The Magnificent Nine

The Magnificent Nine
Author: James Lovegrove
Publisher: Titan Books (US, CA)
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2019-03-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1785658301

The second original novel tying into the critically acclaimed and much-missed Firefly series from creator Joss Whedon. An old flame of Jayne Cobb's, Temperance McCloud, sends a message to Serenity, begging him for help. She lives on the arid, far-flung world of Tethys, and bandits are trying to overrun her town to gain control of their water supply: the only thing standing between its people and dustbowl ruin. Jayne tries to persuade the Serenity crew to join the fight, but it is only when he offers Vera, his favourite gun, as collateral that Mal realises he's serious. When the Serenity crew land at a hardscrabble desert outpost called Coogan's Bluff, they discover two things: an outlaw gang with an almost fanatical devotion to their leader who will stop at nothing to get what they want, and that Temperance is singlehandedly raising a teenage daughter, born less than a year after Temperance and Jayne broke up. A daughter by the name of Jane McCloud...

The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: Spirit Week Showdown

The Magnificent Mya Tibbs: Spirit Week Showdown
Author: Crystal Allen
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2016-01-26
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0062342355

A hilarious and spunky new heroine in the vein of the heroines of such beloved books as Ramona the Pest, Ivy and Bean, and Clementine, from Crystal Allen—the acclaimed author of How Lamar’s Bad Prank Won a Bubba-Sized Trophy. Nine-year-old Mya Tibbs is boot-scootin’ excited for the best week of the whole school year—SPIRIT WEEK! She and her megapopular best friend, Naomi Jackson, even made a pinky promise to be Spirit Week partners so they can win the big prize: special VIP tickets to the Fall Festival! But when the partner picking goes horribly wrong, Mya gets paired with Mean Connie Tate—the biggest bully in school. And she can’t get out of it. Good gravy. Now Naomi is friend-ending mad at Mya for breaking a promise—even though Mya couldn’t help it—and everyone at school is calling Mya names. Can Mya work with Mean Connie to win the VIP tickets and get her best friend back?

The Big Nine

The Big Nine
Author: Amy Webb
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2019-03-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1541773748

A call-to-arms about the broken nature of artificial intelligence, and the powerful corporations that are turning the human-machine relationship on its head. We like to think that we are in control of the future of "artificial" intelligence. The reality, though, is that we -- the everyday people whose data powers AI -- aren't actually in control of anything. When, for example, we speak with Alexa, we contribute that data to a system we can't see and have no input into -- one largely free from regulation or oversight. The big nine corporations -- Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, Microsoft, IBM and Apple--are the new gods of AI and are short-changing our futures to reap immediate financial gain. In this book, Amy Webb reveals the pervasive, invisible ways in which the foundations of AI -- the people working on the system, their motivations, the technology itself -- is broken. Within our lifetimes, AI will, by design, begin to behave unpredictably, thinking and acting in ways which defy human logic. The big nine corporations may be inadvertently building and enabling vast arrays of intelligent systems that don't share our motivations, desires, or hopes for the future of humanity. Much more than a passionate, human-centered call-to-arms, this book delivers a strategy for changing course, and provides a path for liberating us from algorithmic decision-makers and powerful corporations.

The Magnificent Sons

The Magnificent Sons
Author: Justin Myers
Publisher: Piatkus Books
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2021-04-13
Genre: Bisexual men
ISBN: 9780349416953

Two brothers. Two different journeys. The same hope of a magnificent future. At twenty-nine, Jake D'Arcy has finally got his life just right. Job with prospects: check. Steady girlfriend: check. Keeping his exhausting, boisterous family at bay: check. So why isn't he happier? When his confident, much-adored younger brother Trick comes out as gay to a rapturous response, Jake realises he has questions about his own repressed bisexuality, and that he can't wait any longer to find his answers. As Trick begins to struggle with navigating the murky waters of adult relationships, Jake must confront himself and those closest to him. He's beginning to believe his own life could be magnificent, if he can be brave enough to make it happen...

