Broken into warring territories, its center has become a wasteland DMZ known as “the Tropic of Kansas.” Though this gaping geographic hole has no clear boundaries, everyone knows it's out there—that once-bountiful part of the heartland, broken by greed and exploitation, where neglect now breeds unrest. Two travelers appear in this arid American wilderness: Sig, the fugitive orphan of political dissidents, and his foster sister Tania, a government investigator whose search for Sig leads her into her own past—and towards an unexpected future.Sig promised those he loves that he would make it to the revolutionary redoubt of occupied New Orleans. But first he must survive the wild edgelands of a barren mid-America policed by citizen militias and autonomous drones, where one wrong move can mean capture . . . or death. One step behind, undercover in the underground, is Tania. Her infiltration of clandestine networks made of old technology and new politics soon transforms her into the hunted one, and gives her a shot at being the agent of real change—if she is willing to give up the explosive government secrets she has sworn to protect.As brother and sister traverse these vast and dangerous badlands, their paths will eventually intersect on the front lines of a revolution whose fuse they are about to light.

    And then the real trouble began. It’s been a rough day for Sam Shao. As part of a program that requires humans to act as surrogates to haan infants, Sam has been genetically enhanced to bond with them. So when three soldiers invade her apartment and arrest her guardian for smuggling a dangerous weapon into the country, Sam can sense that something isn’t right. One of his abductors is a haan masquerading as a human, and the supposedly fragile haan seems to be anything but. Racing through the city slums, trying to stay one step ahead of the mysterious haan soldier, Sam tries to find the man who, in her twenty years, has been the only father she’s ever known. Could he truly have done what he is accused of? Or did he witness something both human and haan would kill to keep hidden? The only thing certain is that the weapon is real—and lost now somewhere in a city of millions. Fighting the clock, Sam finds an ally in Nix, a haan envoy devoted to coexisting with humans, or so it seems. But what she really needs are answers. Fast. Or else everything she knows—and everyone she loves—will burn.

     That means taking almost any job that comes his way, no matter the situation. So long as he can keep his ship floating, he's free to live the life he wants. But that all changes when he meets Abigail Pryar, a nun looking for safe passage out of the system. Too bad there's something off about the cargo she's carrying. Jace knows he shouldn't ask too many questions, but when odd sounds start coming from inside the large, metal box, he can't help but check it out. Big mistake. The Renegade Star boxset includes the first three books in the series.

    But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction.The winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer was the first fully-realized glimpse of humankind’s digital future—a shocking vision that has challenged our assumptions about our technology and ourselves, reinvented the way we speak and think, and forever altered the landscape of our imaginations.

    A flu-like plague that infected thousands and killed roughly ten percent of its victims. Those who died awoke once again, but they were no longer among the living--they came back as soulless carnivorous corpses who desired only one thing: to feed on living human flesh. As the infection spread, across Europe and the rest of the globe, cities were overwhelmed. Nations fell. Humanity flickered like a candle flame in the wind. In the United States: the nation's great cities are becoming hunting grounds. New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles...all are falling victim to hordes of shambling dead who want only one thing: to devour the living. Single Tree, California is a small resort town in Inyo County. Between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, it's easy to overlook. And that's exactly what the citizens of Single Tree want, for the stenches and those fleeing them to ignore the town long enough for it to be transformed into a desert fortress at the foot of Mount Whitney. But time is not on their side. Not only do they have to worry about the dead... they have to fear the living.

    Just the Earth Federation and the League of Sovereign Systems fighting for the third time over who would be the supreme power in settled space, and who would have to exist in the victor’s shadow. Then the Ascendency showed up and ruined everything.One moment, Flight Lieutenant Mason Grey was a fighter pilot of the Federal Space Forces about to strike a League base located on a dwarf planet in an uninhabited system. The next, unknown starships showed up, blew his carrier to hell, killed his squadron, shot down his fighter, and left him stranded amid the ruins of the very base he had come to attack.With nothing but a space suit and a dwindling life support system, Mason was in way, way over his head. And that was just the start of his problems. (Content Warning: This novel contains violence and adult language)

    And then when you take it--wham--you are faced with a savage choice of do-overs to correct past blunders. Roy Hobbs blew the cash windfall from his best-seller book. Gone was his money, and then his wife Rachel was murdered with the killer never found. Roy chose to pick up the pieces, riding into his sunset as a crime reporter in a smaller market. Then a weird stranger made him a freaky offer. The stranger would pay Roy the same money as his best-seller book in return for Roy to write a book for the stranger. The subject of the book would be secret until after Roy makes a decision. Big payday or walk away?Roy chose big money, and his life hurled into a dimension he could have never imagined. It was there that he faced the most savage do-over that would re-invent his life in stunning ways.Could he truly have do-overs on his biggest mistakes in life? Would he make those same mistakes again, this time knowing the consequences? Could a do-over allow him to rescue Rachel and put an end to the killings?Roy Hobbs wouldn’t be writing this strange new book, he would be living it, and the ending could kill him and kill Rachel again and again.This is a trip you gotta take. You won't guess the twists and turns, and probably not even the final destination, but you'll certainly have fun. Take the trip today.

