An unknown virus is rapidly spreading through planet Earth, leaving billions sick or dying. When the epidemic is finally over and the funeral pyres have started to burn down, the survivors soon discover that the disease was a "greeting" message sent by an alien species deep in space. The aliens have genetically altered one group of humans, who are no longer concerned with the past, but only wish to make further contact with their strange alien brethren. The rest of the survivors are those who were naturally immune to the virus and desperately wish for Earth to be as it was. They are angry, confused, and sure that any attempts to contact the aliens will mean certain doom.

368 p

The Essential Companion Guide to the Night's Dawn Trilogy: The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, and The Naked GodPeter F. Hamilton amazed sci-fi readers with his astonishing, internationally bestselling Night's Dawn trilogy, which introduced the future history Confederation of nano-augmented Adamists, genetically engineered Edenists, and alien species such as the Tyrathca and Kiint...

A GALACTIC ALMANAC
Now Hamilton reveals the true potential of his brilliantly realized epic. Expanding on its concepts and complexities, The Confederation Handbook explores the 600-year history of more than 21,500 inhabited worlds, asteroids, and bitek habitats.

Discover for the first time:
* How Edenist space colonies are grown
* The real story of the Kulu Kings and the exiled Lord of Ruin
* Why Adamist religions caused the human schism by rejecting Affinity
* The tragic legacy of Rubra, the Edenist rebel who created Valisk* Tyrathca mating rituals ...and much more.

Covering geology, politics, technology, weaponry, and alien lifeforms, The Confederation Handbook is a triumph of world-building and a must read for Peter Hamilton's legion of fans.From the arcologies of Earth to the shards of the Ruin Ring, uncover the...

MYSTERIES OF THE NIGHT'S DAWN UNIVERSE
* Why is the Kulu Intelligence Service so feared?* What are the differences between blackhawks and voidhawks?
* Why can''t the Weeping Rose be grown anywhere except on Norfolk?
* Why are Cosmoniks so modified, and are they all still human?* What do Kiint really look like?
* Why is the Jiciro world off-limits?
* Why did the Nyvan colony collapse into war and anarchy?
* Why is life better in the Halo than on Earth?

The answers to these and many other questions are contained in a companion guide as wondrous and revealing as only the epic scope of The Night's Dawn could provide...The Confederation Handbook

304p

The second volume in the "Crimson Shadow" trilogy, this is another tale of Luthien Bedwyr who has become the warrior-thief known as the "Crimson Shadow". This time he must rouse the peasants and fierce tribes of Eriador to fight the demonic Wizard-King Greensparrow's bloodthirsty warriors.

336p

The magnificent climax to The Crimson Shadow series. Eriador is on the brink of desolation. The Wizard-King, Greensparrow, has broken the uneasy truce and stormed the borders with massacres and demon sorcery. The short lived liberation is shattered and King Brind is forced to respond. He resists a full scale war: his own forces are weak, and even when allied to rebel nations and the peasant armies lead by Luthien Bedwyr, they would still be hopelessy outmatched. But the grim march of events leaves Brind with little choice: surrender or fight, either way Eridor is doomed. Brind choses to die in a blaze of swords. Luthien, however, refuses to admit certain defeat. Whilst the terrible war explodes through the mountain plains, he turns to face the core enemy, Wizard-King Greensparrow. Crimson Shadow will aid the young warrior, but even this unquenchable force of magic may falter against Greensparrow's ultimate weapon.

384p

The magnificent climax to The Crimson Shadow series. Eriador is on the brink of desolation. The Wizard-King, Greensparrow, has broken the uneasy truce and stormed the borders with massacres and demon sorcery. The short lived liberation is shattered and King Brind is forced to respond. He resists a full scale war: his own forces are weak, and even when allied to rebel nations and the peasant armies lead by Luthien Bedwyr, they would still be hopelessy outmatched. But the grim march of events leaves Brind with little choice: surrender or fight, either way Eridor is doomed. Brind choses to die in a blaze of swords. Luthien, however, refuses to admit certain defeat. Whilst the terrible war explodes through the mountain plains, he turns to face the core enemy, Wizard-King Greensparrow. Crimson Shadow will aid the young warrior, but even this unquenchable force of magic may falter against Greensparrow's ultimate weapon.

384p

In one of her most compelling novels, bestselling author C.J. Cherryh returns to the award-winning universe of her classic Cyteen and Downbelow Station, and to the oldest, most historic of the interstellar Merchanter ships: the Neihart family's...Finity's End

With a truce declared between the major powers, war hero Captain James Robert Neihart returns to the Alliance station of Pell to reclaim one of the Merchanters' own. During the Company Wars, Finity's End had to leave a pregnant crew member on Pell and was unable to retrieve her orphaned son. The Neiharts want their lost cousin back; out of love, but also because the war has cost Finity's End a generation. No babies have been born, while half the crew— half the family—are dead, making the prodigal youth even more precious. But Fletcher Neihart has left Pell for the planet Downbelow where, after a childhood spent in uncaring foster homes, he's found happiness working with the Hisa—Downbelow's mystic, peaceful natives. He even has a beautiful girlfriend. The last thing he wants is to be dragged into space. He has no choice. Fletcher is reunited with a home he's never seen. From having no family, he's now surrounded by kinfolk—all battle-scarred strangers more alien than the non-human hisa. Like Jeremy, the hero-worshipping twelve-year-old; JR, groomed to be a Captain and growing into leadership; Madelaine, ship's attorney and Fletcher's great-grandmother.

And the Neiharts must deal with a resentful hostage who bears their name and features, but knows nothing of their history, traditions or lives. Meanwhile, Finity's End flies toward conflict and danger. For Captain Neihart is forging a treaty among the worlds, stations, and Merchanters; and opponents will try ambush, sabotage, and murder to stop him. By journey's end the hope for peace will depend on whether JR, Jeremy and the crew can uphold Merchanter honor; and whether Fletcher, guided by a gift from the hisa, can learn to trust...and find his true place in the universe. An evocative, richly realized exploration of loyalty, family, and transition from one of the most accomplished writers in the history of science fiction.

576 p

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
Relentless imagination, harrowingly dramatic stories, and vast canvases of space and time are winning Sarah Zettel rave acclaim for her richly detailed worlds filled with complex, fully realized cultures.

Fool's War
For 500 years we have carried our ancient hatreds and millennia-old wars into interstellar space. With them have gone the seeds of new self-aware life-forms mutating from artificial intelligences, techno-viruses, and info-flow. Beings with no bodies and no limits, evolving to leap from cyberspace to outer space. Beings born to be our rivals...

Katmer Al Shei, owner of the starship Pasadena, does not know she is carrying a living entity in her ship's computer systems. Or that the electronic network her family helped weave holds a new race fighting for survival. Or that her ship's professional Fool is trying to avert a battle that could destroy entire worlds. And when Al Shei learns the truth, all she'll really know is that it's time to take sides...

464 p

This stunning collection brings together a quartet of novellas by four of the most important voices in modern science fiction. From nanotech microcosms to infinite space, these brilliantly realized visions of worlds to come transcend the scope of imagination...

One of the most acclaimed science fiction writers of our time, award-winner Sarah Zettel's novels include Reclamation, Fool's War, and Playing God. Now Zettel presents a gripping story of two young sisters caught in a galactic apocalypse...

FUGITIVES IN A CLOSED SYSTEM
Chena and Teal Trust are in mortal danger. Humans on dozens of colony planets are dying from environmental collapses and mutating diseases. Their warships orbit the lush world of Pandora with an ultimatum: The brilliant ecologists of Pandora must solve the crisis, or their paradise will be destroyed. Now Chena and Teal are chosen to immigrate as part of Pandora's "Eden Project." But once they arrive, the Trusts quickly learn that the scientists don't want new blood...only raw DNA. Trapped on a world where nature is genetically programmed to kill, the girls' new lives may be very short, unless they can discover whether the Pandorans are seeking a universal cure-or a means to commit galaxy-spanning genocide.

608 p

Gregory Benford, multiple award-winner and recipient of the United Nations Medal for Literature, presents a powerful and realistic novel of the new century's great space challenge...

