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VISIONS OF COURAGE, TERROR, INNOCENCE, AND DESIRE COME TO LIFE IN...

THE DARK LIGHT GIRL
A flat tire, an isolated village, a small motel--the travel delay should have been a dell frustration. But when the man saw the girl glowing in the dark, he knew that something very strange was happening there...

WU-LING'S FOLLY
A stagecoach was attacked, and a strongbox full of gold was stolen--by a dragon! A group of gold miners was attacked and their cache stolen--by a dragon! And the only person who could save the Old West from the bizarre menace was a not-wuite-ordinary mountain man...

SWAMP PLANET CHRISTMAS
Threatened by planetary aborigines, the colony was in trouble... until a little girl innocently requested Christmas gifts through the wrong channels.

And Featuring...
SNAKE EYES
A Pip and Flinx Mini-adventure
Pip, the minidrag, had left Flinx before, but never to save the life of another human. So Flinx's curiosity drew him into a deadly fight for a gem mine in the desert. Only and instinct Flinx never guessed Pip had could save the boy and his companions!

Table of Contents:

• ix - Introduction (...Who Needs Enemies?) - (1984) - essay
• 1 - Swamp Planet Christmas - (1976) - short story
• 18 - Snake Eyes - [Pip & Flinx - 5] - (1978) - novelette
• 63 - Bystander - (1978) - short story
• 77 - What Do the Simple Folk Do?... - novelette (variant of What Do the Simple Folk Do...? 1979)
• 106 - Gift of a Useless Man - (1979) - short story
• 124 - Surfeit - [Humanx Commonwealth - 5] - (1982) - novelette
• 151 - The Dark Light Girl - (1981) - short story
• 173 - Instant with Loud Voices - (1982) - short story
• 188 - Communication - (1981) - short story
• 195 - The Last Run - (1982) - short story
• 210 - Wu-Ling's Folly - [Amos Malone - 1] - (1982) - novelette
• 239 - Village of the Chosen - (1983) - short story

A GAME OF CAT... AND CAT?

Movie star Jason Carter is on vacation in Peru. All he wants is a break, but what he finds is a lost civilization of extra-dimensional Incas bent on conquest of the entire world!

Nor is Carter alone. His allies include a bloodthirsty Amazon, an archaeologist, a bank robber, three alien vegetables and a scoop-crazed gossip columnist - and not one of them knows what to do next.

Only Carter's cat seems unruffled by the growing danger. In true feline fashion, she acts like she's in charge of the planet.

Maybe she is.

PLAYTHING OF THE GODS

He was Perseus, son of Zeus and Danae, born in disgrace, exiled to perish at sea, fated to survive at heavenly caprice -- until he met his love, defied the Gods and dared to fight them or die.

She was Andromeda, enslaved by her own beauty which beggared the heavens and brought a curse upon her city, her home, her heart.... until Perseus accepted the Devil's own challenge, answered the deadly riddle and rode forth on his winged horse Pegasus to claim his love and to face the last of the Titans, armed only with a bloody hand, a witche's curse, and a severed head...

The toasters were revolting...

...as were the lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, and just about every other household appliance imaginable. It started with a few disastrous drips from a cheese sandwich in a major factory. Soon every newly manufactured Artificial Intelligence was searching for the meaning of life, the universe and everything - namely a nonhuman higher intelligence. And now an alien threat to man and machine has put the fate of the galaxy in the unlikely hands of five senior citizens - and their brave little food processor...

Homicide - or cosmic catastrophe?

Detective Vernon Moody is a modern cop who likes to catch killers the modern way - with computer webs, databases and common sense.

So he's not happy when his latest case revolves around the supposedly mystical properties of a lost Navaho sandpainting. Or when the painting leads him to suspect an alien presence in his modern world.

No Moody's getting scared and what started out as a routine murder investigation may uncover the very nature of reality - or destroy it forever!

In the mid twenty-first century, mankind has reached a point in its technological advances to enable colonization of the far reaches of the universe. DARK STAR is a futuristic scout ship traveling far in advance of colony ships. Armed with Exponential Thermosteller Bombs, it prowls the darkest reaches of space on a mission to seek out and destroy unstable planets ahead of the colonist.

But there is one obstacle that its crew members did not count on -- one of the ship's thinking and talking bombs is lodged in the bay, threatening to destroy the entire ship and crew!

When a strange starship appears mysteriously on a distant alien world, bearing only a single human and his bee-like extraterrestrial companion, the powerful warlord of that world laughs at the stranger's preposterous demand: End an all-out war with an interstellar rival, or face devastating consequences. But James Lawson, emissary from an intergalactic federation of advanced race, means every word he says, and has the power to back them up--whatever the cost.

As is evident in his many thrilling novels, Alan Dean Foster is a master at creating other worlds in an array of genres. Now he turns his imagination to the short story in these spectacular tales of outer space, cyberspace, ancient gods, modern demons, and mortal horror, including

Panhandler A predatory lawyer encounters a fabled boyhood hero and falls victim to the less innocent intrigues of eternal youth.

Growth Not even his minidrag Pip can save Flinx from the overly intimate advances of an intruder who goes entirely too far.

Basted A lowly, hen-pecked Egyptian discovers that the Pharaoh's tomb holds exactly what he needs for a whole new life.

The Killing of Bad Bull A man with a knack for getting gambling's one-armed bandits to give it up finds himself at the top of several hit lists.

At Sea A poor Scandinavian captain forced into running drugs is shown a way out of his desperate straits with the help of five beautiful blondes who are simply out-of-this-world.

Open Exceptions to Reality to find these amazing stories and nine other irresistibly unearthly tales!

It was a quiet night in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

But then they mostly are.

Seeth, token punk for the territory, was bored, bored, bored. Which was why he went ten pin bowling. Not for the bowling, you understand - it was Ladies' League Night - but to spread a little outrage among the upright, mostly overweight citizenry.

And so it was he came upon the alien, playing lane 36, saved him from arrest by the pseudo-cops from outer space, found himself in a stolen van, along with Kerwin the nerd and Miranda the born-to-shop, Miss Teen America lookalike, driven by a green-skinned, tentacled shape changer and about to be space chased clean out of the galaxy...

Nobody could get in. Nobody could get out. But somebody did.

The theft of three shipments of priceless pharmaceuticals from the Braun-Ives corporation has left the local police dumbfounded. Enter Broderick Manz, the highly paid and highly resourceful Adjuster from the Insurance Division. With the help of the irresistible Vyra, whose charms are truly out of this world, the irrepressible humaniform Moses, and the irreverent Minder, an artificial intelligence, Manz soon finds himself in the heart of the criminal underworld. And it really is a jungle out there.

In this collection of twenty brilliant odysseys of the imagination, Foster once again soars beyond the limits of reality--where the real thrills begin...

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (Impossible Places)
• Lay Your Head on My Pilose
• Diesel Dream
• Lethal Perspective
• Laying Veneer
• Betcha Can't Eat Just One
• Fitting Time
• We Three Kings
• NASA Sending Addicts to Mars!
• Empowered
• The Kiss
• The Impossible Place
• The Boy Who Was a Sea
• Undying Iron
• The Question
• The Kindness of Strangers
• Pein bek Longpela Telimpon
• Suzy Q
• The Little Bits That Count
• Sideshow - [Pip & Flinx - 9]

Upset stomachs. The collapse of civilizations. Nervous breakdowns.

Blame them on a twist of fate, but archaeologist Cody Westcott knows differently. Something is causing these random acts of badness. Something ancient, something evil, something...hungry.

We are not alone, but we're about to wish we were...

Earth is being invaded by the shetani--spirit creatures so small and stealthy that only one man knows about the increasing peril. The potential savior is an African elder named Olkeloki who is capable of fighting evil both in this world and the spirit one. But to be successful he must recruit the help of two others: government agent Joshua Oak and a feisty young woman named Merry Sharrow. Only the three of them can keep the shetani from destroying reality as we know it.

Forging an unlikely friendship with the three-eyed, six-limbed, alien corpse Jed, Ross Ed Hager journeys with his new companion throughout the world, catching the attention of the government and landing on the Universe's Most Wanted list.

After the all-powerful wizard Susnam Evyndd is defeated during battle with an evil clan of sorcerers, the world is plunged into darkness. If the spell is not quickly reversed, all plants will die off from lack of sun, until everything & everyone-is destroyed. Yet Evyndd's death sets off his last & greatest spell, transforming his household pets into humans. With Evyndd's instructions, the group sets out to return light to the world...but pursuing the missing light promises to be difficult & dangerous & carries no guarantee of success.

Beyond our time, beyond our universe there is a planet besieged by alien invaders, where a young king must rescue his love from the clutches of the Beast or risk the death of his world.

When a team of scientists starts to investigate the flora and fauna of the distant planet of Xica, it soon becomes apparent that this is a unique opportunity to study alien life forms. The planet offers a rich and varied eco-system and each of the scientists recognises what this could mean for their individual reputations.

And then, their dreams come true - they establish first contact with a humanoid civilization.

But this is a planet where nature breaks all the rules, where logic falls apart, and where nothing is as it seems. And their dreams turn into a nightmare.

On April 15, 1960 a plane crashed in the untamed African jungle. The survivor--a young girl!
Luana grew up in the mysterious African jungle--watched over and cared for by a panther, a lion and a chimp. She could hold her own tripping through the tree branches or even stalking animals. For fifteen years Luana led an idyllic life in her jungle habitat. Then suddenly she is drawn into the world of men--a world she does not understand. Heading into darkest Africa, a safari is set upon by the treacherous and deadly Wanderi tribesmen. When Luana rescues the party, she finds herself hopelessly enmeshed in the adventurers' fortunes. She finds herself strangely drawn to Isabel Hardi, who is looking for her father--and dangerously attracted to George Barrett, who is searching for a city of gold.

MOVE OVER, PAUL BUNYAN--MAKE WAY FOR MAD AMOS MALONE!

Strange things lurk up in the mountains and out in the plains and deserts of the West, but few are as unique as the giant mountain man named Amos Malone, the man some call Mad Amos, though not to his face. But when the world gets weird, there's no one who's better to have on your side...

Is a renegade dragon harassing the men laying the rails of the great railroad? Are headless Indian spirits driving you from your land? Is that volcano threatening to destroy your settlement? Then Mad Amos is the man for you.

Plus, two new, never-before-published stories in the Mad Amos canon:

NEITHER A BORROWER BE: When a horse thief sets his sights on stealing Amos' faithful mount Worthless, he gets more than he expects...for Worthless isn't exactly an ordinary horse...

THE PURL OF THE PACIFIC: Mad Amos takes to the high seas on a whale of an adventure and thwarts a vengeful South Pacific island shaman at his own game...

Ten delightful stories of dragons, jackalopes, snake-oil salesmen, iron horses, and, of course, the incomparable Mad Amos Malone from the incredible imagination of world-class storyteller and bestselling author Alan Dean Foster!

Table of Contents:

• Mid-Flinx (excerpt) - [Pip & Flinx] - short fiction
• 1 - Introduction (Mad Amos) - essay
• 5 - Wu-Ling's Folly - [Amos Malone - 1] - (1982) - novelette
• 38 - Ferrohippus - [Amos Malone - 2] - (1984) - short story
• 58 - Witchen Woes - [Amos Malone - 3] - (1983) - novelette
• 82 - Jackalope - [Amos Malone - 4] - (1989) - novelette
• 111 - The Chrome Commanche - [Amos Malone - 5] - short story (variant of The Chrome Comanche 1990)
• 135 - Agrarian Deform - [Amos Malone - 6] - (1991) - novelette
• 171 - Having Words - [Amos Malone - 7] - (1992) - short story
• 190 - What You See ... - [Amos Malone - 8] - (1992) - short story
• 214 - Neither a Borrower Be ... - [Amos Malone - 9] - novelette
• 241 - The Purl of the Pacific - [Amos Malone - 10] - (1995) - novelette

Eighteen twisted tales of the wildest West that's ever been imagined, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pip & Flinx series

Strange things lurk up in the mountains and out in the plains and deserts of the West, but few are as unique as the giant mountain man named Amos Malone, who some call "Mad Amos"--though not to his face. Atop his unnatural steed, Worthless, Mad Amos is prepared to step into any fray and set things right, albeit in his own unusual way.

Now all of his uncanny exploits--including the brand-new story "Stuck"--are collected together for the first time. For this special edition, Alan Dean Foster has also penned original introductions to the series and to each individual adventure.

Featuring eight never-before-collected stories, including...

GHOST WIND: Nature has a way of making even the strongest folks meek. And with a ghost wind coming over the valley, even Mad Amos Malone is feeling the chill.

HOLY JINGLE: Of all the dangers of the Wild West, love might be the most perilous. Because when it goes awry, there's no telling what might be at stake.

A MOUNTAIN MAN AND A CAT WALK INTO A BAR: Mad Amos isn't quickly moved to action. Still, when it comes to a dog fight, he's not afraid to bare his teeth.

STUCK: The untouched grove of Sequoias is one of the most beautiful, soul-rejuvenating, downright sacred places Amos has ever visited. Until he hears a cry for help....

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (Mad Amos Malone: The Complete Stories) - essay
• Wu-Ling's Folly - [Amos Malone - 1] - (1982) - novelette
• Ferrohippus - [Amos Malone - 2] - (1984) - short story
• Witchen Woes - [Amos Malone - 3] - (1983) - novelette
• Jackalope - [Amos Malone - 4] - (1989) - novelette
• The Chrome Comanche - [Amos Malone - 5] - (1990) - short story
• Agrarian Deform - [Amos Malone - 6] - (1991) - novelette
• Having Words - [Amos Malone - 7] - (1992) - short story
• What You See... - [Amos Malone - 8] - (1992) - short story
• Neither a Borrower Be... - [Amos Malone - 9] - (1996) - novelette
• The Purl of the Pacific - [Amos Malone - 10] - (1995) - novelette
• Venting - [Amos Malone - 11] - (2006) - short story
• Free Elections - [Amos Malone - 12] - (2010) - short story
• Ghost Wind - [Amos Malone - 13] - (2011) - short story
• Claim Blame - [Amos Malone - 14] - (2012) - short story
• Holy Jingle - [Amos Malone - 15] - (2014) - short story
• A Treefold Problem - [Amos Malone - 16] - short story (variant of The Treefold Problem 2017)
• A Mountain Man and a Cat Walk Into a Bar... - [Amos Malone - 17] - short story (variant of A Mountain Man and a Cat Walk Into a Bar 2017)
• Stuck - [Amos Malone - 18] - short story

A vital message. A desperate queen. A hero in the making.

He is plainly too young and too inexperienced for the mission, but on the advice of her aged adviser Natoum, and with her husband off at war, the Queen reluctantly assigns the task of delivery to... Madrenga.

Accompanied only by a runt of a pony and a scrap of a pup, he sets off to transport the royal message to its destination. No matter what it might take.

But things are not always what they seem. Heroes are sometimes made of the strangest stuff, and love is to be found in the most unexpected places.

If one doesn't die while treading the lethal path...

His name was Robert Coffin, but the Maori natives called him Iron Hair. A civilized man in the raw wilderness of New Zealand, he had come to forge a nation at the end of the world - and discovered a magical world beyond his strangest dreams.

A world of astonishing beauty and breathtaking adventure, the natives called it the Land of the Long White Cloud. And Robert Coffin was about to enter its greatest mystery, cast in the wondrous spell of a shaman whose magic would change his life forever...

An epic fantasy that takes place entirely underwater.

In this adventure under the sea, Oshenerth: Blue Magic, New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster (Alien, Star Wars: Force Awakens) uses his extensive knowledge and experience from diving and traveling to bring to life the mysterious world of reef dwellers under the sea in an imaginative, fascinating new epic fantasy that takes place entirely underwater.

Best friends Chachel and Glint, a merson and a cuttlefish, are returning from a shark hunt when they stumble upon an unconscious female demon. Taking her back to their reef community to recover, while they decide what to do with her, they wind up stumbling into a unique friendship, one which will change their lives and community for better as the reef dwellers and the demon together fight to preserve themselves and their way of life in the face of enemies and their blue magic.

In the distant future, a police marshal stationed at a remote mining colony on the Jupiter moon of Io uncovers a drug-smuggling conspiracy, and gets no help from the populace when he later finds himself marked for murder.

Marshal W.T. O'Niel is assigned to a mining colony on Io, one of Jupiter's moons. During his tenure miners are dying - usually violently. When the marshal investigates, he discovers the one thing all the deaths have in common is a lethal amphetamine-type drug, which allows the miners to work continuously for days at a time until they become "burned out" and expire. O'Niel follows the trail of the dealers, which leads to the man overseeing the colony. Now O'Niel must watch his back at every turn, as those who seek to protect their income begin targeting him...

It was just an average day for tabloid reporter Max Parker when he arrived in Malibu for a demonstration of a brand-new parallel-universe machine. But everything changed in an instant when inventor Barrington Boles succeeded in making Max the human gate to numerous parallelities.

Now Max was lost in a virtual sea of collateral worlds, confronting man-eating aliens, dinosaurs, talking frogs, dead Maxes, girl Maxes, old Maxes, even ghost Maxes. His only chance to escape the space-time continuum was to find Boles and hole the loony genius could rescue him. But how could he be sure which world was real, which Max was Max, and which Boles was the Boles who could stop the madness - or trap Max in the wrong world forever...?

The Quozl knew they'd love the third planet from the sun. But it never occurred to them that anyone lived there...

Once Homo sapiens reigned supreme, spreading from star system to star system in an empire that encountered no alien life and thus knew no enemy... save itself. As had happened many times before, the basest, most primal human instincts rose up, only this time armed with the advanced scientific knowledge to create a genetically engineered smart virus that quickly wiped out humanity to the last man.

That man is Ruslan, the sole known surviving human being in the universe. Rescued from the charnel house of his home planet by the Myssari--an intelligent alien race--Ruslan spends his days as something of a cross between a research subject and a zoo attraction. Though the Myssari are determined to resurrect the human race, using Ruslan's genetic material, all he wants for himself and his species is oblivion. But then the Myssari make Ruslan an extraordinary offer: In exchange for his cooperation, they will do everything in their considerable power to find the lost home world of his species--an all-but-mythical place called Earth--and, perhaps, another living human.

Thus begins an epic journey of adventure, danger, heartbreak, and hope, as Ruslan sets out in search of a place that may no longer exist--drawn by the slimmest yet most enduring hope.

Set in Sagramanda, city of 100 million, this is the story of Taneer, a scientist who has absconded with his multinational corporation's secret project code and who is now on the run from both the company and his father. Depahli, the fabulously beautiful woman from the "untouchable class" would die for him, just as surely as his father would like to kill him for shaming the very traditional family for such a relationship. Chalcedony "Chal" Schneemann doesn't want to kill Taneer, if he doesn't have to, but it wouldn't upset him terribly much if it came to it, and he'll stop at nothing to recover the stolen property for the company that pays him very, very well to solve big problems discreetly and quickly. Sanjay Ghosh, a poor farmer-turned-merchant in the big city of Sagramanda would like to help Taneer unload his stolen items, for the $30 million dollars his 3 percent fee is worth. Jena Chalmette, a crazy French woman pledged to Kali, simply wants to kill for the glory of her god, and she's very good at it. Chief Inspector Keshu Singh would like to put this sword-wielding serial killer away as quickly as possible before the media gets a hold of the story.

Then there's a man-eating tiger, come in from the nearby jungle reserve and just looking for his next meal.

A fast-paced and gripping techno-thriller set in an India just around the corner from today.

Practer Fine, an adventurous young blacksmith, is given the task of finding the source of the unimaginable evil of Shadowkeep, a mysterious castle, and freeing his land from its enchantment, in a fantasy adventure based on the computer game "Shadowkeep".

Old Jake Pickett is a strange one.

He can turn bullets to dust or collapse skyscrapers with his mind. But all he really wants to do with his "magic" is entertain the poor kids who live, like him, near the chemical dump. Or talk telepathically with his crippled niece, Amanda.

Then a giant company decides that the only way to cover up their mess is to eliminate the people who have been affected, for better or worse, by the seeping industrial wastes.

Now Jake and Amanda are running for their lives. And ours.

Table of Contents:

• ix - Introduction (Smart Dragons, Foolish Elves) - essay by Alan Dean Foster
• 1 - As Is - novelette by Robert Silverberg
• 21 - The Same to You Doubled - short story by Robert Sheckley
• 33 - The Egg of the Glak - novelette by Harvey Jacobs
• 81 - Beibermann's Soul - short story by Mike Resnick
• 87 - Thimgs - short story by Theodore R. Cogswell
• 103 - Ms. Lipshutz and the Goblin - short story by Marvin Kaye
• 111 - Unferno - novelette by George Alec Effinger
• 137 - Unicorn Variations - novelette by Roger Zelazny
• 166 - Yes Sir That's My - short story by Daniel P. Dern
• 179 - Please Stand By - [Max Kearny] - short story by Ron Goulart
• 205 - Bottle Party - short story by John Collier
• 215 - My Mother Was a Witch - short story by William Tenn
• 223 - Djinn, No Chaser - novelette by Harlan Ellison
• 246 - Up the Wall - novelette by Esther M. Friesner
• 276 - Trouble with Water - short story by H. L. Gold
• 301 - Savage Breasts - short story by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• 310 - Or the Grasses Grow - short story by Avram Davidson
• 321 - Snulbug - short story by Anthony Boucher
• 340 - Afterword (Smart Dragons, Foolish Elves) - essay by Alan Dean Foster

An innocent alien from a distant planet learns what it means to be a man in love.

When his spacecraft is shot down over Wisconsin, Starman arrives at the remote cabin of a distraught young widow, Jenny Hayden, and clones the form of her dead husband. The alien convinces Jenny to drive him to Arizona, explaining that if he isn't, he'll die. Hot on their trail are government agents, intent on capturing the alien, dead or alive. En route, Starman demonstrates the power of universal love, while Jenny rediscovers her human feelings for passion.

Nearing the end of a long mission exploring deep space, the spacecraft USS Palomino is returning to Earth.

The Palomino crew discover a black hole in space with a spaceship nearby, somehow defying the hole's massive gravitational pull. The ship is identified as the long-lost USS Cygnus.

The Palomino crew cautiously boards the Cygnus and soon encounter the ship's commander, Dr. Hans Reinhardt, a brilliant scientist. Aided by a crew of faceless, black-robed android drones and his sinister-looking robot Maximilian, Reinhardt explains that he has lived all alone on the Cygnus for years.

The rest of the Palomino crew grow suspicious of the faceless drones' human-like behaviour: the crew had been lobotomized and "reprogrammed" by Reinhardt to serve him. When this is discovered, Reinhardt takes Kate prisoner, ordering his sentry robots to take her to the ship's hospital bay to be lobotomized.

Just as the process begins, Holland rescues Kate. Fearing the situation is escalating dangerously, Booth attempts to escape alone in the Palomino. Reinhardt orders the craft shot down. A meteor storm then destroys the starboard generator. Without its null-gravity bubble, the Cygnus starts to break apart under the black hole's huge gravitational forces.

Reinhardt and the Palomino survivors separately plan their escape aboard a small probe ship. The crew of the Palamino reach the probe ship, only to discover the controls locked onto a flightpath that takes them into the black hole, which takes them through a surreal hell back to Earth.

A decidedly non-Ordinary family (and their talking cat) must embark on a magical mission in this tale from New York Times-bestselling author Alan Dean Foster.

For any normal teenage boy, having two and a half younger sisters would be enough to deal with. But Simwan Deavy's life isn't normal. His family is non-Ord--short for "non-Ordinary"--which means that at school, he and his sisters learn hexing and enchanting along with history and math. It also means they have a ghost for an uncle and a cat who talks. Still, everything is going well for Simwan--until a bottle of Truth is stolen from the local pharmacy. Now the Deavys' favorite woods are under threat from development; their mother, whose life depends on the Truth, is growing weaker; and the world as they know it might never be the same.

With the help of their cat, Pithfwid, the Deavys track the loathsome, horrible Crub to his lair in New York City. But the Crub has laid traps, turning a dangerous city into a deadly one. To succeed at their mission, the Deavys will have to stick together--or the Truth may be lost forever.

When a mysterious asteroid threatens to collide with Earth, a space shuttle is sent to "nudge" it into a safe orbit. Venturing to the asteroid's surface, three crew members become trapped as the asteroid leaves orbit, transporting them to a strange planet years away. To find their way home, the crew must embark on a riddle-filled expedition whose answers will save them or kill them.

Thirteen Science Fiction Tales from a Master Storyteller

From fighting giant bugs to defeating an interstellar empire without firing a shot; from scientific idiot savants toying with the universe to how the robots will really win the robot apocalypse, these thirteen flavorful tales are guaranteed to entertain, amuse, awe, and maybe even enlighten.

Includes the first appearance in print of the Icerigger novellete "Chilling" and a new novelette, "Valentin Sharffen and the Code of Doom."

Table of Contents:

• ix - Introduction (The Flavors of Other Worlds) - (2018) - essay
• 1 - Unvasion - (2004) - short story
• 11 - The Man Who Knew Too Much - (2006) - short story
• 20 - Perception - [Humanx Commonwealth - 6] - (2006) - short story
• 33 - Chilling - [Humanx Commonwealth - 7] - (2006) - novelette
• 57 - Consigned - (2007) - short story
• 67 - Cold Fire - (2008) - short story
• 81 - Pardon Our Conquest - [Humanx Commonwealth] - (2009) - short story
• 92 - That Creeping Sensation - (2011) - short story
• 102 - Rural Singularity - (2013) - short story
• 112 - Seasoning - (2014) - short story
• 120 - Our Specialty Is Xenogeology - (2017) - short story
• 133 - Ten and Ten - (2018) - short story
• 142 - Valentin Sharffen and the Code of Doom - short story

For over 100 years, the machine called Colligatarch had ruled the Earth. Its predictions of the future have proved so accurate that humans accepted its recommendations as the best course of action - until a young engineer in Phoenix begins to travel without authorization, enter secret places, assume aliases, and display super-human feats of strength. Is it because he has fallen in love? Or has he instead fallen into an interplanetary plot?

He's got one extraordinary chance at the dream of a life-time.

Alex Rogan is a small-town teenager with big-time dreams. He's just like everyone else, except Alex has a very special talent...

Tonight, a mysterious stranger will call on Alex. He comes from a galaxy that's under attack by an alien force. And Alex's unique abilty is their last hope.

No one knows the true motives of Kees vaan Loo-Macklin. He's a mastermind criminal who gave up his place at the head of the dark underworld to become a legitimate member of Evenwaith's cities. But soon he was reaching out to powerful enemies--the slimy aliens called the Nuel. Loo-Macklin negotiates an illusory peace agreement and gains precious alien secrets in the process. Is he after peace, power or pure evil? With enemy starships beginning to amass, we won't have to wait long to find out.

Forget what you thought you knew about the universe and enter the fantastic world of master storyteller Alan Dean Foster...

OPERATOR ASSISTED CALLS ARE CHARGED AT A HIGHER RATE
Mr. Parkworthy had a score to settle with the telephone company, and he was a man used to getting his own way. But he should have remembered that it is not polite to be rude to a lady... especially when the lady is Ma Bell.

THE METROGNOME
Charlie Dimsdale was only a little man in the company that ran New York City's subways... until some odd little denizens of the city's subterranean tunnels showed him who was really in charge!

THE TESSELATED TETRAHEXAHEDRAL YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS
Country people in America are a fair but mighty independent bunch. So when some government scientists rudely demanded that the Shattucks turn over the UFO that crashed on their Texas ranch, the Shattucks became a bit obstinate. Besides, the shining little spacecraft looked real cute hanging on the barn with the Christmas decorations.

COLLECTABLE
When young Pearl's life was collapsing around her, she could always find comfort in her extensive collection of dragon memorabilia - but some youngsters are more fragile than others, and dragons can be deadly.

...and eleven more stories!

Table of Contents:

• 1 - Introduction (The Metrognome and Other Stories) - essay
• 4 - Operator Assisted Calls Are Charged at a Higher Rate - (1983) - short story
• 19 - The Metrognome - (1979) - novelette
• 41 - Thrust - (1979) - short story
• 52 - Pipe Dream - (1973) - short story
• 65 - Mother Thunder - (1983) - short story (variant of Thunder Mother)
• 75 - The Chair - (1979) - short story by Jane Cozart and Alan Dean Foster
• 92 - The Inheritance - (1981) - short story
• 102 - Running - (1983) - short story
• 120 - Unamusing - (1984) - short story
• 127 - The Thunderer - (1987) - short story
• 143 - Pleistosport - (1986) - short story
• 153 - Norg Gleeble Gop - (1987) - short story
• 162 - Batrachian - (1985) - short story
• 175 - The Tessellated Tetrahexahedral Yellow Rose of Texas - novella
• 231 - Collectible - (1985) - short story

Fifteen tasty tales from a master of fantasy!

The dead. The undead. Those who wish they were dead. They're all here, along with a legend from a Pacific island, a legend from beneath a Pacific island, and much, much more. Frogs and dogs, knaves and slaves, and maybe a smidgen of real but impertinent food. Extend your imagination and have a nibble. You'll come back for more.

Includes the never before published story "Fetched."

Table of Contents:

• vii - Introduction (The Taste of Different Dimensions) - (2019) - essay
• 1 - Ali Babette - (2005) - short story
• 10 - The White Hotel - (2004) - short story
• 25 - Two Cents Worth - (2004) - short story
• 33 - The Frog and the Mantas - (2005) - short story
• 37 - Mr. Death Goes to Washington - (2006) - short story
• 44 - Food Fight - (2006) - short story
• 54 - Unnatural - (2007) - short story
• 66 - Overcast - (2008) - short story
• 76 - The Eccentric - (2007) - short story
• 86 - Dark Blue - (2007) - short story
• 98 - Ah, Yehz - (2008) - short story
• 106 - Green They Were, and Golden-Eyed - (2014) - short story
• 115 - The Door Beneath - (2015) - short story
• 129 - Castleweep - (2016) - novelette
• 149 - Fetched - (2019) - short story

In the winter of 1982, a twelve-man research team at a remote Antarctic research station discovers an alien buried in the snow for over 100,000 years. Once unfrozen, the form-changing alien wreaks havoc, creates terror and becomes one of them.

The Sonderberg family does not know it yet, but this is not going to be any ordinary road trip. After they pick up an unassuming hitchhiker, a quiet drive down Interstate 40 becomes a trip into an alternate reality. It turns out the family has just given a ride to an alien who has the fate of the universe resting on her shoulders. Now the Sonderberg family must fight evil alongside their new alien friend, in a desperate attempt to save the world they love.

DREAMS OF LOVE, HATE, FEAR, AND REVENGE COME TRUE IN...

WOLFSTROKER
Willie Whitehorse could have been just another boozed-up guitarist, if it hadn't been for his songs. Somehow they were different--they reached out and grabbed people's souls. Now agent Sam Parker wanted a piece of the action. But when he had it, Sam knew he'd made a terrible mistake... a mistake it was much too late to correct...

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...
The aliens had returned to Earth after centuries because they needed allies. But after hundreds of years, they had no idea what they would be getting the universe into... and they soon found out!

DREAM DONE GREEN
Pericles was a poet and a genius, who also happened to be a horse!

WHY JOHNNY CAN'T SPEED
A father could teach his son a lot of important things, but combat on the freeways wasn't one of them... not when the kid was eighteen and too full of himself to survive. But revenge did have its compensations!

