Oh, rats! It's time to take a deeper look at what caused the Black Death--the deadliest pandemic recorded in human history.While the coronavirus COVID-19 changed the world in 2020, it still isn't the largest and deadliest pandemic in history. That title is held by the Plague. This disease, also known as the "Black Death," spread throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe in the fourteenth century and claimed an astonishing 50 million lives by the time it officially ended....

Malachi is the survivor of a brutal attack by genocidaires on his school: he has seen loved ones slaughtered and his tongue has been cut out. Malachi cannot speak, but he is far from dumb, though he keeps himself to himself, tamping down the traumatic memories as he performs mind-numbing work on the production line in a chicken-packing factory. But then an agent for a powerful pharmaceutical company comes looking for a suitable candidate for a mysterious job, and he is offered what he can'...

On October 29, 1929, life in the United States took a turn for the worst. The stock market – the system that controls money in America – plunged to a record low. But this event was only the beginning of many bad years to come. By the early 1930s, one out of three people was not working. People lost their jobs, their houses, or both and ended up in shantytowns called “Hoovervilles” named for the president at the time of the crash. By 1933, many banks had gone under. Though the U.S. has seen...

""This claustrophobic, horror-leaning tour de force is highly recommended for fans of Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation and Andy Weir’s The Martian."" -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)***A thrilling, atmospheric debut with the intensive drive of The Martian and Gravity and the creeping dread of Annihilation, in which a caver on a foreign planet finds herself on a terrifying psychological and emo...

Adam Nevill's The Ritual meets Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies in this atmospheric gothic literary horror.Ten years ago, four young men shot some elk then went on with their lives. It happens every year; it's been happening forever; it's the way it's always been. But this time it's different. Ten years after that fateful hunt, these men are being stalked themselves. Soaked with a powerful gothic atmosphere, the endless expanses of the landscape press down on these men - and their ...

"With impeccable inflections and tones, El-Attar's narration embodies the quirky investigator and those who surround her. She personifies both the place and the people, making them come alive. Listeners will imagine they're traversing Cairo through the deep, dark night. This is a perfect listen for those who are short on time but want a thrilling audiobook." — AudioFile MagazineEgypt, 1912. In an alternate Cairo infused with the otherworldly, the Ministry ...

Nnedi Okorafor's Binti is the w inner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novella!"Robin Miles’s terrific narration creates a stellar audiobook. (Pun intended.)"—Modern Mrs. Darcy on BintiHer name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family t...

**“This is totally, brilliantly original.” —Stephen King“HEX is creepy and gripping and original, sure to be one of the top horror novels of 2016.” —George R.R. MartinThe English language debut of the bestselling Dutch novel, Hex, from Thomas Olde Heuvelt--a Hugo and World Fantasy award nominated talent to watch**Whoever is born here, is doomed to stay 'til death. Whoever settles, never leaves.Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudso...

**Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel'I absolutely loved it' – Ann Leckie, author of Ancillary JusticeIn a war of lies, she seeks the truth. An epic, queer space opera, A Memory Called Empire is the astonishing debut novel from Arkady Martine.Ambassador Mahit Dzmare travels to the Teixcalaanli Empire’s interstellar capital, eager to take up her new post. Yet when she arrives, she discovers her...

**"Narrator Emmett Grosland conjures the essence of a troubled soul in search of peace in this gentle audio."—AudioFile MagazineIn A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Hugo Award-winner Becky Chambers's delightful new Monk and Robot series gives us hope for the future.**It's been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools; centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again; centuries since t...

‘Up there with the best of Le Guin in terms of beautiful, engrossing, brilliantly imagined sci-fi’VULTURE‘SEMIOSIS combines the world-building of Avatar with the alien wonder of Arrival, and the sheer humanity of Atwood. An essential work for our time’STEPHEN BAXTERNOMINATED FOR THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARDEscaping conflict on Earth, an idealistic group of settl...

New York Times Bestselling Author—Nominated for the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Series—Winner of the 2016 Locus Award—Nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and Arthur C. Clarke AwardsWhen Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for her unconventional tactics, Kel Command gives her a chance to redeem herself, by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles from the heretics. Cheris’s career isn’t the only thing at stake: if the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next....