Space Humor

Even an AI needs a day off once in a while. The Trixone and Rawtenuga wars continue to keep getting bigger, and as the Imperator’s primary AI, Jane is always in the thick of things. But comments of late have started her thinking about how even an AI can get stressed. Today is Halloween. And Jane’s having a day off. What could possibly go wrong? [This is a short story set on the last day of the events of Lieutenant Commander Spacemage.] The Hunter Imperium Universe Is best read in this order: The Hunter Legacy Hero at Large Hunted Hero Hunting Send in the Hero Make or Break the Hero Hail...

In Saucer Holler, the crew come back to Earth to have some babies and catch up on some well-deserved R&R. Babies attract mother-in-laws, though, and Bob has one for the books. The crew of the Gene are off to take Joanna’s new friend home in Roo the Day. Finding derelicts with no survivors gets them down, and one of them brings Topper to a crisis of conscience. When they find a ship that looks like Zoom built it, Bob hires the builder.

Captain Willard Phule has whipped his troops into shape, turning Phule's Company from the laughingstock of the Legion into...a crack team of casino security guards. Now his company is deployed to help an underdeveloped planet. And what better way to utilize their major area of expertise - goofing off - than to turn the planet into the biggest intergalactic playground ever?

After two years of searching, Marvin has one last night to find proof of alien life. Instead he gets drunk with his clone Reggie. Marvin is such a failure as an archaeologist and has such a hangover that he can’t even see straight let alone crawl home. Will his parents fire up the spaceship and take off without him? And if they do wait for Marvin, does he have to take his clone back to earth? What are people going to think of Marvin when they find out Reggie is one atmosphere short of an ‘M’ class planet? Suddenly a little green man is pointing a ray gun at him. Marvin no longer gives...

Lyla Cowan is a force to be reckoned with. She’s tough, ruthless when she needs to be, and intolerant of bullies. While at the same time she’s making sure colonists and refugees have what they need. ‘You broke it, you bought it’ has a whole new meaning when two thirds of the galactic core is affected. She started this path as a lowly paid mercenary. Now she’s running the third largest militia in the League of Worlds. The Unbound became bound. To each other, and to the work. But the work is changing, and change begun cannot be stopped. Sometimes to continue on, you must first ...

As the Synth-Hastur begin to exterminate life in the Milky Way, the crew of the Deus Ex faces the monumental challenge of stopping their advance. Yet, as they embark on their mission, they discover the galaxy they once knew has undergone unexpected changes. An old adversary resurfaces with an agenda that will turn the Galactic Federation itself against them. On the run from everything they've ever known, grappling with hidden truths and conflicting loyalties, the shakedowners with a knack for the unconventional embark on a journey to safeguard the galaxy.

While Veronica is searching for a system to call home, she finds one that was torn up a long time ago. Bob gathers the fleet to go check it out, but Gene balks at the idea. Does Gene know something Bob doesn’t?

The Galactic Empire is missing its most precious resource: a sense of humor. Dax Bidet is just another unemployed, thirty-something slacker still living with his parents. Along with his best friend Buck, he spends his days making pranks and uploading them to social media. But things are about to take a drastic turn. When Dax and Buck are mistakenly abducted by aliens, they soon find themselves in a teeming galaxy sliding towards war. The only way to keep the peace is to regale the rebellious planets with… comedy. Dax has just been given the unenviable title of space clown. He has to ...

Thorn’s been dead for a thousand years. But for someone who can travel time, when you are is relative. He’s lived a long life, but is that all there is? He passed on Kali’s mantle to Bud, but does that mean the highers are done with him? All he wants is to join his wife in death, and find out if there really is an afterlife together. But since when has anything gone the way anyone wanted where highers are concerned? And on the eve of his death, just what could any of them want of him now? One thing is for sure though. He is, has been, and always will be, Thorn. The Hunter Imperium ...

Harlan is a science nerd whose hobby is searching for aliens. When he discovers a tiny anomaly in public data available from SETI researchers looking for extraterrestrial life, he wants to know more. Harlan is puzzled because he knows whatever created the anomaly is not a satellite. He decides to investigate, despite being certain it is nothing. Using his telescope he is frustrated to find nothing more than a strange wobble he is unable to focus on. Dismissing it as nothing is too easy, and he grows certain something in earth orbit is generating the wobble and unusual SETI data. Deciding he...

Nestled among Seattle's skyscrapers, The Zephyr Holdings Building is a bleak rectangle topped by an orange-and-black logo that gives no hint of Zephyr's business. Lack of clarity, it turns out, is Zephyr's defining characteristic. The floors are numbered in reverse. No one has ever seen the CEO or glimpsed his office on the first (i.e., top) floor. Yet every day people clip on their ID tags, file into the building, sit at their desks, and hope that they're not about to be outsourced.

George Murdock has always been the tech go to guy. So when the prototype jump drive is ready for testing, it’s only right his ship is where it’s fitted. It’s the first test of merging tech and magic. What could possibly go wrong? George knows when the chips are down, he’s still part of the alpha team, and they always go in at the shit end. But this time, nothing he’s done prepares him for what’s coming for him now. This time he’s alone, and to survive, he must become, the Imperium Knight. Grace Tapping was the girl who ran away from the Imperator. When she became a fighter ...

Readers embark on an enlightening journey through the vast cosmos of Space-Opera storytelling in "How to Write a Short Space-Opera Story: A Comprehensive Guide to Crafting Compact Cosmic Epics." This comprehensive guidebook demystifies the process of writing riveting interstellar narratives in compact form, making it an invaluable resource for both new and experienced writers. The book serves as a reliable navigational aid in your storytelling voyage, from understanding the genre's essence to devising thrilling plots, crafting relatable characters, constructing fascinating alien worlds, and...

On a visit to the bots, Bob and Nikki had to rescue some folks. Andre found a girlfriend and then rescued her, a knight in shining hull metal. Come watch the crew deal with what their shepherd sends them.

Long after Earth's destruction, Humanity is an endangered species ... When freighter pilot Dalton Thorne reunites with his old friend Kota at Little Earth's best noodle shop, he's expecting a straightforward job. Instead, he finds himself embroiled in a centuries-old mystery that could change humanity's place in the universe forever. Little Earth is a decaying city carved into an alien planet where humans live as refugees. Beneath its neon-lit streets and crowded markets lies a secret: fragments of Earth's past, preserved by a mysterious race of aliens and hidden from the ruling Consortium.

In 2515, 100 years before Hero at Large, the Yorktown Recon fleet is scouting the Cuba system in Earth sector, at the beginning of the last big sector war. A broken fighter pilot makes a choice, without knowing living or dying has consequences to the future. The Hunter Legacy Universe Is best read in this order: The Hunter Legacy Hero at Large Hunted Hero Hunting Send in the Hero Make or Break the Hero Hail the Hero Burnside's Killer Hire a Hero Jane's Christmas Hero to the Rescue Hero at the Gates The Long Road to Gaia Home is Where the Hero Is Hero in Darkness Hero to the End A.I. Destiny...

The fleet needs to check into a beacon they found, but Bob thinks it might be more than it seems. Either way, it’s a hazard to navigation that needs to be seen to. Ride with the BSR fleet, as they find new friends, and old heroes.

The stories you’ve dreamed of; the people you crave to meet; or would love to be. The aliens who’d make you shiver, or laugh. The huge risks of guiding your spacecraft here, or there. The adventures you’d have if only you had the nerve… Or the utter romance of doing that… The humour of orbital disasters and alien conflicts; the perils of ill-advised time-interference; the sheer romance of null-gravity love; the terrors of a leaky hull; the fear of a bullying boss when you’re a thousand light years beyond.; the choices you face in the big, black Vac. Mostly a laugh or a satisfied...

At 75 years old, John Perry is after a fresh start - so, naturally, he joins the army. Earth's military machine can transform elderly recruits, restoring their lost youth. But in return, its Colonial Defence Force demands two years of hazardous service in space. This is how Perry finds himself in a new body crafted from his original DNA. A genetically enhanced and upgraded new body, ready for battle. But upgrades alone won't keep Perry safe. He'll be fighting for his life on the front line as he defends humanity's colonies.

An eclectic collection of stories from the members of the North Alabama Science Fiction and Cake Appreciation Society. Earl, Bubba, and the Flying Hubcap -- by Louise Herring-Jones – Two Alabama good ol’ boys have a close encounter. Messenger -- by Dan Thompson – A wanderer arrives at an isolated village with news about the plague that devastated the world. Pink Eggs in a White Box -- by Michael Guillebeau – A lonely technician finds love in an unexpected place. Mother Gone -- by Nancy G. Swanner – Three children search for their kidnapped mother, unaware that there is magic ...