Throughout the galaxy, planetary systems seek independence and freedom. Everywhere there is war. Trying to maintain its grip, the Empire has become more ruthless, and reliant on mercenary armies. The powerful Zeta Corp fills this need with its advanced weapons, and legions of genetically engineered soldiers. These soldiers, while fiercely loyal, are nothing more than slaves. Danny is a Zeta Corp mercenary who has known nothing but war, and service to Zeta Corp in his short life. But when a routine mission ends in disaster, he finds himself questioning everything he believed in. Pitted against the Empire, and Zeta Corp, can he gain freedom for himself, his friends, and the galaxy?

    His redemption comes as he is recruited into the elite and secretive Scout Force. Follow Kelly’s adventures as an officer in the Galactic Republic Fleet’s Scout Force, protecting humanity’s frontiers from human treachery and an onslaught by the expansive, hostile K’rang Empire.

    The dead man—a young Dominican Priest—had secretly made his way “upside” and lived as a common laborer. His intentions are a mystery and the killer’s identity and motive are questions that the best investigators of the new world cannot answer. With public order threatened, the reputation of the ruling engineers at stake, and criminal elements seizing the opportunity to gain control, authorities seek help from Earth—itself recovering from decades of war and environmental crises. With assistance from the Vatican, they recruit Father John Francis McClellan, a parish priest from Boston and a retired US Marine Corps expert in “high-defs”—the artificially intelligent three-dimensional printers that built the new world. A Printer’s Choice tells a story of faith, the future, and the power of free will. It explores questions about sentience, choice, and the necessity of choosing well. Set in locations on Earth and in the orbits, the story takes place in a future extrapolated from today’s geopolitical and ecological turmoil. In this epic debut novel, author W. L. Patenaude illuminates not just the struggles of our world, but also the promises and implications of building a better one, one choice at a time.

    Now she’s really in for a cleanup.Triana Moore lost her job as a maintenance technician when her boss discovered her true identity. But decluttering the galaxy isn’t just for janitors. When she visits the ringed planet Grissom with security agent Ty O’Neill for his sister’s wedding, Triana discovers just how messy life can get. Deported before she can finish her coffee, Triana barely misses an exploding shuttle. But in true space janitor fashion, she decides to investigate. With the help of a pair of mischievous twins, a hard-drinking grandma, and her old frenemy Vanti, will Triana save the wedding?Of course she will. But how crazy will it get along the way?The Rings of Grissom tells the continuing story of Triana Moore, (former) Space Janitor, but can be enjoyed by new readers as well. If you want to avoid spoilers, read Triana Moore, Space Janitor first.

    There are strange, and unrecognizable markings on the canister. How did it get there, and where did it come from? It is sent back to a research center in the U.S. where it is opened in an environmentally controlled room. Inside are six human embryos, and even more shocking is the discovery that the embryos are viable. Should they be brought to term? Terminal Event tells the intriguing story of who the embryos are, where they came from, and how they spent 100 million years waiting to be discovered.

