Science Fiction Alternate Universe

Phoenix was becoming a pressure cooker nearing bursting open, as the sequestered group of savant scientists and soldiers in the glass-domed pods in Antarctica were buzzing with sexual tension. Brad McCormick figured since the limbic system associated with sexual desire is linked to libido and the part of the brain responsible for higher-level functions, like planning and thinking, he had a problem he couldn’t solve without his leadership team. To put it more explicitly, the men were extremely sexually eager.

In Kingsley Amis’s virtuoso foray into virtual history, it is 1976, but the modern world is a medieval relic, frozen in intellectual and spiritual time ever since Martin Luther was promoted to pope back in the sixteenth century. Stephen the Third, the king of England, has just died, and Mass (Mozart’s second requiem) is about to be sung to lay him to rest. In the choir is our hero, Hubert Anvil, an extremely ordinary ten-year-old boy with a faultless voice.

Billy Boustany had the adventure of a lifetime. Now, all he wants to do is to go back to the amazing universe he discovered. But the power brokers over there warned him to stay away and keep his mouth shut. At the same time, Diyami Red Hawk, an idealistic young man from that universe, has connected with Billy’s daughter and is on a mission to build a modern Native American city in our world. But he’s getting nowhere—until he finds support in unexpected places.

London 1888. His Majesty's airships troll the sky powered by antigrav liftwood as a cabal of Iron Lords tightens its hold on a Britain choked by the fumes of industry. Mars has been colonized, and clockwork assassins stalk the European corridors of power. And somewhere far to the east, the Old Man of the Mountains plots the end of the world with his Forever Engine. Enter Jack Fargo. Scholar. Former special forces operator in Afghanistan. A man from our own near future thrust back in time - or to wherever it is that this Brave Victorian World actually exists.

As a new president takes the White House, Just Cause returns to New York City for the first time in eight years, under the command of its newest leader: Mustang Sally. But not everyone is excited about the expansion of Just Cause. Senator Christine Goodwin, slighted by the team's leadership years before, has made it her mission to put all para-humans on a very short leash while, at the same time, creating her own super-powered militia.

Why wasn't Porsche Gain, Punk Cats bass player, charged in her almost unbelievable felony background? How did Blunderbusted, nautical rock band, raise the money to go from zero to hero without heading to prison? Why do Doctor Faraday, Oscar Shinsplint, and The Subhuman (the Electronica Triumvirate) claim that they don't have souls? Get the answers to these and many other questions in this rock and roll exposé.

In exchange for the comfort of now, people gave up tomorrow. The builders of Tuners HQ aren’t what anybody expected. The conflict today was forged in the fires of yesterday. The Tuners have lost too much to the cult and are forced into a choice that divides the team. With the technology of Universe One on their side, they may find a way to end the reign of religious terror forever, but the cost is high.

Charles Stross builds a new series with Empire Games. Expanding on the world he created in the Family Trade series, a new generation of paratime travellers walk between parallel universes. The year is 2020. It's seventeen years since the Revolution overthrew the last king of the New British...

Fans of Godzilla, Pacific Rim, and classic giant monster movies will enjoy this short story set in my story world Daikaiju Universe, where, on a planet Earth much like our own, horrific, ridiculously large, ambulatory forces of nature have been a periodic fact of life since the 19th century!

In a world where scientists have become the new superstars, Rick Hamilton, once a celebrated rock icon, has lost his passion for music amid the clamor of shallow fame. One night, in a haze of disillusionment, a portal from a parallel universe brings back his long-lost college roommate, Andy. The visitation offers Rick a chance to explore a reality where his life took a different turn.