"As though landing people safely on Mars weren't daunting enough . . .
The Space Race of the Sixties, at the height of the Cold War, had been nail-biting—until the Soviet Union forfeited. In the thirties—amid a second Cold War—China is not about to lose the race to Mars. Nor is the United States. Nor, quite the wildcard, is a secretive cabal drawn from among the world's multi-billionaires. All of them are scrambling to launch deep-space missions on a schedule that makes the Sixties contest appear lackadaisical.
This competition could only continue on the Red Planet.
More treacherous still? The rivalries, resentments, and distrust that simmer just beneath the surface within each expedition.
More difficult yet? Survival on that arid, radiation-drenched, all-but-airless, planet.
These challenges have somehow fallen into the lap of NASA engineer—and reluctant astronaut—Xander Hopkins. But the thorniest problem of all? The existential quandary for which neither training nor experience has prepared Xander? Making sense of the seemingly unstoppable plague that has already killed many on Mars, and seems poised to devastate all life on another planet.
Earth."
"On the Moon’s far side, shielded from Earth’s radio cacophony, Americans are building a radio-astronomy observatory. Russians sift the dust of a lunar “sea” for helium-3 to run future fusion reactors. Commercial robots, remotely operated from Earth, roam the Moon’s near side in a hunt for mineral wealth. Why chase distant asteroids for precious metals? One-time asteroids must lie close beneath the much-bombarded lunar surface.
Then a prospecting robot encounters a desiccated, spacesuited figure. An alien figure.
Americans from the lunar observatory investigate. Near the original find, underground, they discover an alien installation. Lunar Russians, realizing that the Americans are up to something clandestine, send their own small team. Each group distrusts the other … even before the fatal “accidents” begin. By the time anyone suspects what ancient evil they have awakened, it may be too late.
For everyone on Earth, too."
"No one expected the oil to last forever. How right they were. A geopolitical miscalculation tainted the world's major oil fields with radioactivity and plunged the Middle East into chaos. Any oil that remains usable is more prized than ever. No one can build solar farms, wind farms, and electric cars quickly enough to cope. The few countries still able to export petroleum and natural gas-Russia chief among them-have a stranglehold on the world economy. Then, from the darkness of space, came Phoebe. Rather than deflect the onrushing asteroid, America coaxed it into Earth's orbit. Solar power satellites-cheaply mass-produced in orbit with resources mined from the new moon to beam vast amounts of power to the ground-offer America its last, best hope of avoiding servitude and economic ruin. As though building miles-wide structures in space isn't challenging enough, special interests, from technophobes to eco-extremists to radio astronomers, want to stop the project. And the remaining petro powers will do anything to protect their newfound dominance of world affairs. NASA engineer Marcus Judson is determined to make the powersat demonstration project a success. And he will-even though nothing in his job description mentions combating an international cabal or going into space to do it."
"A prelude to the seminal science fiction classic, Ringworld
Since fleeing the supernova chain reaction at the galactic core, the cowardly Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds have-just barely-survived one crisis after another: the rebellion of their human slaves, the relentless questing of the species of Known Space, the spectacular rise of the starfish-like Gw'oth, and the onslaught of the genocidal Pak.
Now fresh disaster looms, as though past crises have returned and converged. Who can possibly save the Fleet this time?
Louis Wu? Trapped in the Wunderland civil war, all he wants is to go home-but the only possible escape will plunge him into unknowable danger.
Ol't'ro? The Gw'oth ensemble mind fled across the stars to establish a colony world free from tyranny. But some problems cannot be left behind, and other problems-like the Fleet of Worlds itself-are racing straight at them.
Achilles? Despite past disgrace, the charismatic Puppeteer politician knows he is destined for greatness. He will do anything to seize power-and take his revenge on everyone who ever stood in his way.
Nessus? The insane Puppeteer scout is out of ideas-and resources-with only desperation left to guide him.
Their hopes and fears, dreams and ambitions are about to collide. And the winner takes … worlds."
"This book is a prequel to the Ringworld series, which is considered a classic of the science fiction genre.
Two hundred years before the discovery of Ringworld
The newly liberated humans of the Fleet of Worlds now face a new threat besides the sly Puppeteers: the Pak, a very smart and utterly ruthless species who are fleeing the exploding galactic core in an armada of ships at near light speed. The Pak are headed toward the Fleet of Worlds, having destroyed entire planets in their wake. Sigmund Ausfaller, who had been transported by the Puppeteers from Earth to the Fleet, is now sent with his human allies to reconnoiter and divert the Pak. A Pak is captured, but even a well-guarded Pak prisoner can be lethal. Sigmund and the human colonists must cope with many unpleasant surprises between the manipulative Puppeteers, the brilliant, violent Pak, and a new species called the Gw'oth, who seem to be allies but have their own agenda."
"Two hundred years before the discovery of Ringworld…
For too long, the Puppeteers have controlled the fate of worlds. Now Sigmund is pulling the strings.
Covert agent Sigmund Ausfaller is Earth's secret weapon, humanity's best defense against all conspiracies, both real and imaginary, and all foes, both human and alien.Who better than a brilliant paranoid to expose the devious plots of others?
But Sigmund may finally have met his match in Nessus, representative of the secretive Puppeteers, the elder race who wield vastly superior technologies.Even after the Puppeteers abruptly vanish from Known Space, Nessus schemes in the shadows with Earth's traitors and adversaries.
As a paranoid, Sigmund has always known things would end horribly for him; only the when, where, how, why, and by whom of it all eluded him.But even Sigmund never imagined that his destiny would be entwined with the fates of worlds."
"Larry Niven teams up with fellow science fiction writer Edward M. Lerner to take a closer look at the events leading up to Niven's first Ringworld novel.
Kirsten Quinn-Kovacs is among the best and brightest of her people. She gratefully serves the gentle race that rescued her ancestors from a dying starship and nurtures them still. If only the Citizens knew where Kirsten's people came from!
A chain reaction of supernovae at the galaxy's core has unleashed a wave of lethal radiation that will sterilize the galaxy. The Citizens flee, taking with them their planets, the Fleet of Worlds. Someone must scout ahead, and Kirsten and her crew eagerly volunteer. Under the guiding eye of Nessus, their Citizen mentor, they set out to explore for any possible dangers in the Fleet's path-and uncover long-hidden truths that will shake the foundations of worlds."
