Ready Player One

Author:
Editor: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0307887456
FileSize: 1201kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1201

DOWNLOAD

Ready Player One by Summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Now a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg. “Enchanting . . . Willy Wonka meets The Matrix.”—USA Today • “As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simply evaporates.”—Entertainment Weekly A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready? In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days. When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself. Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly • San Francisco Chronicle • Village Voice • Chicago Sun-Times • iO9 • The AV Club “Delightful . . . the grown-up’s Harry Potter.”—HuffPost “An addictive read . . . part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance, and all heart.”—CNN “A most excellent ride . . . Cline stuffs his novel with a cornucopia of pop culture, as if to wink to the reader.”—Boston Globe “Ridiculously fun and large-hearted . . . Cline is that rare writer who can translate his own dorky enthusiasms into prose that’s both hilarious and compassionate.”—NPR “[A] fantastic page-turner . . . starts out like a simple bit of fun and winds up feeling like a rich and plausible picture of future friendships in a world not too distant from our own.”—iO9

Author: Ernest Cline
Editor: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 1524761354
FileSize: 1142kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1142

READ BOOK

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline Summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The thrilling sequel to the beloved worldwide bestseller Ready Player One, the near-future adventure that inspired the blockbuster Steven Spielberg film. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST • “The game is on again. . . . A great mix of exciting fantasy and threatening fact.”—The Wall Street Journal AN UNEXPECTED QUEST. TWO WORLDS AT STAKE. ARE YOU READY? Days after winning OASIS founder James Halliday’s contest, Wade Watts makes a discovery that changes everything. Hidden within Halliday’s vaults, waiting for his heir to find, lies a technological advancement that will once again change the world and make the OASIS a thousand times more wondrous—and addictive—than even Wade dreamed possible. With it comes a new riddle, and a new quest—a last Easter egg from Halliday, hinting at a mysterious prize. And an unexpected, impossibly powerful, and dangerous new rival awaits, one who’ll kill millions to get what he wants. Wade’s life and the future of the OASIS are again at stake, but this time the fate of humanity also hangs in the balance. Lovingly nostalgic and wildly original as only Ernest Cline could conceive it, Ready Player Two takes us on another imaginative, fun, action-packed adventure through his beloved virtual universe, and jolts us thrillingly into the future once again.

Author: Ernest Cline
Editor: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0804137269
FileSize: 352kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 352

READ BOOK

Armada by Ernest Cline Summary

From the author of Ready Player One, a rollicking alien invasion thriller that embraces and subverts science-fiction conventions as only Ernest Cline could. Zack Lightman has never much cared for reality. He vastly prefers the countless science-fiction movies, books, and videogames he's spent his life consuming. And too often, he catches himself wishing that some fantastic, impossible, world-altering event could arrive to whisk him off on a grand spacefaring adventure. So when he sees the flying saucer, he's sure his years of escapism have finally tipped over into madness. Especially because the alien ship he's staring at is straight out of his favorite videogame, a flight simulator callled Armada--in which gamers just happen to be protecting Earth from alien invaders. As impossible as it seems, what Zack's seeing is all too real. And it's just the first in a blur of revlations that will force him to question everything he thought he knew about Earth's history, its future, even his own life--and to play the hero for real, with humanity's life in the balance. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can't help thinking: Doesn't something about this scenario feel a little bit like...well...fiction? At once reinventing and paying homage to science-fiction classics as only Ernest Cline can, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a coming-of-age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you've ever read before.

Author: Douglas Coupland
Editor: House of Anansi
ISBN: 0887842801
FileSize: 838kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 838

READ BOOK

Player One by Douglas Coupland Summary

In his 2010 CBC Massey Lectures acclaimed novelist and visual artist Douglas Coupland explores the modern crises of time, human identity, society, religion and macroeconomics and the afterlife in the form of a novel, a 5-hour story set in an airport cocktail lounge during a global disaster. Five disparate people are trapped inside: Karen, a single mother waiting for her online date; Rick, the down-on-his-luck airport lounge bartender; Luke, a pastor on the run; Rachel, a cool Hitchcock blonde incapable of true human contact; and finally a mysterious voice known as Player One. Slowly, each reveals the truth about themselves while the world as they know it comes to an end. The book asks as many questions as it answers, and readers will leave the story with no doubt that we are in a new phase of existence as a species -- and that there is no turning back.

Author: Amanda Leduc
Editor: Random House Canada
ISBN: 0735272867
FileSize: 713kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 713

READ BOOK

The Centaur's Wife by Amanda Leduc Summary

Amanda Leduc's brilliant new novel, woven with fairy tales of her own devising and replete with both catastrophe and magic, is a vision of what happens when we ignore the natural world and the darker parts of our own natures. Heather is sleeping peacefully after the birth of her twin daughters when the sound of the world ending jolts her awake. Stumbling outside with her babies and her new husband, Brendan, she finds that their city has been destroyed by falling meteors and that her little family are among only a few who survived. But the mountain that looms over the city is still green--somehow it has been spared the destruction that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. Heather is one of the few who know the mountain, a place city-dwellers have always been forbidden to go. Her dad took her up the mountain when she was a child on a misguided quest to heal her legs, damaged at birth. The tragedy that resulted has shaped her life, bringing her both great sorrow and an undying connection to the deep magic of the mountain, made real by the beings she and her dad encountered that day: Estajfan, a centaur born of sorrow and of an ancient, impossible love, and his two siblings, marooned between the magical and the human world. Even as those in the city around her--led by Tasha, a charismatic doctor who fled to the city from the coast with her wife and other refugees--struggle to keep everyone alive, Heather constantly looks to the mountain, drawn by love, by fear, by the desire for rescue. She is torn in two by her awareness of what unleashed the meteor shower and what is coming for the few survivors, once the green and living earth makes a final reckoning of the usefulness of human life and finds it wanting. At times devastating, but ultimately redemptive, Amanda Leduc's fable for our uncertain times reminds us that the most important things in life aren't things at all, but rather the people we want by our side at the end of the world.

Author: Orson Scott Card
Editor: Macmillan
ISBN: 142996393X
FileSize: 1762kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1762

READ BOOK

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card Summary

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is the winner of the Nebula and Hugo Awards In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives. Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel. THE ENDER UNIVERSE Ender series Ender’s Game / Ender in Exile / Speaker for the Dead / Xenocide / Children of the Mind Ender’s Shadow series Ender’s Shadow / Shadow of the Hegemon / Shadow Puppets / Shadow of the Giant / Shadows in Flight Children of the Fleet The First Formic War (with Aaron Johnston) Earth Unaware / Earth Afire / Earth Awakens The Second Formic War (with Aaron Johnston) The Swarm /The Hive Ender novellas A War of Gifts /First Meetings At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Author: Jeff VanderMeer
Editor: McClelland & Stewart
ISBN: 0771093462
FileSize: 370kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 370

READ BOOK

Ambergris: City of Saints and Madmen; Shriek: An Afterword; Finch by Jeff VanderMeer Summary

From New York Times bestselling author Jeff VanderMeer comes the one-volume reissue of his cult classic Ambergris Trilogy: City of Saints and Madmen, Finch, and Shriek: An Afterword. Before Area X, there was Ambergris. Jeff VanderMeer conceived what would become his first cult classic series of speculative works: The Ambergris Trilogy. Now, for the first time ever, the story of the sprawling metropolis of Ambergris is collected into a single volume, including City of Saints and Madmen, Finch: An Afterword, and Shriek.

