Children of the Sun by Max Schaefer
1970: 14yr old Tony becomes seduced by the neo-nazi movement and is sucked into a world of brutal racist violence and bizarre ritual. It’s a milieu in which he must hide his homosexuality, in which every encounter is potentially explosive.
2003: James, an aspiring screenwriter, begins to research the far right in Britain, and its secret gay membership
Two narrative threads follow Tony through the 70s, 80s and 90s and James through a year which he becomes dangerous immersed in his research.
Elevator pitch: ‘This is England’ meets ‘Queer as Folk’.
Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
Detective Elijah Baley investigates the murder of an offworlder in Spacetown. In the opinion of the Spacers, the murder is tied up with recent attempts to sabotage the Spacer-sponsored project of converting Earth to an integrated human/robot society on the model of the Outer Worlds.
To search for the killer in the City’s vast caves of steel, Elijah is assigned a Spacer partner named R. Daneel. That’s Robot Daneel. And notwithstanding the celebrated Three Laws of Robotics, which should make such a murder impossible, R. Daneel is soon Elijah’s prime suspect.
Elevator Pitch: Detective series with robots
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
Hundreds of years in the future, after the Something that Happened, the world is an alarmingly different place. Life is lived according to The Rulebook and social hierarchy is determined by your perception of colour.
Eddie Russett is an above average Red who dreams of moving up the ladder by marriage to Constance Oxblood. Until he is sent to the Outer Fringes where he meets Jane – a lowly Grey with an uncontrollable temper and a desire to see him killed.
For Eddie, it’s love at first sight. But his infatuation will lead him to discover that all is not as it seems in a world where everything that looks black and white is really shades of grey.
Elevator Pitch: ‘1984’ meets ‘Brave New World’ with colours.
14 by Peter Clines
There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment. Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable. The rent is low, the property managers are friendly, and the odd little mysteries don’t nag at him too much. At least, not until he meets Mandy, his neighbor across the hall, and notices something unusual about her apartment. And Xela’s apartment. And Tim’s. And Veek’s. Because every room in this old Los Angeles brownstone has a mystery or two. Mysteries that stretch back over a hundred years. Some of them are in plain sight. Some are behind locked doors. And all together these mysteries could mean the end of Nate and his friends. Or the end of everything
Elevator Pitch: HP Lovecraft meets Nikola Tesla.
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit – we do paperwork so real coppers don’t have to – and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluble, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.
Elevator Pitch: If Harry Potter was a police officer in London.
Exit, Pursued by Bear 