From the bestselling authors of the Invasion and Yesterday's Gone series comes The Beam, a disturbing philosophical exploration of the future of our hyperconnected world. This chilling, intricately-plotted series is set in a futuristic dystopia where politics and technology have widened the gap between haves and have-nots. All of humanity is connected ... to The Beam and to the lie. In the year 2097, the only stable nation is the NAU: a dystopia exploding with new technologies and ruled by two political parties. The choices are Enterprise (sink-or-swim; effort and luck determine whether members prosper or starve) or Directorate, where members are guaranteed safety but can never rise above their station. Above it all is The Beam: an AI-built computer network that serves every whim and connects citizens through implants and biological add-ons. The Beam anticipates every need and has created a world within the world. It permeates everything. And is everywhere. But the NAU's power is shifting. New powers are making their moves while others hang in the balance. Behind it all, a shadowy group is pulling strings, and guiding the upcoming election exactly where they want it to go. The Beam is coming alive; immersion is as real as reality. If the NAU's power goes unchecked, the actions of a shadowy few will shape the fate of millions forever. ★★★★★ "This series is one of the best from these authors, which is saying a lot because Sean Platt/Johnny B. Truant/David Wright (any combination of the three) are by far my favorite authors. The Beam is an extremely complex world with complex characters." -- Matt Browner ★★★★★ "I'd have to say this series has them all beat because all the technologies (or magic, if you will) in this series are better developed, the characters are more involved, and the story lines are better woven. And I'm not talking about twists and turns in the plot that require suspending disbelief (yeah right), or leave you confused as to what happened. It's pretty amazing and thought-provoking." -- Burton Kent

Power is in the mind. The mind is in the network. As the NAU’s "Shift" approaches, the Directorate and Enterprise parties are doing whatever they can both on-Beam and off- to win the citizen’s minds. The Beam itself, however, seems to be evolving. As more and more people become addicted to connectivity, a question arises: Does the Beam serve our minds ... or do our minds serve the Beam? Meanwhile, using politics as cover, an organization is pushing human enhancements further than they were ever meant to go — and maybe more than the struggling NAU with its hyperconnected minds can hope to survive. ★★★★★ "Another homerun for Platt and Truant. Usually second books in a series are the weak link -- that didn't happen in The Beam. Just like the first season I got sucked in to this book and told the kids to just feed themselves poptarts and leave mommy alone already so she could read. An amazing series!" -- Patricia Eimer ★★★★★ "I loved the first season, but this did such a great job of fleshing out the story line that I'm already champing at the bit for the next season." -- BruceIn Baghdad ★★★★★ "A real high-tech futuristic political thriller with a great storyline and a cliff-hanger ending that leaves you wanting for more. Can't wait to read season 3." -- beachbaby

This first episode is a FREE series-starter for the sci-fi world of The Beam: a dystopian technothriller full of intrigue and conspiracies ... and the unseen perils of our hyperconnected world. This chilling, intricately-plotted cyberpunk series is set in a futuristic dystopia where politics and technology have widened the gap between haves and have-nots -- and where power means everything. All of humanity is connected ... to The Beam and to the lie. In the year 2097, the only stable nation is the North American Union: a cyberpunk world exploding with new technologies and ruled by two political parties. The NAU allows people to choose either the Enterprise Party (sink-or-swim; effort and luck determine whether members prosper or starve) or the Directorate, where members are guaranteed safety but can never rise above their station. And above it all is The Beam: an AI-built computer network that serves every whim and connects citizens through implants and biological add-ons. The Beam anticipates every need and has created a world within the world. It permeates everything. And is everywhere. But the NAU's power is shifting. New powers are making their moves while others hang in the balance. Behind it all, a shadowy group is pulling strings, and guiding the upcoming election exactly where they want it to go. The Beam is coming alive; immersion is as real as reality. If the NAU's power goes unchecked, the actions of a shadowy few will shape the fate of millions forever. ★★★★★ "This series is one of the best from these authors, which is saying a lot because Sean Platt/Johnny B. Truant/David Wright (any combination of the three) are by far my favorite authors. The Beam is an extremely complex world with complex characters." -- Matt Browner ★★★★★ "I'd have to say this series has them all beat because all the technologies (or magic, if you will) in this series are better developed, the characters are more involved, and the story lines are better woven. And I'm not talking about twists and turns in the plot that require suspending disbelief (yeah right), or leave you confused as to what happened. It's pretty amazing and thought-provoking." -- Burton Kent Sci-fi fans of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson will love the visionary cyberpunk world of The Beam ... where politics, plots, conspiracies, and backstabbing matter as much as future itself.

