Space Opera Artificial Intelligence

Rule #1 of space salvage: Never push the big red button. Rule #2: If the button starts talking to you, run. Quinn is a third-rate mechanic on a fourth-rate salvage ship, just trying to make enough credits to fix his broken coffee machine. When he stumbles across a sleek, mysterious artifact in the wreckage of an ancient dreadnought, he thinks he’s finally hit the jackpot. He didn't realize the artifact was a sentient, world-destroying bomb named Walter. Walter is polite, highly neurotic, and going through an existential crisis. He doesn't want to blow up the galaxy, but his programming is...

A new entry in the wildly successful Children of Time series from award-winning master of science fiction Adrian Tchaikovsky. After Earth fell, ark ships hunted for a new home. They sought lost worlds terraformed in Earth’s forgotten past. A ship crewed by maverick humans, spiders and a...

Smugglers. Thieves. Pirates. The Sea Rover's crew embodies these defining qualities. Immerse yourself in a Science Fiction Adventure box set written by author C.P. MacDonald. Witness Captain Calin Aku's evolution from the most wanted outlaw on the Moon to an unexpected if reluctant hero. Job by job, paycheck by paycheck, he keeps flying. However, with a new client comes a cascade of adventure, forging unusual alliances and unraveling amazing mysteries. These revelations don't just alter the lives of Calin and his crew but also reshape humanity's future. Join Calin Aku and his crew as they ...

Every time Dennis Blocks gets rid of a responsibility, something new comes along. This time he knows it’s coming. And while it still chose him, he’s going to see where this goes. Colonies need food, and food grown locally is cheaper for the colonists. But to grow food, you need farms, and building new farms takes time. So why not build a farm to use as a magical copy template? That’s the plan, but since when does any plan actually work out as expected? And will his normal life even allow him to be the Farmer Mage? The Hunter Imperium Universe Is best read in this order: The Spacemage ...

The third entry in the critically acclaimed Culture series, from British Science Fiction author, Iain M. Banks. The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks and military...

'ASTONISHING AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING' Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time From the million-copy-bestselling Claire North - one of the most original and dazzling voices in speculative fiction - comes an intergalactic tale of conspiracy, war and the fall of empires. ***Shortlisted for the...

Speaker for the Dead, the second novel in Orson Scott Card's The Ender Saga, is the winner of the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Novel. In the aftermath of his terrible war, Ender Wiggin disappeared, and a powerful voice arose: The Speaker for the Dead, who...

01011001 01101111... This is how the message arrives. Not with a greeting, but with a death sentence, decoded by SETI from a tightbeam transmission in 2025. It is the first hint that humanity is not alone. It is the last warning they will ever receive. It began with ‘Oumuamua. The anomalous interstellar object that tumbled through our solar system in 2017, a splinter in the mind of science. Was it a natural phenomenon, or something else? The world’s astronomers debated, while a few lone voices in the intelligence community and academia warned it was a scout. They were dismissed as ...

Dennis Block is used to four days off over Easter. He’s not religious, and the dates don’t fit with Sydney’s year, so always change. But a large part of the population take the opportunity for an official holiday all the same. But this year? Now he’s living on standard time, and with responsibilities which simply do not stop. And part of that comes from those who don’t know what Easter is, who also do not stop. So how can a mage have four days off this year? Only in the dreams of the Easter Mage. The Hunter Imperium Universe Is best read in this order: The Spacemage Chronicle ...

Dennis Block is reinventing his life. Again. Magic was not something he ever expected, but now he has it, it’s just something new to make a living at. At least now it’s stable, even if sometimes whimsical in what happens. The League of Worlds is slowly adapting to mages being among them, and mage services augmenting traditional ones. Out in Ralnor space, where a civil war still rages, they know the value of a good mage being there. And colonization is expanding rapidly in the Orion Cluster Protectorate, various places in Ralnor space, and on the two Terran colonies. It seems to be a ...

Hoping to upgrade their capabilities on a shoestring budget, Brainship Tia and her Brawn Alex accept a contract to test a prototype singularity drive from the military. There’s a catch, of course: the drive “might” occasionally commit a starship to “random” jumps. With some trepidation and the new drive installed, the pair resume their courier duties. The drive works flawlessly, at first. Just as they start to relax, the drive places them in orbit around a partially abandoned research site. Partially, because the corporation that set it up abandoned the researchers there.

