{"title":"Harry Turtledove","description":"Harry Turtledove, a New York Times bestselling author, has spent forty years dismantling reality to see why the wheels come off. Hugo and Sidewise Awards fill his mantle because he breaks facts for a living. Most people (including Publishers Weekly) call him the Master of Alternate History. That title is just a polite way of saying he is the only man who can make speculative dread feel like a peer-reviewed paper. Now he is applying that same grit to the supernatural with a Los Angeles that is full of vampires and gremlins living and working alongside us. Turtledove lives in the San Fernando Valley and treats these monsters like historical inevitabilities. Ancient demons and the ghosts of history both smell like old paper. This is a pivot by a man who already knows where the bodies are buried.","products":[{"product_id":"powerless-paperback","title":"Powerless - Paperback","description":"","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101227225311,"sku":"9781649731876","price":39.31,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/JWFa6wiDFQ9781649731876.webp?v=1781068509"},{"product_id":"lightning-runes-hardcover","title":"Lightning Runes - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA stand-alone novel in the City of Shadows series.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHardboiled Noir meets Urban Fantasy in a post-WWII Los Angeles where vampires, zombies, and demons are part of the social fabric.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMagic is just another way to get killed in the City of Angels.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLos Angeles, 1940s. The war is over, but the shadows are growing teeth. In this gritty Historical Urban Fantasy, detective work requires more than a badge and a .38. It requires an understanding of the runes that thrum beneath the pavement.\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt started with a knock on the door. It usually does. Now there's a body, a missing musician, and a trail of magic that smells like ozone and bad luck. The LAPD is out of its depth. The \"square\" world is waking up to a reality they aren't prepared to handle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBetween the smoky jazz clubs of Central Avenue and the grease-stained floors of neighborhood garages, a new kind of power is rising. It's electric. It's ancient. And in the wrong hands, it's a death sentence for the whole city.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHarry Turtledove returns to the City of Shadows with a high-stakes mystery that stands entirely on its own. Whether you are a veteran of the series or stepping into this magical 1940s Los Angeles for the first time, the runes are waiting.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Standalone Noir Tour de Force\u003c\/b\u003e No \"homework\" required. Jump straight into the action with a self-contained mystery that delivers a complete, hardboiled experience from the first page to the last.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Noir Reinvented\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eExperience a Los Angeles where spells are as common as reefers and the \"fuzz\" has to watch out for more than just lead. It's the Philip Marlowe detective story, transformed.\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMasterful Alternate History\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNobody builds a world like Turtledove. Every detail of post-war life is rendered with surgical precision--until the magic starts to bleed through the cracks.\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Old Man Mose had been sleeping on the beat-up old sofa in my office. My fuzzy red accomplice is no braver than he has to be. He disappeared under the sofa, just in case.\u003c\/i\u003e\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe shadows are calling. Order your copy of this standalone Urban Fantasy mystery today.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101879668959,"sku":"9781647101770","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/RbIU11ubDv9781647101770.webp?v=1781075813"},{"product_id":"powerless-hardcover","title":"Powerless - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn a society where lies are law, a simple act of honesty can become the ultimate rebellion.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen does silent compliance with an oppressive regime become unbearable? For Charlie Simpkins, the manager of a small vegetable shop in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, part of the West Coast People's Democratic Republic, the breaking point comes when he is asked to display a meaningless propaganda poster in his shop window.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is a seemingly insignificant act in a lifetime of obedience. But Charlie just can't bring himself to doing it. This minor act of defiance, however, show too much independent thinking on Charlie's part, setting off a chain of escalating consequences for Charlie and his wife and two children.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePowerless is a haunting dystopian tale of how even the smallest act of defiance can spiral into disaster in a society that demands total conformity. It serves as a chilling reminder of how easily standing up for one's principles can lead to crushing consequences, erringly echoing the challenges we face today for speaking our truth, even in societies that claim to uphold freedom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile the novel draws original inspiration from Alexander Dubček's 1968 vision of \"socialism with a human face\" in Czechoslovakia (the reformist movement sought to humanize authoritarian rule), it will resonate with many who fear that individual freedoms are under attack in many parts of the world. In \u003cem\u003ePowerless\u003c\/em\u003e, Charlie Simpkins' growing disillusionment mirrors the psychological toll experienced by many today as political stress and uncertainty become ever more pervasive. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs Charlie seeks out others who share his dissatisfaction, his increasingly deliberate and risky actions symbolize the quiet acts of defiance that offer hope and resistance in a society where the powerful suppress dissent. \u003cem\u003ePowerless\u003c\/em\u003e serves as a poignant reminder of the consequences that can arise when standing up for one's principles in an environment that demands conformity.​\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50102828105951,"sku":"9781647101497","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/Zpn92HvYwc9781647101497.webp?v=1781087431"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/harry-turtledove.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}