Showing results for "The Human Adventure" in Literature & Fiction

Rob didn't think of himself as anyone special, but when a pitch-black portal tried to wrap his best friend in chains, he stepped up without thinking and found himself ensnared instead. His moment of heroism results in being torn away from everyone he knew and loved, kidnapped by an unknown force that leaves him with a note in his pocket stating: "Good luck." After being thrown into the wilderness of Elatra, a hostile fantasy world ruled by levels, stats, progression, and bizarre video game logic, he finds himself entirely out of his depth.

Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, history, satire, biography and autobiography. THE HUMAN ADVENTURE: Alone among all the living things this globe has borne, man reckons with destiny. All other living things obey the forces that created them; and when the mood of the power changes, submit themselves passively to extinction Man only looks upon those forces in the face, anticipates the exhaustion of Nature's kindliness, seeks weapons to defend himself.

The Human is the final, thrilling, book in Neal Asher’s Rise of the Jain trilogy. Their enemy seems unbeatable. But humanity is indomitable . . . A Jain warship has risen from a prison five million years old, wielding a hoard of lethal technology. Its goal is to catch their old enemy, the...

The people of Earth now know that the human Colonial Union has kept them ignorant of the dangerous universe around them. For generations the CU had defended humanity against hostile aliens, deliberately keeping Earth an ignorant backwater and a source of military recruits. Now the CU’s secrets are known to all. Other alien races have come on the scene and formed a new alliance - an alliance against the Colonial Union. And they’ve invited the people of Earth to join them. For a shaken and betrayed Earth, the choice isn't obvious or easy.

I don't ask for much from life; I get paid, and then I get laid. And piloting spaceships across the galaxy keeps my solo lifestyle well-funded. I don't need a relationship or any of the baggage that comes with it. I like my men like I like my coffee; to go. That is, until the most boring job in the universe goes horribly wrong and I'm snatched from my ship by a seven-foot alien. He's huge, he's purple, and he's ripped as hell. I'm sure I'm a dead man. Only it turns out he doesn't want to kill me. What he wants is far worse.

Freeman is a genius with an uncommon mixture of memory, intelligence and creativity. He lives in a worldwide utopia, but it was not always so. There was a time known as the Grind—when Freeman’s people lived as slaves to another race referred to simply as “Master.” They were property. But a civil rights movement emerged. Change seemed near, but the Masters refused to bend. Instead, they declared war. And lost. Now, the freed world is threatened by a virus, spread through bites, sweeping through the population.

In a technological advanced world, Artificial Intelligence takes care of the undesirable manual work. Mass unemployment breeds civil unrest, and with more time on their hands society is gripped by the ability to experience one another's senses, through a new device known as the Human Interface. One man who is not up to speed with modern technology finds himself at the mercy of the Artificial Intelligence, when it decides it can do a better job at keeping law and order.

Pacific Rim meets The Martian in the explosive follow-up to Sleeping Giants (“One of the most promising series kickoffs in recent memory.”—NPR) and Waking Gods (“Pure, unadulterated literary escapism.”—Kirkus Reviews). Brilliant scientist Rose Franklin has devoted her adult life...

The comfortable and safe mortal lands of the Nameless World have been left behind. The petty kingdoms with their endless feuds, the supposedly great empires with their innumerable intrigues and tragedies, even the Strange Lands that consider themselves to be the last bastion of true freedom. The Mad General has traversed them all, from one end to the other. What lies ahead? The road to the Land of the Immortals.

From the interactive masterpieces of video games to the turning points of history and the thrills of real-world exploration, our reality is defined by the stories we tell. Tales under the cat tree is a weekly exploration of the architecture of imagination. Hosted by tech leader and lifelong geek Duleepa Wijayawardhana, we dive into the mechanics of world-building. Whether that building happens in the code of software, on the tabletop of a roleplaying game, in the pages of literary fiction, or halfway up a mountain, every guest brings a new perspective. Join us for deep, eclectic conversations ...

CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson has been loaned out to a CDF platoon tasked with secretly removing an unauthorized colony of humans on an alien world. Colonial Ambassador Abumwe has been ordered to participate in final negotiations with an alien race the Union hopes to make allies. Wilson and Abumwe’s missions are fated to cross - and in doing so, place both missions at risk of failure.

We Only Need the Heads is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division.

CDF Lieutenant Harry Wilson has one simple task: Watch an ambassador’s dog while the diplomat is conducting sensitive negotiations with an alien race. But you know dogs - always getting into something. And when this dog gets into something that could launch an alien civil war, Wilson has to find a way to solve the conflict, fast, or be the one in the Colonial Union’s doghouse. "The Dog King" is a tale from John Scalzi's The Human Division, a series of self-contained but interrelated short stories set in the Old Man's War universe.

The last human in the universe must battle unfathomable alien intelligences—and confront the truth about humanity—in this ambitious, galaxy-spanning debut “A good old-fashioned space opera in a thoroughly fresh package.”—Andy Weir, author of The Martian “Big ideas and...

The alien with an attitude is back! But for how long? After the tragic events at the end of Secondary Protocol, the truth is finally revealed to Adam and his friends. Now, he's living on borrowed time as his resurrected body is rapidly deteriorating. To save Adam, the mutants—Panur and Lila—must take him to the Sol-Kor universe. But in doing so, they awaken the wrath of Queen J'nae, who will use all her resources to destroy Panur—along with any hope of Adam surviving. And to add insult to injury, the New Klin from Kracion's universe have invaded the Milky Way.

Unlocking living DNA and refolding it like origami was what The Book spoke of. The first key, the hallucinogen, was the easy part. But beneath the transcendent surface is a cloaked memory, which Dome believes he must resist. Can he reconcile it? The Fifth Key is short novel from the Arizona shaman, Paul Caldeaux. Mashing visionary concepts and extravagant fun, it is told through the modern eyes of Dome, an irreverent psychonaut, Dome's search is symbolized by an over-the-top journey to transform the human race and uncover the true nature of reality.

Evaran and his time-traveling companions head to the year AD 10105 and more than 80,000 light-years from Earth, where they discover humans are not where they are supposed to be. Humanity is also not what Evaran knows it should be, from a timeline perspective. Humankind has splintered into multiple factions. To make matters worse, one of the factions is led by Salazar, an artificial intelligence dedicated to protecting its version of humanity...at all costs.

Meistens fühlt sich Sarya ganz normal. Überhaupt nicht wie das furchterregendste Geschöpf im ganzen Kosmos. Meistens kommt sie auch ganz gut damit klar, dass sie der letzte Mensch im Universum ist, und dass sie wohl nie erfahren wird, warum die Menschheit eigentlich ausgerottet wurde. Denn meistens ist sie damit beschäftigt, ihre wahre Identität vor den Hunderten von Aliens, die Watertower Station bevölkern, zu verbergen. Oder ihre Adoptivmutter, eine riesige Alienspinne, daran zu hindern, die Nachbarn zu fressen.

The Neuroweb began as the greatest invention since written language. A simple brain implant allowed the user to access information, entertainment, and even pain relief. The Neuroweb was the beginning of a golden age for mankind.... Until it was compromised. Everyone with the implant lost his or her most important commodity: free will. The collective human consciousness was hacked and is now directed by artificial intelligence. Only those without the Neuroweb have a chance of resisting...if they dare.

Captain Nova Whiteside is assigned to the elite Vanguard task force assembled to combat an increasingly dangerous rebel force. Her no-nonsense new commander is of an enigmatic and reclusive species that soon figures most decisively in the balance of power.

A cup of murder with your coffee? Severn doesn't need the Summer Court's money and frankly, there's more intellectual stimulation to be found in an old history book and a good cup of coffee than in the tawdry backstabbing affairs of the Elves. But now the local folk of Karagut are coming to him for help. Could these marketplace murders be somehow connected to the rarified halls of the Fairy Palace? Severn knows digging deeper could kill him. But he can't resist a good murder mystery.