Timothy Zahn Books in Order

On an Earth conquered by the alien Ryqril, resistance agent Allen Caine seeks help from surviving Blackcollar soldiers. His mission to recover lost warships depends on winning the trust of Damon Lathe and his genetically enhanced fighters.

On Tigris, children possess telekinetic powers that disappear as they mature. As fourteen-year-old Lisa Duncan approaches that transition, a scientist's experiments challenge the arrangements that govern her society and raise questions about what adulthood could become.

Three novellas by C. J. Cherryh, Joe Haldeman, and Timothy Zahn explore encounters between humans and aliens. Their stories involve an unwanted role in an alien war, a dangerous anthropological expedition, and a supposedly primitive society with unexpected weapons.

When the Troft conquer human colonies, Earth creates Cobra soldiers with concealed weapons implanted in their bodies. Recruit Jonny Moreau fights the occupation while discovering that becoming a living weapon carries costs that extend beyond the battlefield.

Human colonists settle Astra, a seemingly useless planet with no accessible metals. When an alien machine produces an extraordinarily valuable material, Colonel Meredith must protect the discovery amid competing claims from other species and Earth's own authorities.

This collection brings together fifteen science-fiction tales, including the title novella and the previously unpublished story Not Always the Strong. Zahn’s shorter fiction presents a range of imagined situations, gathering these distinct works in one volume.

The Troft offer the crowded Cobra worlds new planets in exchange for a military mission against Qasama. Members of the Moreau family face a society whose humans bond with dangerous birds, complicating the distinction between allies and enemies.

After training with Blackcollar veterans, Allen Caine returns to Earth to strike at its alien-backed government. His team's mission brings them to Denver, where local Blackcollars may prove vital allies or dangerous obstacles to their plans.

Researcher Danae explores Triplet with experienced courier Ravagin, traveling among connected worlds shaped by advanced technology, magic, and demons. Their scholarly expedition becomes dangerous as they uncover conflicts and hidden forces that threaten more than one world.

Jasmine Moreau wants to become a Cobra despite an academy that has never admitted a woman. A covert mission finally gives her the chance, but entering enemy territory with concealed implants tests more than her determination to qualify.

Travel through a mineral-rich star system requires pilots who have just died, making condemned prisoners essential to every voyage. Watcher Gilead Raca Benedar faces a moral crisis when he discovers that the prisoner designated for their return may be innocent.

This science-fiction collection follows technological intrigue across international and interstellar settings. Its stories explore hard-edged conflicts with alien races, placing human ingenuity and the consequences of advanced technology at the center of encounters beyond familiar boundaries.

Humans covet the enormous spacefaring creatures controlled by the alien Tampy, straining a fragile treaty. A jointly crewed mission forces both species to cooperate, with the future of their relationship depending on whether they can overcome suspicion.

Five years after the Empire's defeat at Endor, the New Republic remains vulnerable. Grand Admiral Thrawn gathers surviving Imperial forces, threatening Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia, and the fragile peace they have worked to build.

Grand Admiral Thrawn intensifies his campaign against the New Republic while Han and Lando investigate possible treason. Their search leads toward a lost fleet, and Luke faces a Dark Jedi intent on drawing him toward the dark side.

Dale Ravenhall loves fellow telepath Colleen Isaac, but their shared gift makes physical closeness deadly. This collection explores distant minds and difficult human connections, including the danger awaiting the couple if they approach within twenty miles.

Thrawn's clone soldiers put the New Republic under mounting pressure. As Han seeks help from smugglers and Leia prepares for her twins' birth, a small team must enter the fortress housing the cloning machines and confront a dangerous Dark Jedi.

After unknown alien ships destroy a human task force, Lord Stewart Cavanaugh believes his son Pheylan has survived in captivity. He recruits a rescue team, defying official claims and security restrictions while humanity confronts a new enemy.

The human-alien conflict unfolds from the Zhirrzh perspective as Searcher Thrr-gilag faces disgrace after a prisoner's escape. Clan politics and personal loyalties complicate his efforts to understand a war whose origins may be different from what his people believe.

Humans and Zhirrzh prepare for an all-out war that could destroy both civilizations. A few people on each side suspect a catastrophic misunderstanding, but hidden interests and entrenched hostility stand between their discoveries and any chance of peace.

The New Republic faces internal divisions and a dangerous conspiracy as rumors spread that Grand Admiral Thrawn has returned. Han and Leia work to prevent civil war, while Luke and Mara Jade investigate a mysterious pirate ship.

Rumors of Thrawn's return intensify the crisis threatening to tear the New Republic apart. Luke, Han, Leia, and Mara Jade pursue hidden enemies and concealed evidence as Imperial schemes and accusations over a past massacre push former allies toward conflict.

After the events of Terminator Salvation, Barnes and Blair return to a ruined outpost to bury his brother. A mysterious cable leads them into the mountains, where an apparently untouched village raises unsettling questions about its survival.

