Hard Science Fiction

The difference between a man and a robot is not that one has a soul. The difference is that man can choose to ignore it. The Uberbots have taken over. The few human survivors remain hidden. Returning from an excursion that began before the revolution, Thomas walks through his ominously silent city until he comes face to face with his creation: the Uberbots. Captured and imprisoned, Thomas is brought before the Uberbots and given a task only he, as the creator of the Uberbots, can achieve. While keen on escaping, Thomas quickly learns the Uberbots are not easily overcome.

The day that changed Melody's life was like any other over the previous two years. She'd found she had a gift for writing, and her career as an author had almost healed the pain of losing her job. When the Secret Service rang her bell, everything changed. Something was nearing Saturn…and it was slowing down. Had she been right about the object?

Ariock Dovanack never asked to be a hero, let alone a demigod. But when a prophecy deemed him "The One," he dutifully amassed thousands of messianic followers in the sun-starved civilization beneath the Torth Empire's capital. Now, destined to lead the cave-dwelling Alashani people into the light of other worlds, he and a small army must first annihilate the formidable telepaths who guard the city's spaceport. By Ariock's side is Thomas Hill. A Torth/human hybrid, Thomas may be physically vulnerable, but he's also a telepathic supergenius.

A spell at GCHQ sounded like a refreshing change for academic historian George. But his life is thrown upside down when he gets put in a team with a gifted physicist, Alex, and multi-talented prankster mathematician, Betty, who have covertly broken through the accepted rules of physics to produce an extraordinary novel technology.

Betty's knowledge has become a liability. She just simply wants a last skiing holiday, and then to die peacefully, escaping her genetic illness - she understands that her time has come. But malign agents want her secret knowledge about the i-vector technology, and they have sophisticated plans to abduct her. In response, her colleagues have made a timeline change, tipping the balance back in Betty's favour; even though she, and they, cannot be aware of that in this altered timeline.

The use of an i-Vector zap to thwart Betty's kidnap has caused unforeseen and unimagined changes to the future. An eccentric old-fashioned vicar arrives, delivering a chilling message, and Betty finds her safety in jeopardy again from a completely unanticipated direction.

Say hello to Lavina Simes, a wholesome appearing midwestern girl, always dressed in black. Lavina has a gift, or curse, that allows her to see into the future. Tragedy has befallen every suitor who pursued her charms. She travels the world with her father, a lifetime Foreign Service officer, and misfortune seems to follow them.

Sara Lafeete struggles to complete her work shift installing wiring in the ship's tunnels on the asteroid Psyche. Exhausted and suffering from the initial stages of radiation poisoning, she takes a detour back to the base through an ancient lava tube. Suffering from radiation brain fog, she takes a wrong turn and becomes lost as her radiation levels spike further.

SHORT STORY: A very short story about the cost of cutting down a tree. I Came Home From Saving the Rainforest is one of six short solarpunk stories in the Halfway to Better collection. If you enjoyed the optimistic climate solutions in Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future or the cozy cooperative future in Becky Chambers' Monk and Robot series, you will enjoy Halfway to Better.

Halfway to Better is a collection of short solarpunk stories, each exploring a near-future where were struggling to survive the climate crisis and build a better world. These hopeful climate-fiction stories take you from the bottom of the sea to the towers of a bot-filled city, from sparkling labs to flooded lighthouses, all imagining futures halfway to a better world. The Halfway to Better collection contains six short stories plus a bonus prose-poem, Rewilding Indiana, and its accompanying sky shanty.

SHORT STORY: A sister in the far future, when we no longer burn things for fuel, finds a forbidden thing that would make the perfect gift. The Day We Stopped Burning is one of six short solarpunk stories in the Halfway to Better collection. If you enjoyed the optimistic climate solutions in Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future or the cozy cooperative future in Becky Chambers' Monk and Robot series, you will enjoy Halfway to Better.

SHORT STORY: Living in a flooded lighthouse is probably illegal, but no one has come to kick her out, so she keeps furtively tending the oyster beds and feeding the crows. But when a storm brings an unexpected, and unwelcome, visitor, her time in this final refuge might be at an end. Planting the Shell-Bones is one of six short solarpunk stories in the Halfway to Better collection. If you enjoyed the optimistic climate solutions in Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future or the cozy cooperative future in Becky Chambers' Monk and Robot series, you will enjoy Halfway to Better.

SHORT STORY: At the bottom of the sea, a trawler crawls across an abyssal plain, carefully cleaning microplastics off the ancient mineral-rich nodules, when the crew finds something that shouldn't be possible. Slimy Things Did Crawl is one of six short solarpunk stories in the Halfway to Better collection.

Tomorrow’s Hope: A journey of exploration and hope builds on the themes reminiscent of classic Science Fiction written by the greats of the 1960’s. Inspired by the works of Ben Bova, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, and more, we dive into worlds that could be just around the corner.

Lieutenant Commander David Ashton thrives on excitement. As he strolls to the White House, he has the feeling a new adventure awaits and he's not disappointed. President Gardiner offers him the mission of a lifetime, something he's trained for all of his life. Gardiner explains that the United States is running out of oil. In desperation, he is dispatching the Excalibur, the largest starship ever built, to voyage beyond the solar system to a distant planet 103 light years from earth.