Most Popular Books by Greg Bear

Greg Bear is one of the greatest science fiction writers of the late twentieth century. He has a powerful voice, combining the intense rationality of science with the intensely passionate characters that can only be created by a writer who loves humanity. Bear’s novel Moving Mars won the Nebula Award in 1994, and he did it again, in 2000, with Darwin’s Radio. He has been honored with Hugo and Nebula nominations for novel-length work eight more times. But Greg Bear’s short fiction is even more astounding, as this powerful career retrospective demonstrates. This collection contains Bear’s earliest published fiction from the late 1960s and early 1970s as well his remarkable award-winning work from the ‘80s and ‘90s—stories like the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novella- length version of “Blood Music” and the Hugo and Nebula Award-winner “Tangents.” This Collection is enhanced by brand-new introductions for each story, commentary, and reminiscences by Greg Bear.

This doomsday masterpiece from the author of Eon and Hull Zero Three was a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula awards. On July 26, Arthur Gordon learns that Europa, the sixth moon of Jupiter, has disappeared. Not hiding, not turned black, but gone. On September 28th, Edward Shaw finds an error in the geological records of Death Valley. A cinder cone was left off the map. Could it be new? Or, stranger yet, could it be artificial? The answer may be lying beside it—a dying Guest who brings devastating news for Edward and for Planet Earth. As more unexplained phenomena spring up around the globe—a granite mountain appearing in Australia, sounds emanating from the earth''s core, flashes of light among the asteroids—it becomes clear to some that the end is approaching, and there is nothing we can do. In The Forge of God, award-winning author Greg Bear describes the final days of the world on both a massive, scientific scale and in the everyday, emotional context of individual human lives. Facing the destruction of all they know, some people turn to God, others to their families, and a few turn to saviors promising escape from a planet being torn apart. Will they make it in time? And who gets left behind to experience the last moments of beauty and chaos on earth? Nominated for the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards, The Forge of God is an engrossing read, breathtaking in its scope and in its detail.

Science fiction-roman.

Hugo Award Finalist: A near-future novel of artificial intelligence, human nature, and mass murder that "succeeds on virtually every level" ( The New York Times Book Review). In Los Angeles in 2047, advances in the science of psychology have made crime a rare occurrence. So it''s utterly shocking when eight bodies are detected in an apartment, and not long afterward the perpetrator is revealed as well: noted poet Emmanuel Goldsmith. The LAPD''s Mary Choy—who has had both her appearance and her police work enhanced by nanotechnology—is tasked with arresting the killer, while psychotherapy pioneer Martin Burke prepares to explore his mind. Meanwhile, Goldsmith''s good friend and fellow writer reels at the news—while, far from all of them, a space probe makes a startling discovery. This "excellent" novel about technology, identity, and the nature of consciousness is a thought-provoking stunner by the Nebula Award–winning author of the Eon series and the Forerunner Saga ( Chicago Tribune).

Nebula Award Finalist: A genetic engineering breakthrough may portend the destruction of humanity in this cyberpunk novel by the author of The Forge of God. This Hugo and Nebula Award finalist follows present-day events in which the fears concerning the nuclear annihilation of the world subsided after the Cold War and the fear of chemical warfare spilled over into the empty void it left behind. An amazing breakthrough in genetic engineering made by Vergil Ulam is considered too dangerous for further research, but rather than destroy his work, he injects himself with his creation and walks out of his lab, unaware of just how his actions will change the world. Author Greg Bear''s treatment of the traditional tale of scientific hubris is both suspenseful and a compelling portrait of a new intelligence emerging amongst us, irrevocably changing our world.

The conclusion to an epic interstellar trilogy of war from master of science fiction, Greg Bear. Marooned beneath the icy, waxy crust of Saturn''s moon, Titan, Skyrine Michael Venn and his comrades face double danger from Earth and from the Antagonists, both intent on wiping out their growing awareness of what the helpful alien Gurus are really doing in our solar system. Haunted by their dead and by the ancient archives of our Bug ancestors, the former combatants must now team up with their enemies, forget their indoctrination and their training, and journey far beyond Pluto to the fabled Planet X, the Antagonists'' home world, a Sun-Planet in the comet-generating Kuiper belt. It''s here that Master Sergeant Venn will finally understand his destiny and the destiny of every intelligent being in the solar system-including the enigmatic Gurus.

