Science fiction gifts

'A rich and complex story of friendship and love' GUARDIAN 'Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.' Two people, until recently strangers, find themselves on a long, tortuous and dangerous journey across the ice. One is an outcast, forced to leave his beloved homeland; the other...

A man awakens in a mysterious clearing, disoriented and alone. He finds himself in what appears to be medieval England, with no recollection of his identity, origins, or purpose. Struggling with his fragmented memory, he soon discovers that he is being pursued by individuals from his own time. His enigmatic past is his greatest enemy, and unravelling it becomes his...

A high concept thriller and genre busting classic, now a major motion picture starring Matt Damon. The Martian is a survival story for the 21st century and the international bestseller behind the major film from Ridley Scott, starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain. I'm stranded on Mars. I have no way to communicate with Earth. I'm in a habitat designed...

THE TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Dreamlike and baffling’ GUARDIAN ‘Extremely beautiful ... I don't think I'll read a better book this year, perhaps decade’ OBSERVER ‘A formidable book, unexpectedly compassionate’ FINANCIAL TIMES ‘I loved this book so much’ SARAH JESSICA PARKER Phillip Tennent makes his living at the tideline, collecting artefacts that wash up from the Channel. It's been years since the...

This hardcover edition celebrates the No. 1 New York Times bestseller that set our sights on Mars and inspired the major motion picture starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain, with special features including: Intricately designed sprayed edges New cover art on a deluxe jacket Full-color illustrated endpapers A custom-stamped case A mission to Mars. A freak accident. One man’s struggle...

A phenomenon across all formats, this paperback omnibus contains the complete Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy in five parts, charting the entirety of Arthur Dent's odyssey through space and time. Share and enjoy. Collected together in this omnibus are the five titles that comprise Douglas Adams' wildly popular and wholly remarkable comedy science fiction 'trilogy', plus a bonus short story, Young Zaphod...

The scorching third volume in a new series set in the #1 global bestselling Shatter Me universe ten years after the fall of The Reestablishment. **James Anderson needs a new plan. ** He’s ready to make real moves to destroy the looming threats against their world, but no one is taking him seriously. James is tired of being underestimated by...

Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg The Sci-Fi Sensation of the Year - a jaw-droppingly cinematic space opera, part classic coming-of-age story, part brilliant pop-culture mash-up. The book behind the major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg Wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, Ready Player One is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut...

Since its initial publication in 1978, The Stand has been considered No. 1 bestselling author and master storyteller Stephen King's seminal masterpiece of apocalyptic fiction, with millions of copies sold and adapted twice for television. Although there are other extraordinary works exploring the unravelling of human society, none have been as influential as this iconic novel - with generations of...

Welcome to the Best of the Masterworks: a selection of the finest in science fiction Arthur Dent thought his day was going badly when someone tried to demolish his house. Then someone demolished his planet. Rescued by his friend Ford—who is not a human from Guilford, but an alien from somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse—Arthur is flung into an...

For millennia, the Crown Dominion has been at relative peace, with the Celestials in control and the human population little better than serfs. But now the Crown Dominion is facing a crisis of epic proportions — one that could change the balance of power in the Centauri Cluster forever — as an exiled faction that has been waiting for seven...

‘Scion’ is an electrifying sci-fi thriller that follows a contract killer tasked with protecting a scientist from assassination, only to find himself in the crosshairs. My name’s Azure. I kill rich idiots for a living. All completely legal, of course, even if it does still make the old-fashioned crowd a bit uncomfortable. Once the ultra-wealthy realised they had a way...

Get ready to be blown away by this searing standalone science fiction epic where corporate samurai fight beneath merciless stars, and death is always a mere breath away. Isako is a legendary swordswoman, but every legend has to come to an end. When her long-time client unexpectedly retires, she plans to follow—to walk out into the frozen wasteland of their...

“I love the Bobiverse! Some of the best sci-fi out there. These novels have everything, but most importantly Bob was there, too.” —Andy Weir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Project Hail MaryFeaturing stenciled edges, original art for the front and back endpapers, and a new cover.The book that launched a thousand Bobs and the first novel in the Bobiverse series from...

When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for? Revisit the world of Panem twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Fiftieth Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games,...

After decades of war against alien oppressors, the humans of the Defiant Defense Force are finally free. Yet for Arturo Mendez, leader of Skyward Flight, freedom isn't what he thought it would be. His first postwar assignment seems simple: The DDF has found evidence of other settlements of humans who were isolated during their long war against the aliens, and...

