"Year of the Dead" by Jack J. Lee

3.71  ·   rating details  ·  232 ratings  ·  39 reviews
An advanced alien civilization sends out probes to study and preserve different planetary cultures and biospheres. A probe evaluates Earth and determines that humanity is headed toward extinction due to self-inflicted environmental degradation. In order to make Earth sustainable and to save humanity, the probe decides that Earth’s population must be radically reduced.

The probe is programmed with prime directives that force it to make all interventions culturally appropriate. Since pop culture is full of movies describing the end of the world by zombies and vampires, the probe manufactures viruses that create an outbreak of these creatures. Ninety-eight percent of humanity is wiped out by culturally-sensitive environmentalist aliens who are here to save us.

This is a story of people living in Salt Lake City, Utah when the alien probe destroys the world. The unlucky, slow, and foolish die quickly. This isn’t a typical zombie apocalypse story about a bunch of victims wandering the world slowly getting picked off one-by-one. This novel is about people, who refuse to be victims. They understand that the only way to survive is to band together and to control their environment. The aliens, zombies, and vampires need to be taught that on Earth the top predator will always be human. (less)
Kindle Edition, 210 pages

"Year of The Griffin" by Diana Wynne Jones

4.09  ·   rating details  ·  5,615 ratings  ·  158 reviews
It is eight years after the tours from offworld have stopped. High Chancellor Querida has retired, leaving Wizard Corkoran in charge of the Wizards' University. Although Wizard Corkoran's obsession is to be the first man on the moon, and most of his time is devoted to this project, he decides he will teach the new first years himself in hopes of currying the favor of the new students' families—for surely they must all come from wealth, important families—and obtaining money for the University (which it so desperately needs). But Wizard Corkoran is dismayed to discover that one of those students—indeed, one he had such high hopes for, Wizard Derk's own daughter Elda—is a hugh golden griffin, and that none of the others has any money at all.

Wizard Corkoran's money-making scheme backfires, and when Elda and her new friends start working magic on their own, the schemes go wronger still. And when, at length, Elda ropes in her brothers Kit and Blade to send Corkoran to the moon . . . well . . . life at the Wizards' University spins magically and magnificently out of control.

This breathtakingly brilliant sequel to Dark Lord of Derkholm is all one would expect from this master of genre. (less)
Kindle Edition, 404 pages

"Year of Wonders" by Geraldine Brooks

"Year Zero" by Jeff Long

"The Years of Rice and Salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson

"You Will Call Me Drog" by Sue Dowing

"The Dead" by Charlie Higson

4.30  ·   rating details  ·  5,474 ratings  ·  513 reviews
THE DEAD begins one year "before" the action in THE ENEMY, just after the Disaster. A terrible disease has struck everyone sixteen and over, leaving them either dead or a decomposing, flesh-eating creature. The action starts in a boarding school just outside London, where all the teachers have turned into sickos. A few kids survive and travel by bus into the city. The bus driver, an adult named Greg, seems to be unaffected by the disease. Then he begins to show the dreaded signs: outer blisters and inner madness. The kids escape Greg and end up at the Imperial War Museum. A huge fire in South London drives them all to the Thames, and eventually over the river to the Tower of London. It is there they will meet up with the kids in THE ENEMY in Book 3, THE FEAR.
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Paperback, 449 pages

"Ysabel" by Guy Gabriel Kay

"Z2134" by Sean Platter & David Wright

3.41  ·   rating details  ·  911 ratings  ·  126 reviews
One hundred years after the zombie apocalypse, those lucky enough to survive now exist in scattered cities, under the merciless rule of the City Watch. A simple tenet overshadows all aspects of daily life: obey or die. When Jonah Lovecraft is framed for murder, his status as a Watcher doesn't spare him from the ultimate punishment: being cast into the Barrens and forced to battle zombies and other criminal contestants in the Darwin Games.

As he fights for every heartbeat, his daughter, Ana, embarks on her own desperate quest to uncover the truth about her father. Yet neither expects their efforts to reveal grim secrets that could tear apart the fabric of society - if either lives long enough to expose the truth.

"Z For Zachariah" by Robert C. O'Brien

"Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers

4.09  ·   rating details  ·  46,300 ratings  ·  6,132 reviews
When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house and contracting business. In the days after the storm, he traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on supplies and helping those he could. A week later, on September 6, 2005, Zeitoun abruptly disappeared. Eggers’s riveting nonfiction book, three years in the making, explores Zeitoun’s roots in Syria, his marriage to Kathy — an American who converted to Islam — and their children, and the surreal atmosphere (in New Orleans and the United States generally) in which what happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun was possible. Like What Is the What, Zeitoun was written in close collaboration with its subjects and involved vast research — in this case, in the United States, Spain, and Syria. (less)
Hardcover, 342 pages

"Zero Echo Shadow Prime" by Peter Samet

4.61
CONSCIOUSNESS IS IN THE CODE.

The year is 2045. 18-year-old Charlie Nobunaga creates the world’s first sentient A.I. and becomes an overnight sensation. But amid the red carpet galas and TV interviews, Charlie is diagnosed with cancer, and her promising future grinds to a halt.

Enter Jude Adler, a tech mogul with dreams of changing history. She presents Charlie with an opportunity that’s at once insane and irresistible: a second chance at life inside a new robotic body. But as Charlie soon discovers, Jude’s motivations are far from pure.

