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Science FictionOctober 2014
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"Like a great many children before and since, I was an inventor of other worlds." ~ from Margaret Atwood's In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination
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New and Recently Released!
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Station eleven : a novel
by Emily St. John Mandel
An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, "Station Eleven "tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.
One snowy night Arthur Leander, a famous actor, has a heart attack onstage during a production of "King Lear." Jeevan Chaudhary, a paparazzo-turned-EMT, is in the audience and leaps to his aid. A child actress named Kirsten Raymonde watches in horror as Jeevan performs CPR, pumping Arthur's chest as the curtain drops, but Arthur is dead. That same night, as Jeevan walks home from the theater, a terrible flu begins to spread. Hospitals are flooded and Jeevan and his brother barricade themselves inside an apartment, watching out the window as cars clog the highways, gunshots ring out, and life disintegrates around them.
Fifteen years later, Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony. Together, this small troupe moves between the settlements of an altered world, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. Written on their caravan, and tattooed on Kirsten's arm is a line from "Star Trek: " "Because survival is insufficient." But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave.
Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty. As Arthur falls in and out of love, as Jeevan watches the newscasters say their final good-byes, and as Kirsten finds herself caught in the crosshairs of the prophet, we see the strange twists of fate that connect them all. A novel of art, memory, and ambition, "Station Eleven" tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.
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Acceptance
by Jeff VanderMeer
It is winter in Area X. A new team embarks across the border on a mission to find a member of a previous expedition who may have been left behind. As they press deeper into the unknown--navigating new terrain and new challenges--the threat to the outside world becomes more daunting. In "Acceptance," the last installment of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, the mysteries of Area X may have been solved, but their consequences and implications are no less profound--or terrifying.
Southern Reach Trilogy #3
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Exo
by Steven Gould
Cent can teleport. So can her parents, but they are the only people in the world who can. This is not as great as you might think it would be--sure, you can go shopping in Japan and then have tea in London, but it's hard to keep a secret like that. And there are people, dangerous people, who work for governments and have guns, who want to make you "do just this one thing for them." And when you're a teenage girl things get even more complicated. High school. Boys. Global climate change, refugees, and genocide. Orbital mechanics.
But Cent isn't easily daunted, and neither are Davy and Millie, her parents. She's going to make some changes in the world.
Jumper #4
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Yesterday's Kin
by Nancy Kress
Aliens have landed in New York. After several months of no explanations, they finally reveal the reason for their arrival.
The news is not good.
Geneticist Marianne Jenner is having a career breakthrough, yet her family is tearing itself apart. Her children Elizabeth and Ryan constantly bicker, agreeing only that an alien conspiracy is in play. Her youngest, Noah, is addicted to a drug that keeps temporarily changing his identity. The Jenner family could not be further apart. But between the four of them, the course of human history will be forever altered.
Earth's most elite scientists have ten months to prevent a disaster--and not everyone is willing to wait.
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A Call to Duty : a Novel of the Honorverse
by David Weber
Growing up, Travis Uriah Long yearned for order and discipline in his life... the two things his neglectful mother couldn't or wouldn't provide. So when Travis enlisted in the Royal Manticoran Navy, he thought he'd finally found the structure he'd always wanted so desperately.
But life in the RMN isn't exactly what he expected. Boot camp is rough and frustrating; his first ship assignment lax and disorderly; and with the Star Kingdom of Manticore still recovering from a devastating plague, the Navy is possibly on the edge of budgetary extinction.
The Star Kingdom is a minor nation among the worlds of the Diaspora, its closest neighbors weeks or months away, with little in the way of resources. With only modest interstellar trade, no foreign contacts to speak of, a plague-ravaged economy to rebuild, and no enemies looming at the hyper limit, there are factions in Parliament who want nothing more than to scrap the Navy and shift its resources and manpower elsewhere. But those factions are mistaken. The universe is not a safe place. Travis Long is about to find that out.
