Space Science Fiction

It has been over a year since the UnArcana Worlds of the Protectorate of the Mage-King of Mars seceded, shattering the unity of the human race. The new Republic of Faith and Reason has raised new banners in defiance of the power of the Protectorate's Mage aristocracy. Now, Hand Damien Montgomery commands a relief mission to a Republic world ravaged by famine. His humanitarian mission collides with a newborn military beginning to flex its muscles - and a newborn nation prepared to accept no violations of its sovereignty, regardless of their needs.

On a distant mining colony, Samantha Weaver is in line for a promotion, and is working hard to have hope for the future. She came to this desolate place to give her sickly brother Aiden a better life, but is it really better? Sometimes she wonders how best to help him, and if they made the right decision. Their mundane existence is blown apart from the moment the monstrous creatures breach the mines. The colony descends into chaos. All the workers are trapped, abandoned by the very administrators who once drove them to exhaustion.

The fight has been a long one and a hard one, with many unseen events along the way. The end, however, is here. The last battle of the war. The most important battle of the war. Soon they will leave for Cor Imperii, the capital of the empire. Soon, they will launch a head-on attack against Speaker Phillip T Neill of the Democratic People's Republic of Solaria. Soon, Chase will do what he swore to do: Kill Neill, personally, tear down the DPRS, abolish the Secret Police, the Loyalty Officers, and re-establish the Empire of Solaria. There's just one last battle to fight to win the war.

For years, the ancient alien AI known as Skippy (the Magnificent, don’t forget that part) has been able to do one impossible thing after another. What is his secret? It’s simple: 100 percent Grade-A extreme awesomeness. And also because he had never been faced with an opponent of equal power. Until now. This time, he might need a little help from a band of filthy monkeys.

People at Polar Prep are not what they seem, and the only one looking out for Casey is herself. To survive Renata's torments and keep her fragile existence from tumbling down around her ears, Casey has to be braver than she's ever been. Or risk losing herself altogether.

En l'an 2130... un "objet" pénètre dans le système solaire et aussitôt les ordinateurs répondent : un cylindre, longueur: 30 km, vitesse: 100 000 km/h... Il sera baptisé Rama. Le vaisseau spatial Endeavour part à sa rencontre, réussit à se poser dessus et pour le commandant Norton et ses hommes l'accès de Rama se révèle étonnamment facile. Un étonnement qui se change en stupeur, en effroi, quand ils pénètrent dans ses flancs : il y a là quatre mille km' à explorer, un monde de structures, d'escaliers vertigineux, de routes. Un monde de silence et de non-vie...

After 25 years serving as the human Monitor of the Interstellar Ark, Hermes, Orion is scheduled to be placed back into hibernation with the other crewmembers. Knowing he'll die there and be replaced before the ship's voyage is over, he decides that he won’t — can’t — accept that fate. Whatever it takes, Orion will escape Hermes and see what's beyond, even if it means defying the regulations of his only friend — the ship-wide artificial intelligence known as Dan.

The Bobiverse is a different place in the aftermath of the Starfleet War, and the days of the Bobs gathering in one big happy moot are far behind. There’s anti-Bob sentiment on multiple planets, the Skippies playing with an AI time bomb, and multiple Bobs just wanting to get away from it all. But it all pales compared to what Icarus and Daedalus discover on their 26,000-year journey to the center of the galaxy.

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.

The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Neil Clarke has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year's writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome "sensawunda" that the genre has to offer.

It's all come down to this. A war for control of all civilization, pitting organic life against an ancient evil that knows no fear, no kindness, and no limits. Calamity is loose, and it's been busy learning—from its time with Netty to running wild among the stars, the ultimate evil seeks nothing less than complete dominion over all space and time. And for Calamity, life is in the way.

Can they trust each other enough to survive the dangers that confront them? Magnus and Kaitlyn try to begin their life together but there are dangerous forces that must be reckoned with. A time-journeying vessel that they can't seem to control. And a long history that stands between them. Magnus has found love and a home in 2017 - but what happens to Kaitlyn if she travels to 1702?

The sand-blasted world of Arrakis has become green, watered, and fertile. Old Paul Atreides, who led the desert Fremen to political and religious domination of the galaxy, is gone. But for the children of Dune, the very blossoming of their land contains the seeds of its own destruction. The altered climate is destroying the giant sandworms, and this in turn is disastrous for the planet's economy.

Aucun être humain n’étant jamais sorti du système solaire, la "conquête spatiale" est restée une hyperbole. Mais la découverte d’une vie extraterrestre, même embryonnaire, continue de faire rêver. C’est ainsi qu’au crépuscule de l’humanité sur Terre, des vaisseaux sont envoyés vers Ganymède et Europe, deux lunes de Jupiter dotées d’un océan interne où l’on espère trouver de la vie.

Samantha was badass even before she learned magic. Fending for herself in the cauldron of a planet torn apart by an alien invasion taught Samantha how to kill. Ruthlessly efficient, her abilities have caught the attention of the Shadow Corps. A group comprised of deadly warriors who focus on galactic safety, using any means necessary. Her first mission puts her team up against a space dragon, death reapers, and the ultimate sorcerer. Samantha had better learn to master her alien magic, or be forced to watch her world, and many others, burn.

The ancient origins of humanity on Earth are dark, devastating, and destined to return. Earth is going to lose, and lose badly, when our time is up, but out of the ashes of defeat, we may be able to scrounge up a future if you and the other future warlords can learn how to overcome the losses and turn them to our advantage. And the one advantage we have is the repository of ancient knowledge left behind when our former masters abandoned Earth during a civil war. They assume everyone died, but a few human slaves remained, and now we live only because of that mistake.

The Merry Band of Pirates stopped the enemy from stealing a Sentinel, and destroyed its Elder starship, so why weren’t the Pirates planning a victory party? The enemy was not what they thought it was. It was much, much worse.

The Aftermath of a stunning victory—especially an unexpected, complete, and final victory—should be high-fives all around, listening to politicians give boring congratulatory speeches, and a well-deserved rest for the Merry Band of Pirates. Yes, the galaxy is still a freakin' mess, but that is nothing new, and for a change, that can be someone else's problem. Until, you know, something really bad happens, and only the Pirates can deal with the problem... Or not.

The return of humanity's oldest enemy... An alien prophecy that predicts our species' downfall... And a captain who's the only thing standing in the way of his starship getting mothballed. Wait, what? Imagine Captain Keyes’ surprise when the fate of the galaxy turns out to depend on him, his decrepit ship, and his oddball crew.

Taking a job from Jabba the Hut is always risky business, but this run might prove to be even more risky than usual. When Han and Chewie make a crash landing enroute with the Falcon’s hold filled with stolen Imperial tech, they are reminded again that things rarely go smoothly on a smuggler’s run.