Sci Fi - Hard Sci Fi Genre

Word Count: Click here to reveal60,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: What happens when you die, but the universe isn’t done with you? You might end up as the pet of a giant worm-a-pede alien and…if you survive your evolved descendants and rogue aliens of 1 million A.D…discover you have more in common with intelligent worms than you ever thought possible. Yes, all this might happen if you are Albert Rudyard Goldstein—the discoverer of the Biomic Network Algorithm—who thought his time had come. He had done his part to make the world a better place. Now he deserved—even looked forward to—a peaceful and mercifully succinct death. But the universe had other plans...

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Summary: A distant star is calling us. Will it end in tears? Could the first contact between humanity and an intelligent species from outer space come at a worse time? The signal arrives when Earth is only beginning to recover from an apocalyptic cyber- and nuclear war.  Transportation is by horse. New construction relies on salvage from ruined cities, and indoor plumbing is a thing of the past. Leif Grettison was an army ranger and then an exoplanetary scout who survived two interstellar missions. He thought he had finally found a home and family to call his own when a rider appeared in town, looking for help to deal with a message received from another star system—a message nobody understands. To Leif, this message is the most important event he can imagine. He wants to learn what it says, who sent it, and have humanity respond to it. It is important enough for him to embark on horseback across what used to be the eastern United States to reach Earthbase, the birthplace of humanity’s former interstellar exploration program. At Earthbase he discovers an insular small town in the wilderness, its inhabitants riven by internal politics and preoccupied with day-to-day survival. Tech is almost nonexistent, and even those who want to respond to the mysterious star signal are not sure how. Worse, Leif’s arrival upsets the precarious balance that exists among the factions vying for control. Can Leif reconnect humanity to the stars, or will he start a civil war? If we do reach out to the stars, will we find the stuff of our dreams…or unleash Earth’s biggest nightmare yet? Will Leif regret the decisions he makes?

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Summary: Rudyard Albert Goldstein, inventor of the Biomic Network Algorithm, made piece with death once in the 22^nd century, but an idiot doctor hijacked his mind, placing it in the care of Nessie, an impish AI guardian. Nessie preserved him from a civilization-ending asteroid strike so that he could help his descendants survive contact with an alien species 923,000 years, four months, and three days later. Then, he died again, merged with a worm-a-pede alien male who narrowly survived fulfilling his mating duties. They expired peacefully on a cliff top, pondering the nature of existence—and the promise of abominable liaisons.   Two deaths should be quite sufficient for any genius to endure.   Somehow, Nessie resurrected him from oblivion. His descendants needed him again. New hostile aliens roamed the Earth—along with an immortal, alien-human hybrid whose agenda was unclear. Was the healthy young body Nessie had prepared for him, along with the prospect of finally discovering “the meaning of it all” enough of a bribe to risk dying a third time?   Apparently so.   Readers of Raham’s A Singular Prophecy (Biostration, 2011), and A Once-Dead Genius in the Kennel of Master Morticue Ambergrand (Penstemon Publications, 2018) will reconnect with old friends (both human and alien). But even those new to the author’s quirky sense of humor will enjoy this third and final adventure that spans the breadth of time and space.

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Summary: MIKE CHRISTOPHER RETURNS TO EARTH TO BATTLE AN OLD NEMESIS! Mike Christopher, an artificial Human spurned and abused by much of Earth society, left Earth to become a Galactic explorer. Now, 25 years later, he returns to battle the Jenregar, an alien enemy he's fought before. But the key to defeating the alien threat also presents a soul-crushing moral dilemma!

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Summary: Ray M. Holler is an interstellar shipping freelancer, expert smuggler, and an occasional thief with a troubled past which means that his life is far from the boring, mundane exploits of your average denizen of the Orion-Sagittarius Union, a political alliance of intelligent species inhabiting the Milky Way galaxy. In fact, more often than not, he finds himself up to his neck in situations that require wit, courage, and a decent amount of luck to maneuver out of in one piece. Throughout his adventures in a universe where a safe, peaceful life is possible but not guaranteed, Ray gets to meet a variety of interesting individuals, make new friends, reunite with old acquaintances, and maybe—just maybe—face his own demons. All Quiet In the Milky Way: Ray M. Holler’s Adventures vol. 1 brings forth five stories, accompanied by an equal amount of side vignettes. This collection will take you on an exciting journey to remote worlds that, in some aspects, may not be all that dissimilar from the one we live in today.