A beautiful deluxe gift edition of Mary Shelley's gothic masterpiece with foiled covers, marbled endpapers, sprayed edges, beautiful paper and finished with a silk ribbon. Navigating the Arctic, the captain of a ship rescues a man wandering near death across the ice caps. How the man got there reveals itself in a story of ambition, murder and revenge. As a...

5,000 years in the future, humanity faces total extermination. Our one defence: highly-trained soldiers who scour the metal-strewn blackness of space to hunt down a terrifying enemy: an insect life-form known only as 'Bugs.' This is the story of trooper Johnny Rico, from his idealistic enlistment in the infantry of the future through his rigorous training to the command of...

Octavia E. Butler's ground-breaking masterpiece, with an original foreword by Ayobami Adebayo. 'A marvel of imagination, empathy and detail' NEW YORK TIMES 'The marker you should judge all other time-travelling narratives by' GUARDIAN 'One of the most significant literary artists of the twentieth century. One cannot exaggerate the impact she has had' JUNOT DIAZ In 1976, Dana dreams of being...

For the first time, all of the short fiction set in James S. A. Corey's New York Times bestselling Expanse series is available in this collection - including a brand-new novella. Now a major television series on Prime Video. Contents: Drive The Butcher of Anderson Station The Churn Gods of Risk The Vital Abyss Strange Dogs Auberon The Sins of...

The third and final book in The Nightfall Saga, the thrilling and action-packed epic fantasy series set in the world of The Demon Cycle, from Sunday Times bestselling author Peter V. Brett. "Heart-wrenching, smart, and modern... The Desert Prince has set a new standard for fantasy." – Wesley Chu, author of The War Arts Saga. He is known as The...

'A contemporary masterpiece' Guardian The first volume of the extraordinary Southern Reach Trilogy – now a major motion picture written and directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina) and starring Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac For thirty years, Area X has remained mysterious and remote behind its intangible border – an environmental disaster zone, though to all appearances an abundant wilderness....

In this highly-anticipated new action manga, a young boy is framed for murder and cast off the edge of a floating city into the abyss, where he grapples with the monsters that the elite high above would rather forget. The more the rich glitter, the higher the price paid by the poor... With a premise that recalls Battle Angel Alita...

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time... From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers each of whom...

Juliette Ferrars thought she was a walking weapon, able to kill with a single touch. But when she tries to use her lethal gift to eliminate Warner, the one person she needs to protect herself from, she finds that he is mysteriously immune to her power. This revelation leaves her shaken and confused, questioning the very essence of her deadly...

The Strugatsky brothers' poignant and introspective novel of first contact that inspired the classic film Stalker. Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those strange misfits who are compelled by some unknown force to venture illegally into the Zone and, in spite of the extreme danger, collect the mysterious artefacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is...

From the author of the thrilling science-fiction epic Children of Time, winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award. "One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction" - Christopher Paolini Shards of Earth is the first high-octane instalment in the Final Architecture trilogy. The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . ....

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson comes the final book in an epic series about a girl who will travel beyond the stars to save the world she loves from destruction. Spensa made it out of the Nowhere, but what she saw in the space between the stars has changed her forever. She came face to...

In Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, a complex tapestry of interwoven narratives unfolds across different time periods and locations, each story impacting the others in profound and unexpected ways. The tale begins in 1850 with a reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific Ocean and follows a disinherited composer striving to make his mark in pre-World War II Belgium. Later, readers are...

If you're a fan of Tahereh Mafi's spellbinding Shatter Me trilogy, Find Me is an irresistible addition to your collection. This compilation brings together the final two companion novellas, Shadow Me and Reveal Me, each providing deeper insights into the world and characters you thought you knew so well. These novellas serve as a prelude to the explosive finale of...

The stars are waiting for you. We hope you will come find us there. Life on Fortune is hard. The atmosphere is poisonous, the planet hardly fit for life. But forits inhabitants, it's home. Pilot Cora suffers from a rare and dangerous condition, brought about by her bond withColibri, the alien animal she pilots to quarry vital water for the...

A BRIGHTER PAST. A DARKER FUTURE. The year is 2035. It's been twenty years since World War Three wiped out humankind. The only survivors were those who made it through the gates of the Metro, the subway system of Moscow city. It's there, hundreds of feet below the ground, that they try to outlive the end of the days. But...

You don't have to eat food to know the way to a city's heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know: making food—the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around—for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a...

EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD. The future is loading... To escape rising seas and rampant epidemics, most of society lives "upcountry" in glistening virtual reality, while those who cannot afford the subscription are forced to remain in crumbling "downcountry." But upcountry is not perfect. A cold war rages between two powerful nations, Medaluo and Atahua—and no one suffers for...

