Exploration Fiction

Opportunity is presented to Admiral Cordelia. Imperium’s Presiding Executor Gaketork sends emissaries to establish communications with her, and she responds by installing a comm system aboard the executor’s transport. The Imperium governor, who has become sentient, uses the new comm system to send her critical data. Cordelia shares the governor’s information with newly assembled Trident squadron commanders. She directs the commanders to scour another executor’s territory and free suborned worlds of mercenary Radags and Krackus overseers.

So, here’s the thing: Cleo and her friends really, truly didn’t mean to steal this spaceship. They just wanted to know why, twenty years ago, the entire Providence crew vanished without a trace. But then the stupid dark matter engine started all on its own, and now these four twenty-somethings are en route to Proxima Centauri, unable to turn around, and being harangued by a snarky hologram that has the face and attitude of the ship’s missing captain, Billie.

Three years after her best friend Peggy went missing, Harper Starling is lost. Lost in her dead-end job, lost in her grief. All she has are regrets and reruns of her favorite science fiction show, Infinite Odyssey. Then Peggy returns and demands to be taken to the Argonaut, the fictional main character of Infinite Odyssey. But the Argonaut is just that … fictional. Until the TV hero himself appears and spirits Harper away from her former best friend. Traveling through time, he explains that Peggy used to travel with him but is now under the thrall of an alien enemy known as the Incarnate.

Few activities grip our attention more than animal watching. Dolphins and seals bring us much joy, and sharks and alligators hold us in awe. But animals can also prompt a variety of fascinating questions. Why do dolphins sometimes surf? How well can birds of prey actually see? Why do giant pandas eat bamboo fast food? Why are cavities essential to one reptile's survival? What effect can a slight temperature change have on alligator hatchlings? How can some seals stay underwater so long and dive so deeply without harm?

Assigned to a new warship with cutting-edge technology, Jack Samson returns to the Frontier, determined to cast off the question marks over his previous conduct. The Navy ventures ever farther beyond the Frontier, with fantastic new discoveries becoming a daily occurrence. As humanity reaches for these technological riches, it enters a deadly contest with a lethal adversary, the very survival of the human race being at stake.

There’s a killer on the loose on the Titanic  -  and the only people who know are four kids. Within both the luxury of the cabins and the dark underbelly of the engine rooms, Paddy, Sophie, Juliana, and Alfie have found themselves tangled in a maze of mysteries, each one deadlier than the next.

Civil War veteran John Carter is transported to a dying planet, where he must elude capture by giant green barbarians to rescue a Martian princess from certain doom. In this landmark of science fiction, the myths and mystery of the red planet supply a vibrant backdrop for a swashbuckling epic.

Emma Watson, a brilliant research physician, has been training for years for the mission of a lifetime: to study living beings in space. Jack McCallum, Emma's estranged husband, has shared her dream of space travel, but a medical condition has grounded and embittered him. He must watch from the sidelines as his wife prepares for her first mission to the international Space Station.

Where life as we know it is impossible, the real adventure begins. Venus is a hostile planet, covered by active volcanoes, but NASA launches an expedition to search for life there anyway. Their specially developed airship cruises in the clouds of Venus to serve as a research platform for its four astronauts. When they discover dangerous activities on the glowing-hot surface, there can only be one explanation: A highly sophisticated life form must be at work.

The urge to explore and discover is a natural and universal one, and the edge of the unknown is expanded with each passing year as scientific advancements inch us closer and closer to the outer reaches of our solar system and the galaxies beyond them. Generations of writers have explored these new frontiers and the endless possibilities they present in great detail. The Final Frontier delivers stories from across this literary spectrum, a reminder that the universe is far large and brimming with possibilities than we could ever imagine, as hard as we may try.

Captain Brian Royce brings Hadad to his home planet, which shows obvious signs of battle. Did any of his family survive? Where are all the children; did the Zodarks take them? Admiral Miles Hunt finds himself appointed to a new position beyond his current skill set. He now has to become more than just a ship captain and fleet commander: he must become the Viceroy of the Milky Way Galaxy.

The blue box Elfangor used to create the Animorphs has been found by a kid named David. David has no idea what he has - or what it can do. But Marco does. And when he sees David with it, he knows the Animorphs have to get that box. At any cost. But what should have been a simple plan ends up going horribly wrong, leaving David is on the run with the Animorphs. Now they have only two choices: Turn David over to the Yeerks, or make him an Animorph.

Tornado Onwubiko is one of seven people on Earth paired with sentient ships to explore and research the cosmos for twenty million euros. A decade of solitary life for a lifetime of wealth. Five years into the ten-year mission of total isolation comes a consolation: a temporary meetup among fellow travelers. A lot can happen in a week. For Tornado, who left a normal life behind, a little company can be life-changing.

Bienvenido est en crise. Après avoir échappé au Vide, la planète dérive à des millions d'années-lumière du Commonwealth. Sa population humaine ne peut compter que sur elle-même pour vaincre les Fallers, des créatures extraterrestres traquant toute forme de vie intelligente, capables d'infiltrer une société humaine et de prendre la place de ses citoyens en alimentant une méfiance généralisée.

Nicholas Briggs reads the brand-new novelisation of the spectacular 50th anniversary TV episode. When the entire universe is at stake, three different Doctors will unite to save it. The Tenth Doctor is hunting shape-shifting Zygons in Elizabethan England. The Eleventh is investigating a rift in space-time in the present day. And one other - the man they used to be but never speak of - is fighting the Daleks in the darkest days of the Time War.

Mary Robinette Kowal continues the grand sweep of alternate history begun in The Calculating Stars. The Fated Sky looks forward to 1961, when mankind is well established on the moon and looking forward to its next step: journeying to, and eventually colonizing, Mars. Of course the noted Lady Astronaut Elma York would like to go, but there’s a lot riding on whoever the International Aerospace Coalition decides to send on this historic - but potentially very dangerous - mission. Could Elma really leave behind her husband and the chance to start a family to spend several years traveling to Mars?

An entire sector in turmoil...neighbors who appear unconcerned...a favor asked of an old friend...sacrifices made for the good of humanity.... Before they can challenge the Dusahn and prevent them from expanding their empire further, the Karuzari must first gather much-needed resources. But doing so could be more difficult than anticipated.

They were sent to build a utopia, but all they found on Mars was death. Frank Kitteridge has been abandoned. But XO, the greedy - and ultimately murderous - corporate architects of humanity's first Mars base made a costly mistake when they left him there: They left him alive. Using his skills and his wits, he's going to find a way back home even if it kills him. Little does he know that Mars isn't completely empty. Just over the mountain, there's another XO base where things are going terribly, catastrophically wrong.

Seize ans se sont écoulés... Le joug impérial s'est appesanti sur les mondes, avec son cortège de croix-de-feu et de miradors à pensées. Dans l'ombre du pouvoir, le sénéchal Harkot poursuit l'œuvre obscure d'Hyponéros. Quel espoir reste-t-il ? Faut-il se raccrocher à des mythes ? À celui des guerriers du silence qui échappent à l'inquisition mentale et voyagent sur les pensées recouvre-t-il encore une réalité ?

Journeying to the bustling spaceport of Hinterland after being saved from certain death by a dubious Rogue Trader, Zelia, Talen and Mekki continue their quest to reach the Emperor’s Seat. But much here is not what it seems. Alone in a strange place and surrounded by aliens, whom can they really trust, and what are the secrets of the Tau?