Book picks similar to
Polymer by Caleb Wilson


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Unconquered Countries


Geoff Ryman - 1987
    Through this restless innovation, he has constantly explored the gulf between appearance and truth, the way people enact mythologies to fulfil profound inner needs, then become trapped by their own creations. In the previously unpublished "A Fall of Angels", humanity has reached the stars, created "angels" from former humans, and is engaged in a fantastical quest to refuel the dying stars and so defeat entropy. Rich in ideas and beautifully characterised, "A Fall of Angels" is a fusion of hard science fiction and sense-of-wonder poetry. "Fan" questions the reality behind the virtual images of pop music, taking the concept of silicon-enhanced celebrity to its logical conclusion. The challenging "O Happy Day!" considers what happens when ideology replaces reason: in a death camp for heterosexual men the solution is infinitely worse than the problem. The collection ends with the novella "The Unconquered Country", Ryman's allegorical, phantasmagorical response to the horrors of recent Cambodian history. It is a staggering, breathtaking achievement, which rightly won many awards on original publication. Once read, it will never be forgotten. Each story in this book is the product of Geoff Ryman's remarkable imagination, taken together they make a compelling account of one of the finest writers around. --Gary S. DalkinContents:A Fall of Angels, or On the Possibility of Life under Extreme Conditions (1994)Fan (1994)O Happy Day! (1985)The Unconquered Country (1984)

White Tigers of Brigantia: 4 Book Box Set


Lisa Daniels - 2018
     The White Tiger Shifter Series is full of magic and dangers as women with magical abilities pair up with white tiger shifter guardians. The code of mystics and the Order of Guardians forbids romantic entanglements, but nature doesn’t follow their rules. As different pairs risk their lives to protect loved ones, each other, and a nation, romance is almost inevitable. Book 1 – Callie’s Guardian Book 2 – Iris’s Guardian Book 3 – Alexis’s Guardian Book 4 – Freya’s Guardian With over 30k per story, you will be rooting for the characters to overcome the danger to find their HEA. AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is a stand alone paranormal romance with an HEA. This ebook contains mature themes and language, intended for 18+ readers only.

The Voodoo Legacy Complete Series: An Action Packed Fantasy Adventure


Teophilus Monroe - 2020
    Annabelle Mulledy survived a Voodoo attack on her family as a child—but it left her possessed by the spirit of a nearly 200 year-old-girl. This girl, however, came with strange abilities bestowed upon her in the after life. When Kalfu, an evil Loa, discovers Annabelle he hopes to use her abilities to his advantage—to escape the spiritual realm and take a corporeal form. When Ogoun, the Loa of War, intervenes he recruits Annabelle to join him as a student at the Voodoo Academy. Will Annabelle master the arts, and fend off Kalfu’s spiritual assaults? Or, is she ultimately a puppet in a battle between Voodoo demigods? Theophilus Monroe’s Annabelle Mulledy is a snarky badass heroine with attitude. Monroe draws on the legend and myth of Voodoo lore in a way that neither caricatures the arts as “demonic” nor glosses over the dark side of the Voodoo tradition. With dark magic, dragons, vampires, and a slow burn academy romance the Gates of Eden: The Voodoo Legacy complete series has something for everybody.If you enjoy magic academy fantasy books and occult urban fantasy, especially books with a dark twist, then you will love Theophilus Monroe’s Voodoo Legacy. Fans of authors like Michael Anderle, Martha Carr, Linsey Hall, or Ramy Vance will love this compelling coming of age urban fantasy epic. Pick up your copy today!

Fracture Me


Tahereh Mafi - 2013
    He's reeling from his breakup with Juliette, scared for his best friend's life, and as concerned as ever for his brother James's safety. And just as Adam begins to wonder if this life is really for him, the alarms sound. It's time for war.On the battlefield, it seems like the odds are in their favor—but taking down Warner, Adam's newly discovered half brother, won't be that easy. The Reestablishment can't tolerate a rebellion, and they'll do anything to crush the resistance... including killing everyone Adam has ever cared about.Fracture Me sets the stage for Ignite Me, the explosive finale in Tahereh Mafi's epic dystopian series. Set during and soon after the final moments of Unravel Me, Fracture Me is told from Adam's perspective.

Minor Mage


T. Kingfisher - 2019
    His familiar reminded him of this several times a day.He only knew three spells, and one of them was to control his allergy to armadillo dander. His attempts to summon elementals resulted in nosebleeds, and there is nothing more embarrassing than having your elemental leave the circle to get you a tissue, pat you comfortingly, and then disappear in a puff of magic. The armadillo had about wet himself laughing.He was a very minor mage.Unfortunately, he was all they had.

The Gameshouse


Claire North - 2019
    But few know all its secrets...It is the place where fortunes can be made and lost through chess, backgammon - every game under the sun.But those whom fortune favors may be invited to compete in the higher league... a league where the games played are of politics and empires, of economics and kings. It is a league where Capture the Castle involves real castles, where hide and seek takes place on the scale of a continent.Among those worthy of competing in the higher league, three unusually talented contestants play for the highest stakes of all...This novel was originally published as three digital-only novellas: The Serpent, The Thief, and The Master. Previous books by Claire North:The First Fifteen Lives of Harry AugustTouchThe Sudden Appearance of HopeThe End of the Day84KBy the same author, writing as Kate Griffin:A Madness of AngelsThe Midnight MayorThe Neon CourtThe Minority CouncilThe Glass GodStray Souls

Through the Dark


Alexandra Bracken - 2015
    Featuring ebook original novellas In Time and Sparks Rise, and a gripping, brand-new novella, Through the Dark is a must-have for fans of the Darkest Minds. This collection contains three novellas: In Time, Sparks Rise, and Beyond the Night, as well as a sneak peek at the first novel in Alexandra Bracken's new series, Passenger. IN TIME Gabe's life has been devastated in the wake of the economic crash. The only option left for someone like him to escape his tragic past is to leave his small town behind and to attempt to become a skiptracer. This already almost-impossible task is made all the more difficult by his first "score,"a young girl who won't speak, but who changes his life in ways he could never imagine. SPARKS RISE Sam didn't think things could get worse at Thurmond rehabilitation camp. Then the Reds arrive. Everyone assumed the kids with firepower had been killed years ago. Instead they were taken away, brainwashed, and returned as terrifyingly effective guards. To her horror, Sam recognizes one of them: Lucas, the one spark of light in Sam's dark childhood. Lucas has a deadly secret--he beat the brutal training that turned his fellow Reds into mindless drones. When Sam defends herself against an attack by a vile PSF guard and faces a harrowing punishment, Lucas must risk everything to save her. BEYOND THE NIGHT The government-run "rehabilitation camps" have been shut down, but kids with Psi powers are anything but free. Sam would rather be on her own than put in the care of a foster family and given the "cure"--a dangerous procedure that unclaimed kids across the country are being forced to undergo. But there's more at stake than just her own safety. Sam once made someone a promise, and the time has come to fulfill it. Now that she's out of her camp, Mia only has one thought in her head: finding Lucas, her beloved older brother.

Fox 8


George Saunders - 2013
    That is, until Fox 8 develops a unique skill: He teaches himself to speak "Yuman" by hiding in the bushes outside a house and listening to children's bedtime stories. The power of language fuels his abundant curiosity about people—even after "danjer" arrives in the form of a new shopping mall that cuts off his food supply, sending Fox 8 on a harrowing quest to help save his pack.

