Exploration Fiction

Get ready to experience two more origin stories in the Backyard Starship universe.

In the year 2115, when the Earth is no longer inhabitable, the remainder of humanity lives in Babel, a giant space station. Two pilots, Quentin and Kai, must find the planet Paradise, where only the most promising citizens are allowed to live. On their journey, Quentin and Kai encounter Quentin’s estranged father, who left Babel for Paradise when Quentin was a child, and they discover just how different Paradise is from what they imagined—and how they must change it for the better.

With their vast cargo holds and a crew that could fill a city, the Greatships are the lifeblood of human-occupied space, transporting an unimaginable volume - and value - of goods from City, the greatest human orbital, all the way to Tradepoint at the other, to trade for xenoglas with an unknowable alien species. It has always been Marca Nbaro's dream to achieve the near-impossible: escape her upbringing and venture into space.

When Van gains rank as a Peacemaker, he becomes a bigger target for the criminals scattered among the stars. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. On a distant world under an alien sun, hunters and their companions—the Rovan—bond in a ritual as old as their civilization. But one of the hunters is missing, and Van, along with his growing crew, knows where to look. Climbing up into the rarified air of the super-rich, Van uncovers a new enemy: The Fade. And they are as cruel as the stars are many.

This thrilling companion to Iain Lawrence's award-winning The Wreckers and The Smugglers plunges listeners into high-sea action and intrigue. After 17-year-old John Spencer sets out on his first voyage to foreign lands, he and his crew are wary when they come across a stranger named Horn rowing a lifeboat in the middle of nowhere. What is the man hiding?

Jon Ryan has some unfinished business. Since he caused the universe to reboot, well, he can't seem to find his wife of two billion years. That's one great big oops. He also can't find the massive time ship Aramthella and her human crew. Double oops. And then there's the matter of not knowing whey why there are several copies of key people in the new reality he must navigate. Triple oops. He actually knows one whole heck of a lot less about his current situation than seems healthy. But he's Jon Ryan, former fighter pilot turned android warrior for humankind.

Il y a plusieurs milliers d'années, la Terre a envoyé de nombreuses équipes dans l'espace en vue de terraformer de nouveaux mondes et de donner un futur à l'humanité. Arrivés à proximité d'une de ces planètes, les scientifiques à bord du vaisseau de terraformation baptisé l'Égéen découvrent, contre toute attente, qu'elle abrite déjà une forme de vie. Vont-ils surseoir à l'exécution de leur mission ou, envers et contre tout, rendre la planète habitable pour l'homme alors que la Terre n'a plus donné signe de vie depuis bien logntemps.

Hiro blew them all away—literally—on his mercenary job clearing out a space pirate stronghold. Now, the military and a ton of smaller groups are all desperate to recruit him. Not only that, but a major biotech firm is salivating over his otherworldly DNA! All Hiro wants is to keep flying free with his beautiful companions, but how long can he dodge all the people who want to tie him down?

Mercenary life is hard. No home. No family. Always looking over your shoulder, likely for the rest of your life. When you find a crew that you can trust, you do anything for them. Jason Burke has a crew like that. He would kill for them...and he would die for them. Right now, they need his help, and it will take all of his cunning and skill to bring them home safely. He is alone, without his powerful ship, the Phoenix, and the criminal cartels he’s going up against are some of the most ruthless in the galaxy. For Captain Burke it’s all or nothing: bring his friends home safe...or die trying.

Le vaisseau Explorateur 1 fait route vers Saturne. À son bord, deux astronautes et le plus puissant ordinateur jamais conçu. Cinq ans plus tôt, un étrange monolithe noir a été découvert sur la Lune. La première preuve d'une existence extraterrestre. Et bien longtemps avant, à l'aube de l'humanité, un objet similaire s'était posé sur Terre et avait parlé aux premiers hommes. On détecte un nouveau signe de cette présence aux abords de Saturne. Que sont ces mystérieuses sentinelles ? Quel message doivent-elles délivrer ?

On a mission to a planet threatened by a toxic disaster, Obi-Wan and Anakin are separated. Anakin and three other apprentices - one of them his rival - must work together in order to survive. Anakin's instincts are clear...but are they right?

Jimmy Martin has a sore head. He's used to smuggling illegal data in his headspace. But this is the first time it has started talking to him. The data claims to be a distinguished academic, author and civil rights activist. It also claims to be a bear. A bear named Honey. Jimmy has nothing against bioforms–he's one himself, albeit one engineered out of human stock–and works with them everyday in Hell City, building the future, staking mankind's claim to a new world: Mars.

Van is a veteran now, and the lessons are getting tougher. But so is he. When a ghost ship arrives in port, filled with the victims of a crime beyond imagination, Van and his crew will be drawn into a chase that goes beyond any star system the Peacemakers know.

Pyre is a volatile planet. Its surface belches heat and noxious gases, forcing downsiders to inhabit domes. But Pyre's instability isn't limited to its geology. The colonists, who were marooned in the system hundreds of years ago, have endured a tumultuous history. Exploring Triton, Pyre's third moon, spacers inadvertently activate an alien dome. Nearly a year later, the Belle's bridge crew, who monitors the alien site, is alarmed, when they witness a bright blue light shoot from the dome's platform and merge with the shield.

Sanda and Biran Greeve were siblings destined for greatness. A high-flying sergeant, Sanda has the skills to take down any enemy combatant. Biran is a savvy politician who aims to use his new political position to prevent conflict from escalating to total destruction. However, on a routine maneuver, Sanda loses consciousness when her gunship is blown out of the sky. Instead of finding herself in friendly hands, she awakens 230 years later on a deserted enemy warship controlled by an AI who calls himself Bero. The war is lost.

Humanity has reached the stars, joining the vast galactic community of alien species. But beyond the fringes of explored space lurk the Reapers, a race of sentient starships bent on "harvesting" the galaxy's organic species for their own dark purpose. The Illusive Man, leader of the pro-human black ops group Cerberus, is one of the few who know the truth about the Reapers.

Contains books five and six of the Rise of the Ancient Gods series: Fury of the Ancient Gods and Fall of the Ancient Gods.

Sally Jansen was NASA's leading astronaut, until a mission to Mars ended in disaster. Haunted by her failure, she lives in quiet anonymity, convinced her days in space are over. She's wrong. A large alien object has entered the solar system on a straight course toward Earth. It has made no attempt to communicate and is ignoring all incoming transmissions. Out of time and out of options, NASA turns to Jansen. For all the dangers of the mission, it's the shot at redemption she always longed for.

In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus. Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy.

Picked by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the unknown wilds of the Louisiana Territory, Meriwether Lewis assembles a rugged team of adventurers, including co-captain William Clark - and a Newfoundland dog named Seaman. As hunter, retriever, and guard, Seaman becomes a trusted member of the Corps of Discovery. While the team tackles raging rivers and muddy shallows, Seaman is there - sharing their hunger and fatigue. Whether Indians threaten or grizzlies roar, he stands his ground. And through mountain peak or valley deep, Seaman remains a watchful friend and determined foe.