Hard Science Fiction Space Opera

Earth’s entire fleet and all her legions are conscripted by the Galactics. Centurion McGill of Legion Varus is among countless troops pressed into service as cannon fodder for the Empire. Not everyone on Earth is happy with the demands of the Galactics. Earth has built up her military for decades, and now she might lose everything in a foreign war no one understands. As the man who has killed more Mogwa than any other human in history, McGill is approached and given a mission. He has a fateful decision to make.

The Hundred Worlds have withstood invasion by the relentless Hok for decades. The human worlds are strong, but the Hok have the resources of a thousand planets behind them, and their fleets attack in endless waves. The long war has transformed the Hundred Worlds into heavily fortified star systems. Their economies are geared for military output, and they raise specialized soldiers to save our species. Assault Captain Derek Straker is one such man among many.

The best science fiction and fantasy stories of 2021, selected by series editor John Joseph Adams and guest editor Veronica Roth. This year’s selection of science fiction and fantasy stories, chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and bestselling author of the Divergent series Veronica Roth...

Nothing brings change like war. A surge of new tech. New weapons. New tactics. To lead a crew to victory, a captain must understand change. He must understand command and that it is a test. A test most men fail. He must be brilliant. Resourceful. Every second. Of every day. And at night during scarce moments of rest, he must sleep the sleep of the righteous. The time has come for Commander Tad Thatcher to look in the mirror. The time has come to ask himself...am I that kind of man?

Quinn Dexter is loose on Earth, destroying the giant arcologies one at a time. As Louise Kavanagh tries to track him down, she manages to acquire some strange and powerful allies whose goal doesn't quite match her own. The campaign to liberate Mortonridge from the possessed degenerates into a horrendous land battle, the kind that hasn't been seen by humankind for 600 years; then some of the protagonists escape in a very unexpected direction.

Half a million years in the future, on a dead, war-ravaged world at the centre of the galaxy, there is a mile-high statue of Michael Poole. Poole, born on Earth in the fourth millennium, was one of mankind's most influential heroes. He was not a warrior, not an emperor. He was an engineer, a builder of wormhole transit systems. But Poole's work would ultimately lead to a vast and destructive conflict, a million-year war between humanity and the enigmatic, powerful aliens known as the Xeelee. The Xeelee won.

CONTENTS: Introduction; I Just Make Them Up, See; Someday; The Feeling of Power; Living Space; Satisfaction Guaranteed; The Last Question; Jokester; The Immortal Bard; Spell My Name With an "S"; The Ugly Little...

Rigel is a thousand lightyears farther from the Core Worlds than Earth, so they suffer the first attacks. The mood at Central is jubilant. Our greatest rival is falling—now is the time to strike while they’re weak! Legion Varus is deployed to Jungle World, a vital planet deep in Rigellian territory. Our foes, fighting on two fronts, are driven back with ease. But one man questions the wisdom of this move. Should Earth expand with greed, aiding new monsters from the Galactic Rim? That lone voice of reason comes from James McGill.

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.

Hugo Award winner Harry Turtledove is the master of alternate history. In American Front he envisions World War I as it may have been if fought on American soil. The United States and Germany clash with the Confederacy, France, and Britain as the machines of modern warfare litter the landscape with carnage. Meanwhile, oppressed southern blacks head toward a fateful confrontation.

Each member of Omega Force carries his own baggage. Most of them are running from their pasts or simply trying to forget them. One member of the small mercenary crew is not who he claims to be, however. When his former life collides with his current one, the team is drawn into a conflict that could have profound consequences for the future of an entire species. Captain Jason Burke struggles to find answers as the tight cohesion of his crew seems to dissolve.

Tout frais émoulus de l'École de l'Espace, Nil, Mila, Élisabeth et bien d'autres, sont en train de rejoindre l'Esperanza 64 en orbite. Comme son nom l'indique, le vaisseau est le 64e du nom et, à l'instar de ses prédécesseurs, il va, sous deux mois, être lancé vers une étoile proche dans le cadre du programme Exodus. Manœuvré par un équipage de 4 000 hommes et femmes, il mettra des milliers d'années pour atteindre sa destination. Il emporte dans sa soute 25 000 000 de caissons, communément appelés cercueils, où sont conservés, congelés, les futurs colons de l'hypothétique exoplanète.

There is a fine line between right and wrong, good and evil. For years Jason Burke has straddled that line as best he can, always convinced that despite the violence carried out by him and his team they were firmly on the right side of that line. But as he reflects on his time with Omega Force, he begins to have his doubts. When strange happenings from the mysterious Avarian Empire cross the expanse and Jason and Omega Force are pulled into the conflict, they must pick sides between two superpowers

The colony on Haven-7 has gone rogue. The colonists have split into two factions: the Techborn and the Dusters. The Techborn have always ruled the planet. They control the remnants of the crashed starship that brought humanity to this new world. The Dusters… they eat Techborn dust. Now, the Techborn strength is waning. Their weapons are getting old, and radiation leaks from the aging reactors have created mutations. Some of these, like their brutish troops known as Tuskers, have proven useful—but others are abominations.

An artificial object made of compressed stardust is barreling toward Earth. Is it an invasion ship? A doomsday weapon? Perhaps it’s the final response of Squanto, the Warlord of Rigel who James McGill has repeatedly humiliated. Or could it be from the Mogwa, sent to avenge McGill’s assassination of Earth’s Imperial Governor? No one knows the truth of its origins, but the object is huge and unstoppable. Whoever hurled this rock at us isn’t answering our calls. Every weapon bounces off, and the people of Earth begin to go mad as they realize their destruction is only hours away.

Trapped on an alternate Earth, the combined crews of a crashed Russian spaceship, a British expeditionary force and a group of strays from the future must work together to survive, escape and discover what led them to this point. All are from parallel universes where small changes in history led to different realities, and the tensions between the groups are rising.

On the edge of a far frontier rests a place of gentle manners and common civility - Last Chance. Threats of war change all of that. A hero is needed. A savior. Meet Aaron Turner, the small unassuming man who runs the Last Chance General Store. He may not be all that they hoped for.

The Federation's military command is desperate, and with their fleet still in tatters, they make a last-ditch effort to free the planet: They pull Captain Jackson Wolfe out of retirement and put him in command of a ship they hope can get past the defending armada and provide support to the beleaguered Marines and civilians fighting on the surface of the contested world. There is no reasoning with this enemy. If the Terran Federation wants their planet back, they will have to pay the price.

They hunt us. They bomb our worlds for target practice. A star cluster in the constellation of Orion rotates once every 1,000 years. Those who rule there have an ancient tradition: When each cycle ends, they train their fleets by spilling the blood of lesser beings. The enemy fleets are coming again. In response, the Rebel Worlds gather their starships to face the terrifying threat, and this time humanity is asked to stand with them. The last time they considered Earth, Vikings in longboats were raiding English coastlines. Today, we're less primitive. Today, we're a target.

The Dusahn Empire has been contained for the moment. But there is much work to be done in order to keep them from reasserting their dominance over the Pentaurus sector. As much as Captain Scott wants to see the Empire destroyed, he may have no choice but to find a way to coexist with them.