Award-winning translator & author Ken Liu presents a collection of short speculative fiction from China. Some stories have won awards; some have been included in various ` Year`s Best` anthologies; some have been well reviewed by critics & readers; & some are simply Ken`s personal favorites. Many of the authors collected here (with the obvious exception of Liu Cixin) belong to the younger generation of `rising stars`. In addition, three essays at the end of the book explore Chinese science fiction. Liu Cixin`s essay, The Worst of All Possible Universes & The Best of All Possible Earths, gives a historical overview of SF in China & situates his own rise to prominence as the premier Chinese author within that context. Chen Qiufan`s The Torn Generation gives the view of a younger generation of authors trying to come to terms with the tumultuous transformations around them. Finally, Xia Jia, who holds the first Ph.D. issued for the study of Chinese SF, asks What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese?. ...

A highly amusing memoir from a newly published author, Invisible Pleasures beautifully & vividly describes his life from the first tremors of his imagination as a child, through his early memories in the War, to the wild youthful Rabelaisian excitement of the 60s in London & his subsequent working in Borneo & Malaya as an architect. It is an unrequited love story & a travelogue through parts of the `pre-globalised world` where many places on the map then, before mass tourism had sucked them dry of mystery, were yet to be visited. & it asks the question of what we are & where we come from in either God`s World or the Universe of Science. This exciting memoir of love affairs & overseas adventures will appeal to those with an interest in the arts & foreign travel. ...

This book brings Rome's invisible inhabitants to life. Robert Knapp seeks out the tradespeople, innkeepers, housewives, priests, prostitutes, freedmen, slaves, soldiers & gladiators who formed the fabric of everyday life in ancient Rome & the outlaws & pirates who lay beyond it. Robert Knapp brings invisible inhabitants of Rome & its vast empire to life. He seeks out the ordinary men, housewives, prostitutes, freedmen, slaves, soldiers, & gladiators, who formed the fabric of everyday life in the ancient Roman world, & the outlaws & pirates who lay beyond it. He finds their own words preserved in literature, letters, inscriptions & graffiti & their traces in the nooks & crannies of the histories, treatises, plays & poetry created by members of the elite. He tracks down & pieces together these & other tell-tale bits of evidence cast off by the visible mass of Roman history & culture, & in doing so recreates a world lost from view for two millennia. We see how everyday Romans sought to survive & thrive under the afflictions of disease, war, & violence, & to control their fates before powers that variously oppressed & ignored them. Chapters on each of the main groups reveal how their worlds were linked in need, dependence, exploitation, hope & fear. Slaves & ex-soldiers merge into the world of the outlaw; slaves become freedmen; the sons of freedmen enlist as soldiers; &, the concerns of women transcend every boundary. We see them all at last in the tumult of a great empire that shaped their worlds as it reshaped the wider world around them. ...

The hilarious & magical adventures of everyone`s favourite flat hero
- Flat Stanley. With brilliant new illustrations by the award-winning
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Sara, a therapist, always thought her husband Mike died in Afghanistan
- but when she learns he was actually killed in India,
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A nine-year-old boy is found murdered at the bottom of a well near a popular beach resort in southern Italy. In what looks like a hopeless case for Guido Guerrieri, counsel for the defence, a Senegalese peddler is accused of the crime. Faced with small-town racism fuelled by the recent immigration from Africa, Guido attempts to exploit the esoteric workings of the Italian courts. More than a perfectly paced legal thriller, this relentless suspense novel transcends the genre. A powerful attack on racism, & a fascinating insight into the Italian judicial process, it is also an affectionate portrait of a deeply humane hero. ...

Exceptionally detailed & informative topographic map at 1:100, 000 of the Inylchek area in the Tien Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan, prepared by the German Alpine Club using data from the Kyrgyz national survey organization plus satellite imagery. Topography is shown by contours at 50m intervals with relief shading, plus numerous spot heights & peak names. Colouring & graphics indicate different types of vegetation (woods, meadows, swampy grassl&, etc.) & soil cover (rocky outcrops, individual isolated rocks with height, caves, moraine, glaciers, etc.). Passes are classified according to the difficulty of traverse. Rivers & creeks indicate their width. The map shows local roads (paved, country lanes, dirt roads & forest tracks) & footpaths, as well as settlements & isolated buildings, bridges passable by vehicles or on foot, fuel & water tanks, etc. Assent & descent routes, base camp & possible camp sites are highlighted. The map has a UTM grid with latitude & longitude margin ticks at 5` intervals. Map legend is in English, German & Russian. Also included are tri-lingual notes on using this map with GPS units. ...

Ioannina Province
- Ioannina Street Plan in a series of detailed road maps of provinces, some with street plans of their administrative
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Waterproof & tear-resistant OS Active version of map No. 48 from the Ordnance Survey’s Landranger series at 1:50, 000, with contoured & GPS compatible topographic mapping plus tourist information.MOBILE DOWNLOADS: As well as the physical edition of the map, each Landranger title now

Includes:: a code for downloading after purchase its digital version onto your smartphone or tablet for viewing on the OS smartphone app.OS LANDRANGER SERIES: to see the list of all the titles in the OS Landranger series, both paper & waterproof versions, please click on the series link. Maps in the Landranger series provide plenty of recreational & tourist information, indicating the traditional public right of way paths (except in Scotland where different laws apply), including bridleways & byways restricted or open to motorized traffic. National Trails & selected other long-distance paths are marked, as well as on-road & traffic-free cycle routes with their National/ Regional Cycle Network numbers. National Trust/ National Trust for Scotland & Forestry Commission land is clearly marked, indicating open or restricted access. A range of symbols highlights camping & caravanning sites, youth hostels, tourist information offices & visitors’ centres, parking & picnicking places, World Heritage sites, sport & recreational facilities, etc. The maps provide detailed presentation of topography with contours at 10m intervals, numerous spot heights & additional colouring and/or graphics for different types of woodlands, orchards or parkl&, rock features including scree & cliffs, water features inland & along the sea shore with marshl&, dunes, s&, mud, shingle & the high water mark. All the standard information expected of survey mapping at this scale is included: finely graded road network, railway lines with stations, cuttings, embankments, etc; individual isolated buildings; archaeological & historical sites, etc. For GPS users the British National Grid is shown at 1km intervals, with latitude & longitude given by margin ticks at 1` & cross hairs on the map at 5`. Each map covers an area of 40 x 40km, (approx. 25 x 25 miles).

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Map No. 48, Iona & West Mull, in the Ordnance Survey Landranger series at 1:50, 000, covering the south-western part of the Isle of Mull with Iona, Erraid, Ulva, Gometra, Staffa, Little Colonsay, & the Treshnish Isles, including Kilninian, Ballygown, Salen, Gruline, Balanahard, Carsaig, Bunessan & Uisken, with Aros, Loch Frisa, Loch Ba, Ardmeanach, Ben More, Loch Fuaron, Loch Poit na h-l, Loch Assapol, Malcolm ...