Manticore Ascendant #1
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The Genome
by Sergei Lukianenko
In the far-future world of Alexander Romanov, humankind is divided into "naturals" and "speshes"--those who have been genetically modified to serve a specific purpose. Alex is a master pilot capable of maneuvering the dangerous realm of space by communicating directly with his ship. He is about to take on the most mysterious and challenging mission of his life when he happens upon Kim, a teenage girl with a desperate secret. Out of a sense of friendship, he agrees to help her, but this decision will end in conflict and tragedy for dozens of worlds.
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Dark lightning
by John Varley
Known for "superior science fiction" ("The Philadelphia Inquirer"), author John Varley returns to his Thunder and Lightning series with a novel of how one man's volatile genius could alter a starship's epic plunge into a future where human survival is just a theory… On a voyage to New Earth, the starship Rolling Thunder is powered by an energy no one understands, except for its eccentric inventor Jubal Broussard. Like many of the ship's inhabitants, Jubal rests in a state of suspended animation for years at a time, asleep yet never aging.
The moments when Jubal emerges from suspended animation are usually a cause for celebration for his family, including his twin daughters--Cassie and Polly--and their uncle who is captain of the Rolling Thunder. But this time, Jubal makes a shocking announcement...
The ship must stop, or everyone will die.
These words from the mission's founder, the man responsible for the very existence of the Rolling Thunder, will send shock waves throughout the starship--and divide its passengers into those who believe and those who doubt. And it will be up to Cassie and Polly to stop a mutiny, discover the truth, and usher the ship into a new age of exploration...
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Peacemaker
by C. J Cherryh
At last--Cajeiri has his young guests from the starship, three young folk entranced by weather and trees and creatures with minds of their own. It's all he dreamed of...
But now safety is foremost: Cajeiri's grandfather has been assassinated, hostile Assassins Guild invaded Great-uncle's house, and now Bren Cameron, paidhi-aiji, who was sent to keep the aiji's son safe, has more than the young guests on his mind. The aiji-dowager knows who's to blame for the attacks, and they're going after him.
The fact that the person responsible is in the heart of Assassins' Guild Headquarters, the most closely guarded fortress on the continent, is not going to stop her.
Bren Cameron has the pieces now, of a decades-old plot that's been threaded through Guild actions going back before his arrival on the continent, and more--he knows the person responsible is going to find out he knows, and find out within hours.
They have no choice. If they don't move, the other side will. And the lives of the boy, the guests, the entire ruling family are at stake.
Foreigner Novels #15
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Tigerman : a novel
by Nick Harkaway
Exhausted by a hard tour of duty in Afghanistan, Sergeant Lester Ferris is sent to occupy the largely ceremonial post of British consul in Mancreu. This larcenous island is facing impending ecological disaster-which makes it, in the meantime, the perfect spot for the international underworld. Hence the Black Fleet of illicit ships lurking in the bay: spies, arms dealers, offshore hospitals, money-laundering operations, drug factories, and torture centers. Lester's brief is to sit tight and turn a blind eye, which he's happy to do. In his downtime, he's made a friend: a brilliant, Internet-addled, comic-book-addicted street kid who might, Lester hopes, become an adopted son. But when violence erupts, the boy suddenly needs Lester to be more than just an observer: he has no choice now but to rediscover the man of action he once was -- and find out what kind of hero he might become.
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Last plane to heaven : the final collection
by Jay Lake
Jay Lake was a prolific writer of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an award-winning editor, a popular raconteur and toastmaster, and an excellent teacher at the many writers' workshops he attended. His novels included Tor's publications "Mainspring," "Escapement," and "Pinion," and the trilogy of novels in his Green cycle - "Green," "Endurance" and "Kalimpura." Lake was nominated multiple times for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, and the World Fantasy Award. He won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 2004, the year after his first professional stories were published. In 2008 Jay Lake was diagnosed with colon cancer, and in the years after he became known outside the sf genre as a powerful and brutally honest blogger about the progression of his disease. Jay Lake died on June 1, 2014.
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The year's best science fiction : thirty-first annual collection
by Gardner Dozois
A latest edition of a multiple Locus Award-winning annual, compiled by the 15-time Hugo Award-winning former editor of Asimov's Science Fiction, features selections by leading genre authors, including Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds and Elizabeth Bear.
