Leaving Earth, the crew of the spaceship Discipline were prepared for a routine assignment. Dispatched by the all-powerful State on a mission of interstellar exploration and colonization, Discipline was aided—and secretly spied upon—by Sharls Davis Kendy, an emotionless computer intelligence programmed to monitor the loyalty and obedience of the crew. What they weren't prepared for, however, was the Smoke Ring—an immense, gaseous

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A wandering black hole is discovered to be an alien of vast intelligence.

In the third entry in bestselling author Mel Odom's Makaum War series, Master Sergeant Frank Sage struggles to defend against the Phrenorian threat as battle lines will be redrawn-and blood will spill... One step forward, two steps back sums up Frank Sage's day-to-day on Makaum. No sooner does he get the drug cartels under control than a major political assassination stirs civil unrest to a fever pitch. Makaumans never wanted to choose sides in...

Frederik Pohl, the bestselling author of The Boy Who Would Live Forever, is famous for his novels, but first and foremost, he is a master of the science fiction short story. For more than fifty years he has been writing incisive, entertaining SF stories, several hundred in all. Even while writing his bestselling triple-crown (Hugo, Nebula, Campbell Award) novel Gateway and the other Heechee Saga novels, he has always written short fiction. Now,...

Two decades after the devastating Elemental War, which nearly destroyed the cosmos, the new Confederation restored peace and profitable commerce among the peoples and worlds of the Spiral Arm. The ambitious, innovative Roamers went back to their traditional business of harvesting the vital stardrive fuel ekti from the clouds of gas giant planets, and the telepathic green priests of Theroc provided instantaneous galaxy-wide communication via their...

Eighteen years ago, the prehistoric past collided with the present as time itself underwent a tremendous disruption, transporting huge swaths of the Cretaceous period into the twentieth century. Neighborhoods, towns, and cities were replaced by dense primeval jungles and modern humanity suddenly found itself sharing the world with fierce dinosaurs. In the end, desperate measures were taken to halt the disruptions and the crisis appeared to be over. Until...

Tuck Durante, a shipraider, and Lana Gray, a curator, must work together to try to rescue a space capsule hijacked by nightmarish creatures who kill with a scream.

2560. Humanity finds its back against the wall after the United Nations Space Command flagship Infinity dropped out of slipspace into a devastating ambush launched by the Banished. As this fierce enemy alliance seeks to claim a powerful weapon hidden within the ancient Forerunner ringworld known as Zeta Halo, the surviving UNSC forces now find themselves compromised and its leadership out of reach-with remaining personnel forced to abandon ship and...

Molly Patel was only seven years old when the alien alliance known as the Covenant destroyed her homeworld and killed her family. As one of the few to escape the glassing of Paris IV, and despite the United Nations Space Command winning the war on behalf of humanity, Molly never forgot how much she had lost. Nine years later, when her adoptive parents--research scientists specializing in ancient Forerunner technology--are called to the mysterious...

The house always wins. Unless it falls down...When Bubbles acts as a witness in a high-profile murder case she's warned to stay low. Taking on a gambling gangster and his henchmen wasn't in the cards. But then he went and made it personal...