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Very Rich
by Polly HorvathFrom Newbery Honor and National Book Award-winning author Polly Horvath, another quirky novel featuring a time travel adventure (among others). Ten-year-old Rupert Brown comes from an ordinary family. They live in a small house in the poorest section of Steelville, Ohio, and have little money or food. So when Rupert inadvertently finds himself spending Christmas at Turgid Rivers' house--the richest boy in town--he is blown away to discover a whole other world, including all the food he can eat and wonderful prizes that he wins when the family plays games, prizes he hope to take home to his family so they can have Christmas presents for the very first time. But this windfall is short-lived when Rupert loses it all in one last game and goes home empty-handed. Each member of the Rivers family feels guilty about what happened, and unbeknownst to one another tries to make it up to Rupert in their own unique way, taking him on one unlikely adventure after another. A Junior Library Guild selection!
Understories
by Tim HorvathNew Hampshire Literary Award Winner"Profound . . . with more to say on the human condition than most full books. . . . A remarkable collection, with pitch-perfect leaps of imagination." -Minneapolis Star Tribune"Horvath doesn't just tell a story, he gives readers a window into the hearts, minds and souls of his characters." -Concord Monitor"Absolutely splendid . . . I call it elastic realism . . . firmly rooted in a realistic tradition of writing, but the stories are very elastic. They stretch realism into unexpected places, wonderful little niches that I just adore. . . . These are stories that are funny, they're odd . . . I loved this book." -NANCY PEARL, KUOW's The RecordWhat if there were a city that consisted only of restaurants? What if Paul Gauguin had gone to Greenland instead of Tahiti? What if there were a field called Umbrology, the study of shadows, where physicists and shadow puppeteers worked side by side? Full of speculative daring though firmly anchored in the tradition of realism, Tim Horvath's stories explore all of this and more- blending the everyday and the wondrous to contend with age-old themes of loss, identity, imagination, and the search for human connection. Whether making offhand references to Mystery Science Theater, providing a new perspective on Heidegger's philosophy and forays into Nazism, or following the imaginary travels of a library book, Horvath's writing is as entertaining as it is thought provoking.Tim Horvath teaches creative writing at New Hampshire Institute of Art and Boston's Grub Street writing center. He has also worked part-time as a counselor in a psychiatric hospital, primarily with autistic children and adolescents. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and daughter.
SynBio
by Leslie A HorvitzScientists now have the capacity to hack into DNA the same way that hackers can infiltrate computer systems, manipulating organisms by inserting new DNA or exploiting genetic mutations that can trigger fatal heart attacks or induce bipolar illness or Alzheimer’s. These “biohackers,” as they’re known, can perform their experiments in their kitchens using equipment purchased for next to nothing on eBay.Most of these biohackers are like Seth Stringer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who’s made a name for himself exploring the frontiers of genetic manipulation. He’s young, brash, ambitious, and obsessed with his work, but also a little naive. When his former professor Marcus Adair holds out the possibility of coming to London and going to work for an international pharmaceutical company called Chimera, he jumps at the chance. He can make good money and cement his relationship with his girlfriend, who has misgivings about his future prospects as a breadwinner. He fails to realize until too late that the principal business of Chimera isn’t the manufacture of generic drugs but the production of lethal genetic products for well-heeled clients. These are used to assassinate or debilitate presidents, prime ministers, and CEOs using their own DNA against them—a method that not only makes it difficult to identify the perpetrator (a cold virus can deliver the engineered DNA) but makes it almost impossible to determine that a crime has been committed in the first place.
