Brief Candles (1930), Aldous Huxley's fifth collection of short fiction, consists of the following four short stories: "Chawdron" "The Rest Cure" "The Claxtons" "After the Fireworks" Brief Candles takes its title from a line in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, from Macbeth's famous soliloquy: "Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

This classic novel of a perfectly engineered society is “one of the most prophetic dystopian works of the twentieth century” (The Wall Street Journal). Half a millennium from now, in the World State, the watchword is that every one belongs to every one else. No matter what class of human you are bred to be—from the intellectual Alphas to the Epsilons who provide the manual labor—you are a part of the efficient, well-oiled whole. You are nourished, secure, and blissfully serene thanks to the freely distributed drug called soma. And while sex is strongly encouraged, the old way of procreation is forbidden, eliminating even the pains of childbirth. But when a man and woman journey beyond these confines to where the “savages” reside, and bring back two outsiders, the cracks begin to show. Named as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the twentieth century by the Modern Library, Brave New World is one of the first truly dystopian novels. Influenced by the historic events of Huxley’s era yet as relevant today as ever, it is a remarkable depiction of the conflict between progress and the human spirit. “Chilling. . . . That he gave us the dark side of genetic engineering in 1932 is amazing.” —Providence Journal-Bulletin “It is a frightening experience, indeed, to discover how much of his satirical prediction of a distant future became reality in so short a time.” —The New York Times Book Review

Nothing's scarier than a world where you can't be yourself. The second and final book in this high-stakes, fast-paced sci-fi series from New York Times bestselling author RACHEL VINCENT. Dahlia 16's life is a lie. The city of Lakeview isn't a utopia that raises individuals for the greater good; it is a clone farm that mass-produces servants for the elite. And because Dahlia breaks the rules, her sisters--the 4,999 girls who share her face--are destroyed. She and Trigger 17, the soldier who risked his life for hers, go on the run, escaping into the wild outside the city walls. But it turns out Dahlia has one remaining identical, one who shouldn't even exist. Waverly Whitmore is teenage royalty, a media sensation with millions of fans who broadcasts her every move--including every detail of her wedding planning, leading up to the day she marries Hennessy Chapman. Waverly lives a perfect life built on the labors of clones like Dahlia. She has no idea that she too is a clone . . . until she comes face to face with Dahlia. One deadly secret. Two genetic sisters. And a world that isn't big enough for both of them. "Thrilling and dangerous, with an ending that will leave you gasping!" --SUZANNE YOUNG, New York Times bestselling author of the series THE PROGRAM on book 1, Brave New Girl

“Thrilling and dangerous, with an ending that will leave you gasping!” —SUZANNE YOUNG, New York Times bestselling author of the series THE PROGRAM In a world where everyone is the same, one girl is the unthinkable: unique. A high-stakes fast-paced series launch from New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent. Dahlia 16 sees her face in every crowd. She’s nothing special—just one of five thousand girls created from a single genome to work for the greater good of the city. Meeting Trigger 17 changes everything. He thinks she’s interesting. Beautiful. Unique. Which means he must be flawed. When Dahlia can’t stop thinking about him she realizes she’s flawed, too. But what if Trigger is right? What if Dahlia is different? But if she’s flawed, then so are all her identicals. And any genome found to be flawed will be destroyed, ONE BY ONE BY ONE. . . . “Captivates.” —VOYA “Thrilling.” —School Library Journal “I loved every second of it.” —The Best Books Ever

This collection of essays provides new readings of Huxley’s classic dystopian satire, Brave New World (1932). Leading international scholars consider from new angles the historical contexts in which the book was written and the cultural legacies in which it looms large. The volume affirms Huxley’s prescient critiques of modernity and his continuing relevance to debates about political power, art, and the vexed relationship between nature and humankind. Individual chapters explore connections between Brave New World and the nature of utopia, the 1930s American Technocracy movement, education and social control, pleasure, reproduction, futurology, inter-war periodical networks, motherhood, ethics and the Anthropocene, islands, and the moral life. The volume also includes a ‘Foreword’ written by David Bradshaw, one of the world’s top Huxley scholars. Timely and consistently illuminating, this collection is essential reading for students, critics, and Huxley enthusiasts alike.

The Dark Knight. The Man of Steel. They are the two finest superheroes that the world has ever known...and they’re together again in an epic new series from the legendary talents of Mark Waid and Dan Mora! In the not-too-distant past, Superman’s powers are super-charged from a devastating chemical attack by the villain Metallo...and the only ally that the ultra-powerful Man of Tomorrow can turn to in this turbulent hour is Gotham’s own dark vengeance: the Batman. A nearly fatal burst of power drives Bruce Wayne to his own extreme measures to help his friend...enlisting none other than the Doom Patrol for aid. It’s the world’s greatest superheroes from the world’s greatest comic book talent in an epic comic book experience that kicks off the next big events in the DCU. Get ready, it’s time to soar.

In this important book, Ulrich Beck - one of the leading social thinkers in Europe today - examines how work has become unstable in the modern world and presents a new vision for the future. Beck begins by describing how the traditional work society, with its life-long job paths, is giving way to a much less stable world in which skills can be suddenly devalued, jobs obliterated, welfare cover reduced or eliminated. The West would appear to be heading towards a social structure of ambiguity and multiple activity that has hitherto been more characteristic of the developing world. But what appears to be the end of traditional working practices can also be seen as an opportunity to develop new ideas and models for work in the twenty-first century. Beck's alternative vision is centred on the concept of active citizens democratically organized in local, and increasingly also regional or transnational, networks. Against the threat of social exclusion, everyone can and must have a right to be included in a new definition and distribution of work. This will involve constant movement between formal employment (with a major reduction in working hours) and forms of self-organized artistic, cultural and political 'civil labour', providing equal access to comprehensive social protection. The aim must be to turn insecurity around, so that it becomes a positive and enriching discontinuity of life. Drawing on his earlier work on risk and reflexive modernization, The Brave New World of Work is also closely linked to his studies on globalization and individualization. These processes are part of the same challenge upon which a politics of modernity must now base itself. Not only the future of work, but also the very survival of democracy and the welfare state will depend on the development of a newly committed and 'multi-active' transnational citizenship. This book will be of great interest to second- and third-year students in sociology, politics, geography and the social sciences generally. It will also appeal to a broader audience interested in the issues and debates surrounding the changing nature of work.

Welcome to New London. Everybody is happy here. Our perfect society achieved peace and stability through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family and history itself. Now everyone belongs. You can be happy too. All you need to do is take your Soma pills. Discover the brave new world of Aldous Huxley's classic novel, written in 1932, which prophesied a society which expects maximum pleasure and accepts complete surveillance - no matter what the cost.

This text takes the liberal humanist position against the advance of scientific ethics (or lack of them), in particular those of genetics. As the achievements of science threaten to engulf this century leaving us morally and philosophically floundering in their wake (what are we going to do about Dolly?), Appleyard engages with the issues in a debate which can only get hotter and more desperate.