A galaxison az Erős és Gyenge Fajok osztoznak. A feltételeket az Erősek diktálják, a Gyengéket pedig speciális képességeik alapján használják, kihasználják. Mivel egyedül az ember szervezete képes elviselni a kozmikus ugrást, a földieknek a fuvaros szerepe jut. Pjotr Hrumov rozoga teherűrhajóján árut szállít egyik bolygóról a másikra. Egyik útján, már éppen visszatérőben a Földre fölfedezi, hogy potyautasa van, egy Számlálónak nevezett, hüllőszerű lény. A Számlálók is a Gyengék közé tartoznak, nekik az elvont gondolkodás az erősségük, a magát Karelnak nevező potyautas például képes pusztán szellemi energiáival befolyásolni Pjotr űrhajójának komputerét. Karel fajának képviseletében lopózott a fedélzetre, szövetséget akar ajánlani a földieknek az Erősekkel szemben. Tudomásukra jutott ugyanis, hogy az Erősek a Gyengék elpusztítására készülnek, a Földnek szerintük már csak hónapjai vannak hátra

Световноизвестният чешки писател и драматург КАРЕЛ ЧАПЕК е роден през 1890 г. в Мале Сватоньовице в семейството на селски лекар. Учи философия в Прага, Берлин и Париж. През 1917 г. се заселва в Прага и започва работа като журналист. Литературният дебют на Чапек е през 1916 г. Голяма част от ранните си произведения създава в съавторство с брат си Йозеф, който е художник, и илюстрира няколко от книгите на Карел. През 1920 г. е публикувана пиесата му „Р.У.Р.“. В нея за първи път той използва думата „робот“, впоследствие навлязла във всички езици по света.

A circle may begin at any point - with a gun, or a an argument, or a butterfly blown by the wind. When someone shoots at the President on tour in Morocco, the shock is less than the mystery. Of all the recent Presidents, why this one? What to do with the shooter, dubbed Prisoner Zero? And - increasingly urgent - who IS Zero? Prisoner Zero will say nothing, and seems to have no past. He could be Arab. He could be American. He could be insane, he could be professional, he could be a lone gunman or represent a vast conspiracy. Maybe he has more than one past. Or maybe the answer lies in the future, where an emperor waits alone in the Forbidden City, for an assassin and a butterfly. Jon Courtenay Grimwood's gripping and brilliantly clever new novel confirms what fans of his Ashraf Bey series have always known - that he is one of Britain's most innovative writers..

At first glance, it may seem like I’m reinventing the wheel; Windows already comes with a very complex, very functional GUI. Unfortunately, while the Windows GUI is great for office apps, quite frequently, it’s not suited for many games. Games tend to want a more precise control over the GUI than Windows can provide (for example, games may want to use alpha-blending to implement partially transparent windows - easy if you’ve written your own GUI, but next to impossible using the Windows GUI). This article will walk you though how to create a GUI using C++ and DirectX. The series is divided into several parts, each dealing with a specific aspect of GUI programming: Part I: The Basics, and the Mouse Part II: Windows Part III: Controls Part IV: Resource Editors and Other Madness NOTE: This document was originally four separate articles on www.gamedev.net. I’ve concatenated all four into one for the XGDC, but they remain otherwise unchanged. - Mason

Mary Doria Russell's debut novel, The Sparrow, took us on a journey to a distant planet and into the center of the human soul. A critically acclaimed bestseller, The Sparrow was chosen as one of Entertainment Weekly's Ten Best Books of the Year, a finalist for the Book-of-the-Month Club's First Fiction Prize and the winner of the James M. Tiptree Memorial Award. Now, in Children of God, Russell further establishes herself as one of the most innovative, entertaining and philosophically provocative novelists writing today. The only member of the original mission to the planet Rakhat to return to Earth, Father Emilio Sandoz has barely begun to recover from his ordeal when the So-ciety of Jesus calls upon him for help in preparing for another mission to Alpha Centauri. Despite his objections and fear, he cannot escape his past or the future. Old friends, new discoveries and difficult questions await Emilio as he struggles for inner peace and understanding in a moral universe whose boundaries now extend beyond the solar system and whose future lies with children born in a faraway place. Strikingly original, richly plotted, replete with memorable characters and filled with humanity and humor, Chil-dren of God is an unforgettable and uplifting novel that is a potent successor to The Sparrow and a startlingly imaginative adventure for newcomers to Mary Doria Russell's special literary magic.

