Books by Ben H. Winters
Underground Airlines
The bestselling book that asks the question: what would present-day America look like if the Civil War never happened?
A New York Times bestseller; a Goodreads Choice finalist; named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR, Slate, Publishers Weekly, Hudson Bookseller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kirkus Reviews, AudioFile Magazine, and Amazon
A young black man calling himself Victor has struck a bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the US Marshall Service in exchange for his freedom. He's got plenty of work. In this version of America, slavery continues in four states called "the Hard Four." On the trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis knowing that something isn't right -- with the case file, with his work, and with the country itself.
As he works to infiltrate the local cell of a abolitionist movement called the Underground Airlines, tracking Jackdaw through the back rooms of churches, empty parking garages, hotels, and medical offices, Victor believes he's hot on the trail. But his strange, increasingly uncanny pursuit is complicated by a boss who won't reveal the extraordinary stakes of Jackdaw's case, as well as by a heartbreaking young woman and her child -- who may be Victor's salvation.
Victor believes himself to be a good man doing bad work, unwilling to give up the freedom he has worked so hard to earn. But in pursuing Jackdaw, Victor discovers secrets at the core of the country's arrangement with the Hard Four, secrets the government will preserve at any cost.
Underground Airlines is a ground-breaking novel, a wickedly imaginative thriller, and a story of an America that is more like our own than we'd like to believe.
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The Mystery of the Missing Everything
There has been a shocking crime at Mary Todd Lincoln Middle School.
In a glass case in the front hall, a trophy—the trophy, the first trophy ever won in the school’s lackluster competitive history—has been stolen.
Even more horrifying, an outraged Principal Van Vreeland has canceled everything fun until the trophy is back, including the eighth graders’ long-awaited, once-in-a-lifetime field trip to Taproot Valley. Rock climbing, ropes courses, ecology hikes, s’mores . . . all gone!
Luckily, Bethesda Fielding is on the case. As self-appointed sleuth extraordinaire, Bethesda’s confident she’ll be able to track down the culprit in no time and save her class trip! Except it seems like the more she searches for answers, the more mysteries she reveals. . . . Can Bethesda solve this baffling mystery—or are the eighth graders doomed for a Week of a Thousand Quizzes instead?
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The Mystery of the Missing Everything
There has been a shocking crime at Mary Todd Lincoln Middle School.
In a glass case in the front hall, a trophy—the trophy, the first trophy ever won in the school's lackluster competitive history—has been stolen.
Even more horrifying, an outraged Principal Van Vreeland has threatened to cancel the eighth graders' long-awaited, once-in-a-lifetime field trip to Taproot Valley unless the trophy is returned.
Self-appointed sleuth extraordinaire Bethesda Fielding is confident she'll be able to track down the culprit and save her class trip. But the clock is ticking, and unless she can solve this baffling mystery, the eighth graders will be doomed to a Week of a Thousand Quizzes instead. . . .
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Golden State
From award-winning, New York Times bestselling novelist Ben H. Winters comes a mind-bending novel set in a world governed by absolute truth, where lies are as dangerous as murder.
In a strange alternate society that values law and truth above all else, Laszlo Ratesic is a nineteen-year veteran of the Speculative Service. He lives in the Golden State, a nation standing where California once did, a place where like-minded Americans retreated after the erosion of truth and the spread of lies made public life and governance impossible.
In the Golden State, knowingly contradicting the truth is the greatest crime -- and stopping those crimes is Laz's job. In its service, he is one of the few individuals permitted to harbor untruths, to "speculate" on what might have happened.
But the Golden State is less of a paradise than its name might suggest. To monitor, verify, and enforce the truth requires a veritable panopticon of surveillance and recording. And when those in control of the facts twist them for nefarious means, the Speculators are the only ones with the power to fight back.
Copies
No copies available.
Golden State
From award-winning, New York Times bestselling novelist Ben H. Winters comes a mind-bending novel set in a world governed by absolute truth, where lies are as dangerous as murder.
In a strange alternate society that values law and truth above all else, Laszlo Ratesic is a nineteen-year veteran of the Speculative Service. He lives in the Golden State, a nation standing where California once did, a place where like-minded Americans retreated after the erosion of truth and the spread of lies made public life and governance impossible.
In the Golden State, knowingly contradicting the truth is the greatest crime -- and stopping those crimes is Laz's job. In its service, he is one of the few individuals permitted to harbor untruths, to "speculate" on what might have happened.
But the Golden State is less of a paradise than its name might suggest. To monitor, verify, and enforce the truth requires a veritable panopticon of surveillance and recording. And when those in control of the facts twist them for nefarious means, the Speculators are the only ones with the power to fight back.
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The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Man Skills: (Survival Guide for Men, Book Gifts for Men, Cool Gifts for Men)
by Ben H. Winters, Joshua Piven, David Borgenicht
Following the success of The Complete Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook (more than 150,000 copies sold!), this ruggedly handsome hardcover collection brings together new and classic advice from Worst-Case experts to help readers master the manly artsfrom wrestling an alligator to calming a crying child to extinguishing backyardbarbeque fireswith all the contents fully searchable on an accompanying CD.
