Cassie's losing her mind. But she's gaining the mind of another. Aldrea -- daughter of Seerow, Andalite Prince. Aldrea's persona, her memory, and a valuable bit of information now belong to Cassie. Views: 958
Keith Laumer, well-known for his tales of adventure and action, shows us a different side of his talent in this original, exciting and thought-provoking exploration of the meaning of meaning. Views: 957
There is a place that shouldn’t exist. But does. And there are creatures that shouldn’t exist. But do. Welcome to a land where all of your dreams and nightmares are very real—and often deadly. Welcome to Everworld.
David’s life was pretty normal. School. Friends. Girlfriend. Actually, Senna was probably the oddest aspect of his life. She was beautiful. Smart. But there was something very different about her. Something strange.
And on the day it began, everything happened so quickly. One moment, Senna was with him. The next, she was swallowed up by the earth, her screams echoing from far, far away. David couldn’t just let her go. Neither could the others. His friends—and hers. So, they followed. And found themselves in a world they could have never imagined.
Now they have to find Senna and get home without losing their lives. Or their minds. Or both… Views: 957
Fate's path can be rocky ...
*A troubled inheritance ...***
Leland Kincaid hasn't been back to Fate Mountain for seven years. Now he's the new Alpha of his clan, and in charge of Timber Bear Ranch. He soon discovers that his father left the ranch in so much debt that he and his brothers might be forced to sell everything. As if that's not tough enough, the new auditor examining his books is his mate!
A difficult assignment ...
Sylvia Barker is ready to settle down, but not with any of the terrible dates her mom keeps arranging. A shifter-human dating website matches her to Leland, and their chemistry is immediate -- but the next day, she finds out she's auditing him. If he loses the ranch, it could wreck things between them.
A sinister agenda
As Leland works to uncover his father's secrets, Sylvia is targeted lurking enemies. Can Leland save his mate and his ranch, or will he lose them all? Views: 957
The setting is a society in which aging has been cured, individuals have indefinite lifespans, and population control is used to limit the population of the United States to forty million. This is maintained through a combination of infanticide and government-assisted suicide - in short, in order for someone to be born, someone must first volunteer to die. As a result, births are few and far between, and deaths occur primarily by accident. Everything was perfectly swell. There were no prisons, no slums, no insane asylums, no cripples, no poverty, no wars. All diseases were conquered. So was old age. Death, barring accidents, was an adventure for volunteers. Never, never, never -- not even in medieval Holland nor old Japan -- had a garden been more formal, been better tended. Every plant had all the loam, light, water, air and nourishment it could use. A hospital orderly came down the corridor, and looked in at the mural and the muralist. "Looks so real," he said, "I can practically imagine I'm standing in the middle of it." "What makes you think you're not in it?" said the painter. He gave a satiric smile. "It's called 'The Happy Garden of Life, ' you know." Views: 955
A beautiful young reporter and a small group of jokers and aces have unearthed evidence of a secret conspiracy called the Card Sharks, whose goal is no less than the wholesale destruction of those afflicted with the Wild Cards virus. Hannah and her heroes must flush out the Card Sharks before they can employ their ultimate weapon. Views: 954
In book two of Linda L. Zern's series "ZippityZern's Uncommon Nonsense" better known as "the blue book," the author continues to observe, deduce, and comment on life and living. Topics include the proper way to freak out over discovering porn in a teenage boy's room, teaching the young and impressionable the fine art of toilet plunging, and the proper use of paranoia as a parenting tool.The Atlans were a strange tribe. Most societies were ruled by a man or ruling family who claimed to be descended from - or at least chosen by - a God. But if one learned about the Atlan religion, their claim was that every member of their race was a direct descendent of their Gods. Or rather, three of their gods gave life to the three original Atlans, and the fourth god raised them until they could fend for themselves. And although descended from gods, the Atlans claimed their gods would rather see them dead than prosperous. Except for the fourth god, who occasionally managed to give them a bit of help when they needed some. Through the generations, that fourth god - Dinnae - was the only god the Atlans ever prayed to, but sparsely, lest their parent gods overhear. Views: 953
Russia is famous for its vodka, and its culture of extreme intoxication. But just as vodka is central to the lives of many Russians, it is also central to understanding Russian history and politics.