Charlie’s brain is scanned, and four distinct copies of her emerge: PRIME, a robot with superhuman strength and the ability to freeze time; SHADOW, a holographic assistant, trapped inside the mind of a desperate widower; ECHO, a mysterious, four-armed woman with an insatiable desire to kill; and ZERO, the original human, who's coerced to betray her “sisters” by a Luddite terrorist organization.

ZERO, ECHO, SHADOW, and PRIME wake up under different forms of imprisonment—scared and confused—where they must each face a unique trial. But their stories soon intersect in surprising ways as they retaliate against the people determined to destroy them.

Suspenseful and cerebral in equal measure, ZERO ECHO SHADOW PRIME is a kinetic thriller that finds the magic in technology and the wonder in human consciousness. (less)
Paperback, 410 pages

"Zom-B" by Darren Shan

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Zom-B (Zom-B #1)
by Darren Shan (Goodreads Author)
3.6 of 5 stars 3.60  ·   rating details  ·  3,611 ratings  ·  612 reviews
Zom-B is a radical new series about a zombie apocalypse, told in the first person by one of its victims. The series combines classic Shan action with a fiendishly twisting plot and hard-hitting and thought-provoking moral questions dealing with racism, abuse of power and more. This is challenging material, which will captivate existing Shan fans and bring in many new ones. As Darren says, "It's a big, sprawling, vicious tale...a grisly piece of escapism, and a barbed look at the world in which we live. Each book in the series is short, fast-paced and bloody. A high body-count is guaranteed!" (less)
Hardcover, 217 pages

"Zombie Games Origins" by Kristen Middleton

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81  ·   rating details  ·  1,086 ratings  ·  126 reviews
Seventeen year old Cassandra Wild thought living in the chaos of her mother’s home daycare and dealing with her developing feelings for Bryce, her new Martial Arts’ instructor, was a struggle, until the night her world turned upside down.

When an untested vaccine kills more than just a rampant flu virus, Cassie learns how to survive in a world where the dead walk, and the living…run! (less)
Paperback, 1st edition, 238 pages

"The Zombie Outbreak" by Daniel White

3.5 of 5 stars 3.50  ·   rating details  ·  26 ratings  ·  4 reviews
Terror strikes a government building when it suddenly becomes the target of an unthinkable attack. Zombies attack seemingly out of nowhere and the witnesses are ordered to leave at gunpoint. When Eric Bayne does as ordered, only to find that the zombie attack wasn’t a onetime occurrence, he is forced to face a terrible truth. The zombie apocalypse has truly come to pass.

Knowing that life will never be normal again, everyone has to make the choice to survive or give up.

Eric Bayne chooses to fight and survive at all costs. His journey to battle the odds takes him down a darker road than he ever imagined. Can he fight the inevitable and win or will he end up just another mindless creature? (less)
Kindle Edition, 44 pages

"Zombies vs. Unicorns" by Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier

It's a question as old as time itself: which is better, the zombie or the unicorn? In this anthology, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (unicorn and zombie, respectively), strong arguments are made for both sides in the form of short stories. Half of the stories portray the strengths--for good and evil--of unicorns and half show the good (and really, really bad-ass) side of zombies. Contributors include many bestselling teen authors, including Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. This anthology will have everyone asking: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn? (less)
Hardcover, 432 pages

"Zone One" by Colson Whitehead

In this wry take on the post-apocalyptic horror novel, a pandemic has devastated the planet. The plague has sorted humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead.

Now the plague is receding, and Americans are busy rebuild­ing civilization under orders from the provisional govern­ment based in Buffalo. Their top mission: the resettlement of Manhattan. Armed forces have successfully reclaimed the island south of Canal Street—aka Zone One—but pockets of plague-ridden squatters remain. While the army has eliminated the most dangerous of the infected, teams of civilian volunteers are tasked with clearing out a more innocuous variety—the “malfunctioning” stragglers, who exist in a catatonic state, transfixed by their former lives.

Mark Spitz is a member of one of the civilian teams work­ing in lower Manhattan. Alternating between flashbacks of Spitz’s desperate fight for survival during the worst of the outbreak and his present narrative, the novel unfolds over three surreal days, as it depicts the mundane mission of straggler removal, the rigors of Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder, and the impossible job of coming to grips with the fallen world.

And then things start to go wrong.

Both spine chilling and playfully cerebral, Zone One bril­liantly subverts the genre’s conventions and deconstructs the zombie myth for the twenty-first century. (less)
Hardcover, 259 pages

"Zorro" by Isabel Allende

A swashbuckling adventure story that reveals for the first time how Diego de la Vega became the masked man we all know so well. Born in southern California late in the eighteenth century, Diego de la Vega is a child of two worlds. His father is an aristocratic Spanish military man turned landowner; his mother, a Shoshone warrior. At the age of sixteen, Diego is sent to Spain, a country chafing under the corruption of Napoleonic rule. He soon joins La Justicia, a secret underground resistance movement devoted to helping the powerless and the poor. Between the New World and the Old, the persona of Zorro is formed, a great hero is born, and the legend begins. After many adventures -- duels at dawn, fierce battles with pirates at sea, and impossible rescues -- Diego de la Vega, a.k.a. Zorro, returns to America to reclaim the hacienda on which he was raised and to seek justice for all who cannot fight for it themselves. (less)

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Kindle edition

"Babylon Rising" by Tim Lahaye

Babylon Rising introduces a terrific new hero for our time. Michael Murphy is a scholar of Biblical prophecy, but not the sedate and tweedy kind. Murphy is a field archaeologist who defies danger to fearlessly hunt down and authenticate ancient artifacts from Biblical times. His latest discovery is his most amazing—but it will send him hurtling from a life of excavation and revelations to a confrontation with the forces of the greatest evil. For the latest secret uncovered by Michael Murphy accelerates the countdown to the time of the end for all mankind.