The epic story that began with Heir to the Empire reaches its dramatic conclusion in this essential Star Wars Legends novel. The embattled Republic reels from the attacks of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has marshalled the remnants of the Imperial forces and driven the Rebels back with an abominable technology recovered from the Emperor's secret fortress—clone soldiers. As Thrawn mounts...

How do you stop a murder when it's already happened? Find out the lengths one woman will go to save her family. It's every parent's nightmare. Your happy, funny, innocent son commits a terrible crime – murdering a complete stranger. You don't know who. You don't know why. You only know your teenage boy is in custody and his future...

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge is an extraordinary work of science fiction that explores the grandeur and complexity of interstellar exploration and commerce. Set in the distant future, this gripping prequel to the critically acclaimed A Fire Upon the Deep captures readers with an epic tale spanning hundreds of years and the farthest reaches of Human Space....

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr is a sprawling and ambitious narrative that weaves together the lives of five distinct characters across centuries and continents. The novel spans from the fall of Constantinople in the fifteenth century to a mysterious dystopian future, exploring the enduring power of literature and the profound connections that bind humanity through time. In 1453 Constantinople,...

Space opera's sharpest mind returns to the world of the Imperial Radch in this brilliant standalone from award-winning author Ann Leckie. Radiant Star explores the Temporal Location of the Radiant Star, a source of both conflict and hope for the people of Ooioiaa. However, the imperial Radch view it merely as an inconvenience, seeing it as an antiquated religious site...

Search for signs of alien life by launching probes and analyzing distant signals.  1-4 Players  |  40-160 Mins  |  Ages 13+ Features: End Game Bonuses, Income, Multi-Use Cards, Resource to Move, Solo / Solitaire Game Theme: Science Fiction, Space Exploration Description: In SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, a eurogame for 1–4 players, you lead a scientific institution tasked with searching for...

They set a Slamhound on Turner's trail in New Delhi, slotted it to his pheromones and the colour of his hair. When the Maas Biolabs and Hosaka zaibatsus fight it out for world domination, computer cowboys like Turner and Count Zero are just foot soldiers in the great game: useful but ultimately expendable. When Turner wakes up in Mexico -...

From New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman comes a young adult thriller about a world where happiness is contagious, but the risks of catching it may be just as dangerous as the cure. A deadly and unprecedented virus is spreading. But those who survive it experience long-term effects no one has ever seen before: utter contentment. Soon after infection,...

The first four novels in Tahereh Mafi's New York Times bestselling Shatter Me series (Shatter Me, Unravel Me, Ignite Me, and Restore Me) are available together in this paperback box set collection! No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has plans of her...

Welcome to Night City, a vibrant urban sprawl that never sleeps. Beneath the glow of neon lights and towering skyscrapers, a ragtag group of six strangers are coerced into undertaking a high-stakes heist. Each member of this unlikely team is blackmailed into joining forces to rob a convoy transporting a mysterious container belonging to the powerful corporation, Militech. However, these...

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson transports readers to a world under constant threat from an alien force known as the Krell. For generations, humanity has been locked in a desperate battle for survival, defending their skies from these relentless invaders. In this high-stakes environment, pilots emerge as the ultimate heroes, risking everything to keep their people safe. Among them, young Spensa...

What The Lord of the Rings is to fantasy, Dune is to science fiction. Presenting one of the most influential works of all time, which has inspired countless other stories for more than half a century, this is an awe-inspiring world, and a story of truly epic scope. 'An astonishing science fiction phenomenon' WASHINGTON POST 'I know nothing comparable to...

The Silence of the Lambs meets Interstellar. The terrifying, thrilling, and ingenious science-fiction thriller from Tom Sweterlitsch. Film rights bought by Twentieth Century Fox with Neil Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium) to direct. 'Thrilling . . . [a] dark, page-turning thriller' - The Guardian A murdered family. A missing girl. Time is running out... 1997. Shannon Moss of the Naval Criminal...

Vintage Quarterbound Classics - Bound to be beautiful A beautiful hardback edition of Huxley's iconic dystopian classic, introduced by Yuval Noah Harari. 'A masterpiece of speculation... As vibrant, fresh, and somehow shocking as it was when I first read it' - Margaret Atwood 'If you have time for just one book, this would be my top choice' - Yuval Noah...

