Contemporary Science Fiction

The science fiction genre has become increasingly influential in mainstream popular culture, evolving into one of the most engaging storytelling tools we use to think about technology and consider the shape of the future. Along the way, it has also become one of the major lenses we use to explore important philosophical questions. The origins of science fiction are most often thought to trace to Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, a story born from a night of spooky tale-telling by the fireside that explores scientific, moral, and ethical questions that were of great concern in the 19th century - and that continue to resonate today.

This collection of interviews and chats is culled from some of the more recent episodes of the world’s longest-running radio program on speculative fiction, Hour of the Wolf, produced and hosted by Jim Freund since 1974. Many of these recordings were made at conventions, the Nebula Awards...

A colony survives among the icy rings of a planet, hiding from alien robots determined to destroy them … at a remote site on the edge of the Arctic Circle, a group of scientists, engineers, and physicians gather to gamble humanity’s future on one last-ditch experiment … a man who can’t feel pain has been bioengineered to be a killing machine, but he refuses to give in to his fate … a man is contacted by three future versions of himself, each trying to save their world from destruction. 

First contact with a mysterious race of aliens reveals an unusual request; a family's pet dog comes to grips with the newly bestowed gift of human-like intelligence; a poet, in danger and alone on a distant world, makes unlikely allies; hundreds of years in the future, a famous hermit lives in the sea above the now-underwater Harvard University; former friends navigate unsteady peace between human refugees and the technologically superior race that saved them; in a future where human life can be infinitely extended through cybertronic rebirth, one woman declines immortality. 

Watch out - the Earth just fell into a dark sun's orbit! Or maybe you'd rather visit a theme park called Hell? These are just two of the strange and unnerving tales you'll find in this collection of great science fiction and fantasy stories.

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. 

Keeping up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more - a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.

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. 

Incredible Science Fiction: Amazing Tales from the 50's and Beyond, Volume Two collates a collection of some of the very best science-fiction stories published in the '50s together. All these stories (with the exception of The Anatomy of Fear) are now in the public domain and were original published in various science-fiction magazines that were very popular in the 1950s. This is a lovingly curated collection of some of the very best stories published during this time. This collection includes a further story from the Hugo Award-nominated Rog Phillips.

The best of the year's science fiction and fantasy stories as selected by the multiple award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan. Distant worlds, time travel, epic adventure, unseen wonders, and much more! The best, most original and brightest science fiction and fantasy stories from around the globe from the past 12 months are brought together in one collection by multiple award winning editor Jonathan Strahan.

Four sci-fi short stories where you'll find good computers, people who regret their past, and an explanation for something you're familiar with.

Landon Hamilton is no stranger to adversity. As the Diuscrucis, Purgatory's champion in the war between Heaven and Hell, he's had to deal with his unfair share: The vampire who betrayed him, the beast who imprisoned him, the angel who tried to kill him, and the powerful demon who almost did. As the war between good and evil continues to escalate, it is up to Landon and his remaining allies to put an end to the threat. But when your greatest adversary is also one of the people you love the most, can there be a happy ending?

Jonathan Strahan, the award-winning and much lauded editor of many of genre's best known anthologies, is back with his 11th volume in this fascinating series, featuring the best science fiction and fantasy. With established names and new talent, this diverse and ground-breaking collection will take the listener to the outer reaches of space and the inner realms of humanity with stories of fantastical worlds and worlds that may still come to pass.

“Short stories have to accomplish a nearly impossible magic trick: to introduce a world often much stranger than our own and make you care about it in a matter of pages,” writes R. F. Kuang in her introduction. “The most important part of this magic trick is just a willingness to get weird...

Paragon altered Bianca’s memory. The Directorate turned her into a weapon. Seventeen-year-old Bianca Pond is the ultimate fighting machine. But when a ghost from her past comes back to haunt her, Bianca faces her toughest challenge yet...justice for all, or her own personal vengeance. (extra)ORDINARY runs parallel with events from the Powers series, giving readers a glimpse into the transformation that redefined Bianca’s loyalties - and love - in the months after Ugene’s escape.

From a master of contemporary fiction, a tale of bohemian youth on the make in Mexico City Two young poets, Jan and Remo, find themselves adrift in Mexico City. Obsessed with poetry, and, above all, with science fiction, they are eager to forge a life in the literary world--or sacrifice...

The Apology of Socrates, by Plato, is the dialogue that presents the speech of legal self-defence, which Socrates presented at his trial for corruption, in 399 BC. Specifically, the Apology of Socrates is a defence against the charges of "corrupting the young" and "not believing in the gods which the city believes in, but in other gods which are unknown" to Athens. The Apology of Socrates is the dialogue that depicts the trial, written by Plato who details the final days of the philosopher Socrates.

Diana's life was in a rut - she hated her job, she was perpetually single, and she needed a place to live. But then the perfect apartment came along. It seemed too good to be true - because it was. As it turns out, the apartment was already inhabited - by monsters.

Thirteen-year-old Jake prefers to spend his free time building Xaloria, a virtual world he created from scratch, where he and his two best friends, Des and Kari, spend their afternoons completing quests and collecting treasure. However, all in Xaloria is not what Jake expected. When Jake discovers that the world he built is growing and changing on its own, he and his friends uncover a secret that could change the world forever....

To keep from obsessing on his job when not there, Clint attempts to escape his reality in the VRMMO world of Unexplored. There, in the persona of the heroic and adventurous elf, Cleave, he joins with a smart-mouthed kobold named Tarka and a gentle half-giant, Krug - the best kind of friend an elf could have, one that would gladly stomp into jelly anyone attempting to hurt his friends or the innocent - in a grand quest to find a powerful ring.