Gaslight & Steam

From the publisher:
On July 17, 2009, Chanel Reynolds’s husband, José, was sideswiped by a van while cycling near their home in Seattle. In the aftermath of her husband’s sudden death, Reynolds quickly realized that she was left bewildered and underprepared for what happens next. What was the password to his phone? Did they sign their wills? How much insurance did they have? Could she afford the house? And what the hell was probate court anyway? Simply put, when life went sideways she didn’t have her shit together.

As it turns out, most of us don’t either. We’re too busy, in denial, overwhelmed, don’t know where to start. We procrastinate or outright avoid having these difficult yet critical conversations.

Reynolds learned the hard way that hoping for the best is not a plan, but you don’t have to. Drawing on her first-hand experience, expert advice, and the unparalleled resources she’s compiled from her popular website and checklists, Reynolds lends her, friendly, human voice to help readers navigate and avoid much of confusion, overwhelm, and uncertainty when ‘something happens’ and learn how to:

• Create a will, living will, and power of attorney documents
• Update (or finally get) the right life insurance policy
• Start or grow an emergency fund and prioritize your spending
• Make a watertight emergency and ‘What-If’ plan
• Keep secure, up-to-date records of personal information

Authoritative yet intimate, grounded but irreverent, Reynolds’s voice carries readers through a tough subject with candor and compassion. Weaving personal story with hard-won wisdom, What Matters Most is the approachable, no-nonsense handbook we all need to living a life free of worry and “what ifs.”

From the publisher:
Through Dungeons Deep delves into the art of role-playing, showing players and Game Masters how to have more fun and excitement with fantasy role-playing games.

First published during the original Dungeons & Dragons boom, this book was an instant classic and is now part of the old-school revival. Long out of print, the original edition sells for several times its cover price. This Norton Creek Press reprint makes the book available (and affordable) again.

Robert Plamondon wrote Through Dungeons Deep after realizing that the most important part of role-playing games—role playing—is barely mentioned in gaming systems. When it is, role-playing is often confused with “following the rules.” But role-playing really boils down to make-believe—or perhaps “interactive fiction” is the right term—and the real fun in role-playing games comes from unlocking your imagination.

But it’s also important to carry a length of rope and wear shoes you can run in.

From the publisher:
The Citadel of Weeping Pearls was a great wonder; a perfect meld between cutting-edge technology and esoteric sciences—its inhabitants capable of teleporting themselves anywhere, its weapons small and undetectable and deadly.

Thirty years ago, threatened by an invading fleet from the Dai Viet Empire, the Citadel disappeared and was never seen again.

But now the empire itself is under siege, on the verge of a war against an enemy that turns their own mindships against them; and the Empress, who once gave the order to raze the Citadel, is in desperate need of its weapons. Meanwhile, on a small isolated space station, an engineer obsessed with the past works on a machine that will send her thirty years back, to the height of the Citadel’s power.

But the Citadel’s disappearance still extends chains of grief and regret all the way into the fraught atmosphere of the Imperial Court; and this casual summoning of the past might have world-shattering consequences…