A New Hope
The classic adventure that started the Star Wars saga. Luke Skywalker lived and worked on his uncle's farm on the remote planet of Tatooine--and he was bored beyond belief. He yearned for adventures out among the stars, adventures that would take him beyond the farthest galaxies to distant and alien worlds. But Luke gets more than he bargained for when he intercepts a cryptic message from a beautiful princess held captive by a dark and powerful warlord. Luke doesn't know who she is, but he knows he has to save her--and soon, because time is running out. Armed only with courage and with the lightsaber that had been his father's, Luke is catapulted into the middle of the most savage space war ever--and headed straight for a desperate encounter on the enemy battle station known as the Death Star. . . .
The Empire Strikes Back
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Luke, Han, and Princess Leia's story didn't end with the destruction of the Death Star....Though they had won a significant battle, the war between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire had really just begun. Now, several months later, the Rebels had established an outpost on the frozen wasteland of Hoth. But even on that icy, backwater planet, they could not escape the evil Darth Vader's notice for long.Soon, Luke, Han, Princess Leia, and their faithful companions were forced to flee, scattering in all directions--with the Dark Lord's minions in fevered pursuit (
Faceless Galaxy
Gripping action, dark humor, and unlikely survival electrify this collection of the acclaimed Faceless cycle: seven previously published tales, and three all-new stories pitting a shapeshifting assassin's will against the most insurmountable challenges deep space has to offer... Throughout the gutters and sanitation systems of the civilized galaxy, amorphous, nameless blobs called Torrhoids digest other species' trash to clean air and water. The Great Races don't consider Torrhoids intelligent. But when one Torrhoid receives a baffling kindness, its curiosity ignites. The shapeshifter discovers it can mimic its overlords-- not only their voices, but their forms and movements, too. It can escape the prison planet where it is kept cold, hungry, and fighting for life. It can evade those who would throw it back into the sewers. With ingenuity, quick thinking, and the power of surprise, it can strike down even the oligarchs and influence traders who rule the galaxy. So begins the career of the assassin known only as " Faceless." Still learning the cultures of the beings it impersonates, testing the limits of its abilities, and evading revulsion for its natural form, Faceless is never far from detection and death. Ethics are a luxury it can ill afford. But as the stories of this sharp, twisty cyberpunk collection prove, a gutter scavenger's justice may still beat an empire' s.
The Ancient Ones
We never expected that inventing Star-Drive would lead to this! We were first! Humans invented star drive, bringing light and movement to the galaxy, forging a grand alliance with all races. (Well, most of them.) It seemed the galaxy was ours to lead and to share! Till we met demmies. Oh, they're not so bad. They mean well. Impulsive and exasperating, sure. Often brilliant, cheeky, moronic, volatile, always astonishing... did I mention exasperating?And lucky. Gradually, it dawned on humanity-- Hey, that's what WE wanted to be! In ancient sci-fi dreams, we pictured ourselves as the impulsive-lucky ones, not wise-patient elders. Only now... ... they reverently call Earthlings "the Ancient Ones." And demmies are having all the fun! Dr. Alvin Montessori is Human Advisor aboard the mostly demmie-crewed star cruiser Clever Gamble, orbiting Oxytocin 41, where something weird is going on. It starts when the crew unreels a humongous hose down to the surface... ... and their first contact team discovers a whole lot of 'something weird.',
Neon City Blues
Neon City Blues is a cyberpunk detective noir following Henson Taylor, a man who would never think of himself as a hero, nor would anyone else. A newly promoted detective who looks out for himself, Taylor is plunged into a web of murders that rip the city's elite from their pedestals. A revenge-driven psychopath who forces his victims to murder their loved ones remains at large, but the city's top players insist on getting in his way. As the murders rage on, what began as his first case quickly threatens to be his last. The city he knew is a lie, and the truth is about to destroy everything.
