Charles Sheffield

"One of the most imaginative, exciting talents to appear on the SF scene in recent years."-Publishers Weekly "A master of hard science fiction."-Noumenon This collection contains sixteen stories and science articles by the remarkable author, Charles Sheffield. The stories range in length from being barely a page ("The Seventeen-Year Locusts") to long novelettes ("The Courts of Xanadu"). They also range in mood from the "very silly to very somber." Each...

Scheming to get rid of obstacles, Josh Kerrigan's step-aunt ships him and her autistic step-daughter to Solferino to work for Foodlines. Josh and Dawn join a small training group that is ostensibly doing scientific research and exploration under the watchful eye of the company.But as the days go by and strange occurrences and mysterious happenings continue, it becomes apparent that something is very wrong and that someone has very different plans...

It's 2026, and catastrophe has struck from an unexpected source. The Alpha Centauri supernova has risen like a second sun, rushing Earth toward its last summer. Floods, fires, starvation, and disease paralyze the planet. In a blue aurora flash of gamma rays, all microchips worldwide are destroyed, leaving an already devastated Earth without communications, transportation, weaponry, or medicine. The disaster sets three groups of survivors on separate...

It was just before Summertide, when the planet Quake would orbit closest to its sun, subjecting itself to vast tidal forces. It was to be the most violent Summertide ever, creating something that only happened every 350,000 years. Access to the unstable Quake was supposed to be prohibited, but some very insistent travelers were determined to make the trip. Professor Darya Lang, who studied artifacts left by the long-vanished aliens called the Builders,...

The search for the Builders has led expert Darya Lang, adventurer Hans Rebka, and treasure hunters Louis Nenda and Atvar H'sial far outside the spiral arm, where they must confront the Zardalu who enslave entire races and exterminate others.