'TWAS BORING IN ARTESIA ...or so thought Sir Lafayette O'Leary, ex-craftsman from Earth, and now seemingly ex-interdimensional swashbuckler extraordinaire as well. His battles were all won, his dragons all slain and life was just the same boring round of riches, royal hunts and regatas. Boring, boring, boring; until he walked past the azalia... Suddenly Artesia was gone, and O'Leary was trapped in Melange, a world of giants and pirates, karate-chopping hags and electronic flying carpets, a world where goons and harlots are the spitting images (literally!) of his own aristocratic Artesian associates. And because they think he's his double, lots of his new friends want O'Leary dead. Unless he can get through the interdimensional gate and find the continuum path back home, O'Leary's life will never be boring again. Just short.

This book gives a lively development of the mathematics needed to answer the question, “How many times should a deck of cards be shuffled to mix it up?” The shuffles studied are the usual ones that real people use: riffle, overhand, and smooshing cards around on the table. The mathematics ranges from probability (Markov chains) to combinatorics (symmetric function theory) to algebra (Hopf algebras). There are applications to magic tricks and gambling along with a careful comparison of the mathematics to the results of real people shuffling real cards. The book explores links between shuffling and higher mathematics—Lie theory, algebraic topology, the geometry of hyperplane arrangements, stochastic calculus, number theory, and more. It offers a useful springboard for seeing how probability theory is applied and leads to many corners of advanced mathematics. The book can serve as a text for an upper division course in mathematics, statistics, or computer science departments and will be appreciated by graduate students and researchers in mathematics, statistics, and computer science, as well as magicians and people with a strong background in mathematics who are interested in games that use playing cards.

In the tradition of Denis Johnson and Charles Bukowski, author Frank Haberle's 21 interwoven stories will take you to minimum wage America of the 1980s, where opportunities are few and situations are precarious. Sometimes funny but always honest, Shufflers is a grand tour of a world in plain sight, a world in which no one hopes to travel. Danny lives on the outskirts of society, traveling randomly from New York to Alaska to Colorado to San Francisco and beyond, often cold and hungry, sometimes drunk and always struggling to survive. To get by he works as a ski lift operator, fry shack manager, jackhammer operator, and any other jobs he can get his hands on. Along the way, he learns about resilience and fortitude from the usually invisible characters who populate the outskirts of our world. Danny is trying to make a path to something better and avoid becoming just one more shuffler. Reviews: "Frank Haberle is a storyteller's storyteller - down-to-earth, subtle, humble, but confident when it counts. In Shufflers he blends experience, craft, wisdom and wit to put forth a collection of tales that will move you emotionally when you read it- and mean even more to you after you read it."-John McCaffrey, Author, Two-Syllable Men and Book of Ash "I love Frank Haberle's stories and will dive into a new one any chance I can get-face first, off a cliff, without looking. I know I will land knee-deep in nostalgic music and memorable events, then swim around in painful regrets surrounded by beautiful imagery I can't shake--and I will just lie there floating happy. Open this collection anywhere and become an instant fan."-Milda DeVoe, Author and Founding Executive Director of Pen Parentis I yearn for a world that embraces eccentrics and perhaps deems them prophets. Shufflers, introduces us to folks now faded into crevices -the Stickmans, Cashtown Annies, and T-Shirt Ladies who continue to struggle with dignity in a divided 21c America. Frank Haberle's skillfully rendered stories remind us to pay attention to damaged individuals, renew our capacities to have spontaneous experiences, and remember the what-the-hellishness of youth.-Lori Kent, Hunter College and Founder of Code Vert Arts

The twenty-seventh century planet of Quopp is a world where Earthmen walk cautiously or not at all. The inhabitants are weirdly diabolical creatures, possessing spoked-wheel limbs and sprouting steel-sharp talons. Plans are afoot to place these singular beings under a single government friendly to Earth. But Jame Retief, officer of the distinguished Corps Diplomatique Teresstienne, a supra-national organization devoted to keeping the peace, has discovered that evil forces are undermining the whole scheme. Deviously sincere, uncompromisingly venal, fearlessly cowardly, Retief goes to work against mounting planetary intrigue and more than once brings those around him to the brink of nervous collapse.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, A Checklist, 1700-1974, Volume one of Two, contains an Author Index, Title Index, Series Index, Awards Index, and the Ace and Belmont Doubles Index.

Scoblete provides easy-to-learn strategies for Caribbean Stud, Let It Ride, and Three-Card Poker, and explains the strategies needed to cut the house edge to a minimum on these otherwise "casino friendly" games.