As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

sci fi s-z

Sci fi is a type of speculative fiction that looks ahead and asks “what’s next?” You can also check out these subcategories (s-z):

science fantasy | silkpunk | singularity | slipstream | social sci fi | soft sci fi | solarpunk | space exploration | space opera | space western | spacepunk | spyfisteampunk | stonepunk | superheroes & villains | terraforming | teslapunk | theologicaltime travel | transhuman | transistorpunk | uplift | utopian | virtual reality | wattpunk | weird sci fi

Note: these books are currently sorted by release date, with newest first.

Sort by:

Word Count: 139579

Summary: When things begin to go wrong, they have a habit of going spectacularly wrong, Lord Telluris Marat discovers. Robbed of his visions and his ability to prophesy, he still has his will to fight and his ability to command an army. But the enemy he faces now commands weapons that rival his worst nightmares. Emily struggles with her own visions, and finds herself caught between worlds. Jake Montagna, the president of the interplanetary mining company, has gone off the deep end and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. If only they were in broadcast range of the authorities, Emily could do something. But Arhanna is far out of normal shipping lanes. To stop Jake, she’ll have to do it herself.

Shadow and Light - Sandra C. Stixrude - Anchorage
Shadow and Light
Published:

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Every night the monsters hunt. A city that is the whole world: Theosophy and her companions in the City militia do their best to protect the civilians from the monsters, but they keep crawling from the Rift and there’s nowhere to run. Theosophy knows she’ll die fighting. It’s the best kind of death she’s seen, and at least she can save lives in the meantime. They say the Scarred carve you up while you’re still alive. A village in the shadow of a forest: Refugees from the border whisper about the oncoming Scarred, but Briony can’t convince her brother to relocate his children to safety. Briony will do anything to protect them. She owes them that much, even if it means turning to forbidden magic. When Theosophy and Briony accidentally make contact across the boundaries of their worlds, they realize that solutions might finally be within reach. A world beyond the City would give Theosophy’s people an escape, and the City’s warriors could help Briony protect her family from the Scarred. Each woman sees in the other a strength she lacks—and maybe something more. All they need to do is find a way across the dimensions to each other before their enemies close in.

City of Hope and Ruin Siri Paulson and Kit Campbell
City of Hope and Ruin
Published:

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Animals have fought for us for centuries, not because of the ideals of service to King and Country, but out of unwavering loyalty and devotion to their human Masters. The future, it would seem, is no better than the past, as some animals become expendable weapons or augmented semi-machines, while others receive the honor and dignity of being treated as fellow soldiers. In tribute, we bring you seventeen stories of our animal comrades-in-arms.

Dogs of War Anthology
Dogs of War
Published:

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...

Tinker's Plague - Stephen B. Pearl
Tinker's Plague
Published:

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Un appel de détresse mystérieux amène l’équipage de l’Hermès jusqu’à un vaisseau militaire en perdition… et désert. À l’intérieur, du sang et des viscères jonchent les couloirs, et un seul survivant, prisonnier d’une cellule de détention. Attiré par le bel homme traumatisé, l’agent de com’ de l’équipage, Isaac Ozawa, prend Turk sous sa responsabilité, lui offrant la gentillesse et la chaleur dont il a besoin après les horreurs qu’il a vécues. Isaac sait d’expérience ce que c’est qu’être différent, d’être un paria, et cela renforce leur lien. Jadis pilote prometteur, il a vu son cerveau être endommagé lorsque l’implant devant servir à piloter les puissants chasseurs de la flotte n’a pas fusionné correctement. Le cerveau de Turk n’en mène pas plus large. Le résultat d’une expérience militaire ratée, ses compétences naturelles ont été augmentées à un niveau dangereux. Lorsqu’un amiral sans morale et avide de puissance kidnappe Isaac et se sert de lui pour convaincre Turk de devenir l’arme cataclysmique dont il rêve par-dessus tout, les deux hommes et leurs compagnons se lancent dans une bataille éperdue pour leur liberté…

Gravitational Attraction - Angel Martinez - ESTO Universe
Attraction gravitationelle
Published:

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Just when he thought he was safe… Trouble seemed to find Del no matter what he did. He got caged as a pet to a fly, caught in a trap as food, chased by a crazy, saw-wielding doctor and found himself mated to an alien Captain. One year after the consummation of their relationship Del thought that trouble was far behind him. Little did he know that life was going to get far more challenging and dangerous than ever before. Quinn too was ready to get some rest and relaxation. But something strange followed them aboard the Narada Marant, something with tentacles and a unique appetite for Xolians. If that wasn’t bad enough, a cunning, evil warlord had his sights on kidnapping and selling Del. Looked like another rescue mission was going to be needed. Getting pregnant would be the least of Del’s worries.