The Crooked Castle: Carmer and Grit, Book Two (Carmer and Grit)
by Sarah Jean HorwitzCarmer and Grit investigate a mysteriously magical flying circus in the follow-up to“a fun and frolicking middle grade adventure full of enough fantasy, humor and heart to make giddy even the most finicky reader.” (BookPage) Shortly after saving the faeries of Skemantis, magician’s apprentice Felix Carmer III and his faerie companion, Grit, head out to see the world. They soon come across a mysteriously magical flying circus. As they get to know the outlandish world of Rinka Tinka’s Roving Wonder Show, it becomes clear there's something not quite normal about this circus or its inventor–and that recent airship disasters plaguing nearby Driftside City may have a sinister explanation. Fans of the Wildwood trilogy and Lockwood & Co. series will love the thrills and chills of Carmer and Grit, Book 2: The Crooked Castle as it takes readers up in the air with a flying circus, under the sea to the evil Unseelie kingdom, through a terrifying magical snowstorm, and on a chase with the menacing Wild Hunt.
The Dark Lord Clementine
by Sarah Jean HorwitzThe new face of big evil is a little . . . small. Dastardly deeds aren’t exactly the first things that come to mind when one hears the name “Clementine,” but as the sole heir of the infamous Dark Lord Elithor, twelve-year-old Clementine Morcerous has been groomed since birth to be the best (worst?) Evil Overlord she can be. But everything changes the day her father is cursed by a mysterious rival. Now, Clementine must not only search for a way to break the curse, but also take on the full responsibilities of the Dark Lord. But when it’s time for her to perform dastardly deeds against the townspeople—including her brand-new friends—she begins to question her father’s code of good and evil. What if the Dark Lord Clementine doesn’t want to be a dark lord after all?
The Demon Sword Asperides
by Sarah Jean HorwitzA scheming demon sword and a wannabe knight band together on a (possibly wicked) quest in this fantasy, perfect for fans of Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett. For the past two hundred years, the demon sword Asperides has led a quiet life. While his physical form has been tasked with guarding the body of an evil sorcerer, the rest of his consciousness has taken a well-earned vacation. That constant need to trick humans into wielding him (at the price of their very souls, of course) was rather draining. Nack Furnival, on the other hand, is far from satisfied with his existence. Nack has trained since birth to be a brave and noble knight—but, unfortunately, he isn&’t especially good at it. Determined to prove his worth, Nack needs a quest. And to complete that quest, he&’ll need the one thing no knight can do without: a sword. When an attempt to resurrect the evil sorcerer throws Asperides into Nack&’s path, the demon sword can&’t help but trick the boy into making a contract to become his new owner. And with the newly undead (and very, very angry) sorcerer on their trail, Asperides and Nack find themselves swept up in a bigger adventure than either of them bargained for: saving the world.* Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year *
The Wingsnatchers: Carmer and Grit, Book One (Carmer and Grit #1)
by Sarah Jean HorwitzA stunning debut about a magician’s apprentice and a one-winged princess who must vanquish the mechanical monsters that stalk the streets and threaten the faerie kingdom. Aspiring inventor and magician’s apprentice Felix Carmer III would rather be tinkering with his latest experiments than sawing girls in half on stage, but with Antoine the Amazifier’s show a tomato’s throw away from going under, Carmer is determined to win the cash prize in the biggest magic competition in Skemantis. When fate throws Carmer across the path of fiery, flightless faerie princess Grit (do not call her Grettifrida), they strike a deal. If Carmer will help Grit investigate a string of faerie disappearances, she’ll use her very real magic to give his mechanical illusions a much-needed boost against the competition. But Carmer and Grit soon discover they’re not the only duo trying to pair magic with machine – and the combination can be deadly. In this story perfect for readers of the Lockwood & Co and Wildwood series, Sarah Jean Horwitz takes readers on a thrilling journey through a magical wooded fairyland and steampunk streets where terrifying automata cats lurk in the shadows and a mad scientist’s newest mechanical invention might be more menace than miracle.
