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A collection of 20 classic short stories by Isaac Asimov, author of the Foundation series, featuring the definitive and only in-print version of “Nightfall”.

Captain Jason Burke has begun to suspect that the random attacks on his ship and crew over the last couple of years may not be so random after all. Evidence is mounting that there is something on the Phoenix...something that powerful factions will stop at nothing to get their hands on. While Omega Force races to find out what is hidden on their ship that is causing so much trouble they also must figure out why such powerful enemies bent on obtaining it.

When Streaker - the first starship designed and crewed by dolphins - discovers a derelict ancient armada with evidence of the first sentient species ever, she sets off a war between dozens of galactic races eager to use the information for their own advancement.

They are just children when they first meet: Charlotte, daughter of the French ambassador, and Hiroshi, a laundress’s son. One day in the playground, Hiroshi declares that he has an idea that will change the world. An idea that will sweep away all differences between rich and poor. When Hiroshi runs into Charlotte several years later, he is trying to build a brighter future through robotics.

Half a million years in the future, on a dead, war-ravaged world at the centre of the galaxy, there is a mile-high statue of Michael Poole. Poole, born on Earth in the fourth millennium, was one of mankind's most influential heroes. He was not a warrior, not an emperor. He was an engineer, a builder of wormhole transit systems. But Poole's work would ultimately lead to a vast and destructive conflict, a million-year war between humanity and the enigmatic, powerful aliens known as the Xeelee. The Xeelee won.

From the writer whose name is synonymous with the science of robotics comes five decades of robot visions - 36 landmark stories and essays, plus three rare tales - gathered together in one volume.

On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the East Coast of the US, including Washington, DC. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the Earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space and requires a much-larger share of humanity to take part in the process. Elma York’s drive to become the first lady astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.

In 2034, the stars went out. An unknown agency surrounded the solar system with an impenetrable barrier, concealing the universe from humanity’s gaze. In 2067, Nick Stavrianos is hired to investigate the disappearance of a mentally disabled woman, Laura Andrews, from the institution where she was being cared for. Aided by a skull full of neural modifications, he follows her trail to the Republic of New Hong Kong, where an organization known as the Ensemble has uncovered Laura’s extraordinary secret: An ability that could transform the world.

A monstrous apparatus has been found on the surface of the moon. It devours and destroys in ways so incomprehensible to humans that a new language must be invented to describe it and a new kind of thinking to understand it. So far, the human guinea pigs sent there in hopes of unraveling the murderous maze have all died terrible deaths - except the last, now on suicide watch. The ideal candidate won't go insane, even as he feels the end approaching. And now they think they've found their man. Al Barker has already stared into the face of death - he can handle it again.

Fleeing Earth after an alien invasion, the human race stands on the threshold of evolution. Their new home is Luna, a moon colony blessed with creature comforts, prolonged lifespans, digital memories, and instant sex changes. But the people of Luna are bored, restless, suicidal - and so is the computer that monitors their existence.

A tale beloved by many fans of Robert A. Heinlein, Podkayne of Mars tells the story of a young Marswoman and her interplanetary adventures with her uncle and her genius brother. Told largely through Podkayne's diaries, the story details her travel to Earth with her two companions. Podkayne has definite plans on what to do and how to do it, but not everything is as it seems. She is suddenly thrust into the middle of life-or-death situations when the liner they are traveling on makes a stop at Venus.

Professor Elliot Brand was done with adventures. When his former lover Ashra Shah calls him to Antarctica, he knows he is getting himself into trouble. Guarded by a military unit, hidden deeply in the uninhabitable parts of the frozen continent, a ruin was found that could be the most significant archeological find in history. Elliot Brand doesn't need long to understand that if they don't act fast, it might very well be the last one, too...

After their adventures in Nepal, Professor Elliot Brand and Nepalese agent Ashra Shah want to enjoy their summer in London together. But when Ashra is called back into action, her new mission leads to an ancient mystery that might be the greatest threat she and Elliot have ever faced.

Aemilius thought he would die heroically in battle like his forefathers, mourned by a loving wife and many children, but he’s barely a man when a harpy flies down out of the old myths and knocks him from his horse. Stunned and helpless, he waits for his end … and is saved. Formed on the bloody battlefield of Teutoburg, the Hidden Legion are an order of soldiers, magicians, and rogues so secret that the Empire itself would hunt them down if they were exposed. And now Aemilius is one of them.

Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.

When the Box appeared in his front hallway one day, Ciáran MacCool had no idea where it came from or why it was there. It started by showing him ways that it could help him out. Then it started giving him assignments to perform. At first, they were minor… yet still clearly beneficial. Sometimes they were serious. Sometimes they were very dangerous. At least one almost got him killed. That hadn't been part of the plan, but fortune is a fickle bitch.

Seit den Enthüllungen rund um die Transhumanistische Allianz ist das Sonnensystem in Aufruhr. Ed wird in den internationalen Ethikrat einberufen und muss Entscheidungen über den Einsatz von riskanten Technologien treffen. Im Zuge dessen untersucht Kumiko die Testperson eines Experiments, das Rätsel aufgibt. Ein Selbstmord erschüttert die Bewohner von Sphäre 1 und es macht sich eine Aggression breit, die sogar Tiere in der Biosphäre anzustecken scheint. Rakesh versucht herauszufinden, was dahinter steckt und muss sich tief sitzenden Ängsten stellen.

Space is incomprehensibly large, mysterious, and mesmerizing. It is full of secrets and wonders beyond imaginable. It puts you to the test to reveal the good and evil in your soul, which you didn’t know existed. Space occupations are not the job but the call of stars you can’t ignore. This book will introduce you to the alternative near future of the world of Sonya and Terah through the stories of Romeo, the guy who dreams of becoming a long-range space pilot, and Jill Abbot, the nurse from Earth who thought she scored a high-paying easy gig on the moon when everything didn’t go as expected.

In the late 21st century, a neurotechnology called Bridge has changed the world. Bridging allows a person to program their own body and mind to achieve untold enhancement. There was one problem: it only works in children. Within a single generation, a new world order developed. Bridged Children grew smarter, faster, and stronger than the adults, and demanded equal rights. The adults fought back.

A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function.