Five years after attacking the human-colonized worlds of the Spiral Arm, the hydrogues maintain absolute control over stardrive fuel...and their embargo is strangling human civilization. On Earth, mankind suffers from renewed attacks by the hydrogues and decides to use a cybernetic army to fight them. Yet the Terran leaders don't realize that these military robots have already exterminated their own makers - and may soon turn on humanity. Once the rulers of an expanding empire, humans have become the galaxy's most endangered species. But the sudden appearance of incredible new beings will destroy all balances of power. Now for humans and the myriad alien factions in the universe, the real war is about to begin...and genocide may be the result.

This stand-alone sequel to Card's "New York Times"-bestselling novel "Empire" continues the author's message about the dangers of extreme political polarization and the need to reassert moderation and mutual citizenship ("Booklist").

In the far future, humanity began to search the stars, sending out vast spaceships that would take generations to reach their goals. In the depths of space they encountered the Ildiran empire - apparently the galaxy's only other intelligent civilization. The Ildirans came to Earth and passed on the knowledge of their stardrive, allowing humanity to expand to the stars. Almost two hundred years after that first contact, there are human colonies proliferating through the galaxy. As Mankind seizes the future, danger comes from the past, for two human archaeologists glean forbidden knowledge from the ruins of a dead world. Once, the insect-like Klikiss ruled the stars. Now, only their robot servants remain, guardians of a terrible technology - the Klikiss Torch, which has the power to create suns. Now, Humanity prepares to flex its new found muscle and activate the Torch for the first time in millennia, but there are reasons the Klikiss empire fell, and a train of events is about to be set in motion, that will change the universe...

Named one of the ten best books of the year by the Chicago Tribune A Publishers Weekly best book of 2019 | A 2019 NPR Staff Pick A pathbreaking history of the United States’ overseas possessions and the true meaning of its empire We are familiar with maps that outline all fifty states. And we are also familiar with the idea that the United States is an “empire,” exercising power around the world. But what about the actual territories—the islands, atolls, and archipelagos—this country has governed and inhabited? In How to Hide an Empire, Daniel Immerwahr tells the fascinating story of the United States outside the United States. In crackling, fast-paced prose, he reveals forgotten episodes that cast American history in a new light. We travel to the Guano Islands, where prospectors collected one of the nineteenth century’s most valuable commodities, and the Philippines, site of the most destructive event on U.S. soil. In Puerto Rico, Immerwahr shows how U.S. doctors conducted grisly experiments they would never have conducted on the mainland and charts the emergence of independence fighters who would shoot up the U.S. Congress. In the years after World War II, Immerwahr notes, the United States moved away from colonialism. Instead, it put innovations in electronics, transportation, and culture to use, devising a new sort of influence that did not require the control of colonies. Rich with absorbing vignettes, full of surprises, and driven by an original conception of what empire and globalization mean today, How to Hide an Empire is a major and compulsively readable work of history.

During the most dangerous years of the Cold War, a handful of Americans secretly built machines that revolutionized spying and warfare while protecting the United States from a surprise nuclear attack. This is their story, told in full for the first time. of photos.

Listen up, and listen good- I'll only say this shit once!Two Tricks does not work with MC gangs, and that's final. Period. The end. No. No, you don't get to ask why.Tricks runs the West Coast smuggling ring, so if you want anything to come and go, you play by the rules. You don't like it? Well, then you're gonna get a visit from me.Who am I? I'm Dax, his enforcer, and don't let my height or the pink hair fool you. I'll take your ass down. Now, can someone explain to me why the hell the Phantom Saints MC gang sent someone to try and talk me into getting Tricks to work with them? Or maybe how those same assholes ended up kidnapping me? You can bet your ass, as soon as I get the chance, I will make them regret ever having me as a 'house guest', even if they are sexy as sin. No one uses me and gets away with it!Book 1 of the Hidden Empire seriesThis is a reverse harem, why choose romance where the leading lady doesn't have to choose who she loves or how many. Book contains 18+ content-swearing, sexual situations, and aggressive assertive alpha-hole men.

Matt Baker and Ralph Gibson, former athletes turned business executives, find themselves unexpectedly entangled in an archetype’s plot to conquer the world. They work with the FBI and the CIA in trying to protect their interests. The archetype confidently engages in battle with the two business executives and law enforcement, feeling at ease in his element. However, he encounters an unforeseen adversary, a shadowy power with the same objective. Danger erupts as Matt and Ralph find themselves on a rollercoaster heading toward disaster. They team with the best of law enforcement in trying to resolve their immediate problems and to survive.