Search Worlds Without End

Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1975. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction of the Year #5 (1976), edited by Terry Carr and Worldmakers: SF Adventures in Terraforming (2001) edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collections The Persistence of Vision (1978) and Good-Bye, Robinson Crusoe and Other Stories (2013).

The United Nations is working to get everyone off Earth by the deadline -- set by the planet's true owners, the aliens known as the First. It's a task made somewhat easier by a mysterious virus that rendered at least fifty percent of humanity unable to have children. Meanwhile, the USA and the USSR have set their sights on Mars, claiming half a planet each.

Brooklyn Lamontagne doesn't remember saving the world eight years ago, but he's been paying for it ever since. The conquered Earth governments don't trust him, the Average Joe can't make up their mind, but they all agree that Brooklyn should stay in space. Now, he's just about covering his bills with junk-food runs to Venus and transporting horny honeymooners to Tycho aboard his aging spaceship, the Victory.

When a pal asks for a ride to Mars, Brooklyn lands in a solar system's worth of espionage, backroom alliances, ancient treasures and secret plots while encountering a navigation system that just wants to be loved...

The international team at the Mars Endeavour colony is prepared for every eventuality except one--what happens when disaster strikes Earth?

Mankind has long dreamed of reaching out to live on other planets, and with the establishment of the Mars Endeavour colony, that dream has become reality. The fledgling colony consists of 120 scientists, astronauts, medical staff, and engineers. Buried deep underground, they're protected from the harsh radiation that sterilizes the surface of the planet. The colony is prepared for every eventuality except one--what happens when disaster strikes Earth?

This book was previously published in September 2016 by the author with the title "Mars Endeavour".

After almost dying on Mars, astronaut Liz Anderson returns to Earth, but not to a hero's welcome. America is in turmoil. The war is over, but the insurgency has just begun. So while life on Mars may have been deadly, at least up there she knew who the enemy was.

Along with her, Liz has brought the remnants of the artificial intelligence that waged war on two planets. Buried somewhere deep within the cold electronic circuits lies the last vestiges of her dead partner Jianyu. Liz is torn, unsure whether he's somehow still alive in electronic form or it's just a ploy by an adversary that will go to any length to win. Heartbroken and treated with suspicion, she finds herself caught up in the guerrilla war being waged on Earth, wondering if the AI threat is truly gone, or if it has only just begun.

Something venomous has come to Temperance...

It's been two months since Petra Dee and her coyote sidekick Sig faced off against Temperance's resident alchemist, but things are far from quiet. When an Internet video of a massive snake in the backcountry of Yellowstone goes viral, a chase for the mythical basilisk is on. Monster hunters swarm into the area, and never one to pass up the promise of discovery, Petra joins in the search.

Among the newcomers is a snake cult on wheels?the biker gang Sisters of Serpens. Unlike some, the Sisters don't want to kill the basilisk?they want to worship it. But things get complicated when the basilisk develops a taste for human flesh that rivals the Sisters' own murderous skills.

Meanwhile, the alchemical tree of life is dying, and the undead Hanged Men of Temperance who depend on it know the basilisk may be their last chance for survival.

With time running out for everyone around her, Petra will be forced to decide who survives and who she must leave behind in this action-packed sequel to Dark Alchemy.