It's not as bad as we thought. From the very first line, "Luna" grabs the reader. Where most books start with a world in trouble and ride the story on into a happy ending or to the ultimate destruction, "Luna" starts with the end of the world. Things can only get better, right? With the world destroyed, the story centers on six survivors in the first lunar shuttle, on their way to shake down and tune up a robot-built underground tunnel complex on the Moon. They have to face a number of issues, not the least of which is the self-destruction of their homeworld and the survival of the species. Fortunately, any culture advanced enough to have a lunar colony and the capability to destroy its own civilization is likely to have people who are not on the planet at any given time. From these few survivors, the human race will have to either survive and grow, or wither away into nothing. They have to face many difficulties, ranging from purely scientific ones such as genetics, mechanics, chemistry, and nutrition, to the more complex difficulties of human nature, such as love, sex, and loneliness. The conflict between politics and military command also rears its ugly head, with uncertain results, aside from the obvious: War. Told from the point of view of Max, the officer in charge of the mechanical aspects of the lunar base, "Luna" takes us on a fast-paced tour of our own Moon, the LaGrange points, a number of habitable satellites, as well as the light and dark places in the human soul. Any science fiction reader will delight in the near-future possibilities of lunar colonization, along with the superb character development, snappy dialogue, and the dry humor that are so characteristic of Garon Whited's work.A gripping page-turner, Whited's "Luna" is more than a little reminiscent of Robert Heinlein, mixed with a dash of E.E. "Doc" Smith, and stirred with a sardonic sense of humor uniquely his own. Fans of Garon Whited's "Nightlord: Sunset" will want to add this one to the collection!

    

    Book One of a new Series (Year's Best Military and Adventure SF), featuring the best stories of the year from the top magazine and online venues with a military and adventure science fiction theme. With an introduction by best-selling military science fiction author David Drake and selected by editor David Afsharirad from the top short story markets in the field, here are the most thrilling, pulse-pounding, and thought-provoking stories of the past year. Stories of future military men and women, space opera on a grand scale, and edge-of-your-seat adventure tales in the pulp tradition, from giants of the genre to brilliant up-and-comers.Contents: Preface (The Year's Best Military SF & Space Opera) • essay by David Afsharirad Excitement! Adventure! Science Fiction! • essay by David Drake Codename: Delphi [The Red] (2014) / short story by Linda Nagata Persephone Descending (2014) / novelette by Derek Kunsken The End of the Silk Road (2014) / novelette by David D. Levine Picket Ship (2014) / novelette by Brad R.Torgersen Decaying Orbit (2014) / short story by Robert R. Chase Morrigan in the Sunglare (2014) / short story by Seth Dickinson Light and Shadow (2014) / short story by Linda Nagata Icarus at Noon (2014) / short story by Eric Leif Davin Soft Casualty [Freehold Short Fiction] (2014) / short story by Michael Z. Williamson Palm Strike's Last Case (2014) / novelette by Charlie Jane Anders Brood (2013) / novelette by Stephen Gaskell Stealing Arturo (2014) / novelette by William Ledbetter Rules of Engagement (2014) / novelette by Matthew Johnson Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (the Successful Kind) (2014) / novelette by Holly Black War Dog (2014) / short story by Mike Barretta [as by Michael Barretta].

     A NATION AT WAR: The United Stars of America. Born in the conflagration of unprovoked alien attack, the newest entrant to galactic politics took the few crumbs of hypertech gifted to it and ran with them, soon expanding over dozens of star systems and establishing a wide trade network, protected by its powerful Navy and the dreaded Warp Marines. A FIGHT TO THE DEATH: A single Marine platoon, tasked with protecting an embassy on a hostile alien planet. An embassy – and the human enclave around it – that soon finds itself surrounded by armed mobs. Can the Marines and a ragtag band of civilian and Navy personnel survive long enough to be rescued?

    I tried to look on the bright side.” He is the last to wake. The label on his sleeper pad identifies him as an admiral of the Evagardian Empire—a surprise as much to him as to the three recent recruits now under his command. He wears no uniform, and he is ignorant of military protocol, but the ship’s records confirm he is their superior officer. Whether he is an Evagardian admiral or a spy will be of little consequence if the crew members all end up dead. They are marooned on a strange world, their ship’s systems are failing one by one—and they are not alone.

    It got a karaoke DJ.Leo MacGavin is not the brightest specimen of humanity. But when he inadvertently rescues a flirty alien heiress, he’s promoted from second-rate lounge entertainer to captain of the galaxy’s most sophisticated cruise ship.Before he can flee in terror, a human-hating executive gives Leo an ultimatum—complete the vessel’s maiden voyage or mankind’s last colony will be turned into a sewage dump. To make matters worse, a militant cyborg is undermining his authority, a giant spider is terrifying the passengers, and a sentient plant keeps stealing all the beer.If Leo ever wants to see his home again, he’ll have to keep the guests happy through seven days of onboard antics and madcap shore excursions. As strange malfunctions tear the ship apart, can he hold his rag-tag crew together, or will he flush the last bastion of humanity down the crapper?

