Hollis Henry never intended to work for global marketing magnate Hubertus Bigend again. But now she’s broke, and Bigend has just the thing to get her back in the game...

Milgrim can disappear in almost any setting, and his Russian is perfectly idiomatic—so much so that he spoke it with his therapist in the secret Swiss clinic where Bigend paid for him to be cured of his addiction...

Garreth doesn't owe Bigend a thing. But he does have friends from whom he can call in the kinds of favors powerful people need when things go sideways...

They all have something Bigend wants as he finds himself outmaneuvered and adrift, after a Department of Defense contract for combat-wear turns out to be the gateway drug for arms dealers so shadowy they can out-Bigend Bigend himself.

“Zero History is [Gibson’s] best yet, a triumph of science fiction as social criticism and adventure.”—BoingBoing.net

The exhilarating dystopian novel that inspired George Orwell's 1984 and foreshadowed the worst excesses of Soviet Russia

Yevgeny Zamyatin's We is a powerfully inventive vision that has influenced writers from George Orwell to Ayn Rand. In a glass-enclosed city of absolute straight lines, ruled over by the all-powerful 'Benefactor', the citizens of the totalitarian society of OneState live out lives devoid of passion and creativity - until D-503, a mathematician who dreams in numbers, makes a discovery: he has an individual soul. Set in the twenty-sixth century AD, We is the classic dystopian novel and was the forerunner of works such as George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. It was suppressed for many years in Russia and remains a resounding cry for individual freedom, yet is also a powerful, exciting and vivid work of science fiction. Clarence Brown's brilliant translation is based on the corrected text of the novel, first published in Russia in 1988 after more than sixty years' suppression.

When the crew of the Covenant arrives on Meridian, a planet ripe for colonization, Tam, the leader of the mission, finds their hopes of survival threatened by an alien race.

Two books by Jules Verne: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth in mass market paperback editions.

"The reason Verne is still read by millions today is simply that he was one of the best storytellers who ever lived." — Arthur C. Clarke

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Professor Aronnax, his faithful servant, Conseil, and the Canadian harpooner, Ned Land, begin an extremely hazardous voyage to rid the seas of a little-known and terrifying sea monster. However, the "monster" turns out to be a giant submarine, commanded by the mysterious Captain Nemo, by whom they are soon held captive. So begins not only one of the great adventure classics by Jules Verne, the 'Father of Science Fiction', but also a truly fantastic voyage from the lost city of Atlantis to the South Pole.

Journey to the Center of the Earth

An adventurous geology professor chances upon a manuscript in which a 16th-century explorer claims to have found a route to the earth's core. Professor Lidenbrock can't resist the opportunity to investigate, and with his nephew Axel, he sets off across Iceland in the company of Hans Bjelke, a native guide. The expedition descends into an extinct volcano toward a sunless sea, where they encounter a subterranean world of luminous rocks, antediluvian forests, and fantastic marine life — a living past that holds the secrets to the origins of human existence.

Originally published in 1864, Jules Verne's classic remains critically acclaimed for its style and imaginative visions. Verne wrote many fantasy stories that later proved remarkably prescient, and his distinctive combination of realism and romanticism exercised a lasting influence on writers as diverse as Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Jean-Paul Sartre. In addition to the excitement of an action novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth has the added appeal of a psychological quest, in which the sojourn itself is as significant as the ultimate destination.

John Varley's monumental trilogy—Titan, Wizard, and Demon—has achieved cult status, hailed as a modern triumph of the imagination by critics and fans.

It begins with humankind's exploration of a massive satellite orbiting Saturn. It culminates in a shocking discovery: the satellite is a giant alien being. Her name is Gaea. Her awesome interior is mind-boggling—because it is a mind. A mind that calls out to explorers...and transforms all who enter.

