Space First Contact

The first book in C.J.Cherryh's eponymous series, Foreigner begins an epic tale of the survivors of a lost spacecraft who crash-land on a planet inhabited by a hostile, sentient alien race. From its beginnings as a human-alien story of first contact, the Foreigner series has become a true science fiction odyssey, following a civilization from the age of steam through early space flight to confrontations with other alien species in distant sectors of space. It is the masterwork of a truly remarkable author.

Commander Dalton Reeves is a maverick officer with exceptional genetic strength and a dark family history—a history that will come back to haunt him. Punished for exceeding orders one time too many, he’s packed off to the "The Abyss"—the most dangerous space station in the galaxy. But a posting that should have led to five years in obscurity will propel Reeves into the center of an interstellar war against a long-forgotten alien adversary with a bitter grudge.

A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function.

The job was worth two million credits, but Captain Drake could care less about the money. Marachari Five and the terraforming station that was under attack had a much more personal connection. His parents were in charge of the facility. Now it was a race through space to see if he could make it there in time to save them. Would he be able to do the impossible, again?

Jazz pianist Gus Kitko expected to spend his final moments on Earth playing piano at the greatest goodbye party of all time, and maybe kissing rock star Ardent Violet, before the last of humanity is wiped out forever by the Vanguards—ultra-powerful robots from the dark heart of space, hell-bent on destroying humanity for reasons none can divine. But when the Vanguards arrive, the unthinkable happens—the mecha that should be killing Gus instead saves him. Suddenly, Gus's swan song becomes humanity's encore, as he is chosen to join a small group dedicated to saving humanity.

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs. Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares.

Missing scientists, a desperate corporation, that sounds like just the kind of payday Captain Drake, and his crew were looking for. Life out in the stars isn’t easy. Not unless you’re willing to pledge your services to one of the major players. Captain Drake has never been much for servitude even when it comes with a golden spoon. That just means he has to be willing to get a little extra dirt on his hands to make a living. The mercenary guild only hires the best for their top of the line clients, and the crew of the Star Talon has just made the grade. What they find themselves involved...

Years after defeating aliens bent on burning down the galaxy, the Interstellar Union is breaking apart, its member species undermining each other at every opportunity. When an interdimensional distress signal arrives, only humanity is interested in helping. Captain Vin Husher is given command of the UHS Relentless, and sent in as part of a carrier strike group...right into a trap laid by humanity’s old enemy. Surrounded by a bioengineered super-species and unable to return home, Husher must draw on decades of experience just to keep his people alive.

When a spaceship landed in an open field in the quiet mill town of Sorrow Falls, Massachusetts, everyone realized humankind was not alone in the universe. With that realization everyone freaked out for a little while. Or almost everyone. The residents of Sorrow Falls took the news pretty well. This could have been due to a certain local quality of unflappability, or it could have been that in three years the ship did exactly nothing other than sit quietly in that field, and nobody understood the full extent of this nothing the ship was doing better than the people who lived right next door.

Meet Doctor Jens. She hasn’t had a decent cup of coffee in 15 years. Her workday begins when she jumps out of perfectly good space ships and continues with developing treatments for sick alien species she’s never seen before. She loves her life. Even without the coffee. But Dr. Jens is about to discover an astonishing mystery: two ships, once ancient and one new, locked in a deadly embrace. The crew is suffering from an unknown ailment and the shipmind is trapped in an inadequate body, much of her memory pared away.

When the Aunga’ri come to Earth, they have a thing or two to learn about humans. And they start with our favorite topic: Human Sexuality. This alien race has long since turned reproduction over to the scientists, quelling their primitive instincts in favor of a more peaceful, intellectual society. But when they come to Earth to try and stop a dangerous alien race from destroying the planet, suddenly their primitive instincts are back… in full force. Now they’ll need to learn to manage their desires before they become to distracted to do what they came here for. And they’re probably ...