    Gordon Mere minutes after arriving at their Nantucket family beach home, 9-year-old Scotty Sullivan was out the back door, scrambling toward the shore, with Larry, the family dog—fast on his heels. Now late in the afternoon in mid-spring, the typical summer beach crowd visitors were still weeks away. Then Scotty became aware of an odd-looking object, hovering just above the crashing surf. In an age of hobbyist’s drones and all sorts of flying gadgets, he wasn’t overly concerned until the large flying object moved much, much, closer. A storm was brewing and dark clouds blanketed the sky. Nervously, Scotty turned and tried to spot his house—somewhere off behind the dunes—but it would be sixteen years before he’d see it again.

    Secret histories. And squids. In space.Max is completing a survey in the barren, frozen north of planet Grailliyn, when he makes a startling discovery. There's a high-tech pod buried beneath the ice, and inside the pod is a young woman. She speaks his language, but with a strange accent.The two are barely past awkward introductions when they are attacked. Max and his new friend are forced to flee. The worst part? They don't even know who is trying to kill them, or why.Now, with assassins on their tail, the duo must find a way off the planet without blowing their cover. And then, if they can do that without getting eaten by space monsters, they might just find out the truth about their world.Starship Relic is book one of the Lost Colony Uprising Trilogy, a sci-fi space opera adventure with spaceships, alien contact, deep conspiracies, wise-cracking characters, and lots of pew-pew (space battle action).Content rating: All ages, teen and up. Minimal language.

    Freddy Anderson used that ability working to save the world from a world ending disaster. However, the human race is now at war. Aliens have attacked and captured many of our top people including Freddy Anderson and are headed back to their home world. They are trying to extract from his mind information that will help them understand how the humans destroyed their greatest ship and how to annihilate the entire human race.

     Goth Sullus and his empire have fallen. With the Legion and the rest of the galaxy watching from the still-smoldering galactic core, Carter, a former legionnaire turned private contractor, and Jack Bowie, a Navy spy with nowhere left to turn, sign up to work for an enterprising private contractor looking to make a statement on the planet Kublar. Plans are in motion dating back to the Savage Wars, and as the galaxy rushes to fill in the vacuum created by the fall of the Imperial Republic, the bodies are hitting the floor. But every plan has a reckoning… Takeover is the thrilling aftermath of the final, desperate execution of Article Nineteen and the looming rebirth of the Legion and the galaxy itself as Galaxy’s Edge: Season Two begins! Available now in Audio book format performed by Ray Porter!

    WELLS includes 33 novels and novellas by British "father of science fiction" H.G. Wells. Several of Wells' books have become classics of science fiction, including THE TIME MACHINE, THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU, THE INVISIBLE MAN, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, and THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON. Wells was also an accomplished writer in other genres, with works like KIPPS and TONO-BUNGAY often considered among his finest as well. This collection also includes several of Wells' lesser-known novellas and novels, including his first time-travel story, THE CHRONIC ARGONAUTS. • The Chronic Argonauts • The Time Machine • The Wonderful Visit • The Island of Doctor Moreau • The Wheels of Chance • The Invisible Man • The War of the Worlds • When the Sleeper Wakes • Love and Mr. Lewisham • The First Men in the Moon • The Sea Lady • The Food of the Gods and How it Came to Earth • A Modern Utopia • Kipps • In the Days of the Comet • The War in the Air • Ann Veronica • Tono-Bungay • The History of Mr. Polly • The Sleeper Awakes • The New Machiavelli • Marriage • The Passionate Friends • The Wife of Sir Isaac Harmon • The World Set Free • Bealby • Boon • The Research Magnificent • Mr. Britling Sees it Through • The Soul of a Bishop • Joan and Peter • The Undying Fire • The Secret Places of the Heart Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific 19th- and 20th century British science fiction writer. Together with French author Jules Verne, Wells has been called "The Father of Science Fiction." Wells was an outspoken socialist and sympathetic to pacifist views. Best known for his early works of science fiction, his later works became increasingly political in nature. This expanded Third Edition includes additional works as well as a number of editorial corrections.

