Power behind the undead army is growing stronger. A friend is falling into darkness. Strange allies band together to stop it. Can this odd group of companions save the living from extinction? The army of the dead has begun to rally from their recent defeat, slaughtering the nomads of the out-regions. Reza and company have been preoccupied with mending their wounds from their last encounter with the arisen lord, but the task has drawn them thin, and to their wits end. Met with indolence from the region’s leaders, they are left to make strange connections and allies to help in defending their home state from impending doom. The dead are within the Southern Sands borders, and few have prepared for the imminent tides of war.

How will artificial intelligence change our world within twenty years? “This inspired collaboration between a pioneering technologist and a visionary writer of science fiction offers bold and urgent insights.”—Yann LeCun, winner of the Turing Award; chief AI scientist, Facebook   “Amazingly entertaining . . . Lee and Chen take us on an immersive trip through the future. . . . Eye-opening.”—Mark Cuban AI will be the defining development of the twenty-first century. Within two decades, aspects of daily human life will be unrecognizable. AI will generate unprecedented wealth, revolutionize medicine and education through human-machine symbiosis, and create brand-new forms of communication and entertainment. In liberating us from routine work, however, AI will also challenge the organizing principles of our economic and social order. Meanwhile, AI will bring new risks in the form of autonomous weapons and smart technology that inherits human bias. AI is at a tipping point, and people need to wake up—both to AI’s radiant pathways and its existential perils for life as we know it. In this provocative, utterly original work, Kai-Fu Lee, the former president of Google China and bestselling author of AI Superpowers, teams up with celebrated novelist Chen Qiufan to imagine our world in 2041 and how it will be shaped by AI. In ten gripping short stories, they introduce readers to an array of eye-opening 2041 settings, such as: In San Francisco, the “job reallocation” industry emerges as deep learning AI causes widespread job displacement In Tokyo, a music fan is swept up in an immersive form of celebrity worship based on virtual reality and mixed reality In Mumbai, a teenage girl rebels when AI’s crunching of big data gets in the way of romance• In Seoul, virtual companions with perfected natural language processing (NLP) skills offer orphaned twins new ways to connect In Munich, a rogue scientist draws on quantum computing, computer vision and other AI technologies in a revenge plot that imperils the world By gazing toward a not-so-distant horizon, AI 2041 offers urgent insights into our collective future—while reminding readers that, ultimately, humankind remains the author of its destiny.

When Ellie Bloom's life literally goes up in flames after an apartment fire, she slinks back to her sister's house in the St. Louis suburb she's avoided since her mom died. Ellie quickly caves to her nephews' pleas to direct the temple Hanukkah play—her mom's pride and joy—and by the time she's lighting the first candle in her menorah, she doubts she'll ever escape her hometown. And then she spots the cute fireman who rescued her lighting his own menorah in the window next door. Firefighter Jonah Spellman may have dropped out of seminary, but he still has deep roots in his Jewish faith. Hoping to mend fences with his Rabbi father who can't forgive his career change, Jonah agrees to direct the Hanukkah play, never expecting to clash with his beautiful, fire-starting new next-door neighbor. By day they spar—Ellie's desperate to live up to her mom's legacy while Jonah's driven to impress his dad. But by night they return to their secret...

"We have performed side-by-side on the global stage through half a century.... In Lightning Striking, Lenny Kaye has illuminated ten facets of the jewel called rock and roll from a uniquely personal and knowledgeable perspective." –Patti SmithAn insider's take on the evolution and enduring legacy of the music that rocked the twentieth centuryMemphis, 1954. New Orleans 1957. Philadelphia 1959. Liverpool, 1962. San Francisco 1967. Detroit 1969. New York, 1975. London 1977. Los Angeles 1984 / Norway 1993. Seattle 1991.Rock and roll was birthed in basements and garages, radio stations and dance halls, in cities where unexpected gatherings of artists and audience changed and charged the way music is heard and celebrated, capturing lightning in a bottle. Musician and writer Lenny Kaye explores ten crossroads of time and place that define rock and roll, its unforgettable flashpoints, characters and...

Paris, 1810.Haunted by the French Revolution, Marie Tussaud has locked herself away in her shop with the death masks she was forced to make to avoid the guillotine. Philidor, a famous magician, offers her the chance to accompany him to London to assist in creating a wax automaton that will bring them both money and success.Following a disastrous performance on their opening night in which the wax on their prized spectacle melts, the eccentric Duke, William Cavendish, invites them to his rambling estate, Welbeck, where he suggests they take up residence, use his underground ballroom for a new show and in return create a private commission for him: a wax automaton in the likeness of Elanor, a beautiful girl who mysteriously disappeared from the estate when he was a child.In this delicious novel of twists and turns, Welbeck, with its locked doors and rooms, is full of secrets and no-one is who they seem. There is the seductive aura of Shelley, Dickens and Du Maurier in...

Take New York by storm and steer clear of serious relationships. That's the plan. That's the goal. It's easy too, now that my software company is taking off. Nothing is getting in the way of that--not even my sexy personal trainer. I don't care how sexy and intriguing she is.Mel Dawson keeps talking me into doing things, like watching the sunset and slowing down to enjoy life.When she trains me, and I watch her body, I'm constantly fantasizing about exploring every inch of it all night long, claiming her mouth every time she gives me a sassy reply.I don't even know who I am when I'm with her. I'm suddenly a completely different man. But, I like this version of myself better. Mel's smart, determined, and keeps me guessing.She's everything I need and want, but I've been burned before. I'm used to taking chances in the boardroom, just not in my personal life. How much am I willing to risk for a chance to make her mine?

An empowering look at finding your voice, facing your fears, and standing up for what's right, from the author of Property of the Rebel Librarian. Charlotte Andrews is perfectly fine being quiet—in fact, she prefers it. When she doesn't speak, people can't make fun of her stutter. But when she witnesses bullying on the school bus and doesn't say anything, her silence comes between her and her best friend.As if that wasn't bad enough, her parents signed her up for musical theater. Charlotte doesn't want to speak onstage, but at least she doesn't stutter when she sings. Then, just as she starts to find her voice, the arts program is cut. Charlotte can't stay silent anymore.So she begins to write. Anonymous encouraging notes to her classmates. Letters to the school board to save the school musical. And an essay about the end of her best friendship—and her hope that she can still save it.Words could save Charlotte Andrews and...