The threat is unprecedented, and the clock is ticking. With one danger gone, an even more deadly hazard emerges, putting humanity's very existence in jeopardy. Joe Hunt has dealt with the Russians, the Coalition, the Conspirators, and the Zorosians, but this next threat, a machine with a singular lethal purpose, will challenge him and all humanity like never before, and if he fails, humankind could lose everything.

Slade’s adventures continue as the Jatarian fleet threatens the Federation. Will Slade’s exploration ship get caught in the crossfire? Will the Jatarian war fleet make it to Falton Two? When the Explorer returns to Falton Two, Slade finds new adventures on a new ship. What sort of trouble will Slade and Bryce find now? Slade discovers how powerful his gift truly is. Will this revelation catapult him into a role he has run from since he was a child? Slade poses even more of a threat to the Emperor now. How will the Emperor react? A big wedding takes center stage, and an assassination ...

On Mars, a scientist experiments with a new engine that will one day become the drive that fuels humanity's journey into the stars. On an asteroid station, a group of prisoners are oblivious to the catastrophe that awaits them. On a future Earth beset by overpopulation, pollution, and poverty, a crime boss desperately seeks to find a way off planet. On an alien world, a human family struggles to establish a colony and make a new home. All these stories and more are featured in this unmissable collection of short fiction set in the hardscrabble world of The Expanse.

The Coalition has seized Earth. Earth has come under attack from a massive Coalition invasion fleet that has come to take resources from the planet that they believe could tip the fate of the War of Succession. In the Etelainen, Joe Hunt plans a daring mission to liberate Earth from the clutches of the Coalition. Doctor Rhea Stokes continues to pursue the conspirators that have dragged the war on in perpetuity for personal gains. On Earth, Doctor Keegan Beck leads a small group of Alliance and human soldiers who must join forces with an unlikely ally to fight back against the Coalition ...

Jadzia Dax has been a friend to Etom Prit, the Trill Trade Commissioner, over two lifetimes. When Etom visits Deep Space Nine with the request to rein in his wayward granddaughter Nemi, Dax can hardly say no. It seems like an easy assignment: Visit a resort casino while on shore leave, and then bring her old friend Nemi home. But upon arrival, Dax finds Nemi has changed over the years in terrifying ways...and the pursuit of the truth will plunge Dax headlong into a century’s worth of secrets and lies!

In this Hugo-nominated novel, an alien walks into a museum and asks if he can see a paleontologist. But the arachnid ET hasn't come aboard a rowboat with the Pope and Stephen Hawking (although His Holiness does request an audience later). Landing at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the spacefarer, Hollus, asks to compare notes on mass extinctions with resident dino-scientist Thomas Jericho.

♥ Aliens meet wild west Ranchers in this 1950s Retro Sci-Fi steamy Alien Contact romance! ♥ My parents expect me to marry the well-to-do rancher's son. I can hardly tell them, or anyone else, that the strange ranch hand is the one who makes my insides melt. I don't care that under his cowboy hat and shirt beats the heart of a ravaging blue alien. The man I've known most of my life, however, the cowboy who works at the peculiar ranch next door, is the one I want. And I'm willing to go against all the prejudices of my friends, my parents, and the whole town to follow my heart. But Calvin ...

Astronaut Lee Rifkin's life is about to change. NASA has done the math. The space object named Cassandra 22007 is not behaving as expected. He will lead a team on a cutting-edge ship to get a closer look. But another group wants to get there first. Who is this shadow organization that seems to be one step ahead of them? Agent Jenna Haynes works to put together the pieces that will pull the veil off those who seem to have known about Cassandra's arrival since long before NASA spotted it. What is their goal?

Orphaned as a boy, raised in the Czech countryside by his doting grandparents, Jakub Procházka has risen from small-time scientist to become the country's first astronaut. When a dangerous solo mission to Venus offers him both the chance at heroism he's dreamt of, and a way to atone for his father's sins as a Communist informer, he ventures boldly into the vast unknown.