Hard Science Fiction Space

With the invention of faster-than-light travel there is nowhere that humanity cannot go. New worlds are discovered, but with them come new dangers. At the heart of the discovery is the Fermi, mysterious beings that have survived on alien worlds for longer than humanity has existed. But now the Fermi are awakening, and they do not seem pleased to find humans in their midst. But for Lakshmi Nayak and the crew of the Fighting Chance, danger is a lot closer to home. Their search for answers will take them to places, and worlds, they never expected.

Commanders from six Star Trek crews are faced with the ultimate gamble, as they hurl themselves through a Gateway without any knowledge of what lay beyond. Each faces a personally unique challenge, struggling to find a way back to the ships and homes they left behind. Waiting behind at least one of the Gateways are the ageless Iconians, the primordial architects of the mysterious portals causing chaos throughout the Milky Way galaxy.

Julie E. Czerneda's acclaimed Web Shifters series continues with the story of Esen - the last survivor of a unique alien race. Able to take on the form of any creature she observes, Esen has long since broken the cardinal rule of her species: noninterference.

Drunk, angry, abusive, and pathetic, Dan Gurlick exists at the very lowest level of human civilization, sleeping in junkyard cars and scrounging through garbage cans for his dinner. But his last rotting meal contains something unexpected: a spore that originated from a galaxy many light-years away. First, Dan eats the spore, then, the spore eats Dan; and the homeless alcoholic becomes a host for the Medusa. An insatiable alien hive mind, the Medusa has already consumed the life forms of a billion planets. Now, it hungers for the dominant species of Earth.

The Intrepid is drifting slowly between the stars. After near calamity at LHS 1565, the ship is headed for Kapteyn's Star to make repairs. There, the crew will need to spend decades building a temporary industrial base. Across the void, the Noctus prepare to leave Sirius for the same destination. Their plan is to colonize the system and forge new lives for themselves...if they aren't destroyed by their government first.

The sparsely populated moon, Io, is destroyed in a terrorist attack. Hundreds are dead in the cataclysmic explosion. Thousands become refugees as the shattered remnants of the moon threaten the Jupiter Alliance. Billions throughout the solar system are wondering, "Where next?" Those responsible must be found and brought to justice. The explorer ship Erebus is reassigned from its mission and sent to Jupiter to investigate this atrocity with Trent's international team onboard.

Sable Keech is a walking dead man. Was he resurrected because he was infected by the Spatterjay virus, or it took place late in a tank of seawater? Taylor Bloc wants to know the truth. He also wants more – adulation, power, control – and will go to any lengths to achieve them. An ancient hive mind has sent an agent to this uncertain world. Does it merely want to obtain the poison 'sprine' that is crucial to immortality? Erlin, still faced with the ennui of immortality, is interrupted by an angry whelkus titanicus, and begins a strange journey.

The colony ship Ragtime docks in the Lagos system, having traveled light-years to bring one thousand sleeping souls to a new home among the stars. But when first mate Michelle Campion rouses, she discovers some of the sleepers will never wake. Answering Campion’s distress call, investigator Rasheed Fin is tasked with finding out who is responsible for these deaths.

Humanity has conquered the Solar System. What’s more, death itself has been vanquished. Wellstone - programmable matter - insures that no one need ever die, or indeed, age past adulthood. But for the children of immortal parents, life remains a constant state of arrested development. And a prince shall remain a prince forever, never inheriting the throne. So what is a minor royal to do?

The first interstellar ship, John Glenn, fled a solar system populated by rogue AIs and machine/human hybrids, threatened by too much nanotechnology, and rife with political dangers. The John Glenn’s crew intended to terraform the nearly pristine planet Ymir in hopes of creating a utopian society that will limit intelligent technology, but by some miscalculation they have landed in the wrong system.

H.G. Wells, one of the most influential writers of science fiction and speculative fiction, has left an indelible mark on literature with his vast body of work. Wells's books, spanning across various genres, captivate people with their imaginative narratives, thought-provoking concepts, and insightful social commentary. His novels, such as "The Time Machine," "The War of the Worlds," and "The Invisible Man," have become iconic and have helped shape the science fiction genre as we know it today.

The Morthans were physically and mentally superior. Descended from humans, they were now, literally, “more-than" human … and considered the human race to be little better than animals. They would stop at nothing to conquer the remaining human-controlled worlds. Docked for repairs after a harrowing battle with a Morthan ship, Jonathan Korie and his crew discover they have a Morthan imp aboard—a Morthan weapon so quick they have no chance of catching it, so clever they have no hope of outsmarting it and so deadly they have no choice but to try.

The year is AD 2790. With space elevators and giant orbital fleets hovering over Earth, open war looks inevitable, and people are anxious to get away. The lines are drawn, with the Confederacy in the East and the First World Alliance in the West. In hopes of finding a refuge from the looming war, the Alliance is sending Captain Alexander de Leon to explore an Earth-type planet, code-named Wonderland, but at the last minute before launch, a Confederate fleet leaves orbit on a trajectory that threatens both the mission and Alliance sovereignty.

After barely fending off the insectoid Scourge, Admiral Absen frantically prepares for another attack while dealing with politics and treachery from within, even as Spectre pursues his own hidden agenda. Can EarthFleet save humanity once more, and will a bold counterstrike by an elite force of AI-equipped ships buy time, or merely invite disaster?

Barcus is a working stiff looking for a good paycheck. When the Ventura and its crew enter orbit for a scheduled planet survey, the ship activates an automated defense system protecting the planet. Although the Ventura is destroyed in the attack, Barcus alone survives the harrowing fall to the remote planet surface. He struggles to remain alive and sane and to discover why everyone he knew and loved on the Ventura was deliberately murdered.

With the Borman suddenly out of commission and far beyond reach, cislunar space begins falling into chaos as critical satellites fail and valuable lunar mineral shipments begin disappearing in transit. Nothing is as it seems, and Marshall Hunter and the rest of the crew suspect none of it is by coincidence.

Living in the Fellowship meant fighting one space battle after another. Every civilization was aggressive, hostile, and impossible to live with in peace. A Welken task force stumbles upon a massive Myot ship building complex and every Welken warship is destroyed in the ensuing battle before they can warn the home world of the Myot's location. One escape pod manages to escape the battle and the Myot know it must be prevented from making it back to Welken territory.

Aboard the hyperspace liner Redshift is a relativistic world of slow light and treachery. The first sign of trouble is the apparent suicide of a passenger. When first officer Jason Kraft discovers that she was murdered, Kraft wants to know why. Before long, a desperate group of people tries to use the hyperspace craft for their evil purposes, and Kraft is the only person in their way.

Sol has fallen, but the fight continues to rage. Oberon stayed behind, nothing more than a ghost on a radar screen, watching as the Clicks increase their presence on planet Earth. What's going on with the humans left behind? No one knows. Humanity's fleet admiral has survived! And he's issuing orders. Oberon is sent on a mission where it must succeed or die trying. It isn't what any of the crew wants, but it is what they must do.

Restored to his prestigious position within NUESSA, Jericho Fox takes command of the Marquis-class ship’s test program on a mission that promises to move humanity to a habitable exoplanet. But not everyone believes he’s fit for the job. As launch hour nears, can Jericho keep his crew from following the doomed fate of his last mission? Meanwhile, Dr. Evelyn Park leads her team of scientists in decoding the now legendary alien transmission that survived the Astraea Station catastrophe.