Magic is out of fashion.Murder, like romance, is always a possibility. The journey home from Orio City was supposed to be straightforward. Avoid being captured by brigands or agents of the criminal gangs; try not to cause any further spiritual or magical shocks; and make it over the mountains before winter closes in. Jemis Greenwing and his best friend Mr. Dart are both fairly sure it's too late to prevent Mr. Dart's new cousin Jullanar Maebh from thinking them utterly mad. A sudden blizzard drives Jemis and his friends to seek refuge in an eccentric country gentleman's even more eccentric house. They only want to stay out the storm without revealing all their secrets: but the other guests have secrets of their own, and Mr. Dart's ability to hear the inanimate has some unforeseeable consequences. Blizzards. Unicorns. Ciphers. Noblesse oblige. A budding romance. And that's before the murder. Book Five of Greenwing &... Views: 612
A fictionalized story of a true-life genius that "reads . . . like one of John le Carr[é]'s espionage novels" (New York Journal of Books). This account of the inner life of Nikola Tesla—arguably the most influential inventor in history—is a work of speculative fiction that reveals a genius whose greatest desire was to share his inventions with the world. It offers a compelling portrait of his passionate side, especially his secret love for his muse Karina, a woman no one else can see who brings him life-altering inspirations. Tesla's love and obsession with Karina are the forces driving his work and motivating him in the face of a doubting world. Tesla maintains a loner's life while working alongside some of the greatest financial and scientific powerhouses of the age, and faces constant temptation to stray from Karina and his life's work. This portrait of a larger-than-life genius brings to light his very human... Views: 611
This is a story about what happens when you go for the lowest common denominator.If you don't like insurance companies you should like this story.Then of course there is the question, what is a good thing, and for whom?This story is fun, enjoy it. It's not real life, yet. Views: 611
Journal: day 317It rains every day here. Every now and then it slows to a trickle and the sun peeks through broken clouds for a few moments, but mostly it falls in great torrents of rain; constant, pounding, maddening. I listen to it, day and night, as it falls outside. The sound of it hitting the metal roof is a constant. Ting, ting, ting, it goes day after day and night after night.Journal: day 1My name is Jack Timmerson, and this is my journal. I have been assigned to Sarguss II as Technician 1st class. I am responsible for running the pumping station located on the planet, and if anything goes wrong I fix it. I am numero uno, the man in charge. Sounds impressive until you find out that I am also the only person on the station, on the planet in fact, and the pumping station is completely self-repairing. I am the proverbial third wheel, an appendix assigned more from tradition than need.Earth: Two years earlierThe human race had almost ended its sovereignty as the dominant species on earth. Centuries of pollution and wanton ecological madness had seen to that. They had tried to fix it, they really had tried; the atmosphere was actually in pretty good shape. The trouble was the water. That was beyond fixing. They’d stopped the pollution, but not the water consumption; free water was disappearing faster than it could be replaced. More and more water was being diverted from lakes and rivers to agriculture, industry, and humanity’s insatiable need and desire for it. On a world that was 75% covered with water they were dying for the lack of it. Some genius had come up with a way to desalinate the oceans. That was all well and good but the oceans, just like everything else, were a limited resource and part of a closed ecosystem. The planet was dying, terminal, irreversible. The first water riots had started over a century ago. They were growing worse as the water grew scarcer. Not a day passed without one and the world council had adapted harsher and harsher means of dealing with them. It was now a capital offense to participate in one, and thousands had died in the street from the effects of gas and bullets. It didn’t help, the people were too scared, too hopeless, and the rioting continued. Then a miracle happened.Dr. Henry Fredricson, NAS Spokesman – speaking at the opening of the Space Elevator“Certainly, nanoscience and technology isn't a secret. It's about the ability to see and to control individual atoms and molecules. Everything on Earth is made up of atoms—the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the buildings and houses we live in – our own bodies, but something as small as an atom is impossible to see with the naked eye. In fact, it’s impossible to see with most microscopes. It is only within the last century that the microscopes needed to see things at the nanoscale were invented. Making materials at the nanoscale level takes advantage of their enhanced properties; such as higher strength, lighter weight, increased control of light spectrum, and greater chemical reactivity than their larger-scale siblings. The Space Elevator was made possible by using nano-engineered carbon tubules for its creation. One end is anchored to a large station in the ocean, and the other end to an asteroid already in orbit. The cable running between these two points needed to be made of the strongest, yet lightest, material possible and nanocarbon fits the bill perfectly. With this elevator mankind will be able to receive water from Sarguss II.”Journal: day 105It’s raining again. That isn’t unusual, of course, it rains here all the time. Every day. Incessantly. Constantly. Maddeningly. It rains. Views: 611
For the first time: the Nobel Prize winner’s stunning short fiction collected in one volume, with an introduction by the author.
