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For Your Safety Please Hold On


Kayla Czaga - 2014
    Her poems are already making waves--several from this collection have received award attention, including: "The Fiddlehead"'s 23rd annual Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize, "The Malahat Review"'s 2012 Far Horizon's Award for Poetry and an Editor's Choice Award in "ARC Poetry Magazine'"s 2012 Poem of the Year Contest. They have also been shortlisted for "The New Quarterly"'s 2013 Occasional Verse Contest, longlisted for CBC's 2013 Canada Writes Poetry Contest and have appeared in literary publications across North America.The poems in "For Your Safety Please Hold On" move in thematic focus from family, to girlhood, to adulthood, each permeated by Czaga's lively voice and quick-witted, playful language. They test the line between honest humour and bitter reality in a sophisticated, incisive manner that tugs at the gut and feels true.The linguistic hopscotch of Czaga's poems about girlhood is often beautifully juxtaposed with feelings of menace or a first taste of smothering expectations--"She sits. She sips her bright pink fingers. / She slips into smart short haircuts, yes, / she does so, and does herself up just so." While her pin prick meditations on contemporary adulthood suggest a yearning for personal meaning and purpose on a larger scale--"I still wander, sometimes, / my coat closing the world out of my body, with pockets / full of garbage, with my slender steady want. I still / make the bed and at bedtime unmake it."The irrepressible energy of the poems in "For Your Safety Please Hold On," paired with their complex balancing act between light and dark, humour and melancholy, innocence and danger, make this collection an extraordinary first offering.

The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood


James Gleick - 2011
    The story of information begins in a time profoundly unlike our own, when every thought and utterance vanishes as soon as it is born. From the invention of scripts and alphabets to the long-misunderstood talking drums of Africa, Gleick tells the story of information technologies that changed the very nature of human consciousness. He provides portraits of the key figures contributing to the inexorable development of our modern understanding of information: Charles Babbage, the idiosyncratic inventor of the first great mechanical computer; Ada Byron, the brilliant and doomed daughter of the poet, who became the first true programmer; pivotal figures like Samuel Morse and Alan Turing; and Claude Shannon, the creator of information theory itself. And then the information age arrives. Citizens of this world become experts willy-nilly: aficionados of bits and bytes. And we sometimes feel we are drowning, swept by a deluge of signs and signals, news and images, blogs and tweets. The Information is the story of how we got here and where we are heading.

The Tetris Effect: The Game that Hypnotized the World


Dan Ackerman - 2016
    But how did an obscure Soviet programmer, working on frail, antiquated computers, create a product which has now earned nearly 1 billion in sales? How did a makeshift game turn into a worldwide sensation, which has been displayed at the Museum of Modern Art, inspired a big-budget sci-fi movie, and been played in outer space? A quiet but brilliant young man, Alexey Pajitnov had long nurtured a love for the obscure puzzle game pentominoes, and became obsessed with turning it into a computer game. Little did he know that the project that he labored on alone, hour after hour, would soon become the most addictive game ever made. In this fast-paced business story, reporter Dan Ackerman reveals how Tetris became one of the world's first viral hits, passed from player to player, eventually breaking through the Iron Curtain into the West. British, American, and Japanese moguls waged a bitter fight over the rights, sending their fixers racing around the globe to secure backroom deals, while a secretive Soviet organization named ELORG chased down the game's growing global profits.The Tetris Effect is an homage to both creator and creation, and a must-read for anyone who's ever played the game-which is to say everyone.

