System Fiction

Hal Mason's still going to find surviving the System Apocalypse challenging. While bringing in his latest fugitive, Hal's payday is interrupted by the translucent blue boxes that herald Earth's introduction to the System - a galaxy spanning wave of structured mystical energy that destroys all electronics and bestows game-like abilities upon mankind. With society breaking down and mutating wildlife rampaging through the city of Pittsburgh, those who remain will sacrifice anything for a chance at earning their next Level.

Marc's home from college on break, spending his time laughing about some of the crazy news stories he's found online, and gaming. When a message appears in his line of sight, blocking out absolutely everything else, he nearly freaks out. The message warns that the world has been in a variant Natural Laws beta test for millennia and that it's about to revert to the norms.

Last I remember I was saving my high school crush from the path of an oncoming truck. Now I'm a skin-and-bones weakling wearing nothing but my hospital gown. Oh yeah, the world is also full of monsters, and I'm the only human left. It turns out a godlike System evacuated humanity but decided to leave the vegetable in the bed. I could crawl into a corner and wait to get eaten by a kobold, but after years of being asleep, I have a new appreciation for feeling alive. I'll have to find the tenacity to survive, the courage to fight, and the strength to face some dark truths about myself.

The Connected System has come to Earth and adapted humanity to be able to survive and try to Advance and Thrive in the Connection. With new Classes and Abilities; Lochlan Brady, his family and the rest of humanity will face challenges and threats from myths and beyond. Loch and his daughters have survived their first Dungeon in the newly changed world and come out far stronger. Just wanting to get home, and start searching for the missing Kelly, they come across other survivors in Northwood.

All Systems Red is the tense first science fiction adventure novella in Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries. For fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans.

Wrench is a Fixer. Someone born to maintain, fix, and correct any and every issue that could go wrong in the habitat he lives in. Someone who makes sure he and his fellow humans can remain on display and entertain their owners as any good human pet would. At least, that’s what he was born to be. He’s taken a different route and joined a resistance faction to help free humanity to become more than just pets to an alien race.

Since her first day on the Miami Herald, rookie reporter Deborah Jones has been agitating for a shot at one particular story. William Craig is on death row, convicted of killing Senator Jack O'Neill's only son. There is no question of his guilt. Craig murdered the young man who was acquitted of raping his granddaughter. There are only five weeks and one day until his execution. And Craig has not given a single interview. She wants to know what prompted Craig to exact revenge.

The Leviathan is dead. Humanity has won the global mission but the price has been too high. Japan is in ruins, Honshu lies partially underwater, and the capital has been destroyed. The country has been left without leadership and tens of millions have perished, while monsters continue to hunt down the survivors. Ivan Susanin heads to the submerged Toyo as part of an expedition to find the missing raven, help evacuate the civilians and slay as many monsters as possible. And that's only on the surface.

Fight, survive, adapt, and rely only on yourself. That is Derek’s creed and what's got him through the System Integration on Earth. Everything changed when the System came. Cute bunnies and beautiful butterflies became savage killing machines. Then the Invaders arrived with a single goal: to obtain ownership of this new habitable planet. War has raged ever since. None of this mattered much to Derek, aside from making living a little more perilous.

After saying goodbye to his life on earth, he never expected to find a brand new world still awaiting for him. One where immortals flew through the clouds and ancient evils hid below the surface. One where fables, myths, and legends filled every corner. One where he could finally start anew. Now, however, John is about to learn a valuable lesson, for any place humanity rules will always be the same - a domain where sin and ambition can only be tamed by power. Will he have the strength to walk this road on his own or will he be unable to heal the old wounds hidden deep within his heart?

Jay Luckrun has many interests: street dancing, anime, action movies, comedy, and dashing across rooftops to the point where his bullies nicknamed him Rooftop Weirdo. After struggling to confront his untouchable high school crush at her seventeenth birthday party, Jay adds another interest to his list—Dungeon Crawling in the face of the apocalypse. Jay meets a divine creature who chooses him to become a Champion. Someone with a leveling System, stats, skills, access to other dimensions containing dungeons filled with supernatural loot, and magical powers that’ll alter reality as they know it.

After a successful auction, the young Prince Edgar requested Derek’s help on an issue that concerned the safety of the entire Kingdom of Cydaria. A new, level 250 raid dungeon appeared, and Edgar needed the kingdom’s elite to help clear it before the unstable dungeon overflowed, or even worse, broke. Leaving his shop in the trusting hands of Malorie, and with everyone’s insistence that he go, Derek agreed to the prince’s request and joined him and the others on the raid. However, the dungeon wasn’t what anyone was expecting, and when they went inside, they found that it was a trial dungeon.

It’s not easy being a System Traveler. Well, the traveling part is hard, at least. But once Derek got his feet under him, he hit the ground running, saving an entire area from a massive dungeon overflow in the process. He even found some companions to help ease the massive hole inside him formed from spending decades alone in the void.

It's been over a year since the System came to Earth, bringing blood and monsters in equal measure. Having left Whitehorse, John and his team travel down to British Columbia, running into new dangers from aliens and humans alike. Faced with new challenges and new enemies, John and his friends seek to free human settlements from Galactic control in North America.

The System just keeps throwing new experiences at our MC and his friends. For example, our antisocial lone-wolf hero Kasp was awarded the title of Head of the Settlement by the System. However, he has no intentions of being a leader.

Claire's home has burned to the ground. Displaced and plagued by nightmares, Claire can't rest as she continues her quest to eliminate every target. And though she gets stronger by the day, so do her targets. Her skills will be put to the limit as she does everything in her power to reach Target 75.

Someone born to maintain, fix, and correct any and every issue that could go wrong in the Habitat that he lives in to make sure he and his fellow humans can remain on display and entertain their owners as any good human pet would. Or at least, that's what he was born to be. Now, after getting a second chance along with a superpower that lets him alter anything and everything in regard to his own body, he's trying to fix his life. To live his life for himself with the goal of actually enjoying it, all while being thrust ever deeper into a situation he didn't expect.

Love knows no bounds… In this science fiction anthology, love has no limits across space and time. From Artificial Intelligence, aliens, and intergalactic royalty. From headstrong characters fighting the status quo to those struggling to keep afloat in a tumultuous world. One way or another, their love will survive. Featuring stories by Frank Sawielijew, Kevin A. Davis, Wris Kaye, David W. Landrum, E.B. Hunter, Lyle Hopwood, Amanda Barrett, Katie Kent, T.C. Mill, and Barend Nieuwstraten III. Graphic sexual content is included within this anthology.

In the years since the Annexation War, Cato has quietly spread throughout the System, watching, waiting, and building his forces. When the Sydean Lineage returns, he finally has a line to the Core, and once he can deal with the System Core, he can bring down the System for good. Of course, it isn’t so simple. The System-gods are aware of him now, powerful and ancient forces waiting to pounce on any mistake — and perfectly willing to murder millions of innocents for even a perceived injury against him.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there's an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can't have the planet, they're sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize. But there's something wrong with Murderbot; it isn't running within normal operational parameters.