Sci fi tales that take place just a few years from now, often examining the social consequences of today’s world. Return to general Sci Fi
Note: these books are currently sorted by release date, with newest first.
Word Count: 90696
Summary: Marto Boxter is an optimistic journalist with a head full of implants. When we meet him, he is planning a ride into the interconnected tribes of the Northeast from his town of Reverside-on-Hudson. He plans to document his ride by posting his thoughts in real-time to his post-human followers. Before he can leave on his tour however, a runaway named Helen arrives with secret information that throws Marto’s placid world into turmoil. Meanwhile, Barnabas Yoniver IV, the leader of a Luddite town to the south launches a plot to disrupt the life of all upgraded humans and bring them back to the traditional economy of markets and governments. Aware of Yoniver's plans, rival Luddite families scheme to prevent Barnabas from grabbing too much power for himself.
Word Count: 17000
Summary: "...an apocalyptic survival story that moves with the speed of a raging river..." This is how the world ends. For one man, this is how it begins. Donald Kerston's life up to now could only be described as a nightmare. But what he wakes up to suddenly becomes much worse. Struggling for his very survival, for the first time he finds friends and a future - only to be confronted with the one thing he didn't ever want to face.
Word Count: 63000
Summary: Whales around the world changed their songs the day scientists announced the discovery of powerful new particles around Saturn's largest moon which could solve Earth's energy needs. The Quinn Corporation rushes to build a solar sail space craft to unlock the secrets of these strange new particles. They gather the best and brightest to pilot the ship: Jonathan Jefferson, an aging astronaut known as the last man on Mars; Natalie Freeman, a distinguished Navy captain; Myra Lee, a biologist who believes the whales are communicating with Saturn; and John O'Connell, the technician who first discovered the particles. Charting the course is the mysterious Pilot who seems determined to keep secrets from the rest of the crew. Together they make a grand tour of the solar system and discover not only wonders but dangers beyond their imagination.
Word Count: 128000
Summary: Death isn’t a big deal in the virtual world of online gaming, but after poking her nose where it doesn’t belong, Dakota Marx finds herself running for her life―and reality doesn’t come with a respawn. At twenty-two, she’s still slinging coffee at an Amazon Cafe despite having a degree in programming. It’s not because she’s unlucky, unmotivated, or even that she fancies herself an underground activist crusading against evil corporations… hunting for a ‘real’ job would take time away from her game. Axillon99 is the world’s most popular multiplayer online experience, with a universe containing billions of planets to explore. Ever since video games broke the screen barrier, plunging players fully into their characters, reality just can’t compete. Cognition Systems International announces a ten million dollar prize to celebrate the release of the next generation Neurona 4 interface helmet. After her crew decides to try chasing the money, Dakota discovers a sinister intent behind the new technology. Going public threatens the lives of her friends, but keeping CSI’s secret could destroy the very fabric of society.
Word Count: 92782
Summary: A story of oppression and loss, of uprising and joys. Rubberman's Citizens pushes through grim tyranny with the courage, compassion, and humour of those forced to fight troubled times. In Citizenry, Leena knew cruelty was normal. Order was kept by Warren, through intimidation and abuse. Normal meant deliveries from above, supplies from the great, unknowable, Actual. Normal meant hating the lessers who live below. Normal meant routine public degradation. Normal meant hearing screams, and knowing no one dared help. Normal was knowing that tomorrow, it could be your own screams being ignored. Leena found a way to help. Leena found a chance. Leena discovered revolution.
Word Count: 416800
Summary: Colonists struggle to build their lives, but first they have to survive. Read the complete series through generations.
- Glory on Mars - Emma joins the first settlers amid death and betrayal. She must learn the truth before Mars kills them all.
- Born on Mars - Jake didn't ask to be born into a failing habitat, but new arrivals bring hope and peril. Can he save his friends and family?
- Hermit on Mars - Sig will rescue the ungrateful Martian prospectors, even if it kills him.
- Water on Mars - Scoundrels on Mars and Earth drag Bliss into their lethal schemes.
- Storm on Mars - An AI may be a psychopath's only friend. Zeker's always close by when something weird happens.
Word Count: Information not available
Summary: Sometimes your deepest desire can become your worst nightmare. Gigi, Ellen, Lilly… three women so desperate to change their lives that they turn to the mysterious Dr. Kite, who offers them an implant that can control their mind. Will Gigi find her true love? Can Ellen’s miraculous, sudden weight loss bring her romance and self-respect? Can Lilly put her bitter divorce behind her? They’re willing to risk it all to find the happiness they’ve always searched for.
Word Count: 56000
Summary: New Hopeland was built to be the centre of the technological age, but like everywhere else, it has its dark side. Assassins, drug dealers and crooked businessmen form a vital part of the city’s make-up, and sometimes, the police are in too deep themselves to be effective. But hey, there are always other options …
For P.I. Cassie Tam, business has been slow. So, when she’s hired to investigate the death of a local VR addict named Eddie Redwood, she thinks it’ll be easy money. All she has to do is prove to the deceased’s sister Lori that the local P.D. were right to call it an accidental overdose. The more she digs though, the more things don’t seem to sit right, and soon, Cassie finds herself knee deep in a murder investigation. But that’s just the start of her problems.
