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Firewall (Orca Soundings Ser.)
By Sean Rodman. 2017
After his parents' divorce and his move from Chicago to a small town, Josh finds solace in his video game,…
Killswitch. But then he finds a new version of the game that is the exact reproduction of his new town. Strong language. For junior and senior high readers. 2017
Heir apparent
By Vivian Vande Velde. 2002
While playing a total immersion virtual reality game full of medieval kings and intrigue, fourteen-year-old Giannine learns that demonstrators protesting…
such pastimes have damaged the equipment she's connected to. She must win the game quickly or face brain damage. For grades 6-9. 2002
Flip
By David Lubar. 2003
Eighth-grader Taylor and her twin brother, Ryan, are complete opposites. So when trouble-making Ryan discovers mysterious alien disks that enable…
him to become legends from the past--Babe Ruth, Albert Einstein, and others--Taylor tries to keep him out of trouble. For grades 5-8. 2003
Today the names of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Clark Ashton Smith, all regular contributors to…
the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the first half of the twentieth century, are recognizable even to casual readers of the bizarre and fantastic. And yet despite being more popular than them all during the golden era of genre pulp fiction, there is another author whose name and work have fallen into obscurity: Seabury Quinn.Quinn’s short stories were featured in well more than half of Weird Tales’s original publication run. His most famous character, the supernatural French detective Dr. Jules de Grandin, investigated cases involving monsters, devil worshippers, serial killers, and spirits from beyond the grave, often set in the small town of Harrisonville, New Jersey. In de Grandin there are familiar shades of both Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, and alongside his assistant, Dr. Samuel Trowbridge, de Grandin’s knack for solving mysteries-and his outbursts of peculiar French-isms (grand Dieu!)-captivated readers for nearly three decades.Collected for the first time in trade editions, The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, edited by George Vanderburgh, presents all ninety-three published works featuring the supernatural detective. Presented in chronological order over five volumes, this is the definitive collection of an iconic pulp hero. The first volume, The Horror on the Links, includes all of the Jules de Grandin stories from "The Horror on the Links” (1925) to "The Chapel of Mystic Horror” (1928), as well as an introduction by George Vanderburgh and Robert Weinberg.As you ride down the intergalactic bike path, you come to a crossroads. Which path will you take? Your choice…
could determine your future, or the future of all humanity, forever. These twelve stories explore a variety of intersections set in distant, outlandish, or disturbingly realistic futures and dimensions—all involving bicycles and the breaking of gender stereotypes. A bicycle race spans a rift between worlds. A teenager learns a valuable lesson from her prepper mom. A young fruit seller gets closer to her dream of becoming an astronaut. An overwhelmed mom finds unexpected solace at a bicycle collective. And much more! Contributors include Tuere T.S. Ganges, Gretchin Lair, Ayame Whitfield, Julia K. Patt, Elly Bangs, Osahon Ize-Iyamu, Monique Cuillerier, Kat Lerner, Hella Grichi, and Summer Jewel Keown, with illustrations by Elly Bangs and Paul Abbamondi.
Six classic science fiction stories and commentary that illustrate and explain key algorithms or principles of artificial intelligence.This book presents…
six classic science fiction stories and commentary that illustrate and explain key algorithms or principles of artificial intelligence. Even though all the stories were originally published before 1973, they help readers grapple with two questions that stir debate even today: how are intelligent robots programmed? and what are the limits of autonomous robots? The stories—by Isaac Asimov, Vernor Vinge, Brian Aldiss, and Philip K. Dick—cover telepresence, behavior-based robotics, deliberation, testing, human-robot interaction, the “uncanny valley,” natural language understanding, machine learning, and ethics. Each story is preceded by an introductory note, “As You Read the Story,” and followed by a discussion of its implications, “After You Have Read the Story.” Together with the commentary, the stories offer a nontechnical introduction to robotics. The stories can also be considered as a set of—admittedly fanciful—case studies to be read in conjunction with more serious study.Contents“Stranger in Paradise” by Isaac Asimov, 1973“Runaround” by Isaac Asimov, 1942“Long Shot” by Vernor Vinge, 1972“Catch That Rabbit” by Isaac Asimov, 1944“Super-Toys Last All Summer Long” by Brian Aldiss, 1969“Second Variety” by Philip K. Dick, 1953
Lost Empress
By Sergio De La Pava. 2018
"Ambitious, affecting, intelligent, plangent, comic, kooky and impassioned. I've read a lot of novels this year, between judging the Man…
Booker prize and the Granta Best of Young British Novelists, and I've yearned for this kind of exuberant, precise fiction" Stuart Kelly, Guardian on A Naked SingularityIt would take something huge to put Paterson, New Jersey on the map.But Nina Gill is determined to do just that. She is the daughter of the ageing owner of the Dallas Cowboys and the well-kept secret to their success. Shocked when her brother inherits the team, leaving her with the Paterson Pork, New Jersey's only Indoor Football League franchise, she vows to take on the N.F.L. and make her new team the pigskin kings of America.Meanwhile, Nuno DeAngeles - a brilliant criminal mastermind - contrives to be thrown into Rikers Island prison to commit one of the most audacious crimes of all time. Now he's on the inside, he has two good reasons to get out. But how does a person of culture go about breaking out of the penal system when the whole of the land of the free is addicted to keeping him in it?Without knowing it, or ever having met, Nina and Nuno have already had a profound effect on each other's lives. As his bid for freedom and her bid for sporting immortality reach crisis point, their stories converge in the countdown to an epic conclusion. Thrilling, touching, insightful and shockingly hilarious, De La Pava's extraordinary novel gets under the skin and into the minds of a vast cast of characters from the fringes of society - immigrants, exiles and outsiders.
