Urban Exploration

99% Invisible is a big-ideas podcast about small-seeming things, revealing stories baked into the buildings we inhabit, the streets we drive, and the sidewalks we traverse. The show celebrates design and architecture in all of its functional glory and accidental absurdity, with intriguing tales of both designers and the people impacted by their designs.

More than two centuries after World War III poisoned the planet, the final bastion of humanity lives on massive airships circling the globe in search of a habitable area to call home. Aging and outdated, most of the ships plummeted back to Earth long ago. The only thing keeping the two surviving lifeboats in the sky are Hell Divers - men and women who risk their lives by skydiving to the surface to scavenge for parts the ships desperately need.

In a galaxy tied together by the magic of the elite Jump Magi, Damien Montgomery is a newly graduated member of their number. With no family or connections to find a ship, he is forced into service on an interstellar freighter known to be hunted by pirates. When he takes drastic action to save the Blue Jay from their pursuers, he sets in motion a sequence of events beyond his control and attracts enemies on both sides of the law.

A chilling novel about our modern world, from the author of Empire of the Sun and Crash. An architect is driving home from his London offices when a blow-out sends his speeding Jaguar hurtling out of control. Smashing through a temporary barrier he finds himself, dazed and disorientated, on a traffic island below three converging motorways. But when he tries to climb the embankment or flag-down a passing car for help it proves impossible - and he finds himself marooned on the concrete island.

Three years ago, as ship's mage of the starship Blue Jay, Damien Montgomery was pursued to the edge of human space by both the agents and enemies of the mage -king of Mars before being brought in from the cold. Now, trained in new skills by the mage-king himself, Damien has been sent to the planet Ardennes alongside Alaura Stealey, hand of the king. A rebel movement there has destroyed cities fighting a governor seemingly lost to corruption. But not all on Ardennes is as it seems.

His people ravaged by a deadly sickness, Tor is the last hunter of the Ulduuk. After desperately praying to his gods for help, Tor witnesses a light burning through the night sky. The shooting star that Tor thinks is the answer to his calls is actually an escape pod containing one passenger: Kaylee Mentz, a human from Earth. On the run from an abusive relationship, Kaylee was trying to start life anew on the off-world colonies when her shuttle got into a terrible accident, sending her hurtling down to the jungle covered surface of Tor’s planet. Kaylee is just a regular old girl with no ...

Ryn Tilley came to the desert to paint in solitude away from the city art scene she had come to despise, and to escape from the memory of the man who broke her heart and betrayed her trust. Remote, vast and quiet, Ryn’s refuge was perfect – but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. That is until a mysterious stranger, dehydrated and lost in the desert, stumbled into her life. Daggen Trys shouldn’t be on Earth, and he especially shouldn’t be lying unconscious in the bed of this beautiful human female. Interaction with humans is strictly forbidden in his mission...

Heather Clemens never thought that life would turn out like this. Single, alone, and stuck fortune telling out of her house for a meager living, Heather could really use some good news. So she does what she vowed never to do: Read her own fortune. What she sees is shocking and impossible… but that’s when the impossible happens, and Heather finds herself looking into the eyes of Rhys Vandell, a fierce and sexy warrior prince from another world. Heather is his fated prize, the key to completing his rite of passage and earning his royal birthright: the power of the dragon shift. Now, ...

Netto was a Cyborg, a protector, and a contracted mercenary. His specialty was the water: shallows, salt water, and open oceans across the universe. He was also a freak forged from the DNA of a bull shark-blue-gray skin, a body built with power, and a double-set of razor-sharp teeth. His nomadic lifestyle came to a halt when his employer, the Earthian Planetary Exploration Division, offered him his old job back. Rylie was born and raised on the planet Kepler, on an agri-lot that farmed jewels from the sea. But something was happening to her family's lots and people were disappearing.

N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights listeners with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.

His people conquered humanity...but can he conquer her? Grahf Ven Diel is a master warrior of the Ezrok, the alien race who conquered humanity, and his home is on the battlefield. When he is condemned to a reassignment to the backwater human colony on Mars, Grahf feels he is facing a sentence of misery…until he meets her. He’s never desired a mate before in his life – his training prevents it – but this human girl is unlike any female he’s ever met. Casey Pearce never asked for this. Ordered to quarter this tall and mysterious alien soldier at her farm, Casey is reluctant to trust...

