A riveting history of the epic orbital flight that put America back into the space race. If the United States couldn’t catch up to the Soviets in space, how could it compete with them on Earth? That was the question facing John F. Kennedy at the height of the Cold War—a perilous time when the Soviet Union built the wall in Berlin, tested nuclear bombs more destructive than any in history, and beat the United States to every major milestone in space. The race to the heavens seemed a race for survival—and America was losing. On February 20, 1962, when John Glenn blasted into orbit aboard Friendship 7, his mission was not only to circle the planet; it was to calm the fears of the free world and renew America’s sense of self-belief. Mercury Rising re-creates the tension and excitement of a flight that shifted the momentum of the space race and put the United States on the path to the moon. Drawing on new archival sources, personal interviews, and previously unpublished notes by Glenn himself, Mercury Rising reveals how the astronaut’s heroics lifted the nation’s hopes in what Kennedy called the "hour of maximum danger."

Alternative history with aliens, an immortal misanthrope and SF tropes aplenty The year is 1975 – Robert Oppenheimer has invented the Atomic Engine, the first human has walked on the moon, and Jet Carson and the Eagle Seven have sacrificed their lives to stop alien invaders. Brooklyn, however, just wants to keep his head down, pay his mother’s rent, earn a little scratch of his own, and maybe get laid sometime. Simple pleasures! But life is about to get real complicated when a killer with a baseball bat and a mysterious box of 8-track tapes sets him up for murder. So, his choices are limited – rot away in prison or sign up to defend the planet from the assholes who dropped a meteorite on Cleveland. Brooklyn crosses his fingers and picks the Earth Orbital Forces, believing that after a few years in the trenches – assuming he survives – he can get his life back. Unfortunately, the universe has other plans. Brooklyn is launched into a quest to save humanity, find his true family, and grow as a person – while simultaneously coping with high-stakes space battles, mystery science experiments and the realisation that the true enemies perhaps aren’t the tentacled monsters on the recruitment poster… Or are they? File Under: Science Fiction [ Little Green Men | Injection | Below the Crust | The Truth is out There ]

Now a major motion picture from Universal Pictures starring Bruce Willis. Sixteen-year-old autistic savant Simon Lynch is a genius with numbers, capable of unraveling any mathematical problem placed before him. Distant and solitary, he lives in a private world that no one can understand or enter--until he solves the wrong puzzle. Now the brilliant, damaged boy has broken an unbreakable code, and rogue FBI Special Agent Art Jefferson is his only protection against a pathological government security apparatus and the world's most beautiful, deranged killer. For Simon knows secrets that no one must know--and for that he must die.

This is a REVISED EDITION of Mercury Rising by Deldon Anne McNeely, and includes an index. Female trickster figures have been a universal theme from Scheherazade to Mata Hari to the sirens of the silver screen. Mercury Rising examines our sense of of order and morality and considers it from a post-Jungian feminist perspective. Tricksters can teach us the nature of femininity and evil, and provide for us the spark that makes life more full and rewarding. This is destined to be a seminal book on understanding the trickster figures in human idiosyncrasies and what is often misunderstood as "evil."

"Parker's deft evocation of a lost era in Western American history—the life of the mining boom town—and her complex characterization make Leaden Skies an absorbing read."—Stephanie Barron, national bestselling author It is summer 1880, and Inez Stannert, one of the partners in the Silver Queen Saloon in Leadville, Colorado, travels with her photographer friend Susan to the fashionable summer retreat of Manitou for a reunion with her son, now a toddler in the care of her sister. On the way, fellow stagecoach passenger Edward Pace suddenly grows faint, swigs some medicine, and dies under their horrified gaze. Pace's widow rejects a weak heart theory and begs Inez to investigate. As Inez digs deeper, she uncovers the shady side of spa tourism including spurious claims, profiteering from the coming bonanza in medicinal waters and miracle cures, and medical practitioners who kindle false hopes in the desperate and the dying. Then Inez's husband Mark reappears after a year and a half's unexplained absence. Now she must fight to hold on to her child and the life she has built for herself in an era where "independent woman" is an oxymoron. Silver Rush Mysteries: Silver Lies (Book 1) Iron Ties (Book 2) Leaden Skies (Book 3) Mercury's Rise (Book 4) What Gold Buys (Book 5) A Dying Note (Book 6) Mortal Music (Book 7) Praise for the Silver Rush Mysteries: "Plenty of convincing action bodes well for a long and successful series."—Publishers Weekly STARRED review for Iron Ties "Meticulously researched and full of rich period details...her characters will stay will you long after you've finished the last page. Highly recommended."—TASHA ALEXANDER, New York Times bestselling author for Mortal Music "One of the most authentic and evocative historical series around. Long live Inez!"—RHYS BOWEN, New York Times bestselling author for What Gold Buys Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery Award Winner Macavity Historical Novel Award Finalist Colorado Book Award Finalist WILLA Literary Award Finalist Agatha Best Historical Mystery Award Finalist

A lively guide to surviving and thriving during Mercury Retrograde—and to unlocking the astrological secrets of Mercury, the planet that rules communication. Mercury Retrograde: We’ve all heard about its effects. E-mails disappear into black holes. Flights are delayed and trains run late. From communication mishaps to travel breakdowns, Mercury Retrograde wreaks utter havoc on our lives. So how do we survive it, sanity and relationships intact? In The Power of Mercury, acclaimed astrologer Leslie McGuirk casts new light on Mercury Retrograde—treating it as an opportunity to slow down in a tech-crazed world, from approaching agreements with caution to communicating with intention. With an unparalleled sense of humor and uncommon helping of straight talk, McGuirk further dispels the mysteries of Mercury Retrograde by teaching us how to identify our personal Mercury signs and those of the people with whom we interact every day, from bosses to romantic partners—and what that means for how we communicate, and what to do about it. In our ever increasingly tech-driven, fast-paced world, where we all email, text, chat, and tweet hundreds of times a day, and zip around the world at a moment’s notice, the stakes for any glitches in communication are higher than ever. Finally, with The Power of Mercury, we have the fresh, direct guide we need to navigating it all without stress—and with a much needed dose of optimism, common sense, and style.

If the Anunnaki created mankind, then who created them? Is there proof that Dark forces have been in control of US policy since 1945? What is their agenda? What is our destiny as a species and how do we get back home to the light? Have we been abandoned by the Gods? Good news! Hope abounds herein, mankind's immortal teachers are with us always guiding mankind's path. This book holds the keys to the multi-dimensional ascension rules for the game of life! Recieve the wisdom as I did, a gift from the creator of all, and know we shall meet again at the source in our new dimensional reality. What's interesting holds the key to your future. Fear nor death, in wisdom and love take your fated steps toward your destiny now!

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Includes a behind-the-scenes conversation with bestselling novelist Amor Towles • The epic story of a brilliant woman who must reinvent herself to survive in 1940s Hollywood and fascist Europe, a timeless tale of love, deceit, and sacrifice—and a perfect book club pick—from the award-winning author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena “A genuinely moving and life-affirming novel that’s a true joy to read.”—Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere “A gorgeous book . . . sublime.”—The New York Times (Editors’ Choice) ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, The Guardian, Booklist Like many before her, Maria Lagana has come to Hollywood to outrun her past. Born in Rome, where every Sunday her father took her to the cinema instead of church, Maria immigrates with her mother to Los Angeles after a childhood transgression leads to her father’s arrest. Fifteen years later, on the eve of America’s entry into World War II, Maria is an associate producer at Mercury Pictures, trying to keep her personal and professional lives from falling apart. Her mother won’t speak to her. Her boss, a man of many toupees, has been summoned to Washington by congressional investigators. Her boyfriend, a virtuoso Chinese American actor, can’t escape the studio’s narrow typecasting. And the studio itself, Maria’s only home in exile, teeters on the verge of bankruptcy. Over the coming months, as the bright lights go dark across Los Angeles, Mercury Pictures becomes a nexus of European émigrés: modernist poets trying their luck as B-movie screenwriters, once-celebrated architects becoming scale-model miniaturists, and refugee actors finding work playing the very villains they fled. While the world descends into war, Maria rises through a maze of conflicting politics, divided loyalties, and jockeying ambitions. But when the arrival of a stranger from her father’s past threatens Maria’s carefully constructed facade, she must finally confront her father’s fate—and her own. Written with intelligence, wit, and an exhilarating sense of possibility, Mercury Pictures Presents spans many moods and tones, from the heartbreaking to the ecstatic. It is a love letter to life’s bit players, a panorama of an era that casts a long shadow over our own, and a tour de force by a novelist whose work The Washington Post calls “a flash in the heavens that makes you look up and believe in miracles.”

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In the epic next chapter of the Red Rising Saga, the #1 bestselling author of Morning Star pushes the boundaries of one of the boldest series in fiction. “Mature science fiction existing within the frame of blazing space opera . . . done in a style [that] borders on Shakespearean.”—NPR (One of the Best Books of the Year) They call him father, liberator, warlord, Slave King, Reaper. But he feels a boy as he falls toward the war-torn planet, his armor red, his army vast, his heart heavy. It is the tenth year of war and the thirty-third of his life. A decade ago Darrow was the hero of the revolution he believed would break the chains of the Society. But the Rising has shattered everything: Instead of peace and freedom, it has brought endless war. Now he must risk all he has fought for on one last desperate mission. Darrow still believes he can save everyone, but can he save himself? And throughout the worlds, other destinies entwine with Darrow’s to change his fate forever: A young Red girl flees tragedy in her refugee camp, and achieves for herself a new life she could never have imagined. An ex-soldier broken by grief is forced to steal the most valuable thing in the galaxy—or pay with his life. And Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile to the Sovereign, wanders the stars with his mentor, Cassius, haunted by the loss of the world that Darrow transformed, and dreaming of what will rise from its ashes. Red Rising was the story of the end of one universe. Iron Gold is the story of the creation of a new one. Witness the beginning of a stunning new saga of tragedy and triumph from masterly New York Times bestselling author Pierce Brown. Don’t miss any of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga: RED RISING • GOLDEN SON • MORNING STAR • IRON GOLD • DARK AGE • LIGHT BRINGER