Space Opera First Contact

First contact with a mysterious race of aliens reveals an unusual request; a family's pet dog comes to grips with the newly bestowed gift of human-like intelligence; a poet, in danger and alone on a distant world, makes unlikely allies; hundreds of years in the future, a famous hermit lives in the sea above the now-underwater Harvard University; former friends navigate unsteady peace between human refugees and the technologically superior race that saved them; in a future where human life can be infinitely extended through cybertronic rebirth, one woman declines immortality.

Hygeia, an outer rim colony, is doomed as the moon on which it was built hurtles toward an inevitable collision with the dead planet Hephaestus. When a distress signal arrives from a Weyland-Yutani biowarfare outpost near the colony, a desperate plan is launched to evacuate the trapped scientists and colonists. Their destination: LV-846, a key United Americas colony where high-level talks are scheduled to address the galaxy-wide hostilities between the colonies.

Having magical powers makes you less than human, a resource to be exploited. Half-unicorn Gary Cobalt is sick of slavery, captivity, and his horn being ground down to power faster-than-light travel. When he's finally free, all he wants is to run away in his ancestors' stone ship. Instead, Captain Jenny Perata steals the ship out from under him so she can make an urgent delivery. But Jenny held him captive for a decade, and then Gary murdered her best friend...who was also the wife of her copilot, Cowboy Jim. What could possibly go right?

Humanity lies dead. The Atrekna are landing nearly unopposed on thousands of planets. The day looks dark and many are losing hope. But the Terran Confederacy of Aligned Systems is more than just the Terrans. The Treana'ad War Hordes charge into battle against the enemy. Black Mantid Special Forces own the night. The Telkan Marine Corps spits their defiance into the faces of the invaders from a dead universe. The Lanaktallan desert the Unified Military Council by the hundreds of thousand to join with the Confederacy. Even further, just because you have killed a Terran does not mean its over....

Former Marine Will Hawthorne has defeated the Gates of the Golden Staff, but the remnants of the cult have escaped with the tools he needs to finally save his adopted world. Searching for their last stronghold, he and three of his closest wives - fox-girl Merindra, cat-girl Narilora, and bat-girl Mereceeree - must trek deep into the Taitalan wilderness in hopes of destroying the cult once and for all.

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.

Nathan Myers and the crew of the Legacy have fought several of the predatory races wreaking havoc on our galaxy. Over the years their enemies have given them many names. Most are born out of spite and fear, but some are out of respect. Now that Nathan and his strike team find themselves battling the invasive Bio-machines of Andromeda, the enemies of all biological life have labeled Nathan and his crew with a new moniker. They call them the Apex Warriors.

AN INVASION. A CONSPIRACY. ONE SHOT AT REDEMPTION. Three never-before-published books bundled together! The Lost Galaxy series follows the adventures of a lone lawman, his aging and possibly insane spaceship, and a trio of mercenaries, new recruits, and hardened criminals who are all swept together behind an alien invasion that could wipe out humanity. As Provincial Sergeant Jack Bowman and his ragtag group race to save themselves and warn humanity of the invasion force, they learn that there is more at stake than anyone—human or alien—could have guessed. A conspiracy could bring down ...

It's not every day that your roommate accidentally teleports you across time and space, but Jennifer MacDonald is not having an ordinary day. A chance encounter with a custom-built computer and an ancient pyramid sends Jennifer to a faraway land with six warring civilizations and an ancient prophecy that has a visitor from the stars at its heart. All she has to do is unseal one measly, missing god.

Captain Bogdan Volkov is out of time, credits, and hope. His ship, the Golden Fleece, is a monument to failure, and his small, brilliant crew is being ground down by the mundane friction of poverty. When an impossible contract appears—a quarter-billion credits for a simple asset extraction—Bogdan knows it’s a trap. But it's the only one they have left to spring. The asset, however, is not an object. It is Zlato, a sentient, god-like AI that has been waiting for them. The contract was not a job; it was a recruitment drive. The real mission is to save the galaxy from a reality-ending ...

Light is almost everywhere, but what is it, really? How does it work? What does it experience as it zips along at the universe's ultimate speed limit? Light features heavily in this, the 8th book in the Voided Man series. Alan Franklin, who was once known as Maestro, narrates the volume. In Book 8 we learn... Of Alan's early years in the City... Of what's been happening with Andromeda and others back on the Potato... More about what the society made up of quadrillions of humans in the distant future is like... What happened when Banner Dawson found Pioneer 10 past the orbit of Pluto... All ...

COMPLETE THE SERIES with three more never-before-published books! The Lost Galaxy series follows the adventures of a lone lawman, his aging and possibly insane spaceship, and a trio of mercenaries, new recruits, and hardened criminals who are all swept together behind an alien invasion that could wipe out humanity. Lost Galaxy (Books 4-6) is old-fashioned space opera at its best, perfect for fans of action-packed drama and fun! Note: The Lost Galaxy series is an homage to thrilling pulp sci-fi of yesteryear. If you're interested in hard science fiction look elsewhere. But if you're looking ...

Keeping up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more - a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.

An interstellar colony ship on Earth prepares for take-off. Before reaching their first stop—Proxima b Centauri—they are awoken from their cryo pods early, only to learn there's been an alien invasion on Earth. But it's too late. Can the crew find a safe refuge from the invaders and track down colonists from other ships?

For more than a century, Winged Hussars has been the richest of Earth's mercenary companies, as well as the only one to specialize in space warfare. Led by Alexis Cromwell, they have carved out a reputation in the galaxy for being dependable, unflappable, and lethally efficient. Until people began shooting at them everywhere they went.

In a future where humanity has conquered mortality, Dr. Isabella Moretti, a renowned exo-archaeologist dedicated to deciphering the secrets of extinct civilizations, faces an unwelcome "Second Life" of compulsory service. Thrust into the Aegis Legion, the Concord's shield against frontier perils, she's deployed to the desolate Erebus System at galaxy's far edge —a place besieged by the Phantoms, an unseen, merciless alien force whose motives are unknown. With colonial outposts systematically obliterated by devastating kinetic strikes from orbit, Isa and her newly formed platoon, Void ...

An explorer tug captain, Alex Racine detects a damaged alien craft drifting into the system. Recognizing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make first contact, Alex pulls off a daring maneuver to latch on to the derelict. Alex discovers the ship was attacked by an unknown craft, the first of its kind ever encountered. The mysterious silver ship's attack was both instant and deadly.

During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move. As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human. While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope....

Bob thought he was going to get to enjoy a little downtime on Charlie's planet. You don't need to be told that our shepherd had other ideas, do you? Bert and Ernie find a bot, new, but old, with quite a story to tell. Then Jossi and Lakki blow their cover and need rescuing. A lot of work to get done to get back to Earth in time for a wedding. Come watch Bob and the crew get it all done.

One hundred years before Ender's Game, the aliens arrived on Earth with fire and death. Earth Afire by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston is the story of the First Formic War. Victor Delgado beat the alien ship to Earth, but just barely. Not soon enough to convince skeptical governments that there was a threat. They didn't believe that until space stations and ships and colonies went up in sudden flame. And when that happened, only Mazer Rackham and the Mobile Operations Police could move fast enough to meet the threat.