Showing titles in Hard Science Fiction

One minute Jake O'Connell is on top of the world, with a beautiful family and bright future as a stock broker in New York; the next it's all ripped away when he's embroiled in a fraud investigation, his childhood friend is murdered, and he finds himself on the run. Dodging the FBI and targeted by the Mob, Jake is thrown into a Wall Street underworld of crypto currencies and autonomous corporations, where he discovers a dark secret setting the world on a path to destruction.

The Galactics arrived with their Battle Fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined a vast Empire that spanned the Milky Way. Today, Battle Fleet 921 is returning to Earth. It hasn't been seen by human eyes since our blissful day of Annexation. But what should be a joyful occasion, a chance to grovel at the feet of superior lifeforms, is rapidly becoming a nightmare.

Gov-corp detective Carlos Moreno was only a baby when Atlas left Earth to seek truth among the stars. But in that moment, the course of Carlos' entire life changed. Atlas is what took his mother away; what made his father lose hope; what led Alejandro Casales, leader of the religious cult known as the Circle, to his door. And now, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Atlas' departure, it has something to do with why Casales was found dead in his hotel room.

The year is 2085, and humanity has spread throughout the solar system, a stable lunar colony is agitating for independence, and lunar tourism is on the rise. Against this background, professional "Close Protection" specialist Scotty Griffin, fresh off a disastrous assignment, is offered the opportunity of a lifetime: to shepherd the teenaged heir to the Republic of Kikaya on a fabulous vacation. Ali Kikaya will participate in the first live-action role playing game conducted on the Moon itself.

When John Bandicut sets out across the surface of Triton, he's hardly ready for the storm of chaos that's about to blow through his life. The alien Quarx that soon inhabits his mind is humanity's first contact with an alien life. The Quarx, part of an ancient galactic civilization that manipulates chaos theory to predict catastrophic events, seeks to prevent a cometary collision that could destroy the Earth. But it must have help. If Bandicut chooses to trust the Quarx, he must break all the rules - indeed, sacrifice his own life.

From TheReadingCafe.com: "the characters are diverse, distinctive and unconventional but such are the personalities of every entertaining story of science fiction. CORVUS ASCENDING begins slowly but accelerates at 'warp speed'." Wisecracking star-sailor Gus Johansson’s beach bum retirement suddenly goes from boring to blazing when he pulls a 1400-year-old robot and a sentient spaceship from the sea. Soon, Gus and his crew of misfits are in the fight of their lives against an old enemy. The vengeful Captain Harrison “Hazy” Grey is convinced he can finally get his Admiral’s flag by ...

His name was Biron Farrill and he was a student at the University of Earth. A native of one of the helpless Nebular Kingdoms, he saw his home world conquered and controlled by the planet Tyrann - a ruthless, barbaric Empire that was building a dynasty of cruelty and domination among the stars. Farrill’s own father had been executed for trying to resist the Tyrann dictatorship and now someone was trying to kill Biron. But why? His only hope for survival lay in fleeing Earth and joining the rebellion that was rumored to be forming somewhere in the Kingdoms.

Senior co-administrator of the Norcoast Salmon Research Facility, Dr. Mackenzie Connor was a biologist who studied the spawning habits of salmon. Then, last season, just as she and Dr. Emily Mamani were starting their research, they were interrupted by the arrival of Brymm, the first Dhryn to set foot on Earth. And suddenly everything changed for Mac, Emily, Brymn, the human race, and all the member races of the Interspecies Union. Base was attacked, Em was kidnapped by the mysterious Ro, and Mac and brymn had to flee for their lives to the Dhryn home world.

What if your dreams weren't just dreams—but another reality fighting to break through? Grady "Gray" Ledger is a sleepwalker haunted by vivid dreams of an untamed wilderness filled with massive reptilian beasts. But when he wakes one night with a jagged, taloned nail embedded in his abdomen, there is no question his nighttime wanderings are more than just an unconscious habit—they're a perilous journey into another world. Brane Theory suggests that our reality is just one of many—a vast multiverse where dimensions are layered one upon the next. In his sleep, Gray slips through to Wild-...

Years before they became crewmates on the U.S.S. Enterprise, Commander William Riker and ship's counsellor Deanna Troi had a tempestuous love affair on her home planet of Betazed. Now, as their passions have cooled, the two serve together as close friends. Yet the memories of what passed between them linger and Riker and Troi remain Imzadi, a powerful Betazoid term that describes the enduring bond they still share.

Captain Jason Burke is a man apart, and not just because he's the only of his kind for thousands of light-years in any direction. The changes to his body and to his genetic code have made him faster, stronger, more able to survive in his dangerous occupation...but they've also ensured that he'll never truly fit in with others of his species. He always assumed he would live and die with his crew and never lay eyes on another human again. He was wrong.

As startling and provocative as his famous Stranger in a Strange Land, here is Heinlein’s grand masterpiece about a man supremely talented, immensely old, and obscenely wealthy who discovers that money can buy everything.

Humans beware. As the robotic revolution continues to creep into our lives, it brings with it an impending sense of doom. What horrifying scenarios might unfold if our technology were to go awry? From self-aware robotic toys to intelligent machines violently malfunctioning, this anthology brings to life the half-formed questions and fears we all have about the increasing presence of robots in our lives.

Otherland. In many ways it is humankind's most stunning achievement: a private, multidimensional universe built over two generations by the greatest minds of the twenty-first century. But this most exclusive of places is also one of the world's best kept secrets, created and controlled by an organization made up of the world's most powerful and ruthless individuals, a private cartel known - to those who know of their existence at all - as The Grail Brotherhood.

Burri is a fashion designer and icon with a biochemistry background. Her latest pieces are African inspired and crafted to touch the heart. They enable wearers to absorb nanorobotic memories and recount the stories of Black lives and forgiveness. Wenda doesn’t buy it. A protest performance artist, Wenda knows exploitation when she sees it. What she’s going to do with Burri’s breakthrough technology could, in the right hands, change race relations forever.

In a future where the world is roughly divided into two factions, the Pacific League of Nations and the Atlantic Division of Nations, tensions are high as each side waits for the other to make a move. But neither side is prepared for a powerful third party that has apparently been an influential presence on Earth for thousands of years—and just might be making a reappearance very soon. With the realization that a highly intelligent alien race has been trying to send them messages, three rising scientists within the Pacific League of Nations form an uneasy alliance.

Propulsion scientist Dr. Todd Cunningham was an astronaut headed for outer space until budget cuts killed the mission—and his lifelong dream. Now, he's just an obscure expert in fusion-powered space travel, a professor buried in an ever-increasing pile of work. But when a daring mission is approved to travel to Europa, Jupiter's frozen moon, Cunningham is thrust back into the spotlight by the very man he blames for ending his NASA career, and he finds himself joining the ranks of NASA astronauts on a groundbreaking journey to challenge humanity's understanding of life in the universe.

Biohacker Olivia Park is obsessed with an emerging mystery within Oz, the online portal created by alien technology. What she finds is a primitive xenobot, Eno, who takes her on a mind-bending trip through time that begins as the Berlin Wall is falling, and takes her back to the origins of the modern internet and the fall of a digital Atlantis created by her father, Wesley Park, and entrepreneur William Ackerson.

The secretive Roma Union has stepped forward. The warlike Maraukians are coming, and humanity must rally together or shatter into oblivion.

Gideon Coxall was a good soldier but bad at everything else, until a roadside explosive device leaves him with one deaf ear and a British Army half-pension. So when he hears about the Valhalla Project, it’s like a dream come true. They’re recruiting former service personnel for excellent pay, no questions asked, to take part in unspecified combat operations. The last thing Gid expects is to find himself fighting alongside ancient Viking gods. The world is in the grip of one of the worst winters it has ever known, and Ragnarök is looming.