Duncton Found (The Duncton Chronicles)
by William HorwoodThe triumphant third volume of the unique and magical Duncton Chronicles.The ruthless war against the Stone has almost been won by disciples of the Word – only wild Siabod and mysterious Beechenhill still hold out, and everywhere the followers of the Stone go in peril of their lives.Yet in the shadows of Duncton Wood a new light is shining. For the Stone Mole has come, to revive the moles’ faith in themselves and in the ancient power of the Stone to defeat and deny the evil Word.But it is a task that will demand a greater sacrifice than any mole has yet to face…A story of courage, loyalty and the power of love… inspired by the shadows and light of England’s most beautiful countryside. Praise for William Horwood‘A massive read… more readable and rewarding than The Lord of the Rings’ The Times
Duncton Quest (The Dunction Chronicles)
by William HorwoodThe magnificent sequel to the worldwide bestseller Duncton Wood.When Tryfan, son of Bracken and Rebecca, returns to the sacred Burrows of Uffington, he finds dreadful signs of death and destruction. For out of the chilly North have swarmed the grikes, a fanatical tribe of warrior moles bent on destroying all believers in the powers of the Stone. Tryfan’s duty is clear – to muster and protect the few remaining Stone followers from the evil that seems certain to engulf them. With only a frail and timid mole named Spindle for company, he sets off on an epic journey… But can he save his friends? The unputdownable second instalment of the multi-million copy bestselling fantasy series, The Duncton Chronicles, for readers of Terry Brooks and Jean M. Auel.Praise for William Horwood‘An inspiring novel… an epic in the tradition of The Lord of the Rings. A tale of passion, courage, fear and love’ The Sunday Times
Duncton Wood
by William HorwoodDUNCTON WOOD is the story of a society that has lost its spirit and of the remarkable struggle to restore it. It is a novel with a magnificent message for all humankind. The moles who inhabit Duncton Wood once celebrated life in the lush colorful countryside, deeply in touch with their spiritual roots. But now they've succumbed to evil. They must fear their leaders. They no longer worship at the sacred stone. Bracken and Rebecca have the courage to fight for their dream--to lead those of Duncton Wood out of the darkness of tyranny and suffering and into the healing light of touching, of love, of spiritual rebirth. A marvelous mystical adventure, an extraordinary story of devotion and rebellion, DUNCTON WOOD will inspire people everywhere who still believe that goodness and love can triumph over evil.
Duncton Wood (The Duncton Chronicles)
by William HorwoodThe epic first instalment of the multi-million bestseller The Duncton Chronicles.The moles of Duncton Wood live in the shadow of Mandrake, a cruel tyrant corrupted by absolute power. A solitary young mole, Bracken, is leads the fight to free them. Only by putting his trust in the ancient Stone, a forgotten symbol of a great spiritual past, can he find the strength to challenge Mandrake’s darkness.When Bracken falls in love with Rebecca, Mandrake’s daughter, the moles must make life and death choices as their extraordinary search for freedom and truth begins.Together, Bracken and Rebecca will embark on moving journey that will challenge them in ways they could never have imagined. But can they save Duncton before it’s too late?For readers of J.R.R. Tolkien, Brian Jacques and Richard Adams’ Watership Down, this is a quest into the heart of nature, the redemptive power of love and the triumph of spirit.Praise for Duncton Wood‘A breathtaking achievement’ Washington Post‘A passionate, lyrical, appealing tale … consistently absorbing … enchanting' Cosmopolitan‘A great big mole-epic with a great big theme’ Daily Mail
ME: A Novel
