NEW ENTRY IN THE BOUNDARY SERIES BY ERIC FLINT & RYK E. SPOOR Surviving crash-landings and monsters and island-eaters was only the beginning! The Kimei family and a second group of castaways, led by Sergeant Campbell, had finally joined forces after both had been forced to land on the bizarre planet Lincoln, whose continents were huge floating coral colonies, inhabited by even stranger lifeforms. They had survived crash-landings and venom-filled bites and disease, their own despair, and even the destruction—and consumption!—of one of their floating islands, and had learned to live, even prosper, in their strange new home. Far away, Lieutenat Susan Fisher slowly pieces together the mystery of what happened to the starship Outward Initiative . . . and begins to believe that—just possibly—some of the survivors might have escaped to a mysteriously unsuspected star system. But even her preparations and the resourcefulness of the castaways may not be enough . . . for Lincoln has far worse in store. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). Praise for previous books in this series: “[F]ast-paced sci-fi espionage thriller . . . light in tone and hard on science . . .” —Publishers Weekly on Boundary “The whole crew from Flint and Spoor's Boundary are back. . . . Tensions run high throughout the Ceres mission . . . a fine choice for any collection.” —Publishers Weekly on Threshold “[P]aleontology, engineering, and space flight, puzzles in linguistics, biology, physics, and evolution further the story, as well as wacky humor, academic rivalries, and even some sweet romances.” —School Library Journal on Boundary
Individuals do not always perform to their full capability on cognitive tasks. When this occurs, the usual explanation is that the individual was not properly motivated. But this begs the important question: How and why does motivation interact with and influence cognitive processing and the control processes that regulate it? What are the underlying mechanisms that govern such interactions? Motivation has been an important component of psychology and neuroscience throughout the history of the field, but has recently been rejuvenated by rapidly accelerating research interest in the nature of motivation-cognition interactions, particularly as they impact control processes and goal-directed behavior. This volume provides an up-to-date snapshot of the state of research in this exciting, expanding area. The contributors to the volume are internationally-renowned researchers that lead the field in conducting groundbreaking studies. Moreover, they represent a variety of research perspectives and traditions: cognitive psychology and neuroscience, animal learning, social, affective, and personality psychology, and development, lifespan, and aging studies. This book summarizes our current state of understanding of the relationship between motivation and cognitive control, and serves as an essential reference for both students and researchers.
Now with new prose material and art! Paradigms Shift, Worlds Collide! A daring and resourceful paleontologist uncovers something at the infamous K-T boundary marking the end of dinosaurs in the fossil record something big, dangerous, and absolutely, categorically impossible. It's a find that will catapult her to the Martian moon Phobos, then down to the crater-pocked desert of the Red Planet itself. For this mild-mannered fossil hunter may just have become Earth's first practicing xenobiologist! At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
A wide-ranging and appreciative literary history of the castaway tale from Defoe to the present Ever since Robinson Crusoe washed ashore, the castaway story has survived and prospered, inspiring a multitude of writers of adventure fiction to imitate and adapt its mythic elements. In his brilliant critical study of this popular genre, Christopher Palmer traces the castaway tales' history and changes through periods of settlement, violence, and reconciliation, and across genres and languages. Showing how subsequent authors have parodied or inverted the castaway tale, Palmer concentrates on the period following H. G. Wells's The Island of Dr. Moreau. These much darker visions are seen in later novels including William Golding's Lord of the Flies, J. G. Ballard's Concrete Island, and Iain Banks's The Wasp Factory. In these and other variations, the castaway becomes a cannibal, the castaway's island is relocated to center of London, female castaways mock the traditional masculinity of the original Crusoe, or Friday ceases to be a biddable servant. By the mid-twentieth century, the castaway tale has plunged into violence and madness, only to see it return in young adult novels—such as Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins and Terry Pratchett's Nation—to the buoyancy and optimism of the original. The result is a fascinating series of revisions of violence and pessimism, but also reconciliation.
