Retired and sitting in a restaurant in San Francisco, there's an earthquake. They say your life flashes in front of your eyes when death threatens. When Bill is rescued, his descendants try to kill him. Discoveries by an astronomer seldom turn the world upside down. Is greed the only reason? Who will help him? He sends them a message stating that he only wants to enjoy his retirement.After years of searching the sky's and a successful career, something finally caught Bill's eye. Discoveries by an astronomer seldom turn the world upside down. He had his son's education and life planned out, but years ago when his son married, he rebelled. Could and would he help him now? Family is usually something you can depend on. Retired and sitting in a restaurant in San Francisco, there's an earthquake. Bill is wheelchair bound at the age of eighty-three, because he lost a leg in Thailand. They say your life flashes in front of your eyes when death threatens. When earthquake victims are rescued, they are moved to a safe location, right? However when Bill is rescued, his descendants try to kill him. He sends them a message stating that he only wants to enjoy his retirement. Is greed their only reason? Who will help him?

It’s Saturday, Sept. 25th, and an entire town has no memory of what happened to Friday. In the future, time travel becomes the ultimate weapon, enabling those who control it to manipulate history. Reporter Johnny Pappas fights futuristic terrorists who’ve come back to kidnap high school quarterback David Robelle before he becomes the physicist who proves the phenomenon of time travel is possible.The date on the newspaper reads Saturday, September 25th, and the entire population of Sea Beach, New Jersey, wakes up with no recollection of what happened to Friday the 24th. Reporter Johnny Pappas is among the baffled residents, as is Chief of Police Roy Mulroney. It’s only when Johnny discovers the disappearance of high school quarterback David Robelle that the fog over this mystery begins to lift. It seems that the ransom note left by David’s kidnappers was written with no known technology. Actually, it wasn’t “written” at all. The note just appears in David’s room, hanging in midair, looking exactly the same from any angle, impervious to any attempts to change the words or cover them up. It’s the first indication that something very, very different is happening in Sea Beach. Johnny and Roy piece together what little evidence there is, coming to the unfathomable conclusion that they’ve been visited by futuristic time travelers from the International Counter Terrorist Organization, or the ICTO, while others are from a terrorist group called the Red Diamond. Despite the names, it’s almost impossible to tell the good guys from the bad guys, and it’s very clear that both groups are after the same objective. In the future, time travel becomes an overpowering geopolitical weapon, enabling those who control the technology to intervene in historical events so that historical outcomes fall to their favor. Both groups want to make sure they are the only ones to control this powerful capability, and both have come back to affect and control events toward this result. The influence extends all the way to the White House. Unbelievably, the invention of time travel centers around David Robelle and the citizens of Sea Beach, although none of them know it yet. As an investigative reporter, it doesn’t take Johnny all that long to figure it out, and ultimately he becomes the pivotal figure in the struggle over who will control the technology and historical events as they originally occurred. Time travel, futuristic human clones called Synthetics, editions of newspapers that haven’t even been written yet, it’s all part of Lost Friday. Johnny has three objectives: cover the story as a reporter, win the romantic attention of fellow reporter Kelli Remington, and rescue David Robelle from the terrorists. Oh yeah, saving the world from futuristic terrorists might be all well and good, but he’d also like to win a Pulitzer.

Theoretically, you could find this type of humor anywhere. But only a topflight science-fictionist, we thought, could have written this story, in just this way. . . . Start here: It was quite by accident I discovered this incredible invasion of Earth by lifeforms from another planet. As yet, I haven't done anything about it; I can't think of anything to do. I wrote to the Government, and they sent back a pamphlet on the repair and maintenance of frame houses. Anyhow, the whole thing is known; I'm not the first to discover it. Maybe it's even under control. "All of his work starts with the basic assumption that there cannot be one, single, objective reality," writes science fiction author Charles Platt.

A riveting psychological thriller Kyla has been Slated - her memory erased, her personality wiped blank. This is the government's way of dealing with teen terrorists: give them a fresh start as a new person. They teach Kyla how to walk and talk again, give her a new identity and a new family, and tell her to be grateful for this second chance. It's also her last chance, and to ensure that she plays by their rules, Kyla is fitted with a Levo, a bracelet that monitors her mood and will stun - or even kill - her if her levels of anger or violence rise too high. As she adjusts to her new life, Kyla can see she is different from the other Slateds. She asks too many questions and is plagued by nightmares that feel like memories - even though she shouldn't have memories. Who is she, really? Has her Slating gone wrong? And if only criminals are Slated, why are innocent people disappearing? Torn between the need to understand more and her instinct for self-peservation, Kyla knows a dangerous game is being played with her life, and she's determined not to let anyone see her make the wrong move... Debut author Teri Terry has written a brilliantly original, thought-provoking novel about an uncomfortably plausible future.