The Last Man Standing: The chilling apocalyptic thriller that predicts Italy's collapse
By Davide Longo. 2010
A chillingly plausible novel about the collapse of Italian society and one man's struggle to retain his humanity amid the…
horror"A bleak, lyrical tale that evokes Cormac McCarthy's The Road.... Gruesome, intense, and strange... a eurozone nightmare brought to life on the page."--James Lovegrove, Financial TimesIt is 2025, and Italy is on the brink of collapse. Borders are closed, banks withhold money, the postal service stalls. Armed gangs of drug-fuelled youths roam the countryside. Leonardo was a famous writer and professor before a sex scandal ended his marriage and career. Heading north in search of her new husband, his ex-wife leaves their daughter and her son in his care. If he is to take them to safety, he will need to find a quality he has never possessed: courage.
The Last Man Standing: The chilling apocalyptic thriller that predicts Italy's collapse
By Davide Longo. 2010
A chillingly plausible novel about the collapse of Italian society and one man's struggle to retain his humanity amid the…
horror"A bleak, lyrical tale that evokes Cormac McCarthy's The Road.... Gruesome, intense, and strange... a eurozone nightmare brought to life on the page."--James Lovegrove, Financial TimesIt is 2025, and Italy is on the brink of collapse. Borders are closed, banks withhold money, the postal service stalls. Armed gangs of drug-fuelled youths roam the countryside. Leonardo was a famous writer and professor before a sex scandal ended his marriage and career. Heading north in search of her new husband, his ex-wife leaves their daughter and her son in his care. If he is to take them to safety, he will need to find a quality he has never possessed: courage.
The God Game
By Danny Tobey. 2018
'Like an episode of Black Mirror written by Stephen King' John Marrs, bestselling author of The One 'Immersive, claustrophobic .…
. . addictive' GuardianWin and All Your Dreams Come True™! ;) Charlie and his friends have entered the God Game. Tasks are delivered through their phones. When they accomplish a mission, the game rewards them. Charlie's money problems could be over. Vanhi can erase the one bad grade on her university application. It's all fun and games - at first. Then the threatening messages start. Obey me. Mysterious packages show up at their homes. Shadowy figures start following them. Who else is playing this game, and how far will they go to win? As Charlie looks for a way out, there's only one rule he knows for sure.If you die in the game, you die for real.'Smart, propulsive and gripping' Harlan Coben, #1 Sunday Times bestselling author
Fortune's Stroke (Belisarius Saga, Book #4)
By David Drake, Eric Flint. 2000
EVIL FROM BEYOND TIME RULES THE GREATEST EMPIRE ON EARTH! Link, the supercomputer from a future that should not exist,…
has used terror and gunpowder weapons to forge the Malwa Empire, harnessing the vast manpower of the Indian subcontinent and using the barbarian races of the periphery to bind the whole together. No power on Earth in the 6th century could stand against Link's evil. Aide, a human soul embodied in a jewel, has come back to halt evil's progress. Aide has no power but that of truth, but truth is the only power that could move the greatest general of the age, Belisarius. With his sword, his paladins, and his genius, Belisarius has turned the armies of Byzantium into a weapon capable of blunting the first assault of the Malwa hordes. Now, supported by allies from all the world yet free, Belisarius, with his wife and co-commander Antonina, faces overwhelming Malwa numbers in a ring that tightens about them. There is no room for maneuver and no safety in defeat. The armies of Good and Evil gathered on the fertile plains of Mesopotamia will decide the fate of the world --And the fate of all the future!
The Geek Handbook: User Guide and Documentation for the Geek in Your Life
By Mikki Halpin. 2000
He has reached every level of Myst. Her room is littered with soda cans. He idolizes Data from Star Trek®.…
But all your favorite geek really wants is to be understood.... Whether you're friends with a geek, work with one, love one, or hate one, The Geek Handbook provides handy instructions for analyzing and understanding all things geek, including: How Your Geek Relates to Others Geek organizations and gathering spots Getting Your Geek to Exercise Klingon martial arts as workout strategy The Geek Diet Soda, pizza, and other geek food groups; how to help your geek thrive
Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world.She…
is.Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row.He's wrong.FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming.It is.THE PASSAGE.(p) 2010 Penguin Random House LLC
NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES!'THE STAND meets THE ROAD' Entertainment Weekly'Enthralling ... richly imagined. Above all, Amy is a superb…
creation, believably human yet beguilingly enigmatic' Sunday TimesAmy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world.She is.Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row.He's wrong.FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming.It is.'Read 15 pages, and you will find yourself captivated; read 30 and you will find yourself taken prisoner and reading late into the night. It had the vividness that only epic works of fantasy and imagination can achieve. What else can I say? This: read this book and the ordinary world disappears' Stephen King
The Cobra Event: A Novel
By Richard Preston. 1997
A deadly virus - and a desperate race against time.'One of the most horrifying things I've ever read in my…
entire life' Stephen KingOne spring morning in New York City a seventeen-year-old student wakes up feeling vaguely ill. Hours later she is having violent seizures, blood is pouring out of her nose, and she begins to attack her own body in the most hideous way imaginable. Soon, other gruesome deaths of a similar nature have been discovered, and the autopsies reveal that a previously unknown virus is at large. It replicates horribly fast, it is always fatal - and is just too efficient to be entirely natural.When the Centre for Disease Control sends a forensic pathologist to investigate, her discoveries precipitate a national crisis.THE COBRA EVENT is a dramatic, heart-stopping thriller of an all-too-real threat.
Survivors: The gripping, bestselling novel of life after a global pandemic
By Terry Nation. 1976
Survivors of a global plague battle for life on an empty planet. A gripping vision of a post-apocalyptic world...'A fine…
piece of British post-apocalyptic fiction' 'Nation's novel is based on his original cult series...and is all the better for it, being far, far more gritty and realistic' SUNDAY SUNA virus has wiped out 95 per cent of the world's population in just a few weeks, leaving the remaining 5 per cent to stay alive in a world devoid of the most basic amenities - electricity, transport and medicine. The few survivors of the human race are forced to fall back on the most primitive skills in order to live and re-establish some semblance of law and order.Abby Grant, widowed by the plague, moves through this new dark age with determination, sustained by hope that her son, who fled his boarding school at the onset, has survived. She knows she must relearn the skills on which civilisation was built. With others, she founds a commune and the group return to the soil. But marauding bands threaten their existence. For Abby, there's a chance for a new life and love when she encounters James Garland, the fourteenth Earl of Woodhouse, who is engaged in a desperate fight to save his ancestral home. But more important, she must find her son.
Survivors: The gripping, bestselling novel of life after a global pandemic
By Terry Nation. 1976
Survivors of a global plague battle for life on an empty planet. A gripping vision of a post-apocalyptic world...'A fine…
piece of British post-apocalyptic fiction' 'Nation's novel is based on his original cult series...and is all the better for it, being far, far more gritty and realistic' SUNDAY SUNA virus has wiped out 95 per cent of the world's population in just a few weeks, leaving the remaining 5 per cent to stay alive in a world devoid of the most basic amenities - electricity, transport and medicine. The few survivors of the human race are forced to fall back on the most primitive skills in order to live and re-establish some semblance of law and order.Abby Grant, widowed by the plague, moves through this new dark age with determination, sustained by hope that her son, who fled his boarding school at the onset, has survived. She knows she must relearn the skills on which civilisation was built. With others, she founds a commune and the group return to the soil. But marauding bands threaten their existence. For Abby, there's a chance for a new life and love when she encounters James Garland, the fourteenth Earl of Woodhouse, who is engaged in a desperate fight to save his ancestral home. But more important, she must find her son.
Benny the Blue Whale: One Author's Descent into the Madness of AI
By Andy Stanton. 2023
AI is changing the world at frightening speed. A bestselling author decides to find out more… &‘Something profound and utterly…
brilliant is going on… hilarious.&’ THE TIMES Is ChatGPT the end of creative industries as we know them? An ethical quagmire from which there is no return? A threat to all our jobs, as we keep hearing on the news? Bestselling children&’s author Andy Stanton has made a career out of writing differently – from the unconventional &‘hero&’ of his bestselling Mr Gum series to his penchant for absurdist plots, his children&’s books are anything but formulaic. When a friend introduces him to ChatGPT, the new large language chatbot, Andy is as sceptical as he is curious. Can this jumble of algorithms really mimic the spontaneity of human thought? Could it one day replace human authors like him for good? And are we soon to be ruled over by despotic robot overlords? He decides there&’s only one thing for it – he must test this bot&’s capabilities. Eventually, he settles on a prompt that will push the algorithm to its creative limits: &‘tell me a story about a blue whale with a tiny penis.&’ Chaos ensues. What follows is a surprising and illuminating battle between Andy and ChatGPT that maybe, just maybe, might help us all understand AI a little bit better. Join Andy and his beleaguered AI lackey on a rollicking metafictional journey through the art of storytelling. Presenting his prompts and the AI-generated narrative alongside extensive commentary, Stanton provides a startling paean to the art of a good story and boundless human creativity. Hopeful and hilarious, Benny the Blue Whale provides a joyfully anarchic meditation on AI, literature and why we write. *** A WATERSTONES AND NEW SCIENTIST BEST BOOK OF 2023 &‘There&’s no book like it. Scholarly, childish, fascinating and hilarious – one of our funniest writers dissects what it takes to build a story and what that tells us about being human. It&’ll really make you think, if you can stop laughing.&’ Chris Addison, co-creator of BREEDERS &‘Entertaining and alarmingly relevant, provocative and philosophically satisfying, it&’s ultimately a profoundly human text.&’ OBSERVER &‘A magnificent experiment by a perfect fool – deep and shallow and stupid and clever – the perfect use of AI (Andy Intelligence).&’ Robin Ince, author of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING INTERESTED &‘Benny the Blue Whale is many things. It&’s a fascinating discourse on the nature of language and storytelling. It&’s a philosophical treatise on the possibilities of artificial intelligence. It&’s a receptacle for obscenely hilarious jokes... A brilliant and beautiful cyborg: part human brain, part computational muscle. It&’s a post-post-modern work of genius.&’ Anthony McGowan, Carnegie Medal-winning author of LARK
Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth
By Cathi Unsworth. 2023
Not Just Music─The Enduring Legacy of GothDive deep into the tumultuous era of Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s England and the profound…
impact of goth on a generation of alienated youthsGoth's emergence defied a political era. As Margaret Thatcher's iron grip tightened around Britain, catalyzed by events like the miners' strikes and the rise of privatization, an unexpected counter-culture began to take root. Bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division, offspring of punk's raw energy, found a way to articulate the disillusionment of the times. Through their evocative sounds and iconography, they ushered in a musical movement that mirrored the societal shifts.Politics and music find an unusual nexus. The story of goth isn't merely a tale of alienated youths or atmospheric tunes. It’s a narrative deeply intertwined with the Yorkshire Ripper's horrors, Sid Vicious's tragedy, and the societal upheavals heralded by Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady. Author Cathi Unsworth paints a vivid tapestry, demonstrating how goth became more than just music—it became a reflection of an era's ethos and spirit.Inside, you'll discover:Deep Political Resonance: How goth's dark melodies interlaced with the Thatcher era, the miners' strikes, and privatization.Goth's Global Footprint: The journey from punk's downfall, marked by Sid Vicious, to the international acclaim of bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees.Enduring Cultural Impact: An examination of goth's lasting legacy amidst alienated youths and Britain's counter-culture movement.Historical Synchronicity: The parallel narrative of the Yorkshire Ripper's reign and goth's rise during Britain's most tumultuous times.If you have read books like The Art of Darkness, Faith Hope and Carnage, Into the Void, or Goth by Lol Tolhurst, you’ll love Season of the Witch.
Where the Axe is Buried
By Ray Nayler. 2025
All systems fail. All societies crumble. All worlds end.In the authoritarian Federation, there is a plot to assassinate and replace…
the President, a man who has downloaded his mind to a succession of new bodies to maintain his grip on power. Meanwhile, on the fringes of a Western Europe that has renounced human governance in favour of ostensibly more efficient, objective, and peaceful AI Prime Ministers, an experimental artificial mind is malfunctioning, threatening to set off a chain of events that may spell the end of the Western world.As the Federation and the West both start to crumble, Lilia, the brilliant scientist whose invention may be central to bringing down the seemingly immortal President, goes on the run, trying to break out from a near-impenetrable web of Federation surveillance. Her fate is bound up with a worldwide group of others fighting against the global status quo.Each of them must navigate seemingly insurmountable dangers and threats to remain free and, ultimately, put humanity's future back into its own hands.A cybernetic novel of political intrigue, Where the Axe is Buried combines the story of a near-impossible revolutionary operation with a blistering indictment of the many forms of authoritarianism that suffocate human freedom.