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When the Colonial Marines set out after their deadliest prey, the Xenomorphs, it’s what Corporal Hicks calls a bug hunt—kill or be killed. Here are fifteen all-new stories of such “close encounters,” written by many of today’s most extraordinary authors. Set during the events of all four Alien films, sending the Marines to alien worlds, to derelict space settlements, and into the nests of the universe’s most dangerous monsters, these adventures are guaranteed to send the blood racing—one way or another.

When the Colonial Marines set out after their deadliest prey, the Xenomorphs, it’s what Corporal Hicks calls a bug hunt—kill or be killed. Here are fifteen all-new stories of such “close encounters,” written by many of today’s most extraordinary authors. Set during the events of all four Alien films, sending the Marines to alien worlds, to derelict space settlements, and into the nests of the universe’s most dangerous monsters, these adventures are guaranteed to send the blood racing—one way or another.

Vladmir Karamatsov is a man possessed who demands the world from God. "My hour will come, inevitably. You can't stop me, even if you exist. And he can't stop me. John Rourke cannot stop me! He cannot stop me! John Rourke cannot stop me!" In this world growing more crowded and perilous by the day, John Rourke must use every means at his command to stop the despotic dreams of The Hero Marshall and his doomsday weapon; a weapon unleashing the evil, the beast lurking in the heart of every man to serve the lusts of Vladmir Karamatsov.

Old ways and new clash in head-on confrontation: When journeyman hit man Ray Dylan agrees to look in on Sami Bloom, former mistress of a deceased Canadian crime financier, he realizes he must keep his profession a secret. What he doesn’t realize is how difficult that is now that he has fallen for this warm-hearted beauty. While he struggles with the idea of confiding to her about his secret past, Dylan learns that Sami Bloom has some secrets of her own—and her secrets reach into the upper echelons of the very organization he works for.

Two centuries after Armageddon, the eternal battle between order and chaos continues. Pockets of fortified city states are ruled by powerful barons, plenipotentiaries of humanity's secret enslavers. Half human hybrids, these inheritors carry out an ages-old conspiracy of mankind's domination. But there are those who fight this insidious horror.

Set against the backdrop of a professional American football franchise seven centuries in the future, the Galactic Football League puts huge humans on the field with five alien races to create a game that is faster, stronger and deadlier than anything we know today. Quarterback Quentin Barnes has grown from a racist, small-town standout into a proven leader, a uniter of peoples, and the Galaxy’s most-famous being. Willing to do anything for his team, his Ionath Krakens have bound together through shared sacrifice, tragedy, devastating losses and thrilling victories.

Almost 10 years ago, 18-year-old Colt McCrae was sent to jail for a crime he didn't commit. When his estranged father is murdered, he is released, and returns to Whiskey Hill, Wyoming. He's not welcome by everyone. Colt means trouble - because he knows who killed his father. Ruthless range baron Frank Drummond wants the land and will bury anyone who dares oppose him. But Colt is no longer a kid with a chip on his shoulder. He's a prison-hardened man with a mind for justice?

From his arrival at Nekropolis, Matt has found himself embroiled in disputes with the city's vampire lords, shapeshifters, golems, and other monstrosities. Nothing has prepared him for the Dark War.

In Massacre at Goliad, tensions mount between Mexican authorities and American newcomers. Revolution is in the air, something Thomas Buckalew welcomes but his brother Joshua fears, since Joshua is in love with a Mexican girl. The story touches on the immortal battle of the Alamo but centers on the infamous Goliad massacre, and ultimately the decisive battle of San Jacinto, which made Texas an independent republic.

World War III and its aftermath of all-consuming fire left civilization on the brink of extinction. But John Thomas Rourke, the ex-CIA Covert Operations Officer, weapons specialist, and survival expert — still lives, fighting the elements and the odds. And those odds have never been more heavily stacked against Rourke than when he finds his son mortally wounded and Natalia and all of his family kidnapped by a Russian foe, long thought dead.

Following Russia’s thermonuclear first strike, America is a shattered wasteland, its survivors crushed under the iron fist of the brutal Soviet invader. But some have chosen to continue the fight for freedom’s cause under Ted Rockson, the ultimate soldier of survival. And when Rockson receives a strange visitor who is near death, a long-rumored legend suddenly comes alive.

Lou Prophet is accompanying his sometime-partner, sometime-lover Louisa Bonaventure to Seven Devils, Arizona. She’s chosen to give up bounty hunting and settle down - and wants Prophet to settle down with her. Although flattered by her offer, he isn’t willing to retire his guns. But Louisa’s dreams are shattered when they arrive at the scorched earth that was once Seven Devils - and the graves of her cousin’s family.

Hewey Calloway and his brother Walter are young men looking for work. Their first job puts them in the middle of a territory war between two powerful ranchers, C.C. Tarpley and Eli Jessup. It's a tough trail for two green cowpunchers and the forks in that trail may lead the brothers in different directions.

Hank Fallon knows what it’s like to rot behind bars. To wallow in the filth of a rat-infested cell. To smell the pent-up rage of cutthroat killers and thieves. Fallon earned his freedom the hard way. He saved the lives of four guards, got released early, and became a detective. Then he went undercover, infiltrated a prison gang plotting to bust out — and barely made it out alive. Now they’re sending him back. Behind the iron. Straight to hell.

Aliens and humans alike play positions based on physiology, creating receivers that jump 25 feet into the air, linemen that bench-press 1,200 pounds, and linebackers that literally want to eat you. Organized crime runs every franchise, games are fixed, and rival players are assassinated. Follow the story of Quentin Barnes, a 19-year-old quarterback prodigy that has been raised all his life to hate, and kill, those aliens. Quentin must deal with his racism and learn to lead, or he'll wind up just another stat in the column marked "killed on the field."

Caleb Doorn is better known by his Blackfoot name, Many Coups. Doorn is scouting for the US Army in the Mexican campaign when a small wagon train passes on its way to California. Their trek will take them into Indian country, and to protect the train from attack, the wagon master has foolishly taken a young Blackfoot woman hostage.

Overlords and humanity battle to claim Earth in a war as old as the alien domination of the planet. Yet with each new offensive comes stunning new revelations — exposing mysteries that were unfathomable before Skydark but are now quite real and quite deadly. Still, hope lies in the brilliant counteroffensive led by the Cerberus rebels, for whom success means nothing less than returning Earth to mankind.

On a planet where all is not what it seems, Earth's largest space station is home to America's Navy; a society born of science strives to find it's place in war; and 500 year old history comes to blazing life. John, Michael and Annie Rourke, Paul Rubenstein and Natalia Anastasia Tiemerovna battle ancient foes even as they long for a world without war.

It’s the 48th year of the Kurian Order. The alien, vampiric Kur and their avatars, the Reapers, control most of the Earth - their new feeding ground. Humanity is scattered and survives only at their new master’s whims. But the Resistance is attempting to reclaim Earth. David Valentine, member of the elite Cat spy force, is in enemy uniform aboard the aging gunboat Thunderbolt. Whispers have reached him of the discovery of a long-lost weapon in the Caribbean - the first glimmer of hope for humanity to finally defeat the Reapers.

It’s exhausting and discouraging watching time slip through your fingers despite your best efforts to make the most of it. You might think the solution to being more productive is to work even longer hours. But, did you know that productivity actually decreases after about 50 hours of work a week? As a matter of fact, just 10 to 20 minutes of proper planning could save you over two hours of wasted time throughout the day.