O. Westin's micro science fiction is set in an extra-terrestrial future, capturing scenes of interstellar life - transgalactic communication attempts between aliens and humans, philosophizing robots, Siri's emotions, and plenty of comic relief across the space-time continuum. The over 350 very short stories tackle all the Big Questions: How do you establish contact with aliens without offending them? Will artificial intelligences one day demand election rights? And which species would aliens decide to contact on Planet Earth? "Some of the best depth and potential built into the space of a single tweet." MEG, Chair of the BristolCon SF Convention "I've been writing microfics on postcards and my appreciation for the Sheer Compressed Wonder you create has only increased. (Which isn't to say I ever thought it was *easy*.)" Jeanette Ng, award-nominated SF novelist "Like a circus tent, @MicroSFF stories are much bigger on the inside than they appear on the outside." Gunnstein R'Lyeh
Ten years ago, Jerome Stern, director of the writing program at Florida State, initiated the World's Best Short Short Story Contest. Stories were to be about 250 words long; first prize was a check and a crate of oranges. Two to three thousand stories began to show up annually in Tallahassee, and National Public Radio regularly broadcast the winner. But, more important, the Micro form turned out to be contagious; stories of this "lack of length" now dot the literary magazines. The time seemed right, then, for this anthology, presenting a decade of contest winners and selected finalists. In addition, Stern commissioned Micros, persuading a roster of writers to accept the challenge of completing a story in one page. Jesse Lee Kercheval has a new spin on the sinking of the Titanic; Virgil Suarez sets his sights on the notorious Singapore caning; George Garrett conjures up a wondrous screen treatment pitch; and Antonya Nelson invites us into an eerie landscape. Verve and nerve and astonishing variety are here, with some wild denouements. How short can a Micro be, you wonder. Look up Amy Hempel's contribution, and you'll see.
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title Renowned microbiologist John Ingraham rescues the supremely important and ubiquitous microorganisms from their unwonted obscurity by showing us how we can, in fact, see and appreciate them.
In the vein of Jurassic Park, this high-concept thriller follows a group of graduate students lured to Hawaii to work for a mysterious biotech company—only to find themselves cast out into the rain forest, with nothing but their scientific expertise and wits to protect them. In the lush forests of Oahu, groundbreaking technology has ushered in a revolutionary era of biological prospecting, feeding a search for priceless drugs and applications on a scale beyond anything previously imagined. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, seven graduate students at the forefront of their fields are recruited by a pioneering microbiology start-up, Nanigen MicroTechnologies, which dispatches the group to a mysterious lab in Hawaii. But once in the rainforest, the scientists are thrust into a hostile wilderness that reveals surprising dangers at every turn. Armed only with their knowledge of the natural world, they find themselves prey to a technology of radical and unbridled power An instant classic, Micro pits nature against technology in vintage Michael Crichton fashion. Completed by visionary science writer Richard Preston, this boundary-pushing thriller melds scientific fact with pulse-pounding fiction to create yet another masterpiece of sophisticated, cutting-edge entertainment.
An agent races to stop a chemical attack in this thriller from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park. His name is John Wright, and he’s the most dangerous man in the United States. A millionaire radical with a deep hatred for everything America stands for, he has concocted a scheme that will shatter the very foundation of our democracy—and he’s just crazy enough to pull it off. The only man who can stop him is John Graves, an embittered federal agent whose mission in life is to destroy Wright. He’ll get his chance—or America will burn. A train races across the Utah desert, carrying a shipment of the deadliest nerve gas known to man. Seven mobsters stop the train, steal the gas, and hand it over to Wright. His target? The Republican National Convention in San Diego, where unleashing the gas will kill one million honest citizens, including the US president. Graves has just one shot to stop Wright—and for the sake of democracy, he’d better not miss. From “the master of the sci-tech thriller,” this is a terrifying high-speed novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end (Booklist). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Michael Crichton including rare images from the author’s estate.
Read Infomocracy, the first book in Campbell Award finalist Malka Older's groundbreaking cyberpunk political thriller series The Centenal Cycle, a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Series, and the novel NPR called "Kinetic and gripping." • A Locus Award Finalist for Best First Novel • The book The Huffington Post called "one of the greatest literary debuts in recent history" • One of Kirkus' "Best Fiction of 2016" • One of The Washington Post's "Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016" • One of Book Riot's "Best Books of 2016 So Far" It's been twenty years and two election cycles since Information, a powerful search engine monopoly, pioneered the switch from warring nation-states to global micro-democracy. The corporate coalition party Heritage has won the last two elections. With another election on the horizon, the Supermajority is in tight contention, and everything's on the line. With power comes corruption. For Ken, this is his chance to do right by the idealistic Policy1st party and get a steady job in the big leagues. For Domaine, the election represents another staging ground in his ongoing struggle against the pax democratica. For Mishima, a dangerous Information operative, the whole situation is a puzzle: how do you keep the wheels running on the biggest political experiment of all time, when so many have so much to gain? Infomocracy is Malka Older's debut novel. THE CENTENAL CYCLE Book 1: Infomocracy Book 2: Null States Book 3: State Tectonics PRAISE FOR INFOMOCRACY “A fast-paced, post-cyberpunk political thriller... If you always wanted to put The West Wing in a particle accelerator with Snow Crash to see what would happen, read this book.” —Max Gladstone, author of Last First Snow "Smart, ambitious, bursting with provocative extrapolations, Infomocracy is the big-data-big-ideas-techno-analytical-microdemoglobal-post-everything political thriller we've been waiting for." —Ken Liu, author of The Grace of Kings "In the mid-21st century, your biggest threat isn’t Artificial Intelligence—it’s other people. Yet the passionate, partisan, political and ultimately fallible men and women fighting for their beliefs are also Infomocracy’s greatest hope. An inspiring book about what we frail humans could still achieve, if we learn to work together." —Karl Schroeder, author of Lockstep and the Virga saga At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
