Hard Space Opera

With cislunar operations in full swing, space entrepreneur Parks Vambolent retrieves a comet. The water and other resources are desperately needed for the large-scale habitats on the Moon, and in various orbits around the Earth. But when the comet is found to contain more than what was expected, the dynamics of power begin to shift, setting off events with long-term repercussions for space enterprise and the future course of humanity. Vambolent confronts death and learns that there is more to the universe than flesh and blood.

Poised to reconquer humanity's home, Captain Absen and Conquest are confronted with a new enemy that upsets the balance of power and changes everything EarthFleet expected. Their struggle to free Earth becomes instead a desperate battle for sheer survival as they contemplate the unthinkable: total annihilation.

Armed with alien technology and a complete refit, Henrich Absen captains Conquest on a voyage to take back what humanity has lost. Along the way he must confront a new form of life as well as his own demons in this shocking episode of the Plague Wars/Stellar Conquest saga.

Barcus is a working stiff looking for a good paycheck. When the Ventura and its crew enter orbit for a scheduled planet survey, the ship activates an automated defense system protecting the planet. Although the Ventura is destroyed in the attack, Barcus alone survives the harrowing fall to the remote planet surface. He struggles to remain alive and sane and to discover why everyone he knew and loved on the Ventura was deliberately murdered.

Esen's back! And the dear little blob is in trouble, again. Things began so well. She and her human friend Paul Ragem are ready to celebrate the first anniversary of their greatest accomplishment, the All Species' Library of Linguistics and Culture, by welcoming his family back. He hopes. Having mourned his supposed death years ago, understandably, feelings are bent. Instead, they’ve unexpected guests, starting with an old acquaintance.

Few writers have successful blended hard science and speculation with fully realized characters as Gregory Benford has in his critically acclaimed novels. Now he draws us into a vortex of mystery and danger at the heart of the galaxy in his dazzling epic drama, Furious Gulf.

Millennia of conflict between humans and mechs have driven the human race to near-extinction. Now, as the fierce AI mechs begin their final assault on mankind, it soon becomes apparent that three men – three generations in a family of voyagers – are their targets. Toby Bishop, his father, Killeen Bishop, and his grandfather, Nigel Walmsley, each carry a piece of the lethal secret that can destroy their enemies. But hunted through space and time by relentless assassins, they have no idea that they possess the only weapon that can save humanity.

2040: Ruins of ancient civilization uncovered on Mars reveal startling truths about the creation of humankind. 2042: In the gray dust of the Earth's Moon, an extinct enslaving race left behind more answers, more questions...and a grim warning. 2067: As Earth's warring factions clash in space for scraps of alien technology, a strange artifact lies trapped beneath the ice-locked oceans of Europa: a machine that holds the key to the final human destiny. It is called "The Singer" for the eerie tone it emits.

A world of eternal day and everlasting night, burning deserts, and frozen wastes. A people exiled, seeking the truth about their past, long lost in vague, yet disturbing, myth and legend. Technology lost, then found again. A realm of priestesses with remarkable powers and implacable purpose who worship a powerful god; a star that blazes unchanging in the skies above. A star which is poised to unleash devastation upon them all.

Humanity has conquered the Solar System. What’s more, death itself has been vanquished. Wellstone - programmable matter - insures that no one need ever die, or indeed, age past adulthood. But for the children of immortal parents, life remains a constant state of arrested development. And a prince shall remain a prince forever, never inheriting the throne. So what is a minor royal to do?

The ruin of cislunar space spurs one habitat to flee, carrying the most valuable resources humanity has ever created. The struggles to control space resources and a juggernaut of new technical advances accelerate geometrically. Mind-blowing advances build upon each other, demanding speed and intelligence. With entire planets in conflict, the long-term potential of civilization’s advance becomes clear. Those who prevail may achieve functional immortality and undreamed of power over reality.

Mahina's terraformers built a high-tech urban paradise. Then Earth flooded the colony with desperate refugees, cop Sass Collier among them. The settlers who arrived with Sass died decades ago. Outside the citadel, their descendants die weak and young. Sass fought a rebellion against the city once. She won concessions to give the settlers a chance at health. She paid with 20 years in prison. Now she’s out, a reformed character. She assembles an oddball crew doing odd jobs. She intends to mind her own business. But her fellow settlers are still failing.

Generations ago, nine ships headed into the unknown to explore a distant star called LQ Pyx. Eons later, the convoy has returned to LQ Pyx to begin work on the Web, the alien megastructure that covers the star. Is it a Dyson Sphere, designed to power a civilization as everyone believes - or something far more sinister? Meanwhile, Planet United's littlest convoy, long thought to be lost, reemerges in a different sector of deep space. What they discover holds the answers to unlocking the Web's greater purpose.

Jax and the crew of the Lightning Runner have narrowly escaped Sinclair and her DSA fleet, but their troubles are far from over. The flight from Iydra Station has depleted their antimatter reserves. Without resupply, they’ll have limited options should they run into trouble again - which they fully intend to do. With numerous parties hunting for their ship, Jax must choose their haven carefully.

The operation aboard the Daedalus was a success, but the aftermath threatens to undo everything the Jax and his team have achieved. Separated from his ship, he is forced to work with Penny, the agent of a notorious black-market arms dealer. Their lifeboat has taken serious damage, and the only way they can survive the maelstrom is to journey to its center. Safety lies aboard an ancient ship. However, Jax immediately finds himself facing a new challenge at the behest of a new master - all the while avoiding the prior ones who want their pound flesh...and credit.

Sol has fallen, but the fight continues to rage. Oberon stayed behind, nothing more than a ghost on a radar screen, watching as the Clicks increase their presence on planet Earth. What's going on with the humans left behind? No one knows. Humanity's fleet admiral has survived! And he's issuing orders. Oberon is sent on a mission where it must succeed or die trying. It isn't what any of the crew wants, but it is what they must do.

Commanders from six Star Trek crews are faced with the ultimate gamble, as they hurl themselves through a Gateway without any knowledge of what lay beyond. Each faces a personally unique challenge, struggling to find a way back to the ships and homes they left behind. Waiting behind at least one of the Gateways are the ageless Iconians, the primordial architects of the mysterious portals causing chaos throughout the Milky Way galaxy.

When an enormous and potent alien ship appears in the colony system of Gliese 370, EarthFleet's Marines must investigate. What they find within will change the course of humanity's future yet again, as they face Desolator. The risks are high and so is the price in blood - and the payoff: new technology far ahead of their own, which may provide the key to fight the alien Meme Empire

Xander has betrayed Lyssa and the Weapon Born, and Alexander has initiated an attack on InnerSol. Now Andy, Lyssa, and the crew struggle to make sense of what is happening and warn InnerSol about the thousands of missiles that have launched from one of Neptune’s moons. Meanwhile, in InnerSol, Brit, Jirl, and Petral rush to safety in the wake of Clinic 13’s destruction. Their plan to destroy the Heartbridge clinics is thwarted, and now they must find another way to strike out at the massive corporation.

Three hundred million years ago, the galactic community was taken by surprise. A catastrophic war with a hostile entity threatened to destroy all life until the fight was postponed by a calamitous event known as the Great Conflation. With the majority of pre-Conflation empires in ruins and the Ascended Biologicals wiped out, the hastily formed Wanderer Enclave tasked its fleet with unearthing answers and continuing the fight. One lone ship has found something: an innocuous world it had marked for routine decontamination that may hold vital answers.