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Beyond the Crystal City


Logan Brookfield - 2017
    Millions of people crammed into a few square miles resulting in overcrowding, starvation, pollution and a daily fight for survival in a crime and disease-ridden city.The Continental Wars that started in 2167, and only ended when the entire population of the planet was nearly wiped out, were shortly followed by an increase in temperature and the melting of the ice caps. This created global flooding and devastation until the waters receded and the oceans all but dried up in the boiling heat. Global warming and toxic fallout created an environment not fit for humans or animals. The ancients had created a double death blow with their wars, overpopulation and mass industrialisation, raping and pillaging the planet of its natural resources along the way.Carl is a scavenger and survivor, born in the dust of the old city. One day, while out searching for supplies, he uncovers a secret plan to solve the Earth's resource problems once and for all. The elite say it’s a brilliant plan, one that will restore humans to their former glory, while others know it's madness and risks the destruction of mankind.

Sleep Martyrs


C.A. Wittman - 2019
    But navigating around their controlling stepfather and their aloof new siblings becomes the least of their worries.There is a vague sense of menace in their state of the art lavish smart home with its cutting edge calm technology. And something is not quite right with the bright, cheerful kids at Santomon’s private school where the girls are enrolled. Undergrads from prestigious universities and ivy-league colleges are vying for the coveted internships within Santomon Village. The mega-corporation is the darling of the tech world and a philanthropic superstar when it comes to awarding educational scholarships to low-income families who require rehabilitative services for their teens at Santomon’s troubled youth program called Salinger House.But not everyone is singing Santomon praises. A growing number of parents whose children have returned home from the program are voicing concerns that at first seem vague, while a social activist group called The Disruptors has been investigating a cash-for-kids scandal in South Dakota that involves Santomon. For Tori, she can feel that something ominous, something evil is afoot, and as her mother begins to have doubts about her marriage and there is talk of divorce, Tori yearns to return to Inglewood and the simple life they had. But her sister, Laila ‘s not so sure leaving the village will be easy because what she has discovered is a treacherous web of lies unfathomable in their scope. What Laila wonders is if they can get away from Santomon before it’s too late.

False Light


Eric Dezenhall - 2021
    After Fuse is asked to leave his paper pending a disciplinary investigation, he has plenty of time on his hands. So when his oldest friend approaches him for advice after the man’s daughter says she was sexually assaulted by her boss, a prominent media star, Fuse agrees to help. He gives his buddy the only options he feels are available: report the incident to the police and risk a huge “he said/she said” smear campaign against the girl, or plan something even better—revenge. As a journalist, Fuse has a colorful background investigating criminals, politicians, gangsters, drug lords, and all-around shysters—and knows plenty of shady sources—so he’s the perfect person to enact a complex (and ultimately, entertaining) plan to bring the popular media mogul down in the court of public opinion . . . and make him pay.

Our Only Chance


Ray Else - 2017
    Only Einna is not human, she is an A.I. android. Her creator, her mother, is Manaka Yagami, the first female tech billionaire. Einna has a plan to make herself human, if she can keep Mother in the dark and avoid the clutches of the notorious Yakuza.

Midnight, Water City


Chris McKinney - 2021
    Akira Kimura, the scientist responsible for eliminating the threat, has reached heights of celebrity approaching deification. But now, Akira feels her safety is under threat, so after years without contact, she reaches out to her former head of security, who has since become a police detective.When he arrives at her deep-sea home and finds Akira methodically dismembered, this detective will risk everything—his career, his family, even his own life—and delve back into his shared past with Akira to find her killer. With a rich, cinematic voice and burning cynicism, Midnight, Water City is both a thrilling neo-noir procedural and a stunning exploration of research, class, climate change, the cult of personality, and the dark sacrifices we are willing to make in the name of progress.

Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson | Summary & Analysis


Book*Sense - 2015
    Neal Stephenson’s science fiction thriller, depicts the end of the Earth through the destruction of the Moon by an unknown Agent and the attempts to preserve humanity through a multi-millennial gap between times when the surface of the planet will be inhabitable. The preservation efforts soon bog down in political entanglements, both from the doomed world and from within the populations who are meant to carry humanity through thousands of years in space to a planned return to Earth. When, at last, humanity makes to return to the surface of Earth, they find that other populations, not entirely friendly, await them, having endured their own privations across the millennia. Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson, is a substantial piece of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic science fiction. Well-written and compelling, it offers a convincing account of one of the many scenarios in which Earth might end – only to be reborn millennia later from seeds sown by the seven Eves of the novel’s title and others uncontrolled by them. It is an excellent piece of science fiction. This companion also includes the following: • Book Review • Story Setting Analysis • Story elements you may have missed as we decipher the novel • Details of Characters & Key Character Analysis • Summary of the text, with some analytical comments interspersed • Thought Provoking /or Discussion Questions for both Readers & Book Clubs • Discussion & Analysis of Themes, Symbols… • And Much More! This Analysis of Seveneves fills the gap, making you understand more while enhancing your reading experience.

The Mahāsiddha Field (The Mahāsiddha Series, #1)


Dwai Lahiri - 2019
    Indian mythology is replete with tales of Dévas battling the Asuras constantly. The interesting thing to note is that whether it is a God or an incarnation of a deity in human form, aka an Avatār, there was also a human element involved in these stories. The teachers of the Dévas (gods) and the Asuras were human sages, known as Rishis.    Find out what happens when seemingly unconnected individuals get drawn into a world of suspense and action, as mythology collides with their world in the book 'The Mahāsiddha Field', the first in a new sci-fi/fantasy series!   An elderly wandering mendicant in South India, two young Indian-American men, two soldiers from the Indian Army and a mysterious sage from high up in the Himalayas are thrown together in an adventure unlike any other; as a most unlikely adversary leaps out of the world of Indian Mythology to challenge their beliefs, their sanity and their courage.

Swimming Monkeys: Genesis


Steve Hadden - 2012
    A Remarkable Discovery... A Decision for Mankind...When Ryan Webster is summoned to a Miami hospice by his grandfather, he knows the man he calls a hero is about to die. Ryan’s grandfather, a renowned zoologist and founder of the world's most famous primate park, tells him about a remarkable species of monkey kept secret by the Webster men since their discovery in 1926, the year after the Scopes Monkey Trial. When Ryan is convinced to use his unique gift with monkeys that he’s honed at the primate park, he reluctantly agrees that only he can rescue them and makes an impossible promise to find them and decide if the world is now ready to deal with the fallout from their revelation.As Ryan follows his grandfather's clues to California and beyond, he's tracked by a relentless mercenary, targeted by radical Christians and hunted by the world's most famous atheist. Aided by his crazy Iraqi War veteran turned surfer-dude uncle and the most enchanting but deadly woman he's ever met, Ryan discovers the monkeys can do much more than swim. The secret they carry within their DNA will shock evolutionists, rock the foundation of the Bible, and transform the life of every human being on earth.Now, his only hope to stay alive is to save the monkeys and live up to his promise to the greatest man he ever knew—and in the process become the man he's not ready to be.Swimming Monkeys: Genesis is an extraordinary thriller that blends real-science and riveting fiction to examine the on-going struggle between science, religion, and the fallout that could affect us all.

The Replacement Chronicles


Harper Swan - 2016
     Two Lives… separated by millennia but nevertheless linked irrevocably. What possible link could Mark Hayek, an introverted twenty-first century research scientist, have to Raven, a young healer who lived during the late Pleistocene? It has everything to do with an injured Neanderthal man taken captive by Raven’s band while he and his brothers were hunting bison. After Raven heals the captive, he leaves for his tribe, and she tries to forget him as she struggles to remain within the band. But it’s not possible to stay when several band members make her life with the group untenable. Seeking the Neanderthal man she’d helped and facing her fear of being alone on the dangerous steppes, she begins crossing that grassy land—but a woman like Raven isn’t destined to be by herself for long. In the future, Mark Hayek is forced into making his own journey when his uncle dies in the Levant. His travels place him firmly in the footsteps of his Neanderthal and Early Modern Human ancestors, crossing the same ancient lands as he struggles against the fate a wayward kinsman has imposed. He’s been made a pawn in a cruel game, but when he encounters a woman being held prisoner in a cave, he seeks a way to save her. Help arrives for the pair, flowing from an unexpected, ancient source, igniting a struggle deep within Mark to accept that the illogical as well as the logical make up existence. Peoples come and go, one group replacing another over time, and echoes from ancient events have always affected the future, but Mark and Raven discover that in certain environments echoes are able to bounce back and forth, blurring their origins.

