Showing titles in First Contact

The Pleasure House of Tarma is famed throughout the galaxy for its well-trained Pleasure Consorts. But beneath the shining surface, dark corruption is lurking. Aurelian Reynard has been disgraced, the stain of scandal upon him, and he is looking to restore his reputation. Kait Pyne is willing to do whatever it takes to uncover the truth of her sister’s murder. Together, will the two of them uncover the secrets of the Pleasure House, or will they fall victim to those who keep its secrets?

Festering masses of worms and flies have taken root in dark corners across Appalachia. In exchange for unwavering loyalty and fresh corpses, these hives offer a few struggling humans salvation. A fresh start. It’s an offer that none refuse. Crane is grateful. Among his hive’s followers, Crane has found a chance to transition, to never speak again, to live a life that won’t destroy him. He even met Levi: a handsome ex-Marine and brutal killer who treats him like a real man, mostly.

The Chahwyn created the Spiders to keep their intra-galactic transportation system, the Quadrail, safe and running smoothly, and contracted ex-security agent Frank Compton to protect its integrity. So far, Compton and his half-human, half-Chahwyn partner, Bayta, have had their hands full keeping this essential link between occupied worlds open and preventing the evil collective intelligence called the Modhri from using it to spread their mind-controlling infection. But now a new threat has boarded, one that troubles even the Modhri.

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.

Denver, Earth. The twenty-fifth century. After a devastating alien invasion, the Terran Democratic Empire is occupied by the Ryqril race. The once-heroic resistance warriors known as the blackcollars now serve as strong-arm security for Denver's criminal elements.

Best-selling science fiction superstars Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle combine their talents with those of Steven Barnes in an extraordinary adventure of humankind’s first outpost in the farthest reaches of space. Light years from Earth, colonists land on a planet they name Avalon. It seems like a paradise—until native creatures savagely attack. It will take every bit of intelligence, courage, and military-style discipline to survive.

The Black Celeste is a ghost story. A once-legendary spaceship collecting dust in a cosmic graveyard known as the Clutch. Only famed pirate Bitter Amandine knows better, and she’ll do anything to never go near it again. No matter the cost. Faven Sythe is crystborn, a member of the near-human species tasked with charting starpaths from station to station. She’s trained to be a navigator her entire life. But when her mentor disappears, leaving behind a mysterious starpath terminating in the Clutch, she is determined to find the truth. And only Amandine has the answers.

Stories of Your Life and Others presents characters who must confront sudden change-the inevitable rise of automatons or the appearance of aliens-while striving to maintain some sense of normalcy. In the amazing and much-lauded title story (the basis for the 2016 movie Arrival), a grieving mother copes with divorce and the death of her daughter by drawing on her knowledge of alien languages and non-linear memory recollection.

Set in 2082, Peter Watts' Blindsight is fast-moving, hard SF that pulls readers into a futuristic world where a mind-bending alien encounter is about to unfold. After the Firefall, all eyes are locked heavenward as a team of specialists aboard the self-piloted spaceship Theseus hurtles outbound to intercept an unknown intelligence.

Jason McKay and Shannon Stark, two young Republic Space Fleet Intelligence officers, are given the leadership of a new special ops unit. The mission? Guard the spoiled daughter of an important senator. Neither thought the mission would be anything more than babysitting....Until the aliens invaded the colony. Implacable, relentless, merciless - the armored creatures will slaughter anyone. Survival will be the least of their challenges, as Jason and Shannon are forced to weigh the lives of the people they lead, and the ones they love, against their duty, honor, and planet.

Following the explosive events seen in season one of Star Trek: Picard, Raffi Musiker finds herself torn between returning to her old life as a Starfleet Intelligence officer or something a little more tame—teaching at the Academy, perhaps. The decision is made for her though when a message from an old contact—a Romulan spy—is received, asking for immediate aid. With the help of Elnor and assistance from Jean-Luc Picard, Raffi decides to take on this critical mission—and quickly learns that past sins never stay buried. Finding the truth will be complicated, and deadly…

On New Year's eve 2022, unknown flying objects appear over Europe and ignite an inferno of violence among themselves. Debris from one of the spacecraft falls on Athens, turning the city center into a smoking crater. The destroyed remnant of the former metropolis is declared a restricted zone by NATO forces and sealed off. Amid the few survivors struggling for food, medicine, and clean water, Nikos takes care of his girlfriend, Maria, only to soon find out that to avert a creeping death, there is only one way out of the hell of Athens—the wreckage of the alien ship.