Author: Sarah Weinman
Editor: Knopf Canada
ISBN: 0735272751
FileSize: 1747kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1747

READ BOOK

The Real Lolita by Sarah Weinman Summary

A gripping true-crime investigation of the 1948 abduction of Sally Horner and how it inspired Vladimir Nabokov's classic novel Lolita. Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is one of the most beloved and notorious novels of all time, selling over sixty million copies worldwide to date. Yet very few of its readers know that the subject of the novel was derived from a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of eleven-year-old Sally Horner. Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, The Real Lolita tells Sally Horner's full story for the very first time. Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, old news stories, public records, and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman establishes with authority how much Nabokov knew of the Sally Horner case and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge during the process of writing and publishing Lolita. As she walks us through Sally's story, Weinman takes us on an intimate and panoramic tour of mid-century America, from Sally's home in Camden, New Jersey, to her place of rescue in California, and back to the East Coast again. The story of Sally Horner echoes the stories of countless girls and women who never had the chance to speak for themselves. By diving deeper in the publication history of Lolita and restoring Sally to her rightful place in the lore of the novel's creation, The Real Lolita casts a new light on the dark inspiration for a modern classic.

Author: Asphyxia
Editor: Annick Press
ISBN: 1773215302
FileSize: 1715kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1715

READ BOOK

The Words in My Hands by Asphyxia Summary

Part coming of age, part call to action, this fast-paced #ownvoices novel about a Deaf teenager is a unique and inspiring exploration of what it means to belong. Smart, artistic, and independent, sixteen year old Piper is tired of trying to conform. Her mom wants her to be “normal,” to pass as hearing, to get a good job. But in a time of food scarcity, environmental collapse, and political corruption, Piper has other things on her mind—like survival. Piper has always been told that she needs to compensate for her Deafness in a world made for those who can hear. But when she meets Marley, a new world opens up—one where Deafness is something to celebrate, and where resilience means taking action, building a com-munity, and believing in something better. Published to rave reviews as Future Girl in Australia (Allen & Unwin, Sept. 2020), this empowering, unforgettable story is told through a visual extravaganza of text, paint, collage, and drawings. Set in an ominously prescient near future, The Words in My Hands is very much a novel for our turbulent times.

Author: Daniel Palmer,Michael Palmer
Editor: St. Martin\'s Press
ISBN: 1250030870
FileSize: 1331kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1331

READ BOOK

Trauma by Daniel Palmer,Michael Palmer Summary

TRAUMA Prepare to be hooked from page one of this shock-inducing medical thriller from New York Times bestselling author Michael Palmer and his son, acclaimed suspense novelist Daniel Palmer. Dr. Carrie Bryant is a much-admired neurosurgical resident at an esteemed Boston hospital. When the relentless pace of her residency leads to a life-shattering error, Carrie loses her confidence—and decides to quit her residency and move back home. Her new life’s purpose: To help her combat-vet brother, Adam, recover from a crippling case of post-traumatic stress disorder. “A unique novel that shows the strength of both authors’ work.”—Mystery Scene The experimental program at the VA Medical Center promises the possibility of curing the ravages of PTSD forever. It seems like Adam’s best option, but Carrie has her doubts when one of her patients goes missing...and then another. Carrie joins local investigative reporter David Hoffman in the hunt for answers. The hospital, however, is determined to keep its secrets at all costs. As Carrie and David descend into a labyrinth of murder and corruption, the price Carrie could pay for asking the wrong questions is her own life... “When it comes to inventive plots for medical thrillers, nobody does it better than Michael Palmer.”—Huffington Post

Author: Project Management Institute Project Management Institute
Editor: Project Management Institute
ISBN: 1628257008
FileSize: 1072kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1072

READ BOOK

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Seventh Edition and The Standard for Project Management (RUSSIAN) by Project Management Institute Project Management Institute Summary

PMBOK&® Guide is the go-to resource for project management practitioners. The project management profession has significantly evolved due to emerging technology, new approaches and rapid market changes. Reflecting this evolution, The Standard for Project Management enumerates 12 principles of project management and the PMBOK&® Guide &– Seventh Edition is structured around eight project performance domains.This edition is designed to address practitioners' current and future needs and to help them be more proactive, innovative and nimble in enabling desired project outcomes.This edition of the PMBOK&® Guide:•Reflects the full range of development approaches (predictive, adaptive, hybrid, etc.);•Provides an entire section devoted to tailoring the development approach and processes;•Includes an expanded list of models, methods, and artifacts;•Focuses on not just delivering project outputs but also enabling outcomes; and• Integrates with PMIstandards+™ for information and standards application content based on project type, development approach, and industry sector.

Author: Anthony Lane
Editor: Vintage
ISBN: 030748887X
FileSize: 1720kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1720

READ BOOK

Nobody's Perfect by Anthony Lane Summary

Anthony Lane on Con Air— “Advance word on Con Air said that it was all about an airplane with an unusually dangerous and potentially lethal load. Big deal. You should try the lunches they serve out of Newark. Compared with the chicken napalm I ate on my last flight, the men in Con Air are about as dangerous as balloons.” Anthony Lane on The Bridges of Madison County— “I got my copy at the airport, behind a guy who was buying Playboy’s Book of Lingerie, and I think he had the better deal. He certainly looked happy with his purchase, whereas I had to ask for a paper bag.” Anthony Lane on Martha Stewart— “Super-skilled, free of fear, the last word in human efficiency, Martha Stewart is the woman who convinced a million Americans that they have the time, the means, the right, and—damn it—the duty to pipe a little squirt of soft cheese into the middle of a snow pea, and to continue piping until there are ‘fifty to sixty’ stuffed peas raring to go.” For ten years, Anthony Lane has delighted New Yorker readers with his film reviews, book reviews, and profiles that range from Buster Keaton to Vladimir Nabokov to Ernest Shackleton. Nobody’s Perfect is an unforgettable collection of Lane’s trademark wit, satire, and insight that will satisfy both the long addicted and the not so familiar.

Author: Lev Grossman
Editor: Penguin
ISBN: 1101535539
FileSize: 1369kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1369

READ BOOK

The Magician King by Lev Grossman Summary

Return to Fillory in the riveting sequel to the New York Times bestseller and literary phenomenon, The Magicians, now an original series on SYFY, from the author of the #1 bestselling The Magician’s Land. Quentin Coldwater should be happy. He escaped a miserable Brooklyn childhood, matriculated at a secret college for magic, and graduated to discover that Fillory—a fictional utopia—was actually real. But even as a Fillorian king, Quentin finds little peace. His old restlessness returns, and he longs for the thrills a heroic quest can bring. Accompanied by his oldest friend, Julia, Quentin sets off—only to somehow wind up back in the real world and not in Fillory, as they’d hoped. As the pair struggle to find their way back to their lost kingdom, Quentin is forced to rely on Julia’s illicitly learned sorcery as they face a sinister threat in a world very far from the beloved fantasy novels of their youth.

