Space Adventures Science

Humanity is on the brink of annihilation. Only one man can turn the tide. For centuries, we explored the stars and settled new worlds. But a mysterious alien threat emerged, launching devastating attacks and seizing entire star systems. Every fifty years they come, silent and relentless, before disappearing again into the dark. And as they close in on humanity’s home worlds, one more defeat could mean total extinction.

John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army. The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce—and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding. Earth itself is a backwater.

Lieutenant Heyd Calder is a Primaris Marine whose mastery of warfare is matched only by his diplomatic prowess. Under the orders of Roboute Guilliman, he is deployed to Almace, a minor seat of the Ecclesiarchy, to protect the world at whatever cost. Yet even as diabolical forces leer from the system's edge, Calder discovers that the capital's Cardinal-Governor, a sharp, inscrutable figure of spiritual and material authority, is hiding something. When it becomes clear that conquest is not the enemy’s sole aim, Calder resolves to uncover the secret of Almace.

This audiobook brings together 13 uproarious short stories and one novella, focused on Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium. His stories are celebrated as heroic propaganda pieces, but he’s simply trying to stay alive in a hostile galaxy.

It is 83 years after the last thinking machines were destroyed in the Battle of Corrin, after Faykan Butler took the name of Corrino and established himself as the first Emperor of a new Imperium. The war hero Vorian Atreides has turned his back on politics and Salusa Secundus. The descendants of the disgraced Abulurd Harkonnen have sworn vengeance against Vor, blaming him for the downfall of their noble family.

Lieutenant Becky Keller’s brain is fitted with a processing core which can outthink and outfly the most advanced battle computers in the Space Corps. Joe Nation is packed with so many augmentations, he can’t remember which parts of his body are real anymore. All he knows is covert ops, and there’s no one better than Nation. The pair of them are given a mission - infiltrate the Isob-2 processing facility of a semi-hostile alien species known as Estral and find out if they’re breaking the terms of a peace treaty.

The lines. No ship can traverse the void without them. Only linesmen can work with them. But only Ean Lambert hears their song. And everyone thinks he's crazy.... Most slum kids never go far, certainly not becoming a level 10 linesman like Ean. Even if he's part of a small and unethical cartel, and the other linesmen disdain his self-taught methods, he's certified and working. Then a mysterious alien ship is discovered at the edges of the galaxy.

In the stunning continuation of the epic adventure begun in Hyperion, Simmons returns us to a far future resplendent with drama and invention. Onthe world of Hyperion, the mysterious Time Tombs are opening. And the secrets they contain mean that nothing - nothing anywhere in the universe - will ever be the same.

An attitude? Why not? After all, what would you do if you were abducted by aliens and transported into a strange new universe away from your home, your family - everything familiar to you? Would it make you happy? Not likely! Now imagine you're stronger, faster, and more coordinated than every alien species you encounter. Would you start kicking some ass? Of course you would! This is the story of human superiority in the galaxy, a gritty, realistic profile of a young Navy SEAL who doesn't like aliens very much - and he makes them pay for the bad mood he's in.

He is known by many names - Clonelord, Manflayer, Primogenitor. He is the epitome of deceit and perversion, and feared by man and monster alike. Once the Chief Apothecary of the Emperor's Children, the madman known as Fabius Bile possesses a knowledge of genetic manipulation second to none.

Although the exciting military career she hoped for never got off the ground, Ky Vatta ended up seeing plenty of combat when she took the helm of one of the commercial transport vessels in her family's fleet...and steered it into a full-blown war. Now the lessons she learned in that trial by fire are about to pay off---because this time, the war has come to her. Someone has launched a full-throttle offensive against Vatta Transport Ltd., Ky's father's interstellar shipping empire.

After years of waiting in the shadows, Darth Sidious is taking the first step in his master plan to bring the Republic to its knees. Key to his scheme are the Neimoidians of the Trade Federation. Then one of his Neimoidian contacts disappears, and Sidious does not need his Force-honed instincts to suspect betrayal. He orders his apprentice, Darth Maul, to hunt the traitor down.

Robust, peaceful, and confident, the Commonwealth dispatched a ship to investigate the mystery of a disappearing star, only to inadvertently unleash a predatory alien species that turned on its liberators, striking hard, fast, and utterly without mercy.The Prime are the Commonwealth's worst nightmare. Coexistence is impossible with the technologically advanced aliens, who are genetically hardwired to exterminate all other forms of life.

Join Desmond as he learns to manipulate mana — a source of power that exists beyond the reach of most people in the universe — meets vastly different alien species, risks life and limb, all while trying to pass classes. If he’s lucky, he will find someone he can trust out here amongst the weird. If he's very lucky, maybe someone he can love.

Jacques McKeown is the most celebrated author of star-pilot fiction in the galaxy. He's rich, famous, and living in luxury, and his universe-wide fanbase eagerly awaits any news of his next book. There's just one small hitch. He's not Jacques McKeown. He's Dashford Pierce, star pilot and con artist, and if only the impatient calls from his publisher were the worst of his problems. There's also the last vestige of the Henderson crime gang, trouble brewing in the retired star-pilot community, and a small matter of somebody trying to kill him.

From the shores of a secret planet to the halls of power in Washington, Van navigates a complex web of lies, law, and politics, all so that Earth can be saved from the clutches of ruthless criminals. But these people aren't from Earth. In fact, they're not even human, and they see Earth as a ripe fruit ready to be picked. That doesn't work for Van and his crew, so he begins fighting back with the dirtiest tactics of all: diplomacy. Since the aliens are among us, and they want money and power, Perry and Miryam will unleash their skills to craft a plan.

A deadly plague is ravaging the planet of Aerius, and millions of Imperial citizens are dying. Inquisitor Sternberg turns to the fearsome Space Wolves for aid in recovering the ancient Talisman of Lykos, which he believes can cure the corruption ravaging the world. Ragnar Blackmane and his squad of Blood Claws embark on a near-suicidal mission to retrieve the talisman before it is too late. But this is no ordinary plague, and the servants of Nurgle await the Space Wolves. Will they be able to overcome the forces of Chaos, or is Aerius doomed?

The dying Empire's most cunning and ruthless warlord - Grand Admiral Thrawn - has taken command of the remnants of the Imperial fleet and launched a massive campaign aimed at the New Republic's destruction. With the aid of unimaginable weapons long hidden away on a backwater planet, Thrawn plans to turn the tide of battle, overwhelm the New Republic, and impose his iron rule. Meanwhile, Han and Lando Calrissian race against time to find proof of treason inside the highest Republican Council.

The US has abandoned its quest for the stars, and an old enemy has moved in to fill the void. The potential wealth of the universe is now in malevolent hands. Rebel billionaire Dan Randolph - possessor of the largest privately owned company in space - intends to weaken the stranglehold the new despotic masters of the solar system have on the lucrative ore industry. But when the mineral-rich asteroid he sets in orbit around the Earth is commandeered by the enemy, and his unarmed workers are slaughtered in cold blood, the course of Randolph’s life is changed forever.

This omnibus volume contains two Alliance-Union novels, Merchanter's Luck and Forty Thousand in Gehenna.