Most Popular Books by Greg Bear

Greg Bear is one of the greatest science fiction writers of the late twentieth century. He has a powerful voice, combining the intense rationality of science with the intensely passionate characters that can only be created by a writer who loves humanity. Bear’s novel Moving Mars won the Nebula Award in 1994, and he did it again, in 2000, with Darwin’s Radio. He has been honored with Hugo and Nebula nominations for novel-length work eight more times. But Greg Bear’s short fiction is even more astounding, as this powerful career retrospective demonstrates. This collection contains Bear’s earliest published fiction from the late 1960s and early 1970s as well his remarkable award-winning work from the ‘80s and ‘90s—stories like the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning novella- length version of “Blood Music” and the Hugo and Nebula Award-winner “Tangents.” This Collection is enhanced by brand-new introductions for each story, commentary, and reminiscences by Greg Bear.

Earth is threatened by the invasion of an interstellar research probe gone mad, in a study of the complex interactions--and their ramifications--between human passions and the inflexible equations of science.

Artificially intelligent cities rise up against humanity in this “excellent novel. It came on me as a surprise, and it knocked me out!” (Harlan Ellison). In a theocratic world far into the future, cities control their own movements and organization. Constantly moving, growing and decaying, taking care of every need their inhabitants might think of, the cities have decided that humans are no longer a necessary part of their architecture, casting them out to wander in the wilderness and eke out a meager subsistence. To the exiled humans, the cities represent a paradisiacal Eden, a reminder of all they cannot attain due to their sinful and unworthy natures. But things are beginning to change. People are no longer willing to allow the cities to keep them out, choosing instead to force an entry and plunder at will. The cities are starting to crumble and die because they have no purpose or reason to continue living without citizens. One woman, called mad by some and wise by others, is the only human allowed to inhabit a city. From her lonely and precarious position at the heart of one of the greatest cities ever, she must decide the fate of the relationship between human society and the ancient strongholds of knowledge, while making one last desperate attempt to save the living cities.

Hugo Award Finalist: A near-future novel of artificial intelligence, human nature, and mass murder that “succeeds on virtually every level” (The New York Times Book Review). In Los Angeles in 2047, advances in the science of psychology have made crime a rare occurrence. So it’s utterly shocking when eight bodies are detected in an apartment, and not long afterward the perpetrator is revealed as well: noted poet Emmanuel Goldsmith. The LAPD’s Mary Choy—who has had both her appearance and her police work enhanced by nanotechnology—is tasked with arresting the killer, while psychotherapy pioneer Martin Burke prepares to explore his mind. Meanwhile, Goldsmith’s good friend and fellow writer reels at the news—while, far from all of them, a space probe makes a startling discovery. This “excellent” novel about technology, identity, and the nature of consciousness is a thought-provoking stunner by the Nebula Award–winning author of the Eon series and the Forerunner Saga (Chicago Tribune).

Nebula Award Finalist: A genetic engineering breakthrough may portend the destruction of humanity in this cyberpunk novel by the author of The Forge of God. This Hugo and Nebula Award finalist follows present-day events in which the fears concerning the nuclear annihilation of the world subsided after the Cold War and the fear of chemical warfare spilled over into the empty void it left behind. An amazing breakthrough in genetic engineering made by Vergil Ulam is considered too dangerous for further research, but rather than destroy his work, he injects himself with his creation and walks out of his lab, unaware of just how his actions will change the world. Author Greg Bear’s treatment of the traditional tale of scientific hubris is both suspenseful and a compelling portrait of a new intelligence emerging amongst us, irrevocably changing our world.

The daughter of a prestigious family has a dream of an independent Mars.

