Space First Contact

Mars. The red planet. A new frontier for humanity: a civilisation where humans can live in peace, lord and master of all they survey. But this isn't Space City from those old science-fiction books. It's more like Hell City, built into and from a huge crater. There's a big silk canopy over it, feeding out atmosphere as we generate it, little by little, because we can't breathe the air here. I guess it's a perfect place to live, if you want to live on Mars. At some point I must have wanted to live on Mars, because here I am.

Nicole Hammond was just trying to survive on the streets of Philadelphia. Then she and her partner, Bungie, were abducted by a race of mysterious mothlike aliens and taken to a strange ship called the Fyrantha. Now, she is a Sibyl, a special human that has the ability to communicate with the aliens and their ship, and no one is happy. Competing factions control different parts of the Fyrantha with the humans and other sentient aliens caught in the middle. But Nicole is done being bullied, and now, she has a plan to take control of the ship.

When the Taljzi’s genocidal invasion brought promises of aid from the oldest and greatest of the Core Powers, humanity and the Imperium looked to the Mesharom for salvation. But that salvation turns to ash as the Mesharom demand the surrender of the very weapons that saved the Imperium. Defiance leaves the Imperium facing the Taljzi without the aide of the galaxy’s wisest race, but with their old enemies the Kanzi at their side, they have no choice but to end this war at any cost.

The Tyrell are a race that love to fight. The more difficult the fight, the better they like it. Every race they find is given the same level of technology and a specific amount of time to exploit it before the Tyrell come back looking for a fight. Humanity is warned by another alien species that the Tyrell are coming, and the race is on to build an Alliance of races strong enough to stand up against an empire whose expansion has been relentless.

Gnat the Devourer is becoming a more prominent figure in grand space politics. Sure, he may not be totally independent yet, but he has enough leeway to be able to differentiate Earth's interests from those of its Geckho suzerains and act exclusively for the good of his own kind. Gnat must balance obligations to his almighty suzerains against a desire to advance humanity's position in space, and his home planet's search for ever more allies.

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.

Zack Quick has been on the move for 10 years, hacking big corporations and exposing their secrets. Then he stumbles upon one of the biggest discoveries that will forever change the world - and possibly get him killed. Kaylan Farrow is the pilot for Earth's most advanced spaceship, whose maiden voyage is supposed to take her crew to Titan, but newly released images from a deep space probe threaten to cancel the mission.

Trouble infiltrated the Harakens' capital city of Espero, in the form of New Terra criminal gangs who grew wealthy and powerful on the moons of Ganymede, hiding behind the cover of an ill-conceived mining charter. The gangs brought stims and addictive hallucinogenic drugs to Espero, distributing them to the young on the planet.

This is Book Two of a series. Readers are strongly encouraged to read Book One, Last of the Chosen, before reading Knights of the Chosen. The Empire has collapsed. Aided by the Chessori, who wield an unbeatable mind weapon, Rebel domination of the sectors strengthens daily. Against such formidable opponents, hope dims among the Empire hierarchy. The people of Earth are immune to the terrible mind weapon, but the Chessori know exactly where Earth is located. To save itself, Earth must save the Empire, but the process of pulling the politically fractured nations of Earth together cannot be ...

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.

Andre runs into trouble riding with Rachel while he's on leave. By the time he's back on duty, Rachel has decided to join up with BSR. Her first job is a doozy, though. She has to keep the twins out of trouble. Slavers show up again with hopes of getting the company out of the way. After the fleet explains the error in their ways, they head out to check on a new planet. A stowaway causes trouble for Topper, but it turns out for the best.

Starfleet was everything for Cristóbal Rios…until one horrible, inexplicable day when it all went wrong. Aimless and adrift, he grasps at a chance for a future as an independent freighter captain in an area betrayed by the Federation, the border region with the former Romulan Empire. His greatest desire: to be left alone. But solitude isn’t in the cards for the captain of La Sirena, who falls into debt to a roving gang of hoodlums from a planet whose society is based on Prohibition-era Earth.

United States Diplomat Danielle Lowen was there when one of her fellow diplomats committed an unthinkable act that had consequences for the entire planet. Now she’s trying to figure out how it happened before it can happen again. Putting the puzzle pieces together could solve the mystery - or it could threaten her own life. "The Gentle Art of Cracking Heads" 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.

The heart-stopping third episode in the Eden Paradox series. After 18 years, the quarantine that has protected humanity’s survivors on the planet Esperia is about to end. Mankind won't stand a chance without external help. Yet in the middle of a galactic war, who is concerned about one small planet when worlds fall every day?

Ava is a human servant aboard an alien Phor transport spaceship. The ship specializes in transporting cargo, and Ava tends to the engine. An alien Vorbax is brought on board to be transported to an enemy planet for a war crimes trial. But is he really a helpless prisoner? Why does Ava feel drawn to him? Will she become part of his plans? Now Ava is caught in the middle of something bigger than her heart and certainly bigger than what the ship she's on can handle.

N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights listeners with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.

What should have been a routine survey mission became a disaster. To the Harakens' surprise, they discovered, not one but two alien species, which were constantly engaged in conflict. One species, the Dischnya, hid their nests underground, and each nest owed its allegiance to a queen. On the grassy plains, where the Dischnya lived, the resources were scarce, and the warriors competed fiercely.

Accidentally getting tagged by a rogue element, he thwarted corporate espionage at Maverick Mecha Manufacturing. Lavella Hemoesta, the owner of Maverick, met with him to work out a deal so her company wouldn't be given bad press. That meeting changed the future for both Lavella and Zander.

Restored to his prestigious position within NUESSA, Jericho Fox takes command of the Marquis-class ship’s test program on a mission that promises to move humanity to a habitable exoplanet. But not everyone believes he’s fit for the job. As launch hour nears, can Jericho keep his crew from following the doomed fate of his last mission? Meanwhile, Dr. Evelyn Park leads her team of scientists in decoding the now legendary alien transmission that survived the Astraea Station catastrophe.

The year is twenty-forty-three. Andy Calhoun is the captain of the Blue Moon, an older cruise ship making one last attempt to be profitable with a nineteen-fifties retro theme. In deep space, a luxury yacht appears next to him. When his boss calls and tells Andy to shuttle over to the yacht, he meets Davenport Armstrong, an eccentric trillionaire. Armstrong informs Andy he has been selected to pilot a brand-new state-of-the-art vessel through a newly discovered wormhole to Planet Chang. On Chang, his corporation will build a city and make a movie “Thanksgiving 2045.” This seems strange ...