"Daemon" by Daniel Suarez

Already an underground sensation, a high-tech thriller for the wireless age that explores the unthinkable consequences of a computer program running without human control—a daemon—designed to dismantle society and bring about a new world order

Technology controls almost everything in our modern-day world, from remote entry on our cars to access to our homes, from the flight controls of our airplanes to the movements of the entire world economy. Thousands of autonomous computer programs, or daemons, make our networked world possible, running constantly in the background of our lives, trafficking e-mail, transferring money, and monitoring power grids. For the most part, daemons are benign, but the same can't always be said for the people who design them.

Matthew Sobol was a legendary computer game designer—the architect behind half-a-dozen popular online games. His premature death depressed both gamers and his company's stock price. But Sobol's fans aren't the only ones to note his passing. When his obituary is posted online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events intended to unravel the fabric of our hyper-efficient, interconnected world. With Sobol's secrets buried along with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed at every turn, it's up to an unlikely alliance to decipher his intricate plans and wrest the world from the grasp of a nameless, faceless enemy—or learn to live in a society in which we are no longer in control. . . .

Computer technology expert Daniel Suarez blends haunting high-tech realism with gripping suspense in an authentic, complex thriller in the tradition of Michael Crichton, Neal Stephenson, and William Gibson.

"The Atrocity Archives" by Charles Stross

Charles Stross takes a departure from his epic science fiction to craft this cross between Len Deighton—style espionage and H.P. Lovecraftian horror.

Bob Howard is a computer-hacker desk jockey, who has more than enough trouble keeping up with the endless paperwork he has to do on a daily basis. He should never be called on to do anything remotely heroic.

But somehow, he is.

"The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton

The United States government is given a warning by the pre-eminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere. Two years later, seventeen satellites are sent into the outer fringes of space to collect organisms and dust for study. One of them falls to earth, landing in a desolate area of Arizona. Twelve miles from the landing site, in the town of Piedmont, a shocking discovery is made: the streets are littered with the dead bodies of the town's inhabitants, as if they dropped dead in their tracks.

"The Alien Factor" by Stan Lee

The year is 1942. The German war machine rolls across Europe, crushing everything in its path. America has only recently entered the war, and the price paid by its allies is already high. The war could drag on for years, could go either way...until the day a strange metallic craft crashes behind enemy lines, bringing with it secrets of world-shattering consequence. The Nazis are quick to capture the spacecraft and its unearthly occupants, anxious to make use of interstellar devices that could allow them to accomplish their goal of annihilating their enemies.

Realizing what might happen should the Nazis master the alien technology and subjugate its owners, the Allies send in a suicide squad -- a group snidely referred to as "Logan's Losers" -- to rescue the aliens and their secrets...or destroy them before the enemy can.

Logan's mission is complicated, however, when Russia learns of the aliens and sends its own agent into the heart of Occupied France.

A rogue Russian warrior...a traitor among Logan's invasion force...aliens who may be friend or foe...all driven to a fortress controlled by an implacable enemy.

Stan Lee's debut hardcover resonates with the pulse-pounding plotting of the mind behind Sgt. Fury, and dozens of other heroes!

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain

Of all the contenders for the title of The Great American Novel, none has a better claim than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Intended at first as a simple story of a boy's adventures in the Mississippi Valley - a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - the book grew and matured under Twain's hand into a work of immeasurable richness and complexity. More than a century after its publication, the critical debate over the symbolic significance of Huck's and Jim's voyage is still fresh, and it remains a major work that can be enjoyed at many levels: as an incomparable adventure story and as a classic of American humor.

"The Ace of Skulls" by Chris Wooding

All good things come to an end. And this is it: the last stand of the Ketty Jay and her intrepid crew.

They've been shot down, set up, double-crossed and ripped off. They've stolen priceless treasures, destroyed a ten-thousand-year-old Azryx city and sort-of-accidentally blew up the son of the Archduke. Now they've gone and started a civil war. This time, they're really in trouble.

As Vardia descends into chaos, Captain Frey is doing his best to keep his crew out of it. He's got his mind on other things, not least the fate of Trinica Dracken. But wars have a way of dragging people in, and sooner or later they're going to have to pick a side. It's a choice they'll be staking their lives on. Cities fall and daemons rise. Old secrets are uncovered and new threats revealed.

When the smoke clears, who will be left standing?

"The Ask and The Answer" by Patrick Ness

We were in the square, in the square where I'd run, holding her, carrying her, telling her to stay alive, stay alive till we got safe, till we got to Haven so I could save her - But there weren't no safety, no safety at all, there was just him and his men...

Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd has carried a desperately wounded Viola right into the hands of their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss. Immediately separated from Viola and imprisoned, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor's new order. But what secrets are hiding just outside of town? And where is Viola? Is she even still alive? And who are the mysterious Answer? And then, one day, the bombs begin to explode...

"The Ask and the Answer" is a tense, shocking and deeply moving novel of resistance under the most extreme pressure. This is the second title in the "Chaos Walking" trilogy

"The Ancients" by Nick Marsh

The war is over. But the fight for the world is only beginning.