A harrowing thriller based on real-life discoveries in cell theory and the battle against aging and death by the bestselling author of Darwin’s Radio and War Dogs Scientist Hal Cousins is on the brink of success in his quest to determine the biological underpinnings of immortality. Funded by angel investors, the brilliant researcher makes a trip by submersible to the bottom of the sea, searching for primitive one-celled organisms that may be related to the earliest life forms on Earth. But the trip turns into a nightmare when Cousins’s pilot goes berserk and turns on him. The homicidal attack is only the first in a series of events that sends the biochemist on the run, pursued by faceless enemies who want his studies terminated and Cousins dead. Cousins must face the realization that his research has brought him into contact with a vast conspiracy. Across the country, scientists are being murdered to cover up the fact that someone has discovered how to control minds through bacterial manipulation—and that the trigger bacteria now infects much of the world’s population. Discredited and not knowing whom to trust, Cousins must gamble everything with Earth’s very survival at stake. Award-winning author Greg Bear creates a tense, stunningly plausible thriller all too firmly rooted in scientific fact.

The New York Times–bestselling author of Eon continues the interstellar saga of the Way. A devastating war has left Earth a nuclear wasteland. Orbiting the planet is the asteroid-starship containing the civilization of Thistledown, humanity’s future descendants. For decades, they have worked to heal their world and its survivors, but their resources are finite. They need to reopen the Way. An interdimensional gateway to a multiverse of realities, the Way was severed from Thistledown to stop an alien invasion and now exists as its own universe. Reopening the gate would not only benefit Earth but would also help the asteroid’s residents return home. But on the alternate world of Gaia, Rhita Vaskayza, daughter of mathematician Patricia Vasquez, has taken up her mother’s cause to find her own Earth, one that was never touched by nuclear war. There is a gateway on Gaia that could lead Rhita there—or unleash an even greater apocalypse across the multiverse . . . “Whether he’s tinkering with human genetic material or prying apart planets, Bear goes about the task with intelligence and a powerful imagination. Eternity offers many delights” (Locus).

The “provocative and entertaining follow-up” to The Forge of God: Exiled from their planet, humans unite with one alien race in the fight against another (Publishers Weekly). The Ship of the Law travels the infinite enormity of space, carrying eighty-two young people: fighters, strategists, scientists—and children. After one alien culture destroyed their home, another offered the opportunity for revenge in the form of a starship built from fragments of the Earth’s corpse, a ship they now use to scour the universe in search of their enemy. Working with sophisticated nonhuman technologies that need new thinking to comprehend them, they’re cut off forever from the people they left behind. Denied information, they live within a complex system that is both obedient and beyond their control. They’re frightened. And they’re waging war against entities whose technologies are unimaginably advanced and vast, and whose psychology is ultimately, unknowably alien. In Anvil of Stars, the multimillion-selling, Nebula Award–winning author of Eon and other science fiction masterpieces “fashions an action-packed and often thrilling plot; by using each of the well-depicted alien races to mirror human behavior, he defines what it means to be Homo sapiens. . . . A gripping story” (Publishers Weekly).

The conclusion to an epic interstellar trilogy of war from master of science fiction, Greg Bear. Marooned beneath the icy, waxy crust of Saturn''s moon, Titan, Skyrine Michael Venn and his comrades face double danger from Earth and from the Antagonists, both intent on wiping out their growing awareness of what the helpful alien Gurus are really doing in our solar system. Haunted by their dead and by the ancient archives of our Bug ancestors, the former combatants must now team up with their enemies, forget their indoctrination and their training, and journey far beyond Pluto to the fabled Planet X, the Antagonists'' home world, a Sun-Planet in the comet-generating Kuiper belt. It''s here that Master Sergeant Venn will finally understand his destiny and the destiny of every intelligent being in the solar system-including the enigmatic Gurus.

A Nebula Award–winning novella by the author of Moving Mars and the Eon trilogy. Humans have been engaged in a long war against an advanced alien race, the Senexi. But the possibility for peace may finally exist, thanks to a young girl who learns of the enemy’s larger role and humanity’s opportunity to evolve, in this award-winning story by the author of Darwin’s Radio and many other highly acclaimed works of science fiction.

