Showing titles in First Contact

When out-of-shape IT technician Roen wakes up and starts hearing voices in his head, he naturally assumes he’s losing it. He isn’t. As of last night, he has a passenger in his brain - an ancient alien life-form called Tao, whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first fish crawled out of the oceans. Over the millennia his people have trained human heroes to be great leaders, to advance our species at a rate far beyond what it would have achieved on its own. Split into two opposing factions - the peace-loving, but under-represented Prophus, and the savage, powerful Genjix - the aliens have been in a state of civil war for centuries.

With The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 3, award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a year-in-review and 27 of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2017. 

Five survivors find themselves on the planet Anyar, including Joseph Colsco, Mark Caldwell, and Heather Chen. Some others have different destinations. Cast away on a planet with bizarre physical features unlike anything on Earth, Dan and Liza Oglethorpe will never again set foot on Earth. They will never again talk with family and friends. They will never again see an ocean. They are thrust into a fantastical fate that eventually leads them, six years later, after dangers are overcome and a measure of peace is achieved, to a morning in a dry valley on an alien planet.

Born on a forsaken desert planet, Cole Shaw has two options - perish from starvation and disease, or enlist in the New World Republic’s armed forces. He chooses the military. For the first time, he thinks he has a shot at a better life. But survival is not guaranteed. Leading an elite team of mech operators, he is deployed to a frozen planet called Ferrous where dangerous relics of a past war lurk beneath the ice and savage creatures prowl the barren wastelands. Scientists on Ferrous are chasing rumors of godlike technologies buried in the ruins of a long-extinct civilization.

Dr. Timothy Hoenikker arrives on Pala Station, a Weyland-Yutani facility. Lured there by the promise of alien artifacts, instead he finds a warped bureaucracy and staff of misfits testing the effects of Xenomorph bio-materials on living creatures. Unbeknownst to the personnel, however, there is an infiltrator among them whose actions could spell disaster.

In the aftermath of the events of Predator 2, US Marine Scott Devlin is assigned to the clean-up operation in Los Angeles. He is soon thrust into a world of secretive government agents, highly-advanced technology, and an unstoppable juggernaut lone agent, Alan "Dutch" Schaefer.

Hugh Logan has won the battle for Los Angeles and secured his sector of the galaxy from the rampaging Ssath. What do you do when a former enemy offers peace and a chance to fight back against your true foe? Hugh Logan and his war core are called to battle, but this time, he finds himself in an uneasy alliance with the Ssath. With new allies fighting at his side and hardened veterans at his mechs' controls, Hugh must risk everything to remove the shackles of the GCA and free the universe from endless war.

Humanity's only colony in the distant Archimedes system is in turmoil... Contact with Earth has been lost for generations and mysterious waves of disappearing colonists have been shaking the five moons for decades. When suddenly a wormhole appears in the middle of the system, the Union Navy faces an ancient danger from the darkness of deep space. A merciless war erupts, and Jeremy Brandt, Captain of the UNS Concordia, is sent through the wormhole to confront the mysterious enemy.

Hugh Logan and the other human cores of the expeditionary force are back home, but the cost of keeping their allies alive has been a heavy one. Not happy about losing their prey, the Ssath continue to use the vast resources at their disposal to seek total victory over humanity. They will stop at nothing until Earth’s cores are defeated and the planet is transformed into a feeding ground and hunting preserve.

I signed up for a research mission with five other women. Instead, we crashed on an alien planet with too many dangers to count. Separated from the other women, I’m on my own until a huge alien with color-changing skin and a massive sword gets me out of a bad spot. I don’t understand Savair’s language, but I think he’s under the impression that I’m his. I am NOT his. I’m a 34-year old divorced scientist with no time for such nonsense. But if he can help me find the others in my group then perhaps I can play at being “his” for a while.