The bloody civil war that ruined the country is lost, and Dazlar, last of the Royal Guards, returns weary and alone to the village of his birth, hoping for peace at last.
The war was only the first move, however, in a terrible plot now launched by the new ruler of the land. Lord Protector Cranmer has discovered a frightening truth at the heart of the world, and means to exploit it for his own dark purposes.
The gruesome discovery that Dazlar makes during his fateful homecoming will place him at the very centre of Cranmer’s plans, and the reluctant knight will be called upon to fight once more, alongside a strange girl from another world.
But this time the stakes are much higher than mere territory and rulership.
This time, the battle is for existence itself.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain

From the famous episodes of the whitewashed fence and the ordeal in the cave to the trial of Injun Joe, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is redolent of life in the Mississippi River towns in which Twain spent his own youth. A somber undercurrent flows through the high humor and unabashed nostalgia of the novel, however, for beneath the innocence of childhood lie the inequities of adult reality—base emotions and superstitions, murder and revenge, starvation and slavery. In his introduction, noted Twain scholar John Seelye considers Twain’s impact on American letters and discusses the balance between humorous escapades and serious concern that is found in much of Twain’s writing.

"The Adventures of Augustus Fuller" by James Rickon

The Adventures of Augustus Fuller, classic action adventure fiction from the pen of James Rickon, contains the three stories:

Casus Belli

The arrival of a misdirected cryptic letter plunges Augustus Fuller, gentleman, into the dangerous intrigues of the anarchist underworld of Edwardian London. With Scotland Yard baffled and reliant on him for information, will Fuller be able to unmask the identity of the anarchist mastermind and discover their plans? Or will his high stakes game end in nothing less than Fuller’s demise in the cruellest of manner?

The Aldbury Devil

Fear stalks the snow laden landscape of East Kent as the tormented mind of an old man haunts the residents of Aldbury Hall. Can Fuller uncover what lies behind a spate of disturbing killings on the estate? Or will the nightmare stepping out of the cold winter’s night claim his life too?

The Terror Weapons

With tensions across Europe rising in the hot summer heat of 1905, the British public is held in rapture by newspaper headlines of mysterious explosions lighting up the night skies above cities across the country. Are these nothing more than natural phenomena or does the recovery of a burnt corpse at Portsmouth point to a more insidious and calculating menace at work?

"Dark Space" by Jasper T. Scott

HUMANITY IS DEFEATED
Ten years ago the Sythians invaded the galaxy with one goal: to wipe out the human race.

THEY ARE HIDING
Now the survivors are hiding in the last human sector of the galaxy: Dark Space—once a place of exile for criminals, now the last refuge of mankind.

THEY ARE ISOLATED
The once galaxy-spanning Imperium of Star Systems is left guarding the gate which is the only way in or out of Dark Space—but not everyone is satisfied with their governance.

AND THEY ARE KILLING EACH OTHER
Freelancer and ex-convict Ethan Ortane is on the run. He owes crime lord Alec Brondi 10,000 sols, and his ship is badly damaged. When Brondi catches up with him, he makes an offer Ethan can’t refuse. Ethan must infiltrate and sabotage the Valiant, the Imperial Star Systems Fleet carrier which stands guarding the entrance of Dark Space, and then his debt will be cleared. While Ethan is still undecided about what he will do, he realizes that the Imperium has been lying and putting all of Dark Space at risk. Now Brondi’s plan is starting to look like a necessary evil, but before Ethan can act on it, he discovers that the real plan was much more sinister than what he was told, and he will be lucky to escape the Valiant alive. . . .(

"The Dark Lord of Derkholm" by Diana Wynne Jones

Everyone - wizards, soldiers, farmers, elves, dragons, kings and queens alike - is fed up with Mr Chesney's Pilgrim Parties: groups of tourists from the world next door who descend en masse every year to take the Grand Tour. What they expect are all the trappings of a grand fantasy adventure, including the Evil Enchantress, Wizard Guides, the Dark Lord, Winged Minions, and all. And every year different people are chosen to play these parts. But now they've had enough: Mr Chesney may be backed by a very powerful demon, but the Oracles have spoken. Now it's up to the Wizard Derk and his son Blade, this year's Dark Lord and Wizard Guide, not to mention Blade's griffin brothers and sisters, to save the world from Mr Chesney's depredations.

"Dark Eden" by Chris Beckett

On the alien, sunless planet they call Eden, the 532 members of the Family shelter beneath the light and warmth of the Forest’s lantern trees. Beyond the Forest lie the mountains of the Snowy Dark and a cold so bitter and a night so profound that no man has ever crossed it. 

The Oldest among the Family recount legends of a world where light came from the sky, where men and women made boats that could cross the stars. These ships brought us here, the Oldest say—and the Family must only wait for the travelers to return. 

But young John Redlantern will break the laws of Eden, shatter the Family and change history. He will abandon the old ways, venture into the Dark…and discover the truth about their world.

Already remarkably acclaimed in the UK, Dark Eden is science fiction as literature; part parable, part powerful coming-of-age story, set in a truly original alien world of dark, sinister beauty--rendered in prose that is at once strikingly simple and stunningly inventive.

"Dark Creations: Gabriel Rising" by Jennifer and Christopher Martucci

Melissa Martin was not prepared for what she experienced when a new student walked into her English class, how she felt the first time they spoke; she did not believe in love at first sight. At seventeen years old, she envisioned love but never dreamed it possible.

That was before she met Gabriel James.

