Hard Ships

Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance and Other Stories is Tobias S. Buckell's seventh short fiction collection and is comprised of 15 stories, several of which are original to the collection or were previously only available through his Patreon. This collection ranges from galactic adventures to intimate explorations of humanity—sometimes in the same story—rich with a sense of wonder and deft storytelling.

After the cradle was lost, humankind expanded across the Orion Arm of the Milky Way. Centuries of conflict followed, but peace returned under the rule of the Commonwealth. Now, the enormous world settling starships of the past have been recommissioned, and the Astraeus has set sail to find new worlds at the centre of the galaxy. Not long into the journey, Lizabeth Denning witnesses a horrific murder and sees the wrong man framed. And to make matters worse, the ship begins to experience violent tremors. In a race against time, the passengers must find the killer and repair the ship before ...

In the final days of World War II, the Allies ransacked Berlin, but they failed to capture one of the most vital members of Adolf Hitler’s inner circle. SS Obergruppenfuhrer Hans Kammler helped to engineer Auschwitz, but he was also a liaison with silent partners whose technological wonders nearly helped the Nazis win the war - the alien species the Germans called the Eidechse. More than seven decades later, US Navy SEAL Mark Hunter has witnessed the impossible, an unidentified flying object destroying a North Korean compound used to develop weapons of mass destruction.

On a voyage toward the boundaries of the known universe, nine misfit academics seek out first contact with a shadowy alien race. But another enigma is the Nightflyer itself, a cybernetic wonder with an elusive captain no one has ever seen in the flesh. Soon, however, the crew discovers that their greatest mystery - and most dangerous threat - is an unexpected force wielding a thirst for blood and terror.... Also included are five additional classic George R. R. Martin tales of science fiction that explore the breadth of technology and the dark corners of the human mind.

"I LOVED THE IMAGINATION OF THIS AUTHOR!" ~ Satisfied Kindle Reader "FIVE STARS!" ~ Multiple Fans "ALICE CROWLEY IS ONE OF OUR GREATEST LIVING WRITERS!" ~ Author G. Taylor In this 5K-word swollen and throbbing erotic short story, a woman named Jeanine joins her husband on a swinger couple's cruise, only Jeanine is suddenly blamed for stealing an emerald necklace from the ship's most executive passenger. Now it's a race against time as Jeanine and a handsome PI named Bridge Hoffa must find the true culprit in the theft. As the evidence begins to mount, it now appears as if that priceless ...

A side trip to an unknown star system, just to satisfy Petra's curiosity, ends well enough, but when they leave, they're caught up in a vortex of corrupted space and time. Managing to exit star drive space at the very last second, Jodi and Petra find themselves marooned, fifty light years away from the nearest star. Decades, possibly centuries away from anywhere, travelling at light sub light speeds. Beside them is their probable destiny. A conglomeration of six starships, all intermingled across time, space, and multiple continuums. All caught up in an unresolved vortex, a state of being ...

A thief turned spy, turned bounty hunter, turned hero! After surviving an all-out implosion of catastrophic proportions following the failed fusion of twin stars Mira A and B in a class B Supernova, the people of galaxy Proxima Centauri have pressed forward with dreams and hopes of finally living in peace. But for Bounty Hunter Steel Reign, the clock of destiny is speeding ahead at a steadfast pace as he desires to hunt down a group of rogue super-soldiers before they can plot against King William Derry and his kingdom on planet Fabricius.

On a voyage toward the boundaries of the known universe, nine misfit academics seek out first contact with a shadowy alien race. But another enigma is the Nightflyer itself, a cybernetic wonder with an elusive captain no one has ever seen in the flesh. Soon, however, the crew discovers that their greatest mystery - and most dangerous threat - is an unexpected force aboard the ship wielding a thirst for blood and terror....

"The Fight of the Good Ship Clarissa" is an experimental short story by Ray Bradbury. It was first published in the Winter 1940 edition of Futuria Fantasia, credited as "by one who should know better". The story begins with the space rocket Clarissa being nine days out from Venus, while “the members of the crew were also out for nine days”. The narrative then morphs into an incoherent "stream of consciousness", where various scenarios of bizarre wordplay briefly follow one another.

Trevor Gray has been stripped of his command of the starship America and is unsure what to do with his life. Having dedicated so much of himself to the service, he knew following the super-AI Konstantin’s advice could have severe consequences. He just never thought he would be out of the fight. Because that’s what Earth is in: a fight against a sinister alien force so technologically advanced that there seems little hope. That’s why he disobeyed his orders in the first place - to figure out a way to stop them. But now he’s beached.

A space portal to remote colonies held by Earth is captured by a hostile species, which wants to place a toll on it. While authorities on Earth and considering whether to wage war, they manage to capture an alien spaceship, and hand it over to a group of scientists for military research. Will the scientists succeed in discovering any secrets that will give humanity the upper hand in the impending conflict?