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“One of my favorite ideas is, never to keep an unnecessary soldier,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1792. Neither Jefferson nor the other Found­ers could ever have envisioned the modern national security state, with its tens of thousands of “privateers”; its bloated Department of Homeland Security; its rust­ing nuclear weapons, ill-maintained and difficult to dismantle; and its strange fascination with an unproven counterinsurgency doctrine.

Written with bracing wit and intelligence, Rachel Maddow’s argues that we’ve drifted away from America’s original ideals and become a nation weirdly at peace with perpetual war, with all the financial and human costs that entails. To understand how we’ve arrived at such a dangerous place, Maddow takes us from the Vietnam War to today’s war in Afghanistan, along the way exploring the disturbing rise of executive authority, the gradual outsourcing of our war-making capabilities to private companies, the plummeting percentage of American families whose children fight our constant wars for us, and even the changing fortunes of G.I. Joe. She offers up a fresh, unsparing appraisal of Reagan’s radical presidency. Ultimately, she shows us just how much we stand to lose by allowing the priorities of the national security state to overpower our political discourse.

Sensible yet provocative, dead serious yet seri­ously funny, will reinvigorate a “loud and jangly” political debate about how, when, and where to apply America’s strength and power—and who gets to make those decisions.

On board the moletrain , Sham Yes ap Soorap watches in awe as he witnesses his first moldywarpe hunt: the giant mole bursting from the earth, the harpoonists targeting their prey, the battle resulting in one’s death & the other’s glory. But no matter how spectacular it is, Sham can’t shake the sense that there is more to life than traveling the endless rails of the railsea—even if his captain can think only of the hunt for the ivory-colored mole she’s been chasing since it took her arm all those years ago. When they come across a wrecked train, at first it’s a welcome distraction. But what Sham finds in the derelict—a kind of treasure map indicating a mythical place untouched by iron rails—leads to considerably more than he’d bargained for. Soon he’s hunted on all sides, by pirates, trainsfolk, monsters & salvage-scrabblers, & it might not be just Sham’s life that’s about to change. It could be the whole of the railsea. Here is a novel for readers of all ages, a gripping & brilliantly imagined take on Herman Melville’s that confirms China Miéville’s status as ‘the most original & talented voice to appear in several years’ ()<

Step into a London ravaged by unearthly creatures at once utterly alien and chillingly familiar. In China Miéville's award-winning novella 'The Tain', we learn the reason for the invaders' terrible revenge. One survivor must trek through the ruins of the city with a desperate plan to stand against their assault. In addition to 'The Tain', this superb collection contains thirteen short stories, of visionary cityscapes and urban paranoia, ghosts, monsters and impossible diseases. Several of the stories are published here for the first time: these include one set in New Crobuzon, the location of the award-winning series of novels that began with Perdido Street Station; and one in comic-strip form, illustrated by top graphic artist Liam Sharp. This collection displays the sheer imaginative scope of China Miéville's work.<

On the first day of the Somme enlisted railwayman Jim Stringer lies trapped in a shell hole, smoking cigarette after cigarette under the bullets and the blazing sun. He calculates his chances of survival – even before they departed for France, a member of Jim's unit had been found dead. During the stand-off that follows, Jim and his comrades must operate by night the vitally important trains carrying munitions to the Front, through a ghostly landscape of shattered trees where high explosive and shrapnel shells rain down. Close co-operation and trust are vital. Yet proof piles up of an enemy within, and as a ferocious military policeman pursues his investigation into the original killing, the finger of accusation begins to point towards Jim himself…<

One night, in a private boarding house in Scarborough, a railwayman vanishes, leaving his belongings behind. A reluctant Jim Stringer is sent to investigate. It is March 1914, and Jim Stringer, railway detective, is uneasy about his next assignment. It's not so much the prospect Scarborough in the gloomy off-season that bothers him, or even the fact that the last railwayman to stay in the house has disappeared without trace. It's more that his governer, Chief Inspector Saul Weatherhill, seems to be deliberately holding back details of the case – and that he's been sent to Scarborough with a trigger-happy assistant. The lodging house is called Paradise, but, as Jim discovers, it's hardly that in reality. It is, however, home to the seductive and beautiful Amanda Rickerby, a woman evidently capable of derailing Jim's marriage and a good deal more besides. As a storm brews in Scarborough, it becomes increasingly unlikely that Jim will ever ride the train back to York.<

A high-flying fantasy adventure that will blow readers away!

