Neal Stephenson is a blazing new force on the sci-fi scene. With the groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, he has "vaulted onto the literary stage." It weaves virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility - in short, it is the gigathriller of the information age.

In the far future, mankind lives safe and secure behind the Chronos Ring - an automatic defense system that encircles the area of space occupied by human beings. The Ring keeps out all of humanity's enemies - in particular, a vicious race of reptilians known as the Parsnaak. On the outer fringe of human-occupied space is the planet Muse, an entire world dedicated and established as a colossal museum - a storehouse of antiquities and relics from the ancient histories of both men and aliens.

Jason Burke was a man hiding from himself in a small cabin high in the American Rocky Mountains when his simple, quiet life was shattered one night by what he first assumed was an aviation mishap. But when he investigates the crash, what he finds will yank him out of his self-imposed exile and thrust him into a world he could have never imagined.

The scope and reality of this final volume in the Bearth Trilogy is happening around you right now in the daily news. The wars, the religious genocide, the economic and political corruption are all real. The story is true. The cataclysms are possible. The places are real. None of the names have been changed, because they are all guilty. Only the characters of the story are created to carry you through the events at the ground level. When you finish this final volume of the trilogy, you will never look at life or death the same again. Are you ready for the change?

Hank is a thug. He knows he's a thug. He has no problem with that realization. In his view the galaxy has given him a gift: a mutation that allows him to withstand great deals of physical trauma. He puts his abilities to the best use possible and that isn't by being a scientist. Besides, the space station Belvaille doesn't need scientists. It is not, generally, a thinking person's locale. It is the remotest habitation in the entire Colmarian Confederation. There is literally no reason to be there.

One thousand years after Earth was destroyed in an unprovoked attack, humanity has emerged victorious from a series of terrible wars to assure its place in the galaxy. But during celebrations on humanity’s new homeworld, the legendary Captain Pantillo of the battle carrier Phoenix is court-martialed then killed, and his deputy, Lieutenant Commander Erik Debogande, the heir to humanity’s most powerful industrial family, is framed for his murder.

Cities all around the world reported strange alien vessels descending. Some saw them as the heralds of a new age; others fired everything they had at them. All were taken as the beams lashed down and drew them into the sky. Dean was left behind, seemingly the last man on Earth. A trail of clues left by his dead wife guides Dean on a perilous journey across America and beyond to learn the truth behind the mysterious ships and save humanity from its doom.

The Earth had four fleets to fight the invading enemy. The first fleet valiantly protected earth, but it wasn’t enough. Three fleets would arrive soon and end the threat...but they never came through the wormhole. One ship escaped the massacre, fleeing deep into space while the rest of Earth’s defenses were destroyed. Only the barrier around the planet keeps the enemy from finishing what they started.

Children are not supposed to rescue their parents, life is supposed to be the other way around. And rescues aren't supposed to be needed on the trip out to the new colony planet Valhalla. Slow, yes. Boring, yes. Dangerous? No, the trip is not supposed to be dangerous, never has been. When thieves attack the transport ship to steal an ancient alien artifact, and young Kaylee and her brother, Manny, are cut off from their parents, they have to stop the thieves from getting what they want.

Ryan Stathis has everything he ever wanted: A family, a nice home, and a career with a government agency designing military aircraft. That is, until one late night at the office ends with him being snatched by an alien spaceship, and he's forced to take command. Thrust into a new universe, Ryan unknowingly holds the key to the one thing standing between Earth, and it’s annihilation. Listen to one man’s journey, as he evades an alien empire's grasp, and searches for a way home.

Moving on from the trauma of combat in Afghanistan, former Green Beret Captain Sam Dale has just begun to settle down in his hometown of Castle Rock, Colorado. Now the owner of several small businesses, he is unaware that his world is about to be turned upside down. The call comes in at 2:30 a.m. The skies outside have opened up, unleashing a torrential rainstorm. Sam’s small towing company is being tasked with the retrieval of some kind of crashed aircraft.

Jan Kulozik was one of Earth's privileged elite. A brilliant young electronics engineer, he enjoyed all the blessings of a twenty-third-century civilization that survived global collapse and conquered the starts, unaware of the millions who slaved or starved to maintain his way of life. Then Jan met Sara, a beautiful agent of the rebel underground dedicated to smashing Earth's rigid caste system. Through her he discovered the truth behind the lies he'd been taught.

When a small group of humans are abducted from Earth, they find themselves thrust into a battle for the fate of the known universe. They are forced to put their trust in a mysterious artificial intelligence who has its own secret agenda. Banding together with beings from across the universe, the band of misfits must overcome an empire bent on the subjugation of Earth. Can the small band of allies overcome an ancient evil while unlocking the very secret of humanities origins?

In a distant future, Trevor "Lex" Alexander was shaping up to be the next great race pilot until a fixed race got him banned from the sport. Reduced to making freelance deliveries, he thinks his life can't get any worse. That's when a package manages to get him mixed up with mobsters, a megacorp, and a mad scientist. Now his life depends on learning what their plans are, and how he can stop them.

Jack Steele is an ex-big-city cop that left the department after losing a friend in the line of duty. Recovering from a tough divorce, he reinvents himself with a love of flying and restructures his life as a pilot for hire. Accompanied by his ever-present German Shepherd, Fritz, Jack will fly almost anything anywhere, shuttling new and used planes for clients all over the world. He had never been a Boy Scout, but he is a man who likes to stay prepared and in control of whatever life throws at him. But nothing could have prepared Jack and his copilot for how life suddenly goes drastically and violently sideways...