Smuggler Jordan McKell accepts a job delivering the battered Icarus and its mysterious cargo to Earth. A murder aboard ship, sabotage, and pursuit by the powerful Patth leave him questioning both his employers and his fellow crewmembers.

Scientist Kosta infiltrates the Empyrean to investigate particles called angels, which supposedly make their wearers honest. His encounter with teenage con artist Chandris entangles their survival with questions about the particles' origins and the society built around them.

Disabled in an accident, Matthew Raimey receives a second chance through rebirth in the body of a creature living in Jupiter's atmosphere. Learning to live among the Qanska becomes harder when his project's human backers reveal other interests.

Six science-fiction stories span a title novella and shorter tales built around unexpected turns. The collection gathers separate works from Zahn’s short fiction, offering varied imagined situations in a single volume of his speculative storytelling.

Fleeing a false theft accusation, teenage con artist Jack Morgan finds the survivor of a crashed alien ship. Draycos, a dragonlike warrior who needs a living host, bonds with Jack as both seek answers about their enemies.

Jack Morgan joins a mercenary unit to investigate who attacked Draycos's people. His dragonlike companion must remain hidden, while an enigmatic fellow recruit and the dangers of military service complicate their search for evidence of a larger conspiracy.

A strange mugger leaves Roger and Caroline Whittier responsible for a girl named Melantha. Protecting her pulls the struggling New York couple into a conflict between two alien groups whose renewed hostility threatens everyone caught between them.

Seeking information about the plot against Draycos's people, Jack Morgan enters a wealthy Brummga household as a slave. He must access its computer system while surviving a brutal overseer, with his hidden alien companion providing protection.

A stranger dies delivering a message to former security agent Frank Compton. Hired by the aliens who run the interstellar Quadrail, Compton investigates a threat to the transport network and uncovers a conspiracy reaching across civilizations.

Jack, Draycos, and Alison discover an isolated colony of dragonlike K'da while fleeing mercenaries. Helping these unfamiliar relatives means guiding them through dangerous forest territory, even as pursuers threaten both the fugitives and the vulnerable colony.

Damon Lathe's Blackcollars target a hidden colony housing important Ryqril military information. Their mission could shift the balance of an alien war, but a security prefect prepares to infiltrate their ranks using a duplicate of Allen Caine.

Aliens kidnap Jack Morgan because they expect him to act as a judge, as his parents once did. Draycos must help him escape while threats to Alison and the approaching refugee fleet make the detention increasingly dangerous.

Frank Compton and Bayta continue their pursuit of the mind-controlling Modhri aboard the Quadrail. A passenger's murder draws Compton under suspicion and leads him toward ancient alien sculptures that may give their enemy a dangerous new advantage.

Jack and Draycos race to stop Neverlin from ambushing millions of K'da refugees with a devastating weapon. When Alison is captured, Jack's effort to protect her places both partners in their enemy's hands as the deadline approaches.

Frank Compton refuses a woman's request to rescue her younger sister, then finds himself accused of the woman's murder. Seeking the child on New Tigris brings him back into conflict with the mind-controlling Modhri and its agents.

As support for the implanted Cobra warriors declines, a distress call arrives from the secretive planet Qasama. Jin Moreau and her son Merrick travel there to learn whether the appeal is genuine or a trap for their people.

Before the events of Terminator Salvation, survivors struggle in a Los Angeles devastated by Judgment Day. Kyle and Star avoid Terminators, a Marine tries to hold his community together, and John and Kate Connor prepare a Resistance assault.

Frank Compton and Bayta board the Quadrail to investigate links between the Modhri group mind and the Filiaelians. Passenger murders complicate their mission, revealing a conspiracy whose implications may threaten even the enemy they have been pursuing.

A renewed Troft invasion strikes worlds defended by implanted Cobra soldiers. Jasmine Moreau Broom must help rally resistance while searching an occupied world for information that might change the course of a war threatening her family and people.

Troft invasions force the Cobra worlds and Qasama into an uneasy alliance. Jin Moreau Broom and her family join Cobra fighters and Qasaman Djinn in a campaign intended to split their enemies and win help from other Troft factions.

Falsely accused of killing six prominent Filiaelians, Frank Compton arrives at Proteus Station facing imprisonment. A hidden force of engineered super-soldiers threatens the Quadrail, forcing him and Bayta to consider cooperation with the mind-controlling enemy they have fought.

The Dominion of Man threatens to enslave the Cobra worlds and force the Moreau family to reveal a hidden ally's location. Meanwhile, Merrick Moreau infiltrates a Troft-controlled world where human captives are forced into deadly entertainment.

A small group of self-described patriots sets a secret plan in motion, convinced one man threatens their nation's survival. With ten days remaining, their determination to avert chaos drives a rapidly approaching confrontation.

Grieving doctor Adrian Sommers develops technology that can preserve a dying person's life essence while the body is repaired. His medical breakthrough attracts people seeking body-swapping, criminal manipulation, and immortality, forcing him to defend its purpose.