Grand Portage


Scott Seeger - 2019
    He enjoys his expensive toys, lush mansion, and life of comfort, but something is missing. A chance meeting with fellow billionaires sparks his imagination and he sets forth on a new venture. He will buy a nuclear aircraft carrier, sail it through the Great Lakes, drag it across Northern Minnesota to an Indian reservation, and hook it up to the power grid. With this bold publicity stunt, he hopes to reinvigorate the nuclear energy debate in this country. Intrepid visionaries see into the future and trudge forward. They are the builders of societies and the makers of progress. But sometimes they get sidetracked and lull into comfort. Along the way Tyler encounters an echelon of obstacles from angry energy companies to zealous environmentalists, and even his own nuclear physicist peers. The government wants to shut him down, his own wife thinks he’s crazy, and he’s running out of money. But Tyler also learns that people love getting behind a man with a vision. In this adventure we learn of leadership, ingenuity in the face of overwhelming odds, and what it is to take people with you. Who will you take with when your inspiration comes?

The Touch: A Supernatural Story


Robert Flynn III - 2017
    He is considered autistic by many. He is not. He appears autistic because he is hearing a voice. The voice is real, but it is a supernatural presence. What the voice gives him is a power that he can transfer by touch. Gabriel is the starting point for a change that is happening to many young people just like himself, all over the world. The change is wondrous and difficult at the same time. One thing is certain. The voice holds power beyond anything any of these young people could have ever imagined. This power is changing everyone, one beautiful child after another. The problem with this mysterious blessing is that Gabriel does not trust this voice completely. This distrust never leaves him, and for good reason, but Gabriel finds that the wonder of what he is experiencing is far too great for him to resist. Below, Gabriel experiences the shock of “hearing” the voice for the first time. “If only I could tell someone what this is like! God! What is wrong with me? What is wrong?” Gabriel was screaming with a tremendous power of his own, not with his voice, but with his mind. As soon as he screamed these thoughts, which he had done so many times through the years, he received the one thing he had always been very, very scared of, an actual answer. His body tensed to rigidity as the sound rose from within. As often as he had felt a communication with this presence, he had never had an interaction like this. Before today he had heard “voice” whisperings to his body, mind and soul, and these were very strong, but seemingly subconscious. What was happening now was completely new, and extremely unsettling. He was hearing now. To make it even more difficult for the boy to deal with, this was much more than just a voice, it was a sound of so much complexity that the richness of it made Gabriel senseless for a moment. It was the sound of the universe, every timbre of an orchestra, every harmonic of all the tones of every instrument in the world, buzzing together in something beyond harmony. This sound made extreme loudness seem quiet. It was all encompassing, crushing, like a freight train coming straight for you, the ground shaking, and a complete madness. Still, with all this, Gabriel could not resist it, because even with the unstoppable fear, he felt an absolute connection to it that could not be denied. This book is an excellent read for all ages. It has many youthful characters, adult characters and supernatural characters, and each of them bristle with personality. The work also has a deeper meaning. The author has attempted to present the world condition in a truthful and hopeful way, which is designed to ignite imagination and possibility.

The School for Good Mothers


Jessamine Chan - 2022
    She doesn’t have a career worthy of her Chinese immigrant parents’ sacrifices. What’s worse is she can’t persuade her husband, Gust, to give up his wellness-obsessed younger mistress. Only with their angelic daughter Harriet does Frida finally feel she’s attained the perfection expected of her. Harriet may be all she has, but she’s just enough.Until Frida has a horrible day.The state has its eyes on mothers like Frida — ones who check their phones while their kids are on the playground; who let their children walk home alone; in other words, mothers who only have one lapse of judgement. Now, a host of government officials will determine if Frida is a candidate for a Big Brother-like institution that measures the success or failure of a mother’s devotion. Faced with the possibility of losing Harriet, Frida must prove that she can live up to the standards set for mothers — that she can learn to be good.This propulsive, witty page-turner explores the perils of “perfect” upper-middle-class parenting, the violence enacted upon women by the state and each other, and the boundless love a mother has for her daughter.

Eagle Woman: A Saga of Early California II


Marian Sepulveda - 2017
    A fateful one in the history of the indigenous tribes of America. Yuma warrior, Night Wolf, is investigating reports of sheep ravaging Indian land. When he rescues a young white woman being attacked by one of the herders, he takes her to the Kumeyaay medicine woman known as Eagle Woman to treat her injuries. Strangely, she is not afraid, is even drawn to this handsome warrior. The Saga continues as Abigail Cassidy Butterfield, now living on a ranch in the San Diego back country with her family. Though this book is a sequel to Where Eagles Dance, it also stands alone. As Abby continues her fight to help the local tribes retain their land, she becomes an Indian Agent to help survey and mark the reservations. She and her family personally deliver the survey records to President Ulysses S. Grant in Washington D.C. On the return to California with the granted reservations, danger stalks them all along the way. For Abby, it will take all her medicine powers to save her people and combat the threat to her family. Enjoy the drama, the romance and a few light hearted incidents along the way.

The Little Woods: Book One of the New Apocrypha


A.G. Mock - 2021
    An annual rite of passage in a dark and alluring Pennsylvania wood. The channeling of a malevolent Presence.And a childhood game about to go terribly, terribly wrong...Two brothers in the summer of 1995, reunited by the unspeakable nightmare of their past. A bewitching tavern proprietress and psychic intuitive from New Orleans. The revelation of an apocryphal prophesy.And a harrowing return to the woods haunted by something far more dangerous than a memory......Frighteningly suspenseful and emotionally charged from page one, The Little Woods unfolds through two parallel-running storylines—each chapter alternating between the horrifying events of 1977 and their chilling repercussions in 1995.When both converge, the result is a taut and twisted climax of biblical proportions and an ending certain to leave you as satisfyingly on edge as you are shocked!If you like the coming-of-age movie Stand by Me, are horror-stricken by Golding's Lord of the Flies, or delight in the terror of Stephen King's IT or Pet Sematary, then you'll love The Little Woods.Will Ian exorcise the darkness that haunts him, or will it gain the power to consume us all?**Includes a personal note from the author about the real Little Woods that inspired the story, plus a free bonus chapter of The Shadow Watchers, Book Two in the New Apocrypha series.**YOUR SCARES ARE WAITING!

The History of Living Forever


Jake Wolff - 2019
    Sammy Tampari was Conrad’s lover. He was his teacher. And, it turns out, he was not just a chemist, but an alchemist, searching for a mythic elixir of life. Sammy’s death was sudden, yet he somehow managed to leave twenty years’ worth of his notebooks and a storage locker full of expensive, sometimes baffling equipment in the hands of his star student. The notebooks contain cryptic “recipes,” but no instructions; they tell his life story, but only hint at what might have caused his death. And Sammy’s research is littered with his favorite teaching question: What’s missing?As Conrad pieces together the solution, he finds he is not the only one to suspect that Sammy succeeded in his quest. And if he wants to save his father from a mysterious illness, Conrad will have to make some very difficult choices.A globe-trotting, century-spanning adventure story, Jake Wolff’s The History of Living Forever takes us from Maine to Romania to Easter Island and introduces a cast of unforgettable characters—drug kingpins, Big Pharma flunkies, centenarians, boy geniuses, and even a group of immortalists masquerading as coin collectors. It takes us deep into the mysteries of life—from first love to first heartbreak, from the long pall of grief to the irreconcilable loneliness of depression to the possibility of medical miracles, from coming of age to coming out. Hilarious, haunting, heart-busting, life-affirming, it asks each of us one of life’s essential questions: How far would you go for someone you love?