Contemporary Science Fiction

Destiny, who is now a full-fledged fairy godmother, has been sent to help a soul in need. She’s primed with a magic wand and ready for anything. Or at least she thinks she is. Little did she know this was not an ordinary case. It teetered on the verge of Angel Territory. When a dark entity is discovered snuffing out the light of others and destroying timelines, is Destiny out of her depth? Join Destiny in this magical adventure to find out.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

The Apology of Socrates, by Plato, is the dialogue that presents the speech of legal self-defense, which Socrates presented at his trial for impiety and corruption, in 399 BC. Specifically, The Apology of Socrates is a defense against the charges of “corrupting the youth” and “not believing in the same gods as the city, but in other gods which are novel” to Athens.

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....

After waking up on the floor of an abandoned warehouse with no memory of her life, where she came from, or even an ID, Nicole had to resort to the oldest profession in the world - relax, she’s just stealing for a living. Unlike her best friend, Pinky, she has never believed in the Gods or their legendary academy, where special recruits train to become Demigods and protect the world. But when a girl with blue hair and black, glorious wings, appears on the TV - fighting a fire in Pecunia, Greece — Nicole is forced to change her mind.

In the year 2250, Elle owns a flower shop and yearns for a real connection with someone. At a nightclub, she meets Drake and gets a taste of just what the perfect companion could be - great conversation and even greater sex. Soon after her date with Drake, Elle meets Lisa and experiences that same perfect balance of companionship and sex. But after balancing relationships with both Drake and Lisa, Elle learns a shocking truth. Will she be able to set aside her all - human prejudices, too - and accept the real love waiting for her?

After accidentally triggering a time portal they didn’t even know existed, Tinker, Nicole, and Cade find themselves lost in time. Among strangely familiar faces and events no one should ever relive, they are urged to work together to find a way to get home. But time is not the only thing triggered, and when Nicole begins to slowly get her memories back, new challenges arise, proving that she is more powerful than she remembers. As new revelations make her doubt everything she believes, she’ll need to understand what the Corpse King wants before it is too late.

Keep listening to Nicole and Melany's adventures at the Demigods Academy!