First Contact Fiction

When a tremendous spacecraft takes orbit around Earth's moon and begins sending smaller landers down toward the North Pole, the newly arrived visitors quickly set up a permanent spaceport in Siberia. Their presence attracts many, including Rick Schumann, who establishes a tavern catering to all the various species of visiting aliens, a place he calls the Draco Tavern. From the mind of best-selling author Larry Niven come 27 tales and vignettes from this interstellar gathering place.

The hugely powerful and pervasive presence of the Colossus supercomputer mechanically runs Earth and its myriad operations. Managed by its creator, Dr. Charles Forbin, it is incapable of lies and void of human emotion. It is not a robot and not human. As part of its brief to enhance the human race, it runs eerie emotion research centers, authorizing acts of savagery to measure resistance and feeling. Art and abstract creation are banned, and surveillance is constant. No one is free.

When a new Srack overlord ambushes Jake and his apprentices, they are served a painful lesson in humility. Only the timely arrival of Vilak, The One Who Vanishes, saves their lives, and that isn't going to work twice. The fate of Earth, Calden, and several other planets is at stake. Fortunately, the events of the past have provided a plan for the future. All they must do is find four ancient weapons and pass a series of tests on the Ulniiri homeworld. Then the real fighting can begin.

After four years living on Arcadia, Jarcor decided it was time to go back to Earth to find Sabrina and try to convince her to come to Arcadia with him. But the first thing he found out about her was that she had a little girl. Sure, she had moved on and forgotten him, he didn’t insist on seeing him when she avoided meeting him. But her daughter had other plans and soon he was discovered she was his daughter too. Passion between them flared as if they had never been apart. Convincing her to go to Arcadia with him wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be but convincing her to stay might ...

CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson has one simple task: Watch an ambassador’s dog while the diplomat is conducting sensitive negotiations with an alien race. But you know dogs - always getting into something. And when this dog gets into something that could launch an alien civil war, Wilson has to find a way to solve the conflict, fast, or be the one in the Colonial Union’s doghouse. "The Dog King" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

Ha'ven Ha'darra is the Crown Prince of the Curizans, an advanced species known for their technology. They may not have the power to shift like the Valdier or the Sarafin, but they have hidden powers of their own that they closely guard. Not even his best friends, Creon Reykill of the Valdier or Vox d'Rojah of the Sarafin, are aware of the powers he holds within his deadly frame.

After years of searching, Nathan Briggs is finally on the verge of making an incredible discovery. Unfortunately, the aliens have other plans. When Nathan stops a brutal attack on an unsuspecting victim, he gets more than he bargained for and sets into motion events that will change his life forever. They told him he should've run away, and maybe they were right. Nathan is about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime.

US Army soldier Shad Williams has been drafted to fight in a new kind of war against a cavalcade of monsters on a hostile planet. By a sheer twist of fate, Shad, his younger sister, and their grandfather—along with ten million other unlucky people—were abducted to be pawns in an epic conflict between extraterrestrial species seeking to control the Reality Engine, a powerful computer that can create extraordinary technological wonders. If the humans claim victory over their competitors, they will be granted their freedom to return to Earth.

Continuing their exploration of the Odyssean Pass, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the starship Enterprise discover what they at first believe is a previously uncharted world, with a civilization still recovering from the effects of global nuclear war. An astonishing priority message from Starfleet Command warns that there's more to this planet than meets the eye, and Picard soon realizes that the mysteries of this world may well weave through centuries of undisclosed human history....

Botany is free now, and so is the devastated Earth. Earth needs food, and the resources to rebuild. Botany needs technology - from solar satellite panels to simple batteries - and, some say, the will to protect itself from being overrun by refugees who may or may not have strength and skills. As alien influence fades, the people of Botany must decide what kind of world they will become.

You can't militarize space. This one rule has led to decades of peaceful development of space programs worldwide. However, increasing resource scarcity and a changing climate on Earth's surface is causing some interested parties - namely India, the North American Union, and the Sinese Federation - to militarize. The discovery of a strange artifact by Dr. Alayna Wong precipitates a crisis. What appears to be a hitherto undiscovered comet is soon revealed to be an alien structure on a cometary trajectory toward the sun.

I make bad decisions when it comes to my life. This not only explains why I work in customer service for a cable company despite my pricy college degree, but also why I haven’t had a good relationship with a man in forever. But I made an even bigger mistake when I got on the alien ship. Now, I’m expected to negotiate the fate of humanity. Not only am I a horrible choice for this task, I’m negotiating with an alien who looks like some ancient Greek sculptor carved him out of marble. I should be working to make sure Earth stays safe in a dangerous galaxy, but I am about to make the ...

Binti has returned to her home planet, believing that the violence of the Meduse has been left behind. Unfortunately, although her people are peaceful on the whole, the same cannot be said for the Khoush, who fan the flames of their ancient rivalry with the Meduse.

Bob did the neighborly thing and helped out some folks with a problem. You know it can't be that easy, right? Things get a little sporty when it comes to how people want to reward him for his actions. Come see how Bob deals with notoriety.

The problem is, we didn't come home alone. No one has ever seen anything like this. What they're calling it sends shivers down my spine: a parasitic alien pathogen. It could be a virus, a toxin, or maybe something even worse. And believe me: what we don't know definitely can hurt us. It's too late for me—I've been exposed. But this has never been about me. It's going to take some incredible risks and another long-shot space mission to get to the bottom of this, but I'll fight until my last breath to undo the damage I've done.

Combat is literally her middle name. Chimeric Adaptive Enhanced Combat Operator - but now Caeco Jensen - works for the FBI, building a new life and trying to learn from a painful past. It’s hard to fit in when you are one of a kind, but maybe, just maybe, there’s a place for her in this world. That is, if threats from off planet don’t ruin it first. Forging and protecting a new future with a her unique skillset won’t be easy, maybe almost as hard as making new friends.

Herself a biologist, Julie E. Czerneda has earned a reputation in science fiction circles for her ability to create beautifully crafted, imaginative, yet believably realized alien races. In Survival, the first novel in her new series, Species Imperative, she draws upon this talent to build races, characters, and a universe which will draw listeners into a magnificent tale of interstellar intrigue, as an Earth scientist is caught up in a terrifying interspecies conflict.

The lines. The soul of every ship. It was once thought there were only 10, but that was before an alien vessel appeared at the edge of space - before Ean Lambert heard more lines singing. Ean's ways of communicating with lines is strange. But his abilities make him a valuable tool - or weapon - to command. Captain Selma Kari Wang has lost everything - her ship, her crew, her legs. But the New Alliance of Worlds is not done with her yet.

Casmir has survived against impossible odds, and now he longs to return home. But an invasion force is blockading the Kingdom’s wormhole gate, and it would be suicidal to fly through it now. Worse, his family and friends are stuck on the other side, with hostile forces attacking their home world. The only way Casmir can help is to find out who’s behind the invasion...and convince him to stop. But Casmir isn’t known for his ability to strong-arm people, and this is one enemy who won’t be won over by his friendly demeanor.

Contains books four and five of the Bob and Nikki series! Starfoot, book four: Are Jim and Molly okay? John’s old friend Steve needs help. Can the crew take care of his problem? Can he help with some of their problems? Bob gets caught, loading a saucer. Will it mean big trouble, or a new crew member? Max finds marooned saucers on the Moon. What new adventures do they contain? Charlie's Planet, book five: Bob and Nikki decide to take a honeymoon, to celebrate Nikki’s pregnancy. Will Murphy let them enjoy their vacation? Does duty ever take a holiday?