Alternate Universe Fiction

When Brenda’s internet goes out right before an important scholarship deadline, she stumbles right into Kat’s family’s coffeeshop. Brenda is swept away by cool, confident Kat, who actually cares about Brenda’s 19-step plan to save the world through science. Meanwhile, Kat can’t stop thinking about Brenda, who is smart, passionate, and doesn’t seem to care that Kat is the prophesized Chosen One.

The war for Earth is just the warm-up. The Xortaag armada has never lost a war. That streak is still intact… mostly because no one has ever been stupid enough to fight them across time, space, and multiple versions of reality. Now their ships are hanging over Earth like a bad ending no one asked for, and humanity’s last line of defense is four people who should absolutely, under no circumstances, be responsible for saving the world: A movie-quoting pilot with a death wish and no off switch. A stuntwoman who treats lethal danger like a recreational activity. A silent assassin whose ...

Jake Sullivan is a licensed private eye with a seriously hardboiled attitude. He also possesses raw magical talent and the ability to make objects in his vicinity light as a feather or as heavy as depleted uranium, all with a magical thought. It's no wonder the G-men turn to Jake when they need someoneto go after a suspected killer who has been knocking off banks in a magic-enhanced crime spree.

What if you could step into the world that might have been? In Intersection, the first book in the Parallel Planes series, the Global Research Center (GRC) has quietly mastered the ability to explore alternate realities—not through time travel, but through immersive journeys into parallel worlds. Their mission? To learn, to connect, and to uncover insights that could shape humanity’s future. From a cutting-edge base in the Nevada desert to astonishing versions of our present-day Earth, this devoted team of scientists and agents discovers cultures, wonders, and possibilities that ...

THE COMPLETE SIMULACRA TRILOGY Three Novels. One Infinite Loop. The Ultimate Awakening. The complete saga is available in a single, massive omnibus. Spanning over 700 pages, this is the story of a "backdoor" in the universe, the human who found it, and the realities that shattered and reformed under their changes to the simulacra. BOOK 1: CHEAT Adrian Shaw has a secret. He cheats at reality. On paper, he’s a brilliant but unremarkable AI scientist and hedge fund quant. Off the books, he’s discovered a hidden "backdoor" in the universe that lets him nudge probability and rewrite outcomes...

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer. So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case.

From the critically acclaimed author of There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven, a piercing debut novel following two families in alternative timelines of the Salvadoran civil war—a stunning exploration of the mechanisms of fate, the gravity of the past, and the endurance of love. ""Beautiful."" —LA...

Billy Boustany uncovers a mystery that transforms his sleepy midwestern city into a vibrant metropolis of iridescent skyscrapers, wild parties, and eccentric characters. He has the adventure of a lifetime, but it comes with a perilous secret. When Billy shares his discovery with his college student daughter, they explore together until they reach a magnificent city of Native Americans at an ancient site. However, they also encounter a formidable foe—the Knights, a secret society bent on keeping outsiders away.

“Pratchett’s books are almost always better than they have to be, and Going Postal is no exception, full of nimble wordplay, devious plotting and outrageous situations, but always grounded in an astute understanding of human nature.”—San Francisco Chronicle A splendid send-up of...

“[Pratchett’s] books are almost always better than they have to be, and Going Postal is no exception, full of nimble wordplay, devious plotting and outrageous situations, but always grounded in an astute understanding of human nature.” — San Francisco Chronicle The 33rd installment in...

A dreamlike tale of haunting melodies and visions of alternate worlds.

Temeraire * Book 2 When Britain intercepted a French ship and its precious cargo–an unhatched dragon’s egg–Capt. Will Laurence of HMS Reliant unexpectedly became master and commander of the noble dragon he named Temeraire. As new recruits in Britain’s Aerial Corps, man and dragon soon...

Mighty Greyboar, the world's greatest professional strangler, is dissatisfied with his lot in life. The work is steady and the pay is good, but what, he wonders, is the point of it all. But when he learns that there is a Supreme Philosophy of Life, Greyboar the Strangler is born again! Still, just how can a professional man in good standing pay the bills with all this philosophical exploration getting in the way.

A 2023 AUDIOFILE EARPHONES AWARD WINNER A murder has Seattle on edge, and it falls to a pacifist empath—and a notorious empath hunter—to find the killer before it's too late It’s the middle of the night when part-time police consultant and full-time empath Reece gets an anonymous call...

A collection of science fiction short stories by Prometheus Award Winner Sarah A. Hoyt. What if aliens walk among us—not as conquerors, but as refugees seeking humanity's moral guidance? What if our greatest creations return as lethal threats, and time itself has watchful guardians we never notice? From interstellar immigration crises to generation ships doomed by human nature, from aliens who set fiendish traps to futures inventing entirely new forms of misery—these thirteen thought-provoking tales explore humanity's place in a vast and often bewildering cosmos. With the vivid ...

Time travel is real—and used for high-end tourism. Every moment of the past is open to visitors, and no matter what they do then, everything now waits for them, thanks to the sure hand of an experienced time travel technician. Come spend a day behind the controls of the time machine, and discover why, this day of all days, it’s time for this technician to make a change. Because sometimes, time travel is more than just an adventure. Sometimes, it’s a moral imperative.

“A lively outing, complete with sly shout-outs to Jane Austen and gritty police procedurals.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) In Terry Pratchett’s delightful New York Times bestselling tale of crime, class, prejudice, and punishment, Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch...

""Like the best of its predecessors, Making Money balances satire, knockabout farce and close observation of human — and non-human — foibles with impressive dexterity and deceptive ease. The result is another ingenious entertainment from the preeminent comic fantasist of our time.” —...

The first novel in a brilliant collaboration between the visionary Discworld creator Terry Pratchett and acclaimed science fiction novelist Stephen Baxter, The Long Earth transports readers to an infinity of new worlds—a series of parallel “earths"" with doorways leading to adventure...

Temeraire * Book 3 After their fateful adventure in China, Capt. Will Laurence of His Majesty’s Aerial Corps and his extraordinary dragon, Temeraire, are waylaid by a mysterious envoy bearing urgent new orders from Britain. Three valuable dragon eggs have been purchased from the Ottoman Empire...