He couldn't be more wrong.Forced by a powerful executive to steal a priceless dataset, Maddox uncovers the shocking truth of a secret war between AIs, raging inside the digital universe known as virtual space. Plunged headlong into the deadly conflict, he’ll have to use every trick he’s ever learned—and a few he’s never tried before—if he wants to survive.Sprawling megacities, rogue AIs, black market tech, modded mercenaries, and a pulse-pounding story filled with unexpected twists. If you love gritty, hardcore cyberpunk, you won’t want to miss this series!

    Most people thank President Meyers for this. Many can no longer remember when there was last an election, but as long as he keeps the country safe from the terrorist group Hariq Jihad (‘Fire War’), this seems a small price to pay. Gunnery Sergeant Anthony Jackson is the model Marine: highly trained, absolutely efficient, and unquestioningly dedicated to his country. The only thing he can conceive of putting before his nation is his family, his wife Courtney and two daughters Maya and MacKenzie. Conscripted into the personal security detail of President Meyers, he begins to get glimpses that not everyone is as content with the current situation as he is, but attributes this to terrorist agitation and fringe lunacy. When his older daughter Maya begins to question the creeping erosion of personal liberties and the revoking of democratic rights, however, he begins to fear for her safety, as well as his own and that of his family. In a climate in which entire families disappear due to minor offenses, one can’t be too careful. The tensions between liberty and safety, between family and country, will force Jackson to rethink all his beliefs, and lead to a collision with the system he has dedicated his life to serving. Fire War is a suspenseful, gripping and unnerving examination of the paradoxes of power, the price of liberty, and the dictates of conscience. The world you live in will never look the same again.

    

    This volume assembles some of Clifton's very best work -- including THEY'D RATHER BE RIGHT:STAR BRIGHT (1952)THE KENZIE REPORT (1953)WE'RE CIVILIZED!SENSE FROM THOUGHT DIVIDE (1955)A WOMAN'S PLACE (1955)DO UNTO OTHERS (1958)THEY'D RATHER BE RIGHT (1958)WHAT NOW, LITTLE MAN? (1959)EIGHT KEYS TO EDEN (1960)And if you enjoy this volume, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see more entries in this great series, covering science fiction, fantasy, horror, mysteries, westerns, classics -- and much, much more!

     In the star-spanning Human Interstellar Confederation she is know as a Guardian who, in a war ship the size of a small moon, finds and neutralizes star-traveling predators. But how and why did she become a Guardian? In Lady Death we find out.

    Orwell’s dystopia has been stalled - so far. The world wears Lenses, computerized glass contacts manufactured by a corporation called Newsight. The technology is regulated by the Senate, so no one worries about breaches in privacy. A teenage boy named Vincent, however, feels quite differently. After his Senator father tells him that Newsight has been pushing for an appeal on the data regulations, Vincent begins to dig deeper. He learns that Newsight’s CEO claims to want to use the data in his fight against the Order, a terrorist organization whose attacks have recently been mounting in frequency, but the man’s true motives aren’t so clear - until Vincent meets a girl from school whose father is a Newsight developer. There is a trail of bread crumbs in the software’s code. Newsight has a closer relationship to the Order than anyone may have guessed, and the Lenses have been doing more than just running simulations. Caught in the middle of a world blinded by progress, Vincent finally discover the truth. But it might already be too late. “2084” casts a technocentric world into an Orwellian shadow. Told in close but unique parallel to “1984”, Vincent’s ever-quickening journey to the world’s new dystopia has left readers wanting more. Reviews “Honestly I didn't enjoy 1984 and don't usually like Sci-Fi/Post-Apocalyptic stories, so when my friends told me I had to check it out, I was more than hesitant. Surprisingly, after the first few pages, I couldn't put it down. It made my commute to/from work fly by. If 1984 had been this engaging, I would have paid more attention in high school. Perfect short read for book clubs on the go. One complaint: I WANT MORE.” “Engel is able to create vividly detailed environments without slowing the pace his story. Definitely a good quick read that makes me want to see more by him.”

    The side effects were anything but hopeful. Mara and Sebastian are young, in love and newlyweds. Far too soon, they will face tests to their love that most others won’t survive. Their bond strengthens with each loss, destruction and unbearable race against time. In each other, they find the will and hope to endure. Hand in hand, they will face the darkening of humanity with strength and integrity and an undeniable spirit to survive; together.

    When an alien spaceship crashes outside his house, he suddenly gets his chance. With the help of his friends - Eudox, a green space alien pretending to be from Texas, Sam Duval, a professional complainer who has huffed too much government mind control gas, and Corpsy, a stone-cold dead corpse - Arnold sets out into orbit to show everyone that the world is flat once and for all! Flat Earthers in space, the real reason the moon landing was faked, where the arrow in the Fedex logo is really pointing, the identity of the secret fifth Teletubby, the meaning of crop circles, and the true nature of the evil conspiracy that runs the world - all in Flat Space, a hilarious new comedy from author Andrew Stanek.

     If Corps Tech Sergeant Aly Erikson wants to survive another day, she will have to give up everything: her identity, her rank, her attachment to her brothers-in-arms, and most of all, her guilt. After doing her duty as a member of a ground infantry squad tasked with “neutralizing” an insurrection by non-citizens on a mining planet, Erikson realizes that everything she thought the Corps stood for, thought she stood for, is crumbling away. Where is the honor, the justice, the spirit of law? When the enemies are nothing more than outclassed and outgunned dregs of the Algol System’s forgotten people, being part of their execution squad has put her as far from the ideals of justice as Erikson can imagine. Haunted by their ghosts, she struggles to maintain her military bearing until even that is suddenly ripped away in an act of terrorism that sends her, her brother, Tech Sergeant David Erikson, and another Corpsmember, Rebecca Soltznin, on the run on a hostile planet. Forced for the first time in ten years to blend in with a civilian population, the three are faced with a single choice: regroup with their brothers-in-arms or become deserters. For Aly, it’s easy; why go back to being a cog in the death machine the Corps is becoming? But for the other two, the price for making the wrong decision may be higher than they’re willing to pay. On the run, under attack from the scavengers who plague the system, and out of options, the three face conflict from every direction. If they can’t find a way to fight together, their chances for survival are less than zero. And for one of them, the best solution may come down to one simple act: betrayal. In this prequel to the popular Spectras Arise Trilogy, readers get an intimate look into the events that led Aly and David Erikson on their path from decorated and dedicated soldiers to black-market arms smugglers, and ultimately, to rebels against the Political and Capital Administration of the Advanced Worlds.

     Critical Dawn Some mysteries should stay buried. A centuries old plan unfolds. Archaeologists Pippa Quinn and Charlie Jackson find advanced technology in undisturbed 16th Century graves. A portent, the discovery precedes thousands of giant sinkholes opening up across the globe as extreme weather threatens the population. Charlie suspects the two are related. Pippa, Charlie, and the rest of humanity will have to fight for survival, sacrificing the life they’ve known to protect Earth from an ancient and previously dormant enemy. Even that might not be enough as this new enemy exacts a plan that will change the course of humankind forever. Critical Dawn is an apocalyptic ride to the very edge of human existence. Factions will battle for control of the Earth—if they can avoid the threat of extinction. Critical Path Destroying the croatoan’s seat of power has grave consequences. Earth faces destruction, unless bitter enemies can work together. Earth is recovering after Denver and his group managed to stamp out the immediate alien threat. Now, Denver and his team, stationed in a liberated croatoan farm, plan to restore humanity as the dominant force. But when shocking information comes to light, they set off on an immediate mission north. The team encounter a hybrid city, where humans and croatoans live and work together. It’s here in this strange new civilisation that Denver discovers there’s a bigger threat to the planet than the aliens already on the surface: something far more terrible is coming. It’ll be a race against the clock to defeat this new threat and Denver will need all the help he can get. Critical Strike A fight for survival in an alien world. Revenge is planned against Unity. Denver, Charlie and Layla are trapped in the middle of a galactic conflict which has spanned across many millennia. With no immediate allies on either side, they must use all of their skill and strength to stay alive and find a way back to Earth—if there is one. An old enemy of Unity is intent of making them pay for his humiliating treatment. He's gathering forces to the south with vengeance in mind. Mike and Mae must work together with the citizens of Unity to find a way of repelling Augustus' force, or face extinction at the hands of the old emperor. Critical Strike is the exciting third and final instalment of the Critical series.

    Not if you're Jang: a caste of libertine teenagers in the city of Four BEE. But when you're expected to make trouble--when you can kill yourself on a whim and return in another body, when you're encouraged to change genders at will and experience whatever you desire--you've got no reason to rebel...until making love and raising hell, daring death and running wild just leave you cold and empty.Ravenous for true adventures of the mind and body, desperate to find some meaning, one restless spirit finally bucks the system--and by shattering the rules, strikes at the very heart of a soulless society....

    But why do they need an expert in ritual magic on board their new flagship spacecraft? And why do they need an exorcist? It is soon apparent they are meddling with forces they don't understand. But can they be controlled?A Lovecraftian short story.This is an old one, from about 1993, not long after I started out. It got reworked into an expanded novella THE PLASM for Dark Regions Press, but here it is in its original form. Think of it in black and white, 50s B movie style — that's how it runs in my head.

    He and his team battle to drive the enemy from star systems under protection of the Confederation. His courage and fighting abilities are tested to their utmost, as he rises through the ranks of the LRS and beyond. Small unit skirmishes build to full-scale combat on planet surfaces, and serve as a counterpoint to violent conflict in space.

    To her, a mirror feels like a film of honey. She can reach through it, grab things…even step inside.On the other side she lives every teenager’s fantasy: a universe all her own, zero consequences. She can kiss the hot guy, break into La Jolla mansions, steal things…even kill. When finished, she just steps back into reality and smashes the mirror—and in an instant erases every stupid thing she did. Gone. It never happened.But breaking symmetry is also dangerous. First there’s the drug-like rush she gets when passing through the glass, like a shot of adrenaline. She suspects it’s degrading her body, making a new copy of her each time. A reflection of a reflection, each one a little hazier. Then, of course, there’s the risk of getting cut off from reality.When she narrowly escapes a military quarantine zone with the San Diego Police Department hot on her heels only to discover her escape mirror littering the floor in shards, her worst fear is realized. Now, trapped in a broken reflection, she must flee through a mind-bending maze of mirrors, going deeper into the nightmare as she struggles to grasp a betrayal, uncover the chilling truth about her ability, and somehow find a way out of a dead-end universe that “never happened.”Somehow, she must find a way home.

    They've lived there so long, there are only legends about people living anywhere else. Such a life requires rules. Strict rules. There are things that must not be discussed. Like going outside. Never mention you might like going outside.Or you'll get what you wish for.