Space Opera First Contact

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. The first human interstellar flight. A terrorist organization working against all sanity. And a terrifying discovery to be made just outside the Solar system. Humanity is working tirelessly at getting ready to travel to the stars and spread its eggs around several cosmic baskets. Julius Cousteau, a long-thought-dead former captain of a failed ...

For years, the Zodarks plotted their revenge against the Republic. Spies infiltrated their colonies and eventually found their seat of power—Earth, located in a previously unknown system. A plan was hatched, a force made ready. The Zodarks would unveil a superweapon that was sure to tip the balance of power back in their favor. Then the Zodarks learned of Murphy's Law—and their plans were never the same.

The Conclave is a confederation of 400 alien races - many of whom would like to see the Colonial Union - and the humans inside of it - blasted to extinction. To avoid a conflict that neither side can afford, Conclave leader General Tarsem Gau appoints Hafte Sorvalh to resolve an emerging diplomatic crisis with the humans, before the only acceptable solution is war. "The Back Channel" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

It is 2246, 10 years prior to the Battle at the Binary Stars, and an aggressive contagion is ravaging the food supplies of the remote Federation colony Tarsus IV and the 8,000 people who call it home. Distress signals have been sent, but any meaningful assistance is weeks away. Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Lorca and a small team assigned to a Starfleet monitoring outpost are caught up in the escalating crisis, and bear witness as the colony's governor, Adrian Kodos, employs an unimaginable solution in order to prevent mass starvation.

Following the explosive events of Star Trek: Nemesis, the Romulan Star Empire is in disarray, and Ambassador Spock attempts to render aid by launching a last-ditch effort to reunify the Romulans with their distant forebearers, the Vulcans. But when Spock is publicly assassinated at a Romulan peace rally, Starfleet and the Federation are unable to search for the criminals responsible without triggering an intergalactic war.

In the far reaches of the galaxy, a machine of war bursts into existence in a place and time it was never meant to be. On a mission of retribution for the destruction of his planet, its half-mad captain seeks the death of every intelligent being, and the annihilation of every civilized world. Kirk and Spock, two completely different and unyielding personalities must find a way to lead the only crew, aboard the only ship, that can stop him.

Keith Stoner lay frozen in an alien spacecraft for 15 long years. During that time he came to be something more than just an astronaut, or just a man. Stoner became partly alien himself, merged with an alien intelligence embodied in the nanotechnology that lived inside his body.

The BSR crew have worked hard, getting the Slow Boatmen settled. They deserve a little time off at home in the Holler. Just kicking back, watching the world go by. Their shepherd has other ideas, of course.

Archaeologist Eliana Fisk is ripped from Earth while the whole world watches. She lands on a strange new world inhabited by a lost tribe of ancient Mayans. Meeting them, getting firsthand exposure to age-old customs and rituals...it seems like an archaeologist’s dream. But what if their rituals have a darker meaning? What if the god these people pray to is no god at all? And how in the world will she ever get back home?

Ambassador Spock travels back in time to subtly warn Earth's inhabitants of impending doom while calling into question humanity's priorities. However, before the truth is told, the all-powerful being, Q, appears and reminds Spock that he is prohibited from interfering in Earth's history. Besides, Q doesn't see mankind as something worth saving.

The first major alien offensive against Earth has been blunted, winning humanity time to deploy new weapons and prepare new tactics as Earth's space navies prepare to take the offensive. But the enigmatic aliens have plans of their own - a full-scale attack on Earth that will either win the war in a single stroke or lose it. The stakes have never been so high. The fate of humanity itself is in the balance.

Bren Cameron, acting as the representative of the atevi's political leader, Tabini-aiji, as well as translator between humans and atevi, has undertaken a mission to the human enclave of Mospheira. Both his presence on the island and his absence from the continent have stirred old enemies to realize new opportunities. Old hatreds. Old grudges. Old ambitions. The situation has strengthened the determination of power-seekers on both sides of the strait. Bren knows most of them very well, but not all of them well enough.

Kate Richmond, former army ranger and ISS operative, has seen a lot in her life. Sabotage, espionage, cyber theft, and assassination missions have all played their parts in her journey to becoming a viper. Nothing surprises her much any more, not even a full scale incursion of an alien race by the Merkiaari!

Deathworld: a planet that has evolved to kill all humans. Jason dinAlt, a so-so psionic gambler, is made an offer he can’t refuse - go to Deathworld and tame it. So begins Harry Harrison’s classic science-fiction tale of alien adventure; and Jason discovers that the reason behind Deathworld’s aggression is as shocking as the violence on the surface.

"Resistance is futile." The greatest threat the Federation has ever faced is the half organic, half mechanical Borg. Now more dangerous than ever, the Borg threatens the Federation's past, present, and future. Read by Gates McFadden, "Beverly Crusher" on Star Trek, The Next Generation!

Evie Shao and her sister, Kass, aren’t on speaking terms. Fifteen years ago on a family camping trip, their father and brother vanished. Their dad turned up days later, dehydrated and confused—and convinced he'd been abducted by aliens. Their brother, Jakob, remained missing. The women dealt with it very differently. Kass, suspecting her college-dropout twin simply ran off, became the rock of the family. Evie traded academics to pursue alien conspiracy theories, always looking for Jakob.

Captain Sophia Coloma of the Clarke has a simple task: Ferry around representatives from Earth in an aging spaceship that the Colonial Union hopes to sell to them. But nothing is as simple as it seems, and Coloma discovers the ship she’s showing off holds suprises of its own...and it’s not the only one with secrets. "Tales from the Clarke" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

Fergus is back on Earth at last, trying to figure out how to live a normal life. However, it seems the universe has other plans for him. When his cousin sends him off to help out a friend, Fergus accidently stumbles across a piece of an ancient alien artifact that some very powerful people seem to think means the entire solar system is in danger. And since he’s the one who found it, they’re certain it’s also his problem to deal with.

The heart-stopping third episode in the Eden Paradox series. After 18 years, the quarantine that has protected humanity’s survivors on the planet Esperia is about to end. Mankind won't stand a chance without external help. Yet in the middle of a galactic war, who is concerned about one small planet when worlds fall every day?

When Ben Saito goes searching for his father and the fate of the powerful starship sent on a mission to secure peace with Earth's colonies, he finds more questions than answers. It's clear that at least some of the starship and her crew survived, but where have they gone?