Centuries from now, an orphan adrift in an American city grows up to become a pincher. Stealing electricity from the grid to power the vibrant downtown music scene she adores is a risky occupation, and the city she moves through can be dangerous. She is right to be wary. But soon, she is drawn into a paranoid maze where her...

In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his older brother has disowned him, and he's been fired from his job. Looking for a new direction, he returns to his family's summer cabin in the mountains of Oregon. The cabin should be empty. But it's not. Inside is a man named Alex—and an extraordinary...

The first novel in a dazzling anime-inspired fantasy series, set within a mythical archipelago brimming with dragons and Sun Spirits, high-tech hackers and bubble tea.Limited copies with sprayed edges available for pre-order!Life is hard for the inhabitants of Rainshadow City, a place where poverty and corruption are rife and where they are terrorised by an underground criminal organisation known as...

"A truly great writer steps onto the stage" Daniel Kehlmann The snow of the dying century still lay on the edge of the dark forest when Lajos von Lazár, the translucent child with water-blue eyes, first glimpsed the man he would believe to be his father for his whole life and beyond. Lajos von Lazár is brought into this world...

A slow-burn, swoon-worthy love story about two people separated by time and the dangerous secrets that threaten to tear them apart. A debut time travel romance for fans of The Seven Year Slip, Divine Rivals and A Discovery of Witches. Limited copies with sprayed edges available for pre-order! Every morning, Mariella Adams wakes with a strange electrical energy buzzing beneath...

Explore the wilderness of the far future as rangers of a wondrous mountain valley. 1-4 Players  |  60-240 Mins  |  Ages 12+ Features: Card Play Conflict Resolution, Cooperative Game, Deck Construction, Hand Management, Move Through Deck, Narrative Choice / Paragraph, Role Playing, Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game, Solo / Solitaire Game, Storytelling, Variable Set-up Theme: Adventure, Card Game, Environmental,...

The basis of three bestselling computer games: Metro 2033, Metro Last Light, and Metro: Exodus. The Metro books have put Dmitry Glukhovsky in the vanguard of Russian speculative fiction alongside the creator of Night Watch, Sergei Lukyanenko. A year after the events of Metro 2033, the last few survivors of the apocalypse, surrounded by mutants and monsters, face a terrifying...

Venture into a macabre world with this stunning edition of The Essential Tales of H.P. Lovecraft. The Essential Tales of H.P. Lovecraft collects one of the author's most popular novellas and six of his most famous short stories: At the Mountains of Madness The Call of Cthulhu The Colour Out of Space The Dunwich Horror The Shadow Out of Time...

“She is hated by both men and gods, and heaven and earth cannot allow her to exist.” After suffering devastating loss, Zetian finds herself at the seat of power in Huaxia. But her world is not as it seems, and revelations about an enemy more daunting than she imagined force her to share her power with a dangerous man. Despite...

Henry Dorsett Case is a low-level hustler, former hack, and 'console cowboy' who crashed and burned. His nerves were damaged and, thus cut off from the digital matrix, he slouches through life. Until he meets Molly, an augmented 'razorgirl', who offers him a deal on behalf of a shadowy man called Armitage. His nerves repaired and matrix access restored, in...

'Gelfuso seamlessly blends elements of romance and fantasy into the twisty quest narrative, and packs excitement into every page. It's a delight.' Publishers Weekly Nuremberg, 1938: Lisavet Levy's watchmaker father saves her from the Nazis by pushing her through a mysterious doorway. There, she discovers the time space—a vast, magical library where memories of the past are stored in books....

Star Wars The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire presents an in-world political history of the Galactic Empire of the Star Wars galaxy. A history of the dark times: "So this is how liberty dies—with thunderous applause." —Senator Padme Amidala When Palpatine declared the birth of his new Empire, he expected it would stand for millennia. Instead, it lasted...

A stunning clothbound edition of Wells' science-fiction classic. Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality, colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. From the planet of war they came to conquer the Earth... The night after a shooting star is seen streaking...

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'THE START OF SOMETHING TRULY EPIC' Fonda Lee, author of the Green Bone Saga 'DAZZLING . . . THIS IS SPACE OPERA AT ITS BEST' Publishers Weekly From the New York Times bestselling author of the Expanse comes a spectacular new space opera that sees humanity fighting for its survival in a war as old...

Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov is an extraordinary journey through time and space, crafting an epic tale that forms the bedrock of modern science fiction. Comprised of three remarkable novels— Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), and Second Foundation (1953)—this series is a monumental achievement that has captured the imagination of readers for decades. The story unfolds in a distant...

