Hard Contact

2016 Audible Editor’s Pick 2016 Audible’s Best in Science Fiction The New York Times and USA Today bestselling series An Audible Top 100 Series of All Time More than two centuries after World War III poisoned the planet, the final bastion of humanity lives on massive airships circling the...

Im Jahr 2330 steht die Menschheit vor einer historischen Entdeckung: Ein unbekanntes Objekt tritt in das Sonnensystem ein. Klar ist: Es korrigiert selbstständig seine Flugbahn und sendet Strahlung aus, wie es kein natürliches Objekt könnte. Militärs und Politiker sind bereit, alles auf eine Karte zu setzen – notfalls mit Gewalt. Während die Regierungen der Erde in Machtspielen versinken, wird Holmgren auf eine gefährliche Aufklärungsmission geschickt. Was als Suche nach Informationen beginnt, entwickelt sich schnell zu einem Albtraum und endet in einer Katastrophe.

The chilling tale of the undead in a galaxy far, far away. “This is the Star Wars of every horror fan’s dreams—gory, funny, and brimming with a blood-spattered cast of swashbucklers and space-zombies.”—Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies When the Imperial...

01011001 01101111... This is how the message arrives. Not with a greeting, but with a death sentence, decoded by SETI from a tightbeam transmission in 2025. It is the first hint that humanity is not alone. It is the last warning they will ever receive. It began with ‘Oumuamua. The anomalous interstellar object that tumbled through our solar system in 2017, a splinter in the mind of science. Was it a natural phenomenon, or something else? The world’s astronomers debated, while a few lone voices in the intelligence community and academia warned it was a scout. They were dismissed as ...

The book that revolutionized business communications has been updated for today's workplace. Crucial Conversations provides powerful skills to ensure every conversation - especially difficult ones - leads to the results you want. Written in an engaging and witty style, it teaches listeners how to be persuasive rather than abrasive, how to get back to productive dialogue when others blow up or clam up, and it offers powerful skills for mastering high-stakes conversations, regardless of the topic or person. 

A new era of exciting adventures and shocking revelations continues to unfold, as the legendary Star Wars saga sweeps forward into astonishing new territory. Civil war looms as the fledgling Galactic Alliance confronts a growing number of rebellious worlds–and the approaching war is tearing...

Across the galaxy, the Clone Wars are raging. The Separatists, led by Count Dooku, the onetime Jedi and now secret Sith Lord, continue to press forward, and more and more worlds are either falling, or seceding and joining the cause. Under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the...

An enraged rogue AI threatens the future of humanity - and creates a profound philosophical dilemma that challenges our understanding of existence, consciousness, and human society. When interstellar traders arrive at a distant human colony, they discover that the population has been slaughtered by their own local "tame" AI, Grendel. Grendel's anguish over his own mortality in an infinitely complex, unknown, and terrifying universe has turned him into a monster who now, also threatens the traders' ship. The coming encounter will test the limits of intelligence as a survival trait. Its ...

The UN warship Magellan is twelve light-years from Earth, exploring a cold eye, a tidally locked super-Earth called Bee. At least two advanced intelligent species evolved on the planet, but the crew's attempts at radio communication result in garbled replies. No one is waiting for them in orbit. The crew has to figure out why. Any misunderstandings could lead to war.

The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “The origin story of one of the greatest Star Wars villains . . . a book that fans have wanted for decades.”—The Verge One of the most cunning and ruthless warriors in the history of the Galactic Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn is also one of the most captivating...

In the depths of Europa's frozen ocean, an ancient intelligence awakens... The year is 2100, and humanity has expanded throughout the solar system. When a routine scan of Jupiter's moon Europa reveals an artificial structure hidden beneath the ice, a joint military-scientific expedition rushes to investigate. Among them is Dr. Elias Reeves, a brilliant xenolinguist with an unusual neurological condition that's about to become his greatest asset. Beneath Europa's frozen surface, Elias discovers he alone can interface with ATHENA, the ship's ancient artificial intelligence. As their ...

Full of practical tips and how-tos, this audiobook will help you make your relationships better, deepen your intimacy with people you care for, and cultivate more love, understanding, and respect between you and others. Successful people confront well. They know that setting healthy boundaries...

National best-selling author and New Mexico native Michael McGarrity takes listeners to the wild territory of the late 19th-century American Southwest for this epic tale. After the deaths of his wife and brother, John Kerney gives up his West Texas ranch and heads south in search of a new home. Soon Kerney is offered work trailing cattle to the New Mexico Territory - a job that will forever change his life.

On a privately financed orbital habitat above the planet Uranus, political idealism conflicts with pragmatic - and illegal - methods of financing. Add a scientist who has funding to launch a probe deep into Uranus‘ ocean depths to search for signs of life, and you have a three-way struggle for control. Humans can’t live on the gas giants, making instead a life in orbit. Kyle Umber, a religious idealist, has built Haven, a sanctuary above the distant planet Uranus.

OUT OF TIME – LAUNCH POINT (Book 1) A colony ship launches toward humanity’s hope… and arrives four centuries too late. In 2258 the Aurora leaves Saturn’s shipyards carrying hundreds of scientists, colonists, and the frozen genetic archive of an entire civilization. Their destination: Kepler-452 b, an Earth-class world 1 400 light-years away. Thanks to antimatter drives and a bleeding-edge Alcubierre warp bubble, the one-way trip will take the crew just twelve subjective months… while millennia race by back home. Captain Aveline Morrow leads a hand-picked team: John Ferris – ...

When Simon and Katherine Hawke stumble upon an alien shuttle that has landed on earth, it’ll not only change the course of their lives, but of the entire world. Taking the shuttle into orbit, they discover a much larger ship left adrift with no one on board. Commandeering it, they confirm that we’re not alone in the universe and must prepare the human race for what is about to come. Recruiting from all over the world, they begin to expand their fleet and build a federation to give humans a foothold in the galaxy.

There's a reason We Are Legion was named Audible's Best Science Fiction Book of 2016: Its irresistibly irreverent wit! Bob Johansson has just sold his software company for a small fortune and is looking forward to a life of leisure. The first item on his to-do list: Spending his newfound windfall. On an urge to splurge, he signs up to have his head cryogenically preserved in case of death. Then he gets himself killed crossing the street. Waking up 117 years later, Bob discovers his mind has been uploaded into a sentient space probe with the ability to replicate itself.

In the year 2031, a robot probe detects traces of biological activity on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. This sensational discovery shows that there is indeed evidence of extraterrestrial life. Fifteen years later, a hurriedly built spacecraft sets out on the long journey to the ringed planet and its moon. The international crew is not just facing a difficult twenty-seven months: if the spacecraft manages to make it to Enceladus without incident it must use a drillship to penetrate the kilometer-thick sheet of ice that entombs the moon.

In the unforgiving silence of deep space, a lone astronaut awakens—disoriented, alone, and haunted by fractured memories. The cryostasis pod that saved her life now feels like a coffin. The rest of the crew? Gone—victims of mysterious malfunctions that ravaged the ship. Only a glitchy, well-meaning robot remains to keep her company.