Hard Science Fiction

Kill or be killed. Take the fight to the enemy, only until you can't. Then repair, regroup, rearm, and return to the fight. Unless the enemy shows up before you're ready. Then you get ready. There are no do-overs in war. While the battle rages in space, the Borwyn decide to put boots on the ground in a daring, risk-all return to Septimus. The combat team is tasked to disrupt strategic communications. Is it even possible?

Rory travels to the Moon, encountering her grandfather's footprints from fifty years ago. She returns to her parent's home, eager to forget about the last few weeks, but the Shadow persists. Silas and Cody are covertly led to the Planetae laboratory but quickly realize there's more to the tokens than their initial assumptions. Waylen struggles to maintain peace as the walls between organizations crumble. When one of his closest allies betrays them, Waylen's trust is shattered.

Humanity has taken to the stars, using faster-than-light travel to reach distant planets and new worlds. But in the far reaches of the galaxy, John Grant will discover a planet of humans who believe he has travelled not only through space to find them, but time. On Apis, the mysterious Fermi appear to have vanished, taking with them knowledge of the universe that humanity desires. But Marcus Owen, the robot AI now plagued with sentience, knows that the Fermi would not easily abandon the native life of Apis.

In the late 21st century, a neurotechnology called Bridge has changed the world. Bridging allows a person to program their own body and mind to achieve untold enhancement. There was one problem: it only works in children. Within a single generation, a new world order developed. Bridged Children grew smarter, faster, and stronger than the adults, and demanded equal rights. The adults fought back.

All that stands in their way is the mighty Space Fortress Tallinn, but even its garrison, starfighters, and orbital defences are no match for hundreds of thousands of Vrokan terror soldiers that swamp the planetoid. To make matters worse, special operatives attack from within, even arming prisoners locked deep in the heart of the fortress. The fortress cannot hope to stop the invasion, but every extra hour they fight gives the Leningrad Metropolis, heart of the city planet Neva time to ready their defences against the inevitable onslaught.

The day that changed Melody's life was like any other over the previous two years. She'd found she had a gift for writing, and her career as an author had almost healed the pain of losing her job. When the Secret Service rang her bell, everything changed. Something was nearing Saturn…and it was slowing down. Had she been right about the object?

Ariock Dovanack never asked to be a hero, let alone a demigod. But when a prophecy deemed him "The One," he dutifully amassed thousands of messianic followers in the sun-starved civilization beneath the Torth Empire's capital. Now, destined to lead the cave-dwelling Alashani people into the light of other worlds, he and a small army must first annihilate the formidable telepaths who guard the city's spaceport. By Ariock's side is Thomas Hill. A Torth/human hybrid, Thomas may be physically vulnerable, but he's also a telepathic supergenius.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The alien creatures have made it to Earth. Entire cities are battling invasion from the menacing swarms. This is worse than Zola. It’s worse than the Leak. It’s worse than all of our nightmares put together. The creatures are indestructible, shrugging off our strongest weaponry. Now, our only hope lies inside a powerful ancient artifact we don’t understand. To save Earth’s future, we have to unlock the secrets of a lost alien past. Whatever it takes, we have to harness the power of the Orb.

SHORT STORY: A very short story about the cost of cutting down a tree. I Came Home From Saving the Rainforest 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.

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.