A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most unusual way. To avoid war, Earth's government must find an equally unusual object: A type of sheep ("The Android's Dream"), used in the alien race's coronation ceremony. To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero and hacker extraordinaire.

Knowledge is power. That would be the motto of Lander University, had it not been snatched up and used to death by others long before the school was founded. For while Lander offers a full range of courses to nearly all students, it also offers a small number of specialty classes to a very select few.

Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space - and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe - in this lighthearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.

Hank is a thug. He knows he's a thug. He has no problem with that realization. In his view the galaxy has given him a gift: a mutation that allows him to withstand great deals of physical trauma. He puts his abilities to the best use possible and that isn't by being a scientist. Besides, the space station Belvaille doesn't need scientists. It is not, generally, a thinking person's locale. It is the remotest habitation in the entire Colmarian Confederation. There is literally no reason to be there.

A frontier world. One sheriff. And all the action one spaceport can't hold. Darklanding is the wild, wild west of known space. Sheriff Thaddeus Fry will never completely leave the battlefields of Centauri Prime. His assignment as the sheriff of Darklanding could be a do-nothing job, or it could get him killed.

Kylie Rhoads is a junker. She makes her living traveling the stars, salvaging abandoned ships left over from pirate attacks on the edge of the Gedri system. Some of the hulls are legal for the taking, most aren't. When a salvage job goes bad, Kylie finds herself on the wrong end of a gun. The hand holding that gun? The SA Space Force, just the people Kylie wants to avoid. To avoid prison, Kylie makes a deal to go deep into the Gedri System and rescue a simple girl. But out on the fringe, nothing is as it seems.

When the security director of the powerful corporation Nebulaco dies under mysterious circumstances, courier Sai Collins has one last top-secret delivery to make on his behalf. Sai has come a long way from her street-kid childhood, but she has her secrets - namely that she’s a cyber-psi, a computer telepath who can connect to the grid without hardware. A talent she’s going to desperately need.

Raka Varoule is a second-rate investigative reporter, traveling between the 27 worlds of the Galactic Empire exposing minor scandals. His big break comes when he weasels his way onto the emperor’s personal star-cruiser to report live, across the galaxy, how the emperor is celebrating his birthday. When he exposes the biggest scandal in galactic history, he narrowly escapes with the help of a drug runner, a dominatrix, and a monkey wearing assless chaps. Together, they search for an escape from the empire, a barbarian world outside Imperial control. Then things get weird.

Chastity Snowden Whyte just wanted to mine for rocks, metal, and ice in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Rock mining in space was all she knew. It was all she was good at doing. She was comfortable living alone as the captain of her mining ship, the Sedona. She didn't want to have to make extra trips back to base because of equipment failure. She didn't want to become a mining tutor for a group of newcomers from Earth. And she certainly didn't want to get entangled in corporate conspiracies, piracy, kidnapping, murder, and worst of all...politics.

Jon Ryan is irreverent, cocky, funny, and walks with a swagger. The cocky fighter pilot turned astronaut is also Earth's only chance for survival. The planet Jupiter, thrown off orbit, will destroy Earth in less than a century. Jon volunteers for the most ambitious, desperate mission ever conceived: His consciousness must be transferred into an experimental android host, where he'll live an immortal - and lonely - life. Jon's only companion on his 50-year voyage is his ship's irritable AI.

Seventeen-year-old Ryn Whittaker is a Citadel: an elite, enhanced soldier specially chosen to guard a Rift, a mysterious and dangerous portal to alternate Earths scientists cannot control or close. Trained from the age of 14, Ryn can run faster, jump farther, and fight better than a Navy SEAL - which is good when you’re not sure if a laser-wielding Neanderthal or an axe-wielding Viking is trying to make it through the Rift and into your world. But the teenager’s military conditioning and education have not prepared her for the boy who crosses through.

Gwen has always denied her attraction to Anders. Even after her marriage ends, getting involved with Anders is unthinkable. It's not only that he's a hot alien prince. He's her co-pilot and best friend. She can't risk losing him.

Emma Verde has left everything behind in Wisconsin to attend Tulane in New Orleans. She sees an opportunity to make enough money for the coming semester when she lands a job at an Irish pub in the French Quarter. That job soon spirals into something else. That’s the story we know, but this is the tale of how Cain and Emma fell in love, and their history proves that love was the only thing that saved the heart of the devil.

When Ben Murdock receives a text message offering a fully operational starship for sale, he’s certain it has to be a joke. Already trapped in the worst day of his life and desperate for a way out, he decides to play along. Except there is no joke. The starship is real. And Ben’s life is going to change in ways he never dreamed possible. All he has to do is sign the contract. Joined by his streetwise best friend and a bizarre tenant with an unseverable lease, he’ll soon discover that the universe is more volatile, treacherous, and awesome than he ever imagined.

Piper Anderson has been given a fresh start in the picturesque town of Edenville, North Carolina. But her plans of settling into a normal life are derailed when she witnesses a prominent judge in her community committing a violent assault. Running from her own past and fueled by a passion to make the judge answer for his crimes, Piper is forced to decide if she'll play by the rules or achieve justice in her own way.