A magical, intoxicating debut novel, both intimate and epic, that intertwines the past, present, and future of two lovers bound by the passing of great comets overhead and a coterie of remarkable ancestors. Róisín and François are immediately drawn to each other when they meet at a remote research base on the frozen ice sheets of Antarctica. At first glance, the pair could not be more different. Older by a few years, Róisín, a daughter of Ireland and a peripatetic astronomer, joins the science team to observe the fracturing of a comet overhead. François, the base’s chef, has just left his birthplace in Bayeux, France, for only the second time in his life. Yet devastating tragedy and the longing for a fresh start, which they share, as well as an indelible but unknown bond that stretches back centuries, connect them to each other. Helen Sedgwick carefully unfolds their surprisingly intertwined paths, moving forward and back through time to reveal how these lovers’ destinies have long been tied to each other by the skies—the arrival of comets great and small. In telling Róisín and François’s story, Sedgwick illuminates the lives of their ancestors, showing how strangers can be connected and ghosts can be real, and how the way we choose to see the world can be as desolate or as beautiful as the comets themselves. A mesmerizing, skillfully crafted, and emotionally perceptive novel that explores the choices we make, the connections we miss, and the ties that inextricably join our fates, The Comet Seekers reflects how the shifting cosmos unite us all through life, beyond death, and across the whole of time.

Now we have equality. Now we've out grown our biology. With FulLife's baby pouch, women are liberated and men can share the joy of childbearing, Holly's whole family knows the benefits, but Eva doesn't believe society has changed for the better and Piotr has uncovered a secret behind FullLife's glossy façade. What separates them may just bring them together, as they search for the truth about FullLife and each face a truth of their own.

This book recounts the epic saga of how we as human beings have come to understand the Solar System. The story of our exploration of the heavens, Peter Bond reminds us, began thousands of years ago, with the naked-eye observations of the earliest scientists and philosophers. Over the centuries, as our knowledge and understanding inexorably broadened and deepened, we faltered many times, frequently labored under misconceptions, and faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles to understanding. Yet, despite overwhelming obstacles, a combination of determined observers, brilliant thinkers, courageous explorers, scientists and engineers has brought us, particularly over the last five decades, into a second great age of human discovery. At our present level of understanding, some fifty years into the Space Age, the sheer volume of images and other data being returned to us from space has only increased our appetite for more and more detailed information about the planets, moons, asteroids, and comets of the Solar System. Taking a much-needed overview of how we now understand these "distant worlds" in our cosmic neighborhood, Bond not only celebrates the extraordinary successes of planetary exploration, but reaffirms an important truth: For seekers of knowledge, there will always be more to explore. An astonishing saga of exploration... In this much-needed overview of "where we stand today," Peter Bond describes the achievements of the astronomers, space scientists, and engineers who have made the exploration of our Solar System possible. A clearly written and compelling account of the Space Age, the book includes: • Dramatic accounts of the daring, resourcefulness, and ferocious competitive zeal of renowned as well as almost-forgotten space pioneers. • Clear explanations of the precursors to modern astronomy, including how ancient natural philosophers and observers first took the measure of the heavens. • More than a hundred informative photographs, maps, simulated scenarios, and technical illustrations--many of them in full color. • Information-dense appendices on the physical properties of our Solar System, as well as a comprehensive list of 50 years of Solar System missions. Organized into twelve chapters focused on the objects of our exploration (the individual planets, our Moon, the asteroids and comets), Bond’s text shows how the great human enterprise of space exploration may on occasion have faltered or wandered off the path, but taken as a whole amounts to one of the great triumphs of human civilization.

Journey through the night sky on a poetic trip that blends adventure, imagination and science to teach the basics of our solar system. Includes endnotes about the planets, stars, moons, constellations and even a little mythology.

John Fallon is a disillusioned journalist on a failing Glasgow newspaper. Scotland following two failed independence referendums, Scotland is in turmoil, having broken into a number of autonomous city states. Roland, his son, has gone missing after a student protest turns into a violent clash with the newly militarised police. Roland has in fact been killed, but is wakened in the afterlife by his spirit guide, his beloved childhood dog, Kim. Kim takes Roland on a journey to the planet where the dead go, where Roland hopes to find his long dead mother. Meanwhile, Fallon, searching for his son, uncovers a trail that leads to beleaguered city leader, Parry, and his shadowy advisor, Halfhouse. As Roland makes a shocking discovery that requires an impossible choice, Fallon discovers that a great deal more is at stake than the future of one nation. In All the Galaxies, Miller presents a mesmerising morality tale than proves both a compulsive page-turner and unforgettable emotional journey.

