Space Universe

The Scattered Pearls Belt is a string of habitats on the edge of a huge galactic empire—a glittering, decadent society rife with corruption. Now, one of its victims—Quỳnh, a scholar betrayed and left for dead—has come back for her revenge under the guise of the glamorous and enigmatic Alchemist of Streams and Hills.

When a suspect explodes mid-interrogation and his office is taken over by an intergalactic despot, undead detective Dan Deadman reckons he's finally hit rock bottom. Banished to a dangerous underground hostel network, Dan becomes embroiled in a mass-murder investigation that will take him from the bowels of Down Here to the depths of the ocean. As the clues run out and the case collapses around him, Dan discovers a sinister plot that could wipe out two whole civilizations, and plunge the planet of Parloo into an endless bloody war.

After a decade of piloting interstellar patrol ships, former captain Chasidah Bergren, onetime pride of the Sixth Fleet, finds herself court-martialed for a crime she didn't commit and shipped off to a remote prison planet from which no one ever escapes. But when she kills a brutal guard in an act of self-defense, someone even more dangerous emerges from the shadows. Gabriel Sullivan alpha mercenary, smuggler, and rogue is supposed to be dead.

For over seven hundred years, the Spartan Republic’s citizens have known one truth: Terra is coming. Descendants of exiles who dared to defy an emperor, the star nation’s 70 billion citizens spent the centuries training, arming…and waiting. Even with the Terran Emperor dead, the so-called “Confederation of Man” still claims sovereignty over all humans…and Sparta would rather die on their feet than subjugate themselves once more.

A dozen recent Liaden Universe short works are added to the collection in the third volume of A Liaden Universe Constellation. Ranging from comic to cosmic, only one of these works was first published before 2011. These welcome new additions bring the collected Constellation of Lee and Miller Liaden short stories to forty-five works in three volumes. Here is a vast tapestry of tales of the scouts, artists, traders, priestesses, sleight of hand magicians, and pilots who fill the Liaden Universe with the excitement, action, and romance that fans of the hit series have come to adore.

This fourth volume collecting Lee and Miller's shorter Liaden Universe® stories features four novelettes, two novellas, and two short stories—including the celebrated linked stories, "Block Party" and "Degrees of Separation."

When Charlie, a young boy, is suddenly terrorized by a creature beneath his bed, he turns to his parents for help. But his father no longer lives at home, and his mother believes his wild imagination has run away with him. He is on his own against this predator until help arrives from an unlikely place. With his life on the line, Charlie uncovers the truth about his parents, his new friends, and the beast that hunts him. But will this be enough to help him face his fear and survive the night?

Expelled from the Union Astronautica space fleet and facing charges of grand theft, Jules Truffant agrees to sign up as shuttle pilot aboard the freighter Pride of Cucamonga in exchange for amnesty. After botching Pride's mission to RhoCorenae and upsetting an alien culture in the process, Jules must take part in a voyage across the galaxy to place a probe squarely in the path of a black hole as it plows through an inhabited star system.

The discovery of an ancient alien pyramid buried under the ice in Antarctica changes Earth forever. We learn that we are the forgotten slaves of a galaxy spanning empire called the V'kit'no'sat who abandoned our planet 100,000 years ago during a massive rebellion. Our ancestors, the Zen'zat, were given special genetic powers and ordered never to reproduce under pain of death...for themselves and their offspring. That means Earth's entire population is illegal and if the V'kit'no'sat return to reclaim their lost border colony they'll wipe out every last one of us.

Adam Cain—the alien with an attitude—is super-Human, everyone's hero, the go-to guy when the galaxy needs saving. Adam and his team are on a desperate rescue mission in another universe, yet one that promises wealth beyond their imagination. At least that's what they've been told. It seems straightforward enough—and the money is good! And now dangerous forces are aligned against them, as everyone wants to get into the act. However, everything is not as it seems. Maybe Adam should have asked a few more questions before taking on the assignment . . .

The ancient origins of humanity on Earth are dark, devastating, and destined to return. Earth is going to lose, and lose badly, when our time is up, but out of the ashes of defeat, we may be able to scrounge up a future if you and the other future warlords can learn how to overcome the losses and turn them to our advantage. And the one advantage we have is the repository of ancient knowledge left behind when our former masters abandoned Earth during a civil war. They assume everyone died, but a few human slaves remained, and now we live only because of that mistake.

"Hi, I’m Earth! But you can call me Planet Awesome." Prepare to learn all about Earth from the point of view of Earth herself! In this funny yet informative book, filled to the brim with kid-friendly facts, listeners will discover key moments in Earth’s life, from her childhood more than four billion years ago all the way up to present day. Beloved children's book author Stacy McAnulty helps Earth tell her story.

The Short Story of the Universe is a new introduction to the subject of the universe. Covering 130 key components that make it up - from dwarf galaxies and spiral arms to red giants and the planets of the solar system - and linking these to the universe's structure and the theories that help us understand it, this book simplifies this riveting yet mind-boggling subject, telling the story of how it came into being and how it will eventually be no more.

The universe should be fun, and you’re about to discover an audiobook that understands that, weaving humor and wit into every minute so that you not only understand what you’re listening to, but enjoy the whole process.

Hope ran deep when Smith left humanity’s first generation ship to lay roots with his wife and son in the open air of a new planet. When the colony ship broke apart on entry, however, countless lives were lost, including Smith’s beloved wife. He now fights to keep his son and his colony alive, all the while fighting off alien-induced hallucinations. Meanwhile, Smith’s apprentice Tashon seeks to discover what happened to his beloved mentor and the colony. He soon learns that the expedition’s leaders are focused on a much more imminent danger.

The possibility of life elsewhere in the cosmos is one of the most profound subjects that human beings can ponder. In this book, astrophysicist Andrew May gives an expert overview of our current state of knowledge, looking at how life started on Earth, the tell-tale “signatures” it produces, and how such signatures might be detected elsewhere in the solar system or on the many “exoplanets” now being discovered by the Kepler and TESS missions.

In the third novel of the Liaden Universe, Priscilla Delacroix is betrayed and abandoned by her shipmates. But confronting the crew will be far easier - and safer - than confronting the demons of her past.

A powerful new threat forces the Alliance to abandon Earth. They leave a small force behind, praying it will be enough to protect humanity from enslavement - or worse, extinction. Meanwhile, the fleet splits into separate missions, each of them vital in rebuilding Earth Alliance forces. A galaxy-shaking conflict is taking shape, with Earth in the eye of the storm. Everything depends on Chase, Chris, Sarah, Daniel, and the other heroes of the Earth Alliance fleet. The stakes have never been higher.

Meet Sun: He's a star! And not just any star - he's one in a billion. He lights up our solar system and makes life possible. With characteristic humor and charm, Stacy McAnulty channels the voice of Sun in this next celestial "autobiography". Rich with kid-friendly facts, Sun! One in a Billion is an equally charming and irresistible companion to Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years.

Astronomers have successfully observed a great deal of the universe’s history, from recording the afterglow of the big bang to imaging thousands of galaxies, and even to visualising an actual black hole. There’s a lot for astronomers to be smug about. But when it comes to understanding how the universe began and grew up, we are literally in the dark ages. In effect, we are missing the first one billion years from the timeline of the universe.