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Havoc
by Ann Aguirre
The Conglomerate's most dangerous convicts have made the prison ship Perdition their home. And they will defend it...
Perdition is under siege. Mercenaries have boarded the station with orders to take control of the facility--and execute the prisoners. Their commander is offering full pardons to the first five inmates willing to help the mercs complete their mission. Dresdemona "Dred" Devos hasn't survived hard time just to surrender to the Conglomerate's armored thugs. Leading a ragtag army of inmates, Dred and her champion, Jael, wage a bloody guerilla war of chaos and carnage against impossible odds. But no matter how dire the outlook, the Dread Queen never backs down...
Dred Chronicles #2
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Ecko burning
by Danie Ware
Ruthless and ambitious, Lord Phylos has control of Fhaveon city, and is using her forces to bring the grasslands under his command. His last opponent is an elderly scribe who's lost his best friend. Seeking weapons, Ecko and his companions follow a trail of myth and rumour to a ruined city where both nightmare and shocking truth lie in wait.
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Falling sky
by Rajan Khanna
Ben Gold lives in dangerous times. Two generations ago, a virulent disease turned the population of most of North America into little more than beasts called Ferals. Some of those who survived took to the air, scratching out a living on airships and dirigibles soaring over the dangerous ground.
Ben has his own airship, a family heirloom, and has signed up to help a group of scientists looking for a cure. But that's not as easy as it sounds, especially with a power-hungry air city looking to raid any nearby settlements. To make matters worse, his airship, the only home he's ever known, is stolen. Ben must try to survive on the ground while trying to get his ship back.
This brings him to Gastown, a city in the air recently conquered by belligerent and expansionist pirates. When events turn deadly, Ben must decide what really matters--whether to risk it all on a desperate chance for a better future or to truly remain on his own.
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A New Dawn
by John Jackson Miller
"The war is over. The Separatists have been defeated, and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled. We stand on the threshold of a new beginning."--Emperor Palpatine
For a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights brought peace and order to the Galactic Republic, aided by their connection to the mystical energy field known as the Force. But they were betrayed--and the entire galaxy has paid the price. It is the Age of the Empire.
Now Emperor Palpatine, once Chancellor of the Republic and secretly a Sith follower of the dark side of the Force, has brought his own peace and order to the galaxy. Peace through brutal repression, and order through increasing control of his subjects' lives.
But even as the Emperor tightens his iron grip, others have begun to question his means and motives. And still others, whose lives were destroyed by Palpatine's machinations, lay scattered about the galaxy like unexploded bombs, waiting to go off. . . .
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Ancillary sword
by Ann Leckie
Breq is a soldier who used to be a warship. Once a weapon of conquest controlling thousands of minds, now she has only a single body and serves the emperor.
With a new ship and a troublesome crew, Breq is ordered to go to the only place in the galaxy she would a agree to go: to Athoek Station to protect the family of a lieutenant she once knew - a lieutenant she murdered in cold blood.
What if you once had thousands of bodies and near god-like technology at your disposal? And what if all of it were ripped away? The Lord of the Radch has given Breq command of the ship Mercy of Kalr and sent her to the only place she would have agreedto go -- to Athoek Station, where Lieutenant Awn's sister works in Horticulture. Athoek was annexed some six hundred years ago, and by now everyone is fully civilized -- or should be. But everything is not as tranquil as it appears. Old divisions are still troublesome, Athoek Station's AI is unhappy with the situation, and it looks like the alien Presger might have taken an interest in what's going on. With no guarantees that interest is benevolent.