Bold new essays on how to craft a thrilling read--in any genre--from the bestselling author of The Dead Lands

“[A] lively, helpful guide. . . . [Percy] provides precise advice concerning basics like suspense, setting, and style. . . . His evocative personal anecdotes invigorate even familiar material. . . . In each essay we glimpse an industrious Percy at the daily grind of writing, rereading and editing his fiction. . . . . Beyond craft or theory, and perhaps more helpful than any advice, this book serves as a reminder that writing is hard work.”―The New York Times Book Review

Anyone familiar with the meteoric rise of Benjamin Percy's career will surely have noticed a certain shift: After writing two short-story collections and a literary novel, he delivered the werewolf thriller Red Moon and the postapocalyptic epic The Dead Lands. Now, in his first book of nonfiction, Percy challenges the notion that literary and genre fiction are somehow mutually exclusive. The title essay is an ode to the kinds of books that make many readers fall in love with fiction: science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, horror, from J.R.R. Tolkien to Anne Rice, Ursula K. Le Guin to Stephen King. Percy's own academic experience banished many of these writers in the name of what is "literary" and what is "genre." Then he discovered Michael Chabon, Aimee Bender, Cormac McCarthy, Margaret Atwood, and others who employ techniques of genre fiction while remaining literary writers. In fifteen essays on the craft of fiction, Percy looks to disparate sources such as Jaws, Blood Meridian, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to discover how contemporary writers engage issues of plot, suspense, momentum, and the speculative, as well as character, setting, and dialogue. An urgent and entertaining missive on craft, Thrill Me brims with Percy's distinctive blend of anecdotes, advice, and close reading, all in the service of one dictum: Thrill the reader.

“[Benjamin Percy] peppers his observations of today's literary scene with homey, witty anecdotes, and he couches his analysis in no-nonsense wisdom. . . . Not only does he frame the ins and outs of the writing process with warm, wry reminiscences drawn from his own life, he refuses to lapse into stereotypical preciousness or pretentiousness. He talks bluntly and amiably about how stories work and why they matter, an approach that doesn't take a fellow writer to appreciate.”―NPR Books

“[Benjamin Percy] demonstrates he’s one of contemporary fiction’s sharper critical minds, an author with a rare talent for explaining his craft. . . . Thrill Me is packed with concise, practicable counsel.”―Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

“[Thrill Me] is a fine choice for readers and writers looking for a holistic take on writing that spans genres and styles.”―Tor.com

“Percy dives in head first, and his enthusiasm, in conjunction with his eye for substance and style and his skillful explication, prove a heady mix. . . . Thrill Me is comprehensive in its scope, touching on most of the important pieces of storycraft from stylistic choices to character development . . . with character and vigor, and with a joyful populist tone.”―Electric Literature

As this novel begins, the peaceful village of Çiron faces conquest and domination by the army of Myetra, as led by a cruel prince. The Myetrans subdue Çiron, killing many and enslaving the rest.

But Rahm escapes—and then befriends one of the fearsome Winged Ones, humanoids with batlike wings. Meanwhile, led by the young village garbage collector and an itinerant singer, the Çironians resist where they can, as the Myetran lieutenant Kire struggles with his conscience and tries to ease the Çironians' burden.

They Fly at Çiron—appearing here in its first paperback publication—offers "vintage Delany in his finest fantasy mode" —Ursula K. Le Guin

From Publishers Weekly

Nebula and Hugo winner Delany's latest novel expands on a short story he wrote in 1962, which his friend James Sallis "reworked" in 1969. In a prefatory note, Delany acknowledges Sallis's critical assistance but explains that none of Sallis's additions have been retained. It's not as stunning as Dhalgren , et al., nor as complex as the Neveryon fantasies, but it's enjoyable and stimulating nonetheless. Here, the peaceful village of Ciron faces conquest and domination by the army of Myetra, led by a cruel prince. A village youth, Rahm, encounters a Myetran advance scout, Lt. Kire, in the forest, and the Cironian's innocence confirms the already doubting Kire in his disgust for Myetran violence. Still, the Myetrans subdue Ciron, killing many and enslaving the rest. Rahm escapes and befriends one of the fearsome Winged Ones, humanoids with batlike wings. Meanwhile, led by the young village garbage collector and an itinerant singer, the Cironians resist where they can, as Kire struggles with his conscience and tries to ease the Cironians' burden. Delany invigorates a traditional fantasy plot and stylistic elements with his sensitivity and evocative language--the characters, even the Myetran soldiers, are portrayed with depth and sympathy.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. 

