Space First Contact

Captain Sophia Coloma of the Clarke has a simple task: Ferry around representatives from Earth in an aging spaceship that the Colonial Union hopes to sell to them. But nothing is as simple as it seems, and Coloma discovers the ship she’s showing off holds suprises of its own...and it’s not the only one with secrets. "Tales from the Clarke" 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.

Imperium executors face daunting pressure to control their territories. The assembly’s election of a presiding executor upsets the body’s balance of power. A moderate, Gaketork, wins the election, unseating Rebtar. As required by Imperium law, Rebtar is forced to trade territories with Gaketork. Rebtar inherits a territory where a conclave fleet resides. Despite the Imperium’s peacekeepers being ejected by conclave forces from there, the executor orders both patrol fleets to return. This sets up a dangerous collision between the Krackus fleets and the conclave ships.

Former Marine Will Hawthorne has defeated the Gates of the Golden Staff, but the remnants of the cult have escaped with the tools he needs to finally save his adopted world. Searching for their last stronghold, he and three of his closest wives - fox-girl Merindra, cat-girl Narilora, and bat-girl Mereceeree - must trek deep into the Taitalan wilderness in hopes of destroying the cult once and for all.

Terminally ill salvage pilot Ash Jackson lost everything in the war with the alien Vai, but she’ll be damned if she loses her future. Her plan: to buy, beg, or lie her way out of corporate indenture and find a cure. When she and her crewmates salvage a genocidal weapon from a ravaged starship above a dead colony, Ash uncovers a conspiracy of corporate intrigue and betrayal that threatens to turn her into a living weapon.

The BSR crew have worked hard, getting the Slow Boatmen settled. They deserve a little time off at home in the Holler. Just kicking back, watching the world go by. Their shepherd has other ideas, of course.

When the terraforming crews introduced the alien Quill to worlds where they did not belong, they saw them only as a mindless form of fungal life. But the Quill multiplied and mutated until they were no longer harmless. In the ensuing chaos, many stations failed. For the survivors, their only hope rests in finding a way to wipe out the Quill....

Colonial Union diplomat Hart Schmidt is back home for Harvest Day celebrations - to a family whose members wonder whether its youngest son isn’t wasting his life clinging to the lowest rung of the CU’s diplomatic ladder. When his father, a legendarily powerful politician, presents him with a compelling offer, Schmidt has to take stock of his life and career. "This Must Be the Place" 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.

The Colonial Defense Forces usually protect humanity from alien attack, but now the stability of the Colonial Union has been threatened, and Lieutenant Heather Lee and her squad are called to squash a rebellion on a colony world. It seems simple enough - but there's a second act to the rebellion that finds Lee captive, alone, and armed with only her brains to survive.

Ryo is one of the Thranx, a race of social arthropods. From his larval years to now, his life has been normal, though his love of learning and insatiable curiosity set him apart. He has settled into his work as an agriculture specialist and is premated to a lovely female. Yet Ryo still feels something is missing from his life, and when he heroically defends his colony from the Thranx's reptilian nemesis, Ryo gets a taste of excitement that's hard to forget.

Julie E. Czerneda's acclaimed Web Shifters series continues with the story of Esen - the last survivor of a unique alien race. Able to take on the form of any creature she observes, Esen has long since broken the cardinal rule of her species: noninterference.

Colonel Jake Thomas has found himself at the edge of disaster once more and managed to pull back from the brink. Defeating the alien armada without the use of a re-created doomsday device was a great victory. However, it was a victory tainted by the realization that a new NeHaw leadership was in place, and they knew how to fight a war in space. He was once again fighting a two-front war, one in space and one on the home front.

A chance encounter with a strange creature puts Nathan on the trail of a lost civilization that predates everything else in the galaxy. For thousands of years, many have abandoned the deadly search, but there are powerful forces that will do anything to possess the promised technological marvels that will change everything. Determined to uncover the truth, Nathan joins the hunt, but when the race for the ultimate prize turns deadly, it will test the loyalty of his crew.

The classic far-future novel about the telepathic bond of friendship between human and animal from the grande dame of science fiction and fantasy. Exiled after his home planet was turned into a military outpost following an interstellar war, Troy Horan is relocated to the planet of Korwar. Under the watchful eye of the police state, he lives in the slums in a restricted area for sub-citizens. He works as a day laborer in an interplanetary pet shop and has no idea why the Terran animals have been imported to Korwar or why he has the ability to silently communicate with them.

After the Delphi League defeats the Fazullan invasion of Onisiwo, Catie is tasked with managing the Onisiwoen transition to the Delphi League, as well as the repatriation of all the slaves from the Fazullan fleet. She has to navigate the complex diplomatic circles, as different interests complete for advantage in the new age of interstellar trade.

Now the McCormacks are finally going to get into space. At least if the big governments on Earth don’t stop them. They’ve managed to accumulate enough money to build a city, and now they’re going to build a space station that will create a safe place to manufacture their new technology, and a way to demonstrate to the world that humans have a future in space. But as they demonstrate more advanced technology, they attract more interest from the world’s governments. What will it take to keep their dream alive?

The McCormacks have a starship, and now, they need a safe place to start harvesting the technology. They’re starting with a place in the Cook Islands, but to succeed, they have to avoid spies, figure out how to manufacture the new technology using Earth-based tools, and then introduce it without getting into too much trouble with the governments and big corporations of Earth.

Kate Richmond, former army ranger and ISS operative, has seen a lot in her life. Sabotage, espionage, cyber theft, and assassination missions have all played their parts in her journey to becoming a viper. Nothing surprises her much any more, not even a full scale incursion of an alien race by the Merkiaari!

The McCormacks have been forced to use their technology to protect their position on Earth, and have extended that to other nations as well. What will be the consequences? They’ve discovered two planets that appear to be suitable for colonization: one for the Paraxeans and one for Earth. But they need to make sure they’re really suitable.

CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson has one simple task: Watch an ambassador’s dog while the diplomat is conducting sensitive negotiations with an alien race. But you know dogs - always getting into something. And when this dog gets into something that could launch an alien civil war, Wilson has to find a way to solve the conflict, fast, or be the one in the Colonial Union’s doghouse. "The Dog King" 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.

Albert Birnbaum was once one of the biggest political talk show hosts around, but these days he’s watching his career enter a death spiral. A stranger offers a solution to his woes, promising to put him back on top. It’s everything Birnbaum wants, but is there a catch? And does Birnbaum actually care if there is? "A Voice in the Wilderness" 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.