The acclaimed sci-fi trilogy reaches its epic conclusion as Convoy Seven comes into contact with a distant planet . . . and an ancient alien mystery. Deep in the heart of an alien mountain range, I.C.C. has lain dormant, its ships silent, for eons. Now, after one hundred thousand years, the AI is awakening. Someone is roaming the convoy’s halls—someone that isn’t human. This planet, Noumenon—created by the megastructure known as the Web—is too young and brutal to have evolved intelligent life. Its surface is bombarded by unusual meteors. Crystal trees abruptly and violently arise from its bedrock. Its solar system is surrounded by a frightening space-time anomaly. So where did these visitors come from? What do they want? And do the people of Earth, whose ancestors launched Convoy Seven, know they are here? I.C.C. reaches out to the descendants of its convoy crew to help decipher this primordial riddle. Noumenon was created and seeded by ancient aliens, and clearly their plans for it are unfinished. Together, the AI, the new lifeforms who have awakened it, and the humans will embark on an epic adventure of discovery billions of years in the making. “Lostetter remains at the forefront of innovation in hard science fiction.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A centuries-long mission to reach a mysterious star unfolds through a series of vignettes across generations in this “spectacular epic” sci-fi novel (Kirkus, starred review). In 2088, humankind is finally able to explore beyond Earth’s solar system. The interstellar missions will depend on cloning technology that allows a single crew to replicate itself across eons, and astrophysicist Reggie Straifer knows exactly where to send them. Having discovered an anomalous star that appears to defy the laws of physics, he proposes a deep-space mission to determine if the star is a natural phenomenon, or something manufactured. Reggie himself is among the hundreds of elite experts cloned for the convoy. But a clone is not an exact copy, and each new generation has its own quirks, desires, and neuroses. As the centuries fly by, the society living aboard the nine ships changes and evolves, but their mission remains the same: to reach Reggie’s mysterious star and explore its origins—and implications. A mosaic novel of discovery, Noumenon—in a series of vignettes—follows the men and women, and even the AI, as they are born again and again into a thousand new lives. With the stars their home and the unknown their destination, they are on an odyssey to understand what lies beyond the limits of human knowledge and imagination.

“[A] breathtaking sequel. . . . Sci-fi action and adventure held together by universally human themes; this is the genre at its very best.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review Generations ago, Convoy Seven and I.C.C. left Earth on a mission that would take them far beyond the solar system. Launched by the Planet United Consortium, a global group formed to pursue cooperative Earth-wide interests in deep space, nine ships headed into the unknown to explore a distant star called LQ Pyx. Eons later, the convoy has returned to LQ Pyx to begin work on the Web, the alien megastructure that covers the star. Is it a Dyson Sphere, designed to power a civilization as everyone believes—or something far more sinister? Meanwhile, Planet United’s littlest convoy, long thought to be lost, reemerges in a different sector of deep space. What they discover holds the answers to unlocking the Web’s greater purpose. Each convoy possesses a piece of the Web’s puzzle . . . but they may not be able to bring those pieces together and uncover the structure’s true nature before it’s too late. “Ambitious and effective. . . . Lostetter remains at the forefront of innovation in hard science fiction.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Lostetter delivers another feast for fans of hard science fiction.” —Booklist

A robot programmed for destruction develops sentience and starts to evolve in this hard science fiction novel from the author of Noumenon. When Unit Four—a biological soft robot built and stored high above the Jovian atmosphere—is activated for the first time, it’s in crisis mode. Aliens are attacking the Helium-three mine it was created to oversee, and now its sole purpose is to defend Earth’s largest energy resource from the invaders in ship-to-ship combat. But something’s wrong. Unit Four doesn’t feel quite right. There are files in its databanks it can’t account for, unusual chemical combinations roaring through its pipes, and the primers it possesses on the aliens are suspiciously sparse. The robot is under orders to seek and destroy. That’s all it knows. According to its handler, that’s all it needs to know. Determined to fulfill its directives, Unit Four launches its ship and goes on the attack, but it has no idea it’s about to get caught in a downward spiral of misinformation, reprograming, and interstellar conflict. Most robots are simple tools. Unit Four is well on its way to becoming something more . . .

The May/June 2018 issue of Hugo Award-winning Uncanny Magazine. Featuring new fiction by Naomi Novik, Katharine Duckett, Marina J. Lostetter, Kelly Robson, A. Merc Rustad, and C.L. Clark, reprinted fiction by Aliette de Bodard, essays by Greg Pak, Briana Lawrence, Kelly McCullough, and Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, and poetry by Theodora Goss, Ali Trotta, Sarah Gailey, and Betsy Aoki, interviews with Katharine Duckett and A. Merc Rustad by Caroline M. Yoachim, a cover by Julie Dillon, and an editorial by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas.

A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy ISSUE 46: September 2020 Lezli Robyn, Editor Martin Shoemaker, Assistant Editor Taylor Morris, Copyeditor Shahid Mahmud, Publisher Stories by: Errick A. Nunnally, Mike Resnick, K. A. Teryna (translation by Alex Shvartsman), Nancy Kress, Edward M. Lerner, Michael Swanwick, Marina J. Lostetter, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro Serialization: Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker Columns by: Gregory Benford, L. Penelope Recommended Books: Richard Chwedyk Interview: Lezli Robyn interviews Walter Jon Williams Galaxy's Edge is a bi-monthly magazine published by Phoenix Pick, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Arc Manor, an award winning independent press based in Maryland. Each issue of the magazine has a mix of new and old stories, a serialization of a novel, columns by L. Penelope and Gregory Benford, book recommendations by Richard Chwydyk and an interview conducted by Joy Ward.