The Stones of Andarus


Tom Sechrist - 2012
    When a demented Master Mage intends to unleash the unholy power of these ancient artifacts, it will fall to five unlikely heroes to stop him. The battle for the fate of the realm has only just begun...Legend has it that a demented sorcerer named Andarus sought to harness the power of creation…to bend it to his will. He searched throughout the realm for mystical vessels that could contain such unfathomable power and The Stones of Andarus were created. The Stones are said to contain a fragment of the power of creation along with the dark, twisted soul of the sorcerer Andarus.On this account, the legends are true.The fate of The Stones through history is not known. Some say that, despite their awesome power, they were destroyed long ago. Others claim they were divided and hidden away in the far corners of the land. Yet others believe the sinister power of the Stones has faded over the great span of time since their creation, and can never be a threat again. Then there are those who say the tale of the Stones is nothing but pure fantasy.On this account, the legends are dead wrong.Xavier, an unstable and evil Master Mage, has spent his life perfecting his mastery of not only the Mystical Arts, but the forbidden magic of the Dark Mystics. Now, at the peak of his sinister power, he has the Stones of Andarus and intends to not only unleash their unholy power, but attempt to control it.Such power, twisted by the crazed essence of a mad man, can never be controlled and dared not be unleashed, but Xavier believes he has the power and the skill to accomplish the impossible.Enter Daimion Devenshire, a mysterious loner with seductive charms, dark secrets and deep scars. He is a minor mage of the Mystical Arts, but there is a power within him that not even he is aware of...at least not yet. When he learns that Xavier has the Stones, he knows that the mad man has to be stopped or the entire realm could be forever altered if not destroyed. Joining him on his desperate quest are The Lady Brianna Standish, seductively beautiful and fiercely independent. She is a woman who lives her life on her terms, much to the chagrin of medieval society. Raven Darkseed is a rouge Adept Mage of the Mystical Arts and the closest thing to a best friend to Devenshire. Shantira Dubris is a young village woman set on vengeance and torn by the storm of emotions and sensations that Devenshrie stirs within her. Zandorth Krahl is a warrior of the Ancient Class, a vanishing breed of men who value honor and integrity above all else.From the beginning, Devenshire and company are pursued…by both friend and foe. Darius Thieberian, a vampire with special designs on Brianna, stalks the group with motives as dark as the night he lives in. Rachelle Tambrey, a unique vampire with an unexplainable interest in Devenshire, follows as well. Add a compliment of the King’s Royal Guards who have been convinced that Devenshire is a vampire by an ex-vampire hunter turned bandit, and the group’s efforts to save the realm are thwarted at every turn.Through trials and tribulations, deceptions and betrayals this group of unlikely heroes must face many obstacles in their epic quest to stop Xavier, including an opponent fiercer than any they have ever faced…the demons within themselves.The battle for the fate of the realm has only just begun...

One Night Only: Conversations with the NHL's One-Game Wonders


Ken Reid - 2016
    One Night Only brings you the stories of 39 men who lived the dream — only to see it fade away almost as quickly as it arrived. Ken Reid talks to players who had one game, and one game only, in the National Hockey League — including the most famous single-gamer of them all: the coach himself, Don Cherry.Was it a dream come true or was it heartbreak? What did they learn from their hockey journey and how does it define them today? From the satisfied to the bitter, Ken Reid unearths the stories from hockey’s equivalent to one-hit wonders in the follow-up to his bestselling Hockey Card Stories.

Robin Ince's Bad Book Club: One Man's Quest to Uncover the Books that Time Forgot


Robin Ince - 2010
    Among the many genres it explores, the book will guide you through the hinterland of celebrity autobiography, unearthing underappreciated classics such as those by It Ain't Half Hot Mum's Don Estelle and the brother of a former PM (Major Major). It offers a detailed study of romance sub-genres, from the equine (Diamond Stud) to the gynaecological (Sign Of The Speculum). And it will prove invaluable to anyone who wants to know The Secrets Of Picking Up Sexy Girls. Above all, the Book Club is a manual-almost a life guide-training you up for membership of the Grand Order of Curators of Books That Should Never Have Been. Join the club.

Blueberry Hill: a Sister's Story


Bette Lee Crosby - 2014
     Based on the realities of her own family, Crosby calls this a memoir of sorts. Traveling back to a time when the sisters were young enough to feel invincible and foolish enough to believe it would last forever, Crosby has bared her soul in a story of regrettable decisions and inevitable outcomes. Blueberry Hill is a tale of family relationships, love and tragedy. It is a story that will touch your heart and stay with you long after you have closed the book.

99 Brief Scenes From The End Of The World


T.W. Grim - 2012
    It detailed our culture, accumulated mathematical knowledge, and the finer points of human physiology. Now, years later, they have finally received a reply... The Western Hemisphere is plunged into chaos, as exposure to the alien radio signal transforms millions of ordinary citizens into savage lunatics, their re-programmed minds relentlessly driving them to spread mayhem and death. From the southernmost point of Chile to the farthest reaches of Northern Canada, the day dawns upon a desperate struggle for survival. Fleeing from raging fires, disastrous havoc, and the murderous rampaging of the infected, the survivors must try to overcome the odds and survive to see tomorrow - but, with a mentally unstable President contemplating full-scale nuclear war on the East, will there even be a tomorrow? Originally published as a condensed serial on Reddit.com, in the SubReddit Library of Shadows, 99 Brief Scenes From the End of The World is a taut, adrenaline-fueled excursion into the darkest depths of the human id. It takes the reader from the embattled streets of suburbia to a besieged church in a Texan border town; to top-secret government facilities, where powerful men play a game of political chess, using people as pawns. Will the alien transmission succeed in destroying us all - or does salvation lie within the extraordinary mind of a catatonic little girl?

