Military Space Opera

Humanity's thousand-year-old interstellar empire has been rotting from the inside for over a century, thanks to venal, corrupt, and power-hungry sovereigns from a dynasty many consider illegitimate. The latest in that lineage, an increasingly psychotic empress, is pushing her realm toward collapse as admirals and generals rebel against her rule. That rebellion quickly drags the once mighty Imperial Fleet into a devastating fratricidal conflict between factions.

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.

The first of the series. A millennium from now the future Empire needs a hero. Search terms today get the wrong website, in the future, it is a person from the past. Meet Gordon Rogers a retiring chemistry teacher and veteran fresh from the hospice, relocated to the future, to save the Empire. Can high school chemistry save the day? If you like a good homage story and Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers you want this book. “Gordon Rogers is one of the best action-filled, sci-fi adventures that I have ever read, and that is something coming from not only an avid reader of the genre but a ...

Set in the wake of a galaxywide war and the destruction of a human empire, The Dangerous Type follows the awakening of one of the galaxy's most dangerous assassins and her quest for vengeance. Entombed for 20 years, Raena has been found and released. Thallian has been on the lam for the last 15 years. He's a wanted war criminal whose entire family has been hunted down and murdered for their role in the galaxywide genocide of the Templars.

The Aftermath of a stunning victory—especially an unexpected, complete, and final victory—should be high-fives all around, listening to politicians give boring congratulatory speeches, and a well-deserved rest for the Merry Band of Pirates. Yes, the galaxy is still a freakin' mess, but that is nothing new, and for a change, that can be someone else's problem. Until, you know, something really bad happens, and only the Pirates can deal with the problem... Or not.

After 26,000 years the Void Wraith have returned. The Eradication has begun. Mankind’s outer colonies are disappearing. Without warning. Without a trace. Fleet command chalks the attacks up to pirates, but Captain Dryker of the UFC Johnston isn’t buying it. Humanity cannot stop them. Not without help. Captain Dryker’s only hope is to forge an alliance with mankind’s greatest enemy, the savage Tigris. One maverick captain, an unlikely crew, and an aging vessel are all that stand between humanity and the Eradication.

The full weight of the Terran Confederacy of Aligned Systems, long awaited, is finally arriving in Unified Council Space. Despite the original deployment having been sent to fight the Unified Council, things have changed drastically in the time it took the military forces to cross the Confederacy and the Long Dark. The Atrekna have arrived, the Precursor Autonomous War Machines have rebuilt, refit, and returned with new stratagems, and the Lanaktallan Unified Council has activated the remaining hundreds of millions of ships to try to hold off the Confederacy's vaunted Heavy Metal forces. ...

One human princess. Five Dangerous Aliens. A fate she never saw coming. They took me from my palace and called me queen. A kraken prince who wraps his tentacles around my throat like a vow. Two antlered warriors who share everything—including me. A cyborg with hands that make me forget what I’m fighting for. And the assassin hunting us all… who might be the only one who truly sees me. They’ll kill for me. Obsess over me. Ruin me. And the scariest part? I think I want them to. Celestial Sins is a why-choose alien space opera romance packed with court intrigue, ruthless warriors, and ...

Lyla Cowan is still fighting the good fight. Because a mercenary’s work is never done. She’s been the victim of lies, and has come back from that. She’s taken a stand against bullies, and holds firm to that. But what if the line between truth and lies, bully and victim, is blurred by reality and myth? Would you take up the cause of the Undead? The Hunter Imperium Universe Is best read in this order: The Spacemage Chronicle Yesterday's Spacemage Today's Spacemage Tomorrow's Spacemage The Hunter Legacy Prequels 1969 Was That You? One Last Battle NPC PHQ The Hunter Legacy Hero at Large ...

The Council/Confederacy Conflict is rapidly gaining speed, with hundreds of stellar systems burning and under attack. The Unified Council, having struck at the Confederacy with bioweapons and having made great gains, is unprepared for the Confederacy's counter-attack and the arrival of "Heavy Metal" in dozens of systems. Terrible weapons and projects are being released by both sides, the autonomous war machines have regrouped and returned, and everyone is caught in the middle of the largest conflict since the First Precursor War. The burden of Citizenship falls on Confederate citizens as ...

