Showing results by publisher "Recorded Books" in Science Fiction

The Thirty Years' War continues to ravage seventeenth-century Europe, but a new force is gathering power and influence: the Confederated Principalities of Europe, an alliance between Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, and the West Virginians from the twentieth century, led by Mike Stearns, who were hurled centuries into the past by a mysterious cosmic accident.

Orson Welles' 1938 radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds has done much to obscure the real brilliance of the original work. Written at a time when "science-fiction" did not exist as a genre, The War of the Worlds was a new departure in literature. Author H.G. Wells, deeply committed to social improvement in turn-of-the-century Britain, used extra-terrestrial invasion to predict the results of a not-entirely-impossible violent upheaval in contemporary society: for "Martians" read "bolsheviks."

The best of the year's science fiction and fantasy stories as selected by the multiple award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan. Distant worlds, time travel, epic adventure, unseen wonders, and much more! The best, most original and brightest science fiction and fantasy stories from around the globe from the past 12 months are brought together in one collection by multiple award winning editor Jonathan Strahan.

When a hidden evil emerges from the depths of the ocean, the tight-knit town of Baywood is caught in a climate disaster of mysterious origins: an unusual wave of sea snails enter the estuary and transform wildlife, seascapes, and finally, people. Once infected, residents start “deading”: collapsing and dying, only to resurrect, changed in ways both physical and fundamental. After the government isolates Baywood, paranoia and surveillance run rampant. A newly formed cult called the Risers starts targeting those who are not deading.

The Weltall Tournament’s professional VR games were supposed to be a symbol of cooperation between SysGov and its militaristic neighbor, the Admin. But that was before star Admin player Elly Sako received a death threat, written in blood next to a copy of her own severed head. The Admin’s Department of Temporal Investigation swiftly seizes control of the crime scene, and the tournament transforms into a flashpoint of charged politics and conflicting jurisdictions.

American expat Joan Howe has a to-do list she loathes: find a new job, buy milk, ask her neurologist friend, Lisa, to cure her migraines. So when Lisa enrolls her in an experimental drug trial, Joan is elated. That is, until she takes the medication and wakes up at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. That's right, Joan wakes up smack-dab in the middle of the court of Henry VIII.

Old soldiers never die...except inside, when they lack a reason to live. Old soldier Wes Stauer is dying inside, from sheer lack of purpose. And then comes the knock on the door: ''Our leader's son and heir has been kidnapped. We don't know where he is. We need you to get him back for us. The people who have him are numerous, warlike, and well-armed. But money is no object.'' And then old soldiers - sailors and airmen, too - stop fading away and come back into sharp focus.

American Book Award-winning author Tananarive Due's second collection of stories ranges from horror to science fiction to suspense. From the mysterious, magical town of Gracetown to the aftermath of a pandemic to the reaches of the far future, Due's stories all share a sense of dread and fear balanced with heart and hope. In some of these stories, the monster is racism itself; others address the monster within, or other universal struggles set against the supernatural or surreal. All of them are written with Due's trademark attention to detail and deep characterization.

Misanthropic psychologist Dr. Grace Park is placed on the Deucalion, a survey ship headed to an icy planet in an unexplored galaxy. Her purpose is to observe the thirteen human crew members aboard the ship - all specialists in their own fields - as they assess the colonization potential of the planet, Eos. But frictions develop as Park befriends the androids of the ship, preferring their company over the baffling complexity of humans, while the rest of the crew treats them with suspicion and even outright hostility.

Alistair knows the risks, but he must take the Ice Queen’s military and the gigante to Planet Phoenix. In order to defeat the Ascendant, Alexander de Finita, and put this nightmare behind him, it’ll take every asset he can bring together. There’s just one problem. The Commonwealth plans to strike first. If they control the star-gate at Phoenix, all is lost. Every choice he’s made has had consequences, but none as gave as Alistair’s next move. The Ascendant has the positional advantage. Should Alistair protect his pieces, make a sacrifice, or play a gambit?

Masks, the first novel in a mesmerizing new fantasy series, draws readers into a world in which cataclysmic events have left the Autarchy of Aygrima - the one land blessed with magical resources - cut off from its former trading partners across the waters, not knowing if any of those distant peoples still live. Yet under the rule of the Autarch, Aygrima survives. And thanks to the creation of the Masks and the vigilance of the Autarch’s Watchers, no one can threaten the security of the empire.

Book 3 in Bestseller Joshua T. Calvert's next Science Fiction epic. A story of survival, invasion, and war that's perfect for fans of Jay Allan, Joshua Dalzelle, and S.M. Anderson.

The gripping, phenomenal first book in a series that has become the best-selling inspirational series of all time. Join two men as they form the Tribulation Force, a group that seeks to stop the Antichrist from assuming world power after The Rapture.

Acclaimed Christian author Jerry Jenkins pens the startling prequel to the internationally best-selling Left Behind saga. After the horror of World War III, the world resolves to abolish religion. But is this new age of peace truly peaceful? Anti-religious witch-hunters are tracking down and killing the faithful in hiding, and now supernatural events that defy non-Biblical interpretation are beginning to occur throughout the world.

Having magical powers makes you less than human, a resource to be exploited. Half-unicorn Gary Cobalt is sick of slavery, captivity, and his horn being ground down to power faster-than-light travel. When he's finally free, all he wants is to run away in his ancestors' stone ship. Instead, Captain Jenny Perata steals the ship out from under him so she can make an urgent delivery. But Jenny held him captive for a decade, and then Gary murdered her best friend...who was also the wife of her copilot, Cowboy Jim. What could possibly go right?

Disaster has been averted—for now. Earth is still in danger, and the Integration marches ever onward. Yet Ethan's journey has found him stronger than ever, and his experiences in the loops have left him on the cusp of grasping skills that can disrupt the flow of time itself. The Empty City looms ahead, holding within it answers to both the nature of Firmament and the purpose of Integration. His allies' sacrifices linger behind, driving him forward. And new forces are emerging, some eager for revenge, others vying for control of him and all that he represents.

When Lena Conti—a young, unwed mother—sees immigrant families being forcibly separated on Ellis Island, she vows not to let the officers take her two-year old daughter. But the inspection process is more rigorous than she imagined, and she is separated from her mother and teenage brother, who are labeled burdens to society, denied entry, and deported back to Germany. Now, alone but determined to give her daughter a better life after years of living in poverty and near starvation, she finds herself facing a future unlike anything she had envisioned.

Older, but not necessarily wiser, Aiden Pearce, “the Fox”, is a rolling stone, surviving by moving from one shadowy hacker job to the next. While in Baltimore, he’s captured by a mysterious agent who insists finding missing cargo full of transhuman tech is something only Pearce can do. When flattery doesn’t work, he’s blackmailed into taking the job. Worse, he’s partnered again with the unscrupulous Jordi Chin. Soon what looks like a simple investigation spirals into a nefarious plot leading all the way to the White House.

Up-timer Morris Roth and his Grand Army of the Sunrise stand at a crossroads. Military success against the Polish-Lithuanian magnates has all but guaranteed a continued push east into Ruthenian lands. There, Roth hopes to further his Anaconda Project so that tens of thousands of Jews are not slaughtered in what’s to become known as the Chmielnicki Pogrom of 1648.

Commander Ripley Willis Lee knew the stakes couldn’t be higher. As captain of the Republic’s newest warship—RNS Poseidon, he’d been given command of a task force to conduct hit-and-run operations against Zodark convoys and reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines. With the Battle for Intus underway, the Rass system—a Primord colony captured by the Zodarks—was the next planet the Republic intended to liberate.