Legendary science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke once noted that, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Seven billion years ago, two vast civilizations battled for control of our galaxy, wielding powers incomprehensible to our young species. After a billion years of war, the losers fled our space-time continuum to escape utter destruction. Now they are returning to resume the titanic struggle.

And on an obscure, backwater planet the natives call Earth, IKE, an Intelligent Kinesthetic Experiment (Kinesthetic means learning by doing), lives in the most powerful quantum computer on the planet, where he is is painfully learning to achieve real consciousness and become humanity's first true Artificial Intelligence. But enormous cosmic forces are gathering to destroy him before that can happen.

Now time is running out for this tiny consciousness struggling to be born. Will there be enough time for him to save himself in the struggle of the giants?  

A mysterious child lands in the care of a solitary woman, changing both of their lives forever, in this captivating debut of connection across space and time.

“The best of what science fiction can be: a thought-provoking, heartrending story about the choices that define our lives.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A solitary ship captain, drifting through time.

Nia Imani is a woman out of place. Traveling through the stars condenses decades into mere months for her, though the years continue to march steadily onward for everyone she has ever known. Her friends and lovers have aged past her. She lives only for the next paycheck, until the day she meets a mysterious boy, fallen from the sky.

A mute child, burdened with unimaginable power.

The scarred boy does not speak, his only form of communication the haunting music he plays on an old wooden flute. Captured by his songs and otherworldly nature, Nia decides to take the boy in to live amongst her crew. Soon, these two outsiders discover in each other the things they lack. For him, a home, a place of love and safety. For her, an anchor to the world outside of herself. For both of them, a family. But Nia is not the only one who wants the boy.

A millennia-old woman, poised to burn down the future.

Fumiko Nakajima designed the ships that allowed humanity to flee a dying Earth. One thousand years later, she now regrets what she has done in the name of progress. When chance brings Fumiko, Nia, and the child together, she recognizes the potential of his gifts, and what will happen if the ruling powers discover him. So she sends the pair to the distant corners of space to hide them as she crafts a plan to redeem her old mistakes. 

But time is running out. The past hungers for the boy, and when it catches up, it threatens to tear this makeshift family apart.

"Wildly imaginative, really interesting." ―President Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy

The Three-Body Problem is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience the Hugo Award-winning phenomenon from China's most beloved science fiction author, Liu Cixin.

Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

New York Times bestselling authors Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston return with an all-new prequel trilogy to Ender's Game, The Second Formic War, with book one, The Swarm

A coalition of corporate and international military forces beat back the first invasion of Earth, in the First Formic War. But it was a near thing, and the devastation of much of Earth has shocked the planet into cooperation.

The war is not won. The single ship that did so much damage was only a scout ship. There is another, much bigger, colony ship on its way into our system, and Earth really doesn’t have any defenses against it. They only have a few months to find some.

Here is the Second Formic War, and the threat to all humanity that led to the creation of the Hegemony, and the Battle School, and the genetic program that led to the birth of Ender Wiggin.

Casper Beech is a corporate drone. One day his boss sends him in for neural imprinting but a computer glitch loads the wrong file, and Casper is programmed with something that has nothing to do with his job. Instead of learning a new software package, he learns a new way of thinking — a mindset designed by a secret government agency for use in enemy nations, and never meant to be unleashed in the United States. Lethal government agents seek to correct the error in a steadily-escalating conflict, while Casper struggles to survive and to find out just what was in the Spartacus File.

The aliens aren't coming. They're here.

We've captured some of them. Are they our saviors, or are they out to destroy us? We've seen no spaceships, received no ultimatums--but the aliens may have a more insidious plot....

Government agent Dan Dannerman and astronomer Patrice Adcock were kidnapped by the aliens and have been returned in altered states, cloned and implanted with strange devices. To what end?

Before the reasons behind their abduction can be made clear, a wave of extremist threats and terrorist attacks sweeps the globe. Are the attacks a reaction to the aliens' arrival--or a part of their plan? A race around the earth and into space begins, as humankind desperately tries to prevent the aliens from establishing a beachhead on Earth.