    The greatest warriors, engineers and scientists of the age blaze a path to the worlds of T’Karan and Helios, far away from the human worlds of the Alliance. There they will meet alien races and become embroiled in intergalactic politics and conflict. Characters such as Spartan, the illegal pitfighter turned war hero of the Great Uprising, Teresa Morato, senior commander in the Marine Corps and a deadly warrior and Gun, the synthetic warrior giant turned General, a figure with a burning desire to hunt time and destroy the enemies of his tortured people. All of them will play their part in shaping humanity’s future in the galaxy. This complete box set contains the full text of every Star Crusades: Nexus novel. That’s right, all nine books! Buy the box set today and read the entire series from start to finish: Legions of Orion A chance discovery on the jungle world of Hyperion leads Alliance scientists on a path to creating a permanent spacebridge to the distant Orion Nebula. In a matter of days, great fleets of military and civilian ships depart for the single greatest expedition since the colonisation of Alpha Centauri. Machine Gods After decades of war, the Alliance reached the Orion Nebula and discovered the advanced but shattered remnants of the T'Kari. People and ships are diverted to this rich area of space to continue its exploration and exploitation. At the same time a secretive faction of the T'Kari, known simply as the Raiders unleash attacks on any ships or facilities left unguarded, be it human or T'Kari. Heroes of Helios A strike group of the dozen most advanced ships in the Alliance is assembled and sent to a summit of the remaining great powers of Orion. It is a measure of the reputation and military prowess of humanity that they are to be allowed to participate in joint exercises with the Narau Navy, a combined military force made up of ships from the five alien empires. The Great Betrayal The ancient prophecy spreads to the colonies of the Alliance and ignites a public debate on the rumour of the coming comet. The origins of the rumour revolve around the dark days of the last war fought on Helios. The prophecy speaks of the return of the 'Great Enemy' that will be signalled by the coming of a burning star. Prophecy of Fire The fragile Centauri-Helion Alliance is being tested to the limits as Alliance ground forces under the command of General Daniels deploy on Eos, a strategically placed moon. Call to Arms The Great Biomech War is now inevitable and the citizens of the Alliance ready themselves for what is to come. Ships and soldiers from a hundred worlds set their eyes on Helios, some looking to defend it and others making their plans to bring about its destruction. As each day passes, the defenders around Helios grow, and each day brings the prophetic comet closer to them. Battle for Helios For a thousand years the Helions have predicted the return of the Biomechs and their hordes, and for a thousand years they have done little to prepare. The Prophecy of Fire has spread like a disease through every world, infusing fear to civilian and soldier alike. Wrath of the Gods The opening battles of the bloodiest war in human history have been fought, and now the enemy spreads from world to world, exterminating all before them. This is no war for territory or resources, it is one of genocide. The Black Rift.

    The warrior K'da species are symbiotes, can only live six hours without their humanoid host. Draycos 30s is the sole survivor of the three ships destroyed scouting for their refugees, and Jack is the only possible choice. They may be an odd couple, but together they're more than the sum of their parts. They are destined to travel far and wide, facing many perils - human, alien, and other, as they seek justice and safety - Jack for himself, and Draycos for his people.

    Intelligent, well-educated, perfectly isolated in his lofty rank, responsibilities, and privilege of the divine Imperial Dynasty. He's the most powerful boy on Atlantis and he's going into the real world for the very first time. . . .Now just another student in Fleet Cadet School, Aeson must learn everything normal people take for granted—including the basics of how to look after himself, how to interact with others his age, how to laugh, and how to make friends.As if that wasn't enough to boggle the mind of a confident but shy boy who's never had a real conversation with anyone but his mother, Aeson has one more lesson ahead . . . what it's like to fall in love.Get inside Aeson's mind and learn his story from the inside out as he forms the bonds that will change him forever—with Elikara, Xelio, Oalla, Keruvat, Erita, and other favorite Atlantean characters, long before they took to the stars as astra daimon! AESON: BLUE is the first in The Atlantis Grail Novella Series.

    He is destined to make history like John Glenn and Neil Armstrong. Pierce’s idyllic world screeches to a halt when, three weeks before the historic flight, his wife is killed in a tragic car accident.Determined to carry on with the groundbreaking flight in spite of his grief, Pierce is changed forever when, during the flight, his body is transformed into light. The shock of it all puts Pierce into a deep coma and when he wakes time is not relevant to his mind. Suddenly able to step into visions of the past, Pierce struggles to make sense of what he sees as he learns that his wife’s death was not an accident, but murder and her murderers are after him. As Pierce and the beautiful attorney, Vanessa Trace, sort through the bizarre attacks on Pierce and his vivid visions of the past, they cannot substantiate any evidence to his claims. In a frantic race to stay alive, Pierce and Vanessa find themselves matching wits with a conspiracy with seemingly endless resources and a police department convinced Pierce is a murderer, while at the same time they question whether or not Pierce himself is crazy.Standing out from traditional suspense novels, Speed of Light is fast-paced, intelligent and intricately layered with mind expanding concepts.

    An intrepid group of friends will stop at nothing to defend their home. A massive fleet of aliens arrived weeks back and have been battling it out with the combined fleets of mankind's most powerful nations. The war for humanity's very existence has begun and it's not going very well. With supremacy in orbit, the Kroerak empire has started the second phase of their invasion by sending in their armies. Lester Knight, Jeremy Tinker and Clara Daws have grown up in the sleepy little town, Elm Bluff on the western border of Iowa. Nothing much exciting every happens in Elm Bluff until suddenly it becomes a buffer between two armies. The town has only one chance of survival and that's if it can be cut off from the bugs. Read Uncommon Bravery and discover just how far a group of friends will go to protect their home.

