We're now living in that future, and one of the seminal books of the Internet Age is more relevant than ever. The future was a place where technology was supposed to empower individuals and obliterate social organizations. Pundits predicted that information technology would spell the end of almost everything - from mass media to bureaucracies, universities, politics, and governments. Clearly, we are not living in that future. The Social Life of Information...

A black New Orleans artist recounts the tale of his life. Sold to a white family as a pet for their daughter, he becomes useless to them after an injury and is placed in an orphanage. The orphanage puts him in touch with a "blind" portrait painter who teaches him the art of tricking people--the painter is not really blind--and, more importantly, teaches him to paint. By the author of Decorations in a Ruined Cemetery.

One of the mysterious Divines, godlike rulers capable of harvesting a person's life force, has vanished. Young Talen's relatively idyllic life is turned upside down when his family is accused of being "soul-eaters" who worship a twisted god. Pursued by fearful clansmen and a nightmarish earthen monstrosity known only as Hunger, Talen begins to investigate his latent world-changing abilities. Soon he learns of his family's extensive role in the enigmatic...