Author: Andy Weir
Editor: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 1524763543
FileSize: 382kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 382

READ BOOK

The Martian: Classroom Edition by Andy Weir Summary

In the Classroom Edition of The Martian: Classroom-appropriate language Discussion questions and activities Q&A with Andy Weir Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Author: Alan Shipnuck
Editor: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476797110
FileSize: 1599kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1599

READ BOOK

Phil by Alan Shipnuck Summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A rollicking good time.” —Golfweek * “Thoroughly engaging.” —The Washington Post A juicy and freewheeling biography of legendary golf champion Phil Mickelson—who has led a big, controversial life—as reported by longtime Sports Illustrated writer and bestselling author Alan Shipnuck. Phil Mickelson is one of the most compelling figures in sports. For more than three decades he has been among the best golfers in the world, and his unmatched longevity was exemplified at the 2021 PGA Championship, when Mickelson, on the cusp of turning fifty-one, became the oldest player in history to win a major championship. In this raw, uncensored, and unauthorized biog­raphy, Alan Shipnuck captures a singular life defined by thrilling victories, crushing defeats, and countless controversies. Mickelson is a multifaceted character, and all his warring impulses are on display in these pages: He is a smart-ass who built an empire on being the consummate professional; a loving husband dogged by salacious rumors; a high-stakes gambler who knows the house always wins but can’t tear himself away. Mickelson’s career and public image have been defined by the contrast with his lifelong rival, Tiger Woods. Where Woods is robotic and reticent, Mickelson is affable and extroverted, an incorrigible showman whom many fans love and some abhor because of the overwhelming size of his personality. In their early years together on Tour, Mickelson lacked Tiger’s laser focus and discipline, leading Tida Woods to call her son’s rival “the fat boy,” among other put-downs. Yet as Tiger’s career has been curtailed by scandal, addiction, and a broken body, Phil sails on, still relevant on the golf course and in the marketplace. Phil is the perfect marriage of subject and author. Shipnuck has long been known as the most fearless writer on the golf beat, and he delivers numerous revelations, from the true scale of Mickelson’s massive gambling losses; to the inside story of the acrimonious breakup between Phil and his longtime caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay; to the secretive backstory of the Saudi golf league that Mickelson championed to wield as leverage against the PGA Tour. But Phil also celebrates Mickelson’s random acts of kindness and generosity of spirit, to which friends and strangers alike can attest. Shipnuck has covered Mickelson for his entire career and has been on the ground at Mickelson’s most mem­orable triumphs and crack-ups, allowing him to take readers inside the ropes with a thrilling immediacy and intimacy. The result is the juiciest and liveliest golf book in years—full of heart, humor, and unexpected turns.

Author: Terry Pratchett
Editor: Random House
ISBN: 1407042742
FileSize: 1864kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1864

READ BOOK

Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett Summary

IF NOT YOU, WHO ELSE? As the mighty alien fleet from the latest computer game thunders across the screen, Johnny prepares to blow them into the usual million pieces. And they send him a message: We surrender. They're not supposed to do that! They're supposed to die. And computer joysticks don't have 'Don't Fire' buttons . . . But it's only a game, isn't it. Isn't it? The first book in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy.

Author: Michael Moreci
Editor: St. Martin\'s Press
ISBN: 1250117836
FileSize: 793kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 793

READ BOOK

Black Star Renegades by Michael Moreci Summary

In the tradition of Star Wars, a galaxy-hopping space adventure about a galactic kingdom bent on control and the young misfit who must find the power within before it’s too late. SyFy Wire—January Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books to Pick Up as soon as Possible The Verge—18 Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Read in January Chicago Review of Books—Best New Books of January Cade Sura holds the future of the galaxy in his hands: the ultimate weapon that will bring total peace. He didn’t ask for it, he doesn’t want it, and there’s no worse choice to wield it in all of space, but if he doesn’t, everyone’s totally screwed. The evil Praxis kingdom is on the cusp of having every star system under its control, and if that happens, there’ll be no contesting their cruel reign. Especially if its fanatical overlord, Ga Halle, manages to capture Cade and snag the all-powerful weapon for herself. Cade can’t hide from Praxis, and he can’t run from the destiny that’s been shoved into his hands. So he only has one option: He has to fight. Cade’s not going to let destiny send him on a suicide run, though. With some help from his friends—rebels and scoundrels alike—Cade’s going to use this weapon to chart a new destiny for the galaxy, and for himself. He just has to do so before everyone around him discovers that he’s a complete and total fraud. Blending the space operatics of Star Wars and the swagger of Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Star Renegades is a galaxy-hopping adventure that blasts its way from seedy spacer bars to sacred temples guarded by deadly creatures—all with a cast of misfit characters who have nowhere to go and nothing to lose.

Author: Thomas Harris
Editor: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 1538750139
FileSize: 962kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 962

READ BOOK

Cari Mora by Thomas Harris Summary

A resilient young woman must outwit a sadistic psychopath in this pulse-pounding thriller from the author of The Silence of the Lambs, a "master still at the top of his strange and chilling form" (Wall Street Journal). Twenty-five million dollars in cartel gold lies hidden beneath a mansion on the Miami Beach waterfront. Ruthless men have tracked it for years. Leading the pack is Hans-Peter Schneider. Driven by unspeakable appetites, he makes a living fleshing out the violent fantasies of other, richer men. Cari Mora, caretaker of the house, has escaped from the violence in her native country. She stays in Miami on a wobbly Temporary Protected Status, subject to the iron whim of ICE. She works at many jobs to survive. Beautiful, marked by war, Cari catches the eye of Hans-Peter as he closes in on the treasure. But Cari Mora has surprising skills, and her will to survive has been tested before. Monsters lurk in the crevices between male desire and female survival. No other writer in the last century has conjured those monsters with more terrifying brilliance than Thomas Harris. Cari Mora, his sixth novel, is the long-awaited return of an American master.

Author: Bill Willingham
Editor: Vertigo
ISBN: 1401231993
FileSize: 1290kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1290

READ BOOK

Peter & Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham Summary

Set in the imaginative realm of the award-winning comic book series FABLES, this book takes place long ago, in the deepest dark of The Black Forest. Two brothersÑPeter Piper and his older brother MaxÑencounter ominous forces that change them both irreparably. Thus begins an epic tale of sibling rivalry, magic, music and revenge that spans medieval times to the present day, when their deadly conflict surfaces in the placid calm of modern day Fabletown. PETER & MAX: A FABLES NOVEL features the prose of award-winning comic book writer Bill Willingham and the lush ink drawings of FABLES artist Steve Leialoha. The novel also reveals secrets of some of the regular FABLES series cast members including Bigby Wolf, Frau Totenkinder and Bo Peep. Also included is an 8-page sequential story by Willingham and Leialoha that serves as a bridge to the FABLES titles.

Author: Scotto Moore
Editor: Tordotcom
ISBN: 1250767695
FileSize: 1406kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1406

READ BOOK

Battle of the Linguist Mages by Scotto Moore Summary

“It reads like Snow Crash had a dance-off with Gideon the Ninth, in a world where language isn't a virus from outer space, it's a goddamn alien invasion.” —Charles Stross In modern day Los Angeles, a shadowy faction led by the Governor of California develops the arcane art of combat linguistics, planting the seeds of a future totalitarian empire in Scotto Moore's Battle of the Linguist Mages. Isobel is the Queen of the medieval rave-themed VR game Sparkle Dungeon. Her prowess in the game makes her an ideal candidate to learn the secrets of "power morphemes"—unnaturally dense units of meaning that warp perception when skilfully pronounced. But Isobel’s reputation makes her the target of a strange resistance movement led by spellcasting anarchists, who may be the only thing stopping the cabal from toppling California over the edge of a terrible transformation, with forty million lives at stake. Time is short for Isobel to level up and choose a side—because the cabal has attracted much bigger and weirder enemies than the anarchist resistance, emerging from dark and vicious dimensions of reality and heading straight for planet Earth! At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Author: Neal Stephenson
Editor: Spectra
ISBN: 0553898191
FileSize: 1490kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1490

READ BOOK

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson Summary

The “brilliantly realized” (The New York Times Book Review) modern classic that coined the term “metaverse”—one of Time’s 100 best English-language novels and “a foundational text of the cyberpunk movement” (Wired) In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous . . . you’ll recognize it immediately.

