In a future that’s lost its soul, a prodigy rises. In the year 2060, an omnipresent network has made humanity into something new. Thought has been hijacked. Emotion has been co-opted. Sensation has been ramped up to eleven, and “what feels good” is all anyone needs. The monolithic O Corporation is the most powerful entity in what remains of the world, having manipulated society’s values for decades in the name of profit. O’s leader Alexa Mathis is genius, ruthless, obsessed with the idea of finding a digital savior nobody else believes in — and swings power even the rulers don’t know she has. Enter Chloe Shaw: too young, too inexperienced, and too naive for the task before her. In name, Chloe is an escort — the highest of the high in a world where sex is queen. But to those who’ve been searching, Chloe seems to be much more. Someone with strange abilities no one can explain. Someone, it seems, who’s able to control the next-gen AI network on the horizon — an omniscient and nearly omnipotent entity known as The Beam. Is Chloe who Alexa thinks she is? As society reaches its tipping point, she must try to stake a claim for our future … before our future is decided by The Beam. Sex sells, yes. But it’s never sold quite like this — with the soul of humanity as its ultimate price. The Future of Sex is a 12-episode serial that takes place in Platt and Truant’s award-winning world of The Beam.

Future Proof is a stand-alone novel written in the world of The Beam: a disturbing philosophical exploration of the future of hyperconnectivity. In a world where the rich hold all the power and the poor struggle to make ends meet, Ryu and his team of rebels are determined to even the playing field. Breaking into Xenia Labs, they hope to steal a code breaker that will give the poor access to technology previously only available to the wealthy elite. But things go horribly wrong during the heist. Two team members are killed, and all the others get away with is a mysterious black box. As the countdown on the box ticks down and resets repeatedly, Ryu and his team start to suspect they may have activated something dangerous. Each time the countdown on the box resets, a black ship appears and pursues them. The box also seems to have a way of getting inside people’s minds to exploit their fears and insecurities. As the team members get picked off one by one, and the survivors begin to turn on each other, it becomes clear that they may have made a fatal mistake in their quest for equality.

PLUGGED is a "future history" written by fictional author Sterling Gibson: a Malcolm-Gladwell-esque work of fiction written as if it were nonfiction, exploring the sci-fi world of The Beam. Are We Who We Were? Throughout the 21st Century, our world (at least for those of us inside the NAU) has become increasingly connected. So much so that we really are now thinking as a single fluid organism, changing not just how we live our daily lives, but who we are as a species. In Sterling Gibson's newest thoughtful exploration, one of the NAU's most renowned thinkers explores and illuminates how hyperconnectivity and The Beam have changed us forever.

A sorcerous swordsmith desperate to achieve true power. His stubbornly nonmagical sword. His princely runaway lover. His hungry new fire elemental. Put them all together, and what can possibly go wrong?... Herewiss is the only man in centuries to possess the Power of the blue Flame, but he can’t use or control it — not even to help his friend and lover Freelorn, prince of Arlen, banished from his native land and pursued across the Middle Kingdoms by the usurpers' allies. Invoking perilous sorceries and the even more dangerous assistance of the fire elemental Sunspark, Herewiss manages to free Freelorn and his little band of followers from their pursuers. Together they flee eastward to seek brief refuge in the mysterious lands near the edge of the world they know. But now Herewiss faces a devastating choice. His time to master the blue Fire is running out. Should he abandon his fruitless search and join Freelorn in his fight to regain his kingdom? Or should he seek out the ancient keep in the Waste where countless doors lead into other worlds—among them, perhaps, the door that when opened will show Herewiss how to break through into the Power he must master or die?... The Door Into Fire, first novel set in Diane Duane's award-winning Middle Kingdoms universe, opens a fantastic saga of magic, adventure and love that has become a cult classic for its uniquely inclusive take on epic fantasy and its unforgettable characters. "Good strong stuff with the right light touch." (Terry Pratchett) "Expands the limits of the swords and sorcery genre. Exciting, magical, intelligent." (Publishers Weekly)

Omnibus edition of the three Dawn of War novels, which tie in to the best-selling THQ computer game.

Let’s spend the night together explores how sex and sexuality provided essential elements of British youth culture in the 1950s through to the 1980s. It shows how the underlying sexual charge of rock ‘n’roll – and pop music more generally – was integral to the broader challenge embodied in the youth cultures that developed after World War Two. As teenage hormones rushed to move to the music and take advantage of the spaces opening up through consumption, education and employment, so the boundaries of British morality and cultural propriety were tested and often transgressed. Be it the assertive masculinity of the teds or the lustful longings of the teeny-bopper, the gender-bending of glam or the subterranean allure of an underground club/disco, the free love of the 1960s or the punk provocations in the 1970s, sex was forever to the fore and, more often than not, underpinned the moral panics that fitfully followed any cultural shift in youthful style and behaviour. Drawing from scholarship across a range of disciplines, the Subcultures Network explore how sex and sexuality were experienced, presented, conferred, responded to and understood within the context of youth culture, popular music and social change in the period between World War Two and the advent of AIDS. The essays locate sex, music and youth culture in the context of post-war Britain: with a widening and ever-more prevalent media; amidst the loosening bonds of censorship; in a society shaped by changing patterns of consumption and the emergence of the ‘teenager’; existing, as Jeff Nuttall famously argued, under the shadow of the (nuclear) bomb.

Writer and podcaster Aaron Joy presents his series of rock music crossword puzzle books. Each book looks at the bands, albums and general history, including famous and indie musicians. Great for the fan, musician or history buff. Visit the publisher www.lulu.com/aronmatyas to find all his books. This volume (37 puzzles) features: Pansy Division, Village People, Stephin Merritt, Bob Mould, Sylvester, RuPaul, Jobraith, George Michael, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Scissor Sisters, Sir Elton John, Ari Gold, Freddie Mercury, Adam Lambert, Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Dead Or Alive, Jonsi, Placebo, Boy George, Owen Pallett, Patrick Wolf, Rufus Wainwright, Soft Cell, Jimmy Somerville, Antony & The Johnsons, k.d. lang, Tegan & Sara, Le Tigre, Ferron, Phranc, Alix Dobkin, Margie Adam, Meg Christian, Cris Williamson, Holly Near, Butchies, Sleater-Kinney, Janis Ian, Michelle Malone, Melissa Ferrick, Linda Perry, Indigo Girls, Meshell Ndegeocello, Joan Armatrading, Melissa Etheridge plus Queercore, out heavy metal musicians.