Showing results by publisher "Podium Audio" in Hard Science Fiction

The Darshik war machine is flagging, but the war is far from over. Even as an exhausted Federation military tenses up for a counterattack after repelling the last Darshik invasion, reports are coming in of a new, more powerful class of ship that's striking deep into Terran space. Captain Jackson Wolfe has been given the fleet's newest, most advanced destroyer and tasked with eliminating this new threat before it can claim any more human lives. What he finds, however, is immeasurably more dangerous than just some new class of starship....

A new age of exploration is taking humanity to the stars. It's a chance to build a new life from the ground up, to make your fortune and help the colonies grow. Anyone can become someone out in the stars. When John Carver, a veteran of the Halfway War, arrives on the colony of Greenworld, he finds it completely abandoned, as though its residents simply walked out, leaving all of their belongings behind. All that remains are half-built greenhouses and habitats, poorly maintained farmlands, and basic supplies.

Caesar, an undercover operative, enters Carmichael with the briefest of orders from his boss and a countdown on his phone. What will happen when the clock strikes zero? Deputy Amelia Miller is dispatched from a nearby city, and a series of events keeps her around much longer than she'd expected. In the middle of the night, something shifts, and the whole town disappears off the face of the Earth. Who caused the shift, and what lies beyond the veil of their settlement?

Having obliterated entire civilizations, the Torth Majority is now threatening humanity itself. Barreling through deep space—and hunted every dark mile by armadas, saboteurs, and kamikaze armies—the passengers of a refugee streamship must outrun everything they left behind if they hope to stay alive.

The last humans in the solar system battle for survival—and encounter an alien AI—in this action-packed military science-fiction thriller. In the aftermath of a bioengineered plague that wiped out all life on Earth, Jupiter's Europa colony has become the last bastion of human civilization...

As winter ebbs away, the true horror emerges. Shaun, reunited with Abbie, struggles with he emotional roller coaster of searching for Lydia. Each day they don’t find her is another day she could be further away.

A corporation controls the portal that leads from Earth to the land of Lost Eden. They intend to exploit the incredible richness of that world. But there is a small team on the other side, fighting to survive against incredible odds. Nearly everything they meet tries to kill them. The members of that team have different ideas about what should happen with Lost Eden. But there is a seemingly ancient monk named Tokin who holds the secret to everything. With the portal to Earth seemingly closed, will the team be able to find a way home, or will they truly be stranded, marooned—exiled?

In the 25th century, humans have conquered space. The advent of faster-than-light travel has opened up hundreds of habitable planets for colonization, and humans have exploited the virtually limitless space and resources for hundreds of years with impunity. So complacent have they become with the overabundance that armed conflict is a thing of the past, and their machines of war are obsolete and decrepit. What would happen if they were suddenly threatened by a terrifying new enemy?

Earth is locked in a dangerous arms race with Rigel. McGill’s efforts at diplomacy are disastrous. Events spin out of control and interstellar warfare consumes the outer provinces of the Empire. Great fleets are gathered, and troops are hurried aboard transports. Legion Varus is launched toward a secret target world. McGill leads an early strike against Rigel’s defenses, but his efforts are foiled at every turn. Who could be behind these betrayals? Could his own government be plotting his demise?

If Truth Medici has learned anything, it’s that the country isn’t neatly divided into safe and dangerous zones. Everywhere is a battlefield and a hunting ground. Everyone is both predator and prey, slumrats on the run from bigger rats. Truth is finally one of the bigger rats, so elite that ordinary people can’t even see him. But though he may be a walking ghost, he’ll be acknowledged one way or another. Truth holds the power to slay the very oppressors who made him what he is. And he’s resolved to wield this power toward a righteous end.

There's a land rush on exploiting alien tech. Pirates, claim-jumpers, cyborgs, and bureaucrats all must be defeated to keep Borag flying. Corporal Devin Starn is working his way up through the ranks of Red Company. Aboard Borag, a mining ship based out of Mars City, Starn discovers more about the aliens who preceded us. Their ruins and strange technologies deepen the mystery of their ancient downfall.

In the aftermath of the destruction, Shaun finds himself trapped by the winter. With little other choice, he joins a group of survivors doing the best they can. His idea of "best" isn’t always shared by the group, though. But before the weather breaks, when he wants to resume his journey, they all face conflict. Miles away, doing the best that she can, Abbie is adapting to life without power; her own situation is far from ideal. After the sound of the falling bombs fade, as the dark world they live in tries to recover, they have to find a way to adapt to their new reality.

When Jack Harrison climbed down the short ladder from the airlock and stepped onto the debris covered soil, the ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs.

The machine races demand a turn at the job, but the organics refuse to allow it. For more than a century, the Galactics have battled for supreme power. War and instability reign in place of peace, with every species spread over a hundred billion stars suffering as the Empire decays. James McGill discovers a scheme is underway. A new power is rising, determined to snatch the Throne from all the rest. Will this unite the Galactic Empire, or destroy it utterly?

Astronaut Lee Rifkin's life is about to change. NASA has done the math. The space object named Cassandra 22007 is not behaving as expected. He will lead a team on a cutting-edge ship to get a closer look. But another group wants to get there first. Who is this shadow organization that seems to be one step ahead of them? Agent Jenna Haynes works to put together the pieces that will pull the veil off those who seem to have known about Cassandra's arrival since long before NASA spotted it. What is their goal?

The Phage War had been a devastating conflict for the Terran Confederacy. Even with the destruction of their terrifying, implacable foe, humanity is still reeling. Political alliances are crumbling, and their mighty fleet is in tatters. There is nothing to celebrate, even after such a complete victory. They soon learn that there are other stellar neighbors - and they've been watching the conflict with great interest. One species comes with an offer of friendship and alliance, but humanity is weary and distrustful.

In 2018, Canadian archaeologist Ron Jackson makes a mind-boggling discovery in Antarctica - right before disappearing without a trace, leaving behind only his controversial theory that humans have lived on Earth far, far longer than we think they have. Decades later, in 2042, when Jackson's wife dies under mysterious circumstances, an unlikely pair of investigators, Agatha Devenworth and Pano Hofer, begin investigating whether her death might be connected to Jackson's disappearance.

Seventeen-year-old Truth Medici scavenges for scraps to eat; weathers his parents' abuse; and battles derelicts, killer pimps, and demons in the soul-crushing stretch of desperation he calls home. Even the cops steer clear of the toxic Harban slums. But just across the canal live the magical elite, with their wealth, flying carpets, gorgeous mages, and custom spell beasts, all thanks to the patronage of the almighty Starbrite Corporation. Getting there, and taking his three vulnerable siblings with him, is Truth's only dream.

Two years have passed since comet Anduru skimmed the clouds of Saturn on its way to Earth. Kath and Nolan are looking for answers, trying to find ways to protect Earth from the possibility of an invasive alien species overrunning the planet.

The crew's efforts to reactivate the long-abandoned Moon Base Delta are hindered by a desperate food shortage which begins to sap their mental and physical energy. Their dire situation is not helped by an influx of refugees and rebels fleeing the brutal resource conflicts erupting throughout the lunar colonies. Moon Base Delta quickly becomes a melting pot of desperate souls caught in the crossfire, all fighting for survival. As the pressure on limited resources escalates, and the demands on Renton and the crew intensify, they come to a stark and uncompromising realization.