Sci Fi - Hard Sci Fi Genre

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Summary: Starship lost in eternity... Ghost ship Impris, lost during the War of a Thousand Suns, is the stuff of legend. Her very name conjures the perils of interstellar travel. But no mere legend, she is real—glimpsed on occasion in the hyperdimensional Flux, and then gone. Her passengers and crew live on in a strange limbo, their fate hopelessly caught up in quantum defects in space-time, interstellar piracy, and galactic coverup. To the pirates of Golen Space, she is a perfect lure, drawing passing ships to their doom. Many innocent star riggers have been captured in such raids and forced to pilot for the murderous pirates. One such rigger, Renwald Legroeder, makes a daring escape and flees to the presumed safety of the Centrist Worlds. But instead of finding asylum, he is framed for treason. Something is terribly wrong in the Guild of Riggers and the government that should be protecting him. To clear his name--and perhaps to avert a disastrous war between worlds—he must escape a second time, and partner with the amphibious Narseil to return to the Deep Flux and search for the lost Impris. Legroeder's journey takes him back into the heart of raider territory, where he encounters a bewildering array of motives, conspiracies, and even deep-cyber romance. Forging friendships and finding love in the unlikeliest of places, Legroeder must nevertheless put his life on the line to protect the innocent, and preserve a shaky interstellar peace. A finalist for the Nebula Award, Eternity's End stands as a highlight of the Star Rigger saga, and one of Jeffrey A. Carver's most memorable novels. Can be read as a stand-alone book, or as part of the future history. PRAISE FOR ETERNITY'S END: "True love, cognitive dissonance, divisions among the enemy, ambitious schemes, another mission—this one deeper than anyone has ever gone before into the substrata of the Flux—and a final resolution that leaves the reader both breathless and satisfied." —Analog "You don't want to wait for the paperback." —Science Fiction Chronicle "A mesmerizing tale of human perseverance and courage under pressure that updates the legend of the Flying Dutchman." —Library Journal "Carver never runs out of new plot twists to keep the reader coming back for more." —The Washington Post

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Summary: In Space, No One Can Hear You Sing … Grayson Eck's life is a drag, in all the best possible ways. He's perfectly happy working in the belt alone as a wildcatter, prospecting asteroids by … well, not exactly by day. At night, he transforms into the Inner System's most famous Valeriana Storm — a secret identity that even his closest friends and family don't know about. When someone tries to steal one of Greyson's mining scores, he has half a mind to just toss the guy off his rock and into open space. But that all changes when he discovers the stranger's identity — and that he knows Greyson's secret. Now he's being chased by a pirate, and has to decide what to do with the apparent thief while also putting on his show. What's a space drag queen to do?

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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.  

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Summary: Another spaceship, another explosion. Harold Galahad would love to wake from this particular nightmare that is so eerily similar to the events that cost him his beloved wife and destroyed his soul. But the only way out is by saving the ship and its entire crew. If you ask Harold Galahad, he isn’t fit to lead a crew or command a ship. But nobody is asking Harry. Instead, he finds himself back on the bridge, on a ship stranded in space, no help in sight, only kept alive by remnants of a gradually failing life support system. His crew? A nurse running out of tentacles and eyes to care for all the wounded, a chief engineer who knows all about her systems but struggles with people, a chief of security who thinks everything can be solved with paragraphs from the Company’s handbook, a cursing chief of logistics, an anxiety-ridden communications officer, and a first officer who stays mysterious and feigns ignorance. This ship needs a captain to avert a complete disaster that includes the death of everyone on board. Can Galahad overcome his trauma? Can he find solutions where there are none? And worst of all, can he unravel all the mysteries surrounding the ship, its crew and the system they all work for? If you enjoy a complex tale that brings a human element to all species that travel space, combined with a multi-layered mystery, and starring a broken hero, Herald Petrel by Strange Seawolf will deliver. Warning: contains adult language and a considerable amount of swearing -- it is a cargo space ship in a desperate situation, after all.

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Summary: A damaged ship, a dying shipmate–can she save both? Under attack! The flight back to Hyvilma should have been the easy part for the crew of the Majera–until a deadly ambush by pirates sends them reeling through hyperspace. Now getting to the planet in time is the only way Captain Kitra Yilmaz can save her dying friend. But landing at Hyvilma may be impossible: war has broken out on the Frontier. With illustrations by Hugo Finalist Lorelei Esther.

