The Blighted Stars

The Blighted Stars
Author: Megan E. O'Keefe
Publisher: Orbit
Total Pages: 544
Release: 2023-05-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0316290807

Stranded on a dead planet with her mortal enemy, a spy must survive and uncover a conspiracy in the first book of an epic space opera trilogy by an award‑winning author. She's a revolutionary. Humanity is running out of options. Habitable planets are being destroyed as quickly as they're found and Naira Sharp thinks she knows the reason why. The all-powerful Mercator family has been controlling the exploration of the universe for decades, and exploiting any materials they find along the way under the guise of helping humanity's expansion. But Naira knows the truth, and she plans to bring the whole family down from the inside. He's the heir to the dynasty. Tarquin Mercator never wanted to run a galaxy-spanning business empire. He just wanted to study rocks and read books. But Tarquin's father has tasked him with monitoring the settlement of a new planet, and he doesn't really have a choice in the matter. Disguised as Tarquin's new bodyguard, Naira plans to destroy the settlement ship before they make land. But neither of them expects to end up stranded on a dead planet. To survive and keep her secret, Naira will have to join forces with the man she's sworn to hate. And together they will uncover a plot that's bigger than both of them. For more from Megan E. O'Keefe, check out: The Protectorate Velocity Weapon Chaos Vector Catalyst Gate

Blight

Blight
Author: Alexandra Duncan
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2017-08-01
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 006239701X

When an agribusiness facility producing genetically engineered food releases a deadly toxin into the environment, seventeen-year-old Tempest Torres races to deliver the cure before time runs out. From the author of the acclaimed American Booksellers Association’s Indies Introduce pick Salvage, which was called “Brilliant, feminist science fiction” by Stephanie Perkins, the internationally bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss. This stand-alone action-adventure story is perfect for fans of Oryx and Crake and The House of the Scorpion. Seventeen-year-old Tempest Torres has lived on the AgraStar farm north of Atlanta, Georgia, since she was found outside its gates at the age of five. Now she’s part of the security force guarding the fence and watching for scavengers—people who would rather steal genetically engineered food from the Company than work for it. When a group of such rebels accidentally sets off an explosion in the research compound, it releases into the air a blight that kills every living thing in its path—including humans. With blight-resistant seeds in her pocket, Tempest teams up with a scavenger boy named Alder and runs for help. But when they finally arrive at AgraStar headquarters, they discover that there’s an even bigger plot behind the blight—and it’s up to them to stop it from happening again. Inspired by current environmental issues, specifically the genetic adjustment of seeds to resist blight and the risks of not allowing natural seed diversity, this is an action-adventure story that is Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake meets Nancy Farmer’s House of the Scorpion.

Catalyst Gate

Catalyst Gate
Author: Megan E. O'Keefe
Publisher: Orbit
Total Pages: 576
Release: 2021-06-22
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0316419680

The universe is under threat and an ancient alien intelligence threatens to bring humanity down unless Major Sanda Greeve and her crew can stop it in the final book of this explosive Philip K. Dick award nominated space opera. The code has been cracked. The secrets of the Casimir gates have been revealed. But humanity still isn't safe. The alien intelligence known as Rainier and her clones are still out there, hell-bent on its destruction. And only Sanda can stop them. With the universe's most powerful ship under her command and some of the most skilled hackers, fighters, and spies on her team, it will still take everything she has to find the key to taking down an immortal enemy with seemingly limitless bodies, resources, and power.

The Blighted City

The Blighted City
Author: Scott Kaelen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 477
Release: 2018-01-06
Genre:
ISBN: 9781976823404

"To challenge the gods is to invite their wrath." So it is written of Lachyla, the Blighted City, in the Codex of the Ages. But who reads codices? And who really believes the tall stories of the Taleweavers? Dagra does. He was raised on such tales, and if it's anything to do with the gods - even a dead god - he believes every word. When his team of sellswords are offered a contract to cross the Deadlands in search of Lachyla, he wants no part of it. His companions aren't so daunted by the city's grim legend. To them, it's superstitious nonsense. Obtaining the burial jewel from the crypt of their client's ancestor could earn them the bounty of a lifetime and give their failing guild the reputation it desperately needs. They're going, with or without him. Torn between the tenets of his faith and the prospect of losing his friends on the perilous journey, he reluctantly agrees to venture to a place the gods have long since forsaken. In the Blighted City, the laws of nature are cast into the Pit, blurring the divide between the living and the dead. Dagra's long-held beliefs are strained to breaking point as he confronts the ghastly truth - that Lachyla's foul seed is much darker than its legend.------------------------------------The Blighted City is a dark epic fantasy / grimdark adventure for adults and mature teens. As the first novel in The Fractured Tapestry series, it can also be read as a stand-alone story."Death cures all diseases passed on by dead things." - Sosarran Proverb

Empire of the Stars

Empire of the Stars
Author: Arthur I. Miller
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2005
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780618341511

A history of the idea of "black holes" explores the tumultuous debate over the existence of this now well-accepted phenomenon, focusing particular attention on Indian scientist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.

