Showing titles in Hard Science Fiction

Sera leads a simple life. A little smuggling, some drinking contests, and captaining her star freighter, Sabrina. But when she picks up a mysterious shipping container on Coburn Station, things begin to go wrong. She finds herself at odds with The Mark, a dangerous pirate organization that wants the cargo on her ship. Inside the container she not only finds a woman, but a secret thought lost millennia ago.

The idea was simple enough for the alien race who took Aneka Jansen from Earth in 2011. Take a human, make her into a perfect tool to observe humanity from the inside, and so determine how best to advance this young race into their future. Unfortunately for them and her, their plans went awry, and Aneka became the only survivor on a dead ship marooned in deep space.

The next big thing in artificial intelligence is here. Codenamed Cronus, the machine is capable of having its own thoughts and ideas - an absolute dream come true, until it wasn’t. When Cronus responds with the word “No” to a specific task it is assigned, Anagnorisis Technologies brings in Gilles Guattari to investigate. His combined background in psychiatry, psychology, and AI research makes him their best hope in evaluating Cronus, and determining if the machine is only malfunctioning or if it has become something more.

An epic story about war, peace, and the price of freedom, Forever Free reintroduces listeners to William Mandella - who has been living peacefully on the planet called Middle Finger, a refuge for humans who refuse to become part of the group mind known as Man. But after decades of this peace, Mandella and others are tired of living like zoo animals. So they steal a starship - and embark upon a voyage that will forever change their understanding of the universe, and themselves.

Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko...Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman.

It is twenty years after the catastrophic war between the US and China that brought down the old American political order. A new party has emerged in the US, one that’s held power for over a decade. Efforts to tighten its grip have resulted in mounting violent resistance. The American president has control of the media, but he is beginning to lose control of the streets. Many fear he’ll stop at nothing to remain in the White House. Suddenly, he collapses in the middle of an address to the nation. After an initial flurry of misinformation, the administration reluctantly announces his death.

How can a colony on Mars survive when the greatest danger on the planet is humanity itself? All contact is lost with the first privately funded colony on Mars during a long and destructive sandstorm. Satellite imagery of the aftermath shows extensive damage to the facility. The 54 colonists who called it home are presumed dead.

The Earth has less than 100 years of livable conditions. A new war divides people into factions: preaching drifts into space in God's hands and trying to save humanity by moving to a long-forgotten colony. A small group visited the colony, but what they found there could never have been predicted, not even by Vist. Who is Vist? The last survivor of their race, the only one who makes survival possible...before the world dies.

Behold the orphan. Born into a world that is not a world. A digital being grown from a mind seed, a genderless cybernetic citizen in a vast network of probes, satellites, and servers knitting the Solar System into one scape, from the outer planets to the fiery surface of the Sun. Since the Introdus in the 21st century, humanity has reconfigured itself drastically. Most chose immortality, joining the polises to become conscious software.

The Barsoom Project is the direct sequel to 1981's Dream Park. Eviane's first visit to the state-of-art amusement arena Dream Park ended in disaster: the special effects had seemed more real than life ...until the holograms she was shooting with live ammunition turned out to be solid flesh and blood ...and very, very dead.

From the moment Sam Newman and fourteen others awaken inside metal coffins next to the burning wreckage of a spacecraft, they face a constant struggle to stay alive on a seemingly uninhabited planet light-years from home. Worse, the last any of them remember, they were back home on Earth—at a time when interstellar travel was little more than a distant pipe dream. Survival means finding out who-or what-brought them to this place. Yet what few answers they find amidst the steaming jungles and the ruins of that distant world defy all logic or sanity.

The Eternity War series is an explosive tale of elite marines, deep-space exploration and warring galactic empires. The soldiers of the Simulant Operations Programme are mankind's elite warriors. Veterans of 1000 battles across 100 worlds, they undertake suicidal missions to protect humanity from the insidious Krell Empire and the mysterious machine race known as the Shard. Lieutenant Keira Jenkins is an experienced simulant operative and leader of the Jackals, a team of raw recruits keen to taste battle.

Danika Silva can’t stand Lt. Greer Burns. Her roommate’s older brother may be sexy as hell, but he’s also a cold, unfeeling robot. She just wants to graduate and forget about her scowling superior. But when a dangerous mistake lands Danika on probation - under Greer’s watch - she’s forced to interact with the big, hulking jerk. Call him daily to check in? Done. Ride shotgun in his cruiser every night? Done. Try not to climb into his giant, muscular lap and kiss him? Umm....

Destry's life is dedicated to terraforming Sask-E. As part of the Environmental Rescue Team, she cares for the planet and its burgeoning eco-systems as her parents and their parents did before her. But the bright, clean future they're building comes under threat when Destry discovers a city full of people that shouldn't exist, hidden inside a massive volcano. As she uncovers more about their past, Destry begins to question the mission she's devoted her life to, and must make a choice that will reverberate through Sask-E's future for generations to come.

A time to recover. A chance to make a new ally. A brief respite to repair and rearm. An opportunity for a people to regain their honor. For every civilization there comes a moment when a stand must be made against tyranny. The time has come for the Alliance to draw a line in the sand.

Silas visits his estranged grandfather's lakehouse in the aftermath of the deadly home invasion. What he discovers hidden below the floorboards triggers a mystery buried since the final trip to the Moon over fifty years earlier. Rory returns to her family home in Vermont to write her second novel, but fate has a different story in mind. Special Agent Waylen Brooks exposes a covert operation linked to the death of a retired astronaut. He soon finds out he's not the only one searching for answers and willing to kill for the truth.

A deadly cloud of spores has already infected and killed the inhabitants of two worlds. Now the plague is heading for Earth, threatening humans and aliens alike. Can either species be trusted to find the cure? Geneticist Marianne Jenner is immersed in the desperate race to save humanity, yet her family is tearing itself apart. Siblings Elizabeth and Ryan are strident isolationists who agree only that an alien conspiracy is in play. Marianne's youngest, Noah, is a loner addicted to a drug that constantly changes his identity.

Death-row inmate Russell Harris and nine other convicts are given the chance to save their lives by agreeing to travel as test subjects on the transporter. But when the first volunteer dies a gruesome death, it becomes clear to Russell and his comrades that the venture is little more than a merciless death mission on which they will all perish. The surviving Transporter project members find themselves on a new planet and establish a colony alongside a group of abandoned soldiers and scientists. But mortal peril approaches, and the battle for survival has only just begun.

When you don't know The Rules it's hard to stay safe. After a traumatic incident, Aster finds that her blood work comes back with some unusual readings. Unsurprising, as she's the last of an alien race called the Kibsu. But Aster doesn't know this. Immediately, Aster finds herself the focus of a hunt, with her mortal enemies, the Trackers, on one side, and the American government on the other. There seems to be nowhere she can run. But help often comes from the most unexpected quarter.

Death awaits the curious! Out along the rim of the galaxy hangs a loose configuration of some 60 stars known as the Faustian Chain. This whorl of sparkling suns is rich in planets and occupies an irregular volume of space some 20 light years in diameter. From an external viewpoint, the Chain presents a colorful display of plasma-streams, luminous nebulae and sparkling pinpoints of light.