Showing results for "Science" in Fantasy

In the 'fantasy' universe of the phenomenally bestselling Discworld series, everything runs on magic and common sense. The world is flat and million-to-one chances happen nine times out of ten. Our world seems different - it runs on rules, often rather strange ones. Science is our way of finding...

Long before movies like Minority Report and The Matrix, the world's writers have been recording the future as it might exist - and as it turns out, they were right. This bizarre anthology collects the most stunning predictions and imagined inventions here for the first time. Visions of Tomorrow includes "The Land Iron Clads" by H. G. Wells, who described a military tank in 1903 - long before it was ever a possibility; "The Yesterday House" by Fritz Leiber, who wrote about cloned humans; and more.

Reincarnated into a world of cultivation, Scientist Langley Seiker no longer has to dream about immortality. It's now possible. Except for the fact that he has no talent. Through a chance encounter, however, he gains access to his familiar laboratory that will allow him to systematically study the mechanics of cultivation. Not even the heavens will know what fate has in store for Langley as he systematically unravels not only how to cultivate, but also various crafts such as refining pills and inscribing talismans.

SOPHIE RAMOS has always had visions—perceptions of beings others don’t see. Even her mother doubted her as a child. Psychiatrists doubted her too. Psychics tried to recruit her to enrich and empower themselves. Now she’s thirty-two, living on her own, and sharing her secret only with her mother and a few friends. A threatening specter begins to visit her at night, and more than her sleep is at stake. She follows a friend’s recommendation to visit Detta Washington, a church lady who believes that Sophie does see angels and demons.

In the aftermath of a cataclysmic nuclear winter, Eryn, a boy with special abilities, wanders across the ice, where he discovers the last vestige of human civilization in Antarctica. The abduction of the first extracorporeal birthed twins born into this all-male society leads to a fast-paced rescue mission that uncovers millennia-old secrets and the true origin of humans.

Against all odds, there is peace in Janaan. An industrial revolution has taken flight, and as wizards and inventors combine magic with machines, a new era of progress is quickly revealing itself. As the youth reach adulthood, an ever-shifting and uncertain world awaits them. Rostam, Amri, Namid, Ephorah, and Cyrus are entering adulthood just as new frontiers call for exploration, both figuratively, and literally. Unfortunately, others in Janaan have their own plans, and the long peace is about to come to a very abrupt end.

There’s only one rule in Gehenna: survive—or die trying. No one has ever left alive. Acadia’s life has hit rock bottom. Once the darling of Beulah’s social elite, betrayal landed her in Gehenna—the notorious debtors' prison. Now every day is a battle just to stay breathing. To live, she must become as ruthless as the monsters around her. So Acadia hardens her heart, sealing off the emotions that could get her killed. She won’t care. She won’t trust. She won’t break. Then he arrives. A stranger—scarred, smiling, and maddeningly kind. He insists he’s not a prisoner, just a visitor in rags.

The universe is a dangerous place in John Scalzi's Old Man's War, the first in The Old Man's War series. At seventy-five years old, John Perry is after a fresh start - so, naturally, he joins the army. Earth's military machine can transform elderly recruits, restoring their lost youth. But in...

Roundworld is in trouble again, and this time it looks fatal. Having created it in the first place, the wizards of Unseen University feel vaguely responsible for its safety. They know the creatures who lived there escaped the impending Big Freeze by inventing the space elevator - they even...

Finding himself on the run from the law, Freddy will need a safe place to hide. His target? A borderline lawless subordinate territory of the Empire; a land of cruelty, vigilantism, and mountains of ice—the Northern Belt. Despite having acted in self-defense, Freddy knows that, should the law catch up with him, he stands no chance of being declared innocent. If he wants to remain free—or even alive—he needs to find somewhere he can hide long enough to bury the trail. His first choice ends up being the infamous, crime-ridden area of the Northern Belt.

The military SF sequel to his extraordinary Old Man's War, John Scalzi's The Ghost Brigades is the second in The Old Man's War series. Who can you trust, if you can't trust yourself? Three hostile alien races have united against humanity, determined to halt our expansion into space. The...

Nobody knew where it came from. Nobody knew why it came. When an eight-foot-tall man made of stone appears in the middle of a busy city center one July afternoon, two-bit (and antisocial) reporter Andy Pointer assumes it's just a publicity stunt. Indeed, so does everyone else...until the Stone Man begins to walk, heading silently through the wall of the nearest building, flattening it, and killing several people inside as a result.

The Supervillain Rehabilitation Project is a character-driven, action-packed superhero series with light romantic elements, snarky humor, and a focus on family bonds.

Hard-core military science fiction at its very best, John Scalzi's The Last Colony is the third in The Old Man's War series. They must save themselves – or die trying. John Perry was living peacefully on one of humanity's colonies – until he and his wife were offered an opportunity these...

They thought we were safe. They were wrong. 'A terrific timeslip / lost world romp in the grand tradition of Turtledove, Hoyle, even Conan Doyle' – Stephen Baxter, author of the Xeelee Sequence Read by Sophie Aldred (Doctor Who) Lee and Mal went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor four years...

They call me mad, but I don’t see anything wrong with using science to create the perfect monster girl. They call me insane, but I just want to live my life with a harem of beautiful cat-girls, bear-girls, fox-girls, snake-girls, and...well, pretty much any type of monster girl. They call me a megalomaniac, but why wouldn’t any red blooded man want to make cute babies with all these beautiful monster girls? They call me evil, but they just don’t realize that I’d destroy anyone who tries to harm my monster girls.

He made it to the top. As CEO of an asteroid mining company, Austin has accomplished everything he ever wanted in business. Now, he needs more. To get away he turns to a fantasy video game. He just wants peace and quiet, play as a dwarf, build a house, do some smithing and character building. His idea of the perfect fantasy game. Then he learns their secret. If he gets caught, it means death. He’ll need help along the way. How can he convince anyone they’re slaves in a bigger game and stay under the radar?

‘Lesbians versus zombies on a steam-punk Titanic . . . seriously addictive, dark and bitingly well-written’ – Grimdark Magazine Death waits beneath the waves. And two estranged lovers face their demons. Sergeant Nix Marr left her dark past buried beneath the sea. Then Kessandra, the...

The fourth book in the Science of Discworld series, and this time around dealing with THE REALLY BIG QUESTIONS, Terry Pratchett’s brilliant new Discworld story Judgement Day is annotated with very big footnotes (the interleaving chapters) by mathematician Ian Stewart and biologist Jack Cohen...

H. G. Wells wrote dozens of novels and short stories and is often called the 'father of science fiction'. Here we collect together the works of H. G. Wells as broadcast on BBC Radio. With full-cast dramatisations of novels including The Time Machine, The Island of Dr Moreau, The War of the Worlds, Ann Veronica, The First Men in the Moon and The Wonderful Visit; plus readings of The Invisible Man, Love and Mr Lewisham and several short stories including The Inexperienced Ghost and In the Abyss.