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In this remarkable book, Hugo Hamilton tells the story of individuals caught up in the turbulent last days of World War II. Stationed in Czechoslovakia, lovers Bertha Sommer and Officer Franz Kern long to escape from the war and its consequences, but they are trapped between the advancing Red Army and the fear of their own system, which punishes desertion with death.

Meanwhile, an American contemporary, living in Germany, sets out on a mission to find the exact location of the last shot fired in the war, in a personal attempt to close this horrific chapter in humanity’s history.

Four inhabitants of a crumbling world:

• a drug-addled boy, living in dank recesses, sets out in an ancient car to find his ex, who has mysteriously vanished overnight;

• a privileged girl, obsessed with the past, and exiled by her esteemed father, learns more about her long-vanished ancestors than she ever could have wished for;

• an old man, on his hundredth birthday, deserts his quiet post as an elevator operator, climbing the great shaft in hopes of seeing the fabled topmost level before he dies;

• and a fisherman, seeking answers to why his once-vibrant wife is now chronically ailing and wasting away, begins a quest to find and confront the god of all gods.

A francia Michel Butor 1951-ben még a tudományos-fantasztikus irodalom közeli végét jósolta… Mekkora tévedés! 1971-ben a francia Robert Louit szerint „a tudományos-fantasztikus irodalom behatolt a kultúra minden területére…” Óriási a változás az egész világon. És a változás nem csak mennyiségben, hanem a science fiction tartalmának gazdagodásán, művészi formáinak változatosságán is mérhető. A science fiction mint tantárgy is bevonult az egyetemekre. A rávonatkozó esztétikai, kritikai, elméleti irodalom már szinte követhetetlen. A sci-finek száz arca van, minden oldalról és minden pillanatban másnak látszik. Kalandos és filozofikus, humoros és figyelmeztető, száraz és izgalmas, tudományos és költői – mindenki megtalálja benne a kedvére valót. A Kozmosz könyvek új sorozata, a GALAKTIKA érdekes olvasmányt ad, és eligazít a science fiction labirintusaiban. Kisregényeket, novellákat, verseket, tanulmányokat, filmismertetéseket – a science fiction új és klasszikus műveit közli a GALAKTIKA.

IT BEGAN WITH A TANTALIZING, ANONYMOUS EMAIL: “I AM A SENIOR MEMBER OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY.”

What followed was the most spectacular intelligence breach ever, brought about by one extraordinary man. Edward Snowden was a 29-year-old computer genius working for the National Security Agency when he shocked the world by exposing the near-universal mass surveillance programs of the United States government. His whistleblowing has shaken the leaders of nations worldwide, and generated a passionate public debate on the dangers of global monitoring and the threat to individual privacy.

In a tour de force of investigative journalism that reads like a spy novel, award-winning “Guardian” reporter Luke Harding tells Snowden’s astonishing story—from the day he left his glamorous girlfriend in Honolulu carrying a hard drive full of secrets, to the weeks of his secret-spilling in Hong Kong, to his battle for asylum and his exile in Moscow. For the first time, Harding brings together the many sources and strands of the story—touching on everything from concerns about domestic spying to the complicity of the tech sector—while also placing us in the room with Edward Snowden himself. The result is a gripping insider narrative—and a necessary and timely account of what is at stake for all of us in the new digital age.