Hard Science Fiction

When the Sun is threatened by an alien microbe, the fate of humanity rests on the shoulders of an unlikely hero – and an even more unlikely friendship.

From China's most beloved sci-fi author, a first-contact story that weaves politics, science, and cosmic mystery.

This near-future trilogy is the first chance for English-speaking listeners to experience this multiple-award-winning phenomenon from Cixin Liu, China's most beloved science fiction author....

Half a century after the Doomsday Battle, the uneasy balance of Dark Forest Deterrence keeps the Trisolaran invaders at bay. Earth enjoys unprecedented prosperity....

Stranded on the surface of Mars, astronaut Mark Watney’s only hope for survival is science, a sense of humor, and maybe some potatoes.

In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days....

On the Moon, crime pays, but small-time crook Jazz Bashara may have just uncovered a conspiracy of lunar proportions. Welcome to Artemis.

The Three-Body Problem is the first chance for English-speaking audiences to experience the Hugo Award-winning phenomenon from China's most beloved science fiction author, Liu Cixin.

From a New York Times best-selling and Hugo award-winning author comes a modern masterwork of science fiction, introducing a captain, his crew, and a detective as they unravel a horrifying solar system wide conspiracy that begins with a single missing girl....

Bob Johansson didn't believe in an afterlife, so waking up after being killed in a car accident was a shock. To add to the surprise, he is now a sentient computer and the controlling intelligence for a Von Neumann probe....

Juliette, now mayor of Silo 18, doesn’t trust Silo 1, especially its leader, Donald. But in the world of the Silos, there is no black and white—everything is shades of gray....

In the midst of an interstellar war, Yun Tianming found himself on the front lines. Riddled with cancer, he chose to end his life, only to find himself flash frozen and launched into space where the Trisolaran First Fleet awaited....

Twenty years ago, it was as if someone turned on a light. The future blazed into existence with each deliberate word that William Gibson laid down....

For generations, the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt—was humanity's great frontier. Until now. The alien artifact working through its program under the clouds of Venus has appeared in Uranus's orbit, where it has built a massive gate that leads to a starless dark....

The fifth book in the NYT best-selling Expanse series, Nemesis Games drives the crew of the Rocinante apart, and as they struggle to survive, the inner planets fall victim to an enemy's catastrophic plan. A thousand worlds have opened....

Thousands of years ago, Earth's terraforming program took to the stars. On the world they called Nod, scientists discovered alien life - but it was their mission to overwrite it with the memory of Earth. Then humanity's great empire fell, and the program's decisions were lost to time....

For 12,000 years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future - to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years....

Only once in a great while does a writer come along who defies comparison - a writer so original he redefines the way we look at the world...

Earth failed. In a desperate bid to escape, the spaceship Enkidu and its captain, Heorest Holt, carried its precious human cargo to a potential new paradise. Generations later, this fragile colony has managed to survive, eking out a hardy existence....

Fifty-six hard years after the events of The Machine Crusade, after the death of Serena Butler, the bloodiest decades of the Jihad take place....

The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us....

A classic thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Crichton, Sphere is a bravura demonstration of what he does better than anyone: riveting storytelling that combines frighteningly plausible, cutting-edge science and technology with pulse-pounding action....

How can a colony on Mars survive when the greatest danger on the planet is humanity itself? All contact is lost with the first privately funded colony on Mars during a long and destructive sandstorm. Satellite imagery of the aftermath shows extensive damage to the facility....

With the Cielcin united under one banner, the Sollan Empire stands alone after the betrayal of the Commonwealth. The Prophet-King of the Cielcin has sent its armies to burn the worlds of men, and worse, there are rumors … whispers that Hadrian Marlowe is dead, killed in the fighting....

Once, the soldier known as Breq was the Justice of Toren - a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy. Now, an act of treachery has ripped it all away....

Film noir meets Jurassic Park. Petra is a medical engineer for zoologists and fertility clinics. Why is she getting death threats, and what did she do to merit an ankle monitor? As the science advisor to a major contender for the presidency, she needs a PR boost. Hendrix is on his fourth career, having failed as a rock guitarist and a war journalist. His last chance is to write a book that makes the country support this abrasive scientist. He’s always been a sucker for a woman in trouble. Warning: this novel talks about the science and ethics of how babies are made.

In the not-so-distant future, where humanity's reach extends into the cosmos and the sky is littered with satellites, space stations, and the beginnings of lunar colonies, the Space Traffic Control Unit (STCU) stands as the unsung guardian of Earth's orbital lanes. Captain Alex Mercer, a seasoned air traffic controller turned space traffic commander, leads his team with a mix of military precision and a deep understanding of the celestial dance above.

