Jonathan+Kift


 * Booktalk Annotations: Science Fiction/Sports Novel and Alternate History/Detective Novel**


 * AUTHOR:** Scott Sigler


 * TITLE:** //The Rookie//


 * PUBLICATION DATE:** 2009


 * NUMBER OF PAGES (HARDCOVER):** 464


 * LENGTH (AUDIO):** 27 30-40 minute episodes


 * GEOGRAPHICAL** **SETTING:** interplanetary


 * TIME PERIOD:** 2682


 * SERIES:** First book in the ongoing GFL Series


 * PLOT SUMMARY:** Quentin Barnes, 19-year-old football prodigy, has just been signed up as the rookie quarterback for the Ionath Krakens, a team in the inter-species Galactic Football League. It is the year 2682, and Quentin has been raised on a planet that has taught him that alien races are literally the spawn of Satan. Can Quentin overcome his prejudices and become the kind of leader that his team needs?


 * SUBJECT HEADINGS:** Sports, Football, Aliens, Coming-of-Age, Racism, Leadership


 * APPEAL:** Sci-fi for sports fans; sports fiction for sci-fi fans; action-packed; great world-building


 * SIMILAR AUTHORS:** Michael Crichton, Jonathan Maberry, Stephen King, JC Hutchins


 * AUTHOR:** China Miéville


 * TITLE:** //The City & The City// (2009)


 * PLOT SUMMARY:** Inspector Tyador Borlú of the small Eastern European city-state of Beszel has a murder on his hands. The problem is, this Beszel citizen was killed in Ul Qoma, a city with a very uneasy political relationship to Beszel. The two cities share something in common, though: a border unlike any other in the world. Borlú must cross this border, an act that is more psychological than physical, and in the process he may uncover a mystery far greater than he expected.