Includes The Amplified, The Dissenters, and The Restrainers.

    A galactic empire of a quarter of a million worlds stumbles across the Earth. Their philosophy on life is totally unexpected. With the help of intelligent automatons, they've turned a reviled political system into a utopia for the masses, but are they a force for good or evil? A Daragnen university graduate, Yol Rummy Blin Breganin, discovers that Earth failed in its attempt to join the Federation, and, for some unknown reason, members are forever banned from visiting or contacting the planet. Rummy had never heard of a whole world being outlawed. Perhaps it would be sensible to leave well enough alone but no, he decides to investigate… FEDERATION is the first in a series of near-future, hard science-fiction novels by Tony Harmsworth, the First Contact specialist. Immerse yourself in humankind’s cultural and economic dilemma by buying FEDERATION today.

    This volume assembles 2 novels and 4 shorter works -- almost 500 pages of classic fiction -- by 3-time Hugo Award-winner Clifford D. Simak. Included are:TIME QUARRY [novel]EMPIRE [novel]THE STREET THAT WASN'T THERE [short story]THE WORLD THAT COULDN'T BE [novelet]HELLHOUNDS OF THE COSMOS [short story]PROJECT MASTODON [short story]If you enjoy this book, search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the more than 100 other entries in the series, covering science fiction, modern authors, mysteries, westerns, classics, adventure stories, and much, much more! (Sort by publication date to see the most recent entries.)

    She can never go to school, make friends, or get the eye implants that will mark her as a true member of Eden. Her kaleidoscope eyes will give her away to the ruthless Center government.Outside of Eden, Earth is poisoned and dead. All animals and most plants have been destroyed by a man-made catastrophe. Long ago, the brilliant scientist Aaron Al-Baz saved a pocket of civilization by designing the EcoPanopticon, a massive computer program that hijacked all global technology and put it to use preserving the last vestiges of mankind. Humans will wait for thousands of years in Eden until the EcoPan heals the world.As an illegal second child, Rowan has been hidden away in her family’s compound for sixteen years. Now, restless and desperate to see the world, she recklessly escapes for what she swears will be only one night of adventure. Though she finds an exotic world, and even a friend, the night leads to tragedy. Soon Rowan becomes a renegade on the run.

    Alone on her island, she has exiled herself to a life of tending watery graves as penance for a long-ago mistake that still haunts her. Meanwhile, North works as a circus performer with the Excalibur, a floating troupe of acrobats, clowns, dancers, and trainers who sail from one archipelago to the next, entertaining in exchange for sustenance. In a world divided between those inhabiting the mainland ("landlockers") and those who float on the sea ("damplings"), loneliness has become a way of life for North and Callanish, until a sudden storm offshore brings change to both their lives - offering them a new understanding of the world they live in and the consequences of the past, while restoring hope in an unexpected future. Inspired in part by Scottish myths and fairytales, The Gracekeepers tells a modern story of an irreparably changed world: one that harbors the same isolation and sadness, but also joys and marvels of our own age.

    Zahra knew every detail of the plan. House of Wisdom, a massive exploration vessel, had been abandoned by the government of Earth a decade earlier, when a deadly virus broke out and killed everyone on board in a matter of hours. But now it could belong to her people if they were bold enough to take it. All they needed to do was kidnap Jaswinder Bhattacharya—the sole survivor of the tragedy, and the last person whose genetic signature would allow entry to the spaceship. But what Zahra and her crew could not know was what waited for them on the ship—a terrifying secret buried by the government. A threat to all of humanity that lay sleeping alongside the orbiting dead. And then they woke it up.

    103 pages of summaries and analysis on Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.This comprehensive study guide includes the following sections written by BookRags.com: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, and Topics for Discussion.

     After the unfortunate events that took place in Britain, Jacob Hunter is no longer certain of many things, but this ill-fated truth is one he understands implicitly. Having spent months battling his addiction to the all-powerful blue orb, a device capable of traveling through time but equally adept at breaking a man’s mind, Jacob has finally succumbed to it. Once aided by loyal companions and the woman he loves, Jacob has abandoned everyone he has ever trusted, his mind warped by the orb’s influence. However, recently given new clues concerning the orb’s potential, Jacob departs for Rome, where he now knows a second orb lay hidden, waiting to be reunited with the orb he already possesses. Accompanied only by Rome’s manipulative empress, Agrippina the Younger, the pair journey to Rome where they hope to discover the secret to the orb’s power, but a destructive truth lies behind what they seek, one he may not be fully prepared to combat… But Jacob is not the only one about to embark on a daring quest. Having been abandoned and left without direction in the hinterlands of ancient Britain, Jacob’s sister, Diana, must find it in herself to rally Jacob’s jilted friends and corral an enraged Helena, the woman he loves, who carries her own mysterious secret after her life was miraculously saved at the brink of death. Unprepared for the responsibility suddenly thrust on her by Jacob's disappearance, Diana understands that she and her friends must find him before it's too late. Clouded and perverted though his mind may be, she knows her brother all too well. Jacob, tormented and driven beyond rationality, is prepared to sacrifice everything to find the lost orb. Including his life...

    She makes her meager living faking salvage legends and selling them to the highest bidder, but this time she might have stumbled on something real–the story of the Harrow, a famous warship, capable of untold destruction.Nilah Brio is the top driver in the Pan Galactic Racing Federation and the darling of the racing world–until she witnesses the murder of a fellow racer. Framed for the murder and on the hunt to clear her name, Nilah only has one lead: the killer also hunts a woman named Boots.On the wrong side of the law, the two women board a smuggler’s ship that will take them on a quest for fame, for riches, and for justice.

    New to being a Super Hero, new to being a real friend and stepdaughter (to one of the founding Avengers, no less), new to running her own lab, and new to being her own person, far, far away from the clutches of the Red Room-the infamous brainwashing/assassin-training facility. She's adjusting well to all of this newness, channeling her energy into being a good friend, a good scientist, and a good Super Hero. It's taking a toll, though, and Nadia's finding that there are never quite enough hours in a day. So, when she's gifted a virtual assistant powered by the most cutting-edge A.I. technology that the world has to offer, Nadia jumps at the opportunity to "do less, experience more"-just like the advertisements say.The device works-really works. Nadia has more time to pursue her passion projects and to focus on new discoveries. But it's never quite that simple, and not everything is as it seems. This thrilling adventure finds Nadia confronting her past as she tries to shape her future, and learning that sometimes the best way to effect big change is to think small-maybe even super small, Unstoppable Wasp-style. She'll need the help of her genius G.I.R.L. (Genius In action Research Labs) squad and found family to save herself and (not to be too dramatic) the entire world as we know it. Along the way, Nadia discovers that when she teams up with the people who love her the most, they're totally Unstoppable. Just another day in the life of your way, way above average teenage Super Hero.

    Now they face extinction.For three hundred years, arks have carried the last remnants of humanity through dark space. The ships are old, failing, and every colonist must do their duty to ensure the fleet's survival.Maeve is a metalworker, toiling in the blistering sublevels of the London. She's lost friends and family to the hazardous work conditions and fears every job she's assigned could be her last. All she wants is a little control over her life, but the oppressive sublevel enforcers ensure that’s not an option.Now, after decades of traveling, the ships have finally reached their destination: Soren, a toxic planet that may have the resources they desperately need. But mining a planet comes at a price, and Maeve and the other workers will be expected to pay it with their lives.If a better world awaits, Maeve's sure to be dead long before the fleet finds it… unless she finds a way to control her destiny and change it.

     With human colonies on 45 worlds and space stations in over a hundred different systems, serving with the elite Force Recon branch of the Extra Solar Defense Force is the most prestigious career anyone could hope for. Warfare is almost exclusively the domain of remotely operated drones, but when things go wrong, in space or on a colony world, the Off World Recon gets the call and they always come prepared. Dean is a young man with plenty of prospects ahead of him, but when he gets selected for the most coveted job in the world, he jumps at the chance. Little does he know the rigors of training to become an elite Force Recon specialist or the dangers waiting for him in off-world tours of duty that sometimes last for years on end, but it’s always been his dream to charge into the unknown with a band of brothers, facing any threat to humanity’s expansion across the galaxy and etching his name into the annals of history. The only question is does he have what it takes to stand between the threats of the galaxy and the rest of the human race? We Are the Wolf is the first book in an exciting new military space opera that will have you riveted from the very first page. Toby Neighbors reimagines what service in a militarized space force would look like and takes his readers on a roller coaster ride that introduces them to a whole new world of adventure. From training across the globe to missions in outer space, We Are the Wolf will capture your imagination and have you cheering for more.

    Computer pioneer Alan Turing and the Beat author William Burroughs connect in Tangier and begin a love affair. The novel fuses SF themes with beatnik styles and attitudes, switching between Turing's and Burroughs's points of view.Turing and Burroughs find a way to shapeshift into telepathic slugs, and society's reaction serves as a symbol of the 1950s horror of gays, artists, intellectuals and political outsiders.As our heroes flee the feds, the story becomes a road novel. In traditional 1950s SF style, they head for a nuclear test site in Los Alamos, New Mexico. En route, Turing and Burroughs visit Mexico City and have a heavy encounter with Burroughs's murdered wife.The story comes to a head with a thermonuclear blast and a final transcendence.

    The prototype device—real name IPD400—has powers of surveillance that governments and terrorist organisations would kill for. They might yet.James Palatine, a trained killer with a surplus of conscience, invented the device and is the only person who can operate it. He’s determined to retrieve it, and so is Natalya Kocharian—the arms dealer who ‘inadvertently’ sold the prototype to a rogue dealer. But the current owner, holed up in the scorching void of the Western Sahara, won’t give in without a fight. Meanwhile MI6, fearing for their own reputation, will do anything to beat Palatine to the prize.As the hunt for Little Sister goes from Whitehall errand to deadly international arms race, global security hangs in the balance. Knowledge is power, after all—and no secret is safe from Little Sister. With only Natalya on his side, can Palatine simultaneously take on his enemies, his demons and the dangerous power of his own invention?

    He doesn't know by whom, where or why. He doesn't know his parents. All he wants is a quiet life and a family experience. The fates conspire against him.Mark OneMark Midway is adopted by two scientists and is reared in a genetic research laboratory. Nine men, ex-military, are on a mission to destroy the laboratory and capture Mark. They are supported by four rogue CIA agents, who have commandeered a test drone and a missile at a Marine base. The team attacks the genetics laboratory complex before dawn, during a raging blizzard. Within hours, seven of the men are dead, one is severely wounded and one barely escapes. Mark also destroyed the drone with its missile. The next morning the four rogue agents are found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, their killer unknown.Mark flees the laboratory complex, seeking safety and somewhere he can call home. The FBI is on his case and a mysterious organization offers him its assistance. Unknown killers are chasing him and he needs to protect himself and his friends. He needs to surviveMark TwoWe continue the story commenced in Mark One, with a young genetically engineered Mark Midway, FBI Special Agent MayAnn Freewell, and the mysterious Archimedes Schmidt who reports directly to the President. Mark—whose only desire is to be normal––shoots and kills two would-be kidnappers and discovers his search for peace again will elude him. Mark needs to survive. All he wants is a normal life.Schmidt works with FBI Special Agent Freewell to investigate a secret organization—Cerberus––which is infiltrating the FBI, the US Army, and other government departments with genetically engineered humans. Schmidt attempts to take control of Cerberus and discovers his personal relationships are not as reliable as he thought.Mark TwoSchmidt works with FBI Special Agent Freewell to investigate a secret organization—Cerberus––which is infiltrating the FBI, the US Army, and other government departments with genetically engineered soldiers. As Schmidt attempts to take control of Cerberus, he discovers his personal relationships are not as reliable as he thought.Mark ThreeA young woman escapes from a luxury yacht under attack by Chinese pirates in the Mediterranean. American law enforcement agencies collude and conspire to bring about an end to Cerberus, uncaring who gets in their way. Mark Midway faces deadly assaults by unknown enemies. A military helicopter is brought down over Washington by a Russian missile and General Archimedes Schmidt is in critical condition.Mark meets his sister and travels to London to rescue three more genetically engineered children. He finds romance, but he and his companions are under attack in both the US and England. Mark knows only one response - fight back.Mark FourMark Midway returns to America to re-build his home, which was destroyed by a gang of mercenaries. Police collude to effect his kidnap on his way back to Boston. His enemies include terrorists, a rogue NSA senior officer, a retired general, and a wealthy businessman; the latter wants control of all the Cerberus and LifeLong genetic engineering intellectual property. Cerberus teams in the US and UK rally to rescue Mark, but first they need to discover his whereabouts. General Schmidt and the NSA officer are enemies.