The siege has begun.

Description

Thwarted in their initial incursion by secret agent Dan Dannerman, aliens armed with high-tech devices and a secret network on Earth and in space, set out to unleash an ever-changing arsenal to undermine Dannerman's efforts to stave off all-out war, in the sequel to The Other End of Time.

From Kirkus Reviews

Pohl's new saga in which an unsuspecting Earth has become the object of a galactic war waged between the Beloved Leaders, or Scarecrows, and the Horch over who controls the ``eschaton,'' a time in the remote future when every being that has ever lived will rise again. Spook Dan Dannerman, astronomer Pat Adcock, and others were abducted from the orbiting Starlab, cloned, and subjected to horrid experiments by alien ``Dopeys'' and ``Docs,'' controlled by the Beloved Leaders. They manage to escape and return to Earth, where they find other copies of themselves with altered memories already in residence. The returnees have also captured a Dopey and two Docs who promise to help them understand Beloved Leader technology. Colonel Hilda Morrisey of the National Bureau of Investigation takes charge of the clones. Then the Docs break free of their Dopey's control and warn of imminent invasion by the Beloved Leaders, and maybe Horch too--until Hilda's assistant, a religious fanatic mole, attempts to blast Hilda, Dan, and the Docs. Pohl does a seamless job of reintroducing readers to the convolutions of his black-comic future tussle. However, while The Other End of Time was both self-contained and sequel-ready, this crowded, complex entry merely seems incomplete. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

“David Anthony Durham has serious chops. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes next."—George R. R. Martin

David Anthony Durham’s acclaimed fantasy saga, the Acacia Trilogy, continues . . . 

As The Sacred Band begins, Queen Corinn bestrides the world as a result of her mastery of spells from the Book of Elenet. Her younger brother, Dariel, has been sent on a perilous mis­sion to the Other Lands. And her sister, Mena, travels to the far north to face an invasion of the feared race of the Auldek. As their separate trajectories converge, a series of world-shaping, earth-shattering battles will force the surviving children of the Akaran dynasty to confront their fates head on—and right some ancient wrongs once and for all.

Praise for David Anthony Durham and The Acacia Trilogy:
 
“A fascinating world.”
—USA Today
 
“A big, fat, rich piece of history-flavored fantasy. . . . Imagined with remarkable thoroughness.”
—Time
 
“Gripping. . . . From the first pages of Acacia, Durham demonstrates that he is a master of the fantasy epic.”
—The Washington Post Book World
 
“Thrilling. . . . Durham’s new world—like our old one—is crawling with wickedly fascinating characters.”
—Entertainment Weekly
 
“Transcendent. . . . As fantasy epics go, the ‘Acacia’ trilogy is a direct and worthy descendant of Tolkien.” —Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

About the Author

David Anthony Durham received the 2009 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer of Science Fiction for Acacia and The Other Lands (the first two volumes of the Acacia Trilogy). Author of the historical novels Gabriel’s Story, Walk Through Darkness, and Pride of Carthage, he was handpicked by George R. R. Martin to write for his Wild Cards series of collaborative novels.

Dubbed the “next Ready Player One,” by former Warner Brothers President Greg Silverman, and now in film development at Lionsgate.

"Featuring themes similar to Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter, the dense sci-fi feel of a Michael Crichton thriller and clever Douglas Adams-like charm, the book posits an intriguing future that is both inviting and horrific." ―Brian Truitt, USA TODAY

It's the year 2147. Advancements in nanotechnology have enabled us to control aging. We’ve genetically engineered mosquitoes to feast on carbon fumes instead of blood, ending air pollution. And teleportation has become the ideal mode of transportation, offered exclusively by International Transport―the world’s most powerful corporation, in a world controlled by corporations.

Joel Byram spends his days training artificial-intelligence engines to act more human and trying to salvage his deteriorating marriage. He’s pretty much an everyday twenty-second century guy with everyday problems―until he’s accidentally duplicated while teleporting.

Now Joel must outsmart the shadowy organization that controls teleportation, outrun the religious sect out to destroy it, and find a way to get back to the woman he loves in a world that now has two of him.

