Most Popular Books by GREGORY BENFORD

The revised edition of the Nebula Award–winning author''s "most adventurous, most philosophical, and most scientifically creative novel" ( Houston Post ). Tides of Light is the fourth book of Gregory Benford''s Galactic Center series, a classic tale of humanity''s future and fate—and the greatest mystery from outer space that it has ever encountered. Piloting an ancient starship, Killeen and the Bishop tribe escape the mech-ruled world of Snowglade. Seeking refuge on a far away planet, they discover vast wonders: an organic life-form as large as a world, a planet-coring cosmic string, a community of humans ruled by a brutal tyrant, and ultimately an alien race more awesome than any they have known before. As they battle for survival against these myriad dangers, Killeen and his crew will gain an unforeseen ally . . . one that may determine humanity''s true destiny . . .

Winner of the 1980 Nebula Award, Timescape has since become a classic of the science fiction genre, combining hard science, bold speculation, and human drama—a challenging and triumphant tale told by a master storyteller. 1998. Earth is falling apart, on the brink of ecological disaster. But in England a tachyon scientist is attempting to contact the past, to somehow warn them of the misery and death their actions and experiments have visited upon a ravaged planet. 1962. JFK is still president, rock ''n'' roll is king, and the Vietnam War hardly merits front-page news. A young assistant researcher at a California university, Gordon Bernstein, notices strange patterns of interference in a lab experiment. Against all odds, facing ridicule and opposition, Bernstein begins to uncover the incredible truth . . . a truth that will change his life and alter history . . . the truth behind time itself.

The classic sci-fi saga continues in this "intriguing and engrossing" first installment of a new trilogy that "extends and embellishes Asimov''s vision" ( Kirkus). Isaac Asimov''s Foundation Trilogy is one of the high-water marks of science fiction. It is the monumental story of a Galactic Empire in decline, and the secret society of scientists who seek to shorten the inevitable Dark Age with the science of psychohistory. Now, with the permission—and blessing—of the Asimov estate, the epic saga continues. Fate—and a cruel Emperor''s arbitrary power—have thrust Hari Seldon into the First Ministership of the Empire against his will. As the story opens, Hari is about to leave his quiet professorship and take on the nearly impossible task of administering 25 million inhabited worlds from the all-steel planet of Trantor. With the help of his beautiful bio-engineered "wife" Dors and his alien companion Yugo, Seldon is still developing the science that will transform history, never dreaming that it will ultimately pit him against future history''s most awesome threat.

The third novel in the Nebula Award–winning author''s classic series: "A challenging, pacesetting work of hard science fiction that should not be missed" ( Los Angeles Times ). Nearly 100,000 years after first contact with the machines that dominate the universe, a few hundred humans survive. Trapped on Snowglade, a barren world near the center of the galaxy, people like Killeen of Family Bishop and his child Toby are primitive scavengers, homeless and hunted by the ruling "mechs." Then suddenly, a strange cosmic entity—neither organic nor cybernetic nor living matter—reaches out from a black hole to speak with Killeen. But can this fallen descendant of starfarers understand this alien being in time . . . and seize the only chance to save his family and mankind from final annihilation?

Glorious continues the hard science fiction Bowl of Heaven series from multi-award-winning authors Gregory Benford and Larry Niven. Audacious astronauts encounter bizarre, sometimes deadly life forms, and strange, exotic, cosmic phenomena, including miniature black holes, dense fields of interstellar plasma, powerful gravity-emitters, and spectacularly massive space-based, alien-built labyrinths. Tasked with exploring this brave, new, highly dangerous world, they must also deal with their own personal triumphs and conflicts. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The second volume in the classic hard sci-fi series by the renowned physicist and Nebula Award–winning author: "So good it hurts" ( Washington Post Book World ). 2076. Technology has propelled the world into a new age of enlightenment. Nigel has left Earth to explore space and search for alien life. But while on this captivating mission, humanity''s birthplace has fallen prey to attack and its seas are seeded with alien lifeforms. Now, Nigel is left to search for the only savior he knows—the one who saved him once before—the alien machine called the "Snark." Having left the solar system and turned traitor to its alien masters, Nigel is unsure of the Snark''s new allegiance. Is the Snark a friend? Or will it also turn on Nigel . . . proving to be a deadly foe?