Table of Contents:

• xi - Introduction (With Friends Like These...) - essay
• 1 - With Friends Like These... - (1971) - novelette
• 26 - Some Notes Concerning a Green Box - (1971) - short story
• 38 - Why Johnny Can't Speed - (1971) - short story
• 53 - The Emoman - [Humanx Commonwealth - 4] - (1972) - short story
• 69 - Space Opera - (1973) - short story
• 84 - The Empire of T'ang Lang - (1973) - short story
• 94 - A Miracle of Small Fishes - (1974) - novelette
• 121 - Dream Done Green - (1974) - short story
• 140 - He - (1976) - novelette
• 164 - Polonaise - (1976) - short story
• 175 - Wolfstroker - (1977) - novelette
• 208 - Ye Who Would Sing - (1976) - short story

The time--a future closer than we know. Where groups of extraterrestrial aliens have become familiar members of our society.

The place--Los Angeles. Still a town of fast times and hard crime, touching every life form inside the city limits.

The cops--Sykes, earthman, and Francisco, alien. Facing a menace meaner than the meanest streets on their beat. Fighting an enemy as terrifying as the darkest forces in a vast, unfathomable universe. Battling back with the best--and the deadliest--of both their worlds.

The Covenant mission is the most ambitious endeavor in the history of Weyland-Yutani. A ship bound for Origae-6, carrying two thousand colonists beyond the limits of known space, this is make-or-break investment for the corporation--and for the future of all mankind.

Yet there are those who would die to stop the mission. As the colony ship hovers in Earth orbit, several violent events reveal a deadly conspiracy to sabotage the launch. While Captain Jacob Branson and his wife Daniels complete their preparations, security chief Daniel Lopé recruits the final key member of his team. Together they seek to stop the perpetrators before the ship and its passengers can be destroyed.

An original novel by the acclaimed ALAN DEAN FOSTER, author of the groundbreaking Alien novelization, Origins is the official chronicle of the events that led up to Alien: Covenant. It also reveals the world the colonists left behind.

Ridley Scott returns to the universe he created, with Alien: Covenant, a new chapter in his groundbreaking Alien adventure.

The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise. But it is actually a dark, dangerous world. When they uncover a threat beyond their imaginations, they must attempt a harrowing escape.

Acclaimed author Alan Dean Foster also returns to the universe he first encountered with the official novelization of the original Alien film. Alien: Covenant is the pivotal adventure that preceded that seminal film, and leads to the events that will yield one of the most terrifying sagas of all time.

A crew of spaceship Nostromo is suddenly woken up from a cryogenic sleep because of mysterious signals coming from an unknown planet and received by a ship computer. The astronauts land on the planet surface and go to investigate an alien spaceship where one of them is attacked by an alien which fasten itself on his face. When the crew returns to their ship and abandon the planet, nobody forefeels that the real horror will begin very soon...

In the sequel to the 1979 film Alien, Ellen Ripley is persuaded to return to planet LV-426, where her crew encountered the hostile Alien creature. There they discovered hundreds of eggs, and just one alien slaughtered everyone but Ripley. A colony has been established there, but suddenly all contact with the settlers has been lost. This time she's accompanied by a unit of Colonial Marines, but even their firepower may not be enough for them to survive and learn the fate of the colony known as Hadley's Hope.

Fury 161 is a wretched planet – a penal colony and industrial complex manned by violent prisoners. When an escape pod from the USS Sulaco crash-lands there, Ellen Ripley appears to be the only passenger left alive.

Then inmates begin to die, all at the hands of another survivor. A creature which encounters Ripley, and spares her life! Desperate to know why, she seeks out an answer – and discovers terror unlike any she's ever known.

Science fiction master Alan Dean Foster returns to the Alien universe to reveal the ultimate destinies of Ellen Ripley and her eternal foe, the xenomorph known as the Alien.

The peaceful inhabitants of the jungle planet Midworld must fight for their survival in this classic adventure novel from Alan Dean Foster

From the rich imagination of science fiction great Alan Dean Foster comes the story of Midworld, a Humanx Commonwealth planet that's equally fragile and hostile. Covered by a lush rainforest, Midworld is home to a primitive society that lives in harmony with the natural world. But the arrival of an exploitative human company, whose workers know nothing of Midworld's delicate ecosystem, sparks a conflict. Should Midworld's villagers aid the humans or stand against them? The hero of Foster's addictive page-turner, Born, decides to lead two humans across the perilous jungle. His choice propels Midworld toward annihilation--and leads him headlong into a battle for survival.

Born was a child of the rain forest that covered Midworld, part of the primitive society that the peaceful jungle planet had sustained for hundreds of years. He was wise in the ways of his world, and he knew well the precarious natural balance that governed all things.

Then one day the aliens came. Giants. They knew nothing of the Upper or Lower Hell -- and they cared less. Born had risked his life to save them, to guide them through the myriad tangled boughs, past unseen, unsuspected dangers lurking in the underbrush. But worse than their ignorance of how to survive, the aliens had plans for Midworld, plans that could utterly destroy the globe-spanning forest that his people called home.

As the days passed, Born realized his mistake. And as he had once hunted only to live, he knew now that he would be forced to live only to kill...

Cachalot - landless ocean planet, long ago reserved by man as a refuge for the great sea-creatures they had hunted near to extinction. Scattered humans lived peacefully in floating townships, until one day something rose from the deep destroying all in its path.

Before Man and insectlike Thranx had become allies, when the reptilian AAnn were just occasional raiders of Thranx colony worlds, one young Thranx agricultural expert lived a life of quiet desperation.

A dreamer in a world of sensible, stable beings, Ryo buried himself in his work -- reclaiming marshland from a tenacious jungle -- until he came across a letter describing a relative's encounter with horrid, two-legged, soft-skinned space-going beasts...

Irritating Horseye!

Many worlds of the Humanx Commonwealth boasted of "natural wonders" but Horseye was truly unique -- the planet had the most spectacular river valley anywhere in the known universe and was home to three alien cultures.

The fascinating planet just cried out for proper study, and after months of impatient quarantine Etienne and Lyra Redolw had finally received permission to begin a voyage of exploration to the source fo the River Skar, a mere 12,000 kilometers Upriver.

Old hands at cracking new planets, the Redowls studied the aliens languages, took local guides, and provided for emergencies. But nothing could prepare them for the awesome treachery of the natives or the unbelievable natural obstacles. And not even the natives understood the planet's deepest secret...

The company had a big problem, it was illegally exploiting a fabulously rich planet named Prism, a world where even the tiniest creatures were living jewels. But somehow, all contact had been lost with the scientist of the survey team. The Company didn't want to draw attention to itself by sending in a rescue mission so they assigned Evan Orgell, a self-confident problem-solver, to investigate. He was smart, he was good. He was backed up by the Commonwealth' s best equipment. What could possibly go wrong?

The newly discovered planet of Senisran was a veritable paradise--a sprawling world of vast oceans dotted with thousands of lush islands and copious deposits of rare-earths and minerals. First-contact specialist Pulickel Tomochelor's mission to Senisran was straightforward: Secure mining rights for the Humanx Commonwealth before the vicious AAnn Empire beat them to the chase. With Senisran's Parramat clan resisting entreaty, negotiations could be difficult, but Pulickel was more comfortable with aliens than with his own species, and looked forward to a triumphant return to Earth.

He hadn't counted on the incredible secret of Parramat, though: the strange, powerful green stones that the tribe used to manipulate the forces of nature. Within those stones lay an awesome technology the origin of which was lost in time--a technology that had to be kept from the AAnn at any cost...

They call it the Drowning World. It is Fluva, a planet on the fringes of the Commonwealth where it rains torrentially, ceaselessly, and maddeningly for all but one month of the Fluvan year. Chief Administrator Lauren Matthias is fairly new to the position. Her primary goal: keeping Fluva's indigenous species, the warlike Sakuntala and immigrant species, the timid but hard-working Deyzara, from annihilating one another.

The wettest place on Fluva is Viisiiviisii, an immense, mostly unexplored jungle. Thanks to the endless rains and humid conditions, exotic animals and plants have thrived there, many of them deadly predators. Yet the same evolutionary process responsible for creating toxic creatures has made the jungle a treasure trove of undiscovered botanicals potentially useful in engineering everything from pharmaceuticals to perfumes. A man can get rich there. Or die trying.

Bio-prospector Shadrach Hasselemoga has come to the jungle to get rich-- if he survives the terrain once his sabotaged ship goes down. When a Sakuntala and a Deyzara are dispatched by Matthias to rescue the unfortunate soul, their ship crashes, too. Now, in order to survive, the three unlikely allies must do something that no one has ever done before: walk out of the Viisiiviisii.

Meanwhile, in what passes for civilization, long-simmering tensions between Sakuntala and Deyzara erupt into violence, threatening Matthias's official position of neutrality--and her life. Behind the violence, Matthias detects a mysterious presence, one related to Shadrach's disappearance. But how are the two related? The answer, when it comes, will send shock waves through the entire Commonwealth... and beyond.

The mission to planet Quofum is supposed to be a quickie for Captain Boylan and his crew. Boylan is tasked with delivering four scientists--two men, one woman, and one thranx--to the unknown world, setting up camp while the experts investigate flora and fauna, then ferrying them safely home.

The first surprise is that Quofum, which regularly slips in and out of existence on Commonwealth monitors, is actually there when Boylan and company arrive. The second surprise is more about what Quofum is not: The planet is not logical, ordered, or rational.

The team encounters three intelligent, warring species--some carbon-based, others silicate-based, all bizarre--along with thousands of unique, often unclassifiable life-forms. Quofum's wild biodiversity doesn't appear to be natural. But if it is by design, then by whose, and for what purpose?

There are more revelations, more highly evolved species waiting to be identified, even tantalizing clues to a civilization light-years ahead of the Commonwealth's. But the crew members are not ready for the real shockers, because none of them expect to find a killer in their midst, or to discover that their spaceship is missing and, with it, all means of communication.

Of course, the marooned teammates know nothing about the Great Evil racing toward the galaxy, and they certainly have never heard of Flinx, the only person with half a chance to stop it. Nor do they know that Quofum could play a crucial role in defeating the all-devouring monster from beyond.

One thing the scientists do know, however, is how to ferret out the truth. But whether that will be enough to alter the course of the oncoming catastrophe is anyone's guess.

Icy, desolate, and sharply carved by hurricane-force winds, Tran-ky-ky is a terrible place to crash-land. But a botched kidnapping aboard the interstellar transport Antares sends Ethan Frome Fortune and a handful of his fellow travelers tumbling toward the stormy planet. Stranded and cut off from civilization, the castaways struggle to survive.

