A science fiction novel set in the far future. The new empires, which have arisen from the rubble of a devastating war, are looking with greedy eyes across the Great Rift to the untouched stars which lie there. Great riches and power will come to those who can control them. Engineer Charles Crawford has been dispatched with Terraformer Regina Nassau and a bold expedition on a ten-year voyage to establish a colony and transport gate on the far side of the Rift. But a rival power is determined to hijack the attempt and has secreted an agent in the expedition to disrupt it with sabotage and murder. With the political and military personnel dead, the task of carrying on falls to the engineers and technicians. Crawford and Nassau must mold the survivors into a force capable of resisting an enemy attack while continuing their primary task of establishing the colony and building the all-important transport gate. Their task is further complicated by the fact that the far side of the Rift is not as uninhabited as it was supposed to be. Refugees from the earlier, destroyed civilization have already made a home here and they look upon the newcomers with decidedly mixed emotions. Crawford and Nassau must try to win the trust of the natives if they are to have any hope against the coming enemy attack.

A day-by-day photographic journal of the annual migration path taken by the animals of the Serengeti Plain as they follow the cycle of the rains.

The Great Rift is a sweeping history of the intertwined careers of Dick Cheney and Colin Powell, whose rivalry and conflicting views of U.S. national security color our political debate to this day. Dick Cheney and Colin Powell emerged on the national scene more than thirty years ago, and it is easy to forget that they were once allies. The two men collaborated closely in the successful American wars in Panama and Iraq during the presidency of George H. W. Bush--but from this pinnacle, conflicts of ideology and sensibility drove them apart. Returning to government service under George W. Bush in 2001, they (and their respective allies within the administration) fell into ever-deepening antagonism over the role America should play in a world marked by terrorism and other nontraditional threats. In a wide-ranging, deeply researched, and dramatic narrative, James Mann explores each man’s biography and philosophical predispositions to show how and why this deep and permanent rupture occurred. Through dozens of original interviews and surprising revelations from presidential archives, he brings to life the very human story of how this influential friendship turned so sour and how the enmity of these two powerful men colored the way America acts in the world.

In a pictorial journey across the length and breadth of the East African section of the Great Rift Valley, award-winning wildlife photographers Anup and Manoj Shah explore the diversity of habitats created by this great fissure in the Earth

The Great Rift Valley, which runs some three thousand miles from Syria to Mozambique, is one of the earth's most extraordinary geological features. The result of Syria's split from the African continent fifteen million years ago, this great "crack in the earth" crosses Jordan, Syria, Israel, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Kenya. In 2004, Israeli journalist Haim Watzman set out to explore the northern part of the Rift Valley, where he had lived for nearly two and a half decades. He interviewed a number of scientific experts: a zoologist fascinated by the behavioral patterns of indigenous birds; an archaeologist trying to re-create the standing stone formations left to us by ancient cultures; a geologist speculating on the valley's origins. Watzman raises provocative questions about the nature of this massive feature in the earth's crust: where it comes from, how it has developed, and how human civilization has fared on its shores. "Humankind has overlaid the geology not just with cities, dams, fields, and roads," he writes, "but also with history and biography and meanings."

The flora and fauna of one of Africa's most spectacular regions is documented in 202 photographs, from snow-topped mountains to heat-blasted salt flats.

Five years ago, young sorcerer Dante Galand and his friend Blays averted war against their new home, the city of Narashtovik. Ever since, they've been repaying their debts, arming and training the nomadic norren people in preparation for rebellion against the empire that enslaves them. When Dante hears a nearby norren clan is in possession of the Quivering Bow-a legendary artifact that can strike down walls with a single arrow-his course is clear. With such a weapon, he can secure independence for both the norren and Narashtovik. But the bow has been taken by the enemy. Following a trail of pirates and slavers, Dante, Blays, and a clan of norren warriors strike deep into enemy lands. Until now, their rebellion's been kept secret. But their quest for the bow leads Dante and Blays to an all-out assault on the personal manor of powerful lord Cassinder. Enraged, Cassinder will have his revenge on norren and Narashtovik alike-and this time, there will be no stopping the engines of war.

This is an amazing collection of some of the best short fiction ever written in the SF genre, by an author acclaimed as 'the mastersinger of space opera' THE TIMES. With an introduction by noted SF critic Johnathan Strahan, this collection of twenty short stories, novellettes and novellas includes MINLA'S FLOWERS, SIGNAL TO NOISE, TROIKA, and seven previous uncollected stories, including TRAUMA POD, THE WATER THIEF and IN BABELSBERG. Alastair Reynolds has won the Sidewise Award and been nominated for The Hugo Awards for his short fiction. One of the most thought-provoking and accomplished short-fiction writers of our time, this collection is a delight for all SF readers

"The Rift would be a very good beach book, if you could put it down long enough to get into the water." —— The San Diego Union Tribune FRACTURE LINES PERMEATE THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES. Some comprise the New Madrid fault, the most dangerous earthquake zone in the world. Other fracture lines are social—— economic, religious, racial, and ethnic. What happens when they all crack at once? Caught in the disaster as cities burn and bridges tumble, young Jason Adams finds himself adrift on the Mississippi with African-American engineer Nick Ruford. A modern-day Huck and Jim, they spin helplessly down the river and into the widening faults in American society, encountering violence and hope, compassion and despair, and the primal wilderness that threatens to engulf not only them, but all they love... " A breakout book that you'll swear the author lived" —— SF Age "I don't like disaster novels. I would not have even glanced at The Rift if it weren't backed by Walter Jon Williams' reputation for excellence. And I definitely would not have kept reading if Williams hadn't demonstrated on every page that he deserves his reputation. The result? I was so engrossed in—— and engaged by ——The Rift that I forgot that I don't like disaster novels. This book is an impressive achievement.” —— Stephen R. Donaldson, New York Times bestselling author of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant "The Rift is bloody wonderful! Williams brings an historic disaster back for an encore and metaphorically flattens it again. This is the stuff for which sleep is lost--and awards are made." —— Dean Ing "The Rift shakes up the world like it's never been shaken before." —— Fred Saberhagen "[For fans of the disaster novel] Williams delivers the requisite thrills and setpieces—— but he also, to paraphrase Conrad, offers a bit of that truth for which they forgot to ask." —— Locus