Spacebraid and Other Tales of a Dystopian Universe is a collection of one novella and seven short stories that explore the most powerful of human emotions, fears and desires in settings sometimes hostile, sometimes surreal, and always a bit off-kilter. The tales vary from the humorous to the tragic, from the idealistic yearning of the hero in Darwin to the horrifying fate of Godfrey in Heisenberg in the Macro. Spacebraid, the longest piece in the collection, is the story of a dedicated group of individuals led by a brilliant theoretical physicist in a dash through time to circumvent ecological disaster and, in so doing, to preserve the best hopes and dreams of humankind. Be forewarned that these stories are not for the faint of heart. They are meant to connect at a viscerally potent level, challenge thought and, in the end, place us in touch with our own values, hopes and fears. Take the journey. It'll be a great ride.

The Supreme Court and the Environment discusses the body of federal statutory law amassed to fight pollution and conserve natural resources that began with the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Instead of taking the more traditional route of listing court decisions, The Supreme Court and the Environment puts the actual cases in a subsidiary position, as part of a larger set of documents paired with incisive introductions that illustrate the fascinating and sometimes surprising give-and-take with Congress, federal administrative agencies, state and local governments, environmental organizations, and private companies and industry trade groups that have helped define modern environmental policy. ? From the author: When one views the body of modern environmental law-the decisions and the other key documents-the picture that emerges is not one of Supreme Court dominance. In this legal drama, the justices have most often played supporting roles. While we can find the occasional, memorable soliloquy in a Supreme Court majority, concurring, or dissenting opinion, the leading men and women are more likely found in Congress, administrative agencies, state and local legislatures, nongovernmental organizations, private industry, and state and lower federal courts. ? What one learns from studying the Supreme Court's environmental law output is that the justices for the most part seem more concerned about more general issues of deference to administrative agencies, the rules of statutory interpretation, the role of legislative history, the requisites for standing, and the nature of the Takings Clause than the narrow issues of entitlement to a clean environment, the notion of an environmental ethic that underlies written statutes and regulations, and concerns about ecological diversity and other environmental values. When we widen the lens, however, and focus on the other documents that make up essential parts of the story of the Supreme Court and the environment-complaints by litigants, briefs by parties and by friends of the court, oral argument transcripts, the occasional stirring dissent, lower court decisions, presidential signing statements and press conference transcripts, media reports and editorials, and legislative responses to high court decisions-we discover what is often missing in the body of Supreme Court decisions. --Michael Allan Wolf

Arrogance and innocence, hubris and hope - twenty-four haunting voices of the Titanic tragedy, as well as the iceberg itself, are evoked in a stunning tour de force. Millionaire John Jacob Astor hopes to bring home his pregnant teen bride with a minimum of media scandal. A beautiful Lebanese refugee, on her way to family in Florida, discovers the first stirrings of love. And an ancient iceberg glides south, anticipating its fateful encounter. The voices in this remarkable re-creation of the Titanic disaster span classes and stations, from Margaret ( the unsinkable Molly ) Brown to the captain who went down with his ship; from the lookout and wireless men to a young boy in search of dragons and a gambler in search of marks. Slipping in telegraphs, undertaker's reports, and other records, poet Allan Wolf offers a breathtaking, intimate glimpse at the lives behind the tragedy, told with clear-eyed compassion and astounding emotional power. Features: a novel in verse from the award-winning Allan Wolf; extensive back matter includes: Author's note; Notes on the characters; Morse code with messages to decipher; Titanic miscellany; Bibliography, articles, periodicals, government documents, discography; Encyclopedia Titanica research and other online resources; Titanic societies; and perennial topic of interest.

Spacebraid and Other Tales of a Dystopian Universe is a collection of one novella and seven short stories that explore the most powerful of human emotions, fears and desires in settings sometimes hostile, sometimes surreal, and always a bit off-kilter. The tales vary from the humorous to the tragic, from the idealistic yearning of the hero in Darwin to the horrifying fate of Godfrey in Heisenberg in the Macro. Spacebraid, the longest piece in the collection, is the story of a dedicated group of individuals led by a brilliant theoretical physicist in a dash through time to circumvent ecological disaster and, in so doing, to preserve the best hopes and dreams of humankind. Be forewarned that these stories are not for the faint of heart. They are meant to connect at a viscerally potent level, challenge thought and, in the end, place us in touch with our own values, hopes and fears. Take the journey. It'll be a great ride.

Step aboard the Word Express. It's leaving from the station. The only ticket needed is your own imagination.

Have you ever wanted to climb to the top of Everest with one hand behind your back? Kiss a crocodile all by yourself on the Nile river? How about learning how to bottle moonlight, or track a distant star? There are endless things to discover and whole universes to explore simply by reading a book. But books are only smears of ink without the reader’s mind to give their letters meaning and bring them to life. With a rollicking, rhyming text and delightful artwork, poet and storyteller Allan Wolf and illustrator Brianne Farley remind us that books, no matter how they may be consumed, give readers of every background an opportunity to expand their world and spark their imagination. With infectious enthusiasm, No Buddy Like a Book offers an ode to the wonders of language – written, spoken, and everything in between.

A thriller inspired by a tragic true event in the author's past. Allan Wolf examines the circumstances of a boy's inexplicable murder and the fateful summer leading up to it. Everybody likes Chris Goodman. Sure, he's a little odd. He wears those funny bell-bottoms and he really likes the word ennui and he shakes your hand when he meets you, but he's also the kind of guy who's always up for a good time, always happy to lend a hand. Everybody likes him, which makes it especially shocking when he's murdered. Here, in a stunning multi-voiced narrative - including the perspective of the fifteen-year-old killer - and based on a true and terrible crime that occurred when he was in high school, author Allan Wolf sets out to answer the first question that comes to mind in moments of unthinkable tragedy: how could a thing like this happen?

When the Cleveland suburb of Euclid first zoned its land in 1922, the Ambler Realty Company was left with a sizable tract it could no longer sell for industrial use-and so the company sued. What emerged was the seminal zoning case in American history, pitting reformers against private property advocates in the Supreme Court and raising the question of whether a municipality could deny property owners the right to use their land however they chose. Reconstructing the case that made zoning a central element in urban planning for cities and towns throughout America, Michael Allan Wolf provides the first book-length study of the Supreme Court's landmark Euclid v. Ambler decision. Wolf describes how the ordinance, and the defense of it, burst onto the national stage and became the focus of litigation before moving all the way to the nation's highest court. He subsequently reveals how and why Justice George Sutherland broke from the Court's conservative bloc to support the urban reform movement eager to protect residential neighborhoods from disturbances created by rapidly expanding commercial, industrial, or multifamily uses of land. Following that decision, America saw the rapid proliferation of zoning ordinances, which greatly increased the power of local government to control and rationalize urban planning. As Wolf attests, many of today's environmental and land use laws might not have been deemed legal had Euclid v. Ambler been decided differently. But he also points out the potential dangers that emerged from the decision, such as its anticompetitive impact on the real estate market, its catalyzing effect on suburban sprawl, and its establishment of a legal basis for excluding minority groups from neighborhoods. Wolf's compelling account makes it clear that Euclid v. Ambler fundamentally altered how we think about the urban landscape, changed the way our cities and suburbs are organized, and left a long shadow over subsequent cases such as the controversial Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London (2005).