The Ninth Hour

The Ninth Hour
Author: Alice McDermott
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2017-09-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0374712174

A magnificent new novel from one of America’s finest writers—a powerfully affecting story spanning the twentieth century of a widow and her daughter and the nuns who serve their Irish-American community in Brooklyn. On a dim winter afternoon, a young Irish immigrant opens a gas tap in his Brooklyn tenement. He is determined to prove—to the subway bosses who have recently fired him, to his pregnant wife—that “the hours of his life . . . belonged to himself alone.” In the aftermath of the fire that follows, Sister St. Saviour, an aging nun, a Little Nursing Sister of the Sick Poor, appears, unbidden, to direct the way forward for his widow and his unborn child. In Catholic Brooklyn in the early part of the twentieth century, decorum, superstition, and shame collude to erase the man’s brief existence, and yet his suicide, though never spoken of, reverberates through many lives—testing the limits and the demands of love and sacrifice, of forgiveness and forgetfulness, even through multiple generations. Rendered with remarkable delicacy, heart, and intelligence, Alice McDermott’s The Ninth Hour is a crowning achievement of one of the finest American writers at work today.

Gift of Magic

Gift of Magic
Author: Lynn Kurland
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2012-01-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101554096

Gift of Magic is the latest installment in New York Times bestselling author Lynn Kurland's breathtaking Nine Kingdoms saga, which follows the daughter of a dreamweaver and the son of a mage as they struggle to save the realm from a magic as dark as it is powerful. Sarah of Doìre knows the pattern of spells is no accident. With each page, each powerful rune, she and Ruith are being led somewhere, to someone-but by whom, she cannot tell. Sarah's gift of sight only allows her to see the spells themselves, not the person behind them. A reluctant sorcerer still learning to trust his own magic, Ruithneadh of Ceangail knows he's woefully unprepared for the adversaries they'll face. But he and Sarah must collect and destroy his father Gair's spells soon. Many mages seek their power, and in the wrong hands, Gair's magic would plunge the Nine Kingdoms into an eternity of darkness. But as they pursue the final spells-acquiring strange companions, welcome allies, and unexpected foes along the way-Sarah and Ruith realize that their true quest has only just begun. The real enemy is closer, darker, and more power hungry than they ever imagined; and until he is defeated, the fate of the Nine Kingdoms hangs in dire peril.

The First Collier (Guardians of Ga'Hoole #9)

The First Collier (Guardians of Ga'Hoole #9)
Author: Kathryn Lasky
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2010-06-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 054528340X

The fantastic prequel trilogy to the bestselling series GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE begins!It is a time of Legends and a time of chaos. Warlords vie for power and marauding outlaws roam the land. Good King Hrath and his queen, Siv, noble Spotted Owls struggle to keep peace in their kingdom. Grank, noble Spotted Owl, friend and supporter of King Hrath, has exiled himself to Beyond the Beyond, where he has developed his firesight and learns how to work with embers, fire and how to forge metals. He is the First Collier. Deep in a volcano in the farthest reaches of Beyond the Beyond, he discovers a magical Ember but fears its awful powers will be misused and hides it again. (continued)

Firefly - Carnival

Firefly - Carnival
Author: Una McCormack
Publisher: Titan Books (US, CA)
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2021-12-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1789095107

A heist by the Serenity crew goes badly wrong in a captivating original Firefly tie-in novel from the award-winning series by Titan Books. City of sin Neapolis: a desert city on planet Bethel where all manner of entertainment can be found: high-stakes gambling, luxurious hotels, exclusive clubs and any form of diversion imaginable may be had for a price. It’s the eve of the annual carnival: three days of decadent revelry, and Serenity arrives to take a security job, guarding a costly shipment. An unattainable ransom Tragedy strikes: the shipment is stolen, and the wealthy owner kidnaps Zoë and Book, holding them to ransom for the lost shipment’s value. If Mal can’t find the enormous sum of five hundred platinum by the next evening, both of them will be killed. A race against time As the carnival begins the crew must attempt the impossible, calling on contacts, calling in favours, and revealing hidden talents to save their crewmates’ lives. Meanwhile, the hostages have their own plans…

The Nine Days Queen

The Nine Days Queen
Author: Karleen Bradford
Publisher: Richmond Hill, Ont. : Scholastic-TAB Publications
Total Pages: 212
Release: 1986
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780590716178

At fifteen years of age, upon the death of her cousin, Edward, Lady Jane Grey was forced to accept the crown of England. She was queen for only nine days, however. Edward's eldest sister, Mary, soon challenged Jane for the throne, with tragic results. This is the true story of a bright and intelligent young woman who was manipulated and betrayed by the ambitious people who surrounded her.