by Tomoyuki Hoshino"In Hoshino's dystopia, identities are fluid and any one is as good as another. . .Hoshino's ambitious novel is pleasingly uncomfortable."--Publishers Weekly"Hoshino's latest-in-translation (rendered by De Wolf) begins as black comedy and devolves into an antisolipsistic treatise on the impossibility of individual identity."--Booklist Online"Part existential fable, part 'Night of the Living Dead,' Mr. Hoshino's inventive novel, accessibly translated by Charles De Wolf, paints a nightmare vision of Japan's rootless millennials, who work grinding dead-end jobs that leave them little time for family or individual passions...At first Hitoshi and his fellow MEs are happy to band together against an uncaring world. But the camaraderie doesn't last, since every time one reveals a character flaw the others take it as an indictment of themselves. As the MEs' failures and weaknesses become intolerably magnified onto the 'living but useless rabble' they're gripped by a suicidal impulse that unleashes a crazed murder spree. The frenetic, knife-wielding finale reaches its climax in--a McDonald's, of course. None of them can think of any place else to eat."--Wall Street Journal, included in Best New Fiction column"A Kafkaesque journey of a lonely narrator being absorbed by an impersonal system."--Los Angeles Review of Books"The imaginative story of a rather unimaginative camera salesman, ME features Hitoshi Nagano; his troubles begin with his impulsive theft of a cell phone from another customer at a McDonalds. They end with a post-apocalyptic future for everyone in Japan."--New York Journal of Books"[Some passages] surpass even Kobo Abe. . .The author has leaped to a higher level."--Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Prize-winning author of The Silent Cry, from the afterwordWith an afterword by Kenzaburō Ōe. Translated from Japanese by Charles De Wolf.This novel centers on the "It's me" telephone scam--often targeting the elderly--that has escalated in Japan in recent years. Typically, the caller identifies himself only by saying, "Hey, it's me," and goes on to claim in great distress that he's been in an accident or lost some money with which he was entrusted at work, etc., and needs funds wired to his account right away.ME's narrator is a nondescript young Tokyoite named Hitoshi Nagano who, on a whim, takes home a cell phone that a young man named Daiki Hiyama accidentally put on Hitoshi's tray at McDonald's. Hitoshi uses the phone to call Daiki's mother, pretending he is Daiki, and convinces her to wire him 900,000 yen.Three days later, Hitoshi returns home from work to discover Daiki's mother there in his apartment, and she seems to truly believe Hitoshi is her son. Even more bizarre, Hitoshi discovers his own parents now treat him as a stranger; they, too, have a "me" living with them as Hitoshi. At a loss for what else to do, Hitoshi begins living as Daiki, and no one seems to bat an eye.In a brilliant probing of identity, and employing a highly original style that subverts standard narrative forms, Tomoyuki Hoshino elevates what might have been a commonplace crime story to an occasion for philosophical reflection. In the process, he offers profound insights into the state of contemporary Japanese society.Charles De Wolf, PhD, professor emeritus, Keio University, is a linguist by training, though his first love was literature. Multilingual, he has spent most of his life in East Asia and is a citizen of Japan. His translations include Mandarins, a selection of short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (Archipelago Books) and collections of folktales from Konjaku Monogatari-shu. He has written extensively about The Tale of Genji; and is currently working on his own translation of the work.
The 48
by Donna HosieHenry VIII's Tudor court meets time-traveling teen assassins in this riveting thriller.Twins Charlie and Alex Douglas are the newest time travelers recruited to the Forty-Eight, a clandestine military group in charge of manipulating history. The brothers are tasked with preventing Henry VIII from marrying Jane Seymour and arrive in 1536 feeling confident, but the Tudor court is not all banquets and merriment: it is a deep well of treachery, torture, lust, intrigue, and suspicion. That makes it especially dangerous for young people who refuse to "know their place"--young women who might, say, want to marry for love instead of status, or young men who would feel free to love each other, if it weren't forbidden. Told in alternating perspectives among Charlie, Alex, and sixteen-year-old Lady Margaret, a ladies' maid to Queen Anne Boleyn, The 48 captures the sights, smells, sounds, and hazards of an unhinged Henry VIII's court from the viewpoint of one person who lived that history--and two teens who have been sent to turn it upside down. Includes an author's note touching on her inspiration for the book and the research she did to bring the Tudor Court to life.