Author: John O. McGinnis,Michael B. Rappaport
Editor: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 067472626X
FileSize: 1680kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1680

READ BOOK

Originalism and the Good Constitution by John O. McGinnis,Michael B. Rappaport Summary

Originalism holds that the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted according to its meaning at the time it was enacted. In their innovative defense of originalism, John McGinnis and Michael Rappaport maintain that the text of the Constitution should be adhered to by the Supreme Court because it was enacted by supermajorities--both its original enactment under Article VII and subsequent Amendments under Article V. A text approved by supermajorities has special value in a democracy because it has unusually wide support and thus tends to maximize the welfare of the greatest number. The authors recognize and respond to many possible objections. Does originalism perpetuate the dead hand of the past? How can originalism be justified, given the exclusion of African Americans and women from the Constitution and many of its subsequent Amendments? What is originalism's place in interpretation, after two hundred years of non-originalist precedent? A fascinating counterfactual they pose is this: had the Supreme Court not interpreted the Constitution so freely, perhaps the nation would have resorted to the Article V amendment process more often and with greater effect. Their book will be an important contribution to the literature on originalism, now the most prominent theory of constitutional interpretation.

Author: Cori McCarthy
Editor: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1492652393
FileSize: 1389kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1389

READ BOOK

Now a Major Motion Picture by Cori McCarthy Summary

Fandom and first love collide in in this joyful, feminist contemporary romance from acclaimed author Cori McCarthy—perfect for fans of Rainbow Rowell and Ashley Poston Iris Thorne wants to blaze her own path. That's easier said than done when you're the granddaughter of M. E. Thorne, famous author of the Elementia series, hailed as the feminist response to J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. And with a major motion picture adaptation of her grandmother's books in the works, Iris can say goodbye to her dream of making her own way in the music industry. When Iris and her brother get invited to the film set in Ireland, she's pretty sure the trip will be a nightmare. Except Iris can't deny the rugged beauty of the Irish countryside. And brushing shoulders with the hot, young cast isn't awful, especially the infuriatingly charming lead actor, Eamon O'Brien. Iris even finds the impassioned female director inspiring. But when the filming falls into jeopardy, everything Iris thought she knew about Elementia—and herself—is in question. Will making a film for the big screen help Iris to see the big picture?

Author: Scott Sigler
Editor: Del Rey
ISBN: 0553393162
FileSize: 1986kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1986

READ BOOK

Alight by Scott Sigler Summary

In Alive, Scott Sigler introduced readers to an unforgettable young heroine and a mysterious new world reminiscent of those of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Red Rising. Now he expands his singular vision in the next thrilling novel of this powerful sci-fi adventure series. “If it’s war they want, they messed with the wrong girl.” M. Savage—or Em, as she is called—has made a bewildering and ominous discovery. She and the other young people she was chosen to lead awoke in strange coffins with no memory of their names or their pasts. They faced an empty, unknown place of twisting tunnels and human bones. With only one another to depend on, they searched for answers and found the truth about their terrifying fate. Confronted by a monstrous enemy, they vowed never to surrender—and, by any means, to survive. The planet Omeyocan may be the sanctuary Em and her comrades seek. But the planet for which they were created turns out not to be a pristine, virgin world. Vestiges of a lost civilization testify to a horrifying past that may yet repeat itself. And when a new enemy creeps from the jungle shadows, Em and her young refugees learn there’s nowhere left to run. They face a simple choice: fight or die. In the midst of this desperate struggle, their unity is compromised from within—and a dangerous zealot devoted to a bloodthirsty god moves to usurp Em’s command, threatening to lead them all down a path to violent doom. Praise for Scott Sigler’s Alive “Suspenseful . . . [Alive] lives up to its hype, packing plenty of thrills. . . . A page-turner that whets the appetite for volume 2.”—Entertainment Weekly “Fascinating and intriguing . . . a cross between Lord of the Flies and The Maze Runner and yet . . . so much more.”—Fresh Fiction “A ripping, claustrophobic thunderbolt of a novel.”—Pierce Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Red Rising “Unstoppable and real, M. Savage is one hell of a heroine. Get ready to be left breathless.”—Kristin Cast, New York Times bestselling author of the House of Night series “Sigler has created a wonderful and engrossing character in M. Savage. Strong and smart, but with the naïveté and misgivings of any teenage girl, she’s someone you’ll definitely want on your side when s**t hits the fan, which it most certainly does.”—Veronica Belmont, host of Sword & Laser “The puzzle unfolds masterfully, right down to the last page.”—Phil Plait, PhD, author of Bad Astronomy

Author: Andrew Milburn
Editor: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1526750562
FileSize: 426kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 426

READ BOOK

When the Tempest Gathers by Andrew Milburn Summary

A US marine and Special Ops Commander recounts his combat experiences through Iraq and beyond in this “powerful and beautifully written memoir” (The Washington Times). These are the combat experiences of the first Marine to command a special operations task force. Andrew Milburn takes readers on his journey from Second Lieutenant to Colonel and Task Force Commander; from leading Marines through the streets of Mogadishu, Baghdad, Fallujah and Mosul to directing multi-national special operations forces in the fight against ISIS. Through it all, he shares the hard-won lessons he learned, and shows how he put them to use in a complex fight against a formidable foe. Very few personal accounts of war cover such a wide breadth of experience. Milburn tells his extraordinary story with humility and candor, describing his personal struggles with the isolation of command, post-combat trauma and family tragedy. And with the skill and insight of a natural storyteller, he makes the reader experience what it’s like to lead those who fight America’s wars. “Simply the finest war memoir to emerge from the last two decades of constant fighting.” —New York Times bestselling author Bing West

Author: Jason Segel,Kirsten Miller
Editor: Delacorte Press
ISBN: 1101939346
FileSize: 365kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 365

READ BOOK

Otherworld by Jason Segel,Kirsten Miller Summary

“Full of high stakes, thrillers, and fantastic twists and turns, fans of Ready Player One are sure to love this addictive read.” —Buzzfeed “A potent commentary on how much we’re willing to give up to the lure of technology.” —EW "A fantastic journey from start to finish." —Hypable New York Times bestselling authors Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller imagine a world in which you can leave your body behind and give into your greatest desires in the first book in a fast-paced trilogy perfect for fans of the hit HBO show Westworld and anyone interested in the terrifying possibilities of the future of technology. That’s how Otherworld traps you. It introduces you to sensations you’d never be able to feel in real life. You discover what’s been missing—because it’s taboo or illegal or because you lack the guts to do it for real. And when you find out what’s missing it’s almost impossible to let it go again. There are no screens. There are no controls. You don’t just see and hear it—you taste, smell, and touch it too. In this new reality, there are no laws to break or rules to obey. You can live your best life. Indulge every desire. This is Otherworld—a virtual reality game so addictive you’ll never want it to end. And Simon has just discovered that for some, it might not. The frightening future that Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller have imagined is not far away. Otherworld asks the question we'll all soon be asking: if technology can deliver everything we want, how much are we willing to pay? “An engaging VR cautionary tale.” —The A.V. Club "[A] fast-paced adventure." —Publishers Weekly "Authors Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller keep the action nonstop.” —Shelf Awareness

Author: Lopez Lomong,Mark Tabb
Editor: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 1595555161
FileSize: 1806kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1806