Gabriel was different from other boys. With otherworldly attractiveness, gallantry, charm, and intelligence, Gabriel was everything boys her age were not. As her relationship with Gabriel grew, she realized his kindness and generosity matched his extraordinary physical appearance. Melissa found her feelings for him growing stronger with their every encounter.

But Gabriel had a secret, a dark secret.

Gabriel was no ordinary teenage boy. His exceptional attributes were not random inheritances from his ancestry. His origins were far different.

Gabriel James was not born of man and woman. His DNA was hand-picked and refined by Dr. Franklin Terzini and grown in a clandestine facility in the Russian Far East. Dr. Terzini created Gabriel to be the future of the human species, a perfected version. The crucial difference between Gabriel and the rest of humanity, however, was his inability to experience emotions. His lack of emotion was not by accident, but by design. Dr. Terzini believed that humankind would best be served without sentimentality, that feelings were the root of every ill within society. 

Gabriel supposed Terzini’s theory to be true; until he met Melissa.

Despite Terzini’s intention, Melissa Martin awakens feelings within Gabriel, offers him life beyond his maker’s confines. Gabriel realizes emotionality is not what is wrong with the world, but what gives life meaning. He realizes he must risk everything to be with her, to conceal his relationship with her from Terzini.

Elsewhere, in a far corner of the Earth, Dr. Franklin Terzini’s earliest creation spirals out of control, no longer contented by his meditative state, propelled by an insatiable bloodlust. A creature more powerful and hideous than any that roam the planet, his first creation journeys to the United States leaving a trail of victims in his wake, as hatred for Gabriel fuels his voyage.

Dr. Terzini’s discovery of Gabriel’s feelings and his connection with Melissa, along with the arrival of his first creation, threatens to destroy more than Gabriel’s relationship. Gabriel desperately struggles to protect her from the unrelenting forces conspiring against them. He must guard her against his maker and shield her from the wrath of mankind’s darkest creation.

"Dancing In The Fountain: How To Enjoy Living Abroad" by Karen McCann

Living abroad is an opportunity to reinvent yourself that rarely exists outside the witness protection program. You get to hit the reset button on your life. Karen McCann's tale of moving from Cleveland, Ohio, to Seville, Spain, is "a delightfully well-written true-life adventure story . . . McCann's writing is inviting, immediately charming, and constantly entertaining," says Chris Brady (A Month of Italy). 

Dancing in the Fountain takes its title from one blazing hot night when the author and her husband found themselves sitting on the edge of a big stone fountain. Dabbling their feet in the cool water, pretty soon they were wading, then dancing in the fountain. It's technically legal to do this on hot nights in Seville, but an old man passing by growled, "Hey you two, is that any way to behave? You wouldn't do that back where you come from." And that's the whole point. Living overseas, you get to try things you'd never do back home.

“Dancing in the Fountain is perhaps the best book about travel that I have ever read,” writes Guy Thatcher, author of Journey of Days. "It is full of wry humor and it is laugh-out-loud funny."

"Damon" by Teresa Gabelman

Damon DeMasters is a vampire warrior who has taken an oath to protect his own kind as well as humans. As a social worker, Nicole Callahan fights for the right of every child placed in her care. Damon has been ordered to train Nicole and her colleagues against the dangers they now face. Even as sparks fly, Nicole and Damon depend on each other to protect the children of both races.

"Damocles" by S. G. Reading

When Earth is rocked by evidence that extraterrestrials may have seeded human DNA throughout the universe, a one-way expedition into deep space is mounted to uncover the truth. What linguist Meg Dupris and her crewmates aboard the Earth ship Damocles discover on Didet—a planet bathed in the near-eternal daylight of seven suns—is a humanoid race with a different language, a different look, and a surprisingly similar society.

But here, it’s the “Earthers” who are the extraterrestrial invaders, and it’s up to Meg—a woman haunted by tragedy and obsessed with the power of communication—to find the key to establishing trust between the natives and the newcomers. In Loul Pell, a young Dideto male thrust into the forefront of the historic event, Meg finds an unexpected kindred spirit, and undertakes an extraordinary journey of discovery, friendship, and life-altering knowledge.

Told from both sides of a monumental encounter, Damocles is a compelling novel about man’s first contact with an extraterrestrial race.

"Damian's Oracle" by Lizzy Ford

Inspired by Slavic mythology, Damien’s Oracle is the entree into the ongoing battle between good and evil over the fate of humanity. The White God, Damian, and his Guardians protect the world from the Black God and his monsters while rescuing Naturals – humans with extraordinary paranormal gifts - from the Black God, who would kill or convert them. 

Caught in the middle is cool-headed Sofia, a Natural whose gift will tip the scales in the war. Sofia begins her transformation from human into oracle, the first in thousands of years. Damian rescues her from the Black God in time to complete a ceremony that will bind her to him for eternity. Sofia struggles with her new world and her role as an oracle and Damian’s mate while haunted by a mysterious man from Damian’s past who’s supposed to be dead. Unbeknownst to her, her link to the dead man may be all that saves Damian, his Guardians, and the fate of humanity.

While he wants nothing more than for the petite beauty to take her place at his side like the oracles of legend did his White God forefathers, Damian can’t quite rationalize having to win her over instead of command her. Further complicating his life is the sobering realization that there are spies in his organization who are helping the Black God take out his Guardians. Damian must help Sofia reach her potential fast, especially when a threat from his past returns.

