Space Science Fiction

With The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 3, award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a year-in-review and 27 of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2017.

Ex-Army paratrooper Griffin “Fin” Brooks thought he left danger behind when his battlefield injuries forced him to pursue a new career in marine biology. But one fateful night off the coast of South Africa, a ship nearly crashes into him and his loyal golden retriever, Jacques. Not just any ship. A starship. Though its alien pilot is dead, the rare extraterrestrial animal inside is not. Fin learns the creature is being smuggled across the galaxy when a pair of interstellar visitors respond to the crash. But those same investigators accuse Fin and his dog of crimes he didn’t even know existed.

Less than two months into his ten years of active-duty service to the Hegemony of Velvet Stars as an adept, and Desmond McLaughlin has already gotten himself embroiled in even more trouble. He's settled in just fine aboard his ship, the Fist of Defiance, and made plenty of friends. But it wouldn't be life if there weren't a few bad apples mixed in. Having clashed several times—once in a very physical fashion—with Adept Windracer, Desmond can only hope that the overly aggressive Uth'ra will stop trying to force him into the mold that she believes a male should occupy.

In the aftermath of Moldark's death and Soldark's creation, Magnus, Awen, and the rest of the Gladio Umbra must follow the sinister warlord back through the quantum tunnel into metaspace. Questions swirl around the enemy's ultimate intentions, as do the fates of those bound to serve the malevolent leader. What awaits the gladias, however, may prove to be more than they can handle. An otherworldly amalgamation of the Paragon's goals and the Luma's powers, Soldark gathers his forces for a final showdown against those who would thwart his plans.

It's been over a year since the System came to Earth, bringing blood and monsters in equal measure. Having left Whitehorse, John and his team travel down to British Columbia, running into new dangers from aliens and humans alike. Faced with new challenges and new enemies, John and his friends seek to free human settlements from Galactic control in North America.

Removed from the concerns of the galaxy at large and regarding the Warmaster's unfolding Heresy with cold detachment, he has dedicated his hollow existence to the preservation of all the knowledge once held in the great libraries of Tizca, should mankind ever seek such enlightenment again. But his sons can see the change in their primarch - he is a broken soul whose mind and memories are slipping away into the tumult of the warp.

Left to die on a volcanic world by the Skrull, McGill and his mercenaries face waves of missile attacks with nowhere to hide. When the Skrull seal themselves inside an impenetrable energy dome, McGill knows he has to get creative. Even if that means sabotaging alien power plants, blackmailing his superior officers, and using his own troops as bait in a deadly game of cat and mouse.

L'ultime mission de Patrick « Wic » Finnegan avant son départ en retraite l'envoie dans la froideur des Hautes terres sous-glaciaires d'Ellsworth. Quand il voit ce que l'équipe a découvert, il n'en croit pas ses yeux. Il est loin d'imaginer la violence qui va en découler : un portail s'ouvre et libère un ouragan de fureur qui se déchaîne sur l'humanité. De l'Antarctique aux rues de Manhattan, Wic et son équipe vont tester leurs limites en se battant pour repousser la menace qui pèse sur la Terre.

The Amazon rainforest holds a world-changing secret—a ship lost to time from another world. College student Will Kaufman unearthed the biggest archaeological discovery in human history… he just needs to find a way back to Earth to tell people about it. Four thousand years ago, a Federation bounty hunter Void ship crashed on a remote and primitive planet. There it remained until Will found it and accidentally reactivated it, launching him light-years away.

ND-5 and Jaylen Vrax embark on their descent into the galaxy’s underworld in search of answers and opportunity, in this essential prequel to Star Wars Outlaws. Jaylen Barsha, heir to his family’s immense power and wealth, had his life charted out for him neatly and meticulously by his...

The rulers of the People's Republic of Haven are in trouble and revolt is brewing, so it's high time for a short victorious war. But Honor Harrington is going to give them a war that's neither short nor victorious.

