Timothy Zahn

From No. 1 New York Times bestselling author comes an exciting Star Wars adventure, set in the time between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back—featuring Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia Organa, as well as the deadly Mara Jade.Eight months after the Battle of Yavin, the Rebellion is in desperate need of a new base. So when Governor Ferrouz of Candoras Sector proposes an alliance, offering sanctuary for the Rebels in exchange for protection against a warlord intent on invasion, Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewbacca are sent to evaluate the deal. But Mara Jade, the Emperor’s Hand, is also heading for Candoras, along with five renegade stormtroopers known as the Hand of Judgment. Their mission: to punish Ferrouz’s treason and smash the Rebels.In this treacherous game of betrayals within betrayals, a wild card is waiting to be played.

NEW SCIENCE FICTION SERIES FROM THE CREATOR OF THE COBRA SERIES AND STAR WARS' ADMIRAL THRAWN

Gregory Roarke — agent for the ultra-secret Icarus Group – has received a new assignment: locate a teleportation portal on a backwater colony world. But what should be a an easy assignment leads to a string of murders, and a race against an alien enemy.

For years Gregory Roarke and his Kadolian partner Selene have worked for the ultra-secret Icarus Group, hunting for the mysterious Icari teleportation portals so valued by the Commonwealth. But their job has now come to a wrenching end. The two of them are fugitives, sought by the Commonwealth, the rival Patth, and the remnant of the ancient Ammei who once controlled the portals and who hunger for a return to those days of glory. All three groups want Selene and her unique ability to understand and deal with Icari technology. Or is it unique? In the shadow of an Ammei stronghold they stumble across an unfamiliar and badly confused alien named Bubloo who has the same ultrasensitive sense of smell as Selene and her fellow Kadolians. If the Ammei get hold of him, can they achieve their goal of domination without Selene? Roarke doesn’t know. But he doesn’t dare take that chance. Things are looking grim, with multiple puzzles and questions intertwined around Bubloo and the portals, and the future of the Spiral hanging in the balance. And then, the Patth assassination squad arrives…

For years Gregory Roarke and his Kadolian partner Selene worked as crocketts, combing through the atmospheres of uninhabited worlds for places that might be colonized or hold valuable resources. Now, they work for the Icarus Group, a top-secret government organization hunting for portals created by a long-vanished alien race, portals that can teleport a person hundreds or thousands of light-years in the blink of an eye. Usually, those hunts are long and tedious. But Roarke has now been handed an intriguing offer. A criminal boss, Robertine Cherno, will hand over a hitherto unknown portal to the Icarus Group in exchange for Roarke and Selene agreeing to transport a passenger named Nikki across the Spiral. There’s only one catch. Nikki is a professional, high-priced, highly feared assassin. And she’s on the job. That would have been bad enough. But when the alien Patth also move to gain possession of the portal, bad quickly promises to go to worse. Especially when it becomes clear that Nikki herself is being hunted by someone. It’s up to Roarke and Selene to untangle the mysteries and get to the truth before they become someone’s collateral damage.

To make his biggest score, Han’s ready to take even bigger risks. But even he can’t do this job solo.Han Solo should be basking in his moment of glory. After all, the cocky smuggler and captain of the Millennium Falcon just played a key role in the daring raid that destroyed the Death Star and landed the first serious blow to the Empire in its war against the Rebel Alliance. But after losing the reward his heroics earned him, Han’s got nothing to celebrate. Especially since he’s deep in debt to the ruthless crime lord Jabba the Hutt. There’s a bounty on Han’s head – and if he can’t cough up the credits, he’ll surely pay with his hide. The only thing that can save him is a king’s ransom. Or maybe a gangster’s fortune?That’s what a mysterious stranger is offering in exchange for Han’s less-than-legal help with a riskier-than-usual caper. The payoff will be more than enough for Han to settle up with Jabba – and ensure he never has to haggle with the Hutts again.All he has to do is infiltrate the ultra-fortified stronghold of a Black Sun crime syndicate underboss and crack the galaxy’s most notoriously impregnable safe. It sounds like a job for miracle workers… or madmen. So Han assembles a gallery of rogues who are a little of both – including his indispensable sidekick Chewbacca and the cunning Lando Calrissian. If anyone can dodge, deceive, and defeat heavily armed thugs, killer droids, and Imperial agents alike – and pull off the heist of the century – it’s Solo’s scoundrels. But will their crime really pay, or will it cost them the ultimate price?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - To make his biggest score, Han's ready to take even bigger risks. But even he can't do this job solo. Han Solo should be basking in his moment of glory. After all, the cocky smuggler and captain of the Millennium Falcon just played a key role in the daring raid that destroyed the Death Star and landed the first serious blow to the Empire in its war against the Rebel Alliance. But after losing the reward his heroics earned him, Han's got nothing to celebrate. Especially since he's deep in debt to the ruthless crime lord Jabba the Hutt. There's a bounty on Han's head--and if he can't cough up the credits, he'll surely pay with his hide. The only thing that can save him is a king's ransom. Or maybe a gangster's fortune? That's what a mysterious stranger is offering in exchange for Han's less-than-legal help with a riskier-than-usual caper. The payoff will be more than enough for Han to settle up with Jabba--and ensure he never has to haggle with the Hutts again. All he has to do is infiltrate the ultra-fortified stronghold of a Black Sun crime syndicate underboss and crack the galaxy's most notoriously impregnable safe. It sounds like a job for miracle workers . . . or madmen. So Han assembles a gallery of rogues who are a little of both--including his indispensable sidekick Chewbacca and the cunning Lando Calrissian. If anyone can dodge, deceive, and defeat heavily armed thugs, killer droids, and Imperial agents alike--and pull off the heist of the century--it's Solo's scoundrels. But will their crime really pay, or will it cost them the ultimate price?