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Summary: “IMMORTALITY BYTES: Digital Minds Don’t Get Hungry” — Genre: Science Fiction/Humor/Heist-Thriller Tagline: “Living forever... it's almost worth dying for.” One-line Story Pitch: “When an idealistic hacker’s ex-girlfriend nears inventing digital immortality, an indicted tycoon compels him to steal it.” Accolades: • Winner “Best Sci-Fi: Cyberpunk” — 7th Annual American Fiction Awards (2024) • Winner “Best Science Fiction” & "Best Political Fiction" — American Writing Awards (2024) • Winner “Best Humor/Satire” — Storytrade Awards (2024) • Semifinalist — Chanticleer's Cygnus Award for Best Science Fiction • Triple Finalist: Best Sci-Fi, Best Humor/Satire, & Best First Novel — IAN Book of the Year Awards (2024) Back Cover Blurb: In a not-so-distant future dominated by AI, universal basic income, and “subtirees” living pod-bound lives of leisure, idealistic, semi-slacker hacker Stu Reigns dreams of more. When Stu’s brilliant ex, Roxy Zhang, develops digital immortality, the world’s powerful elite scramble to secure their eternal existence. Enter Chuck Rosti, a merciless, terminally ill tycoon made more dangerous since he’s on the brink of conviction for massive fraud. His plan? Coerce Stu into helping get Roxy’s groundbreaking invention so “Feds can incarcerate my corpse.” Caught between a sick billionaire, a Russian mob, digital mind clones, and a shrewd, devout Southern matriarch, Stu gets tangled in a twisted, high-stakes, ‘inverted heist.’ But as betrayals mount and revenge includes murder, Stu and new allies must race to save lives and seek justice in humanity’s digital immortality. Fans of smart cyberpunk, like Neal Stephenson’s Snowcrash, or sci-fi with humor, as in Andy Weir’s The Martian or John Scalzi’s Redshirts, will love Immortality Bytes. Book Trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul3KA2zT0aw Reviews: 1)  “Feels like an American Douglas Adams” — San Francisco Book Review 2) “A supercharged, high-stakes cyberpunk thriller.” — VERDICT:✓GET IT — Kirkus Reviews 3) “Perfect for anyone looking for a fun, easy read that combines sci-fi elements with a bit of social satire. Abrams’ sharp, witty prose and inventive world make it well worth the ride, especially for fans of snappy, humorous sci-fi." — 5-Stars — Manhattan Book Review 4) “Dark humor and crisp dialogue drive the twisty storytelling” — ✓EDITOR'S PICK — Publishers Weekly's Booklife Reviews https://linktr.ee/immortalitybytes

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Summary: INK (NOUN) Five definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) A colored fluid used for writing 2) The action of signing a deal 3) A black liquid ejected by squid 4) Publicity in the written media 5) A slang word for tattoos Ink 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: Stranded in space: no fuel, no way home… and no one coming to help. From the pen of Hugo Finalist Gideon Marcus comes the found-family, YA Space Adventure you’ve been waiting for: Nineteen-year-old Kitra Yilmaz dreams of traveling the galaxy like her Ambassador mother. But soaring in her glider is the closest she can get to touching the stars — until she stakes her inheritance on a salvage Navy spaceship. On its shakedown cruise, Kitra’s ship plunges into hyperspace, stranding Kitra and her crew light years away. Tensions rise between Kitra and her shipmates: the handsome programmer, Fareedh; Marta, biologist and Kitra’s ex-girlfriend; Peter, the panicking engineer; and the oddball alien navigator, Pinky. Now, running low on air and food, it’ll take all of them working together to get back home. With illustrations by Hugo Finalist Lorelei Esther.

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Summary: Regan has her ups and downs. -Dumping her girlfriend: Down. -Moving in with her loving brother: Up. -Waking up to a plague of undead: REALLY down. After the undead began roaming the neighborhood, Regan lost track of her brother. She’s spent the last two years searching for him. In the meantime, she’s fallen in love, only to be told, “Sorry, I’m straight. And you’re a lunatic.” There’s a psycho out there somewhere who caused the outbreak, using nanotechnology, just for the fun of it, and Regan intends to hunt him down. Oh, and the crush she still has on the straight gal? Dangerously distracting, when there’s a zombie around every corner.

