In his famous Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver described the quaint politics of the tiny people of Lilliput. In this sequel he adds his account of their equally quaint economy. He tells us the Lilliputians, bored with the endless prosperity of a Garden of Eden, reorganized their economy as an exciting game of chance controlled by the mysterious invisible hand of The Almighty Sprug.Luke Rosenhart is your average straight-A student, always trying to do things the right way, always reliable, always responsible.He’s just an average kid, and doesn’t want that to change.But one field trip, on a rainy Autumn day, to a still-under-construction zoo turns his life and the lives of Ned Detwiler, his best pal, Brooke O’Mackey, the girl from across the road, Robyn Diaz, the quiet bookworm from the country outskirts of town and Smithy, the new kid in town who doesn’t talk very much, upside down.An alien, who crash-landed into the unfinished hippo habitat, tells the five fourteen-year-olds that their planet is under threat by the Intergalactic criminal Gemini who intends to completely wipe out the entire human race, with help from some other aliens who want nothing more than to have the beautiful planet Earth all to themselves.So what can a straight-A student, a class clown, a girl from across the road, a bookworm and a loner, do about that?Well, with the powers the alien gives them, they can do lots!Save a little girl from a burning building, mess up the dentist’s office, and aid in a school food fight!Now they have to figure out how to stop Gemini before it’s too late! On top of that, they have to find out what powers they have, how to use them, how not to use them, how to keep everything a secret so as not to panic everyone and, most important of all, learn to work as a team.If you are in the mood for jokes, super powers, hilarious situations, ordinary kids turned superheroes, a save-the-day story and aliens (both good and bad), then the Upbeats is sure to brighten your day! Views: 370
ALAN
There she is. The dream rushes back to me. We were falling, clutching at each other, with twisting darkness all around us... The girl looks up at me and I realize I've stopped walking and am staring at her. I see something in her eyes, something like recognition.
AIMEE
And in that second I know, absolutely know, that something in my life has changed irrevocably. This is the guy from my dreams. Right here. And we are going to have to do something, save something, together. I just don't know what.
TOGETHER
Alan and Aimee have just met, but already they are bound to each other by something they can't quite name. Something that rattles the windows, haunts the waters... and threatens to tear them apart before they get a chance to find out what their connection means. Views: 369
Loss sets the action-filled Bornlord Saga in motion. An expedition returning to Aldar across the desolate grasslands meets a stranger who, unknown to the party, is fleeing the very people Aldar relies on for trade. His presence brings unexpected hardship, and the fighting abilities of the party members are tested beyond measure. Will they make it back to Aldar? What about Aldar's future?Survival for those of Aldar rests on a very thin thread: a long and torturous journey across desolate, searing grasslands that must be undertaken each year by those brave enough to face the trip. Despite the difficulties, the yearly expeditions to trade for coralin medicine have been successful for hundreds of years. Then a new element enters the picture: a renegade Aldaran the expedition meets at a desiccated waterhole out on the plains. Despite the misgivings of the expedition's leader, Banjee, and the decidedly antagonistic behavior of Banjee's rook, the stranger is allowed to join them. After all, no Aldaran would ever desert a person in need. Are the stranger's criticisms of Aldar valid? The stranger seems oblivious to the strengths of his own former people, but does it even matter once battle with the ferociously vindictive Nomers starts? The fighting abilities of the party members are tested beyond measure. Will they be able to get the coralin back to Aldar? And how will this impact Aldar's future? Loss sets the stage for the Bornlord Saga, an action-filled fantasy in which a force of newly graduated armsors gives everything it has to see that Aldar lives on. This book, along with the rest of the series, is quirky, in a new thought sense, in that it balances on the genuine, limitless magic of the human spirit. Views: 369
From New York Times bestselling author, “one of America’s top cultural critics” (Entertainment Weekly), and “The Ethicist” for The New York Times Magazine, comes a new book of all original pieces on villains and villainy in popular culture.Chuck Klosterman has walked into the darkness. As a child, he rooted for conventionally good characters like wide-eyed Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. But as Klosterman aged, his alliances shifted—first to Han Solo and then to Darth Vader. Vader was a hero who consciously embraced evil; Vader wanted to be bad. But what, exactly, was that supposed to mean? When we classify someone as a bad person, what are we really saying (and why are we so obsessed with saying it)? In I Wear the Black Hat, Klosterman questions the very nature of how modern people understand the culture of villainy. What was so Machiavellian about Machiavelli? Why don’t we see Batman the same way we see Bernhard Goetz? Who’s more worthy of our vitriol—Bill Clinton or Don Henley? What was O.J. Simpson’s second-worst decision? And why is Klosterman still obsessed with some kid he knew for one week in 1985?