Gravitational Forces - Christine Wright - Mated to the Captain
Gravitational Forces
Published:
Genres:

Word Count: 82516

Summary: An inhabited planet is not what an interplanetary mining company hopes to find while in search of rare mineral deposits, but the low-tech natives should be won over by a few ‘miracles’, right? Emily Nandi, the mining company’s legally mandated xenologist, isn’t so sure. The planet’s social structures are complex, fascinating and frustrating – she advocates research and caution rather than the seat-of-the-pants first contact the company president wants. Investigator Shadow is convinced ghosts are watching him until a fellow investigator disappears, plucked from his harduk’s back without a trace. When he reappears at the city gates, naked, half-frozen and ill, he brings back a harrowing tale of strangers on a ship high above the planet. From this shaky beginning, suspicion and misunderstanding fuel one culture-clash driven disaster after another, punctuated by apocalyptic prophesies from the oracle, Telluris. This is no way to get to know one’s long-lost cousins from Earth.

Rediscovery - Sandra C. Stixrude - Anchorage
Rediscovery
Published:

Word Count: 35656

Summary: When Shax stumbles across rumors of an experimental house that responds to the occupant’s brain functions, creating scenarios to please and delight, naturally he wants to steal it. While stealing an entire house sounds impossible, the demon prince has a cunning plan. But a night at the ballet heralds the return of a troubled and hunted Julian Parallax. He brings ominous news to whisper in Shax's ear and forces Ness to battle a new emotion – raging jealousy. With nefarious plots in the background and an overabundance of Poe references, even Shax’s scheming may not be enough to get the Brimstone crew out alive this time.

Beside a Black Tarn - Angel Martinez - Brimstone
Beside A Black Tarn: Brimstone 5
Published:

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Someone killed Grandfather Jefferson. Victor is sure of it. But he’s the only one. Diagnosed with mirror resonance syndrome and shunned by Semiautonomous California society, Victor suffers from “blank outs,” hallucinations, and vivid nightmares. He violently overreacts to even minor confrontations. Victor’s grandfather devoted his life to researching and curing mentally ill Broken Mirrors like Victor, but now that he’s gone, Victor must walk a narrow path between sanity and reclassification—a fate that all but guarantees he’ll lose his freedom. Victor is determined to uncover the truth about his grandfather’s death and grows increasingly suspicious of the medicine he must take to help manage his “symptoms.” As he tries to sort his allies from his enemies, a conspiracy with global implications emerges. Can he trust his Aunt Circe, the only person in his family who’s even somewhat sympathetic to his plight? His former classmate-turned-brainhacker Ozie, who wields information as damaging as any weapon and who seems intent on luring Victor away from his home? What about his old friend Elena, who reappears in his life abruptly, claiming to have miraculously overcome a devastating addiction? With its self-driving cars, global firearms ban, and a cure for cancer, the world of Broken Mirror may sound utopic, but history has taken a few wrong turns. The American Union is a weak and fractious alliance of nations in decline. Europe, a superpower, manipulates its citizens through technology. And Asia is reeling from decades of war. Amid shifting geopolitical sands, Broken Mirrors like Victor find themselves at a crossroads: evolve or go extinct. Broken Mirror is the first novel in a sci-fi cyberpunk detective saga tailor-made for fans of William Gibson, Haruki Murakami, and Neal Stephenson.