Lyla Cowan knows that the ties that bind the most are the ones you put on yourself. But when you get them untied, there are still the ones others put on you. Freedom from your own ties, though, can be a powerful thing. And being free of them gives you a different perspective on what else is going on. The Terran situation is still unresolved. The Ralnor situation might be even worse than she thought. And now she has to deal with being politically part of the Imperium and League of Worlds. All while dealing with the chaos her new system has brought her. Can she now rise to the challenge of ...

A century ago, the world fell - but the war never ended. Now, the survivors of the apocalypse are reunited, and a new fight begins. A century after the war that destroyed the planet, the UEC and GPS remain locked in a generational conflict. Split between a vast orbital space station and a base on the moon, neither faction can return to the scorched and irradiated planet.

The Imperium grip is slipping, thanks to Will's unexpected ability as a Void Drifter. But in revealing his abilities, Will may have put his home planet, a backwater most of the galaxy didn't even know existed, on the frontlines. But Earth is not as defenseless as it seems. An enigmatic billionaire, aware of the true nature of the Imperium's galactic menace, has been secretly building a defensive fleet. Still more fleets have been secretly constructed in the far reaches of the galaxy.

Soldiers of the Terran Armor Corps wage war across the stars. Wired into mechanized battle suits, they fight the terrifying battles that must be won, no matter the cost. Their deeds are legend, their reputation feared by the enemies of Earth and her allies, but how the Corps forges young men and women into mighty warriors is shrouded by mystery. Roland Shaw lost his parents to war; he volunteers for the Armor Corps to honor their memory and discover just how far he can push himself.

In the unforgiving northern frontiers of the Roman Empire, Centurion Marcus Scaeva and Cohors III of Legio IX Hispana battle rebellious tribes, unaware that a far more advanced alien civilization, the Progenitors, is silently observing. This ancient alien race, seeking a physically superior and aggressive species for their own galactic "Project Legio," identifies the disciplined and resilient Roman soldiers as ideal candidates. While Scaeva navigates treacherous ambushes and the ambitious plans of his superiors, the Progenitors meticulously study Roman tactics, physiology, and societal ...

The war will come - it is inevitable. After centuries of struggle, the ISF Intrepid has finally brought its colonists to New Canaan, a star system better than any they imagined. They made landfall and began to build their new home, far from the troubles of Sol and the Inner Stars. Yet no one in the Orion Arm has forgotten that the colonists possess the most valuable technology known to humankind, least of all Tanis Richards - as she secretly prepares to defend New Canaan against any and all aggressors.

The Merry Band of Pirates offered the bad guys a ceasefire. We won’t mess with them, if they don’t mess with us. Easy, right? No. The aliens chose to do things the hard way. So, the Pirates are racing around the galaxy to clean up the threat to Earth. The infant UN Navy has their own mission with the Alien Legion: Get humanity some allies in the fight. And the Ethics & Compliance Office might have to do something...ethical. Unless they can find a way around it.

FIRESTORM BECKONS YOU INTO THE DEPTHS OF THE COSMOS... Captain Aaron Decosta, a decorated starship commander, embarks on a clandestine mission across the uncharted expanses. But fate has a twist in store when his vessel is swallowed by a cosmic maelstrom, leaving him and his crew stranded on a world shrouded in mystery and danger. Back on Earth's galactic frontier, Colonel Michael Decosta receives the harrowing news of his son's disappearance. Bound by blood and honor, he defies the chain of command, embarking on a perilous journey to the Bone Yard—a place where space anomalies distort ...

The Earth is gone. On the planet Focal Point, far from home, humanity must rebuild the society they lost. Under the leadership of Colonel Joe Hunt, there are two priorities: rescue the slaves held in bondage amongst the cosmos and ensure humans have a voice in the Grand Marshall’s new Empire. But all is not well. A last-minute diplomatic mission to the planet Axis reveals an unexpected threat that poses a risk to all life in the universe. To defeat this danger, humanity must join forces with Etelainen and Pohjois in one final battle for peace in the galaxy.

From the dawn of history onward, commanding the most powerful ship around has been a dream of admirals, sultans, emperors, kings, generalissimos, and sea captains everywhere. For what the intimidation factor alone doesn't achieve, a massive barrage from super-weapons probably will.