“At a time when most 20th-century science fiction writers seem hopelessly dated, Dick gives us a vision of the future that captures the feel of our time.”—Wired

In the future, most of humanity lives in massive underground bunkers, producing weapons for the nuclear war they've fled. Constantly bombarded by patriotic propaganda, the citizens of these industrial anthills believe they are waiting for the day when the war will be over and they can return aboveground. But when Nick St. James, president of one anthill, makes an unauthorized trip to the surface, what he finds is more shocking than anything he could imagine.

In his most ambitious book yet, Clifford Pickover bridges the gulf between logic, spirit, science, and religion. While exploring the concept of omniscience, Pickover explains the kinds of relationships limited beings can have with an all-knowing God. Pickover's thought exercises, controversial experiments, and practical analogies help us transcend our ordinary lives while challenging us to better understand our place in the cosmos and our dreams of a supernatural God. Through an inventive blend of science, history, philosophy, science fiction, and mind-stretching brainteasers, Pickover unfolds the paradoxes of God like no other writer. He provides glimpses into the infinite, allowing us to think big, and to have daring, limitless dreams.

From Publishers Weekly

Pickover, an inventor, computer artist and professional puzzler (who has edited brainteaser columns for both Discover and Odyssey), invites readers on a paradoxical and sometimes merely quirky exploration of logical and psychological puzzles surrounding God and religion. Many of these "paradoxes" simply put a new face on the familiar conflict between divine foreknowledge and free will; others lead to unexpected conclusions such as Pickover's demonstration of how omniscient beings are at a huge disadvantage in games of "chicken" with non-omniscient beings. (By staying the course, a daring challenger can compel an all-knowing opponent to turn aside, guaranteeing their mutual safety.) This and other examples show how omniscience can become a practical liability in some situations, countering the widespread assumption that knowledge is power. The book is also liberally salted with religious and nonreligious curiosities and conundrums, ranging from biblical oddities to the neuropsychology of time perception, all related with an attitude of mischievous irreverence...

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Lauren Olamina's love is divided among her young daughter, her community, and the revelation that led Lauren to found a new faith that teaches "God Is Change". But in the wake of environmental and economic chaos, the U.S. government turns a blind eye to violent bigots who consider the mere existence of a black female leader a threat. And soon Lauren must either sacrifice her child and her followers -- or forsake the religion that can transform human destiny.

Octavia Estelle Butler, often referred to as the “grand dame of science fiction,” was born in Pasadena, California on June 22, 1947. She received an Associate of Arts degree in 1968 from Pasadena Community College, and also attended California State University in Los Angeles and the University of California, Los Angeles. During 1969 and 1970, she studied at the Screenwriter’s Guild Open Door Program and the Clarion Science Fiction Writers’ Workshop, where she took a class with science fiction master Harlan Ellison (who later became her mentor), and which led to Butler selling her first science fiction stories.

Parable of the Sower is a dystopian classic of terror and hope-the story of an African American teenage girl trying to survive in an all-too-real future-from the "grand dame" of science fiction, Octavia E. Butler.

When unattended environmental and economic crises lead to social chaos, not even gated communities are safe. In a night of fire and death, Lauren Olamina, an empath and the daughter of a minister, loses her family and home and ventures out into the unprotected American landscape. But what begins as a flight for survival soon leads to something much more: a startling vision of human destiny...and the birth of a new faith, as Lauren becomes a prophet carrying the hope of a new world and a revoltionary idea christened "Earthseed".

Chilling and thought-provoking for adult and young adult readers alike, "...there isn't a page in this vivid and frightening story that fails to grip the reader" (San Jose Mercury News).

“David Anthony Durham has serious chops. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes next."—George R. R. Martin

David Anthony Durham’s gripping Acacia Trilogy continues with an epic novel where loyalties are tested, new worlds are discovered, and battle lines are being drawn.

A few years have passed since Queen Corinn has usurped control of the Known World—and she now rules with an iron fist. With plans to expand her empire, she sends her brother, Dariel, on an exploratory mission across the sea to The Other Lands. There, he discovers an alliance of tribes that have no interest in being ruled by Queen Corinn and the Akarans. In fact, Dariel’s arrival ignites a firestorm that once more exposes The Known World to a massive invasion, one unlike anything they have yet faced . . 

