DECISIONS, DECISIONS The nation of Japan is connected via wormhole to a place called the Holy Eldant Empire in a parallel fantasy world. It had been Japanâs little (or big) secret, but after an aircraft carrier got caught in the time slip, the Americans know about it, too. The Americans have an extralegal idea for how to get their hands on the extraordinary technology of the Eldant Empireâand their target is Petralka! Can Shinichi and his friends stand against the modern worldâs most powerful military force? What waits beyond this final battle? Welcome to the final installment of Outbreak Company!
The year is 20XX, and Shinichi Kanou is a pretty typical otaku: he loves anime, manga, games, and light novels, but his devotion to the two-dimensional hasn't always made him the most popular guy around. What he doesn't know is that Japan has discovered a portal to another world in the vicinity of Mount Fuji. The people of the Eldant Empire, though, only have eyes for one of Japan's traditional exports: pop culture. Enter Amutech, a purveyor of "general entertainment" that's secretly run by the Japanese government. Shinichi lands a job as the company's general manager. Now he finally has a chance to put his nerd know-how to good use spreading the otaku gospel in the Eldant Empire. And wait... he has to work with a half-elf maid, an empress, AND a female soldier to get the job done?
THE NEW GIRL IN TOWN On the far side of a mysterious wormhole somewhere in Japan is a fantasy world, and in it, a country called the Holy Eldant Empire. Amutech is a company established to bring otaku culture to the people there (or maybe foist it on them), and now itâs getting a new staff member: Hikaru, who comes in as assistant to the general manager, Kanou Shinichi. Sheâs also strikingly beautiful, a heckuva communicator, and almost immediately a big hit at both the palace and the school. Eldant will only get even more otaku on her watch, but the beloved cultural export starts to show a dark side, too. At the same time, something is happening in the Eldant Empire, and Shinichi may be in danger (again). What can he do? Anything?!
IS THAT REALLY A SPY?! It's already been a few months since Shinichi came to Eldant, where dragons are commonplace and magic is real. His job is simple: spread otaku culture to the masses of this other world. But of course, things aren't that easy (are they ever?). Eldant is in a state of war, and war includes espionage... so how will Shinichi and company deal with a spy in their midst? Add that to his growing suspicions about his own government's motives, and Shinichi definitely has his hands full. Heavy is the head that wears the otaku crown...
CAN YOU GO HOME AGAIN? So youâve got the Eldant Empire, a fantasy world somehow connected to Japan by a mysterious âhole.â And youâve got Kanou Shinichi, general manager of Amutech, a company whose whole purpose is to promote cultural exchange with this new landâusing otaku stuff! Shinichiâs father is a master at churning out popular light novels, but when something happens to him, Shinichi rushes home. His Eldant friends, worried this is another ploy by the Japanese government, send Myusel and Elvia with himâand the Empress Petralka sneaks along for good measure. The Big ThreeâAmerica, China, and Russiaâknow somethingâs up in Japan. Thatâs why the kidsâ sightseeing jaunt to Akihabara turns into a war zone. Thatâs how Minori gets captured by the Russians. And thatâs why Shinichiâs house is surrounded by a mysterious armed squadron. Can Shinichi and his friends rescue Minori and get back to Eldant, or does their journey end here?!
So youâve got the Eldant Empire, a fantasy world somehow connected to Japan by a mysterious âhole.â And youâve got Kanou Shinichi, general manager of Amutech, a company whose whole purpose is to promote cultural exchange with this new landâusing otaku stuff! Shinichiâs father is a master at churning out popular light novels, but then word reaches Shinichi that his dadâs series has been put on indefinite hiatus. Shinichi may have kept his family at armâs length in his days as a shut-in, but he canât ignore this, and makes plans for a visit home. His Eldant friends, worried that this is another ploy on the part of the Japanese government, convince the JSDF to let them send Myusel and Elvia along as bodyguards. Call it the first Eldant embassy to Japanâand they have a lot to learn. An unexpected interloper, a series of accidents, and more international [interdimensional?] intrigue are waiting in the wings for Shinichi and his friends!
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.
"A strange plague called the 'Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget--small things at first, like where they left their keys, then the not-so-small things like how to drive or the letters of the alphabet. Then their bodies forget how to function involuntarily. There is no cure. But far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, a universal healer hailed as 'ambrosia' has been discovered. In order to study this phenomenon, a special research lab has been built eight miles under the sea's surface. When the station goes incommunicado, a brave few descend through the lightless fathoms in hopes of unraveling the mysteries lurking at those crushing depths...and perhaps to encounter an evil blacker than anything one could possibly imagine"--Page [4] of cover.
"Think of the heart-racing chase of The Hunger Games, but a giant mall is your arena."--Seventeen.com A suspenseful survival story and modern day Lord of the Flies set in a mall that looks just like yours. A biological bomb has just been discovered in the air ducts of a busy suburban mall. At first nobody knows if it's even life threatening, but then the entire complex is quarantined, people start getting sick, supplies start running low, and there's no way out. Among the hundreds of trapped shoppers are four teens. These four different narrators, each with their own stories, must cope in unique, surprising manners, changing in ways they wouldn't have predicted, trying to find solace, safety, and escape at a time when the adults are behaving badly. This is a gripping look at people and how they can—and must—change under the most dire of circumstances. And not always for the better.
From the the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature: Part detective story, part historical epic—a bold and brilliant novel that imagines a plague ravaging a fictional island in the Ottoman Empire. It is April 1900, in the Levant, on the imaginary island of Mingheria—the twenty-ninth state of the Ottoman Empire—located in the eastern Mediterranean between Crete and Cyprus. Half the population is Muslim, the other half are Orthodox Greeks, and tension is high between the two. When a plague arrives—brought either by Muslim pilgrims returning from the Mecca or by merchant vessels coming from Alexandria—the island revolts. To stop the epidemic, the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II sends his most accomplished quarantine expert to the island—an Orthodox Christian. Some of the Muslims, including followers of a popular religious sect and its leader Sheikh Hamdullah, refuse to take precautions or respect the quarantine. And then a murder occurs. As the plague continues its rapid spread, the Sultan sends a second doctor to the island, this time a Muslim, and strict quarantine measures are declared. But the incompetence of the island’s governor and local administration and the people’s refusal to respect the bans doom the quarantine to failure, and the death count continues to rise. Faced with the danger that the plague might spread to the West and to Istanbul, the Sultan bows to international pressure and allows foreign and Ottoman warships to blockade the island. Now the people of Mingheria are on their own, and they must find a way to defeat the plague themselves. Steeped in history and rife with suspense, Nights of Plague is an epic story set more than one hundred years ago, with themes that feel remarkably contemporary.