The Devil's Banshee
by Donna HosieEver since The Devil’s wife left him to "go find herself," the overlord of Hell has had a hard time replacing her. As his dreamcatcher, she protected all realms of the afterlife by filtering his most insidious imaginings. Now, The Devil thinks he’s found a viable substitute in Elinor Powell, the kindest of the four teen friends known as Team DEVIL.Team DEVIL will do anything to protect Elinor—especially Alfarin, the bighearted Viking prince who loves her. But the only way to save her is to find The Devil’s wife—a banshee who has concealed herself somewhere within the Nine Circles of Hell. In Team DEVIL’s third quest, narrated hilariously and poignantly by Prince Alfarin, the four friends brave Dante’s old stomping grounds for an adventure they’ll never forget . . . if their dead souls can survive it.
The Devil's Dreamcatcher
by Donna HosieMedusa Pallister is about to interview for the most important job of her existence: an internship in Hell's accounting office. If she gets it, she'll report to Septimus, the coolest boss in the underworld. But the job will also mean working with Septimus's other intern, Mitchell Johnson. Medusa has a history with Mitchell. The only trouble is, she can't remember what that history is. All she knows is that she saw him and two other devils outside her house while she was still alive. In this emotional and action-packed sequel to the critically acclaimed The Devil's Intern, Team DEVIL reunites and takes readers on another journey to the land of the living.
The Devil's Intern
by Donna HosieSeventeen-year-old Mitchell discovers a time-travel device that will allow him to escape his internship in Hell's accounting office and return to Earth, but his plans to alter the circumstances of his own death take an unexpected turn when his three closest friends in Hell insist on accompanying him back to the land of the living.
The Devil's Intern
by Donna HosieIt's been four years since seventeen-year-old Mitchell Johnson was hit by a bus and inexplicably ended up in the Underworld. Hell is miserable, but Mitchell knows things could be worse. After all, he has the coveted job of The Devil's intern--plus three close friends who keep him from dwelling too much on his untimely demise. Still, he'd rather be living. So when Mitchell discovers that his boss is in possession of a legendary time-travel mechanism called a Viciseometer, he starts forming a plan. With a device like that, Mitchell realizes, he could escape Hell, revisit his death, and prevent it altogether. Getting his hands on the device turns out to be easy. But preventing his friends from accompanying him--and protecting them from whatever it is that's stalking them through time--is going to be impossible.
Bystander 27
by Rik HoskinAfter his pregnant wife is senselessly killed in a clash between the mysterious super-powered 'costumes', ex-Navy SEAL Jon Hayes fights to discover the truth about their identity and origins.For Jon Hayes, the super-powered 'costumes' are just part of ordinary life in New York City, until the day his pregnant wife Melanie is senselessly killed in a clash between Captain Light and The Jade Shade. But as Hayes struggles to come to terms with his loss, and questions for the first time who the costumes are and where they come from, the once sharp lines of his reality begin to blur...If Hayes wants to uncover the shocking truth about the figures behind the costumes, and get justice for his fallen family, he'll have to step out of the background, and stop being a bystander.File Under: Superhero Fantasy [ It&’s Clobberin&’ Time | Hayes One | Panel Beater | No Capes ]
Three Years with the Rat: A Novel
by Jay Hosking“Three Years with the Rat is a mind-warping thriller that will make you question reality as you conceive of it. One of the most assured and haunting debuts I’ve read in recent memory.” —Blake Crouch, author of Dark MatterAfter several years of drifting between school and go-nowhere jobs, a young man is drawn back into the big city of his youth. The magnet is his beloved older sister, Grace: always smart and charismatic even when she was rebelling, and always his hero. Now she is a promising graduate student in psychophysics and the center of a group of friends who take “Little Brother” into their fold, where he finds camaraderie, romance, and even a decent job.But it soon becomes clear that things are not well with Grace. Always acerbic, she now veers into sudden rages that are increasingly directed at her adoring boyfriend, John, who is also her fellow researcher. When Grace disappears, and John shortly thereafter, the narrator makes an astonishing discovery in their apartment: a box big enough to crawl inside, a lab rat, and a note that says This is the only way back for us. Soon he embarks on a mission to discover the truth, a pursuit that forces him to question time and space itself, and ultimately toward a perilous confrontation at the very limits of imagination.This kinetic novel catapults the classic noir plot of a woman gone missing into the twenty-first-century city, where so-called reality crashes into speculative science. Jay Hosking's Three Years with the Rat is simultaneously a mind-twisting mystery that plays with the very nature of time and the story of a young man who must face the dangerously destructive forces we all carry within ourselves.