David Anthony Durham on The Other Lands 

Recently, I had the amazing experience of being called on stage during the Hugo Awards ceremony to receive the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer of Science Fiction. It was a wonderful, and unexpected, highlight of my publishing life.

I began my publishing career writing historical novels inspired by my interests as an African-American. That’s what readers first knew of me and--three novels in--that might have been the focus of my work thereafter. What they didn’t know was how important fantasy had been to me. In middle school, it was hanging out with Bilbo and Frodo, the Pevensie kids, Taran and Ged and Thomas Covenant that introduced me to literature.

Later I became an academic, wrote literary novels, reviewed and judged awards. That felt very grown up, but something was missing. I was still drawn toward fantastic tales by authors like Octavia Butler, Orson Scott Card, Susanna Clarke, Neil Gaiman, and Frank Herbert. I also realized how much fantasy was a part of my children's life in new works by Cornelia Funke, M.i. McAllister, Philip Pullman, J.K. Rowling, and S.F. Said.

This prompted me to return to the genre. Writing Acacia: The War with the Mein was a process of reconnecting with the young reader I was and merging that with the adult I’d become. That’s why the series is about royal siblings, monsters, quests, magic, and... also about things like global trade, national mythology, the burdens of leadership and about striving to correct past wrongs without making new ones.

I couldn’t be happier with the reception it’s received. I’m honored to have stood on that stage beside those Hugo winners, and I’m very pleased to have been able to continue my tale with The Other Lands. If I have my way, I’ll be switching between our world and my imagined one for years to come, just like some kids I read about years ago...--David Anthony Durham

(Photo © Gudrun Johnston)

Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ringworld, Debt of Honor, and The Integral Trees.Together they have written the critically acclaimed bestsellers Inferno, Footfall, and The Legacy of Heorot, among others. 

The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre.

In the year 3016, the Second Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive. No other intelligent beings have ever been encountered, not until a light sail probe enters a human system carrying a dead alien. The probe is traced to the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud, and an expedition is dispatched.

In the Mote the humans find an ancient civilization--at least one million years old--that has always been bottled up in their cloistered solar system for lack of a star drive. The Moties are welcoming and kind, yet rather evasive about certain aspects of their society. It seems the Moties have a dark problem, one they've been unable to solve in over a million years.

“The single most resonant and carefully imagined book of Dick’s career.” —New York Times

It’s America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names. In San Francisco, the I Ching is as common as the Yellow Pages. All because some twenty years earlier the United States lost a war—and is now occupied by Nazi Germany and Japan.

This harrowing, Hugo Award–winning novel is the work that established Philip K. Dick as an innovator in science fiction while breaking the barrier between science fiction and the serious novel of ideas. In it Dick offers a haunting vision of history as a nightmare from which it may just be possible to wake.

Winner of the Hugo Award

The largest known meteorite has been discovered, entombed in the earth for millions of years on a frigid, desolate island off the southern tip of Chile. At four thousand tons, this treasure seems impossible to move. New York billionaire Palmer Lloyd is determined to have this incredible find for his new museum. Stocking a cargo ship with the finest scientists and engineers, he builds a flawless expedition. But from the first approach to the meteorite, people begin to die. A frightening truth is about to unfold: The men and women of the Rolvaag are not taking this ancient, enigmatic object anywhere. It is taking them.

