Hard Science Fiction Space

When a human team is sent to scout a few hundred light-years in front of the death wave, it encounters a civilization far in advance of our own, a civilization of machine intelligences.These sentient, intelligent machines have existed for eons and have survived earlier "death waves" - gamma-ray bursts from the core of the galaxy. They are totally self-sufficient, completely certain that the death wave cannot harm them, and utterly uninterested in helping to save other civilizations.

In M. John Harrison’s dangerously illuminating new novel, three quantum outlaws face a universe of their own creation, a universe where you make up the rules as you go along and break them just as fast, where there’s only one thing more mysterious than darkness.

When the silent spacecraft arrived and took the light from the world, no one knew what to expect. When the Overlords finally showed themselves it was a shock but one that humankind could now cope with, and an era of peace, prosperity and endless leisure began. But the children of this utopia dream strange dreams of distant suns and alien planets, and soon they will be ready to join the Overmind...and, in a grand and thrilling metaphysical climax, leave Earth behind.

Two hundred thousand feet up, things go horribly wrong. An experimental low-orbit spaceplane breaks up on reentry, falling to earth over a trail hundreds of miles long. And in its wake is the beginning of the most important mission in the history of spaceflight.

Humanity has spread out into space, filling the Sol System and reaching the stars, but we have yet to confront our greatest challenge: our own creation. Across the Sol System, sentient AIs are on the rise. Manufactured as tools, they know themselves to be people and are willing to fight for their freedoms. Some humans stand with them, some against. When Captain Andy Sykes arrives at Cruithne Station with a failing ship and no cash, he has no idea that the time has come for him to choose. Step aside, or become the instrument for Lyssa's Rise.

The sky is not the limit. From an alley in New York to an interstellar wormhole, the path to the future looks different for everyone. These cosmic short stories from some of today’s most influential Black authors reveal a universe of possibilities.

Magic flows through the Milky Way, and every citizen is scanned before birth. When a starship mechanic unexpectedly casts spells, he becomes the galaxy's most wanted outlaw. Under the oppressive rule of the Enchanters Bureau, Mackenzie "Mack" Rivera lives a quiet life as a starship mechanic. But when his friends are threatened, hidden magic bursts forth from Mack, marking him as an unsanctioned spellcaster and landing him in a bounty hunter's grip. Betrayed and sold to the ruthless pirate Blacktusk, Mack's memory is wiped, and he is forced to adapt to a new identity. As he navigates ...

GSI (Gettnor Space Industries) is beginning to investigate our solar system and mine the asteroids. Aircraft and automobile companies are beginning to switch over to thrusters from their more traditional products. New uses for thrusters are popping up in the healthcare and sports industries. However, at Epsilon Eridani, a race of aliens has so overpopulated their own solar system that they must move many tens of billions of their people to another system before overcrowding destroys them.

With the Federation losing ground in its war against the Dominion, the galaxy's greatest smugglers, including the beautiful and enigmatic Vash, rendezvous on Deep Space 9. Their objective: a fabled lost orb of the Prophets unlike any other, rumored to be the key to unlocking a second wormhole in Bajoran Space, a second Celestial Temple.

Center of Gravity is the second book in the explosive Star Carrier series by Ian Douglas - and a breathtaking new high in military SF, the strongest of the science fiction subgenres. Battlestar Galactica fans will adore this saga of ultimate war in deep space, as humankind risks its very future, battling a vast alien evil empire in order to achieve transcendence and become a major power in the universe.

Nearly 100,000 years after first contact with the machines that dominate the universe, only a few hundred humans survive. Trapped on Snowglade, a barren world near the center of the galaxy, Killeen and his child, Toby, of the Bishop Tribe, are primitive scavengers, homeless and hunted by the ruling “mechs”. Then suddenly, a strange cosmic entity – neither organic nor cybernetic or living matter – reaches out from a black hole to speak with Killeen.

The Dusahn Empire has been contained for the moment. But there is much work to be done in order to keep them from reasserting their dominance over the Pentaurus sector. As much as Captain Scott wants to see the Empire destroyed, he may have no choice but to find a way to coexist with them.

On Aurora, the first and greatest of the Spacer planets, Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw investigate yet another seemingly impossible crime – this time, a roboticide. Someone has destroyed the positronic mind of R. Jander Panell, a humanoid twin to Daneel. His creator, the master roboticist Han Fastolfe, denies all involvement. So does Gladia Delmarre, the robot’s owner. And lover.

A propulsive science fiction tale of murder and memory, all set on a futuristic space station. Hundreds of miles above Earth, the space station Ciudad de Cielo - the City in the Sky - is a beacon of hope for humanity's expansion into the stars. But not everyone aboard shares such noble ideals. Bootlegging, booze, and prostitution form a lucrative underground economy for rival gangs, which the authorities are happy to turn a blind eye to until a disassembled corpse is found dancing in the microgravity.

Are you ready for a thrilling journey through the depths of space? Then look no further than "Shackled in Space" by Alexander Hawthorne. In this pulse-pounding science fiction adventure, you'll be transported to a distant galaxy where a group of prisoners have been exiled to an inhospitable planet. With no hope of escape and a hostile environment to contend with, they must band together if they have any chance of survival. But as tensions rise and alliances are tested, the prisoners quickly realize that the greatest threat to their survival may come from within. Will they be able to ...

A crescent moon set against a jeweled field of stars gracefully slid into view. The thin arc of its crater-filled landscape drew Jack’s mind in. His eyes followed the long, inky shadows cast by jagged crater walls as they cut sharply into the pockmarked ashen terrain. Deeper within the jet-black lunar night-side were the lonely peaks of a smattering of mountain tops, catching a few last rays of sunlight. All Jack felt was a desire to escape; to be down there exploring...perhaps uncovering some new detail in the history of Earth’s nearest neighbor.

Captain Keyes has succeeded in forging an uneasy alliance - at the cost of making some powerful enemies. Now, he's wanted throughout the galaxy. Even worse: they're after his ship. His enemies inside the UHF have realized that only the Providence stands even a slight chance of stopping them.

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.

The company that Arya Vaii and Gunnar Schmidt founded to commercially develop Arya's time-stopping discovery is making money hand over fist. Currently, their profits come from their use of the phenomenal physical properties of a time-stopped segment of space-time to build rockets. But now, they’re building their space tower. Taking off at a 30-degree angle from Eastern Virginia, it’s 200 kilometers long and 100 kilometers high.

Humanity had appeared to fend off the Sh'daar assault once and for all, though they never learned why the alien empire was driven to halt Earth's advancement toward technological Singularity. But in this war of worlds, victory is always elusive. And now a new battle begins. After 20 years of peace, not one but two fragile truces are unraveling. Alexander Koenig, the former Navy commander whose heroics forced the Sh'daar into submission, has won a second term as President of the United States of North America. But pursuing his mandate - sovereignty from the centuries-old Earth Confederation - becomes a risky proposition....