Corona An awesome, sentinent force of protostars -- Corona -- has taken control of a stranded team of Vulcan scientists. The "U.S.S Enterprise(TM) " has come on a rescue mission, with a female reporter and a new computer that can override Kirk''s command. Suddenly, the rescuers must save themselves and the entire Universe -- before Corona unleashes a Big Bang!

The final installment in the New York Times bestselling series In the last years of the Forerunner empire, chaos rules. The Flood-a horrifying shape-changing parasite-has arrived in force, aided by unexpected allies. Internal strife within the ecumene has desperately weakened Forerunner defenses. Too little, too late, the legal rate of Juridicals is only now investigating possible crimes by the Master Builder and others. Evidence-gathering agents known collectively as Catalog have been dispatched to collect testimony from the Librarian and both Didacts: the Ur-Didact, treacherously abandoned in a Flood-infested system, and the Bornstellar Didact, who accompanies the Librarian as she preserves specimens against the dire possibility of Halo extermination. Facing the imminent collapse of their civilization, the Librarian and the Ur-Didact reveal what they know about the relationship between the long-vanished Precursors and the Flood. The Precursors created many technological species, including humanity and the Forerunners. But the roots of the Flood may be found in an act of enormous barbarity, carried out beyond our galaxy ten million years before. Because of that barbarism, a greater evil looms. Only the Ur-Didact and the Librarian - husband and wife pushed into desperate conflict - hold the keys to a solution. Facing the consequences of a mythic tragedy, one of them must now commit the greatest atrocity of all time-to prevent an insane evil from dominating the entire universe.

“A minor classic. A small book but with big characters . . . and great ideas” from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of Dinosaur Summer (SF Reviews). The planet Hegira is the universe’s melting pot. Hundreds of tribes in dozens of cities intermingle in the vast uncharted territory. The only thing holding the people together are the massive Obelisks, the chronicles of all the truths and falsehoods each tribe has brought to Hegira. Young Bar‐Woten is in search of knowledge and he knows the key to the truth about his homeland is contained in the writings of the Obelisks. With his fellow companions, Bar‐Woten must travel through Hegira’s exotic cities to discover the lies within the words of thousands.

Hailed by readers and critics alike, The Venging has been described as an “excellent collection” and its author praised as “one of the freshest writers to break into the science fiction field in many a year.” This is the first published collection of short stories by one of the foremost voices in science fiction today. This significant volume contains many characters and situations that later evolved into their own novels. “Mandala” features technologically perfect cities that eject their sinful human occupants, a premise that can be found at the root of Bear’s later novel, Strength of Stones. In “Hardfought,” Bear brilliantly handles the classic science fiction dilemma of human communication with aliens. Other stories include “The Wind From a Burning Woman” in which a woman holds the world hostage by controlling a giant asteroid; “Scattershot,” in which the inhabitants of many universes meet in an undefined limbo space; and the Nebula Award finalist “Petra,” a story of a world where chaos rules, stone moves, and the mind controls reality.

In the wake of the apparent self-destruction of the Forerunner empire, two humans âe" Chakas and Riser âe" are like flotsam washed up on very strange shores indeed. They find themselves on an inverted world where horizons rise into the sky and where humans of all kinds are trapped in a perilous cycle of neglect. They have become strategic pawns in a cosmic game whose madness knows no end âe" a game of ancient vengeance between the powers who seeded the galaxy with life, and the Forerunners. In the company of a young girl and an old man, Chakas begins an epic journey across a lost and damaged Halo in search of a way home, an explanation for the warrior spirits rising up within, and for the Librarianâe(tm)s tampering with human destiny. This journey will take them into the domain of a powerful and monstrous intelligence who claims to be the Last Precursor, and who now has control of both this Halo and the fate of Forerunners and humans alike. Called the Primordial by ancient human warriors, this intelligence may control the fate of not only Chakas, Riser, and the rest of humanity, but all of sentient life.