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Summary: Half a century before Ray M. Holler sets off for the stars for the first time, a chance encounter near Neptune forever changes not only the course of human history but that of the entire Galaxy. Colonel Milan Pavel is a highly decorated officer in the Visegrád Union Navy, serving his last few months in command of the Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the flagship of the VU’s Third Fleet. When an alien ship appears near Neptune, he initially dismisses it as an elaborate pre-retirement prank by his crew, but he is quickly proven wrong. The situation escalates rapidly as it turns out that the ship is on the run from a powerful enemy who is not far behind. Colonel Pavel has a decision to make: Either follow protocol and leave the aliens to their cruel fate, or risk his ship and crew in an attempt to save them.

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Summary: BLACK TIDE: Awakening of the Key  by Debbie Bishop (Author), Mike S. Miller (Illustrator) @debbiebishop_ 5.0 out of 5 stars   (3) COMPLEX PLOT WITH MANY CHARACTERS - Part Sci-fi, part fantasy, with elements of covert intrigue and superhero action, Black Tide is one of the more multifaceted stories I've read in quite a long time. The art by Mike S. Miller is first-rate and very smooth. If you like in-depth, elaborate storylines, then this is unquestionably a book you'll want to read. It's rare that you get a comic series this complex today. Reviewed by Tim Janson Atlantis is now a myth, and the Atlanteans would like to keep it that way. Living secretly among us, their elite Black Ops team tries to protect us from supervillains from ancient times. As leader of the most covert black ops team in the world, Justin has devoted his life to saving others. Captured on a mission, he discovers that he was once the most powerful villain of Atlantis. After its demise 12,000 years ago, survivors recreated Atlantis and regenerated their higher beings who had been killed in the war. Villonious survived, but since they feared him, he was put in stasis and hidden from those who would free him. His love, Kaila, never gave up trying to find him. When she finally nearly succeeds, the heirarchy blocks his memories so he will not remember how to use his powers then forces him to be reborn. Now, on a mission to solve the mystery of a series of international murders, he is reunited with his enemies. In a weird twist of fate, he triggers the same series of events that led to the destruction of his ancient land. He is a changed man who remembers nothing of his past. But how he deals with the present will either save us or destroy us all.

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Summary: Enter The Game is where it all begins for Justin. As the teenage son of an International Special Forces agent, Justin has seen the dangers in the world first hand. He's been to more high schools than he can count and can't talk to a girl to save his life. But now, when his dad is left for dead by the powers who employ him Justin must somehow find the courage to locate and rescue him by himself. To do it, he will have to infiltrate the Deceivers - the most covert and deadly Black Ops organization in the world. Based on the popular comic book Black Tide. The fascinating story combines science, history, technology, myth, metaphysics and tales of Atlantis with some of the same issues we face in our world today. Unlike the comic book, this novel is set in Justin’s formative teen years. Justin is an old soul and he is haunted by nightmares from what he thinks might be his previous life. If it was, can he forgive himself? How does a soldier go on after violence?

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Summary: Introducing DR, the original Draconian Warrior. Surviving the destruction of ancient Atlantis, DR has lived in secrecy for over 12,500 years. He was the second Draconian cloned on Atlantis and the first one to live. With his fellow Draconian Warriors enslaved on Atlantis, DR has remained free by staying hidden. His well-known allegiance to Atlantis’ greatest threat, Villonious, and the fact that he is on the outside, would put him at the top of their most wanted list...if the Atlanteans knew he was alive. DR is an enlightened being. His powers are human, honed over time. He knows many secrets, but one in particular, kept from Justin for his own safety, may be his undoing. With ancient technology that surpasses our own, he has joined Hexon’s elite circle and disguised as Draegon, is in a key position to help his friend uncover the covert organization’s plans. Featuring 35th Generation Shaolin Grandmaster Dr. Kam Yuen, as himself - real-life Grandsifu Shaolin KF, Taiqi, Qigong, Rocket Scientist. yuenmethod.com The story continues... Rejected by Justin, Kaila learns everyone she loves has been out to control her power. Deeply hurt, she cuts all ties with them. Meanwhile, unscrupulous mercenaries from around the world are being covertly recruited by a little known corporation called Hexon. The secretive organization is suspected of having ties to terrorist activity but nothing has been proven. Well-financed with technology that rivals the Atlanteans, Hexon is not only dangerous, but difficult to infiltrate. Several government agents on the case have disappeared. After linking them to a string of murders and EMF (electromagnetic frequency) bombings, and after being betrayed by everyone, including her own family, Kaila accepts unorthodox backup from two unusual allies, reptilians Krill and Tog, and sets out to take Hexon down...alone.

