Ben Bova continues his hard SF Star Quest series which began with Death Wave and Apes and Angels. In Surivival, a human team sent to scout a few hundred lightyears in front of the death wave encounters a civilization far in advance of our own, a civilization of machine intelligences.These sentient, intelligent machines have existed for eons, and have survived earlier "death waves," gamma ray bursts from the core of the galaxy. They are totally self-sufficient, completely certain that the death wave cannot harm them, and utterly uninterested in helping to save other civilizations, organic or machine.But now that the humans have discovered them, they refuse to allow them to leave their planet, reasoning that other humans will inevitably follow if they learn of their existence.The Star Quest Trilogy#1 Death Wave#2 Apes and Angels#3 SurvivalAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights... Views: 26
A Globe and Mail Best BookIt would take many lifetimes, it was said to me during my first visit, to see all of India. The desperation must have shown on my face to absorb and digest all I possibly could. This was not something I had articulated or resolved; and yet I recall an anxiety as I travelled the length and breadth of the country, senses raw to every new experience, that even in the distraction of a blink I might miss something profoundly significant.I was not born in India, nor were my parents; that might explain much in my expectation of that visit. Yet how many people go to the homeland of their grandparents with such a heartload of expectation and momentousness; such a desire to find themselves in everything they see? Is it only India that clings thus, to those who've forsaken it; is this why Indians in a foreign land seem always so desperate to seek each other out? What was India to me?The inimitable M.G. Vassanji turns his eye... Views: 26
As the most feared lord in London, the Earl of Holstoke is having a devil of a time landing a wife. When a series of vicious murders brings suspicion to his door, only one woman is bold enough to defend him—Eugenia Huxley. Her offer to be his alibi risks scandal, and marriage is the remedy. But as a poisonous enemy coils closer, Holstoke finds his love for her might be the greatest danger of all. Views: 26
Rattled by the gruesome accidental death of a coworker, Slip Wilson quits his job at a logging camp, and decides to make a clean start in Seattle. But along the way, he rescues a woman and her young niece from their car in the ditch, and his life takes a hard turn. The woman, Ellie Hobbes, is an archist with big dreams. But first, she has to take care of that pesky dead body in the trunk of her car...From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. In this gripping tale of survival, betrayal and murder set in the Pacific Northwest in 1935 from Straley (Cold Water Burning), Slip Wilson is just trying to find work, food and a little justice when he hooks up with a bottle-blonde, Ellie Hobbes, who drags him into her edgy, ragtag life. At the last minute, Ellie, a notorious red union organizer who faces mounting problems with antiunion forces, and her young niece hop aboard the same rickety boat Slip is escaping on that's traveling from Seattle to Juneau. The odd trio barely catches a breath as weather, hunger, a Seattle homicide detective and a revenge-seeking gang of thugs hound them all the way up the Inside Passage. Ellie isn't big on explanations, so Slip isn't sure until nearly the end of their journey if she's a heroine or a scoundrel. Straley's beautifully understated narrative, vivid sense of place and unapologetic, unadorned characters make this a riveting, unpredictable ride. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistStarred Review Straley, author of the Cecil Younger series, starring a contemporary Alaskan private investigator, turns here to Pacific Northwest history, with a rich tale of labor strife in the 1930s. After quitting his logging job, Slip Wilson sets off for Seattle, hitching a ride with a bleached blond in a big car. Trouble? Of course, especially given the body in the car’s trunk. Soon enough, there’s another body, and Slip, Ellie (the blond), her niece, and a yellow bird are on the lam, sailing a dory up Puget Sound’s Inside Passage, from Seattle to Alaska. What follows is part mystery and part action-adventure tale, as the neophyte sailors battle weather, tides, and unfriendly locals, all the while pursued by a determined Seattle cop on his own kind of lam from a troubled life. Straley hits all the right notes here: vividly detailed scenes evoking the clash between emerging trade unions and more radical advocates of revolution, as well as almost Dickensian vignettes of the working conditions in the canneries and on the waterfronts of the Northwest, meld perfectly with a Jack London–like, man-versus-nature story in which two adults, one child, and one bird, huddled together in a very small boat, attempt to stay afloat and move ever northward. Labor fiction only works if the characters don’t come across as stick figures, singing the union-label song on cue, and Straley nails that, too. Ellie spouts the party line, but she’d rather be Amelia Earhart, and Slip is uncertain about almost everything. If you want to read one novel about the Northwest in the grip of labor unrest, read this one. --Bill Ott Views: 26
The winged Lyrinx are conquering Santhenar, each engagement weakening the faltering human resistance. The Aachim watch and wait - their invasion diverted in favour of a treacherous temporary alliance against the Lyrinx threat. The last hope lies with a small yet determined band of fighters, led by disgraced Scrutator Xervish Flydd, who had escaped from the ruling Council's brutal retribution. But Xervish and his supporters have now been condemned to a painful death for supposed treachery …However, two rebels are missing: Tiann - a geomancer of immense power, and arch-traitor Nish. They could make the difference between victory and certain annihilation. Views: 26
Wth their parents gone, old resentments, misunderstandings and betrayals have driven a wedge between the three Keyes sisters, just when they most need one another. For musical prodigy Claire, turning her back on her career and returning to Seattle to start a new life, it comes as a shock to discover the animosity her sisters feel toward her. For her twin Nicole, saddled with the responsibility of running the family bakery and raising her wild younger sister, life seems supremely unfair. For youngest sister Jesse, the belief that no one wanted her has made her reckless and wild, until she realizes how much she needs her family. And all three have been unlucky in love. But they’re about to have their worlds turned upside down by unexpected romance...and a newfound bond with the family they had lost. Get all three books in award winning, USA TODAY bestselling author Susan Mallery’s heartwarming trilogy for one low price. Bundle includes Sweet Talk, Sweet... Views: 26
The long-awaited return of the Ultramarines series, starring Uriel Ventris, by Horus Heresy author Graham McNeill. Killing ground picks up where Dead Sky, Black Sun leaves off as Uriel finds himself on a chaos world and choices to make, none of which are very appealing or may bring him home. Views: 26
Nin's years of struggle and final triumph as an author in America. "Transcending mere self-revelation... the diary examines human personality with a depth and understanding seldom surpassed since Proust...dream and fact are balanced and...in their joining lie the elements of masterpiece" (Washington Post). Edited and with a Preface by Gunther Stuhlmann; Index. Views: 26
*A funny, entertaining novel of love and family for our times: a single woman who fears she's lost her chance at a family of her own, begins to accumulate an ad hoc one around her.*
In the tradition of Elinor Lipman or Marisa de los Santos (Love Walked In), Flowers delivers a smart, witty, appealing story of love, family, and community that breaks the mold of the conventional love story-and will have readers cheering.