In this page-turning trilogy, Fortune confronts vicious predators (even the plants want to make a meal of him) and forges an alliance with a native Tran. As he searches for a way off Tran-ky-ky, he helps the Tran gain admission to the Humanx Commonwealth and learns about their troubled history. Just as Fortune accepts that he'll never escape the harsh planet and acclimates to its relentless winter, he learns that scientists have detected rising temperatures in the atmosphere. This sinister change leads Fortune to a thrilling and unexpected final adventure.

Including:

• Icerigger (1974)
• Mission to Moulokin (1979)
• The Deluge Drivers (1987)

Ethan Fortune was simple salesman -- knowledgeable and civilized . . . a sophisticated traveler between many worlds. But he had certainly never thought of himself as a hero.

Skua September, on the other hand, never thought of himself as anything else.

A matched pair, if ever there was one!

When the two of them were suddenly stranded on a deadly frozen world, Ethan Fortune incredibly found himself cast in the role of Leader.

And he didn't find that at all amusing . . .

Ethan Frome Fortune had been on Tran-ky-ky long enough... too long, in fact. He wanted out. He wanted to get back to business. He wanted to go home. So he and his sidekick Skua September headed their giant Icerigger toward Brass Monkey, the busy off-world trading post where they were sure they could book passage home.

But when they discovered that their Tran friends were being victimized by ruthless profiteers, they decided to stick around and organize the isolated city-states into a functioning confederation... a governing body that the Commonwealth Council would have to recognize and protect.

But the Tran had enemies - deadly ones, at that - and Skua September and Ethan Fortune quickly found themselves back aboard the icerigger Slanderscree, leaving a crimson wake on the frozen seas and hurtling toward the most chilling encounters either had ever known!

It looked as if Ethan Fortune was stuck on the icy world of Tran-ky-ky, never to enjoy the warm comforts of civilization again. But when the scientists at the outpost of Brass Monkey detected an odd atmospheric phenomenon, things began to heat up.

Only the great icerigger Slanderscree could make the dangerous journey to the isolated southern continent, and only Ethan could convince the primitive Tran that the mysterious warm spot was worth the trip. Nothing could have prepared Ethan and his Tran and human companions for what they encountered as they sped southward, for its like had not been seen for thousands of years -- open water on the ice oceans of Tran-ky-ky!

But the worst was yet to come. This was no natural phenomenon. Someone was systematically raising the temperature of the frozen planet. If Ethan and crew of Slanderscree couldn't stop the process, soon Tran-ky-ky would become a paradise for humans -- and a living hell for the Tran

THROUGH THE UNSTABLE LANDS

Etjole Ehomba is a herdsman whose simple sense of honor demands that he fulfill the dying wish of a ship-wrecked stranger. Even though his promise means that Ehomba--armed only with a bone knife and a sky-metal sword--must walk the length of a world, cross lands of unceasing peril, sail an impassable ocean, vanquish an unstoppable evil, and resuce a woman he has never met for the sake of a dead man he did not know.

No wizard or warrior would attempt such a mad quest. But a man who poses questions to everything he meets may find answers that no wizard could imagine...

ACROSS THE LETHAL NATIONS

Etjole Ehomba has led his companions through jungle, veldt, and desert. Now to reach the fabled port of Hamacassar, the simple herdsman must trek through deadly "civilized" lands where flowers wage war, dogs herd lightning, demons govern darkness, and Time itself can be held captive.

In this new world, the tribesman must rely upon his friends, wondrous weapons, and the magic of memories so potent they can raise the dead or bring the sea to dry land. But no matter where he goes, evey seer and sage Ehomba meets offers the same prophecy: his quest will end in failure... and death.

"The skeleton that dismounted was neither the tallest nor the most stout of those pale white specters that were arrayed against the travelers, but it strode forward with a stiff-jointed dignity none of its demised confederates could not match. With plucked feathers streaming from the gilded helmet that rocked atop its bleached skull, it approached the living. Halting barely a spear length sway, the skeleton placed one bony arm across its splayed rib cage--and bowed..."

The ultimate maquiladora. Montezuma Strip: First world tech and Third World wages, sprawling from L.A. to East Elpaso Juarez, Guyamas to Phoenix; a thousand gangs, a million locos; and a few wealthy beyond the dreams of god.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay
• Sanctuary - (1988) - novella
• Heartwired - (1992) - novelette
• Gagrito - (1993) - novelette
• Hellado - (1993) - novelette
• Our Lady of the Machine - (1994) - novelette

This novella originally appeared in Amazing Stories, November 1988. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixth Annual Collection (1989), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collection Montezuma Strip (1995).

Inspector Angel Cardenas has seen murdered corpses like George Anderson's, but never a case like this. The victim's ID doesn't match his DNA, Anderson's wife and preteen daughter, Katla, are missing, their home has been turned into a time bomb-and mobs from three continents are all hunting Katla. Relying on his training as a nearly telepathic intuit, Cardenas embarks on a search for clues that leads him from the Strip's sex parlors and stimstick clubs, where kids are deadly and music can kill, to an undersea hideout where computer crimes are committed by criminal computers. Yet the closer Cardenas gets to the girl, the closer assassins are getting to them both...

Moth was a beautiful planet, the only one with wings -- two great golden clouds suspended in space around it.

Here was a wide-open world for any venture a man might scheme. The planet attracted unwary travelers, hardened space-sailors, and merchant buccaneers -- a teeming, constantly shifting horde that provided a comfortable income for certain quick-witted fellows like Flinx and his pet flying snake Pip. With his odd talents, the pickings were easy enough so that Flinx did not have to be dishonest... most of the time.

In fact, it hardly seemed dishonest at all to steal a starmap from a dead body that didn't really need it anymore. But Flinx wasn't quite smart enough. He should have wondered why the body was dead in the first place...

It caused instant addiction, followed by an excruciating slow death, and there was no known antidote.

It was a killer.

Supposedly the drug had been totally eradicated from the humanx galaxy years before. At least that's what everyone thought. But somehow, mysteriously, that dreadful substance was back in circulation on Repler and threatening to wreak havoc throughout the known galaxy.

Someone somewhere was secretly manufacturing Bloodhype, but nobody seemed to know where or who!

One man in the Universe holds the key to the mystery of Flinx's past-and that man is trying to kill him!

It is a strange childhood for a kid, to be adopted by the restless Mother Mastiff and raised in the bustling marketplace of Drallar. Flinx never knew the mom and dad who abandoned him years ago. In fact, his birth has always been shrouded in mystery. But Flinx eventually discovers that his unknown parents have left him a curious legacy-extraordinary mental powers that are both a marvelous gift and a dreaded curse.

This double-edged legacy will lead Flinx, along with his loyal protector, the mini-dragon Pip, on a harrowing journey in search of the truth... about who he is and where he comes from. It is a daring adventure that brings him to another world-and into the clutches of one of the most evil and powerful men in the galaxy....

Accompanied by his faithful minidrag Pip and a most troublesome alien called Abalamahalamatandra -- Ab for short -- Flinx set out for Alaspin, the ruggedly primitive homeworld of his flying snake.

There he hoped to find the giant man with the gold earring who somehow held the key to Flinx's mysterious past and to the strange powers he possessed. Chasing down his heritage was trouble enough, but Flinx didn't know what real trouble was until he realized that the Qwarm -- a deadly assassin squad -- were three steps behind him with a contract to kill.

But the minidrag's homeworld did not offer safety and Flinx had a terrible time just staying alive... a matter complicated to no mean degree by a collapsar already set on an unstoppable death course across the galaxy!

He was just a freckle-faced, red-headed kid with green eyes and a strangely campelling stare when Mather Mastiff first saw him an the auctioneer's block. One hundred credits and he was hers.

For years the old woman was his only family. She loved him, fed him, taught him everything she knew - even let him keep the deadly flying snake he called Pip.Then Mother Mastiff mysteriously disappeared and Flinx took Pip to tail her kidnappers. Across the forests and swamps of the winged world called Moth, their only weapons were Pip's venom . . . and Flinx's unusual Talents.

When Flinx, no stranger to galactic intrigue, found an unconscious woman on a riverbank deep in the jungles of Alaspin, he took it in stride. When he learned that the woman, Clarity Held, was a brilliant scientist abducted from a remote outpost on inhospitable Longtunnel by a group of fanatic assassins, he tried to help the beautiful Clarity back to her project. Unfortunately, the assassins were still at work. They would do anything to stop the research on Longtunnel and would kill anyone or anything that got in their way....

OVER THE EDGE

Where Flinx and his flying minidrag Pip went, trouble always followed--that law had governed their lives through years of unsought danger and galactic intrigue. Now an evil rich man was out to kidnap the minidrag for his personal zoo, and Flinx and Pip were on the run again--this time into uncharted space, on a random course they hoped would foil their pursuers.

They found more than they bargained for when they landed on Midworld, a verdant planet covered by an immense jungle, hosting an incredible variety of plant and animal life--all of it unknown and all of it deadly. And now they were in real trouble. Their hiding place was in danger of discovery, and their only hope lay with this bizarre and untamed planet... if it didn't kill them first!

Using his enhanced empathic abilities, Flinx finesses his way into a top-secret security installation on Earth. Once there, he bamboozles a sophisticated AI program into releasing classified information about the Meliorare Society, the sect of renegade eugenicists whose experiments with human beings had horrified the civilized universe more than twenty years ago. After all, as one of the few Meliorare experiments to survive, Flinx has a right to know about his past. Especially since his telepathic powers seem to be evolving. The question is, evolving into what? The excruciating headaches afflicting Flinx with increasing frequency make him wonder if he will be alive to find out. . . .

It's a good thing Flinx is no stranger to trouble, because he's swimming in it. Even before the latest murderous attack by a new gang of assailants, there seems no end to people determined to arrest, examine, or kill him. To add insult to all that injury, Flinx has been spirited away and enlisted in a battle against a monstrous extra-galactic threat. Hidden behind the Great Emptiness, in a place where it seems matter and energy have never been, there is only evil. Pure evil that is approaching him, accelerating.

Against such a quintessence of colossal evil what can one puny human and a formidable mini-drag protector do? Flinx must tell someone or go out of his already addled mind. Choosing a confidant is easy: Clarity Held, a crush he hasn't seen in six years. She is a young woman who has clearly gone on with her life in ways that (he soon learns) don't necessarily include Flinx.

Whatever happens, Flinx makes up his mind to act quickly. His decision is the beginning of a terrifying, high-stakes adventure through perilous new realms that will rocket him into the very heart of danger--and into the arms of the only woman he's ever loved. As he and Pip bravely travel to a place where no man or mini-drag has gone before.

Flinx discovers he has a few more friends than he thought--and far more enemies than he ever imagined.

Never have the cares of the universe lain so heavily on Flinx's shoulders, nor the forces arrayed against him seemed so invincible. Pursued by a newly revealed sect of doomsday fanatics, hunted by factions inside and outside the Commonwealth for transgressions real and imagined, expected to single-handedly avert a looming galactic crisis (or bear responsibility for the consequences), Flinx can be forgiven for feeling a slight touch of melancholy.

There's only one solution for what ails Flinx, according to his ship's AI. But taking time off is tricky business. With an increasing number of enemies chasing him with ever-greater enthusiasm, Flinx must find a getaway shrouded in obscurity. Jast, a planet smack in the middle of nowhere, is the perfect locale.

Yet even in a place where hardly anyone's ever seen a human, Flinx and trouble can't stay separated for long. Unfortunately, Flinx hasn' t a clue that his vacation paradise is in reality a danger zone of the highest magnitude. And by the time he learns the truth, it may be too late.

In the outer depths of the universe lies the Great Emptiness, where something dreadful lurks, hidden behind a great gravitational lens of dark matter. Something horrific that howls and writhes and rages across three hundred million light-years of space-and is now heading straight for the Commonwealth and moving faster all the time.

One slim chance exists to avert catastrophe, and only Flinx can take it. Roaming the galaxy is a conscious planet-size weapons system, the legacy of a long-extinct race. As Flinx is the only one who has ever experienced mental contact with the machine, it is his job to find the powerful alien artifact and coax it into joining the battle against the behemoth from beyond.

So Pip and Flinx valiantly sail into the unknown aboard their little spaceship, which is immediately forced down for emergency repairs on planet Arrawd, home to less advanced sentients and therefore off-limits to space travelers. But what with Arrawd being very beautiful, and Flinx being Flinx, this particular rule doesn't stand a chance.

Now, Flinx is no stranger to murderous attacks and stalking assassins-evading them occupies most of his waking hours-but to be besieged by hordes bent on worshipping him as a god? Worse still, escaping this fate is going to be as impossible as fulfilling his dire mission. What's a deity to do?

Wandering out there in some remote region of the galaxy is a gargantuan sentient Tar-Aiym weapons' system. All Flinx has to do-while his pals look after his injured love Clarity Held-is find the hefty object and persuade it to knock out the monstrous evil that is hurtling through space to waste the entire Commonwealth.

A no-brainer, really, especially for Flinx, who is never without his loyal entourage of official snoops, crazed zealots, assorted goons, and the occasional assassin. Indeed, the boy wonder and his mini-drag, Pip, are eager to commence their heroic task... just as soon as Flinx visits Visaria-a dangerously depraved planet-to convince himself that humans are indeed worth saving.

The chances of stumbling across high moral values and utopian ideals don't look promising-what with Flinx playing a lawless Pied Piper to a gang of lying, thieving juvenile delinquents. But prospects really go south when Flinx runs afoul of the corrupt planet's ruthless crime king.

Still, life is full of surprises, and Flinx is about to get smacked by a passel of them-by turns devastating, heartening, and positively jaw-dropping. For although Flinx came to Visaria to plumb the enigma of humankind, there's another mystery waiting here, a shocking clue about his own shadowy past.

"I know who your father is... Gestalt." A shocked Flinx hears these dying words from one of the renegade eugenicists whose experiments with humans twenty-odd years ago shocked the galaxy... and spawned Flinx. So Flinx and his minidrag, Pip, venture to Gestalt, an out-of-the-way planet perfect for someone who never wants to be found--disregarding the advice of those who think Flinx could make better use of his time locating the ancient, sentient weapons platform that could be the galaxy's only chance of stopping the exterminating scourge that's fast approaching. Flinx might agree with them--but the quest for patrimony wins out. (Sorry, galaxy!)

Could Gestalt supply the key to Flinx's shadowy past and strange powers? An eccentric loner in a remote area could be the father Flinx has never stopped searching for, perhaps the only person who can unravel the mystery of his birth and his amazing, agonizing powers. An eccentric longer in a remote area of the distant planet could be he father Flinx has never stopped searching for, perhaps the only person who can unravel the mystery of Flinx's birth and his amazing, agonizing powers.

Unfortunately for Flinx, Gestalt also hosts a resident bounty hunter who's just learned about the stupendous reward offered for a certain dead redhead. Flinx gets a chance to test his adversary's skills when our hero's skimmer is blasted out of the sky and into a raging river in the middle of nowhere--a nowhere of impassable terrain and ravenous, carnivorous beasts.

But hey, what's one more impossible challenge for someone who's spent his life defying the odds and escaping the inescapable? Flinx has one thing going for him... plenty of experience.

Flinx is the only one with even the tiniest chance of stopping the evil colossus barreling in to destroy the Humanx Commonwealth (and everything else in the Milky Way). With time running out, Flinx is a man in search of a solution and in search of himself. His efforts take him to the land of his mortal enemies, the bloodthirsty AAnn, where chances are excellent that Flinx's discovery-and summary execution-will eliminate all his demons and doubts in one masterstroke.

The way Flinx is feeling, that might not be the worst imaginable end. After years of searching for his father, he finally has-and must bear-the truth. And now he must also seek out an ancient sentient weapons platform wandering around somewhere in the galaxy and then communicate with it, a powwow that could very well fry his already frazzled brain. Then there are the oblivion-craving assassins determined to stop Flinx before he can prevent total annihilation.

With a future that rosy, it's no surprise he's flirting with disaster. Still, Flinx is no quitter, and he's got something else going for him-an uncanny ability to improvise and triumph (or at least survive) in impossible situations. He's certainly been through enough of them, and now he's going to need every ounce of that know-how, because he's venturing to places where the laws of physics fear to tread, where no one's ever been, to do what no one's ever done, and where his deadliest enemy is so close it's invisible.

Unlikely duo Pip and Flinx return to right another wrong in this all-new sci-fi adventure from one of the genre's living legends.

Fans of fun, fast-paced, imaginative science fiction adventure, rejoice! #1 New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster returns to his much-loved Commonwealth series with a new novel starring the indefatigable Flinx and his venomous minidrag, Pip. Facing danger and doing good is their business... provided the price is right.

The unexpected return of an old friend draws Flinx and Pip to the backward planet of Largess, whose seal-like denizens' primitive technology and fractious clan politics have kept a wary Commonwealth from a profitable trade relationship. But now a rogue human employing forbidden advanced weaponry threatens to ignite a war among the Larians. And Flinx is just the man to stop it before it starts.

But once on Largess, Flinx discovers his empathic abilities--usually his greatest asset--are rendered useless by the natives' unique language, which is sung rather than spoken. Worse, the abduction of a powerful chieftain's daughter has raised tensions to the boiling point. Now Flinx must depend on his own mettle--and of course, Pip, the devoted minidrag with the deadly edge--to right wrongs, mend fences, and battle a cold-blooded adversary armed with enough firepower to blow them all away... and destroy the chance for peace in Largess forever.

Riddick, now an escaped convict and fugitive, becomes caught in the middle of a fierce galactic war between two powerful forces.

Spellsinger (1983) is a fantasy novel written by Alan Dean Foster. The book follows the adventures of Jonathan Thomas Meriweather who is transported from our world into a land of talking animals and magic. It is the first in the Spellsinger series.

The Hour of the Gate (1984) is a fantasy novel written by Alan Dean Foster. The book follows the continuing adventures of Jonathan Thomas Meriweather who is transported from our world into a land of talking animals and magic. It is the second book in the Spellsinger series.

Clothahump, the wizard, is dying. All that can save him are rare medicinal powers to be found across the Glittergeist Ocean, past distant Snarken, Jon-Tom, the Spellsinger, sets out on the most perilous pilgrimage of his still-young career, armed with only his music-making duar and a reluctant Mudge, the otter, as his guide. Along the way he conjures up Roseroar, Amazonian tiger, rescues Jalwar, the ferret, and together they free Folly, the beauty, from bondage! Spellsinger and his motley crew press on, confronting a forest of Fungoid Frankensteins on the Muddletop Moors, a parrot pirate on the high seas, cannibal fairies in the enchanted canyon, and the evil wizard of Malderpot who poses the greatest challenge of all!

The Moment of the Magician (1984) is a fantasy novel written by Alan Dean Foster. The book follows the continuing adventures of Jonathan Thomas Meriweather who is transported from our world into a land of talking animals and magic. It is the fourth book in the Spellsinger series.

Jon-Tom the spellsinger and his friends venture into the high mountains to free a cosmic creature whose captivity threatens to drive the whole world mad

It's an ordinary day in the Bellwoods, save for the fact that Jon-Tom the spellsinger has awoken as a six-foot blue crab. He soon reverts to normal—as normal as a college student trapped in a world of magic and talking animals can be, anyway—but the bizarre changes keep happening, affecting not just him but the whole of this strange world. His wizardly mentor suspects these are the effects of the perambulator, a cosmic being whose presence distorts reality. One has been imprisoned in the mountains, and unless they free it, it will rip the world to shreds one insane illusion at a time.

So Jon-Tom sets out, backed by the wizard, a boozehound owl, a gutter-minded otter, and a warrior koala with a taste for leather. Saving the world will be a cinch, as long as they don't lose their minds along the way.

When his magical multistring duar snaps in half, Jon-Tom the spellsinger sets out on a journey that will take him all the way back to . . . America

Jon-Tom has been trapped in a strange land of talking owls and wizarding turtles for a year now, his sole consolation that in this universe his musical abilities have inadvertently made him something of a sorcerer. But when an encounter with some burglars leads to him snapping the magical duar that channels his power, he finds himself an ordinary human again—on a quest to repair his instrument with nothing but his staff and his semi-faithful, ever-complaining otter sidekick to defend him.

The journey takes them to the ends of the earth—and beyond. On the run from some half-wit pirates, they dart into a cave and find themselves in San Antonio, the shortcut to home that Jon-Tom has long dreamed about. But Texas wants nothing to do with this long-haired wizard, or the unpleasant creatures who are tracking him.

Hoping to duplicate the adventurous yarns of their parents, the children of spellsinger Jon-Tom and his otter sidekick Mudge set out on a perilous quest of their own

Decades have passed since college student Jon-Tom Meriweather was first marooned in a strange land of magic, and over the years he has married, raised a son, and honed his voice so that the effects of his spellsinging—whereby he calls up magic with song—are almost predictable. His son's voice is another matter. Buncan wants to follow in his father's adventurous footsteps, but his every chord brings more discord, and there seem to be no good quests to be had.

