Science Fiction Virtual Reality

It’s Victorian London. China Town A crisis is about to explode. Ghosts are marauding the merchants. Merchants are being murdered in ghastly ways. But only certain items are being stolen. Why? And what need to ghosts have of physical Things? None of it makes sense. Detective Dee is asked to help solve this growing Puzzle and trend of violence. But how do you stop marauders who Are not ghosts, and yet can materialize And vanish like one?

Overworld. It's more than just the world's most popular e-sport - for thousands of VR teams around the globe, Overworld is life. It means fame and fortune, or maybe it's a ticket out of obscurity or poverty. If you have a connection to the Internet and four friends you trust with your life, anything is possible.

Fearing the consequences of his transformation, Verren reluctantly begins the journey back to Praetoria with Allyssida at his side. His restored youth and newfound abilities come with a devastating price—one that threatens both his life and their future together. When mercenaries intercept them, Verren must face not only his deteriorating condition but increasingly disorienting visions of possible futures. With his son Nyren rushing to meet them and time running out, Verren races to reach safety before his condition worsens beyond recovery. Can he protect Allyssida while fighting against ...

This collection contains the previously unreleased short Geo Gets Some VR Therapy, bringing Wes's adventures to a new hero! Wes is a bit of a Virtual Reality Junkie... ...but things are getting a tad bit confusing. Wes works at a high-tech startup, but what he really wants to do is work on the VR system he's been developing in his apartment. For a shy introvert like Wes, actually chatting up some of the gorgeous and entirely unobtainable women at his office is a virtual impossibility. Well, maybe not in Virtual Reality! After his college roommate sends him some special software updates, Wes...

Two novellas set in Aliette de Bodard’s award-winning, critically acclaimed Xuya universe, a timeline where Asia became dominant, and where the space age has Confucian galactic empires of Vietnamese and Chinese inspiration. Contains The Citadel of Weeping Pearls and The Tea Master and the Detective.

On Christmas Eve, 2017, the life of Russian-American artist Nikita Nataniel Kuznetsov changes beyond recognition. He’s plagued with a deadly bacterial infection that sends him off to the afterlife. Before he can move on to the other side, he must stand trial that takes place in a concert hall, attended by an invisible audience. As he sits at his piano, he is compelled to watch a 3D movie of his life, allowing him to relive meaningful events: his miserable childhood at a boarding school in the USSR of the 70s, his rise to stardom, his run-ins with the KGB, and a fateful breakup from his ...

Unholy conspiracy or scientific sensation?For centuries, the occult society AETERNA has guarded an incredible secret: The Shrine of the Black Flame, an artifact as old as the Earth and as sinister as the apocalypse in the darkest prophecies. Now, the supernatural power of the shrine seems unleashed — with fatal consequences for all life on earth. Interpol investigator Isabella Cassini is on the trail of the secret circle and tries to prevent the worst, while quantum physicist Dr. Daniel Slovak hunts the source of a mysterious burst of neutrinos. Yet, he has no idea that these are the ...

String Theory.Quantum Mechanics.Joey Ramone.Zoe Stanton’s life used to be normal. Which is to say normal, but by no means average. Then her mother died and with her passing came the era of the new normal; one that was anything but.And now her father was gone too.Zoe arrived home from school one afternoon to discover her father missing and his basement office in ruin. What’s more, there was a curious new addition to the Stanton family home. An old utility closet had mysteriously transformed into a portal to the infinite. Zoe was about to venture deep into the weird world of quantum theory.

Jerrell Hawkins has a plan. He’s going to marry Nadine Hartwell, study magic at University, and serve his kingdom in the ongoing war in the prestigious Orichalcum Company led by the hero of the realm. To do this, he needs to obtain a Class. When his plan to create a new, powerful spellcasting class fails, he fears all is lost. Then an enemy sleeper agent burns down his world and Nadine is infected with lycanthropy.

Classic Cyberpunk with some refreshing twists Set in a dystopian future, humanity has escaped the decaying physical landscape of Earth by transferring its collective conciseness into the digital world known as the Cyberside. Though designed to be a utopia, the Cyberside has quickly devolved into a chaotic, dangerous digital landscape. The story follows two main characters: a monster hunter, James Reynolds, and an "information vampire", Matilda. James has lived his entire life in the Cyberside as his stoic, no-nonsense persona, “Taciturn.” Matilda, on the other hand, is a frenzied bundle...

Death is burning with deadly heat and fumes towards them. They stand on the edge of a tall skyscraper's roof, a raging fire roaring towards them. There is no escape. They take each other’s hands and kiss for the last time before they choose to leap to their deaths together. Twist! They are rescued. An older dog, blind in one eye, limps across a lonely street, thinking it is safe. Suddenly a roaring engine is heard; a drunken driver crashes around a corner and weaves out of control for the helpless dog. Twist! The dog is saved. Neither the dog nor the young couple knows what just happened....

In the sixth thrilling installment of the Beyond Reality's Edge series, Breanna’s trials are just beginning … With her powers spiraling beyond her control and the enigmatic Sardo weaving his machinations, Breanna must navigate a perilous path between her humanity and the overwhelming force of the dark entity within her. As secrets unravel, alliances are tested, and enemies draw closer, yet Breanna's love for Rylo anchors her … but for how long? The Gorum Elder’s intentions push her to make impossible choices, while her growing power threatens to consume her entirely. Can Breanna ...

The lukewarm coffee tasted the same as it had yesterday. And the day before. And the twenty-seven days preceding that. Dr. Silas Roderick took a slow, deliberate sip, the bitter liquid doing little to rouse him from the persistent fog that clung to his mornings. Outside his window, the insistent honking of a taxi echoed the one from yesterday, its impatient rhythm a jarring counterpoint to the monotonous tick-tock of his grandfather clock – a clock that had always kept perfect time, until now. He glanced at the digital display on his microwave: 7:14 AM. The same time the delivery truck ...

The conflict against the Progenitor Order has come to an end after a near year-long struggle, but at a terrible cost: Drake has disappeared; the Alliance Council is powerless to act as unrest grows throughout Halcyon space; the Order moves to cement its hold over the galaxy; and whispers of betrayal sweep through the colony worlds, as tales run rampant about a deadly exchange between the Shadow Defence Force and the Zenith. The universe darkens, but all is not as it seems… Far from the relative safety of Halcyon space – on the outskirts of the Old Systems and dangerously close to the ...

"AWAKE is a thrilling speculative adventure, with an action-packed plot that never wavers..." - Lisa Butts for IndieReader "An original techno-psychological thriller that captures the essence and surrealism of dreams with a sinister edge..." - Lee Hall for Reedsy Discovery Plagued by nightmares, ever since an attack that left him scarred for life as a boy, Edward Morrison's only solace was computers. This obsession, over years in isolation, made him the most famous VR game designer in the world. Success gave Edward the chance to build a Dream Simulator for controlling nightmares, but when ...

Dream Breach: First Contact (The Dream Breach Series, Book 0) 🔹 What if your dreams weren’t just dreams? What if they were the key to unlocking the deepest mysteries of existence? Dr. Sandra Chen believes in facts, data, and logic. But when her sister Emily vanishes after working on a classified consciousness experiment, Sandra is forced to confront a terrifying possibility—what if reality isn’t what we think? At Greenstone Medical Center, coma patients exhibit impossible brainwave patterns—as if their minds are communicating across dimensions. As Sandra investigates, she ...

In a galaxy where survival is dictated by power and alliances, Breanna faces her toughest trials yet … With the peace accord fragile and her enemies growing bolder, she must endure the merciless Eelott training – designed to break spirits and forge assassins. But Breanna is no ordinary warrior … she's whole, defying every rule of the Gorum conditioning. As secrets of her past resurface, Breanna discovers untapped powers far beyond her implants and modifications – abilities that could shift the balance of the cosmos. But such strength comes at a cost, and mastering it requires ...

Earth’s expanding population brings all sorts of problems to our planet— Climate change… Increasing pollution… Struggles to feed the impoverished… Whereas these problems were ones that could be solved in the long term, there was something unforeseen that would threaten the immediate survival of humanity – something that would remain hidden until Earth’s population surpassed a critical point... On a mission to investigate the annihilation of every soldier at a base camp in Afghanistan, US Marine 1st Lt. Ashton Romano and his platoon are shocked at what they find – not only ...

Between Cade and Rae is an ancient wall so huge its edges are lost to memory. There’s no way through. But one precious stone brings them together to share their horrors of the past, and dreams of the future, and to shake their notions of what is false…and what is true. Wallflowers is an ethereal, alternate-reality short story that will get you thinking about the battles we choose to fight, and those we don’t, and the power of breaking through barriers for a better tomorrow.

Beyond reality lies a different world where survival hangs by a thread. Be brave and enter that illusive, unknowable place. Travel with me through the worlds of androids hiding from their owners -- cave-dwelling albinos afraid of the world -- security robots with itchy trigger fingers -- aliens in disguise and on the run -- asteroid miners alone and injured -- and ghostly women who may or may not be real. You'll be glad you took the trip. Six stories, six unique and totally different trips to the other side of reality: DELIVERING DEATH THE GUY IN THE CABIN NEXT TO MINE THE NEW KIDS ON THE ...