The war for survival of the planet Lusitania will be fought in the heart of a child named Gloriously Bright. On Lusitania, Ender found a world where humans and pequininos and the Hive Queen could all live together; where three very different intelligent species could find common ground at last. Or so he thought.
Lusitania also harbors the descolada, a virus that kills all humans it infects, but which the pequininos require in order to become adults. The Starways Congress so fears the effects of the descolada, should it escape from Lusitania, that they have ordered the destruction of the entire planet, and all who live there. The Fleet is on its way, and a second xenocide seems inevitable.
High above the planet Harmony, the Oversoul watches. Its task, programmed so many millennia ago, is to guard the human settlement on this planetâto protect this fragile remnant of Earth from all threats. To protect them, most of all, from themselves. The Oversoul has done its job well. There is no war on Harmony. There are no weapons of mass destruction. There is no technology that could lead to weapons of war.
By control of the data banks, and subtle interference in the very thoughts of the people, the artificial intelligence has fulfilled its mission. But now there is a problem. In orbit, the Oversoul realizes that it has lost access to some of its memory banks, and some of its power systems are failing. And on the planet, men are beginning to think about power, wealth, and conquest.
In Red Mars, award-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson presents the first installment of his acclaimed Mars Trilogy. The novel chronicles the ambitious endeavor of terraforming Mars, beginning in 2026 with the arrival of a group of 100 colonists. Among them are leaders such as John Boone, Maya Toitavna, Frank Chalmers, and Arkady Bogdanov, who carry the burden of their mission's success and the dreams of humanity.
The colonists embark on a monumental task to transform the barren, hostile climate of the red planet into a habitable environment. Their plans include orbiting giant satellite mirrors to reflect sunlight, sprinkling black dust on the polar caps to capture warmth, and drilling massive tunnels into the mantle to release hot gases.
Set against a backdrop of massive planetary changes, the narrative delves into the personal lives of the colonists, exploring their rivalries, loves, and friendships. As some become consumed by their passion for Mars, others see the planet as a chance for profit or a laboratory for genetic breakthroughs. However, not everyone is in favor of altering Mars, leading to conflicts that could jeopardize the entire mission.
Red Mars is a brilliant and imaginative epic that combines cutting-edge science with human drama, exploring the complexities of colonization and the ethical dilemmas of altering an entire world.
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. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought," but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence.
Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization.
In the year 2130, a mysterious spaceship, Rama, arrived in the solar system. It was hugeâbig enough to contain a city and a seaâand empty, apparently abandoned. By the time Rama departed for its next, unknown destination, many wonders had been uncovered, but few mysteries solved. Only one thing was clear: everything the enigmatic builders of Rama did, they did in threes.
Eighty years later, the second alien craft arrived in the solar system. This time, Earth had been waiting. But all the years of preparation were not enough to unlock the Raman enigma.
Now Rama II is on its way out of the solar system. Aboard it are three humans, two men and a woman, left behind when the expedition departed. Ahead of them lies the unknown, a voyage no human has ever experienced. And at the end of itâand who could tell how many years away that might be?âmay lie the truth about Rama.
Now available in mass market, the revised, definitive edition of the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning classic. In this second book in the saga set 3,000 years after the terrible war, Ender Wiggin is reviled by history as the Xenocide--the destroyer of the alien Buggers. Now, Ender tells the true story of the war and seeks to stop history from repeating itself.
...In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who told the true story of the Bugger War.Now, long years later, a second alien race has been discovered, but again the aliens' ways are strange and frightening...again, humans die. And it is only the Speaker for the Dead, who is also Ender Wiggin the Xenocide, who has the courage to confront the mystery...and the truth.
Speaker for the Dead, the second novel in Orson Scott Card's Ender Quintet, is the winner of the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
On opposing sides, Captain Cordelia Naismith and Admiral Lord Aral Vorkosigan marry and live in aristocratic splendor on his home planet Barrayar. Cordelia agrees with the dying old emperor that the Empire would be better if Aral would serve, but he knows secrets she does not.
Captain Cordelia Naismith was sick of combat and betrayal, and looking forward to a quiet life on Barrayar as the wife of Lord Aral Vorkosigan. But her new husband has become Regent to the five-year-old boy who has succeeded to the throne of three planets, making Aral and his family targets in the deadly game of Barrayaran political intrigue.
