Mudd In Your Eye

After millennia of warfare, the planets Prastor and Distrel may have finally achieved a lasting peace. Investigating on behalf of the Federation, Captain Kirk is shocked to find out that the architect of the peace is none other than that notorious con artist, Harcourt Fenton Mudd! Mudd claims to be a changed man, but Kirk has his doubts. He knows that Mudd has to be running some sort of scam, but what is he up to? Kirk must find out soon--before the peace gives way to unending war.

From The Entropy Effect to The Q Continuum, Pocket Books has published hundreds of pulse-pounding, thought-provoking Star Trek novels in the twenty years since Pocket Books US became the official Star Trek publisher. To date there have been 87 Original Series novels featuring Captain Kirk, Mr Spock and their crew; 50 Next Generation novels featuring the Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D and -E; 26 set on Captain Sisko's space station Deep Space Nine and 18 following the adventures of Star Trek's newest crew on the USS Voyager. Plus there've been numerous unnumbered series novels, five multi-volume crossover series and several movie tie-ins. From this abundance of riches editor Mary Taylor has compiled the ultimate anthology of gripping writing and memorable moments, guaranteed to delight all Star Trek fans.

Do you cringe when a talking head pronounces “niche” as NITCH? Do you get bent out of shape when your teenager begins a sentence with “and”? Do you think British spellings are more “civilised” than the American versions? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re myth-informed. In Origins of the Specious, word mavens Patricia T. O’Conner and Stewart Kellerman reveal why some of grammar’s best-known “rules” aren’t—and never were—rules at all. This playfully witty, rigorously researched book sets the record straight about bogus word origins, politically correct fictions, phony français, fake acronyms, and more. Here are some shockers: “They” was once commonly used for both singular and plural, much the way “you” is today. And an eighteenth-century female grammarian, of all people, is largely responsible for the all-purpose “he.” From the Queen’s English to street slang, this eye-opening romp will be the toast of grammarphiles and the salvation of grammarphobes. Take our word for it.

The perfect reference book for everyday use, it provides definitions written in clear, jargon-free language readily accessible to every level of reader.

Few people have heard of Carstensz Pyramid, a sharp fin of limestone 16,000 feet above sea level, surrounded by mountainous jungle in Papua, a part of the world wracked by political and tribal violence, where kidnappings of climbers still occur. Why bother to climb such a troublesome, little-known peak? This book describes Carol Masheter's decision to climb Carstensz Pyramid at age 65, how she prepared for and experienced the strenuous hike through the jungle, the steep climb up a limestone wall of 2,000 feet, the hand-over-hand Tyrolean traverse, the challenges, joys, and lessons learned on the "other side of nowhere."

Through four decades, five television series comprising over seven hundred episodes, ten feature films, and an animated series, fandom's thirst for more Star Trek stories has been unquenchable. From the earliest short-story adaptations by James Blish in the 1960s, followed by the first original Star Trek novels during the seventies, and on throughout the eighties, nineties, and into the twenty-first century, fiction has offered an unparalleled expansion of the rich Star Trek tapestry. But what is it that makes these books such a powerfully attractive creative outlet to some and a compelling way to experience the Star Trek mythos anew to others? Voyages of Imagination takes a look back on the first forty years of professionally published Star Trek fiction, revealing the personalities and sensibilities of many of the novels' imaginative contributors and offering an unprecedented glimpse into the creative processes, the growing pains, the risks, the innovations, the missteps, and the great strides taken in the books. Author Jeff Ayers has immersed himself in nearly six hundred books and interviewed more than three hundred authors and editors in order to compile this definitive guide to the history and evolution of an incomparable publishing phenomenon. Fully illustrated with the covers of every book included herein, Voyages of Imagination is indexed by title and author, features a comprehensive timeline, and is a must-have for every fan.

Allen’s Dictionary of English Phrases is the most comprehensive survey of this area of the English language ever undertaken. Taking over 6000 phrases, it explains their meaning, explores their development and gives citations that range from the Venerable Bede to Will Self. Crisply and wittily written, the book is packed with memorable and surprising detail, whether showing that 'salad days' comes from Antony and Cleopatra, that 'flavour of the month' originates in 1940s American ice cream marketing, or even that we’ve been 'calling a spade a spade' since the sixteenth century. Allen’s Dictionary of English Phrases is part of the Penguin Reference Library and draws on over 70 years of experience in bringing reliable, useful and clear information to millions of readers around the world – making knowledge everybody’s property.