Hard Science Fiction Space Opera

Time is running out for the planet Jai. The artificially intelligent Gods who rule the galaxy have withdrawn their protection from the chaos-ravaged world, just as their most ancient enemy closes in. For Yasira Shien, who has devoted herself to the fragile planet's nascent rebellion, it's time to do or die—and the odds are overwhelming. Enter Dr. Evianna Talirr.

When a brilliant scientist gets a letter from herself about faster-than-light travel, she doesn't know what to believe. The equations work, but her paper is discredited - and soon the criticism is more than scientific. Exiled by the establishment, she gets an offer to build her starship from an unlikely source. But in the heights of Venus and on a planet of another star, a secret is already being uncovered that will shake humanity to its foundations.

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.

The Morthans were physically and mentally superior. Descended from humans, they were now, literally, “more-than" human … and considered the human race to be little better than animals. They would stop at nothing to conquer the remaining human-controlled worlds. Docked for repairs after a harrowing battle with a Morthan ship, Jonathan Korie and his crew discover they have a Morthan imp aboard—a Morthan weapon so quick they have no chance of catching it, so clever they have no hope of outsmarting it and so deadly they have no choice but to try.

On the barren surface of an asteroid, located deep in the galaxy beneath the unbearable light of the Kefahuchi Tract, lie three objects: an abandoned spacecraft, a pair of bone dice covered with strange symbols, and a human skeleton. What they are and what they mean are the mysteries explored and unwrapped in Light, M. John Harrison's triumphant novel.

Becky Cooper isn’t exceptionally intelligent, she isn’t exceptionally brave -- she is however, competent. And that’s something circumstances demonstrate that you can’t have enough of.

As the conflict in the asteroid belt escalates, Luca finds herself seeking out the help of Athena, the QI on Earth. Together they hatch a complex plan to end the power of the Van Heilding family. Meanwhile, resistance to the ongoing power grab by the Xiang Zu Corporation is gaining traction in Elektra, a quadruple asteroid system and the second most populous sector of the Belt. Miranda, Scott, and Cyrus find themselves being dragged into this fight following rumors that the QI, stolen en route to New World One, has resurfaced in the hands of the rebels.

Ian Cormac was raised to adulthood during the end of the war between the human Polity and the vicious arthropoid race the Prador. In Neal Asher's Shadow of the Scorpion, Cormac is haunted by childhood memories of a sinister scorpion-shaped war drone and the burden of losses he doesn't remember. In the years following the war, he signs up with Earth Central Security and is sent out to help either restore or simply maintain order on worlds devastated by Prador bombardment.

This star system is burning down. Seaman Jake Price's "betters" have failed the people of the Steele System, so he's taking matters into his own hands. Darkstream has tricked the public into believing the Quatro are the enemy, but the company has already sold the system's security to the true enemy: the Progenitors. Now, Jake is calling on everyone who remembers what it means to fight out of duty instead of money. If they can't stop Darkstream in time, the system will burn.

He dreamed of reaching the stars, but everythig has a price… Ethan develops the first warp bubble technology to break the light speed barrier. Excited by his achievement, he builds the first spaceship size warp bubble drive. But blood drains from his face when he discovers the project sabotaged. It must be someone on the project team. Who can he trust? As they begin the ship’s maiden voyage, his worst fears are realised when someone murders his best friend and they detect another spaceship headed to their destination. Despairing, he sees his life-long dream slipping from his grip. Can ...

The operation aboard the Daedalus was a success, but the aftermath threatens to undo everything the Jax and his team have achieved. Separated from his ship, he is forced to work with Penny, the agent of a notorious black-market arms dealer. Their lifeboat has taken serious damage, and the only way they can survive the maelstrom is to journey to its center. Safety lies aboard an ancient ship. However, Jax immediately finds himself facing a new challenge at the behest of a new master - all the while avoiding the prior ones who want their pound flesh...and credit.

Outlink station Miranda has been destroyed by a nanomycelium, and the very nature of this sabotage suggests that the alien bioconstruct Dragon - a creature as untrustworthy as it is gigantic - is somehow involved. Sent out on a titanic Polity dreadnought, the Occam Razor, agent Cormac must investigate the disaster.

Still reeling from a former teammate's betrayal, Commonwealth operative Simon Kovalic and his band of misfit spies have no time to catch their breath before being sent on another impossible mission: to pull off the daring heist of a quasi-mythical alien artifact, right out from under the nose of the galaxy's most ruthless crime lord. But their cold war rivals, the Illyrican Empire, want the artifact for themselves. And Kovalic's newest recruit, Specialist Addy Sayers, is a volatile ex-con with a mean hair-trigger who might put the whole mission at risk.

Ursula has lived twice the normal human lifespan, courtesy of the latest technology. But now she’s struggling to find excitement and purpose, so signs up to the Polity’s military. She excels in weapons development, and progresses rapidly up the ranks. But after botching a powerful new ammunition test, she’s dismissed from service. Hunting for a simpler, more meaningful existence, the ex-soldier heads for the stars. And after founding a colony on the hostile planet of Threpsis, Ursula finally feels alive.

Commanders from six Star Trek crews are faced with the ultimate gamble, as they hurl themselves through a Gateway without any knowledge of what lay beyond. Each faces a personally unique challenge, struggling to find a way back to the ships and homes they left behind. Waiting behind at least one of the Gateways are the ageless Iconians, the primordial architects of the mysterious portals causing chaos throughout the Milky Way galaxy.

Gita Chithra, the captain of the intergalactic ship The Tempest, is used to leading her crew on simple retrieval and assistance missions. But when she receives a frantic distress call from Ri, the AI she trained from inception—making her like a daughter to Gita—she knows she’s in for something much more dangerous. Ri is trapped in the depths of Loki’s Ring, an artificial alien-made solar system, and says everyone in the vicinity has been infected and killed by a mysterious contagion. Gita and her team investigate, only to discover horrors at every turn.

A captain who'll take any job if there's enough money in it. A pilot with an agenda of her own. And a mechanic with an eye on the pilot. The crew of the Fives Full are just trying to make enough money to keep themselves in the black while avoiding the attention of a government so paranoid it's repealed Moore's Law. They're not looking for adventure in the stars...but they're not going to back down just because something got in their way.

On the primitive world Cull, a knight errant called Anderson hunts a dragon, not knowing that elsewhere is a resurrected brass killing machine, Mr Crane, assisting in a similar hunt. Learning that this old enemy still lives, agent Cormac pursues while scientist Mika begins discovering the horrifying truth about an ancient alien technology. Each day is a survival struggle for the people of Cull. Ferocious insectile monsters roam their planet as they try to escape to their forefathers' starship, still orbiting far above them.

Eigentlich hat Bob Johansson nie an ein Leben nach dem Tod geglaubt. Als er nach einem tödlichen Autounfall als Künstliche Intelligenz eines Raumschiffes wieder erwacht, ist er natürlich geschockt. Doch damit nicht genug - er ist der intelligente Computer von Neuman Probe, das heißt er wurde tausendfach repliziert. Bob und seine Kopien werden ausgeschickt, um in den Tiefen des Weltalls nach neuen, bewohnbaren Planeten zu suchen.

"Pellucidar" is a fantasy novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, part of his series about the fictional "hollow earth" land of Pellucidar. David Innes and his captive, a member of the reptilian Mahar master race of the interior world of Pellucidar, return from the surface world in the Iron Mole invented by his friend and companion in adventure Abner Perry. Emerging in Pellucidar at an unknown location, David frees his captive.