Showing titles in Hard Science Fiction

Is BER-66 a human or a machine? As he navigates the corridors and locked rooms of a strange bunker, he must solve the mysteries of murderous doppelgangers, a slow-motion city on the verge of destruction and, ultimately, the all-powerful Mechanism itself.

In “Impact,” Ell’s been taken off the “Most Wanted” list and is resuming somewhat of a normal life. Her old friend Phil Zabrisk is on his way to Mars. One of her exploration rockets is about to land on an earthlike world. Then an enormous comet crashes into Tau Ceti three, threatening the lives of the teecees there. Aliens that Ell and others have come to think of as friends. Phil falls on Mars, breaking his hip in a fashion that needs surgery soon if he’s not to be crippled.

A mysterious object threatens to destroy our solar system. The survival of humankind is at risk, but nobody takes the warning of young astrophysicist Maribel Pedreira seriously. At the same time, an exiled crew of outcasts mines for rare minerals on a lone asteroid. When other scientists finally acknowledge Pedreira's alarming discovery, it becomes clear that these outcasts are the only ones who may be able to save our world, knowing that the Hole hurtles inexorably toward the sun.

The Body Electric tells the story of glorious young love, the cruelty of fate, of a psyche dealing with catastrophic loss in mystifying ways. It shows how lightning, in the form of random encounters, can strike twice, and perhaps reanimate a character who has become more lifelike than truly alive.

The race to Mars is not without its peril. As the world’s superpowers vie for supremacy in space, the true intent of the aliens, and the ultimate destiny for the human species, is revealed. Can the world marshal the will and resources of its people to strike back and take control of its own fate? Can NASA, led by Richard “Rock” Crandon, and America’s adversaries find the ultimate courage to face what lies at Discovery’s End and save the world?

United States of America, 2051 AD It has been 20 years since Eustace Fargo's justice bill was passed. There are new weapons on the streets, and vast city blocks rising to the sky, as the first human being sets out to visit another star system. New York, California and Texas cry out for autonomy, chafing against a federal government they feel has lost control. Reeling from news of Chief Justice Fargo's death in service, the nation asks: has it all been worth it?

With the Federation losing ground in its war against the Dominion, the galaxy's greatest smugglers, including the beautiful and enigmatic Vash, rendezvous on Deep Space 9. Their objective: a fabled lost orb of the Prophets unlike any other, rumored to be the key to unlocking a second wormhole in Bajoran Space, a second Celestial Temple.

Smarter is a near future sci-fi/thriller whose young heroine, Ell Donsaii, we learned in Quicker, has a nerve mutation that makes her an athletic phenomenon, so fast that no one can keep up with her. Like Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Ell is a mathematical genius who, while trying to drift off to sleep, instead of counting sheep, has developed a new theory of quantum mechanics. At once shy and concerned about her social skills, yet loved by those around her, she goes to grad school to try to understand experimental physics.

After the mysterious discovery of an alien mech inside a comet, Darkstream Security has finally completed its own design. They assign Chief Gabriel Roach with the task of whittling down hundreds of bright young recruits to form a team of elite mech pilots, which he will command. Their mission: protect human colonies from the almighty Quatro. A single Quatro can take down an entire squad of traditional soldiers. But Roach is the perfect one for the job.

When a hideous accident kills the senior officers of the UNS Hibernia, it leaves a terrified young officer to save 300 colonists and crew aboard a damaged ship on a 17-month gauntlet to reach the colony of Hope Nation. With no chance of rescue or reinforcement, Nicholas Seafort must overcome despair, exhaustion, and guilt. He must conquer malfunctions, mutiny, and an alien horror beyond human understanding. And he must save lives, and take them - in the name of duty.

Offered for the first time as a box set, a number one best-selling trilogy from Bobby Akart. In Asteroid Discovery, Gunner Fox finds himself in a place of darkness, without a reason to live. Until now. An asteroid is on a collision course with our planet. Gunner Fox is on a collision course with death. In a time of desperation NASA needs the most fearless fighter pilot for a life or death mission. They need Gunner Fox. Can they convince the man who blames them for taking his wife, help them divert the asteroid hurtling to earth and avoid another extinction level event?

The long-awaited new novel by the award-winning, best-selling author of Startide Rising and The Uplift War- an epic novel set 50 years from tomorrow, a carefully-reasoned, scientifically faithful tale of the fate of our world.

As tragedy strikes his multicultural family, Martin struggles to maintain his place in his adapted culture, and to provide for his child. Zendigi explores what it means to be human, and the lengths one will go to in order to provide for ones children. This emotional roller coaster explores a non-Western-European near future that both challenges ideas of global monoculture and emphasizes the humanity we all share.

After 25 years serving as the human Monitor of the Interstellar Ark, Hermes, Orion is scheduled to be placed back into hibernation with the other crewmembers. Knowing he'll die there and be replaced before the ship's voyage is over, he decides that he won’t — can’t — accept that fate. Whatever it takes, Orion will escape Hermes and see what's beyond, even if it means defying the regulations of his only friend — the ship-wide artificial intelligence known as Dan.

The 21st century. Europe is divided between the First World bourgeoisie, made rich by nanotechnology and the cheap versatile slave labour of genetically engineered Dolls, and the Fourth World of refugees and homeless displaced by war and economic upheaval. In London, Alex Sharkey is trying to make his mark as a designer of psychoactive viruses whilst staying one step ahead of the police and the Triad gangs.

Rapid colonization of the moon is pushing both national space agencies and powerful corporations to negotiate a New Lunar Accord in an effort to prevent escalating conflicts over valuable resources and territory. But hope that this treaty will bring stability to the nascent lunar civilization is suddenly dashed when a high-energy solar storm causes a cascade of destruction to the vast satellite constellations that orbit Earth. Now it’s only a matter of weeks before the ever-increasing debris cloud makes travel back to the home planet impossible.

The Allies have solidified their hold on the Large Magellanic Cloud and turn their sights on the Inner Stars and Perseus Arm. With forces spread thin, they must depend on superior technology and quantum entanglement communication to retain their edge. But their enemies have not been idle. Ascended AIs move to destroy Tangel, as Garza and the Orion Widows strike out at both Tangel and Airtha. Deep in the Transcend, Justin readies his new stasis ship for an assault on Vela, and the League of Sentients dithers on whether to join the fight.

Two hundred thousand feet up, things go horribly wrong. An experimental low-orbit spaceplane breaks up on reentry, falling to earth over a trail hundreds of miles long. And in its wake is the beginning of the most important mission in the history of spaceflight.

Revolution threatens a longstanding peace.... Thirty years after the Syndicate Corporation saved Earth from climate-change extinction, SynCorp’s Five Factions rule the solar system with an iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove. Food, entertainment, safety, security - SynCorp provides it all. In return, the Company requires complete loyalty and obedience to corporate law.

One starship will either save Earth or destroy her. A century ago our star erupted, destroying Earth's wormhole network and closing off trade with her colonized planets. After being out of contact with the younger worlds for so many years, humanity is shocked when a huge ship appears at the edge of the solar system. Our outdated navy investigates, both curious and fearful. What they learn from the massive vessel shocks the planet.