Space Opera Science Fiction

Rix Banner thought his fighting days ended with World War II. Back home in Cranberry Cove, he just wants to fix cars, drink coffee, and put the past behind him. But when a broken-down starship crash-lands in a Wisconsin cornfield, Rix discovers the universe isn’t done with him yet. The Galactic Empire doesn’t care about Earth’s isolation. They want their ship back—and the fugitive who stole it. Rix isn’t a soldier anymore, but he’s the only one standing between his town and an alien war.

On the 13th day of Secundus, the bombardment of Terra began. With the solar defences overcome through the devastating strength of the Traitor armada and the power of the warp, Horus launches his assault on the Throneworld in earnest. After withstanding a ferocious barrage of ordnance, an immense ground war commences outside the Palace, with every inch gained paid for in the lives of billions.

In Chris Wraight’s Homebound, Ilya Ravallion must choose between the decimated White Scars and living out what remains of her life in peace. An embattled Ahzek Ahriman must race against time to learn what he can of the warp before its gates close to him forever in Ex Libris by John French. Featuring tales from Dan Abnett, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Guy Haley and many more, this anthology follows mighty Custodians, scheming sorcerers, and the lowly footsoldiers of the Imperial Army as all negotiate the devastating aftermath of Humanity's greatest reckoning.

The starship crew was stuck on a planet where the well-meaning schemes of ivory-tower social engineers had created a nightmare of battling gangs. So they pretended to be the "Royal Legions" from a distant star kingdom in hot pursuit of an unspeakably evil and nearly all-powerful villain who was hiding somewhere on the planet. Things went even better than they had hoped, and the planet was rapidly becoming civilized...and then the real Royal Flagship showed up.

The AI known as Reynolds is traversing the universe in search of the elusive Kurtherians, but when he realizes he needs a crew, he finds himself out of his element.

Earth has long ago expanded into space, found, fought, and befriended aliens, and expanded across the galaxy to dominate most of it, but one of the semi-immortal warlords who founded it is about to have a revelation as the "Endgame" that has been whispered between various advanced civilizations lands squarely on his shoulders. The Empire knew this was coming, but they had no idea the scope of it. Lightside civilizations are always hounded and attacked by those who revel in evil, but when the Endgame starts, it's a beatdown like no other coming from outside the galaxy.

Matt Dodson reports to the Colorado base of the Interplanetary Patrol, a new cadet with a fierce desire to become a member of the Patrol, which for over a century has kept the peace throughout the Solar System. Matt and fellow cadets soon leave the Earth base for training on Terra Station, where they learn, among other things, astrogation, survival skills, alien languages and how to maneuver in outer space. Matt loves the Patrol and finds, upon returning for a visit to his family in Iowa, that his real “home” is no longer on Earth.

Lieutenant Xedro Farren is a Primaris Marine, stronger and more adept than even the Space Marines his brotherhood is sent to fight alongside. As the Dark Angels and the Primaris Marines fight a trauma-scarred force of T’au hellbent on destroying their former allies, the true quarry becomes clear - the shadowy instigator of a psychic curse that could plunge a string of Imperial planets into madness. As worlds burn in the fires of battle, an unthinkable pact is struck, with the Primaris Marines peeling back layer after layer of deceit to find the appalling truth.

The war for the fate of mankind blazes on. Though the outer defences have fallen, the walls of the Palace itself remain inviolate as Rogal Dorn, the Praetorian of Terra himself, uses every known stratagem and ploy to keep Horus' vast armies at bay. In Perturabo, the Traitor siegebreaker, Dorn faces an adversary worthy of his skill. A terrible, grinding attrition ensues. The crucial battle for the Lion's Gate spaceport is at the heart of this conflict. With it in their possession, the Traitors can land their most devastating weapons on Terran soil. Dorn knows it must not fall.

