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WHITE DEVILS
by Paul McAuley
One of the most exciting new science fiction writers
of the new millennium, Paul McAuley has already won
the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Philip K. Dick Award,
and the John W. Campbell Award. Now he presents a
disturbingly convincing exploration of the future of
Africa, the darker applications of biotechnology,
and the very nature of the human psyche.
The Congo, roughly thirty years from now. Plague,
civil war, and rampant genetic engineering have
spawned widespread chaos and devastation throughout
Africa. Nicholas Hyde is investigating a reported
massacre in a remote corner of the Congo when his
team is attacked by a band of fierce apelike
creatures, possibly the result of illegal genetic
experimentation on chimpanzees. Nick survives the
encounter, only to discover himself at the center
of a massive cover-up.
THE TRIAL OF TOMPA
LEE
by Edward Hoornaert
Tompa Lee, a homeless, twenty-second-century "street meat" from
Manhattan, has clawed her way up to the lowest rungs of the Commerce
Space Navy. Unfortunately, Tompa becomes a pawn of interplanetary
intrigue when she is framed for a heinous act of terrorism during
her first-ever shore leave on another planet. The alien Shons demand
that she be
turned over to them for trial, and even her Navy coworkers assume
she tossed the grenade that destroyed the Shon pub. She's street
meat, after all: an obvious and easy scapegoat. Tompa's dreams of
security and belonging explode like the deadly grenade.
Dante Roussel is the Navy policeman ordered to deliver Tompa to the
herd-like Shons--but he is horrified to learn that Shon justice
demands a trial-by-combat on a desert island, with Tompa and her
supporters battling three hundred accusers. Only a single Shon
supports her: Awmit, an old, feckless nobody who witnessed Tompa's
innocence.
THE PHILOSOPHER AT
THE END OF THE UNIVERSE
by Mark Rowlands
"The Philosopher At The
End Of The Universe" demonstrates how anyone can grasp the basic
concepts of philosophy while still holding a bucket of popcorn. Mark
Rowlands makes philosophy utterly relevant to our everyday lives and
reveals its most potent messages using nothing more than a little
humor and the plotlines of some of the most spectacular, expensive,
high-octane films on the planet.
Rowlands anchors his discussions in easily understood
everyday terms and relates them in a manner easy to
identify with. Interspersed with a ready joke or two, he
wonderfully explains why those SciFi movies we love so
much are much deeper than they appear to be on the
surface. Mark Rowlands's entertaining and stimulating
guide is perfect for anyone searching for knowledge of the world
around us. If Keanu can understand Descartes surely everyone can.
SLIDING SCALES
by Alan Dean Foster
From "New York Times" bestselling author Alan Dean Foster comes a
fantastic new Pip and Flinx adventure starring a certain
twenty-four-year-old redhead with emerald eyes and uncanny abilities
and his devoted mini-dragon protector. Time and again, the daring
pair have braved countless dangers to emerge victorious. But now
Flinx attempts something that may be impossible for the heretofore
undefeated hero. His mission: take a vacation.
Never have the cares of the universe lain so heavily on
Flinx's shoulders, nor the forces arrayed against him
seemed so invincible. Pursued by a newly revealed sect of doomsday
fanatics, hunted by factions inside and outside the Commonwealth for
transgressions real and imagined, expected to single-handedly avert
a looming galactic crisis (or bear responsibility for the
consequences), Flinx can be forgiven for feeling a slight touch of
melancholy.
Yet even in a place where hardly anyone's ever "seen" a human, Flinx
and trouble can't stay separated for long. Unfortunately, Flinx
hasn't a clue that his vacation
paradise is in reality a danger zone of the highest magnitude. And
by the time he learns the truth, it may be too late.
FAIRY BREWHAHA AT THE
LUCKY NICKEL SALOON
by Ken Rand
Us regulars at the Lucky Nickel
Saloon, Second Ave,
Laramie, Wyoming Territory, US of A, are shocked to hear from Mick,
the Irish barkeep, that his mortgage is due tomorrow. Bankruptcy
looms, dire straits for certain sure, as we-all're broke and none of
us can get credit nowheres else.
Sudden-like, a gang of fairies invades town. They're
intent on robbing the circus, just arrived in town for a
show, of payroll gold. But afore the robbery, said bandits intend to
get drunk on Fairy BrewHaHa, concocted, so the legend in Fairyland
goes, only in the Lucky Nickel and nowheres else.
