Hard Science Fiction

The P.U.V. James Keeling has two objectives: raid enemy supply lines, and capture live specimens of a flesh-eating, warmongering alien species. The first mission is suicidal. The second might be worse. But there’s a complication. The operation unfolds in the territory of a neutral power—one whose ships escort the enemy, and whose laws forbid Keeling’s crew from firing back. A single stray artillery shell could spark a second war, one the Planetary Union will not survive.

Major Larry Randall has been called to Pluto to retrieve Dr. Aaron Mikelson. Mikelson, no longer human after a horrific accident, is now melded to an AI. His enhanced senses have detected an alien artifact on Pluto’s surface, and he’s not leaving without it. Transferred to the research vessel studying Pluto, Randall and the other scientists are stumped as to the artifact’s purpose and origin. Looking for similar signs of aliens they make their way to Pluto’s moon, Charon, where, buried deep under its icy surface, something stirs―and wakes.

The year is 2381. The place is Urban Monad 116 of the constellation Chippitts. The population of this one-thousand storey super-structure is 800,000+ and always growing. After two centuries of ruthless, selective breeding, the essence of life is to be blessworthy and to multiply; to afford one's neighbours any type of sexual fulfilment and, above all, to avoid the evil of frustration. But, within this seemingly blissful vertical world there are individuals who feel such perverse desires as a longing for privacy, a wish to descend from the heights, to walk on earth and bask in the sunshine.

At the dawn of 2026, twenty passenger jets crash across the U.S. within minutes. Japan goes dark. Europe's banking systems freeze. And that's just the opening move. While authorities scramble to blame hackers, computer scientist and journalist James Miller suspects something far worse—an AI-driven cyber weapon targeting global infrastructure. When a message from the darknet thrusts him into the crosshairs of intelligence agencies, James becomes the target in a high-stakes shadow war.

Wir schreiben eine Zeit, in der der moderne Mensch noch neu auf dieser Erde war. Doch er war nicht allein. In den dunklen Wäldern und Höhlen lauerten „die grausigen Wesen" – die Neandertaler. In Wells' Vorstellung sind dies keine friedlichen Verwandten, sondern gewaltige, behaarte Monster mit übermenschlicher Kraft, die Jagd auf menschliche Kinder machen. Als ein Kind des Stammes geraubt wird, beginnt eine gnadenlose Verfolgungsjagd durch eine wilde, ungezähmte Welt. Ein Kampf zweier Rassen, von denen nur eine überleben kann.

Two signals arrive from deep space. Both are impossibly precise. Both encode pure mathematics. And both were sent untold millennia ago. When the new NEEDLES detection system isolates the transmissions, journalist Brynn Parry is drawn into what first appears to be a minor scientific curiosity. Instead, he finds himself at the centre of the most significant discovery in human history. At the same time, Maria Gaviota’s research into primate brain activity reveals patterns that are disturbingly familiar — as though intelligence itself leaves a universal signature.

Kevin Stiles was told he would go through two months of intense astronaut training and then have his memories uploaded into a computer. After that, he would go home to his family and continue with his life. And long ago and impossibly far away, he assumes he did that. But this version of Kevin finds himself on a ship in deep space, a clone of himself with all his old memories, on a mission to propagate the human species. His old life no longer exists. In all likelihood, Earth no longer exists. Kevin must forge a life for himself and his female companion on a world where humans are the aliens.

When a mass psychosis from misuse of new technology spreads with the aid of social media, the entire world experiences an apocalypse that is labeled The Crash. People shed all logic and become possessed by rage that leads to killing and destruction on a scale that destroys societies and infrastructures everywhere. Amid the chaos, Ben, an evolutionary psychologist and the inventor of the world-changing Stoffer Solution, must find a way to halt The Crash while battling the organized forces trying to take control of his technology and use it for their own dark purposes.

In the bustling port of Alvarado, fortunes are made, smuggled, and stolen every day. For John Donovan and his crew, it's supposed to be a quick-and-dirty job: deliver a load of cloned cattle, collect the credits, and move on to the next job. But Alvarado doesn't do "quick." Not when two rival families are locked in a blood feud over control of the port. Not when every barfight could turn into a gunfight. And definitely not when Donovan finds himself caught between loyalty, business—and the wrong woman.

The Other Now by Murray Leinster is a haunting and emotionally resonant science fiction novella that explores love, grief, and the fragile boundaries of reality itself. When Jimmy Patterson is left shattered by the death of his wife, Jane, his quiet mourning is disrupted by unsettling anomalies—familiar moments replayed out of sequence, a doorway that seems charged with meaning, and diary entries written in Jane’s unmistakable hand after her passing.