When the case forces Cassie to make contact with her drug dealing ex-girlfriend, Charlie Goldman, she’s left with a whole lot of long buried personal issues to deal with. Then there’s her client. Lori Redwood is a Tech Shifter, someone who uses a metal exoskeleton to roleplay as an animal. Cassie isn’t one to judge, but the Tech Shifting community has always left her a bit nervous. That wouldn’t be a problem if Lori wasn’t fast becoming the first person that she’s been genuinely attracted to since splitting with Charlie. Oh, and then there’s the small matter of the police wanting her to back off the case.
Easy money, huh? Yeah, right.
Honorable Mention: Rainbow Awards 2017 - Lesbian Sci-Fi Category
Word Count: 80,750
Summary: Eleven tales of the queer fantastic by award-winning author Catherine Lundoff. A bookstore clerk goes on a quest for the Norns while a couple of mercenaries wake up to some big surprises at their favorite inn. Shakespeare’s sister, Judith, forms an alliance with playwright Christopher Marlowe. A witch attempts the wrong love spell and a young prince meets an irresistible monster. Swordswomen, ghosts, the Queen of the Fay, the occasional gentleman of the evening and other unforgettable characters populate these stories rich and strange. Includes the Gaylactic Spectrum Award finalist “At the Roots of the World Tree” as well as several other stories not previously collected.
Word Count: 54615
Summary: THE ONLY PERSON ON EARTH SHE TRUSTS... IS IN SPACE Archaeologist Nel Bently left Chile in the wake of murder, vandalism and UFO sightings. She already dreads facing the fall semester without her best friend, but now cops are at her door. Accused of a murder she’s not certain is her fault, Nel has no choice but to run. Following her gut and vague directions from her elusive alien-benefactor-turned-almost-girlfriend, Nel finds herself the target of a extraterrestrial man-hunt. Running from the law isn’t easy with only her field pack and a handful of scorned exes to depend on. Between starvation, untraceable texts, and a harrowing journey through the wilderness, Nel is forced to question everything about the science she loves and the people she trusted.
Word Count: 67,000
Summary: A blessing and a curse… Seven years ago, a single moment changed the course of Nicholaus Bock’s life forever—the moment his preternatural Gift to heal awakened in him. A gift that made him an invaluable commodity to the known galaxy. Now his mentor’s intriguing and secretive new student goes out of her way to challenge his loyalty to everything he values. A dark secret… After facing death and destruction during the Anferthian invasion, Sakura Yamata revels in her new-found Gift to heal. Helping Earth’s survivors keeps her mind off the loss of her family, and the memory of the terrible choices she made. Nick could penetrate her defenses and discover what she’s hiding. She must not let the handsome healer close enough for that to happen. A race facing annihilation… When a mysterious disease strikes the hidden sanctuary of the Anferthian dissenters, Nick and Sakura are called in to help. But someone is going to great lengths to ensure the dissenters don’t survive. Nick and Sakura must set aside their differences and work together to save them before the fragile peace between three worlds is shattered.
Word Count: 110000
Summary: In Sleep State Interrupt, a giant media corporation has taken over the Internet, created an addictive virtual reality called BetterWorld, and controls nearly all information. Politicians do their bidding and a brainwashed humanity serves a privileged few. Waylee Freid, an unemployed Baltimore journalist with ever-worsening bipolar disorder, is the only hope for a brighter future. She and her countercultural friends bust a notorious teenage hacker out of jail and sneak into a closed presidential fundraiser at the Smithsonian castle, where they hope to record incriminating admissions that will wake up the world. Hunted by Homeland Security, Waylee and her friends must reach a sufficient audience by broadcasting their video during the Super Bowl. But to do so, they'll have to break into one of the most secure facilities ever built.
Word Count: 115,674
Summary: Oil reserves depleted. Society collapsed. A few places cling to modern technology. For everywhere else, there are the Tinkers. In southern Ontario, Novo Gaia uses sustainable energy to support its citizens in comfort. From there, Novo Gaia sends Doctors of Applied General Technology, tinkers, into the Dark Lands to install everything from solar stills to televisions—and make a profit. After twenty years as an E.R. nurse, Tabitha “Tabby” Drivensky’s failing marriage sent her into the tinker program and the open waters of the Great Lakes. While fulfilling her Coast Guard service obligation, she rescues a boy named Andy Camble from a sinking ship. Andy turns out to have vital information on Packer, a pirate captain who has been plaguing the Great Lakes for generations in an ancient, nuclear-powered submarine. Using Andy’s intelligence, Tabby sets out ostensibly to scout out a new aquatic tinker route along Lake Huron but secretly assigned by Novo Gaia to find and put an end to Packer once and for all.
