Hard Contact

Fleeing Earth after an alien invasion, the human race stands on the threshold of evolution. Their new home is Luna, a moon colony blessed with creature comforts, prolonged lifespans, digital memories, and instant sex changes. But the people of Luna are bored, restless, suicidal - and so is the computer that monitors their existence.

There's a reason We Are Legion was named Audible's Best Science Fiction Book of 2016: Its irresistibly irreverent wit! Bob Johansson has just sold his software company for a small fortune and is looking forward to a life of leisure. The first item on his to-do list: Spending his newfound windfall. On an urge to splurge, he signs up to have his head cryogenically preserved in case of death. Then he gets himself killed crossing the street. Waking up 117 years later, Bob discovers his mind has been uploaded into a sentient space probe with the ability to replicate itself.

Nothing in Kalinda's plans includes crash-landing on a backwards sand planet full of lizard-aliens. But when she spots Warlord Nakan, she's willing to take a little detour. He's a sexy, muscular scaled creature that she wouldn't mind...studying. But no matter how interested she is, and no matter how much he lights her up inside, she's determined to get off his godforsaken planet.

Michael Baker is a 35-year-old, natural-born American citizen from Texas, a successful entrepreneur, and amateur astronomer. The scientific community mocks him when he publishes the time and coordinates where a supernova will occur. When it occurs, people start wondering who Michael is. The day after his third supernova prediction stunningly comes true, Michael abruptly takes over every television and radio in the world and announces that he is the Ambassador to Earth from the Intergalactic Confederation of Planets.

An extraordinary astronomical discovery, an international conspiracy and a rush to the truth. When she discovers an exoplanet with an unstable orbit around the nearby star Tau Sagittarii, Uma knows something is not right. Is this an opportunity or a threat to humanity? In her struggle to uncover the truth behind her discovery, Uma meets Abdo, a clever robotics specialist presenting her with an alternative and unsettling interpretation of what she has detected. Together, Uma and Abdo unmask a conspiracy entangling the scientific community and corporations. Their lives are at stake, while a ...

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.

A Rogue AI Threatens the Future of the Human Race... When interstellar traders arrive at a distant human colony, they encounter an enraged rogue AI named Grendel who has slaughtered the local population. Grendel's anguish over his own mortality in an infinitely complex, unknown, and terrifyingly dangerous universe makes him a threat to humans everywhere. The ensuing human struggle is a tale of duty, courage, and sacrifice. But for their "tame" AI partner, Patrice, this encounter will test the limits of intelligence as a survival trait. The outcome will turn on his capacity to collaborate, ...

Three days have passed since the Xenos spaceship departed Earth, and Emissary Lee Ping moved to the virtual world of Planet Asbeth. But even as normalcy returns, a new threat emerges. Alien marauders have intercepted critical supplies required to complete the shield. From bestselling author D. Ward Cornell comes a tale of two worlds bound by a mutual adversary.

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.

Years have passed since Earth encountered its first known interstellar object: Oumuamua. Now an even larger one has been discovered, following the exact same trajectory as its predecessor. Scientists around the world theorize that this can no longer be passed off as mere coincidence - the new contact must be an artificial construct of some kind.

Late in the 21st century, Earth receives what looks like an urgent plea for help from planet Proxima Centauri b in the closest star system to the Sun. Astrophysicists suspect a massive solar flare is about to destroy this heretofore-unknown civilization. Earth's space programs are unequipped to help, but an unscrupulous Russian billionaire launches a secret and highly-specialized spaceship to Proxima b, over four light-years away.

The orbital debris salvage ship THX-1138 and its Commander Lieutenant Joachim Lee and his young crew are tasked to de-orbit an abandoned space station from the early 21st century. Something very unusual was going on with the derelict Long March of the People-7. They discover that the station has had a visitor from somewhere in the Deep Dark. Was this event the real First Contact? Earthrise 2115: First Contact is a novella that tells the tale of an event that took place approximately 50 years before the adventures of the crew of the starship Richard P. Feynman and is part of the Earthrise ...

Jack Savage thought the attractive journalist, Katie Good, would only be a pleasant one-night stand; a fond memory before the war. But then his boss assigns her to his squadron as an embedded reporter for the big attack. JACK KNEW SHE WAS BAD LUCK. It was bad enough having to babysit the reporter because of her political connections. But it’s an entirely different story when she gets him crossways with the King. The more Jack tries to put things right, the deeper in he gets. Finally, Jack and Katie team up to save the peace – and fail miserably. THE FIRST GALACTIC CIVIL WAR And it’s ...

A deadly cloud of spores has already infected and killed the inhabitants of two worlds. Now the plague is heading for Earth, threatening humans and aliens alike. Can either species be trusted to find the cure? Geneticist Marianne Jenner is immersed in the desperate race to save humanity, yet her family is tearing itself apart. Siblings Elizabeth and Ryan are strident isolationists who agree only that an alien conspiracy is in play. Marianne's youngest, Noah, is a loner addicted to a drug that constantly changes his identity.

From bestselling author Saxon Andrew comes A Dangerous Universe - Saving Crystal. Kyle Jamison is given command of the Rock Project and he's thankful for the opportunity to get away from his personal issues. The Rock Project has been studying a strange rock sphere that was uncovered hundreds of years ago. The Project has been going on for more than a hundred years at M.I.T. and there's been no breakthrough or progress to take place on finding out just what the Rock might be or why it emits energy. The project is basically a dead-end unit and only misfits and problematic sailors have been ...

Anthony Bridgerton hasn't just decided to marry - he's even chosen a wife! The only obstacle is his intended's older sister, Kate Sheffield - the most meddlesome woman ever to grace a London ballroom. The spirited schemer is driving Anthony mad with her determination to stop the betrothal, but when he closes his eyes at night, Kate's the woman haunting his increasingly erotic dreams.

In this present-day science fiction novel, Earth confronts an alien invasion. But not from a marauding army. It’s just one guy who got a bad tip. Jacob is a Prospector. He makes a living by discovering lost civilizations on long dead-worlds and selling off their cultural relics. And now he’s chasing a hot lead about a world where the population has only recently perished due to climate change. The artifacts would be worth a fortune. But when he reaches the planet called Earth, it isn’t dead at all. And the people there don’t appreciate him saying so. But they do like his spaceship. ...

Los Angeles lies in ruins. While the city is sealed off to contain an unknown contamination, the survivors battle strange anomalies under the toxic dust cloud. Among the survivors are Lee and Branson. The astronaut must find a way out in order not to miss his flight to Cassandra, and the captain is faced with a terrible truth that he can no longer deny.

Synthesizing the work of thinkers including Freud, Diderot, Nietzsche, and Einstein, delineating the enticing strategies of characters throughout history, The Art of Seduction is a comprehensive guide to getting what we want - any way we can. Controversial but never dull, timeless and up-to-date, it's destined to be Greene's next best seller.

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.