William C Dietz - [The Legion of the Damned 08] When Duty Calls

As the war with the Ramanthian continues, Captain Antonio Santana and his force of biobods and cyborgs find themselves surrounded by enemy forces, faced with annihilation at every turn. On the home front, diplomat Christine Vanderveen finds herself torn between her love for Santana and her new loyalty towards the charismatic, recently elected president of the Clone Republic. As Christine fights her own divided heart, light years away, Santana is in a battle for his life. And this battle may be his last.

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Roger Zelazny - Doorways in the Sand

Humanity is not alone in the cosmos. The aliens have given a precious relic to the people of Earth: star-stone. The harmony of the galaxy is at stake when they discover the disappearance of their star-stone.

Likeable Fred Cassidy is an eternal undergraduate. All he thinks he knows about the star-stone is that it came to Earth in an interplanetary trade for the Mona Lisa and the British Crown jewels.

Then Fred is accused of stealing the cosmic artifact, and he is pursued from Australia to Greenwich Village and beyond, by telepathic psychologists, extraterrestrial hoodlums and galactic police in disguise; as he enters multiple realities, flipping in and out of alien perspectives, through doorways in the sand.

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Roger Zelazny - Roadmarks

The Road runs from the unimaginable past to the far future, and those who travel it have access to the turnoffs leading to all times and places--even to the alternate time-streams of histories that never happened. Why the Dragons of Bel'kwinith made the Road--or who they are--no one knows. But the Road has always been there and for those who know how to find it, it always will be!

"A mindbender of a book, and a treat for Zelazny fans."

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Catherine Asaro - [Saga of the Skolian Empire 13] Diamond Star

Del Valdoria was an heir of the Ruby Dynasty, rulers of the interstellar empire called the Skolian Imperialate. But he had no interest in being associated with the draconian measures his brothers used to maintain power. He just wanted to sing holo-rock—not a respectable activity for a Ruby prince. To make things more complicated, he was on Earth, far from home, and the Earth government wasn’t willing to let such a potential source of information and valuable bargaining chip leave. And then a major entertainment corporation took an interest in his music.

Del's mix of unsophisticated innocence and sensual wickedness was dynamite. Singing as Del Arden, he became a major hit almost overnight, the hottest thing in holo-rock. And that was a nightmare for the Earth government, because it put a spotlight on him, inviting the attention of assassins, kidnappers, and who knew what other dangers. If anything happened to Del, Allied Space Command might as well just walk up to Skolian Space Command and say, "Hey, let's have a war.”

Then there was a third interstellar empire, the Eubian Concord, warlike enemy of the Skolian Imperialate. His millions of fans on Earth might not know that their idol was a Ruby prince, but the Concord knew just who he was. And certain songs, if sung by a son of the Ruby Dynasty, might be considered an act of war ....

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Catherine Asaro - [Saga of the Skolian Empire 12] Ruby Dice

Roll the Dice of Empire!

The Eubian Interstellar Concord. Dominating. Static. A pyramid of cosmic power built on the bones of slaves. Their opponents The freedom-loving, telepathic Skolian Imperialate. Now centuries of war come to head and a new galactic Dark Age looms as rival emperors -- related by blood, love, and an intrigue as deep as the space between stars – take a desperate gamble to find a way through the carnage of battle to a new understanding. But first they'll have to keep their own heads off the chopping blocks of the enemy within.

Two men, two empires. Jaibriol ruled the Eubian Concord: over two trillion people across more than a thousand worlds and habitats. Kelric ruled the Skolian Imperialate. War had come before—ten years ago, Jaibriol had lost his parents in the final battle of the Radiance War between the Concord and the Imperialate—and it might come again, devastating vast swathes of the galaxy. Neither Jaibriol nor Kelric wanted war, but neither was complete master of his realm. And each hid a secret that, if revealed, might be his downfall.

