Adult

The problems fracturing the Goss family as Christmas approaches are hardly unique, though perhaps they are handling them a little differently than most people might. But then a true emergency arises, one with the potential to ruin not only Christmas, but everything holding the family together. Is the arrival of a lost puppy yet another in the string of calamities facing them, or could the little canine be just what they all need?

Quantum physicist Matt Bronik is suffering from strange, violent seizures that medical science seems powerless to explain --- much to the consternation of his wife, Brigid. Matt doesn’t think these fits could be related to his research, which he has always described as benign and esoteric. That, it turns out, is not quite true: Matt has been prodding the mysteries of the quantum universe, with terrible repercussions for his health. And perhaps even for humanity as a whole. Then, in the midst of another seizure, Matt disappears. With his life in clear danger, Brigid sets out to find him. Will Matt be killed before she reaches him, or could the physics that endangered him actually be used to save his life?

In TO HOLD UP THE SKY, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space --- from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use physics to prevent an alien invasion; to coal mines in northern China where new technology will either save lives of unleash a fire that will burn for centuries; to a time very much like our own, when superstring computers predict our every move; to 10,000 years in the future, when humanity is finally able to begin anew; to the very collapse of the universe itself. Written between 1999 and 2017 and never before published in English, these stories came into being during decades of major change in China.

Christa Parravani was 40 years old, in a troubled marriage and in bad financial straits when she learned she was pregnant with her third child. Six weeks into the pregnancy, she requested an abortion. And in the weeks and months that followed, nurses and doctors became unavailable to provide Christa with reproductive choice. By the time she understood that she would need to leave West Virginia to obtain a safe, legal abortion, Christa had run out of time. So she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Keats. And another frightening education began: available healthcare was dangerously inadequate to her newborn son’s needs. Indeed, environmental degradations and poor health care endangered Christa’s older children as well.

In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Ku Klux Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die. Standing in their way is Maryse Boudreaux and her fellow resistance fighters, a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan's demons straight to Hell. But something awful is brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up. Can Maryse stop the Klan before it ends the world?

In her day job as a counterterrorism wizard for a transnational cybersecurity firm, Masha Maximow made the hacks that allowed repressive regimes to spy on dissidents and manipulate their every move. The perks were fantastic, and the pay was obscene. Just for fun, and to piss off her masters, Masha sometimes used her mad skills to help those same troublemakers evade detection, if their cause was just. When her targets were strangers in faraway police states, it was easy to compartmentalize, to ignore the collateral damage of murder, rape and torture. But when it hits close to home, and the hacks and exploits she’s devised are directed at her friends and family, Masha realizes she has to choose. And whatever choice she makes, someone is going to get hurt.

St. Petersburg, 1725. Peter the Great lies dying in his magnificent Winter Palace. The weakness and treachery of his only son has driven his father to an appalling act of cruelty and left the empire without an heir. Russia risks falling into chaos. Into the void steps the woman who has been by his side for decades: his second wife, Catherine Alexeyevna. Born into devastating poverty, Catherine used her extraordinary beauty and shrewd intelligence to ingratiate herself with Peter’s powerful generals, finally seducing the Tsar himself. But even amongst the splendor and opulence of her new life, she knows the peril of her position. Can she keep the Tsar’s death a secret as she plays a lethal game to destroy her enemies and take the Crown for herself?

Lawyer Andy Carpenter can finally take a breath; he’s almost back on dry land after a family Caribbean cruise forced on him by his wife, Laurie, to get into the Christmas spirit. Andy can’t wait to get back to the Tara Foundation, the dog rescue organization that’s always been his true passion. But before the boat even docks, Andy gets several calls from his partner, Willie Miller. He needs to see Andy as soon as the Carpenters are back on solid ground. When Andy arrives home, he finds that all is not calm or bright, and Willie needs his help. Willie’s old cellmate, Tony Birch, has been arrested for murder. Andy doesn’t necessarily believe in Tony, but Willie does. And Andy believes in Willie, which is why Andy decides to take the case.

Shecky Keenan’s family is under fire --- or at least it feels that way. Bank accounts have closed unexpectedly, a strange car has been parked near the house at odd hours, and Emil Scott, an enigmatic artist and the family’s new runner, is missing --- along with the $250,000 of dirty money he was carrying. Shecky moves money for an array of unsavory clients, and his nephew Henry is his bagman. His niece Kerasha, the famed former child-thief of Bushwick, is still learning the family trade, but her quick mind and quicker fingers are already being put to use. They love one another, but trust is thin when secrets are the family trade. And someone will be coming for that missing money --- soon.

Avery is an exceptional child. Everything he does is precise, from the way he washes his face in the morning, to the way he completes his homework. Zib is also an exceptional child, because all children are, in their own way. But where everything Avery does and is can be measured, nothing Zib does can possibly be predicted, except for the fact that she can always be relied upon to be unpredictable. On an unplanned detour from home to school one morning, Avery and Zib find themselves climbing over a stone wall into the Up and Under --- an impossible land filled with mystery, adventure and the strangest creatures. They must find themselves and each other if they are to also find their way out and back to their own lives.