Maxima Library

There is a kind of disadvantage that might seem insurmountable—unless you’re willing and able to resort to a certain kind of trickery!

Certain kinds of incidents invite cover ups—and even those may not be what they seem!

Some chasms are not only too wide to cross, but to see across—except dimly, through mists…

If this story seems familiar, there’s a very simple (but hardly mundane!) explanation…

The past may be immutable, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing anyone can do about it…

Human cultures need rituals—but, like any tool, they must fit the nature of the need.

Big changes cannot be made lightly—and seldom mean exactly what you expect…

What’s the best approach to a tough problem?

Real problems are seldom finished—but that’s no reason not to try to solve them!

New technologies lead to new kinds of human relationships. To say the least…

The worst effects of addiction are much the same, no matter what you’re addicted to…

We all know how certain tabloids picture first contact. But if it fell into the lap of a slightly different kind of reporter…

Just because a phenomenon looks “supernatural” doesn’t mean you can’t learn to use it—and maybe, eventually, even to understand it!

To deal with beings from another culture, you must understand how they think!

In desperate circumstances, you must use the most powerful tools at your disposal—but that can be a scary thing.

A fundamentally new ability might open a new kind of ecological niche…

OK, so maybe this is a little bit wild…

It’s easy to concentrate so hard on the problem at hand that you don’t even notice the problem you should be working on.

The question “Who’s responsible?” gets much more complicated if people can really change…

There are places where even the strangest meet not quite as strangers…

Ever wonder why Galileo really caved in to the Church?

Calhoun’s predicament gave new meaning to the old warning, “Be careful what you wish for…”

Some things are very simple—but far from easy!

Our first close glimpses of our neighbor planets have shown them full of surprises. And the closer we look…

People “know” many things. But there’s knowledge, and then there’s knowledge…

Evesham Givt was making a living by freelancing for Earth corporations (and diverting a portion of the corporate funds into his pockets) when he learned of the colony world of Tupelo, settled by five different alien species, where he and his girlfriend Rina could get a new start. When he and Rina arrived on Tupelo, and he almost immediately was elected mayor of the human colonists, it seemed too good to be true. Of course, it was. But Evesham’s Earth-honed skills at computer hacking and skimming money without anyone realizing that it had been skimmed stood him in good stead as he discovered that the colony’s books had been cooked as part of a gigantic con game.

Who should handle first contact?

Frontiers mean quite different things to different people…

We’d all like to solve our problems—but sometimes the trade-offs make it hard to know what is a solution.

Some history they didn’t teach you in school—but it explains a lot!

Odd coincidences may reflect connections—but not necessarily simple ones!

Some jobs have really unusual qualifications—which can lead to both reluctance and legal complications!

There’s a fine line between the desire to know and the need to know right now…

Understanding is nice, but sometimes practical application comes first.

Scientists need goals—but where they wind up may be quite unexpected!

Sam had always thought of himself as an arbitrator, but this trip forced him into two dramatically new roles…

Really big history isn’t always made where you’d expect…

How completely can—or should—a computer replace a human?

What could be a more radical approach to politics than this?

Some forms of oppression are subtler than the obvious. so are some ways of fighting back…

Science is partly a matter of getting the facts right, and partly of figuring out the relationships. Part II is much harder…

What people tend to forget is that better mousetraps often lead to better mice…