Must have Books - Top Ten Most Popular Books in November

	1 The Mission by Robert G. Pielke What might have been; might actually have been, in this alternate history of a doomed alien mission to earth.
	2 Foundation by Isaac Asimov Foundation marks the first of a series of tales set so far in the future that Earth is all but forgotten by humans who live throughout the galaxy. Yet all is not well with the Galactic Empire. Its vast size is crippling to it. In particular, the administrative planet, honeycombed and tunneled with offices and staff, is vulnerable to attack or breakdown. The only person willing to confront this imminent catastrophe is Hari Seldon, a psychohistorian and mathematician. Seldon can scientifically predict the future, and it doesn't look pretty: a new Dark Age is scheduled to send humanity into barbarism in 500 years. He concocts a scheme to save the knowledge of the race in an Encyclopedia Galactica. But this project will take generations to complete, and who will take up the torch after him? The rest of the Foundation Series can be found here.
	3 Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove It is the year 1597, and Spain has been ruling the British Isles for 10 years, the Spanish Armada of this timeline having succeeded where the fleet from our time failed. Queen Isabella and King Albert are the new monarchs, while Elizabeth languishes in the Tower of London. Catholicism is the state religion, and an English Inquisition deals with any heretics. Many things have changed for the average Londoner. But they still enjoy their entertainment, and the stage flourishes. And, certainly, William Shakespeare is the reigning genius of the boards. Surrounded by his troupe, including the clownish yet evil-tempered Will Kemp and the noble Dick Burbage, as well as the irreplaceable "tireman," or costumer, Jack Hungerford, and dozens of others, Shakespeare has gone from triumph to triumph, with such plays as If You Like It and Prince of Denmark. Currently he is at work on Love's Labours Won. But then he is suddenly given two new, contradictory assignments. British loyalists, led by Lord Burghley, enlist Shakespeare to write Boudicca, a play about an ancient English queen resisting Roman invaders. The performance of this allegorical call to arms will be the signal for general riot, during which the English will hopefully retake their land. At the same time, a Spanish commander commissions Will to create a play to honor the dying Spanish monarch, King Philip. How will the playwright manage to honor both requests, and which way will his loyalties ultimately veer? A thoroughly magisterial work of alternate history.
	4 Foreigner: A Novel of First Contact by C. J. Cherryh A large new novel from C. J. Cherryh is always a pleasure. When it marks her return to the anthropological sf in which she has made such a name for herself (most notably the Chanur novels), it is doubly so. Foreigner proceeds from the venerable premise of the lost starship whose crew had to land the ship wherever possible. It ended up on a planet whose native race, the atevi, practice--among other interesting habits--registered assassinations. Two centuries after the landing, only one human, the paidhi, is allowed out of the human enclave--and at the opening of the book, he is the object of an unregistered assassination attempt. The subsequent tale is one of those Cherryh novels that is longer on world building, exotic aliens, and characterization than on action, although it is not short on that. Well up to Cherryh's usual high standard . The rest of the Foreigner Series can be found here.
	5 Gateway by Frederik Pohl Gateway opened on all the wealth of the Universe...and on reaches of unimaginable horror. When prospector Bob Broadhead went out to Gateway on the Heechee spacecraft, he decided he would know which was the right mission to make him his fortune. Three missions later, now famous and permanently rich, Robinette Broadhead has to face what happened to him and what he is...in a journey into himself as perilous and even more horrifying than the nightmare trip through the interstellar void that he drove himself to take! The rest of the Heechee Saga can be found here.
	6 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card Intense is the word for Ender's Game. Aliens have attacked Earth twice and almost destroyed the human species. To make sure humans win the next encounter, the world government has taken to breeding military geniuses -- and then training them in the arts of war... The early training, not surprisingly, takes the form of 'games'... Ender Wiggin is a genius among geniuses; he wins all the games... He is smart enough to know that time is running out. But is he smart enough to save the planet? The rest of the Ender Series can be found here.
	7 Sundiver by David Brin No species has ever reached for the stars without the guidance of a patron--except perhaps mankind. Did some mysterious race begin the uplift of humanity aeons ago? Circling the sun, under the caverns of Mercury, Expedition Sundiver prepares for the most momentous voyage in history--a journey into the boiling inferno of the sun. The rest of the Uplift Saga can be found here.
	8 Island in the Sea of Time by S. M. Stirling Well researched, this book oozes detail, and well drawn characters. Nantucket island is cast back in time 3000 and more years where the characters have to create a life for themselves from what is left of the 20th century. Not only that but they must find a way to trade and build a place for themsleves in this new/old world. The story is nicely paced and plotted in a way that makes you want to continue reading well into the night. It fascinates in the way it makes you wonder what you would do in a similar situation: how would you measure up to the dislocation and opportunities that 1250bc would bring to a 21st century individual? It's spring on Nantucket and everything is perfectly normal, until a sudden storm blankets the entire island. When the weather clears, the island's inhabitants find that they are no longer in the late 20th century, but have been transported instead to the Bronze Age. Now they must learn to survive with suspicious, warlike peoples they can barely understand and deal with impending disaster, in the shape of a would-be conqueror from their own time. The rest of the Islander Series can be found here.
	9 1632 by Eric Flint In Flint's novel of time travel and alternate history, a six-mile square of West Virginia is tossed back in time and space to Germany in 1632, at the height of the barbaric and devastating Thirty Years' War. Repelling marauding mercenaries and housing German refugees are only the first of many problems the citizens of the tiny new U.S. face, problems including determining who shall be a citizen. In between action scenes and descriptions of technological military hardware, Flint handles that problem and other serious ethical questions seriously and offers a double handful of memorable characters: a Sephardic Jewish family that establishes commercial and marital ties with the Americans, a cheerleader captain turned lethal master sniper, a schoolteacher and an African American doctor who provide indispensable common sense and skill, a German refugee who is her family's sole protector, and, not least, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. The rest of the 1632 Series can be found here.
	10 Children of Apollo by Mark R. Whittington Children of Apollo is a story of high adventure and low intrigue. Its premise is very simple. What if, instead of truncating the Apollo Program in the early 1970s, President Nixon had continued it? What if the promise of Apollo, which included space stations, lunar bases, and expeditions to the planets, had been fullfilled? That's the background to the story of Children of Apollo. The story is inhabited by full blooded people, some of whom dream of exploring the stars, some of whom would stop those dreams by any means necessary. From political intrigue and heart stopping espionoge, to the excitement of space missions which never were, the story holds one's attention like a vise. Step by step, Children of Apollo hurtles to an awesome climax at the Lunar South Pole, where the fate of the crew of Apollo 23, the furture of space exploration, and the world hang in the balance.