Knowledge is expanding exponentially, as humanity fills the galaxy and then some. But advances in physics (which Draper describes in fictional mathematical terms) are able to keep up with the storage problem, until all of human knowledge, for all time to come, is packed into one drawer. Of course, there is one wee problem. Retrieval is ultimately macroscopic. And so the indexes grow. And when they get miniaturized, the indexes to the indexes grow. And so on, which then leads to a higher-order index of the iterated indexes, and then so on again. All this is spelled out in some detail.

The neverending recursion, while threatening to grow to Ackermann-like proportions, is still manageable. But when a spontaneously generated Gödelian self-reference is discovered in the indexing system, the whole lbry, and with it all of human civilization, collapses overnight. . .

By

A charmingly gothic, fiendishly funny Faustian tale about a brilliant scientist who makes a deal with the Devil, twice.

Johannes Cabal sold his soul years ago in order to learn the laws of necromancy. Now he wants it back. Amused and slightly bored, Satan proposes a little wager: Johannes has to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls or he will be damned forever. This time for real. Accepting the bargain, Jonathan is given one calendar year and a traveling carnival to complete his task. With little time to waste, Johannes raises a motley crew from the dead and enlists his brother, Horst, a charismatic vampire to help him run his nefarious road show, resulting in mayhem at every turn.

It was a utopian future for writers. The invention of the wordmill – nicknamed the "Silver Egghead" – did all the hard work, grinding out endless stories for an insatiable public. All the writers had to do was cash their checks and pose for publicity photos.

One day the writers revolted. The time had come to get back to business, so they destroyed the wordmills.

Then they discovered that they had nothing to say.

Two hundred years after her death, Jane Austen is still surrounded by the literature she loves—but now it's because she's the owner of Flyleaf Books in a sleepy college town in Upstate New York. Every day she watches her novels fly off the shelves—along with dozens of unauthorized sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations. Jane may be undead, but her books have taken on a life of their own.

To make matters worse, the manuscript she finished just before being turned into a vampire has been rejected by publishers—116 times. Jane longs to let the world know who she is, but when a sudden twist of fate thrusts her back into the spotlight, she must hide her real identity—and fend off a dark man from her past while juggling two modern suitors. Will the inimitable Jane Austen be able to keep her cool in this comedy of manners, or will she show everyone what a woman with a sharp wit and an even sharper set of fangs can do?

Life was a lot easier for Jane when she was just an unknown, undead bookstore owner in a sleepy hamlet in upstate New York. But now the world embraces her as Jane Fairfax, author of the bestselling novel —and she’s having a killer time trying to keep her true identity as Jane Austen a secret. Even the ongoing lessons in How to Be a Vampire, taught by her former lover Lord Byron, don’t seem to be helping much. Jane can barely focus on her boyfriend, Walter, while keeping him in the dark about her more sanguine tastes.

To make matters worse, Walter announces that his mother is coming for a visit—and she’s expecting Jane to be Jewish. Add in a demanding new editor, a convention of romance readers in period costume, a Hollywood camera crew following Jane’s every move, and the constant threat of a certain bloodsucking Brontë sister coming back to finish her off, and it’s enough to make even the most well-mannered heroine go batty!

What is an orc?

An orc is an 18 stone fighting machine, made of muscle, hide, talon and tusk, with a villainous disposition and a mean sense of humour. And, of course, an orc is a poor dumb grunt — the much abused foot soldier of the Evil Horde of Darkness.

The usual last battle of Good against Evil is about to begin. Orc Captain Ashnak and his war-band know exactly what they can expect. The forces of Light are outnumbered, full of headstrong heroes devoid of tactics — but the Light’s still going to win. Orcs — the sword fodder in the front line — will die by the thousands.

Life’s a bitch.

In San Francisco, the souls of the dead are mysteriously disappearing — and you know that can't be good — in New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore's delightfully funny sequel to A Dirty Job.

Something really strange is happening in the City by the Bay. People are dying, but their souls are not being collected. Someone — or something — is stealing them and no one knows where they are going, or why, but it has something to do with that big orange bridge. Death Merchant Charlie Asher is just as flummoxed as everyone else. He's trapped in the body of a fourteen-inch-tall "meat" waiting for his Buddhist nun girlfriend, Audrey, to find him a suitable new body to play host.

To get to the bottom of this abomination, a motley crew of heroes will band together: the seven-foot-tall death merchant Minty Fresh; retired policeman turned bookseller Alphonse Rivera; the Emperor of San Francisco and his dogs, Bummer and Lazarus; and Lily, the former Goth girl. Now if only they can get little Sophie to stop babbling about the coming battle for the very soul of humankind…

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse.

And Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder.

He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, and occasionally snookered and out of his mind, but never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment.

They say that in the end all sins are forgiven.

But not quite all …

Featuring:

The apocalypse is over. Now zombies farm humans for their brains. As the imprisoned human cattle drift further from their humanity, the zombies flourish in a primitive renaissance, flying around in helicopters and living in smart houses made of human brains.

After Heavy Metal High’s star quarterback dies in a car accident, Danny the Dio-worshipping werewolf must transform from loser to gridiron star in this surreal pulp tragedy about teenage anxiety, high school violence, and heavy fucking metal.

In a near-future city where automobiles have been outlawed and exotic animals roam the streets, a man wakes up one morning to discover that everyone in the world is a marionette. Now his wife is dead and he must find the answer, or else lose everything to the Great Shark Head in the Sky.

Doug Lee is undead quite by accident — attacked by a desperate vampire, he finds himself cursed with being fat and fifteen forever. When he has no luck finding some goth chick with a vampire fetish, he resorts to sucking the blood of cows under cover of the night. But it's just not the same.

Then he meets the new Indian exchange student and falls for her — hard. Yeah, he wants to bite her, but he also wants to prove himself to her. But like the laws of life, love, and high school, the laws of vampire existence are complicated — it's not as easy as studying . Especially when the star of is hot on your trail in an attempt to boost ratings. .

Searing, hilarious, and always unexpected, is a satirical tour de force from one of the most original writers of fiction today.

Citizen in Space is a collection of science fiction short stories by Robert Sheckley. It was first published in 1955 by Ballantine Books (catalogue number 126). It includes the following stories (magazines in which the stories originally appeared given in parentheses):

1. "The Mountain Without a Name" (1955)

2. "The Accountant" (F&SF 1954/7)

3. "Hunting Problem" (Galaxy 1955/9)

4. "A Thief in Time" (Galaxy 1954/7)

5. "The Luckiest Man in the World" (Fantastic Universe 1955/2; also known as "Fortunate Person")

6. "Hands Off" (Galaxy 1954/4)

7. "Something for Nothing" (Galaxy 1954/6)

8. "A Ticket to Tranai" (Galaxy 1955/10)

9. "The Battle" (If 1954/9)

10. "Skulking Permit" (Galaxy 1954/12)

11. "Citizen in Space" (Playboy 1955/9; also known as "Spy Story")

12. "Ask a Foolish Question" (Science Fiction Stories No. 1, 1953)