System Fiction

All Systems Red is the tense first science fiction adventure novella in Martha Wells' series The Murderbot Diaries. For fans of Westworld, Ex Machina, Ann Leckie's Imperial Raadch series, or Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. The main character is a deadly security droid that has bucked its restrictive programming and is balanced between contemplative self-discovery and an idle instinct to kill all humans.

Fight, survive, adapt, and rely only on yourself. That is Derek’s creed and what's got him through the System Integration on Earth. Everything changed when the System came. Cute bunnies and beautiful butterflies became savage killing machines. Then the Invaders arrived with a single goal: to obtain ownership of this new habitable planet. War has raged ever since. None of this mattered much to Derek, aside from making living a little more perilous.

After a successful auction, the young Prince Edgar requested Derek’s help on an issue that concerned the safety of the entire Kingdom of Cydaria. A new, level 250 raid dungeon appeared, and Edgar needed the kingdom’s elite to help clear it before the unstable dungeon overflowed, or even worse, broke. Leaving his shop in the trusting hands of Malorie, and with everyone’s insistence that he go, Derek agreed to the prince’s request and joined him and the others on the raid. However, the dungeon wasn’t what anyone was expecting, and when they went inside, they found that it was a trial dungeon.

The Incursion Event has been announced, and sapient races from across the multiverse are invading the newly integrated planet Earth. These beings have decades, centuries or even millennia of experience living within The System and wield powers far beyond the mutated Beasts and mana-spawned Monsters Drew and his friends have faced in the past.

Melvin Murphy is your average everyday teen... until he finds the System. Melvin has normal problems. High School. Tests. Trying to find a girlfriend (and failing... miserably). But one day he awakens with access to a System that governs all magic. In his attempt to summon a teacher to show him the ropes, he botches the ritual and accidentally summons a magic-wielding girl named Kalliphae. Sure, she's powerful and deadly. A femme fatale who's more intimidating than even the most popular girls at school.

After an unfortunate accident, Handry is forced to wander a world he doesn't understand, searching for meaning. He soon discovers that the life he thought he knew is far stranger than he could even possibly imagine. Can an unlikely savior provide the answers to the questions he barely comprehends?

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.

There is a huge, bold black streak in the sky. Branches appear out of nowhere over North America, Southern Europe, and Central Africa. People who live beneath The Rift can see it. But scientists worldwide are distressed - their equipment cannot pick up any type of signal from it. The rift appears to consist of nothing. Literally. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Most people are curious but not overly concerned. The phenomenon seems to pose no danger. It is just there. Then something jolts the most hardened naysayers, and surpasses the worst nightmares of the world's greatest scientists.

After some unsettling news brought to them by an unexpected messenger, Prince Edgar fled the Raid Dungeon to hurry back to his kingdom, leaving Derek as the impromptu leader. Being concerned about his people on the outside, Derek chose to rule with an iron fist to finish the dungeon as soon as possible. This choice didn’t make him any friends, but he didn’t need any for it to work.

Is our sun behaving differently from other stars? When an amateur astronomer discovers something strange on telescopic solar pictures, an explanation must be found. Is it merely artifact? Or has he found something totally unexpected? An expert international crew is hastily assembled, a spaceship is speedily repurposed, and the foursome is sent on the ride of their lives. What challenges will they face on this spur-of-the-moment mission to our central star?

It’s not easy being a System Traveler. Well, the traveling part is hard, at least. But once Derek got his feet under him, he hit the ground running, saving an entire area from a massive dungeon overflow in the process. He even found some companions to help ease the massive hole inside him formed from spending decades alone in the void.

Following the events in Network Effect, the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there's an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can't have the planet, they're sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize. But there's something wrong with Murderbot; it isn't running within normal operational parameters.

The world ends in a slew of blue notification boxes, bringing with it a game-like existence including monsters and Classes. Now, John has to make his way from Kluane National Park in the Yukon to Whitehorse through monster infested forests. But, that's not enough; because he'll need to help rebuild civilization itself around the System, aliens and monsters. And, as always, humanity will be its own greatest enemy.

The last wing of the red cathedral is finally live, and the possibility king awaits. To reach his throne, players will have to face foes capable of bringing about the end of the world. However, nothing can compare to their creator. The prize for defeating him is unprecedented: the ability to create a custom Ripple. A single change that will alter the very fabric of EBO forever. A power that Ned’s enemies would do anything to obtain.

Knox wants nothing more than to escape his small-town life as a woodcutter. He finally gets his chance to delve deep into a dungeon, and his world is forever changed! When disaster strikes, even in his new life as an Adventurer, can he survive long enough to walk the mysterious Path of the Titans? In the realm of Premar, where magic is wild and unbound, rules are about to be set forth. The Path of the Titans will unlock the Titan System, forcing all magic to obey the laws and rules set forth by the powerful Titans themselves.

Now the site of EBO’s first completed Red Cathedral, the Onyx Delta has become the center of the virtual world, and the entire player base is descending on Ned’s city to try their hand at the fearsome new raid and reap the game-changing rewards within. At the same time, a powerful, menacing guild is running roughshod over the western continents, razing every city in their wake and winning Frank’s obnoxiously loud approval from afar. But Ned knows that it’s only a matter of time before their forces sail east to the delta and attempt to burn down everything he’s built.

Axel Nal is out of luck and out of time. He has failed every single induction ceremony and it is his last chance to Exceed to a higher class. At his wit's end, he desperately tries one last time at Exceeding, putting all his chips on the table...except something was different this time. Time freezing, a mysterious voice, and a new Exceed Mark? Had lady luck finally given him a boon? Had he received a class the world had never seen before? One thing is for sure, he's changed. And now he has something called...the Gambler's System.

It's been over a year since the System came to Earth, bringing blood and monsters in equal measure. Having left Whitehorse, John and his team travel down to British Columbia, running into new dangers from aliens and humans alike. Faced with new challenges and new enemies, John and his friends seek to free human settlements from Galactic control in North America.

Ivan Susanin, a typical guy and unemployed techie, is initiated by the System and transported, together with a thousand other players, to an unknown location beyond Earth. Ivan has an interface, a spear, and basic weapon skills. All he has to do to return to Earth is complete a simple quest and reach the second level. But experience points are only awarded for kills in this game, and the clock is ticking.

House Gracefall wasn’t anything like what Derek had imagined it would be. Instead of rage and anger at the loss of one of their young masters, House Gracefall showed humility and even apologized. Despite one noble house exemplifying honor and nobility, another awaited to reinforce the negative stereotypes that Derek had been anticipating all along. Somehow, out of all that, Derek made a new friend, a new business partner, and learned some secrets, while Silvi got her first taste of the real world of cooking and loved it.