Following on Two Pints, another hilarious book on everything that matters from the brilliant Roddy Doyle.      Two men meet for a pint -- or two -- in a Dublin pub. They chew the fat, set the world to rights, curse the ref, say a last farewell. In this second collection of delicious comic dialogues Doyle's drinkers ponder: • a topless Kate Middleton     • Barack and Michelle Obama     • David Beckham ("Would you tattoo your kids' names on the back of your neck?" "They wouldn't fit.")     • Jimmy Savile ("a gobshite")     • the financial crisis (again)     • abortion (again)     • and horsemeat in your burger... Once again, those we have lost troop through their thoughts -- Lou Reed, Seamus Heaney, Reg Presley, Nelson Mandella, Phil Everly, Margaret Thatcher, Shirley Temple -- and they still have that unerring ability to ask the really fundamental questions like "Would you take penalty points for your missis?"

Two Ordinary People from Mundania travel to Xanth to defeat a rogue Night Colt in the latest in a beloved series from bestselling author Piers Anthony. The Night Colt has one ambition: to deliver dreams to the deserving. Unfortunately, only Night Mares can take on this task, and the Colt has no hope of leading his own herd if he can’t get any practice. . . . So he’s struck a deal with a Mundane. During the hours when the Night Mares rest—dusk and dawn—the duo plants stories in the air, compelling the people of Xanth to enact them—whether they want to or not. Unwilling to participate in these fantasies, the princesses of Xanth, Dawn and Eve, come up with a plan to fight the menacing pair, but they’ll need the help of two unlikely heroes to succeed. In Mundania, a mysterious painting entrances Ordinary People Tartan and Tara. But why do they each see something different when they look at it? They quickly learn that it’s not a painting after all, but a portal to a magical world. With nothing to lose, they climb through the portal into Xanth and are met with a plea to help stop the Night Colt and his ghost writer. Tartan and Tara don’t hesitate to join the quest to save Xanth from the ultimate pun-tastrophe. Together with their new friends, they’ll begin a journey full of magic and romance—and, of course, puns—that will lead them to a long-lost prince, a beautiful dragoness, the goddess Isis, and a demon named Ted. With rip-roaring humor and nonstop adventure, the newest addition to Piers Anthony’s popular Xanth series is sure to enchant fans of epic fantasy. Ghost Writer in the Sky is the 41st book in the Xanth series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

It is time to confront a strange new reality. Of the eighty people chosen to escape earth's final destruction, only a handful remain. They're all that's left of the human race. They've traveled 500 years into the future, and about as far as possible from the life they once knew. Now, marooned on a strange planet, they break into groups to explore. Jobs's and Mo'Steel's group discover what looks like a recreation of the Tower of Babel. Inside they find an alien creature -- wounded but still a potential threat.Meanwhile, another group discovers the tower, only they don't want to explore. They want to capture -- using violence, if necessary. Soon, the Remnants are arguing over what to do, and that could be a major problem. Because a ship of people five hundred years away from home should not be a ship divided.

There is an evil force lurking in the fringes of the Outer Rim patiently waiting for the opportunity to seek revenge against the Skywalker lineage. Will the “Chosen One” be able to intervene and save his grandchildren? Will he be able to save all mankind from this wicked Sith Lord? Very dark and clouded it is...What happens when humanity’s hidden masters tire of their slaves? They start over.Financial markets are crashing, crops are failing, Cage’s disease is a pandemic, and sabers are being rattled around the globe. It’s not the world that Ben Mitchell, an expert on ancient and esoteric writings, envisioned when he left the battlefields of Afghanistan a decade ago.The world looks a little brighter when he is offered a small fortune by the attractive but mysterious Lilian Stratton to research some puzzling inscriptions found on set of stone tablets discovered in Tiwanaku, Bolivia. But to do that he must join a secret society known as the Delphic Order of the Nisirtu and travel to Steepleguard, the remote fortress-like home of an elderly eccentric named Ridley.The researcher soon finds that his client has lured him into a conspiracy of epic proportions. The rumored New World Order is, in fact, very ancient. The world is truly a stage and the scripts that have preserved mankind for millennia are being systematically destroyed by the invisible kingdoms that authored them. Within days the final script will run its course and the planet’s scattered survivors will be thrust into a new Dark Age.Lilian’s powerful opponents are now Ben’s, and even his client’s supposed allies seem to have hidden and sinister agendas. The man finds himself in a shadowy world of insane kings, power-hungry dukes, psychopathic assassins, rebel knights, and an exiled princess who will stop at nothing to regain her world throne.As civilization rapidly disintegrates and clandestine armies converge on Steepleguard, humanity’s future hinges on the researcher’s ability to navigate the labyrinths of the Nisirtu and unlock the secrets of the Tiwanaku tablets.

