Collection: Science Fiction

WINNER OF THE AUGUST DERLETH AND ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARDS - A masterpiece brimming with scientific splendor, magical intrigue, and fierce characters, from the author who "has reshaped modern fantasy" (The Washington Post)

"[China Miéville's] fantasy novels, including a trilogy set in and around the magical city-state of New Crobuzon, have the refreshing effect of making Middle-earth seem plodding and flat."--The New York Times

The metropolis of New Crobuzon sprawls at the center of the world. Humans and mutants and arcane races brood in the gloom beneath its chimneys, where the river is sluggish with unnatural effluent and foundries pound into the night. For a thousand years, the Parliament and its brutal militias have ruled over a vast economy of workers and artists, spies and soldiers, magicians, crooks, and junkies.

Now a stranger has arrived, with a pocketful of gold and an impossible demand. And something unthinkable is released.

The city is gripped by an alien terror. The fate of millions lies with a clutch of renegades. A reckoning is due at the city's heart, in the vast edifice of brick and wood and steel under the vaults of Perdido Street Station.

It is too late to escape.

A single-volume hardcover edition that brings together the three volumes of the Southern Reach Trilogy, which were originally published as paperback originals in February, May, and September 2014.

Annihilation is the first volume in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, Authority is the second, and Acceptance is the third.
Area X-a remote and lush terrain-has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.
This is the twelfth expedition.
Their group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.
They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers-they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding-but it's the surprises that came across the border with them, and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another, that change everything.
After the disastrous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the Southern Reach-the secret agency that monitors these expeditions-is in disarray. In Authority, John Rodriguez, aka "Control," is the team's newly appointed head. From a series of interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, the secrets of Area X begin to reveal themselves-and what they expose pushes Control to confront disturbing truths about both himself and the agency he's promised to serve. And the consequences will spread much further than that.
It is winter in Area X in Acceptance. A new team embarks across the border on a mission to find a member of a previous expedition who may have been left behind. As they press deeper into the unknown-navigating new terrain and new challenges-the threat to the outside world becomes more daunting. The mysteries of Area X may have been solved, but their consequences and implications are no less profound-or terrifying.

The seventh book in the award-winning comic fantasy Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.

Unlike most teenaged boys, Teppic isn't chasing girls and working at the mall. Instead he's just inherited the throne of the desert kingdom Djelibeybi--a job that's come a bit earlier than he expected (a turn of fate his recently departed father wasn't too happy about either).

It's bad enough being new on the job, but Teppic hasn't a clue as to what a pharaoh is supposed to do. After all, he's been trained at Ankh-Morpork's famed assassins' school, across the sea from the Kingdom of the Sun. First, there's the monumental task of building a suitable resting place for Dad--a pyramid to end all pyramids. Then there are the myriad administrative duties, such as dealing with mad priests, sacred crocodiles, and marching mummies. And to top it all off, the adolescent pharaoh discovers deceit and betrayal--not to mention a headstrong handmaiden--at the heart of his realm.

Sometimes being a god is no fun at all. . . .

The Blood Moon marks the start of the Immortal Games.

The Gods of Olympus randomly select humans as their tokens and then gamble with their lives. The stakes are high and survival is unlikely.

16-year-old Ara is seeking revenge on the Gods for allowing her sister to die in the games. She's determined to be selected as a token, but when she is, she realizes that it isn't just her life at stake, but also her heart. With the odds stacked against her, it will take an unlikely hero to twist her rage into something much more complicated. Ara is playing in the games of life and death... and love. What will she sacrifice?

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Zita's life took a cosmic left turn in the blink of an eye.

When her best friend is abducted by an alien doomsday cult, Zita leaps to the rescue and finds herself a stranger on a strange planet. Humanoid chickens and neurotic robots are shocking enough as new experiences go, but Zita is even more surprised to find herself taking on the role of intergalactic hero. Before long, aliens in all shapes and sizes don't even phase her. Neither do ancient prophecies, doomed planets, or even a friendly con man who takes a mysterious interest in Zita's quest.

Zita the Spacegirl is a fun, captivating tale of friendship and redemption from Flight veteran Ben Hatke. It also has more whimsical, eye-catching, Miyazaki-esque monsters than you can shake a stick at.

The Marvel Universe collides with video game phenomenon Fortnite! The inhabitants of the Island are locked in a neverending war, and only one thing has the potential to turn the tide -- a crystallized fragment of the Zero Point that was cast into the Marvel Universe! Spider-Man, Wolverine and Shuri must team with several Fortnite fighters to hunt down the elusive Zero Shard. Can these allies find it in time and avert catastrophe? And can the heroes of the Marvel and Fortnite realities hold off the Imagined Order long enough to give them a fighting chance? Epic Games' Chief Creative Officer, Donald Mustard, teams up with veteran Marvel writer Christos Gage (SPIDER-GEDDON, AVENGERS ACADEMY) and artist Sergio Dávila (CAPTAIN MARVEL) for a blockbuster crossover event with enormous ramifications for both universes!

COLLECTING: Fortnite X Marvel: Zero War (2022) 1-5

A wily young thief must use her wits to survive futuristic, alternate history Beijing in this Les Misérables-inspired young adult cyberpunk that is perfect for fans of Six of Crows and Fullmetal Alchemist.

When Zhong Ning'er takes the job, she expects a smash-and-grab burglary she's doing to make rent and help out a friend. What she doesn't expect: a sad-eyed army boy who dreams of insurrection, a former rebel leader trapped inside a secret lab, a group of aspiring revolutionaries who are first collaborators, then compatriots, and then, perhaps, friends.

But this is Beijing, nearly a hundred and fifty years after General Yuan Shikai successfully declared himself emperor in 1915. His descendants rule the country from their seat in the imperial city, their gendarmerie--the Beiyang Army--run the streets, aided by cyborgs and the Brocade Guard. Walls have risen, dividing the city into districts called Rings--nominally only by geography, but in truth by class. Earthquakes devastate the northern farmlands, crops drown in the southern typhoons, and all over the country people are hooked on a drug they call Complacency.

As a Sixth Ring girl who watched previous uprisings crushed brutally by the court, Ning'er isn't much of an optimist, and she's certainly no revolutionary. But that might not be up to her--as the stakes get higher, the time for passivity is quickly running out, and she must decide if she wants to sit idly in her cynicism, or embrace the breathless, terrible possibility of hope.

This Little Golden Book is based on an exciting episode of Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures airing on Disney Jr. and Disney+!

When the youngling Nubs wakes up sick, his Jedi-in-training friends Kai Brightstar and Lys Solay must search for a special leaf that will cure his ills in time for him to join a field trip he'd been looking forward to.

The first full-length animated Star Wars series created for preschoolers, Young Jedi Adventures follows younglings as they are swept off into adventures and start their journeys on the path to becoming Jedi Knights, learning valuable skills for our galaxy and the galaxy far, far away. The Jedi-in-training will tackle topics of compassion, self-discipline, teamwork, patience, and friendship.

A twisted tale of sadistic Sorcerers and the monsters they create.

In a city so dismal it's known only as "the Hole," a clan of Sorcerers has been plucking people off the streets to use as guinea pigs for atrocious "experiments" in the black arts. In a dark alley, Nikaido found Caiman, a man with a reptile head and a bad case of amnesia. To undo the spell, they're hunting and killing the Sorcerers in the Hole, hoping that eventually they'll kill the right one. But when En, the head Sorcerer, gets word of a lizard-man slaughtering his people, he sends a crew of "cleaners" into the Hole, igniting a war between two worlds.

As En desperately tries to keep the family alive and together, the worlds of the sorcerers and the Hole descend into total chaos. What will happen with the Devils and the sorcerers? Can the Hole be saved? More to the point, can Caiman save Nikaido? The drama and action ramp up to a gloriously bloody climax in this final volume!

FOUR DARK OUTLAWS AND THE PHOTONUCLEAR MAN

Fourteen-year-old Zaha Sanko is the most wanted man in the universe. Wherever he goes, everybody tries to kill him, but things got unusually dire when his enemies send an immortal "photonuclear man" to try and snuff him out. Somehow, Sanko and company survive, and decide to make a pit stop at Darknest, the mysterious planet of darkness. Darknest holds all sorts of secrets, but the biggest of all might be Hajime Damemaru, one of Sanko's companions. Just who is Damemaru, and how does he keep coming back to life?

Midwestern Mayhem!

Remember the '90s? Well...the town of Demise, North Dakota doesn't, and they're living in the year 1997. That's because an alien worm hitched a ride on a comet, crash-landed in the town's trailer park, and is now infecting animals with a memory-loss-inducing bite-and right before Christmas! Now it's up to nineteen-year-old Realene and her best friend Nate to stop the spread and defeat the worms before the entire town loses its mind. The only things standing in the way are their troubled pasts, a doomsday cult, and an army of infected prairie dogs.

From the king of modern space opera comes a new adventure in the Prefect Dreyfus series--Machine Vendetta is a thrilling tale of deadly conspiracies and old enemies that refuse to die.

Panoply is a small, efficient police force, dedicated to maintaining the rule of democracy among the ten thousand disparate city-states orbiting the planet Yellowstone.

Ingvar Tench was one of Panoply's most experienced operatives. So why did she walk alone and unarmed into a habitat with a vicious grudge against her organization?

As his colleagues pick up the pieces following her death, Prefect Tom Dreyfus must face his conscience. Four years ago, when an investigation linked to one of his most dangerous adversaries got a little too personal, Dreyfus arranged for Tench to continue the inquiry by proxy. In using her, did Dreyfus also put her in the line of fire? And what does Tench's attack tell him about an enemy he had hoped was dormant?

The Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies
Aurora Rising
Elysium Fire
Machine Vendetta

THE RAZOR'S EDGE

After leaping 12 years into his past, Takemichi has now fallen in with two leaders of the Toman gang, Mikey and Draken. He's failed to avoid an encounter with the opposing Moebius gang, and a Toman member ends up in jail for assault! A schism splits Toman, with Mikey on one side and Draken on the other. Takemichi mediates between them, but not everybody gets the message, and the festival night of August 3rd is set as the day Draken dies! Will Takemichi be able to save Draken's life when he doesn't even know who wields the knife?

The sci-fi horror manga classic returns, with an updated translation and lettering, in a fully-colorized, premium-quality hardcover for the first time! If you've never read the story of Shinichi and the polite and murderous creature infesting his right arm--or even if you already own the series--there's never been a better way to collect it.

Presented in eight volumes containing about 300 pages of manga each.

Strange parasites have invaded Earth and taken over the minds of ordinary people. Shinichi has also been infected with a parasite, but he can still think and act for himself, and that makes him different. He's already been approached by two mysterious victims of the invasion: Ryoko Tamiya, a schoolteacher, and her former lover, A. While Ryoko may yet be ally or foe, Shinichi barely escaped A's attack with his life intact. Now, there's a new parasite in town, and he's a student in Shinichi's school! Just what do these parasites want with humanity...and with Shinichi?

For more than 30 years, new generations of readers have been riveted to this unlikely buddy story that unfolds amid a world of monstrosities that never stay hidden for long. Since its first release, in 1988, Parasyte has inspired live-action films, spinoffs, and, in 2015, a global hit anime series. The Full Color Collection presents Hitoshi Iwaaki's original manga in hardcover for the first time, with each page carefully colorized and a revised translation for 2022. There's never been a better time to stay up late and get your hand on Parasyte!

Midoriya inherits the superpower of the world's greatest hero, but greatness won't come easy.

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called "Quirks"? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

Summer vacation is over, and it's back to school for the students of U.A. High! But before classes can get started, Midoriya and Bakugo need to settle a beef between them that's been a long time coming. Even if they can get past this bump in the road on the way to becoming superheroes, the hurdles will just keep getting higher and higher--the hero work studies in the upcoming year will bring them even closer to their goal...or their destruction!

Midoriya inherits the superpower of the world's greatest hero, but greatness won't come easy.

What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called "Quirks"? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless?

The students of Class 1-A have reached another milestone--the Provisional Licensing Exam. After making it through the first part of the test, they ready themselves for the next phase, which takes place in a simulated disaster area. Midoriya and his friends have to rescue as many victims as they can, and although the students of rival Shiketsu High are technically supposed to be helping, competition between them is fierce and even dangerous! As the scenario unfolds and villains arrive to shake things up, the U.A. students will have to find new ways to work with each other and make use of their Quirks.