From Publishers Weekly

The summer-beach reader has few better friends than Preston and Child, who, beginning with Relic (1995), have produced one (generally) smart and suspenseful thriller after another, most recently Thunderhead. Their new novel, which, like its predecessors, skirts the edge of science fiction, is their most expertly executed (though not most imaginative) entertainment yet. Its concept is high and simple: a scientific expedition plans to dig out and transport to New York harbor the mother of all meteorites from its resting spot on an icy island offshore Chile. The mission is nearly impossible: not only will the meteorite be the heaviest object ever moved by humanity, but the Chileans, if they learn of the mission, may decimate it in order to keep the meteorite. Six strong if broadly drawn characters propel the premise into action. There's bullheaded billionaire Palmer Lloyd, who funds the expedition, and three (of the many) people he hires to get the rock: world-class meteorite-hunter Sam McFarlane, disgraced for his obsession about possible interstellar meteorites; Captain Britton, disgraced alcoholic skipper hired to ferry the meteorite to the U.S.; and Eli Glinn, cold-blooded mastermind of an engineering firm dedicated to getting incredible jobs done, this one at the price of $300 million. There's Commandante Vallenar, a Chilean naval officer exiled to his nation's southern wastes, who will stop at nothing to defend Chile's honor and property. Finally, there's the meteorite, blood red, impossibly dense, possessed of strange and dangerous properties. Like the premise, the plot is simple, traversing a near-linear narrative that sustains serious tension as the expedition travels to Chile, digs out the meteorite and heads homeward, only to face both Vallenar and a ferocious storm. What the novel lacks in sophistication, it makes up for in athleticism: this is a big-boned thriller, one that will make a terrific summer movie as well as a memorable hot-day read.  
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The final novel of Hermann Hesse, for which he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946, The Glass Bead Game is a fascinating tale of the complexity of modern life as well as a classic of modern literature

"...a genre blend of science fiction, fantasy, and fictional biography, leavened with musicology, poetry, and Hesse’s unique swirl of Eastern and Western philosophy." -The American Scholar

Set in the 23rd century, The Glass Bead Game is the story of Joseph Knecht, who has been raised in Castalia, the remote place his society has provided for the intellectual elite to grow and flourish. Since childhood, Knecht has been consumed with mastering the Glass Bead Game, which requires a synthesis of aesthetics and scientific arts, such as mathematics, music, logic, and philosophy, which he achieves in adulthood, becoming a Magister Ludi (Master of the Game).

Years ago, Earth and Titan fought a war and Earth lost. The planet was irradiated and most of the surviving population is sterile. The few survivors play an intricate and unending game called Bluff at the behest of the slug-like aliens who rule the planet. At stake in the game are two very important commodities: land and spouses. Pete Garden just lost his wife and Berkeley, California, but he has a plan to win them back. That is, if he isn’t derailed by aliens, psychic traitors, or his new wife.

The Game-Players of Titan is both satire and adventure, examining the ties that bind people together and the maddening peccadilloes of bureaucracy, whether the bureaucrats are humans or alien slugs.

"The science fictional equivalent of A Song of Ice and Fire...only with fewer beheadings and way more spaceships."―NPR Books on Cibola Burn

"Combining an exploration of real human frailties with big sf ideas and exciting thriller action, Corey cements the series as must-read space opera."―Library Journal(starred review) on Cibola Burn

"The Expanse series is the best space opera series running at full tilt right now, and Cibola Burn continues that streak of excellence."―io9 on Cibola Burn

"Corey's splendid fourth Expanse novel blends adventure with uncommon decency."―Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Cibola Burn

"A politically complex and pulse-pounding page-turner.... Corey perfectly balances character development with action... series fans will find this installment the best yet."―Publishers Weekly on Abaddon's Gate

"It's been too long since we've had a really kickass space opera. LEVIATHAN WAKES is interplanetary adventure the way it ought to be written, the kind of SF that made me fall in love with the genre way back when, seasoned with a dollop of horror and a dash of noir. Jimmy Corey writes with the energy of a brash newcomer and the polish of a seasoned pro. So where's the second book?"―George R.R. Martin on Leviathan Wakes

"An excellent space operatic debut in the grand tradition of Peter F. Hamilton."―Charles Stross on Leviathan Wakes

"High adventure equaling the best space opera has to offer, cutting-edge technology, and a group of unforgettable characters bring the third installment of Corey's epic space drama (after Caliban's War and Leviathan Wakes) to an action-filled close while leaving room for more stories to unfold. Perhaps one of the best tales the genre has yet to produce, this superb collaboration between fantasy author Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck should reawaken an interest in old-fashioned storytelling and cinematic pacing. Highly recommended."―Library Journal on Abaddon's Gate

