Space Exploration Fiction

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.

Under the leadership of James “Bulldog” King, the Freedom won battle after battle. Yet now Freedom faces her most terrifying foe. Not an alien fleet. Not a charging armada. But one ship. Nobody knows where the Tyranny came from. Nobody knows who pilots this mechanical terror. She emerged from the darkness like a demon from hell. And she craves the blood of men. She is larger than the Freedom. Faster. Deadlier. Marooned in deep space, the Freedom must face her alone. A great duel begins. Two starships. Two captains. Two iron wills.

When the alien ship holding me malfunctions, I'm thrown into a shuttle and expelled from the ship. I awaken to find myself on what looks like a toxic waste dump - miles of inhospitable, eerie land where the ground smokes, the hills are black and barren, and it's unpleasantly cold. Soon I discover I'm not alone. There's an alien on the awful island. A familiar alien. He's the one who bought me from my captors. He's the one who paid extra because I'm a virgin. And he's the one who put me aboard the shuttle and saved my life when the ship went down.

If life were fair, ace pilot Jose Carriles should have ended up a desk jockey like his former friend Corin Timony, back on the lunar colony of New Destiny. Instead, he’s the pilot of the Mosaic—a massive ship taking the Interstellar Union’s first-ever mission to outside our solar system. Timony should have been the best spy at the Bazaar, the lunar colony’s international intelligence arm. Instead, she’s been demoted to admin duties like monitoring long-range communications. She has no one to blame but herself—and maybe Carriles.

How can a colony on Mars survive when the greatest danger on the planet is humanity itself. All contact is lost with the first human colony on Mars during a long, intense sandstorm. Satellite imagery of the aftermath shows extensive damage to the facility, and the fifty-four colonists who called it home are presumed dead. Three years later, a new mission sets down on the planet surface to investigate what remains of the derelict site.

Calista is happy with her life of scientific research. She doesn't need love, she has her books, her friends, and her work. Things are fine until her ship is attacked by space pirates and crash lands on a desert planet with heat so intense she and her friends can't survive without help. Ladon is a Zmaj warrior resigned to a life alone, who only desires to protect his treasures. His hopes for a mate faded long ago, yet when he meets Calista something stirs. It takes only one look to know that she belongs to him.

Half-Navajo geologist Jamie Waterman has been selected for the ground team of the first manned expedition to our mysterious neighbor planet. Joining an international team of astronauts and scientists, he endures the rigors of training, the dangers of traveling an incredible distance in space, the challenges of an alien landscape, and the personal and political conflicts that arise when the team must face the most shocking discovery of all.

The war will come - it is inevitable. After centuries of struggle, the ISF Intrepid has finally brought its colonists to New Canaan, a star system better than any they imagined. They made landfall and began to build their new home, far from the troubles of Sol and the Inner Stars. Yet no one in the Orion Arm has forgotten that the colonists possess the most valuable technology known to humankind, least of all Tanis Richards - as she secretly prepares to defend New Canaan against any and all aggressors.

The colonies of the Faustian Chain have gone dark. No star freighters have come from the star cluster for many years. Captain Bill Gorman, a smuggler on the Fringe, is one of the few who know the truth. He’s personally battled the alien invaders who’ve overrun the human colonies of the Chain. He and his crew are faced with a choice: Will they fight the invaders, or will they run?

Captain Cirilo Webster is a loyal officer of the Santiago Corporation, the multistellar megacorporation that controlls all travel between the Seventy-Seven human colonies. Finally given command of his first interstellar freighter, he is determined to do well by both his crew and his employers—but nothing is ever that simple. His crew is used to Captains passing through on their way to better ships. The Company’s policies have made more enemies than he can count. Their mission is unusual and the client might be lying to him. And if all of that wasn’t enough?

A good Gajur gave his life. Will that sacrifice help bring the galaxy back to balance? Or topple known space into a war to end all wars? Armagost wasn't the only light snuffed prematurely. The attack destroyed an irreplaceable piece of Valint's life, as well. Now, Mark must toe the delicate line between lawman and friend, partner and lover. With those in power divided, the work has only begun. The galaxy no longer needs a maker of peace, but a lobbyist and negotiator. In order to deconstruct the entombed and corrupt system, Mark and the gang must stack the deck in their favor.

Invading the planet where his child's a captive… It's a mission fraught with such grave risks that only the best Special Forces can go. After months of proving his skills, Gage has finally gained the opportunity. But little does he know what steel is forged by this solemn duty. His kid's at the center of a war between factions that could spell the end of galactic empires. Fleets are inbound. Weapons are ready. No expanse is too great a chasm for a Marine to cross for his son.

A meteor makes landfall in South Africa, carrying a strange substance that alters plants, soil—and humans. Yet something much more dangerous is on a collision course with Earth—something that will change the future forever. In a Hail Mary attempt to save the planet from certain doom, the government sends a ship and its crew directly into the path of the oncoming threat. The crew’s daring plan might be the only way to save humanity.

The interstellar bridges provide a lifeline for billions. To save humanity, the Darkspace Renegades must tear them all down. Unjustly kicked out of the Consortium Security Force, Hallam Knight has been reduced to working as a gunner, defending the precious Randenite fuel tankers from notorious extremists, the Darkspace Renegades. Then, he discovers that everything he thought he knew was a lie. Far from being the enemy, the Darkspace Renegades are humanity’s only hope.... They just don’t know it yet.

In der fernen Zukunft hat sich die Menschheit in der gesamten Galaxis ausgebreitet. Interstellare Megakonzerne haben mithilfe von seelenlosen Kampfrobotern alles unter ihre Kontrolle gebracht. Einer dieser Bots wurde nun ausgemustert und soll ein Team von Wissenschaftlern auf ihren gefährlichen Missionen beschützen. Also ein denkbar schlechter Zeitpunkt für den Bot, um ein eigenes Bewusstsein zu erlangen und über die eigene Rolle im Universum nachzudenken.

The Galactic Empire disappeared a lifetime ago. Jake Stewart doesn't care, he needs to earn a living. He fled his station in the outer Belt, enrolled in the merchant academy, and snagged a scholarship. The future looks bright. But a crooked boss, some paperwork shenanigans, and a freeloading best friend put him in a bind. When he's accused of a murder he didn't commit he goes on the run from the Planetary Militia. There's only his wits and a suspiciously helpful pretty girl between him and jail. Can he trust her to prove his innocence? Or does she have another agenda?

The Sol Federation Marine Corps vessel S&R Black was sent to recover an ancient derelict from the farthest edge of the Sol system. What they found could spell the end of humanity. Days after escaping the derelict ship Mira and Pluto’s destruction, Black Company is pulled from stasis hours at Trident Station, only to discover the solar system has gone silent. Nearly empty on both ammunition and fuel reserves, taking refuge at the silent, apparently dead station is their only choice.

For five centuries, human life has been restricted to Earth, while posthuman descendants called alloys freely explore the galaxy. But when the Earthlike planet of Meru is discovered, two unlikely companions venture forth to test the habitability of this unoccupied new world and the future of human-alloy relations. For Jayanthi, the adopted human child of alloy parents, it’s an opportunity to rectify the ancient reputation of her species as avaricious and destructive, and to give humanity a new place in the universe.

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.

This program includes original sound design. From science fiction visionary Annalee Newitz comes The Terraformers, a sweeping, uplifting, and illuminating exploration of the future. Destry's life is dedicated to terraforming Sask-E. As part of the Environmental Rescue Team, she cares for the...