Infinite Worlds . . . Infinite Adventure! The good news is, there are other Earths. Maybe an infinite number. The bad news is, somebody out there doesn't like us. The shuttles of Infinity Unlimited jump between parallel Earths, seeking adventure, profit, knowledge, and even entertainment. But a parallel called Centrum has also developed the technology to hop between the worlds . . . and it wants to rule them all. The Infinity Patrol must deal with their ruthless rivals, as well as with world-jumping criminals, and with the possibility that the secret of dimension travel might escape to some of the really nasty alternate worlds like Reich-5. Welcome to the core setting of GURPS Fourth Edition! Every other GURPS setting is on one of the Infinite Worlds timelines . . . whether they know it or not! GMs can use this to create a whole meta-campaign, or just as an excuse to move characters between worlds when the plot requires it. Compiled by Kenneth Hite, the master of alternate histories, GURPS Infinite Worlds combines and updates material from GURPS Time Travel, GURPS Alternate Earths, and GURPS Alternate Earths 2 into one volume, and gives dozens of new worlds to explore as well! This is the complete genre book on both alternative-world gaming and time travel. It offers detailed advice on the unique challenges of running this type of campaign, and on designing and playing characters who regularly cross between settings. It also provides a wide variety of suitable threats and hazards - from evil cross-time Nazis and cosmic conspiracies to "ordinary" monsters and disasters. And it gives guidelines for building alternate worlds from the perspectives of the setting, the story, and the rules. Whether you're playing accidental travelers or the hardened troops of the Infinity Patrol, this book is your gateway to adventure. Infinite adventure.

What happened before the primordial fire of the Big Bang: a theory about the ultimate origin of the universe. In the beginning was the Big Bang: an unimaginably hot fire almost fourteen billion years ago in which the first elements were forged. The physical theory of the hot nascent universe—the Big Bang—was one of the most consequential developments in twentieth-century science. And yet it leaves many questions unanswered: Why is the universe so big? Why is it so old? What is the origin of structure in the cosmos? In An Infinity of Worlds, physicist Will Kinney explains a more recent theory that may hold the answers to these questions and even explain the ultimate origins of the universe: cosmic inflation, before the primordial fire of the Big Bang. Kinney argues that cosmic inflation is a transformational idea in cosmology, changing our picture of the basic structure of the cosmos and raising unavoidable questions about what we mean by a scientific theory. He explains that inflation is a remarkable unification of inner space and outer space, in which the physics of the very large (the cosmos) meets the physics of the very small (elementary particles and fields), closing in a full circle at the first moment of time. With quantum uncertainty its fundamental feature, this new picture of cosmic origins introduces the possibility that the origin of the universe was of a quantum nature. Kinney considers the consequences of eternal cosmic inflation. Can we come to terms with the possibility that our entire observable universe is one of infinitely many, forever hidden from our view?

Poetry. "For Dana Ward, narrative is no linear journey, but a state of being, where meaning zooms into clarity then retreats, wave upon wave of it, like God bits bursting into life from the vast emptiness of space.... I love how thick this writing is, sublimely claustrophobic yet expansive, like a child's nightmare of scale." Dodie Bellamy "Autodidact and knight-errant, Ward often betrays the procedural forms he tries to impose on his labyrinthine ruminations in order to remain faithfully engaged to the traditional task of the post-Romantic poet, an 'ecstatic commingling' of okay-you know and 'starry anaphor.'" Tyrone Williams "I should write a real blurb with real blurb-like things in it, but TCOIW, a kind of lullaby arranging the psychic terrain of my future prosodically, is saving my stupid ass." Anselm Berrigan"

A colorful, accessible exploration of the galaxy's extrasolar planets and the ongoing search for life beyond Earth, illustrated by a leading astronomical artist and spectacular images from Hubble Space Telescope.

Literally all the greatest DC Universe heroes from across time and space join forces to stop a being more powerful than any they've ever faced! But with existence crumbling around them, this may be a fight that no one walks away from. Don't miss theclassic story that altered the DCU forever!

Details the history and evolution of the art of illustrating science fiction books and magazines.