It has been nearly two hundred years since Hadrian Marlowe assaulted the person of the Emperor and walked away from war. From his Empire. From the will and service of the eldritch being known only as the Quiet. The galaxy lies in the grip of a plague, and worse, the Cielcin have overrun the realms of men. A messenger has come to Jadd, bearing a summons from the Sollan Emperor for the one-time hero. A summons, a pardon, and a plea. HAPSIS, the Emperor’s secret intelligence organization, has located one of the dreadful Watchers, the immense, powerful beings worshipped by the Pale Cielcin.

Out of the blue, a young Space Fleet officer's dream becomes reality: He's made captain of a starship. Just in time for the return of humanity's most terrible enemy, after 50 years of peace. To survive against this enemy, Captain Tad Thatcher will have to do more than learn how to become an effective commander, or how to wrangle his wayward crew. He will need to reinvent space combat. From scratch.

The 200 years' (and counting) peace was a time of tranquility that hasn't been seen since...well, ever. Mankind in the Galactic Age had finally conquered war, so what was left for the military to do but drink and barbecue? That's the kind of military that Sergeant R. Wilson Rogers lived in before he left the fleet to become a smuggler. But it turns out that smuggling is hard. Like getting-arrested-for-dealing-with-pirates-and-forced-back-into-service kind of hard.

We hide in shadows. Our planet is lost. We are the last humans, and we must go home. Two thousand years ago, aliens destroyed Earth. Our fleets shattered. Billions died. The last humans fled a burning planet, heading to the stars. Today we are still refugees. Hungry. Afraid. Our enemies hunt us everywhere. So we hide. On distant asteroids. In rundown space stations. In deep caves on frozen worlds. And we dream. Of green hills. Blue skies. Golden fields. We dream of Earth. And for the first time, we have hope.

When the Earth Republic is savagely attacked, they recruit the universe’s most dangerous minds to retrieve their stolen warships. But as this ragtag group of criminals embarks on a suicide mission to fight for their lives and freedom, an even bigger threat emerges….

The galaxy was once terrorized by the Sturm, a group of “species purists” intent on destroying any human with genetic or cybernetic enhancements. Fashioning themselves as the one true “Human Republic,” the Sturm cut a bloody swath across the stars, killing billions before finally being defeated and driven into the far reaches of Dark Space. Centuries of peace bred complacency. Everyone believed the Sturm had died out in the Dark. They were wrong.

A companion to Ursula K. Le Guin's award-winning Hainish novels—including The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed—Five Ways to Forgiveness tells the story of the planet Werel and its colony planet Yeowe, and how their societies are shaped by the legacies of slavery and revolution.

If it is possible to conquer space, then perhaps it is also possible to conquer time. At least that was the theory American scientists were exploring in an effort to explain the new sources of knowledge the Russians possessed. Perhaps Russian scientists had discovered how to transport themselves back in time in order to learn long-forgotten secrets of the past.

The Yamnaya betrayal decimated Terra Nova. Her defenders reeling, fleets damaged. With the Inheritors' next devastating attack coming to end the colony, a single chance remains. The forces of the Ibarra Nation, Terran Expeditionary Force, and Terra Nova hatch a desperate plan to save themselves… and all of humanity. Ely Hale and Eneko Ibarra carry the light of hope with them into the Inheritor's evil heart. Will their bond be enough for victory, or will darkness finally prevail across Tera Nova?

Three hundred years ago, a liaison-robot-turned-warrior sided with humans in the Great A.I. War. He's one of few hi-level sentients allowed to live. But all this doesn't matter now because he's on the run. Armed with emotion-chip-fueled determination and his beloved weapons, the general flees to a nearby planet where he must unravel a tangled conspiracy to prove his innocence. But that's easier said than done.

Ruthless bankers are breathing down their necks, vengeful warlords are promising to pursue them across the galaxy, and now a mysterious new client wants Rade and his Argonauts to escort her to a frontier planet. Problem is, the new client won't reveal her cargo. It's probably something illegal. Well, Rade needs the money, so a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. They arrive to find the frontier colony strangely deserted. When the shit hits the fan and the Argonauts face a possible alien infestation, it's time to pull out the big guns.