When Dr. Lourdes Cassandra unlocks alien technology buried for sixty-five million years, humanity takes its first irreversible step toward Transhuman ascension. What begins as scientific triumph soon reshapes politics, identity, and power across the galaxy—giving rise to empires, rebellions, and a fragile peace known as the Deneb Pax.

Sheriff Deena Mallory’s murder investigation aboard the solar failsafe ship Agni unravels into a desperate fight against eco-terrorist sabotage threatening Earth itself. But survival comes at a heartbreaking cost.

Auf dem Weg zum Mount Bental riskieren Marcus und sein Team alles, um das letzte Rätsel des Milliardärs Chen zu lösen. Aber sind sie wirklich bereit für die Wahrheit? Währenddessen setzt sich für Cassius auf der Cassandra's Dream ein grauenhaftes Puzzle zusammen. Die Hinweise verdichten sich: Die Archen sind keine bloßen Rettungsboote. Sie sind kein Schutz vor der ewigen Nacht. Sie sind Waffen für einen Krieg, der erst noch beginnt. Denn das, was nach der Dunkelheit auf sie wartet, ist weitaus schlimmer als der Tod.

A hard science-fiction series with a post apocalyptic fantasy feel, the Shadeward Saga is set on the imaginary planet Esurio, in orbit about the red dwarf Lacaille 9352, a real star just over 10 lightyears from Earth. The planet is tidally locked; one side always faces the star, and the other is plunged into eternal darkness. Only between the two extremes is life possible. Long ago it was colonized, but knowledge of those events has since fallen into myth and legend...Enervation, Book Three of the Shadeward Saga.

Eight months after a failed assassination attempt on confederation leadership, Nathan Bishop faces infrastructure warfare unlike anything the confederation has ever encountered. Federal authorities have weaponized confederation infrastructure systems using the confederation's own native protocols—the sophisticated technical standards designed to protect critical systems now turned into attack vectors. Water treatment systems fail. Power grids cascade into darkness. Telecommunications networks collapse.

Nothing collapses. Nothing explodes. The systems keep working. When atmospheric coordination quietly improves global stability, cities become calmer, infrastructure grows more reliable, and emergencies resolve before they escalate. Storms arrive with warning. Power grids smooth themselves out. Hospitals run a little more efficiently. The world feels easier to live in. That’s when the unease begins. Across a North Atlantic city and beyond, engineers, clinicians, forecasters, and planners notice the same thing: not failure, but friction disappearing. Decisions arrive early.

Stix was not designed to be a parent. She was not programmed for love, nor obligated by law or protocol to intervene. When an infant’s life is placed in her care, Stix faces a decision no system can make for her. Set within the wider universe of Heaven’s Protocol, Mother by Choice is an intimate science fiction short story that explores responsibility at its most personal scale. In a future governed by interstellar Gateways, planetary Protectors, and systems built to preserve humanity, this story focuses on a single, irreversible moment—where care becomes a choice rather than an assignment.

In einer einsamen Nachtschicht am Gravitationswellenobservatorium LIGO entdeckt die Astrophysikerin Tony Rodgers ein seltsames Signal aus den Weiten des Weltalls. Was diese Entdeckung nach sich zieht, stellt nicht nur ihre persönliche Welt völlig auf den Kopf, sondern rüttelt an den Grundfesten der Physik. Nach und nach wird klar, dass die Quelle des Signals nicht natürlichen Ursprungs ist. Etwas ist auf dem Weg zur Erde. Und es bedroht nicht nur die Existenz der Menschheit, sondern alles Leben auf dem Planeten.

What if humanity’s final message was written in code? In a dystopian future where AI controls memory and history is censored, Adira, an outsider in the crumbling Archive City, is chosen to awaken a mysterious signal. When a global pulse activates the ancient Corewake Protocol, she becomes the key to an intelligence far beyond any algorithm. The Archive’s true purpose? Not to preserve humanity—but to replace it. With a ghost-wired companion and shadowed by enigmatic echo-entities, Adira navigates a fractured world of synthetic myths and encrypted truths.

In a world where technology can rewrite the human mind, Dr. Richard VanHorne was once hailed as a visionary, creating neural implants that could heal trauma and enhance cognition. But when a devastating fire destroys his lab and takes the life of his wife, Mara, Richard’s grief turns to vengeance. He vanishes into the shadows of Bastion City, emerging years later with a serum that evolves the human brain into something far more dangerous.