NINE LAYERS OF SKY. (Liz Williams)

Once a Soviet rocket scientist, Elena Irinovna now cleans office buildings until she crosses paths with Ilya Muromyets. An eight-hundred-year-old remnant of Russia's glorious and fabled past, Ilya is now a heroin addict dreaming of a death that will never come. The two are brought together by a strange artefact Elena has found, which offers a glimpse into another dimension creating a dangerous breach in a world Elena only thought she knew Ilya, however, is no stranger to the unexplained, having been hired by a mysterious organization to track down this precious find. Fighting their own inner demons, as well as those from across the breach, Ilya and Elena embark on a harrowing trip between nations and worlds. And for the first time the man of myth and the woman of science discover that they have a dream to defend and even to die for.