In the 21st Century, the world is filled with industry and technology, and yet still governed by magic. The elves, masters of the magic, stand in charge of governments and industries. The humans, masters of technology, run civil service, film, and hold administrative positions under the elves. The dwarves, steeped in honor and tradition, are the laborers. Can some rise above the castes?In the days before civilization, the days when dark things combed the landscape, three races of people fought for control of their lands. Among them were the elves, smart and blessed with the gift of magic. Their greatest foes, even more hated than the ferocious creatures that preyed upon living flesh, were the dwarves. Steeped in honor and tradition, the dwarves felt that all magic was black magic. Warriors by nature, the cleansed the lands of the monsters and yet the elves looked upon them as little more than animals themselves. Eventually there was war.Caught between the aggressive dwarves and the scheming elves, the humans tried to broker a peace and bring about a society in which all three races could coexist. Some say their ideas were unrealistic . Others feel they were downright foolish. Either way, the idealistic nature of the proposed treaty was mocked by both the dwarves and the elves.Mocked, but not dismissed.While the dwarves laughed at the idea of peace, the elves dissected the humans' proposal bit by bit. A Constitution, they called it. Indeed, there were sensible ideas. But much better to have the elves in charge rather than the soft hearted humans. The elf leaders got together under one banner and formulated a plan. Bringing the full power of their magic to bear against the other two races, they brought the war to a swift conclusion.Some called it peace. Others called it subjugation. A new version of the Constitution was given to all the people of the three races. It granted rights to the dwarves and other rights to the humans and still other rights to the elves. Mostly, though, it brought forth four tenets.All dwarves are created equally.All humans are created equally.All elves are created equally.All people are not created equally.Over the years and decades and centuries, society evolved. Amendments were made to the Constitution. Dwarves, humans, and elves found their places in society. With their combined efforts, the monsters of the world were all but eradicated. But with the long lifespans of both the elves and the dwarves, old grudges remained. While the elves ran civilization and dwarves fed it, it was the humans who drove it. Blessed with no outstanding physical attributes, they were the Earth's best innovators. The telegraph, the radio, television, and computer were all constructs of human innovation. Guns, bombs, cars, and trains all came about from human ingenuity. But for all their creative ability, they held little control or wealth. It was the elves, always the elves, with the keys to the kingdom.Owen Keefe is a policeman who has done his best to keep his place in the human controlled department. When a late call takes him into an unlikely and dangerous situation, his life is changed and he starts down a dangerous and slippery slope that may ultimately shatter the castes forever.

John Wainwright is a freak - a human mutation with an extraordinary intelligence which is both awesome and frightening to all who come into contact with him. Ordinary humans were just playthings to John - subjects for an endless chain of experiments. Their feelings, and sometimes even their lives, are expendable. Odd John has a plan - to create a new order on Earth, a new supernormal species. But the world is not ready for such a change...

The enigmatic “Grayman” has been killing known terrorists throughout Europe in spectacularly brutal fashion. Captured by Coalition forces, he is recruited by a joint military and intelligence project to create the ultimate counter-terror force, only to find himself being carefully groomed into something unthinkable: a popular hero.Grayman chronicles a daring and disturbing experiment to decisively end the tenacious threat of global terrorism. A group of powerful corporate and political players lever a desperate world to create a multinational force of surgical strike teams, authorized to cross borders and pursue targets with impunity; armed with advanced weapons, technology and armor; and directed by a cutting-edge artificial intelligence. But more than simply employing high-tech military might, this new army is designed to fight a true “information war” by operating completely in the public eye, their missions crafted for maximum marketability, their operatives shaped into Hollywood-style action heroes.The series focuses on the man being groomed to be the wired public’s greatest hero: Given the “stage name” Mike Ram, he’s charismatic, talented and damaged unknown, pushed by circumstance to become a merciless predator. Initially little more than a trauma-driven serial killer, he’s given a new identity and is re-programmed to kill on cue to satisfy the media’s thirst for violent and visible retribution against an equally vicious enemy. Ram quickly rises from being a murderer on the run to being an untouchably popular celebrity and global leader, as his every action plays out on the public stage.In Book One: Acts of War, the enigmatic “Grayman” has been killing known terrorists throughout Europe in spectacularly brutal fashion. Captured by Coalition forces, he is recruited by a joint military and intelligence project to create the ultimate counter-terror force, only to find himself being carefully groomed into something unthinkable: a popular hero.

