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 | spyfi | steampunk | stonepunk | superheroes & villains | terraforming | teslapunk | theological | time travel | transhuman | transistorpunk | uplift | utopian | virtual reality | wattpunk | weird sci fi
Note: these books are currently sorted by release date, with newest first.
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Summary: A young bodyguard finds her special abilities are no match for a flirtatious delegate willing to gamble everything on the galaxy trade talks. Assigned to guard a diplomat at the galaxy trade talks, Security Officer Anais wants to shine during her first solo mission for the Chezeray Palace Conglomerate. An Elusive with the ability to make herself invisible, Anais knows her modified genes designate her servant class, but she yearns to be more than simply a protector to the beautiful delegate. Savea Blackmun arrives alone to the trade talks with the weight of her planet’s future resting on her slim shoulders. Flirting with her pretty bodyguard reveals Anais’ knowledge of the colony markets and Savea realizes there’s much more to her protector than meets the eye. As their attraction grows, will the diplomat and the bodyguard reject society’s rules to give in to desire instead?
Word Count: 110400
Summary: Vaslisha Tor Dain is a mercenary starship captain with a few simple rules: A good ship is better than a great man, in case of confusion always err on the side of blowing someone's head off, and never fall for a telepath or a member of her crew. All of those are about to bite her in the behind. Vas’s life takes a turn for the worse when she comes back to her crew after what should have been a two week pleasure trip to find out she’s actually been gone a month and has no memory of missing time. Her beloved ship, The Victorious Dead, has been sold for scrap and its pieces scattered throughout the galaxy. In addition, there are unmarked ships blowing apart entire planets and the Commonwealth government can’t, or won’t, stop them. And that’s just her first day back. Vas has to fight her crew, the Commonwealth, and a mysterious cadre of warrior monks to get her ship back and save a universe that may not want to be saved.
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.
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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.
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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.
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...
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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…
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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?
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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.**
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: 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!
Word Count: 89000
Summary: Exiled Tolari ruler turned hired assassin, Farryn never stops plotting revenge on his home planet while building a criminal empire on the human colony world of Far India. But when his former wife dares to follow him into human space and attracts the attention of Earth Central Security, Farryn is forced to choose between hatred and love, ambition and heart’s desire. Described by Kirkus Reviews as "a solid entry for readers craving new, original space operas," Farryn's War promises to thrill fans of science fiction and romance alike in this first book of a new series by award-winning author Christie Meierz.
Word Count: 118337
Summary: Astrin Raphael wakes up in a strange place, frightened and confused. He is told to trust someone who seems to hate him, and he tries—he really tries. However, things change rapidly when he discovers his friend is actually his archenemy, Rowan Gabriel, whose abusive behavior stems from a deeply ingrained, if unwarranted, hatred over something that happened many years before, and simply wasn’t Astrin’s fault. When Rowan's uncle and Astrin's father are kidnapped by Strebo Michael, the two crown princes are catapulted into an adventure that forces them to work together, and along the way their feelings for each other grow. Rowan is quick to let his hate go, but Astrin can’t release his inhibitions. It takes Astrin almost dying from a poisoned dagger before he finally accepts Rowan's love. When they return home, their problems continue as their Houses try to negotiate a way for the young men to be together. It soon becomes clear at least one of them will need to relinquish his throne.
Word Count: 25745
Summary: When a steel trap of celestial and infernal politics threatens to close around them, Shax and Verin flee Earth’s system in a stolen ship, leaving everything behind. It’s an elegantly simple plan, with a new ship and a new life as carefree brigands among the stars. But the ship seems to hate them, and in order to have any sort of life they need funds. A frightened man offering them a contract to deliver three mysterious crates comes just in time, and Shax is sure their troubles are over. Out of his environment and in over his head, Shax scrambles to understand the players and the consequences of his new life. With cargo that’s not what it seems, shadowy motives around every turn, and a gorgeous rogue named Julian for a dash of added confusion, Shax’s grand schemes of a new start may be his demise before he can even begin.
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Summary: Stories for Chip brings together outstanding authors inspired by a brilliant writer and critic, Science Fiction Writers of America Grandmaster Samuel R. “Chip” Delany. Award-winning SF luminaries such as Michael Swanwick, Nalo Hopkinson, and Eileen Gunn contribute original fiction and creative nonfiction. From surrealistic visions of bucolic road trips to erotic transgressions to mind-expanding analyses of Delany’s influence on the genre—as an out gay man, an African American, and possessor of a startlingly acute intellect—this book conveys the scope of the subject’s sometimes troubling, always rewarding genius. Editors Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell have given Delany and the world at large, a gorgeous, haunting, illuminating, and deeply satisfying gift of a book. Nisi Shawl is a writer whose work has been published at Strange Horizons, in Asimov’s SF Magazine, and in anthologies including Dark Faith 2, Dark Matter, The Moment of Change, and The Other Half of the Sky. Her story collection, Filter House, was one of two winners of the 2009 James Tiptree Jr. Award. She is a cofounder of the Carl Brandon Society and serves on the Board of Directors of the Clarion West Writers Workshop. She lives in Seattle. Bill Campbell is the founder of Rosarium Publishing and the author the novels Koontown Killing Kaper, My Booty Novel, and Sunshine Patriots as well as the essay collection, Pop Culture: Politics, Puns, and “Poohbutt” from a Liberal Stay-at-Home Dad. He coedited, with Edward Austin Hall, the groundbreaking anthology Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond. He lives in Washington, DC.
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Summary: Time travel is a long-standing tradition among superheroes, and so when Anachronism Annie, a friend and ally of Doc Silence, asks the Indestructibles to journey with her to save an alternate future where everything has gone terribly wrong, the team agrees. In this other timeline, a few small decisions have led to a much darker and more tragic world, and the adult versions of themselves the Indestructibles meet—Solar, the Dancer, Straylight, Whispering, and Entropy Emily—are nothing like they expected. Are they heroes? Martyrs? Or perhaps even villains? And what happens when the young Indestructibles discover that the alternate future’s version of one of their own team has been turned into the very weapon that will be used to destroy the whole world? Can they team up with these darker versions of themselves to save an entire future? It's said that when you time travel, you can never come back the same. How will journeying through time change the Indestructibles? Will they ever be the same? The Entropy of Everything is the third book in the Indestructibles series.