The Whisperling (The Whisperling #1)
by Hayley Hoskins'One of the best debuts I've read in YEARS!' - Emma CarrollWhen you're dead, you're dead. When you're gone, you're gone.Unless, of course, you're not.And that's where I come in.The year is 1897, and Peggy Devona can speak with ghosts.She hides her gift from those afraid of a girl with such powers, terrified of the secrets the dead could reveal through her. But when her best friend is accused of murdering her rich mistress, Peggy knows only she - a whisperling - can save her.Peggy escapes to her uncle's psychic emporium in the city, seeking out new ghosts to help her solve Sally's case.Yet time is running out, and each step towards uncovering the truth also brings Sally one step closer to the gallows. . .A ghostly adventure in a dark and dangerous Victorian world, perfect for fans of Emma Carroll, Robin Stevens, and Jenni Spangler.Praise for The Whisperling:'A thrilling Gothic page-turner' - Jacqueline Wilson'A captivating and spine-tingling read...paints a vivid picture of the Victorian era' - BookTrust'Sends multiple shivers down the spine and delivers thrilling twists along the way' - LoveReading4Kids'Atmospheric & gripping as well as witty. Loved the gothic girl power of Peggy' - Lucy Brandt, author of the Leonora Bolt series
Summer Wars: Complete Edition
by Mamoru HosodaFrom the director Mamoru Hosoda comes the story of an ordinary family going to extraordinary lengths to avert the impending cyber apocalypse!Kenji is your typical teenage misfit. He&’s good at math, bad with girls, and spends most of his time hanging out in the all-powerful, online community known as OZ. His second life is the only life he has – until the girl of his dreams, Natsuki, hijacks him for a starring role as a fake fiancée at her family reunion. Things only get stranger from there.
Sultana's Dream and Padmarag
by Rokeya HossainOne of the first science-fiction utopian stories and one of the first feminist utopias by India&’s widely celebrated, pioneering feminist, educator, writer, and activist Rokeya Hossain A Penguin Classics Edition Sultana, a Muslim woman living in contemporary India, falls asleep and wakes up in a transformed future world: a utopia in which men rather than women are relegated to the domestic sphere. Women, now free to explore the outside world at will and pursue an education, run a peaceful and just society, using scientific principles to harvest energy from the sun and live in harmony with nature. Sultana&’s Dream was published in 1905 in the Indian Ladies Magazine, the first English language periodical edited by, and targeted at, Indian women. Like the periodical, the story broke new ground. As a pioneering work of science fiction and feminist utopian literature at the turn of the century, Sultana&’s Dream is strikingly advanced in its critique of patriarchy, war, industrialization, and the exploitation of the natural world, speaking to the concerns of our contemporary world as much as its own. At a time when British colonialism was using the treatment of women in India as justification for colonial intervention there, Hossain&’s story, in imagining a world in which men rather than women are kept inside, positions her protest against Islamic patriarchy within a larger feminist vision that takes on Western as well as Islamic forms of gender hierarchy. Her novella Padmarag is similarly utopian in its depiction of a women-run school and welfare center, and is both feminist and anti-colonial in its outlook. In both these works, Hossain seizes the critique of gender roles in India away from Western commentators and turns it against British interference, while also enlarging the critique to take on the problem of gender more broadly.