David Tennant, Anthony Head, Don Warrington and Shaun Dingwall read these five original stories featuring the Tenth Doctor. Also included in this collecton are behind-the-scenes conversations with the book's authors and readers.

In the wake of defeating Gornath of the Ontishog, above the streets of Manhattan, and saving Earth from a devastating plague, Wic and Phantom Team believe their work is done. But Major Insarka Kindesh has other plans for the heroes and invites them back to Karkin Four. Phantom Team cross through New York’s origin ring to find the Blood Guard orchestrating covert operations against an Androchidan Empire in the throes of war. But galactic battle is not this trip’s focus.

A vrisha arrives in Grace's underwater city. He takes over one of the substations, forcing the workers out. At the whim of her job, Grace is unwillingly chosen to go below, maintain the station, and stay with the horned, devilish alien. That is how she comes to encounter Xora. An alien born from a race of dominant fighters and fierce hunters. He is as terrifying as he is mysterious. While also commanding, stubborn, unrelenting...and oddly mesmerizing. As her fear slips away, other emotions begin to take hold. And Grace finds she wants to know more.

The gods have been angered. Hell will rain down. After Wic and the Phantom’s successful operation on Karkin Four, the team learns of the enemy’s plans for a swift retaliation: an all-out assault on New York City. Together, Wic must rally the team’s resources to plan an emergency counter-assault that will push the Phantoms to their limits. With help from unexpected places, mission success seems all but assured. But when a new terrifying technology emerges, Wic must face the most challenging choice of all: sacrifice his teammates for the fate of Earth.

These aliens seem nice enough, but she needs to figure out how to communicate with them and get back to Earth. Her alien captor finds everything about his new pet adorable, from her tiny toes to her blunted claws to her shiny mane. He will do everything in his power to make sure that his cute little pet remains healthy and happy. But what happens when this giant tentacled alien finds out his lovely pet is a sentient person who wants more from him than pets and treats?

The scar across the side of Jack’s head is the visible price. The risk to his friends at the academy is the hidden price. His challenge is how to balance the risks. The final stage of his training is a shakedown cruise on an old minesweeper. Midway through their cruise, the minesweeper collides with an ancient alien wreck, ripping the sides off the starship. Jack’s team of bots help seal the combined wreck to prevent air loss. Jack and his girlfriend, Sofia, are the only survivors, and air, food, and supplies are critical. The countdown of days to survive is ticking. 

After the explosive events surrounding MPF6's destruction on Karkin Four, Wic and his team of daredevil operators join forces with the rebel force known as the Blood Guard. While the Phantoms desire to help relocate human refugees to safer worlds, they're forced to confront a more pressing objective: cut off the head of the beast and keep the Androchidan Empire from enslaving another world. Wic is immediately flung into the heat of battle, driven by retaliation, a need for justice, and the need to send a message to all other deviant species who'd wish to take advantage of the innocent.

He needs me to play the role of fake fiancée to appease his family of tentacle-tailed cops. I'll keep up the charade as long as I need if it means being reunited with Abraxas and Rurik. It shouldn't be too hard, right? To play pretend…My life force is now inextricably tied to handsome, gun-totin' Officer Hyt. But do you know what happens if my new in-laws find out that I'm mated to three different males? Intergalactic war, that's what.

The seventh novel in James S. A. Corey's New York Times bestselling Expanse series--now a major television series. The Expanse Leviathan Wakes Caliban's War Abaddon's Gate Cibola Burn Nemesis Games Babylon's Ashes Persepolis Rising The Expanse Short Fiction The Butcher of Anderson Station Gods...

Marca Nbaro had always dreamed of serving aboard the Greatships, with their vast cargo holds and a crew that could fill a city. They are the lifeblood of human-occupied space, transporting an unimaginable volume - and value - of goods from City, the greatest human orbital, all the way to Tradepoint at the other, to trade for xenoglas with an unknowable alien species. And now, out in the darkness of space, something is targeting them.