Hodder's Silver list is making timeless science fiction and fantasy titles available for a new generation of readers - and reacquainting existing fans with favourite works from the past.
Viner lives in a land that constantly floods - his skill as a water diviner has led to ridicule. But when he is kidnapped all this changes. His murderous captors force him to work for them in their drought-stricken country - and to challenge the Rain-King whose failure to provide the necessary rainfall is sorely trying all those around him. But instead of ridiculing the King, Viner befriends him - perhaps more ... Aquarius is a deeply humane story of power, manipulation, ambition, and burgeoning sexuality. Viner is a complex character - easy to like and despise in equal measure. His story will not easily be forgotten.
Jan Mark was one of the most distinguished writers for children of recent times. She won the Carnegie Medal twice - for Thunder and Lightnings (1976) and Handles (1983). Other acclaimed titles include They Do Things Differently There, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award and The Eclipse of the Century, which was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. Her science fiction novels - The Ennead, Divide and Rule and Aquarius (all Hodder) - are acclaimed as masterpieces. A former teacher, Jan came from a London family, spent many years living in Norfolk but, for the last twenty years of her life, made her home in Oxford, where she died in 2006.