Late in the 26th century, the human race has advanced enough to accidentally trigger the Inhibitors---alien-killing machines designed to detect intelligent life and destroy it. The only hope for humanity lies in the recovery of a secret cache of doomsday weapons---and a renegade named Clavain who is determined to find them. But other factions want the weapons for their own purposes---and the weapons themselves have another agenda altogether.

In a distant future, Alexander scrapes by in a rundown repair shop while secretly searching for answers to his fragmented past. He has skills he can't explain and only foggy glimpses of who he used to be. His solitary quest takes an unexpected turn when he crosses paths with a sharp-witted girl who awakens echoes of his lost humanity. Together, they navigate a galaxy full of stagnant technology, shifting loyalties, and corporate secrets, but Alexander's awakening has not gone unnoticed.

New York Times best-selling author Eric Flint has received glowing critical praise for his Ring of Fire alternate history series. In this first installment, a West Virginia town is transported from the year 2000 to 1631 Germany at the height of the Thirty Years’ War. Thrust into conflict, the town residents must also contend with moral issues such as who should be considered a citizen.

The eldar are an ancient race whose mode of war blends spirituality with a unique mastery of technology. In times of need, their entire race will rouse to war, led by terrifying, almost mythological figures - the phoenix lords, immortal beings that embody the warrior nature of the eldar. When a burgeoning ork empire starts to pose a threat to the eldar peoples, Jain Zar travels to the craftworld Ulthwé to warn them of the danger.

Alex faces the consequences of her choices on a ship full of strangers. Forced to confront a civilization built on the regulation of her kind, she has to learn and adapt to situations she never imagined. Some see her as the key to breaking a decades-old stalemate, others as a threat that will ignite the fires of war once more. But all Alex wants is her sister and NAI companion back.

For thousands of years, the planet of Belusha has served the galactic Sollan Empire as its most notorious prison planet. It is here the very worst men in the Empire are locked away: murderers, traitors, deserters—each condemned to toil on the oil rigs and scrapyards of the planet in bitter cold, preyed upon both by the men of the Martian Guard set to watch over them, and by the Outborn reavers whose fathers escaped the work camps to scratch a living from the icy wilderness. It is a hard world. A desperate world. And it is here that Lorian Aristedes finds himself: alone; friendless; betrayed.

Major Jacob Berger’s career takes the next step when he becomes captain of the Revenge, a reverse-engineered Xeno starship. When the starship is attacked in hyperspace, Jacob is given a gift from beings from another realm. Jacob finds himself stranded on an alien planet with only one task: find the Revenge’s missing crew members. To do that, he’ll need to survive a world filled with hostile aliens. Luckily he’s the most powerful human the universe has ever seen.

Rejected scientist Alexander Hawke is down to his last chance. Brilliant but sheltered, every banker in New York has refused to finance his ideas. Enter the Russian—charming, dangerous, and offering an Antarctic expedition that promises answers to all of his questions. Now, Alexander stands at the edge of a bottomless chasm. With a helpful shove from his foreign benefactor, he plunges into adventure. Landing in darkness, Alexander finds a portal to destiny—weirder than New York, colder than Russia, and filled with the ruins of an empire that once spanned the galaxy.

Als Perry Rhodan bei einem scheinbaren Routinebesuch den Mars besichtigt, geschieht das Ungeheuerliche: Mitsamt seinem besten Freund Reginald Bull und einer wild zusammengewürfelten Gruppe von Menschen wird der Terraner entführt – in eine Zukunft, die rund eine Milliarde Jahre von seiner eigenen Zeit entfernt ist. Dort ist nichts mehr so, wie sie es kennen. Menschen sind unbekannt, die Erde ist nicht einmal mehr eine Legende. Und der Mars, auf dem sie in einer Milliarde Jahre herauskommen, entpuppt sich als ein Planet, dem eine unglaubliche Zukunft winkt.