Exploration Fiction

Telescopes on Earth have detected an Earth-sized planet circling a star some 30 light-years away. Now the race is on to get pictures of that distant world that show whether or not the planet is truly like Earth - and if it bears life. Farside observatory will have the largest optical telescope in the solar system and the most sensitive radio telescope, insulated from the interference of Earth’s radio chatter by a thousand kilometers of the moon’s solid body. But building Farside is a complex, dangerous task. And what they ultimately find stuns everyone, and humanity will never be the same.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, the endlessly-mysterious moon is explored in this reprint short science fiction anthology from award-winning editor and anthologist Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld, The Best Science Fiction of the Year).

Humanity is divided between those who have chosen a simulated existence and those seeking life among the stars in this far-future science-fiction adventure.

Charlie est de retour ! Et avec lui, tous les héros de "Charlie et la chocolaterie" : Grand-Maman Joséphine, Grand-Maman Georgina et Grand-Papa George, sans oublier l'imprévisible Monsieur Wonka. Ce dernier a fait construire un merveilleux ascenseur de verre qui permet de voler. Mais soudain, une fausse manœuvre projette tout ce petit monde dans l'espace : les voilà en orbite autour de la Terre. Et le ciel est loin d'être vide ! Car à côté d'astronautes en mission, Charlie et ses amis vont devoir faire face aux redoutables Kpoux Vermicieux, la terreur absolue des galaxies...

L'espèce humaine s'est déployée parmi les étoiles, établissant des colonies sur de nombreux mondes, tandis que des clans gitans indépendants, les Vagabonds, gèrent de gigantesques stations d'écopage volantes au milieu des nuages. Sur la planète Theroc, la capitale de la Confédération, les humains vivent dans une monumentale forêt dont les arbres démesurés sont tous interconnectés au sein d'un esprit unique.

Sur la Terre brillent désormais deux Soleils. Le réchauffement de la planète condamne les hommes à vivre dans quatre tours baptisées Afrique, Amérique, Asie et Pacifique, hautes de trente-six mille kilomètres, et qui s'élèvent jusqu'à l'orbite géostationnaire.

At the helm of a commandeered freighter, Captain Steph Michaels has infiltrated the Free Star systems. Leading a captive crew, and posing as a privateer, he's on a mission to seize a precious resource from an enemy outpost. Backed by his Archangel Squadron, it's a smash-and-grab operation he can pull off in his sleep. Until it isn't.

Where life as we know it is impossible, the real adventure begins. Venus is a hostile planet, covered by active volcanoes, but NASA launches an expedition to search for life there anyway. Their specially developed airship cruises in the clouds of Venus to serve as a research platform for its four astronauts. When they discover dangerous activities on the glowing-hot surface, there can only be one explanation: A highly sophisticated life form must be at work.

The Confederated Systems Alliance has spread to dozens of systems, creating the first true interstellar alliance dedicated to bringing peace and prosperity to all inhabited worlds. Unfortunately, some see this new alliance as a threat to their own seats of power, and would do anything to stop it. After a well deserved rest, Captain Nathan Scott is once again called into action. This time, it is not the fate of the galaxy that is on his shoulders, but the life of one of his dearest friends. But not all is as it appears.

Keep your eyes down and your feet moving, or this planet will rust you. That’s what Lunar Jones tells the other kids at the relocation clinic. All of them were born on Mars, a planet that never wanted people in the first place. With resources scarce and hope even scarcer, it’s easy to get distracted looking up. After all, their ancestors descended from the stars. Martian history always starts with Earth. The first astronauts discovered that space was already occupied. Not by little green men or flying saucers. It was full of dragons.

Chief Katherine “Kit” Carson, of the elite Pathfinder Corps, joins the mission as a last-minute replacement, hoping to put a spotty past behind her and build a new life on a brave new world. The expedition arrives on Terra Nova, expecting to join the first wave of colonists, instead they find abandoned cities and are soon faced with a new, terrifying enemy humanity has never encountered before. This publisher pack includes Terra Nova and Bloodlines.

Ellie Masters comes out of a coma to find herself the only inhabitant of an eerily empty moon station. She’s not on Earth any more; she’s not even in the right solar system. So when someone reaches out to her, tells her he’s her friend, she’s happy to believe it. The alternative is to be stuck alone with an enemy. Renn Sorvihn has been chasing a rogue Tecran ship for over a month. But when Renn follows the Tecran ship into an uncharted sector, and realizes the Tecran have been working their way to a secret moon base, he suddenly understands things are not as they seem.

Colton Beck has six months to live. He works for the Angor near Los Angeles, aware that any day could be his last. The Angor arrived 20 years ago, resolved to help mankind survive, but not everyone believes their motives are honorable. When the Angor offer humanity a colony world, Colton is determined to see another planet before his final breath. He’s been diagnosed with Xeno, a rare disorder that surfaced with the Angor’s arrival, but he won’t let this stop him.

The Ness sisters ran away from home to become the most fearsome pirates in the 20,000 worlds of the Congregation. They've plundered treasures untold, taken command of their own ship, and made plenty of enemies. But now they're being hunted for crimes they didn't commit by a fleet whose crimes are worse than their own. To stay one step ahead of their pursuers and answer the questions that have plagued them, they'll have to employ every dirty, piratical trick in the book....

So, here’s the thing: Cleo and her friends really, truly didn’t mean to steal this spaceship. They just wanted to know why, twenty years ago, the entire Providence crew vanished without a trace. But then the stupid dark matter engine started all on its own, and now these four twenty-somethings are en route to Proxima Centauri, unable to turn around, and being harangued by a snarky hologram that has the face and attitude of the ship’s missing captain, Billie.

Véra vit dans la galaxie d'Andromède, située à des centaines d'années-lumière de la Voie Lactée, et donc de la Terre ! Là-bas, beaucoup de choses sont différentes, à commencer par les habitants aux noms bizarres : les Euphémériens, les Magniox, les Irisiens et les Cortéxiens. La petite extra-terrestre au caractère bien trempé passe des journées fantacosmiques avec ses copains d'école et son robot-chat B54 ! Véra est en sortie scolaire. Avec sa classe, elle découvre un vaisseau spatial ultra sophistiqué.

Captain James T. Kirk and the Enterprise crew escort Spock’s father, Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan, to a dilithium-rich planet called Akiron. They arrive to find this world under siege by creatures that some of the planet’s denizens believe are demons. Sarek orders Kirk to abandon the mission, but the young captain won’t turn his back on people in danger.

Nathan Myers and the crew of the Legacy have been taking down some of the galaxy's worst criminals. The corrupt leaders that are hiding in the shadows have taken notice. They are combining forces and sharing technology, even resorting to acts of terrorism in hopes of putting a stop to Nathan's conquests. If the face of growing opposition, Nathan and his allies discover an even deadlier threat. The Prule that have been hiding in the galaxy for more than 200 years have suddenly come out of hiding.

Opportunity is presented to Admiral Cordelia. Imperium’s Presiding Executor Gaketork sends emissaries to establish communications with her, and she responds by installing a comm system aboard the executor’s transport. The Imperium governor, who has become sentient, uses the new comm system to send her critical data. Cordelia shares the governor’s information with newly assembled Trident squadron commanders. She directs the commanders to scour another executor’s territory and free suborned worlds of mercenary Radags and Krackus overseers.

Emma Watson, a brilliant research physician, has been training for years for the mission of a lifetime: to study living beings in space. Jack McCallum, Emma's estranged husband, has shared her dream of space travel, but a medical condition has grounded and embittered him. He must watch from the sidelines as his wife prepares for her first mission to the international Space Station.