Epic Space Fantasy

Reasonspace is in shambles after the disappearance of all magical creatures. Without faster-than-light travel, supply and communication routes have dried up, leaving humankind stranded and starving. Cowboy Jim and his complement of Reason soldiers search for the relocated Bala using the only surviving FTL drive. On their new utopian planet, the Bala are on the brink of civil war between those who want peace under old-fashioned unicorn rule and those who seek revenge on their human oppressors. Only Captain Jenny and her brain parasite can stop the Reason plan to enslave the Bala again.

Aran awakens in chains with no memory. He’s conscripted into the Confederate Marines as a Tech Mage, given a spellrifle then hurled into the war with the draconic Krox and their Void Wyrm masters. Desperate to escape, Aran struggles to master his abilities while surviving the Krox onslaught. Fighting alongside him are a Major who will do anything to win, a Captain who will stop at nothing to see him dead, and a woman whose past is as blank as his own.

Regan is back and has had enough of the war. Pushing himself and his forces, he works to put an end to the war that is raging on multiple fronts. At the same time, he sends his forces in the Beneath rumored to be home of the most powerful races on Murgin to find the missing Queen Louella. He quickly finds the Terra wave from Starfall had caused more of a mess than he originally thought, with the Beneath's political situation almost more of a mess than the surface.

He had survived a spaceship crash, alien slave traders, space pirates, and fierce gladiatorial combat. Hell, he’d even faced an actual fire-breathing dragon and lived, but now, he was presented with an even greater challenge. Domestic living, captive on a strange world. Charlie almost had to laugh at his changing circumstances, having seen it all since a wormhole spat him out in a distant galaxy. He learned to fight, he learned to use magic, he even learned to kill - to survive at all costs.

Paladins are supposed to exist in stories and games, right? That’s what galactic space smuggler Guy Sutherland thought, too. Now he’s a Paladin. It started when he held an ancient sword, brimming with strange magic. Things got weird after that, like stat screens listing his nifty skills and attributes. The planet of Faeheim is undergoing the same change. A wave of energy is changing the world, assigning classes and levels to the fae, turning animals into monsters, and spurring the empire to commit multiple atrocities.

Michael Hollister killed his father 88 times to avenge the dark acts visited upon him. When he was sent to Hartfield Academy, he adopted an entirely new family, including a brother, Max. Almost 40 years after he arrived at the academy, Michael and Max still live their quiet life where they shape boys into men and men into soldiers. A trip to the war memorials in Washington D.C. turns out to be too much for Max and he begins to fade. Max has always depended on Michael for everything, but in the end, who is really depending on who?

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.

The Rawtenuga and Trixone wars are over, and Bud and his people have been relieved of the task of liberating the remaining Rawtenuga held planets. Jon and Jane have known about the Sanctuary system's planetary alignment for some time. All they know is it points to the Outback system, where the Door to Gaia used to be. Bud knows Ganesha wants him to do something, but doesn't know what or where.

Captain Nathan Scott must decide whether to stand and fight to the end, or live to fight another day - even if it means the end of his world.

The Krox have finally reached their end game, and the sector will never be the same. Their relentless fleet darkens the skies of New Texas, home of the fabled Ternus shipyards. Their only hope lies with their sworn allies, the Shayans. But the Shayans refuse to help. Only Aran and his company can keep their leadership alive long enough for Voria to bring reinforcements and the fabled Spellship. If they fail, the entire world burns, and Ternus morale will collapse with it. But the war is merely a smokescreen for something much more sinister.

A small band of pilots fight against a seemingly unstoppable alien empire in this thrilling space opera. Commander Lanoe's skills made him a hero of the interplanetary civil war, but he was left with nothing except battle scars and painful memories. But now he faces the greatest threat mankind...

Prometheus is missing…Yet the insurrection cannot stop. Can it survive without him? Finally, Alistair’s insurrection returns to our solar system, intent on destroying the Commonwealth. There’s only one problem: after his battle with Hector, Alistair disappeared. Now, Thoreaux faces an impossible decision with ramifications stretching out centuries. Should he invade Neptune without their incredible leader? If he does, will anyone live? If Alistair’s still alive, will he show up in time to save his insurrection, or will it be too late?

Rest and relaxation. That's all Jonx wanted after escaping from not one but two star systems on the brink of being taken over by an overpowered, psychopathic cyborg. Unfortunately, his friend, Zozka, had other plans. "Let's join a Sept," she said. "It's just one small tournament." "It'll be good for the both of us." How could he say no to someone who'd watched his back time and again as they slogged through one battlefield or riftworld after another?

Carina Lin grew up alone and friendless, a slum brat afraid of revealing her mage power. Her life changed when she was picked up by a merc band and taught how to kill. The band’s next mission is a doozy: rescue a kid taken hostage by one of the most powerful clans in the galactic sector. When Carina takes part, she finds she faces an impossible decision. To save the kid, she must cast, but if her secret gets out, she faces slavery and torture. She rolls the dice, opening possibilities she’d never dreamed of, but only if she survives the fallout.

In the follow-up to Lightless and Supernova, C. A. Higgins fuses science fiction, suspense, and drama to tell the story of a most unlikely heroine: Ananke, once a military spacecraft, now a sentient artificial intelligence. Ananke may have the powers of a god, but she is consumed by a very human...

When Lyn’s pilgrimage to the High Temple ends in disaster, she prays for her death. In a surprise twist of fate, however, she is tasked to escort the enigmatic youth Kora home and back. On their journey, Lyn questions whether she will do as her mother expects and become a nun or whether she’ll follow her deepest desires and choose a path of adventure.

An unabridged audio collection spotlighting the "best of the best" hard science fiction stories published in 2016 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster, as narrated by top voice talents.

My name's Noah Kilmartin. I'm from Ruddock, Ohio, and I'm absolutely, 100 percent unqualified to save the universe from the slavering demonic hordes of the super evil queen Lilith. Too bad nobody asked my opinion. All I've got to do is pass five lethal trials that'll prove I'm the universe's last chance at salvation. To do so, I'll have to lean hard on those three years of Okinawan jiu-jutsu classes I took in high school, learn to wield my new magic sword, and, oh yeah - select five women to flesh out my team.

Jon Hunter has made it home. But a lot of things have happened to him over the last year. Some of them made no sense at all to those with him, but they accepted the really weird as if it was part of him. Jon himself didn't understand a lot of it, but accepted he wasn't allowed to know yet. But what really happened, and why? For 600 odd years, Hunter's have traveled space. Where did it all start? What were the events which shaped the galaxy Jon Hunter finds himself in? And what of the previous Jon Hunter's, mentioned in prophecy?

The Oracle has Seen the end of Civilization, and the end of the Haosa, too. Reactions to this are—mixed. On the one hand, foresight is a notoriously erratic Gift. On the other, can Civilization—or the Haosa—afford to assume that the prophecy is an error? And if the Oracle has Seen truly—is it possible to alter the future?