"Daemon" by Daniel Suarez

Already an underground sensation, a high-tech thriller for the wireless age that explores the unthinkable consequences of a computer program running without human control—a daemon—designed to dismantle society and bring about a new world order

Technology controls almost everything in our modern-day world, from remote entry on our cars to access to our homes, from the flight controls of our airplanes to the movements of the entire world economy. Thousands of autonomous computer programs, or daemons, make our networked world possible, running constantly in the background of our lives, trafficking e-mail, transferring money, and monitoring power grids. For the most part, daemons are benign, but the same can't always be said for the people who design them.

Matthew Sobol was a legendary computer game designer—the architect behind half-a-dozen popular online games. His premature death depressed both gamers and his company's stock price. But Sobol's fans aren't the only ones to note his passing. When his obituary is posted online, a previously dormant daemon activates, initiating a chain of events intended to unravel the fabric of our hyper-efficient, interconnected world. With Sobol's secrets buried along with him, and as new layers of his daemon are unleashed at every turn, it's up to an unlikely alliance to decipher his intricate plans and wrest the world from the grasp of a nameless, faceless enemy—or learn to live in a society in which we are no longer in control. . . .

Computer technology expert Daniel Suarez blends haunting high-tech realism with gripping suspense in an authentic, complex thriller in the tradition of Michael Crichton, Neal Stephenson, and William Gibson.

"The Anubis Gates" by Tiim Powers

Brendan Doyle, a specialist in the work of the early-nineteenth century poet William Ashbless, reluctantly accepts an invitation from a millionaire to act as a guide to time-travelling tourists. But while attending a lecture given by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1810, he becomes marooned in Regency London, where dark and dangerous forces know about the gates in time. Caught up in the intrigue between rival bands of beggars, pursued by Egyptian sorcerers, befriended by Coleridge, Doyle somehow survives. And learns more about the mysterious Ashbless than he could ever have imagined possible.

A roller-coaster ride through a world teeming with characters ranging from the grotesque to the fiendish: tremendous fun - City Limits

"The Atopia Chronicles" by Matthew Mather

Dr. Patricia Killiam is rushing to help save the world from itself by giving everyone everything they’ve always wanted. The questions is, is she unwittingly saving the world only to cast it towards an even worse fate as humanity hurtles across the brink of forever.

What could be worse than letting billions die? In the future, be careful what you wish for. 

The Atopia Chronicles are an exploration of the meaning love, life and the pursuit of happiness in a world teetering on the brink of post-humanism and eco-Armageddon.

"Ancillary Justice" by Ann Leckie

Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, British Science Fiction, Locus and Arthur C. Clarke Awards. 
On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.
Once, she was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy. 
Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with one fragile human body, unanswered questions, and a burning desire for vengeance.

"Bag of Bones" by Stephen King

Four years after the sudden death of his wife, forty-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan is still grieving. Unable to write, and plagued by vivid nightmares set at the western Maine summerhouse he calls Sara Laughs, Mike reluctantly returns to the lakeside getaway. There, he finds his beloved Yankee town held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, Max Devore, whose vindictive purpose is to take his three-year-old granddaughter, Kyra, away from her widowed young mother, Mattie. As Mike is drawn into Mattie and Kyra's struggle, as he falls in love with both of them, he is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations and escalating terrors. What are the forces that have been unleashed here—and what do they want of Mike Noonan?

It is no secret that King is one of our most mesmerizing storytellers. InBag of Bones, he proves to be one of our most moving as well.

"Bad Spirits" by D.V. Berkom

Kate Jones is on the run with a backpack full of money, intent on finding her way back to the United States from Mexico. Unfortunately, a ruthless drug lord named Salazar is just as intent on finding her, retrieving his stolen money, and making her pay for ever having left him. Is there anyone she can trust?

Originally published as a serial chronicling Kate Jones' race through Mexico, Bad Spirits is a fast-paced, action-packed novella. Just when you think Kate's escaped one impossible dilemma, she's thrown into another perilous situation. Can she survive long enough to make it out alive?

"Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre

Full of spleen, this is a hilarious, invigorating and informative journey through the world of Bad Science. When Dr Ben Goldacre saw someone on daytime TV dipping her feet in an 'Aqua Detox' footbath, releasing her toxins into the water, turning it brown, he thought he'd try the same at home. 'Like some kind of Johnny Ball cum Witchfinder General', using his girlfriend's Barbie doll, he gently passed an electrical current through the warm salt water. It turned brown. In his words: 'before my very eyes, the world's first Detox Barbie was sat, with her feet in a pool of brown sludge, purged of a weekend's immorality.' Dr Ben Goldacre is the author of the Bad Science column in the Guardian. His book is about all the 'bad science' we are constantly bombarded with in the media and in advertising. At a time when science is used to prove everything and nothing, everyone has their own 'bad science' moments from the useless pie-chart on the back of cereal packets to the use of the word 'visibly' in cosmetics ads.

"Bad Radio" by Michael Langlois

Sixty years ago Abe Griffin saved the world and gained eternal youth.

Or so he thought.

Now, a man that Abe believed to be long dead is killing the surviving members of Abe's old squad in order to reclaim the relics that they have kept hidden for decades. 

The relics form an ancient beacon that must never be used, in a ritual that must never be completed. But the end of the world requires more than just activating the beacon. 

It requires Abe.

With help from the granddaughter of his oldest friend, Abe must learn the truth about his immortal body, while at the same time trying to stop a horrifying series of supernatural opponents from sweeping away everything that he cares about.