Velocity Weapon

Velocity Weapon
Author: Megan E. O'Keefe
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 544
Release: 2019-06-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0316419605

NOMINATED FOR THE PHILIP K. DICK AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL * Dazzling space battles, intergalactic politics, and rogue AI collide in Velocity Weapon, the first book in this epic space opera trilogy by award-winning author Megan O'Keefe. Sanda and Biran Greeve were siblings destined for greatness. A high-flying sergeant, Sanda has the skills to take down any enemy combatant. Biran is a savvy politician who aims to use his new political position to prevent conflict from escalating to total destruction. However, on a routine maneuver, Sanda loses consciousness when her gunship is blown out of the sky. Instead of finding herself in friendly hands, she awakens 230 years later on a deserted enemy warship controlled by an AI who calls himself Bero. The war is lost. The star system is dead. Ada Prime and its rival Icarion have wiped each other from the universe. Now, separated by time and space, Sanda and Biran must fight to put things right. The ProtectorateVelocity Weapon

The Mirrorwood

The Mirrorwood
Author: Deva Fagan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2022-04-12
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1534497161

Perfect for fans of the Twisted Tales series and Doll Bones, this thrilling, “cleverly original” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade fantasy follows a girl without a face as she battles a deadly enchanted forest and learns the truth behind her world’s fairy tales. Appearances are always deceiving… Fable has been cursed by what the people in her village call the Blight, a twisted enchantment that leaves her without a face of her own. To stay alive, Fable has to steal the faces of others, making her an outcast that no one trusts. When the fierce Blighthunter Vycorax comes to kill Fable to stop her curse from spreading, Fable narrowly escapes by fleeing into the thorny woods surrounding her small village. The treacherous forest has been ruled by a demon-prince for centuries, a deadly place trapped in time. Fable—and her opinionated feline companion, Moth—is the first to dare enter in a very long time. There, she encounters a tediously chatty skull, dangerously meddlesome deities, and a beast so powerful it tears at the fabric of reality, leaving nothingness in its horrible wake. Fable will soon discover that, in the Mirrorwood, nothing is quite like the stories say, and the perilous realm may be the only chance she has to break her curse and find her true self.

Chaos Vector

Chaos Vector
Author: Megan E. O'Keefe
Publisher: Hachette UK
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2020-07-28
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 035651224X

'METICULOUSLY PLOTTED, EDGE-OF-YOUR-SEAT SPACE OPERA WITH A SOUL' Kirkus on Velocity Weapon The fate of the galaxy is on the line in the second book of this gripping, visionary space opera by award-winning author Megan E. O'Keefe. Sanda and Tomas are fleeing for their lives after letting the most dangerous smartship in the universe run free. Now, unsure of who to trust, Sanda knows only one thing for certain - to be able to save herself from becoming a pawn of greater powers, she needs to discover the secret of the coordinates hidden in her skull. But getting to those coordinates is a problem she can't solve alone. They exist beyond a deadgate - a sealed-off Casimir gate that opens up into a dead-end system. And there's a dangerous new player who wants the coordinates for their own ends - a player who will happily crack her open to get them. Dazzling space battles, intergalactic politics and rogue AI collide in the follow-up to the Philip K. Dick award-shortlisted Velocity Weapon. Praise for the series: 'A brilliantly plotted yarn of survival and far-future political intrigue' Guardian 'Full of twists, feints, and deception, O'Keefe's latest presents a visionary world rife with political intrigue and space adventure' Booklist (starred review) 'Skillfully interweaves intrigue, action, and strong characterization' Publishers Weekly 'A must-read for fans of James S. A. Corey and Alastair Reynolds' Bookbag 'O'Keefe keeps the pace pumping, timing the big twists perfectly' SFX

Steal the Sky

Steal the Sky
Author: Megan E O'Keefe
Publisher: Duncan Baird Publishers
Total Pages: 428
Release: 2016-01-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0857664913

Detan Honding, a wanted conman of noble birth and ignoble tongue, has found himself in the oasis city of Aransa. He and his trusted companion Tibs may have pulled off one too many cons against the city’s elite and need to make a quick escape. They set their sights on their biggest heist yet – the gorgeous airship of the exiled commodore Thratia. But in the middle of his scheme, a face changer known as a doppel starts murdering key members of Aransa’s government. The sudden paranoia makes Detan’s plans of stealing Thratia’s ship that much harder. And with this sudden power vacuum, Thratia can solidify her power and wreak havoc against the Empire. But the doppel isn’t working for Thratia and has her own intentions. Did Detan accidentally walk into a revolution and a crusade? He has to be careful – there’s a reason most people think he’s dead. And if his dangerous secret gets revealed, he has a lot more to worry about than a stolen airship. File Under: Fantasy [ Sky Heist / Doppel Vision / Knives Out / Up Up & Away ]