System Fiction

Die erste Etappe ist geschafft. Ivan Susanin hat es geschafft, zu überleben und zusammen mit den anderen Anführern die verschiedenen Akteure in der Allianz zu vereinen. Doch das ist erst der Anfang. Eine riesige Goblin-Armee nähert sich von den Außenbezirken der Stadt, während die Untoten in der Stadt umherstreifen. Die Menschen auf der Erde sitzen zwischen allen Stühlen. Die einzige Möglichkeit, einem weiteren Massaker zu entgehen, besteht darin, die Goblin-Festung einzunehmen und bis zum Ende der Mission durchzuhalten.

Hidden Behind the Robe is a tapestry of stranger-than-fiction scenes, observed over Matt Graham’s 43-year career in the criminal justice system. The story traverses the unexplored and overlooked inner workings of the raunchy, salacious, often hilarious, behind-the-scenes happenings of Los Angeles justice. Combining issues of privilege, race, and sexual misconduct, Hidden Behind the Robe provides a raw, behind-the-scenes perspective, and insight into the legal system that could only have been written by a Judge who has seen it all.

An interdisciplinary work that brings life writing scholarship into conversation with prison studies and law and literature studies, Prison Life Writing theorizes how life writing works in prison, explains literature’s complicated entanglements with institutional power, and demonstrates the political and aesthetic innovations of one of America’s most fascinating literary genres.

India has the second-largest legal profession in the world, but the systemic delays and chronic impediments of its judicial system inspire little confidence in the common person. In India’s Legal System, renowned constitutional expert and senior Supreme Court lawyer Fali S. Nariman explores the possible reasons.

After serving in the Civil War as a Confederate officer and then achieving business success in the North, Colonel Henry French returns to his hometown of Clarendon, North Carolina, and dreams of building a better future. In his absence, Clarendon has endured as a deeply prejudiced place—still permeated by systems of racist oppression even after the Civil War—but Henry believes he has what it takes to make a difference.

Dive into the classic short story Mr. Spaceship by legendary science fiction author Philip K. Dick. Set in a future where war is waged with autonomous machines, this gripping tale explores the consequences of replacing mechanical systems with human minds—literally. When scientists upload a human brain into a spaceship to outsmart alien mines, the line between man and machine begins to blur.

Discover Philip K. Dick's chilling post-apocalyptic masterpiece "The Defenders," where humanity hides underground while robot "leadies" wage nuclear war above. But when humans venture to the surface, they uncover a shocking conspiracy that challenges everything they believe.

Journey into the mind-bending world of Philip K. Dick's "The Skull," a short story that masterfully blends time travel with moral ambiguity. When a prisoner is offered freedom for a mysterious assignment in the past, he stumbles upon revelations that challenge everything he believes about destiny and choice. This captivating tale showcases Dick's signature style—weaving philosophical questions with psychological tension and reality-warping concepts that leave listeners questioning everything.

Within a space opera landscape, Harmony explores the spirituality of a different human culture bound by a rigid caste system. Laudae Sissy, the new High Priestess of the world called Harmony, reaches across all seven castes of her society, seeking a new unity that will protect their isolation from the rest of the galaxy. But other cultures and races are testing their borders, searching for the most valuable commodity in civilized space.

In its oppressive atmosphere of fog, mist, and mud, nothing conjures up the dreary days of November and its "implacable" weather like the celebrated opening of Bleak House. The plot concerns a long-running legal dispute (Jarndyce and Jarndyce) that has far-reaching consequences for all involved. Dickens' assault on the flaws of the British judiciary system is based in part on his own experiences as a law clerk.

Vor fast sieben Jahrzehnten ist der Astronaut Perry Rhodan als erster Mensch auf Außerirdische getroffen. Seither hat die Menschheit ihren Einflussbereich ausgedehnt und ferne Sonnen­systeme besiedelt. Allerdings kommt es im Jahr 2102 zu einem Konflikt mit den Kolonien. Der Notfallplan Laurin wird eingeleitet - und geht schrecklich schief. Die Erde und der Mond stranden im ­Kugelsternhaufen M 3, rund 34.000 Lichtjahre von der Heimat entfernt.

The school cultural festival trope has finally come. The group is out to have fun, eat, and compete in the activities. It’s a shame that it cannot be easy for Clyde. From winning the festival just to protect Noona from perverts, to facing off with someone’s evil mother. Oh...did we forget to mention the crusader champion’s arrival, the Wind’s arrival, also Dark. Ladies and gentlemen: We’ve got a clusterfuck day.

Twenty-one-year-old narcoleptic Angel Duet knows her father harbors secrets. He loves and protects her, but his suspicious refusal to discuss her mother's death drives Angel to worship an image created from the little history she does have: her father's sketchy stories and her mother's treasured photography, studies of clouds that have hung in the their foyer for more than twenty years. When her father's girlfriend moves in, the photographs come down, and Angel's search for truth becomes an obsession.

A hundred millennia has passed since the events of Iron Gods. The Spin is dying, and its few inhabitants live unknowingly in the relative paradise of one of hundreds of virtual realities - "vrealities" - or they scrape a living out of remains of the real world. As the vrealities drain the last resources of the Spin, a rebellion which could kill millions sparks and gains momentum. In a remote star system, an ancient insectoid called Skarbo the Horologist has studied The Spin for several lifetimes. Himself near to death, he makes a final journey to see the object of his studies.

A space cloud of unknown composition is on a collision course with Earth as the world holds its breath. The anomaly sails through the solar system, and the International Space Station, along with three astronauts and one cosmonaut, are thrown back to the Cretaceous period, where dinosaurs roam Earth hunting prey and great pterosaurs patrol the skies.

Die Terranisch-Imperiale Liga führt seit Jahren Krieg gegen die Drizil. Als die Drizil schließlich eine erfolgreiche Invasion des Sol-Systems durchführen und ihnen nach erbittertem Kampf sogar die Erde in die Hände fällt, scheint alle Hoffnung verloren. Vielerorts bricht der organisierte Widerstand zusammen. Lediglich einige wenige, isoliert liegende, menschliche Kolonien entgehen dem Zugriff des Feindes. Eine dieser letzten freien Enklaven der Menschheit ist der abgelegene Planet Perseus die Heimatbasis der 18. Legion.

Brace yourself for the awe and terror of The Star, H.G. Wells’ powerful short story of celestial doom and human indifference. When a mysterious star hurtles through space toward Earth, astronomers issue warnings—but the world goes on, oblivious. As the star draws nearer, global chaos erupts and the fate of humanity hangs in the balance. First published in 1897, The Star is a chilling tale of cosmic forces beyond our control, a blend of science, suspense, and philosophical reflection that still resonates today.

Discover William Tenn's brilliantly satirical science fiction classic Venus is a Man's World, where gender roles are hilariously reversed. In this thought-provoking tale, Earth's male population has been decimated by war, creating a society where men are rare, pampered commodities and women hold all positions of power.

Explore one of literature’s most enduring short stories in The Lady, or the Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton. Set in a semi-barbaric kingdom, this suspenseful tale follows a young man forced to choose between two doors—one hiding a beautiful maiden, the other a deadly tiger.

Experience the bone-chilling terror of Ambrose Bierce's "The Damned Thing," a revolutionary horror tale that dares to imagine the unseen predator lurking just beyond human perception. When a man is savagely killed in the wilderness, witnesses describe an invisible force that defies explanation—a creature that exists in colors beyond the human eye's capability. Bierce's masterful blend of scientific speculation and primal fear creates an atmosphere of inescapable dread that will haunt listeners long after they finish listening.