A Financial Times Best Science Book of 2023 • A Science News Favorite Book of 2023 • A Scientific American 2023 Staff Recommendation "The next-best thing to traveling through space and time." —Laura Helmuth, editor in chief of Scientific American A rip-roaring tour of the cosmos with the Bad Astronomer, bringing you up close and personal with the universe like never before. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel the universe? How would Saturn’s rings look from a spaceship sailing just above them? If you were falling into a black hole, what’s the last thing you’d see before getting spaghettified? While traveling in person to most of these amazing worlds may not be possible—yet—the would-be space traveler need not despair: you can still take the scenic route through the galaxy with renowned astronomer and science communicator Philip Plait. On this lively, immersive adventure through the cosmos, Plait draws ingeniously on both the latest scientific research and his prodigious imagination to transport you to ten of the most spectacular sights outer space has to offer. In vivid, inventive scenes informed by rigorous science—injected with a dose of Plait’s trademark humor—Under Alien Skies places you on the surface of alien worlds, from our own familiar Moon to the far reaches of our solar system and beyond. Try launching yourself onto a two-hundred-meter asteroid, or stargazing from the rim of an ancient volcano on a planet where, from the place you stand, it is eternally late afternoon. Experience the sudden onset of lunar nightfall, the disorientation of walking—or, rather, shuffling—when you weigh almost nothing, the irritation of jagged regolith dust. Glimpse the frigid mountains and plains of Pluto and the cake-like exterior of a comet called 67P. On a planet trillions of miles from Earth, glance down to see the strange, beautiful shadows cast by a hundred thousand stars. For the aspiring extraterrestrial citizen, casual space tourist, or curious armchair traveler, Plait is an illuminating, always-entertaining guide to the most otherworldly views in our universe.

Dennis Potter (1935-94) was Britain’s leading television dramatist for almost thirty years and remains an inspiration to today’s programme makers as a result of such ground-breaking work as Pennies from Heaven, Blue Remembered Hills and The Singing Detective. But he also engaged with his audience through reviews, journalism, interviews, broadcasts and speeches. The Art of Invective, the first collection of its kind, brings together some of his finest non-fiction work. Published to mark 80 years since Potter’s birth, this book includes his merciless television columns, penetrating literary criticism and angry writings on class and politics, as well as his sketches for Sixties satire shows including That Was the Week That Was. From Frost-Nixon to Coronation Street, David Hare to Doctor Who, Orwell to Emu, this collection shows Potter’s distinctive voice at its entertaining, thought-provoking and uncompromising best.

Essential Structures is a guide for any student of English who wishes to become more familiar with the basic structures of the language. It provides authoritative and essential information about: * The Parts of Speech * Sentence and Paragraph Structures * Structures of Larger Forms * English Usage * Critical Thinking * Denotation and Connotation * Problems in Writing * The Development of English Guidelines and exercises are provided in this handy book written for both native and non-native speakers of English. Essential Structures might be used for individual study or as a supplement in a high school or college English developmental course. It assumes a high degree of maturity on the part of the reader; readings and exercises are taken from materials written for a general educated audience. Many of the insights provided herein will not be found in any other English textbook or handbook.

The first three Starsea Cycle books at a discounted price - 1,000 + pages of epic space fantasy! A mage's fate is worse than death... Lucian dreams of a new life outside the cesspool of Earth. Unfortunately, his wish comes true when the government identifies him as a mage. No one knows why the mages are being born. No one knows why their powers lead to madness and death. The only solution is to train them at the Academies, for them to serve the League of Worlds that subjugated them fifty years ago. When Lucian is exiled from Earth, he must travel to the distant world of Volsung to receive training. During the long passage, he meets a mysterious mage. She prophesies he is marked by the Manifold, the reality that is the source of all magic. It is a destiny that requires him to master abilities he never imagined he possessed. Trouble is brewing in the galaxy. An ancient alien menace has awoken, somehow connected with the return of magic to the stars. Lucian faces a terrible choice. To accept his new reality as a mage. Or, to try and outrun destiny...

