Showing results by author "Ben Bova" in All Categories

In Mars, Ben Bova gives us a compelling look at the possibility of life on another planet, and the mystery that surrounds its discovery. The very name of the mysterious Red Planet brings to mind images dramatic and dangerous - and both are accurate, as an international team of 25 astronauts discover when they land there for the first manned expedition.

A new installment in the military science-fiction series by a Hugo Award-winner finds the superhuman, outer-space warrior John O'Ryan caught in the middle of a dangerous contest between a goddess and a god.

In a startling future that's coming closer every year, Chet Kinsman is an astronaut ace who has done everything one can in space - including commit the first murder. It's a secret he can never escape, not even on the moon, where he's head of the first U.S. lunar colony. A series of shocking yet strangely inevitable circumstances will force Kinsman to confront his hidden past and decide Earth's destiny. In a desperate countdown to nuclear annihilation, Kinsman will struggle against a deadly dilemma: if he rescues the world, he risks destroying himself.

Microbiologist Michael Cochrane has been murdered. His brother, Paul, wants to find out who did it and why. It's clear that Michael was working with cyanobacteria, the bacteria that crack water molecules and release free oxygen. It's less clear why this would get anybody killed.

Earth has been devastated by a massive solar flare. Now a small group of survivors fights to rebuild civilization. Cities became ovens, grasslands seas of flame. As the touch of dawn swept westward across the spinning planet, its fiery finger killed everything in its path. Glaciers in Switzerland began to melt; floodwaters poured down on burning Alpine villages. Paris became a torch, then London. North of the Arctic Circle, Laplanders in their summer furs burst into flame as their reindeer collapsed and roasted on the smoking tundra. The line of dawn raced westward across the Atlantic, but as it did, the sun dimmed as quickly as it had flared. The Americas escaped the sun’s wrath … almost.

An extraterrestrial colony, in some form, may already exist, just awaiting discovery. But the greatest impediment to such an important scientific discovery may not be technological, but political. No scientific endeavor can be launched without a budget, and matters of money are within the arena of politicians. Dr. Ben Bova explores some of the key players and the arguments waged in a debate of both scientific and cultural priorities.

The second volume of the best stories from legendary hard science fiction writer Ben Bova, the creator of the New York Times best-selling Grand Tour science fiction series, a six-time Hugo award winner, and past president of the National Space Society. The stories included in this volume span the five decades of Bova's incandescent career at the center of science fiction and space advocacy. Here are tales of star-faring adventure, peril, and drama.

In the next century, the United States and Russia have joined forces to form the International Peacekeeping Force. The IPF is charged with controlling the satellite network and preventing nuclear missile launches. But many factions resent this orbital police force - and attempt to seize control of the satellites.... and the IPF itself.

Imagine a machine that would end all wars and bloodshed. A machine that can create a virtual world so real, so complete, where all conflicts are waged, but where no one ever dies or gets hurt. The dueling machine is just that...until a madman dictator of a small empire finds a way to bend virtual reality to his will - and uses the dueling machine to take over the galaxy! It's up to the machine's creator and a rather inept Star Watchman to discover the plan and stop it.  

The first immortals are already living among us. You might be one of them. At first glance, that arresting statement sounds as if it might come from a science fiction story. But it is an astonishing, exciting fact - as explained clearly and cogently by Dr. Ben Bova. Here is a compelling, startling, understandable, and vitally important study of the greatest challenge - and the most tantalizing opportunity - ever faced by humankind.

Luke Abramson, a brilliant cellular biologist who is battling lung cancer, has one joy in life: his 10-year-old granddaughter, Angela. When Angela is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and given less than six months to live, Luke wants to try a new enzyme, Mortality Factor 4 (MORF4), that he believes will kill Angela's tumor. However, the hospital bureaucracy won't let him do it because MORF4 has not yet been approved by the FDA. Knowing Angela will die before he can get the treatment approved, Luke abducts her from the hospital with plans to take her to a private research laboratory in Oregon.

Six-time Hugo Award winner Bova likes to tell big stories in a small way. This approach both helps and hurts in this collection of stories, excerpts and outtakes from his "Grand Tour" novels (Saturn, etc.), which explore the colonization of the solar system. Despite his vast subject, Bova focuses tightly on the heroes and villains whose striving makes up his future history. While some characters are standards of the SF genre (megalomaniac capitalist, lone-wolf entrepreneur, love object caught between them), Bova imbues each with Homeric virtues and flaws.

This new Mars adventure is a gripping story of danger and exploration that is as timely as tomorrow's headlines and as scientifically accurate and up to date as anyone can make it. "Mount Olympus" is a part of Ben Bova's most recent novel, Return to Mars.

No matter what strange forms the future takes, says Ben Bova in his introduction, crime and criminals will always be with us - and with them, the need for law enforcement. Included in this collection of short stories are the full-length novel City of Darkness and "Brillo" - the famous collaboration between Bova and Harlan Ellison.

Earth is an old planet, and her teeming masses are running out of resources - and time. It is up to men such as Jeff Holman to discover a haven for Earth’s millions. Altair VI is one such planet, and Holman is determined to transform this world into one where the human race can survive. Star probes long ago informed Earth that Altair VI had a flourishing ecology with one very tough beast at the top of the food chain, one that will have to be dealt with before the human colony ships arrive. The beast is not only tough, it is as smart as a man. Holman is faced with a soul-wrenching decision - for to make Altair VI habitable for humans, all native life must die.

For the first time in more than 15 years, Ben Bova returns to the adventures of Orion - hunter, warrior, assassin, and time-traveler. Created by Aten, one of the god-like descendants of the human race 50,000 years in the future, Orion is forced to travel throughout space-time to do his Creator’s malevolent bidding. In this audio exclusive, Aten sends Orion to the Britain of the Dark Ages.

From the creation of life to the exploration of the heavens and the stars—from the origins of the earth to the possibility of life on other planets, Ben Bova unveils the beauty and science behind the phenomenon of light. Bova masterfully explains how light affects us every day of our lives—from our religions to our sex drives. He examines how we use light in art, science, industry, entertainment, cosmetics, jewelry, and myriad other ways. Using accessible language, Bova provides easy-to-understand examples that explain even the most difficult and mind-bending concepts.