A spell at GCHQ sounded like a refreshing change for academic historian George. But his life is thrown upside down when he gets put in a team with a gifted physicist, Alex, and multi-talented prankster mathematician, Betty, who have covertly broken through the accepted rules of physics to produce an extraordinary novel technology.

The use of an i-Vector zap to thwart Betty's kidnap has caused unforeseen and unimagined changes to the future. An eccentric old-fashioned vicar arrives, delivering a chilling message, and Betty finds her safety in jeopardy again from a completely unanticipated direction.

Betty's knowledge has become a liability. She just simply wants a last skiing holiday, and then to die peacefully, escaping her genetic illness - she understands that her time has come. But malign agents want her secret knowledge about the i-vector technology, and they have sophisticated plans to abduct her. In response, her colleagues have made a timeline change, tipping the balance back in Betty's favour; even though she, and they, cannot be aware of that in this altered timeline.

Sara Lafeete struggles to complete her work shift installing wiring in the ship's tunnels on the asteroid Psyche. Exhausted and suffering from the initial stages of radiation poisoning, she takes a detour back to the base through an ancient lava tube. Suffering from radiation brain fog, she takes a wrong turn and becomes lost as her radiation levels spike further.

This is a series of stories set in the same universe and at the same time as Hannah Sawyer and Starfarers Dream. They range from the flight of the Nihon, and its subsequent adventures to the story about Donna Merriweather's origins and then to the life of a war correspondent sent to cover the war.

Say hello to Lavina Simes, a wholesome appearing midwestern girl, always dressed in black. Lavina has a gift, or curse, that allows her to see into the future. Tragedy has befallen every suitor who pursued her charms. She travels the world with her father, a lifetime Foreign Service officer, and misfortune seems to follow them.

Halfway to Better is a collection of short solarpunk stories, each exploring a near-future where were struggling to survive the climate crisis and build a better world. These hopeful climate-fiction stories take you from the bottom of the sea to the towers of a bot-filled city, from sparkling labs to flooded lighthouses, all imagining futures halfway to a better world. The Halfway to Better collection contains six short stories plus a bonus prose-poem, Rewilding Indiana, and its accompanying sky shanty.

A hidden mystery in Jupiter’s second-largest moon holds a power beyond imagining. Beneath the icy surface of Callisto lies an underground sea. Decades ago, a research base was built to study the strange lifeforms inhabiting this silent world before tragedy struck, killing everyone. News of this incident is quickly hushed up, with all access to the Jovian moon restricted. Kirill Sereda was orphaned when his mother never returned from that very outpost. Now an adult, he gathers together a team of misfits for a clandestine mission: head to Callisto and find out what really happened. What ...

An eclectic collection of stories of strange voyages in time and space. •Dragon Fire - The pilot of a Fokker Triplane is transferred through time to fight aerial duels with dragons. •Twilight’s Last Gleaming - An AI interstellar space probe is the last defense for the human race. •Second Chance - The crew of a small base on the Moon discovers the remains of ancient alien visitors. •Prize Crew - Privateers fight a querrila war against the powerful UNE Navy in the Asteroid Belt. •Assassin - Ruthless aliens invade the Solar System and an ancient warship is Earth's last defense. •...

SHORT STORY: Living in a flooded lighthouse is probably illegal, but no one has come to kick her out, so she keeps furtively tending the oyster beds and feeding the crows. But when a storm brings an unexpected, and unwelcome, visitor, her time in this final refuge might be at an end. Planting the Shell-Bones is one of six short solarpunk stories in the Halfway to Better collection. If you enjoyed the optimistic climate solutions in Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future or the cozy cooperative future in Becky Chambers' Monk and Robot series, you will enjoy Halfway to Better.

SHORT STORY: A sister in the far future, when we no longer burn things for fuel, finds a forbidden thing that would make the perfect gift. The Day We Stopped Burning is one of six short solarpunk stories in the Halfway to Better collection. If you enjoyed the optimistic climate solutions in Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future or the cozy cooperative future in Becky Chambers' Monk and Robot series, you will enjoy Halfway to Better.

In the heart of the Pacific lies a mysterious island, shrouded in secrecy and guarded by the enigmatic Gordon McMillan, the world's wealthiest and most elusive genius. Once a titan of the technological realm, McMillan's sudden retreat from the world's stage three years ago left many puzzled minds wondering about his intentions. Little did they know, his seclusion was merely a prelude to an audacious experiment that would alter the course of human history.

“Thought-provoking SF delivered in an intriguingly panoramic form.” KIRKUS REVIEWS “Doyle has hit on something rare: an original approach to climate fiction.” BOOKLIFE REVIEWS “Gripping, revealing, and frightening.” MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW"The contrast between notes and experiences of those who navigate this world are exceptionally well done, and will lend to book club discussions and sci-fi reader delight. Libraries and readers seeking a futuristic exploration which examines sleepers of the world and the social and political truths and realities that underlie their motivations will...