READ BOOK

Running for My Life by Lopez Lomong,Mark Tabb Summary

Running for My Life is not a story about Africa or track and field athletics. It is about outrunning the devil and achieving the impossible faith, diligence, and the desire to give back. It is the American dream come true and a stark reminder that saving one can help to save thousands more. Lopez Lomong chronicles his inspiring ascent from a barefoot lost boy of the Sudanese Civil War to a Nike sponsored athlete on the US Olympic Team. Though most of us fall somewhere between the catastrophic lows and dizzying highs of Lomong's incredible life, every reader will find in his story the human spark to pursue dreams that might seem unthinkable, even from circumstances that might appear hopeless. "Lopez Lomong's story is one of true inspiration. His life is a story of courage, hard work, never giving up, and having hope where there is hopelessness all around. Lopez is a true role model." ?MICHAEL JOHNSON, Olympic Gold Medalist "This true story of a Sudanese child refugee who became an Olympic star is powerful proof that God gives hope to the hopeless and shines a light in the darkest places. Don't be surprised if after reading this incredible tale, you find yourself mysteriously drawn to run alongside him." ?RICHARD STEARNS, president, World Vision US and author of THe Hole in Our Gospel

Author: Bob Proehl
Editor: Penguin
ISBN: 0399562222
FileSize: 1951kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1951

READ BOOK

A Hundred Thousand Worlds by Bob Proehl Summary

“A Kavalier & Clay for the Comic-Con Age, this is a bighearted, inventive, exuberant debut.” —Eleanor Henderson, author of Ten Thousand Saints "Proehl creates worlds within worlds within worlds, all of them full of surprise and wonder." —Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe Valerie Torrey took her son, Alex, and fled Los Angeles six years ago—leaving both her role on a cult sci-fi TV show and her costar husband after a tragedy blew their small family apart. Now Val must reunite nine-year-old Alex with his estranged father, so they set out on a road trip from New York, Val making appearances at comic book conventions along the way. As they travel west, encountering superheroes, monsters, time travelers, and robots, Val and Alex are drawn into the orbit of the comic-con regulars, from a hapless twentysomething illustrator to a brilliant corporate comics writer stuggling with her industry's old-school ways to a group of cosplay women who provide a chorus of knowing commentary. For Alex, this world is a magical place where fiction becomes reality, but as they get closer to their destination, he begins to realize that the story his mother is telling him about their journey might have a very different ending than he imagined. A knowing and affectionate portrait of the geeky pleasures of fandom, A Hundred Thousand Worlds is also a tribute to the fierce and complicated love between a mother and son—and to the way the stories we create come to shape us.

Author: SpeedyReads
Editor: SpeedyReads
ISBN: 3965082396
FileSize: 1056kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1056

READ BOOK

Summary of Ready Player One by SpeedyReads Summary

Ready Player One is a science fiction novel by Ernest Cline, published in 2011. The setting of the novel is a dystopian Earth in 2044/2045. The planet, which became a globalized civilization, is facing a global energy crisis, climate change and several other issues. Most of the people spend their time in a virtual space/reality known as the OASIS. The designer of the OASIS left a treasure game, the Hunt, to play within the OASIS. The winner of the Easter egg hidden by the designer will get his fortune. The protagonist Wade Watts and his friends compete for the game, while also fighting an evil corporate entity. The film adaptation of the novel, produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, will release in March 2018.

Author: Axis
Editor: David C Cook
ISBN: 0830776974
FileSize: 310kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 310

READ BOOK

A Parent's Guide to Ready Player One by Axis Summary

This bestselling novel and film appeals to gamers, sci-fi enthusiasts, and kids of the 1980s alike, giving families a chance for common enjoyment and deep conversations. If your teens love RPO, this guide can help make sense of the good and the bad and offers lots of discussion questions. Parent Guides are your one-stop shop for biblical guidance on teen culture, trends, and struggles. In 15 pages or fewer, each guide tackles issues your teens are facing right now—things like doubts, the latest apps and video games, mental health, technological pitfalls, and more. Using Scripture as their backbone, these Parent Guides offer compassionate insight to teens’ world, thoughts, and feelings, as well as discussion questions and practical advice for impactful discipleship.

Author: Goldmine Reads
Editor: Goldmine Reads
ISBN:
FileSize: 429kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 429

READ BOOK

READY PLAYER ONE - Summarized for Busy People by Goldmine Reads Summary

This book summary and analysis is created for individuals who want to extract the essential contents and are too busy to go through the full version. This book is not intended to replace the original book. Instead, we highly encourage you to buy the full version. The year is 2044, and humankind has retreated into the virtual world. Wade Watts escapes the ugliness of the real world by spending most of the day inside OASIS—the virtual dreamland where you can turn your imagination to reality, the adventure playground where you can visit any of the thousands of existing worlds. Like all other OASIS users, Wade dreams of finding the Easter egg left by creator James Halliday. Whoever solves Halliday's fiendish riddles and reaches the egg will be granted immense fortune and supreme power in OASIS. Years pass and millions fail. Over time, players all over the world become erudite of the things Halliday had loved: the 80s pop culture. Among these players is Wade, who is more than happy to simply recite Devo lyrics and play Pac-Man with fellow enthusiasts. But one day, he comes upon the first Key. Suddenly, the world, which has long been quiet about the Hunt, begins to watch. Thousands of competitors scramble, including a powerful organization that will do anything in order to get to the prize. For Wade, to survive means to win, but to do so, he will have to stand up and go out into the real world—a place he has long been trying to escape. Wait no more, take action and get this book now!

Author: Ernest Cline
Editor: Nemira Publishing House
ISBN: 6067587106
FileSize: 739kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 739

READ BOOK

Ready Player One - Editura Nemira by Ernest Cline Summary

Senzatia Science Fiction a anului : o calatorie cinematica prin univers plina de aventuri si o poveste deja clasica despre maturizare. Este anul 2044 si lumea noastra a ajuns un loc in care n-ai vrea sa traiesti. Am ramas farar petrol. Ne-am distrus climatul. Foametea saracia si bolilele sunt pretutindeni. Precum multi altii Wade Watts evadeaza din aceasta realitate trista conectându-se zile intregi la OASIS o utopie virtuala larg raspândita unde poti sa fii tot ce vrei tu sa fii si poti trai iubi si calatori pe oricare dintre cele zecile de mii de planete care alcatuiesc lumea virtuala. Şi ca aproape tot restul oamenilor Wade este obsedat de lozul de loterie suprem care sta undeva ascuns in aceasta realitate virtuala: fondatorul OASIS James Halliday care moare fara mostenitor a promis sa lase mostenire intreaga avere si controlul realitatii virtuale celui care va reusi sa ajunga la capatul vânatorii de comori prin intreagul univers virtual pe care a pus-o la cale inainte de moartea sa. Ani intregi milioane de oameni au incercat fara success sa duca la capat cautarea si sa descifreze indiciile inspirate din cultura anilor `80 lasate in urma de James Halliday. Atunci când Wade devine primul om care reuseste sa rezolve primul puzzle din vânatoare el intra intr-o cursa pe viata si pe moarte cu alti mii de concurenti si asta va schimba complet lumea lui. "

Author: Shira Chess
Editor: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 1452954992
FileSize: 672kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 672

READ BOOK

Ready Player Two by Shira Chess Summary

Cultural stereotypes to the contrary, approximately half of all video game players are now women. A subculture once dominated by men, video games have become a form of entertainment composed of gender binaries. Supported by games such as Diner Dash, Mystery Case Files, Wii Fit, and Kim Kardashian: Hollywood—which are all specifically marketed toward women—the gamer industry is now a major part of imagining what femininity should look like. In Ready Player Two, media critic Shira Chess uses the concept of “Player Two”—the industry idealization of the female gamer—to examine the assumptions implicit in video games designed for women and how they have impacted gaming culture and the larger society. With Player Two, the video game industry has designed specifically for the feminine ideal: she is white, middle class, heterosexual, cis-gendered, and abled. Drawing on categories from time management and caregiving to social networking, consumption, and bodies, Chess examines how games have been engineered to shape normative ideas about women and leisure. Ready Player Two presents important arguments about how gamers and game developers must change their thinking about both women and games to produce better games, better audiences, and better industry practices. Ultimately, this book offers vital prescriptions for how one of our most powerful entertainment industries must evolve its ideas of women.