Word Count: Click here to reveal112,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Chanda Kasmira devotes years of her life and career to saving the inhabitants of the planet Splendor from the planet's coming destruction. Her latest effort fails. Life on Splendor faces more danger than ever before. Disheartened, Chanda places herself into a "long sleep," intending to awaken decades later to a brighter future for Splendor and its people. She doesn't. Instead, an even more difficult path lies ahead after CHANDA'S AWAKENING.

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Summary: Fourteen-year-old Samantha spends her days exploring the shallow reef behind her island home. With her world locked in a battle against rising seas, scientists deploy genetically modified corals to rebuild reefs and protect the coastline. No one expects the reefs to be a hotbed of evolution, but they are. When an octopus flows off a rock in her lagoon, Samantha is startled. When he purposefully arranges pieces of coral on the sand, trying to communicate, she is shocked. How she responds may determine the fate of life on Earth. The year is 2045, and fourteen-year-old Samantha lives in a world where ocean levels are rising, destroying coastal cities and swallowing islands. Millions of displaced people are homeless. The planet is in a climate tailspin that threatens civilization. Researchers deployed genetically modified corals that can grow in warmer waters. They aimed to sequester carbon dioxide and stabilize the climate. The successful project produced an extensive barrier reef system along the coasts of Georgia and Florida. Samantha lives on a research island off the coast of Georgia with her scientist parents. She becomes obsessed with the ocean, spending all her time exploring the reef. One day, she encounters an octopus attempting to communicate with her. The story dives deep into an exploration of species’ intelligence and the quest to save the planet.

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Summary: Clarity (noun) Four definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) Coherent and intelligible 2) Transparent or pure 3) Attaining certainty about something 4) Easy to see or hear Clarity features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

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Summary: With the Milky Way Galaxy teetering on the edge of a widespread conflict, one man’s choices will ripple across the stars. Lars Svensson has left behind his military past for a much quieter life as a captain of the Lundgren, an old, rundown mining barge. His routine is upended when a catastrophic explosion at a deep spaceport forces him to take on hundreds of desperate survivors. Tensions run high as the Lundgren rushes toward the nearest inhabited system--but the disagreements among the crew soon prove to be the least of Lars’ worries. Sudden sabotage cripples the ship, leaving them all stranded in the cold void between the stars, light-years from any chance of rescue.

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Summary: After a job gone wrong, Special Agent Olgo is trapped within the bowels of Mars with no means of escape. The device that imprisons the trauma within them is about to fail, and the past terrors kept hidden by it must be contained for Olgo’s sanity and everyone's safety. From the darkness comes a tiny voice, and a tinier hope: "Hello?" *** The first book in the ‘Cold Rush' Verse follows Agent Olgo as their corporate masters give them what could be their big break: a mission to Mars. But trying to change the working conditions in the planet's underground cities proves more challenging than the agent could have imagined. When a wearable device Olgo uses to block emotions begins to fail, an unlikely friendship changes everything as Olgo struggles to prevent spilling more blood on the Red Planet.

Word Count: Click here to reveal150000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Jenny needs time to heal – but she’s not going to get it.  After her near destruction on New Harmony, Jenny Fraiser retreats to Musashi. She submerges herself in training and meditation, trying to find her balance again. Once more, she is unexpectedly catapulted to the front lines of a war of hatred – one she is uniquely qualified to win, with some help. As a deep-cover espionage specialist, Lulu uses her sociopathic tendencies for the greater good, but she never expects love, connection – or loss. Jenny, Lulu and the others are just pawns in a galactic game, which twists and changes in response to their every move. They need to track down the seemingly omniscient game master – before its seemingly innocuous task destroys two civilisations.

