Space Military 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.

Rade Galaal and his team of special operators are deployed to a colony under attack by a strange new alien race. Their mission: find the extraterrestrial base and destroy it. The operation should be easy, given that his men pilot Brigand mechs: massive, 25-foot-tall war machines armed to the teeth with electrolasers, rockets, incendiary throwers, and more. But it's not easy. Rade and his team soon find themselves in over their heads. Surrounded by an entire world of enraged aliens, they must rely on their wits, their training, and their mechs to survive.

Tanis is looking forward to a long journey in stasis before arriving at the newly terraformed world of New Eden. New Life. New Start. Getting a berth on the Intrepid is her ticket out of the Sol System. But nothing proves easy for Major Tanis Richards. Nothing is at it seems. What should be a simple trip is fraught with danger and filled with adventure. An array of forces seek to stop the Intrepid - no matter the cost, or lives lost. From competing corporations, to stellar eco-terrorists, no one wants the Intrepid to arrive at New Eden.

The pulsar...an ancient weapon of unimaginable power, one that threatens the Confederation with total destruction. The Union is preparing for the final invasion, one that cannot fail with the great artifact at the head of their fleet. The clock is ticking quickly toward midnight. There is a chance to avoid annihilation, a small one. The Confederation has its own ancient device recovered from the Badlands, a stealth generator. It is not as powerful as the pulsar, but it just may be enough.

The warrior culture of the Alliance has fragmented, and comrade fights comrade, brother kills brother. The Red Alliance forces, backed by the Union and its propaganda machine, have the advantage in numbers and position, and they are pushing forward, driving relentlessly toward the final attack. The Gray Alliance forces are weaker, trapped in the great Sentinel-2 fortress where they've established their headquarters. Their enemies have the larger fleets and armies, and control of the homeworld...but the Grays have Tyler Barron and Dauntless.

An old leader born anew. A legendary ship at his disposal. A desperate crisis born of chaos. Needed allies out of unforeseen events. Nathan Scott has finally returned to lead the new Karuzari in a rebellion against the Dusahn Empire. But first, he will need to secure a ship to accommodate those who have already joined their cause. The question is: How much of him is now Nathan, and how much is still Connor?

When Roland and his lance rescue an Ibarra crew from a Kesaht attack, those saved become a pawn in a conspiracy that could turn the galaxy against all of humanity. Earth’s senior leaders must sacrifice the captured crew to preserve the peace, or risk war with the Ibarra Nation. But Stacey Ibarra and her lieutenants have plans of their own. Roland, torn between his duty as a Templar and his loyalty to his home world, is thrust into the struggle between the Ibarras and Earth. He must choose between the factions, and there will be no turning back.

Some people struggle to get to college. Tanner Malone had to fight through an interstellar war. Far from home, under a cloud of scandal and propaganda, hunted by assassins and haunted by trauma, Tanner is finally enrolled in a top university. He didn’t plan for an archaeological expedition on the far side of human space. He didn’t want more corporate mercenaries or space pirates in his life, either. Yet ancient alien secrets don’t come without cost. If his classmates want to survive the summer, their infamous intern is the only chance they’ve got.

The Dread Empire of the Shaa is no more, following the death of the last oppressor. But freedom remains elusive for the myriad sentient races enslaved for 10 centuries, as an even greater terror arises. The Naxids - a powerful insectoid species themselves subjugated until the recent Shaa demise - plan to fill the vacuum with their own bloody domination and have already won a shattering victory with superior force and unimaginable cruelty. But two heroes survived the carnage at Magaria: Lord Gareth Martinez and the fiery, mysterious gun pilot Lady Caroline Sula.

Tanner Malone never aspired to heroism. For him, the Navy and the Debtor’s War were all about survival. Lately, his life has turned to better days with college, friends, and a growing relationship. He’s not interested when a Union Fleet admiral brings him a mysterious alien threat, but he can’t turn away Alicia Wong.

The longer Everett Cole was on the planet Astrild, the more he understood the nature and mission of the Federation of Planets agency he had signed up with. Unfortunately, at the same time, understanding seemed to be associated with more people trying to shoot him. The new knowledge included that Astrild was more than the innocuous, developing colony planet it should be. Outside forces were using the planet and its unique ecosystem for purposes that must be stamped out.

Colonel Alois Hammer: to the galaxy, a legendary commander of mercenaries. To his troops, a leader who can be trusted to always back them to the hilt - and meet a payroll. When the situation on a planet has gone beyond desperate, it's time to call for Hammer's Slammers.

Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr had been the very model of a Confederation Marine. No one who'd ever served with her could imagine any circumstance that would see her walking away from the Corps. But that was before Torin learned the truth about the war the Confederation was fighting...before she'd been declared dead and had spent time in a prison that shouldn't exist...before she'd learned about the "plastic" beings who were really behind the war between the Confederation and the Others. That was when Torin left the military for good.

Aran awakens in chains with no memory. He’s conscripted into the Confederate Marines as a Tech Mage, given a spellrifle then hurled into the war with the draconic Krox and their Void Wyrm masters. Desperate to escape, Aran struggles to master his abilities while surviving the Krox onslaught. Fighting alongside him are a Major who will do anything to win, a Captain who will stop at nothing to see him dead, and a woman whose past is as blank as his own.

Working on opposite sides of the galaxy - one in deep space, the other undercover on an occupied planet - and haunted by personal ghosts, Captain Gareth Martinez and Lieutenant Lady Caroline Sula fight to save the Empire from the vicious alien Naxid. In a desperate, audacious bid to stop the Naxid fleet, Martinez makes a move that could win the war…and lose his career. Meanwhile, Sula’s guerilla tactics may not be enough to stop the Naxid - until she tries one deadly final gambit.

The Royal Navy never expected to fight a full-scale interstellar war. Everyone knew the Great Powers would never risk everything on armed conflict when there was plenty of room for everyone in outer space. But when a hostile alien force stumbles across humanity's handful of colony worlds, the Great Powers must set aside their differences and fight to preserve humanity from utter destruction.

The first major alien offensive against Earth has been blunted, winning humanity time to deploy new weapons and prepare new tactics as Earth's space navies prepare to take the offensive. But the enigmatic aliens have plans of their own - a full-scale attack on Earth that will either win the war in a single stroke or lose it. The stakes have never been so high. The fate of humanity itself is in the balance.

Fresh off their first major victory against the Nyctus, the Orbital Navy is moving forward in confusion. Starcasters, led by Thorn Stellers, are not trusted - magic has not replaced the power of steel and naval might, and humanity is at a crossroads. As Thorn and Kira define their roles in the new navy, magic refuses to stay still. When Thorn discovers he has untapped power, Mol Wyant helps him use it. The results will change every rule, along with the known galaxy, for Thorn Stellers isn’t just a magician of unknown power. He’s a weapon of undiscovered fury.

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.

Cole’s Saga is a stand-alone spin-off series, based on my American Apocalypse series. Cole’s Saga continues the story about Cole Biggs, and how he and his friends survive the apocalypse. North Korea, China, and Iran conspired against the world and used EMP bombs to destroy our grid. This new series starts in the Kentucky / Tennessee part of the US. The grid is down, and people panic as planes fall from the sky and cars stall. The US Government collapses and rogue government groups rise to power. Jack Harp is Cole’s best friend’s father.