Bridges: A Daphne White Novel


Maria Murnane - 2017
    After years scaling the corporate ladder, she can more than afford it. Daphne arrives in NYC with news of her own—the novel she’s finally finished appears to be going nowhere but the trash bin of every publishing house around. She’s devastated but plans to keep her disappointment under wraps, something that becomes trickier when she sees Skylar’s spectacular apartment. Could her life have been like this if she’d chosen a different path? What Daphne doesn’t know is she’s not the only one with a secret. Skylar and their friend KC are also holding something back, but what? As the trip unfolds, the truth about each woman emerges, along with tears. And laughter. And love. The fun-loving trio readers fell for in Wait for the Rain is together once more. Here's to the power of friendship!

Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies


Andreas M. Antonopoulos - 2014
    Whether you're building the next killer app, investing in a startup, or simply curious about the technology, this practical book is essential reading.Bitcoin, the first successful decentralized digital currency, is still in its infancy and it's already spawned a multi-billion dollar global economy. This economy is open to anyone with the knowledge and passion to participate. Mastering Bitcoin provides you with the knowledge you need (passion not included).This book includes:A broad introduction to bitcoin--ideal for non-technical users, investors, and business executivesAn explanation of the technical foundations of bitcoin and cryptographic currencies for developers, engineers, and software and systems architectsDetails of the bitcoin decentralized network, peer-to-peer architecture, transaction lifecycle, and security principlesOffshoots of the bitcoin and blockchain inventions, including alternative chains, currencies, and applicationsUser stories, analogies, examples, and code snippets illustrating key technical concepts

The Scattered and the Dead


Tim McBain - 2016
     Survival. Murder. Snow. Winter is here. The cold spreads over the land, shriveling and choking out all the plant life. Harsh. Unforgiving. The first winter without electricity will surely claim more human lives as well. The isolation may do more damage than the cold, however. Too much time alone drives people to unthinkable acts.

Lauren Ipsum


Carlos Bueno - 2011
    If the idea of a computer science book without computers upsets you, please close your eyes until you’ve finished reading the rest of this page.The truth is that computer science is not really about the computer. It is just a tool to help you see ideas more clearly. You can see the moon and stars without a telescope, smell the flowers without a fluoroscope, have fun without a funoscope, and be silly sans oscilloscope.You can also play with computer science without... you-know-what. Ideas are the real stuff of computer science. This book is about those ideas, and how to find them.

Whistling Past the Graveyard: Prequel to The Saga of Shadows


Kevin J. Anderson - 2016
    Anderson’s breathtaking, bestselling Saga of Seven Suns and Saga of Shadows. Nine years have passed since the end of the titanic Elemental War, and the human race is still picking up the pieces. The Terran Hanseatic League has become the Confederation, and King Peter and Queen Estarra work to heal wounds among the factions of humanity, as well as with the alien Ildiran Empire. Trade Minister Rlinda Kett seeks to reestablish contact with lost human colonies that have vanished in the chaos, and she travels to a planet called Happiness, site of an isolated neo-Amish colony where the treacherous Prince Daniel was exiled. As a civil war brews among the Roamer clans over the old ways versus new business methods, some brave clans venture back to skymining again, harvesting the restless clouds of huge gas giant planets—where the threat of the devastating hydrogue aliens always looms…

Quantum Computing Since Democritus


Scott Aaronson - 2013
    Full of insights, arguments and philosophical perspectives, the book covers an amazing array of topics. Beginning in antiquity with Democritus, it progresses through logic and set theory, computability and complexity theory, quantum computing, cryptography, the information content of quantum states and the interpretation of quantum mechanics. There are also extended discussions about time travel, Newcomb's Paradox, the anthropic principle and the views of Roger Penrose. Aaronson's informal style makes this fascinating book accessible to readers with scientific backgrounds, as well as students and researchers working in physics, computer science, mathematics and philosophy.

The Frost of Springtime


Rachel L. Demeter - 2014
    Tormented by his own demons, he finds his first bit of solace in sheltering little Sofia Rose.But when Aleksender is drawn away by the Franco-Prussian war, the seasons pass. And in that long year, Sofia matures into a stunning young woman—a dancer with an understanding of devotion and redemption far surpassing her age. Alongside his closest friend, Aleksender returns home to find that “home” is gone, replaced by revolution, bloodshed, betrayal—and a love always out of reach. Scarred inside and out, he’s thrust into a world of sensuality and violence—a world in which all his hours have now grown dark, and where only Sofia might bring an end to the winter in his heart. Inspired by the 1871 Paris Commune, The Frost of Springtime is a poignant tale of revolution, redemption, and the healing power of love.DISCLAIMER: This story contains dark themes and intense subject matter. Discretion is advised for sensitive readers.