A group of telepaths navigate the challenges of their power in four linked stories from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of the Star Wars Thrawn trilogy. Dale Ravenhall is part of a small network of telepaths spread throughout North America. Although they can communicate with each other across hundreds of miles, if they get within twenty miles of each other, the mental pressure is fatal. Their situation requires them to be a cautiously tight-knit community, but when one of them is murdered, things begin to unravel . . . The gripping world of Dale and his distant friends first appeared in "Red Thoughts at Morning" in 1981, and continued with "Dark Thoughts at Noon" and "Black Thoughts at Midnight. Now, in Distant Telepaths, Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn brings the saga to a dramatic close with an all-new original story, "Bright Thoughts at Dawn."

Escape to far-off planets with ten science fiction stories from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of the Star Wars Thrawn trilogy. Contains two original stories: "The Needs of the Many" and "Challenge Accepted" Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn presents an original collection of science fiction adventure stories. Some of the works here were previously printed in publications such as The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Analog, or in themed collections, but have never appeared together until now . . . The Shadow Stories In "The Shadows of Evening," a seasoned warrior named Turek has dedicated his life to defending colonists from mysterious and debilitating Shadows on a hostile planet. Zahn elaborates Turek's story with two sequels, and now concludes the saga with the original story, "The Needs of the Many." The Hive Mind Stories Two Hive Mind starcraft observe Earth from afar and from a superior viewpoint in "The Challenge." They believe that self-destructive competition among humans will prevent this so-called fragmented race from achieving the technological level required to reach the stars. In two sequels, Zahn explores what would happen if humans found a different way to the heavens. Now, with the original story "Challenge Accepted," he brings the series to a climactic end. Two more stories round out the collection. In "Star Song," humans find a unique way to fuel interstellar travel with music, while a diplomatic aide gets caught up in a plot of greed and destruction in "The Art of War." Together, these ten tales promise action, adventure, humor, and more, all from the masterful mind of one science fiction's greatest authors.

Ten thousand years ago, a mysterious people known as the Icari vanished from the Spiral, leaving behind a network of portals that can instantaneously transport passengers hundreds or thousands of light-years across the stars. Gregory Roarke and his Kadolian partner Selene have been tasked with seeking out these alien artifacts and bringing them under the control of the Icarus Group. But the Group’s leadership has changed, and Roarke soon finds himself at serious odds with the new director’s plans. The result: a counter-plan that lands Roarke and Selene on a distant world with a broken city, a dozen portals, and a group of aliens called the Ammei who dream of using the portals to bring back their own glory days. But their ambitions will be costly, and not just for themselves. Roarke and Selene must put together the scattered clues and solve the riddle of the Ammei and their plans, while at the same time fending off the Patth and their bid to claim the city and portals for themselves. Because the Icari are gone…aren’t they?

For years Gregory Roarke and his Kadolian partner Selene worked as crocketts, combing through the atmospheres of uninhabited worlds for places that might be colonized or hold valuable resources. Now, they quietly work for the Icarus Group, a top-secret government organization hunting for portals created by a long-vanished alien race, portals that can teleport a person hundreds or thousands of light-years in the blink of an eye. Roarke and Selene are searching one such possibility when they find that someone appears to be stalking them. They evade their pursuers and return to find that a man named Easton Dent has been searching the Spiral’s databases for the names Gregory Roarke and Icarus. Roarke reluctantly agrees to meet with him. But that first contact is cut short, and hours later Roarke is arrested and accused of Dent’s murder. More importantly to Roarke’s Icarus Group overseers, that brief meeting also confirms that Dent was in recent contact with a portal. But the alien Patth are also searching for such portals, and they are also on the trail. It’s now a race . . . and the Patth have resources and ruthlessness far beyond anything Roarke and Selene can match.

Return to the saga of Grand Admiral Thrawn with the comic-book adaptation of the hit novel THRAWN: ALLIANCES As rivals for the favor of the Emperor, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader may seem like unlikely partners for a crucial mission Yet this formidable twosome has worked together before. Years ago, Thrawn and the man once known as Anakin Skywalker were joined in the hunt for Padm Amidala. Now, as each man carves his own way through the galaxy, they will find themselves bound together once more by the Emperor's will -- and they will be each be tested to their limits by an enemy worthy of their formidable combined might COLLECTING: Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances (2024) 1-4