Captain Evgeny Lerner was already struggling to maintain his mastery of the pirate starship Scape Grace and her crew of pan-galactic rogues. He just wanted to guide her toward profit and away from disaster, by navigating the shrinking shadows of an expanding galactic Collective. Stuck with a giant, violent, authoritarian first mate; a half-computer communications officer; a xenophobic ship's doctor; a psychotic, saurian weapons officer; a genetically engineered engineer torn from ...

The novels of Iain M. Banks have forever changed the face of modern science fiction. His Culture books combine breathtaking imagination with exceptional storytelling, and have secured his reputation as one of the most extraordinary and influential writers in the genre.'Banks is a phenomenon' William GibsonThe Culture - a utopian human-machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many expert Game Players, and one of the greatest is Jernau Morat...

The Robert Sheckley Megapack presents 14 short stories and 1 novel by the author Neil Gaiman called "probably the best short-story writer during the '50s to the mid-1960s working in any field." Here are tales of adventure in strange futures, full of the wry wit and piercing characterizations that made Sheckley one of the great writers working in science fiction!"Robert Sheckley: the best short-story writer the field has produced." — Alan Dean Foster"I had no idea the compet...

Tor Essentials presents new editions of science fiction and fantasy titles of proven merit and lasting value, each volume introduced by an appropriate literary figure.After thousands of years of searching, humans stand on the verge of first contact with an alien race. Two human groups: the Qeng Ho, a culture of free, innovative traders, and the Emergents, a ruthless society based on the technological enslavement of minds.The group that opens trade ...

Bestselling author Alan Dean Foster returns to his acclaimed Humanx universe, where a young human orphan called Flinx seeks to unlock the dangerous secrets of his past–and the uncertain prospects of his future with the aid of the formidable minidrag known as Pip. This mind-bending Pip and Flinx adventure is a roller-coaster ride into the unknown, filled with wonder and humor, and a host of deadly adversaries.Using his enhanced empathic abilities, Flinx finesses his...

A NASA crew sets out on a one-way mission to Saturn's largest moon in this adventure from the bestselling multiple British Science Fiction Award winner.Possible signs of organic life have been found on Titan, Saturn's largest moon. A group of visionaries led by NASAs Paula Benacerraf plan a daring one-way mission that will cost them everything. Taking nearly a decade, the billion-mile voyage includes a "slingshot" transit of Venus, a catastrophic solar storm, and a ...

A thrilling tale of a futuristic space odyssey, with a stellar plot set in an intriguing time. The story begins when a young astrophysicist fi nds an anomaly in the solar system that could signal the beginning of the end of the world. Dr. Dia Vu is stricken with a brain aneurysm while in the process of trying to warn mankind of the impending disaster and is put into a cryogenic state to protect her until she can be treated and served. Her preservation allows her to be a part of the quest f...

After ten thousand years in exile, the cyber-warriors return in their fleet of spaceships to the planet that rejected them: Earth.Other Series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.The Saga of RecluceThe Imager PortfolioThe Corean ChroniclesThe Spellsong CycleThe Ghost BooksThe Ecolitan MatterThe Forever HeroTimegod's WorldOther BooksThe Green ProgressionHammer of Darkness

Here are 25 stories of science fiction that push the envelope, by the biggest names in an emerging new crop of high-tech futuristic SF - including Charles Stross, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Peter Hamilton and Neal Asher. High-tech SF has made a significant comeback in the last decade, as bestselling authors successfully blend the super-science of 'hard science fiction' with real characters in an understandable scenario. It is perhaps a reflection of how technologically controlled our ...

The Humanx Commonwealth: Book Eight.The mission to planet Quofum to investigate unknown flora and fauna is supposed to be a quickie for Captain Boylan and his crew.The first surprise is that Quofum, which seems to regularly slip in and out of existence, is actually there when they arrive. The second surprise is Quofum's wild biodiversity: the planet is not logical, ordered or rational. But the real shock comes when the crew members not only find a killer in their m...

The year is 2438. Humanity has migrated to the stars in discrete waves, driven by evolving technologies and new ways of being human. The far-flung Arc Systems struggle under the yoke of their newest rulers—Exarchs from Sol, whose monopoly on faster-than-light communication gives them absolute control of a growing interstellar empire.But humans weren't the first to conquer the stars, and the discovery of an alien artifact promising transport between systems threatens to undermine the...