Showing results by narrator "Scott Aiello" in All Categories

I thought the hard part of helping the Helta defeat the rampaging Tevynians would be the fighting. How wrong I was. To the Helta, we Earthers look just like the Tevynians, their mortal enemies. And convincing their government to ally with humans may be even beyond the crew of the starship James Bowie. But the clock is ticking, because the Tevynian fleet is bearing down on the Helta homeworld. If we can’t talk the Helta into accepting our help to fight them off, then Helta Prime will fall.... And Earth will be next.

The Ark—humanity’s valiant effort to reach beyond our solar system to establish the first interstellar colony at a distant star. For 300 thousand colonists, the colony brings the promise of a fresh start and for some, a second chance. Connor never meant to escape wrongful imprisonment, nor being put into stasis aboard the Ark. He might be the wrong man for the colony, but he’s the right man to see that it survives what’s coming.

It is time for Kaiden to grow up a little and play with a larger team to accomplish a three-peat. The only problem? The test has been engineered to kill the players. What's a little blood between friends? Who is Kaiden going to be teamed with? Which faculty will be betting on that team? Will it be Sasha, or will someone yank his best opportunity away from him? Exactly what will Sasha do to acquire the team to beat? Finally, can Kaiden accomplish something only hinted about the history of the Nexus Academy? You don't become the best of the best by staying alive.

These fourteen science fiction stories reveal Lem’s fascination with artificial intelligence and demonstrate just how surprisingly human sentient machines can be.

Gateway to the Galaxy, Part II contains Face Toward Enemy (book 4), Rise Up (book 5), and Do or Die (book 6 of the series). Just when you thought it was safe to explore the universe, a new enemy emerges from the darkness. You know the deal with these things: someone's always ready to put on the gauntlet and do the finger snap. All Frank wants to do is rebuild the Arilion Order and eat tacos. No such luck. A new enemy is going to give Frank and the rest of Marine Space Corps-1 a run for their money. A ghost from Frank's past has returned.

Brand-new stories by: Daniel Woodrell, Matthew Eck, Catherine Browder, Nancy Pickard, John Lutz, J. Malcolm Garcia, Kevin Prufer, Linda Rodriguez, Nadia Pflaum, Phong Nguyen, Andres Rodriguez, and others. Kansas City: where East and West collide, where naked ambition meets broken dreams, where blues and the night go together like rye whiskey, vermouth, and bitters. Yes, Kansas City is a surprising place of grit, gore, and betrayal, at least in the imaginations of our diverse lineup of contributors.

Ezra Barker is a traitor. When the Merg invaded Earth, he didn’t fight or even hide. He cooperated, helping them as they seized control of the planet and began their pillaging of its resources. While others toil away in mines and quarries, Ezra works an office job, helping his boss, The Senator, rule over the swath of territory given to her by the Merg. Sergeant Hayes is a brutal enforcer of the Merg’s rules. As an officer in the Health and Safety Department, he follows Merg orders, arresting, interrogating, and executing at their command.

As the colony grapples with the realization that New Earth is not as uninhabited as they’d once thought, tensions between the colonial settlements rise to new heights, and the Colonial Defense Force finds itself caught in the middle. When Connor uncovers evidence of a militant colonial faction secretly exploiting the NEIIS, he has to investigate. Connor learns that some of the colonial settlements have been holding back discoveries of their own.

Outside any city still standing, the Mechanical Circus Tresaulti sets up its tents. Crowds pack the benches to gawk at the brass-and-copper troupe and their impossible feats: Ayar the Strong Man, the acrobatic Grimaldi Brothers, fearless Elena and her aerialists who perform on living trapezes. War is everywhere, but while the Circus is performing, the world is magic. That magic is no accident: Boss builds her circus from the bones out, molding a mechanical company that will survive the unforgiving landscape.

Ten years ago, the Ark II departed on a long journey through interstellar space, but shortly after they reached their destination, all communications ceased. All attempts to re-establish contact have failed. Utilizing prototypical FTL technology that he invented, one brave man will lead a small expedition into the unknown to discover the colony’s fate.

Despite being all alone - the only one of his kind - Bast Banbeck has generously helped humanity time and again against the death machines, saving us from extinction. Years ago, Jon Hawkins promised Bast that he would hunt for and save the Sacerdotes in return. But the homesick Bast is losing hope, drowning his sorrows in extended drinking bouts. Now, Intelligence learns there are Sacerdote prisoners 162 light-years away. Jon leads the rescue operation, using the void to slip undetected into enemy territory.

The AO have come out of hiding, and war is upon the Ark Academy. People are going to die, because war isn’t pretty. This time, there will be no reset after dying. The Animus better have prepared the students, because the gloves are off, and it is student against student, academy against academy, with the future of humanity on the line.

Professor Viktor Pendrake is a legend in his own time and is the foremost expert in extraordinary zoology. His research demands he place himself in peril to directly observe and interact with his subjects, a peril his assistants must endure as well. Bookish Lynus Wesselbaum is the picture of a scholar-in-training whose days are often spent sifting through the vast stacks of tomes within Corvis University. Yet Lynus has earned his place as Professor Pendrake’s senior assistant professor, having accompanied his mentor in the field and survived countless encounters with the most dangerous flora and fauna of western Immoren.

Before he was “Babe” or “The Sultan of Swat” or “The Great Bambino”, George Herman Ruth was just another teenage misfit at St. Mary’s School for Boys. But Ruth has something the other boys don’t, and when Baltimore Orioles manager Jack Dunn watches him throw a baseball over a building, Ruth gets the chance to punch his ticket out of the orphanage. All he has to do now is make the team.

The Hive is gone, but the queen’s effect on the world lingers. As the people of Tranquility rebuild, those touched by the alien creature struggle to come to grips with what was done to them and the pain they’d caused to their friends and family. Joel Lander is no stranger to their hardships, but with a new threat looming, they have precious little time to lose. The fight for Tranquility is not over.

Colonel Sean Quinn is stranded in another universe, along with 2,000 people under his command. They've been hiding from the enemy long enough, now it’s time to return home. Outnumbered against a superior foe, Sean must risk everything in a daring operation, but the mysterious enemy has a few surprises of their own. Meanwhile, a division threatens to tear the colony apart and Connor Gates is caught in the middle.

Three offbeat stories of crime and conundrum, set in the present moment, from the New York Times best-selling, Edgar Award-winning author of Underground Airlines and The Last Policeman.

This time it's with his friends, but something is amiss. Not everything is at it seems, and no one has found Gin Sonny...yet. Gin must test himself against any and all who beat him. He needs a new device to track down and help destroy one of the victims who got away. Will anyone realize that Gin hasn't left Earth? Will Kaiden understand what is different about this test he is undergoing?

In the Undercity of Corvis, a ruthless crime lord has made a bold move to establish a stranglehold on Corvis' underworld and make it his own. When Canice Gormleigh becomes the target of a foreign crime syndicate called the Black Dogs, Colbie Sterling and the rest of the Black River Irregulars are prepared to defend her. Yet what begins as a bodyguard job turns personal when the syndicate marks the Black River Irregulars as the sole remaining obstacle keeping the Black Dogs from taking over the Undercity.

What terrible secrets will Tyler Matthews and his star lawyers discover within the forbidden sanctuary on the mysterious, sacred planet Adao-2? Can the legal team from Matthews Interstellar Industries learn the truth in time to save M-double-I’s century-long quest to open Jump Gate Omega, bridge the 2.5 million light years to the Andromeda galaxy, and prevent economic ruin and war in the Milky Way?