    The Autobots are reformatted by the Ark to resemble cars and trucks; the Decepticons take the form of jets, weapons or in the case of Soundwave, a cassette deck with tapes.The Decepticons wreak havoc, steal energy and build a fortress. The Autobots, seen here as very weak underdogs, unsuited for war, fight valiantly to stop their foes.Ultimately, it's the humans that the Autobots befriend that save the day. Buster Witwicky's dad, captured by the Decepticons to formulate a fuel for them, secretly poisons his captors.In the final battle, five Autobots take on the entire Decepticon army. On the cusp of defeat, the tainted fuel concocted by Mr. Witwicky kicks in and the Decepticons fall.The Autobots don't even have time to celebrate, however, as the 4-part mini-series ends with Shockwave making an appearance, blowing the remaining Autobots to pieces. This cliffhanger led directly into the monthly Marvel run, which began 3 months after the miniseries ended. (Issue #4 had a cover date of Mar. 1985; issue #5 had a date of June.)Starting with issue 5, The Transformers had more drastic changes. Before reaching its 30th issue, both Optimus Prime and Megatron had been killed off to make way for newer characters.Starting in issue 35 (cover-dated December, 1987), the events became less Earth-centric, as the Transformers repaired their spacecraft and were able to revisit their homeworld Cybertron and other planets. This aspect was particularly prominent in the Matrix Quest sub-plot.In issue 75 (cover-dated February, 1991), the Autobots and Decepticons had united under one banner after Autobot commander Optimus Prime surrendered to Scorponok, in order to end their civil war. United, they finally faced their ancient nemesis: Unicron. The Transformers won, but with heavy losses, including the deaths of Scorponok and Optimus Prime (again). Peace between the two Transformers factions was shortlived after Unicron's death. Bludgeon, the new Decepticon leader, tried to strand the Autobots on Cybertron, which was apparently destroying itself. His plan failed and the final confrontation between the two factions played out, with the Autobots lead again by Grimlock. Optimus Prime is united with Hi-Q (his Powermaster) and given life by The Last Autobot. He returns to battle to save the Autobots and then exiles the Decepticons forever (until Transformers: Generation 2). After the battle with Unicron, the comic ran for only five issues before being cancelled. The final issue had the mini series banner above the title; "#80 IN A FOUR ISSUE LIMITED SERIES".Most of the issues of Transformers Marvel US were written by two writers. Although the first four issues were written by Jim Salicrup, editor Bob Budiansky was the one who contributed the most to the story, writing the character bios and backgrounds for the Transformers, even giving names to some of them. After the mini-series became an ongoing comic, Budiansky was promoted to constant writer. Except for issue #16 (Plight of the Bumblebee, written by Len Kaminski), issue #43 (The big broadcast of 2006, a Transformers cartoon episode adaptation by Ralph Macchio) and the two-part story Man of Iron (imported from Transformers Marvel UK), Bob wrote all the Transformers comics until issue #55.Most famous story arcs and issues are Warrior's school featuring the introduction of the Dinobots and the first clash between Autobot medic Ratchet and Megatron; Prime Time! when Optimus Prime is finally freed from captivity and battles current Decepticon commander Shockwave; Smelting Pool and The Bridge to Nowhere brought the story back to Cybertron where only a handful of Autobots fight an underground war against Straxus's Decepticons, also introducing Blaster, Budiansky's most-used character who was radically different from his cartoon and Marvel UK version. Afterdeath and Gone but not forgotten saw the deaths (for a while, anyway) of Optimus Prime and Megatron, after which Grimlock took control of the Autobot forces in King of the Hill. Starting at issue #28, Blaster and Goldbug (a rebuilt Bumblebee) defected from the Autobots due to Grimlock tyrannical leadership, which ended with Grimlock and Blaster having a duel in Totaled. The next issue, People Power saw the return of Optimus Prime, as a Powermaster. The "Underbase saga" began in issue #47 and ended in issue #50, Dark Star, where Starscream, absorbing the power of the Underbase, kills most of the active Transformers of the time. (Budiansky admitted in an interview that Hasbro was forcing him to introduce new characters so quickly, he had to do an epic to "make room" for them.) Budiansky's last 5 stories were very mediocre, he himself said that he lost the interest in Transformers, and asked Hasbro to hand over the comics to a new writer.From issue #56, the by then well-known writer of Transformers Marvel UK, Simon Furman took over the reins, having been asked by Marvel US. Furman used the characterisation he used at Marvel UK for the Transformers, and introduced many characters to the US comic who have already appeared in the UK comic. He wrote all the issues until the comic's cancellation at issue #80.Furmnan's most famous story arcs include Back from the Dead, the return of Megatron who kidnaps Ratchet to help him in his revenge against both Autobots and Decepticons; Primal Scream! which introduced Primus and re-told the origin of the Transformer race to the US readers too; the "Matrix Quest" which features the Autobots sending numerous teams to locate the Matrix that was lost when Optimus "died" and his body was shot into space; and the Unicron story arc from #67 to #75, featuring the Transformers' ultimate battle against the Chaos Bringer.Sadly the comic was cancelled shortly after issue #75, so Furman had to "wrap up" the ending. According to some interviews with him, he planned to feature the Neo-Knights and the "demons" inhabiting Cybertron's underground more in the never-written issues

