Space Science Exploration

Jazz pianist Gus Kitko expected to spend his final moments on Earth playing piano at the greatest goodbye party of all time, and maybe kissing rock star Ardent Violet, before the last of humanity is wiped out forever by the Vanguards—ultra-powerful robots from the dark heart of space, hell-bent on destroying humanity for reasons none can divine. But when the Vanguards arrive, the unthinkable happens—the mecha that should be killing Gus instead saves him. Suddenly, Gus's swan song becomes humanity's encore, as he is chosen to join a small group dedicated to saving humanity.

The Eden Project was a dream. To start the first extra-solar colony... To avoid the mistakes of our past... To start anew. Three generations, born and raised on a starship hurtling through space. To never know an open sky... To never feel the wind on their face... To never witness the sun rise or set. It is up to the advance team to set foot on each of these worlds, conduct their surveys, and send their findings back to the colony ship. So many questions... So little time... Such an enormous responsibility.

Are we alone in the universe? It's a fundamental question for Earth-dwelling humankind. Are there other worlds like ours, out there somewhere? In Hidden in the Heavens, Jason Steffen, a former scientist on NASA's Kepler mission, describes how that mission searched for planets orbiting Sun-like stars—especially Earth-like planets circulating in Earth-like orbits.

Traveling faster than light, the transport ship Redundancy is cut off from communication as effectively as an ancient ocean liner. The isolation suits crew member Ace Vance just fine—she’s got nowhere else to be. But when a wealthy passenger turns up dead during a routine voyage, Ace will have to connect with the passengers and crew to uncover the truth. Tragedy will strike again—it’s only a matter of time.

Misanthropic psychologist Dr. Grace Park is placed on the Deucalion, a survey ship headed to an icy planet in an unexplored galaxy. Her purpose is to observe the thirteen human crew members aboard the ship - all specialists in their own fields - as they assess the colonization potential of the planet, Eos. But frictions develop as Park befriends the androids of the ship, preferring their company over the baffling complexity of humans, while the rest of the crew treats them with suspicion and even outright hostility.

In her new novella, Sunday Times best-selling author Becky Chambers imagines a future in which, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the solar system instead transform themselves. Adriane is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does.

Simon is the best delivery boy that Mr Edwards’s restaurant has ever had. He’s on time every time, and he’s gotten nothing but good reviews. But he needs more money. His mother’s medical treatment won’t pay for itself, and his father is already working three jobs to try to make ends meet. But it might just be his lucky day: Mr. Edwards has another job for him. It’s more delivery work, but not the usual kind. You might even say that it’s out of this world. Oh well. Beggars can’t be choosers, and the pay is fantastic.

The second instalment in James White’s acclaimed Sector General series, where human and alien medicine meet in a massive deep-space hospital station on the Galactic Rim. Sector General is a place where all kinds of patients and medics from all worlds are welcome. But for the first time, the hospital is threatened by powerful creatures who cause utter havoc.

During her pursuit of the human traitors known as Nemesis, Mage-Captain Roslyn Chambers ventured deep into alien stars. She destroyed her enemy at the final moment but saw firsthand the might of the alien empire Nemesis called the Reejit. The lost world Chimera has hidden between human and alien space for generations. Roslyn must protect the planet from this waking threat, but both the human and alien colonists see her as a harbinger of nightmares.

A spaceship crash survivor, Addie Rye is lucky to be alive. But being stuck on a primitive planet isn’t exactly the epitome of luck. With no way home, Addie has no choice but learn how to use stone tools and catch her dinner before cooking it, all while attempting to befriend a tribe of wild nomads who inhabit this planet.

One minute, Rachel is taking a break from babysitting. The next, she's escaping the Earth on a pedal-powered interplanetary bus. It could happen to anybody. It could. Generally it doesn't, but it could. Because what Rachel soon learns is that Earth is infected with Math, which is why we look at our solar system and see freezing balls of ice, gas, and rock whirling lifelessly through a hostile void. Everyone else sees air pirates sailing the Seven Skies of Saturn, the endless exciting fight scenes of Mars, the sullen ghosts of Pluto, and much more.

The Galactic Empire has prospered for 12,000 years. Nobody suspects that the heart of the thriving Empire is rotten, until psychohistorian Hari Seldon uses his new science to foresee its terrible fate. Exiled to the desolate planet Terminus, Seldon establishes a colony of the greatest minds in the Empire, a Foundation which holds the key to changing the fate of the galaxy.

Damien Montgomery, Hand of the Mage-King of Mars, has dealt with pirates, conspiracies, terrorists, and space battles in the service of his King. A warrior-judge charged to maintain peace across the stars of the Protectorate, he is well overdue for a vacation. Most people's idea of a vacation isn't a murder investigation, but the Hands aren't most people. A quiet task on an isolated research base seems the perfect mission to Damien and his King alike—until the discoveries of that remote archeology site bring fire and death down on Damien and the scientists alike!

The urge to explore and discover is a natural and universal one, and the edge of the unknown is expanded with each passing year as scientific advancements inch us closer and closer to the outer reaches of our solar system and the galaxies beyond them. Generations of writers have explored these new frontiers and the endless possibilities they present in great detail. The Final Frontier delivers stories from across this literary spectrum, a reminder that the universe is far large and brimming with possibilities than we could ever imagine, as hard as we may try.

Lunar prospecting is the next big thing, and companies are raking in the bucks. Nick has a plan to get a piece of the action—but he’ll first have to overcome the agonizing difficulties of surviving up here. To do that, he must work with Joe Massad, who nearly killed Nick two years ago. Joe seems to have put aside his ambitions to conquer the moon and Earth, but has he really changed?

After discovering the origins of the bugs, Dax comes up with a plan on how to wipe them out in mass. To do this, they must go to the one planet in the galaxy that is known to be home to the insectoid-consuming fungus, Earth. The space sector Earth called home was once believed to be quarantined because of the species that lived there. On their way to pay a visit to one of Dax's colleagues he, Mark, and Kane will find out the hard way humanity wasn't what the rest of the galaxy was trying to avoid.

N. K. Jemisin is one of the most powerful and acclaimed speculative fiction authors of our time. In the first collection of her evocative short fiction, Jemisin equally challenges and delights listeners with thought-provoking narratives of destruction, rebirth, and redemption.

Claim an inheritance. It's a simple goal, right? Nothing is simple when Cole returns to Centauri, the seat of Coleson Interstellar Engineering. Challenges at every turn, with no idea who he can trust. And then...the Solar Republic gets involved. Will Cole find the people working against him in time? Will they succeed in ending the Coleson line once and for all?

Caiden's planet is destroyed. His family gone. And, his only hope for survival is a crew of misfit aliens and a mysterious ship that seems to have a soul and a universe of its own. Together they will show him that the universe is much bigger, much more advanced, and much more mysterious than Caiden had ever imagined. But the universe hides dangers as well, and soon Caiden has his own plans.

Lee had expertise in different sciences and 24th-century tech due to learning machines that could transfer an expert's knowledge. He had the latest high-tech weapons. He had acquired the latest protective equipment. He was sixteen and got his great-grandfather's A.I., Anna, to find him a planet that had magic. His A.I. hacked a portal to take him there. He might have bitten off more than he could chew.