Four time Hugo Award winner Vernor Vinge has taken readers to the depths of space and into the far future in his bestselling novels A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. Now, he has written a science-fiction thriller set in a place and time as exciting and strange as any far-future world: San Diego, California, 2025. Robert Gu is a recovering Alzheimer's patient. The world that he remembers was much as we know it today. Now, as he regains his faculties through a cure developed during the years of his near-fatal decline, he discovers that the world has changed and so has his place in it. He was a world-renowned poet. Now he is seventy-five years old, though by a medical miracle he looks much younger, and he's starting over, for the first time unsure of his poetic gifts. Living with his son's family, he has no choice but to learn how to cope with a new information age in which the virtual and the real are a seamless continuum, layers of reality built on digital views seen by a single person or millions, depending on your choice. But the consensus reality of the digital world is available only if, like his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Miri, you know how to wear your wireless access—through nodes designed into smart clothes—and to see the digital context—through smart contact lenses. With knowledge comes risk. When Robert begins to re-train at Fairmont High, learning with other older people what is second nature to Miri and other teens at school, he unwittingly becomes part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to use technology as a tool for world domination. In a world where every computer chip has Homeland Security built-in, this conspiracy is something that baffles even the most sophisticated security analysts, including Robert's son and daughter-in law, two top people in the U.S. military. And even Miri, in her attempts to protect her grandfather, may be entangled in the plot. As Robert becomes more deeply involved in conspiracy, he is shocked to learn of a radical change planned for the UCSD Geisel Library; all the books there, and worldwide, would cease to physically exist. He and his fellow re-trainees feel compelled to join protests against the change. With forces around the world converging on San Diego, both the conspiracy and the protest climax in a spectacular moment as unique and satisfying as it is unexpected. This is science fiction at its very best, by a master storyteller at his peak. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Unprecedented in its scope, Rainbow's End provides a bold new analysis of the emergence, growth, and decline of six classic Irish-American political machines in New York, Jersey City, Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Albany. Combining the approaches of political economy and historical sociology, Erie examines a wide range of issues, including the relationship between city and state politics, the manner in which machines shaped ethnic and working-class politics, and the reasons why centralized party organizations failed to emerge in Boston and Philadelphia despite their large Irish populations. The book ends with a thorough discussion of the significance of machine politics for today's urban minorities.

... The Put-in-Bay resort town on South Bass and the neighboring islands provide the backdrop for an action packed novel including hit and run accidents, murder, arson, sailing adventures, dangerous cave explorations, boat and helicopter chases and ultralight flights, as well as sordid confrontations in Put-in-Bay's crowded bars ...

On the 50th anniversary of the murder of Marilyn Monroe, one of the most incisive journalists in Hollywood has compiled this intriguing roundup of the conspiracies and dark secrets behind Hollywood's most notorious mystery.

A behind-the-scenes look at Garland's 1963-1964 weekly television series describes the powerplays and machinations on the part of studio executives, led by James Aubrey, that doomed the show and that led to the star's personal and professional downfall

After his first collection 'Until the Rain comes' became a resounding success the second collection is here. Established Birmingham Poet Peter D Hehir brings you a book full of promise, bringing his thoughts to life once again to enthral the reader in a world of Poetry and Prose. With verses full of deep emotion and high expectations, you will fall in love with every word on every page. 'At Rainbows End' is simply the pot of poetry gold you may just have been searching for...

In the little town of Rainbows End, not really very far from here, Wanda Witch just knew that the missing Wishing Star had something to do with the high jinks of Mad Marvin McMischief. After all, a little mischief and merriment done over the celebration of the Mellow Moon was expectedeven Grizelda Goodfairy would agree. Wanda didnt really think too much about the missing four leaf clovers, the few sparkles missing from the Emerald Sea, or the few rubies missing from the red part of the rainbow. Even the silver missing from the clouds silver linings hadnt bothered her much. But the Wishing Star? That was just too much.