An amnesiac man awakens on board a mysterious starship full of monsters in this terrifying sci-fi adventure by a New York Times –bestselling author. "A lean, mean, supercharged sense-of-wonder engine." —Alastair Reynolds A starship hurtles through the emptiness of space. Its destination, unknown. Its purpose, a mystery. Now, one man wakes up. Ripped from a dream of a new home—a new planet and the woman he was meant to love in his arms—he finds himself wet, naked, and freezing to death. The dark halls are full of monsters but trusting other survivors he meets might be the greater danger. All he has are questions—Who is he? Where are they going? What happened to the dream of a new life? What happened to Hull three? All will be answered, if he can survive the ship. Hull Zero Three is an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride through the darkest reaches of space. "This beautifully written tale where nothing is as it seems will please readers with a well-developed sense of wonder." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Never one to play it safe in his consistently inventive fiction, Bear takes the reader for a harrowing ride on a labyrinthine starship. . . . Bear''s pithy, occasionally cryptic writing style perfectly captures the chaotic experiences and unsettling revelations the team endures, while putting an intriguing spin on the timeworn SF theme of interstellar planet hunting. One of Bear''s most thought-provoking and well-crafted novels to date." — Booklist

Two hundred years in the future, the Moon is emerging from an age of innocence. Once pioneers, the easiest motto for these Lunar families is ''Cut the Politics''. They think they are safe from the sophistication and corruption of political intrigue. William Pierce is searching for absolute zero. No scientist has succeeded yet, and William is almost there...His wife Rho has bought 410 heads, cryogenically frozen centuries before in the hope of resurrection. She thinks she can read them for information. But there are dangers. William doesn''t quite understand that his experiments could distort space and time. Rho doesn''t realise that her heads will bring interference from a new and deadly faction, the devotedly religious Logologists. ''Cut the Politics''. But they can''t. And the politics of this society could destroy much, much more than Rho and William''s work...

Artificially intelligent cities rise up against humanity in this " excellent novel. It came on me as a surprise, and it knocked me out!" (Harlan Ellison). In a theocratic world far into the future, cities control their own movements and organization. Constantly moving, growing and decaying, taking care of every need their inhabitants might think of, the cities have decided that humans are no longer a necessary part of their architecture, casting them out to wander in the wilderness and eke out a meager subsistence. To the exiled humans, the cities represent a paradisiacal Eden, a reminder of all they cannot attain due to their sinful and unworthy natures. But things are beginning to change. People are no longer willing to allow the cities to keep them out, choosing instead to force an entry and plunder at will. The cities are starting to crumble and die because they have no purpose or reason to continue living without citizens. One woman, called mad by some and wise by others, is the only human allowed to inhabit a city. From her lonely and precarious position at the heart of one of the greatest cities ever, she must decide the fate of the relationship between human society and the ancient strongholds of knowledge, while making one last desperate attempt to save the living cities.

Greg Bear’s Nebula Award–winning novel, Darwin’s Radio, painted a chilling portrait of humankind on the threshold of a radical leap in evolution—one that would alter our species forever. Now Bear continues his provocative tale of the human race confronted by an uncertain future, where “survival of the fittest” takes on astonishing and controversial new dimensions. Eleven years have passed since SHEVA, an ancient retrovirus, was discovered in human DNA—a retrovirus that caused mutations in the human genome and heralded the arrival of a new wave of genetically enhanced humans. Now these changed children have reached adolescence . . . and face a world that is outraged about their very existence. For these special youths, possessed of remarkable, advanced traits that mark a major turning point in human development, are also ticking time bombs harboring hosts of viruses that could exterminate the “old” human race. Fear and hatred of the virus children have made them a persecuted underclass, quarantined by the government in special “schools,” targeted by federally sanctioned bounty hunters, and demonized by hysterical segments of the population. But pockets of resistance have sprung up among those opposed to treating the children like dangerous diseases—and who fear the worst if the government’s draconian measures are carried to their extreme. Scientists Kaye Lang and Mitch Rafelson are part of this small but determined minority. Once at the forefront of the discovery and study of the SHEVA outbreak, they now live as virtual exiles in the Virginia suburbs with their daughter, Stella—a bright, inquisitive virus child who is quickly maturing, straining to break free of the protective world her parents have built around her, and eager to seek out others of her kind. But for all their precautions, Kaye, Mitch, and Stella have not slipped below the government’s radar. The agencies fanatically devoted to segregating and controlling the new-breed children monitor their every move—watching and waiting for the opportunity to strike the next blow in their escalating war to preserve “humankind” at any cost.

A Nebula Award–winning novella by the author of Moving Mars and the Eon trilogy. Humans have been engaged in a long war against an advanced alien race, the Senexi. But the possibility for peace may finally exist, thanks to a young girl who learns of the enemy''s larger role and humanity''s opportunity to evolve, in this award-winning story by the author of Darwin''s Radio and many other highly acclaimed works of science fiction.

"A minor classic. A small book but with big characters . . . and great ideas" from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of Dinosaur Summer ( SF Reviews). The planet Hegira is the universe''s melting pot. Hundreds of tribes in dozens of cities intermingle in the vast uncharted territory. The only thing holding the people together are the massive Obelisks, the chronicles of all the truths and falsehoods each tribe has brought to Hegira. Young Bar‐Woten is in search of knowledge and he knows the key to the truth about his homeland is contained in the writings of the Obelisks. With his fellow companions, Bar‐Woten must travel through Hegira''s exotic cities to discover the lies within the words of thousands.