From Edmund White, a bold and sweeping new novel that traces the extraordinary fates of twin sisters, one destined for Parisian nobility and the other for Catholic sainthood. Yvette and Yvonne Crawford are twin sisters, born on a humble patch of East Texas prairie but bound for far more dramatic and tragic fates. Just as an untold fortune of oil lies beneath their daddy's land, both girls harbor their own secrets and dreams-ones that will carry them far from Texas and from each other. As the decades unfold, Yvonne will ascend the highest ranks of Parisian society as Yvette gives herself to a lifetime of worship and service in the streets of Jericó, Colombia. And yet, even as they remake themselves in their radically different lives, the twins find that the bonds of family and the past are unbreakable. Spanning the 1950s to the recent past, Edmund White's marvelous novel serves up an immensely pleasurable epic of two Texas women as their lives traverse varied worlds: the swaggering opulence of the Dallas nouveau riche, the airless pretension of the Paris gratin, and the strict piety of a Colombian convent. For nearly half a century, Edmund White's work has revitalized American literature, blithely breaking down boundaries of class and sexuality, and A Saint From Texas is one of his most joyous, gorgeously written, and piercing works to date.

Prepare to be transported to the edge of the world in Bradley Sides' affecting and haunting debut collection of magical realism short stories, Those Fantastic Lives and Other Strange Stories. In Sides' tender, brilliantly-imagined collection, a young boy dreams of being a psychic like his grandmother, a desperate man turns to paper for a miracle, a swarm of fireflies attempts the impossible, scarecrows and ghosts collide, a mother and child navigate a forest plagued by light-craving monsters, a boy's talking dolls aid him in conquering a burning world, and a father and mother deal with the sudden emergence of wings on their son's back. Brimming with our deepest fears and desires, Sides' dazzling stories examine the complexities of masculinity, home, transformation, and loss. Bradley Sides is an exciting new voice in fiction, and Those Fantastic Lives, which glows with the light of hope and possibility amidst dark uncertainties, will ignite imaginations.

The unforgettable second book in the Burrowhead Mystery series

Laura Knight-Jadczyk's series, The Secret History of the World, is one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken to provide a cogent, comprehensive account of humanity's true history and place in the cosmos. Following the great unifying vision of the Stoic Posidonius, Laura weaves together the study of history, mythology, religion, psychology and physics, revealing a view of the world that is both rational and breathtaking in its all-encompassing scope. This second volume, Comets and the Horns of Moses, (written in concert with several following volumes soon to be released) picks up the dangling threads of volume one with an analysis of the Biblical character of Moses -- his possible true history and nature -- and the cyclical nature of cosmic catastrophes in Earth's history. Laura skillfully tracks the science of comets, revealing evidence for the fundamentally electrical and electromagnetic nature of these celestial bodies and how they have repeatedly wreaked havoc and destruction on our planet over the course of human history. Even more startling however, is the evidence that comets and cometary fragments have played a central role in the formation of human myth and legend and the very concept of a 'god'. As she expertly navigates her way through the labyrinth of history, Laura uncovers the secret knowledge of comets that has been hidden in the great myths, ancient astronomy (and astrology) and the works of the Greek philosophers. Concluding with a look at the political and psychological implications of cyclical cometary catastrophes and what they portend for humanity today, Comets and the Horns of Moses is a marvel of original thought and keen detective work that will rock the foundations of your understanding of the world you live in, and no doubt ruffle the feathers of the many academics who still cling to an outdated and blinkered view of history.

From Publishers Weekly First-timer Sheehan offers an uneven but emotionally and lyrically powerful novelization of the life of Sojourner Truth. Born Isabella at the beginning of the 19th century, the future crusader for equality and justice spends nine years on a New York State farm with her wise mother and kind father before being sold-as a lot, along with sheep, at auction. Whipped for speaking her native Dutch, she begins to talk to God: "God is big to us, and we should speak to him under the biggest sky," her mother always said. So begin years of masters both kind and cruel, but none able to see her as a human-a blindness Isabella describes as one of the damages slavery inflicts on both slave and master. Though Isabella experiences indescribable horrors, she also finds love and desire; she even meets with rare self-sacrifice and aid from abolitionist whites, some helping her sue to get her son back from an illegal master. After she acquires her freedom and becomes a preacher, she falls in with a "house of seekers" led by a false prophet, Matthias, whom at first she stands by ("I did not survive slavery and see two husbands die of broken spirits to be put off so easily"), and from whose thrall she barely escapes. Isabella's strong, warm, distinctive voice is a genuine accomplishment, able to render tortures and prayers alike. Though the pacing is inconsistent, this is a disturbing and robust work, offering a new way of looking at one of history's greatest champions of freedom. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Psychologist Sheehan offers a fictionalized account of the life of Sojourner Truth, relating the incredible saga of a woman who survived slavery and cruelty to become a fiery abolitionist orator. Sheehan's story is based on five years of research of public documents, including Truth's own Narrative of Sojourner Truth, which Sheehan's character describes as "weak tea." The novel is graphic in describing the cruelty and suffering inflicted on slave women as it explores the mental and emotional development of a young girl who is sold away from a loving family at the age of nine and thrown into the hands of a succession of cruel masters. Truth, who took her name from a divine inspiration, suffered the loss of the man she loved and later separation from her children, all the time receiving guidance from her conversations with God. Following Emancipation, she takes up with spiritualists before settling into a lifelong crusade for reparations for slaves and women's right to vote. Historical fiction fans will enjoy this sensitive portrayal of a slave woman's survival and triumph. Vanessa Bush Copyright (c) American Library Association. All rights reserv