From the New York Times–bestselling and award-winning author of The Infinity Concerto, the fantasy saga continues . . . After five years trapped in the Realm of the Sidhedark, Michael Perrin has returned home. He wants nothing more than to live a normal life—but the unearthly music of Arno Waltiri continues to play on. The song of power has weakened the veil between the human and faerie worlds. The streets of Los Angeles are haunted by uncanny beings, strange bodies have been discovered in a dilapidated hotel, and an ancient creature calls to Michael from the waters of a loch in Scotland. The Sidhe have followed Michael home. To repair the rift between Earth and Realm, man and fae, he will have to wield the magic he wished he never learned—and complete an unfinished symphony linked to the ethereal melody of Waltiri’s Opus 45, the Infinity Concerto. This follow-up to The Infinity Concerto is a work of fresh, out-of-the-ordinary fantasy by an acclaimed winner of the Nebula and Hugo Awards, the author of The Forge of God, the Forerunner Saga, and other reader favorites.

Greg Bear’s Nebula Award–winning novel, Darwin’s Radio, painted a chilling portrait of humankind on the threshold of a radical leap in evolution—one that would alter our species forever. Now Bear continues his provocative tale of the human race confronted by an uncertain future, where “survival of the fittest” takes on astonishing and controversial new dimensions. Eleven years have passed since SHEVA, an ancient retrovirus, was discovered in human DNA—a retrovirus that caused mutations in the human genome and heralded the arrival of a new wave of genetically enhanced humans. Now these changed children have reached adolescence . . . and face a world that is outraged about their very existence. For these special youths, possessed of remarkable, advanced traits that mark a major turning point in human development, are also ticking time bombs harboring hosts of viruses that could exterminate the “old” human race. Fear and hatred of the virus children have made them a persecuted underclass, quarantined by the government in special “schools,” targeted by federally sanctioned bounty hunters, and demonized by hysterical segments of the population. But pockets of resistance have sprung up among those opposed to treating the children like dangerous diseases—and who fear the worst if the government’s draconian measures are carried to their extreme. Scientists Kaye Lang and Mitch Rafelson are part of this small but determined minority. Once at the forefront of the discovery and study of the SHEVA outbreak, they now live as virtual exiles in the Virginia suburbs with their daughter, Stella—a bright, inquisitive virus child who is quickly maturing, straining to break free of the protective world her parents have built around her, and eager to seek out others of her kind. But for all their precautions, Kaye, Mitch, and Stella have not slipped below the government’s radar. The agencies fanatically devoted to segregating and controlling the new-breed children monitor their every move—watching and waiting for the opportunity to strike the next blow in their escalating war to preserve “humankind” at any cost.

Twelve-year-old Anakin Skywalker and his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi travel to the planet Zonama Sekot and sense a troubling disturbance in the force that tests the bond between them and makes Anakin face his dark potential.

Music, myth, and magic mix in this tale of a melody not meant for human ears, from the New York Times–bestselling and award-winning author of Darwin’s Radio. Michael Perrin is an aspiring poet, struggling to express the chaotic cadences of his thoughts on paper. He finds a kindred spirit in Arno Waltiri, the film score composer behind several of Michael’s favorite classic movies. The maestro’s greatest piece, however, was performed in front of a live audience only once. The concerto Opus 45, Infinity left its listeners entranced, altered to the very core of their souls. Waltiri’s composition is a song of power. Never meant to be heard by human ears, its melody is as captivating as a siren’s call, its notes ring out like a death knell, and its rhythms shake the very foundations of reality. The music’s otherworldly tones have led Michael through the gate between Earth and the Realm of the Sidhedark, where faeries reign by rule of magic—and where Michael must find his muse if he’s ever to return home. The Infinity Concerto is a fantasy masterpiece by the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of the Forerunner Saga, Eon, and other imaginative classics.

