Excerpt from Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

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And that is how I find myself on this ladder, up on the third floor, minus the floor, of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. The book I've been sent up to retrieve is called AL-ASMARI and it's about 150 percent of one arm-length to my left. Obviously, I need to return to the floor and scoot the ladder over. But down below, Penumbra is shouting, "Lean, my boy! Lean!"

And wow, do I ever want this job.

Excerpted from Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. Copyright © 2012 by Robin Sloan. Excerpted by permission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.