Space First Contact

United States Diplomat Danielle Lowen was there when one of her fellow diplomats committed an unthinkable act that had consequences for the entire planet. Now she’s trying to figure out how it happened before it can happen again. Putting the puzzle pieces together could solve the mystery - or it could threaten her own life. "The Gentle Art of Cracking Heads" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

Escaping intergalactic kidnappers has never been quite so ridiculous. When Lem and her faithful dog, Spock, retreat from the city for a few days of hiking in Algonquin Park, the last thing they expect is to be kidnapped by aliens. No, scratch that. The last thing they expect is to be kidnapped by a bunch of strangely adorable intergalactic bounty hunters aboard a ship called the Teapot. After Lem falls in with an unlikely group of allies, the gang must devise a cunning plan to escape their captors and make it back home safely.

The lone survivor of a horrific experiment, warrior Mylomon was left with unique and dangerous abilities. He takes care of the necessary dirty work for his clan, but he’s yet to earn their trust. After all, how can you trust an assassin? Now that he’s found his fated mate, his miracle, she recoils at the sight of him. Daisy is every good and sweet thing in the universe, and he will not let her go. How can he convince her that he’s not the monster he appears to be?

Deathworld: a planet that has evolved to kill all humans. Jason dinAlt, a so-so psionic gambler, is made an offer he can’t refuse - go to Deathworld and tame it. So begins Harry Harrison’s classic science-fiction tale of alien adventure; and Jason discovers that the reason behind Deathworld’s aggression is as shocking as the violence on the surface.

Archaeologist Eliana Fisk is ripped from Earth while the whole world watches. She lands on a strange new world inhabited by a lost tribe of ancient Mayans. Meeting them, getting firsthand exposure to age-old customs and rituals...it seems like an archaeologist’s dream. But what if their rituals have a darker meaning? What if the god these people pray to is no god at all? And how in the world will she ever get back home?

The Galactic Peacekeepers are being hunted. The tables have turned. Marshals are going missing. Marshal Throttle Reyne and her Black Sheep are sent on a mission to investigate the recent surge in pirate attacks. But when the pirates unite and take over Free Station, the headquarters of the Galactic Peacekeepers, the Black Sheep must make a suicide run against the pirates and save the lives of their friends. If they fail, the system will belong to the pirates.

The Dusman offered to let humanity become their servitors, but the leaders of Earth’s Four Horsemen were unified in their decision: No, thanks. With the Dusman returning in strength, though, and steadily growing their influence and armed presence, humanity finds itself in a difficult place. The Guild War continues to rage, with planets becoming increasingly desperate for nonexistent help, while the Mercenary Guild continues to sit on its hands, despite Nigel Shirazi’s attempts to break the deadlock.

Less than three months have passed since Captain Charlotte Omandi and the crew of Earth’s first starship, the TSS Bladerunner, narrowly prevented an extinction-level event from wiping out humanity. Omandi knows Earth remains on borrowed time, until she meets with leaders of the Galactic Confederation to convince them that our planet no longer represents a threat. As she and her crew prepare to become the first humans to travel outside our solar system, a string of assassination attempts lead them to an unlikely mystery.

Andre runs into trouble riding with Rachel while he's on leave. By the time he's back on duty, Rachel has decided to join up with BSR. Her first job is a doozy, though. She has to keep the twins out of trouble. Slavers show up again with hopes of getting the company out of the way. After the fleet explains the error in their ways, they head out to check on a new planet. A stowaway causes trouble for Topper, but it turns out for the best.

The Devil's Heart is a legendary object of unsurpassed power and mystery. Worlds that believe in magic consider it Darkness's mightiest talisman; and worlds of science consider it a lost artifact of some ancient and forgotten race. Some say the Heart enables its possessor to control people's minds and to amass wealth enough for a dozen lifetimes, while others think it capable of raising the dead, perhaps even changing the flow of time itself. But to all, the location of this fabled object has remained a mystery, until now.

Their family reunion will be disrupted, however, when a catastrophe strikes the space station. The crew of the Edison suddenly find themselves fighting for their lives - and amongst the chaos, Taniya will discover that she's not the only member of the crew with a secret....

Three years have passed, and the children are growing like weeds as Aisha grows into a new career. A mob of alien party animals has settled near Union Station like a plague, but nobody seems willing to see them off. They bring word of a new wave of helpful artificial intelligence, but perhaps there's such a thing as too helpful?

Richard Muller was an honorable diplomat who braved unimaginable dangers to make contact with the first-known race of intelligent aliens. But those aliens left a mark on him: a psychic wound that emanates a telepathic miasma that his fellow humans can neither cure nor endure. Muller is exiled to the remote planet of Lemnos, where he is left, deeply embittered, at the heart of a deadly maze - until a new alien race appears, seemingly intent on exterminating humanity.

On a privately financed orbital habitat above the planet Uranus, political idealism conflicts with pragmatic - and illegal - methods of financing. Add a scientist who has funding to launch a probe deep into Uranus‘ ocean depths to search for signs of life, and you have a three-way struggle for control. Humans can’t live on the gas giants, making instead a life in orbit. Kyle Umber, a religious idealist, has built Haven, a sanctuary above the distant planet Uranus.

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.

Commander Noa Sato plans a peaceful leave on her home planet, Luddeccea, but winds up interrogated and imprisoned for her involvement in the Archangel Project. A project she knows nothing about. Professor James Sinclair wakes in the snow, not remembering the past 24 hours or knowing why he is being pursued. The only thing he knows is that he has to find Commander Sato, a woman he's never met.

During James T. Kirk's heroic five year mission as captain of the Starship Enterprise, a mysterious alien threat called "The Totality" commenced its stealthy invasion, intending to conquer the Milky Way galaxy as it had conquered the Andromeda. Now the time for secrecy has passed, and a war unlike any other has begun, one that threatens to destroy the Federation, first by bringing warp travel to an end, and then by absorbing all living matter into an unknown realm.

Following the explosive events of Star Trek: Nemesis, the Romulan Star Empire is in disarray, and Ambassador Spock attempts to render aid by launching a last-ditch effort to reunify the Romulans with their distant forebearers, the Vulcans. But when Spock is publicly assassinated at a Romulan peace rally, Starfleet and the Federation are unable to search for the criminals responsible without triggering an intergalactic war.

If you like bold characters, planet-hopping, and edge-of-your-seat action, then you'll love Michael Robertson's thrilling series. The Shadow Order - Book one of the Shadow Order series. In a fight, Seb is unbeatable. But in this galaxy, there are a million ways to lose… Seb Zodo has never backed down from a fist fight. After all, he's been gifted with powers that make losing impossible. But lately, Seb's gift seems more like a curse… This bundle also includes The First Mission and The Crimson War, the second and third books of The Shadow Order series.

Arcurus Gate ist ein besonderes Sternentor. Es ermöglicht Verbindungen zwischen den Welten und katapultiert die Erde aus dem Jahr 2020 in eine unbekannte Zukunft. Die Geschichte, die mit Adam begann, endet nun ... mit einem Adam, der immer noch nichts versteht und nichts lieber tun würde, als wieder Plätzchen auf der Erde auszuliefern. Aber das Schicksal sucht sich den Helden aus, nicht andersherum. Eine Regel, die leider auch im All gilt.