Dystopian Science Fiction

When an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) strikes Rose of the Sea, the pleasure cruise becomes a drifting nightmare. Powerless and desperate, the 1,100 passengers and crew must face their new reality: No one is coming to save them.

Humanity managed to advance to the point of opening up portals that led to other worlds and dimensions. From those dimensions emerged terrifying monsters that wreaked havoc on the world. The portals were closed eventually, but not before a humanoid species known as the Primis managed to take control of the world. The Primis are a godly race that live forever. Once every ten years, they hold a Great Tournament that will yield a single winner. The prize for the winner? The opportunity to became a Primis. Celestria is a princess from a small kingdom in the corner of the new world. She is ...

Lennox used to live in a paradise on earth with his best friend, Jamie, in a place where visitors came and went, allowing their desires to run free. But everything changes when a deadly attack forces them to take up with Connor Mackenzie's band of Outlaws. Lennox knows that Jamie is hung up on someone else, but he's always believed that he's the man for her - and he won't let her go without a fight.

R is a young man with an existential crisis—he is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. His ability to connect with the outside world is limited to a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. After experiencing a teenage boy’s memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim’s human girlfriend, Julie.

“There are people who enjoy watching kids being killed—and eaten—by dinosaurs.” Kayce shrugged matter-of-factly. “We try to deny them that pleasure.” It’s called Dinosaur Run, and it’s the most vicious, most twisted sport ever conceived. Attractive, athletic teenagers are snatched off the streets and transported 150 million years back in time—to the age of dinosaurs—allowing wealthy spectators to gamble on who’ll be the first to go, who’ll last longest, and who’ll be … eaten … by what. But this time they’ve picked the wrong group of kids to mess with. Don’t...

On Tartarus I was born... Soaked in power and secrets, Tartarus is a city for rebels, exiles, and criminals. As a messenger, every shadow is my friend. I know all the secrets of this place. Or, at least, I thought I did. When my best friend, Kida, goes missing, I don't waste any time assuming her identity to draw her or whoever took her, out of hiding. On Tartarus I will die...

As soon as the government passed legislation allowing humans to be genetically engineered and sold as pets, the rich and powerful rushed to own beautiful girls like Ella. Trained from birth to be graceful, demure, and perfect, these "family companions" enter their masters' homes prepared to live lives of idle luxury.

What would the world be like without America? The attack only takes a few minutes to sweep from coast to coast. When it ends, nearly everyone on mainland USA is gone. Every policeman. Every housewife. Every trucker. Everyone. A continent free for the taking.... Ted MacInnis is a backup pilot on Air Force Two, over the Atlantic, when it happens. A warrior by nature, he can do little but listen as the radio signals from his homeland fade away and die.

In Compound Eleven, the hierarchy of the floors is everything. My name is Eve Hamilton, and on my floor, we fight. Which at least is better than the bottom floor, where they toil away in misery. Only the top floor has any ease in this harsh world; they rule from their gilded offices. Because four generations ago, Earth was rendered uninhabitable—the sun too hot, the land too barren. Those who remained were forced underground. While not a perfect life down here, I’ve learned to survive as a fighter. Except my latest match is different.

The powerful city-state of Saraykeht is a bastion of peace and culture, a major center of commerce and trade. Its economy depends on the power of the captive spirit Seedless, an and at bound to the poet-sorcerer Heshai for life. Enter the Galts, an empire committed to laying waste to all lands with their ferocious army. Saraykeht has always been too strong for the Galts to attack, but now they see an opportunity.

Spencer Hayes, along with his girlfriend, Kate, and their dog, Finn, enjoy a life most people only dream about. Living aboard their 31-foot sailboat, Restless, they make the most of all that paradise has to offer. But that changes in the blink of an eye when EMPs strike the east coast of the United States.

What would you do if you were no longer safe in your neighborhood? Frank and Jane have had it. Every night the looting gets closer to their home, while the authorities do nothing but ask for calm. Life has become terrifying. Frank pulls a gun on looters running up his driveway. The thugs flee. Frank knows they’ll be back. The last thing Jane wants to do is live in their motorhome, but Frank talks her into it. The open road is dangerous. Staying in LA is worse. They barely get out of town alive, as California explodes behind them. Eastbound I-10 is flooded with others trying to escape, as ...

Ben Davis was prepared for disaster. He just didn’t know it would come so soon. He and his teenage son, Joel, are miles deep in the backcountry of the San Juan Mountains when high-altitude nuclear electromagnetic detonations light up the pre-dawn sky. Ben, Joel, and their dog, Gunner, must make their way home - or to whatever’s left of it - on foot.

Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. To her, these initials have always stood for Artificial Organism. AO has never really felt...natural, and that's putting it lightly. Her parents spent most of the days before she was born praying for her peaceful passing because even in-utero she was "wrong". But she lived. Then came the car accident years later that disabled her even further. Yet instead of viewing her strange body the way the world views it, as freakish, unnatural, even the work of the devil, AO embraces all that she is.

Science Fiction Stories 3 is a mesmerizing anthology of science fiction short stories that transport readers to extraordinary realms, exploring dystopian futures, post-apocalyptic landscapes, and thrilling adventures in space. Discover the Unexpected Delve into the surreal with "You'll Haunt My Dreams," where dreamscapes and reality blur for Shelton and Tevis. Navigate a treacherous political landscape in "Recount," as characters face mysterious census takers with ulterior motives. Unravel the enigma of "Recipe For Death," a story that blends culinary arts with lethal consequences. Confront...

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.

All residents of the City have recently died, and they will remain in the City only as long as someone still living on Earth remembers them. On Earth, however, the population has been devastated by a terrible pandemic. Laura Byrd, isolated at an Antarctic research station, may be the only person to have survived the pandemic. But she's running out of time and supplies, and her memories are fading.

In the year 2035, homelessness in the United States had reached catastrophic proportions. With the country overwhelmed by the crisis, the President of the United States covertly planned that a secret “Homeless City” would be built to take care of the exploding homeless situation. The city was built and the homeless began being rounded up and taken there by force. As the last phase of the city was being constructed, a secret underground room from an old abandoned military base was unearthed. The room was empty except for a shimmering mold that coated its cement walls. The mold, when ...

It's not until Dez's father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there's more to this boy - and her father's "law firm" - than she realized. Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation - an organization devoted to collecting "special" kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons - his entire life.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Darcy, who once seemed to be our only hope for surviving the vampire apocalypse, has gone to the dark side—she’s now the reigning vampire queen. Meanwhile, her sister Hope must lead the charge to save humanity—on a path that’s taking her straight to Darcy. Will an emboldened Hope destroy her own sister to save the world? Would a godlike Darcy ever allow that to happen? They say hope is a dangerous thing, and they just might be right.