"Back To Blood" by Tom Wolfe

As a police launch speeds across Miami’s Biscayne Bay—with officer Nestor Camacho on board—Tom Wolfe is off and running. Into the feverous landscape of the city, he introduces the Cuban mayor, the black police chief, a wanna-go-muckraking young journalist and his Yale-marinated editor; an Anglo sex-addiction psychiatrist and his Latina nurse by day, loin lock by night-until lately, the love of Nestor’s life; a refined, and oh-so-light-skinned young woman from Haiti and her Creole-spouting, black-gang-banger-stylin’ little brother; a billionaire porn addict, crack dealers in the ‘hoods, “de-skilled” conceptual artists at the Miami Art Basel Fair, “spectators” at the annual Biscayne Bay regatta looking only for that night’s orgy, yenta-heavy ex-New Yorkers at an “Active Adult” condo, and a nest of shady Russians. Based on the same sort of detailed, on-scene, high-energy reporting that powered Tom Wolfe’s previous bestselling novels, BACK TO BLOOD is another brilliant, spot-on, scrupulous, and often hilarious reckoning with our times.

"Azazeel" by Ussef Ziedan

"Awakening" by Karice Bolton

Alone in snowy, remote Whistler village, Ana tries to build a new life since losing her parents. With a cozy condo, a sweet-faced bulldog and an evening job to leave the days free for the slopes, life slips into a great routine. If only she could shake the guilt for not remembering anything about her parents and banish the night terrors that haunt her every dream.
On a whim, Ana goes out with Athen, a guy she's just met in the Grizzly Pub... The only problem is that she feels like she already knows him. 
Within 48 hours of meeting Athen and his family, Ana's world implodes. She falls for Athen quickly and before she knows it, a past life begins to resurface. As thrilling as the revelations appear at first, she fights against the chilling information that Athen is from the underworld. Soon she begins to struggle as her own supernatural gifts are slowly unveiled, and she realizes that the nightmares she's been having might be premonitions and not dreams at all.
It is up to Ana to decipher between fact and fiction before it is too late, and her new love, Athen, follows in her same fate - one that is lost between two worlds.

"Awaken His Eyes" by Jason Tesar

THE HISTORY: Over five thousand years ago, a renegade faction of angels abandoned the spiritual realm and began their inhabitation of earth. Worshiped as gods for their wisdom and power, they corrupted the realm of the physical and forever altered the course of history.

THE PROPHECY: Amidst the chaos of a dying world, a lone voice foretold the awakening of a warrior who would bring an end to this evil perpetrated against all of creation. But with the cataclysmic destruction of earth and rebirth of humanity, the prophecy went unfulfilled and eventually faded from the memory of our kind—until now!

THE AWAKENED: The physical dimension is fractured. What remain now are numerous fragmented worlds moving simultaneously through time, sharing a common history, connected only by a guarded portal. On a parallel earth, in the city of Bastul, Colonel Adair Lorus disappears while investigating the death of an informant, triggering a series of events which will tear his family apart and set in motion the resolution of an ancient struggle.

Kael, sentenced to death after rising up against the cruel leadership of his new step-father, is rescued from prison and trained in the arts of war by a mystical order of clerics. Excelling in every aspect of his training, Kael inwardly struggles to give himself fully to the methods of his new family, or the god they worship.

Maeryn, bitter over the disappearance of her husband and supposed execution of her son, fears for her life at the hands of her newly appointed husband. Finding comfort and purpose in her unborn child, she determines to undermine his authority by reaching out to an underground social movement known as the Resistance.

After being forced from his home, Kael’s former mentor, Saba, uncovers a clue to Adair’s disappearance. Sensing a connection to his own forgotten past, Saba begins an investigation which leads to the discovery of a secret military organization operating within the Orudan Empire.

In book one of his debut series, Jason Tesar delves into the heart of an ancient legend, embarking on an epic saga that will journey from earth’s mythological past to its post-apocalyptic future, blending the genres of fantasy, sci-fi, and military/political suspense.

"Attacked: Last Plane Out of Paris" by Paul Maxham

Blending fact and fiction, this tale of adventure is set in 1940, just after the Germans invade France. It follows two British officers who parachute into the country in an attempt to rescue a French aircraft designer, a man whose designs could decide the fate of the war.

Split into 6 parts, this account of one of the darkest times of World War 2, told through the eyes of two British airmen, is a rip roaring tale that will have readers eagerly turning the pages right through to the end.

At roughly 9,000 words, Part 1 of the action/adventure serial known as Last Plane out of Paris, is an enjoyable action packed read.

After signing up to hinder the German advance, Bill Edwards finds himself in France after crash landing. He makes his way to the town of Nancy only to find that things are not what they seem.

Why isn't anyone talking?

Why is the plan doomed to fail?

And, with the Germans closer than they had ever imagined, what propels him to travel deeper into France?

Find out now by reading ATTACKED!

"Attachments" by Rainbow Rowell

"Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you . . . "

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say . . . ?

"At Swim-Two Birds" by Flann O'Brien

A wildly comic send-up of Irish literature and culture, At Swim-Two-Birds is the story of a young, lazy, and frequently drunk Irish college student who lives with his curmudgeonly uncle in Dublin. When not in bed (where he seems to spend most of his time) or reading he is composing a mischief-filled novel about Dermot Trellis, a second-rate author whose characters ultimately rebel against him and seek vengeance. From drugging him as he sleeps to dropping the ceiling on his head, these figures of Irish myth make Trellis pay dearly for his bad writing.

Hilariously funny and inventive, At Swim-Two-Birds has influenced generations of writers, opening up new possibilities for what can be done in fiction. It is a true masterpiece of Irish literature.

"An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth" by Chris Hadfield

Colonel Chris Hadfield has spent decades training as an astronaut and has logged nearly 4000 hours in space. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft. The secret to Col. Hadfield's success-and survival-is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: prepare for the worst-and enjoy every moment of it. 

In An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, Col. Hadfield takes readers deep into his years of training and space exploration to show how to make the impossible possible. Through eye-opening, entertaining stories filled with the adrenaline of launch, the mesmerizing wonder of spacewalks, and the measured, calm responses mandated by crises, he explains how conventional wisdom can get in the way of achievement-and happiness. His own extraordinary education in space has taught him some counterintuitive lessons: don't visualize success, do care what others think, and always sweat the small stuff. 

You might never be able to build a robot, pilot a spacecraft, make a music video or perform basic surgery in zero gravity like Col. Hadfield. But his vivid and refreshing insights will teach you how to think like an astronaut, and will change, completely, the way you view life on Earth-especially your own.

"Asterion" by Kenneth Morvant

* New professional edit 8/18/13 *
The world of the near future. Dictatorships still exist. One such place is America. The America of the past is not the America of the future.

Fear and uncertainty has led to a leader for life who has taken control of everything. Every business, private organization and even religion is under his control. The common apathy has led to austerity. Control is tenuous at best, but it will be maintained, at any and all costs.

Taylor Scott, scientist desires to turn his experience creating military technology into an ambitious humanitarian project that will alleviate the shortages and improve life for the citizens by creating a semi-intelligent beast of burden capable of performing agricultural tasks. Plentiful food, better quality of life for the citizens and reduced fossil fuel consumption are the benefits.

However, the leader for life has another plan, a sinister purpose for the beasts. His operatives on the inside modify the experiment and steal Taylor’s intellectual property to create a beast that is battle ready and can wield the power of the leader without reservation and with no remorse.

Miscalculation?

No, cold calculation.

Mistake?

No, total domination of the populace is within grasp.

Taylor continues the experiment with the help of fellow scientist, Christine Summers who shares his interests and their interest in each other grows. Unknown to them, their subject will not be the work beast they intended. No, he will be much more.

The experiment is a success, and their creation is not alone.

Taylor and Christine must now destroy what they have created. Pursued by their experiment and the leader, they join forces with the freedom fighters and help them win their liberty from tyranny and its unfeeling beasts of war.

Playing God has its consequences.

"Assassin's Creed: Black Flag" by Oliver Bowden

The Golden Age of Piracy – a time when greed, ambition and corruption overcomes all loyalties – and a brash young captain, Edward Kenway, is making his name known for being one of the greatest pirates of his time. In the brilliant new novel, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, discover the story of how Edward, a young privateer, became one of the world's most deadly pirates and was drawn into the centuries-old battle between the Templars and the Assassins.

"Assassin's Apprentice" by Robin Hobb

4.1 of 5 stars 4.10  ·   rating details  ·  86,714 ratings  ·  2,951 reviews

In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.

Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

"Ask The Passengers" by A. S. King

Astrid Jones desperately wants to confide in someone, but her mother's pushiness and her father's lack of interest tell her they're the last people she can trust. Instead, Astrid spends hours lying on the backyard picnic table watching airplanes fly overhead. She doesn't know the passengers inside, but they're the only people who won't judge her when she asks them her most personal questions--like what it means that she's falling in love with a girl.

As her secret relationship becomes more intense and her friends demand answers, Astrid has nowhere left to turn. She can't share the truth with anyone except the people at thirty thousand feet, and they don't even know she's there. But little does Astrid know just how much even the tiniest connection will affect these strangers' lives--and her own--for the better.

In this truly original portrayal of a girl struggling to break free of society's definitions, Printz Honor author A.S. King asks readers to question everything--and offers hope to those who will never stop seeking real love.

"Arkfall" by Carolyn Ives Gilman

Humans live deep within an apparently lifeless planet covered by massive ice sheets. Having to survive in confined spaces has bred a unique culture where deference and non-confrontation make co-existence possible. **** Osaji's opportunities are limited by the need to care for her aging grandmother. But all that is about to change as circumstances push her toward a journey like no other.

"Area 51" by Annie Jacobsen

Area 51 is the most famous military installation in the world--& it doesn't exist. Located 75 miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada's desert, it's never been acknowledged by the government, but it's captivated imaginations for decades. Myths & hypotheses about it have long abounded, thanks to the enveloping secrecy. Some claim it is home to aliens, underground tunnel systems & nuclear facilities. Others believe that the lunar landings were filmed there. The prevalence of these rumors stems from the fact that no credible insiders have divulged the truth about their time inside the base--until now. Annie Jacobsen had exclusive access to 19 men who served the base for decades & are now aged 75-92, & unprecedented access to 55 additional military & intelligence personnel, scientists, pilots & engineers linked to the secret base, 32 of whom lived & worked there for extended periods. In Area 51 she shows what's really gone on in the Nevada desert, from testing nuclear weapons to building super-secret, supersonic jets to pursuing the War on Terror. This is the first book based on interviews with eye witnesses to Area 51 history, which makes it a seminal work on the subject. Filled with formerly classified information that's never been accurately decoded for the public, Area 51 weaves the mysterious activities of the base into a gripping narrative, showing that facts are often more fantastic than fiction, especially when the distinction is almost impossible to make.