National Network for Equitable Library Service

One thousand years after a cataclysmic event leaves humanity on the brink of extinction, the descendants of the chosen survivors take refuge in thirteen contingency shelters buried deep underground, at the bottom of the ocean, and in the far reaches of outer space. In the underwater 13th Continuum, sixteen-year-old Myra Jackson has heard rumors and whisperings all her life of a magical place called "The Surface" where people could breathe fresh air, feel the warmth of something called sunlight on their skin, and see things known as stars and trees and mountains.

Hydra has a synthetic pathogen that will make the entire human race dependent on them for the cure. A.I.M.'s newly developed nanotech compound to enslave humanity is dangerously close to contaminating the world's water supplies. Ultron is poised on the edge of Singularity, Earth's technology at his metallic fingertips. Dormammu has a plan to save the world-by claiming it as his own. The High Evolutionary is rewriting the human genome in a bid to turn humankind into a eugenic slave-race. Everybody wants to rule the world-and only the isolated Avengers can stop them.

At the end of the twenty-first century, the world has changed dramatically, but life continues one thousand feet below the ocean's surface. In Great Britain, sea creatures swim among the ruins of Big Ben and the Tower of London, and citizens waver between fear and hope: fear of what lurks in the abyss and hope that humanity will soon discover a way to reclaim the planet. Meanwhile, sixteen-year-old Leyla McQueen has her own problems to deal with.

Before creating cinematic masterpieces like "Citizen Kane", Orson Welles established his creative credentials with "The Mercury Theatre on the Air", an hour-long showcase which allowed him, producer John Houseman, musical director Bernard Hermann, and a close-knit team of performers and technicians to broadcast innovative adaptations of both well-known and obscure stories - programs that quickly set a new standard for dramatic radio production.

When our heroine Ophelia is promoted to Vice-storyteller by Farouk, the ancestral Spirit of Pole, she finds herself unexpectedly thrust into the public spotlight and her special gift is revealed to all. She knows how to read the secret history of objects, and there could be no greater threat to the nefarious denizens of her icy adopted home than this. Beneath the golden rafters of Pole's capital, Citaceleste, she discovers that the only person she may be able to trust is Thorn, her enigmatic fiancé.

Will the creators of Metamorphosis Online and their infighting ruin the game for everyone? Over Gracie's dead avatar. Others want to learn what is allowing Gracie's team to jump in the ranks, and they're willing to go to great and scuzzy lengths to figure it out. The group has decided to form a guild, but can they hold it together long enough to figure out a team tabard? Can Gracie hold her team together while her personal life is going nowhere? Will she accept her mom's invite to join the family for her sister's engagement?

This gripping new anthology has over a dozen original tales starring the top-selling mutant heroes, the uncanny X-Men, dealing with their greatest foes as well as the day-to-day trials of being mutants-trying to protect the world they've sworn to protect, a world that hates them for what they are!

The alien shapeshifters called the Chitauri were defeated by the Ultimates in a decisive battle, but suspicious activity leads the Ultimates to believe that not all of the aliens were destroyed in that cataclysmic attack. Stark Industries has developed means of quickly and easily detecting Chitauri DNA, but the federal government refuses to adopt the technology, claiming that if the tech is widely available, the Chitauri will find a way to fool it.

The Ultimates-the first government-sponsored cadre of Super Heroes-was assembled to face threats to humanity too insanely powerful for other operatives to handle. Led by a general who gave an eye in the service of his country, the super-powered roster includes a billionaire playboy in a high-tech suit of armor, a World War II super-soldier whom fate has thrust into the twenty-first century, an environmentalist icon who claims to be an ancient Norse god, and a scientist whose mutant powers allow her to shrink to the stature of an insect.

Captain Aero Wright leads a group insurgents from the Second Continuum to overthrow his rival, Supreme General Vinick, and unite his space colony's military forces while Seeker takes on a secret mission back to her home colony to reinforce Earth's defenses and protect the First Continuum against an even greater threat. Meanwhile, Myra's nightmares have become a reality as the Dark Thing hurtles toward Earth with designs on eradicating the planet's fledgling populace.