The Freak Observer is rich in family drama, theoretical physics, and an unusual, tough young woman—Loa Lindgren. For eight years, Loa Sollilja's world ran like one of those mechanical models of the solar system, with her baby sister, Asta, as the sun. Asta suffered from a genetic disorder that left her a permanent infant, and caring for her was Loa's life. Everything spun neatly and regularly as the whole family orbited around Asta. But now Asta's dead, and 16-year-old Loa's clockwork galaxy has collapsed. As Loa spins off on her own, her mind ambushes her with vivid nightmares and sadistic flashbacks―a textbook case of PTSD. But there are no textbook fixes for Loa's short-circuiting brain. She must find her own way to pry her world from the clutches of death. The Freak Observer is a startling debut about death, life, astrophysics, and finding beauty in chaos.

A teenage girl. A survivalist childhood. And now a bomb strapped to her chest. See the world through her eyes in this harrowing and deeply affecting literary thriller. I’m Valkyrie White. I’m fifteen. Your government killed my family. Ever since Mabby died while picking beans in their garden — with the pock-a-pock of a helicopter overhead — four-year-old Valley knows what her job is: hide in the underground den with her brother, Bo, while Da is working, because Those People will kill them like coyotes. But now, with Da unexpectedly gone and no home to return to, a teenage Valley (now Valkyrie) and her big brother must bring their message to the outside world — a not-so-smart place where little boys wear their names on their backpacks and young men don’t pat down strangers before offering a lift. Blythe Woolston infuses her white-knuckle narrative, set in a day-after-tomorrow Montana, with a dark, trenchant humor and a keen psychological eye. Alternating past-present vignettes in prose as tightly wound as the springs of a clock and as masterfully plotted as a game of chess, she ratchets up the pacing right to the final, explosive end.

I should have died quick. But I didn't. I'm a miracle of modern medicine, only the medicine doesn't get much credit, I notice. People say I'm lucky, or I'm blessed, and then they turn away. I'm not the only miracle. There's Odd too. Polly Furnas had The Plan for the future. Get married to Bridger Morgan, for one. College, career, babies. Etc. All the important choices were made. It was all happily-ever-after as a diamond-ring commercial. But The Plan did not include a lethal drug-resistant infection. It did not include “some more reconstruction and scar revision in the future." And it certainly did not include Odd Estes, a trip to Portland in an ancient Cadillac to "tear Bridger a new one," fly fishing, marshmallows, Crisco, or a loaded gun. But plans change. Stories get revised and new choices must be made. Polly and Odd have choices. Surviving or not. Catch or release.

Anthropic Bias explores how to reason when you suspect that your evidence is biased by "observation selection effects"--that is, evidence that has been filtered by the precondition that there be some suitably positioned observer to "have" the evidence. This conundrum--sometimes alluded to as "the anthropic principle," "self-locating belief," or "indexical information"--turns out to be a surprisingly perplexing and intellectually stimulating challenge, one abounding with important implications for many areas in science and philosophy. There are the philosophical thought experiments and paradoxes: the Doomsday Argument; Sleeping Beauty; the Presumptuous Philosopher; Adam & Eve; the Absent-Minded Driver; the Shooting Room. And there are the applications in contemporary science: cosmology ("How many universes are there?", "Why does the universe appear fine-tuned for life?"); evolutionary theory ("How improbable was the evolution of intelligent life on our planet?"); the problem of time's arrow ("Can it be given a thermodynamic explanation?"); quantum physics ("How can the many-worlds theory be tested?"); game-theory problems with imperfect recall ("How to model them?"); even traffic analysis ("Why is the 'next lane' faster?"). Anthropic Bias argues that the same principles are at work across all these domains. And it offers a synthesis: a mathematically explicit theory of observation selection effects that attempts to meet scientific needs while steering clear of philosophical paradox.

Fiction. Like an expanded Dictionary of Received Ideas, THE BOOK OF FREAKS takes its subject matter from everyday life. Both hilarious and poker-faced in equal measures, this faux encyclopedia categorizes mundanities and renders them starkly unexpected. From circus freaks, to nationalities, to you and everyone you've ever met, THE BOOK OF FREAKS points out what we already knew, but never acknowledged: every one of us, in our own little ways, is a weirdo. THE BOOK OF FREAKS is bewildering in a good way—a bluntly informational yet oddly poetic tour de force. "Jamie Iredell can spin around with a disc in his hand and then throw that disc incredible distances. He can also do freakish things with words."—Michael Kimball

The comedian host of Politically Incorrect draws on previously written material and the "New Rules" segments of his popular cable show, Real Time, to consider such topics as cell phones, fast food, and the agendas of conservative government figures. 250,000 first printing.

“A gorgeous and gut-wrenchingly familiar depiction of the entropic fragmentation of society.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Last girl Zoë Zindleman, numerical ID 009-99-9999, is starting work at AllMART, where "your smile is the AllMART welcome mat.” Left behind by AnnaMom, Zoë moves to the Warren, an abandoned strip-mall-turned-refuge for Zoë and a handful of other disaffected, forgotten kids. In a near-future world of exurban decay studded with big box stores, daily routine revolves around shopping (for those who can). For Zoë, the mission is simpler: live.