Beautifully drawn coming-of-age story with sci-fi hook.

When Cohen Marah steps over his father's body in the basement embalming room of the family's funeral home, he has no idea that he is stepping into a labyrinth of memory. As the last one to see his father, Cohen is the primary suspect. Over the next week, Cohen's childhood memories come back in living color. The dramatic events that led to his father being asked to leave his pastoral position. The game of baseball that somehow kept them together. And the two children in the forest who became his friends--and enlisted him in a dark and dangerous undertaking. As the lines blur between what was real and what was imaginary, Cohen is faced with the question he's been avoiding: Did he kill his father? In Light from Distant Stars, master story weaver Shawn Smucker relays a tale both eerie and enchanting, one that will have you questioning reality and reaching out for what is true, good, and genuine.

"Delany has a grasp of the evolutionary nature of mythology, a subtle comic touch, and a lyric sense of the outsider making his unorthodox way in the world--or worlds--that give his work a dimension unusual..."

Light from a Distant Star is a gripping coming-of-age story with a brutal murder at its heart and a heroine as unforgettable as Harper Lee’s "Scout." It is early summer and Nellie Peck is on the cusp of adolescence--gangly, awkward, full of questions, but keenly observant and wiser than many of the adults in her life. The person she most admires is her father, Benjamin, a man of great integrity. His family’s century old hardware store is failing and Nellie’s mother has had to go back to work. Nellie’s older half-sister has launched a disturbing search for her birth father. Often saddled through the long, hot days with her timid younger brother, Henry, Nellie is determined to toughen him up. And herself as well. Three strangers enter Nellie’s protected life. Brooding Max Devaney is an ex-con who works in her surly grandfather’s junkyard. Reckless Bucky Saltonstall has just arrived from New York City to live with his elderly grandparents. And pretty Dolly Bedelia is a young stripper who rents the family’s small, rear apartment and becomes the titillating focus of Nellie’s eavesdropping. When violence erupts in the lovely Peck house, the prime suspect seems obvious. Nellie knows who the real murderer is, but is soon silenced by fear and the threat of scandal. The truth, as she sees it, is shocking and unthinkable, and with everyone’s eyes riveted on her in the courtroom, Nellie finds herself seized with doubt. No one will listen. No one believes her, and a man’s life hangs in the balance. A stunning evocation of innocence lost, Light from a Distant Star stands as an incredibly moving and powerful novel from one of America's finest writers.

His reputation had been secure.He was the world's most feared supervillain!But then he saved the world...News cameras had captured every moment of the battle in which Doctor Fid single-handedly averted an alien invasion. As details emerge, the public discovers how close the Earth had come to inescapable subjugation...or to complete annihilation.In the aftermath, there are many who wonder if the veteran supervillain has changed his ways. There are many who think that Doctor Fid may not be a monster after all.Notoriety is important to many of Doctor Fid's long-term plans to punish the unworthy, and this shift in public perception threatens to undermine decades' worth of effort...But it also presents a tempting opportunity.New dangers arise, and through it all Doctor Fid must struggle to decide what role he will play. Can the notorious supervillain set aside his endless quest? Can Doctor Fid become the hero that the world needs?Or will he remain the villain that the world's heroes deserve?Any fan of the superhero genre will love this supervillainous novel. Read book two in the series that critics have called innovative, snarky and ridiculously fun!

Seventeen-year-old Emma was the only one who hadn't given up on her boyfriend, Lucas. Everyone else--his family, his friends, his doctors--was convinced that any moment could be his last. So when Lucas miraculously returns from the brink of death, Emma thinks her prayers have been answered. As the surprised town rejoices, Emma begins to question whether Lucas is the same boy she's always known. When she finds an unidentifiable object on his family's farm--and government agents come to claim it--she begins to suspect that nothing is what it seems. Emma's out-of-this-world discovery may be the key to setting things right, but only if she and Lucas can evade the agents who are after what they have. With all her hopes and dreams on the line, Emma sets out to save the boy she loves. And with a little help from a distant star, she might just have a chance at making those dreams come true.

The determination of stellar ages has been - and still is - crucial for the development of our understanding of the universe, and to constrain theoretical models for the formation of galaxies and the evolution of planetary systems. Stellar ages provide scientists with timescales, and these timescales allow us to identify the relevant physical processes responsible for the development of cosmic structures. This book describes in a simple, yet rigorous, manner the vast array of techniques that have been developed and are currently being used to determine the ages of stars. It also explores how stellar ages inform our knowledge about planets, star clusters, galaxies, even distant galaxies that we cannot resolve into individual stars. Up-to-date with the latest research and technologies in the field, it includes the cutting-edge methods being used based on asteroseismology and discusses open problems that remain to be pondered in future research. It will be of interest to advanced undergraduates and graduate students studying astronomy, in addition to the general public. Key Features Presents an entertaining and accessible approach whilst also providing a rigorous and comprehensive presentation of the subject Describes how to unveil the ages of stellar populations in distant galaxies that we cannot resolve into individual stars Contains historical notes about these techniques, outstanding major problems, and a discussion on future developments in the field