The Rowan is the first installment in a wonderful trilogy told in the timeless style of Anne McCaffrey. This book represents sci-fi at its best: a contemporary love story intertwined with an engrossing view of our world in the future.
The kinetically gifted, trained in mind/machine gestalt, are the most valued citizens of the Nine Star League. Using mental powers alone, these few Prime Talents transport ships, cargo, and people between Earth's Moon, Mars' Demos, and Jupiter's Callisto.
An orphaned young girl, known simply as The Rowan, is discovered to have superior telepathic potential and is trained to become Prime Talent on Callisto. After years of self-sacrificing dedication to her position, The Rowan intercepts an urgent mental call from Jeff Raven, a young Prime Talent on distant Deneb.
She convinces the other Primes to merge their powers with hers to help fight off an attack by invading aliens. Her growing relationship with Jeff gives her the courage to break her status-imposed isolation and choose the more rewarding world of love and family.
The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks and military action.
The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought.
The drone known as Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman's life by massacring her attackers in a particularly bloody manner. It believed the man to be a lost cause. But not even its machine could see the horrors in his past.
Ferociously intelligent, both witty and horrific, Use of Weapons is a masterpiece of science fiction.
In the stunning continuation of the epic adventure begun in Hyperion, Simmons returns us to a far future resplendent with drama and invention. On the world of Hyperion, the mysterious Time Tombs are opening. And the secrets they contain mean that nothing--nothing anywhere in the universe--will ever be the same.
It is the year 12,020 G.E. and Emperor Cleon I sits uneasily on the Imperial throne of Trantor. Here in the great multidomed capital of the Galactic Empire, forty billion people have created a civilization of unimaginable technological and cultural complexity. Yet Cleon knows there are those who would see him fallâthose whom he would destroy if only he could read the future.
Hari Seldon has come to Trantor to deliver his paper on psychohistory, his remarkable theory of prediction. Little does the young Outworld mathematician know that he has already sealed his fate and the fate of humanity. For Hari possesses the prophetic power that makes him the most wanted man in the Empire...the man who holds the key to the futureâan apocalyptic power to be known forever after as the Foundation.
Intervention sets the scene for Julian May's new trilogy of the Galactic Milieu. This has been split into two books: The Surveillance (containing Prologue, The Surveillance, and The Disclosure) and The Metaconcert, containing The Intervention and Epilogue.
For 60,000 years, the five races of the Galactic Milieu have watched and waited for the time when human mental development on Earth is ready for the Intervention. As the twentieth century draws to its end, phenomenal mental powers are displayed by 'operants' all across our planet. They can 'farspeak' one another telepathically. They can build mental shields, and they are capable of coercion by power of mind.
One of them is Rogatien Remillard, a dealer in secondhand books, whose memoriesâwritten a century onâform the core of this chronicle. They tell of a world where the mind has become a weapon, and of two brothers, each possessed of extraordinary powersâone a peace-bringer, the other an advocate of evil.
With more than ten million copies sold, Frank Herbert's magnificent Dune books stand among the major achievements of the human imagination. In this, the fifth and most spectacular Dune book of all, the planet Arrakis--now called Rakis--is becoming desert again. The Lost Ones are returning home from the far reaches of space. The great sandworms are dying. And the children of Dune's children awaken from empire as from a dream, wielding the new power of a heresy called love...
David Brin's Uplift novels are among the most thrilling and extraordinary science fiction ever written. Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War together make up one of the most beloved sagas of all time.
Brin's tales are set in a future universe in which no species can reach sentience without being "uplifted" by a patron race. But the greatest mystery of all remains unsolved: who uplifted humankind?
As galactic armadas clash in quest of the ancient fleet of the Progenitors, a brutal alien race seizes the dying planet of Garth. The various uplifted inhabitants of Garth must battle their overlords or face ultimate extinction. At stake is the existence of Terran society and Earth, and the fate of the entire Five Galaxies.
Sweeping, brilliantly crafted, inventive and dramatic, The Uplift War is an unforgettable story of adventure and wonder from one of today's science fiction greats.
Starship Troopers takes place in the midst of an interstellar war between the Terran Federation of Earth and the Arachnids (referred to as "The Bugs") of Klendathu. It is narrated as a series of flashbacks by Juan Rico, and is one of only a few Heinlein novels set out in this fashion. The novel opens with Rico aboard the corvette Rodger Young, about to embark on a raid against the planet of the "Skinnies," who are allies of the Arachnids.