Trouble is, Mick, who brewed said brew afore he gave up sipping at
his own stock long ago, can't remember the secret formula. He better
remember quick, as the fairies get agitated and commence to breaking
up furniture and glassware.
LANDSCAPES
by Kevin J. Anderson
Though best-selling author Kevin
J. Anderson is best known for his epic science fiction novels such
as "Hidden Empire," "Dune: House Atreides" (with Brian Herbert), and
"Star Wars: Jedi Search," he has regularly stretched his literary
muscles with short stories.
This collection of twenty-two tales and two essays displays the
range of his imagination, from science fiction to fantasy to horror;
from alien landscapes in the far future to cutting-edge
technological developments that could happen tomorrow. The first
five stories take readers to parallel universes next door, on
expeditions for Alternitech. Other tales put a humorous twist on
classic fantasy scenarios of kissing frogs and slaying dragons.
Readers will see cloned mammoths, the dark side of early Hollywood,
attorneys wrestling with the legalities of time paradoxes, and
backpackers on an alien planet
THE HOUSE OF STORMS
by Ian R. MacLeod
It is the ninety-ninth year of the Age of Light. Alice
Meynell has fought her way to the title of Greatgrandmistress of the
Telegraphers' Guild, using all the skills available to a beautiful
woman, and some other, more secret skills besides. All of this she
has done with her dynasty in mind--but since childhood, her only
son, Ralph, has suffered from consumption. No medicine, spell, or
surgery in Europe can cure him.
Now, in desperation, she takes him to Invercombe on the west coast
of England. She hopes Ralph will benefit from exercise and the clean
sea air. But her darker true hope lies nearby, in an isolated
settlement known to few: Einfell, the land of the changelings. Here
lives a man who once loved her, now terribly changed by magic, and
here
Alice goes to bargain for her son's life.
THE MARTIAN WAR
by Gabriel Mesta
FROM THE BOOK JACKET:
Classic science fiction author H. G. Wells's most memorable and
compelling novel was arguably "The War of the Worlds," made even
more famous by the notorious Mercury Theater production starring
Orson Welles that resulted in the "Night That Panicked America."
But what if the Martian invasion was not entirely the product of H.
G. Wells's vivid imagination? What if Wells witnessed something that
spurred him to write "The War of the Worlds" not as a form of
entertainment--but as a
warning to the complacent people of Earth?
LORDS OF GRASS AND THUNDER
by Curt Benjamin
FROM THE BOOK JACKET:
Here is a spellbinding new novel set in the universe of the "Seven
Brothers" trilogy. One of the pivotal characters of the trilogy,
young Prince Tayyichiut, heir to the khan of the powerful Qubal
clans, a nomadic,
Mongol-like race, returns as the protagonist of "Lords of Grass and
Thunder." As the novel opens, Prince Tayy is coming home an adored
hero from a war between the gods and demons.
But what awaits Prince Tayy is a situation fully as dangerous as
anything he has faced in battle. With his own
father and mother slain by a treacherous demon who manifests as both
a deadly, poisonous green bamboo snake and a beautiful woman, his
uncle Mergen-Khan now rules over the Qubal people.
AND DON'T FORGET TO RESCUE
THE PRINCESS
by Marc Bilgrey
Al Breen is an unemployed New York actor who wants to spend a quiet
summer on Cape Cod writing a play. But his plans are interrupted by
a talking cat who zaps him into a medieval world where Al is
mistaken for a brave warrior (hey, it could happen to anyone). Al is
then forced by a king to undergo a dangerous quest to rescue a
beautiful princess. (Why don't beautiful princesses have better
security?)
Al and his new partner, Nigel, an inexperienced knight, must battle
a whole host of horrifying creatures, including evil trolls, a
monstrous dragon, and other scary
things too numerous to mention.
IMPRINT
by Paul L. Bates
FROM THE BOOK JACKET:
Wyatt Weston awakens from a nightmare to his three recurring
problems: his extreme poverty, his missing girlfriend, Jennie, who
no one else remembers, and a disintegrated left arm. As the solution
to the first, he
accepts the advances of Rachel Void, cousin of his employer, Curtis
Void. As the solution to the last, he is able, with much effort, to
rebuild his arm using a practiced and painstaking act of will. But
his life is
built around finding Jennie.
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