"Literary space opera at its absolute best."―io9.com on Abaddon's Gate

"[T]he authors are superb with the exciting bits: Shipboard coups and battles are a thrill to follow."―Washington Post on Abaddon's Gate

About the Author

James S.A. Corey is the pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. They both live in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Einstein Intersection won the Nebula Award for best science fiction novel of 1967. The surface story tells of the problems a member of an alien race, Lo Lobey, has assimilating the mythology of earth, where his kind have settled among the leftover artifacts of humanity. The deeper tale concerns, however, the way those who are "different" must deal with the dominant cultural ideology. The tale follows Lobey's mythic quest for his lost love, Friza. In luminous and hallucinated language, it explores what new myths might emerge from the detritus of the human world as those who are "different" try to seize history and the day.

Featuring virtual reality, parallel worlds, and interstellar travel, The Divine Invasion is the second novel in the VALIS trilogy by Philip K. Dick, the Hugo Award–winning author of The Man in the High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?—the basis for the film Blade Runner.

God is not dead, he has merely been exiled to an extraterrestrial planet. It is on this planet that Yah—as this possible God is known—meets Herb Asher and convinces him to help Yah return to Earth, which is itself under the control of the demonic Belial. To do this, Asher must shepherd a woman pregnant with Yah past the tight security of Earth.

Part science fiction adventure, part religious inquiry, The Divine Invasion questions just how much anyone really knows—or really can know—about the nature of reality and God.  

As the middle novel of Dick’s VALIS trilogy, The Divine Invasion plays a pivotal role in answering the questions raised by the first novel, expanding that world while exploring just how much anyone can really know—even God himself.

In Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson took science fiction to dazzling new levels. Now, in The Diamond Age, he delivers another stunning tale. Set in twenty-first century Shanghai, it is the story of what happens when a state-of-the-art interactive device falls in the hands of a street urchin named Nell. Her life—and the entire future of humanity—is about to be decoded and reprogrammed…

This near-future trilogy is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience this multiple-award-winning phenomenon from Cixin Liu, China's most beloved science fiction author.

In The Dark Forest, Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion-in just four centuries' time. The aliens' human collaborators may have been defeated, but the presence of the sophons, the subatomic particles that allow Trisolaris instant access to all human information, means that Earth's defense plans are totally exposed to the enemy. Only the human mind remains a secret. This is the motivation for the Wallfacer Project, a daring plan that grants four men enormous resources to design secret strategies, hidden through deceit and misdirection from Earth and Trisolaris alike. Three of the Wallfacers are influential statesmen and scientists, but the fourth is a total unknown. Luo Ji, an unambitious Chinese astronomer and sociologist, is baffled by his new status. All he knows is that he's the one Wallfacer that Trisolaris wants dead.

"Dick’s best books always describe a future that is both entirely recognizable and utterly unimaginable."—The New York Times Book Review

When a repairman accidentally discovers a parallel universe, everyone sees it as an opportunity, whether as a way to ease Earth’s overcrowding, set up a personal kingdom, or hide an inconvenient mistress. But when a civilization is found already living there, the people on this side of the crack are sent scrambling to discover their motives. Will these parallel humans come in peace, or are they just as corrupt and ill-intentioned as the people of this world? 

When the tail of the comet Bhaktul flicks through the Earth's atmosphere, deadly particles are left in its wake, and mankind is confronted with a virus that devastates the adult population. A renowned scientist proposes a bold plan: to build a ship that will carry a crew of 251 teenagers to a home in a distant solar system. Two years later, Galahad and its crew is launched. If their mission fails, it will be the end of the human race…

The teenage crew of Galahad has survived their first encounter with an alien race. Though shaken by the power of The Cassini, Triana and her Council are determined to continue their mission. But some of the crew don't agree. Led by the charismatic Merit Simms, a small group of crew members begins lobbying for a return to Earth―just as the ship enters the Kuiper Belt, the deadly minefield of asteroids that surrounds the solar system.

As Galahad dodges a storm of asteroids, Triana finds herself dealing with an increasingly hostile crew. Even some members of the Council are beginning to listen to Merit's arguments. Can Triana find a way to prevent a mutiny aboard Galahad, and lead her crew to safety?