Over the course of his distinguished career, V. S. Naipaul has written a remarkable array of short fiction that moves from Trinidad to London to Africa. Here are the stories from his Somerset Maugham Award–winning Miguel Street (1959), in which he takes us into a derelict corner of Trinidad’s capital to meet, among others, Man-Man, who goes from running for public office to staging his own crucifixion. The tales in A Flag on the Island (1967), meanwhile, roam from a Chinese bakery in Trinidad to a rooming house in London. And in the celebrated title story from the Booker Prize– winning In a Free State (1971), an English couple traveling in an unnamed African country discover, under a veneer of civilization, a landscape of squalor and ethnic bloodletting.
No writer has rendered our postcolonial world more acutely or prophetically than V. S. Naipaul, or given its upheavals such a hauntingly human face. Views: 611
After her mother died, poet Victoria Chang refused to write elegies. Rather, she distilled her grief during a feverish two weeks by writing scores of poetic obituaries for all she lost in the world. In Obit, Chang writes of "the way memory gets up after someone has died and starts walking." These poems reinvent the form of newspaper obituary to both name what has died ("civility," "language," "the future," "Mother's blue dress") and the cultural impact of death on the living. Whereas elegy attempts to immortalize the dead, an obituary expresses loss, and the love for the dead becomes a conduit for self-expression. In this unflinching and lyrical book, Chang meets her grief and creates a powerful testament for the living. Views: 610
Four thousand years have passed since Covenant first freed the Land from the devastating grip of Lord Foul and his minions. But he is back, and Convenant, armed with his stunning white gold magic, must battle the evil forces and his own despair... Views: 610
Not too far from now, in a world very like our own, the oppressors have changed places with the oppressed. After their defeat in the Yellow War, the white people of America are thrust into a brutally altered reality. They are hunted like wild beasts and drive like cattle, transported in reeking ships and sold to their conquerors as field hands and house slaves. Robbed of their old names and their old language, treated with a mixture of cruelty and condescension by their Chinese masters, whites take on new identities and new strategies of survival. Some, like Nose, plunge into dissipation. Others, like Top Man, become imitation Yellows. And some, like White Lotus, rebel. In this mesmerizing book John Hersey creates an alternate history that casts a harsh radiance on our own. It has some of the stateliness of Exodus, along with the power of oral narratives of slavery. It has heroes and victims—and villains who turn out to be victims of another color. At once a... Views: 609
The triumphant return of the New York Times-bestselling, critically acclaimed fantasy series that has become a modern classic.
Since their publication more than two decades ago, the initial six books in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series have sold more than 6 million copies and have been published in ten countries around the world. Now, starting with The Runes of the Earth, Stephen R. Donaldson returns with a quartet of new Covenant novels that are certain to satisfy his millions of fans, and attract countless new followers.
In the original series, a man-living in our world and in our time-is mysteriously struck down with a disease long since believed to have been eradicated. He becomes a pariah in his small town and is abandoned by his wife who departs with their infant son. Alone and despairing, Thomas Covenant falls and, while unconscious, is transported to a fantastic world in which a battle for the soul of the land is being waged. Christened "The Unbeliever"-for he is convinced the world is only an illusion, a dream-he finds himself slowly forced to accept the role that seems to be his destiny: savior of the Land.
