Ryk E. Spoor

The Shuttered CountryThe four adventurers had barely survived the assassination attempts of the false Ares. But now the counterfeit God of War has sealed Ingram's homeland Aegeia away, stealing the power of Athena's barrier that even gods cannot penetrate, to complete his plan to destroy the Cycle of the Gods and Aegeia itself. The four of them must find a way past the Seal of Athena - something never done in the history of all the Cycles. And even after passing through the terrible trials that the Seal places before them, they cannot begin to grasp what monstrous things await them in Aegia - and none more monstrous than Raiagamor, the shapeshifting abomination who wears the face, form, and power of Ares, God of War.Yet Raiagamor does not grasp what he will face either, for the four heroes each have their own secrets unsuspected: for Urelle, the depth of her magic; for Ingram, the power of his past; for Quester, the legacy of his people; and for Victoria, the wisdom of her soul.

When Ingram and Quester had seen their clients, Lady Victoria Vantage and her young niece Urelle Vantage, safely to their new home, they had thought their work finished, the time come to find new Adventures - despite the not-well-hidden interest between Ingram and Urelle.Then Ingram receives an impossible message: he, a fugitive and exile from Clan Camp-Bel, is desperately needed by the Clan in distant Aegeia, a thousand miles and more away, for a mission so secret it cannot be included in the recall. And the very night he and Quester set out, Urelle discovers there are assassins already on their trail and rushes to warn them - and following her, Victoria, a retired Adventurer forced once more into the field.But more is at stake than they can realize, for the ancient Cycle of Aegeia - the living morality play between the Reason of Athena and the Passion of Ares - is in peril of destruction; a monstrous impostor has taken the place of the God of War, and begins to orchestrate an ending to Aegeia itself.And the false Ares knows that one of the four travelers is the only thing standing between him and the downfall of the gods...

When astronomer Stephanie Bronson uncovers a massive alien vessel named Fenrir racing toward the Sun, she must lead a desperate mission to rescue its crew before a catastrophic failure dooms them both to fiery destruction. It was just a dot of light . . . . . . a dot of light that appeared out of nowhere. Stephanie Bronson thought she might have found a distant supernova. Instead, what she'd found was something more than a thousand miles across, moving towards the Sun at almost a third the speed of light from the constellation of Lupus, the Wolf. Even more frightening, the object--called Fenrir, after the Norse Wolf of the World's End--was slowing down. It was not a comet or even a rogue planet. It was an alien vessel. And despite the increasingly detailed and insistent messages of greeting from Earth, it showed no sign of responding. As the world braced itself for the arrival of the immense, frighteningly silent alien visitor, Stephanie held hope that they still might communicate with Fenrir--until something happened that no one had imagined: Fenrir flared and its drive died, leaving the huge ship careening out of control to a fiery death inside the orbit of Venus. There was--just possibly--a chance for Earth to act--to rescue the now-shipwrecked "Fens." But even Stephanie--or those trying to stop her and the rescue ship Carpathia--could not imagine that not merely the fate of the aliens, but that of Earth itself, would be decided by Fenrir.

The Bill is Coming Due... ... on Project Hyperion. Ariane Austin discovers she and her friends Marc, Simon, and Wu Kung are crippled after their battles in Challenges of the Deeps, unable to use their Arena-born powers. The newly-embodied Hyperion AI, Dr. Alexander Fairchild, is working with a Molothos officer to undermine the Faction of Humanity... while he also pulls deadly strings back home in the Solar System. The insane Hyperion Maria-Susanna is active at last, and someone has murdered one of the Champions of the Arena even as he was coming to meet with Marc DuQuesne. All of these events are related, and the collision of such forces will shake the entirety of the Arena, and beyond, as they find that everything, everything, is affected by the long, dark shadows of Hyperion.

The climax of the Arenaverse adventure SF series The Arena: a vast alien otherspace that all species were forced to enter when they discovered faster-than-light travel. The Arena: where the lives of entire species might hang in the balance in a single Challenge. The Arena: filled with mysteries, alliances, betrayals, opportunities, and hideous dangers for individual and empire alike. And the only thing you couldn't do...was refuse to play the Arena's game. Ariane Austin and her crew had learned these lessons the hard way, and - with luck, skill, and sheer will, had managed to survive so far. But now a debt of honor to Humanity's oldest, if sometimes self-serving, ally, Orphan, has come due. The threat of war looms with the xenophobic Molothos, one of the five Great Factions; the dark and omnipresent legacy of the Hyperion Experiment lingers. As Leader of the Faction of Humanity, Captain Ariane Austin had to deal with all of these problems, and deal with them soon. For within her was also the alien power that the Shadeweavers and the Faith had sealed away - with a seal that would not last forever.