We learn that he is a cap(sule) trooper in the Terran Federation's Mobile Infantry. The raid itself, one of the few instances of actual combat in the novel, is relatively brief: the Mobile Infantry land on the planet, destroy their targets, and retreat, suffering a single casualty in the process.
The story then flashes back to Rico's graduation from high school, and his decision to sign up for Federal Service over the objections of his father. This is the only chapter that describes Rico's civilian life, and most of it is spent on the monologues of two people: retired Lt. Col. Jean V. Dubois, Rico's school instructor in "History and Moral Philosophy," and Fleet Sergeant Ho, a recruiter for the armed forces of the Terran Federation.
Dubois serves as a stand-in for Heinlein throughout the novel, and delivers what is probably the book's most famous soliloquy on violence, and how it "has settled more issues in history than has any other factor." Fleet Sergeant Ho's monologues examine the nature of military service, and his anti-military tirades appear in the book primarily as a contrast with Dubois.
Interspersed throughout the book are other flashbacks to Rico's high school History and Moral Philosophy course, which describe how in the Terran Federation of Rico's day, the rights of a full Citizen (to vote, and hold public office) must be earned through some form of volunteer Federal service. Those residents who have not exercised their right to perform this Federal Service retain the other rights generally associated with a modern democracy (free speech, assembly, etc.), but they cannot vote or hold public office.
In the next section of the novel Rico goes to boot camp at Camp Arthur Currie, on the northern prairies. Five chapters are spent exploring Rico's experience entering the service under the training of his instructor, Career Ship's Sergeant Charles Zim. Camp Currie is so rigorous that less than ten percent of the recruits finish basic training; the rest either resign, are expelled, or die in training.
At some point during Rico's training, the 'Bug War' has begun to brew, and Rico finds himself taking part in combat operations. The war "officially" starts with an Arachnid attack that annihilates the city of Buenos Aires, although Rico makes it clear that prior to the attack there were plenty of "'incidents,' 'patrols,' or 'police actions.'" Rico briefly describes the Terran Federation's loss at the Battle of Klendathu where his unit is decimated and his ship destroyed.
Eventually, Rico decides to become a career soldier and attends Officer Candidate School, which turns out to be just like boot camp, only "squared and cubed with books added." Rico is commissioned a temporary Third Lieutenant as a field-test final exam and commands his own unit during Operation Royalty; eventually he graduates as a Second Lieutenant and full-fledged officer.
The final chapter serves as more of a coda, depicting Rico aboard the Rodger Young as the lieutenant in command of Rico's Roughnecks, preparing to drop to Klendathu as part of a major strike, with his father (having joined the Service earlier in the novel) as his senior sergeant and a Third Lieutenant-in-training of his own under his wing.
When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his table, Dr. Richard Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions. Here, a plot to rescue a sentient computer could alter human history...
Join forces with a swashbuckling duo of inter-galactic space rogues struggling to save the future and history of civilization.
Follow Colonial Colin Campbell, alias Dr. Richard Ames, alias Senator Richard Johnson from orbiting luxury condos to the Wild West zones of the moon to the worlds of past and future.
David Brin's Uplift novels are among the most thrilling and extraordinary science fiction ever written. Sundiver, Startide Rising, and The Uplift War together make up one of the most beloved sagas of all time. Brin's tales are set in a future universe in which no species can reach sentience without being "uplifted" by a patron race. But the greatest mystery of all remains unsolved: who uplifted humankind?
The Terran exploration vessel Streaker has crashed in the uncharted water world of Kithrup, bearing one of the most important discoveries in galactic history. Below, a handful of her human and dolphin crew battles armed rebellion and a hostile planet to safeguard her secretâthe fate of the Progenitors, the fabled First Race who seeded wisdom throughout the stars.
The story centers on individual human and dolphin characters, highlighting themes of courage, determination, friendship, love, and betrayal, both for the humans and the dolphins.
Book four in Frank Herbert's magnificent Dune Chronicles--one of the most significant sagas in the history of literary science fiction.
Millennia have passed on Arrakis, and the once-desert planet is green with life. Leto Atreides, the son of the world's savior, the Emperor Paul Muad'Dib, is still alive but far from human. To preserve humanity's future, he sacrificed his own by merging with a sandworm, granting him near immortality as God Emperor of Dune for the past thirty-five hundred years.
