New Releases by Jack Mcdevitt

Dlouhé období politické korektnosti a přehlížení vesmírného programu, především v podobě neustálých vládních škrtů rozpočtu Akademie, muselo nevyhnutelně vést ke katastrofě. Během dálkového skoku hyperprostorem zmizel jeden z přetížených a nedostatečně udržovaných nadsvětelníků, ocitl se mimo rádiové spojení nebo se ztratil v neznámu. Mediální rozruch kolem této události popisuje vesmírný program jako černou díru, ve které mizí peníze daňových poplatníků. Kampaň proti Akademii nevede nikdo jiný než kontroverzní novinářská hvězda Gregory MacAllister. Požaduje ukončení výzkumu a využití prostředků na poslední pokus o záchranu Země před globálním oteplováním. Vedoucí operací Akademie Priscilla Hutch Hutchinsonová podnikne zoufalý pokus přitáhnout zájem veřejnosti k mezihvězdnému cestování. Vysílá misi do hlubokého vesmíru s cílem studovat záhadné černé kulovité kosmické lodě, které byly spatřeny v okolí mnoha výzkumných objektů a oblíbených vesmírných destinací. Let směřuje nejdříve ke prastarému orbitálnímu chrámu nebo tisíce kilometrů dlouhému hyperkolosu, a má se jej zúčastnit i skeptický kritik MacAllister. Vše se změní, když mimozemšťané přesměrují dráhu asteroidu, a ukáže se, že vůbec nejsou tak mírumilovní, jak se zdálo. Zájem lidstva o vesmírný program je rázem na vrcholu. Stejně tak i hrůza z vyhlazení mimozemskými vetřelci ... Jack McDevitt skvěle kombinuje vědecké spekulace a fascinující pocit úžasu nad záhadami, které na nás čekají v nekonečné rozlehlosti vesmíru.

Před dvěma sty lety byl ve vzdálených končinách sluneční soustavy učiněn ohromující objev: obrovská socha mimozemského tvora s nápisem, který se vzpíral všem snahám o rozluštění. S objevem nadsvětelného pohonu se hvězdy přiblížily na dosah, a průzkum odhalil další záhadné artefakty. Jejich rozměry jsou mimo lidská měřítka a každý z nich je krásný zvláštním a provokujícím způsobem. Lidé jejich tvůrce přezdívají "Stavitelé monumentů". Nikdo netuší, kdo to byl, a kam zmizeli, ale je zjevné, že prastará minulost mimozemské civilizace může být úzce svázána s budoucností Země. Planeta Země sama je na pokraji katastrofy – na hledání odpovědí není čas. Dokonce ani na otázku, která může být klíčem k přežití celé lidské rasy...

CODICE HERCULES Da un angolo remoto della galassia viene inviato un messaggio. Gli impulsi di una stella pulsar sono diventati strani, irregolari artificiali. Può essere solo un codice. Freneticamente, un gruppo di ricerca lotta contro il tempo per decifrare la comunicazione aliena. E quello che gli scienziati scoprono è destinato a scuotere dalle fondamenta gli imperi in tutto il mondo, da Wall Street al Vaticano. Un originale romanzo di fantascienza sul primo contatto alieno che ha lanciato la carriera di Jack McDevitt.

The classic first-contact science fiction novel that launched the career of Jack McDevitt, the national bestselling author of Coming Home—now revised from the original edition, and featuring a new foreword. From a remote corner of the galaxy a message is being sent. The continuous beats of a pulsar have become odd, irregular…artificial. It can only be a code. Frantically, a research team struggles to decipher the alien communication. And what the scientists discover is destined to shake the foundations of empires around this world—from Wall Street to the Vatican…

El famoso periodista Gregory MacAllister se ha entregado a una campaña para recortar el presupuesto destinado a la Academia y a sus programas espaciales, a fin de que se centren en cuestiones de índole práctica en la Tierra. Por su parte, la Academia, para reavivar el interés público por la materia, programa una misión para conocer la verdad sobre los «jinetes lunares», las extrañas luces que supuestamente están empezando a verse en sistemas cercanos. Descubrirán que su odisea no es solo una estratagema de relaciones públicas y que no son un fenómeno inofensivo. De hecho, pueden resultar extremadamente peligrosos, hasta un punto que nadie podría haber imaginado jamás.