Dennis Block needs to learn how to keep his mouth shut. And his wishes under control. A birthday wish gives him what he wants. But the journey to get there is exactly what he’s never wanted. The cosmos does not understand “I don’t”, and gives you whatever you harp on about. Now Dennis has to come to terms with that. But as far as the how goes? Have you met Dennis? There’s only one question for him. How fast can he end being the Trainer Mage? The Hunter Imperium Universe Is best read in this order: The Spacemage Chronicle Yesterday's Spacemage Today's Spacemage Tomorrow's Spacemage...

Dennis Block has come to terms with being a mage. He’s still juggling different forms of magic work. He hasn’t chosen a lane yet. But he is adamant about two things. He doesn’t want to see his name in the media again. And he isn’t interested in having students. Be a guest helper, sure. He’s the Emergency and Colony Mage after all. But no students means no rank of master, and he’s good with that choice. He’s a working mage, and the last thing he wants is to be is a Master Mage. The Hunter Imperium Universe Is best read in this order: The Spacemage Chronicle Yesterday's ...

Four years ago, Thelma Bach thought she’d lost everything when she was exiled to the Saloon Sector. She was wrong. Life on the frontier has given her the galaxy’s best—if sometimes most stubborn—husband, the cutest ever baby boy, an adolescent AI who thinks of Thelma as her mom, and the most loyal, loving and meddlesome group of family and friends anyone could wish for. But when her son’s life is threatened, Thelma’s perfect world comes crashing down. The galaxy will learn that there’s no force in the universe as powerful as a mother determined to save her child. The Badstars ...

On the galactic frontier, the Federation’s wildest (and most scientific) citizens have gathered to ride in the Space Rodeo. The Navy’s in charge—of the arena. But beyond the naval perimeter, there is only Interstellar Sheriff Max Smith to keep the peace. Fortunately, he has some extraordinary allies. And enemies. And then, there is his girlfriend. Thelma Bach attracts trouble like the bunyaphi attract feuds. She should have been safe, riding for an urself inventor in the Space Rodeo. So how did she end up in the middle of a mercenary corporation’s devious designs for galactic war? ...

Dennis Block knows how things work at the cosmos level. If you do something right, you always get rewarded. With more of whatever you did. So every time this happens to him, he’s not surprised. But every time it does, he questions his life choices again. Being the Emergency Mage is his thing, even when it brings him more notoriety than he already has. But police work? Working a kidnapping or yanking a murderer doesn’t make him a police officer. He’s knows he doesn’t have the mindset to be a cop, but he has skills they can use. So now he needs to step up. Again. Now he’s Officer ...

"No-one’s dead until I say they’re dead!" Being told you're a legend is not the same as knowing it, or being it. Bud's been told he's the real Merlin. He knows it to be true. But being the legend is a whole different thing. Up until now, he's been Bud, doing what's necessary. Now he must really be - Merlin. The Hunter Imperium Universe Is best read in this order: The Hunter Legacy Hero at Large Hunted Hero Hunting Send in the Hero Make or Break the Hero Hail the Hero Burnside's Killer Hire a Hero Jane's Christmas Hero to the Rescue Hero at the Gates The Long Road to Gaia Home is Where ...

The UFS Phoenix returns to Homeworld, after more than three years of searching the galaxy for a way to save humanity from the looming AI threat. Many Fleet captains are unhappy with their own command, following the massive casualties of Nia's first strike. Some say that Captain Erik Debogande is the war leader humanity truly needs. Others warn of civil war. But on Homeworld lurks an even older threat, a secret kept by Fleet Command since Homeworld's first conquest by humans. A secret that could tear Fleet, and Erik's powerful family, apart.

The Saloon Sector is the Federation’s official frontier, but beyond it lurks the Badstars. Bandits hide there. The Saloon Sector is Sheriff Max Smith’s territory. Since the revelation of his secret identity, life has changed for Max and Thelma. Their relationship is under increased pressure. Admiral Astyages, newly appointed in command of the Frontier Fleet, manipulates them into joining a Navy expedition to map a safe route to the wormhole on the far side of the Badstars. Alone in hostile territory and separated from their allies, Max and Thelma couldn’t be less prepared for their ...

In a world renowned even within a galaxy full of wonders, a crime within a war. For one man it means a desperate flight, and a search for the one - maybe two - people who could clear his name. For his brother it means a life lived under constant threat of treachery and murder. And for their...