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Suddenly, and without warning, a terrifying plague breaks out on Banoi. Resort guests, hotel staff, islanders are infected overnight…and transformed into the ravening, flesh-craving living dead.

For those few who, for some reason, are immune to this apocalypse it becomes a race against time. To survive, to get off the island and warn the world before it’s too late. But first they must escape the clutches of the zombie hordes…

In this mind-expanding book, scientific pioneer Marvin Minsky continues his groundbreaking research, offering a fascinating new model for how our minds work. He argues persuasively that emotions, intuitions, and feelings are not distinct things, but different ways of thinking.

By examining these different forms of mind activity, Minsky says, we can explain why our thought sometimes takes the form of carefully reasoned analysis and at other times turns to emotion. He shows how our minds progress from simple, instinctive kinds of thought to more complex forms, such as consciousness or self-awareness. And he argues that because we tend to see our thinking as fragmented, we fail to appreciate what powerful thinkers we really are. Indeed, says Minsky, if thinking can be understood as the step-by-step process that it is, then we can build machines—artificial intelligences—that not only can assist with our thinking by thinking as we do but have the potential to be as conscious as we are.

Eloquently written, is an intriguing look into a future where more powerful artificial intelligences await.

At first glance, it may seem like I’m reinventing the wheel; Windows already comes with a very complex, very functional GUI. Unfortunately, while the Windows GUI is great for office apps, quite frequently, it’s not suited for many games. Games tend to want a more precise control over the GUI than Windows can provide (for example, games may want to use alpha-blending to implement partially transparent windows - easy if you’ve written your own GUI, but next to impossible using the Windows GUI).

This article will walk you though how to create a GUI using C++ and DirectX. The series is divided into several parts, each dealing with a specific aspect of GUI programming:

Part I: The Basics, and the Mouse

Part II: Windows

Part III: Controls

Part IV: Resource Editors and Other Madness

NOTE: This document was originally four separate articles on www.gamedev.net. I’ve concatenated all four into one for the XGDC, but they remain otherwise unchanged. - Mason

Dr. Patricia Killiam is rushing to help save the world from itself by giving everyone everything they’ve always wanted. The questions is, is she unwittingly saving the world only to cast it towards an even worse fate as humanity hurtles across the brink of forever.

What could be worse than letting billions die? In the future, be careful what you wish for.

The Atopia Chronicles are an exploration of the meaning love, life and the pursuit of happiness in a world teetering on the brink of post-humanism and eco-Armageddon.

If you would like to be added to the "advance reading" list for my next novel, please email me at

Amazon.com Review

When talking about this book you have to list the awards it's won-the Hugo, the Tiptree, the Lambda, the Locus, a Nebula nomination-after that you can skip the effusive praise from the New York Times and get to the heart of things: This is a book about a future many don't agree with. It's set in a 22nd century dominated by Communist China and the protagonist is a gay man. These aren't the usual tropes of science fiction, and they aren't written in the usual way. But, wow, it's one heck of a story.

"A first novel this good gives every reader a chance to share in the pleasure of discovery; to my mind, Ms. McHugh's achievement recalls the best work of Delany and Robinson without being in the least derivative."-The New York Times

"It's a rare writer who produces a novel this good…I can't think of a book that offers a more lived-in future. The people are impulsive, changeable, and very real. Lovers of fine fiction, SF, and otherwise, will treasure this deeply humane book. Five stars."-Minneapolis Star-Tribune

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It's is a pleasure to read something that's so rich…As she sets the core in rich people's mainland China, it's the finish on this work that's astonishing: language so clear and deep it seems you could put your hand in it, like water. China Mountain Zhang is a book full of ideas, beautifully illustrated…One of the most interesting and most satisfying novels out this year. – The New York Review of Science Fiction

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.