Tags:science

1Q84 Sampler

1Q84 Sampler

A FREE SAMPLER OF HARUKI MURAKAMI'S NEW MASTERPIECEThis sampler contains the first two chapters of Haruki Murakami's magnum opus, 1Q84, introducing the reader to the hero and heroine of the story, Tengo and Aomame.The full ebook of Books One and Two will be available in one volume on 18th October 2011, followed by the ebook of Book Three on 25th October.The year is 1984. Aomame sits in a taxi on the expressway in Tokyo.Her work is not the kind which can be discussed in public but she is in a hurry to carry out an assignment and, with the traffic at a stand-still, the driver proposes a solution. She agrees, but as a result of her actions starts to feel increasingly detached from the real world. She has been on a top-secret mission, and her next job will lead her to encounter the apparently superhuman founder of a religious cult.Meanwhile, Tengo is leading a nondescript life but wishes to become a writer. He inadvertently becomes involved in a strange affair surrounding a literary prize to which a mysterious seventeen-year-old girl has submitted her remarkable first novel. It seems to be based on her own experiences and moves readers in unusual ways. Can her story really be true?Both Aomame and Tengo notice that the world has grown strange; both realise that they are indispensable to each other. While their stories influence one another, at times by accident and at times intentionally, the two come closer and closer to intertwining.

1Q84: Books 1 and 2

1Q84: Books 1 and 2

*PRE-ORDER HARUKI MURAKAMI’S NEW NOVEL, THE CITY AND ITS UNCERTAIN WALLS, NOW*Read this imaginative masterpiece from the internationally bestselling author of Norwegian WoodThe year is 1984. Aomame sits in a taxi on the expressway in Tokyo.Her work is not the kind which can be discussed in public but she is in a hurry to carry out an assignment and, with the traffic at a stand-still, the driver proposes a solution. She agrees, but as a result of her actions starts to feel increasingly detached from the real world. She has been on a top-secret mission, and her next job will lead her to encounter the apparently superhuman founder of a religious cult.Meanwhile, Tengo wishes to become a writer. He inadvertently becomes involved in a strange affair surrounding a literary prize to which a mysterious seventeen-year-old girl has submitted her remarkable first novel. It seems to be based on her own experiences and moves readers in unusual ways. Can her story really be true?Both Aomame and Tengo notice that the world has grown strange; both realise that they are indispensable to each other. While their stories influence one another, at times by accident and at times intentionally, the two come closer and closer to intertwining.'It is a work of maddening brilliance and gripping originality, deceptively casual in style, but vibrating with wit, intellect and ambition' The Times

1Q84

1Q84

The year is 1Q84. This is the real world, there is no doubt about that. But in this world, there are two moons in the sky.In this world, the fates of two people, Tengo and Aomame, are closely intertwined. They are each, in their own way, doing something very dangerous. And in this world, there seems no way to save them both.Something extraordinary is starting.*PRE-ORDER HARUKI MURAKAMI’S NEW NOVEL, THE CITY AND ITS UNCERTAIN WALLS, NOW*'1Q84 has a range and sophistication that surpasses anything else in his oeuvre.' Independent on Sunday‘Murakami's magnum opus’ Japan Times‘Vibrating with wit, intellect and ambition’ The Times

Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers (Manga) Volume 5

Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers (Manga) Volume 5

With the harpy queen defeated, Makoto Takatsuki and his long-lost friend Aya Sasaki attempt to leave Labyrinthos. However, they stumble across another classmate in desperate need of aid—Ryousuke Sakurai, the Hero of Light, who’s facing off against a pair of blight dragons! By channeling the powerful mana of the water elementals, Makoto is able to flush out the dragons, clearing the way for the Hero of Light to shine. Afterward, Makoto just wants to celebrate his victories, but his skills with elemental magic have attracted the attention of the most powerful mage on the continent, the White Grandsage. What’s worse, she knows that he’s the apostle of a wicked deity! Will this reveal change the dynamic of Makoto’s friendships? And what will he make of the shocking truth he learns about Noah?

Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers (Manga) Volume 2

Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers (Manga) Volume 2

After being summoned to another world with his classmates, Makoto Takatsuki starts a new game and a life of adventure. But as an apprentice mage with weak skills, he's playing on hard mode! At the start of his journey, he becomes the sole believer of Noah, a cute goddess who's actually a wicked deity. She’s trapped in an ultra-difficult dungeon, and Makoto has vowed to clear it and rescue her.But first, he has to become stronger. In between bouts of intense training, he befriends the elven fire mage, Lucy. Her magic is overpowered, but she’s unfortunately a bit butterfingered when aiming. Together, they tackle all sorts of quests―including one that brings them face-to-face with a fearsome griffin! During this harrowing fight, Noah commands Makoto to escape and leave his new party member behind, but..."Goddess, I won't abandon my partner."Will the eccentric fighting style of our cheatless hero allow him to grasp victory from the beak of defeat?

Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers (Manga) Volume 1

Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers (Manga) Volume 1

Makoto Takatsuki is a normal high school student and a hardcore RPG player. However, “normal” goes out the window when his whole class is involved in a bus crash and whisked away to another world! Powerful gods rule this strange new land of magic and monsters, and every newcomer is blessed with strong stats and unique skills. Well, not quite. Makoto’s stats turn out to be pathetic, and his skills are super weak compared to his classmates’...he’s even stuck as an apprentice mage. Worse still, he’s given only ten years to live! Luckily, Makoto soon meets a minor goddess named Noah, who appears in Makoto’s dreams and asks him to become her first believer. With the help of Noah's blessings and a divine weapon, Makoto seeks to become strong enough to rescue his goddess from the dungeon where she’s been trapped. By training hard and using his weak skills in unorthodox ways, Makoto proves that, even when playing on hardcore difficulty, an RPG player always makes it to the end!

Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers (Manga) Volume 4

Full Clearing Another World under a Goddess with Zero Believers (Manga) Volume 4

While venturing through Labyrinthos, Makoto Takatsuki and his party are attacked by a dragon and sent tumbling into the dungeon’s inner depths. But just when all hope of escape seems lost, Makoto miraculously reunites with his former classmate Aya Sasaki—who’s reincarnated as a lamia! Aya recounts her harrowing rebirth and the tragedy that befell her lamia family at the hands of the harpies. She’s sworn vengeance upon the whole harpy flock, including their loathsome calamity class queen. And as an RPG and boss battle aficionado, Makoto is all too happy to lend an old friend a hand Now he’ll have to rally his party and prepare an infallible counterstrike, but the harpy queen may have an unforeseen and devastating ability in her arsenal... Hardcore mode is about to get even harder! Can Makoto optimize his party’s skills to beat this deadly boss? 

Terok Nor: Dawn of the Eagles

Terok Nor: Dawn of the Eagles

Before the Dominion War and the decimation of Cardassia...before the coming of the Emissary and the discovery of the wormhole...before space station Terok Nor became Deep Space 9™...there was the Occupation: the military takeover of an alien planet and the violent insurgency that fought against it. Now that fifty-year tale of warring ideologies, terrorism, greed, secret intelligence, moral compromises, and embattled faiths is at last given its due in the three-book saga of Star Trek's Lost Era... TEROK NOR As violence all across Bajor continues to escalate, Cardassian forces tighten their grip on the captive planet, driving back the resistance at every turn; but on Terok Nor and elsewhere, the winds of change are stirring -- the beginnings of a hurricane that will alter the landscape of the Occupation. And while secret dealings, shifting alliances, and personal demons buoy the wings of revolution, a mysterious shape-shifting life form begins a journey that will decide the fate of worlds.

Cloak: Section 31

Cloak: Section 31

NO LAW. NO CONSCIENCE. NO STOPPING THEM.They are the self-appointed protectors of the Federation. Amoral, shrouded in secrecy, answerable to no one, Section 31 is the mysterious covert operations division of Starfleet, a rogue shadow group committed to safeguarding the Federation at any cost. Once, in order to preserve the galaxy's fragile balance of power, Captain James T. Kirk carried out a dangerous mission to capture a cloaking device from the Romulan Star Empire. Months later, while investigating a mysterious disaster aboard a Federation starship, Kirk discovers that the same technology he obtained for the sake of peace is being put to sinister purposes. What the crew of the Starship Enterprise™ uncovers will send shock waves through the quadrant, as Section 31 sets in motion a plan that could bring the major powers of the galaxy to their knees.

Unity

Unity

As the crises on the space station Deep Space 9 come to a head, Captain Sisko returns for the birth of his child and the planet Bajor’s entry into the Federation in this landmark Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel.On the eve of Bajor’s formal entry into the Federation, First Minister Shakaar is assassinated, derailing the induction and plunging the planet and station Deep Space 9 into chaos. Investigation into the murder revealed the presence of a parasitic conspiracy threatening not only Bajor’s future with the Federation, but the very survival of both. Now, after a harrowing and historic voyage of exploration in the Gamma Quadrant, the weary, wounded crew of the U.S.S. Defiant is at last coming home. But the joy of their return is short-lived as the crew becomes swept up in the crisis aboard the station, with many of them confronting personal issues that force them to make life-altering choices. Among those is a grief-stricken Commander Elias Vaughn, who reaches a crossroads in his life’s journey and learns the true purpose for which he was Touched by the Prophets...as well as the ultimate fate of Captain Benjamin Sisko. And somewhere on Bajor, a child long awaited is about to be born.

Terok Nor: Night of the Wolves

Terok Nor: Night of the Wolves

The true story behind one of the greatest tragedies in Star Trek history, and the rise of some of its greatest heroes in this thrilling and unputdownable novel.Before the Dominion War and the decimation of Cardassia...before the coming of the Emissary and the discovery of the wormhole...before space station Terok Nor became Deep Space Nine...there was the Occupation: the military takeover of an alien planet and the violent insurgency that fought against it. Now that fifty-year tale of warring ideologies, terrorism, greed, secret intelligence, moral compromises, and embattled faiths is at last given its due in the three-book saga of Star Trek’s Lost Era... Eighteen years into the Occupation, a new star rises in Bajor’s sky. It is the seat of power in this system, a place of slave labor and harsh summary judgments, the symbol of Cardassian might and the futility of resisting it. But even as the gray metal crown of Terok Nor ascends to its zenith, ragtag pockets of Bajoran rebels—including a fierce young fighter named Kira Nerys—have begun to strike back at their world’s oppressors, and they intend to show the Cardassians that the night belongs to them.

Star Trek: The Original Series: Inception

Star Trek: The Original Series: Inception

As man expands beyond explored space, the need to find a way to make inhospitable planets habitable grows greater. One young biologist, Carol Marcus, has a project that she believes can reshape planets. A young committed scientist, she dares to dream of a Federation where there is never any hunger and every world is a paradise. Her dream is shared by James Kirk, a young Starfleet officer and her lover. One of Carol’s more enthusiastic team members is botanist Leila Kalomi. Leila finds Carol’s passion contagious, and sparks the interest of the Enterprise’s science officer, Spock, who convinces her to join Project: Inception.