Sookie herself guides listeners on a behind-the-scenes tour of Bon Temps, a peek at the werewolf and were-panther communities, a glimpse through the racks of her best friend Tara's dress shop, and a look at Merlotte's--the bar where Sookie earns her living.

A mysterious pandemic causes a quarter of the world's population to permanently lose the ability to sleep--without any apparent health implications. The outbreak creates a new class of people who are both feared and ostracized, and most of whom optimize their extra hours to earn more money. Jamie Vega, a New York journalist at C+P Media, is one of the Sleepless. When his irascible boss dies in an apparent suicidal overdose, Jamie doesn't buy this too-convenient explanation--especially given its suspicious timing in the middle of a corporate takeover--and begins to investigate. Things go awry quickly when Jamie discovers that he was the last person who saw Simon alive. Retracing his steps, he realizes he doesn't remember that night. Not only do the police suspect him, Jamie can't account for the lost time, and the memory loss may have something to do with the fact that he did not come by hyperinsomnia naturally: through a risky and illegal process, Jamie had biohacked himself to become Sleepless. As Jamie delves deeper into Simon's final days, he is forced to confront past traumas, and the consequences of his decision to biohack himself. Along the way he uncovers a terrifying truth about what it means to be Sleepless that will imperil him--and all of humanity.

The Sirens of Titan (1959), Vonnegut's second novel, was on the Hugo final ballot along with Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers and lost in what Harlan Ellison called a monumental injustice. Malachi Constant is a feckless but ultimately good-hearted millionaire who, in this incondensable interplanetary Candide (lacking perhaps Voltaire's utter bitterness), searches the solar system for the ultimate meaning of existence.
Constant is aided by another tycoon, Winston Rumfoord, who, with the help of aliens, has discovered the fundamental meaning of life. With the help of Salo - an alien robot overseeing the alien race, the Tralmafordians (who also feature in Slaughterhouse-Five ) - Constant attempts to find some cosmic sense and order in the face of universal malevolence. Constant and Rumfoord deal with the metaphysics of "chrono-synclastic infundibula" and the interference of the Tralmafadorians. The novel is pervaded by a goofy, episodic charm which barely shields the readers (or the characters) from the fact of what seems to be a large and indifferent universe.
All of Vonnegut's themes and obsessions, further developed or recycled in later work, are evident here in a novel slightly more hopeful than most of his canon. It is suggested that ultimately Constant learns only that it is impossible to learn, that fate (and the Tralmafadorians) are impenetrable. On the basis of this novel, Vonnegut was wholly claimed by the science fiction community (as the Hugo nomination demonstrated) but he did not reciprocate, feeling from the outset that to be identified as a science fiction writer would limit his audience and trivialize his themes. His recurring character, the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout (prominent in Slaughterhouse-Five ) was for Vonnegut a worst case version of the writer he did not wish to become.

Deep Space NineTM is forced to curtail entry to the wormhole due to increased graviton emissions, and an air of biting tension settles over the station. This anxiety leads to the murder of an Edeman religious leader, Commander Benjamin Sisko and Security Chief Odo realize they face a larger problem. Soon Sisko and Odo have more lifeless bodies on their hands and a killer who strikes without motive. Then, both the Edemans and Cardassians arrive threatening to destroy the station unless the murderer is given to them for retribution. In order to save Deep Space Nine and stop the killing, Odo must try to destroy a powerful assassin who is the only link to his mysterious past.

Helva had been born human, but only her brain had been saved and implanted into the titanium body of an intergalactic scout ship. But first she had to choose a human partner--male or female--to share her exhilarating escapades in space. Her life was to be rich and rewarding, resplendent with daring adventures and endless excitement, beyond the wildest dreams of mere mortals. Gifted with the voice of an angel and being virtually indestructible, Helva XH-834 anticipated a sublime immortality. Then one day she fell in love!

Likable antiques dealer Joseph Bridgeman is back in the present and dreaming of a quiet life. But when a mysterious and enigmatic time traveler arrives in his shop, Joe learns that his first trip was just the beginning, and this time the rules of the game have changed.

It has been twenty years since the god-like Augurs were overthrown and killed. Now, those who once served them - the Gifted - are spared only because they have accepted the rebellion's Four Tenets, vastly limiting their own powers. As a young Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war lost before he was even born. He and his friends are despised beyond their school walls for the magical power they wield: a power that Davian, despite his best efforts, cannot seem to control. Worse, with his final test approaching and the consequences of failure severe, time to overcome his struggles is fast running out. But when Davian discovers he wields the forbidden power of the Augurs, he unwittingly sets in motion a chain of events that will change his life - and shake the entire world.

This book invokes the latest scientific discoveries to rewrite our understanding of plants and the natural world, offering insights about the unforeseen reach of sentience among plants, their ability to communicate and adapt, and their function as ecological sentinels.

A novel of haunting beauty and ominous suspense, The Second History is a post-apocalyptic love story about a young couple embarking on a journey to understand, for the first time, what they've been hiding from all their lives. Born in a barren, altered future world, Eban has lived in hiding all his life without ever understanding why. After his mother's death, he retreated into the northern Appalachians with Judy, the only other woman he has ever known. But as the years passed and Judy suffered multiple miscarriages, she began to wonder what happened to the cities their parents fled, where a strange sickness is said to have spread among those who stayed behind. To stop the headstrong woman he loves from leaving the safety of the hills to travel to the cities, Eban convinces Judy instead to set out on a journey to the fabled colony of the original mountain settlers, where he promises her they'll find the answers she seeks. Now expecting a child once again, Judy and Eban begin their climb deep into the mountains. Along the way, the people they encounter and the secrets they uncover will threaten their lives and the ties between them, further complicating what they know of the world beyond the mountains and of each other. Set in a far-flung time and place that begin to feel increasingly familiar, The Second History explores the devastating effects of environmental catastrophe on human relationships. It is a story about the limits of our ability to know each other or understand the past . . . and about the courage it takes to invent the world again for those we love.