The “reigning master of hard-edge science fiction takes a chilling look at the plausible near-future” in this cyberpunk sequel to Queen of Angels (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). In the second half of the twenty-first century, nanotechnology has transformed every aspect of society. Humans can now change their abilities, their appearance, their very bodies on microscopic level. Advanced psychotherapy seems to have wiped away violence and illness. The world is sane and in balance. However, that balance teeters with the grisly murder of two prostitutes and a series of suicides. Soon, public defender Mary Cho’s investigation finds a dark danger lurking in the recesses of the “dataflow.” Entertainment, virtual pornography, neo-Luddite separatists, an unknown artificial intelligence—everything seems to be intertwined in a vast conspiracy. As technology fails so too does the society perched high atop it. Perfection is a high pedestal from which to fall.

A starship hurtles through the emptiness of space. Its destination - unknown. Its purpose - a mystery. Now, one man wakes up. Ripped from a dream of a new home - a new planet and the woman he was meant to love in his arms - he finds himself wet, naked, and freezing to death. The dark halls are full of monsters but trusting other survivors he meets might be the greater danger. All he has are questions -- Who is he? Where are they going? What happened to the dream of a new life? What happened to Hull 03? All will be answered, if he can survive the ship.

The science fiction classic from the Nebula Award-winning author of "Darwin''sRadio" returns in this newly repackaged edition.com.

This gripping ghost story for fans of Dean Koontz and Stephen King is the most mainstream novel yet from an author who knows how to mix scientific ideas with gripping narrative.

MASTER AND APPRENTICE The Force is strong in twelve-year-old Anakin Skywalker . . . so strong that the Jedi Council, despite misgivings, entrusted young Obi-Wan Kenobi with the mission of training him to become a Jedi Knight. Obi-Wan? like his slain Master Qui-Gon?believes Anakin may be the chosen one, the Jedi destined to bring balance to the Force. But first Obi-Wan must help his undisciplined apprentice, who still bears the scars of slavery, find his own balance. Dispatched to the mysterious planet of Zonama Sekot, source of the fastest ships in the galaxy, Obi-Wan and Anakin are swept up in a swirl of deadly intrigue and betrayal. They sense a disturbance in the Force unlike any they have encountered before. It seems there are more secrets on Zonama Sekot than meet the eye. But the search for those secrets will threaten the bond between Obi-Wan and Anakin . . . and bring the troubled young apprentice face-to-face with his deepest fears?and his darkest destiny. Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!

The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem has been blown to bits by extremists, and, in retaliation, thousands have died in another major attack on the United States. Now the FBI has been dispatched to deal with a new menace. A plague targeted to ethnic groups--Jews or Muslims or both--has the potential to wipe out entire populations. But the FBI itself is under political assault. There''s a good chance agents William Griffin, Fouad Al-Husam, and Jane Rowland will be part of the last class at Quantico. As the young agents hunt a brilliant homegrown terrorist, they join forces with veteran bio-terror expert Rebecca Rose. But the plot they uncover--and the man they chase--prove to be far more complex than anyone expects.

Classic fantasy stories from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author, “one of our very best, and most innovate, speculative writers” (New York Daily News). Collecting six stories in old paradigms, Sleepside features Greg Bear’s outstanding fantasy writing: “Webster,” “The White Horse Child,” “Sleepside Story,” “Dead Run,” “Through Road No Whither,” and the Nebula Award finalist “Petra.” This edition also includes the special introduction by the author: “On Losing the Taint of Being a Cannibal."

A long time ago, I was a living, breathing human being. I went mad. I served my enemies. They became my only friends.

The Song of Power opened the gateway to the Realm of the Sidhe, allowing young Michael Perrin to slip through. Now Michael faces years of captivity and deadly struggles for the future of the Realm and of Earth--leading finally to a terrible confrontation on the streets of Los Angeles, with the soul of humanity at stake. Weaving the power of music, poetry, and myth into a headlong narrative of nearly overwhelming intensity, Song of Earth and Power is one of the most original fantasy epics of our time, a vast tapestry of relentless suspense, terrible beauty, and brilliant imagination. Originally published years ago in two parts, it now returns in a new edition rewritten by the author and published in a single volume as he originally intended. Wrote Analog on its original appearance: "A delight....A vision of Faery that may owe a bit to a wish to do it right. Read it."