Imperial Radch #2
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Imperfect Sword
by Jack Campbell
President Gwen Iceni and GeneralArtur Drakon have successfully liberated the Midway Star System-but the former rulers of the Syndicate Worlds won't surrender the region without a fight. The dictatorial regime has ordered the ex-Syndicate CEOs terminated with extreme prejudice and the system's citizens punished for their defiance. Outnumbered and led by junior officers hastily promoted in the wake of the uprising, Midway's warships are no match for the fleet massing and preparing to strike. But the Syndicate isn't the only threat facing Iceni and Drakon. Another former CEO has taken control of the Ulindi Star System, the first calculated move toward establishing his own little empire. With Drakon's ground forces dispatched to Ulindi, Midway erupts in violence as Syndicate agents and other, unknown enemies stoke a renewed revolt against Iceni's power-leaving both her and Drakon vulnerable to trusted officers just waiting for an opportune moment to betray them ...
Lost Stars #3
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A vision of fire : a novel
by Gillian Anderson
Renowned child psychologist Caitlin O'Hara is a single mom trying to juggle her job, her son, and a lackluster dating life. Her world is suddenly upturned when Maanik, the daughter of India's ambassador to the United Nations, starts speaking in tongues and having violent visions. Caitlin is sure that her fits have something to do with the recent assassination attempt on her father--a shooting that has escalated nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan to dangerous levels--but when teenagers around the world start having similar outbursts, Caitlin begins to think that there's a more sinister force at work.
In Haiti, a student claws at her throat, drowning on dry land. In Iran, a boy suddenly and inexplicably sets himself on fire. Animals, too, are acting irrationally, from rats in New York City to birds in South America to ordinary house pets. With Asia on the cusp of nuclear war, Caitlin must race across the globe to uncover the mystical links among these seemingly unrelated incidents in order to save her patient--and perhaps the world.
Earthend saga #1
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The Book of Strange New Things
by Michel Faber
It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter's teachings--his Bible is their "book of strange new things." But Peter is rattled when Bea's letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea's faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter. Suddenly, a separation measured by an otherworldly distance, and defined both by one newly discovered world and another in a state of collapse, is threatened by an ever-widening gulf that is much less quantifiable. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival. Their trials lay bare a profound meditation on faith, love tested beyond endurance, and our responsibility to those closest to us.
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The peripheral
by William Gibson
Where Flynne and her brother, Burton, live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Fortunately, Burton has his veteran's benefits, for neural damage he suffered from implants during his time in the USMC's elite Haptic Recon force. Then one night Burton has to go out, but there's a job he's supposed to do--a job Flynne didn't know he had. Beta-testing part of a new game, he tells her. The job seems to be simple: work a perimeter around the image of a tower building. Little buglike things turn up. He's supposed to get in their way, edge them back. That's all there is to it. He's offering Flynne a good price to take over for him. What she sees, though, isn't what Burton told her to expect. It might be a game, but it might also be murder.
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War Dogs
by Greg Bear
One more tour on the red. Maybe my last.
They made their presence on Earth known thirteen years ago.
Providing technology and scientific insights far beyond what mankind was capable of. They became indispensable advisors and promised even more gifts that we just couldn't pass up. We called them Gurus.
It took them a while to drop the other shoe. You can see why, looking back. It was a very big shoe, completely slathered in crap.
They had been hounded by mortal enemies from sun to sun, planet to planet, and were now stretched thin -- and they needed our help. And so our first bill came due. Skyrines like me were volunteered to pay the price. As always.
These enemies were already inside our solar system and were moving to establish a beachhead, but not on Earth.
On Mars.
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The Abyss Beyond Dreams
by Peter F. Hamilton
The year is 3326. Nigel Sheldon, one of the founders of the Commonwealth, receives a visit from the Raiel--self-appointed guardians of the Void, the enigmatic construct at the core of the galaxy that threatens the existence of all that lives. The Raiel convince Nigel to participate in a desperate scheme to infiltrate the Void.
Once inside, Nigel discovers that humans are not the only life-forms to have been sucked into the Void, where the laws of physics are subtly different and mental powers indistinguishable from magic are commonplace. The humans trapped there are afflicted by an alien species of biological mimics--the Fallers--that are intelligent but merciless killers.
Yet these same aliens may hold the key to destroying the threat of the Void forever--if Nigel can uncover their secrets. As the Fallers' relentless attacks continue, and the fragile human society splinters into civil war, Nigel must uncover the secrets of the Fallers--before he is killed by the very people he has come to save.
