![]() ![]() This new edition by lauded translator Olena Bormashenko joins updated translations of Hard to Be a God, The Inhabited Island, and The Waves Extinguish the Wind to continue the ever-deepening saga of the Noon Universe. Do the secrets of Abalkin’s past pose a grave danger to humanity-or is he an innocent caught up in a deadly misunderstanding? He is tasked with tracking “progressor” Lev Abalkin, who has returned to Earth after a routine mission went tragically wrong. ![]() Once an intrepid young space explorer, Kammerer is now an investigator with COMCON-2, the covert agency in charge of countering threats to the homeworld. The Beetle in the Anthill reintroduces Maxim Kammerer, the main character of their novel The Inhabited Island. Arkady Strugatsky Popular science-fiction writers, the Strugatsky brothers have used the genre since the 1960s to comment on contemporary society, at times provoking major controversy. But as the authors became increasingly disillusioned with life in the Soviet Union, their Noon Universe stories grew darker and more complex as well. In their Noon Universe novels, they imagined twenty-second-century Earth as a space-faring communist utopia, devoted to guiding the progress of civilization on alien worlds. Today, Russian authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky are counted among the best science fiction writers of the twentieth century. ![]()
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![]() ![]() “Hollywood has had a longstanding love affair with Indians,” explains King. ![]() Like any good entertainer, King warms up his audience by opening with not just a joke but two chapters of jokes on how European settlers and their descendants, especially those in Hollywood, have viewed those who were here before them through a kind of romantic noble savage haze. Quite intentionally described by the author as an “account” and not a “history,” the work is an at times glib, often funny, yet always serious observation of what it meant and means to be a Cherokee, Sioux, Mohawk, or one of the hundreds of tribal peoples that have been recklessly, sadly, and injuriously lumped together into the meaningless if convenient grouping called “Indian.” One such entertainment is King’s new book, The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America. “What we are left with is a series of entertainments.” “Most of the history of Indians in North America has been forgotten,” says Canadian (and Cherokee) author Thomas King. ![]() Glib humor gives way to serious discussion of historic and modern treatment of Indians. University of Minnesota Press ( Sep 1, 2012) A Curious Account of Native People in North America ![]() ![]() ![]() He clearly takes pride in his “method”-part investigation, part writerly ritual-and the novel initially reads as just an unusually lyrical mystery. ![]() Digging into an unsolved double murder from the height of the Satanic Panic in southern California, Chandler buys the house the murders were committed in and begins to work: recreating the scene, conducting local interviews, collecting artifacts. The novel is narrated-mostly-by Gage Chandler, a true crime writer undertaking an ambitious new project. While I expected bloody twists and turns, the kinds of twists and turns this novel threw at me were intoxicating. The novel is intensely (if circuitously) invested in the condition of narration-who is speaking, why are they speaking, what are they getting out of it? It’s a picture of someone refusing to tell a story they’re already committed to tell, that they’re complicit in and profiting from. It’s keenly attuned to how people change, how we bring our pasts with us, how the spaces we enter shape us, sometimes unexpectedly, sometimes violently. John Darnielle’s latest novel, Devil House, is a fascinating hybrid of gothic horror, the true crime format, and something stranger. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Their close friendship is pulled apart by an act that is at once straight-forward, unforgivable without question, but also complex and multilayered. But it's essentially about Nel and Sula growing up - surrounded by racism, injustice and segregation - and becoming women, discovering their sexuality in very different ways, and living very different lives. ![]() It's a short, hard-hitting story that I would call a bildungsroman if that didn't seem a little trite. I could tell immediately that it was the kind of book I love: small town politics and gossip, intricate relationship dynamics, and gritty no-holds-barred storytelling. Sula is, at times, a strange book it is about an intense, complicated relationship between two black women - Sula and Nel - from the 1920s to the 1940s. She creates characters who burn with an inextinguishable fire, and she does it through a series of carefully-written moments ugly, heartbreaking scenes that somehow capture a person, a time, a place or an injustice in full. ![]() Toni Morrison's writing is frank and uncompromising. Reading this, I can't understand what took me so long to pick up another. Before Sula, I had only read Beloved, which is also a great book. I have known for some time that I haven't read enough Toni Morrison. Because each had discovered years before that they were neither white nor male, and that all freedom and triumph was forbidden to them, they had set about creating something else to be.Ĥ 1/2 stars. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Albert’s I’ve read, so maybe I’m not the target audience. I’m not sure if it’s a case of “it’s me, not you” it reads more like a Young Adult (maybe New Adult?) book than anything else of Ms. I enjoyed it and looked forward to picking it up again after I’d had to pause, but I can’t say that it completely worked for me. ![]() Annabeth Albert is one of the few authors whose books I’ll pick up without needing to know much about them, and I was keen to jump into Conventionally Yours, book one in her new True Colors series. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Who can you trust in a world where everyone wants you dead?Trust nothing. And it doesn?t help that Daniel is back, determined to save Aries from everyone, including himself.With the Ferals closing in, the four friends must make tough decisions. But without the Baggers help, they can?t stop the Ferals from killing all the survivors, especially the ones still being held hostage at the Plaza of Nations. He knows exactly what kind of monster Leon is. Baggers who have gone so completely insane, they will kill anything that crosses their paths, including their own kind.Mason knows he can?t trust Leon, the Bagger leader. And it looks like the only people who can help, are the very killers themselves.There?s a new threat to survival. Only this time, the sides aren?t quite so clear. Now Aries, Mason, Clementine and Michael must fight the final battle for their lives. ![]() It?s been nine months since the earthquakes destroyed most of the world and the Baggers awakened. ![]() ![]() Thankfully, Jolie Kerr has both staggering cleaning knowledge and a sense of humor. And let's be honest- no one is going to ask Martha Stewart what to do when your boyfriend barfs in your handbag. " -Amy Sedaris The author of the hit column "Ask a Clean Person" offers a hilarious and practical guide to cleaning up life's little emergencies Life is filled with spills, odors, and those oh-so embarrassing stains you just can't tell your parents about. ![]() Beeton for the postcollege set." -Penelope Green, The New York Times " Jolie Kerr really cuts through the grease and grime with her new book. For a generation overwhelmed not just by dust bunnies, but by bong water on the carpet, pee stains on the ceiling and vomit seemingly everywhere, Jolie Kerr dispenses cleaning advice free of judgment. The Lorrie Moore short story, or the Tina Fey memoir, of cleaning tutorials." -Dwight Garner, The New York Times "Thrillingly titled. ![]() ![]() ![]() NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Wise and funny. ![]() ![]() ![]() “Another profound science-fiction thriller. “An action-packed, brilliantly unique ride that had me up late and shirking responsibilities until I had devoured the last page. Together, Barry and Helena will have to confront their enemy-before they, and the world, are trapped in a loop of ever-growing chaos. In New York City, Detective Barry Sutton is closing in on the truth-and in a remote laboratory, neuroscientist Helena Smith is unaware that she alone holds the key to this mystery. It’s just the first shock wave, unleashed by a stunning discovery-and what’s in jeopardy is not our minds but the very fabric of time itself. ![]() ![]() But the force that’s sweeping the world is no pathogen. An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BYĪt first, it looks like a disease. And the Wayward Pines trilogy comes a relentless thriller about time, identity, and memory-his most mind-boggling, irresistible work to date, and the inspiration for Shondaland’s upcoming Netflix film. ![]() ![]() ![]() While few readers will identify with Lynn's particularly zany sense of fashion, they will love her spirit and vivaciousness."Melyssa Malinowski, Kenwood High School, Baltimore, MD" Copyright 2010 Media Source Inc. Lynn Visible by Julia DeVillers(Goodreads Author) 4.05 Rating details 260 ratings 34 reviews Lynn Vincent knows all the latest trends and isnt afraid to flaunt her funky style. "Lynn Visible" is a sweet story with one core theme. For Lynn, the real issue becomes staying true to herself and not getting lost amid the masses. Suddenly she is an "IT Girl." People ask her advice and try to copy her unique style. She trips, and one of her fashion-forward ideas lands on the lunch of her fashion-designer icon. But things change drastically when she goes to try out for the "GlITer Girl" IT panel. ![]() She's used to the jibes, the names, and being highly visible. Her pink tutu and navy plaid shirt outfit grant her nothing but stares. On a daily basis she expresses herself through her wardrobe. She scouts trends seasons in advance and customizes her own clothes. Gr 6-9 Lynn is a fashion diva, so much of one, in fact, that she is ahead of the curve. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I’m always a fan of Grant Morrison-style references to the creator of the universe being the actual comic book writers and artists. While I wasn’t a fan of the art in this one-shot aside, the ideas were a lot of fun. Colonel Weird even briefly glimpses his own creator while on the run from Anti-God. For a variety of reasons, these heroes and villains never made it to print, stuck in the minds of their creators. ![]() Colonel Weird finds himself in the realm of ideas that never came to be. The prophecy said that if they came back, Anti-God would return and destroy everything. Reality appears to have collapsed the moment the heroes returned to their universe. The continuity reboot also gets examined as we see what happens when our heroes forget who they were and have to rediscover their heroic identities. He plays with the metafiction of writing superhero comics, revealing a world where ideas never came to fruition. What makes someone a hero? A colorful costume? A suite of superpowers? A catchy name? Jeff Lemire brings us a story about the ultimate sacrifice to give up your life and hopes to save the rest of reality. Reprints Black Hammer: The Age of Doom #7-12 Black Hammer Volume 4: The Age of Doom Part 2 (2019) ![]() |