Jaibriol was a secret psion, with telepathic abilities, and to be a psion in the Eubian Concord was to be a contemptible slave, eventually to be tortured for the pleasure of the slave’s owner. Kelric, years ago, had disappeared for nearly two decades. He had been a prisoner and slave on the planet Coban, part of neither empire, until he had managed to escape. And if the Skolian Imperialate knew of his captivity, there would be demands for vengeance, ravaging Coban—and killing the wife and children Kelric had left behind when he escaped. Neither man knew how much longer he could keep his secret—nor how much longer they could hold back the threat of a war that could incinerate hundreds of inhabited worlds.

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Catherine Asaro - [Saga of the Skolian Empire 11 | Triad 02] The Final Key

The Skolian Empire comes under all-out assault from its nemesis, the Euban Concord, who have undermined the Empire via subterfuge and assassination, leaving it ripe for conquest. The Skolian Empire's only hope? A young woman barely out of her teens who hasn't even complete her training as a cadet.

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Catherine Asaro - [Saga of the Skolian Empire 10 | Triad 01] Schism

Schism harkens back to the early years of the Skolian Empire, back to the beginning of the war between Skolia and the Euban Traders. Twenty-three years have passed since the fateful vote in the Skolian Assembly that Roca missed in Skyfall. It created the first open hostility between Eube and Skolia, which has only deepened over the ensuing years.

Now, Eube senses an opportunity, for strife has riven the first family of the Skolian Empire. Sauscony, the daughter of Roca and Eldrinson, is ready to seek her fortune as an officer-in-training in the Skolian military. When her father forbids her to undertake such a dangerous path, a wedge is formed as Soz chooses duty over family. Eube hopes to make this permanent, a divide that will leave the Skolian Empire ripe for conquest. And they're willing to kill anyone to make it happen.

Schism: Part One of Triad is the tenth novel in this multiple award-winning series, Skolian Empire, and represents an excellent entry point into the series.

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Catherine Asaro - [Saga of the Skolian Empire 09] Skyfall

Kurj, a provincial ruler on a primitive planet, is plagued by inner demons. But when he meets Roca, a beautiful and mysterious woman from the stars, he whisks her away to his mountain retreat, inadvertently starting a great interstellar war, and birthing the next generation of rulers for the Sklolian Empire.

Skyfall goes back to the beginning, to the re-birth of Skolia, showing how a chance meeting on a backwater planet forged a vast interstellar empire.

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Catherine Asaro - [Saga of the Skolian Empire 08] The Moon's Shadow

At the age of seventeen the young nobleman named Jaibriol Qox became ruler of a vast galactic empire-- and lost everything he had ever valued. Born of a clandestine liaison between a renegade daughter of the Skolian Imperialate and a scion of the genetically engineered Eubian Traders, Jai Qox grew up in exile, unaware of the powers that coursed through his noble blood.

In the waning days of the bloody Radiance War, which ravaged the galaxy, Jai was captured, and returned to the Traders to play a role as a puppet Emperor in their scheme to consolidate their domination of space. Now Jai must walk a razor's edge, to seize the power that is his by birthright, without succumbing to its dark seduction, in order to avert a conflagration which threatens to engulf a thousand worlds.

With The Moon's Shadow, Catherine Asaro begins a thrilling new chapter in this galaxy-spanning epic, as the titanic conflicts which have raged across the cosmos at last come to a climax.

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Catherine Asaro - [Saga of the Skolian Empire 07]Spherical Harmonic

Separated for decades by circumstance and political machinations, the Ruby Dynasty, hereditary rulers of Skolia, struggle to bring together the tattered remnants of their family in the shadow of a disastrous interstellar war. Too many have died, others are presumed lost, yet Dyhianna, the Ruby Pharaoh, must move quickly if they are reassume their rightful place as rulers of the Skolian Empire.

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Catherine Asaro - [Saga of the Skolian Empire 06] The Quantum Rose

Kamoj Quanta Argali is the young ruler of an impoverished province on a backward planet. To keep her people from starving, she has agreed to marry Jax Ironbridge, the boorish and brutal ruler of a prosperous province. But before Argali and Ironbridge are wed, a mysterious stranger from a distant planet sweeps in and forces Kamoj into marriage, throwing her world into utter chaos.

