"With no water, no air, and no native life, the planet Gora is unremarkable. The only thing it has going for it is a chance proximity to more popular worlds, making it a decent stopover for ships traveling between the wormholes that keep the Galactic Commons connected. If deep space is a highway, Gora is just your average truck stop. At the Five-Hop One-Stop, long-haul spacers can stretch their legs (if they have legs, that is), and get fuel, transit...

Hundreds of years ago, the last humans on Earth boarded the Exodus Fleet in search of a new home among the stars. After centuries spent wandering empty space, their descendants were eventually accepted by the well-established species that govern the Milky Way. But that was long ago. Today, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, the birthplace of many, yet a place few outsiders have ever visited. While the Exodans take great pride in their original community...

"Opera confronts us with extremes of emotion, sometimes delivering unforgettable, life-changing experiences. Fuoco Sacro ('Sacred Fire') seeks out singers who have the power to pierce our hearts, presenting three of them at work in the most intimate details of their rehearsals and preparations. Ermonela Jaho, Barbara Hannigan and Asmik Grigorian are watched closely as some of their secrets are revealed: how they inhabit their roles and transform words...

Space Viking is a science fiction novel written by H. Beam Piper and is set in his Terro-Human future history. It tells the story of one man's search for his wife's murderer and its unexpected consequences. Ten thousand refugees from the losing side of The Big War (The System States War of The Cosmic Computer) fled far beyond the boundaries of the Terran Federation and colonised the planet Excalibur. By the beginning of Space Viking, they had expanded...

When their brother who has been missing for fifteen years suddenly returns, changed, Evie and Kass Shao must cast aside their differences to hide him from the FBI and an entire alien army who are in fast pursuit. Fifteen years ago on a family camping trip, Evie and Kass Shao's father and brother vanished. Their dad turned up days later, dehydrated and confused-- convinced he'd been abducted by aliens. Their brother, Jakob, remained missing. Kass...

Death at La Fenice, the first novel in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series, introduced readers to the glamorous and cutthroat world of opera and one of Italy's finest living sopranos, Flavia Petrelli -- then a suspect in the poisoning of a renowned German conductor. Years after Brunetti cleared her name, Flavia has returned to Venice and La Fenice to sing the lead in Tosca. Brunetti and his wife, Paola, attend an early performance, and Flavia receives...

When the Washington National Opera becomes the scene of a brutal murder, Mac Smith and his wife, gallery owner Annabel Reed Smith, must stop an assassination plot targeting the president of the United States on opening night at the Kennedy Center.

On 20 October 1973, the Sydney Opera House was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. From conception to completion, it had taken more than 15 years and over $100 million. A remarkable feat of engineering skill and innovation, this striking and imaginative building captured the world's interest and is considered by many to be among the great architectural achievements of the 20th century. In the years since its completion, the Sydney Opera House...