Psychological Science

Once again, Arnold Fitzgerald stars as the main character (at least for the time being). He and Orthopox have been trapped on a prison planet within the system of corrections. Undoubtedly, the sinister Malcolm forces him to get married, and afterward releases him back to Planet Earth (with the proper medication, of course). Once he reunites with his alien friend Muhammad, who cleverly disguises himself as an Arab person—all bets are off! Many new characters, such as Zeke and Queen Nubia, are introduced, and they are in no mood to bargain!

Memes have been part of computer-assisted communication almost since the development of the first consumer browser (the "World Wide Web") in 1990. This book seeks to explain how memes influence societies and cultures beyond the confines of social networking services. It will begin by reviewing the fundamental definitions that frame discussions about memes in popular culture and academic research. There will be a connection between theoretical concepts about memes and the memetic content itself.

Who are you when you dream? Rick isn't sure anymore.... Is he Rick, living in the here and now? Working a boring job, married to Cath. Or is he Dan, living 600 years and half a galaxy away? Exploring an alien planet with Vanessa by his side. Two worlds, one man. While he's awake in one place, he's asleep in the other. Simple enough, until people from Dan's world start turning up in Rick's life. Confusing? But then it gets worse. Dan is accused of a crime he didn't commit. Ricks wife leaves him and both realities are falling apart. Which life is real? Will either go back to how it was?

Joan Cooper is a 17-year-old genius who was traumatized by the death of her older sister and who tries to rebuild her shattered world by studying string theory and the efforts to unify the laws of physics. But as she tackles the complex equations, she falls prey to disturbing visions of a divine being who wants to help her unveil the universe’s mathematical design. Joan must enter the battle between science and religion, fighting for her sanity and a new understanding of the cosmos.

A man finds himself the subject of interrogation related to a break in at his home. Or does he? The line between reality and insanity is easily blurred and razor thin for Marv Stillman. Two best friends join one another on yet another adventure, this time to the furthest remote corner of the Rocky Mountains. They seek evidence of an ever-elusive beast.

When Maxon met Sunny, he was seven years, four months, and eighteen-days old. Or, he was 2693 rotations of the earth old. Maxon was different. Sunny was different. They were different together. Now, twenty years later, they are married, and Sunny wants, more than anything, to be "normal." She's got the housewife thing down perfectly, but Maxon, a genius engineer, is on a NASA mission to the moon, programming robots for a new colony. Once they were two outcasts who found unlikely love in each other: a wondrous, strange relationship formed from urgent desire for connection.

Volk is Piers Anthony's serious novel of World War II and forbidden love, featuring a romance between a Nazi SS officer and his American friend’s fiancée, a pacifist Quaker lady. Politically incorrect, it covers some hard truths. Not all Nazis were evil, and the allies also kept death camps. The author was in Europe as a child, deported in 1940, and raised as a Quaker, so has some basis to address the subjects.

Niki Ky spends her days in a medicated haze, haunted by the ghosts of those she left behind 10 years ago after a confrontation against an unspeakable evil that left her shattered. To find peace, Niki must return to the house on the side of Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama-to face creatures no human should ever have to face.

At 11 years old, Gabriel Naumann is witness to a horrific crime. Twenty-nine years later his girlfriend is taken. Then the messages begin. 'If you want to find her, then you'll have to find me.' Somebody knows the truth. Somebody knows what he did. And now his girlfriend will pay for it - unless he can find her in time. When you've spent decades running from your past, what do you do when it finally catches up with you?

The Difference Between You and Me is a modern-day comedy of manners, an insider's take on Hollywood protocol and prestige. With her sly yet generous wit, DeMarco illuminates everyday annoyances and disasters that every woman will recognize - office backstabbing, why-won't-he-call frustrations, and the unsettling vacuum that can open up in the middle of the busiest life.

Blythe Hallowell is 16 when she is abducted by a survivalist and locked away in an aban­doned missile silo in Eudora, Kansas. At first, she focuses frantically on finding a way out, until the harrowing truth of her new existence settles in - the crushing loneliness, the terrifying madness of a captor who believes he is saving her from the end of the world, and the persistent temptation to give up. But nothing prepares Blythe for the burden of raising a child in confinement.

This novel centers on the "It's me" telephone scam - often targeting the elderly - that has escalated in Japan in recent years. Typically, the caller identifies himself only by saying, "Hey, it's me", and goes on to claim in great distress that he's been in an accident or lost some money with which he was entrusted at work, etc., and needs funds wired to his account right away. ME's narrator is a nondescript young Tokyoite named Hitoshi Nagano.

Lou Campion has joined the WAAFs, against the wishes of her parents and twin sister, Sasha. Lou's always been a rebel, but now finds that if she wants to succeed, she'll have to follow extremely strict rules. Can she do this, or will it all end in deep disgrace? Tragedy haunts the other members of the family, as Katie's plans for the future are dashed, Fran's young husband is close to death, and Bella's impossible passion has to remain a close secret. Yet even in the darkest hour, there is hope.

London. December 1981. The IRA is on the attack, a cold war is being waged, another war is just over the horizon, and Stephen Donaldson spends his days listening. When he first joined the Institute, he expected to encounter glamorous, high-risk espionage. Instead he gets the tape-recorded conversations of ancient Communists and ineffectual revolutionaries - until the day he is assigned a new case: the ultra-secret PHOENIX, a suspected internal leak.

Waiting for Fireflies is a story about how love can change both the past and the future in unexpected ways. Connected through time by the secretive Red Manor and a mythical white stag, Elise, Andrew, and Anna may just find the hope they are so desperately waiting for.

Adam Brandt is used to dealing with all kinds of people - as a consulting psychologist with the Chicago Police Department he has faced his share of criminals. But Kassie Wojcek is like no one else he's encountered - 15 years old and burdened, she says, with a terrible gift: she knows how and when you will die. After claiming to 'feel' the horrific murder of the first victim, Kassie is caught up in the hunt for a sadistic serial killer terrorising Chicago, frightened that people will die without her help.

In November 2014 Arla Macleod bludgeoned her mother, father and sister to death with a hammer. Now incarcerated at a medium-security mental-health institution, Arla will speak to no one but Scott King, an investigative journalist, whose Six Stories podcasts have become an internet sensation. King finds himself immersed in an increasingly complex case, interviewing five witnesses and Arla herself as he questions whether Arla's responsibility for the massacre was a diminished as her legal team made out.

Andrew Lyle is on the brink of adulthood, navigating the turbulent waters of school, friendships, and family expectations while carrying a weight he struggles to understand. When academic pressure and self-doubt begin to suffocate him, Andrew discovers an unexpected ally: an advanced AI assistant named William. As his grades improve and his life becomes more organized, Andrew finds himself questioning the balance between relying on technology (machine wonderland) and truly living.

Wyrdwood is unlike any other town in America. Home sweet home, mom, baseball, and apple pie take on whole new dimensions when Viviane, her mother, and her cohort Corona arrive just in time to become embroiled in a nasty struggle between the guardians of Purgatory and the residents of King Arthur's mythic isle. Viviane's enemies will stop at nothing to wrench open the gates of Apfallon, and Viviane is their chosen crowbar.

When Abigale inherits her uncle's curiosity shop she is thrust into the world of the occult. Where strange rituals are performed and cursed antiquities change hands. In this, she finds an entity of untold power. A primeval being of aeons past shouting to be freed. An old tome acting as a latched door opened a crack, outlining a rite requiring exotic ingredients and acts of questionable morals. He promises an answer to her family's dark secret in exchange for her help.