Broken Mirror - Cody Sisco - Broken Mirror
Broken Mirror
Published:

Word Count: 76000

Summary: Diplomatic marriages between two members of different planets certainly aren’t unheard of—but for Prince Mikos of Tygeria and Col. Ryan Donnelly of Earth, it might just be a fate worse than death. The union is meant to end a devastating war that has lasted for over a hundred and fifty years, but when the female bride intended for the fierce, sexy prince runs away, her handsome brother is substituted instead. Men are for mating as far as the Tygerian prince is concerned, but the colonel also happens to be Mikos’s sworn enemy, not to mention being completely irritating. Ryan is horrified to learn that the Tygerians not only expect him to take the place of his sister, marry the Bloody Prince of Tygeria, and go to live with him on his mysterious planet, but they also expect him to undergo physical alteration to have the man’s baby! And nobody is taking hell no for an answer. Ryan’s being asked to turn his whole life upside down and the handsome Tygerian gets under his skin like nobody else. But with the fate of the universe at stake, how can he say no? Can the two enemies put aside their differences and focus on making love and not war—not to mention a baby? As a powerful love struggles to take root, can they learn to trust each other and stand together against the forces that are trying to tear them apart?

Mate of the Tyger Prince - Shannon West
Mate of the Tyger Prince
Published:

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?

Prophecy - Lea Kirk - Prophecy
Prophecy
Published:

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Unemployment is stressful enough—but throw in the threat of being tossed out the space station’s airlock as a vagrant, and human Del is in desperate need of employment. No job, no place to stay, Del wants nothing more than to be back out amongst the stars, preferably as a bridge crewmember. Trouble is, his dreams are bigger than his starship experience and years, and Del finally heads to a bar to drown his frustrations. Getting drunk might not have been the smartest thing to do—as he wakes in a strange, handsome alien’s bed, with no memory of the night before. When that strange alien calls him mate, Del thinks that maybe all his problems are over. He finally has a job. Or does he? Quinn wants love and a family, but his duty as captain to a Xolian space cruiser leaves little time for forging relationships. When drunk and adorable human Del propositions him in a space bar, begging to be his first mate, Quinn hopes that maybe he can have both duty and love. Until the next morning, when the alcohol wears off and cultural barriers and misunderstandings set off a chain reaction of mayhem, mischief, and trouble that follows Del wherever he goes. A relationship that began as a mistake may become something more—bound by love and desire, and all they must do now is survive the journey. **Gay sci-fi romance featuring a sassy human, an irascible alien captain, and adventure beyond both their dreams.**

Light Years Away - Christine Wright - Mated to the Captain
Light Years Away
Published:
Genres:

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: When his memories begin endangering his happily-ever after on Celos, Jimenez is forced to choose between forgetting his lover Teo, or accepting the sometimes painful gifts of Spindrift.  Scars and a tattoo may be the only physical reminders from his years as a slave, but when Jimenez suffers a setback in his medical treatment, the only option is a therapy that will wipe away all his memories of the past including his time with Teo. Teo, torn between supporting his lover's decisions and the good intentions of his family, sets out to teach Jimenez about Spindrift Gifts and how memories are celebrated on Celos even when they are painful. Can Teo and Jimenez weather the storm to find their happily-ever-after on Celos?

Spindrift Gifts - Aidee Ladnier
Spindrift Gifts
Published:

Word Count: 100400

Summary: What if your future lies in your past? When Darren Ault meets his friend Lee McCaskill for dinner, he doesn’t expect the second course to be a gunshot to the head. Even more unexpected is the fact that the bullet doesn’t kill him—instead, it causes the rest of humanity to vanish. Darren’s attempted murder has caused a temporal paradox extending back over a thousand years, and now it’s up to him to repair the damage. Embarking on a mind-bending journey through time, Darren encounters Vikings, a depressed Norwegian silversmith, a cult that believes in salvation through pain, a beautiful Hebridean lass, and Archibald Fischer—the foul-mouthed, Kurt Cobain-worshiping Head Librarian of the Library of Timelines, where all of the possibilities that could ever happen are catalogued, tracked, and managed.

Lock & Key - Gordon Bonnet
Lock & Key
Published:

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Razar needs a mate but on his planet there are nine males to one female. Humans look like they are compatible but if they find out the secrets of his kind they will refuse to send them mates. Lista needs money for her mother's operation or she will die. Her sister has volunteered her to be a bride for an alien. If she wins the mating game she will be free to keep the money and return home. Can she outwit him or will he claim her heart before it's game over?

