Exploration Fiction

Keeping up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more - a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.

Conclave warships fended off four enemy fleets intent on attacking the Malia system. No one believes the fighting is finished. As anticipated, a fifth fleet of more sophisticated warships arrives. The commanders are armed with information from the previously defeated races, making it more difficult for the conclave to defend Cercia, the inhabited planet. In an effort to diminish Messinant power over mercenary races, Vice Admiral Mila Pappas leads the first wave to gain a new ally, the Ondas. However, Mila’s arrival at the Kega military base ignites a mutiny headed by two commanding officers.

The Polaris is on a mission to explore new lands, and its crew is eager to bring their discoveries back home. But when members of the advance landing party mysteriously disappear, the remaining adults abandon ship, leaving behind the young cabin attendants and deckhands - none of them older than 12. With whispers of mutiny, a strange tropical illness, and perhaps even a wild beast shadowing them, the young sailors are desperate to steer the vessel to safety.

Pyre's humans suffer multiple cultural shocks. They discovered the Messinants dome, an ancient construction that houses a quantum-coupled gate. More shocking, they find that sentient alien races utilize a network of these domes to journey between their far distant worlds in pursuit of alliance matters. If humans wish to join this elite collection of sentients, they must contribute significantly in trade, tech, or something of equal value.

Billions of years ago, on one of the first-ever Earths, a boy named Skylar will walk away from his home for the last time. Beset by dreams where he flies through the early universe as a sentient starship, he will never be safe if his secret gets out. His only chance to stay alive is to fall in with the same knights who destroyed his peasant village and live under the shadow of the king who sent them to exterminate Skylar’s people.

When Gunnar McConnell inherits a treasure map after his uncle's death, he goes on the hunt of his life and can't believe what he finds. There isn't just gold on those mountains, but the secret of a lifetime—a starship that can take him to worlds unknown, and a universe full of life.

On the run across federation space, Cherry has stuffed far too many dangerous secrets into her scout ship. Now, the Delphic Dame is the most hunted spaceship in the universe. It may also be the only force in the universe capable of saving humanity. Cherry just has to stay one step ahead of her enemies—and, maybe, of her allies.

4ème et dernier volet de cette épopée fantastique et romanesque où l'on retrouve aussi de l'exotisme, de l'aventure, de l'humour. Plusieurs mois après le crash de leur vaisseau sur Eris, un monde encore non répertorié, les survivants humains ont su s'intégrer parfaitement parmi le peuple Erian. Certains ont même pu trouver l'amour. Alors que tout semble aller pour le mieux, un vaisseau spatial apparait dans le ciel d'Eris. Cette nouvelle donnée va-t-elle chambouler cette organisation encore fragile ? Les humains échoués là vont-ils faire le choix de repartir ?

Lucas Ramsay, a visionary scientist, believed his groundbreaking reactor would unlock the secrets of deep space and propel humanity into a new era of exploration. Little did he know that his anti-gravity device would unleash a cataclysmic wave of destruction, engulfing the planet in chaos and devastation. But the true terror awaits beyond the stars.

Misanthropic psychologist Dr. Grace Park is placed on the Deucalion, a survey ship headed to an icy planet in an unexplored galaxy. Her purpose is to observe the thirteen human crew members aboard the ship - all specialists in their own fields - as they assess the colonization potential of the planet, Eos. But frictions develop as Park befriends the androids of the ship, preferring their company over the baffling complexity of humans, while the rest of the crew treats them with suspicion and even outright hostility.

The year is 1796 and the soil of Piedmont and Tuscany runs with blood, another battle takes shape on the mysterious Adriatic Sea. Alan Lewrie and his 18-gun sloop, HMS Jester, part of a squadron of four British warships, sail into the thick of it. But with England's allies failing, Napoleon busy...

Angeleitet von ihrem Gründer, dem Psychohistoriker Hari Seldon, und unter Einsatz von Wissenschaft und Technologie, überstand die "Foundation" ihre ersten Krisen. Doch nun reichen Klugheit und Mut vielleicht nicht mehr aus. Denn das mächtige Galaktische Imperium wird in seinem Todeskampf noch gefährlicher denn je. Schlimmer noch, ein mysteriöses Wesen namens "Maultier" ist erschienen, dessen Kräfte alle menschliche Vorstellung übersteigen. Wer – oder was – ist das Maultier? Und wie kann sich die Menschheit gegen diesen unverwundbaren Avatar verteidigen.

The situation on Earth is coming to a head; while the infestation was brutally contained in Siberia, it has spread uncontrollably in Los Angeles. Jenna wants to prevent the spore from causing even worse damage at all costs and tightens the noose around the Initiative—or is she just another pawn in the clutches of the shady organization?

"Tanjiri is not for you. You are not ready to encounter what exists there." So Lezuri spoke in warning, long ago. Urban still possesses the strange gift—the impossible puzzle—Lezuri gave him that day. A needle, ultra-thin and twelve centimeters long, with a silvery surface that slices light into rainbow glints. All Lezuri's knowledge lies locked within that needle. Urban has only to discover the trick of opening it, to gain that knowledge for himself—but the needle remains an enigma.

2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Longlist Perfect for fans of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Five Feet Apart, this tender solo debut by the coauthor of New York Times bestseller She Gets the Girl is a “punch to the gut in the best way” (Booklist, starred...

The interstellar Consortium of Planets forsakes the irredeemably violent Earth, condemning the planet to economic and ecological chaos. Given one last chance to halt Earth's annihilation, women freedom fighters discover a way to rid Earth of men's brutality - but it may have come too late. In the stunning conclusion to the Native Trilogy, female linguists must once again come forward and fight for the future of humanity.

On humanity's first extra-solar mission, the exploration vessel Magellan, or, as she prefers, "Maggie", discovers an alien artifact. Deciding that finding advanced alien life is too important to ignore, Captain Allison Ridgeway chooses to return to Earth while ordering her crew to reverse engineer technology far beyond anything back home. Meanwhile, at mission control, the governments struggle to maintain the existence of aliens a secret while also combating bureaucracy, the military industrial complex, and everyone else who wants a piece of what could skyrocket humanity into a new technological age.

Il y a cent cinquante ans, soit un siècle avant que le premier homme n'effectue un "petit pas pour un homme et un grand pour l'humanité", en 1869, Jules Verne emmène ses héros dans un nouveau voyage extraordinaire "Autour de la Lune". Tiré par un gigantesque canon, l'obus imaginé par l'ingénieur Barbicane se dirige maintenant vers la Lune, et les trois passagers qui y ont pris place vont être les témoins d'extraordinaires événements.

As Chinese and US spacecraft compete to be the first to land on Mars, a former astronaut, his cousin, and four teens from Florida decide to take matters into their own hands. If they can quickly build their own space-worthy ship using scrap metal, appliances, and power tools, they have a chance to come from behind - thanks to an inventive new power source that can propel them to the Red Planet within three days. No guts, no glory.

In the far reaches of the solar system, the outer planets - billions of miles from Earth, unknown for millennia - are being settled. Neptune, the ice giant, is swathed in clouds of hydrogen, helium, and methane and circled by rings of rock and dust. Three years ago, Ilona Magyr’s father, Miklos, disappeared while exploring the seas of Neptune. Everyone believes he is dead - crushed, frozen, or boiled alive in Neptune’s turbulent seas.