THE MARTIAN RACE
As NASA bogs down in politics, tycoon John Axelrod mounts a privately funded expedition to the Red Planet. Axelrod's not high-minded-he expects the televised flight to net him billions. But for astronaut-scientists Julie, Viktor, Marc, and Raoul, the mission's not about money. It's about discovery...and surviving for two years on a frigid, alien world that can kill them in countless ways.

For a time will come when-in order to live-the explorers must embrace everything that makes them human...and everything that will make them Martian.

464 p

The long-awaited epic finale to "The Reality Dysfunction" and "The Neutronium Alchemist" is now here. On Earth, satanist Quinn Dexter possesses a new army of the damned, using them to initiate the annihilation of all Creation. At the same time, Joshua Calvert and Syrinx take their ships in search of an alien god which may hold the solution to the current crisis.

The souls of those long dead are entering the universe at an alarming rate. Stealing the bodies of the living, they are grouping together into powerful consortiums led by leaders from history. An increasingly desperate Confederation Navy is struggling to stem the tide as the race for the universe's most powerful weapon begins. But if the dead can return to life, who will be the ultimate victors?

592p

In the far future, humanity has divided into two diametrically opposed groups. The Edenists are genetically engineered space-dwellers with telepathic affinity for their biotechnological homes and ships. The Adamists, effectively the Luddites of the future, are willing to pioneer new worlds, much as their ancestors did hundreds of years ago. The two groups, peopled by fascinating characters, clash on a primitive world called Lalonde, setting in motion a tale of adventure unparalleled in this universe.

592p

In the far future, on a primitive world called Lalonde, two groups of humans clash in an epic confrontation. The Edenists are genetically engineered space-dwellers with a telepathic affinity to their homes and ships. The Adamists reject advanced technology, but are willing to pioneer new worlds. Under the watchful eye of mysterious aliens, humanity must confront its most bitter enemy—itself.

576p

The author of the New York Times bestsellers Dune: House Atreides and Star Wars: Darksaber delivers the first book in an all-new epic science fiction adventure trilogy.In our galaxys distant future, humans are one of three known intelligent races. Having had the ability to navigate star travel for only a few centuries, we are considered the new kids on the block in a long- established universe. The second intelligent race is the Ildirans, who are ruled by their Mage-Imperator; and the third race, the Klikiss, seems to have vanished and left behind a world full of artifacts and remarkable technology, which humans are now beginning to find and utilize. One such piece of technology is a device that has the power to turn a gaseous and useless supergiant planet into a small sun, thereby creating a new solar system in which humans can live. But when the device is tried for the first time, it awakens the wrath of a previously unsuspected fourth race, the Hydroguesand a galaxy-spanning war that threatens all life begins.

In the summer of 1960 in Elm Haven, Illinois, five 12-year-old boys forge the powerful bonds that a lifetime of change will not break. An ancient, sinister evil lurks in the dark, and when a long-silent bell peals in the middle of the deepest night, the people know it marks the beginning of terror. Now Mike, Duane, Dale, Harlen, and Kevin must wage a fraternal war of blood against an arcane abomination.

608p

In this richly realised universe of enigmatic aliens and complex politics, one woman must untangle interlocking mysteries in a race against time. Halley, commander of the deep space station Jocasta, is desperate. Her station is blockaded by hostile creatures, communications and key systems are failing, rations are low, tensions between humans and aliens are at the flashpoint, and a foreign trader is killed by an apparently extinct monster. Halley must now solve the mystery of a locked room in closed space - before Jocasta erupts in an explosion of terror and death.

445p

Once there were three Worlds, each with its own human species. Then, fleeing out of the void came a fourth species, the Charon. Desperate and on the edge of extinction, they shifted the balance between the Worlds forever. Now Karan, a young Sensitive who carries the blood of all three Worlds, has come into possession of the Mirror of Aachen, which holds the power to heal-or destroy-World relations. But as war rages, Tensor, the leader of the Aachim people, steals the mirror and flees into the wilderness with the lovely young Chronicler, Llian, leaving all to wonder how they plan to use their powerful new magic.

688 p

When Jos'' parents are killed in an attack on their trading ship, the boy is kidnapped by the attackers and then escapes - only to fall into the alien hands of humanity''s greatest enemies. He is soon coerced into becoming a spy against the human race.

464p