Author: Έρνεστ Κλάιν
Editor: Patakis
ISBN: 9601649344
FileSize: 408kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 408

READ BOOK

Αν είσαι έτοιμος, πάτα enter by Έρνεστ Κλάιν Summary

Το έτος 2044, ο πραγματικός κόσμος έχει γίνει ένα πολύ άσχημο μέρος για να ζει κανείς. Όπως οι περισσότεροι άνθρωποι στον πλανήτη, ο Ουέιντ Ουότς δραπετεύει από τη ζοφερή καθημερινότητά του περνώντας τις περισσότερες ώρες του συνδεδεμένος με το OASIS – μία ευρύτατα διαδεδομένη εικονική ουτοπία που σου επιτρέπει να είσαι αυτός που θέλεις να είσαι και να ζήσεις, να παίξεις και να ερωτευτείς σε έναν από τους δέκα χιλιάδες πλανήτες που περιέχει. Και όπως οι περισσότεροι άνθρωποι στον κόσμο, ο Ουέιντ ονειρεύεται να είναι αυτός που θα ανακαλύψει τον πρώτο λαχνό που κρύβεται μέσα σε αυτόν τον εικονικό κόσμο. Σε κάποιο σημείο στο εσωτερικό αυτού του γιγάντιου διαδικτυακού παιδότοπου, ο δημιουργός του OASIS Τζέιμς Χάλιντεϊ έχει κρύψει μια σειρά από παράξενους γρίφους που θα χαρίσουν αμύθητη περιουσία –και μεγάλη ισχύ– σε όποιον καταφέρει να τους λύσει. Για χρόνια, εκατομμύρια άνθρωποι προσπαθούν δίχως αποτέλεσμα να κατακτήσουν αυτό το τρόπαιο, γνωρίζοντας μόνο ότι τα αινίγματα του Χάλιντεϊ έχουν τις ρίζες τους στην παραφιλολογία της ποπ κουλτούρας του τέλους του εικοστού αιώνα, την οποία λάτρευε. Και επίσης για χρόνια, εκατομμύρια άνθρωποι βρίσκουν σε αυτή την αναζήτηση έναν ακόμη τρόπο διαφυγής από την πραγματικότητα, βυθισμένοι στη διασκεδαστική αλλά ψυχαναγκαστική μελέτη των αγαπημένων ηρώων του Χάλιντεϊ. Όπως πολλοί συνομήλικοί του, ο Ουέιντ νιώθει άνετα τόσο όταν συζητάει για το έργο του σκηνοθέτη Τζον Χιουζ, παίζει Pac-Man ή απαγγέλλει στίχους των Devo όσο και όταν ψάχνει απεγνωσμένα ενέργεια για να θέσει σε λειτουργία το προσωπικό σύστημα εμβύθισης του OASIS που διαθέτει. Κάποια στιγμή, ο Ουέιντ πέφτει πάνω στη λύση του πρώτου γρίφου. Ξαφνικά όλα τα βλέμματα του κόσμου στρέφονται επάνω του, αλλά ανάμεσα στους χιλιάδες ανταγωνιστές του που παίρνουν μέρος στο κυνήγι υπάρχουν ορισμένοι πολύ ισχυροί και αποφασισμένοι παίκτες που είναι διατεθειμένοι να σκοτώσουν για να νικήσουν τον Ουέιντ και να εξασφαλίσουν το τρόπαιο. Πλέον, ο μόνος τρόπος για να επιβιώσει και να σώσει όλους όσους γνωρίζει είναι να νικήσει. Όμως, για να τα καταφέρει, ίσως θα πρέπει να εγκαταλείψει τη φαινομενικά τέλεια εικονική του ύπαρξη και να αντιμετωπίσει τη ζωή –και τον έρωτα– στον πραγματικό κόσμο, από τον οποίο πάντα ήθελε απεγνωσμένα να αποδράσει... Πρωτότυπο και νοσταλγικό, το Αν είσαι έτοιμος, πάτα ENTER συνδυάζει με φιλόδοξο τρόπο μυθιστόρημα μαθητείας, ερωτική ιστορία και έπος εικονικής πραγματικότητας. «Αν νομίζετε ότι τα πράγματα πάνε άσχημα στον πλανήτη, κάντε μου τη χάρη να διαβάσετε το αλλόκοτα οραματικό μυθιστόρημα του Έρνεστ Κλάιν. Αυτή η απροκάλυπτα κομπιουτεράδικη άποψη ενός δυστοπικού μέλλοντος παρέχει μια μαγευτική διαφυγή από τη σημερινή οικονομική κρίση, τους φρικαλέους πολιτικούς και την αλλόκοτη παγκόσμια κατάσταση». USA Today « […] είναι ένας συνδυασμός του Άβαταρ, του Μάτριξ και του Γουίλι Γουόνκα από το Εργοστάσιο σοκολάτας. Ένα βιβλίο που υπόσχεται ότι θα αφήσει εποχή. Αγοράστε το, αν γίνεται, σε πολλά αντίτυπα». Library Journal «Τα δυνατά στοιχεία του πρώτου μυθιστορήματος του Κλάιν, εκτός από τις κομπιουτεράδικες αναφορές στην ποπ κουλτούρα της δεκαετίας του ’80, είναι ο τρόπος που δομείται ο χαρακτήρας του Γουέιντ και η απολυτρωτική αναζήτηση τόσο στον κόσμο της εικονικής πραγματικότητας, όσο και στον πραγματικό κόσμο». The Guardian « […] Όποιος έχει κάνει ή διατηρεί φιλίες στην πραγματική ζωή, ή έχει ερωτευτεί κάποιον που γνώρισε μέσω διαδικτύου, θα βρει τις σχέσεις στο μυθιστόρημα απόλυτα αληθοφανείς. […] Η Warner Bros ετοιμάζει μία κινηματογραφική εκδοχή. Όμως μην περιμένετε την ταινία. Διαβάστε το βιβλίο. Είναι υπέροχο!» Geekplanetonline.com «Ο Κλάιν ανήκει στο σπάνιο είδος των συγγραφέων που μπορούν να μετουσιώσουν τις εφηβικές τους αγάπες σε πεζό λόγο, εύθυμο και συγχρόνως παθιασμένο». npr.org «Ο Κλάιν βρίσκει το επίκεντρο της κουλτούρας των κομπιουτεράδων με την ίδια μαεστρία που ο Άντι έπαιξε εκείνο το όργανο-σκελετό στο The Goonies». Entertainment Weekly «Η γοητεία που ασκούν στον ήρωα οι λεπτομέρειες της ποπ κουλτούρας της δεκαετίας του ’80, την οποία θα πρέπει να μοιράζεται με τον συγγραφέα, είναι συναρπαστική: Τέτοιο βάθος γνώσεων δεν μπορεί να είναι κάλπικο… Άραγε το OASIS είναι ένας τόπος απελευθέρωσης ή μια οικειοθελής φυλακή, ένα μέρος για να κρυφτείς την ώρα που ο ανθρώπινος πολιτισμός σβήνει από εγκατάλειψη; Μερικοί συγγραφείς επιστημονικής φαντασίας το αντιμετωπίζουν ως δυστοπία: ένας ολόκληρος πλανήτης όπου κανείς δεν είναι ξύπνιος και σε εγρήγορση, αλλά όλοι είναι συνδεδεμένοι με τις ρώγες ηλεκτρονικών μαστών. Για τον κύριο Κλάιν, όμως, αυτό είναι ένας τεράστιος παιχνιδότοπος». The Wall Street Journal «Μια τρελή βόλτα… Η μεταφορά είναι πολύ έξυπνη, και γεμάτοι ικανοποίηση συνοδεύουμε με ζητωκραυγές τους ήρωες στην αναζήτησή τους… απολύτως ικανοποιητικό». Boston Globe «Ένα χιουμοριστικό πανδαιμόνιο με μια διεστραμμένη αίσθηση του χρόνου και μια σειρά από χαρακτήρες που σε κάνουν να σηκώνεις τη γροθιά στον αέρα πανηγυρίζοντας κάθε τους επιτυχία. Χρόνια είχε να με απορροφήσει έτσι ένα βιβλίο». Chicago Reader «Ένα φανταστικό ανάγνωσμα… Το Αν είσαι έτοιμος, πάτα ENTER μπορεί να είναι επιστημονική φαντασία, αλλά είναι επίσης γραμμένο για ανθρώπους που δεν έχουν διαβάσει ούτε ένα μυθιστόρημα επιστημονικής φαντασίας στη ζωή τους… Είναι ένα μυθιστόρημα που ξεκινάει σαν αστείο και καταλήγει σε μία πληθωρική και αληθοφανή απεικόνιση για το πώς θα είναι οι φιλίες σε έναν κόσμο όχι τόσο μακρινό από τον δικό μας… Διαβάζεται εύκολα σαν ένα μέσο απόδρασης από την πραγματικότητα, αλλά κολλάει στη μνήμη σου όπως ένας μύθος». Annalee Newitz, io9.com «Από τη στιγμή που οι εισπράξεις της ταινίας Άβαταρ σε όλο τον κόσμο ξεπέρασαν το ΑΕΠ των περισσότερων αφρικανικών κρατών, έγινε ξεκάθαρο ότι τα κινηματογραφικά στούντιο θα έκαναν ό,τι μπορούσαν για να επαναλάβουν την επιτυχία του…. Όμως καμία άλλη ταινία στο στάδιο της προπαραγωγής δεν έχει επιχειρήσει να χρησιμοποιήσει την τεχνολογία στο επίπεδο που το έκανε ο Τζέιμς Κάμερον. Ώσπου εμφανίστηκε το Αν είσαι έτοιμος, πάτα ENTER του Έρνι Κλάιν… Ο οίκος Random House έχει διαλέξει την ιστορία του Κλάιν με σκοπό να το γυρίσει σε ταινία στο ύφος του Άβαταρ. Cinema Blend.com «Το Αν είσαι έτοιμος, πάτα ENTER είναι μια συναρπαστική περιήγηση στην τεχνολογία των βιντεοπαιχνιδιών και μία εκπληκτική βόλτα στη συλλογική παιδική ηλικία της γενιάς μου. Όπως όλα τα καλά δείγματα κομπιουτεράδικης λογοτεχνίας, δεν ξεχνάει ότι οι κομπιουτεράδες είναι κι αυτοί άνθρωποι, και καταλήγει να πει μία πολύ ανθρώπινη ιστορία για την αγάπη, τη φιλία, την απληστία και την εμμονή, που ο καθένας μπορεί να διαβάσει και να αγαπήσει. Alert Nerd «Μια καλογραμμένη, συναρπαστική ιστορία ψηφιακής αναζήτησης. Άψογο περιβάλλον, καταιγιστική δράση, διασκεδαστικά αστεία και απροκάλυπτο συναίσθημα συνθέτουν μία έξυπνη και γοητευτική ιπποτική ιστορία». Booklist «Το πολυεπίπεδο ντεμπούτο του Κλάιν είναι ένα μυθιστόρημα μαθητείας που αποκτάει φρεσκάδα μέσα από το πρωτότυπο ποτ πουρί του συγγραφέα από όπερα του διαστήματος, σινεμά και ποπ κουλτούρα». Publishers Weekly «Παρότι δεν παίζω βιντεοπαιχνίδια, λάτρεψα το βιβλίο αυτό από την πρώτη ως την τελευταία του σελίδα». Charlaine Harris, συγγραφέας «Γοητευτικό και ευφάνταστο… οι εραστές των βιντεοπαιχνιδιών πρέπει να βρουν τον δρόμο ανάμεσα σε ευφυή αινίγματα και αποφασισμένους εχθρούς σε έναν εικονικό κόσμο, με σκοπό να σώσουν τον πραγματικό. Ένα άγριο ταξίδι σάς περιμένει…» Terry Brooks, συγγραφέας «Αυτό το βιβλίο με συγκλόνισε… Όπως και να το ονομάσετε (είτε pulp αριστούργημα γεμάτο πρωτότυπες ιδέες, είτε παιχνίδι σε μορφή μυθιστορήματος, είτε έπος “σοβαρής” επιστημονικής φαντασίας, είτε οδηγό ποπ κουλτούρας), το Αν είσαι έτοιμος, πάτα ENTER θα δικαιολογήσει απόλυτα τον χαρακτηρισμό σας». Will Lavender, συγγραφέας «Ένας οργασμός για κάθε νερντ… φανταστείτε το Dungeons and Dragons κι ένα ηλεκτρονικό παιχνίδι της δεκαετίας του ’80 να έκαναν καυτό, παθιασμένο σεξ και το παιδί τους να είχε μεγαλώσει στον Άζεροθ…John Scalzi, συγγραφέας

Author: Jason Barr
Editor: McFarland
ISBN: 1476634297
FileSize: 376kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 376

READ BOOK

Video Gaming in Science Fiction by Jason Barr Summary

 As video gaming and gaming culture became more mainstream in the 1970s, science fiction authors began to incorporate aspects of each into their work. This study examines how media-fueled paranoia about video gaming—first emerging almost fifty years ago—still resonates in modern science fiction. The author reveals how negative stereotypes of gamers and gaming have endured in depictions of modern gamers in the media and how honest portrayals are still wanting, even in the “forward thinking” world of science fiction.

Author: Gary Westfahl
Editor: ABC-CLIO
ISBN: 1440866171
FileSize: 1633kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1633

READ BOOK

Science Fiction Literature through History: An Encyclopedia [2 volumes] by Gary Westfahl Summary

This book provides high school and undergraduate students, and other interested readers, with a comprehensive survey of science fiction history and numerous essays addressing major science fiction topics, authors, works, and subgenres written by a distinguished scholar. This encyclopedia deals with written science fiction in all of its forms, not only novels and short stories but also mediums often ignored in other reference books, such as plays, poems, comic books, and graphic novels. Some science fiction films, television programs, and video games are also mentioned, particularly when they are relevant to written texts. Its focus is on science fiction in the English language, though due attention is given to international authors whose works have been frequently translated into English. Since science fiction became a recognized genre and greatly expanded in the 20th century, works published in the 20th and 21st centuries are most frequently discussed, though important earlier works are not neglected. The texts are designed to be helpful to numerous readers, ranging from students first encountering science fiction to experienced scholars in the field. Provides readers with information about written science fiction in all its forms—novels, stories, plays, poems, comic books, and graphic novels Includes original interviews with major writers like Ted Chiang, Samuel R. Delany, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Connie Willis that are not available elsewhere Features numerous sidebars with additional data about various subjects and key passages from several classic works Includes hundreds of bibliographies of sources that provide additional information on various specific topics and the genre of science fiction as a whole

Author: Sascha Pöhlmann
Editor: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110659409
FileSize: 1467kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1467

READ BOOK

Playing the Field by Sascha Pöhlmann Summary

American Studies has only gradually turned its attention to video games in the twenty-first century, even though the medium has grown into a cultural industry that is arguably the most important force in American and global popular culture today. There is an urgent need for a substantial theoretical reflection on how the field and its object of study relate to each other. This anthology, the first of its kind, seeks to address this need by asking a dialectic question: first, how may American Studies apply its highly diverse theoretical and methodological tools to the analysis of video games, and second, how are these theories and methods in turn affected by the games? The eighteen essays offer exemplary approaches to video games from the perspective of American cultural and historical studies as they consider a broad variety of topics: the US-American games industry, Puritan rhetoric, cultural geography, mobility and race, urbanity and space, digital sports, ludic textuality, survival horror and the eighteenth-century novel, gamer culture and neoliberalism, terrorism and agency, algorithm culture, glitches, theme parks, historical guilt, visual art, sonic meaning-making, and nonverbal gameplay.

Author: Matthew Leggatt
Editor: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438483503
FileSize: 1626kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1626

READ BOOK

Was It Yesterday? by Matthew Leggatt Summary

Explores how nostalgia operates in contemporary US film and television. Bringing together prominent transatlantic film and media scholars, Was It Yesterday? explores the impact of nostalgia in twenty-first century American film and television. Cultural nostalgia, in both real and imagined forms, is dominant today, but what does the concentration on bringing back the past mean for an understanding of our cultural moment, and what are the consequences for viewers? This book questions the nature of this nostalgic phenomenon, the politics associated with it, and the significance of the different periods, in addition to offering counterarguments that see nostalgia as prevalent throughout film and television history. Considering such films and television shows as La La Land, Westworld, Stranger Things, and American Hustle, the contributors demonstrate how audiences have spent more time over the last decade living in various pasts. Matthew Leggatt is Senior Lecturer in English and American Literature at the University of Winchester, United Kingdom and the author of Cultural and Political Nostalgia in the Age of Terror: The Melancholic Sublime.

Author: Pei-Luen Patrick Rau
Editor: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031060474
FileSize: 940kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 940

READ BOOK

Cross-Cultural Design. Applications in Learning, Arts, Cultural Heritage, Creative Industries, and Virtual Reality by Pei-Luen Patrick Rau Summary

The four-volume set LNCS 13311 - 13314 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Cross-Cultural Design, CCD 2022, which was held as part of HCI International 2022 and took place virtually during June 26 - July 1, 2022. The papers included in the HCII-CCD volume set were organized in topical sections as follows: Part I: Cross-Cultural Interaction Design; Collaborative and Participatory Cross-Cultural Design; Cross-Cultural Differences and HCI; Aspects of Intercultural Design Part II: Cross-Cultural Learning, Training, and Education; Cross-Cultural Design in Arts and Music; Creative Industries and Cultural Heritage under a Cross-Cultural Perspective; Cross-Cultural Virtual Reality and Games Part III: Intercultural Business Communication; Intercultural Business Communication; HCI and the Global Social Change Imposed by COVID-19; Intercultural Design for Well-being and Inclusiveness Part IV: Cross-Cultural Product and Service Design; Cross-Cultural Mobility and Automotive UX Design; Design and Culture in Social Development and Digital Transformation of Cities and Urban Areas; Cross-Cultural Design in Intelligent Environments.

Author: C.M. Alvarez,Daniel Asperheim,Donald W. Catchings, Jr.,Will Daniels,Joseph Holmes,Sheila Krygsheld,Roger Maxson,Cameron McAllister,Jason Monroe ,Annie Nardone,Timothy Nargi, Jr.,Zak Schmoll,Philip Tallon,Charlotte B. Thomason,Kyoko Yuasa,Hannah Zarr
Editor: An Unexpected Journal
ISBN:
FileSize: 1539kb
File Format: Pdf
Read: 1539

READ BOOK

An Unexpected Journal: Film & Music by C.M. Alvarez,Daniel Asperheim,Donald W. Catchings, Jr.,Will Daniels,Joseph Holmes,Sheila Krygsheld,Roger Maxson,Cameron McAllister,Jason Monroe ,Annie Nardone,Timothy Nargi, Jr.,Zak Schmoll,Philip Tallon,Charlotte B. Thomason,Kyoko Yuasa,Hannah Zarr Summary

The Impact of Film and Music Film and music are the language of modern culture. What messages are being conveyed in the movies and songs we love? An Unexpected Journal explores the truths embedded within popular media. Contributors "Serenity and the Theodicy of Joss Whedon" by C.M. Alvarez: An exploration of the themes of evil, free will, and the power of love in the 2005 film. "On Judging Movies" by Daniel Asperheim: A guide on film criticism and judging true value in movies. "A Sonnet to Music: The Language of the Soul" by Donald W. Catchings, Jr.: a poem on the beauty of music. "The Function of Absolute Music for Religious and Non-religous Minds" by Will Daniels: a reflection of the value and purpose of music focusing on the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. "Where are All the Great Christian Film?" by Joseph Holmes: A survey of the existing landcape in Christian filmmaking and suggestions for improvement. "The Value of Smuggled Theology in Music" by Sheila Krygsheld: an examination of the way music conveys meaning and deeper truths. "In Page and Film: Visions of Virtue in Harry Potter" by Roger Maxson: an analysis of the virtues illuminated in the Harry Potter series. "Lewisvaldi" by Seth Myers: a poem celebrating the joy of summer reflecting the work of C.S. Lewis. "Who Authors the Authority? A Discussion of Watchmen and Rightful Rule" by Jason Monroe: an examination of Watchmen's critique of authority. " Twenty Øne Piløts: In the Trenches " by Annie Nardone: on finding significance and meaning in modern music. "C.S. Lewis, Myth, and Filmmaking" by Timothy Nargi, Jr.: a reflection on the ability of C.S. Lewis to convey theological messages in his fiction and its implicatiaon for modern filmmaking. "Bridging the Gap" and "A Series of Unfortunate Events and the Persistence of Hope" by Zak Schmoll "The Witch and the Horror of Eternal Consequences" by Philip Tallon and Cameron McAllister: an examination of the way the portrayal of real evil in films provides real life lessons. "Analyzing the Fact/Value Dichotomy in Ready Player One: The Movie" by Charlotte B. Thomason: an analysis of the movie as a social commentary and cautionary tale. "Narnia Adapted to Film: the Triune Dance" by Kyoko Yuasa: a reflection of Lewis's search for the dance of the Triune in art. "Comedy-Drama in Film: Caught Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday" by Hannah Zarr: a reflection on the way dramedy helps viewers better perceive a Christian view of reality. Cover art by M.A. Listz Volume 2, Issue 2, Summer 2019: 300 pages.