'Prescient, dark, and ultimately hopeful' PIERCE BROWN 'Excellent' PETER F. HAMILTON 'A menacing experience' FONDA LEE 'Science fiction at its finest' SUNYI DEAN In this brand-new blistering science fiction epic, Sunday Times bestselling author Richard Swan presents a thrilling tale of survival and an eviscerating examination of totalitarianism. WHO GIVES YOU LIFE? PATER AETERNUS. Katherine Fuller's husband is dead. As...

The first in a new trilogy set in the world of the groundbreaking Chaos Walking series, which has sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide.·“In a world full of Noise, the CHAOS WALKING trilogy delivered a razor-sharp take on humanity and morality even more relevant now than when it was first published.” Neal ShustermanNow, almost twenty years on, Patrick Ness makes...

It sounds like Gliff? Well, it's something else altogether. Ghosts don't exist. They don't. End of. Story, however. It is haunting. Everything tells it. It all starts when Petra and her little sister Patch hear a horrifying story from the past and find themselves making up a ghost. Is it imaginary? Is it real? Then it all starts again thirty...

What The Lord of the Rings is to fantasy, Dune is to science fiction. Presenting Dune Messiah, the sequel to one of the most influential works of all time, which has inspired countless other stories for more than half a century, this is an awe-inspiring world and a story of truly epic scope. 'An astonishing science fiction phenomenon' WASHINGTON POST...

In the age of AI, this classic tale of technology gone wrong is a must-read collectible in this handsome faux-leather hardcover edition. The combination of fantastical elements and scientific exploration makes this Mary Shelley novel one of the first true models of science fiction. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus pioneered the deeply explored battle between monster and man. Follow three...

It's Black Friday - and the apocalypse is on sale! Ever since the world filled with portals to hell and bloodthirsty demons started popping out regularly, Jasper's life has only grown worse. A teenage nobody with no friends or family, he is haunted by the life he can't remember and the person he is certain he is meant to be....

From the creator of the beloved and universally acclaimed television series BoJack Horseman, a fabulously offbeat collection of short stories about love—the best and worst thing in the universe. A fabulously off-beat collection of short stories about love—the best and worst thing in the universe—written by the creator of BoJack Horseman with his hallmark scathing dark humour. Transcendent tragicomedy... Prepare...

'A masterpiece of poignant brilliance . . . heartbreaking' Guardian Flowers for Algernon tells the story of Charlie Gordon, a floor sweeper born with an unusually low IQ. He has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that doctors hope will increase his intelligence. This procedure has been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named...

THE MOST POWERFUL STORY YOU'LL READ THIS YEAR. 'Fletcher's suspenseful, atmospheric tale imagines a near future in which our world is in ruins . . . an adventure saga punctured by a gut-punch twist' Entertainment Weekly 'You'll remember A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World long after you finish reading' Peng Shepherd, author of The Book...

A contemporary masterpiece Guardian The third volume of the extraordinary Southern Reach Trilogy – now a major motion picture written and directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina) and starring Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Gina Rodriguez, and Tessa Thompson. One last, desperate team embarks across the border, determined to reach a remote island that may hold the answers they've been seeking....

The sequel to the Sunday Times Bestseller Thrawn Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader ally against a threat to the Empire in this new novel from bestselling author Timothy Zahn. THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader team up against a threat to the Empire in this thrilling novel from bestselling author Timothy Zahn. "I have sensed...

The Sunday Times Bestseller In this definitive novel, readers will follow Thrawn's rise to power, uncovering the events that created one of the most iconic villains in Star Wars history. One of the most cunning and ruthless warriors in the history of the Galactic Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn is also one of the most captivating characters in the Star Wars...

From the bestselling author of Ready Player One, now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. Pre-order now - Ready Player Two - the highly anticipated sequel to Ready Player One. 'A masterful tale of Earth's desperate struggle against a powerful alien foe.' - Andy Weir, bestselling author of The Martian It's just another day of high school for...

When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he's not alone. He's surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade — a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre and terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don't know how or why they came to be there —...

Book 8 in the Rivers of London series from Sunday Times Number One bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch. In False Value, Peter Grant is facing the dual challenges of impending fatherhood and an uncertain future with a mix of panic and enthusiasm. Leaving behind his career in the police force, Peter takes a job with Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's...

Full of glimpses into gleaming worlds and fairy tales with teeth, Seasons of Glass and Iron: Stories is a collection of acclaimed and awarded work from Amal El-Mohtar. With confidence and style, El-Mohtar guides us through exquisitely told and sharply observed tales about life as it is, was, and could be. Like miscellany from other worlds, these stories are told...