The Starchild Compact is an epic tale of beginnings, of roots, of what might have been, and what might be. The Starchild Compact is an adventure of heroic proportions, commencing on a planet 500 light years distant, arriving here just a few years from now, and ending up in the far distant expanses of the Universe. Jon Stock takes his exploration team to Saturn's moon, Iapetus, that Earth scientists have determined may be an artifact. Following launch,...

The fifth novel in Asimov's popular Foundation series opens with second thoughts. Councilman Golan Trevize is wondering if he was right to choose a collective mind as the best possible future for humanity over the anarchy of contentious individuals, nations and planets. To test his conclusion, he decides he must know the past and goes in search of legendary Earth, all references to which have been erased from galactic libraries. The societies encountered...

For generations, the solar system -- Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt -- was humanity's great frontier. Until now. The alien artifact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has appeared in Uranus's orbit, where it has built a massive gate that leads to a starless dark. Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante are part of a vast flotilla of scientific and military ships going out to examine the artifact. But behind the scenes, a complex...