Chronicle of the Fallers #1
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Fish tails : a novel
by Sheri S Tepper
In Fish Tails, two of Tepper's beloved characters--Abasio the Dyer and his royal wife, Xulai (A Plague of Angels and The Waters Rising)--are traveling through the scattered villages of the sparsely populated land of Tingawa. Accompanied by their young children, they seek to warn everyone of the dire ecological changes that will alter their lives and those of their children for generations to come.
The waters are rising, and will eventually inundate their world, transforming it utterly and irrevocably. Many of those born in the coming century will resemble their son and daughter--sea children who can live without land. Abasio and Xulai also hope to find others interested in adopting their sea-dwelling lifestyle.
Along their journey they encounter strange visitors from the far-off world of Lom, characters from Tepper's nine-book True Game series of novels--Mavin Manyshaped, Jinian Star-Eye, and Silkhands the healer--all of whom have been compelled by an interfering, time-traveling, rule-breaking do-gooder to perform one last virtuous act on Earth before its metamorphosis is complete. A grand summation of a long and illustrious career, Fish Tails displays the extraordinary powers of invention of one of the great voices in contemporary science fiction, interweaving the storylines of eleven of her novels written over three decades. Sweeping in scope and vision, full of insights for our own time, it is a masterpiece of imagination, the capstone to a marvelous oeuvre.
Plague of angels #3
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For honor we stand
by H. Paul Honsinger
In 2315, the Earth Union is losing a thirty-year-long war with the Krag Hegemony. Having encountered the Krag before, Space Commander Max Robicheaux now faces daunting challenges aboard the USS Cumberland the dangers from the enemy withoutand clashes with crew and superiors within. Meanwhile, Doctor Sahin receives a coded message summoning him to a secret meeting that aims to forge an alliance that could change the balance of power in Known Space. But first, he must circumvent the fighter ships and heavily
Man of War #2
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Fortunes of the imperium
by Jody Lynn Nye
Lieutenant Lord Thomas Kinago sets out from the Imperium homeworld for the Autocracy of the Uctu, a galactic region with a geckolike overlord. Thomas is ostensibly on a pleasure cruise with his cousin to enjoy Gecko culture. In fact, Thomas is on a mission for the secret service to discover how prohibited goods are being smuggled into the Autocracy. His crew's overt assignment is to find out why legitimate shippers are being detained without explanation. Thomas's reputation for sudden enthusiasm and goodhearted mayhem precede him. It is all his trusted aide Parsons can do to keep Thomas on course. While the Autocrat, a new and fairly young Uctu female, finds Thomas a curious diplomat, she also rather likes him--much to Parson's relief. It seems Thomas needs free passage within the Uctu home system before he can investigate the illegal contraband. The smuggling ring is quite determined to cancel Thomas's visit before he can cancel them and as usual, it's up to Parsons to find a way to lead his hapless master to victory--or at least keep hims from getting himself killed by a very determined enemy.
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The golden princess : a novel of the change
by S. M. Stirling
A new generation faces its own challenges in the world the Change has made.
Princess Orlaith, heir to Rudi Mackenzie, Artos the First, High King of Montival, now wields the Sword of the Lady--and faces a new enemy. Fortunately, she also has a new ally in Reiko, Empress of Japan, who has been pursued to America by a conquering army from Asia.
To combat their mutual foe, Orlaith and Reiko embark on a quest to find the fabled "Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi," the Grass-Cutting Sword, one of the three great treasures of the Japanese Imperial House. But dreams have revealed that the road to "Kusanagi" lies through the meganecropolis of the City of Angels, the greatest and most perilous of the dead cities...and beyond it, to a castle in the fearful Valley of Death. And their relentless enemy will stop at nothing to prevent them from succeeding.
For across the Pacific, the great arc of land that stretches from the dark kingdom of Korea to the realm of Capricornia in Australia is threatened by war. Now all the survivors of the Change must choose sides....
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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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