Proxima Station
Good morning Anthony! Anthony is preparing for his eventual Ph.D. defense in anthropology. In less than a week, he'll be orbiting theplanet Proxima Centauri b with five spacefaring races unknown to most of humanity. The military will task him with profiling the aliens for their owndubious motives. His every action will be scrutinized by friends and foes alike. Anthony is not ready for this.
Song of Spores
Hugo Award winner Bogi Tak獺cs spins a tale of adventure, mystery, and political intrigue in space. Plus sentient fungus!Three experienced counterintelligence operatives from Alliance Treaty Enforcement are on a mission to find the source of shapeshifting infiltrators within Alliance space. Will the gruff Ereni commander, the Chasidic Jewish shapeshifter, and the cynical insectoid grandma be able to work together? Or will their differences drive them apart before they can reach their goal? Not to mention dealing with the sentient spaceship and symbiotic pilot, who only signed on to provide transportation, not to be eaten by giant space fungus. Are they even on the right side of history when everything comes crashing down? Can the galaxy possibly survive? This is weird space opera at its finest!
Starship Librarians
No starship crew is complete without a Librarian!The glasses, the bun, the woolly sweater, the "shush" capable of reducing grown people to tears--we all know what the Librarians of the past looked like. But what about the Librarians of tomorrow? They're in spacesuits and uniforms because they're not getting left behind. Humanity needs them still. Always. Whether essential crew in the grand exploration of the space, defenders of knowledge in bleak radioactive tomorrows, or idealists in the halls of Neo-Alexandria, the librarians of tomorrow are here to serve. With stories by: Shannon Allen; Mackensie Baker; J R Campbell; C. B. Hingston; Robert Lauderdale; Trisha Jenn Loehr; Lesley Moody; Donna J. W. Munro; Nico Martinez Nocito; Aggie Novak; R. Overwater; Rhonda Parrish & E.C. Bell; Kara Race-Moore; Jennifer Rahn; J.W. Schnarr; Lisa Timpf; Liz Westbrook-Trenholm; C.N. Wheaton; and Kayla Whittle, with a special Librarian's Note from Sephora Henderson, Senior Department Head of the Merril Collection.
A Safe Place (a Half Dead Novella)
In a world ravaged by the Morpheus Strain-a man-made plague turning people into violent, infected Reborns-Esperanza Morrison is on the run with her two children and their pit bull. Hunted by her now-infected husband, an ex-Army Ranger driven by obsession, she's determined to keep her family alive.Shelter arrives in the form of a fortified outpost run by soldiers and scientists. But their sanctuary comes with a cost. After being implanted with tracking nanites, Esperanza learns she's been bitten-and changed. Her enhanced senses could save her family... or make her the next experiment.This gripping post-apocalyptic novella from award-nominated author E.M. Lacey delivers high-stakes tension, powerful BIPOC representation, and a fierce portrait of motherhood and survival in a broken world.Perfect for fans of The Girl with All the Gifts, The Walking Dead, and Blackout.
Gods of a New World
The trillionaires were powerful enough to reshape the world, but it wasn't enough. Now they want more . . . In a world where trillionaires assisted by powerful AIs call themselves gods, a world where miracles are engineered and secret technology is wired into the very air, James Kessler and Maree Shell stumble upon a conspiracy that defies possibility: the new gods' plan to encode their consciousness into the world and seize control of reality itself, to literally become the gods they have so far only pretended to be.From the world's gleaming new AI-crafted cities to the crumbling ruins of the old ones, the two unlikely allies, one a childhood survivor of the Bad Times and the other a privileged daughter of wealth, must run a gauntlet of hostile AIs, vengeful modern-day gods, and mysterious ancient deities, desperately trying to disrupt the plans of the most powerful people who have ever lived. Nothing less than the fate of free will itself hangs in the balance.A mind-bending cyberpunk thriller of rebellion and redemption, Gods of a New World is a visceral dive into the soul of a world on the brink.