Sequel to the popular space adventure Grand Central Arena Leader of the Faction of Humanity. It was a ridiculous title, but the Arena declared that Captain Ariane Austin held that position after she led the crew of the Holy Grail to discover the impossible, physics-defying place--and successfully returned. And when the nigh-omnipotent Arena says something, it becomes reality. Now, Ariane must figure out what it truly means to be Leader of Humanity--both for herself and for the survival of her species--before enemies at home or within the Arena move to depose her, kill her, or worse. She'll need all her luck, Marc DuQuesne's indomitable will, Simon Sandrisson's genius, and the skill of a living legend to survive what's coming. But in the end, the fate of humanity in the galaxy and beyond may hinge on the choice of an uncertain ally--one who has nothing to gain and everything to lose by siding with the upstart humans.

IT'S NOT PARANOIA IF THEY REALLY ARE OUT TO GET YOU The Kimei family and a second group of castaways, led by the redoubtable Sergeant Campbell, have finally joined forces, landing on the bizarre planet Lincoln, whose “continents” are actually huge floating coral colonies inhabited by even stranger lifeforms. They have survived crash-landings, venom-filled bites, disease, and even the destruction—and consumption!—of one of their floating island homes. They have learned to live, even to prosper, in this strange new place. Meanwhile, out among the stars, Lieutenant Susan Fisher pieces together the mystery of what happened to the starship Outward Initiative and begins to believe that, just possibly, some of the survivors have escaped to a mysterious and unsuspected star system. But Fisher’s preparations and the resourcefulness of the castaways may not be enough. Because the planet Lincoln is far from done with them yet. Praise for previous books in this series: “[F]ast-paced sci-fi espionage thriller . . . light in tone and hard on science . . .”—Publishers Weekly on Boundary “The whole crew from Flint and Spoor's Boundary are back. . . . Tensions run high throughout the Ceres mission . . . a fine choice for any collection.”—Publishers Weekly on Threshold “[P]aleontology, engineering, and space flight, puzzles in linguistics, biology, physics, and evolution further the story, as well as wacky humor, academic rivalries, and even some sweet romances.”—School Library Journal on Boundary

Surviving crash-landings and monsters and island-eaters was only the beginning! The Kimei family and the second group of castaways, led by Sergeant Campbell, had finally joined forces after both had been forced to land on the bizarre planet Lincoln, whose "continents" were huge floating coral colonies, inhabited by even stranger lifeforms. They had survived crash-landings and venom-filled bites and disease, their own despair, and even the destruction — and consumption! — of one of their floating islands, and had learned to live, even prosper, in their strange new home. Far away, Lieutenat Susan Fisher slowly pieces together the mystery of what happened to the starship Outward Initiative . . . and begins to believe that — just possibly — some of the survivors might have escaped to a mysteriously unsuspected star system. But even her preparations and the resourcefulness of the castaways may not be enough . . . for Lincoln has far worse in store. Praise for previous books in this series: “[F]ast-paced sci-fi espionage thriller . . . light in tone and hard on science . . .” —Publishers Weekly on Boundary “The whole crew from Flint and Spoor's Boundary are back. . . . Tensions run high throughout the Ceres mission . . . a fine choice for any collection.” —Publishers Weekly on Threshold “[P]aleontology, engineering, and space flight, puzzles in linguistics, biology, physics, and evolution further the story, as well as wacky humor, academic rivalries, and even some sweet romances.” —School Library Journal on Boundary

The fifth book in the Boundary series universe, and sequel to Castaway Planet, by New York Times multiple best-selling author Eric Flint and veteran science fiction and fantasy author Ryk E. Spoor. Worst-Case Scenario: Sergeant Samuel Morgan Campbell had been in plenty of tight spots before, but nothing like this. It had happened in a few terrifying seconds: the starship he and his crew travelled on, the Outward Initiative, shattered to pieces before their eyes and disappeared, leaving them stranded in the endless night of deep space on Lifeboat LS-88 - all systems dead, light-years from any known colony. Somehow, Sergeant Campbell and his crew of half-trained children - ranging from freshly graduated Xander Bird down to eight-year-old Francisco - have to repair systems with no tools, navigate with no computers, and - if they could find a planet they could live on - land a shuttle whose controls were more than half-destroyed. And if they manage all of that, then the real challenge begins; the only planet in range has secrets that even Sergeant Campbell cannot imagine

New entry in the bestselling Boundary series. Stranded humans must adapt alien technology to survive on a dangerous planet. Lost in the dark, half a year into their journey to the colony world of Tantalus, Sakura Kimei, her family, and her best friend, the alien "Bemmie" nicknamed Whips, are torn from the safety of their colony ship. In a crippled lifeboat, they have one chance to find a habitable world. But even then they will find that their apparent salvation is a world of a thousand secrets.