In conversation with Peter F. Hamilton at Waterstones Deansgate

We are delighted to welcome sci-fi powerhouse Peter F. Hamilton to Deansgate to discuss the first instalment of his earth-shattering new series, .
The master of epic space opera and author of The Neutronium Alchemist delivers the first part of a breathtaking duology about tyranny amongst the stars and one brave traveller who yearns to explore more of the universe.
Peter joins us to discuss his work and answer audience questions, followed by a signing.

About the book
Forty-thousand years ago, humanity fled a dying Earth. Traveling in massive ark ships these brave pioneers spread out across the galaxy to find a new home. After traveling thousands of light-years, one fleet of ark ships arrived at Centauri, a dense cluster of stars with thousands of potentially habitable planets. The survivors of Earth signaled to the remaining ark ships that humanity had finally found its new home among the stars.

Thousands of years later, the Centauri Cluster has flourished. The original settlers evolved into advanced beings know n as Celestials, dividing themselves into powerful Dominions. One of the most influential is that of the Crown Celestials, an alliance of five great houses that controls vast areas of Centauri. As ark ships continue to arrive, the remaining humans and their descendants must fight for survival against overwhelming odds or be forced into serving the Crown Dominion.

Among those yearning for a better life is Finn, for whom Earth is not even a memory, but merely a footnote from humanity’s ancient history. Born on one of the Crown Dominion worlds, Finn has known nothing but the repressive rule of the Celestials, though he dreams of the possibility of boundless space beyond his home.

When another ark ship from Earth, previously thought lost, unexpectedly arrives, Finn sees his chance to embrace a greater destiny and become a Traveler – brave heroes dedicated to ensuring humanity’s future by journeying into the vast unknown of distant space.

About the author
Born in Rutland in 1960, Hamilton did not attend university and was initially uninterested in pursuing a writing career. This all changed in 1988 when he sold a short story to the magazine Fear and then began work on what would eventually become the Greg Mandel trilogy of Mindstar Rising (1993), A Quantum M**der (1994) and The Nano Flower (1995). Hamilton’s next science fiction opus, The Night’s Dawn trilogy, is probably still his most well-known work; a vast space opera of over 3,000 pages in total and comprised of The Reality Dysfunction (1996), The Neutronium Alchemist (1997) and The Naked God (1999). Alongside standalone novels such as Fallen Dragon (2001) and Great North Road (2012), Hamilton has penned numerous books set in the Commonwealth Universe as well as the Salvation Sequence and the Archimedes Engine duology – the first part of which, Exodus, is published in 2024.

Host or Publisher Waterstones