Black Knight
- TESTED
Publishers Weekly Top 10 Best of the Year
In her new collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh delves into the dark heart of contemporary life and life five minutes from now and how easy it is to mix up one with the other. Her stories are post-bird flu, in the middle of medical trials, wondering if our computers are smarter than us, wondering when our jobs are going to be outsourced overseas, wondering if we are who we say we are, and not sure what we'd do to survive the coming zombie plague.
Praise for Maureen F. McHugh:
"Gorgeously crafted stories."â"Nancy Pearl, NPR
"Hauntingly beautiful."â"Booklist
"Unpredictable and poetic ! work."â"The Plain Dealer
Maureen F. McHugh has lived in New York; Shijiazhuang, China; Ohio; Austin, Texas; and now lives in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of a Story Prize finalist collection, Mothers & Other Monsters, and four novels, including Tiptree Award-winner China Mountain Zhang and New York Times editor's choice Nekropolis. McHugh has also worked on alternate reality games for Halo 2, The Watchmen, and Nine Inch Nails, among others.
In her new collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh delves into the dark heart of contemporary life and life five minutes from now and how easy it is to mix up one with the other. Her stories are post-bird flu, in the middle of medical trials, wondering if our computers are smarter than us, wondering when our jobs are going to be outsourced ove! rseas, wondering if we are who we say we are, and not sure what we'd do to survive the coming zombie plague.
Table of Contents
The Naturalist
Special Economics
Useless Things
The Lost Boy: A Reporter at Large
The Kingdom of the Blind
Going to France
Honeymoon
The Effect of Centrifugal Forces
After the Apocalypse
Praise for Maureen F. McHugh:
"Gorgeously crafted stories."â"Nancy Pearl, NPR
"Hauntingly beautiful."â"Booklist
"Unpredictable and poetic work."â"The Plain Dealer
âPoignant and sometimes heartwrenching.ââ"Publishers Weekly
Maureen F. McHugh has lived in New York; Shijiazhuang, China; Ohio; Austin, Texas; and now lives in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of a Story Prize finalist collection, Mothers & Other Monsters, and four novels, including Tiptree Award-winner China! Mountain Zhang and New York Times editor's choice ! Nekro polis. McHugh has also worked on alternate reality games for Halo 2, The Watchmen, and Nine Inch Nails, among others.The apocalypse was yesterday. These stories are today.
In her new collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh delves into the dark heart of contemporary life and life five minutes from now and how easy it is to mix up one with the other. Her stories are post-bird flu, in the middle of medical trials, wondering if our computers are smarter than us, wondering when our jobs are going to be outsourced overseas, wondering if we are who we say we are, and not sure what we'd do to survive the coming zombie plague.
Table of Contents
The Naturalist
Special Economics
Useless Things
The Lost Boy: A Reporter at Large
The Kingdom of the Blind
Going to France
Honeymoon
The Effect of Centrifugal Forces
After the Apocalypse
Praise for Maureen F. McHugh:
"Gorgeously crafted! stories."â"Nancy Pearl, NPR
"Hauntingly beautiful."â"Booklist
"Unpredictable and poetic work."â"The Plain Dealer
âPoignant and sometimes heartwrenching.ââ"Publishers Weekly
Maureen F. McHugh has lived in New York; Shijiazhuang, China; Ohio; Austin, Texas; and now lives in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of a Story Prize finalist collection, Mothers & Other Monsters, and four novels, including Tiptree Award-winner China Mountain Zhang and New York Times editor's choice Nekropolis. McHugh has also worked on alternate reality games for Halo 2, The Watchmen, and Nine Inch Nails, among others.The apocalypse doesn't need plagues or zombies or bombs. All it needs is us. Set in the very near future, WHAT CAME AFTER takes place in a too-credible third-world America that's been hijacked by corporations in the service of the wealthy. The Federal government has collapsed, health care is inac! cessible, and private armies keep order. The upper class is co! ncentrat ed in the cities, while the middle classâ"decimated by disease and poisoned by genetically engineered foodsâ"labors on in a handful of desolate Empowerment Zones. One man, Henry Weller, has had enough. With his five-year-old daughter going blind, he sets out across a ruined America to find her the health care she deserves. He'll have to face a strange and hostile worldâ"from the financial districts of a walled New York to the armed camp of Washington, DCâ"but if he's successful, his daughter might see again. And along the way, a revolution might get started. WHAT CAME AFTER is shaped by issues on everyone's mind right now: poverty, corporate power, access to heath care, the outsourcing of government, parents' obligations to their children. But at its core, it's a post-apocalyptic adventure in a desolate and treacherous world: THE WIZARD OF OZ meets HEART OF DARKNESS, at the end of the American dream.Harriette Madyson is the last woman alive. Twenty years ago ! her world came to an end when a zombie plague engulfed the population of Earth. At the tender age of seven she found herself in a nightmarish situation where the dead literally returned to life. Left with little to use and nowhere to hide Harri now finds herself stalked across the frozen desolate landscape of North America pursued by the former love of her life. All that she has to keep her going is the hope that she can make it home to die in peace.The Mission: North Korea is the second chapter in the Post Apocalyptic World that the Seeker Element has been thrust into. The Team has been tasked with a follow on mission to find the source of the deadly virus that caused the world to be decimated by the living dead.The Mission: North Korea is the second chapter in the Post Apocalyptic World that the Seeker Element has been thrust into. The Team has been tasked with a follow on mission to find the source of the deadly virus that caused the world to be decimated by the living d! ead."3 Years After" is a story about a Special Forces team put! togethe r to help our nation in a most fragile time. The post 9/11 world has forced the United States government to develop new ways to fight and counter terrorism. During the initial testing of the latest technological breakthrough, Time Travel, a catastrophic failure occurs. This strands the test team three years into the future. They are greeted by a new world which has been decimated by war and infested by zombies.
Will the team and humanity survive?
Do they figure out what happened in time?
This is the new version that has been edited."3 Years After" is a story about a Special Forces team put together to help our nation in a most fragile time. The post 9/11 world has forced the United States government to develop new ways to fight and counter terrorism. During the initial testing of the latest technological breakthrough, Time Travel, a catastrophic failure occurs. This strands the test team three years into the future. They are greeted by a new ! world which has been decimated by war and infested by zombies.
Will the team and humanity survive?
Do they figure out what happened in time?
This is the new version that has been edited.The world as we know it is no more. A giant meteor hit the US five years ago, turning a good portion of it into a desolate wasteland. Between the meteor, the nuclear winter that followed and the rioting, it wiped out almost 95% of the population. The government went into hiding and left the remaining population to fend for itself for over two years.
Almost three years after the âstormâ the government came out of their bunkers, the leadership had changed drastically though. The men who had run the country before have since died and the man in charge had been the Secretary of housing and urban development in the previous administration. He was not suited, nor did he necessarily want the job of president but he was in the line of succession and thusly they looked ! to him for leadership. Leadership was in no way his strong sui! t.
Five years after the âstormâ and the remaining populace have had to fight just to survive. Many have lost their lives in the subsequent days and those that remain, stand together and take care of each other. âClansâ have formed where there used to be towns and they are governed by a clan âheadâ or âchiefâ. Duncan Mackenzie is one of these clan heads in a small town just outside whatâs left of Boston, Massachusetts. He and his men find food, water and supplies to keep the rest of the 1000 plus members of his clan alive, anyway they can. This includes foraging, bartering with other clans or if they have to, stealing it from what remains of the old government.
Now the military has been ordered to get the clans back under control, and theyâve sent a new commander to get the job done. After his predecessor's failure to reign in the clans the new CO Colonel Jacobson decides to take more dramatic measures.
As if surviving in a world with little fres! h water or food wasnât hard enough, the remaining populace has to now deal with a tyrannical government trying to regain its long lost control. This is the first in a series of stories following Duncan Mackenzie and his clan as they struggle to survive and fight to hold onto their freedom in a harsh new world.
The world as we know it is no more. A giant meteor hit the US five years ago, turning a good portion of it into a desolate wasteland. Between the meteor, the nuclear winter that followed and the rioting, it wiped out almost 95% of the population. The government went into hiding and left the remaining population to fend for itself for over two years.
Almost three years after the âstormâ the government came out of their bunkers, the leadership had changed drastically though. The men who had run the country before have since died and the man in charge had been the Secretary of housing and urban development in the previous administration. He was not suited,! nor did he necessarily want the job of president but he was i! n the li ne of succession and thusly they looked to him for leadership. Leadership was in no way his strong suit.
Five years after the âstormâ and the remaining populace have had to fight just to survive. Many have lost their lives in the subsequent days and those that remain, stand together and take care of each other. âClansâ have formed where there used to be towns and they are governed by a clan âheadâ or âchiefâ. Duncan Mackenzie is one of these clan heads in a small town just outside whatâs left of Boston, Massachusetts. He and his men find food, water and supplies to keep the rest of the 1000 plus members of his clan alive, anyway they can. This includes foraging, bartering with other clans or if they have to, stealing it from what remains of the old government.
Now the military has been ordered to get the clans back under control, and theyâve sent a new commander to get the job done. After his predecessor's failure to reign in the clans the new CO ! Colonel Jacobson decides to take more dramatic measures.
As if surviving in a world with little fresh water or food wasnât hard enough, the remaining populace has to now deal with a tyrannical government trying to regain its long lost control. This is the first in a series of stories following Duncan Mackenzie and his clan as they struggle to survive and fight to hold onto their freedom in a harsh new world.
The apocalypse doesn't need plagues or zombies or bombs. All it needs is us.
Set in the very near future, WHAT CAME AFTER takes place in a too-credible third-world America that's been hijacked by corporations in the service of the wealthy. The Federal government has collapsed, health care is inaccessible, and private armies keep order. The upper class is concentrated in the cities, while the middle classâ"decimated by disease and poisoned by genetically engineered foodsâ"labors on in a handful of desolate Empowerment Zones.
One man, Henr! y Weller, has had enough. With his five-year-old daughter goin! g blind, he sets out across a ruined America to find her the health care she deserves. He'll have to face a strange and hostile worldâ"from the financial districts of a walled New York to the armed camp of Washington, DCâ"but if he's successful, his daughter might see again.
And along the way, a revolution might get started.
WHAT CAME AFTER is shaped by issues on everyone's mind right now: poverty, corporate power, access to heath care, the outsourcing of government, parents' obligations to their children.
But at its core, it's a post-apocalyptic adventure in a desolate and treacherous world: THE WIZARD OF OZ meets HEART OF DARKNESS, at the end of the American dream.
---
From the critics:
"Sometimes I just keep hearing about a book on social media and I get so curious, I seek out the book myself. Case in point: Sam Winstonâs extraordinary WHAT CAME AFTER, an e-book about the end of the world. I started reading aft! er dinner and didnât stop until I finished. This is no ordinary book. Character-driven, haunting, and gorgeously written, I think itâs a classic."
â" Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of PICTURES OF YOU.
---
For a limited time, WHAT CAME AFTER includes a sample of Lauren Baratz-Logstedâs THE BRO-MAGNET â" about which Mandi Schreiner wrote in USA Today: âThere are so many memorable moments in this book that I could spend page after page quoting them.âThe apocalypse doesn't need plagues or zombies or bombs. All it needs is us.
Set in the very near future, WHAT CAME AFTER takes place in a too-credible third-world America that's been hijacked by corporations in the service of the wealthy. The Federal government has collapsed, health care is inaccessible, and private armies keep order. The upper class is concentrated in the cities, while the middle classâ"decimated by disease and poisoned by genetically engin! eered foodsâ"labors on in a handful of desolate Empowerment Z! ones.
One man, Henry Weller, has had enough. With his five-year-old daughter going blind, he sets out across a ruined America to find her the health care she deserves. He'll have to face a strange and hostile worldâ"from the financial districts of a walled New York to the armed camp of Washington, DCâ"but if he's successful, his daughter might see again.
And along the way, a revolution might get started.
WHAT CAME AFTER is shaped by issues on everyone's mind right now: poverty, corporate power, access to heath care, the outsourcing of government, parents' obligations to their children.
But at its core, it's a post-apocalyptic adventure in a desolate and treacherous world: THE WIZARD OF OZ meets HEART OF DARKNESS, at the end of the American dream.
---
From the critics:
"Sometimes I just keep hearing about a book on social media and I get so curious, I seek out the book myself. Case in point: Sam Winstonâs extraordinary WHAT CAME AF! TER, an e-book about the end of the world. I started reading after dinner and didnât stop until I finished. This is no ordinary book. Character-driven, haunting, and gorgeously written, I think itâs a classic."
â" Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of PICTURES OF YOU.
---
For a limited time, WHAT CAME AFTER includes a sample of Lauren Baratz-Logstedâs THE BRO-MAGNET â" about which Mandi Schreiner wrote in USA Today: âThere are so many memorable moments in this book that I could spend page after page quoting them.âIn volume one of his epic post-apocalyptic adventure saga, master storyteller John Phillip Backus brings this not-so-distant vision of the future to life with intriguing characters, gifted narrative, believable settings and mythic heroes and villains. Driven by a riveting storyline brilliantly illustrated by Asheville, NC artist, Chad Schoenauer, the author weaves his linguistic magic until the reader is utterly imm! ersed in this brave new world and dare not fail to turn the ne! xt page for fear of missing out. On his own in the Wyoming wilderness, fourteen years after the End War and its aftermath nearly wiped out the human race, self-exiled survivor, Hunter Macintosh, is suddenly faced with more than he bargained for-three sisters and a child crossing the uncharted wilds alone. Suspicious at first, Hunter soon discovers they've traveled more than three hundred miles to find him, at the request of their father, Adam Planchet-Hunter's former commander and comrade-in-arms-whose besieged Colorado community is at risk of being overrun by lawless hordes! Honor-bound by a pledge made many years earlier, Hunter agrees to return with Elise Planchet to help turn the tide before all is lost. Set against the majestic backdrop of the North American Rockies, Hunter - After The Fall is an engrossing tale of adventure, betrayal and hope, where the true character of an individual is thoroughly tested and the outcome uncertain at best. Join Hunter and Elise as they battle bands of outlaws, enraged grizzlies, numbing blizzards, armed militias and their own stubborn hearts in an epic tale of good-versus-evil in a potential future all too easy to conceive!
From the bestselling author of What's the Matter with Kansas?, a wonderfully insightful and sardonic look at why the worst economy since the 1930s has brought about the revival of conservatism
Economic catastrophe usually brings social protest and demands for changeâ"or at least it's supposed to. But when Thomas Frank set out in 2009 to look for expressions of American discontent, all he could find were loud demands that the economic system be made even harsher on the recession's victims and that society's traditional winners receive even grander prizes. The American Right, which had seemed moribund after the ele! ction of 2008, was strangely reinvigorated by the arrival of hard times. The Tea Party movement demanded not that we question the failed system but that we reaffirm our commitment to it. Republicans in Congress embarked on a bold strategy of total opposition to the liberal state. And TV phenom Glenn Beck demonstrated the commercial potential of heroic paranoia and the purest libertarian economics.
In Pity the Billionaire, Frank, the great chronicler of American paradox, examines the peculiar mechanism by which dire economic circumstances have delivered wildly unexpected political results. Using firsthand reporting, a deep knowledge of the American Right, and a wicked sense of humor, he gives us the first full diagnosis of the cultural malady that has transformed collapse into profit, reconceived the Founding Fathers as heroes from an Ayn Rand novel, and enlisted the powerless in a fan club for the prosperous. The understanding Frank reaches is at once startling! , original, and profound.
As if an equestrian competiti! on isnâ t enough, Lauren also has to fight for her status as It-girl in this addition to the Canterwood Crest series.Lauren is about to be tested in more ways than one. Not only does she have to participate in a competition that will determine her future at Canterwood, someone from Laurenâs past makes an extremely unexpected appearance in her new life. Can she handle it allâ"or will cracks start to show in her new It-girl armor?Known as The Makeover Guy ® from his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and other national television programs, Christopher Hopkins believes that as they age, women become more beautiful but often feel less attractive. He's out to change that. For more than twenty years he's encouraged women who often feel like they' have taken a backseat to everything and everyone else to come out of the shadows and take center stage. Now it's your turn. Using Christopher's step-by-step strategies and detailed advice,you will learn to:Â
Stills from Changeling (Click for larger image)
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"Allen Ginsberg's Howl & Other Poems was originally published by City Lights Books in the fall of 1956. Subsequently seized by U.S. Customs and the San Francisco police, it was the subject of a long court trial at which a series of poets and professors persuaded the court that the book was not obscene.
Allen Ginsberg was born June 3, 1926, the son of Naomi Ginsberg, Russian émigré, and Louis Ginsberg, lyric poet and schoolteacher, in Paterson, New Jersey. To these facts Ginsberg adds: âHigh school in Paterson till 17, Columbia College, merchant marine, Texas and Denver copyboy, Times Square, amigos in jail, dishwashing, book reviews, Mexico City, market research, Satori in Harlem, Yuc! atan and Chiapas 1954, West Coast 3 years. Later Arctic Sea trip, Tangier, Venice, Amsterdam, Paris, read at Oxford Harvard Columbia Chicago, quit, wrote Kaddish 1959, made tape to leave behind & fade in Orient awhile. Carl Solomon to whom Howl is addressed, is a intuitive Bronx dadaist and prose-poet.â"