Title: The System of the World
Author: Neal Stephenson
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Fiction:Historical
Description:
Tis done.
The world is a most confused and unsteady place -- especially London, center of finance, innovation, and conspiracy -- in the year 1714, when Daniel Waterhouse makes his less-than-triumphant return to Englands shores. Aging Puritan and Natural Philosopher, confidant of the high and mighty and contemporary of the most brilliant minds of the age, he has braved the merciless sea and an assault by the infamous pirate Blackbeard to help mend the rift between two adversarial geniuses at a princesss behest. But while much has changed outwardly, the duplicity and danger that once drove Daniel to the American Colonies is still coin of the British realm.
No sooner has Daniel set foot on his homeland when he is embroiled in a dark conflict that has been raging in the shadows for decades. It is a secret war between the brilliant, enigmatic Master of the Mint and closet alchemist Isaac Newton and his archnemesis, the insidious counterfeiter Jack the Coiner, a.k.a. Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds. Hostilities are suddenly moving to a new and more volatile level, as Half-Cocked Jack plots a daring assault on the Tower itself, aiming for nothing less than the total corruption of Britains newborn monetary system.
Unbeknownst to all, it is love that set the Coiner on his traitorous course; the desperate need to protect the woman of his heart -- the remarkable Eliza, Duchess of Arcachon-Qwghlm -- from those who would destroy her should he fail. Meanwhile, Daniel Waterhouse and his Clubb of unlikely cronies comb city and country for clues to the identity of the blackguard who is attempting to blow up Natural Philosophers with Infernal Devices -- as political factions jockey for position while awaiting the impending death of the ailing queen; as the holy grail of alchemy, the key to life eternal, tantalizes and continues to elude Isaac Newton, yet is closer than he ever imagined; as the greatest technological innovation in history slowly takes shape in Waterhouses manufactory.
Everything that was will be changed forever ... The System of the World is the concluding volume in Neal Stephensons Baroque Cycle, begun with Quicksilver and continued in The Confusion.
Title: Olympos
Author: Dan Simmons
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Science-Fiction
Description:Amazon.com ReviewWelcome back to the Trojan War gone round the bend. Hector and Achilles have joined forces against the Olympic Gods. Back on a future Earth, assorted creatures from Shakespeare's __ get ready to rumble in a winner-takes-the-universe battle royale. And amid it all, a group of confused mere mortals with their classically trained robot allies (from Jupiter no less) race across time and space to keep from getting squashed as the various Titans of the Western Canon square off.Confused? It's all part of Dan Simmons's Olympos, a novel one part fun-with-quantum-physics and two parts through-the-looking-glass survey of Western Literature. Picking up where he left off in the high-wire act __, Simmons doesn't disappoint. Not only is Olympos excellent hard science fiction and grand space opera, it's a riveting and fast-paced book that is alternately shocking, thrilling, and often deftly hilarious as his hapless human creations wrestle the forces of literary history itself. Be sure to read Ilium first though. That and a more-than passing familiarity with _ might come in handy for the journey to Mars, Ilium's far-off shores, and the Earth that might be. --Jeremy Pugh_strongAmazon.com Exclusive ContentstrongstrongMaster of the Universes: An Exclusive Interview with Dan Simmonsstrong Olympos, a tale of Mars, the Greek gods, and survival in a post-human world.From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Drawing from Homer's Iliad, Shakespeare's Tempest and the work of several 19th-century poets, Simmons achieves another triumph in this majestic, if convoluted, sequel to his much-praised Ilium (2003). Posthumans masquerading as the Greek gods and living on Mars travel back and forth through time and alternate universes to interfere in the real Trojan War, employing a resurrected late 20th-century classics professor, Thomas Hockenberry, as their tool. Meanwhile, the last remaining old-style human beings on a far-future Earth must struggle for survival against a variety of hostile forces. Superhuman entities with names like Prospero, Caliban and Ariel lay complex plots, using human beings as game pieces. From the outer solar system, an advanced race of semiorganic Artificial Intelligences, called moravecs, observe Earth and Mars in consternation, trying to make sense of the situation, hoping to shift the balance of power before out-of-control quantum forces destroy everything. This is powerful stuff, rich in both high-tech sense of wonder and literary allusions, but Simmons is in complete control of his material as half a dozen baroque plot lines smoothly converge on a rousing and highly satisfying conclusion. br Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
Title: Blue Dragon
Author: Kylie Chan
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Fantasy
Description:
The forces of Hell are poised to strike'Ś Emma's beloved, John Chen, is a 3000 year old Chinese god. He is becoming weaker by the day in his battle to protect her and his daughter from the Demons who pursue them relentlessly. But it is Emma who is nagged by doubts about her own nature, and must find the courage to save them all'ŚDark Heavens, Book One.Emma Donahue went to Hong Kong to become a nanny to John Chen's daughter. But John's world is different, and he is no ordinary businessman - all the gods, demons and dragons in hell want him dead. And though she doesn't know it, Emma holds the power to save them all'ŚKylie Chan's Dark Heavens trilogy is the most exciting Urban Fantasy debut of 2010. Already a smash-hit in the author's native Australia it brings a world of Oriental Gods, martial arts action and romance to the genre.FILE UNDER: Modern Fantasy [Martial arts Chinese Gods Magical action Save the child!]
Title: The Singing of the Dead
Author: Dana Stabenow
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Fiction:Suspense
Description:
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense 8 hours, 43 min 7 CDs
Kate hires onto the staff of a political campaign to work security for a Native woman running for state senator. The candidate has been receiving anonymous threats, and Kate, who went to college with two of the staffers, is to become her shadow, watching the crowds at rallies and fund-raisers. But just as she's getting started, the campaign is rocked by the murder of their staff researcher. In order to track the killer, Kate will have to retrace the researcher's steps and delve into the past, in particular the grisly murder of a good-time girl during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1915. Little can she guess the impact a ninety-year-old unsolved case could have on a modern-day psychotic killer...AUTHORBIO: DANA STABENOW is the author of ten previous Kate Shugak mysteries as well as three featuring Alaska State Trooper Liam Campbell, in addition to three science fiction novels. A graduate of the University of Alaska with a BA in journalism and an MFA, she won the Edgar Award for her first novel, A Cold Day for Murder, and currently writes a monthly column for Alaska Magazine. Stabenow was born and lives in Anchorage, Alaska.
Title: Love Invents Us
Author: Amy Bloom
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Contemporary
Description:Amazon.com ReviewIn this first novel, Amy Bloom spins the tale of one Elizabeth Taube, charting her progress from an unloved adolescent to (alas) an unloved, middle-aged mother. To be sure, Elizabeth has had no shortage of suitors. Yet, one by one, they desert her, leaving nothing but their imprints upon her personality--which, if we are to take the title literally, is almost all the personality we have. The author steers clear of sentimentalizing her heroines plight. And Blooms eerie ability to convey physical sensation--which also distinguished her story collection __--is on ample and impressive display. From Publishers WeeklyThe first two thirds of this first novel exhibit many of the excellent qualities seen in Blooms highly praised short-story collection, Come to Me. Again, Blooms prose combines lyrical imagery with a comfortable vernacular her protagonists vision of the world is distinctive, wry and intense. We meet Elizabeth Taube as a preteen in upper-middle class Great Neck, Long Island. Perceptive enough to know that she is unloved by her mother, a chilly interior decorator, and her father, a remote accountant, she is too innocent to understand the attentions of an elderly furrier, who teaches her about the power of the body to arouse passion. A short while later, she acquires the two lovers who will have the largest impact on her life. One of these, Max Stone, is her junior-high school English teacher and a clear father figure. Max tries and fails to repress the sexual aspect of his love for Elizabeth, and as a result ends up a broken man. While Max is almost entirely unsympathetic, Elizabeths other lover, a black high school star athlete named Huddie Lester, is often too good to be true. The sure hand for characterization and plotting that Bloom showed in her stories is not always in evidence here a blind black woman that Liz befriends is a fully realized and memorable character, yet her parents are especially unpleasant and underdeveloped. The books pacing sometimes lags, and the last third of the novel, with Elizabeth a middle-aged mother, lacks credibility. Yet Blooms beautifully inflected prose captivates a reader. Her keenly perceptive evocation of a young womans burgeoning self-awareness and her sensuous descriptions of erotic passion are fashioned with undeniable intelligence and grace. 40,000 first printing author tour. (Jan.) FYI The first chapter of this novel is virtually identical to a story in Come to Me titled Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines. 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.