Science Universe

A journalistic memoir by a lapsed evangelical Christian that examines how the ecological crisis is shifting the ground of religious faith.

At once elegant and riveting, Sync tells the story of the dawn of a new science. Steven Strogatz, a leading mathematician in the fields of chaos and complexity theory, explains how enormous systems can synchronize themselves, from the electrons in a superconductor to the pacemaker cells in our hearts. He shows that although these phenomena might seem unrelated on the surface, at a deeper level there is a connection, forged by the unifying power of mathematics.

It was just before Summertide, the time when the twin planets, Opal and Quake, would orbit closest to their sun, subjecting both - Quake in particular - to vast tidal forces. It was to be the most violent Summertide ever, creating something that only happened every 350,000 years. Planetary Administrators Hans Rebka and Max Perry had no choice but to go to Quake - risking their lives to protect the others - and to learn, just maybe, the secret of Summertide and the Builders.

The worst has happened. The Conclave has crashed into the jungle, and humanity clings to survival in the ruins, within one last city. Equally revered and feared by her council, Ahilya desperately tries to balance the needs of her people with the untameable desires of the trapped Virohi. All Iravan sees is a crumbling bastion being eaten from the inside out. Answering to no law, he wants to destroy the Virohi before they can wipe out the human race.

Humanity fought and won its freedom by establishing a fragile peace with the two great powers-the Qash'vo'tar and the Zhal Confederation—by bringing them proof that their ancient enemy, the Val'ayash, survived the great war. But despite that, Earth is still a minor player in a wider galaxy, with only one advantage. Magic. Two years after Earth won its freedom, the tensions between the three star nations are rising. And United Terran Systems council knows that it is only a matter of time before the two great powers pressure humanity for the secrets of their magi-tech.

Sixty-seven years ago the Qash'vo'tar conquered Earth. Ever since then, the aliens had ruled from above. The Qash'vo'tar did not care what humanity did on the ground, as long as they didn't attempt to build anything that could get them to the stars. And now, sixty-seven years after they had been conquered, it was time for humanity to show the Qash'vo'tar that they had been right to fear humanity.

This long-awaited culmination of the Agent of Change sequence of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's internationally acclaimed Liaden Universe novels pits unexpected friends and unexpected enemies against each other in a war that spans planets and races - and threatens to bring interstellar violence to the very surface of fabled Liad.

The sky is not the limit. From an alley in New York to an interstellar wormhole, the path to the future looks different for everyone. These cosmic short stories from some of today’s most influential Black authors reveal a universe of possibilities.

Here are four stories derived from the same universe as the Koban series. Listening to the series is not required to understand and enjoy these stand-alone tales. Australian Krall: A fully gene-enhanced Kobani woman finds herself trapped in total darkness and underground, pursued by hundreds of slavering, semi-sentient, maniacally aggressive, and hungry aliens. Walk with her on the dark side!

For millennia, humankind and the other intelligent races have studied the bizarre and unfathomable constructs of the legendary beings known as the Builders. But for all that study, they are still no closer to figuring out who - or what - the Builders have been, or where they have gone.

In a universe full of interstellar intrigue and burgeoning commerce novice Terran trader Jethri Gobelyn, adopted by a Liaden clan after an ill-directed bow of honor insulted the scion of a major Liaden house, is alive and whole to tell the tale. Convinced that the adoption has saved his life and made his future he settles into a comfortable and even elite routine, a Trader's Ring his goal.

Having arrived at recently Dust-bound Colemeno, Trader Padi yos'Galan is essential to Master Trader Shan yos'Galan's plan to recoup Clan Korval's fortunes by establishing new routes for the clan's tradeship. Shan's inner Healer insists Padi come to terms with her as-yet unplumbed psychic abilities, which might place her in the top tier of dramliz, if she can learn control.

Humanity and their new allies, the Qash'vo'tar and the Zhal Confederation, embark on a mission to find the home system of their enemy-the Val'ayash. Both the Qash'vo'tar and the Zhal have been attacked by the Val'ayash and their allies, and were barely holding the line. Meanwhile, Earth is developing its magi-tech with the help from their Ethorrian allies, while also trying to build more ships.

The Val'ayash invasion of Earth had been defeated. New deals were reached with both the Qash'vo'tar and the Zhal Confederation. But Earth has one advantage that no one in their universe knows about. The portal to Ethorria.

Egypt, 1912. In an alternate Cairo infused with the otherworldly, the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities investigate disturbances between the mortal and the (possibly) divine. What starts off as an odd suicide case for Special Investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi leads her through the city’s underbelly as she encounters rampaging ghouls, saucy assassins, clockwork angels, and plot that could unravel time itself, in P. Djèlí Clark's Tor.Com Original, A Dead Djinn in Cairo.

Billions of years ago, on one of the first-ever Earths, a boy named Skylar will walk away from his home for the last time. Beset by dreams where he flies through the early universe as a sentient starship, he will never be safe if his secret gets out. His only chance to stay alive is to fall in with the same knights who destroyed his peasant village and live under the shadow of the king who sent them to exterminate Skylar’s people.

With origins in the Old Universe, the malevolent, acquisitive intelligence of Tinsori Light sought to infect others with itself and send those agents out into the wide new universe to infect even more. For centuries, two heroes stood between Tinsori Light and the vulnerable universe—Light Keepers Jen Sin yos'Phelium and Lorith of the Sanderat. Just when it seemed that they—merely human—must fail, Tinsori Light, enfeebled by aged systems, succumbed to the stress of a unique spatial event—and died, leaving the station a shell. Luckily, the light keepers have back-up.

A 2023 AUDIOFILE EARPHONES AWARD WINNER A murder has Seattle on edge, and it falls to a pacifist empath—and a notorious empath hunter—to find the killer before it's too late It’s the middle of the night when part-time police consultant and full-time empath Reece gets an anonymous call...

The search for the Builders, the legendary alien race whose unfathomable constructs continue to perplex scholars and explorers alike, has led Builder expert Darya Lang, adventurer Hans Rebka, and treasure hunters Louis Nenda and Atvar H'sial to an unknown Builder artifact far outside the spiral arm. There they find the Zardalu, once the greatest menace ever known to the worlds of the spiral arm, enslaving entire races and exterminating others, guided by the unswerving belief in their own supremacy.

Human. Arlo Grey will do anything to fend off the sickness that longs to destroy him. To uphold the promise he made to his parents, ensuring the protection of his sister from the world and its dangers. Especially if the dangers come in the form of elves from a realm beyond that of the human world. Elf. Faenir Evelina is scorned for the murder of his family. Forced by the bitter Queen to partake in the Choosing, he discovers a single person who can resist the deadly grace of his touch.