Science Fiction Exploration

In a surprise attack that killed many of her dearest subjects, Hail Bristol, empress of Indrana, has been captured by the Shen - the most ruthless and fearsome aliens humanity has ever encountered. As she plots her escape, the centuries-long war between her captors and the Farians, their mortal enemies and Indrana's oldest allies, finally comes to a head.

When Lee Anderson and her parents discovered a new world teeming with life, it was the dream of every explorer: they were rich beyond their imaginations. But tragedy struck when a herd of creatures overran their camp and killed her parents. The only other adult in her life had been their partner Gordon, who adopted her as parent. Which didn't turn out to be easy, because he wasn't human. He was a large intelligent alien, and to Lee, he was Uncle Gordon, but neither his race - the Derf - nor humans were gracious about accepting their family relationship.

The conclave continually pressures the Imperium Empire by ousting peacekeepers and Radag mercenaries from imperial territories. This interdicts resources bound for Krackus worlds from the suborned races and exacerbates Imperium distribution protocols. On Jegstrat, a populous Krackus world, declining grain shipments lead to favoring distribution to large companies. Saboteurs plan to slow production at Imperial Grains, the largest processing plant. The goal is to rebalance grain distribution, but the attack goes terribly awry, causing death and great damage.

Admiral Jack Romanoff and his people have begun the liberation of Vesuvius from the xenophobic Novarites, but even something that straightforward is difficult. The enemy outnumbers them, and removing the threat won’t be easy. Worse, they are killing humans in job lots, so time is of the essence.

Commander Joe Pikeman is on a mission he didn’t ask for…and wasn’t ordered on. Then again, he isn’t in the mood to sit back while Fairfax takes over the galaxy, either. Fairfax’s power stretches across the stars, and he’s calling in all his favors. From sparking a bot rebellion to engineering godlike monsters to crush his enemies, he seems determined to ruin Joe’s day. But he made one mistake: he screwed with Joe’s family. And as messed up as they are, that simply isn’t something Joe can allow.

It is 2076: Lancer, Earth’s first starship, is on a mission to find interstellar civilizations. Although astronaut Nigel Walmsley’s experiences with alien encounters make him the expert, no one believes Nigel’s theory that machines are the dominant intelligent beings left in the galaxy and that their purpose is to annihilate all organic life. Then the explorers discover once-living planets where only machines remain – and ruined worlds where fugitive survivors must evade omnipresent and lethally advanced A.I. warships.

The First Men in the Moon, published in 1901, is the gripping tale of man's first journey to the moon, undertaken by one Mr. Bedford, a bankrupt businessman; and the eccentric scientist Mr. Cavor. Here they discover a sophisticated civilization, dominated by an insectlike race they call the Selenites. It is exciting, funny, profound and tragic by turns: a beautifully written scientific romance, in fact. It is read by Greg Wagland.

When deep-space travel altered the genes of the first interstellar colonists, Earth abandoned them. But some of the colonies survived, and a new civilization of mental and physical “Variants” has been established, centered around clusters of space stations known as the outworlds. Now the unthinkable has happened: a suicide assault has destroyed the life support system of a major waystation. All that is known about the young men responsible is that in their last living moments they were receiving messages from an uninhabited sector of space and were playing a virtual reality game.

What waits at the galaxy’s core? Joe has begun to realize the full extent of his powers as a Shiva Knight. But the foe he faces is ancient and cunning. It’s a race to the center of the galaxy between Joe and the ruthless bot-man, Fairfax. The enemy’s armies are legion. But for Joe, it’s not about survival anymore. It’s about saving everything he holds dear. Even if it means paying with his life.

Captain Hammond Roystan is a simple cargo runner who has stumbled across the find of a lifetime: the Hassim, a disabled exploration ship - and its valuable record of unexplored worlds. His junior engineer, Josune Arriola, said her last assignment was in the uncharted rim. A renowned body-modification artist, Nika Rik Terri has run afoul of clients who will not take no for an answer, and she is dragging along a rookie modder. Together this mismatched crew will end up on one ship, hurtling through the lawless reaches of deep space with Roystan at the helm.

