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Science FictionFebruary 2015
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"We have to see this through to the end." ~ from Peter Terrin's The Guard
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New and Recently Released!
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Inside a silver box
by Walter Mosley
Walter Mosley's talent knows no bounds. "Inside a Silver Box "continues to explore the cosmic questions entertainingly discussed in his "Crosstown to Oblivion." From life's meaning to the nature of good and evil, Mosley takes readers on a speculative journey beyond reality.
In "Inside a Silver Box," two people brought together by a horrific act are united in a common cause by the powers of the Silver Box. The two join to protect humanity from destruction by an alien race, the Laz, hell-bent on regaining control over the Silver Box, the most destructive and powerful tool in the universe. The Silver Box will stop at nothing to prevent its former master from returning to being, even if it means finishing the earth itself.
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To honor you call us
by H. Paul Honsinger
The Terran Union is engaged in a vast interstellar war against the Krag, ruthless aliens intent on exterminating humankind. In 2315, the wily Max Robichaux is given command of the USS Cumberland, a destroyer with state-of-the-art capabilities but a combat record so bad, shes known as the Cumberland Gap. Capt. Robichauxs first mission to take his warship to the Free Corridor, where the Krag have secretly been buying strategic materials, and to seize or destroy any ships carrying enemy cargo. Far from the
Man of War #1
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Strands of sorrow
by John Ringo
With the world consumed by a devastating plague that drives humans violently insane, what was once a band of desperate survivors bobbing on a dark Atlantic ocean has now become Wolf Squadron, the only hope for the salvation of the human race. Banding together with what remains of the U.S. Navy, Wolf Squadron, and its leader Steve Smith, not only plans to survive--he plans to retake the mainland from the infected, starting with North America.
Smith's teenage daughters have become zombie hunters of unparalleled skill, both at land and on the sea, and they may hold the key to the rebirth of civilization on a devastated planet.
Black Tide Rising #4
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The Galaxy Game
by Karen Lord
On the verge of adulthood, Rafi attends the Lyceum, a school for the psionically gifted. Rafi possesses mental abilities that might benefit people . . . or control them. Some wish to help Rafi wield his powers responsibly; others see him as a threat to be contained. Rafi's only freedom at the Lyceum is Wallrunning: a game of speed and agility played on vast vertical surfaces riddled with variable gravity fields. Serendipity and Ntenman are also students at the Lyceum, but unlike Rafi they come from communities where such abilities are valued. Serendipity finds the Lyceum as much a prison as a school, and she yearns for a meaningful life beyond its gates. Ntenman, with his quick tongue, quicker mind, and a willingness to bend if not break the rules, has no problem fitting in. But he too has his reasons for wanting to escape.
Now the three friends are about to experience a moment of violent change as seething tensions between rival star-faring civilizations come to a head. For Serendipity, it will challenge her ideas of community and self. For Ntenman, it will open new opportunities and new dangers. And for Rafi, given a chance to train with some of the best Wallrunners in the galaxy, it will lead to the discovery that there is more to Wallrunning than he ever suspected . . . and more to himself than he ever dreamed.
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Golden Son: Book II of the Red Rising Trilogy
by Pierce Brown
As a Red, Darrow grew up working the mines deep beneath the surface of Mars, enduring backbreaking labor while dreaming of the better future he was building for his descendants. But the Society he faithfully served was built on lies. Darrow's kind have been betrayed and denied by their elitist masters, the Golds--and their only path to liberation is revolution. And so Darrow sacrifices himself in the name of the greater good for which Eo, his true love and inspiration, laid down her own life. He becomes a Gold, infiltrating their privileged realm so that he can destroy it from within.
A lamb among wolves in a cruel world, Darrow finds friendship, respect, and even love--but also the wrath of powerful rivals. To wage and win the war that will change humankind's destiny, Darrow must confront the treachery arrayed against him, overcome his all-too-human desire for retribution--and strive not for violent revolt but a hopeful rebirth. Though the road ahead is fraught with danger and deceit, Darrow must choose to follow Eo's principles of love and justice to free his people.
Red Rising Trilogy #2
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Deadeye
by William C. Dietz
In the year 2038, an act of bioengineered terrorism decimated humanity. Those who survived were either completely unaffected or developed horrible mutations. Across the globe, nations are now divided between areas populated by "norms" and lands run by "mutants..".
Detective Cassandra Lee of Los Angeles's Special Investigative Section has built a fierce reputation taking down some of the city's most notorious criminals. But the serial cop killer known as Bonebreaker--who murdered Lee's father--is still at large. Officially, she's too personally involved to work on the Bonebreaker case. Unofficially, she's going to hunt him to the ends of the earth.
In the meantime, duty calls when the daughter of Bishop Screed, head of the Church of Human Purity, is kidnapped by mutants and taken into the red zone to be used for breeding. Assigned to rescue her, Lee must trust her new partner--mutant lawman Deputy Ras Omo--to guide her not only through the unfamiliar territory but through the prejudicial divisions between mutants and norms...
