Trurl and Klaupacius are constructor robots who try to out-invent each other. They travel to the far corners of the cosmos to take on freelance problem-solving jobs, with dire consequences for their employers. “The most completely successful of his books... here Lem comes closest to inventing a real universe” (Boston Globe). Illustrations by Daniel Mr—z. Translated by Michael Kandel.

For hundreds of years, fairies have enchanted imaginations, inspired awe and fear, and left in their wake a treasure trove of wonderful stories. Legends of fairy creatures—ranging from tiny winged sprites to giants to elves to brownies to tree spirits—can be found in every corner of the world. Filled with hundreds of exquisite illustrations, this comprehensive directory provides a global, multi-ethnic, multicultural overview of fairies. Nearly 3,000 entries, arranged alphabetically offer glimpses into other worlds and times. There are items from Celtic and Scandinavian traditions, Greek and Norse mythology, Native American culture, the Far East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and more. Cross-referencing makes it easy to explore the themes that span the globe. An extensive introduction explores the origins of fairy folklore and provides general background on common beliefs. A Selection of the One Spirit Book Club.

From acclaimed novelist and screenwriter John Ridley (Three Kings, Everybody Smokes in Hell) and hot new artist Ben Oliver (Puncture) comes the WildStorm event of the year! The Authority, Earths last defense, have performed godlike acts in defense of the planet, whether defeating ancient gods or fending off interdimensional invasion forces. But these brave acts havent always endeared them to many in power... particularly in the United States. The President, tired of being embarrassed by what he views as a bunch of costumed freaks, sets a plan in motion that could very well destroy the Authority from the insidea plan so cunning itll shake the Authority to their very core. With an unexpected threat from the future on Earths doorstep, it could very well mean global extinction!

Now reprinted in its entirety is the hottest miniseries of recent years! This volume collects the now-classic six-issue series by Mark Verheiden and Mark A. Nelson, as well as the short story from Dark Horse Presents #24.

It's no wonder he hates it here. Spider Jerusalem, journalist and hero of sorts in Warren Ellis'Transmetropolitan, wades through a sewer of poverty and high-tech despair daily in his efforts to understand and report on America. In The New Scum, Ellis contrasts the powerful, in the form of presidential candidates, with the powerless, who are begging and hustling on the streets. The satire is savage and rarely subtle, but the author takes care to show some human warmth lest the comic descend into the nihilism it warns against. The plot, largely secondary to the characters and background events, focuses loosely on Jerusalem's assignment to interview the two candidates, each psychotic and unfit for any office. His bodyguard and personal assistant, meanwhile, discover the terrors of pleasure in a post-nanotech world with unlimited credit. The election-eve climax fully captures the anxiety and depression that come from having no real choice in matters of great importance. Either Ellis or his creation deserves a Pulitzer. —Rob Lightner

ibooks is proud to present a little-seen thriller that shows once again why master storyteller J. Michael Straczynski is so revered...

 A vicious killer stalks the streets of Los Angeles, and crime reporter Susan Randall is hot on his trail. When she meets Raymond Weil, she thinks she's found an ally-except his knowledge of the killer seems too complete....

John Cain has been working Homicide long enough to get hard to pretty much anything; even wrenching personal loss. Today, it all gets too much. Today, he gets assigned something that finally breaks through his defenses, a child killing that hits horribly close to home. Until now, he's been a good cop, a cop who goes by procedure because it's the best way to ensure that scum go to prison. Today, he makes the parents of the victim a chilling promise. He will find the killer using any means necessary. And the killer will not get away with it. Whatever happens. How much of a monster do you have to become to hunt monsters?

Clap if you believe in fairies! The Victorians did, writes Carole Silver in Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness, but she's not exactly talking about Tinkerbell here. Silver prefers the more gruesome and treacherous species of fay: changelings and vampires, brownies and goblins. The Victorians took these creatures very seriously, indeed, and according to Silver, this belief tapped into some of their society's most fundamental anxieties. Fear of physical deformity, of women's sexual power, of racial or class difference: these were the true bogeymen that haunted the Victorian imagination, and they responded with a flood of art, literature, and theater that portrayed these imaginary creatures with equal measures of fascination and horror. Silver even argues that many if not most Victorians believed in the actual physical existence of fairies, citing contemporary news accounts as her evidence. Why fairies? Creatures of the imagination and of the rural past, they offered refuge from an increasingly mechanized and empirical age. More ominously, they also provided expression for some of an imperialist nation's nastier beliefs, embodied in figures from Dr. Jekyll to Snow White's dwarves. Exhaustively researched and engagingly written, Strange and Secret Peoples is an original look at the complexities and contradictions of Victorian culture.