Every kite Oliver touches flies straight into the ground, making him the laughingstock of Windblowne. With the kite-flying festival only days away, Oliver tracks down his reclusive great-uncle Gilbert, a former champion. With Gilbert's help, Oliver can picture himself on the crest, launching into the winds to become one of the legendary fliers of Windblowne.

Then his great-uncle vanishes during a battle with mysterious attack kites—kites that seem to fly themselves! All that remains is his prize possession, a simple crimson kite. At least, the kite seems simple. When Oliver tries to fly it, the kite lifts him high above the trees. When he comes down, the town and all its people have disappeared. Suddenly the festival is the last thing on Oliver's mind as he is catapulted into a mystery that will change everything he understands about himself and his world.

Inspired by the work of Diana Wynne Jones, debut author Stephen Messer delivers a fantasy book for boys and girls in which the distance between realities is equal to the breadth of a kite string.

Todo comenzó un día cualquiera para aquellas tres adolescentes de Belham, Massachusetts. Ellas iban a pasar un día como cualquier otro, en el bosque bebiendo cerveza y fumando un poco. Todo iba bien, hasta que presenciaron aquella escena. Ellas no estaban preparadas para ver algo así, les arrancó la inocencia de cuajo, quebró su amistad, y se convirtió en un reguero de sangre y dolor, mucho dolor…

Han pasado veinticinco años desde que ocurriera aquello, y el secuestro de Carol Cranmore, una adolescente de Belham, ha puesto en guardia a la policía y al FBI. Estos últimos, creen saber a lo que se enfrentan, un nuevo ataque de un asesino en serie, posiblemente el mismo que llevan buscando más de veinticinco años… conocido como El Viajero. Solo existe una persona que haya sido capaz de escapar de las garras de este asesino, pero su estado es tan deplorable que apenas puede que ayuda a la investigación que están llevando a cabo. Darby McCormick, miembro del Departamento de Policía de Boston, es acosada por los fantasmas del pasado, y asumirá este caso como algo personal. Intentara encontrar y salvar a Carol, aunque le cueste la vida en el intento…

Mientras tanto, Carol despierta en una celda oscura. Está asustada, no sabe donde está…oye gritos a lo lejos…gritos de mujeres encerradas como ella. Pero de vez en cuando suena un zumbido, y todas las celdas se abren. Carol cruza el umbral, bajo la atenta mirada de un sádico asesino, dispuesto a dar rienda suelta a sus fantasías mas perversas. Se inicia una caza que solo tiene dos reglas básicas: esconderse o morir.

A Darby McCormick le han propuesto la investigación de un nuevo caso. Se trata de la desaparición y posterior asesinato de dos jóvenes universitarias: Emma Hale, hija de un poderoso magnate y. alumna de primer curso en Harvard, cuvo cuerpo fue hallado a orillas del río, y Judith Chen, una estudiante ejemplar que se costeaba sus estudios con su trabajo en una cafetería. Nada parece relacionar ambos crímenes, salvo la causa de la muerte, un disparo en la nuca… y que las dos llevaban una estatuilla de la Virecn dentro de sus bolsillos.

Darby se incorporará a la recién creada CSU, Unidad Especial de Científicos Forenses, donde deberá trabajar codo con codo con el inspector Bryson, un hombre hosco y reservado. En el curso de sus indagaciones toparán con Malcolm Fletcher, un ex agente federal perseguido por la ley que podrfa ser la clave para dar con el paradero del homicida. La doctora McCormick tendrá que actuar contrarreloj, puesto que una nueva joven acaba de desaparecer y quién sabe cuánto tiempo puede pasar antes de que corra la misma suerte que sus predecesoras…

A Rei Shimura Mystery – During a family reunion on the island of Oahu, Japanese-American undercover spy Rei Shimura is roped into helping the Hawaiian branch of her family regain land stolen from them during World War II. But when fire sweeps the island and her young cousin is accused of arson, Rei, with the assistance of both her boyfriend and ex-lover, must discover the truth, which turns out to be linked to the Shimura family history…<