    You’re on your own in a way that few have ever experienced. Would you really want the chance to face evolution? To survive if you’re fit, perish if you’re not?A select few have found themselves transplanted to a world where there are no native humans, where they have that ultimate freedom; now what?Surviving won’t be easy. There are predators, huge ones. They’re better adapted to Darwin’s World than humans are. Predators such as existed in Earth’s Pleistocene, saber-tooth cats, short-faced bears, and dire wolves. Plus the other predators that survived the Pleistocene extinction, lions, wolves, jaguars, things like that.And some of the predators are human…

    The Marines of Ghost Squadron are humanity’s foremost black ops specialists who strike without warning and vanish without a trace.  They will do whatever is necessary to protect humanity anywhere in the known galaxy.  With the Commonwealth increasingly unstable thanks to venal politicians, greedy financiers, and power-hungry revolutionaries, they don’t lack for missions.When an undercover Constabulary officer vanishes after uncovering a massive cartel-run human trafficking operation, the Commonwealth’s interstellar police force calls for help from Naval Intelligence.  Because the cartel’s operations could upend the delicate political balance between the older core worlds and the more recently colonized outer star systems, Ghost Squadron gets the job.  Its mission: find the missing Constabulary officer and choke off the growing slave trade bedeviling humanity’s perilous galactic frontier.Ghost Squadron’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Thomas Decker, spent the last ten years as a Naval Intelligence agent.  His job was thwarting plots and terminating the Commonwealth’s internal enemies alongside his partner, a trained assassin.  Now, with several hundred of the deadliest Marines ever fielded at his back, Zack Decker will change the course of history and usher in a new era. Humanity's interstellar empire ended in "Ashes of Empire."  Witness its birth a thousand years earlier in Eric Thomson's new series "Ghost Squadron."

    In an era of the military space race, Erich von Däniken boldly proclaimed that Earth had been visited by more advanced beings early in our history. But prescientific man had no concept of space ships, so he called their vehicles “chariots,” and those driving the chariots became “gods.” Over the next five decades, von Däniken’s more than 40 books built an ever-stronger case for Earth being visited by extraterrestrial visitors. And Chariots became an international best seller, with 30 million copies sold in more than two dozen languages. Also during that time, the case for ET visitations millennia ago was being reexamined by contemporary UFO researchers, who found evidence of modern visitations. And von Däniken expanded his perspective to encompass the present. Now, he presents his long-awaited sequel to Chariots of the Gods, proclaiming that the gods never left us with all-new material to show that ancient aliens are still with us. The Gods Never Left Us contends that recent advancements in biotechnology, astrophysics, engineering, and artificial intelligence not only give us a fresh perspective on his ancient astronaut theory but actually validates it. We are—as a race—embarking on the exact same trajectory of our own interplanetary colonization, just as von Däniken suggested Earth itself was colonized. ETs are definitely at work today. And that affects all of us. Why do they do what they do? What could an extraterrestrial species possibly gain from observing us in the same way we look at ants? What have these strangers wanted for the past thousands of years? Can’t they leave us alone? And what makes it so difficult for us to acknowledge the existence of these extraterrestrials? That is what this book deals with. "Erich's newest book is a fascination journey from the ancient past into the present with a plethora of scientific evidence and documented research. As always, he ads his own "to the point" take on it all. Readers may also like that his newest work moves in a slightly different direction from his past books. A thoroughly enlightening and enjoyable Read." —Bruce Cunningham, Director, Ancient Mysteries International LLC & Publisher of Advanced Archaeology Review magazine

    The team, introduced in Book 4 of the A Galaxy Unknown series, and with small roles in subsequent books, is now featured in their own story as this AGU: SCI series kicks off. This story is a mix of low-tech and high-tech as shootouts in saloons and city streets vie with spaceship chases and space battles to dominate the pages of this book. Space Command Intelligence operates to the full width and breadth of Galactic Alliance space— and sometimes beyond. Intelligence gathering is a dangerous profession, and most agents operate alone, or with a single partner, but there are exceptions. Trader Vyx, originally a lone field agent, was saddled with two information gatherers when he left the Gollasko Colony, but mutual bonds of respect soon grew between the three men. When two female operatives were rescued from Tsgardi slavers by Vyx, Byers, and Nelligen, SCI temporarily assigned the women to Vyx's team. Now, years later, the team is still together, and operating as one of the most effective groups in SCI.With the defeat of the Uthlaro Dominion, their former territory has fallen into anarchy. Space Command doesn't have adequate resources to bring the region under control while facing other enemies on multiple fronts in Regions One and Two, so SCI agents have been sent in to do what they can.Trader Vyx and his team are on the planet Bleadalto, two hundred light-years from Uthlarigasset. Their mission is to assess the situation there and learn everything they can about the slavery problem, but the once out-of-control-violence situation on Gollasko seems like a tea social compared to everyday life on Bleadalto. Within hours of arriving on the planet, Vyx is forced into a gunfight with a Brotherhood thug. The large crime organization is not pleased.