American Space

Award-winning author Michèle Phoenix weaves an unforgettable tale of hope and survival in The Space Between Words. In this split-time "powerful and compelling novel" (Library Journal starred review), one woman recovers from a traumatic event by uncovering secrets from the past. "There were...

In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, New York Times bestselling author and historian Douglas Brinkley delivers a young readers’ edition of a story rooted in heroism, bravery, and patriotism: America’s race to the moon. July 20, 1969. It’s a day that has earned...

Hailed by Newbery winner Kelly Barnhill as “stunning, moving, and marvelously strange,” this tale of a young girl who stumbles into a magical realm ruled by a wicked witch is a haunting and ultimately uplifting middle grade novel about grief, family, and decades-old magic. Still grieving the...

From bestselling author Joan Wolf comes a sweeping retelling of Esther's story, where palace intrigue, forbidden love, and divine purpose collide. Perfect for fans of Francine Rivers and Angela Hunt, A Reluctant Queen brings the biblical tale of courage and romance to vivid life. "Joan Wolf...

Sasha Naradnyo is a gangster. He's a gangster with heart, sure, but Sasha sticks his neck out for no man. That's how you stay alive in Crack City, a colony stuffed deep into the crust of the otherwise unlivable planet Peezgtaan. Alive only - because if you're human, you don't prosper, at least not for long. Sasha is a second generation City native. His parents came to this rock figuring to make it big, only to find that they'd been recruited as an indentured labor force for alien overlords known as the Varoki.

Late-1970s Los Angeles was rampant with killers and shady characters, but all the go-getters at Space Matters saw was possibility. Richard Kasparov was handsome and charismatic; his younger associate, Jerry Schneiderman, brilliant and nerdy. When the pair hired a veteran contractor to oversee construction, the space planning firm they operated out of a hip mansion in LA's Miracle Mile district appeared poised to transform the boundless skyline into their jackpot. After the promising team imploded, however, the orderly lines on their blueprints succumbed to treachery and secrets.

During the summer of 1969 - the summer Americans first walked on the moon - musician and poet Patti Smith recalled strolling down the Coney Island Boardwalk to a refreshment stand, where "pictures of Jesus, President Kennedy, and the astronauts were taped to the wall behind the register." Such was the zeitgeist in the year of the moon. Yet this holy trinity of 1960s America would quickly fall apart.

From a writer whose work has been called “breathtaking and dazzling” by Roxane Gay, this moving, illuminating, and multifaceted memoir explores, in a series of essays, the emotional scars we carry when dealing with mental and physical illnesses—reminiscent of The Collected Schizophrenias...

Shows how government created “ghettos” and affluent white space and entrenched a system of American residential caste that is the linchpin of US inequality—and issues a call for abolition. The iconic Black hood, like slavery and Jim Crow, is a peculiar American institution animated by the...

The battle for liberation continues.... A de facto state of war persists between the United States of America and man’s only space-based civilization: a community of African Americans inhabiting their own space station. Christopher Wright leads the separatists of the Black Space Colony in its endeavor to perfect sub-light travel through the mastery of technology while navigating the sociological challenges of becoming completely independent from Earth. With the arrival of new recruits from Earth comes the challenge of integration while charting their path.

Florida's Space Coast tells the compelling story of America's half century in space exploration from the successful launch of the first two-stage rocket in 1950 through the space shuttle missions of 2000. Told from the unique viewpoint of the people who built the Spaceport, this book shows how the space program transformed the east central Florida coast from a traditional citrus production and tourist area to one of the most influential high-tech centers in the nation.

Tyler Matthews divides the legal team in half to wage courtroom battles on worlds half a galaxy apart. The Star Lawyers must defend Mr. Blue, their Quirt-Thymean friend and fellow attorney, for the murder of his King. But defending a regicide carries a penalty of death - for his lawyer! Meanwhile, J.B., Rosalie, and Suzie fly to a Mek colonial world to defend their mischievous Uncle Charlie, who’s charged with seduction and sedition among the matriarchal Meklavites.

What terrible secrets will Tyler Matthews and his star lawyers discover within the forbidden sanctuary on the mysterious, sacred planet Adao-2? Can the legal team from Matthews Interstellar Industries learn the truth in time to save M-double-I’s century-long quest to open Jump Gate Omega, bridge the 2.5 million light years to the Andromeda galaxy, and prevent economic ruin and war in the Milky Way?

How did life begin on Earth? Does it exist elsewhere? What would those life forms be like? These fundamental questions about the nature of life and our own cosmic significance are endlessly fascinating. In this book, we present several theories on the origin of life, some of its extreme and surprising forms, and the ongoing search for signs - or sentience - on distant worlds.

Our nearest planetary neighbor has been the subject of endless fascination and wide-ranging theories throughout history. Is there life on Mars? Was there ever life on Mars? What was the atmosphere like thousands or millions of years ago? From Percival Lowell, who built his own observatory so he could dedicate himself to studying the red planet, to NASA landing the car-sized Curiosity rover in 2012, this book traces Scientific American's coverage of the observation and exploration of Mars.

Macklin, Mississippi has been rocked to its core by the death of David Moss, the son of one of the town’s most influential man. Some believe that David’s fate was sealed after many of the desperate choices he made. Can his family heal after such a devastating loss? After Linda decides to leave town again, Annie has to figure out how to live with the burden of raising the children her sister left behind.

“Cosmos” comes from a Greek word for an orderly and systematic universe. In this book, we present the most riveting discoveries and mind-bending ideas about our cosmic home, from what we know of the origins of the universe and the cartography of space to the most bizarre phenomena and the search for life. Discussions include the possibility that the big bang was the consequence of a black hole in a fourth spatial dimension, that cosmic ripples created infinite universes, that entangled black holes could act as wormhole-like passageways through space, and much more.

Macklin, Mississippi, is a town where everybody knows everybody - a place where there is no such thing as a secret. The town has seen its share of scandals, especially when the legendary Shirley Brown swept through town. The women in town thrive on the juicy gossip that they hear about each other, but each one of them has her own skeletons and past sins to live with. The men in Macklin have always been supportive of their wives and significant others, but they also have demons of their own.

In the two decades since astronomers first discovered the existence of a planet outside of our solar system, “exoplanetology” has become the hottest specialty in astrophysics. Scientists young and old, inspired by the thought of finding either another habitable world or the Holy Grail of space exploration - life itself - flocked to be part of this burgeoning field. With so much brainpower on hand, it’s no wonder that investigative techniques advanced more quickly than anyone would have thought.

The world gasped in April 2015 as Baltimore erupted and Black Lives Matter activists, incensed by Freddie Gray's brutal death in police custody, shut down highways and marched on city streets. In The Black Butterfly - a reference to the fact that Baltimore's majority-Black population spreads out on both sides of the coveted strip of real estate running down the center of the city like a butterfly's wings - Lawrence T. Brown reveals that ongoing historical trauma caused by a combination of policies, practices, systems, and budgets is at the root of uprisings.