At the end of the sixth book, Covenant is killed, both in the real world and in the Land, as his companion, Linden Avery, looks on in horror. His death is both the ultimate sacrifice-and his redemption.
At the opening of The Runes of Earth, ten years have passed. Linden Avery comes home one day to find her child building images of the Land with blocks, and senses a terrible foreboding. She had thought that she would never again be summoned to the Land-nor ever again see her beloved Thomas Covenant. But in the Land, evil is unmaking the very laws of nature. . . . Views: 609
A Journey of two angels, a unique view of Bible stories through the eyes of two angels on missions from GodOn a lonely country road a family of three finds themselves in a life threatening situation. To save her family, Mary walks through a snow storm to find help. Mary herself receives help from surprising sources. Views: 609
The Orta, one of the founding member species of the League, may not be what they seem.
Gabe Adon and his family must stop a mad scientist from destroying one of the League’s founding planets. Whether they’re fuzzy Orta or Fire Demons, can Gabe survive long enough to save them?
If you like tech-heavy sci-fi, relatable characters, and stories of family and redemption, you’ll love Frank Carey’s Engine of Creation series.
Buy Orta to see how Gabe solves the mystery of the Orta!
**From the Author
Welcome to the League of Planetary Systems!
The League of Planetary System was founded in the not too distant future. Several planets in the Milky Way Galaxy joined together for trade and mutual protection. The League continues to grow and new planets petition for admittance. The citizens of the League represent many species including the ogre-like Goranthi, the insectoid Martok, and the felinoid Katalan. As advanced and diverse as the League is, it's problems are frighteningly familiar--corruption, murder, genocide.
Frank and Jo Carey created the League as the setting for many of their science fictions tales which span genres from Frank's military science fiction and space opera to Jo's sci-fi adventure and sci-fi romance.
The outer fringes of League space are still being explored and new planets continue to petition for membership. The League is part of a larger multiverse providing an endless supply of tales to be told.
Each book and series set in the LPS can be read as a standalone, but each League book is given a League Tale Number which appears on the copyright page of the book. The League Tale Number indicates the order in which the book was published and, should anyone ever want to, the order in which the overall League Tales should be read. Views: 609
Love can drive you crazy... in more ways than one! When Abby met Simon, a drink in the uni bar lead to keeping in touch, late-night phone calls and intimate catch-ups. It was the start of something special, a love Abby believed would last a lifetime. A wedding, two daughters and fifteen years later, Abby's world is falling apart. Having discovered Simon has had an affair, her normally ordered mind is spiralling out of control. Crushed by the betrayal and shocked by her own reaction, she knows she needs to get herself together; she's just not sure where to start. With Simon on a mission to win her back and a close friend hiding a secret that could push her further over the edge, Abby finds strength and support where she least expects it. But as she attempts to gain control of her life and make decisions about her future, it may be more than the limits of Abby's mind that are put to the test! Crazy Over You is a refreshingly honest portrayal of a woman's reaction to her husband's infidelity while also being a touching story of friendship and love. It is a novel for all those who have experienced a break-up and know that living happily ever after is not quite as simple as meeting your man! ** Views: 608
#3) Moonraker, Britain's new ICBM-based national defense system, is ready for testing, but something's not quite right. At M's request, Bond begins his investigation with Sir Hugo Drax, the leading card shark at M's club, who is also the head of the Moonraker project. But once Bond delves deeper into the goings-on at the Moonraker base, he discovers that both the project and its leader are something other than they appear to be. Views: 608
The "HVZA: Hudson Valley Zombie Apocalypse" novels have created a terrifying world where a mysterious parasite has turned ordinary people into killers and cannibals. This short story begins at the onset of the infection, at the region's largest shopping mall, the Palisades Center in West Nyack, NY.The "HVZA: Hudson Valley Zombie Apocalypse" novels have created a terrifying world where a mysterious parasite has turned ordinary people into killers and cannibals. This short story begins at the onset of the infection, at the region's largest shopping mall, the Palisades Center in West Nyack, NY. Follow the lives of several people as they attend the sale, only to come face to face with their worst nightmares. Some will survive, and some will die, but no one will ever be the same. Views: 607
