Stellaris: People of the Stars

NEW STORIES AND ESSAYS FROM TOP AUTHORS AND EXPERT SCIENTISTS. Explorations of how interstellar travel may affect humanity by best-selling authors and scientists.

The stars will change us.

STELLARIS: PEOPLE OF THE STARS is a collection of original science fiction stories and nonfiction essays speculating about humanity’s far-term expansion into the universe beyond the limits of our solar system—with an emphasis on the changes humans will undergo as a species as we make this happen. Is interstellar travel so far beyond our current imaginings that it will take a fundamental transformation of humanity in order to make it possible? And, if so, will we remain Homo sapiens or become a new and unique species—Homo stellaris (the People of the Stars)?

Herein are original science fiction stories by award-winning authors such as Kevin J. Anderson, William Ledbetter, Todd McCaffrey and Sarah A. Hoyt, supplemented by accessible nonfiction essays describing the science behind the fiction from people who should know—Sir Martin Rees (Astronomer Royal of the United Kingdom), Mark Shelhamer (Chief Scientist for the NASA’s Human Research Program), and more.

This collection of original stories and essays was inspired by a gathering of scientists, science fiction authors, and futurists at a series of annual meetings held by the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop. Let their speculations, imaginations and boundless sense of what’s possible take your own journey beyond the edge of the solar system in STELLARIS: PEOPLE OF THE STARS!

Stories and Provocative Speculation from
Sir Martin Rees
Kevin J. Anderson
Sarah A. Hoyt
Mike Massa
William Ledbetter
Todd McCaffrey
Kacey Ezell and Philip Wohlrab
Dan Hoyt
Les Johnson
Robert E. Hampson
Mark Shelhamer
Brent Roeder
Jim Beall
Cathe Smith

At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

About Stellaris: People of the Stars:

[A] thought-provoking look at a selection of real-world challenges and speculative fiction solutions. . . . Readers will enjoy this collection that is as educational as it is entertaining."—Bookist

About Mission to Methone by Les Johnson:

"The spirit of Arthur C. Clarke and his contemporaries is alive and well in Johnson’s old-fashioned first-contact novel, set in 2068.... includes plenty of realistic detail and puts fun new spins on familiar alien concepts.... There’s a great deal here for fans of early hard SF."—Publishers Weekly

"With equal parts science fiction and international intrigue....an exciting, fast-paced read that you will not want to put down."—Booklist

About Rescue Mode by Ben Bova and Les Johnson:

"... a suspenseful and compelling narrative of the first human spaceflight to Mars."—Booklist 

Les Johnson is a physicist and author. He is the author of Rescue Mode, coauthored with Ben Bova, as well as Back to the Moon and On to the Asteroid, both coauthored with Travis S. Taylor. He is the coeditor of the science/science fiction collection Going Interstellar. His first solo novel was Mission to Methone. He was technical consultant for the movies Europa Report and Lost in Space and has appeared on the Discovery Channel series Physics of the Impossible in the “How to Build a Starship” episode. He has also appeared in three episodes of the Science Channel series Exodus Earth. By day, he serves as Solar Sail Principal Investigator of NASA’s first interplanetary solar sail mission and leads research on various other advanced space propulsion technologies at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Robert E. Hampson, Ph.D., turns Science Fiction into Science in his day job, and puts the Science into Science Fiction in his spare time. He has consulted for more than a dozen SF writers, assisting in the (fictional) creation of future medicine, brain computer interfaces, unusual diseases, alien intelligence, novel brain diseases (and the medical nanites to cure them), exotic toxins, and brain effects of a zombie virus. His science writing ranges from fictional depiction of real science and the mysteries of the brain to surviving the Apocalypse or living in space. His recent forays into short fiction have appeared in the US Army Small Wars Journal (TRADOC Mad Science Writing Contest), Science Fiction by Scientists (Springer), Black Tide Rising anthologies (Baen) and Four Horsemen Universe (Chris Kennedy Publishing). Some of his prior fiction and nonfiction appeared under the pseudonym: Tedd Roberts.

Dr. Hampson is a Professor of Physiology / Pharmacology and Neurology with over 35 years' experience in animal neuroscience and human neurology. His professional work includes more than 100 peer-reviewed research articles ranging from the pharmacology of memory to the effects of radiation on the brain--and most recently, the first report of a "neural prosthetic" to restore human memory using the brain's own neural codes. He is a member of the SIGMA Forum and the Science and Entertainment Exchange – a service of the National Academy of Sciences.

He is married, with two grown sons, and lives outside Winston-Salem, North Carolina.