Mutant Files #1
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Carbide Tipped Pens: Seventeen Tales of Hard Science Fiction
by Ben Bova and Eric Choi (editors)
Hard science fiction is the literature of change, rigorously examining the impact--both beneficial and dangerous--of science and technology on humanity, the future, and the cosmos. As science advances, expanding our knowledge of the universe, astounding new frontiers in storytelling open up as well.
In "Carbide Tipped Pens, " over a dozen of today's most creative imaginations explore these frontiers, carrying on the grand tradition of such legendary masters as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and John W. Campbell, while bringing hard science fiction into the 21st century by extrapolating from the latest scientific developments and discoveries. Ranging from ancient China to the outer reaches of the solar system, this outstanding collection of original stories, written by an international roster of authors, finds wonder, terror, and gripping human drama in topics as diverse as space exploration, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, climate change, alternate history, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, interplanetary war, and even the future of baseball.
From tattoos that treat allergies to hazardous missions to Mars and beyond, from the end of the world to the farthest limits of human invention, "Carbide Tipped Pens" turns startling new ideas into state-of-the art science fiction.
Includes stories by Ben Bova, Gregory Benford, Robert Reed, Aliette de Bodard, Jack McDevitt, Howard Hendrix, Daniel H. Wilson, and many others!
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Dark Intelligence : Transformation
by Neal Asher
One man will transcend death to seek vengeance. One woman will transform herself to gain power. And no one will emerge unscathed...
Thorvald Spear wakes in a hospital to find he's been brought back from the dead. What's more, he died in a human vs. alien war that ended a century ago. Spear had been trapped on a world surrounded by hostile Prador forces, but Penny Royal, the AI inside the rescue ship sent to provide backup, turned rogue, annihilating friendly forces in a frenzy of destruction and killing Spear. One hundred years later the AI is still on the loose, and Spear vows for revenge at any cost.
Isobel Satomi ran a successful crime syndicate, but after competitors attacked she needed power and protection. Negotiating with Penny Royal, she got more than she bargained for: Turning part-AI herself gave Isobel frightening power, but the upgrades hid a horrifying secret, and the dark AI triggered a transformation that has been turning her into something far from human...
Spear hires Isobel to track Penny Royal across worlds to its last known whereabouts. But he cheats her in the process and quickly finds himself in her crosshairs. As Isobel continues to evolve into a monstrous predator, it's clear her rage will eventually win out over reason. Will Spear finish his hunt before he himself becomes the hunted?
Transformation #1
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Karen Memory
by Elizabeth Bear
"You ain't gonna like what I have to tell you, but I'm gonna tell you anyway. See, my name is Karen Memery, like memory only spelt with an e, and I'm one of the girls what works in the Hotel Mon Cherie on Amity Street. Hotel has a little hat over the o like that. It's French, so Beatrice tells me."
Hugo-Award winning author Elizabeth Bear offers something new in "Karen Memory," an absolutely entrancing steampunk novel set in Seattle in the late 19th century--an era when the town was called Rapid City, when the parts we now call Seattle Underground were the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes bringing would-be miners heading up to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront. Karen is a "soiled dove," a young woman on her own who is making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable's high-quality bordello. Through Karen's eyes we get to know the other girls in the house--a resourceful group--and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts into her world one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, seeking sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, who has a machine that can take over anyone's mind and control their actions. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap--a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered.
Bear brings alive this Jack-the-Ripper-type story of the old west with the light touch of Karen's own memorable voice, and a mesmerizing evocation of classic steam-powered science.
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Empire
by John Connolly
She is the trophy of a civilization at war with itself.
He is its rebel captive.
Separated by millions of light years, they will fight to be united...
Earth has been conquered and occupied. The war is lost.
The Resistance still fights the invaders, but they are nothing more than an annoyance to the Illyri, an alien race of superior technology and military strength.
When caught, the young rebels are conscripted. Part soldiers, part hostages, they join the Brigades, sent to fight at the edges of the growing Illyri Empire.
Paul Kerr is one such soldier--torn from his home and his beloved Syl Hellais. She is the first alien child born on Earth, a creature of two worlds--and a being possessed of powers beyond imagining. Now both must endure the terrible exile that Syl's race has deemed just punishment for their love.
But the conquest of Earth is not all it seems.
There is another species involved, known only as the Others, and the Illyri will kill to keep their existence secret.
Light years from Earth and millions of miles apart, Paul and Syl must find a way to reveal the horrifying truth behind the Empire, and save all that they hold dear from the hunger of the Others.
Even at the cost of their own lives...
Chronicles of the Invaders Trilogy #2
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The Fortress in Orion
by Michael D. Resnick
Downed during his first mission, James Hunter is taken captive as a German POW. To bide the time, he studies a nest of redstarts at the edge of camp. Some prisoners plot escape; some are shot. And then, one day, James is called to the Kommandant's office.
Meanwhile, back home, James's new wife, Rose, is on her own, free in a way she has never known. Then, James's sister, Enid, loses everything during the Blitz and must seek shelter with Rose. In a cottage near Ashdown forest, the two women jealously guard secrets, but form a surprising friendship. Each of these characters will find unexpected freedom amid war's privations and discover confinements that come with peace. "The Evening Chorus "is a beautiful, astonishing examination of love, loss, escape, and the ways in which the intrusions of the natural world can save us.