    Now, with the war over and the aliens defeated, she's teaching other pilots to fly the alien ships that turned the tide. Until the government approaches her about joining a super secret mission, that is. Steve Hunter is the product of alien DNA. He was created in a lab, designed to destroy the aliens in a ground war that was never fought. Now, they're finally putting him to use as the leader of this new mission. Together with the scientist who created Steve and the genius who invented the ship, Cara and her captain set off on a final adventure. The U.S.S. Endeavor goes in search of allies among the stars. What they find is more than they ever bargained for. If their mission is to be a success, they will have to solve a mystery and escape destruction at the hands of an all new foe. All in a day's work for the Endeavor crew.

    A mage cop on his first assignment learns the world isn't as black and white as hopedA jump mage and a starship with matching needs turn out to be a magnet for troubleDigging in 1940s New York City awakens a monster--and brings in the elite of the FaeThe protected heir of an interstellar dictatorship is called to a battle no one expected him to fightAn explosive collection of four novellas from science fiction and fantasy author Glynn Stewart, spanning his ONSET, Starship's Mage, Changeling Blood and Exile universes, including two brand new urban fantasy novellas.  Includes:ONSET: Murder by MagicStarship's Mage: Episode 1Fae, Flames and FedorasAshen Stars

    Dr. Newman is at the leading edge of creating the perfect educational environment for children, and all he requires is a hefty tuition—and your child at the age of six months.Christopher Carson is one of the “Newman Residents” who live at the Newman Home year-round. His parents, Richard and Carol, both Manhattan attorneys, may disagree about the specifics, but each wants what’s best for their son. For Richard, this means bringing Christopher, now six years old, home for one last summer vacation before the visits become brief and infrequent.Carol agrees with the staff: Christopher should stay at the school. And Christopher is confused, not sure where his real home is anymore. But Richard would like for their house to be Christopher’s home, at least for one summer.As Richard and Christopher spend more time together they become closer. Not long into Christopher’s visit, Richard begins to suspect that the Newman Home’s methods for developing their children into future leaders are too experimental, if not outright dangerous. His suspicions are confirmed when a secretive support group of Newman parents reaches out to him about their frightening experiences with the school.Richard’s investigations into the Newman Home quickly spiral out of control; he has underestimated the extent of the school’s power and connections—and Dr. Newman’s incessant drive to achieve a new level of success for the students. But what Dr. Newman underestimates may be even more powerful: one father’s determination to fight for his son against the odds.What follows in The Newman Resident is a whirlwind battle between a devoted father and an education system more terrifyingly powerful than he ever could have imagined. It’s a battle that forces him to confront how some will cross any line in order to create the “perfect” child.

    Yet, that is just what has happened now that the battle lines have been drawn. With the movement sweeping the United States, the stakes are higher than ever as President Drummond continues to prove his dedication to the destruction of the Bionics and all who stand with them.The flame has been ignited…As anger and frustration among the American people reaches the boiling point, citizens begin to fight back, many showing their support for the Bionics… despite the personal costs to themselves. As protests turn violent, and people who once cowered in silence begin to fight back, the government continues its practices that fly in the face of the very principles the nation was founded upon.The time has come to revolt …Despite the many losses it has sustained, the Resistance stands strong, leading America into revolution and onward toward change. With an unlikely, ragtag family of misfits at its forefront, the Resistance stands, while a girl who lost everything continues to fight for a future that was once impossible, but may now be within her reach.