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Catherine Asaro - [Saga of the Skolian Empire 05] Ascendant Sun

Ascendant Sun is the direct sequel to The Last Hawk. After 18 years of living in their gilded cage, Kelric finally made his escape. Kelric returns to Skolian space, only to find the Empire in control of the Allied forces of Earth. With little more than the clothes on his back, Kelric is forced to take work on a merchant vessel. But when that vessel enters Euban space, Kelric finds his worst nightmare realized: he becomes a slave to the cruel Aristos--humans who use torture and sex as the ultimate aphrodesiac.

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Catherine Asaro - [Saga of the Skolian Empire 03] The Last Hawk

Kelwin, heir to the throne of the Skolian empire, crash-lands his fighter on the off-limits planet of Coba, a world ruled by women. He figures it will be only a short time before he makes his way home. But he fails to account for the powerful matriarchy of Coba, the mistresses of the great estates who do not want the Empire to know about their recent cultural advances. They detain him, to prevent their world being absorbed by the empire. First they take him prisoner. Then, one by one, the most powerful women on the planet fall in love with him! He will escape eventually, but the consequences of Kelwin's stay will have altered the galactic empire forever.

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Catherine Asaro - [Saga of the Skolian Empire 01] Primary Inversion

The Skolian Empire rules a third of the civilized galaxy through its mastery of faster-than-light communication. But, A rivalry between the Skolian and Trader empires escalates into all-out war, a war that can only lead to slavery for the Skolians or the destruction of both sides. Destructive skirmishes have already occurred. A desperate attempt must be made to avert total disaster.

Two interstellar empires are locked in seemingly endless conflict: the Skolian Empire, with its well-trained Jagernauts and faster-than-light communications maintained by members of its Ruby Dynasty, against the Eubian Empire, which thrives on slavery and whose elites are known for their cruelty.

Soz Valdoria, a Jagernaut and member of the Ruby Dynasty, is attracted to her supposed "enemy" Jabriol, the son of the ruler of the Eubian empire, or Traders. With hostile forces seeking their capture or death, Soz and Jabriol must work out their own -- and hopefully their empires' -- salvation.

Called by Booklist "one of the best SF first novels in years", Kirkus Reviews praised PRIMARY INVERSION: "An imaginative debut that takes off at a frantic pace, with dazzling technology, stirring battles and mental hijinks ... plenty of energy and invention."

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Dan Brown - Inferno

THE DARKEST PLACES IN HELL ARE RESERVED FOR THOSE WHO MAINTAIN THEIR NEUTRALITY IN TIMES OF MORAL CRISIS.

Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon awakens in a hospital in the middle of the night. Disoriented and suffering from a head wound, he recalls nothing of the last thirty-six hours, including how he got there . . . or the origin of the macabre object that his doctors discover hidden in his belongings.

Langdon’s world soon erupts into chaos, and he finds himself on the run in Florence with a stoic young woman, Sienna Brooks, whose clever maneuvering saves his life. Langdon quickly realizes that he is in possession of a series of disturbing codes created by a brilliant scientist—a genius whose obsession with the end of the world is matched only by his passion for one of the most influential masterpieces ever written—Dante Alighieri’s dark epic poem The Inferno.

Racing through such timeless locations as the Palazzo Vecchio, the Boboli Gardens, and the Duomo, Langdon and Brooks discover a network of hidden passageways and ancient secrets, as well as a terrifying new scientific paradigm that will be used either to vastly improve the quality of life on earth . . . or to devastate it.

In his most riveting and thought-provoking novel to date, Dan Brown has raised the bar yet again. Inferno is a sumptuously entertaining read—a novel that will captivate readers with the beauty of classical Italian art, history, and literature . . . while also posing provocative questions about the role of cutting-edge science in our future. 
From the Hardcover edition.

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Tom Clancy - [Splinter Cell 02] Operation Barracuda (with David Michaels)

WHEN IT COMES TO AMERICAN FREEDOM,
ONE MAN IS ABOVE THE LAW.