Jayn – Heller must enter the world of voodoo in order to take on a body-switching serial killer in this sequel to Unclean Spirits.

A movie crew has come to New Iberia, Louisiana, to film a Civil War epic, and star Elrod Sykes just can't seem to keep his lavender Cadillac on the road. Under threat of a drunk driving charge, he offers Detective Dave Robicheaux information in exchange for leniency: he leads him to the skeletal remains of a man whose murder Robicheaux witnessed in the summer of 1957. When the FBI arrives in the person of agent Rosie Gomez, Robicheaux must form a new partnership that challenges how he views himself and his local community. But it is only when Robicheaux makes the acquaintance of the legendary Confederate cavalry officer General John Bell Hood in the mist of the bayou that he begins to understand that 'war is never over', and that the battle rages on…

Welcome to Banoi A tropical island paradise where you can leave the world behind. Welcome to the Royal Palms Resort Offering its guests from around the world the ultimate in luxury and relaxation. Welcome to the place where your dream holiday is about to become your worst nightmare… Suddenly, and without warning, a terrifying plague breaks out on Banoi. Resort guests, hotel staff, islanders are infected overnight…and transformed into the ravening, flesh-craving living dead. For those few who, for some reason, are immune to this apocalypse it becomes a race against time. To survive, to get off the island and warn the world before it’s too late. But first they must escape the clutches of the zombie hordes… Welcome to Dead Island A paradise to die for…

Jill Kismet is back from the grave in this explosive conclusion to Lilith Saintcrow's urban fantasy series. She wakes up in her own grave. She doesn't know who put her there, she doesn't know where she is, and she has no friends or family. She only knows two things: She has a job to do: cleansing the night of evil. And she knows her name. Jill Kismet.

In To Light a Candle, the Demon Queen sends her forces against her human and elven enemies, sowing distraction and death. In the human City, the Queen's agents work to divide the Council and foment rebellion among the City's citizens. In the countryside, they target the most vulnerable and valuable---the young Elf Prince and the Wild Mages who might be the Demons' most dangerous enemies. To his own surprise, young Kellen, once the disappointing son of the great Mage who leads the City's Mage Council, has become a powerful Knight-Mage. Valued for his bravery and his skills as both wizard and warrior, Kellen joins the Elves' war councils. Yet he cannot convince the City of his birth that it is in terrible danger. Kellen's sister Idalia, a Wild Mage with great healing ability, has pledged her heart to Jermayan, a proud Elven warrior. Someday Idalia will pay a tragic Price for a world-saving work of Wild Magic, but until then, she will claim any joy life can offer her. Jermayan, who has learned much while fighting at Kellen's side and loving the human Idalia, finds that everything changes when he Bonds with a dragon while rescuing the Elf Prince and becomes the first Elven Mage in a thousand years. Furious at her enemies' success with the dragon, the Demon Queen attacks in force. Light struggles against Dark, like flickering candleflames buried deep in the shadow of Obsidian Mountain.

El protagonista y narrador de esta historia se empotra contra el descapotable de una irritante ejecutiva un lunes a las ocho de la mañana. Ciertamente, él se distrajo un poco, pero ella no tenia por qué frenar en seco ni, desde luego, escupirle todos los insultos del diccionario. Por ello, y para hacer soportables las tardes de aquel bochornoso verano, decide dedicarse «al acecho y aniquilación moral de Sonsoles». Gracias al parte del seguro, consigue su teléfono, lo que le permite varias llamadas disparatadas. También se complace en espiarla, y así conoce a su hermana Rosana, una turbadora adolescente de 15 años. Aunque el protagonista no tiene ninguna fijación con las jovencitas, conserva un retrato de las hijas del zar Nicolás II. Le atrae especialmente la duquesa Olga y a menudo se pregunta qué debió de sentir el bolchevique encargado de matarla. Él, a su vez, experimentará una poderosa atracción ante la cálida sabiduría de Rosana, y una debilidad que se revelará mucho peor que cualquier accidente. La flaqueza del bolchevique sería una novela absolutamente cómica si no fuera por el carácter inquietante que adquiere a medida que se complican las argucias del protagonista. Un ritmo ágil permite a Lorenzo Silva una historia a caballo entre la comedia, la intriga y el melodrama. Pero acaso su mayor logro sea el retrato de Rosana, una nínfula distinta de todas las nínfulas, más allá de la generación X, Y o Z y que hace flaquear -y perder el equilibrio- al lector más displicente.