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Summary: Saoirse Kenneally is on a mission to save the people of a distant world. But first, she has some problems of her own to deal with. Saoirse is an alcoholic and an addict who has been disowned by her family. None of the rehabs she has been in will take her back. And she just woke up in jail. Again. To avoid doing time she commits to a two-year term of off-planet service, one that will take her to Saturn's moon Titan and then to a faraway star. The first hurdle is making it through training because Saoirse has a way of finding trouble even when she's trying to behave. Then she's posted to Titan, where every move she makes leads her deeper into a web of corruption, interstellar drug smuggling, violence, and power politics that is likely to end in disaster. Can a twenty-year old woman with a checkered past, a tenuous grip on sobriety, and an on-again off-again relationship with the truth save an entire world from a bloody power grab? And can she save herself in the bargain?

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Summary: What if first contact happened, and nobody even noticed? Light-years away, years ago, something insignificant happened. Now, the spirits are restless. Loki has returned, seeking help for his people. Entire stations are being consumed, populations lost. No one understands why, and the threat continues to spread. Can Jack, Marsha, and teenager Po carry the weight of saving Loki’s civilization? This time, it may break them all.

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Summary: A galaxy in peril The story begun in The Reefs of Time continues. The time-tides caused by Karellia’s defenses have brought the malicious Mindaru AI out of the deep past into the present, threatening Bandicut and Li-Jared, who have arrived at the backwater planet—Li-Jared’s homeworld—to find it on the brink of interplanetary war. Somehow they must forge a peace between Karellia and its neighboring world if the Mindaru threat is to be broken. Back on Shipworld, Ik and Julie Stone risk their lives a second time to stop the Mindaru at their source: a planet near the galactic core, a billion years in the past. Can Antares, the beautiful humanoid who also loves Bandicut, help them? What of Bria the gokat? And Amaduse, the most influential librarian in Shipworld? And in the deep time of the galaxy’s early history, by the light of a million suns, the Mindaru do hideous things to an innocent species. The Mindaru plan for the altered creatures bears momentous possibilities even the deadly AI cannot predict. Time is critical. Time is elastic. And time is running out. Conclusion of the unmissable two-part “Out of Time” sequence begun in The Reefs of Time, from Jeffrey A. Carver, Nebula-nominated author of Eternity's End. PRAISE FOR THE REEFS OF TIME / CRUCIBLE OF TIME: “Classic science fiction with engaging characters and richly imagined worlds!” —Greg Bear; author of The Unfinished Land and The War Dogs Trilogy “Jeffrey A. Carver’s remarkable long-awaited duology The Reefs of Time / Crucible of Time is a welcome addition to The Chaos Chronicles, certifying his continuing mastery of action and adventure at the boundaries of space opera and hard SF.” —Steve Miller, co-author of The Liaden Universe “There are giant, and brilliant, concepts in these books... If you haven’t read it you’re in for a whale of a ride! I, personally, will have to pick up more of Jeffrey Carver—not just this series—because I’ve become a fan of his world/galaxy-spanning imagination! I highly recommend these books.” —Steve Fahnestalk, Amazing Stories Magazine

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Summary: Other stories will take you to Mars. This one will take you inside the boardroom, the pub, and the bedroom with the people planning the mission. Gurdeep is an engineer and a soldier. Georgie’s a food scientist. One is pragmatic with a tough outer shell; the other’s an optimist, a person of ideas and compassion. In the span of a single afternoon, the couple find themselves in charge of planning a self-sustaining colony on Mars. Together, they’re humanity’s last hope for survival. They have 160 slots to fill with experts from all over the world as they set about designing an all-new society with its own government, economy, and culture – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Among those chosen for the mission is Devon, an autistic scientist with a unique skill set who finds life on Earth strange and alienating. Maybe a whole new planet is exactly what’s needed. With 1,114 days until the launch, excitement and tensions run high. Earth’s second chance hangs in the balance. Between strict genetic requirements and the dangers of the dystopian almost-present, will everyone make it to the final countdown? This is a work of neurodiverse, culturally diverse, gender-bendy, socio-politico-economic, drunken-arguments-in-the-pub science fiction – not bang-bang-pew-pew science fiction.

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Summary: Rules were made to be broken. From terraformed outposts to magical realms, journey to worlds where deadly plants, rampant biodiversity, or failed colonies have created irresistible opportunities for those brave enough to seize them. New worlds, found family, mystical secrets, and deadly science weave together in this lesbian-centric anthology focusing on a very different kind of first time—a first encounter with a world, or being, entirely unlike our own. If you like diverse stories with lesbian heroines practicing science, magic, and seduction, buy Distant Gardens today!