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....

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

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

When retired millionaire Bob Johansson chose cryogenic preservation, the last thing he expected was to be reanimated as a space probe that can clone itself. Meet the Bobs.

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....

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....

The Silicoids are a growing threat from beyond the frontier. Launching waves of crystalline drones, they ravage colonies all along the border of the Empire. Earth has been forced to ally with her enemies against this mysterious alien menace....

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....

Civil war looms in the Bobiverse in this brand-new, epic-length adventure by Audible number one best seller Dennis E. Taylor. More than a hundred years ago, Bender set out for the stars and was never heard from again....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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...

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....

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....

Humanity's first contact with an alien intelligence is far more radical than anyone has ever dared imagine....

They mustn't harm a human being, they must obey human orders, and they must protect their own existence...but only so long as that doesn't violate rules one and two....

Children of the Mind is the fourth and final volume in the original Ender Saga by Orson Scott Card, winner of the Hugo and Nebula award....

It is the year 12,020 GE and Emperor Cleon I sits uneasily on the Imperial throne of Trantor....

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.

SHORT STORY: At the bottom of the sea, a trawler crawls across an abyssal plain, carefully cleaning microplastics off the ancient mineral-rich nodules, when the crew finds something that shouldn't be possible. Slimy Things Did Crawl is one of six short solarpunk stories in the Halfway to Better collection.

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.

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.

Tomorrow’s Hope: A journey of exploration and hope builds on the themes reminiscent of classic Science Fiction written by the greats of the 1960’s. Inspired by the works of Ben Bova, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, and more, we dive into worlds that could be just around the corner.

With the seizure of an advanced freighter and its strategic cargo, James Van Wert is assigned to a combat vessel that possesses a groundbreaking new technology which the Fleet hopes will stop the insurgency. But James must first battle command infighting and the technological challenges of getting an untried ship ready for action, while the freighter captives travel to the heart of the enemy cabal to fight for their very lives.

“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...

The best steel is forged by the hottest fires and under the greatest pressures. So too, have the Kurdish Peshmerga been shaped by thousands of years of warfare and oppression. Now, for the first time in history, they have their own nation, and its a chance to live, grow, and develop as a unified people. But they are surrounded by hostile dictatorships intent on the destruction of their young republic.

Far into humanity's distant future, Naga, a whimsical superintelligent being, finds herself reborn. Her trusty companion Apollo – a quantum quintessence with an uncanny ability to predict the future - helps her throw a birthday party of cosmic proportions. Naga's children – Tartarus, Gaia, Iapetus and Mnemosyne – have mixed feelings about their newly reborn mother and about each other. Remembering their own trials and tribunals, they rediscover themselves and take a stab at understanding consciousnesses, complexity and what it means to be alive.

At sixteen, Mira realizes her dream of attending the prestigious South Pacific UN astronaut school, Sirius Academy. Heiress, prodigy, pilot, and psi talent, Mira kicks butt from the first day. However, she can’t figure out how to make boys like her—making them cry is easy. To lead a team to the alien artifact that her mother discovered, Mira has to convince the Academy that she’s the only chance to unlock the alien secrets before they vanish. First, Mira has to overcome sexist students, narrow-minded faculty, kidnappers, and a tenacious aunt who wants her out of the program. Her ...

Training to serve humanity. Facing an unraveling alien society. In a brewing interfactional war, can a recruit avoid becoming a pawn? Belle Machado is returning to the Quynh to complete her field agent training. But the dedicated young woman’s education is interrupted by civil strife between opposing ighakan factions. Will Belle succeed in navigating the political situation, or will she be forced to take sides, and will the evil Zyd Hegemony take advantage of the turmoil? Belle’s War is the third novel in the Belle Machado science fiction thriller series. If you like epic battles and ...

The world is doomed, and time is running out. In the near future, a stellar collision with a rogue planet destabilizes the sun’s fusion output, turning it into a ticking time bomb. With the ever-increasing heat, earth will become uninhabitable within a decade. A handful of individuals will determine whether humanity survives: NASA scientist Dr. Olivia Quinn must outwit a corrupt government system and warn the public before it’s too late. Veteran astronaut Valerie McKinnon and her crew are in a race against time to build a space colony that could rescue a multitude of lives. And ...

On a distant planet, a fragile peace is about to be shattered.New Bali is a swamp world located 20 light-years from Earth. Colonized by humans almost two hundred years before, the planet is also home to an intelligent, methane-breathing race of amphibians. The natives have a unique culture that precludes war and vengeance, but recent events have begun to unravel a once fragile peace. Sophie Singh, heir to a vast conglomerate, must decide whether to retain her family's control of Wetworld while Brother Moises Borbon, a conflicted Jesuit researcher, races against time to unlock the true ...

An ancient secret society holds the key that could reshape the world, or destroy it. Archaeology student Ella Rosen’s idyllic life in Crete is turned upside down when she saves a priceless Minoan artifact. Now on the run, she struggles to survive while uncovering a shocking revelation that completely upends what experts once knew about the origins of human civilization. With the help of a seasoned ex-soldier, Ella searches for clues in a race against time to unravel this breathtaking mystery. But there are powerful forces arrayed against them who will stop at nothing to prevent this ...

The world’s most destructive spacecraft is about to get hijacked.Virago is the codename for a top secret project between ACE Corp and the US Space Force. Its goal is to deploy the first fusion-powered battleship to ensure American domination of any potential conflict in space. There’s only one problem. Virago has been stolen. The world is now at the brink of war as the hijacked spacecraft forges a path of destruction across known space. The task to intercept and retake this dangerous adversary falls on corporate fixer Stilicho Jones and NASA Special Agent Darian Arante. This time the ...