Comets and Catastrophes: What Planetary Defense Can Do
Learn what planetary defense can do about comet and asteroid threats, what NASA’s DART mission demonstrated, and where extinction scenarios enter fiction.
Read article →THE NEXT CHAPTER BLOG
Stories beyond the page
Book discoveries, author conversations and new worlds to explore.
272 articles
5 Books About Aliens, Lost Origins, and Other Worlds
Alien stories can make humans the visitors, the subjects of an experiment, or the people trying to survive an invasion. These five books take different approaches to that encounter, including lost origins, hidden intervention, and journeys across the galaxy. Start with the premise that interests you most: a discovery about Earth, an unfamiliar civilization, or a dangerous mission.
Read article →What Book Should I Read Next? Seven Different Directions
Choosing your next book becomes easier when you start with the experience you want. This selection offers several directions: a changed world, a Cold War mission, supernatural unease, a historical secret, or a new relationship. Read the short notes for the central conflict, then follow the book that makes you curious about what happens to its characters.
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5 Standalone Mystery Novels to Explore
Explore five standalone mysteries, from a Tuscan wine estate and a South Carolina lighthouse to historical crime and police investigations.
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5 Books Set in Europe: Intrigue, Mystery, and Romance
These novels use European places in different ways: as centers of courtly power, destinations for covert work, or settings where a personal journey becomes dangerous. The selection includes mainland cities and an Atlantic island under Spanish administration. Look for the balance you prefer between place and plot, with options involving romance, espionage, and the investigation of old crimes.
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5 Books Set in the Future, From Control to Survival
Future settings become interesting when unfamiliar systems make familiar needs harder to meet. These stories involve work, family, freedom, and survival under changed conditions, alongside magic or new technologies. Some are series continuations, so the notes identify those relationships where the source makes them clear. Choose the future whose central dilemma you most want to understand.
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5 Standalone Romance Novels to Explore
Discover five standalone romances involving family support, paranormal conflict, fresh starts, wartime danger, and the difficulty of trusting someone new.
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2 Historical Novels Set in Medieval England
Medieval England offers more than one kind of historical story. The making of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom presents different pressures from life within a fifteenth-century royal household, yet both turn on loyalty, inheritance, and who holds power. These two novels approach those questions through individual lives, giving you a choice between early English statecraft and a later courtly romance.
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3 Books Set in Italy: Art, Music, and Family Secrets
Italy supplies more than scenery in these three novels. A city's politics can determine who may practice an art, musical ambition can bind a performer to powerful people, and a family estate can preserve a troubling secret. Florence, Venice, and Tuscany each shape a different kind of story here. Choose between artistic intrigue, historical music, and a family-centered mystery.
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5 Books Set in London, From Tudor Power to Modern Music
London can mean royal government, a crowded route to work, or the possibility of becoming someone new. These books use different parts of that experience, from Tudor power and historical policing to modern music and personal reinvention. Several stories travel beyond the capital, so the notes describe London's role without suggesting that every page stays inside the city.
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5 Standalone Fantasy Novels to Explore
Explore standalone fantasies involving Breton legend, an apothecary’s dangerous invention, medieval Scotland, telepathy, and a journey into a fairy realm.
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4 Vampire Romance Books About Secrets and Trust
These 4 vampire romance selections bring supernatural danger into stories about attraction, identity, and trust. Their relationships unfold amid powers that can make getting close to someone a risk. Choose a premise below to find your next read.
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