Apocalyptic Science Fiction

For 25 years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself and keeping her demons inside her heart. She can’t remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her off on her personal journey toward redemption.

With The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 3, award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a year-in-review and 27 of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2017.

Katmai National Park: 7,000 square miles of rugged, isolated wilderness in southern Alaska. Vast stretches of frozen tundra, deep ancient forests, and impassable ravines ruled by the massive volcanic God, Devil's Desk. Despite the vigorous protests of Michael, the Talbots and the Tynes head to the park for a much-needed vacation away from it all.

When Jonah inherits leadership of the Elk Clan from his father, many in the old man's inner circle question his son's ability to lead the tribe to their winter shelter at the ruins of Eliz. A dark stranger, a journey over hundreds of miles of dangerous highway, and clashes with feral gangs will push Jonah to the edge.

In Level Seven, the exciting culmination of the Killday series, AIs strive to evolve into a super intelligence and might destroy humanity in that pursuit. But could their hopes of achieving godhood actually lie with the nearly extinct humans they intend to eradicate?

Ataegina was an isolated world of medieval castles, varied cultures, and conquests, vibrant until the demons rose and spread relentless destruction. Swarms of lethal creatures with black husks, murderous claws, barbed tails, and dreaded “tooth-tongues” raged through the lowlands, killing 90 percent of the planet’s population. Terrified survivors fled to hidden mountain keeps where they eke out a meager existence. When a trio of young warriors discovers a new weapon, they see a chance to end this curse. To save humanity, they must fight.

When a powerful EMP blast knocks out power across the country, schoolteacher Molly, former Marine Colton, and the five students they’re supervising on a trip are trapped inside a prison. Surrounded by hardened criminals and with no safe exit, it doesn’t take long for a riot to throw everything into chaos. Meanwhile, Deb, Colton’s ex-wife, is lucky enough to fall in with a group of determined survivors. But her good fortune quickly turns into a nightmare when her people are captured by human traffickers, led by a vicious madman.

There is a huge, bold black streak in the sky. Branches appear out of nowhere over North America, Southern Europe, and Central Africa. People who live beneath The Rift can see it. But scientists worldwide are distressed - their equipment cannot pick up any type of signal from it. The rift appears to consist of nothing. Literally. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Most people are curious but not overly concerned. The phenomenon seems to pose no danger. It is just there. Then something jolts the most hardened naysayers, and surpasses the worst nightmares of the world's greatest scientists.

With their Safe Zone overrun by the undead, taking refuge in the mountains seems like the safest bet for Rose, Tom, and the other survivors. There's one catch, however—between last spring's human exodus and a neighboring group's stockpiles, there's no food left to scavenge. They know to be wary of people and zombies, but a new adversary proves itself just as relentless—hunger. Supplies are slim in the wilderness, and living off the land is easier said than done. As winter sets in, and their food dwindles to nothing, they discover how far they'll go to save the ones they love.

The Martian meets Gravity when Army Pilot Vaughn Singleton, Earth’s last man, rushes to Area 51 in search of a spaceplane after he discovers the last woman is stranded on the International Space Station and barely alive - thus beginning a race against time. The event that wiped life from the planet started at the supercollider. It created a rift in space-time. The astronaut stranded aboard the space station, Commander Angela Brown, is a theoretical physicist who used to work at the collider.

Accused of domestic terrorism, Emilio Vega was on his way to a Department of Global Security death camp when the mega-quake hit. The streets beneath his transport vehicle buckled, tossing the van in the air like a toy. He survived the crash, but the world is now in ruins. However, for a condemned man, this disaster may be just the lucky break he needed.

It’s an ordinary Monday. Until everything changes forever. At 2:44 PM, a mysterious crack appears in the sky. Anyone unfortunate enough to look up is immediately struck blind. What’s worse, their mind is wiped clean, replaced with a vicious urge to kill anyone within reach. Mark is at work when it happens. Fighting not to fall asleep, the boring department meeting suddenly turns into a bloodbath when people are drawn to the windows to look up at the sky.

As a grizzled veteran of the war against the Riven, Duncan knows better than anyone that great triumphs require terrible sacrifices. But as the final battle looms on the horizon, victory seems like a distant fantasy...until he receives word of a holy artifact even more powerful than Aodar's blade. To find it in time, he and the girls will have to venture into the corrupted wastelands and brave dangers wrought by the power-hungry wizards who ruined the world.

From the ashes of a devastated Boston, a harrowing legend emerges. Thirteen years prior, the colossal kaiju, Nemesis, ravaged the city in her relentless pursuit of retribution. Today, mankind's survival teeters on the sacrificial offerings atop a chilling monolith known as The Altar, where the condemned pay the ultimate price to prevent Nemesis's wrath from consuming humanity.

The fifth installment of the main Dying Days zombie series! Darlene and John have been scattered...can they fight through miles of undead to find one another? Will The Lich Lord destroy what is left of this post-apocalyptic world? Will the Main Street compound survive another day?

It's never fun having your abilities questioned, nor having to deal with an incursion that has killed other teams. Good thing Lance and his team are all powered up from the Shop and beginning to realise the synergies in their upgrades. Dungeon Incursions is a slow-moving apocalypse, where the system doesn't lead to societal collapse but changes in civilisation itself. Not solo OP MC but team-based dynamics.

The scattered worlds of the Elara's Veil nebula were once protected by the oath of unity sworn by three mighty Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes. The Star Scorpions were undone by flaws in their genetic coding. The Celestial Lions were ravaged by the Inquisition for sins they did not commit. Now, after hundreds of years, only the Emperor's Spears still keep their vigil. They are barbarian watchmen against the Outer Dark, bloodied but unbroken in their long duty.

Whether romantic or platonic, changing relationships prove tricky for Rose, Tom, Clara, and Craig—never mind adapting to the new not-so-normal. Being surrounded by the undead is bad enough, but with a tyrant-in-training running their Safe Zone, it’s that much worse.

There is more to power than raw strength, a harsh lesson Sam must learn if he is to overcome threats from one world to the next. Though Sam's ascension to Paragon has elevated him to new heights, his overconfidence traps him in a trial on a dead world. Separated from his friends, Sam must survive the last Immortal Magus's training to navigate the Proving Grounds littered with mechanical monsters. The only way home is through.

In the heart of the South Pacific lies Point Nemo, the most desolate and remote place on Earth. At its core is a dead zone, devoid of life, where government agencies crash their obsolete satellites and space stations, confident they won't harm a soul. When the International Space Station suffers a catastrophic failure and plummets through the atmosphere, it's here that Mission Specialist Julie Rohr, an astrobiologist studying living space dust called xylem, finds herself marooned. Julie's only hope for rescue lies in the hands of her estranged father, Dr. Finn Maddern, a renowned mycologist.