Masterfully blending cultural analysis with self-interrogation and limitless imagination, I Wear the Black Hat delivers perceptive observations on the complexity of the anti-hero (seemingly the only kind of hero America still creates). I Wear the Black Hat is the rare example of serious criticism that’s instantly accessible and really, really funny. Klosterman is the only writer doing whatever it is he’s doing. Views: 369
Black Friday America's largest shopping mall Suburban Minneapolis 3:00 P.M. Ten thousand people jam the aisles, the corridors, the elevators, and the escalators of America, the Mall--a giant Rubik's Cube of a structure with its own amusement park located in the spacious center atrium. Of those people, nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight have come to shop. The other twelve have come to kill.
Stephen Hunter's hyper-drive, eighth-gear new thriller, "Soft Target, "chronicles the day when the unthinkable happens: twelve gunmen open fire in the mall corridors, driving the pack before them. Those on the upper floors take cover or get out any way they can; but within a few minutes the gunmen have herded more than a thousand hostages into the amusement park.
Ray Cruz, one of the heroes of Hunter's last bestseller, "Dead Zero," is in the mall with his fiancee and her family. The retired Marine sniper thought he was done with stalking and killing--but among the trapped thousands, he's the only one with a plan and the guts to confront the self-proclaimed "Brigade Mumbai." Now all he needs is a gun.
FBI Sniper Dave McElroy has a gun. But positioned on the roof of the vast building, looking down through one of its thickly paned Great Lakes-shaped skylights, and without explosives or fuses--or the go-ahead from his superiors--he is effectively cut off from his targets and forced into the role of witness to the horror unfolding below.
Set during the four hours of the terrifying event, the story follows both hostages and gunmen, detailing the complex strategic police response, the full-press media saturation coverage, even the politics of SWAT as both the Minnesota State Police and the FBI struggle to control, confront, and ultimately defuse the crisis.
Having learned the lessons of Columbine, the feds believe that immediate action is the only solution. But Douglas Obobo, the charismatic and ambitious commandant of the state police, orders cooperation, tolerance, communication, and empathy for the gunmen. He feels that with his superior negotiating skills, he can make contact with the shooters and gently nudge them into surrender. But what if their goal all along has been unparalleled massacre--and they're only waiting for prime time?
With unrelenting suspense and vivid scenes of violence and chaos in the center of a terror-crazed afternoon in Middle America, thriller master Stephen Hunter takes us into the belly of the softest of soft targets. Views: 368
Jennifer Logan likes Scott Parker, and Scott Parker likes her back. But there’s a problem. Jen’s best friend, Lindy Masters, already called dibs on Scott. Scott Parker is off limits according to best friend crush rules. Jen comes up with a plan. If she finds a new crush for Lindy then she’ll be able to go to the Snow Ball with Scott. Will Jen get a date for the school dance? Find out in Snow Ball!Jennifer Logan likes Scott Parker, and Scott Parker likes her back. But there’s a problem. Jen’s best friend, Lindy Masters, already called dibs on Scott. Scott Parker is off limits according to best friend crush rules. Jen comes up with a plan. If she finds a new crush for Lindy then she’ll be able to go to the Snow Ball with Scott. It sounds easy, but everyone knows that junior high is nothing but drama. Will Jen and Lindy get dates for the school dance? And who will win The Winter Wonderland fashion show? Find out in “Snow Ball”! Views: 368
A comedy of loyalty, betrayal, sex, madness, and music-swappingArt is an up-and-coming interface designer, working on the management of data flow along the Massachusetts Turnpike. He\'s doing the best work of his career and can guarantee that the system will be, without a question, the most counterintuitive, user-hostile piece of software ever pushed forth onto the world.Why? Because Art is an industrial saboteur. He may live in London and work for an EU telecommunications megacorp, but Art\'s real home is the Eastern Standard Tribe.Instant wireless communication puts everyone in touch with everyone else, twenty-four hours a day. But one thing hasn\'t changed: the need for sleep. The world is slowly splintering into Tribes held together by a common time zone, less than family and more than nations. Art is working to humiliate the Greenwich Mean Tribe to the benefit of his own people. But in a world without boundaries, nothing can be taken for granted-not happiness, not money, and most certainly not love.Which might explain why Art finds himself stranded on the roof of an insane asylum outside Boston, debating whether to push a pencil into his brain.... Views: 366
"Cory Doctorow’s novella ‘Chicken Little’ [..] does an excellent job of updating and commenting on some of the themes that informed Pohl & Kornbluth’s classic novel 'The Space Merchants'. Doctorow’s updated high-tech take on Pohl’s take on Jonathan Swift’s 'struldbrugs,' creatures who have immortality but not eternal youth, continuing to age through their extended lives, is particularly ingenious.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see this one show up on an award ballot next year."
