Too Cold for Snow — Jon Gower

In this zany new collection of stories, a paid assassin called Krink loads up on viper-spit to tackle some uber-thugs; the governor of a prison ship introduces his inmates to haute cuisine; and a farmer wakes up after an avalanche in north Wales to find he is the last man alive. Ranging from the taiga of northern Russia to the depths of despair, these thrilling and stunningly original short stories are fuelled by a high-octane imagination and an uncommon zest for language.