Everyone around Prudence Whistler, thirty-six, seems to be settling down. Her once single girlfriends have married and had babies. Her gay best friend is discussing marriage with his partner. Even her irresponsible younger sister, Patsy, is the single mother of a two-year-old. But when Pru panics at losing her mediocre boyfriend of two years-and begins to see the door to her traditional family life closing-she accidentally finds something even better: a new definition of family and happiness. First, it's the crazy cat who moves into her apartment. Then come Pru's headstrong sister and two-year-old niece. Then the niece's dog, the sister's ex-boyfriend, and, ultimately, Patsy and Pru's widowed mother. With the strength of her modern new household, Pru musters the confidence to open the dress shop she's always wanted in town-and discovers an extended family of sorts in the community of shop owners and devoted customers. It's only then that she ends up with the man of her dreams. Endearing, romantic, and satisfying, Nice to Come Home To is a charming, crowd-pleasing debut.
**From Publishers Weekly
Though she's methodically navigated 36 years by making lists and plans, D.C. resident Prudence Whistler's carefully constructed life is about to get shaken up. She's let go from the nonprofit job that never did much to fulfill her in the first place. Then Rudy—who she's finally decided will suffice as The One—condescendingly dumps her. But before she has too much time to stew, her loved ones rally 'round: catty, coupled college friends; her younger sister, Patsy, the unmarried mother of a two-year-old; and John Owen, the in-divorce-proceedings diner owner Pru first encounters while schlepping Rudy's television out to the curb. This crew's the catalyst for a series of adventures and lifestyle shakeups that has retail-addict Pru wondering whether her love for fashion could deliver more than the latest Marc Jacobs dress. And then there's the ongoing coffee klatch at John's diner that inspires the big question: is Pru in the market for getting-each-other-through-a-bad-time-love with John, or is it time to stick her neck out for real-love love? Readers may find Pru's early bad luck streak contrived, but as her lovable friends and neighbors spring into action, the well-written story rounds out and rolls toward a satisfying finish. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Flowers’ warm, winning debut, set in Washington, D.C., finds 36-year-old Pru Whistler down on her luck. She has been laid off her job, and her boyfriend, Rudy, whom she hoped was going to propose, unceremoniously dumps her. Lost and uncertain of her next step, Pru finds herself gravitating toward the local coffee shop and its handsome owner, John Owen, who is grappling with a divorce. Then Pru is stuck with her ex’s hellion of a cat and visits from her two-year-old niece after her sister Patsy, a single mother, meets her dream guy. Amid all the chaos, Pru takes a job as a salesgirl in a boutique clothing store and discovers her hidden affinity for fashion. Pru’s witty, funny observations and her attempts to pick up the pieces of her life and journey down a road she never expected to be on will have readers cheering her on in Flowers’ engaging, heartfelt, wise, and deftly written novel. --Kristine Huntley Views: 26
The abduction of a young woman in 1858 ends in Toronto thirty-eight years later -- in murder.In 1858, a young woman on her honeymoon is forcibly abducted and taken across the border from Canada and sold into slavery. Thirty-eight years later, Detective Murdoch is working on a murder case that will take all of his resourcefulness to solve. The owner of one of Toronto's livery stables has been found dead. He has been horsewhipped and left hanging from his wrists in his tack room, and his wife claims that a considerable sum of money has been stolen. Then a second man is also murdered, his body strangely tied as if he were a rebellious slave. Murdoch has to find out whether Toronto's small "coloured" community has a vicious murderer in its midst -- an investigation that puts his own life in danger. Maureen Jennings's trademark in her popular and acclaimed Detective Murdoch series is to reveal a long-forgotten facet about life in the city that dispels any notion that... Views: 26