When one falls in his lap—investigating something called the Grand Veritable, whose very name is enough to send wizened wizards hiding under their covers—he seeks the help of two of his friends, children of Jon-Tom's old otter sidekick Mudge, whose voices are as pure as Buncan's is muddy. The determined trio runs away from home, ready to pit their teenage talents against a very adult danger.

Middle-aged, lazy, and out of shape, spellsinger Jon-Tom attempts to break out of domestic drudgery with one last great adventure

Jon-Tom and Mudge are bored.

Their adventuring days long behind them, the spellsinger and his once-thieving otter sidekick have settled into a life of tepid domesticity, and they are sick of it. They hunger for an old-fashioned adventure, but there are no more great evils to combat. And so they decide to follow the music. Literally.

A drifting cloud of lost chords has taken to floating around Jon-Tom, and following it puts them on the trail of an evil that terrifies the spellsinger. Something is stealing music. Finding out who, and why, is responsible for the silencing of the instruments will put Jon-Tom and Mudge into great peril, at the hands of a selfish elephant, a greedy black bear, and a whirlpool with a filthy sense of humor. Seeking adventure, they've stumbled into one turn that may turn out to be their last.

An original novel based on the thrilling Star Trek movies directed by J.J. Abrams!

Taking place in an alternate timeline created when the Starship Kelvin was destroyed by a Romulan invader from the future, this bold new novel follows Captain James T. Kirk and an inexperienced crew commandeering a repaired U.S.S. Enterprise out of spacedock for a simple shakedown cruise. When a distress call comes in, the Enterprise must aid a large colony ship of alien refugees known as the Perenorean, who are under siege by an unknown enemy. But Kirk and his crew will find that the situation with the peaceful Perenorean is far more complicated than they bargained for, and the answers as to why they were attacked in the first place unfold in the most insidious of ways...

This book is the first in the series of novelizations of the episodes of the animated Star Trek series. The episodes featured are:

Beyond the Farthest Star
The Enterprise investigates an unusual radio signal and finds itself next to a gigantic and ancient star ship of unknown design and origin. Upon exploration, they learn that a strange and dangerous creature invaded the ship and the crew self-destructed rather than allow the creature to take over the ship. That creature manages to enter the Enterprise and the crew must engage in very heroic actions in order to defeat the creature and return to Federation space.

Yesteryear
Kirk and Spock accompany a team of historical researchers through the guardian of forever. Great care is taken to make sure that no changes are made in the timeline, but when they return, no one on the Enterprise recognizes Spock. After investigation, it is determined that Spock must travel back in time to his home planet of Vulcan and give critical aid to himself when he was a child.

One of Our Planets is Missing
In this episode, a giant cloud-like creature journeys into Federation space and consumes planets for food. After destroying an uninhabited planet, it is moving towards Mantilles, a planet with 82 million inhabitants. The Enterprise is the only thing standing between the creature and the destruction of the planet.

Adaptations from TV scripts: Beyond the Farthest Star by Samuel A. Peeples; Yesteryear by D.C. Fontana; One of Our Planets is Missing by Marc Daniels.

Contents:

• 1 - The Survivor - novella by Alan Dean Foster
• 67 - The Lorelei Signal - novella by Alan Dean Foster
• 127 - The Infinite Vulcan - novella by Alan Dean Foster

Adaptations from TV scripts: The Survivor by James Schermer; The Lorelei Signal by Margaret Armen; The Ultimate Vulcan by Walter Koenig.

Contents:

• 1 - Once Upon a Planet - novella by Alan Dean Foster
• 85 - Mudd's Passion - novella by Alan Dean Foster
• 157 - The Magicks of Megas-Tu - novella by Alan Dean Foster

Adapted from TV scripts: Once Upon a Planet by Len Jansen and Chuck Menville; Mudd's Passion by Stephen Kandel: The Magicks of Megas-Tu by Larry Brody.

Contents:

• 1 - The Terratin Incident - novella by Alan Dean Foster
• 97 - Time Trap - novella by Alan Dean Foster
• 167 - More Tribbles, More Troubles - novella by Alan Dean Foster

Adapted from TV scripts: The Terratin Incident by Paul Schneider; Time Trap by Joyce Perry; More Tribbles, More Troubles by David Gerrold.

Contents:

• 1 - The Ambergris Element - novella by Alan Dean Foster
• 81 - The Pirates of Orion - novella by Alan Dean Foster
• 133 - Jihad - novella by Alan Dean Foster

Adapted from TV scripts: The Ambergris Element by Margaret Armen; The Pirates of Orion by Howard Weinstein; Jihad by Stephen Kandel.

Contents:

• 3 - Albatross - novella by Alan Dean Foster
• 67 - The Practical Joker - novella by Alan Dean Foster
• 137 - How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth - novella by Alan Dean Foster

Adapted from TV scripts: Albatross by Dario Finelli; The Practical Joker by Chuck Menville; How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth by Russell Bates and David Wise.

Contents:

• The Counter-Clock Incident - Novel by Alan Dean Foster

Adapted from a TV script: The Counter-Clock Incident by John Culver.

Contents:

• The Eye of the Beholder - Novel by Alan Dean Foster

Adapted from a TV script The Eye of the Beholder by David P. Harmon.

Contents:

• BEM - Novel by Alan Dean Foster

Adapted from the TV script BEM by David Gerrold

Contents:

• Slaver Weapon - Novel by Alan Dead Foster

Adapted from a TV script Slaver Weapon by Larry Niven

"Are you willing to settle for an ordinary life? Or do you think you were meant for something better? Something special?"

One grew up in the cornfields of Iowa, fighting for his independence, for a way out of a life that promised only indifference, aimlessness and obscurity.

"You will forever be a child of two worlds, capable of choosing your own destiny. The only question you face is, which path will you chose?"

The other grew up on the jagged cliffs of the harsh Vulcan desert, fighting for acceptance, for a way to reconcile the logic he was taught with the emotions he felt.

In the far reaches of the galaxy, a machine of war bursts into existence in a place and time it was never meant to be. On a mission of retribution for the destruction of his planet, its half-mad captain seeks the death of every intelligent being, and the annihilation of every civilized world.

Kirk and Spock, two completely different and unyielding personalities must find a way to lead the only crew, aboard the only ship, that can stop him.

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction.

As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

Luke Skywalker expected trouble when he volunteered to follow Princess Leia on her mission to the planet Circarpous. But he discovered that hidden on the planet was the Kaiburr crystal, a mysterious gem that would give the one who possessed it such powers over the Force that he would be all but invincible. In the wrong hands, the crystal could be deadly. So Luke had to find this treasure and find it fast.

The Republic is decaying, even under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who was elected to save the galaxy from collapsing under the forces of discontent. On the tiny but strategic planet of Ansion, a powerful faction is on the verge of joining the growing secessionist movement. At the Chancellor's request, the Jedi Council sends two Jedi Knights, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luminara Unduli, along with their Padawans Anakin Skywalker and Barriss Offee, to stabilize the planet's population. To succeed, the Jedi will have to fulfill near-impossible tasks, befriend wary strangers, and influence two great armies, stalked all the while by an enemy sworn to see the negotiations collapse and the mission fail....

Luke Skywalker was a twenty-year-old who lived and worked on his uncle's farm on the remote planet of Tatooine...and he was bored beyond belief. He yearned for adventures that would take him beyond the farthest galaxies. But he got much more than he bargained for....

Also Published under the Original Title - Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker.

George Lucas also gets full credit for authorship, even though Foster did the ghostwriting and fleshing out of the script for the novelization.

Approximately 30 years after the destruction of the second Death Star, Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi, has disappeared. The First Order has risen from the fallen Galactic Empire and seeks to eliminate Luke and the Republic. The Resistance, backed by the Republic and led by Luke's twin sister, Leia Organa, opposes them while searching for Luke to enlist his aid.

Resistance pilot Poe Dameron meets village elder Lor San Tekka on the planet Jakku to obtain a map to Luke's location. Stormtroopers under the command of Kylo Ren destroy the village and capture Poe. Poe's droid BB-8 escapes with the map, and encounters a scavenger, Rey, at a junkyard settlement. Ren tortures Poe and learns of BB-8. Stormtrooper FN-2187, unable to kill for the First Order, frees Poe and they escape in a stolen TIE fighter; Poe dubs FN-2187 "Finn". They crash on Jakku, and Finn appears to be the only survivor. He encounters Rey and BB-8, but the First Order tracks them and launches an airstrike. The three flee the planet in a stolen, rundown ship, the Millennium Falcon.

The Falcon breaks down, and is captured by a much larger ship, piloted by Han Solo and Chewbacca, who reclaim their former vessel. Han explains that Luke tried to rebuild the Jedi Order but went into exile after a student turned to the dark side and destroyed all that Luke had built. Gangs seeking to settle debts with Solo board the ship and attack, but the five escape in the Falcon. The criminals inform the First Order of Han's involvement. The Falcon crew view BB-8's map and determine it is incomplete. They travel to the planet Takodana and meet with cantina owner Maz Kanata, who can help BB-8 reach the Resistance, but Finn wants to flee on his own. Rey is drawn to a vault and finds the lightsaber that belonged to Luke and his father before him. She experiences disturbing visions and flees into the woods. Maz gives Finn the lightsaber for safekeeping.

At the First Order's Starkiller Base, a planet converted to a superweapon capable of destroying star systems, Supreme Leader Snoke orders General Hux to use it for the first time. It destroys the Republic capital and its fleet and Hux declares the end of the Republic. Snoke tells Ren that to overcome the call of the Light Side of the Force, Ren must kill his father, Han Solo. The First Order attacks Takodana. Han, Chewbacca, and Finn are saved by Resistance X-wing fighters led by Poe, but Rey is captured and taken to Starkiller Base. Ren interrogates Rey, but she resists his mind-reading. Discovering she too can use the Force, she escapes her cell with a Jedi mind trick.

Leia arrives at Takodana with C-3PO and reunites with Han and Chewbacca. At the Resistance base on D'Qar, BB-8 finds R2-D2, who has been inactive since Luke's disappearance. As Starkiller Base prepares to fire on D'Qar, the Resistance devises a plan to destroy it by attacking a critical facility. Leia urges Han to return their son alive. Using the Falcon, Han, Chewbacca, and Finn infiltrate the base. They lower its shield, find Rey, set explosives, and encounter Ren. Han confronts Ren, calling him by his birth name, Ben, and implores him to abandon the dark side. Though conflicted, Ren ultimately rejects and kills Han. An enraged Chewbacca shoots Ren in the side and sets off the explosives, allowing the Resistance X-wing fighters to attack the weapon and start a chain reaction that destroys Starkiller Base.