Thousands of years ago, artifacts of the early space age were lost to rising oceans and widespread turmoil. Garnett Baylee devoted his life to finding them, only to give up hope. Then, in the wake of his death, one was found in his home, raising tantalizing questions. Had he succeeded after all? Why had he kept it a secret? And where is the rest of the Apollo cache? Antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and his pilot, Chase Kolpath, have gone to Earth to learn the truth. But the trail seems to have gone cold, so they head back home to be present when the Capella, the interstellar transport that vanished eleven years earlier in a time/space warp, is expected to reappear. With a window of only a few hours, rescuing it is of the utmost importance. Twenty-six hundred passengers—including Alex’s uncle, Gabriel Benedict, the man who raised him—are on board. Alex now finds his attention divided between finding the artifacts and anticipating the rescue of the Capella. But time won’t allow him to do both. As the deadline for the Capella’s reappearance draws near, Alex fears that the puzzle of the artifacts will be lost yet again. But Alex Benedict never forgets and never gives up—and another day will soon come around...

Famine. Death. War. Pestilence. These are the harbingers of the biblical apocalypse, of the End of the World. In science fiction, the end is triggered by less figurative means: nuclear holocaust, biological warfare/pandemic, ecological disaster, or cosmological cataclysm. But before any catastrophe, there are people who see it coming. During, there are heroes who fight against it. And after, there are the survivors who persevere and try to rebuild. THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH will tell their stories. Edited by acclaimed anthologist John Joseph Adams and bestselling author Hugh Howey, THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH is a series of three anthologies of apocalyptic fiction. THE END IS NIGH focuses on life before the apocalypse. THE END IS NOW turns its attention to life during the apocalypse. And THE END HAS COME focuses on life after the apocalypse. THE END IS NIGH features all-new, never-before-published works by Hugh Howey, Paolo Bacigalupi, Jamie Ford, Seanan McGuire, Tananarive Due, Jonathan Maberry, Scott Sigler, Robin Wasserman, Nancy Kress, Charlie Jane Anders, Ken Liu, and many others.

On les nomme les Bâtisseurs de Monuments. Ils ont laissé de grandes œuvres plastiques ici et là dans la proche Galaxie. Chacune différente. Leurs inscriptions défient la traduction. Pourtant toutes sont belles. Bouleversantes. Mais âgées de plus de vingt mille ans. Ensuite, plus rien. Que sont devenus les Bâtisseurs de Monuments ? À l’aube de ce XXIIIe siècle, le chemin des étoiles est ouvert. Pour la Terre où l’équilibre écologique est rompu, où l’humanité court à la catastrophe, c’est peut-être la voie du salut. Mais pour Priscilla Hutchinson, pilote spatiale, et les archéologues qu’elle rejoint sur le site de la planète Quraqua, commence une quête effrénée qui les conduira de monde en monde afin de comprendre le mystère de civilisations extraterrestres terrassées et disparues.

''A writer who is a storyteller first and a science fiction writer second. In his ability to absolutely rivet the reader, it seems to me that he is the logical heir to Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke'' Stephen King The year is 2255. The Academy that trained the starfarers is long gone and veteran pilot Priscilla ''Hutch'' Hutchins spends her retirement supporting fund-raising efforts for The Prometheus Foundation, a privately funded organization devoted to deep space exploration. But when a young physicist unveils an efficient star drive capable of reaching the core of the galaxy, Hutch finds herself back in the deepest reaches of space, and on the verge of discovering the origins of the deadly Omega clouds that continue to haunt her.

The Nebula-Award winning novel from the multi-award winning SF master Jack McDevitt. Also a Campbell Award finalist. Third in the acclaimed Alex Benedict series. When Alex Benedict, interstellar dealer of antiquities, examines a seemingly unremarkable artefact, he is convinced it is from the infamous Seeker - a transport ship which fled the religious dictatorship in 27th century America. With the help of his pilot, Chase Kolpath, he follows a deadly trail to the Seeker, now strangely adrift in a system barren of habitable worlds. But their discovery raises far more questions than it answers, drawing Alex and Chase into the very heart of danger.

''No one writing today is better than McDevitt at combining galaxy-spanning adventure with the genuine novel of ideas'' Washington Post Book World Two hundred years ago, humans made a stunning discovery in the far reaches of the solar system: a huge statue of an alien creature, with an inscription that defied all efforts at translation. Now, as faster-than-light drive opens the stars to exploration, humans are finding other relics of the race they call the Monument-Makers - each different, and each heartbreakingly beautiful. But except for a set of footprints on Jupiter''s moon Iapetus, there is no trace of the enigmatic race that has left them behind. Then a team of scientists working on a dead world discover an ominous new image of the Monument-Makers. Somehow it all fits with other lost civilizations, and possibly with Earth''s own future. And distant past. But Earth itself is on the brink of ecological disaster - there is no time to search for answers. Even to a question that may hold the key to survival for the entire human race.