We Are What We Pretend To Be: The First and Last Works


Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - 2012
    Now his first and last works come together for the first time in print, in a collection aptly titled after his famous phrase, We Are What We Pretend To Be.Written to be sold under the pseudonym of “Mark Harvey,” Basic Training was never published in Vonnegut’s lifetime. It appears to have been written in the late 1940s and is therefore Vonnegut’s first ever novella. It is a bitter, profoundly disenchanted story that satirizes the military, authoritarianism, gender relationships, parenthood and most of the assumed mid-century myths of the family. Haley Brandon, the adolescent protagonist, comes to the farm of his relative, the old crazy who insists upon being called The General, to learn to be a straight-shooting American. Haley’s only means of survival will lead him to unflagging defiance of the General’s deranged (but oh so American, oh so military) values. This story and its thirtyish author were no friends of the milieu to which the slick magazines’ advertisers were pitching their products.When Vonnegut passed away in 2007, he left his last novel unfinished. Entitled If God Were Alive Today, this last work is a brutal satire on societal ignorance and carefree denial of the world’s major problems. Protagonist Gil Berman is a middle-aged college lecturer and self-declared stand-up comedian who enjoys cracking jokes in front of a college audience while societal dependence on fossil fuels has led to the apocalypse. Described by Vonnegut as, “the stand-up comedian on Doomsday,” Gil is a character formed from Vonnegut’s own rich experiences living in a reality Vonnegut himself considered inevitable.Along with the two works of fiction, Vonnegut’s daughter, Nanette shares reminiscences about her father and commentary on these two works—both exclusive to this edition.In this fiction collection, published in print for the first time, exist Vonnegut’s grand themes: trust no one, trust nothing; and the only constants are absurdity and resignation, which themselves cannot protect us from the void but might divert.

Nevertheless, She Persisted: Flash Fiction Project


Diana M. PhoCatherynne M. Valente - 2020
    She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.Three short lines, fired over social media in response to questions of why Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced on the floor of the United States Senate, for daring to read aloud the words of Coretta Scott King. As this message was transmitted across the globe, it has become a galvanizing cry for people of all genders in recognition of the struggles that women have faced throughout history.Three short lines, which read as if they are the opening passage to an epic and ageless tale.We have assembled this flash fiction collection featuring several of the best writers in SF/F today, including Seanan McGuire, Charlie Jane Anders, Maria Dahvana Headley, Jo Walton, Amal El-Mohtar, Catherynne M. Valente, Brooke Bolander, Alyssa Wong, Kameron Hurley, Nisi Shawl and Carrie Vaughn. Together these authors share unique visions of women inventing, playing, loving, surviving, and – of course – dreaming of themselves beyond their circumstances.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach


Kelly Robson - 2018
    Minh is part of the generation that first moved back up to the surface of the Earth from the underground hells, to reclaim humanity's ancestral habitat. She's spent her entire life restoring river ecosystems, but lately the kind of long-term restoration projects Minh works on have been stalled due to the invention of time travel. When she gets the opportunity take a team to 2000 BC to survey the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, she jumps at the chance to uncover the secrets of the shadowy think tank that controls time travel technology.

The House On Gable Street: A Jack Nightingale Short Story


Stephen Leather - 2018
    The House On Gable Street is a fast-paced supernatural story about 30,000 words long, almost a novella. Stephen Leather is one of the UK's most successful thriller writers, an ebook and Sunday Times bestseller and author of the critically acclaimed Dan “Spider’ Shepherd series and the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novels.

An Amish Courtship 1


Samantha Jillian Bayarr - 2014
    Samuel has his future set for him, but when he encounters the angelic Grace, he suddenly realizes he wants out of his commitments so he can pursue her. Can the two of them make it work, or has someone else already laid claim to the future they desire?

The Imago Sequence and Other Stories


Laird Barron - 2007
    P. Lovecraft's "Pickman's model" - was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, while "Proboscis" was nominated for an International Horror Guild award and reprinted in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 19. In addition to his previously published work, this collection contains an original story.

The Four Worlds of Bertie Cavendish


R.R. Haywood - 2021
    The Undead. A Town Called Discovery and The Worldship Humility.A virtual reality.A fleet of spaceships.A shimmering blue door.A virus unleased upon the planet.Four worlds that do not co-habit the same time and space.But things are never quite as they seem…*This book is intended for existing fans of the series, The Undead, Extracted, A Town Called Discovery and The Worldship Humility, and as such, it may not appeal to new readers who have not read those series.