In an alternate Roman Empire, the ultimate battle is being waged for domination of the multiverse in the epic conclusion of the war for a million Earths There are a million different Earths across an infinite number of timelines—and every one of them is in peril. John Barnes’s ingenious science fiction saga the Timeline Wars reaches a breathtaking climax in Caesar’s Bicycle as former Pittsburgh private investigator–turned–Crux Op agent Mark Strang pursues the alien Closer enemy to a new battleground: an alternate ancient Rome of Caesar and Pompey. Strang’s investigation into the disappearance of a fellow ATN operative has carried him along a new timeline to a Roman Empire at once strikingly similar and remarkably different from the one recalled in history books on his own Earth. What he discovers is a world in the process of radical transformation through the introduction of new technologies, centuries before their time, by both sides in the war for the multiverse—enemy Closers and ATN alike. And this time, Strang’s mission carries a new urgency, for the timelines are becoming dangerously unstable and mysteriously starting to close. To prevent the total enslavement of every one of the million Earths, Strang himself will now have to make history. But by ensuring that an infamous assassination actually does take place, Mark Strang could be condemning himself to the most horrible death the Romans ever devised.

"The stories are based on historical figures whose endeavors were too early, too late, or went against the grain of their time. They are all people who see the world differently from their contemporaries and therefore seem absurd."--Page 4 of cover.

Bicycling magazine features bikes, bike gear, equipment reviews, training plans, bike maintenance how tos, and more, for cyclists of all levels.

The nineteenth century's "mechanical horse" offered an exciting new world of transportation for all and ushered in an era of changes that resonates to the present day, changes cataloged and described in a fascinating history of an engineering marvel.

A definitive account of Blaxploitation cinema—the freewheeling, often shameless, and wildly influential genre—from a distinctive voice in film history and criticism In 1971, two films grabbed the movie business, shook it up, and launched a genre that would help define the decade. Melvin Van Peebles’s Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, an independently produced film about a male sex worker who beats up cops and gets away, and Gordon Parks’s Shaft, a studio-financed film with a killer soundtrack, were huge hits, making millions of dollars. Sweetback upended cultural expectations by having its Black rebel win in the end, and Shaft saved MGM from bankruptcy. Not for the last time did Hollywood discover that Black people went to movies too. The Blaxploitation era was born. Written by film critic Odie Henderson, Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras is a spirited history of a genre and the movies that he grew up watching, which he loves without irony (but with plenty of self-awareness and humor). Blaxploitation was a major trend, but it was never simple. The films mixed self-empowerment with exploitation, base stereotypes with essential representation that spoke to the lives and fantasies of Black viewers. The time is right for a reappraisal, understanding these films in the context of the time, and exploring their lasting influence.

In the spellbinding Arthur C. Clarke tradition, here is an exhilarating adventure into the hearts of both the Universe and mankind . . . By the twenty-third century Earth has already had two encounters with massive, mysterious robotic spacecraft from beyond our solar system—the incontestable proof of an alien technology that far exceeds our own. Now three human cosmonauts are trapped aboard a labyrinthine Raman vessel, where it will take all of their physical and mental resources to survive. Only twelve years into their journey do these intrepid travelers learn their destination and face their ultimate challenge: a rendezvous with a Raman base—and the unseen architects of their galactic home. The cosmonauts have given up family, friends, and possessions to live a new kind of life. But the answers that await them at the Raman Node will require an even greater sacrifice—if humanity is indeed ready to learn the awe-inspiring truth.