Leto's rule is not a benevolent one. His transformation has made not only his appearance but his morality inhuman. A rebellion, led by Siona, a member of the Atreides family, has risen to oppose the despot's rule. But Siona is unaware that Leto's vision of a Golden Path for humanity requires her to fulfill a destiny she never wanted--or could possibly conceive.
Her name was Killashandra Ree. After ten grueling years of musical training, she was still without prospects. Then she heard of the mysterious Heptite Guild on the planet Ballybran, home of the fabled Black Crystal. For those qualified, the Guild was said to provide careers, security, and the chance for wealth beyond imagining.
The problem was, few people who landed on Ballybran ever left. But to Killashandra, the risks were acceptable...
At last, the costly and bitter war between the two Foundations had come to an end. The scientists of the First Foundation had proved victorious; and now they return to Hari Seldon's long-established plan to build a new Empire on the ruins of the old. But rumors persist that the Second Foundation is not destroyed after allâand that its still-defiant survivors are preparing their revenge.
Now two exiled citizens of the Foundationâa renegade Councilman and a doddering historianâset out in search of the mythical planet Earth. . .and proof that the Second Foundation still exists. Meanwhile, someoneâor somethingâoutside of both Foundations seems to be orchestrating events to suit its own ominous purpose. Soon representatives of both the First and Second Foundations will find themselves racing toward a mysterious world called Gaia and a final shocking destiny at the very end of the universe!
Helva had been born human, but only her brain had been savedâsaved to be schooled, programmed, and implanted into the sleek titanium body of an intergalactic scout ship. But first, she had to choose a human partnerâmale or femaleâto share her exhilarating escapades in space!
Her life was to be rich and rewarding, resplendent with daring adventures and endless excitement, beyond the wildest dreams of mere mortals. Gifted with the voice of an angel and being virtually indestructible, Helva XH-834 anticipated a sublime immortality.
Then one day, she fell in love!
The Great Dune Trilogy by Frank Herbert is a monumental science fiction epic, set on the desert planet Arrakis. This harsh world is the focal point of a complex political and military struggle with galaxy-wide repercussions.
This volume includes the captivating tales: 'Dune', 'Dune Messiah', and 'Children of Dune'. The story revolves around the valuable spice, a mind-enhancing drug that makes interstellar travel possible, and is the most sought-after substance in the galaxy.
When Duke Atreides and his family arrive on Arrakis, they become ensnared in a deadly trap set by the Duke's rival, Baron Harkonnen. After the Duke's poisoning, his wife and son, Paul, escape to the vast deserts, joining the native Fremen to survive. Paul's journey is one of destiny and prophecy, intertwined with the ecosystem and culture of Arrakis.
This trilogy is renowned for its intricate blend of ecology, religion, consciousness, feudalism, and space travel. It challenges readers to reflect on the impact of their choices and the world around them. An enduring classic, it continues to inspire and provoke thought in its readers.
They were the mri - tall, secretive, bound by honor and the rigid dictates of their society. For aeons, this golden-skinned, golden-eyed race had provided the universe with mercenary soldiers of almost unimaginable ability. But now, the mri have faced an enemy unlike any other - an enemy whose only way of war is widespread destruction. These humans are mass fighters, creatures of the herd, and the mri have been slaughtered like animals.
Now, in the aftermath of war, the mri face extinction. It will be up to three individuals to save whatever remains of this devastated race: a warrior - one of the last survivors of his kind; a priestess of this honorable people; and a lone human - a man sworn to aid the enemy of his own kind. Can they retrace the galaxy-wide path of this nomadic race back through millennia to reclaim the ancient world which first gave them life?
A whisperjewel has summoned Dirk tâLarien to Worlorn, and a love he thinks he lost. But Worlorn isnât the world Dirk imagined, and Gwen Delvano is no longer the woman he once knew. She is bound to another man, and to a dying planet that is trapped in twilight. Gwen needs Dirkâs protection, and he will do anything to keep her safe, even if it means challenging the barbaric man who has claimed her. But an impenetrable veil of secrecy surrounds them all, and itâs becoming impossible for Dirk to distinguish between his allies and his enemies. In this dangerous triangle, one is hurtling toward escape, another toward revenge, and the last toward a brutal, untimely demise.
Lummox had been the Stuart family pet for years. Though far from cuddly and rather large, it had always been obedient and docile. Except, that is, for the time it had eaten the secondhand Buick...
But now, all of a sudden and without explanation, Lummox had begun chomping down on a variety of things â not least, a very mean dog and a cage of virtually indestructible steel. Incredible!
John Thomas and Lummox were soon in awfully hot water, and they didn't know how to get out. And neither one really understood just how bad things were â or how bad the situation could get â until some space voyagers appeared and turned a far-from-ordinary family problem into an extraordinary confrontation.
Her sensuality was at the core of her world, her quest beyond the civilized stars. Aristocrat. Outcast. Picara. Slave. Ruler.
Join the amazing and erotic adventures of the most beautiful courtesan in tomorrow's universe. This tale is filled with engrossing characters set in a marvelous adventure.
Experience the best single example of prostitution used in fantasy in Janet Morris' Silistra series.
Luke Skywalker challenged the stormtroopers of a distant galaxy on a daring mission - where a force of life became the power of death!
Luke Skywalker was a twenty-year-old who lived and worked on his uncle's farm on the remote planet of Tatooine... and he was bored beyond belief. He yearned for adventures out among the starsâadventures that would take him beyond the farthest galaxies to distant and alien worlds.
But Luke got more than he bargained for when he intercepted a cryptic message from a beautiful princess held captive by a dark and powerful warlord. Luke didn't know who she was, but he knew he had to save herâand soon, because time was running out.
Armed only with courage and with the light saber that had been his father's, Luke was catapulted into the middle of the most savage space war ever... and he was headed straight for a desperate encounter on the enemy battle station known as the Death Star!
Italo Calvino's extraordinary imagination and intelligence combine here in an enchanting series of stories about the evolution of the universe. He makes his characters out of mathematical formulae and simple cellular structures. They disport themselves among galaxies, experience the solidification of planets, move from aquatic to terrestrial existence, play games with hydrogen atoms, and even have a love life.
During the course of these stories, Calvino toys with continuous creation, the transformation of matter, and the expanding and contracting reaches of space and time. He succeeds in relating complex scientific concepts to the ordinary reactions of common humanity.
William Weaver's excellent translation won a National Book Award in 1969. "Naturally, we were all there," old Qfwfq said, "where else could we have been? Nobody knew then that there could be space. Or time either: what use did we have for time, packed in there like sardines?"
Babel-17 delves into the power of language in a universe where humanity is embroiled in a cosmic war with the Invaders. These adversaries have been covertly assassinating officials and sabotaging spaceships. The only clues are strange alien messages intercepted in space. Poet and linguist Rydra Wong is determined to decipher this cryptic language and halt the alien threat.
As Rydra embarks on this mission, she discovers that the language, Babel-17, is more than just a code; it's a weapon that can alter perception and thought, turning those who understand it into unwilling traitors.
In 3016, the 2nd Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to faster-than-light Alderson Drive. Intelligent beings are finally found from the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud. The bottled-up ancient civilization, at least one million years old, are welcoming, kind, yet evasive, with a dark problem they have not solved in over a million years.
The artefact is a circular ribbon of matter six hundred million miles long and ninety million miles in radius. Pierson's puppeteers, the aliens who discovered it, are understandably wary of encountering the builders of such an immense structure and have assembled a team of two humans, a mad puppeteer and a kzin, a huge cat-like alien, to explore it. But a crash landing on the vast edifice forces the crew on a desperate and dangerous trek across the Ringworld.
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the spice melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for...
When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul's family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad'Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind's most ancient and unattainable dream.
A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.
NAME: Valentine Michael Smith
ANCESTRY: Human
ORIGIN: Mars
Valentine Michael Smith is a human being raised on Mars, newly returned to Earth. Among his people for the first time, he struggles to understand the social mores and prejudices of human nature that are so alien to him, while teaching them his own fundamental beliefs in grokking, watersharing, and love.
In a world in which the police have telepathic powers, how do you get away with murder?
Ben Reichs heads a huge 24th century business empire, spanning the solar system. He is also an obsessed, driven man determined to murder a rival. To avoid capture, in a society where murderers can be detected even before they commit their crime, is the greatest challenge of his life.
Foundation and Empire is the second novel in Isaac Asimov's classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series. The epic saga continues as the Foundation, led by its founding father, the psychohistorian Hari Seldon, and utilizing superior science and technology, has survived the greed and barbarism of its neighboring warrior-planets.
