Adventure Space Opera

It is the 147th century. In the radically advanced post-human worlds of the Amaranthine Firmament, there is a contender to the Immortal throne: Aaron the Long-Life, the Pretender, a man who is not quite a man. In the barbarous hominid kingdoms of the Prism Investiture, where life is short, cheap, and dangerous, an invention is born that will become the Firmament's most closely kept secret.

Two-time Nebula Award winner Catherine Asaro takes her immensely popular Skolian Empire saga to new heights. The renegade son of the Ruby Dynasty, Del prefers rock music to interstellar politics. His singing career has recently gained momentum on Earth, which has an uneasy relationship with his family's empire. But with intergalactic tensions running high, Del finds it harder and harder to avoid family expectations.

If it is possible to conquer space, then perhaps it is also possible to conquer time. At least that was the theory American scientists were exploring in an effort to explain the new sources of knowledge the Russians possessed. Perhaps Russian scientists had discovered how to transport themselves back in time in order to learn long-forgotten secrets of the past.

After surviving the Spire and opening their Second Gates, Iro and Emil are named Heroes of the Fleet, their faces on posters across every ship. But with the benefits of notoriety, comes a dangerous new responsibility. The Raider Fleet, not content with stealing their food and murdering their people, demand ownership of the wing. To avoid an unwinnable war, the Home Fleet agree to a grand martial tournament, Hopper against Raider, and both Iro and Emil must compete.

The Rhomanii are looking for the man foretold in the prophecy, a leader that will unite the clans and lead them home. Some addled seers decided that man is Rafe. That caused a bit of an issue, mostly because there is a second foretelling, one calling him the destroyer. Cooler name, but it comes with attempts to kill him, mostly by his uncle, the archduke for the enclave. But what's a little blood and murder between family members?

The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, provably, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization. An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture 10,000 years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they've made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence.

When 14-year-old Padmé Naberrie wins the election for queen of Naboo, she adopts the name Amidala and leaves her family to the rule from the royal palace. To keep her safe and secure, she'll need a group of skilled handmaidens who can be her assistants, confidantes, defenders, and decoys. Each girl is selected for her particular talents, but it will be up to Padmé to unite them as a group. When Naboo is invaded by forces of the Trade Federation, Queen Amidala and her handmaidens will face the greatest test - of themselves and of each other.

Le colonel Joe Bishop a fait une promesse et il compte bien la tenir : ramener le Hollandais Volant, un vaisseau extraterrestre capturé. Il n'est pas d'accord lorsque les Nations unies décident d'envoyer avec lui près de 70 soldats d'élite des opérations spéciales, des pilotes de pointe et des scientifiques ; car la mission est une course sans espoir dont il ne s'attend pas à revenir un jour. Au moins, cette fois, la Terre est saine et sauve, n'est-ce pas ? Et bien pas vraiment.

Beyond the outer boundary of the Core Worlds lies the Frontier. Colonists looking for a life outside the corporate-choked governments cross the border seeking new opportunities, trading security for freedom. In the Frontier, law is absent except for the Marshals. The warrior mystics saved Orin Lashra from a grinding death in the gladiatorial slave pits, recruiting him as a deputy to serve beside them. During a routine tribal negotiation, violence verging on civil war kills the mentor he called mother.

In the far distant future, the universe is officially ruled by the Royal Consortium, but the High Councillors, the heads of the three high houses, wield the true power. As the fifth of six children, Ada von Hasenberg has no authority; her only value to her high house is as a pawn in a political marriage. When her father arranges for her to wed a noble from House Rockhurst, a man she neither wants nor loves, Ada seizes control of her own destiny. The spirited princess flees before the betrothal ceremony and disappears among the stars.

On the Outer Rim, the planet Lanteeb has no strategic value, no political power, and one enormous problem: It has been invaded by an emboldened Separatist Alliance. To find out why, Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi have snuck onto Lanteebe and now look oblivion in the eye.

By the middle of the twenty-first century, the major powers on Earth had fallen into a second Cold War centralized in cyberspace. The US has made considerable strides in artificial intelligence by introducing the first ALICE system to the world. In an effort to catch up, China and Russia pooled their total AI resources, hoping their combined technologies would meet or exceed the American systems.

A coalition of Earth’s nations barely fought off the Formics’ first scout ship. Now it’s clear that there’s a mother-ship out on the edge of the system, and the aliens are prepared to take Earth by force. Can Earth’s warring nations and corporations put aside their differences and mount an effective defense?

In 2108, Colony Ship Voyager departed Earth for the planet of Promissa with 18,000 of the world’s best and brightest on board. 250 years and 27 light years later, an arrival is imminent. But all is not well. The probes that they’ve sent ahead to gather the data needed to establish any kind of settlement aren’t responding, and the information they have received has presented more questions than answers. It’s a time when the entire crew should be coming together to solve the problem, but science officer Sheila Jackson can’t get people to listen.

The Emperor's daughter Mercedes is the first woman ever admitted to The High Ground, the elite training academy of the Solar League's Star Command, and she must graduate if she is to have any hope of taking the throne. Her classmate Thracius has more modest goals - to defy his humble beginnings and rise to the rank of captain. But in a system rocked by political division, where women are governed by their husbands and fathers, the poor are kept in their place by a rigid class system, and the alien races have been conquered and subjugated, there are many who want them to fail.

In this finale of the Freedom's Fire series, the Free Army tries to salvage victory from what looks like a total loss. They've found a weakness in the Gray-Trog alliance they think they can exploit. But they'll need to ally themselves with the hated MSS and put their trust in people they've sworn to overthrow.

Time to take the fight to the enemy, if they can find the Trog Fleet. The Free Army missed their opportunity to catch the vulnerable Trog Fleet docked together on Ceres with empty magazines after their latest assault on Earth. Now Dylan Kane needs to scout their bases to see where they're hiding. If he can find them, the Free Army has enough assault ships to attack and turn the tide of the war.

Labor organizer Padma Mehta is on the edge of space and the edge of burnout. All she wants is to buy out a little rum distillery and retire, but she's supposed to recruit 500 people to the Union before she can. She's only 33 short. So when a small-time con artist tells her about 40 people ready to tumble down the space elevator to break free from her old bosses, she checks it out - against her better judgment. It turns out, of course, it was all lies.

Aliens and humans alike play positions based on physiology, creating receivers that jump 25 feet into the air, linemen that bench-press 1,200 pounds, and linebackers that literally want to eat you. Organized crime runs every franchise, games are fixed, and rival players are assassinated. Follow the story of Quentin Barnes, a 19-year-old quarterback prodigy that has been raised all his life to hate, and kill, those aliens. Quentin must deal with his racism and learn to lead, or he'll wind up just another stat in the column marked "killed on the field."

Kylara Vatta is the only daughter in a family full of sons, and her father's only child to buck tradition by choosing a military career instead of joining the family business. For Ky, it's no contest: Even running the prestigious Vatta Transport Ltd. shipping concern can't hold a candle to shipping out as an officer aboard an interstellar cruiser. It's adventure, not commerce, that stirs her soul. And despite her family's misgivings, there can be no doubt that a Vatta in the service will prove a valuable asset. But with a single error in judgment, it all comes crumbling down.