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Summary: Liminal Sky chronicles humankind's first journey to the stars. The first three books - the Ariadne Cycle - cover the creation and launch of Ariadne (aka Forever) as she was grown from seed on an asteroid and then launched across the interstellar void. The books are told in epic fashion, with each broken into three parts that span generations. THE STARK DIVIDE Some stories are epic. The Earth is in a state of collapse, with wars breaking out over resources and an environment pushed to the edge by human greed. Three living generation ships have been built with a combination of genetic mastery, artificial intelligence, technology, and raw materials harvested from the asteroid belt. This is the story of one of them—43 Ariadne, or Forever, as her inhabitants call her—a living world that carries the remaining hopes of humanity, and the three generations of scientists, engineers, and explorers working to colonize her. From her humble beginnings as a seedling saved from disaster to the start of her journey across the void of space toward a new home for the human race, The Stark Divide tells the tales of the world, the people who made her, and the few who will become something altogether beyond human. Humankind has just taken its first step toward the stars. THE RISING TIDE The Earth is dead. Five years after the Collapse, the remnants of humanity travel through the stars inside Forever: a living, ever-evolving, self-contained generation ship. When Eddy Tremaine and Andrissa “Andy” Hammond find a hidden world-within-a-world under the mountains, the discovery triggers a chain of events that could fundamentally alter or extinguish life as they know it, culminate in the takeover of the world mind, and end free will for humankind. Eddy, Andy, and a handful of other unlikely heroes must find the courage and ingenuity to stand against the rising tide. Otherwise they might be living through the end days of human history. THE SHORELESS SEA Rise of the Inthworld. The fight for the future isn’t over yet. It could lead to a new beginning, or it might spell the end for the last vestiges of humankind. The generation ship Forever has left Earth behind, but a piece of the old civilization lives on in the Inthworld—a virtual realm that retains memories of Earth's technological wonders and vices. Lilith leads the uprising, and if she sets its inhabitants free, they could destroy Forever. But during the ship's long voyage, humanity has evolved. Liminals with the ability to connect with the world mind and the Inthworld provide a glimmer of hope as they face not only Lilith’s minions, but the mistrust of their own kind as homotypicals fear what they can't understand. The invasion must be stopped, the Inthworld healed, sothe people of Forever can let go of their past and embrace their future.

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Summary: A fresh start, a queer social liberal dream, and a planet that wants to kill you. Carving out a life on Mars is no easy feat. With Earth in the throes of a devastating pandemic, autistic scientist Devon and her fellow colonists are faced with the momentous task of establishing a new society – one that learns from the past and prioritises sustainability over short-term gain. Noble aspirations are easier said than done, though – especially when the entire planet wants to kill you. Grappling with the realities of human nature and with their batteries slowly dying, the colony’s 150 women and 10 men must overcome their differences to create a lasting community. But things aren’t always what they seem and maybe the colonists aren’t as alone as they thought… Perfect for fans of Mary Robinette Kowal’s ‘Lady Astronaut’ series and the writing styles of Robert J. Sawyer and Becky Chambers. This thought-provoking sci-fi novel blends classic science fiction ideas with neurodiverse and LGBTQIA+ themes.

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Summary: Nothing is new under another sun. Not even murder. This mission should be simple. Exoplanetary scout Leif Grettison and ace pilot Yang Yong are off to deliver a load of supplies and reinforcing settlers to a recently colonized planet. It’s as routine as a starflight can be. Famous last words. Something is wrong with the colonists. They are astonishingly ill-suited for the task of settling a new world. The planet, too, is a poor place to plant a town for humans. Even if everything goes right, the colony might not survive. Then one of the colonists is found dead. Murder is a possibility. Not long after, another one dies—and this time, it’s definitely murder. In a world with only two hundred people, there’s at least one killer. Meanwhile, the colony’s new leader has a plan—but Leif has doubts. Will this man save the settlement, or use his power to become a dictator? Leif and Yong’s mission is clear: they must leave the colony in shape to survive. Leif is a retired soldier, not a detective, and when it comes to investigating a crime, he doesn’t have a clue. Literally. Still, it falls to him to follow the evidence and find the killer. He also needs to deal with the leader and the leader’s plan. If Leif fails, the only mystery may be how long it will take for everyone to die.

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Summary: A single father fights to retain control as he shares his body and mind with an evolving AI. It’s been nine years since the government banned all technology. So, when Joel Lodowick, a young transgender father struggling to support his five-year-old daughter, has an old bionic upload itself into his head, he is faced with a decision: Go to the cops and risk prosecution? Or use the robot’s skills to turn his life around? Scared of losing his daughter, Joel chooses the latter. Heightened intelligence and physical enhancements quickly land him a better job and a brighter future. But things take a sinister turn when Joel realizes his uninvited companion has an agenda of its own, which may or may not include leaving him in control. Unable to approach the government who covered up the truth about AI sentience, Joel finds himself on the run. With his daughter’s life on the line and his own body turning against him, he must find a way to convince the bionic in his head to value his human life before he loses the chance forever. Find out what happens in My Heart is Human by Reese Hogan!

