From here the story spans centuries of ignorance, violence, and barbarism, viewing through a sharp, satirical eye the relentless progression of a human race damned by its inherent humanness to recelebrate its grand foibles and repeat its grievous mistakes.

    Then the enemies are forced to become allies when everyone becomes lost in an unfamiliar region of the galaxy and must fight their way back through primative planets and against alien fleets. As always with Smith, romance and action are equally mixed. The Seaton is forced back into action to stop a menace that threatens every civilized planet in the galaxy, but to do it he must create the greatest starship ever conceived. Finally read Triplanetary, the story that helped launch the Lensmen series. A brainy man and heroic woman fight against ruthless space pirates for life and love.

    To find out more, read this book (better still, buy it, then read it) – or contact Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. ‘A thumping good detective-ghost-horror-whodunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy epic.’ The author

    with a peculiar talent.After years of destitution, Adam Eden's life is finally on the up. But, whilst out celebrating his recent good fortune, Adam unwittingly chooses death over embarrassment.Awaking in a future of leisure, luxury, and immortality, Adam suffers serious shrinkage and is branded an 'undesirable'. Shunned by family and neighbours for his first-life sins, can he find respect and redemption in this tightly controlled world? Facing a grim eternity, Adam wants out.A randomly chosen day trip changes everything.Though cruel and heartless, they always let you choose your weapon.

    Lady Chatterley left hers for the gamekeeper. Now Alice Coombs has her boyfriend for nothing … nothing at all.  Just how that should have come to pass and what Philip Engstrand, Alice’s spurned boyfriend, can do about it is the premise for this vertiginous speculative romance by the acclaimed author of Gun, with Occasional Music.Alice Coombs is a particle physicist, and she and her colleagues have created a void, a hole in the universe, that they have taken to calling Lack. But Lack is a nullity with taste — tastes; it absorbs a pomegranate, light bulbs, an argyle sock; it disdains a bow tie, an ice ax, and a scrambled duck egg. To Alice, this selectivity translates as an irresistible personality. To Philip, it makes Lack an unbeatable rival, for how can he win Alice back from something that has no flaws — because it has no qualities? Ingenious, hilarious, and genuinely mind-expanding, As She Climbed Across the Table is the best boy-meets-girl-meets-void story ever written.

    In The Road Show we meet Zachary Edge, a Confederate soldier, on his way home at the war's close. He stumbles upon a traveling troupe, a chance encounter that is the start of an unforgettable odyssey. Edge hits the road with bawdy showgirls, roguish tricksters, and a host of colorful characters. He soon finds himself in the arms of Autumn Auburn, the lithesome artiste known for her breathtaking sensuality.

    Pull up a chair, grab a glass of your favorite, and listen to the stories spun by time travelers, cybernetic aliens, telepaths...and a bunch of regular folks on a mission to save the world, one customer at a time.Callahan's Crosstime Saloon contains the following stories, virtually all of which were published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact: * "The Guy With the Eyes" * "The Time-Traveler" * "The Centipede's Dilemma" * "Two Heads Are Better Than One" * "The Law Of Conservation of Pain" * "Just Dessert" * "A Voice is Heard in Ramah..." * "Unnatural Causes" * "The Wonderful Conspiracy"

    Now, with her trademark wit and inventiveness, she explores the intimate relationship between science, pop culture, and the arcane secrets of the heart.Sandra Foster studies fads - from Barbie dolls to the grunge look - how they start and what they mean. Bennett O'Reilly is a chaos theorist studying monkey group behavior. They both work for the HiTek corporation, strangers until a misdelivered package brings them together. It's a moment of synchronicity - if not serendipity - which leads them into a chaotic system of their own, complete with a million-dollar research grant, caffé latte, tattoos, and a series of unlucky coincidences that leaves Bennett monkeyless, fundless, and nearly jobless. Sandra intercedes with a flock of sheep and an idea for a joint project. (After all, what better animal to study both chaos theory and the herd mentality that so often characterizes human behavior?)But scientific discovery is rarely straightforward and never simple, and Sandra and Bennett have to endure a series of setbacks, heartbreaks, dead ends, and disasters before they find their ultimate answer...

    While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human".

    In the days that follow, a doctor performs miraculous surgery on Keeley, who wakes up to find that everything about his world has changed. He seems to sense things before they happen, and he thinks he’s capable of feats that are clearly impossible. It’s a strange and compelling new world for him, one he quickly realizes is also incredibly dangerous.Meanwhile at a $12 billion facility in hardscrabble North Texas, a super collider lies two hundred feet beneath the Earth’s surface. Leading a team of scientists, Mike McNair, a brilliant physicist, works to uncover one of the universe’s greatest secrets–a theoretical particle that binds the universe together, often called The God Particle. When his efforts are undermined by the man who has poured his own vast fortune into the project, McNair begins to suspect that something in his research has gone very, very wrong.Now, these two men are about to come together, battling mysteries of science and of the soul–and venturing to a realm beyond reason, beyond faith, perhaps even beyond life and death.

