For 200 years, Earth prospector ships traveled from star to star to connect wondrous new worlds to adventurous humankind. The Earth’s Triad Empire protected the fragile network of colonies with a nimble fleet. Immense wealth and power was tempered by ethical laws. The Deerborne family embodied all that was good. Knowledge abounded; they learned. Opportunities were countless; they achieved. Selfless sacrifice was critical; they volunteered. A flawed orphan came into their care; they adopted. Fate placed the Deerbornes at the center of a Triad crisis. In the midst of this golden era, the empire’s lifeblood began to fail. Commodity trades were twisted by greed. Intelligence agents who discovered problems became ineffective. Festering tensions became revolts against the empire. Freedoms for the people narrowed and the Triad reacted with excessive force. Experts blamed all ills on the mysterious pressers: aliens possessing no way to communicate with humans. As the Fleet activated the siege weapon Redemption, unexplained events intensified. Could the Deerbornes return peace to the Triad? Could they prevent genocide of the pressers? Then, warrior-aliens received an omen from a rogue comet: war with the Triad was coming.

From New York Times bestseller and Hugo Award-winner, John Scalzi, a gleeful mash-up of science fiction and Hollywood satire The space-faring Yherajk have come to Earth to meet us and to begin humanity's first interstellar friendship. There's just one problem: They're hideously ugly and they smell like rotting fish. So getting humanity's trust is a challenge. The Yherajk need someone who can help them close the deal. Enter Thomas Stein, who knows something about closing deals. He's one of Hollywood's hottest young agents. But although Stein may have just concluded the biggest deal of his career, it's quite another thing to negotiate for an entire alien race. To earn his percentage this time, he's going to need all the smarts, skills, and wits he can muster. Other Tor Books The Android’s Dream Agent to the Stars Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded Fuzzy Nation Redshirts 1. Lock In 2. Head On The Interdepency Sequence 1. The Collapsing Empire 2. The Consuming Fire Old Man's War Series 1. Old Man’s War 2. The Ghost Brigades 3. The Last Colony 4. Zoe’s Tale 5. The Human Division 6. The End of All Things At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A Source Book for Mediæval History is a scholarly piece by Oliver J. Thatcher. It covers all major historical events and leaders from the Germania of Tacitus in the 1st century to the decrees of the Hanseatic League in the 13th century.

Elegant, suggestive, and clarifying, Lewis Thomas's profoundly humane vision explores the world around us and examines the complex interdependence of all things. Extending beyond the usual limitations of biological science and into a vast and wondrous world of hidden relationships, this provocative book explores in personal, poetic essays to topics such as computers, germs, language, music, death, insects, and medicine. Lewis Thomas writes, "Once you have become permanently startled, as I am, by the realization that we are a social species, you tend to keep an eye out for the pieces of evidence that this is, by and large, good for us."

An exploration of the fast food industry in the United States, from its roots to its long-term consequences.