Welcome to Arc City. A city that exists in a world beyond governments, where war and climate change have destroyed the old order. Corporations are now the authorities of the surviving city states. The elite live in luxury above the clouds in their towers, everyone else lives further down, based on their corporate and economic worth. Arc City Stories is an exciting, action-packed collection of nine cyberpunk tales, written by eight authors, of various citizens each trying to survive, in their own way, this brave new world.
Welcome to Arc City. A city that exists in a world beyond governments, where war and climate change have destroyed the old order. Corporations are now the authorities of the surviving city states. The elite live in luxury above the clouds in their towers, everyone else lives further down, based on their corporate and economic worth. Arc City Stories is an exciting, action-packed collection of nine cyberpunk tales, written by eight authors, of various citizens each trying to survive, in their own way, this brave new world.
When a power outage in her neighborhood lasts for days, not hours, Amber starts to wonder if the blackout will last forever. Months go by and her sixteenth birthday is completely different from anything she ever imagined it would be. Then, the government comes to take charge. However, what she hears from the authorities doesn't match what she knows from the outside world. Can she find out the truth in time?
Wendell is just a kid trying to enjoy his life in the mountains of North Carolina. Things are hard because his mother; Vera, left when he was only a baby. She was known throughout town to be a little bit odd, obsessed with folklore and town mythology, and the school bullies don’t like to let him forget it. As hard as the bullies can be on him, Wendell has two best friends and a loving grandmother that have filled his life, until now. When Wendell begins to show curiosity in the town’s legend of the Wind Folk, Granny Dess tries to dissuade him to keep him from ending up like his mother. Granny Dess feels he would be happier if he would look toward the future and not the past. She does whatever she can to try to make sure that he doesn’t get caught up in what she considers foolishness and fantasy. But, after witnessing some very strange and magical occurrences, Wendell’s curiosity wins out and he begins to secretly search for information into the town’s infamous legend. Wendell and his friends, both human and animal, embark on a journey to discover the truth about the Wind Folk and where his mother really is. His world of baseball, camp-outs, and fishing is rocked when he discovers that the adults in town know a lot more than they say, and sometimes those tales told around a campfire are true. And, when it comes to the Wind Folk; it is said if you see one, you become one.
'Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves'. One man's angel is another man's devil. One man's hero is another man's killer. It's a blurred line between hero and villain, between vigilante and criminal, between decent citizen and maniac - and this is where Jack finds himself. Jack is a man haunted by the failures of a justice system he feels is broken and the seemingly arbitrary punishments measured out to those who have offended the state. When his friend's family find themselves threatened by a sexual predator and let down by the police, Jack snaps, and a journey of vigilantism, anger and revenge pursues. Told from his point of view, the Diary of a Vigilante, Jack descends further into the pits of the underworld, and the man who set out to clean the streets, finds that he has become the top target of law enforcement. What price will Jack pay for his vengeance, and in a world of eye-for-an-eye justice, what sort of man will he be at the end? Will he become the very same monster he sought to destroy?
Orphaned Aram has survived alone for five years, his only friend a thieving magpie, who acts as his eyes. For in the Carrionlands, magic comes at a terrible price. It costs you your sight, hearing or voice. When he rescues a voiceless girl, Bina, from being sacrificed to the Vulture King, he is taken in by an underground resistance group. They reveal that Aram’s mother is alive, but the king is using her and other slave magicians to fuel his unnaturally long life. With his mother’s magic being rapidly drained, she doesn’t have long to live. If Aram can find the Radix, a hidden magical power source, there’s a slim chance he might be able to save her. But to get there, he must cross the Barrens where every living creature is out to kill you. That’s if one of his new companions doesn’t betray him first.
Alex Keen has never felt anything. No sadness, no happiness, no anger, and certainly no love; that's the way Alex prefers it. One day, a chance encounter changes everything, and suddenly emotionless, empty Alex is developing painful, longing feelings for someone- and that just won't do. So, like everyone else who's gotten in Alex's way before, there seems to be just one thing to do to the man Alex suddenly loves: kill him. Of course, killing the one and only person you’ve ever loved isn’t that simple, and a past riddled with murder is going to get noticed. One of Alex’s past victims has family left behind who want revenge, and even with unexpected help, Alex’s options for dealing with the justice closing in on them are slim- especially when they’re in the middle of committing another murder. But Alex has to kill him. How else are they meant to escape the pain of love?
Cells tells the story of an unofficial, covert prison designed to remove repeat offenders who have upset the balance of society. Jim, a troubled seventeen year old, finds that he is imprisoned with his absent father. Jim is torn between the desire to expose his violent abductors and the desperate need for a new beginning.
В этом издании неадаптированные тексты блистательных рассказов американского юмориста смогут читать даже те, кто пока не очень хорошо знает английский. К каждой странице текста дается словарь самых нужных слов и краткие грамматические комментарии. С их помощью читатели легко уследят за сюжетом и сами не заметят, как освоят немало новых слов и устойчивых выражений, научатся увереннее употреблять грамматические конструкции и без проблем доберутся до финала.Книга предназначена для тех, кто изучает английский язык на продолжающем уровне и стремится к его совершенствованию.
This carefully crafted ebook: "The Gift of the Magi and Other New York City Stories" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. The Gift of the Magi is a story about a young couple who are short of money but desperately want to buy each other Christmas gifts. The Cop and the Anthem is about a New York City hobo named Soapy, who sets out to get arrested so that he can be a guest of the city jail instead of sleeping out in the cold winter. A Retrieved Reformation tells the tale of safecracker Jimmy Valentine, recently freed from prison. The Duplicity of Hargraves is a short story about a nearly destitute father and daughter's trip to Washington, D.C. The Ransom of Red Chief is a short story, it follows two men who kidnap and attempt to ransom a wealthy Alabaman's son, eventually, the men are driven to distraction by the boy's spoiled and hyperactive behavior, and end up having to pay the boy's father to take him back. William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer. O. Henry's short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and surprise endings.