Cyber Mage
by Saad Z. HossainWelcome to Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2089. A city notorious for its extreme population density has found an unexpected way to not just survive a global climate apocalypse, but thrive: pump enough biological nanotech into the neighborhood and all of the bodies together form a self-sustaining, and even temperate, microclimate. Of course, this means that millions of humans have to stay put in order to maintain a livable temperature, and people are getting restless. All of the nanotech has also led to some surprises: certain people no longer need food or water while others can live without functioning organs. So the mercenary Djibrel has to carry a machete wherever he goes. Only a swift beheading can ensure the job gets done anymore. Djibrel navigates the crowded streets, humans teeming with genetic mutations, looking for answers about what happened to the Djinn, a magical super race of genies who seem to have disappeared, or merged, with humans for survival. What Djibrel doesn’t know is that his every move is being tracked by the infamous Cyber Mage—better known to his parents as Murzak, a privileged snarky teenager who regularly works for a Russian crime syndicate with a band of elite hackers, like his best friend ReGi, who resides in North Africa’s FEZ (Free Economic Zone). Respected and feared online, Murzak is about to embark on one of his biggest challenges: attending high school IRL. But when he discovers a brand new type of AI, operating on a dark web from the abandoned Kingdom of Bahrain that he thought was just an urban myth, Murzak and Djibrel will have to face the unimaginable in an already inconceivable world. In this laugh-out-loud-funny and totally original new novel, Saad Z. Hossain continues his signature genre mashup of SF and fantasy, challenging and subverting everything previously imagined about our future and climate change. A scathing critique of corporate greed, Hossain shows us how to think beyond the naïve ideas of preening moguls like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday
by Saad Z. Hossain"Saad Z. Hossain continues to blow through the flimsy walls of genre like a whirlwind with The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday, sweeping science-fiction, fantasy, myth, and satire into the wildly imaginative vortex of his ever-expanding fictional universe of alternate djinn-history and futures. Hossain's wit and wry compassion create a vision of humanity's hurtling path through time and space as both farcical and epic, leaving a blazing trail of casualties and wonders."—Indra DasWhen the djinn king Melek Ahmar wakes up after millennia of imprisoned slumber, he finds a world vastly different from what he remembers. Arrogant and bombastic, he comes down the mountain expecting an easy conquest: the wealthy, spectacular city state of Kathmandu, ruled by the all-knowing, all-seeing tyrant AI Karma. To his surprise, he finds that Kathmandu is a cut-price paradise, where citizens want for nothing and even the dregs of society are distinctly unwilling to revolt.Everyone seems happy, except for the old Gurkha soldier Bhan Gurung. Knife saint, recidivist, and mass murderer, he is an exile from Kathmandu, pursuing a forty-year-old vendetta that leads to the very heart of Karma. Pushed and prodded by Gurung, Melek Ahmer finds himself in ever deeper conflicts, until they finally face off against Karma and her forces. In the upheaval that follows, old crimes will come to light and the city itself will be forced to change.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Kundo Wakes Up
by Saad Z. HossainSaad Z. Hossain's Kundo Wakes Up is a companion to the Ignyte and Locus Award-Nominated novella The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday.Hundreds of miles away from the techno-utopia of Kathmandu, the all-powerful, all-seeing AI known as Karma has gone silent, leaving the dying city of Chittagong—along with all its remaining residents—to continue its inexorable fall into the sea.Kundo, once a famous artist with the Karma points to prove it, goes searching for his missing wife, only to uncover more inexplicable disappearances. And so Kundo and a group of motley companions embark on a tumultuous journey through an overwhelming maze made up of Chittagong’s neighborhoods, the hidden backrooms of video game parlors, and the depths of cyberspace, culminating in the realm of the djinn themselves, in search of love, redemption, and a good meal.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.