Dominion interrogators threaten Paul Broom's memories to uncover Qasama's military secrets, while his family organizes resistance. Elsewhere, Jason Broom infiltrates a Troft prison world, seeking allies who might prevent a catastrophic interstellar war.

Fifteen stories explore alien needs, post-apocalyptic love, and contests that determine whether their participants can return home. The collection also includes Cascade Point, bringing together science-fiction dilemmas, imagined futures, and humorous fantasy from Zahn’s shorter work.

An inexplicably restored planet threatens the fragile cease-fire between terrans, protoss, and zerg. A joint expedition investigates the apparent biological mystery, encountering hidden creatures whose existence could plunge the Koprulu sector back into war.

Nicole and her troublesome partner are abducted to the alien ship Fyrantha, where maintenance work initially offers a better life. Discovering rival factions manipulating its inhabitants forces her to challenge the people treating them as disposable pawns.

Rescued from exile, Chiss strategist Thrawn enters the Imperial Navy with Eli Vanto as his translator and aide. His military brilliance brings rapid advancement, but unconventional tactics and dangerous political rivalries threaten his rise.

Emperor Palpatine sends Thrawn and Darth Vader to investigate a mysterious threat on Batuu. Their tense partnership echoes an earlier encounter between Thrawn and Anakin Skywalker, while the mission tests their competing loyalties and formidable abilities.

The Cobra worlds endure Dominion occupation when the Trofts prepare an attack aimed at annihilation rather than conquest. The Moreau and Broom families must consider joining their human oppressors to survive the approaching alien assault.

Nicole's ability to communicate with the Fyrantha makes her valuable to the factions battling over the alien ship. Determined to end their exploitation, she plans to seize control while outmaneuvering slavers and profiteers.

Thrawn's fighter program loses Imperial support to the Death Star project, threatening his political position. When Eli Vanto returns with a warning about the Chiss, Thrawn faces conflicting obligations to his homeland and Emperor Palpatine.

A mysterious attack on the Chiss capital sends young officer Thrawn into the dangerous Unknown Regions. Supported by Admiral Ar'alani, he investigates an elusive enemy whose reach may threaten far more than the Ascendancy's borders.

Indentured navigator Nathan Skoda guides alien tunnelships by temporarily leaving his body, hoping to finish his service before burnout. An offer to break the Meerians' transportation monopoly draws him into a conspiracy with unexpected dangers.

Nicole plans to free the unwilling inhabitants of the Fyrantha as rival factions fight for control. Success requires uniting divided alien races, evading slavers, and persuading the ship's conflicted artificial intelligence to trust her.

Thrawn investigates an enemy whose apparent generosity conceals an assault on the Chiss Ascendancy's unity. Growing suspicion between ruling families forces him and his allies to weigh family loyalty against the survival of their civilization.

An unseen enemy pushes the Chiss ruling families toward civil war, threatening the Ascendancy from within. Thrawn searches its troubled history for answers, confronting buried secrets and the sacrifices required to protect his home.

Former bounty hunter Gregory Roarke and his alien partner Selene make a modest living surveying undeveloped worlds. A lucrative offer to find a mysterious woman and the secret Icarus project tempts him with long-awaited revenge.

Gregory Roarke and Selene search for ancient teleportation portals when a stranger seeks them out and is murdered. Accused of the killing, Roarke must pursue the stranger’s discovery while competing with the ruthless alien Patth.

Thirteen stories range from terrorists threatening a former space prison to a wizard confronting an invading army. Time travel, dangerous first contact, and supernatural encounters bring characters into conflicts across science-fiction and fantasy settings.

Roarke and Selene search a remote colony for a teleportation portal, but murders disrupt the mission. A troubled Kadolian teenager may connect the killings to their Patth rivals, complicating a race for control of the device.

Roarke and Selene agree to transport an assassin in exchange for an undiscovered teleportation portal. When the Patth seek the same prize and someone begins hunting their passenger, the pair must untangle the threats surrounding the bargain.

Opposing their new director’s plans, Roarke and Selene reach a ruined city containing several portals and ambitious aliens. They must decipher the Ammei’s intentions while preventing the Patth from claiming the city and its ancient technology.

Dale Ravenhall belongs to a network of telepaths who can communicate across great distances but die if they get too close. A member’s murder threatens their fragile community in four linked stories about the dangers of their gift.

Ten stories explore colonists threatened by mysterious Shadows, alien observers judging humanity, and unusual routes to interstellar travel. Two connected sequences reach their conclusions alongside tales of music-powered exploration and a diplomatic aide confronting destructive greed.

Fugitives Roarke and Selene are pursued by three groups seeking her ability to understand ancient portals. Discovering another alien with similar senses creates a new dilemma as rival powers threaten to seize control of the technology.

Toby transfers his consciousness into a clone to repair a distant spacecraft, expecting a routine mission. Instead, he awakens imprisoned alongside alien soldiers, caught in a trap that confines their spirits while their bodies face death.