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Beginning Operations

On sale

19th March 2026

Price: £16.99

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Selected: ebook / ISBN-13: 9781399636223

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The first three novels in the incredible Sector General series.

Welcome to SECTOR GENERAL – a colossal space hospital that attends to species ranging from an ultra-intelligent prune in a blob of syrup, to a teleportative brontosaurus, to a shape-shifting amoeba that constantly melts like an ice lolly on a summer’s day. The hospital’s staff is equally diverse, counting among its ranks an exoskeletal, insect-like assistant and a six-legged, elephantine surgeon.


Then there is Dr Conway. An Earth-human, he is new to the job but will not let lingering first day jitters stop him from taking on his first big case: treating a hundred-unit gestalt of mind-sharing aliens. Throughout the course of the series, his quick thinking and passion for his profession allow Dr Conway to ascend from Junior Intern all the way to Senior Diagnostician. But this esteemed position is its own double-edged sword, for doctors of this rank have up to ten ‘Education Tapes’ permanently imprinted in their brains. While these recordings are invaluable when it comes to treating such a wide variety of life-forms, they also pass on the personality of the donor, the consequences of which can range from a mere aversion to a particular food to a concerning attraction towards members of other species . . . But the interstellar society of Sector General and beyond is ultimately a peaceful one where, aside from the occasional pre-arranged war to release tensions, the biggest blows come from the acerbic tongue of the hospital’s Chief Psychologist, the enigmatic Major O’Mara.

Reviews

The Ultimate Guide to SF
Neat, humorous, and humane
David Langford
Sector General is one of the few places in SF that one would really, really like to exist
Publishers Weekly
Replete with wit, originality, medical expertise and sheer decency
New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
Over the years White has built a large and enthusiastic audience for his Sector General series, which concerns a fully realized interspecies hospital on the rim of the Galaxy. His fascinating cast of characters and his belief in the basic decency of all intelligent life-forms have seen him through six Sector General books over the past quarter century