The authors of Hell's Gate and The Himalayan Codex deliver their third high-octane thriller—a page-turning blend of science, history, and suspense featuring zoologist and adventurer Captain R. J. MacCready."Looks like Schutt and Finch are filling the void left by the passing of Michael Crichton."—James Cameron, director/writer/explorerThough the fighting has stopped and Hitler is vanquished, a dangerous new war between America and the Soviet Union has begun. Invaluable in defeating the Nazis, accidental crypto-zoologist R. J. MacCready and Yanni Thorne, an indigenous Brazilian and expert in animal behavior, are working for the Pentagon once again. Sent to a mysterious Greek island in a remote corner of the Mediterranean, they are investigating rumors about a volcanic spring with "miraculous" healing properties that the locals say is guarded by sea monsters from ancient legends.The islanders believe that, like Fatima, the spring is a gift from God....

This is a short story, in the science fiction/horror genre. It is told in the first person. The narrator is in a kind of prison for the criminally insane. He is highly intelligent, but an extreme sociopath.The story opens in Melbourne in the mid 21st Century, as the world is on the brink of a calamitous nuclear conflict. Our hero, Simon Redhead, is a young university student who is unaware that his genetic make-up has conspired to make him a manifestation of the 'Everlasting Hero'. Simon is saved from the forces of evil that are also looking for him and taken to FirstWorld, where he learns about its history and the eternal battle between Law and Chaos into which he is to be thrust. FirstWorld is at the centre of the multiverse – perhaps an infinite number of dimensions that reflect the various probabilities of existence. Originally, there was a single universe and time was linear. We discover that Simon and another manifestation of the Everlasting Hero were responsible for the Sundering, which caused the formation of the multiverse. We are confronted with the possibility that Fate controls everything we do in life and that we have no control over our own actions.Simon finds a group of friends and colleagues to help him in his great quest. There’s a wizard (one of the last of the wise, created by the Great Old Ones to maintain the Balance), an elf, a dwarf, a human warrior, a being of currently uncertain parentage who is the Hero’s companion, and a strange fellow who is perhaps a bard and could be either a friend or a foe. There are possible friends and potential enemies around every turn. There’s a wizard turned evil, who is the main protagonist in Volume One, and there’s the big evil bad guy who won’t be vanquished (or will he?) until Volume Four.We follow two groups of this fellowship as they travel within FirstWorld and through the dimensions and have to overcome many challenges, as well as Simon’s individual journeys through time. Simon’s first quest is to find his Sword, a very powerful talisman, and learn how to control and use it. Others seek it too. When he finds it, there’s an internal moral struggle as to whether he should use its great power. After great soul searching and hiding away in the past, Simon realises that he must accept and face his destiny as the Everlasting Hero and he must use the Sword to save his friends and attempt to defeat the evil wizard, just when all seems lost.

Memories are visions of a past unfulfilled. When time is spent creating reasons to remain in the past we cheat ourselves of the present. Walk in the light of the new day’s sun and find closure for those ends not tied tight. The memories left behind will not disappear they’ll just make the narrative more interesting.Memories are visions of a past left unfulfilled. When time is spent creating reasons to remain in the past, with those memories, we cheat ourselves of the present. Time slowly erodes opportunity as we wear a path from then to now, constantly furrowing a gap between what is and what might be. The reasons why a childhood trauma keeps calling you back or the tug of a melancholy heart from the one that got away or the man who sacrificed his life protecting you, all seemingly tie the present to the past. What happens when the connection is broken and the tired path is finally treaded no more? Walk in the light of the new day’s sun and find closure for those ends not tied tight. The memories left behind will not disappear they’ll just make the narrative more interesting.

Alla fine degli anni Ottanta Gerald Durrell intraprende una spedizione in Madagascar per catturare qualche esemplare di aye-aye, un lemure caratteristico della zona, e garantirne la riproduzione: «Lasciare che un essere così sorprendente e complesso si estingua è impensabile quanto bruciare un Rembrandt, trasformare la Cappella Sistina in una discoteca...». Giunto nell’isola, che gli appare come il profilo di una omelette mal rivoltata, Durrell si mette subito sulle tracce dei misteriosi lemuri. E dopo una visita al mercato locale, dove, sotto gli ombrelloni bianchi fitti come un campo di funghi, sono appesi polli simili a piumini viventi, salva il primo esemplare, altrimenti destinato alle pentole di un’abile massaia indigena. Con il suo incantevole humour, Durrell sa trasformare ogni aspetto dell’indagine scientifica in avventura, in racconto: anche lo studio del vocabolario dei lemuri, con i loro «pop», i miagolii e le fusa gattesche, gli uggiolii canini e i ringhi da tigre. I protagonisti sono sempre gli animali, osservati con occhio ironico e ammirato: flemmatiche oche egiziane in completo di tweed, pappagalli sfavillanti come bigiotteria a buon mercato, felini che paiono incarnare la versione malgascia della Pantera Rosa. E lo stesso occhio amabile e divertito si posa sugli umani, descritti in un compulsivo shopping natalizio tra bancarelle di scimmie infiocchettate e maialini multicolori. Io e i lemuri è apparso per la prima volta nel 1992.

Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, and Andrew is thrilled all the more to be assigned to the ship’s Xenobiology laboratory. Life couldn’t be better…until Andrew begins to pick up on the fact that: (1) every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces (2) the ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations (3) at least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed. Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.

He Was Tall, Dark and Dangerous...Not exactly the kind of man Amanda Vila was looking for as a father to her daughter. Then again, no other man had ever made her melt with desire--not like Tony Ramos. But Amanda always played by the rules--she couldn't possibly get romantically involved with a renegade lawman...a man of many faces....She Was Sexy, Sweet and Secretive...Tony had always relied on his sex appeal to get what he wanted from women. With other women it had been a game. With Amanda... But Tony would do anything to get his kidnapped daughter back, even if it meant seducing Amanda, the one woman who was somehow the key to his daughter's disappearance.

Andrew was one of Earth's first house robot domestic servants—smoothly designed and functional. But when Andrew started to develop special talents which exceeded the confines of his allotted positronic pathways, he abandoned his domestic duties in favour of more intellectual pursuits. As time passed, Andrew acquired knowledge, feelings and ambitions way beyond anything ever experienced by any other mechanical men. And he found himself launched on to a career which would bring him fame fortune—and danger. For a robot who wants to be human must also be prepared to die. . . In the Bicentennial Man, Isaac Asimov returns to his first and most enduring love—robotics. The result is a brilliant book of first-class entertainment and mind-spinning ideas which confirm Asimov's supreme status as Grand Master of science fiction.

A stunning novel about an ordinary man's encounter with the extraordinary, from the bestselling author of Einstein's DreamsDavid Kurzweil, a quiet man with modest ambitions, was taking a break at his new job, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Something no science could explain. Suddenly David's life is changed, and he soon finds himself in the middle of a wild public controversy over the existence of the supernatural. As David searches for an explanation, we embark on a provocative exploration of the delicate divide between the physical and the spiritual, between science and religion as only Alan Lightman could provide. Combining a beautiful narrative with provocative ideas, Ghost investigates timeless questions that continue to challenge the truth as we know it.

The Star is a science fiction short story by English writer Arthur C. Clarke. It appeared in the science fiction magazine Infinity Science Fiction in 1955 and won the Hugo award in 1956. The story was also published as Star of Bethlehem.

Contemplating the nature of experiences in life and love towards oneself and others.Henry is a young man who is confused about life and what he wants. One day while on a walk he stumbles upon a tree that can talk. This tree tries to help me get through his struggles. And ends up saving his life.