A mage's fate is worse than death... Lucian dreams of a new life outside the cesspool of Earth. Unfortunately, his wish comes true when the government identifies him as a mage. No one knows why the mages are being born. No one knows why their powers lead to madness and death in a terrifying disease known as "the fraying". The only solution is to quarantine the mages in academies. When Lucian is exiled from Earth, he must travel to the distant world of Volsung to receive training. During the long passage, he meets a mysterious mage. She prophesies Lucian is marked by the Manifold, the reality that is the source of all magic. It is a destiny that requires Lucian to master abilities he never imagined he possessed. But that’s the last thing Lucian wants. He faces a terrible choice. To accept his new reality as a mage. Or, to try and outrun destiny...

Mixing classic noir sensibilities with a searing futuristic vision of an age when death is nearly meaningless, Richard K. Morgan returns to his saga of betrayal, mystery, and revenge, as Takeshi Kovacs, in one fatal moment, joins forces with a mysterious woman who may have the power to shatter Harlan’s World forever. Once a gang member, then a marine, then a galaxy-hopping Envoy trained to wreak slaughter and suppression across the stars, a bleeding, wounded Kovacs was chilling out in a New Hokkaido bar when some so-called holy men descended on a slim beauty with tangled, hyperwired hair. An act of quixotic chivalry later and Kovacs was in deep: mixed up with a woman with two names, many powers, and one explosive history. In a world where the real and virtual are one and the same and the dead can come back to life, the damsel in distress may be none other than the infamous Quellcrist Falconer, the vaporized symbol of a freedom now gone from Harlan’s World. Kovacs can deal with the madness of AI. He can do his part in a battle against biomachines gone wild, search for a three-centuries-old missing weapons system, and live with a blood feud with the yakuza, and even with the betrayal of people he once trusted. But when his relationship with “the” Falconer brings him an enemy specially designed to destroy him, he knows it’s time to be afraid. After all, the guy sent to kill him is himself: but younger, stronger, and straight out of hell. Wild, provocative, and riveting, Woken Furies is a full-bore science fiction spectacular of the highest order—from one of the most original and spellbinding storytellers at work today.

Cybernetic weapons, sinister assassination attempts...a new neon-noir-inspired cyberpunk fantasy series from first-time author Starla Moore. When Vivian, a twenty-one-year-old undergraduate, effortlessly lands a job at one of Sacramento's most prestigious marketing agencies, she immediately senses that something is off about the position. Especially when her boss, and father of her boyfriend Ryan, sends her on a huge business opportunity that feels a little too good to be true for a simple secretary. Vivian soon finds herself entangled in inter-dimensional espionage and a target in an assassination plot that slings her into a neon cityscape of cybernetics, strange weaponry, and a family of unlikely heroes. In her battle for survival and her race to return to Earth, she must navigate a fury of emotions, balancing between Ryan's lethal betrayal, a passionate new romance, and a wicked secret that could spell doom for her newfound family. She must learn who is real, who is wearing a mask, and who she can truly trust. Welcome to The Channel. Cross into an alternate dimension by ordering your copy of The Channel today.

Lucian has achieved the improbable with his acceptance into the prestigious Volsung Academy. Now, he must do something even more difficult: survive it. As a Novice, he must learn the fundamentals of magic while navigating Academy politics. Lucian must not only pass the grueling Trials, but survive other mages' mechanizations. But doing that is difficult when he's being left behind. But one day, Lucian makes a breakthrough that puts him on top. He's about to learn that being good is far more dangerous than being unexceptional. Expulsion is an ever-looming threat, and with it, Lucian risks losing the only place in the Worlds he can call home... Keywords associated with this series: science fiction, fantasy, space opera, mages, space mage, fantasy series, space opera series, space fantasy, epic fantasy, dragons, magic, progression fantasy, light novel, space opera, futuristic sci fi, alien worlds, alien invasion, space adventure, sci fi adventure Fans of the following series are known to enjoy the Starsea Cycle: Star Wars, Star Trek, Dune, The Expanse, Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, Red Rising, the Hunger Games