Now the Foundation faces a new challenge. The Empire, once the mightiest force in the Galaxy, is in its death throes, yet it remains a significant threat. An ambitious general, intent on restoring the Empire's glory, directs the Imperial fleet towards the Foundation, placing the planet of scholars and scientists in peril.
The situation becomes even more dire with the appearance of a mysterious entity known as the Mule, who possesses powers beyond anything previously known to humanity. The Mule's capabilities are beyond human comprehension, and it remains unclear whoâor whatâthe Mule truly is. As the darkness threatens to overwhelm the light, the courage of a few may be all that stands between humanity and annihilation.
With nail-biting suspense and nonstop action, Foundation and Empire explores humanity's perpetual struggle against the forces of chaos and the brave efforts to maintain enlightenment and civilization amidst the vast and tumultuous sea of stars.
Second Foundation is the third book in Isaac Asimov's classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series. The novel narrates the story of a secretly developed Second Foundation, which exists to protect the first from the threats of a deadly mutant and a corrupt First Foundation seeking control of the galactic empire.
The fate of the Foundation rests upon young Arkady Darell, a fourteen-year-old girl burdened with a terrible secret. As the scientists prepare for a final showdown with the Mule, the survivors of the First Foundation embark on a desperate search. They, too, wish to find and destroy the Second Foundation before it has the chance to destroy them.
Unforgettable and thought-provoking, Second Foundation is a tale of adventure and ideas that spans the Galaxy. It is a powerful narrative about humankind's struggle to preserve the fragile light of wisdom against the threat of its own dark barbarism.
The first novel in Isaac Asimov's classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation seriesâFor twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the futureâto a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years.
To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empireâboth scientists and scholarsâand brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for future generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.
The Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are among the most influential in the history of science fiction, celebrated for their unique blend of breathtaking action, daring ideas, and extensive worldbuilding. In Foundation, Asimov has written a timely and timeless novel of the bestâand worstâthat lies in humanity, and the power of even a few courageous souls to shine a light in a universe of darkness.
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy collects five of Douglas Adams's classic science fiction works in one volume. This series takes readers on a hilarious journey through space and time with Arthur Dent, a man who finds himself an unwitting adventurer in the cosmos after the Earth is destroyed to make way for a galactic freeway.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Arthur Dent discovers the meaning of life (or lack thereof) with the help of Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, and the depressed robot Marvin.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: Arthur and company search for a decent meal, leading to encounters with bizarre beings and escapades across the galaxy.
Life, the Universe and Everything: Our heroes confront the sinister inhabitants of planet Krikkit who, tired of gazing upon the universe, decide it's high time to destroy it.
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish: Arthur Dent returns to Earth, questioning his past interstellar adventures, but a cryptic gift reminds him that reality is often stranger than fiction.
Mostly Harmless: Just as Arthur starts to settle into a semblance of normal life, chaos ensues, and he must navigate further cosmic conundrums.
Also included is the short story "Young Zaphod Plays It Safe", which offers more of Adams's trademark wit and insight into the human conditionâalbeit from the perspective of extraterrestrial beings and the odd, often perplexing universe they inhabit.
The sixth book in the New York Times bestselling Expanse series.
A revolution brewing for generations has begun in fire. It will end in blood.
The Free Navy - a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships - has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them.
James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network. But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun.
As the chaos grows, an alien mystery deepens. Pirate fleets, mutiny, and betrayal may be the least of the Rocinante's problems. And in the uncanny spaces past the ring gates, the choices of a few damaged and desperate people may determine the fate of more than just humanity.
Ghost In The Machine is a mature space opera romance filled with strong language, some violence, a good heaping of romance, some steamy bits, a few crazy aliens, one very confused android, an empathic girl with emotional issues who tends to trip herself up, and a crew of space agents who seem to enjoy making their Central Director yank out her hair.
Love is like a wormhole. You stumble onto it blindly, it sucks you in and takes you somewhere completely unexpected. You canât fight it, because that would tear your ship apart. You canât control it, either. All you can do is set your thrusters on glide and let it take you where itâs going to take you.
Going against the rules of her Vesparian Sisterhood, which seeks to keep its entire existence a secret, Orynn is thrown into the open by a request for help that she could not refuse. Seeking to reconcile past mistakes and gain a forgiveness she feels she does not deserve, the control over her empathic abilities is put to the test when the darkness that lives within her spirit threatens to once again destroy any piece of happiness that she allows herself to find.
