**From _American Vampire_'s Rafael Albuquerque!** Welcome to the Meld, an inhospitable dimension in time where Joshua, a chrononaut, finds himself trapped. With no memory or feedback from the team of scientists that sent him, he can't count on anything but his heart and a stranger's voice to guide him to his destiny. * From the artist of _American Vampire_! * Cowritten with Mike Johnson (_Supergirl_)! * Traverse the past, the present, the future . . . and welcome to the Meld!

Welcome to the Meld, an inhospitable dimension in time where Joshua, a chrononaut, finds himself trapped. With no memory or feedback from the team of scientists that sent him, he can't count on anything but his heart and a stranger's voice to guide him to his destiny. This book collects issues #1-#5 of the thrilling time-traveling adventures created and beautifully rendered by acclaimed artist Rafael Albuquerque (American Vampire) and expertly cowritten by Mike Johnson (Supergirl). "Rafa's art in this series looks unlike anything else on the stands, and he's bringing a level of visual invention to the story that is stunning. We really want to give readers a setting and characters they've never seen before, and we hope this is just the start of the stories that can be told in this world." - Co-writer Mike Johnson on Ei8ht

Disk-Based Algorithms for Big Data is a product of recent advances in the areas of big data, data analytics, and the underlying file systems and data management algorithms used to support the storage and analysis of massive data collections. The book discusses hard disks and their impact on data management, since Hard Disk Drives continue to be common in large data clusters. It also explores ways to store and retrieve data though primary and secondary indices. This includes a review of different in-memory sorting and searching algorithms that build a foundation for more sophisticated on-disk approaches like mergesort, B-trees, and extendible hashing. Following this introduction, the book transitions to more recent topics, including advanced storage technologies like solid-state drives and holographic storage; peer-to-peer (P2P) communication; large file systems and query languages like Hadoop/HDFS, Hive, Cassandra, and Presto; and NoSQL databases like Neo4j for graph structures and MongoDB for unstructured document data. Designed for senior undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professionals, this book is useful for anyone interested in understanding the foundations and advances in big data storage and management, and big data analytics. About the Author Dr. Christopher G. Healey is a tenured Professor in the Department of Computer Science and the Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Analytics in the Institute for Advanced Analytics, both at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has published over 50 articles in major journals and conferences in the areas of visualization, visual and data analytics, computer graphics, and artificial intelligence. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Early Faculty Development Award and the North Carolina State University Outstanding Instructor Award. He is a Senior Member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and an Associate Editor of ACM Transaction on Applied Perception, the leading worldwide journal on the application of human perception to issues in computer science.

This is the fourth book in the series Creation. Game fame was ruthless. If Creation was about to end, then this was his chance. He didn’t need Evylin anymore. He could make it to level ten without her. * Jessie stared at her WallScreen dumbfounded. The game had banned her because she had refused to be raped. This was not the time for such nonsense. GoD was in danger, and she had to warn him. * Unseen, Nazar climbed up the cube tower. She’d cost him a lot of money. If he were lucky, he would catch her connected. Zombified, or in a more, twisted fairytale fashion: Sleeping Beauty, and he would be her prince.

Now imprisoned, Joshua has finally remembered his mission. Unfortunately, his fate is in the sinister hands of the Meld's most dangerous man who hopes to control time and space. It's do-or-die time in the Meld! * Stunning sci-fi epic by Rafael Albuquerque (_American Vampire_, _Batman: Black and White_) with Mike Johnson (_Supergirl_)! * The sci-fi series you've been longing for!

**A sci-fi tour de force by _American Vampire_ cocreator!** Chrononaut Joshua is stuck in the dimension known as the Meld, captured by a camp of rebels that oppose the maniacal Tyrant and his champion, the Spear. When Joshua remembers his mission, the past and the future collide to reveal the peril he must face. Rafael Albuquerque's (_American Vampire_, _Batman: Black and White_) stunning sci-fi epic!

Imagine a world where the Nazis not only won World War II but went on to direct world culture for the next 60 years with the help of an orphaned, alien super-weapon known as Overman! But hope is not lost! Rising from the ashes of oppression is a diverse band of heroes raging against the fascist regime--a band of heroes known as THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS!