Showing titles in Science Fiction

In the future: A united Earth, to deal with the problem of population control, divides its population into classes of citizen and non-gratis. To be born a non-gratis means a life of little freedoms and the constant possibility of being assigned to work on a colony. Lacking citizenship, every aspect of their life is controlled from where they live down to marriage and childbearing regulations. The only possible escape from life as a non-gratis is to qualify for one of the limited slots available for entrance into the military.

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter for Animators, Inc., is offered a cool mil to raise a 283-year-old corpse. But she knows that the older the zombie, the bigger the death needed to raise it. Only a human sacrifice is 'big' enough to raise this old soul – and Anita’s no murderer. Now, a creature from beyond the grave is tearing a swath of murder through St. Louis. And Anita will learn that there are some secrets better left buried – and some people better off dead …

The promise of a queen's ransom is too much for lifelong gambler Jalia to pass up. The untouched planet of Minos is rumored to be so wealthy, one can walk along the beach and pluck diamonds from the sea. According to the contract, all she has to do to win is solve a few puzzles and navigate a labyrinth or two. Simple! But she didn't read the fine print.... She isn't competing to win treasure, she's competing to become queen of Minos. Marriage to the king: mandatory. A king who sends men to their deaths by the dozen and kills anyone who dares speak against him.

Tonight was meant to be about kink. Our lives are a nightmare of last-minute deployments and near misses, and we needed the break. Instead, we broke. The whole world broke. But as city after city is blown apart, and with a club full of civilians to protect, we have to pull it together and get them to safety. No matter how we’re feeling. No matter how many family members are disintegrating into ash. We have a job to do, so we’ll be each other’s strength.

Thirty years ago the world as we know it was lost. Now humans live like rats, desperate for food and safety. The wall towers before us as a mocking reminder of what happened. The wall that keeps the monsters locked away from us. The wall that keeps us safe. The wall that every day I sneak through. I thought I was safe in the light beyond its scarred concrete. I thought I knew the way of the world. Then, night falls and I’m trapped beyond the wall. Monsters come out to play in an explosion of shadows, claws, and tails. Their black eyes track me like prey until he comes—their leader....

Resonance. It's a given on the ice planet, forced upon you by the parasitic symbiont called the "khui". With resonance, a guy and a girl are paired up because they'll make great babies. It's a survival mechanism necessary for this sparsely populated world we're stranded on. Everyone expects resonance to happen when 20 newcomers are dropped onto the frosty world. I doubt anyone expects the gorgeous golden god named Ashtar to resonate to someone like me, though. But resonance seems to think we'd be great together. And Ashtar does, too.

Kira Forrest is a survivor. She's risen above the pain of her beginnings to become a war hero only to leave it all behind in the pursuit of a simple life. Now a salvager, she makes a living sifting through the wreckage of dead alien ships from a war that nearly brought humanity to its knees. After her ship takes damage, she's forced to re-route to a space station where her past and present collide with dangerous consequences. Kira's existence holds the key to a faltering peace treaty with the Tuann - a technologically advanced alien race who dislikes and distrusts all humans.

In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees live three robots – fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe. The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’, he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio – a past spent hunting humans. When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe.

Casey Pearson grew up with a doomsday-prepping father. At eighteen, tired of living an unconventional life, she left home, vowing never to return. More than a decade later, a mysterious viral outbreak changes everything, including the people it infects, turning them into zombielike creatures. It’s the end of the world, and no one saw it coming—well, except for Casey’s father. With no place left to run and danger lurking around every corner, Casey is forced to return home.

As a third daughter on the farming colony of Meterion, Susan’s future prospects aren’t too promising. A pretty face, top-notch skills, and hard work mean nothing if your dowry doesn’t include fertile lands. With her 25th birthday approaching, and no suitors, her only way out is to settle for an arranged marriage through the PMA - the Prime Mating Agency. She just never expected to be paired with a grumpy, massive lizardman, and above all not to grow so fond of his scales and quirky ways.

Dr. Sylvia Cooper can’t stand her Kindred bodyguard. Sure, Kross is seven feet of ripped, smoldering alien hotness—but he’s also a sarcastic pain in the ass who keeps meddling in her missions. When he tries to block her latest expedition—tracking down a miracle plant that could heal spinal injuries—she ignores his warnings about the dangerous planet... and the rumors of the infamous Dr. Barbarous.

Asset X: Massive, deadly, and a little terrifying to say the least. A devilish warrior, and a killer. Captured on a hellish world after attacking a military campsite and now imprisoned in a state-of-the-art cell inside one of the military’s top bases, Lazris. Lana has been assigned to "study" him; to learn his secrets and gain his trust, if he is ever allowed to set foot out of his cell. Asset X - or Xerus as he is called - won't give up his secrets easily. He is difficult, elusive, and dare she say, unfathomably alluring.

Raised in a Greek legion, Phaidros has been taught to fight for the homeland he's never seen and to follow his commander's orders at all costs. But when he rescues a baby from a fire at Thebes's palace, his commander's orders cease to make sense: Phaidros is forced to abandon the blue-eyed boy at a temple, and to keep the baby's existence a secret. Years later, after a strange encounter that led to the death of his battalion, Phaidros has become a training master for young soldiers.

Raff Pineda has a certain reputation among the Animari. He’s the one to call if there’s a party starting, not the man to rely on when all hell breaks loose. Though he’s nominally the leader of the Pine Ridge pack, he defers to his second on the tough calls. Raff prefers to live fast and hard and keep his heart hidden, but a certain Eldritch princess won’t fall for his usual tricks, and their contract political marriage may be anything but convenient.

They thought we were safe. They were wrong. Lee and Mal went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor four years ago, and only Lee came back. She thought she’d lost Mal forever, now miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has Mal been all this time? Mal's...

Everyone knows the name Vesper Quill. I used to be a lowly lab rat working in a Regal-owned corporation, but thanks to my truebond with Kyrion Caldaren, I’m now one of the most wanted fugitives in the Archipelago Galaxy. Kyrion and I have spent the last few weeks avoiding bounty hunters, along with the Arrows, the elite Imperium warriors tasked with capturing us. Now we’ve journeyed to a distant planet that’s supposed to be a refuge for truebonded couples, but when new enemies appear, we’re once again in grave danger.

Few people know the name Vesper Quill. To most folks, I’m just a lowly lab rat who designs brewmakers and other household appliances in the research and development lab at the powerful Kent Corp. But when I point out a design flaw and a safety hazard in the new line of Kent Corp spaceships, everyone knows who I am—and wants to eliminate me. I might be a seer with a photographic memory, but I don’t see the trouble headed my way until it’s too late. Suddenly, I’m surrounded by enemies and fighting for my life.

Lloyd Salter has OCD issues with noise and mess, and he's uncomfortable with human interaction. When his ex claimed the only thing perfect enough to live up to his standards was an android, Lloyd dismissed it. SATinc is the largest manufacturer of androids in Australia, including the Fully Compatible Units known as an A-Class 10. Their latest design is the Synthetic Human Android UNit, otherwise known as SHAUN. Shaun is compatible to Lloyd's every need; the perfect fit on an intellectual and physical basis. But Lloyd soon realizes Shaun's not like other A-Class androids.

In November 2021, Eve and Patrick grow uneasy when they read an article about the arrest of a strange, disoriented woman on the Lower East Side. Based on the descriptions of her clothing and behavior, Eve is sure the woman has time traveled. She convinces Patrick they must help the woman, as others had helped them during their time travel journeys.

Being kidnapped by aliens is only the start of Jade's problems. Thankfully, her rescuers, an alien race known as the Clecanians, are willing to protect her, but she has to stay on their planet for one year and respect the rules of their culture - including choosing a husband. Jade refuses at first but decides to play along until she can find a way back to Earth.