He is quiet, invisible, deadly --- and the newest weapon on the front lines of a technologically advanced war. As part of a top-secret initiative called Third Echelon, National Security Agency special operative Sam Fisher has been given license to spy, steal, destroy, and assassinate to protect America.
He works alone. And strikes fast. A one-man shadow warrior as cunning and ruthless as the enemies he hunts --- but with one advantage ... He is a Splinter Cell.

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Tom Clancy - [Splinter Cell 01] Splinter Cell (with David Michaels)

In response to the growing use of sophisticated digital encryption to conceal potential threats to the United States, the National Security Agency has ushered forth the new dawn of intelligence-gathering techniques. The top-secret initiative is dubbed Third Echelon.

Its existence denied by the US government, Third Echelon deploys a lone field operative. He is sharp, invisible, and deadly. He has the right to spy, steal, destroy, and assassinate to protect American freedoms. His name is Sam Fisher. He is a Splinter Cell(tm). Sam Fisher works alone. But fights for us all.

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Steven R Boyett - [Change 02] Elegy Beach

Thirty years ago the lights went out, the airplanes fell, the cars went still, the cities all went dark. The laws humanity had always known were replaced by new laws that could only be called magic. The world has changed forever. Or has it?

In a small community on the California coast are Fred Garey and his friend Yan, both born after the Change. Yan dreams of doing something so big his name will live on forever. He thinks he's found it-a way to reverse the Change. But Fred fears the repercussions of such drastic, irreversible steps.

A publishing event twenty-five years in the making: the long awaited sequel to the unforgettable post-apocalyptic fantasy, Ariel.

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Steven R Boyett - [Change 01] Ariel

At four-thirty one Saturday afternoon the laws of physics as we know them underwent a change. Electronic devices, cars, industries stopped. The lights went out. Any technology more complicated than a lever or pulley simply wouldn't work. A new set of rules took its place—laws that could only be called magic. Ninety-nine percent of humanity has simply vanished. Cities lie abandoned. Supernatural creatures wander the silenced achievements of a halted civilization.

For two years, Pete Garey wandered through the strange new world of Earth after the Change. He has survived the Change and its ensuing chaos. He wanders the southeastern United States, scavenging, lying low. Learning. One day he makes an unexpected friend: a smartassed unicorn with serious attitude. Pete names her Ariel and teaches her how to talk, how to read, and how to survive in a world in which a unicorn horn has become a highly prized commodity. Ariel is just one of the many magical creatures to appear after the Change, but the only one with the stunning ability (or, perhaps, desire) to talk. The bond between Pete & Ariel will be like no other he's experienced.

When they learn that there is a price quite literally on Ariel's head, the two unlikely companions set out from Atlanta to Manhattan to confront the sorcerer who wants her horn. And so begins a haunting, epic, and surprisingly funny journey through the remnants of a halted civilization in a desolated world.

Magic has returned to our world, and nothing will ever be the same. Follow the adventures of a young man and his miraculous traveling companion on a dark and dangerous odyssey through a world where fantasy and reality have collided.

Ariel may've gone out of print after its 1983 debut, but fans haven't let it fade away. For years, used copies have been making the rounds, commanding a premium auction price & making a profit for used book dealers. Now, you can not only get your own fresh, updated version, you can get it as an ebook. Given its theme, the metamorphosis seems particularly ironic.

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Tom Clancy - [Splinter Cell 03] Checkmate (with David Michaels)

HE OPERATES OUTSIDE OF EVERY LAW ... AND KILLS IN THE LINE OF DUTY.

Few know he exists. But when millions of American lives are at stake, Third Echelon special operative Sam Fisher is the man to depend on. He handles covert missions either too sensitive or too risky for even the CIA or FBI. And he operates alone.

Fisher is called off of a training exercise to intercept a cargo freighter loaded down with radioactive material and heading straight for the U.S. coast. He has minutes to disable the ship --- or die trying. While he races to beat the clock, another attack has hit its target. As the residents of a small town in New Mexico start dying of radiation poisoning, Fisher weaves through a tangled web of clues to find the mastermind behind the strikes: one of the greatest enemies of the free world.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Checkmate by David Michaels
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