Eric Yang is 32, a combat veteran of the Saudi War, and a student at Denver University (DU). His goal was to reintegrate back into society. His service freed him from the mistakes of his past. His dedication pushed him to achieve more from life even with his disabilities. While not all scars from war are visible, Eric was given a cybernetic arm that even scientists in 2032 considered futuristic. An isolated semester at DU is disrupted by his doctor's dire warning. The asteroid barreling toward Earth is an alien spacecraft with hostile intent.

Humans made a deal with the Stryxian males: Help us defend Earth, and when the war is over, we’ll send you women to help rebuild your dying species. Now, the war appears to be over and Trinity Bentzer’s number has been called in the lottery. Only, instead of winning a boatload of money, she’s getting some badass winged alien she’s never met. Trin’s not thrilled to be shipped off and matched up, until she meets Raig. Maybe she hit the jackpot, after all.

Daniel Clay fought across the galaxy as a corporate soldier. He left the violence behind for a life of science, raising a family far from the bloodshed of the Corporation. With his wife, Sarah, and son, Michael, he studied the alien Tyr for years, hidden among their complex societies. Their mission should have ended with the arrival of a replacement team. Instead, the Clays’ corporate overlords choose a death sentence: an invasion fleet to conquer the Tyr.

CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson has been loaned out to a CDF platoon tasked with secretly removing an unauthorized colony of humans on an alien world. Colonial Ambassador Abumwe has been ordered to participate in final negotiations with an alien race the Union hopes to make allies. Wilson and Abumwe’s missions are fated to cross - and in doing so, place both missions at risk of failure.

We Only Need the Heads is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division.

Lieutenant Sam Bitka, US Naval Reserve, is getting used to civilian life when he is called back to active duty. Tensions between Earth and the alien Varoki are on the rise, and Sam is assigned as tactical officer aboard the deep space destroyer USS Puebla. Dispatched to the distant world of K'tok to protect human colonists, he wants nothing more than to serve out his active duty time and get back to his civilian life. But when the Varoki launch a crippling surprise attack against the Earth coalition fleet, Sam finds himself suddenly in command of the USS Puebla.

President Maggie Lawson is thrust into an unprecedented crisis when an alien craft crash-lands near her hometown while she gives a local speech. As the Secret Service mobilizes and special forces race to secure the site, Lawson's worst fear comes true—her fifteen-year-old daughter has gone missing. When it becomes clear that her daughter has been abducted by the extraterrestrial visitors for reasons unknown, Lawson calls on Curt Holt, a notorious former Army military intelligence officer known for his ability to interpret and handle unexplained aerial phenomena.

"It started out with a bang and just got better." -Goodreads reviewer Over 1,000 pages of nonstop action! If there's one thing Adam Eckhart knows, it's that humans are trouble. After all, he is one. As captain of the Marathon, a cobbled-together ship crewed by aliens and androids scraping by on odd jobs at the outskirts of settled space, Adam has plenty to worry about without adding his own species to the mix. But when a pair of mortally wounded humans cross his path during a heist gone wrong, he finds himself compelled to save them. Big mistake. Because if there's one more thing Adam knows...

It can't get more bizarre than an ex-convict leading a group of aliens and dragons through the galaxy. Kash is back where he belongs, aboard a spaceship that he never should have encountered. The crew has gone through some changes, to say the least. The deaths of team members. Crash landings. Freeing intelligent pets. Offering passage to massive predators. And lastly, accepting two gorgeous alien women into their ranks. No longer an honorable merchant ship, the Arketa Koreta must adapt to its new owners. The adventure ahead will be riddled with unique challenges that only a time traveling ...