Showing titles in Hard Science Fiction

Planet Nibiru wants them dead. All of them. Trapped by the destruction of their own satellites, the Marines on Nibiru suddenly find themselves without orbital or air superiority. With help months away, Po and his brothers must quickly figure out how to stabilize and survive against an exploding alien insurgency. Po learned young to rely on no one but himself. Now, he's slowly realizing that nothing from bootcamp, or from his trials on Earth's moon, could have prepared him for this. If he can't rip up some deep-rooted beliefs about his place in the universe, and fast, it may cost him his life.

Tesla Crane, one of the richest women in the world, is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner, cruising between Earth and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and her husband is named as the prime suspect. To save him from the frame-up, Tesla will risk exposure and face demons from her past. Even though doing so might make her the next victim.

Years after a meteorite strike obliterated Washington, DC—triggering an extinction-level global-warming event—Earth’s survivors have started an international effort to establish homes on space stations and the Moon. The next step–Mars. Elma York, the Lady Astronaut, lands on the Red Planet, optimistic about preparing for the first true wave of inhabitants. The mission objective is more than just building the infrastructure of a habitat–they are trying to preserve the many cultures and nuances of life on Earth without importing the hate. But from the moment she arrives, something is off.

The Dusahn Empire has been contained for the moment. But there is much work to be done in order to keep them from reasserting their dominance over the Pentaurus sector. As much as Captain Scott wants to see the Empire destroyed, he may have no choice but to find a way to coexist with them.

Mark Victor was a soldier left broken after the Harmony War ended. What can a broken ex-trooper really do? What are they good for if they've gone through the EMF and been tossed out the other side? If you were to ask Mark...Maybe, doing what the enemy couldn't and following his brothers and sisters. Mark wakes up to a nightmare, to an unfamiliar place with unknown faces. A planet under attack, an enemy he's never seen before. He just wants to escape, but when he sees others in danger, he realizes that a trooper stands for something; they stand to protect their own. No matter the cost.

Having traveled the width of the galaxy to unearth details of its own murderous transgressions, as well as those of the GrayCris Corporation, Murderbot is heading home to help Dr. Mensah - its former owner (protector? friend?) - submit evidence that could prevent GrayCris from destroying more colonists in its never-ending quest for profit. But who's going to believe a SecUnit gone rogue? And what will become of it when it's caught?

When the AI infected the internet, three hundred years of industrial and technological advancements were eradicated overnight. After untold sacrifice, humanity won—barely. Victory was only possible thanks to the hidden martials revealing themselves and stepping onto the stage of history. They were named the Old Monsters, immortal superhumans with impossible strength and speed, capable of dismantling entire armies with their bare hands. Thus began the gold rush of the 25th century; the rush to fitness, to the unimaginable power displayed by the Old Monsters.

First Contact has not been going well. The nations of Earth are rapidly militarizing against the arrival of the Superorganism, an alien civilization that promises to destroy humanity before it can develop into a real threat. The Superorganism has done it before–to their distant transient relatives–and they could easily do it again. But the alien Ampersand and his human interpreter Cora Sabino are done with trying to save humanity from both the Superorganism and itself; to them, this is a civilization that does not deserve to be saved.

It’s the year 2101, and half of England is underwater. But society is recovering from the Melt—all thanks to ArkTech, the company that saved the world. Charlotte Vance is smart, resourceful, and fiercely dedicated to her work. The ArkTech Territory is the only home she’s ever known, and she’ll do anything to keep it safe. So when Ben, the company’s curious AI with a fondness for dad jokes, asks why a geneticist is stealing pages from library books, Charlotte is happy to help. After all, Ben isn’t just software—he’s her best friend.

A monstrous apparatus has been found on the surface of the moon. It devours and destroys in ways so incomprehensible to humans that a new language must be invented to describe it and a new kind of thinking to understand it. So far, the human guinea pigs sent there in hopes of unraveling the murderous maze have all died terrible deaths - except the last, now on suicide watch. The ideal candidate won't go insane, even as he feels the end approaching. And now they think they've found their man. Al Barker has already stared into the face of death - he can handle it again.

Mysterious emanations originating in the Intergalactic void... Suspicious deaths near the galactic rim… An Armada recalled… Another goes missing… While the Confederations Central Council and High Command face the consequences of the inspector's treachery, Michael and his team continue to raise Earth's profile among its neighbors. A trade deal is started. Numerous new Transluminide claims are filed. The Space Force fleet grows.

Deep in Antarctica, two researchers find an enigmatic black sphere suspended in the heart of a huge crater. Neither man is ever seen again. Decades later, reality fractures. A Manhattan skyscraper vanishes into thin air. An airplane crashes in the Sahara Desert—its existence defying logic. Across the globe, breathtaking technology and mysterious artifacts appear, all leading to one chilling truth: a parallel Earth is breaching the boundary between realities.

In 2118 the first daring mission to another star, Tau Ceti - 12 light-years away - is launched. Tom Hites and Harry Cosgrove command the starship Endeavour on an epic journey to solve the Fermi paradox. From the first nearly disastrous steps on a distant world, their quest takes them further than they ever imagined.

With The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Six, award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a year-in-review and 33 of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2020.

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.

At long last, Earth has a handful of starships. Surrounded by Rebel Kher, Imperials, and the mysterious Nomads, humanity dares to assert our right to independence. The interstellar community reacts harshly. In the eyes of our neighbors, we’re upstarts, dangerous beings who don’t know our place. For the Kher, freedom can only be won through battle. War fleets arrive to instruct us, and Captain Leo Blake is again sent out to voyage among hostile stars.

The only survivor of the ill-fated ISA mission is now stranded on Mars. Having been designated a bio-hazard by Earth, any hope of returning home is all but gone. She is alone, isolated, and abandoned. That is, until another human shows up in the main colony airlock. However, he's barely alive and soon dies without regaining consciousness. More disturbing though, a DNA test identifies him as a colonist who has already died, several years earlier, impossible as that may be.

With The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 3, award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a year-in-review and 27 of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2017.

Their heroine, Ell Donsaii, has a nerve mutation that’s made her a genius and provided her with astonishing athletic abilities. Her intelligence has let her revolutionize our world with a number of inventions, including instantaneous communications and trans-dimensional portals that deliver fuel, water, food, energy, and people all around the solar system Antigravity is about a new invention that Ell and her husband, Shan, come up with.

Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason.