Joe Colsco boarded a flight from San Francisco to Chicago to attend a national chemistry meeting. He would never set foot on Earth again.On planet Anyar, Joe is found naked and unconscious on a beach of a large island inhabited by humans with a level of technology similar to Earth circa 1700. He wakes amid strangers speaking an unintelligible language, and struggles to accept losing his previous life, finding his way in a society with different customs, and not knowing a single soul. He makes a place among the people there when he applies his knowledge of chemistry-as long as he is circumspect in introducing new knowledge not too far in advance of the planet's technology and being labeled a demon.Joe discovers he has been dropped into a developing clash between the people who cared for him, and for whom he develops an affinity, and a military power from elsewhere on the planet, a power with designs on conquest. Unaware, Joseph Colsco has been poured into a crucible, where time and trials will transform him in ways he could never have imagined.

Joe Colsco boarded a flight from San Francisco to Chicago to attend a national chemistry meeting. Through a freak accident, he never sets foot on Earth again. He is unaware he has been poured into a crucible, where time and trials will transform him in ways unimagined, and that will send him and his descendants to a destiny beyond one planet.Book I: Cast Under an Alien Sun On planet Anyar, Joe was found unconscious on a beach of a large island (Caedellium) inhabited by humans where the level of technology is similar to Earth circa 1700. He awoke amidst strangers speaking an unintelligible language, and despaired losing his previous life. He used knowledge of chemistry to introduce new knowledge-but not too advanced of the planet's technology to avoid being labelled a demon. He found a place in the society and developed new friendships, male and female. But all was not idyllic. Joe was dropped into a clash between the people who cared for him, and a military power from elsewhere on the planet, a power with designs on conquest. Joe survived his first experience in deadly conflict but knows it was only a foretaste of what was coming.Book II: Pen and the SwordThe Narthani, a militant realm who believe their manifest destiny is to rule the entire planet, Anyar, plan to absorb Caedellium into their empire and crush any resistance. Yozef Kolsko (aka Joe Colsco) works to find ways to increase the chances of his, and the society which has accepted him, ability to resist the Narthani's planned conquest.Complicating his life is attraction to a brilliant daughter of an island leader, and his uncertainty of his own mind, hers, or intricacies of Caedellium customs.Despite his desire to devote himself to introducing new knowledge Yozef is drawn more and more into developing weapons and giving tactical and strategic advice-things he knows he's unqualified to give. The enemy is coming. The odds seem overwhelming, and it will take all Yozef can do, the courage of his new people, and luck, to survive.

A Financial Times Best Science Book of 2023 • A Science News Favorite Book of 2023 • A Scientific American 2023 Staff Recommendation "The next-best thing to traveling through space and time." —Laura Helmuth, editor in chief of Scientific American A rip-roaring tour of the cosmos with the Bad Astronomer, bringing you up close and personal with the universe like never before. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel the universe? How would Saturn’s rings look from a spaceship sailing just above them? If you were falling into a black hole, what’s the last thing you’d see before getting spaghettified? While traveling in person to most of these amazing worlds may not be possible—yet—the would-be space traveler need not despair: you can still take the scenic route through the galaxy with renowned astronomer and science communicator Philip Plait. On this lively, immersive adventure through the cosmos, Plait draws ingeniously on both the latest scientific research and his prodigious imagination to transport you to ten of the most spectacular sights outer space has to offer. In vivid, inventive scenes informed by rigorous science—injected with a dose of Plait’s trademark humor—Under Alien Skies places you on the surface of alien worlds, from our own familiar Moon to the far reaches of our solar system and beyond. Try launching yourself onto a two-hundred-meter asteroid, or stargazing from the rim of an ancient volcano on a planet where, from the place you stand, it is eternally late afternoon. Experience the sudden onset of lunar nightfall, the disorientation of walking—or, rather, shuffling—when you weigh almost nothing, the irritation of jagged regolith dust. Glimpse the frigid mountains and plains of Pluto and the cake-like exterior of a comet called 67P. On a planet trillions of miles from Earth, glance down to see the strange, beautiful shadows cast by a hundred thousand stars. For the aspiring extraterrestrial citizen, casual space tourist, or curious armchair traveler, Plait is an illuminating, always-entertaining guide to the most otherworldly views in our universe.

Book 2 of Unknown Country. In Light From A Distant Star, Vi-t-ry was a catalyst. Dead and cold, he was resurrected by something as unlikely as an asteroid strike. He awakens to a world that's drastically changed from the one he destroyed two thousand years before. Vi-t-ry is an AI, the heart and soul of a vast warship alone and searching for home. His search is long; and flawed. But ultimately he finds that which he seeks. A far off planet orbiting a distant star that 'tastes' like home. Vi-t-ry reaches across space from the planet he orbits to earth in the blink of an eye. His actions are innocent, yet devastating as the international space station and the shuttle Atlantis are inadvertently transported to the planet Sul-Anroth. Then Vi-t-ry was gone, disappearing from Sul-Anroth as if he'd never been and appearing like a flaming sword of god over an unsuspecting and unprepared Earth. Humanity is on the edge and Vi-t-ry may be the catalyst for Armageddon. Visit gregoryjsaunders.com

Dennis Potter (1935-94) was Britain’s leading television dramatist for almost thirty years and remains an inspiration to today’s programme makers as a result of such ground-breaking work as Pennies from Heaven, Blue Remembered Hills and The Singing Detective. But he also engaged with his audience through reviews, journalism, interviews, broadcasts and speeches. The Art of Invective, the first collection of its kind, brings together some of his finest non-fiction work. Published to mark 80 years since Potter’s birth, this book includes his merciless television columns, penetrating literary criticism and angry writings on class and politics, as well as his sketches for Sixties satire shows including That Was the Week That Was. From Frost-Nixon to Coronation Street, David Hare to Doctor Who, Orwell to Emu, this collection shows Potter’s distinctive voice at its entertaining, thought-provoking and uncompromising best.

Essential Structures is a guide for any student of English who wishes to become more familiar with the basic structures of the language. It provides authoritative and essential information about: * The Parts of Speech * Sentence and Paragraph Structures * Structures of Larger Forms * English Usage * Critical Thinking * Denotation and Connotation * Problems in Writing * The Development of English Guidelines and exercises are provided in this handy book written for both native and non-native speakers of English. Essential Structures might be used for individual study or as a supplement in a high school or college English developmental course. It assumes a high degree of maturity on the part of the reader; readings and exercises are taken from materials written for a general educated audience. Many of the insights provided herein will not be found in any other English textbook or handbook.