Called out of semi-retirement, the telepath and Mindguard Sheldon Ayers is tasked with protecting an information package located inside the mind of a young woman who claims the knowledge she holds is vital to the future of humankind. Sheldon and his team must help her cross the most dangerous territory in the man-inhabited universe: the Djago Desert.Hunted by the Enforcement Unit, the all-powerful Military arm of the Interstellar Federation of Common Origin, Sheldon's team must fig...

Written at the height of Stalin's first "five-year plan" for the industrialization of Soviet Russia and the parallel campaign to collectivize Soviet agriculture, Andrei Platonov's The Foundation Pit registers a dissonant mixture of utopian longings and despair. Furthermore, it provides essential background to Platonov's parody of the mainstream Soviet "production" novel, which is widely recognized as one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century Russian prose. In addition to an overview of ...

"The most important, most influential and most perfectly realized Russian novel written in the 20th century." ― The New York Times Book ReviewSet in 1905 in St. Petersburg, a city in the throes of sociopolitical conflict, the novel follows university student Nikolai Apollonovich Ableukhov, who has gotten entangled with a revolutionary terrorist organization with plans to assassinate a government official—Nikolai's own father, Apollon Apoll...

The NPR reporter offers an "engaging and enlightening" window into late-90s Cuba, "from the cafes in Havana to the mysterious lairs of Santiago de Cuba" ( Kirkus Reviews).For NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu, reporting from Cuba on the eve of Pope John Paul II's 1998 visit was an opportunity to understand the realities of life in a country that has long been the subject of stereotypes and misconceptions. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba was t...

Fight aging, build strength, and achieve whole-body health in just 30 minutes a day, once or twice a week, with these 30 strength training exercises based on science and mindfulness practices—for people of all ages and activity levels.The mixed messages we’ve received about exercise, aerobics, and mental and physical fitness are all misleading...or at least incomplete. Clinical research shows that we lose muscle mass as we age, and that preventing muscle loss throu...

A "brilliant" novel of Elizabeth Bathory, the notorious sixteenth-century Hungarian aristocrat who bathed in the blood of virgins ( St. Petersburg Times).Turmoil reigns in post-Soviet Hungary when journalist Drake Bathory-Kereshtur returns from America to grapple with his family history. He's haunted by the legacy of his ancestor, the notorious sixteenth-century Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who is said to have murdered more than 650 young virgins and bathed ...

What if letting go…felt safer, hotter, and more freeing than you ever imagined?Discover the Thrill of Surrender:Five Steamy Lesbian BDSM Stories Where Trust Turns Desire into Pure EcstasyPowerful women. Willing surrender. Consent that makes every moment electric.If you crave stories where dominance and tenderness walk hand in hand, this collection was written for you.Dear wonderful reader,You know that quiet ache — the one t...

In a world where some are Marked—chosen by fate to love only once—our heroine is given a Mark that ties her to a love she does not yet know. But fate is not kind. The man she begins to fall for is not the one destiny has chosen for her. And in this world, to love against fate is to invite destruction.She must decide: Does she follow destiny, or does she fight it?

Washington’s eight years of preparing Ukraine and its armed forces for war with Russia was a mistake of historic proportions, due to its misperception of American military power based on its 1991 Gulf War victory against a minor military player. Washington believed its own propaganda about crippling sanctions on Russia, about the viability of its Ukrainian proxy army, and the economic and military weakness of Russia, spelling doom for the American empire and its “rules-based order”. By 202...

A history of Russian socio-economic thought from Pososhkov, the self-taught merchant who wrote on poverty and wealth under Peter I, through the Smithian professors of the early nineteenth century, Radishchev, the Decembrist economists, Herzen and Chernyshevsky, down to the Populist theorists Vorontsov and Danielson and the first Russian Marxists.Anikin does it with learning, sympathy and a novelist's eye for the person inside the doctrine. For an English reader this is very nearly ...

Every summer, young Andrei visits his grandmother, Charlotte Lemmonier, whom he loves dearly. In a dusty village overlooking the vast Russian steppes, she captivates her grandson and the other children of the village with wondrous tales-watching Proust play tennis in Neuilly, Tsar Nicholas II’s visit to Paris, French president Felix Faure dying in the arms of his mistress. But from his mysterious grandmother, Andrei also learns of a Russia he has never known: a country of famine and misery...

Solve real-world problems easily with artificial intelligence (AI) using the LlamaIndex data framework to enhance your LLM-based Python applications Key FeaturesExamine text chunking effects on RAG workflows and understand security in RAG app developmentDiscover chatbots and agents and learn how to build complex conversation enginesBuild as you learn by applying the knowledge you gain to a hands-on projectBook DescriptionDisc...