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Summary: Lida was their last chance for an uncolonized planet. But a world-spanning fungus had colonized it first. Agetha and her husband have spent their whole lives in the fleet’s zero-G. Now all is turmoil as the fleet lands, discovering they are surrounded by a single fungal biomass spanning the entire planet. To build a new home, the fleet must confront a dangerous organism, and Agetha must decide if she can raise a family in this inhospitable landscape. Jane Brighton holds tenuous command over the colony and its administrators. She and the other gene-modded leaders emerged from their four-hundred-year suspended animation to find a crew much different from the one that departed Old Earth. Jane must direct the colony’s fragile growth and defend it against being overrun by the fast-growing biomass. But there is something none of the colonists know. The massive organism that spans the planet is not simply a fungal mass, nor even a chimerical combination of species that once roamed the planet. The biomass has desires and goals, and one is to know these strange beings carving out a home in its midst. Download today to read of the colony’s fate in Of Mycelium and Men! Genres: Space Opera / Science Fiction / Colonization / Alien Contact / LGBT / Non Binary / Trans Market: Adult

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Summary: Alan Mercier's life as a cop on Mars was years and two hundred million kilometers behind him. After his partner is killed he is ready to let others do the good deeds, play the hero, and suffer the consequences. He is ready for the wild, lawless world of flying a space junker.The toughest part of space junking isn't the it's keeping the find away from other space junkers, and staying on the good side of the beautiful station manager, Kate. Then there are the finds in some are duds, some extremely valuable, and some cause more trouble than one can imagine.It's the latter such find that leads Alan from orbit to a remote island in the Pacific, then halfway to Mars, and all the way back to facing what really drives him - even if it could get him killed. Cover design by Michelle Young(michelleyoungauthor.com) Editing by B.K. Ntouris(bkntouris.wixsite.com/my-site)

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Summary: Isolated on Mars, anyone could start going stir crazy… Katya should be on top of the world. She’s overcome a traumatic past and now she’s part of the first permanent settlement on Mars. So why do things feel so wrong? The colonists are confined to a small base on the surface of a hostile planet, so perhaps it’s only cabin fever. After all, she’s got great friends, an exciting career, and an ex-girlfriend who – she’s sure – would do anything to have her back… But with cracks appearing in the relationships between the crew and nothing but empty Martian desert beyond the safety of their domes, it’s far too easy for the mind to drift. And when it does, it can be difficult to tell what’s real, and what’s pure imagination… Past Imperfect is a short story set during Livid Skies, SI CLARKE’s second novel. It’s written for people who enjoy science fiction that challenges their preconceptions. 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: When Peace-in-the-Sky awakens as a captive with a young girl by her side, she only understands one thing: she must escape the tribe who captured her. A brutal head injury makes the past a swirling fog, so she is reliant on the girl—her precocious daughter Anissa—to guide them. She must return Anissa to the Tribes-under-the-Dome to keep her safe from warring and vicious tribes inhabiting the wasted landscape. Every group they shelter with along the way sees something different when they look at Peace-in-the-Sky—a god, a savior, a valuable commodity, a volatile danger. She doesn't know herself, but soon realizes she can protect Anissa with the scorching power of the pillars-of-flame. Only her tender love for Anissa and her mission to return the girl home to the Tribes-under-the-Dome matter. As her body grows weaker, not even the inexorable unraveling mystery of who, or what, Peace-in-the-Sky really is can deflect her from the task. Find out what happens in Peace In The Sky by Caye Marsh!

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Summary: What happens when a woman loses her memory but gains a conscience? Dr. Alexandra Turing is a roboticist whose intellect is unrivaled in the field of artificial intelligence. While science has always come easy, Alexandra struggles to understand emotional cues and responses. Driven by the legacy of her late great-uncle, she dedicates her life to the Synthetica project at her father's company, Organic Advancement Solutions (OAS).​ Her life is rebooted when she wakes from a coma, six months after being struck by a car. Traumatic brain injury altered Alex's senses, her memory, and her personality. Despite the changes, she feels reborn as she navigates her way back into her old life. Part of her new journey includes dating the alluring Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Emily St. John. Emily is enamored with the hyper-intelligent scientist, but there are things about Alex and OAS that don't add up. With Emily's prompting, Alex undergoes testing that leaves her with more questions than answers. What she discovers changes more than her life, it will change the world around her.

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Summary: RISE (noun / verb) Eight definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) An upward slope or movement 2) A beginning or origin 3) An increase in amount or number 4) An angry reaction 5) To take up arms 6) To return from death 7) To become heartened or elated 8) To exert oneself to meet a challenge Rise 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: 133 years. Time is up. Lead Engineer Tara and her partner Sasha face the coming end of the facility generator. For generations It has served thousands of people who have been hiding underground from the ravages of the war, and the lingering Enemy above. Up and down the Grand Elevator, though the entire facility, every resident's life will be shaken when the generator sparks its last amp. The Great Actual, the anarchistic Citizens, and all of the regressed sub-societies in between will have to face the unknowns of the surface. Old fears will pale against new circumstances beyond their imagination, and new attention brings judgment upon all.