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Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks5/21/2023 ![]() Praise for the Culture series'Epic in scope, ambitious in its ideas and absorbing in its execution' Independent on Sunday'Banks has created one of the most enduring and endearing visions of the future' Guardian'Jam-packed with extraordinary invention' Scotsman'Compulsive reading' Sunday Telegraph The Culture series:Consider PhlebasThe Player of GamesUse of WeaponsThe State of the ArtExcessionInversionsLook to WindwardMatterSurface DetailThe Hydrogen SonataOther books by Iain M. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, to actually find it - and with it their own destruction. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade.ĭeep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind.īoth the Culture and the Idirans sought it. ![]() The Idirans fought for their Faith the Culture for its moral right to exist. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. ![]() Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Beginning in 1987 with Consider Phlebas, Banks published eight. Consider Phlebas is a space opera of stunning power and awesome imagination, from a modern master of science fiction. Bankss Culture is one of the most well-known and best-loved science fiction utopias. ![]()
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Cuz by Danielle S. Allen5/21/2023 ![]() But the pandemic has also exposed its glaring weaknesses, such as the failure of our government to develop and quickly implement strategies for tracing and containing outbreaks as well as widespread public distrust of government prompted by often confusing and conflicting choices-to mask, or not to mask. Even worse is that over half a million deaths and the extensive economic devastation could have been avoided if the government had been prepared to undertake comprehensive, contextually-sensitive policies to stop the spread of the disease. ![]() The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated some of the strengths of our society, including the rapid development of vaccines. From a leading political thinker, this book is both an invaluable playbook for meeting our current moment and a stirring reflection on the future of democracy itself. ![]()
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Reckless friend of the devil5/21/2023 ![]() If this is the case with your item, please contact Popcultcha immediately via email to or via telephone on 1300 586 291 (Aussie Hotline) or +61 3 5240 7979 (International Customers). However, sometimes items do become damaged in transit or there is some sort of manufacturing issue thereby making the goods unfit for their intended purpose. We recognise the importance of buying mint condition collectables and do the best we possibly can to ensure they remain that way from door to door. Here at Popcultcha, we take pride in ensuring that your goods are packed carefully and arrive safely to your nominated delivery address. We don't like to brag at Popcultcha, but having been in the collectables industry for over 27 years now, we know all about mint condition collectables and the fastidious nature of collecting stuff! What's more is that most of us Popcultcha Peeps are collectors ourselves! What this means for you is that we pack your orders the way we like to receive our own orders, so we take the utmost care in ensuring your goodies get from our HQ to your home safely and securely. ![]()
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Charles portis books5/21/2023 ![]() We at the Oxford American felt a special connection with him, being the home of the last two pieces he published and having honored him, our fellow Little Rockian, with an award for Lifetime Achievement in Southern Literature. ![]() Because he kept what I’ll call an unsocial media presence himself (he even remained email-less and cellphone-less till the end), the outpouring of affection from his fans was all about his words, which is how he always wanted it. Comedian David Cross showed off his tattoo of the cover art on the first edition of Masters of Atlantis Stephen King called Portis an “American original” and readers from everywhere shared stories of True Grit’s or Norwood’s or The Dog of the South’s lasting effect on them, mostly citing the books’ repeated ability to produce unalloyed delight. The announcement of the death of Charles Portis elicited a social-media groundswell of mourning and appreciation from his fans. WRITERS REFLECT ON CHARLES PORTIS’S LIFE AND LEGACY ![]()
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Mine to Protect by Kennedy L. Mitchell5/21/2023 ![]() ![]() Whichever hits the shops first is the “true” first edition while the other becomes the “first American edition” or “first English edition.” The value of a “true” first is typically always greater. Many titles were published virtually simultaneously in two places, for example, London, and New York. The location of publication is an often overlooked but important detail in a list of information about a collection of books. However, his Travels with Charley, first edition with dust jacket, is worth around $100. A first edition of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath in good condition is worth around $2,500. Additionally, some books by famous authors are better than others. Who wrote that?Ī book is more likely to appeal to collectors, and therefore be worth more, if you have actually heard of the book or its author. If you have one on a good book, treasure it and be sure to protect it with a plastic sleeve. This huge difference in value is largely due to the fact that more than 90% of dust jackets are destroyed, either deliberately or due to their ephemeral and fragile nature. ![]() Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night with dust jacket is around $6,000. ![]() ![]() If there is one single thing that is a make or break for book value, it would be the dust jacket. Dust jackets, dust jackets, and more dust jackets! Scott (1896-1940), Tender is the Night, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934, first edition with dust jacket, sold for: $8,295 1. ![]()
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A Time of Reckoning by A.J. Nuest5/21/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() The singer paired her look with a huge Tiffany diamond necklace with a massive square pendant. The tweed, ballgown-shaped dress included a structured corseted midsection with black-and-white striped piping, a voluminous skirt, and a fringed hemline. This year's dress code for the fashion extravaganza was Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty - paying tribute to the controversial German fashion designer, known for his work with Chanel, who passed away in 2019.Īnd Dua certainly stuck to the theme in the chic number which model Claudia, now 52, wore in the 90s. It comes after she wore Claudia Schiffer's iconic 1992 Chanel bridal tweed gown to the Met Gala 2023 on Monday night at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Perfect: It comes after she wore Claudia Schiffer's iconic 1992 Chanel bridal tweed gown to the Met Gala 2023 on Monday night at the Metropolitan Museum in New York Cityĭua looked to be in good spirits, waving and laughing as she strutted along. ![]()
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Asimov short story the last question5/21/2023 ![]() ![]() AC spends an eternity calculating and correlating all data, until it realizes the answer to the last question. AC continues to exist in hyperspace, pondering the question that had first been asked ten trillion years earlier. Mankind eventually merges with AC, and the universe comes to an end. ![]() In each time period, the question is put forth again of whether there is a way to reverse entropy, with each AC responding "THERE IS AS YET INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR A MEANINGFUL ANSWER". The story skips ahead to several successive time periods in the far future, each with humanity having made tremendous advancements under the guidance of a supercomputer descended from the original Multivac (first Microvac/Planetary AC, then Galactic AC, then Universal AC, then Cosmic AC). On a $5 bet, one of the technicians poses the question to Multivac: "How can the net amount of entropy of the universe be massively decreased?" Multivac responds with "INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANSWER". A pair of technicians, drunk from celebrating, discuss the theoretical future of humanity and the ultimate heat-death of the universe due to entropy. The story begins in 2061, with the activation of the new global supercomputer, Multivac. It is about a question that is presented to a series of supercomputers over a long period of time. "The Last Question" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, published in 1956. ![]()
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Emmet Dalton by Sean Boyne5/21/2023 ![]() ![]() Dalton was the first Senate Clerk and he became a pioneer of the Irish film world, founding Ardmore film studios and establishing the Irish Film industry. In his expansive biography, Sean Boyne vividly portrays Dalton's experiences and the vital role he played in the politics and wars that created the independent Irish state. He then masterminded and led the audacious seaborne landings and successful recapture of Cork City and Munster Republic from Anti-Treaty forces, but was ultimately traumatised when Collins died in his arms at Beal na Bláith. Soon befriending Collins and becoming his close confidante, he accompanied him to the Treaty talks in London in 1921, and in the Civil War that followed Dalton oversaw the bombardment of the Four Courts, personally manning an 18-pounder artillery gun. A decorated hero of the Battle of the Somme, he returned from the war with the rank of Captain and transferred his military expertise to the now rampant IRA, serving as Director of Training, and greatly impressing Michael Collins with his extraordinary daring and nerve. ![]() This is the first-ever biography of Emmet Dalton, an American-born Dubliner, Home Ruler and later Republican, whose extraordinary military career as a British officer, IRA leader and General in the Free State army brought him from Flanders to Beal na Bláth. ![]()
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Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren5/21/2023 ![]() ![]() Originally only available online as The Office by tby789-and garnering over 2 million reads on fanfiction sites-Beautiful Bastard has been extensively updated for re-release. ![]() All over the officeĪs their appetites for one another increase to a breaking point, Bennett and Chloe must decide exactly what they’re willing to lose in order to win each other. But Chloe’s so tempting he’s willing to bend the rules-or outright smash them-if it means he can have her. Despite the rumors, he’s never been one for a workplace hookup. He never expected that the assistant who’d been helping him from abroad was the gorgeous, innocently provocative-completely infuriating-creature he now has to see every day. A Beautiful Bastard.īennett has returned to Chicago from France to take a vital role in his family’s massive media business. He’s exacting, blunt, inconsiderate-and completely irresistible. ![]() Whip-smart, hardworking, and on her way to an MBA, Chloe Mills has only one problem: her boss, Bennett Ryan. I read most in the series as they were released, until recently. ![]()
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Book the magus5/20/2023 ![]() ![]() To borrow a few lines from Frost, there are “miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.” Still, whenever I find myself facing a list like The Modern Library’s 100 Best Novels, let alone a book like 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, my literary score sheet rates remarkably low. This is no great confession, of course every writer has sins of omission. For someone who teaches writing and literature, I’ve always felt woefully unread in the classics. This spring, when my classes were over and I’d finally finished grading student papers, I vowed (once again) to spend the summer broadening my range and depth as a reader. This essay was originally published on October 5, 2008. In today’s feature, Jeremiah Chamberlin reflects on leaving out as a way of welcoming the reader in. Editor’s Note: For the first several months of 2022, we’ll be celebrating some of our favorite work from the last fourteen years in a series of “ From the Archives” posts. ![]() |