Science Fiction First Contact Contemporary

The Carls just appeared. Coming home from work at three a.m., 23-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship - like a 10-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor - April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads Online. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world - everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires - and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense media spotlight.

Orson Scott Card, Kevin J. Anderson, and Larry Niven have seen the future. Now you can, too. A constellation of the brightest lights in the science fiction and fantasy firmament have judged these authors to be the best, the brightest, the truest emerging stars in the field.

Danika Silva can’t stand Lt. Greer Burns. Her roommate’s older brother may be sexy as hell, but he’s also a cold, unfeeling robot. She just wants to graduate and forget about her scowling superior. But when a dangerous mistake lands Danika on probation - under Greer’s watch - she’s forced to interact with the big, hulking jerk. Call him daily to check in? Done. Ride shotgun in his cruiser every night? Done. Try not to climb into his giant, muscular lap and kiss him? Umm....

One. The silver-haired Cygnian Princess Nyleena was still safely frozen away in her cryopod. And two. There was a good chance she was his soul mate. He left anyway. Nyleena is what you might call feisty. Or sassy. Or maybe just...feral. She is wild. Much too wild for Luck’s taste. But now that he’s home there’s no way to deny it. Like it or not, she is his. Lucky for him, all Cygnian Princesses have one true weakness. They cannot resist cooking up crazy plans to tackle unsolvable problems. And he’s going to use that irresistible urge to tame her savage spirit.

They came in peace. But that was last time.... As the world gears up for the first anniversary of Contact Day, Dan McCarthy’s year-long effort to stay out of the limelight collapses in an instant. A direct call from the Messengers throws Dan into urgent action, but the fallout plants a troubling seed of doubt: This time, maybe they didn’t come here to help....

Helena and the oracular bookstore Abernathy’s stopped an attack by the alien invaders’ human allies and destroyed their attempt at a second oracle, giving the Wardens much-needed victories. Now, after months of fighting a defensive war, the Wardens plan a direct assault on the enemy stronghold. But as the battle approaches, Abernathy’s has other plans. The oracle directs Helena to contact four ordinary people with extraordinary talents whose abilities will change the course of the war. If she fails, it will mean the deaths of thousands—including those Helena loves most.

Brittany Callaghan thinks she's dreaming when a blond, nearly seven-feet-tall Nordic god shows up on her doorstep in her tiny California town. He claims to be a barbarian warrior in need of her help. Though a stunning, statuesque beauty herself, intelligent and independent Brittany has struggled hard to earn respect in a man's world. She is taken aback when Dalden, a spectacular Viking who is a long way from home, needs her help - and is willing to pay for it.

It takes a special kind of Omega to bring an Alpha to his knees. Kind. Sweet. Beautiful. With legs that go on forever, colored eyes, perky protruding nose, funny ears, and...Where was I? Ah yes, I collected one such Omega, and I’m bringing her before my king. I am Tayseer, the Collector, the Legend. And I will deliver my people the queen.

Matthew is a normal 11-year-old boy living with his parents and little sister in Surrey. He's too old and sensible to have an imaginary friend really. Yet when Matthew's parents keep finding him talking and arguing with a strange presence whom Matthew calls Chocky, that's what they believe it must be…at first. But Chocky is oddly sinister, and keeps asking Matthew all sorts of complicated questions about the world and making him behave in unusual and erratic ways. Then Matthew suddenly does something heroic, well beyond his capabilities; the media become interested and the interest in Matthew widens.

In a universe where the laws of physics and the speed of light are completely alien to our own, the travelers on the ship Peerless have completed a generations-long struggle to develop advanced technology in a desperate attempt to save their home world. But as tensions mount over the risks of turning the ship around and starting the long voyage home, a new complication arises: The prospect of constructing a messaging system that will give the Peerless news of its own future.

Tiger has lost almost everything. Her village. Her community. Her father. But her brother, Tarren, who has been kidnapped by the deadheads that razed her village, still lives. With only the loyal but enigmatic old man, Sai, to guide her into the nightmare-jungle that was once North America, Tiger must face her greatest fears in a race to save her brother before he is lobotomized, even while the world around her is bled dry by Those That Watch.

When alien warrior Kozien Lorrz left behind life as the heir to his planet's throne to run a team that hunts down missing things, his father swore he'd make him regret the decision. According to the king, leaving his duties behind was a mistake, and taking his brothers was an act of treason. Now, with business dwindling, Kozien is forced to send a message into the universe that his team is offering a pro-bono case—a move that could draw in new clients or alert their father to their whereabouts.

Penn and Chandelle, an older couple, rent a house in the city at a bargain price and discover that its back door opens onto an endless forest. Now they know why others were scared off. That's only the beginning of the oddities about this particular piece of realty. They decide to call in experts: their grandchildren, Lloyd and Llynn, who pitch in with a will to try to discover what and why. But it may be more of a challenge than they can handle.

For years, they’ve struggled to keep their dying planet alive. But, as their star reaches the inevitable end of its life cycle, the Elquin people have finally run out of options. They must find a new place to live or face certain death and the planet Earth, with its thriving conditions for life, seems like the most promising option.

Does Bigfoot really exist? Yep, he does. And he came in a spaceship. After a middle school field trip to Earth, Bigfoot youngster Errl is wandering in the forest, lost. While waiting for his friends to return, he falls in love with a golden-haired beauty. Errl also meets other humans on his journey. Some of them seem nice, while others carry dangerous guns. Life is scary for a young Bigfoot on the run.

Molly and Gene Myers were happy, until tragedy blighted their hopes of children. During the years of darkness and despair, they each put their marriage in jeopardy, but now they are starting to rebuild their fragile bond. This is the year of Woodstock and the moon landings; war is raging in Vietnam and the superpowers are threatening each other with annihilation. Then the Meteor crashes into Amber Grove, devastating the small New England town - and changing their lives for ever.

Hunter Hume was kicked from the Star Pilot’s Guild and now scrapes a living guiding rich clients onto unpopulated worlds to hunt the wildlife. When scouting a new world Hume spotted something unusual and saw an opportunity to make money. In a devilish deal with an underworld kingpin Hume leads a safari into the jungle world of Jumala, and into a terrifying situation he never expected.

Fisher Palmer is an old man, working as a janitor at a Montana pharmacy, when a strange little boy presents him with a bizarre gift. It would seem that Fisher has been chosen, and the child that picked him is not actually a child at all, but something far more alien.

Five Moons: Convolute drops you right into the middle of the action as the Syndicate's last mobsters hunt down a Special Forces agent in the streets of Habston, the biggest little city on Panara-5. It quickly becomes a running gun battle as Dallas Blake and the crew of the Five Moons try to save him. Special Forces enlists the Five Moons to transport their agents to Daggan-7, but the alien mysteries of this ship are not about to give Dallas any breaks. In the worst of places, Dallas suddenly finds himself embroiled in yet another alien enigma with only a cryptic message.

Earth pilot Maeve and her son Davin have joined the Ixtrayu, hoping to avert the destruction that their leader, Kelia, has foretold. But will Maeve's burgeoning Wielding powers be enough to thwart the machinations of Elzor and his lightning-wielding sister, Elzaria, before everything the Ixtrayu have ever known is destroyed in Elzor's quest for ultimate power?