First Contact

A highly-advanced alien species, the Babekian race, faces extinction as their sun dies. Their only chance for survival is escape to a new solar system: ours. Thousands of years later, human astronomers discover an enormous, icy object rocketing toward Earth at remarkable speeds. Humans and Babekians, two complex intelligent species with violent pasts, must face their fears as their worlds collide.

Sikthand hadn't planned to take the stubborn little human hostage. But with political tensions at an all-time high, he had no choice. He would unflinchingly use her as a bargaining chip to secure better relations with the new Tremantian ruler. He would not, however, fall prey to her charms. When Sophia and Sikthand realize how far their enemies are willing to go to grab galactic power, they're forced into an unlikely alliance-and possibly a marriage of convenience-to protect their people. It's a good plan, too, if they don't do anything irrational along the way. Like falling in love.

Nate is the hardworking CEO of SouthernCool, an AC company in Florida. After years of toiling to get rich, he finally takes a well-deserved vacation to Australia. A chance encounter ties him to a gorgeous gal named Senna. Right as things between the two are heating up on the Great Barrier Reef, pesky aliens intervene. Humanity is doomed, they tell him, destined to become extinct in the not-too-distant future. Nate and Senna are forced to compete for a spot on a human preserve.

Genetically engineered with partly alien DNA, Lieutenant Selene Genji is different from ordinary humans. And they hate her for it. Still, she’s spent her life trying to overcome society’s prejudice by serving in Earth’s Unified Fleet. Genji is stationed on a ship in orbit when humanity’s factional extremism on the planet reaches a boiling point, and she witnesses the utter annihilation of Earth. When the massive forces unleashed by Earth’s death warp space and time to hurl her forty years into the past, Genji is given a chance to try to change the future and save Earth.

After the alien invasion, Anya Nowicki thought she'd settle into the easy life: a cushy government job, living in the world's most advanced city with her new girlfriend, and generally not dealing with anything more dangerous than meetings that should have been emails. She was right—for a while. However, Earth's recent success against the ravenous gnosiphages has drawn the eyes of other extraterrestrial life. Humanity's unprecedented growth across fields of technology and magic thanks to the Archive has the greater powers across the galaxy worried.

Introducing "The Monsters" by Robert Sheckley, a thrilling sci-fi audiobook that explores the fascinating and bizarre world of a distant planet inhabited by sentient aliens who refer to themselves as "humans." On this strange planet, the aliens may look nothing like us, but their society is both intriguing and terrifying. While they pride themselves on being rational and ethical beings, their tendencies towards violence and argumentation make them truly monstrous. Witness their struggles with truth and deception.

Cameron Alvarez and the crew of the Orion are hot on the trail of the Seekers, following the Predecessor faction on their quest to find the source of the Skrela infestation. But the crew is close to the breaking point, and their commander, Colonel Hachette, is long past it. The death of Sgt. Major Campbell has left him devastated and unable to lead.

In the wake of the hybrid massacres, a devastated Enochia looks to their leaders for answers. From the safety of his White Tower, the High Cleric gives them. "Look no further than to those who upset Enochia's natural order to begin with," he says. "Look no further than to Haldin Raish, and his demonic ilk."

My name is Haldin Raish. Legionnaire. And the High General just murdered my parents. My dad was well respected in the Legion. Always had a reputation for doing the right thing, no matter the cost. He was a good man. And whatever he stumbled onto got them both killed. Messily. Now, that red-eyed thing is coming for me. It walks like the High General. Talks like him, too. But it's not. Human beings don't shirk off gunfire and smack grown men across the room like that. Not even High Generals. And he's not the only one.

Reeling in the aftermath of the White Tower incident, Haldin Raish is struggling to get by. What he needs is time, peace and quiet, and probably the ear of an attentive soothsayer. But the raknoth have other plans... Across Enochia, terror reigns. Civilians are disappearing. Monstrous hybrids roam the land, attacking faster than the Legion can keep up. Across Enochia, the raknoth are winning.

All that remains of human civilization is a fledgling colony on Concordia, a planet light years from Earth. Infighting and disaster dogged the colony's earliest days, but through the determination and bravery of a few individuals, the remnants of humankind have clung to existence. One of the grittiest of these characters is Cherry Lindstrom. A farmer turned freedom fighter, she helped to lead the generational colonists rebellion. Now she must travel to the Galactic Assembly and persuade the leading powers to accept humans into their alliance.

Professor Harak H'gin leads a peaceful life studying linguistics on his native planet of Plumeria. Until the day he stumbles across a bedraggled, beautiful human female. Dared by a colleague to transform the pitiful creature into a true member of their society, Harak takes on the challenge. Forced to eke out a meager living selling flowers, Liza is desperate to improve her situation. When a chance meeting offers the opportunity to become something more than a menial worker, she doesn't hesitate—even though it means moving in with the arrogant, handsome alien.

After the main shipyard is heavily damaged, the enemy advances with a fresh offensive, and losses are piling up with no hope of building replacements. How can the surviving fleet stand up to the new onslaught? The Paragon have been weakened, but they still outnumber the humans. And now they're angry. Relics of the past. Mothballed ships and forgotten warriors, waiting for their names to be called again. The ship from a war fought long ago. Glory as a paradigm for the future.

Akuleh—Ku to his friends—thought his life would get easier after he learned his destiny wasn’t inescapably bound to his people’s death demon, Machitew. Then the enemy Supremacy gained a new ally that pushed the Resistance Pact forces into a two-front war across the galaxy. To halt the enemy’s advance and liberate a captured world, Ku’s unit, the 15th Aerospace Combat Wing, deploys to a planet aptly named for the destination of condemned souls. The terrain is rugged; the fighting worse.

I'm the next in line for Fyrifirar Tribe Jarl, a skilled warrior, and definitely not good at chopping down trees. But I can't stop thinking about the tiny human female who we'd found near our village with eleven other human females. She's so small, barely larger than an orkin child, and so lovely I can't get her out of my mind. And then I went and nearly killed her while felling a tree to distract myself. Yet somehow, she still ended up in my arms.