Five ordinary kids in an ordinary town with an extraordinary secret: we're superheroes, the Upbeats, and this is our story...This is the pilot episode to a brand new series for young (and young at heart) superhero wannabes.Written by a 15-year-old.Luke Rosenhart is your average straight-A student, always trying to do things the right way, always reliable, always responsible.He’s just an average kid, and doesn’t want that to change.But one field trip, on a rainy Autumn day, to a still-under-construction zoo turns his life and the lives of Ned Detwiler, his best pal, Brooke O’Mackey, the girl from across the road, Robyn Diaz, the quiet bookworm from the country outskirts of town and Smithy, the new kid in town who doesn’t talk very much, upside down.An alien, who crash-landed into the unfinished hippo habitat, tells the five fourteen-year-olds that their planet is under threat by the Intergalactic criminal Gemini who intends to completely wipe out the entire human race, with help from some other aliens who want nothing more than to have the beautiful planet Earth all to themselves.So what can a straight-A student, a class clown, a girl from across the road, a bookworm and a loner, do about that?Well, with the powers the alien gives them, they can do lots!Save a little girl from a burning building, mess up the dentist’s office, and aid in a school food fight!Now they have to figure out how to stop Gemini before it’s too late! On top of that, they have to find out what powers they have, how to use them, how not to use them, how to keep everything a secret so as not to panic everyone and, most important of all, learn to work as a team.If you are in the mood for jokes, super powers, hilarious situations, ordinary kids turned superheroes, a save-the-day story and aliens (both good and bad), then the Upbeats is sure to brighten your day!

When love is crime, who will save the guilty? ... After falling in love and fathering a child, a young criminal refuses to voluntarily throw himself into a lake of fire to gain his community's forgiveness. So he's sentenced to death and sold to the owner of a spaceship that buys criminals like him. But the ship and its crew are not quite what they appear to be.When love is crime, who will save the guilty?EPISODE 1: After falling in love and fathering a child, a young criminal refuses to voluntarily throw himself into a lake of fire to gain his community's forgiveness. So he's sentenced to death and sold to the owner of a spaceship that buys criminals like him. But the ship and its crew are not quite what they appear to be.MEET THE LONGVIEW - An Ancient Spaceship Resurrected To Transport ConspiracyInhabited by a crew of misfits fleeing nightmare pasts, with a cargo of Condemned slated to die at the hands of the highest bidders, and with a passenger roster made up exclusively of people NOT who they claim to be, The Longview serves the hidden agenda of an eccentric recluse bent on playing puppetmaster to all of Settled Space.

In The Glass Bees the celebrated German writer Ernst Jünger presents a disconcerting vision of the future. Zapparoni, a brilliant businessman, has turned his advanced understanding of technology and his strategic command of the information and entertainment industries into a discrete form of global domination. But Zapparoni is worried that the scientists he depends on might sell his secrets. He needs a chief of security, and Richard, a veteran and war hero, is ready for the job. However, when he arrives at the beautiful country compound that is Zapparoni's headquarters, he finds himself subjected to an unexpected ordeal. Soon he is led to question his past, his character, and even his senses....

A brand new series from the Author of TIMERIDERS!Ellie Quin has figured out an inventive way to make money. A lot of money. Enough to buy some exorbitantly priced tickets off this godforsaken world. And with her future foreseen by a creepy alien fortune teller, it seems things are finally going Ellie's way. With her resourceful friend Jez, a scruffy shuttle pilot called Aaron and a genetically engineered pet called Harvey, between them it looks like they're going to make a killing from their new commercial venture.But then 'a killing' is exactly what's coming her way. A ruthless hitman, hired by The Administration has followed her trail, found her old home, discovered she recently ran away to live in the city of New Haven...and is now closing in on her.Has time finally run out for Ellie Quin?