Razar - Catty Diva - Mating Games
Razar
Published:

Word Count: 75000

Summary: The once-beautiful domed neo-Victorian city of Bridges is split between four crime families in an uneasy cease-fire. Social disparity increasing and its steam-driven infrastructure failing, a new faction is on the rise: the Red Dogs. Jacqueline Spadros has a dream life: a wealthy husband, a powerful family. But her life is not what it seems. Kidnapped from her mother's brothel and forced to marry, the murder of her best friend Air ten years before haunts her nightmares. She finds moments of freedom in a small-time private eye business, which she hides in fear of her sadistic father-in-law. Air's little brother disappears off his back porch and the Red Dogs are framed for it. With the help of a mysterious gentleman investigator hired by the Red Dogs to learn the truth, Jacqui pushes her abilities to their limits in hope of rescuing the child before the kidnapper disposes of him.

The Jacq of Spades - Patricia Loofbourrow - Red Dog Conspiracy
The Jacq of Spades: Part 1 of the Red Dog Conspiracy
Published:

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.

Glory on Mars - Kate Rauner - On Mars
Glory on Mars
Published:

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Jennifer Bronwen, deep-space freighter skipper, sometime smuggler, and occasional blaster-for-hire is flat broke and in desperate need of a job. With her bills mounting and her ship one unlucky micrometeorite collision away from the scrapheap, when she’s offered a lucrative contract for a risky heist, well, it’s an opportunity she can’t afford to pass up. Keera Naraymis, a secret agent on deep-cover assignment in alien space, has just one more job to finish before her mission is complete. Getting it right means making the galaxy a safer place, and taking a trip to the Terran homeworld should be simple enough. But in the espionage game, your enemies are never quite who they appear. When their lives collide with catastrophic consequences, Jen and Keera form an unlikely alliance to find out why anyone would want to kill either one of them. What they discover runs far deeper than they could ever have anticipated, and throws them into a race against time to stop a conspiracy that threatens to unravel a thousand years of peace in the galaxy of the Burning Suns.

Burning Suns - Lisa Wylie - Conflagration
Burning Suns: Conflagration (Book One)
Published:

Word Count: 80000

Summary: KurtisP385XL47Ruth: Game Changer. Prodigal daughter. Spy. The Cyber entities control a peaceful but static galaxy–until they detect unsanctioned developments on the low-tech planet Poindros. They force rebellious Ruth Kurtis to leave the bright lights of Casino to return to her fundamentalist Poindran homeworld as their secret agent to investigate possible Changers. For reluctant Agent Kurtis, the Cybers’ threat of the memory-erasing Steps of Healing would be less dangerous than facing the repression and simmering angers she escaped as a teenager. But Ruth won’t run from this fight. The Cybers have calculated all the odds. Except they’ve just unleashed a wild card. “Stamey puts feeling into this tale of the Prodigal Daughter.” (Publishers Weekly)

Wild Card Run - Sara Stamey - Cybers Wild Card
Wild Card Run
Published:

Word Count: 52000

Summary: Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine it could happen to us... In the years since the Twelve-Minute War, the world has fallen into darkness and chaos. The combined impact of nuclear, biological, and chemical agents has rendered the majority of the world's water unfit for human consumption. Only the bravest men and women dare to venture out into the desolate, radioactive wasteland to collect this precious commodity. Matt Freeborn is one such man... a weller. A lone drifter, Freeborn's gaze is fixed ever east, away from the horrors of his past. Danger is always one step behind, however, as the weller's precious cargo makes him a prime target for attack. Savage road pirates, grotesque mutants, ravenous cannibals, and ruthless private armies all lurk behind every dune. Armed with his trusty sidearm, the Well Digger, Freeborn is fully prepared to handle any of these terrors, but there are still things even the weller fears: the bogeymen of the wastes... distillers. A high-octane, post-apocalyptic thrill ride from the author of Birthright and War of the Worlds: Goliath!

The Weller - Adam J. Whitlatch
The Weller
Published: