Showing results for "Memories" in Science Fiction

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare travels to the Teixcalaanli Empire’s interstellar capital, eager to take up her new post. Yet when she arrives, she discovers her predecessor was murdered. But no one will admit his death wasn’t accidental – and she might be next. Now Mahit must navigate the capital’s enticing yet deadly halls of power, to discover dangerous truths. And while she hunts for the killer, Mahit must somehow prevent the rapacious Empire from annexing her home: a small, fiercely independent mining station.

When Earth failed, it sent out arkships to establish new outposts. So the spaceship Enkidu and its captain, Heorest Holt, carried its precious human cargo to a potential new paradise. Generations later, this fragile colony has managed to survive on Imir, eking out a hardy existence. Yet life is tough, and much technological knowledge has been lost. Then strangers appear, on a world where everyone knows their neighbour.

Hat, ribbon, bird rose. To the people on the island, a disappeared thing no longer has any meaning. It can be burned in the garden, thrown in the river or handed over to the Memory Police. Soon enough, the island forgets it ever existed. When a young novelist discovers that her editor is in danger of being taken away by the Memory Police, she desperately wants to save him. For some reason, he doesn't forget, and it's becoming increasingly difficult for him to hide his memories. Who knows what will vanish next?

Dying is easy. Coming back to life is hard. Miles Vorkosigan should know - having done both once already. Thanks to his quick-thinking staff and the artistry of a medical specialist, Miles' first death wasn't his last. But it does take some recovery, a fact he has been reluctant to admit. When he makes the mistake of returning too soon to duty, he finds himself summoned to face the security chief, Simon Illyan. But Miles' worst nightmares about Illyan are nothing compared to Illyan's own nightmares.

For the first time, all of the short fiction set in James S. A. Corey's New York Times best-selling Expanse series is available in this collection—including a brand-new novella.

In a cosy photography studio in the mountains between this world and the next, someone is waking up as if from a dream. A kind man will hand them a hot cup of tea and gently explain that, having reached the end of their life, they have one final task. There is a stack of photos on their lap, one for every day of their life, and now they must choose the pictures that capture their most treasured memories, which will be placed in a beautiful lantern. Once completed, it will be set spinning, and their cherished moments will flash before their eyes, guiding them to another world.

It is a simple question that is as profound as any we can ask: “Who am I?” Dr. Vikram Anthony is that rare person who believes the answer is relatively simple. I am my work; I am my skill; I am my mind. It is only when the noted surgeon faces his own mortality that the answer gets more complex. And the opportunity for a new life–a decidedly different life–opens a world of possibilities he’d never imagined.

In the colossal void of Shatterspace, besieged by bloodthirsty marauders and brimming with monstrous aberrations, the only constant is power: The deft will escape the slow. The clever will outwit the naïve. The strong will take from the weak. Axia wishes she could be grateful to have spent her life—or what little she remembers of it—on an asteroid so far from anything of interest that even the greediest spacers see fit to pass it by.

Katya deals in Authenticities, trading on nostalgia for a past long gone. But when she encounters a stranger who calls himself Johnny in the woods - even she can't say whether it's real or not.

Neffy is a young woman running away from grief and guilt and the one big mistake that has derailed her career. When she answers the call to volunteer in a controlled vaccine trial, it offers her a way to pay off her many debts and, perhaps, to make up for the past. But when the London streets below her window fall silent, and all external communications cease, only Neffy and four other volunteers remain in the unit. With food running out, and a growing sense that the strangers she is with may be holding back secrets, Neffy has questions that no-one can answer.

In northern Japan, overlooking the spectacular view Hakodate Port has to offer, Cafe Donna Donna has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than 100 years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. Translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot and featuring signature heart-warming characters and wistful storytelling, in Before Your Memory Fades, Kawaguchi once again invites the listener to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?

Memory is Copeland-Stark’s business. Yet after months of reconsolidation treatments at their sleek new flagship facility, Hope Nakano still has no idea what happened to her lost year, or the life she was just beginning to build with her one great love. Each procedure surfaces fragmented clues which erode Hope’s trust in her own memories, especially the ones of Luke. As inconsistencies mount, her search for answers reveals a much larger secret Copeland-Stark is determined to protect.

When Dallas Warden walked into Dr. Veronica Scarlett's life, he nearly drove her to the brink. Now, months later, his memories of their intense, three-year relationship have been wiped clean. A chance encounter at a Hollywood Hills party reignites his passion for her, but this time, Vero isn't falling so easily. Armed with the memories he can't access, she holds all the power—and Dallas is unknowingly at her mercy.

Five years ago Joah was culled -- kidnapped by the government to be trained as a soldier. In the process, they erased his memory, destroying his past, his dreams, everything but his name. Armed with that alone, Joah escapes from the facility in search of someone to help him recall the man he used to be. That person is Tobin, Joah’s husband, who never gave up hope of finding him again.

With the island of Avalon far behind them, Meredith and her companions continue their search for Candidate One in the hope of finally discovering the secrets behind why they were brought to this strange, future-version of Earth. Wild adventures, mysterious technologies, and new friends will help Meredith on her journey. But the Adversary has its own plans for her, and soon she finds herself fighting for survival against an enemy unlike anything she has encountered before. There is only one hope for the future of humanity. Can Meredith handle the burden?

Jake Montana waits for the letter every 18-year-old receives on their birthday. It’s the one from the Circuit. It’s the one that determines the rest of your life. Your life partner, job, home, and crucially, your importance factor are all selected for you. In the year 2054 your "importance factor" is everything, but it’s not random. It’s based on a detailed assessment of every thought, emotion, and memory you’ve ever stored in your Memory Cloud since the first day you received the implants. Your fate, the Circuit insists, is always yours.

Near the topmost deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn’t hers—just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship’s detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fairweather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.

The galaxy burns. The enemy, a race of alien scorpions, storms from star to star. Planets smolder in their wake. Across the galaxy, they hunt humans. Long ago, we humans had a planet of our own. Long ago, we could have resisted the scorpions. But today we are refugees. We are lost in darkness. We haven't seen Earth in 2,000 years. We, the last humans, must band together. We must resist. We must fight the scorpions. And we must find Earth! Only Earth can unite us. Only Earth can kindle our hope. Only on Earth can we defend our species.

You've heard the Cassidy Chronicles novels. You know about Aiyana and Kendra's wedding-that-wasn't, their struggles to establish the Terran Federation, their epic battles against the Solarian Union. But do you know about their childhood? They came from a dusty hamlet in the former state of Minnesota, in the Northern Imperium. Their families were neighbors, and they were born only three weeks apart. Their bond has been a constant in their lives, no matter how far apart their paths have strayed. Here are the stories of their childhood, as told through the eyes of Kendra Cassidy.

Ridge, Sardelle, and their comrades may have rescued Tolemek's sister and freed the dragon, but trouble awaits at home. The king is missing, a secret organization is hunting sorcerers, and the capital is more vulnerable than ever to enemy attack. Worst of all, at least from Ridge's point of view, someone put that jackass Colonel Therrik in charge of the flier battalion.