Now reading: The Difference Engine by William Gibson

Join us on Thursday, 2 September at 6:00pm.

1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines.  Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time.  And three extraordinary characters race toward a rendezvous with history—and the future:
 
Sybil Gerard—a fallen woman, politician’s tart, daughter of a Luddite agitator
Edward “Leviathan” Mallory—explorer and paleontologist
Laurence Oliphant—diplomat, mystic, and spy.
 
Their adventure begins with the discovery of a box of punched Engine cards of unknown origin and purpose.  Cards someone wants badly enough to kill for….
 
Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine is the collaborative masterpiece by two of the most acclaimed science fiction authors writing today.  Provocative, compelling, intensely imagined, it is a startling extension of Gibson’s and Sterling’s unique visions—and the beginning of movement we know today as “steampunk!”

Looking for a book group?  This welcoming bunch invites the public to join in.  Find out what we thought of our latest selection, and help pick the next one.  Current selections are available in the bookstore at a 20% discount.

 

  

...love poetry!  Seduction, sensation, delight, despair, commitment, confusion: great writers have been expressing it for millennia.  Give poetry to your love for Valentine's Day! 

FREE LOVE: Tell us your favorite love poem on our Facebook page  and you could win a copy of Pablo Neruda's glorious Love Poems in the beautiful little Pearl Edition from New Directions Press. No purchase necessary, not much fine print: we'll assign each entry a random number and draw for the winner on Wednesday, 10 February.  Value of prize $9.95 or endless and timeless, depending on your view of love poetry. 

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The books we love best reveal surprising things about who we are.  For example, Nena didn't think of herself as an optimist until she took stock of how many of her favorite books are science fiction--which begins with the assumption that we will still be here tomorrow.  Check out our favorite books, and find new favorites of your own, on our personal pages.