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Unbreakable
by W. C. Bauers
The colonists of the planet Montana are accustomed to being ignored. Situated in the buffer zone between two rival human empires, their world is a backwater: remote, provincial, independently minded. Even as a provisional member of the Republic of Aligned Worlds, Montana merits little consideration--until it becomes the flashpoint in an impending interstellar war.
When pirate raids threaten to destabilize the region, the RAW deploys its mechanized armored infantry to deal with the situation. Leading the assault is Marine Corps Lieutenant and Montanan expatriate Promise Paen of Victor Company. Years earlier, Promise was driven to join the Marines after her father was killed by such a raid. Payback is sweet, but it comes at a tremendous and devastating cost. And Promise is in no way happy to be back on her birthworld, not even when she is hailed as a hero by the planet's populace, including its colorful president. Making matters even worse: Promise is persistently haunted by the voice of her dead mother. Meanwhile, the RAW's most bitter rival, the Lusitanian Empire, has been watching events unfold in the Montana system with interest. Their forces have been awaiting the right moment to gain a beachhead in Republic territory, and with Promise's Marines decimated, they believe the time to strike is now.
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The Blood of Angels
by Johanna Sinisalo
It is claimed Albert Einstein said that if bees disappear from the earth, mankind has four years left. When bee-vanishings of unprecedented scale hit the United States, Orvo, a Finnish beekeeper knows all too well where it will lead. A magical plunge into the myth of death and immortality, 'The Blood of Angels' is a tale of human blindness in the face of devastation and the inevitable.
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1636 : Commander Cantrell in the West Indies
by Eric Flint
Eddie Cantrell, now married to the king of Denmark's daughter, is sent by Admiral Simpson to the Caribbean to secure access to the most valuable commodity on that continent - not the gold and silver which the Spanish treasure, but the oil which up-time machines and industry need. But Cantrell's plans could be wrecked in a multitude of ways. He faces often-hostile natices, rambunctious Dutch ship captains, allied colonies on the brink of starvation, and vicious social infighting that can barely be contained by his capable and passionate new wife.
Ring of Fire #14
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King of the Cracksmen : A Steampunk Entertainment
by Dennis O'Flaherty
How far will the luck of the Irish stretch?
The year is 1877. Automatons and steam-powered dirigible gunships have transformed the United States in the aftermath of the Civil War. All of the country's land west of the Mississippi was sold to Russia nearly fifty years earlier, and "Little Russia," as it's now called, is ruled by the son of Tsar Alexander II. Lincoln is still president, having never been assassinated, but he's not been seen for six months, and rumors are flying about his disappearance. The country is being run as a police state by his former secretary of war Edwin Stanton, a power-hungry criminal who rules with an iron fist. Liam McCool is an outlaw, known among other crooks as "King of the Cracksmen." But his glory days as a safecracker and the head of a powerful New York gang end when he's caught red-handed. Threatened with prison unless he informs on his own brethren fighting a guerilla war against Stanton's tyranny, McCool's been biding his time, trying to keeping the heat off him long enough to escape to San Francisco with his sweetheart Maggie. But when she turns up murdered, McCool discovers a trail of breadcrumbs that look to lead all the way up to the top of Stanton's criminal organization. Joining forces with world-famed lady reporter Becky Fox, he plunges deep into the underground war, racing to find Maggie's killer and stop Stanton once and for all.
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| Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted ChiangShort Stories. Ted Chiang, author of the acclaimed novellas The Life Cycle of Software Objects and The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, writes stories that are as brief as they are profound. In this collection of eight thought-provoking tales, Chiang explores topics ranging from aliens to artificial intelligence to alternate history, and does so with consummate skill and precision. Science fiction aficionados looking for quick reads that nevertheless linger in the mind will want to check out Stories of Your Life and Others. |
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| The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories by Connie WillisShort Stories. With 11 Hugo Awards and seven Nebulas under her belt (not to mention just about every other major SF award in existence), Connie Willis is a modern master of speculative fiction writing. The stories in this collection -- displaying Willis' talent for memorable characters and meticulous research, as well as her signature blend of heartbreak and humor -- represent the prize-winning work that has made her a favorite among science fiction readers and writers alike. |
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| The Time Traveler's Almanac by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer (editors)Short Stories. Spanning over a century of speculative literature, this anthology collects 65 time-travel tales from notable science fiction authors both past (including but not limited to H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, Douglas Adams, and Ray Bradbury) and present (Ursula K. Le Guin, C.J. Cherryh, Charles Stross, and Connie Willis, to name just a few). In addition to its comprehensive compilation of short fiction, The Time Traveler's Almanac includes an intriguing selection of nonfiction pieces, notably Genevieve Valentine's "Trousseau: Fashion for Time Travelers" and Charles Yu's "Top Ten Tips For Time Travelers." |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Prince George's County Memorial Library System 6532 Adelphi Rd. Hyattsville, Maryland 20782 301-699-3500http://www.pgcmls.info/ |
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