From a New York Times bestselling and Hugo award-winning author comes a modern masterwork of science fiction, introducing a captain, his crew, and a detective as they unravel a horrifying solar system wide conspiracy that begins with a single missing girl. Now a Prime Original series. Humanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach. Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why. Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything. Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe. "Interplanetary adventure the way it ought to be written." —George R. R. Martin The Expanse Leviathan Wakes Caliban's War Abaddon's Gate Cibola Burn Nemesis Games Babylon's Ashes Persepolis Rising Tiamat's Wrath ​Leviathan Falls Memory's Legion The Expanse Short Fiction Drive The Butcher of Anderson Station Gods of Risk The Churn The Vital Abyss Strange Dogs Auberon The Sins of Our Fathers

When all of humanity is connected, the network's hub is the true seat of power. In the year 2097, the only stable nation is the NAU: a dystopia exploding with new technologies and ruled by two political parties. The choices are Enterprise (sink-or-swim ; effort and luck determine whether members prosper or starve) or Directorate, where members are guaranteed safety but can never rise above their station. Above it all is The Beam: an AI-built computer network that serves every whim and connects citizens through implants and biological add-ons. The Beam anticipates every need and has created a world within the world. It permeates everything. It is everywhere. But now the NAU's power is shifting. The Beam seems to be taking on a life of its own as immersion becomes as real as reality itself. New powers are making their moves while others hang in the balance ... and behind it all, a shadowy group is pulling strings. But if the NAU's true power goes unchecked, the actions of a shadowy few will shape the fate of millions for years to come ...

STAY ALIVE ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON What happens when you get the one thing you wanted most in life? Lonely 16-year-old farm girl Barbara Winton has been following one reality show for years. Then in an instant she goes from fangirl to participant when the call comes from Dr. Keegan Bright: She’s been selected out of a horde of applicants to join him on the Moon. She’ll be one of his Bright Sparks, six students with expertise in STEM and plenty of their own ingenuity chosen to work with Dr. Bright and given big responsibilities to undertake new projects important to the growth of the colony. Her first task? Build a radar telescope using an entire crater on the far side of the Moon. But Barbara soon learns that life on a burgeoning frontier outpost like the Moon is a far cry from safe, civilized Earth. The loner from farm country must find a way to weld a functional team out of fiercely independent thinkers. Not only are they a bit trickier to work with than farm robots, not only is the working environment incredibly dangerous—she also has to perform this miracle in front of millions of fans. . . . Lexile Score: 770 At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). Praise for the work of Jody Lynn Nye: "Infused with humor to keep you entertained and action to make you turn the pages."—Kirkus on Jody Lynn Nye’s Rhythm of the Imperium “I thoroughly enjoyed it, the plot, the settlement, the whole nine yards, and especially the twitch of humor at odd moments...a book I can thoroughly recommend.” —Anne McCaffrey “An unusual story well‑told, with characters it's a real pleasure to spend time with.” —David Drake "[An] innovative take on the well‑loved theme of fairies and dangerous wishes." —Publishers Weekly on Wishing on a Star by Jody Lynn Nye and Angelina Adams About Travis S. Taylor: “[E]xplodes with inventive action.—Publishers Weekly on Travis S. Taylor’s The Quantum Connection. “[Warp Speed] reads like Doc Smith writing Robert Ludlum. . .You won’t want to put it down”—John Ringo

Author Marc Cushman had the honor of befriending both Gene Roddenberry and Robert H. Justman, who cooperated in the development of this three-book series and backed their endorsement with hundreds of never-before-released documents concerning the writing and production of Star Trek, the original series (TOS). After decades of research, hundreds of exclusive interviews, and the inclusion of thousands of documents, from story outlines to scripts to interoffice memos between Roddenberry and his creative staff, correspondences with NBC and Desilu Studios, production schedules, budgets, and even the Nielsen ratings for every episode of the first Star Trek series, These are the Voyages serves as a time machine, taking the reader back to witness the creation, writing and making of Star Trek.--From publisher description.