Gardner Dozois, Locus Magazine
A story with a product designer, jetpacks and an immortal quadrillionaire living in a vat.
"Chicken Little" also appears in the collection "With a Little Help".
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger -- the co-editor of Boing Boing and the author of Tor Teens/HarperCollins UK novels like "For The Win" and the bestselling "Little Brother".
He is the former European director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and co-founded the UK Open Rights Group. Born in Toronto, Canada, he now lives in London.
Franco Brambilla is an award-winning Italian illustrator devoted to sci-fi. Views: 366
Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize For Fiction. From the author of the acclaimed YEAR OF WONDERS, an historical novel and love story set during a time of catastrophe, on the front lines of the American Civil War. Acclaimed author Geraldine Brooks gives us the story of the absent father from Louisa May Alcott's Little Women - and conjures a world of brutality, stubborn courage and transcendent love. An idealistic abolitionist, March has gone as chaplain to serve the Union cause. But the war tests his faith not only in the Union - which is also capable of barbarism and racism - but in himself. As he recovers from a near-fatal illness, March must reassemble and reconnect with his family, who have no idea of what he has endured. A love story set in a time of catastrophe, March explores the passions between a man and a woman, the tenderness of parent and child, and the life-changing power of an ardently held belief. Views: 365
NB: There are two stories fewer in this edition (13 stories) than in the Gregg Press edition (15 stories).
Short story collection, comprising:
Colony;
Impostor;
Expendable;
Planet for Transients;
Prominent Author;
The Builder;
The Impossible Planet;
The Indefatigable Frog;
The Turning Wheel;
Progeny;
Upon the Dull Earth;
The Cookie Lady;
Exhibit Piece. Views: 365
Bestselling novelist Carl Hiaasen is back with another hysterical mystery adventure for young readers, set in the Florida Keys.
You know it's going to be a rough summer when you spend Father's Day visiting your dad in the local lockup.
Noah's dad is sure that the owner of the Coral Queen casino boat is flushing raw sewage into the harbor–which has made taking a dip at the local beach like swimming in a toilet. He can't prove it though, and so he decides that sinking the boat will make an effective statement. Right. The boat is pumped out and back in business within days and Noah's dad is stuck in the clink.
Now Noah is determined to succeed where his dad failed. He will prove that the Coral Queen is dumping illegally . . . somehow. His allies may not add up to much–his sister Abbey, an unreformed childhood biter; Lice Peeking, a greedy sot with poor hygiene; Shelly, a bartender and a woman scorned; and a mysterious pirate–but Noah's got a plan to flush this crook out into the open. A plan that should sink the crooked little casino, once and for all.
From the Hardcover edition. Views: 365
The New York Times bestselling author of The Indian in the Cupboard returns with a brand new adventure of two remarkable friends brought together through the magic of a bathroom cupboard and a wonderful key.
As Omri and his father read together of the terrible historical plight of the Iroquois people, they realize that Little Bear, Omri's Iroquois friend from the past, is in urgent need of help. But how can father and son go back in time? Jessica Charlotte, Omri's ancestor who originated the magic gift, tries to help--but things go so wrong that Omri finds himself lost in an entirely different time and place, while his father has hair-raising adventures of his own. And the greatest challenge is yet to come: little do they understand the terrors that lie in wait--both for their Indian friends and for themselves. Views: 364
Thought you had it bad? In this book, you will be:Imprisoned by a sadistic logician.Challenged to raise dogs from the dead. Trapped on a burning island.And much more besides . . .Everything is at stake in this compendium of more than 150 ingenious puzzles, selected to reveal the wonderful diversity of brainteasers that have confounded and intrigued solvers for the last thousand years. You'll need to pit your wits against probability problems, wrestle with wordplay, grapple with geometry and scrabble for survival. Along the way you will discover stories of whip-smart thinkers, eccentric novelists and a poodle with allegedly supernatural powers. You will absorb fascinating and important mathematical ideas. Some solutions will rely on ingenuity, some will challenge you to spot hidden patterns, others call for extreme rationality. All will surprise,... Views: 364
