We were delighted to see not just one, but two fabulous Orbit books in the Guardian’s stylish Saturday supplement. The Gadgets Fiends piece presented us with a photograph of the bookshelf of the future, dripping with must-have gadgets, alcohol extraction devices (ahem, fancy bottleopeners) and e-items of various sorts. And although the futuristic bookshelf was rather short on books, we spotted Mike Cobley’s trailblazing Seeds of Earth at no.5 on the legend and Philip Palmer’s explosive Red Claw (UK | US) was a shelf or so below at position 8. Please see the image below for what our future holds …

… after a selected couple of quotes for those books:

For Seeds of Earth:

‘Proper galaxy-spanning Space Opera . . . a worthy addition to the genre’ Iain M. Banks

‘A tightly plotted, action packed epic that leaves you wanting more’ SciFi Now

For Red Claw:

‘Red Claw is that rare treat, an intelligent action adventure replete with intellectual rigour, human insight and superb storytelling’ – Guardian

‘Philip Palmer has crafted a novel that is brimming with promise… a refreshing and alternative read’ – SciFi Now

Click on the image for a larger and slightly more readable version: