Popular Fiction - Science Fiction Day
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Full Speed to a Crash Landing
Ada Lamarr may have gotten to the spaceship wreck first, but looter’s rights won’t get her far when she’s got a hole in the side of her ship and her spacesuit is almost out of air. Fortunately for her, help arrives in the form of a government salvage crew—and while they reluctantly rescue her from certain death, they are not pleased to have an unexpected passenger along on their classified mission.
But Ada doesn’t care—all that matters to her is enjoying their fine food and sweet, sweet oxygen—until Rian White, the government agent in charge, starts to suspect that there’s more to Ada than meets the eye. He’s not wrong—but he’s so pretty that Ada is perfectly happy to keep him paying attention to her—at least until she can complete the job she was sent to pull off. But as quick as Ada is, Rian might be quicker—and she may not be entirely sure who’s manipulating who until it’s too late…
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Convergence Problems
From the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Nommo award nominated author of Shigidi and The Brass Head Of Obalufon comes a stunning new collection of stories that investigate the rapidly changing role of technology and belief in our lives as we search for meaning, for knowledge, for justice; constantly converging on our future selves.
In “An Arc of Electric Skin,” a roadside mechanic seeking justice volunteers to undergo a procedure that will increase the electrical conductivity of his skin by orders of magnitude. In “Blowout,” a woman races against time and a previously undocumented geological phenomenon to save her brother on the surface of Mars. In “Ganger,” a young woman trapped in a city run by machines must transfer her consciousness into an artificial body and find a way to give her life purpose. In “Debut,” Nairobi-based technical support engineer tries to understand what is happening when an AI art system begins malfunctioning in ways that could change the world.
The sixteen stories of Convergence Problems, which include work published for the first time in this collection, rare stories, and recently acclaimed work, showcase Talabi at his creative best: playful and profound, exciting and experimental, always interesting.
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Mirrored Heavens
Serapio, avatar of the Crow God Reborn and the newly crowned Carrion King, rules Tova. But his enemies gather both on distant shores and within his own city as the matrons of the clans scheme to destroy him. And deep in the alleys of the Maw, a new prophecy is whispered, this one from the Coyote God. It promises Serapio certain doom if its terrible dictates are not fulfilled.
Meanwhile, Xiala is thrust back amongst her people as war comes first to the island of Teek. With their way of life and their magic under threat, she is their last best hope. But the sea won’t talk to her the way it used to, and doubts riddle her mind. She will have to sacrifice the things that matter most to unleash her powers and become the queen they were promised.
And in the far northern wastelands, Naranpa, avatar of the Sun God, seeks a way to save Tova from the visions of fire that engulf her dreams. But another presence has begun stalking her nightmares, and the Jaguar God is on the hunt.
This is the third volume of the "Between Earth and Sky" series.
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System Collapse
Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.
But there’s something wrong with Murderbot; it isn’t running within normal operational parameters. ART’s crew and the humans from Preservation are doing everything they can to protect the colonists, but with Barish-Estranza’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams, they’re going to have to hope Murderbot figures out what’s wrong with itself, and fast!
This is the seventh volume of the "Murderbot Diaries" series.
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Service Model
To fix the world they must first break it, further.
Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service.
When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before: They can run away.
Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose.
Sometimes all it takes is a nudge to overcome the limits of your programming.
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Cascade Failure
There are only three real powers in the Spiral: the corporate power of the Trust versus the Union's labor's leverage. Between them the Guild tries to keep everyone's hands above the table. It ain't easy.
Branded a Guild deserter, Jal "accidentally" lands a ride on a Guild ship. Helmed by an AI, with a ship's engineer/medic who doesn't see much of a difference between the two jobs, and a "don't make me shoot you" XO, the Guild crew of the Ambit is a little . . . different.
They're also in over their heads. Responding to a distress call from an abandoned planet, they find a mass grave, and a live programmer who knows how it happened. The Trust has plans. This isn't the first dead planet, and it's not going to be the last.
Unless the crew of the Ambit can stop it.
This is the first volume of the "Ambit's Run" series.
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The Book of Doors
Cassie Andrews works in a New York City bookshop, shelving books, making coffee for customers, and living an unassuming, ordinary life. Until the day one of her favorite customers - a lonely yet charming old man - dies right in front of her. Cassie is devastated. She always loved his stories, and now she has nothing to remember him by. Nothing but the last book he was reading.
But this is no ordinary book... It is the Book of Doors.
Inscribed with enigmatic words and mysterious drawings, it promises Cassie that any door is every door. You just need to know how to open them.
Then she's approached by a gaunt stranger in a rumpled black suit with a Scottish brogue who calls himself Drummond Fox. He's a librarian who keeps watch over a unique set of rare volumes. The tome now in Cassie's possession is not the only book with great power, but it is the one most coveted by those who collect them.
Now Cassie is being hunted by those few who know of the Special Books. With only her roommate Izzy to confide in, she has to decide if she will help the mysterious and haunted Drummond protect the Book of Doors - and the other books in his secret library's care - from those who will do evil. Because only Drummond knows where the unique library is and only Cassie's book can get them there. But there are those willing to kill to obtain those secrets. And a dark force - in the form of a shadowy, sadistic woman - is at the very top of that list.
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A View from the Stars
A VIEW FROM THE STARS features a range of short works from the past three decades of New York Times bestselling author Cixin Liu's prolific career, putting his nonfiction essays and short stories side-by-side for the first time. This collection includes essays and interviews that shed light on Liu's experiences as a reader, writer, and lover of science fiction throughout his life, as well as short fiction that gives glimpses into the evolution of his imaginative voice over the years.
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Machine Vendetta
Panoply is a small, efficient police force, dedicated to maintaining the rule of democracy among the ten thousand disparate city-states orbiting the planet Yellowstone.
Ingvar Tench was one of Panoply's most experienced operatives. So why did she walk alone and unarmed into a habitat with a vicious grudge against her organization?
As his colleagues pick up the pieces following her death, Prefect Tom Dreyfus must face his conscience. Four years ago, when an investigation linked to one of his most dangerous adversaries got a little too personal, Dreyfus arranged for Tench to continue the inquiry by proxy. In using her, did Dreyfus also put her in the line of fire? And what does Tench's attack tell him about an enemy he had hoped was dormant?
This is the third volume of the "Prefect Dreyfus Emergency" series.
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The Parliament
“Murder owls are extreme,” Jude said. “What’s more extreme than murder owls?”
Madigan Purdy is stuck in her hometown library.
When tens of thousands of owls descend on the building, rending and tearing at anyone foolish enough to step outside, Mad is tasked with keeping her students safe, and distracted, while they seek a solution to their dilemma.
Perhaps they’ll find the inspiration they seek in her favorite childhood book, The Silent Queen....
With food and fresh water in low supply, the denizens of the library will have to find a way out, and soon, but the owls don’t seem to be in a hurry to leave...
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The Never Wars
Special Forces are accustomed to crazy ops, but orbiting a black hole to slow down time and fight Earth's dirty wars in the future? That's new, even for them. But that's the mission for Owen Quarry, Anaya Pretorius, and the rest of COG, a company of elite, disgraced, soldiers from around the globe.
They join a defrocked company commander, an AI warship with self-confidence issues, and a crew of misfit troopers on a dizzying time-quest: prove the concept of stationing armies in space-time.
If they complete ten missions, they'll be redeemed as citizens in good standing.
But the cost will be heavy - in time and in souls. And as one of their own hunts them down and another rises from the past with a key to freedom, Quarry and Pretorius find that redemption and survival are two very different things.
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Where Peace Is Lost
Five years ago, Kelana Gardavros lost everything in the war against the Pale empire. Now Kel Garda is just another refugee living on the edge of an isolated star system. No one knows she was once a member of an Order whose military arm was disbanded and scattered across the galaxy. And no one knows that if her enemies found her, they might destroy the entire world to get rid of her.
Kel's past intrudes in the form of a long-dormant Pale war machine, suddenly reactivated. If the massive automaton isn't stopped, at best it will carve a swath of devastation that displaces thousands of people. At worst, it will kill every sentient creature on the planet.
When two strangers offer to deactivate the machine for a price, Kel and a young friend agree to serve as their guides. The journey through swamps infested with predators and bandits is bad enough, but can they survive more nefarious dangers along the way? And will Kel's fear of revealing her secrets doom the very people she's trying to protect?
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Whalefall
Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year.
The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out—one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.
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Jewish Futures
Jewish extraterrestrials? Brisket-eating zombies? Baby robot golems?
The first Jewish diaspora began nearly three thousand years ago. Those three millennia have informed a rich story-telling tradition that will only continue to expand in the coming centuries. Between these covers, you'll find tales of the last Jew, Jewish space lasers, and the remarkable connection between brisket and zombies. You'll experience the breath-taking experiences of climbing Mt. Everest while religious, and of competing in futuristic sporting combinations in the Olympics. You'll explore the questions of just what will we do when the artificial intelligences controlling our homes become more religious than we? Or when aliens seek to convert to Judaism, and then try to return to an abandoned Jerusalem on a deserted Earth?
Featuring stories by: Esther Friesner, Harry Turtledove, Leah Cypess, Susan Shwartz, Valerie Estelle Frankel, Robert Greenberger, Randee Dawn, Barbara Krasnoff, Steven H Silver, S.I. Rosenbaum & Abraham Josephine Reisman, Shane Tourtellotte, SM Rosenberg, Riv Begun, E.M. Ben Shaul, Jordan King-Lacroix, and the debut story by New York City high school student Samantha Katz.
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Lost in Time
One morning, Dr. Sam Anderson wakes up to find that the woman he loves has been murdered. For Sam, the horror is only beginning.
He and his daughter are accused of the crime.
The evidence is ironclad. They will be convicted. And so, to ensure his daughter goes free, Sam does what he must: he confesses. But in the future, murderers aren't sent to prison. Thanks to a machine Sam helped invent, the world's worst criminals are now sent to the past – approximately 200 million years into the past, to the dawn of the time of the dinosaurs – where they must live out their lives alone, in exile from the human race. Sam accepts his fate. But his daughter doesn't. Adeline Anderson has already lost her mother to a deadly, unfair disease. She can't bear to lose her father as well. So she sets out on a quest to prove him innocent.
Popular Nonfiction - New Year, New Interests!
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The Self-Sufficiency Garden
Eat homegrown food all year round and save money on your weekly shop by following this simple plan for self-sufficiency!
Huw Richards and Sam Cooper have spent the past two years planning and trialing their very own self-sufficiency garden in a 10 x 12.5 m plot, and now they've worked out the perfect formula. In this volume, you will learn:
- Huw's self-sufficiency ethos, goals, and approaches
- How to create your garden and build all the growing spaces you will need, such as hot beds and polytunnels
- Month-by-month planting plans with guidance on key tasks throughout the year
- Useful kitchen tips, meal prep, storage, and preserving ideas along with base recipes so you can make the most of your crops -
Why We Read
We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human.
Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader, and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else. In this whip-smart, laugh-out-loud-funny collection, Reed shares surprising stories from her life as a reader and the poignant ways in which books have impacted her students. From the varied novels she cherishes (Gone Girl, Their Eyes Were Watching God) to the ones she didn't (Tess of the d'Urbervilles), Reed takes us on a rollicking tour through the comforting world of literature, celebrating the books we love, the readers who love them, and the ways in which literature can transform us for the better.
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The Artist's Step-By-Step Guide to Drawing
This engaging and comprehensive drawing book is an excellent resource for artists, whether they are completely new to drawing or wish to build on their existing skills. Artist and author Vivienne Coleman takes away the mystery of how to produce an accomplished drawing, by revealing the exact process each image undergoes from start to finish. Each project is broken down into several steps, showing the technique applied at each stage and explaining how the reader can do the same.
Starting with an introduction to drawing materials and some basic techniques, the book then goes on to explore various types of subject matter in more detail. Each of the chapters focuses on an area of drawing, starting with slightly easier topics and progressing as the reader gains in confidence. Within each chapter the step-by-step projects also range from simpler to more complex, giving the reader a clear pathway to build on their skills.
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The Great British Baking Show 2024
The new Great British Baking Show book ties into the 2024 season of the UK's most popular cooking show. Indulge in the very best comfort bakes that you'll want to make time and again, with recipes from Paul, Prue, and the bakers.
This new book showcases 80 wonderful bakes inspired by the show's most popular signature themes - Cake, Biscuits, Bread, Pastry, Patisserie, Dessert, Chocolate and Free-Form - celebrating the very best in comfort bakes.
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Essential Knit Sweaters
Comfy pullover? Jacket cardigan? Weekend hoodie? Fitted turtleneck? Think of those sweaters you wear most often, the favorites you reach for again and again because they make you feel both confident and comfortable. Now imagine them hand knitted in soft, beautiful yarns in the colors of your choice.
Each of the designs in this book is a versatile type of sweater everyone should own--all knit in classic stitches and featuring added details to make them unique. Sizes range from XS to XXL. Knitting tutorials and detailed instructions make the patterns easy to follow, so grab your needles and some gorgeous yarn and start filling your wardrobe with sweaters you'll reach for again and again. With the 20 patterns in Essential Knit Sweaters, you will create the sweater collection of your dreams!
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Mini Plein Air Painting with Remington Robinson
The talented artist behind the popular Instagram and TikTok accounts @remingtonrobinsonart has gained a devoted following by showcasing his unique and portable painting setup. In Mini Plein Air Painting with Remington Robinson, he reveals his secrets and teaches you how to set up your own miniature plein air studio using mint tins. You’ll be amazed at how easily you can carry your art supplies, including a small canvas, brushes, and a mini bottle of mineral spirits, all in your pocket or bag. Whether you’re at home, on a plane, or exploring new destinations, you’ll have everything you need to immerse yourself in the art of plein air painting. With step-by-step lessons, insightful tips, and practical techniques, you’ll learn to harness the power of miniature art to capture the essence of your surroundings.
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PlantYou: Scrappy Cooking
Spinning off of Bodrug's wildly popular Scrappy Cooking social media series, the cookbook is packed with over 150+ whole-food, plant-based recipes that show the reader how to make the most of the food they have in their fridge and pantry with easy and approachable vegan recipes anyone can make.
Scrappy Cooking not only puts the focus on eating a diet that's more conscious for our environment (and our wallets) but our health as well. Every recipe in the book is vegan, almost entirely oil free, and focuses on whole, plant-based foods that are good for our bodies and the planet.
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Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic Classroom in a Book
Lightroom and Photoshop are integral parts of a photographer's workflow for making great images. Start by importing and organizing your images into collections that make sense for you. Develop your pictures to make the most out of every pixel. Learn how Photoshop and Lightroom's new AI based tools can take your vision further faster. Learn the strengths of each program at each part of your workflow to help you realize your creative vision in no time at all.
This volume contains 11 lessons that cover the basics and beyond, from sorting your photos and adjusting tone and color to leveraging AI-based masking and neural filters. You can follow the book from start to finish or choose only those lessons that interest you.
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1000 Words
In 2018, novelist Jami Attenberg, faced with a looming deadline, needed writing inspiration. Using a bootcamp model, she and a friend set out to write one thousand words daily for two weeks straight. They opened this practice to Attenberg’s online community and soon hundreds then thousands of people started using the #1000WordsofSummer hashtag to track their work and support one another. What began as a simple challenge between two friends has become a literary movement—write 1,000 words per day without judgement, or bias, or concerns about writer’s block, and see what comes of it.
1000 Words is the book-length extension of this movement. It is about becoming—and staying—motivated, discovering yourself and your creative desires, and approaching your craft from a new direction. It features advice from more than fifty well-known writers, including New York Times bestsellers, Pulitzer Prize winners, and stars of the literary world. Framing these letters are words of wisdom and encouragement, plus specific strategies, from Attenberg on how to carve out a creative path for yourself all year round.
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America's Best Day Hikes
Beautifully illustrated, this best-of compendium features the most memorable one-day hikes in every region of the United States from Sierra Buttes Lookout in Tahoe National Forest to Grinnell Glacier Trail in Montana's Glacier National Park to Giant Mountain in Adirondack Park and beyond.
Organized by region, this guide goes into detail about what makes each hike so remarkable and why it might be worth a detour or even a special journey for someone looking to broaden their horizons. All of the hikes are doable during daylight hours and none require camping.
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Knitting the National Parks
From the brightly colored pebbles of Lake McDonald in Montana’s Glacier National Park to the regal granite cliffs of El Capitan and Half Dome in California’s Yosemite Valley, the US National Parks contain some of the most recognizable and iconic natural landmarks in the world. Capture the majesty each national park offers with original beanie patterns created by knitting designer and outdoor enthusiast Nancy Bates.
Beanies range from simple beanie constructions to more challenging stitch patterns such as the two-color crossovers inspired by South Dakota’s Badlands or the multiple cable designs inspired by New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns. Clear charts, easy-to-read keys, and thorough instructions help any knitter, whether beginner or experienced, through these gratifying projects. Show your love and appreciation of our national parks with these beautiful and practical beanie projects you can wear any time or any place.
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A Beginner's Guide to Colored Pencil Drawing
A Beginner's Guide to Colored Pencil Drawing provides instructions for creating brilliantly realistic drawings featuring rich shadows, bright highlights, smooth gradients, and glowing colors. Learn at your own pace over the course of 14 easy-to-follow lessons!
This complete all-in-one guide starts with the basics - drawing lines, adding colors, drawing shapes and creating gradations. Then, it provides a series of detailed lessons teaching you how to draw colorful, everyday objects, such as:
- Food items like burgers, breakfasts, cookies, pickles, tarts, melons, apples, asparagus, and cocktails
- Flowers & plants such as hydrangeas, succulents, roses, and carnations
- Household items like silverware, bottles, toys, handkerchiefs, gemstones, and dolls
- A variety of animals including parakeets, kittens, and dogs
Each lesson includes blank sketch of the subject so you can focus on coloring techniques, and Faber-Castell color codes are provided so you can faithfully reproduce the example illustrations. Each lesson also includes a tear-out practice sheet with the full sketch so you can dive right in and try your hand at rendering these objects yourself! The practice template sheets are also available online to download and print at home.
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Birding for the Curious
There's something about birds that fascinates people and invites us to pause, look and listen to the beautiful, natural world around us. But do you always recognize what you see and hear? With this book, you'll get started. Birding for the Curious is a beginner course in birding for every nature and animal lover out there. With it, you'll learn what birding is all about, what birders do and how you can become one. You'll also learn how to find more birds, identify the birds you see, and attract more birds to your yard and feeders.
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Accessible Yoga
Yoga practice has so much to offer us physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. But many of us feel discouraged to practice because we see young, slim, flexible, well, and able-bodied people dominating yoga spaces. Yet, yoga is truly a practice for all - conferring enormous benefits to our overall well-being as our bodies change, age, and navigate various health challenges.
Jivana Heyman, founder of Accessible Yoga, views yoga as a basic human right - saying we all deserve to practice it in whatever state we find our body or mind. Accessible Yoga offers a simple, clear, and wonderfully adaptable practice for all people regardless of ability, health, and body type. Heyman has spent over twenty years sharing yoga with people of all abilities and backgrounds, and in this book, he shares his knowledge by breaking down complex yoga poses, breathing practices, meditation techniques, and yoga teachings into clearly understandable and practical tools we can use every day, regardless of our limitations or challenges.
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Flavor+Us
In this approachable cookbook, Rahanna Bisseret Martinez shares how to make food from around the world that respects the earth, workers, and consumers. A college freshman who has already cooked in the finest restaurants, she serves up lessons, tips, and tricks she has learned since her culinary career began at age thirteen, including techniques for everything from roasting and stir frying to pickling and infusing. The desserts and drinks chapters are perfect for hosting and making everyday meals special. Flavor+Us is filled with stories from Rahanna's experiences learning to cook in her family’s Californian kitchen, her time competing on Top Chef Junior, and the restaurants where she learned what cooking in community means.