Todo el mundo conoce la leyenda de Christopher Sim, el guerrero, el líder, el héroe interestelar con un talento muy poco común para la guerra. Sim cambió la historia de la humanidad para siempre cuando convirtió a un grupo de marginados en el arma clave para vencer al Ashiyyur. Pero ahora Alex Benedict ha encontrado unos datos sorprendentes en un viejo archivo digital que, de ser ciertos, demostrarían que la historia de Christopher Sim era un fraude. Alex debe seguir el oscuro camino de una leyenda hasta el corazón de una galaxia alienígena, donde descubrirá una verdad más extraña que cualquier ficción imaginable.

Los humanos los llaman los Creadores de Monumentos: una raza desconocida que ha dejado asombrosas y extrañas estatuas en lejanos planetas de la galaxia. Cada reliquia es diferente; cada inscripción desafía la traducción... sin embargo, todas ellas son angustiosamente bellas.

Der Physiker Michael Shelborne ist auf geheimnisvolle Weise verschwunden. Bald darauf entdeckt sein Sohn Shel den Grund dafür: Sein Vater hat eine Zeitmaschine erfunden und ist irgendwo in der Vergangenheit gestrandet. Shel bricht gemeinsam mit seinem Freund Dave zu einer tollkühnen Rettungsmission auf. Die Reise führt sie unter anderem zurück in die italienische Renaissance und den amerikanischen Wilden Westen. Und dann verstößt Shel gegen seine Vereinbarung mit Dave, nicht in die Zukunft zu reisen ...

In the year 2204, tragedy and terror forced a scientific team to prematurely evacuate Maleiva III. Nineteen years later, a rogue moon hurtling through space is about to obliterate the last opportunity to study this rare, life-supporting planet. With less than three weeks left before the disaster, superluminal pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins -- the only even remotely qualified professional within lightyears of the ill-fated planet -- must lead a small scientific team to the surface to glean whatever they can about its lifeforms and lost civilizations before time runs out. But catastrophe awaits when they are stranded on this strange and complex world of puzzles and impossibilities. And now Hutch and her people must somehow survive on a hostile world going rapidly mad -- as the clock ticks toward apocalypse for a doomed enigma now called...

After 8000 years of star travel, humanity has found only one alien species. Alex Benedict may be on the path to finding another one, but an assassin has other ideas.

It turned up in a North Dakota wheat field: a triangle, like a shark''s fin, sticking up from the black loam. Tom Lasker did what any farmer would have done. He dug it up. And discovered a boat, made of a fiberglass-like material with an utterly impossible atomic number. What it was doing buried under a dozen feet of prairie soil two thousand miles from any ocean, no one knew. True, Tom Lasker''s wheat field had once been on the shoreline of a great inland sea, but that was a long time ago -- ten thousand years ago. A return to science fiction on a grand scale, reminiscent of the best of Heinlein, Simak, and Clarke, Ancient Shores is the most ambitious and exciting SF triumph of the decade, a bold speculative adventure that does not shrink from the big questions -- and the big answers.

The Roadmakers left only ruins behind -- but what magnificent ruins! Their concrete highways still cross the continent. Their cups, combs and jewelry are found in every Illyrian home. They left behind a legend,too -- a hidden sanctuary called Haven, where even now the secrets of their civilization might still be found. Chaka''s brother was one of those who sought to find Haven and never returned. But now Chaka has inherited a rare Roadmaker artifact -- a book called A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur''s Court -- which has inspired her to follow in his footsteps. Gathering an unlikely band of companions around her, Chaka embarks upon a journey where she will encounter bloodthirsty rirver pirates, electronic ghosts who mourn their lost civilization and machines that skim over the ground and air. Ultimately, the group will learn the truth about their own mysterious past.

It''s the 21st century, and all is right with the world. Or so it seems. Vice President Charlie Haskell, who will travel anywhere for a photo op, is about to cut the ribbon for the just-completed American Moonbase. The first Mars voyage is about to leave high orbit, with a woman at the helm. Below, the world is marveling at a rare solar eclipse. But all that is right is about to go disastrously wrong when an amateur astronomer discovers a new comet. Named for its discover, Tomikois a "sun-grazer,"an interstellar wanderer with a hundred times the mass and ten times the speed of other comets. And it is headed straight for our moon. In less than five days, if scientists'' predictions are right, Tomiko will crash into the moon, shattering it into a cloud of superheated gas, dust, and huge chunks of rock that will rain down on the earth, causing chaos and killer storms, possibly tidal waves inundating entire cities...or worse: a single apocalyptic worldwide "extinction event." In the meantime, the population of Moonbase must be evacuated by a hastily assembled fleet of shuttle rockets. There isn''t room, or time enough, for everyone. And the vice president, who rashly promised to be last off ("I will lock the door and turn off the lights"), is trying to figure out how to get away without eating his words. In Moonfall,McDevitt has created a disaster thriller of truly epic proportions, featuring a cast of unforgettable characters: the reluctant Russian rocket jockey entrusted with the lives of squabbling refugees; the woman chosen to be first on the moon; the scientist who must deflect the "possum" (POSSible IMpactors) knocked from orbit or witness the end science itself. And at the center of it all is Charlie Haskell, the career politician who discovers his own unexpected reserves of only himself and his country, but for all humankind. Moonfall,is a spellbinding tale of heroism and hope, cowardice and passion played against the awesome spectacle of human history''s darkest night.

