InterstellarNet

When the first call from the stars comes, do we even dare to answer? Life changes for everyone in general-and for physicist Dean Matthews in particular-when astronomers detect a radio signal from a nearby star. First contact forces humanity to face hard questions, and do it fast. Every answer spawns new questions. Every solution sets in motion a new and more daunting crisis to challenge Dean, his family-and an expanding number of interstellar civilizations-for generations to come. This is the first book of Edward M. Lerner's InterstellarNet series.Book 2: InterstellarNet: New OrderBook 3: InterstellarNet: Enigma "One of the most original, believable, thoroughly thought-out, and utterly fascinating visions ever of what interstellar contact might really be like." -Stanley Schmidt, editor of Analog Science Fiction & Fact "…in InterstellarNet: Origins… Lerner proves he knows enough real-world, present-day computer science and economics to combine them into a wonderfully thought-provoking story.… Lerner's world-building and extrapolating are top notch." -SFScope "Lerner mixes physics, computer science, and economics into a series of very intellectually satisfying puzzles. Some of the puzzles involve understanding the alien, and some depend on understanding ourselves… A very satisfying read, especially for the intellectually inclined." -Mike Brotherton, author of Spider Star "Edward Lerner takes us from a first SETI detection to full scale interstellar net economics, with thrills along the way. No one had thought through what a working interstellar net would be like. Lerner has the professional heft to make sense of it, tell a story, and make us care. Good stuff, told in clear, quick prose. A groundbreaking job!" -Gregory Benford, author of Timescape

Good fences, said the poet, make good neighbors… and interstellar distances made very good fences. Or so we thought.… Earth and its interstellar neighbors have been in radio contact for a century and a half. A vigorous commerce in intellectual property has accelerated technical progress for all the species involved. Ideas, riding on radio waves, routinely cross interstellar space-almost like neighbors chatting over the interstellar back fence. but there is a way over, or under, or around, almost any fence. Sooner or later, when we least expect it, the neighbors, friendly or otherwise, are going to pay a call.…InterstellarNet: New Order chronicles the startling events of Second Contact, upfront and personal, as humanity discovers that meeting aliens face to face is very different-and a lot more dangerous-than sending and receiving messages. This is the second book of Edward M. Lerner's InterstellarNet series. Book 1: InterstellarNet: OriginsBook 3: InterstellarNet: Enigma "… A twisted plot complete with conspiracies, alien psychology, antimatter physics neep, AI spies, and plenty of shooting action at the end." -Internet Review of Science Fiction

Winner of the 2015 Canopus AwardNominated for the 2016 Prometheus Award Humanity once feared that we might be alone in the universe. Now we know better. And we've learned there are worse things than being alone… Joshua Matthews has the opportunity to write the definitive history of InterstellarNet. In that history he plans to focus attention on the improbability that an interstellar community even exists. But somehow, returning home from the party thrown to celebrate his good fortune, he has lost a month of his life. Everyone is certain he's been on an epic bender. And so, rather than promoted, he is disgraced, unemployed, and unemployable… Firh Glithwah, leader of the Hunter clan Arblen Ems, schemes to liberate her people from two decades of ignominious internment and isolation on a remote moon of Uranus. And in the process to take vengeance against their human oppressors… Reporter Corinne Elman and United Planets intel agent Carl Rowland, each in their own way, remains scarred and haunted by the bloody fiasco that was the Hunter invasion of the Solar System… And none of them suspects that their tribulations have only begun, or that their lives will entwine-across time and space-to confront the InterstellarNet Enigma. InterstellarNet: Enigma incorporates the Hugo-nominated novelette "Championship B'tok." This is the third book of Edward M. Lerner's InterstellarNet series.Book 1: InterstellarNet: OriginsBook 2: interstellarNet: New Order "A breathtakingly richly realized vision of what tomorrow's civilization may look like…" -Ben Bova "An exceptional book in an excellent series … If you enjoy a good story on a large scale told by sympathetic characters, read Interstellar Net: Enigma. If you enjoy space opera, space combat, and unlikely heroes saving the earth, you will enjoy this book. If you enjoy mysteries, the futuristic elements will not detract. This is one of the few novels that combine an action mystery with a sweeping science fiction and excels at being both. Get this novel. Whether you read the others or not, it stands alone. Highly recommended." -Galaxy's Edge