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The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Paranormal
by Ben H. Winters, David Borgenicht
On hit TV shows, in best-selling books, blockbuster films, video games, and comics, pop culture has been overrun by hordes of vampires, zombies, werewolves, ghosts, wizards, and other paranormal creatures. Luckily, the authors of the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series are back with all-new, expert advice designed to help readers fend off the furry, fanged, freaky, and frightful. This classic handbook format is packed with new illustrated instructions for crucial scenarios ranging from the domestic (How to Host a Cocktail Party When Your House is Haunted) to the scary (How to Survive a Zombie Attack in the First Day, First Week, and Long Term) to the practical (How to Break Up with a Vampire).
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Android Karenina (Quirk Classic)
by Leo Tolstoy, Ben H. Winters
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters co-author Ben H. Winters is back with an all-new collaborator, legendary Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, and the result is Android Karenina an enhanced edition of the classic love story set in a dystopian world of robots, cyborgs, and interstellar space travel.
As in the original novel, our story follows two relationships: the tragic adulterous romance of Anna Karenina and Count Alexei Vronsky, and the much more hopeful marriage of Konstantin Levin and Kitty Shcherbatskaya.These four, yearning for true love, live in a steampunk-inspired 19th century of mechanical butlers, extraterrestrial-worshiping cults, and airborne debutante balls. Their passions alone would be enough to consume them-but when a secret cabal of radical scientific revolutionaries launches an attack on Russian high society's high-tech lifestyle, our heroes must fight back with all their courage, all their gadgets, and all the power of a sleek new cyborg model like nothing the world has ever seen."
Filled with the same blend of romance, drama, and fantasy that made the first two Quirk Classics New York Times best sellers, Android Karenina brings this celebrated series into the exciting world of science fiction.
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The Last Policeman: A Novel (The Last Policeman Trilogy)
As Seen on Today with Hoda & Jenna
“A genre-defying blend of crime writing and science fiction.” –Alexandra Alter, The New York Times
Winner of the 2013 Edgar® Award for Best Paperback Original!
What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway?
Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact.
The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job—but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week—except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares.
The first in a trilogy, The Last Policeman offers a mystery set on the brink of an apocalypse. As Palace’s investigation plays out under the shadow of 2011GV1, we’re confronted by hard questions way beyond “whodunit.” What basis does civilization rest upon? What is life worth? What would any of us do, what would we really do, if our days were numbered?
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World of Trouble: The Last Policeman Book III (The Last Policeman Trilogy)
“A genre-defying blend of crime writing and science fiction.”—Alexandra Alter, The New York Times
The explosive final installment in the Edgar® Award winning Last Policeman series.
With the doomsday asteroid looming, Detective Hank Palace has found sanctuary in the woods of New England, secure in a well-stocked safe house with other onetime members of the Concord police force. But with time ticking away before the asteroid makes landfall, Hank’s safety is only relative, and his only relative—his sister Nico—isn’t safe. Soon, it’s clear that there’s more than one earth-shattering revelation on the horizon, and it’s up to Hank to solve the puzzle before time runs out...for everyone.
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Countdown City The Last Policeman Book II
“A genre-defying blend of crime writing and science fiction.”—Alexandra Alter, The New York Times
Detective Hank Palace returns in the second in the speculative mystery trilogy set on the brink of the apocalypse.
There are just 77 days before a deadly asteroid collides with Earth, and Detective Palace is out of a job. With the Concord police force operating under the auspices of the U.S. Justice Department, Hank's days of solving crimes are over...until a woman from his past begs for help finding her missing husband.
Brett Cavatone disappeared without a trace—an easy feat in a world with no phones, no cars, and no way to tell whether someone’s gone “bucket list” or just gone. With society falling to shambles, Hank pieces together what few clues he can, on a search that leads him from a college-campus-turned-anarchist-encampment to a crumbling coastal landscape where anti-immigrant militia fend off “impact zone” refugees.
Countdown City presents another fascinating mystery set on brink of an apocalypse--and once again, Hank Palace confronts questions way beyond "whodunit." What do we as human beings owe to one another? And what does it mean to be civilized when civilization is collapsing all around you?
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EC Cruel Universe Vol. 1
by Ben H. Winters, Cullen Bunn, Stephanie Phillips, J. Holtham, Matt Kindt, Corinna Bechko, Chris Condon, Zac Thompson, Matt Bors, Christopher Cantwell
Compelled to OBLIVION, driven to ENTROPY, all life in our cosmos can only end in one place: COMPLETE ANNIHILATION! For the first time in 70 years, the limitless fury of EC Comics rages back to life to shred the very fabric of the universe itself—and wrench bizarre tales of time and space into our dimensional plane!
Our guides across this riveting introduction to a cosmic maelstrom of strange extraterrestrial entities, malevolent scientists, and terrifying technological catastrophe? Learn to fear the void with the irradiated imaginations of writers Corinna Bechko (Invisible Republic, The Space Between), Christopher Cantwell (Thanos), Chris Condon (That Texas Blood), Matt Kindt (BRZRKR, Mind MGMT), Stephanie Phillips (Phoenix), Ben H. Winters (The Last Policeman), and more as they collide with the wondrously destructive visions of artists Jonathan Case (Green River Killer), Kano (Gotham Central), David Lapham (Stray Bullets), Alison Sampson (Department of Truth), Artyom Topilin (I Hate This Place), Caitlin Yarsky (Black Hammer: Reborn) and many more!
The unpredictable return of EC Comics continues here with the quantum comics event of the millennium! Galaxies will collapse. Space-time will be distorted. And your very will to exist, too, shall be broken. . . . Just remember: It's all in the name of SCIENCE!
Collecting Cruel Universe #1–5.
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