The Big City: A Dystopian Science Fantasy Novel


Book Description

Thousands of years in the future, Earth is entirely covered by enormous skyscrapers that are tens of miles tall and extend miles beneath the surface. There’s not a bare spot of ground that isn’t covered with blacktop or occupied by one of these “megascrapers.” Hundreds of billions of people spend their lives entirely within these monsters of technology, living, working, shopping, relaxing… Rare is the individual who ventures onto the roofs, or even crosses over to the next building. The concept of “outside,” of green hills and vast natural countryside, has been all but forgotten, because it’s all been paved over or built upon. These millions of megascrapers comprise one vast, endless city. The Big City. Jed Morble, a Big City man, is weary of the endless rush of civilization. Weaned on fabulous tales of the Great Outdoors told to him by his long-dead grandmother, he longs for the outside, but knows he’ll never find it. So he trudges despondently through his pointless existence, until one day, he happens upon a document that points the way to a door that leads to another world—of green hills and vast natural countrysides. The only problem is, the door is deep in the heart of a bombed-out section of the city that now serves as a prison for the dregs of society. Jed decides to make the attempt. His journey will lead him through criminal territory and into a vast, unspoiled new world, where he’ll clash with aliens who once decimated the Earth, and will ultimately learn a shocking secret about the new world he plans to call home.




Infinite Detail


Book Description

A LOCUS AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL! The Guardian's Pick for Best Science Fiction Book of the Year! A timely and uncanny portrait of a world in the wake of fake news, diminished privacy, and a total shutdown of the Internet BEFORE: In Bristol’s center lies the Croft, a digital no-man’s-land cut off from the surveillance, Big Data dependence, and corporate-sponsored, globally hegemonic aspirations that have overrun the rest of the world. Ten years in, it’s become a center of creative counterculture. But it’s fraying at the edges, radicalizing from inside. How will it fare when its chief architect, Rushdi Mannan, takes off to meet his boyfriend in New York City—now the apotheosis of the new techno-utopian global metropolis? AFTER: An act of anonymous cyberterrorism has permanently switched off the Internet. Global trade, travel, and communication have collapsed. The luxuries that characterized modern life are scarce. In the Croft, Mary—who has visions of people presumed dead—is sought out by grieving families seeking connections to lost ones. But does Mary have a gift or is she just hustling to stay alive? Like Grids, who runs the Croft’s black market like personal turf. Or like Tyrone, who hoards music (culled from cassettes, the only medium to survive the crash) and tattered sneakers like treasure. The world of Infinite Detail is a small step shy of our own: utterly dependent on technology, constantly brokering autonomy and privacy for comfort and convenience. With Infinite Detail, Tim Maughan makes the hitherto-unimaginable come true: the End of the Internet, the End of the World as We Know It.




The Hollow City


Book Description

Dan Wells won instant acclaim for his three-novel debut about the adventures of John Wayne Cleaver, a heroic young man who is a potential serial killer. All who read the trilogy were struck by the distinctive and believable voice Wells created for John. Now he returns with another innovative thriller told in a very different, equally unique voice. A voice that comes to us from the realm of madness. Michael Shipman is paranoid schizophrenic; he suffers from hallucinations, delusions, and complex fantasies of persecution and horror. That's bad enough. But what can he do if some of the monsters he sees turn out to be real? Who can you trust if you can't even trust yourself? The Hollow City is a mesmerizing journey into madness, where the greatest enemy of all is your own mind. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.




The Cityborn


Book Description

The metal City towers at the center of the mountain-ringed Heartland, standing astride the deep chasm of the Canyon like a malevolent giant, ruled with an iron fist by the First Officer and his Provosts in the name of the semi-mythical Captain. Within its corroding walls lies a stratified society, where the Officers dwell in luxury on the Twelfth Tier, while the poor struggle to survive on the First and Second, and outcasts scrabble and fight for whatever they can find in the Middens, the City's rubbish heap, filling the Canyon beneath its dripping underbelly. Alania, ward of an Officer, lives on Twelfth. Danyl, raised by a scavenger, lives in the Middens. Their two very different worlds collide when Alania plunges from the heights of the City into the Middens, and booth of them find themselves pursued by the First Officer's Provosts, for reasons they cannot fathom--but which they must learn if they are to survive. The secrets they uncover, as they flee the Canyon and crisscross the Heartland from the City's farmlands to the mountains of the north and back again, will determine not only their fate, but the fate of the City ... and everyone who lives there.




Cities that Think Like Planets


Book Description

As human activity and environmental change come to be increasingly recognized as intertwined phenomena on a rapidly urbanizing planet, the field of urban ecology has risen to offer useful ways of thinking about coupled human and natural systems. On the forefront of this discipline is Marina Alberti, whose innovative work offers a conceptual framework for uncovering fundamental laws that govern the complexity and resilience of cities, which she sees as key to understanding and responding to planetary change and the evolution of Earth. Bridging the fields of urban planning and ecology, Alberti describes a science of cities that work on a planetary scale and that links unpredictable dynamics to the potential for innovation. It is a science that considers interactions - at all scales - between people and built environments and between cities and their larger environments. Cities That Think like Planets advances strategies for planning a future that may look very different from the present, as rapid urbanization could tip the Earth toward abrupt and nonlinear change. Alberti's analyses of the various hybrid ecosystems, such as self-organization, heterogeneity, modularity, multiple equilibria, feedback, and transformation, may help humans participate in guiding the Earth away from inadvertent collapse and toward a new era of planetary co-evolution and resilience.




Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy [2 volumes]


Book Description

Works of science fiction and fantasy increasingly explore gender issues, feature women as central characters, and are written by women writers. This book examines women's contributions to science fiction and fantasy across a range of media and genres, such as fiction, nonfiction, film, television, art, comics, graphic novels, and music. The first volume offers survey essays on major topics, such as sexual identities, fandom, women's writing groups, and feminist spirituality; the second provides alphabetically arranged entries on more specific subjects, such as Hindu mythology, Toni Morrison, magical realism, and Margaret Atwood. Entries are written by expert contributors and cite works for further reading, and the set closes with a selected, general bibliography. Students and general readers love science fiction and fantasy. And science fiction and fantasy works increasingly explore gender issues, feature women as central characters, and are written by women writers. Older works demonstrate attitudes toward women in times past, while more recent works grapple with contemporary social issues. This book helps students use science fiction and fantasy to understand the contributions of women writers, the representation of women in the media, and the experiences of women in society.




Blackfish City


Book Description

“One of the most intriguing future cities in years.” —Charlie Jane Anders “Simmers with menace and heartache, suspense and wonder.” —Ann Leckie A Best Book of the Month in Entertainment Weekly The Washington Post Tor.com B&N Sci-Fi Fantasy Blog Amazon After the climate wars, a floating city is constructed in the Arctic Circle, a remarkable feat of mechanical and social engineering, complete with geothermal heating and sustainable energy. The city’s denizens have become accustomed to a roughshod new way of living, however, the city is starting to fray along the edges—crime and corruption have set in, the contradictions of incredible wealth alongside direst poverty are spawning unrest, and a new disease called “the breaks” is ravaging the population. When a strange new visitor arrives—a woman riding an orca, with a polar bear at her side—the city is entranced. The “orcamancer,” as she’s known, very subtly brings together four people—each living on the periphery—to stage unprecedented acts of resistance. By banding together to save their city before it crumbles under the weight of its own decay, they will learn shocking truths about themselves. Blackfish City is a remarkably urgent—and ultimately very hopeful—novel about political corruption, organized crime, technology run amok, the consequences of climate change, gender identity, and the unifying power of human connection.




The City & The City


Book Description

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE SEATTLE TIMES, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. When a murdered woman is found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. To investigate, Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to its equal, rival, and intimate neighbor, the vibrant city of Ul Qoma. But this is a border crossing like no other, a journey as psychic as it is physical, a seeing of the unseen. With Ul Qoman detective Qussim Dhatt, Borlú is enmeshed in a sordid underworld of nationalists intent on destroying their neighboring city, and unificationists who dream of dissolving the two into one. As the detectives uncover the dead woman’s secrets, they begin to suspect a truth that could cost them more than their lives. What stands against them are murderous powers in Beszel and in Ul Qoma: and, most terrifying of all, that which lies between these two cities. BONUS: This edition contains a The City & The City discussion guide and excerpts from China Miéville's Kraken and Embassytown.




Metropolitan


Book Description

NOMINATED FOR A NEBULA AWARD. Walter Jon Williams’ classic science fantasy Metropolitan is once again available for a new generation of readers. Aiah has fought her way from poverty and discovered a limitless source of plasm, the mysterious substance that powers the world-city. Her discovery soon involves her with Constantine, the charismatic, dangerous, seductive revolutionary who plans to overthrow, not simply the government, but the cosmic order . . . “A spectacular blend of fantastic science, high politics, and low intrigue . . . Williams’s world and characters are richly imagined yet utterly real.” —Melissa Scott “Entertaining . . . Williams understands that science fiction can breathe life into language . . . [His] writing is always lean, lively and engaging." New York Times Book Review “Blends SF aspects with noir stylings to create a potent atmosphere or urban dystopia . . . Ever the expert storyteller, Williams provides more than enough suspense.” Publishers Weekly




How to Edit Your Novel: Self-Revisions for Authors Made Easy


Book Description

Struggling to edit your novel? Discover a simple, 4-part process for shoring up your story, polishing your prose, and proofreading like a pro that will make self-editing easy! Are you a new author editing your first novel, but don’t know where to start? Perhaps you’re an experienced author who’s never got into their groove with self-editing, and can’t figure out their system? Maybe you need to hire a professional editor, but you know your book isn’t ready yet? Packed to the brim with useful tips and examples from fiction, How to Edit Your Novel walks you through the self-editing process from beginning to end. It will help you create stories that not only delight your readers, but delight your editor, too. In How to Edit Your Novel, you’ll discover: - Why self-editing is important, whether you're pursuing traditional publishing or choosing independent publishing - How to cultivate your characters, plot, and setting to make them shine - Why polishing your prose is essential, and how to do it - How to proofread like a pro - Why working with professional editors is essential - And more… How to Edit Your Novel is the tool you need to polish your book to a high shine before you ship it off to a professional editor. If you like practical advice, real-world examples, and a sprinkling of cheeky humour in your writing guides, then you’ll love this powerful book for self-editing your novels like a pro. Scroll up and click buy now to edit your novel today!