New Space

Twenty-plus sci-fi stories from the lighter side, many of them illustrated. More from the lighter, laughing side than the dark-dungeoned depths; but they’re all here somewhere, from a satisfied smile; or shed a tear. Maybe a “Yes! Get in there”. Or catch your breath at the trials that some have to face. From crackling two-pagers where someone hasn’t quite read the situation right, to sixty-plus sides chronicling what you really have to do if you want to survive on this planet. Tales of here and now, wondering what’s among us; or what awaits us amid the distant futures and far-...

When Una Chin-Riley and Christopher Pike meet at Starfleet Academy after one of his lectures, they immediately become friends. A stellar student, Una is the “poster girl” of her class, and Pike is determined to become a Starfleet captain with his own ship, rhetorically assembling his dream crew. As their friendship evolves, Pike also suspects Una is involved with the Euxhana, a Chionian cultural minority, who are seeking asylum in Federation space, leading to more questions than answers.

Enter Frank: a collective of eight beings from a distant planet who know what we’re going through because they’ve been there, too. Their civilization, once beset by many of the same challenges we face, has now advanced to a point where they can offer an informed and compassionate perspective on our trials, tribulations, and triumphs here on Earth. Speaking to Mike Dooley, one of today’s most celebrated New Thought leaders, with medium Tracy Farquhar serving as their channel, Frank answers our questions.

The Space Barons is the story of a group of billionaire entrepreneurs who are pouring their fortunes into the epic resurrection of the American space program. Nearly a half century after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, these Space Barons—most notably Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, along with Richard Branson and Paul Allen—are using Silicon Valley-style innovation to dramatically lower the cost of space travel and send humans even further than NASA has gone.

When Robert Zubrin published his classic book The Case for Mars a quarter century ago, setting foot on the Red Planet seemed a fantasy. Today, manned exploration is certain, and as Zubrin affirms in The New World on Mars, so too is colonization.

From the New York Times best-selling author of Star Wars: Lost Stars comes a thrilling novel set in the years before the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

PLEASE NOTE: Feel free to read the first two books in the series in any order—they both will work just fine! This is deliberate—both storylines are intertwined, but they do not necessarily impose, which part in the series should be read first. A mysterious malfunction, causing the lander to crash on the Moon's surface. A shadow government organization with tentacles reaching farther than anyone could have predicted. And a secret so profound it will change the world forever. Something terrible is coming... When Ellie Johnson crashed her multi-billion dollar spaceship during its maiden ...

After the capture of Coruscant, the mighty heart of the New Republic, a stunned galaxy fears that nothing can stop the Yuuzhan Vong. Still, that crushing defeat produces one small miracle: Jacen Solo is alive. Yet he can scarcely imagine himself in stranger circumstances.

There is a cult that runs the world. It’s a secret and esoteric society and it covertly controls all governments, media corporations, mass entertainment outlets, and all organized religions. It runs this new world order just as it did the old world order: same masters, different costumes. The New World Order is the Old World Order with a new paint job. It’s a continuation of an old and ongoing conspiracy by an entrenched elite to preserve its power. It’s not just one small family or tribe as many conspiracy theorists have posited over the decades. On the contrary, this cult is open to...

The inside look at how the battle of the space billionaires began and why it matters, Escaping Gravity is former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver’s firsthand account of how a handful of revolutionaries outmaneuvered the system of political patronage and bureaucracy that threatened the space agency. The success of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, and countless other commercial space efforts were preceded by decades of work by a group of people Garver calls “space pirates.”

In the war against the ruthless Yuuzhan Vong, the fall of Coruscant leaves the New Republic divided by internal strife, and on the verge of bowing to conquest. But those who steadfastly refuse to consider surrender - Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, and their children and comrades-in-arms - are determined to seize victory against overwhelming odds.

Leia Organa Solo, estranged from her husband, Han, oversees the evacuation of refugees on planets in the path of the merciless Yuuzhan Vong. Luke Skywalker struggles to hold the fractious Jedi Knights together, even while one of them undertakes a bold but reckless undercover mission. And Han Solo stumbles into the dark heart of a raging battle.

They were humanity's last hope. As the majority of Earth's population uploaded their consciousnesses to embrace digital immortality—free from illness and death in the simulated Metaverse—the Beta Explorers were tasked with expanding their presence throughout the galaxy. They terraformed worlds and created colonies so that humans could live and thrive in physical environments.

Jake Corby saved the world. Now, he's being asked to save the universe! Corby is recovering from his last mission, enjoying life with his new family, when he’s sucked into a parallel universe with nothing but his clothes, his dog, and his eighty-three-year-old grandmother-in-law. On this version of Earth, the dinosaurs didn’t go extinct and the world is ruled by a spacefaring civilization of dinobirds. If Jake wants to return home, he’ll need to not only survive but locate the rulers of Earth so they can send him back. Worse, Corby learns that a universe collision is imminent. Unless ...

It is a perilous time for the New Republic. Just when unity is needed most, mistrust is on the rise. Even the Jedi feel the strain, as rogue elements rebel against Luke's leadership. When alien invaders known as the Yunnan Vong strike without warning, the New Republic is thrown on the defensive. Merciless warriors, the Yunnan Vong glory in torture. Their technology is as strange as it is deadly. Most ominous of all, they are impervious to the Force.

From the ashes of the New Republic, torn to shreds by the savage Yuuzhan Vong forces, the newly formed Galactic Alliance has risen, determined to bring peace to the entire galaxy. But first the Yuuzhan Vong must be contained once and for all. And so Luke Skywalker seeks a world long lost to legend: Zonama Sekot, a sentient planet believed to have repelled an invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong decades ago. Deciphering the enigmatic secrets of Zonama Sekot just might turn the tides of a relentless war.

When Russian Special Forces troops penetrate the security at Area 51, they pull off the biggest defeat of a peacekeeper ship in history. Fourteen men succeed where the Chinese base ship and the Russian navy failed. They manage to down the Guardian, trapping dozens of crewmen in the corridors of the ship. Time is running out for the trapped survivors. The peacekeepers are reeling from the devastating blow that has slaughtered hundreds of their number. Captain Evan Wilison is charged with the task of using the Athens to lead a peacekeeper armada in a strike to retaliate against Moscow. ...

No longer content with the destruction the Yuuzhan Vong have already sown, Warmaster Tsavong Lah has demanded the heads of all the Jedi. The Jedi Knights are in terrible danger, and none more so than the young students at the Jedi academy on Yavin 4. Impatient, and figuring that forgiveness is easier to come by than permission, Anakin Solo takes off for Yavin 4 in his X-wing.

With the enemy in hot pursuit, Jaina Solo is forced to seek haven in the unfriendly Hapes Cluster, where the Jedi are held responsible for a past tragedy - and where the royal family has grim plans for their famous Jedi guest. Even more sinister are the intentions of the Yuuvhan Vong, desperate to capture Jaina for a hideous sacrifice. Grief-stricken and obsessed with revenge, Jaina is blind to these threats and to the overpowering evil dangerously close to consuming her.

Riveting and timely, a look at the research that is transforming our understanding of the cosmos in the quest to discover whether we are alone.