In Vodka Politics, Mark Lawrence Schrad argues that debilitating societal alcoholism is not hard-wired into Russians' genetic code, but rather their autocratic political system, which has long wielded vodka as a tool of statecraft. Through a series of historical investigations stretching from Ivan the Terrible through Vladimir Putin, Vodka Politics presents the secret history of the Russian state itself-a history that is drenched in liquor. Scrutinizing (rather than dismissing) the role of alcohol in Russian politics yields a more nuanced understanding of Russian history itself: from palace intrigues under the tsars to the drunken antics of Soviet and post-Soviet leadership, vodka is there in abundance.
Beyond vivid anecdotes, Schrad scours original documents and archival evidence to answer provocative historical questions. How have Russia's rulers used alcohol to solidify their autocratic rule? What role did alcohol play in tsarist coups? Was Nicholas II's ill-fated prohibition a catalyst for the Bolshevik Revolution? Could the Soviet Union have become a world power without liquor? How did vodka politics contribute to the collapse of both communism and public health in the 1990s? How can the Kremlin overcome vodka's hurdles to produce greater social well-being, prosperity, and democracy into the future?
Viewing Russian history through the bottom of the vodka bottle helps us to understand why the "liquor question" remains important to Russian high politics even today-almost a century after the issue had been put to bed in most every other modern state. Indeed, recognizing and confronting vodka's devastating political legacies may be the greatest political challenge for this generation of Russia's leadership, as well as the next. Views: 953
Rachel's got some pretty strange stuff happening. She can't control her morphing. One minute, she's doing homework. The next, she's morphing a full-grown crocodile, and -- without returning to human form -- she becomes an elephant. That's when the floor gives way and Rachel finds herself looking up at what used to be the kitchen ceiling.
What's going on? No one's sure, but Rachel and the other Animorphs have to figure it out -- quickly. Because if someone sees Rachel's out-of-control morphing, the other Animorphs and Ax are in some serious trouble... Views: 952
Jon Randon recounts the life and death of his best friend. After a brutal injury leaves Jon trapped in a nearly decommissioned medical hospital, he tries to find the man he used to be by exploring the closed down sections of the military base. When a secret room dating back to the civil war is uncovered, Jon learns that some discoveries can't be forgotten. Part One of the Jon Randon Series.Dedicated to memory of Major Jesse Taylor.We made a pact. He lived up to his end by dying. I tried to live up to my end by following The Death Agreement.What you will find within these pages is a true recounting of a man's life as seen through my eyes. It's almost an impossible task when some of what you see can't be real and what is real you may refuse to see.Human beings have a capacity to dread the truth, to distort facts when they don't fit our predefined notions of how the world should work. We forget that reality isn't what we want it to be. We ignore the signs that our universe doesn't care about us. It constantly changes to suit its own needs. Nothing is perfect. This includes the focus of my story. People come and go. Pieces don't fit neatly together. Doubt clouds judgment. Mistakes are made. All hell breaks loose when no one is looking. I guess that's how life is supposed to be.For me, it doesn't matter anymore. What happened, happened, and I'm still bound by the terms set.Please consider this dedication a warning sticker. Come in if you dare, leave if you don't. Some might call this experience horror. It is that, no doubt, but at the root I suppose it's a tale of transformation.Speaking of transforming: Have you ever stood in a dim bathroom and stared at a mirror? For the past 18 months, I've done that every day. What I see in the glass consumes me. My silhouette fades into a thousand different terrifying faces; each sharpens to crystal clarity before morphing into someone else. I don't know who these people are, but I recognize them all. I've learned that what we see isn't a reflection. We are the reflection.My name is Jon Randon and I'm going to tell you a story. Views: 950
It was a stab in the dark.
On a chilly February night, during a screening of Psycho in midtown, someone sunk an ice pick into the back of Chanel Rylan’s neck, then disappeared quietly into the crowds of drunks and tourists in Times Square. To Chanel’s best friend, who had just slipped out of the theater for a moment to take a call, it felt as unreal as the ancient black-and-white movie up on the screen. But Chanel’s blood ran red, and her death was anything but fictional.
Then, as Eve Dallas puzzles over a homicide that seems carefully planned and yet oddly personal, she receives a tip from an unexpected source: an author of police thrillers who recognizes the crime—from the pages of her own book. Dallas doesn’t think it’s coincidence, since a recent strangulation of a sex worker resembles a scene from her writing as well. Cops look for patterns of behavior: similar weapons, similar MOs. But this killer seems to find inspiration in someone else’s imagination, and if the theory holds, this may be only the second of a long-running series.