Shel and his friend Dave journey through history and time in search of Shel''s missing physicist father, but make a devastating discovery that changes their lives forever when Shel violates their agreement not to visit the future.

Hired by writer Vicki Greene, interstellar antiquities dealer Alex Benedict discovers that his would-be client now has no memory of her past, and his search for answers takes him to a remote human world that holds the key to a decades-old political confli

To boost waning interest in interstellar travel, a mission is sent into deep space to learn the truth about "moonriders," the strange lights supposedly being seen in nearby systems. But Academy pilot Valentina Kouros and the team of the starship Salvator will soon discover that their odyssey is no mere public-relations ploy, for the moonriders are not a harmless phenomenon. They are very, very dangerous-in a way that no one could possibly have imagined.

With Polaris, multiple Nebula Award-nominee Jack McDevitt reacquainted readers with Alex Benedict, his hero from A Talent for War. Alex and his assistant, Chase Kolpath, return to investigate the provenance of the cup. Alex and Chase follow a deadly trail to the Seeker - strangely adrift in a system barren of habitable worlds. But their discovery raises more questions than it answers, drawing Alex and Chase into the very heart of danger.

Jack McDevitt brings back the daring Alex Benedict from A Talent for War, thrusting him into a far-future tale of mystery and suspense that will lead the prominent antiquities dealer to the truth about an abandoned space yacht called the Polaris.

The acclaimed classic novel and fan favorite—the far-future story of one man''s quest to discover the truth behind a galactic war hero.

On a routine survey mission studying a neutron star, an Academy starship receives a transmission in an unknown language. Before leaving the area, the starship launches a series of satellites to find the signal—and perhaps discover its origins. Five years later, a satellite finally encounters the signal—which is believed to be of extraterrestrial origin by the Contact Society, a wealthy group of enthusiasts who fund research into the existence of alien life. Providing a starship to the Academy to be piloted by Captain Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins, the Contact Society embarks on a mission to find the source of the transmission. Across a myriad of stars, from world to world, Hutch and her crew follow the signal, but find only puzzles and lethal surprises. Then, in a planetary system far beyond the bounds of previous exploration, they discover an object. It is immense, ominous, and mysterious. And it may hold the answer not only to the questions of the Contact Society, but to those of every person who has ever looked to the sky and wondered if we were alone...

Today the word ''Victim" is used in many different ways. In this book the authors have attempted to provide information on a wide array of crimes within their individual contexts. By presenting the material, in this manner, the authors hope to demonstrate to the reader the range of victimization experiences that crime victims are forced to deal with. The authors believe that this methodology offers a richer and more realistic approach to understanding the process of victimization and the coping mechanisms that victims employ to deal with their particular experiences. Karmen defined victimology as: "The scientific study of victimization, including the relationships between the victims and the offenders, the interactions between victims and the criminal justice system - that is the police, the courts, and corrections officials - and the connection between victims and other societal groups and institutions, such as the media, business, and social movements." (Karmen, 1990) "The uniqueness of this text is the inclusion of issues of victimization not commonly found in existing texts, but worthy of incorporation." -- Lee Ross, University of Wisconsin-Parkside

Hate Crimes - violence aimed at individuals because they are members of a particular group - were once considered the rare illegal actions of a small but vocal assortment of extremists who thrived on hating minorities. No more. Hate crimes have been sweeping the nation-- and the world, occurring in even the most unlikely of places. Whereas college campuses at one time epitomized the lofty principles of tolerance, diversity, and idealism, they have now become the repositories of hatred and division. Hate is hip on campus, as evidenced not only by the popularity of racist and misogynistic music, but by the recent rash of attacks against blacks, women, Asians, Latinos, Jews, and gays. Levin and McDevitt, both leading experts on hate crimes, show how the campus of hate has become a microcosm for the world at large and document its trail of prejudice and bigotry in our society and throughout the world.