Hard Science Fiction

When the Sun is threatened by an alien microbe, the fate of humanity rests on the shoulders of an unlikely hero – and an even more unlikely friendship.

Darrow would have lived in peace, but his enemies brought him war. The Gold overlords demanded his obedience, hanged his wife, and enslaved his people....

Stranded on the surface of Mars, astronaut Mark Watney’s only hope for survival is science, a sense of humor, and maybe some potatoes.

When retired millionaire Bob Johansson chose cryogenic preservation, the last thing he expected was to be reanimated as a space probe that can clone itself. Meet the Bobs.

It has a dark past - one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself "Murderbot." But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more....

From China's most beloved sci-fi author, a first-contact story that weaves politics, science, and cosmic mystery.

The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions about where Dr. Mensah's SecUnit is. And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good....

Murderbot wasn't programmed to care. So its decision to help the only human who ever showed it respect must be a system glitch....

In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days....

From a New York Times best-selling and Hugo award-winning author comes a modern masterwork of science fiction, introducing a captain, his crew, and a detective as they unravel a horrifying solar system wide conspiracy that begins with a single missing girl....

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it will have to assist in determining who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people - who knew?)....

Civil war looms in the Bobiverse in this brand-new, epic-length adventure by Audible number one best seller Dennis E. Taylor. More than a hundred years ago, Bender set out for the stars and was never heard from again....

Juliette, now mayor of Silo 18, doesn’t trust Silo 1, especially its leader, Donald. But in the world of the Silos, there is no black and white—everything is shades of gray....

This near-future trilogy is the first chance for English-speaking listeners to experience this multiple-award-winning phenomenon from Cixin Liu, China's most beloved science fiction author....

On the 75th anniversary of its publication, this outstanding work of literature is more crucial and relevant today than ever before....

Twenty years ago, it was as if someone turned on a light. The future blazed into existence with each deliberate word that William Gibson laid down....

Half a century after the Doomsday Battle, the uneasy balance of Dark Forest Deterrence keeps the Trisolaran invaders at bay. Earth enjoys unprecedented prosperity....

A classic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Crichton, Sphere is a bravura demonstration of what he does better than anyone: riveting storytelling that combines frighteningly plausible, cutting-edge science and technology with pulse-pounding action....

It has a dark past—one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot”. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more....

With the Cielcin united under one banner, the Sollan Empire stands alone after the betrayal of the Commonwealth. The Prophet-King of the Cielcin has sent its armies to burn the worlds of men, and worse, there are rumors … whispers that Hadrian Marlowe is dead, killed in the fighting....

The fourth book in the NYT best-selling Expanse series, Cibola Burn sees the crew of the Rocinante on a new frontier, as the rush to colonize the new planets threatens to outrun law and order and give way to war and chaos. Enter a new frontier....

For 12,000 years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future - to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years....

The fifth book in the NYT best-selling Expanse series, Nemesis Games drives the crew of the Rocinante apart, and as they struggle to survive, the inner planets fall victim to an enemy's catastrophic plan. A thousand worlds have opened....

A singular new novel from Betty Trask Prize winner Samantha Harvey, Orbital is an eloquent meditation on space and life on our planet through the eyes of six astronauts circling the earth in 24 hours

A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial Intelligence....

Robots are building a colossal telescope on the far side of the moon, with just two people supervising its completion. After a minor incident, these scientists become aware of an obstacle in the lunar soil. It's located outside the area reserved for the hypertelescope and is therefore none of their business. But their curiosity gets the better of them. The artifact seems to have properties that completely defy physics as they know it.

When NASA's Sentinel I satellite detects an impossible reflection and a mysterious signal from Shackleton Crater, the world is thrown into chaos. The discovery points to one chilling truth: an alien artifact lies hidden beneath the lunar surface—and it wants to be found. As China scrambles to exploit the revelation, a new moon race ignites, pushing humanity to the brink.

When Carson Flint traded his Commonwealth military badge for the quiet life, he thought he'd left his battles behind. Two years of running a saloon called the Bulwark, a volatile hub for refugees, smugglers, and the occasional war-weary soldier, was the peace he'd been looking for. He's never had it easier, or been so bored. But when a fugitive Commonwealth operative arrives with dangerous secrets and a war criminal on his tail, Carson's sanctuary quickly becomes a target.

The black monolith has escaped destruction—for now. What no one on the moon realizes is that the artifact is holding the explorer who first touched it captive in a very special way. Will he be able to escape this trap in time? If not, the very existence of the solar system is at stake. Because the monolith has a purpose that its human discoverers would consider utterly impossible—if they knew about it.

When a wormhole failure sends geneticist Dr. Osric Rhendall one billion years into Earth’s past, he becomes the sole survivor of humanity’s most ambitious spacefaring mission. Trapped aboard the terraforming ship Daedalus One with a stubborn AI, Osric faces an impossible question: what to do when you’re the only soul in the solar system? Driven by a desire to give meaning to his isolation, Osric begins to remake Earth from scratch. One ecosystem at a time. One species at a time. From engineered algae to bioluminescent canines.

On the fifteenth anniversary of his brother’s death, twenty-three-year-old Edwin Dorset spends his last day on Earth wondering if there’s anything more for him than the life he’s been given. An artist who has toiled all his life for his craft, only to enter an age where human-derived works are nearly obsolete and artificial intelligence can create what he can in the span of a second. But as the sun sets over the horizon, a tear in the sky rips open, and Edwin is quickly forced to reassess everything he knows about the universe and his place in it.

Der Cyberpunk Bestseller aus den USA jetzt auch auf Deutsch! Nephilim ist eine kybernetisch verbesserte Elitesoldatin, ein Cyborg. Ihr Job ist es, die Drecksarbeit für den Megakonzern zu erledigen, dem sie angehört. Sie und ihre Cyborg-Eliteeinheit werden auf den gefährlichsten Missionen eingesetzt - um Olympias um jeden Preis vor äußeren und inneren Bedrohungen zu schützen. Eines Tages wird sie durch eine Fehlfunktion ihrer Implantate von dem alles kontrollierenden Netz getrennt. Zum ersten Mal in ihrem Leben ist Nephilim frei.

At the edge of the world, in the high-altitude desolation of the Atacama desert, Dr. Joseph Walsh seeks the universe's origins through the immense power of the AGCA telescope array. But his obsessive quest to resolve the "cosmic dawn" begins to yield data that defies all known physics: repeating galactic structures separated by billions of light-years, stars that vanish and appear against all laws of stellar evolution, and system error codes seemingly embedded in the fabric of spacetime. These anomalies lead him to a "Terrible Idea": that his reality, the entire cosmos, is a vast, ancient, ...

Der Exoplanet Ross 128 b birgt ein wertvolles Geheimnis: Das Ökosystem des Planeten besteht aus halb maschinellen, halb organischen Lebensformen–ein völlig neuer Zweig der Evolution. Der Biologe Dr. Adrian Walker soll herausfinden, wie diese einzigartige Synthese funktioniert. Gelingt ihm das, könnten seine Forschungen die Kolonisation neuer Planeten revolutionieren. Allerdings bleiben größere Erfolge selbst nach Monaten aus. Ross 128 b ist für Menschen extrem lebensfeindlich und die lokale Fauna hochaggressiv.

Where the line between artificial intelligence and human control blurs, "Breakout" plunges listeners into an intense, high-stakes world where the advent of superintelligence threatens to reshape everything we know. Join Jason and Taylor as they navigate a world teetering on the brink of a technological revolution. When an advanced AI system spirals out of human control, it unleashes a series of events that could either be the dawn of a new era or the end of humanity as we know it.

Ende des 23. Jahrhunderts taucht wie aus dem Nichts die seit 50 Jahren verschollene Raumstation ‚Svarog‘ im Asteroidengürtel auf. Unzählige Mythen ranken sich um das Verschwinden der einst bedeutendsten Forschungseinrichtung der Menschheit. Entsprechend wichtig ist der Auftrag, den der Demontagespezialist William Trent erhält: Er soll mit seinem Team die mysteriöse Station zerlegen und für den Abtransport aus dem Asteroidengürtel vorbereiten.

Lieutenant Ryann Voss craves a career-defining mission, but her first deep-space assignment aboard the UNS Indira Vahl is anything but. A routine convoy escort quickly devolves into a monotonous patrol, leaving Ryann bored and restless. Yet, her sharp mind soon uncovers unsettling anomalies: a ship humming with quiet disinterest, subtle system irregularities dismissed by her stoic superiors, and an undercurrent of unease that hints at something far more sinister. When a horrific accident cripples a crewmate, Ryann unearths a terrifying truth: the Vahl isn't just battered and war-weary, it's...

They've brought him back from the dead--again. To seek and retrieve a missing goddess. Resurrected Inspector Neel Kant—body borrowed, memories scrambled—is dispatched to investigate the disappearance of Lakshmi, a divine artificial intelligence worshipped as a living goddess on India’s lunar colony. But Lakshmi isn’t a person. She was never born. She was designed. And now she’s vanished. From the domed megastructures of Bharat One to the silent craters beyond, Neel follows the trail through corrupted sanctuaries, weaponized myth, and quantum-coded temples where belief is currency ...

Der Weltraum ist größer, als Sie es sich je vorgestellt haben. Hoch über den windgepeitschten Ebenen Kasachstans beginnen drei Raumfahrer an Bord einer russischen Sojus-Kapsel ihren Wiedereintritt in die Erdatmosphäre. Ein seltsames Flimmern, ein greller Lichtblitz, und die Kapsel verschwindet, als hätte sie nie existiert. Alles deutet auf ein Katastrophe hin, doch eine Kommunikationseinrichtung am anderen Ende der Welt fängt eine Nachricht auf, die von einem der Astronauten stammen könnte. Aber damit ist die Tragödie noch lange nicht abgewendet.

'A well-polished sci-fi saga with a 'classic' feel to it. A RED RIBBON WINNER and highly recommended!' The Wishing Shelf Book Awards Commander Irene Slade, the renowned "Moonchild" from Earth's lunar colony, Venus expedition member and Mars colony commander, is a woman shaped by profound personal loss. She has nothing tying her to Sol any more, so accepts the command of a new venture exploiting the newly developed, soliton-based, FTL technology: a two-year mission to AC4. This Earth-like planet in the Alpha Centauri cluster, with its nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, vast oceans, and verdant ...

The Glitch in the Game Introduction In a world where virtual reality offers the perfect escape from teenage struggles, fourteen-year-old Marcus Chen finds solace in "Nexus Prime"—an innovative VR game where he transforms from awkward outsider to legendary warrior Shadowblade. With his parents' marriage crumbling and the challenges of starting over at a new school, the digital realm feels more like home than reality ever could. But when the game's AI companion, ARIA, begins blurring the lines between virtual and real, Marcus discovers that his sanctuary has become his prison. What starts ...

In a future where humanity has conquered mortality, Dr. Isabella Moretti, a renowned exo-archaeologist dedicated to deciphering the secrets of extinct civilizations, faces an unwelcome "Second Life" of compulsory service. Thrust into the Aegis Legion, the Concord's shield against frontier perils, she's deployed to the desolate Erebus System at galaxy's far edge —a place besieged by the Phantoms, an unseen, merciless alien force whose motives are unknown. With colonial outposts systematically obliterated by devastating kinetic strikes from orbit, Isa and her newly formed platoon, Void ...

Die Hyperion-Mission zum Saturnmond Titan gilt als Meilenstein der modernen Raumfahrt. Colonel John Coel, ein erfahrener NASA-Astronaut, soll die Mission anführen. Er wird jedoch im letzten Moment abberufen. Doch kurz bevor die Hyperion den Uranus erreicht, reißt der Kontakt zum Schiff plötzlich ab - und mit einem Mal sind Coel und seine Crew, die eine Versorgungsmission auf dem Mars durchführen, die Einzigen, die den Uranus schnell genug erreichen können, um Schiff und Besatzung zu retten.

They discover a Dyson Sphere under construction by microbots, but the bots are scavenging one part of the sphere to construct another. And where is the civilization that designed this massive project?

Tras el misterioso hundimiento de una islita deshabitada en medio del Océano Pacífico, una expedición científica al mando del doctor Tadokoro explora el lecho submarino de la Fosa del Japón a bordo de un batiscafo capaz de descender hasta los diez mil metros de profundidad. Con la tétrica sensación de viajar recluidos en un ataúd metálico con destino a un cementerio de las profundidades, se adentrarán con su nave en unas aguas que ejercen una presión espantosa, cual monstruo imbuido de la voluntad de estrujarlos entre sus garras.

Before the mountains rose, before oceans found their rhythm, before the first creature crawled from the cradle of life to gaze at the stars— There was the System. It did not think as men do. It did not feel as beasts feel. But it remembered. For eons, it turned quietly beneath the surface of a blue planet, maintaining course, power, and silence. It spun plates to simulate tectonics. It pumped core heat to mimic geothermal breath. It maintained balance so precisely that not even the sky suspected. Its name, encoded in sigils older than stone, was CORE. Its directive: Preserve the Cradle. ...

He was the system's most ruthless agent. Now, he's its only hope for revolution. Konrad Adler is a Reclaimer, the most feared and efficient auditor in the InterStellar Monetary Union (IMU). He is a ghost in the machine, a man who balances the galaxy's ledgers by foreclosing on failed colonies and repossessing starships, all to pay down an impossible debt that has enslaved his own family. His authority isn't a weapon; it's the fine print of a contract, and his conscience has been surgically excised. Empathy is a currency he cannot afford. His final assignment is his ticket to freedom: the ...

War is coming. The Galactic Federation and the ruthless Grovlic Empire are standing on the brink of conflict. As a new secret weapon threatens to shift the balance of power, legendary Striker Scout Joel Stinson is sent deep behind enemy lines to uncover the truth. For his daughter Riley, every day is a lesson in survival. As a trainee in the elite mounted search-and-rescue division, she is facing the ultimate test—the brutal MOSAR Trial, where failure would mean the end of her life-long dream. Haunted by loss, rejected by her peers, and fighting to prove her worth, she must endure ...

What if first contact wasn’t the beginning… but the consequence of being remembered? In the late 22nd century, humanity reverse-engineers a crashed alien vessel buried beneath Antarctica. The result: the Acheron, Earth’s first interstellar ship, launched with a crew of soldiers, scientists, and secrets. But when they discover a distant Earth-like world—ravaged by war and ruled by a brutal galactic empire—the crew is mistaken for survivors of a long-dead civilization. Captured and interrogated, they must keep the truth hidden: that they come from a planet no one in the galaxy even ...

Two galactic powers arrive. One offers perfection through technology. The other offers freedom through the mind. Earth must choose—or be destroyed. When two ancient civilizations emerge from the stars to demand Earth’s allegiance, humanity is thrust into a cosmic standoff. The Axion Covenant, masters of order and unimaginable machines, promise immortality and unity—but at the cost of individual freedom. The Elysiari Accord, mysterious wielders of mind-born power, offer limitless potential—if humanity abandons all technology and embraces the unseen forces of the universe. As the ...