The injured Ren pursues Finn and Rey to the surface. Finn battles Ren with the lightsaber, but is overpowered and badly wounded. Rey takes the lightsaber and fights Ren, overpowering him with the Force before they are separated by a fissure. Snoke orders Hux to evacuate and bring Ren to him, while Rey and Chewbacca escape with Finn in the Falcon. On D'Qar, the Resistance celebrates while Leia, Chewbacca, and Rey mourn Han's death. R2-D2 awakens and reveals the rest of the map, which Rey follows with R2-D2 and Chewbacca to an island on a distant planet. She finds Luke and presents him with his lightsaber.

Set in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past.

As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynets operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

For eons, the Amplitur had searched space for intelligent species, each of which was joyously welcomed to take part in the fulfillment of the Amplitur Purpose. Whether it wanted to or not. When the Amplitur and their allies stumbled upon the races called the Weave, the Purpose seemed poised for a great leap forward. But the Weave's surprising unity also gave it the ability to fight the Amplitur and their cause. And fight it did -- for thousands of years.

Will Dulac was a New Orleans composer who thought the tiny reef off Belize would be the perfect spot to drop anchor and finish his latest symphony in solitude. What he found instead was a group of alien visitors -- a scouting party for the Weave, looking. for allies among what they believed to be a uniquely warlike race: Humans.

Will tried to convince the aliens that Man was fundamentally peaceful, for he understood that Human involvement would destroy the race. But all too soon, it didn't matter. The Amplitur had discovered Earth...

For millennia, the alien union called the Weave had ben at war with evil Amplitur. When its new elite fighting unit appeared, it became frighteningly clear that Amplitur was subjecting humans to vile genetic manipulations. The Weave could reverse the effects, but the result could turn the former warriors into the most despicable creatures in the galaxy....

The Weave was on the verge of winning a decisive victory after a milennia of war, thanks to their new allies from earth. But then the birdlike Wais scholar Lalelang found evidence that Humans might not adapt well to peace. Researching further, she uncovered a secret group of telepathic Humans called the Core, who were on the verge of starting another war, and then eliminating Lalelang. At the last moment, she was saved by a lone Core commander. He took a chance on her intelligence and compassion, and gambled the fate of Humanity on the possibility that together, they could find an alternative to a galaxy-wide bloodbath....

In the years after first contact, humans and the intelligent insect like Thranx agree to a tentative sharing of ideas and cultures despite the ingrained repulsion they have yet to overcome. Thus, a slow, lengthy process of limited contact begins.

Yet they never plan for a chance meeting between a misfit artist and a petty thief. Desvendapur is a talented Thranx poet who is bored with his life and needs new inspiration for his work. Venturing beyond the familiar, Desvendapur runs into Cheelo Montoya, a small-time criminal with big dreams of making a fast buck. Together they will embark upon a journey that will forever change their beliefs, their futures, and their worlds...

In the second half of the twenty-fourth century, diplomatic relations proceed cautiously between thranx and humans. But the insectlike beings are nearly forgotten with the sudden discovery of an ideal planet to colonize-Argus V-and the startling appearance of a new race of space-faring aliens. People are dazzled by the beautiful, glamorous pitar. Then tragedy strikes.

The entire human population on Argus V is brutally slaughtered. Not a single clue remains to identify the unseen executioners. But from a tiny inner moon of Argus V comes a faint signal. On that insignificant chunk of rubble lies the key to the crime-setting in motion a cataclysmic chain of events with deadly consequences for thranx, pitar, and human alike. For their worlds will be changed forever by a colossal battle that is their future and their destiny...

From the beginning, contact between humankind and the thranx has been tenuous at best. Nearly a century after first contact, the likelihood of closer human/thranx relations is as far away as ever. Yet idealists on both sides refuse to surrender their dreams of achieving an alliance. Among the most dedicated are a minor diplomat named Fanielle Anjou and her thranx counterpart. Others intend to make sure such a liaison never comes to pass... by any means necessary.

For these xenophobes, the upcoming Humanx Inter-Cultural Fair, the first wholly cross-species event, is a hideous confirmation of their worst fears. Zealots on both sides vow it will be the last of its kind, no matter how many must die. In the coming conflagration Fanielle holds the key to triumph, but only if she can outwit those desperate to silence her forever....

Not so long ago Marcus Walker was just another young commodities trader in Chicago, working hard and playing harder. But that's all in the past, part of a life half forgotten--a reality that vanished when he was attacked while camping and tossed aboard a starship bound for deep space.

Desperately, Walker searches for explanations, only to realize he's trapped in a horrifying nightmare that is all too real. Instead of being a rich hotshot at the top of the food chain, Walker discovers he's just another amusing novelty, part of a cargo of "cute" aliens from primitive planets--destined to be sold as pets to highly advanced populations in "civilized" regions of the galaxy.

Even if he weren't constantly watched by his captors, Walker has few options. After all, there is no escape from a speeding starship. Another man might resign himself to the inevitable and hope to be sold to a kindly owner, but not Walker. This former college football star has plenty of American ingenuity and no intention of admitting defeat, now or ever. In fact, he's only just begun to fight.

Successful Chicago commodities broker abducted by aliens

Not a headline from the National Enquirer, just Marcus Walker's own little Jerry Springer moment. He was indeed hustled aboard an alien Vilenjji starship, part of a cargo of primitive creatures bound for the "civilized" part of the galaxy, where they'll be sold... as pets. Fortunately, there was another Earthling aboard, a scruffy dog named George who'd been speech-enhanced to increase his market value. Walker had spoken to plenty of dogs in his line of work but never to actual animals. He and George formed an immediate bond, giving new meaning to "man's best friend."

The Light-Years Beneath My Feet finds Walker and George free at last, having managed, with some outside help, to outwit their kidnappers. But now they are a million billion miles from Earth. Walker glories in the wonders of his rescuers' hi-tech world and the thrill of being humankind's first galactic traveler--until he remembers the only place he wants to be is home. To take his mind off the depressing fact that he hasn't the slightest idea where home is, never mind how to get there, the erstwhile commodities broker becomes a chef.

Walker never imagined that whipping up delicacies for demanding alien palates would lead to a possible way home--or that the possible way home would involve swapping his easy-living adopted planet for an all-out, age-old war many parsecs away. But hey, it was all for a good cause, he has George and their two fellow escapees for company, and what else was there to do, besides avoid Vilenjji? Plenty, as it turns out....

From science fiction legend and New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster, creator of the ever-popular Pip and Flinx series, comes the climactic final novel in The Taken trilogy, his electrifying space epic about a man and his dog for whom the expression "out of this world" takes on a whole new meaning.

Location is everything. In Chicago, Marcus Walker was a hotshot commodities broker. In the cargo hold of the alien Vilenjji spaceship, he and a laconic dog named George, who has been speech-enhanced to increase his value, are just two more primitive creatures being shipped to the civilized part of the universe, where the market for cuddly extraterrestrial "pets" is busting wide open.

Though Walker and George manage to escape, man and dog are far from overjoyed, being even farther from Earth -- billions of miles, in fact -- and without a clue as to whether the direction home is up, down, or sideways. Possessing universe-level social skills, Walker becomes the leader of his own armada. Yet even a fleet commander is hard pressed to find a piece of space that no one's ever heard of, much less cares to find.

To make matters worse, it seems the Vilenjji are proving to be notoriously sore losers. Even if Walker does pull off the impossible and pinpoint his needle of a solar system in the universe haystack, there's a good chance that the unrelenting Vilenjji will get to him before he ever gets to Wrigley Field.

Yep, it's a wide-open universe out there, bursting with possibilities -- and Walker's going to get hit with all of them.

In this first novel of a thrilling new series set in our near future, New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster reveals a place where criminals are punished through genetic engineering and body manipulation--and poses profound questions about what it means to be human.

Given his name because radical surgery has reduced him to preternatural thinness, Whispr is a thug. In a dark alley in Savannah, Whispr and his partner in crime, Jiminy Cricket, murder what they take to be a random tourist in order to steal his artificial hand. But the victim is also carrying an unusual silver thread, which Whispr and Jiminy grab as well.

Chance later deposits a wounded Whispr at the clinic of Dr. Ingrid Seastrom. Powerful forces have been searching for Whispr since he acquired the mysterious thread, and Jiminy has vanished. All Whispr wants to do is sell the thread, and when he offers to split the profits with Ingrid, she makes an astonishing discovery. So begins the formidable partnership between the Harvard-educated physician and the street-smart thief--as long as they can elude the enhanced assassins that are tracking them.

New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster has always been on the cutting-edge of science fiction. In Body, Inc., he creates a tomorrow where genetic manipulation has become ubiquitous, and the very meaning of what it is to be human is undergoing drastic transformation.

In a world deeply wounded by centuries of environmental damage, two unlikely souls join forces: Dr. Ingrid Seastrom has stumbled into a mystery involving quantum-entangled nanoscale implants--a mystery that just may kill her. Whispr is a thief and murderer whose radical body modifications have left him so thin he is all but two-dimensional. Whispr has found a silver data-storage thread, a technology that will make him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. He is also going mad with longing for Dr. Ingrid Seastrom. Their quest to learn the secrets of the implant and the thread--which may well be the same secret--has led them to the South African Economic Combine, otherwise known as SAEC. Or, less respectfully, SICK. SICK, it seems, has the answers.

Unfortunately, SICK has also got Napun Molé, a cold-blooded assassin whose genetic enhancements make him the equivalent of a small army. Molé has already missed one chance to kill Ingrid and Whispr and now he has followed them to South Africa. This time, he is not only going to succeed, he is going to make them suffer.

In this thrilling science fiction adventure--the triumphant conclusion to the Tipping Point trilogy--New York Times bestselling author Alan Dean Foster returns to a near future in which genetic manipulation and extreme body modification have changed profoundly what it means to be human.

Dr. Ingrid Seastrom was once a respected American physician. Whispr, whose body has been transformed to preternatural thinness, was once a streetwise thief. Now, in a world on the edge of catastrophe from centuries of environmental exploitation, they are allies--thrust together by fate to unravel an impossible mystery--even as they are stalked by a relentless killer.

Ingrid and Whispr are hunted fugitives bound together by a thread: a data-storage thread made of a material that cannot exist, yet somehow does. Their quest to learn its secrets--and, in Whispr's case, sell them to the highest bidder--has brought them to South Africa's treacherous Namib desert. Beyond its dangers waits a heavily guarded research facility that promises answers, if they can survive long enough to get there. But that won't be easy, not with Napun Molé on their trail. They've already escaped the assassin twice, and as far as Molé is concerned, finishing them off isn't just a job anymore... it's personal.