In "The Last Beacon: A Battle Against Extinction," the world is on the brink of disaster. A devastating crisis threatens to bring about the end of life as we know it. But amidst the chaos and destruction, a beacon of hope emerges. The Last Beacon, an organization committed to finding a solution to the crisis, rises to the occasion. Led by a team of dedicated individuals, the Last Beacon begins a battle against extinction, bringing together a community of like-minded people who are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of the planet. As the Last Beacon's search for a solution begins, they encounter a world on the brink, where resources are scarce and time is running out. But through their determination and ingenuity, they gather the last hope of humanity to build a new alliance to address the crisis. The Last Beacon's journey takes them on a perilous expedition through a world unravelling before their eyes. As they face resistance and sacrifice, they also discover the power of community and the strength of a new alliance. In their fight against time, the Last Beacon must develop a secret weapon and the heroes emerge. But victory comes with a price, and the Last Beacon must come to terms with the cost of survival. As the fight against the crisis reaches its climax, the Last Beacon's final plan emerges, leading to a world transformed and a new era of humanity. "The Last Beacon: A Battle Against Extinction" is a powerful story of hope, determination, and the triumph of the human spirit in the face of the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. It is a call to action, a reminder that the fight against the crisis is ongoing, and that there is always hope for a better future.

For centuries, men and women have manned lighthouses to ensure the safe passage of ships. It is a lonely job, and a thankless one for the most part. Until something goes wrong. Until a ship is in distress. In the 23rd century, this job has moved into outer space. A network of beacons allows ships to travel across the Milky Way at many times the speed of light. These beacons are built to be robust. They never break down. They never fail. At least, they aren't supposed to.

Two generations ago, most essayists were men, but in recent decades, women writers have claimed the personal essay, using its freedom to explore contemporary life in all its diversity. Wendy Martin has gathered a wide range of writing, from classics by Maya Angelou and Joan Didion to new voices of younger writers, many appearing here for the first time in book form.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR A wrenching debut memoir of familial grief by a National Book Award finalist—and a defining account of what it means to love and lose a difficult parent, for readers of Joan Didion and Dani Shapiro. When Christopher Sorrentino's mother died in 2017, it marked the end of a journey that had begun eighty years earlier in the South Bronx. Victoria's life took her to the heart of New York's vibrant mid-century downtown artistic scene, to the sedate campus of Stanford, and finally back to Brooklyn—a journey witnessed by a son who watched, helpless, as she grew more and more isolated, distancing herself from everyone and everything she'd ever loved. In examining the mystery of his mother's life, from her dysfunctional marriage to his heedless father, the writer Gilbert Sorrentino, to her ultimate withdrawal from the world, Christopher excavates his own memories and family folklore in an effort to discover her dreams, understand her disappointments, and peel back the ways in which she seemed forever trapped between two identities: the Puerto Rican girl identified on her birth certificate as Black, and the white woman she had seemingly decided to become. Meanwhile Christopher experiences his own transformation, emerging from under his father's shadow and his mother's thumb to establish his identity as a writer and individual—one who would soon make his own missteps and mistakes. Unfolding against the captivating backdrop of a vanished New York, a city of cheap bohemian enclaves and a thriving avant-garde—a dangerous, decaying, but liberated and potentially liberating place—Now Beacon, Now Sea is a matchless portrait of the beautiful, painful messiness of life, and the transformative power of even conflicted grief. "Acute, intimate and exceedingly fair, Sorrentino’s memoir is a post-mortem that examines not the causes of his parents’ deaths but the endurance and effects of their confounding marriage . . . This is the story of a son who is trying to dissect and understand the love that remains—and sometimes emerges—after death. We may have a greater cultural appetite for eulogies, but an autopsy, in looking directly at the cold corpse of a family in all its gruesomeness and mystery, can be just as profound, and in the hands of a writer as restrained and humane as Sorrentino, just as beautiful." —Eleanor Henderson, The New York Times Book Review

Douglas Bostick, historian and former director of Save the Light, Inc., recounts the stories of the many lightkeepers and their families who braved meager provisions, low pay and grueling conditions living on a small island at the entrance to Charleston Harbor.