As a Mechatronic Automaton, Ethan defines his world through a set of logically defined values and understandings. Encountering Orynn throws his system out of balance as he tries to decide if he should trust the feelings he is developing, or if he should follow the logic telling him that she is trying to control him for some unknown purpose. Should he keep her at a distance despite his want to bring her near, or should he follow the heart he swears he does not have? As his understanding of her develops, he begins to question all of his preconceived notions about both himself and the universe around him.
King Grim Vasteri is the most feared warrior in the Tornian Empire. Sent by his Emperor, he embarks on a mission to find and retrieve compatible females for their dying civilization.
As the King of Luda, and blood brother to the Emperor, Grim's line is destined to end with him. His scars have rendered him 'unfit' in the eyes of potential mates. The Tornian Empire has been on the brink of extinction ever since the great infection made the birth of females a rarity. However, the discovery of a compatible female on a slave ship offers a glimmer of hope.
Lisa Miller is a widowed mother of two, Carly and Miki. After losing her husband to cancer, she feels no man could ever fill the void in her heart or love her daughters as their own. But her world is turned upside down when she finds herself on an alien ship, separated from her children.
Confronting the large alien males, Lisa demands to be returned to her children. Seeing an opportunity, Grim offers her a deal: he will protect her children if she agrees to Join with him. With no other option to reunite with her children, Lisa agrees, setting in motion changes that will forever alter the Tornian Empire.
The Foundation Trilogy is a monumental work in the annals of science fiction, spanning a thousand-year epic and a galactic struggle. It begins a new chapter in the story of humanity's future as the Old Empire crumbles into barbarism across the million worlds of the galaxy. Hari Seldon and his band of psychologists must create a new entity, the Foundation, dedicated to art, science, and technology, as the beginning of a new empire.
Foundation lays the groundwork for this new chapter, while Foundation and Empire describes the mighty struggle for power amid the chaos of the stars, where humanity stands at the threshold of a new enlightened life that could be easily destroyed by the old forces of barbarism. Second Foundation follows the Seldon Plan after the First Empire's defeat and details its greatest threatâa dangerous mutant strain gone wild, capable of bending men's wills, directing their thoughts, reshaping their desires, and potentially destroying the universe.
Discover what really happened in the final days of the doomed planet from the eyes of Sandorâwho would go on to become the reluctant CĂȘpan to Number Nine.
Before Number Four and the others arrived on Earth, they lived on the planet Lorien. A planet filled with others who also had extraordinary abilities. A peaceful planetââuntil the day the Mogadorians attacked, and nearly annihilated, the Loric people.
Only a handful of Loric survived the battle. This is Sandorâs story. Sandor was tired of being a teenager, tired of going to school and obeying his teachers and playing by his parents' rules. He enjoyed breaking the rules rather than following them. But when he makes one mistake too many, Sandor's life takes an unexpected turn, and he is forced to join the Lorien Defense Academy.
Sandor had never believed in the crazy idea that Lorien needed to defend itselfâLorien was a peaceful planet, with no apparent enemies. But when Mogadorians suddenly attack, Sandor learns how real that threat was. Now Sandor is one of only a handful of Loric left alive, and the fate of Lorien is in their hands.
For mature readers only. This pulp, cyberpunk, technothriller has profanity, violence, sexual situations, and an atheist protagonist. There are some disturbing scenes that may upset the more sensitive reader.
For Jonathan Harkon, living life in exile is never easy. Forced into hiding his true identity and leaving the only home and family he's ever known, Jonathan finds himself halfway across the solar system, smuggling condoms for the religiously-oppressed citizens of an outer-system colony named Sanctity. It isn't long before his cover as a bouncer for a local "bikini-bar" is questioned, and he is quickly embroiled in Sanctity's hardcore, underground, sex-slave trade. With few friends by his side and only his ship, the HMS Mary Rose, to rely upon, Jonathan will need every ounce of the strength and skill that his heavily enhanced, genetically-engineered body can manage, if he means to survive and expose the terrible truth behind Sanctity's "Meat Market."
Set in the not too distant future, "The Meat Market" is the first short novel in author James Chalk's Jonathan Harkon Adventure series.
The Present is the second book in the VanWest series.
To defeat the Universal Council, VanWest is made to confront his dark past. Uncovering Marsâs many secrets and the coming together of Earthâs main opposition groups could prove pivotal in defeating the Councilâs mighty Space Army. However, success is not what it appears, for thereâs a twist that he could not foresee.