The good news is that Eve and her billionaire husband Roarke have an excuse to curl up in front of the fireplace with their cat, Galahad, reading mystery stories for research. The bad news is that time is running out before the next victim plays an unwitting role in a murderer’s deranged private drama—and only Eve can put a stop to a creative impulse gone horribly, destructively wrong. Views: 950
Ballard here writes a brilliant hybrid of autobiography and fiction. The sequel to The Empire of the Sun, this work puts his earlier account of a boy’s experiences in occupied Shanghai in the context of a lifetime. Ballard’s eye has never been more cinematic, and his writing, especially in the love scenes, is a masterful blend of the raw and the tender. Views: 950
In New York and Baltimore, police cameras scan public areas twenty-four hours a day. Huge commercial databases track your finances and sell that information to anyone willing to pay. Host sites on the World Wide Web record every page you view, and “smart” toll roads know where you drive. Every day, new technology nibbles at our privacy. Does that make you nervous?
David Brin is worried, but not just about privacy. He fears that society will overreact to these technologies by restricting the flow of information, frantically enforcing a reign of secrecy. Such measures, he warns, won’t really preserve our privacy. Governments, the wealthy, criminals, and the techno-elite will still find ways to watch us. But we’ll have fewer ways to watch them. We’ll lose the key to a free society: accountability.
The Transparent Society is a call for “reciprocal transparency.” If police cameras watch us, shouldn’t we be able to watch police stations? If credit bureaus sell our data, shouldn't we know who buys it? Rather than cling to an illusion of anonymity - a historical anomaly, given our origins in close-knit villages - we should focus on guarding the most important forms of privacy and preserving mutual accountability. The biggest threat to our freedom, Brin warns, is that surveillance technology will be used by too few people, now by too many.
A society of glass houses may seem too fragile. Fearing technology-aided crime, governments seek to restrict online anonymity; fearing technology-aided tyranny, citizens call for encrypting all data. Brins shows how, contrary to both approaches, windows offer us much better protection than walls; after all, the strongest deterrent against snooping has always been the fear of being spotted. Furthermore, Brin argues, Western culture now encourages eccentricity - we’re programmed to rebel! That gives our society a natural protection against error and wrong-doing, like a body’s immune system. But “social T-cells” need openness to spot trouble and get the word out.
The Transparent Society is full of such provocative and far-reaching analysis. The inescapable rush of technology is forcing us to make new choices about how we want to live. This daring book reminds us that an open society is more robust and flexible than one where secrecy reigns. In an era of gnat-sized cameras, universal databases, and clothes-penetrating radar, it will be more vital than ever for us to be able to watch the watchers. With reciprocal transparency we can detect dangers early and expose wrong-doers. We can gauge the credibility of pundits and politicians. We can share technological advances and news. But all of these benefits depend on the free, two-way flow of information. Views: 948
On the planet Os-Veruh, the native Veniche have endured a decade under the oppressive rule of a race of invaders. When Georgianna Lennox, a Veniche medic, discovers her childhood friend has been sold into slavery, her struggle to save one life ignites a battle to liberate her homeworld. Is she about to discover that it is better to be dead than 'buryd'?“You are an inmate, not a medic. You should get used to that.”On the planet Os-Veruh, the native Veniche have endured a decade under the oppressive rule of a race of invaders, the Adveni.When Georgianna Lennox, a Veniche medic, discovers her childhood friend has been sold into slavery, she seeks help from a revolutionary outlaw group.As Georgianna’s struggle to save one life ignites a battle to liberate her homeworld, is she about to discover that it is better to be dead than ‘buryd’?Dead and Buryd is the first book in the Out of Orbit series. Views: 948
A Tarzyn the Apewoman story.Joan Clayton and husband die, stranded in Africa. Their young daughter is taken in by a band of smarter apes. Raised to adulthood by her beast family, she becomes Tarzyn the Apewoman, one of the greatest heroes the world has ever known. Teaching herself from her parents belongings, she finds love in the arms of Jan Porter.A Gender Switch Adventure.The truth can kill you.Taken away as a small child, from a life where vampires, the Fae, and other mythical creatures are real and treacherous, the beautiful young witch, Jéhenne Corbeaux is totally unprepared when she returns to rural France to live with her eccentric Grandmother.Thrown headlong into a world she knows nothing about she seeks to learn the truth about herself, uncovering secrets more shocking than anything she could ever have imagined and finding that she is by no means powerless to protect the ones she loves.Despite her Gran’s dire warnings, she is inexorably drawn to the dark and terrifying figure of Corvus, an ancient vampire and Master of the vast Albinus family.Jéhenne is about to find her answers and discover that, not only is Corvus far more dangerous than she could ever imagine, but that he holds much more than the key to her heart … Views: 948
