Gideon, a half-breed mutant with a surly temper and rotten luck, struggles to scrape a living as a tracker in the desolate territory near the gateway to the human world. Business seems to be picking up when Gideon is approached by a powerful dark elf with deep pockets and a serious problem. Human miners at the dark elf's plant are being taken by an elusive predator. Gideon is pressured to find the killer before word of the disappearances reaches the human world, endangering the tense relationship between their two races. But, nothing is simple this close to the conduit between worlds. Archangel, a ruthless mercenary operating in the secret sectors of mutant society, has set his own deadly game in motion. Surrounded by savage wilderness and cut off from contact with civilization, Gideon must find a way to protect his friends and survive to collect his bounty.

The fifth international Conference in Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI 2002) was held in Tokyo from September 25th to 28th, 2002. This was the first time that the conference was held in Asia since its foundation in 1998. The objective of the conference is to offer clinicians and scientists the opportunity to collaboratively create and explore the new medical field. Specifically, MICCAI offers a forum for the discussion of the state of art in computer-assisted interventions, medical robotics, and image processing among experts from multi-disciplinary professions, including but not limited to clinical doctors, computer scientists, and mechanical and biomedical engineers. The expectations of society are very high; the advancement of medicine will depend on computer and device technology in coming decades, as they did in the last decades. We received 321 manuscripts, of which 41 were chosen for oral presentation and 143 for poster presentation. Each paper has been included in these proceedings in eight-page full paper format, without any differentiation between oral and poster papers. Adherence to this full paper format, along with the increased number of manuscripts, surpassing all our expectations, has led us to issue two proceedings volumes for the first time in MICCAI’s history. Keeping to a single volume by assigning fewer pages to each paper was certainly an option for us considering our budget constraints. However, we decided to increase the volume to offer authors maximum opportunity to argue the state of art in their work and to initiate constructive discussions among the MICCAI audience.

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE • SHORT-LISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE • In this hauntingly evoked portrait of rural life, Jim Crace skillfully unravels the delicate fabric of a community in the wake of economic progress. "In his compassionate curiosity and his instincts for insurgent uncertainty, Crace surely ranks among our greatest novelists of radical upheaval, a perfect fit for our unstable, unforgiving age." —The New York Times Book Review On the morning after harvest, the inhabitants of a remote English village awaken looking forward to a hard-earned day of rest and feasting at their landowner's table. But the sky is marred by two conspicuous columns of smoke, replacing pleasurable anticipation with alarm and suspicion. One smoke column is the result of an overnight fire that has damaged the master's outbuildings. The second column rises from the wooded edge of the village, sent up by newcomers to announce their presence. In the minds of the wary villagers a mere coincidence of events appears to be unlikely, with violent confrontation looming as the unavoidable outcome. Meanwhile, another newcomer has recently been spotted taking careful notes and making drawings of the land. It is his presence more than any other that will threaten the village's entire way of life. In effortless and tender prose, Jim Crace details the unraveling of a pastoral idyll in the wake of economic progress. His tale is timeless and unsettling, framed by a beautifully evoked world that will linger in your memory long after you finish reading.

In a sublime landscape, Jack Selvedge struggles against betrayal to save his farm, Mormon faith, and the girl he loves.

In the spirit of Michael Pollen's Omnivore's Dilemma, The Story of Seeds is a timely work of nonfiction that reveals the loss of even the smallest seeds can have irreparable ramifications.