Під час наукової експедиції на Тихому океані вчений-океанолог зустрічає дивовижну тварину; вона нагадує йому іхтіозавра — представника рибоящерів, які були колись грізними володарями океанів. Але ж вони давно вже вимерли. Ця тварина — загадка для науки. Учені наполегливо шукають відповіді. А морське чудовисько зустрічається ще й ще, з ним зв’язані незвичайні пригоди. Про все це розповідає книжка “В погоні за іхтіозаврами”. Автор, вчений-географ, у захоплюючій формі змальовує життя глибин океанів та морів, роботу по вивченню таємниць цього життя.

Звідки взявся наш всесвіт? Що з ним відбувається? Куди діваються світи, що його населяють? А може всесвітів багато? Відповіді на ці та інші питання знають двоє друзів, які випадково потрапили в інший, більш старий, більш розвинений всесвіт, і які пережили безліч небезпечних пригод. Звичайно, якби це був хтось інший, він би загинув. Але наші хлопці з Землі. Вони вижили, врятували всесвіт, стали героями.

The acclaimed author of the Irene Kelly mystery series (Goodnight, Irene, etc.) and the Edgar award-winning novel Bones delivers this superb collection of short stories, hitherto available only in a limited trade edition from A.S.A.P. Publishing. These early works, which appeared in publications like Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, display an impressive range of styles, voices and settings. Burke offers ghost stories ("Ghost of a Chance"), romantic suspense ("The Muse"), a whodunit ("A Fine Set of Teeth"), a tale of revenge ("Miscalculation") and a humorous intrigue ("The Man in the Civil Suit"), and the voices she adopts are as disparate as an abused wife and an aristocratic gentleman (and, at one point, even a non-human narrator). It would be a challenge for readers to choose their favorite, as all the stories are carefully crafted gems: "Mea Culpa" follows a crippled boy as he deduces what his stepfather has in store for his mother; "Miscalculation," which is based on the wartime service of the Queen Mary ocean liner, effectively transmutes history into mystery; and "Unharmed" tells a surprising tale of domestic strife. Several of the stories won or were nominated for awards, and virtually all of them repay the reader handsomely.

When his five-year-old neighbor goes missing, Jack can’t help feeling responsible. He should have taken Cody home when he found him riding his bicycle near the Pine Barrens. Then a lost man wanders out of the woods after being chased all night by...something.  Jack knows, better than anyone, that the Barrens are dangerous—a true wilderness filled with people, creatures, and objects lost from sight and memory. Like the ancient, fifteen-foot-tall stone pyramid he, Weezy, and Eddie discover.  Jack thinks it might have been a cage of some sort, but for what kind of animal, he can’t say. Eddie jokes that it could have been used for the Jersey Devil. Jack doesn’t believe in that old folk tale, but something is roaming the Pines. Could it have Cody? And what about the strange circus that set up outside town? Could they be involved? So many possibilities, so little time...

The families Jensen and MacCallister are two of the most legendary clans in frontier fiction. Now, the USA Today bestselling authors of A Lone Star Christmas bring them together once more--in a gripping tale of tragedy, survival, love, betrayal, and maybe even a miracle...Three days before Christmas, Matt Jensen is traveling the Denver and Pacific railway when an avalanche slams down onto the train, trapping it in desolate Trout Creek Pass. But it wasn't an act of nature that caused the accident; it was a gang of outlaws attempting to rescue their leader, who is being taken to Red Cliff to be hanged. As Smoke Jensen and Duff MacCallister frantically try to make their way to the scene, Matt struggles to save the survivors, among them a beautiful young woman with a dark past, a merchant seaman turned rancher, and a senator with his very ill young daughter. Starving under a bitter, driving snow in the brutal, unforgiving Rocky Mountains, and surrounded by armed and desperate outlaws, Matt still dreams of making it home for Christmas. But unless fate lends a hand, nobody will.

На тротоара пред жилищните блокове на тиха софийска улица играят деца. От един прозорец пада секретен ключ. Децата го предават на живеещия там Тороманов, който идва да го търси. Оказва се, че малкият Пешо е дал без да иска своя ключ. Иска да го смени и тогава разбира, че ключът не е от апартамента на техния съсед. Децата решават да открият истината и започват разследване. Източник: http://bgfilmi.bnt.bg/?p=178