Hard Contact

Thousands of years ago, Earth’s terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life - but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity’s great empire fell, and the program’s decisions were lost to time. Aeons later, humanity and its new spider allies detected fragmentary radio signals between the stars. They dispatched an exploration vessel, hoping to find cousins from old Earth. But those ancient terraformers woke something on Nod better left undisturbed. And it’s been waiting for them.

A novella set in the hard-scrabble world of James S. A. Corey's NYT best-selling Expanse series, Strange Dogs follows a family of colonists on Laconia where a new generation of humanity struggles with the profound changes that come with making a home on an alien world. Like many before them, Cara and her family ventured through the gates as scientists and researchers, driven to carve out a new life and uncover the endless possibilities of the unexplored alien worlds now within reach.

Los Angeles lies in ruins. While the city is sealed off to contain an unknown contamination, the survivors battle strange anomalies under the toxic dust cloud. Among the survivors are Lee and Branson. The astronaut must find a way out in order not to miss his flight to Cassandra, and the captain is faced with a terrible truth that he can no longer deny.

The gods have landed, and the world will never be the same. Toby Merckx and Charles Hudson were once part of the most far-reaching expedition in history, but the alien organism transformed them into something not quite human. Both possess terrifying new powers, and they will battle it out to see who rules the world. As the remnants of humanity turns against each other, nations start to fall. In this chaotic maelstrom, one individual holds the key to victory: Cassie Voges. But which side will she choose?

Herself a biologist, Julie E. Czerneda has earned a reputation in science fiction circles for her ability to create beautifully crafted, imaginative, yet believably realized alien races. In Survival, the first novel in her new series, Species Imperative, she draws upon this talent to build races, characters, and a universe which will draw listeners into a magnificent tale of interstellar intrigue, as an Earth scientist is caught up in a terrifying interspecies conflict.

A quite different science fiction saga with a very special heroine After a starship accident, eleven-year-old Tanit is lost among the stars, fifteen thousand light-years from home. Although she is a genius, she cannot repair the ship, and her only hope is to find an alien civilization that could help her out. For the first time in history, humans will meet aliens, but the girl will soon discover that the aliens don't really care about humans, and much less about her troubles. And Tanit will then face a real problem: It's called survival. Second episode of the Spanish science fiction series ...

In 2018, Canadian archaeologist Ron Jackson makes a mind-boggling discovery in Antarctica - right before disappearing without a trace, leaving behind only his controversial theory that humans have lived on Earth far, far longer than we think they have. Decades later, in 2042, when Jackson's wife dies under mysterious circumstances, an unlikely pair of investigators, Agatha Devenworth and Pano Hofer, begin investigating whether her death might be connected to Jackson's disappearance.

For years, Filio Amorosa has had one goal, and only one goal: getting back to Mars. All that matters is finding out what happened on her mission there, and why she can’t remember any of it. But when she finally discovers the truth, it blows her whole world apart. Meanwhile, on Earth, Agatha Devenworth and Pano Hofer have a new mission: Travel from the Human Foundation’s secret underground base to New York to uncover what the enemy is plotting.

After thousands of years searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. There are two human groups: the Qeng Ho, a culture of free traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds. The group that opens trade with the aliens will reap unimaginable riches.

Living among aliens. Humans are lightyears away. Will a field agent recruit find her self-confidence? Belle Machado is all alone. The young aspiring field agent lives among non-human strangers, receiving training from the best minds of the Quynh Federation. But the diligent woman’s aspirations are threatened when she unwittingly causes civil strife between her host faction and an extremist faction. Cutoff from friends and family by an uncooperative human government, Belle fears ighakan society is unraveling around her. But discovering her self-worth, she fears the chaos will force her to ...

On a warm March night in 2083, Judy Wallach-Stevens wakes to a warning of unknown pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay. She heads out to check what she expects to be a false alarm—and stumbles upon the first alien visitors to Earth. These aliens have crossed the galaxy to save humanity, convinced that the people of Earth must leave their ecologically-ravaged planet behind and join them among the stars. And if humanity doesn't agree, they may need to be saved by force. But the watershed networks that rose up to save the planet from corporate devastation aren't ready to give up on Earth.

Frederik Pohl was on a streak when this Hugo Award-finalist novel was published in 1980. Now back in print after an absence of nearly a decade, this unique science fiction novel is as fresh and entertaining as ever. The story begins when the hero of Gateway finances an expedition to a distant alien spaceship that may end famine forever. On the ship, the explorers find a human boy, and evidence that reveals a powerful alien civilization is thriving on a transport ship headed right for Earth....

Earth failed. In a desperate bid to escape, the spaceship Enkidu and its captain, Heorest Holt, carried its precious human cargo to a potential new paradise. Generations later, this fragile colony has managed to survive, eking out a hardy existence. Yet life is tough, and much technological knowledge has been lost. Then strangers appear. They possess unparalleled knowledge and thrilling technology–and they've arrived from another world to help humanity’s colonies. But not all is as it seems, and the price of the strangers' help may be the colony itself.

The Ultimate Science Fiction Mega Collection contains 24 of the greatest science-fiction works ever written.

From bestselling author Saxon Andrew comes Defending Eden. Humans were forced for the second time to flee their planet due to an imminent attack from an aggressive civilization. They decided the only way to avoid fleeing again was to find a planet where they could hide and not be found. They chose a world without oceans covered in forests with giant trees; they named it Eden because of the abundance of life and biodiversity. The climate above the trees was hot year-round and the predators that inhabited Eden were out of a horrific nightmare. Giant meat-eating carnivores, pack hunting ...

In John Scalzi's re-imagining of H. Beam Piper's 1962 sci-fi classic Little Fuzzy, written with the full cooperation of the Piper Estate, Jack Holloway works alone for reasons he doesnt care to talk about. Hundreds of miles from ZaraCorps headquarters on planet, 178 light-years from the corporations headquarters on Earth, Jack is content as an independent contractor, prospecting and surveying at his own pace. As for his past, thats not up for discussion.

The planet of Hope Nation has always loomed large in Nicholas Seafort's life. It was there that he built a name for himself, saving the planet from civil war and from the insatiable, fishlike aliens. But not everyone in that colony appreciated Seafort's efforts. Randy Carr, son of Seafort's old friend, Derek Carr, blames him for his father's death and wants Seafort to pay for this bitter loss. Trouble brews for Seafort on Earth and on Hope Nation.

At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence.

In the year 2031, a robot probe detects traces of biological activity on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. This sensational discovery shows that there is indeed evidence of extraterrestrial life. Fifteen years later, a hurriedly built spacecraft sets out on the long journey to the ringed planet and its moon. The international crew is not just facing a difficult twenty-seven months: if the spacecraft manages to make it to Enceladus without incident it must use a drillship to penetrate the kilometer-thick sheet of ice that entombs the moon.

It is the year 12,020 GE and Emperor Cleon I sits uneasily on the Imperial throne of Trantor. Here in the great multidomed capital of the Galactic Empire, 40 billion people have created a civilization of unimaginable technological and cultural complexity. Yet Cleon knows there are those who would see him fall - those whom he would destroy if only he could read the future.