Strong, powerful, independent Liz has a plan for her life but keeps looking for something more. Upcoming young lawyer Cam owns a good heart and a good head but lacks direction. From the first time they meet, the two of them are enthralled, Liz with Cam's kindness and seeming innocence, and Cam with the confident, beautiful redhead a few years his senior. For Liz, the magic ends when they sleep together…. What could have been the end of their relationship evolves into something more profound, as Liz and Cam – or is it, Candi? -- begin a journey into pleasure, sexuality, and gender in ...

K.T. Tomb introduces three new heroines: bounty hunters Roberta, Riley, and Ricki Vaughan. All sisters. And all tough as nails. When a new client hires the streetwise Vaughan sisters to find and recover a stolen diamond that’s worth millions, the recovery fee alone could save their struggling business. However, their new client refuses to call the police, so the sisters have to keep this case on the down low. And when the prime suspect turns up dead, things really start to heat up in the Deep South. When an unexpected event threatens more than the recovery of the one-of-a-kind gem, all ...

Top Gun heads to outer space in this throwback to the classic science fiction of Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein. Strapped in to artificial wings spanning 25 feet across, your arms push a tenth of your body weight with each pump as you propel yourself at frightening speeds through the air. Inside a pressurized dome on the Moon, subject to one-sixth Earth's gravity, there are swarms of chiseled, fearless, superbly trained flyers all around you, jostling for air space like peregrine falcons racing for the prize.

Bob kann es nicht fassen. Eben hat er noch seine Software-Firma verkauft und einen Vertrag über das Einfrieren seines Körpers nach seinem Tod unterschrieben, da ist es auch schon vorbei mit ihm. Er wird beim Überqueren der Straße überfahren. Hundert Jahre später wacht Bob wieder auf, allerdings nicht als Mensch, sondern als Künstliche Intelligenz, die noch dazu Staatseigentum ist. Prompt bekommt er auch gleich seinen ersten Auftrag: Er soll neue bewohnbare Planeten finden. Versagt er, wird er abgeschaltet. Für Bob beginnt ein grandioses Abenteuer zwischen den Sternen - und ein gnadenloser Wettlauf gegen die Zeit.

Matthew is a normal 11-year-old boy living with his parents and little sister in Surrey. He's too old and sensible to have an imaginary friend really. Yet when Matthew's parents keep finding him talking and arguing with a strange presence whom Matthew calls Chocky, that's what they believe it must be…at first. But Chocky is oddly sinister, and keeps asking Matthew all sorts of complicated questions about the world and making him behave in unusual and erratic ways. Then Matthew suddenly does something heroic, well beyond his capabilities; the media become interested and the interest in Matthew widens.

His mission was to protect her, not to fall for her... Reylar Ven Erz is a powerful warrior of the Ezrok, the alien race who conquered humanity, and his kind is at galactic war. Tasked with hunting down an elusive and deadly assassin hiding in the human colony on Mars, Reylar is lead to the doorstep of the human female who he believes is its primary target – and he’ll do everything he can to keep her safe. A brilliant scientist, Doctor Liliandra Cast may hold the key to ending the war that plagues the galaxy. Now she’s on the run from an alien monster who wants her dead, and a whether...

The follow-up to Jackalope Hunting, Dewpoint follows Merak Snyder four years after the first book's events. Dewpoint immerses readers in Merak's visual, auditory, and tactile world through Merak's prose descriptions, observations, and insights. In Dewpoint, Merak navigates college, reconciles the latent trauma from the events of Jackalope Hunting with his interactions with friends, and straddles the line between the life he felt on track to lead versus the one he has fallen into.

Eledan’s nightmare has been unleashed upon the worlds, and with Oberon gone, only the Messenger crew stands in its way. Kellee, Talen, Sirius, Sota, and Kesh. Together, they are stronger, but there are forces on Faerie who do not want the worlds saved, forces that would see the Messenger and her crew torn apart.

Third grader Max is heading off on a road trip with Mom. With miles to travel, cousins to meet, and a tall roller coaster to ride (maybe), it will be an adventure! But Max always spends weekends with Dad; will Dad be okay if he's left behind? And will Max be brave enough for all the new explorations ahead of him?