A veteran sergeant and his surviving team battle for survival on Saturn’s moon in this military science fiction sequel by a New York Times bestseller. A new planet. A new battle. Same war. Master Sergeant Michael Venn returns to the war zone of Mars to further his investigation into the Drifters—ancient artifacts suddenly reawakened on the red planet. But soon his team is driven to Saturn’s moon Titan, where they’ll discover new truths about the Drifters, the origin of life in our solar systems, and the plans of the supposedly benevolent Gurus, who have been “sponsoring” and supporting humanity in their fight against outside invaders . . . Killing Titan is the second book in the epic interstellar War Dogs trilogy from master of science fiction, Greg Bear. “[A] satisfying sequel. . . . Readers will appreciate the mix of fast-paced military fiction and eons-long mystery, a blend of brutal and sublime in which life is precious no matter how vast the scope—or the type of life.” —Publishers Weekly “Does not disappoint, with both vivid planetology and traditional mil-SF attention to exotic-environment combat gear and operations. Add a cliffhanger ending and the promise of continuing, possibly cosmic vastening of the meta-story, and you have as strong a mid-trilogy volume as you could want.” —Locus

A sixteenth-century English apprentice fisherman is swept away into a world of adventure, mystery, wonder, and monsters in this historical fantasy. The year is 1588. Reynard Shotwood survived the destruction of the Spanish Armada’s failed invasion, but floats alone in the water off Suffolk, the sole survivor of an English fishing boat enlisted in the common defense. No longer a boy, but not yet a man, Reynard believes his life is already over. When he is pulled from the North Sea to the dubious shelter of a crippled Spanish galleon, Reynard is tasked by the ship’s captain with guiding them to a safe harbor in these unfamiliar waters. Instead, the ship is swept north, to an island not found on any charts but only whispered of in half-forgotten legend. There, eldritch creatures visit the crew, stealing precious time from their sleeping forms. Only two are spared: Raynard and Manuel, the ancient mariner who rescued him. Manuel is left miraculously younger, while Reynard is gifted—or cursed—with fragments of knowledge beyond his understanding. These fragments spur Reynard and Manuel away from the crew and deeper into the island’s mysterious interior. It seems Reynard has a destiny here, one that draws new allies and enemies alike, some human, others found in no earthly bestiary. But his destiny is stubbornly veiled, even as the nature of the island becomes shockingly clear: it is a kingdom at war, an enchanted realm ruled by hierarchies of godlike beings to whom humans are pawns at best and the world itself is no more than an idle game. But even a lowly pawn can become the most powerful piece on the board. All he has to do is survive . . .

The 21st century was on the brink of nuclear confrontation when the 300 kilometer-long stone flashed out of nothingness and into Earth''s orbit. NASA, NATO, and the UN sent explorers to the asteroid''s surface...and discovered marvels and mysteries to drive researchers mad. For the Stone was from space--but perhaps not "our "space; it came from the future--but perhaps not "our" future; and within the hollowed asteroid was Thistledown. The remains of a vanished civilization. A "human"--English, Russian, and Chinese-speaking--civilization. Seven vast chambers containing forests, lakes, rivers, hanging cities... And museums describing the Death; the catastrophic war that was about to occur; the horror and the long winter that would follow. But while scientists and politicians bickered about how to use the information to stop the Death, the Stone yielded a secret that made even Earth''s survival pale into insignificance.

It starts with a series of unconnected atrocities: A family, throats cut, obscenities scrawled on the sides of their yacht in blood . . The corpse of a man frozen to death, his body shattered into tiny fragments like pieces of gory glass . . . A landscape scorched and blackened, as if by an angry god . . An entire village, wiped out in moments by some violent, elemental force . . . And gradually people start to see the connections: a man-made maelstrom is loose in the world, and it''s getting bigger, and it''s coming closer . . .