Live longer, live stronger, with scientific enhancements and the wonders of technology

A scientist facing personal tragedy discovers a sentient black hole targeting humanity in this hard sci-fi thriller from "a superb storyteller" ( Houston Post). Dr. Benjamin Knowlton''s private world is crumbling around him. On the threshold of their greatest achievement, the renowned astrophysicist learns that his beloved wife and partner, Channing—an ex-astronaut-turned astronomer—is dying of cancer. Meanwhile, something looms alarmingly on the far edge of the solar system: at once a scientific find of unparalleled importance that could ensure the Knowltons'' immortality, and a potential earth-shattering cataclysm that dwarfs their private one. For Benjamin and Channing have discovered "Eater," an eons-old black hole anomaly that devours stars and worlds. Yet its most awesome and devasting secrets are still to be revealed . . . and feared. "A celestial horror tale, a cosmological adventure, a literate end-of-the-world epic, and a story bursting with old-fashioned ''sense of wonder.''" — Orlando Sentinel "Benford spins poetry from textbook phenomena . . . [His] novel proves that scientific wisdom involves the heart and soul as well as the mind." — The Washington Post Book World "The scientific equivalent of a taut police procedural . . . Benford''s deft, suspenseful weaving of the struggle between Eater and humanity blends two threads with maximal impact." — Newark Star Ledger "Even in the face of huge events and special effects sequences, Benford manages to keep the characters and the human-scale issues important . . . It''s just this kind of juggling that characterizes the best of Benford''s work . . . Eater is Benford''s most Benfordesque book in quite a while." — Locus

A gripping, masterfully written adventure set against the violent beauty of a planet in the throes of cataclymic transformation, "Against Infinity" is Gregory Benford''s timeless portrait of a young man''s comming of age. On the poisonous, icy surface of Ganymede, a man and a boy are on a deadly hunt.Their prey is the "Aleph"--an unknowable alien artifact that roamed and ruled Ganymede for countless millennia. Indescribable, infinitely dangerous, the Aleph haunts men''s dreams and destroys all efforts to terraform Ganymede into a habitable planet. Now in a modern world ancient struggle is joined, as a boy seeks manhood, a man seeks enlightenment, and a society seeks the power to rule the universe. On the poisonous, icy surface of Ganymede, a man and a boy are on a hunt for the Aleph--an alien artifact that ruled Ganymede for countless millenia, Infinitely dangerous, the Aleph haunts men''s dreams and destroys all efforts to terraform Ganymede into an habitable planet. Now an ancient struggle is joined, as a boy seeks manhood, a man seeks enlightenment, and a society seeks the power to rule the universe.

After an accident in a brilliant young physicist''s most ambitious experiment, it appears: a wondrous sphere the size of a basketball, made of nothing known to science. Before long, it will be clear that this object has opened a vista on an entirely different universe, a newborn cosmos whose existence will rock this world and test one woman to the limit: the physicist who has ignited this thrilling adventure. Only the author of the landmark novel Timescape could so plausibly take the reader behind the scenes of major scientific research, so boldly speculate about the consequences of paradigm-shifting discovery, and so vividly capture the intense human drama as the forces of academia, government, theology, and the mass media battle for control of a mysterious new reality. COSM is Gregory Benford at his provocative best, exploring ideas at the frontier of mankind''s understanding, and posing profound questions about Creation, human destiny, and the riddle of godhood.

Takes a scientist''s imagination to the uttermost ends of time. Set more than a billion years from now, the novel begins with a young woman who yearns to escape the rigid, timeless Earth she knows. So she flees, in the company of an intelligent beast wise beyond recognition. But there are mysterious forces afoot among the planets that she never foresaw. Alien agencies have learned to span parallel universes, ones that lie only a millimeter away but are invisible to any device known to man. Soon these beings confront the travelers and a struggle beyond imagining begins.

The final volume in the Nebula Award–winning author''s classic hard SF series—"as at the end of any great symphony, one can only stand and applaud" ( Asimov''s Science Fiction ). Humanity''s final chapter has begun, and three men hold the key to survival. As the fierce, artificially intelligent mechs pursue their savage and unstoppable destruction of the human race, it soon becomes apparent that three men—three generations in a family of voyagers—are their targets. Toby Bishop, his father Kileen, and his long-dead grandfather each carry a piece of the lethal secret that can destroy their relentless pursuers. To make matters worse, they have no idea they possess the only weapon that can save humanity. Sailing Bright Eternity concludes the genre-defining Galactic Center series by by the eminent physicist and award-winning author Gregory Benford. This edition contains a teaser chapter from Benford''s novel The Sunborn.

The Jovian Astronautical-Biological Orbital Laboratory, a.k.a. "the Can", is the only home 17-year-old Matt Bohles has ever known. Concerned about the aging space station''s failure to find evidence of alien life on Jupiter or its moon, the cost-conscious powers back home have determined that all non-essential personnel must be evacuated. Now, unless Matt can somehow prove himself to be an invaluable member of the scientific team, he faces exile to a dangerous, frightening, and unfamiliar place: Earth.

Science fiction-roman.

The multiple award-winning author of Timescape and Eater, Gregory Benford returns with a gripping new novel set in the same dynamic future as his wildly popular The Martian Race. The first manned mission to Mars has been successful. However, there is a gathering mystery surrounding "marsmat"- the complex, anaerobic life-form that the expedition discovered inside a honeycomb of tunnels below the planet''s surface. The search for the answers to humanity''s ultimate questions about life in the universe will lead to the fringes of the solar system-to the dark and cold void beyond the planet Pluto.