NEW ENTRY IN THE DRAGON AWARD–WINNING ARCANE AMERICA SERIES from New York Times best-selling alternate history master Eric Flint. The passage of Halley’s Comet in 1759 is catastrophic. The comet appears to strike the Earth, sundering the New World from the Old. A chain of mountains rises in the Mid-Atlantic. No ship from the Old World arrives in America. No ship from the New World can find a passage to the Old—and most who try simply disappear. The comet has also unleashed magic forces, which soon spread everywhere. Slaves begin using powers derived from African witchcraft, bringing monsters from that continent into the New World. The native tribes begin doing the same. Some European settlers devise ways to couple Old World technology with sorcery. Kraken in the Atlantic, revenants in Jamaica, Dry Hands and Floating Heads in the Hudson valley, African ogres and worse set loose in the streets of New York. Magic of all kinds, emerging everywhere, most of it poorly if at all controlled. The powerful Iroquois Confederacy disintegrates. The Onondaga Council Fire is extinguished; the Seneca and Cayuga follow their own shaman and war leader, and the Mohawks ally with the English. For their part, the English and the French in North America, who had been on the brink of war when the Sundering came, now have to contemplate what would once have been unthinkable. They must not simply forge a military alliance against the rising dark powers but may even have to unite politically behind the young English prince Edward, now the only person of royal blood left in the terrifying world created by the Sundering. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About Uncharted: "History and mythology meld admirably, leading to a satisfying conclusion. This hardy adventure establishes a world ripe for many more rousing stories."—Publishers Weekly "With a light and brisk narrative that propels its heroes through a number of increasingly dangerous situations, this combination of alternate history and fantasy should appeal to fans of Eric Flint, Harry Turtledove, and historical fantasy in general."—Booklist “While delivering plenty of action that approximates the best of cinematic fantasy, Hoyt and Anderson also strive for—and achieve—a kind of gravitas that suitably reflects the majesty of an untrammeled continent. Their descriptions of raw nature and its emotional repercussions on the humans are subtly poetic without being overblown. The native tribes are depicted in authentic ways, especially the people of Sacagawea. . . .The characterization of all the cast members is deep and revelatory of human nature. . . . There is also humor amidst the seriousness . . . [Anderson and Hoyt’s] prose is a clear-eyed, sturdy naturalism meshed with flights of vivid unreality . . . filled with not only slambang adventures but also a kind of rational optimism that has become rare in genre works these days. . . Hoyt and Anderson, a kind of de Camp and Pratt for the twenty-first century, convey these ideals without lectures or sermons, embodying them in principled people doing exciting things.”—Locus About Eric Flint: “This alternate history series is … a landmark…”—Booklist “[Eric] Flint's 1632 universe seems to be inspiring a whole new crop of gifted alternate historians.”—Booklist “…reads like a technothriller set in the age of the Medicis…”—Publishers Weekly About Walter H. Hunt: "A compelling and immersive novel in which every word feels authentic and every chapter draws the reader deeper into the dark and terrifying power of the mind.”—New York Journal of Books
NEW ENTRY IN THE WITCHES OF KARRES SERIES BY NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR ERIC FLINT & DAVE FREER Captain Pausert just can’t catch a break! First, he became the mortal enemy of his fiancée, his home planet, the Empire—and even the Worm World, the darkest threat to mankind in all of space. All because he helped rescue three slave children from their masters. Of course, these three young women were the universally feared Witches of Karres—but how was he to know that?! And after he defeated the Worm World (with the help of the witches, of course), the Empress herself had sent him on a secret mission to stop a nanite plague that was raging across the galaxy. But an enemy had somehow convinced the Imperial Fleet that he was actually a wanted criminal, so after a battle leaving his ship in urgent need of repairs, Pausert and the witches of Karres joined an interstellar traveling circus in order to save the galaxy. Now Pausert and the witches of Karres roam the spaceways again, this time dealing with a slaver-culture that somehow makes slaves happy to be in servitude, and a quest for a long-lost alien pet, during which the youngest witch, The Leewit, begins to come to her full powers as a healer—and of course generates chaos in her wake. For Pausert, it’s all in a day’s work. But would it be too much to ask for a vacation? At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About the Witches of Karres series: "This sequel [to The Witches of Karres] does honor to the original. . . a rolilicking ride. . . a rousing conclusion. . . "—Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine Fans of humorous science fiction will enjoy this outing.”—School Library Journal on The Wizard of Karres About All the Plagues of Hell by Eric Flint & Dave Freer: “. . . a compelling tale of political, military, and magical conflict . . .”—Booklist About Eric Flint: “A master of the genre.”—Booklist “An SF author of particular note . . . one who can entertain and edify in equal, and major, measure.” —Publishers Weekly About Dave Freer: “Dave Freer always delivers compelling, fast-moving and addictive fantasy adventures.”—Garth Nix
This two volume set LNAI 9834 and 9835 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Applications, ICIRA 2016, held in Tokyo, Japan, in August 2016. The 114 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 148 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections such as Robot Control; Robot Mechanism, Robot Vision and Sensing; Planning, Localization, and Mapping; Interactive Intelligence; Cognitive Robotics; Bio-Inspired Robotics; Smart Material Based Systems; Mechatronics Systems for Nondestructive Testing; Social Robotics; Human Support Robotics; Assistive Robotics; Intelligent Space; Sensing and Monitoring in Environment and Agricultural Sciences; Human Data Analysis; Robot Hand.
Fighting together is their best hope... But Persephone, former Queen of the Underworld, still isn't used to trusting others. Prophecy has dictated that she must defeat her older brother, Uther, on Earth, or he will gather enough strength in the Underworld to enslave humanity. Persephone is sure that she doesn't need help from her lovers - if she can even call them that after such a brief time together - but despite her best efforts to hide, they end up crossing paths. Perhaps some small part of her subconscious is reaching out. And perhaps this truly is a battle that they must face together. You'll love this F/F/F urban fantasy, because the fast-paced writing will keep you hooked until the end. Get it now!
Freya knew that she would take her place as Queen one day, she just didn't expect it to be so soon. Taking over from her father would have always been a daunting task, but someone has opened Pandora's Box, and only an Angel can close it. Meaning that only Freya can close it. But after one too many cryptic warnings, Freya has every reason to believe that Fate intends closing the box to be the death of her, and it will take a miracle to defy her. The Freya Snow Final Trilogy collects together the last three books in the Freya Snow urban fantasy series. If you like kick-ass, sarcastic heroines, immersive magical worlds beneath our own, and love that crosses the lines of magical feuds, then you'll be instantly hooked on L.C. Mawson's fast-paced urban fantasy series.
