technology's headquarters is sabotaged and the platforms become inoperative.

'Part of the Twinmaker series, this story follows Maudlin Tom, a father working through the loss of his son by following the journey his son had planned. What he discovers in a sleepy rural town lands him in the midst of danger and destruction, but Tom cannot turn away from those that could be saved.'

Source: Magazine blurb.

'I was not I at all before the Words. I was formless and diffuse, with the sense of an earthworm but the perspective of a god. I had access to all the data accrued by the human race since the advent of writing...everywhere, and at the same time nowhere.

'Q is an AI - an Artificial Intelligence - newly created from a world of powerful supercomputers and matter transportation. But what happens when Q meets Clair, a real, flesh and blood girl? Is friendship possible between a human and a computer?

'A brilliant novella, retelling events of the Twinmaker series from Q's perspective.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Clair lives in a world revolutionised by d-mat, a global teleport system that allows people to transport themselves instantaneously around the world. When a coded note promises improvement - the chance to change your body any way you want, making it stronger, taller, more beautiful - Clair thinks it's too good to be true, but her best friend, Libby, is determined to give it a try.

'What starts as Libby's dream turns into Clair's nightmare when Libby falls foul of a deadly trap. With the help of Jesse, the school freak, and a mysterious online friend called Q, Clair's attempt to protect Libby leads her to an unimagined world of conspiracies and cover-ups. Soon her own life is at risk, and Clair is chased across the world in a desperate race against time.' (Publisher's blurb)

'If you betrayed a friend, how far would you go to earn their forgiveness?

'If someone had saved your life, would you risk your life to save them?

'If you could bring someone back from the dead, who would you choose?

'Clair and Jesse have barely been reunited when the world is plunged into crisis - the d-mat network is broken. People are trapped, injured and dying, and it's partly Clair's fault.

'Peacekeepers enlist Clair to track down Q, the rogue AI - artificial intelligence - who saved her life and is the key to fixing the system. Targeted by dupes and abandoned by her friends, Clair finds powerful allies in the most unlikely places. But who can she trust? Q won't respond to her calls for help, and if Clair finds her, will she be trapping her friend in a life of servitude or sending her to death by erasure?

'Caught between pro- and anti-d-mat philosophies, in a world on the brink of all-out war, Clair must decide where she stands - and who she stands with - at the end.' (Publication summary)

'Jesse is in trouble, and this time Clair can't help him.

'When Ant Wallace's trap springs shut in New York, it's up to Jesse to save a horribly injured Ray while at the same time dodging Mallory and an army of dupes. As if that isn't bad enough, the city around him is acting strangely, as though it isn't entirely . . . real.

'With the help of a new friend, and friends thought long-dead, Jesse must escape New York in order find Clair and help save the world.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Action and danger fuel this near-future thriller in a fresh take on technology, identity, and the lengths one girl will go to save her best friend. The explosive conclusion to the Twinmaker series.

'Clair's world has been destroyed - again. The only remaining hope of saving her friends is for her and Q to enter the Yard, a digital world of Ant Wallace's creation. The rules there are the same as those of the real world: water is real; fire is real; death is real. It all looks exactly the same as the world she used to know. But in the Yard there are two Clair Hills, and their very existence causes cracks that steadily widen.

'Getting inside is the easy part. Once there, Clair has to earn the trust of her friends, including the girl who started it all - her best friend, Libby. But they don't know what's happened to the real world, and the other Clair is headstrong, impulsive, suspicious - just like Clair herself used to be. And that makes her dangerous.

'As Clair struggles to find Jesse and make peace with herself, a surprising new ally emerges from the ashes of the world. Together they fight their way through the digital and political minefield in the hope of saving the world once and for all. This time Clair has to get it right ... or lose everything.' (Publication summary)