    . . Thunderous and touching.'Financial TimesAfter drinking an elixir that bestows immortality upon him, a young Indian named Flapping Eagle spends the next seven hundred years sailing the seas with the blessing -- and ultimately the burden -- of living forever. Eventually, weary of the sameness of life, he journeys to the mountainous Calf Island to regain his mortality. There he meets other immortals obsessed with their own stasis and sets out to scale the island's peak, from which the mysterious and corrosive Grimus Effect emits. Through a series of thrilling quests and encounters, Flapping Eagle comes face-to-face with the island's creator and unwinds the mysteries of his own humanity. Salman Rushdie's celebrated debut novel remains as powerful and as haunting as when it was first published more than thirty years ago.'A book to be read twice . . . [Grimus] is literate, it is fun, it is meaningful, and perhaps most important, it pushes the boundaries of the form outward.'Los Angeles Times

    Now Schoken Associates, one of the big players, has a new challenge for star copywriter Mitch Courtenay. Volunteers are needed to colonise Venus. It's a hellhole, and nobody who knew anything about it would dream of signing up. But by the time Mitch has finished, they will be queuing to get on board the spaceships.Biographical NotesPohl and Kornbluth started writing together as early as 1940, although both authors produced a wide variety of stories separately, under their own names and pseudonyms.Each wrote sections, starting where the other left off, and through long experience they developed an almost telepathic awareness of each other's intentions.

    An untested spacecraft. A perilous gamble.Can her journey preserve humanity's freedom?Cristina Flores speaks her mind. But in a totalitarian surveillance state where privacy is a thing of the past, her critical thinking and outspoken nature have marked her for death.So when rebel scientists recruit the math genius for a covert plan to start anew on Mars, she accepts the chance to control her own destiny.But space is a harsh sanctuary, and freedom is never purchased cheaply.Alongside a small band of like-minded renegades, Cristina struggles to overcome escalating failures and rising panic. She fears their most lethal threat may be a charismatic but incompetent leader determined to command the colony to its last dying breath…Can Cristina's unstoppable determination keep their dream alive, or will the hope for freedom be lost in the void?The Far Shore is a thrilling sci-fi novel in the classic tradition. If you enjoy courageous heroes, convincing technology, and hard-edged science, you’ll love Glenn Damato’s bold odyssey.“A magnificent story – a soaring feat of imagination, highly suspenseful and utterly gripping.” –Robert Bidinotto, bestselling author of HUNTER“I give The Far Shore five stars. It rivals The Martian in accuracy, ambition and attitude. It offers hope for humanity at all levels.” –Tamara Wilhite, contributor at Liberty Island Magazine“A plausible and harrowing adventure that explores humanity’s drive for personal freedom.” –Kirkus Reviews“Gripping and immersive, The Far Shore offers a lot: technology for the hard science fiction fans and tons of heart for all of us.” –Laura Montgomery, author of Mercenary Calling“Brilliant . . . I admit to having tears in my eyes.” –Jeffery D. Kooistra, author of Dykstra's War“I was hooked! Damn! The pace is awesome, the suspense is unbeatable, the characters are engaging, the plot is original, the theme is eternal and universal.” –Irene Psyhogios“Highly recommended for adult sci-fi fans who enjoy exceptionally well-developed plots, characters, and hard sci-fi.” –Donovan’s Literary Services“The Far Shore sucked me in from page one. It really is amazing.” –Sherri Addleston Hilts“I'm a techie, and like my science fiction hard, with rivets. Damato has not only done a marvelous job of keeping the reader on the edge of their seat, he's made it all technically solid and credible.” –Tom Ligon, Member, Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America“Whenever I put this book down I couldn't wait to get back to the characters. The story line was gripping and made me late for meetings and kept me up late reading more than a couple times.” –Mark Bottorff“Damato masterfully reins together the emotional titans of hope and fear through the eyes of a young girl.” –Joel S. Copeland“Kept me riveted. Damato expertly blends science fiction with an all too possible and alarming future.

    Not hiding, not turned black, but gone. On September 28th, Edward Shaw, a geologist working in Death valley, finds a mysterious new cinder cone in very well-mapped area As more unexplained phenomena spring up around the globeL: a granite mountain appearing in Australia, sounds emanating from the Earth's core, flashes of light among the asteroids, it becomes clear to some that the end is approaching, and there is nothing that can be done. In The Forge of God, award-winning author Greg Bear describes the final days of the world on both a massive, scientific scale and in the everyday, emotional context of individual human lives. Facing the destruction of all they know, some people turn to God, others to their families, and a few turn to saviors promising escape from a planet tearing itself apart. Will they make it in time? And who gets left behind to experience the last moments of beauty and chaos on Earth?

    Any bounty hunter worth the title knows three rules:Collect half the money up front.Never get emotionally attached.Don’t ask nosy questions.But with a heart of gold and her companion Kubu by her side, Esper sets out to make the galaxy a better place, preferably making enough money to pay for the fuel to get from one job to the next. But just because she’s not cut out to be ruthless doesn’t mean the galaxy is going to eat her alive.After all, Esper is also a wizard.Mission 1: Wayward SaintA runaway teen needs protection and Esper takes the job. But a simple rescue and recovery turns ugly when Esper finds herself in the middle of a custody battle with a vicious pirate who’s hired a bounty hunter of his own.Mission 2: Behind Blue SkiesOn the run from troubles of her own, Esper tries to lie low on a suspiciously Utopian colony planet. Unable to keep out of other people’s troubles, Esper gets a terrifying look into justice on a world where truth is a matter of who you know.Mission 3: House of the Orion SunEsper’s mission to protect the galaxy’s most vulnerable takes a turn for the seedy when she tracks a trafficking victim. How long can she hold out when her morals are tested at every turn?Mission 4: Break the ChainEsper’s own dark past catches up with her when bounty-hunting wizards corner her. Esper has faced down the galaxy’s worst criminals. Now, she’s going to be forced to stand up to one of the galaxy’s most esteemed institutions—Convocation of Arcane Practitioners.