Only one world in the cluster remains in enemy hands. Admiral Jack Romanoff and his crew have one remaining nut to crack before they can turn their attention to the people that overthrew the Confederation. The Vesuvius system has become a fortress, so it won’t be an easy fight, but it is one they cannot lose and survive. When force alone won’t do the trick, add guile.

Andal ist gefallen, verschlungen vom Never und aus dem beobachtbaren Universum gerissen. Gavin und seine Crew aus republikanischen Rebellen sind dem mysteriösen Tarnschiff entkommen und auf einer fremden Welt gestrandet, während Janus Darishma versucht herauszufinden, was am Rande des Sternenreichs geschehen ist und was Flottenadmiral Marquandt damit zu tun hat. Bei seinen Ermittlungen stößt er auf seine eigene Vergangenheit, die er um jeden Preis hinter sich lassen wollte.

Temperance Reed, banished from the wealthy and dangerous Fifteen Families, just wants to keep her crew together after their feckless captain ran off with the intern. But she’s drowning in debt and revolutionary new engine technology is about to make her beloved ship obsolete. Enter Arcadio Escajeda. Second child of the terrifying Escajeda Family, he’s the thorn in Temper’s side as they’re sent off on a scouting mission on the backwater desert planet of Herschel 2. They throw sparks every time they meet but Temper’s suspicions of his ulterior motives only serve to fuel the flames between them.

Bob and friends come back to Earth for a little well-deserved R and R. Take a few nice walks in the woods, play a little paintball. Too bad it can’t be that easy. Too many people want Commonwealth tech, for them to ever have any peace.

A well-deserved vacation turns disastrous when Marius arrives in a strange white room. As reality sinks in, there's a culprit he never expects: aliens. Highly advanced aliens rip him from Earth to level up in the Semo Universe. A place where wormhole portals, spaceships, energy beamers, and enhancement attributes are common. Loaded with debt, a small shuttle, and a sultry AI, he braves the vast universe one mission at a time.

Hackett, in his trusty ship the Perseus, is not just a space traveller—beginning his travels with an expedition to Neptune and back—but, thanks to the time-dilation effect, a time traveller as well. His new mission will take him to Andromeda, to get a close-up look at the constellation which will eventually crash into the Milky Way, and give humanity a heads-up about the challenges which are coming. A mission which will take him five million years to complete. Not only is Hackett exploring unknown space, but he will return to a vastly different time.

When Hail confronts the Farian gods, the last thing she expected was to discover that they were part of a race of aliens who'd attacked the galaxy long before humanity's ancestors had crawled out of the sludge of Earth's oceans. The discovery carries with it dire news: the Hiervet, who'd once subjugated the mighty Svatir, are coming - a consequence of Hail's decision not to kill the Farian gods. Now the fate of the galaxy is on the line, and Hail will have to make one final gamble to leverage chaos into peace.

A deeply corrupt and embedded ruling class, disenfranchised settlers, and embittered indentured workers–slaves in all but name—have poisoned the planet. They've unleashed the fires of class war and threatening to turn the beautiful planet into hell in the wake of Earthfall. Sinister forces are stirring the pot. Roland—once Crown Prince of Earth, now a Marine Auxiliary—was charged with building an army to stabilise New Doncaster, but it was too late. The rebels struck and the planet fell into civil war.

When the Mercenary Guild tried to bend the galaxy's deadliest assassins to their will, the Depik shocked the galaxy by choosing mass suicide to enslavement. Only those Depik not present on their home planet of Khatash survived to retreat to the shadows, to plan, to form alliances, to rebuild and look forward to the day when they could retake their home from the Veetanho invaders and exact revenge.

As the title indicates, here are three science fiction stories by Frank Herbert: "Missing Link", originally published in "Astounding Science Fiction", 1959; "Operation Haystack", also published in "Astounding Science Fiction" 1959; and "Old Rambling House", published in "Galaxy Science Fiction" 1958.