Word Count: Information not available
Summary: Readers’ Favorite gave CHILDREN of the FUTURE five-stars. “...children will enjoy the twists and turns, and suspense and mystery. The story is refreshingly original… ” A bus of missing children, and a ticking clock – no one knows where they have gone… A small yellow school bus pulls up in front of the little red brick schoolhouse. Telly, the bus driver, discovers all of the children are missing -- all except one very frightened Billy who has hidden in a cabinet. Where is everyone? Telly and Billy are determined to find the answers. The little town of Rocky Flats is stirred into a frenzy. Nothing like this has ever happened before! Where have the children gone? Why? As the clock ticks and the little town rallies together in the search, will they find the children before it's too late?
Word Count: 99,000
Summary: Oil reserves depleted. Society collapsed. A few places cling to modern technology. For everywhere else, there are the Tinkers. In southern Ontario, Novo Gaia uses sustainable energy to support its citizens in comfort. From there, Novo Gaia sends Doctors of Applied General Technology, tinkers, into the Dark Lands to install everything from solar stills to televisions—and make a profit. Brad Cooper is a tinker on his route in Guelph when he finds himself at the epicentre of a plague outbreak. Stranded without support in a tenuously-held quarantine zone, he must use his limited medical training in a desperate search for a treatment against an insidious relic from an age of excess. Meanwhile, fuelled by panic, other townspeople caught within the quarantine zone conspire to sabotage relief efforts. Distrusted by the people he's trying to help, hampered by political rivals, under-supplied, over-worked, and with his own risk of infection increasing, Brad seems to be fighting a losing battle as the casualties mount...
Word Count: 88,000
Summary: A nightmare of galactic proportions... One normal day turns into horror when Earth is attacked. Now ER nurse Alexandra Bock is imprisoned aboard an alien slave ship with no way out. She deems all aliens untrustworthy, including the handsome blue-skinned Matiran captain who shares her cell. A betrayal from within... One night of treachery leaves Senior Captain Gryf Helyg a prisoner of his enemies. Because of him, Earth’s inhabitants face extinction and his home world is threatened. But his plans for escape are complicated by his inexplicable draw to the Earth woman imprisoned with him. A chance to save both their peoples... One ancient prophecy holds the key to free Alexandra and Gryf’s war-ravaged worlds. Can two wounded souls who have lost everything learn to trust and forgive in order to fulfill the prophecy, and find a love that will last for eternity?
Word Count: 79700
Summary:
First settlers on Mars may be the last.
Emma Winters wants to explore with her robotic walkabouts.
When the tiny colony's psychologist walks out an airlock, she takes the one-way journey to Mars despite misgivings. As more deaths and illness plague humanity's tiny foothold, Emma must discover the truth before the Red Planet kills them all.
Word Count: 55000
Summary: In a world where humans are genetically designed, altered and sold for pleasure and breeding, a young prince of the powerful Cassian Dynasty decides to take a mate and sire heirs. Not wishing to saddle himself with royal and meddlesome in-laws, and a wife he would have no desire to bed, Prince Edward goes to Heritage Breeders, and finds far more than just a warm body to carry on his lineage. Percy is the result of a master DNA architect designing himself his own personal slave and breeder. Yet when his creator and Master dies, leaving Percy alone at the mercy of the callous stable masters and the new owner of Heritage, he fears his future. Afraid he'll be bought by a wretched old man or a deviant monster, Percy is terrified when he is dragged from his cell and presented to the most prestigious client Heritage has ever welcomed...a Cassian Royal. Prince Edward is immediately infatuated with the shy, nervous and enchantingly beautiful Percy, and claims him for his own. Yet not everyone is pleased by a royal purchasing a breeder, especially one like Percy, and tensions rise both in Heritage and in the palace. Torn between need, duty, a king's command and the innermost desires of their hearts, Edward and Percy are set on path that is anything but easy. Can Percy trust Edward with his heart as he does his body? Can Edward keep an angry king and unseen enemies away from the young slave who is steadily stealing his heart? And what happens when Nature takes its course, and Percy's true purpose is fulfilled?
Word Count: 84000
Summary: When high school teacher Chris Franzia comes home on the last day of school, he finds two FBI agents waiting for him. A string of seemingly unrelated murders has left them baffled, and they can find only one commonality. All five victims shared a college class with Chris thirty years earlier... and now he may be next. Struggling with the sheer impossibility of the situation, Chris’s skepticism fades after a series of failed attempts on his life makes things deadly clear. Thus begins a harrowing cross-country race, forcing Chris to put together the pieces of his past while staying one step ahead of his mysterious assailants. Can he make the connection in time? And will the deadly picture of reconstructed memory be worth the price of knowing?
Word Count: 130000
Summary: A Journey to the Crossroads of Science and Myth The New Leprosy plague and a geomagnetic reversal threaten earth’s precarious balance. An unlikely trio may hold the key to reset the compass of the world:
- “Saint Ariadne” Demodakis—a Greek bioelectricity researcher who realizes she’s curing plague victims by laying on hands.
- Peter Mitchell—a jaded American veteran of the latest Gulf War, now a smuggler in the Mediterranean.
- Leeza Conreid—a paparazza equipped with the latest neurally-connected media implants, who wants revenge and a big story.