    Once she was somebody’s enemy. Now the former Canadian special forces warrior lives on the hellish streets of Hartford, Connecticut, in the year 2062. Racked with pain, hiding from the government she served, running with a crime lord so she can save a life or two, Jenny is a month shy of fifty, and her artificially reconstructed body has started to unravel. But she is far from forgotten. A government scientist needs the perfect subject for a high-stakes project and has Jenny in his sights. Suddenly Jenny Casey is a pawn in a furious battle, waged in the corridors of the Internet, on the streets of battered cities, and in the complex wirings of her half-man-made nervous system. And she needs to gain control of the game before a brave new future spins completely out of control.

    The System doesn’t make mistakes, but something isn’t right about the circumstances surrounding Hunter’s death. Mielikki Neith, a trusted state inspector and a true believer in the System, is assigned to find out what went wrong. Immersing herself in neural recordings of the interrogation, what she finds isn’t Hunter but rather a panorama of characters within Hunter’s psyche: a lovelorn financier in Athens who has a mystical experience with a shark; a brilliant alchemist in ancient Carthage confronting the unexpected outcome of her invention; an expat Ethiopian painter in London designing a controversial new video game, and a sociopathic disembodied intelligence from the distant future. Embedded in the memories of these impossible lives lies a code which Neith must decipher to find out what Hunter is hiding. In the static between these stories, Neith begins to catch glimpses of the real Diana Hunter–and, alarmingly, of herself. The staggering consequences of what she finds will reverberate throughout the world.A dazzling, panoramic achievement, and Nick Harkaway’s most brilliant work to date, Gnomon is peerless and profound, captivating and irreverent, as it pierces through strata of reality and consciousness, and illuminates how to set a mind free. It is a truly accomplished novel from a mind possessing a matchless wit infused with a deep humanity.

    Hiding behind the imposing walls of a medieval fortress, they struggle against all the odds to rebuild in a wasteland without electricity or government. Scraping a living, far away from the smoking ruins of the cities, they wait in hope, trying to make sense of what happened.Hurst Castle stands alone. Its seventy-four occupants united in a daily struggle, scavenging for food and supplies. The Millennial Virus is the least of their concerns. When the arrival of outsiders threatens to tip the balance of power, the people of Hurst are faced with a desperate choice: set aside their differences and join an alliance that promises new hope or unite against the newcomers and their plans for reconstruction. Who can be trusted? Only time will tell.The battle for Hurst has begun.

    Throughout history, humans have been saved a moment before they died. Those that are taken, awake to find themselves in a strange new world different from anything they had ever seen. They discover that some agency has taken them out of the time they lived and dropped them into the early Cretaceous Age. They are now faced with surviving in a world that was called the Golden Age of the Dinosaurs. Not only must they learn how to survive the giant carnivores but also survive other humans. They are challenged to build a civilization ninety million years before the first Homo sapiens appeared on Earth. The humans struggling to survive wonder if the Time Takers are a larger danger than any they face in the prehistoric world they now inhabit. One of them is determined to find out why they were taken and his quest could endanger everyone. Excerpt from: The Time Takers Suddenly, the cave was filled with a deafening roar. Everyone in the cave turned, grabbed their ears and looked to the left, where they saw an opening in the cave wall at the end of a short corridor. Something was filling the opening. Andy was stunned at what he saw. This was a nightmare that could only come from an overdose of bad drugs. Everyone fled across the cave to the wall furthest from the opening. The Romans broke formation and ran with the others. The Roman Leader held his ground and Andy saw he was shocked and frightened out of his wits. It was easy to see why. Andy sprinted across the cave and moved into the short corridor leading to the opening where a giant head with rows of sharp teeth was being pushed further into the cave. He stopped twenty feet from the head, raised the bow and fired an arrow directly into the open mouth of the huge Allosaurus. The giant reptile screamed and jerked its head back out of the opening but not before Andy had notched another arrow and hit it between the eyes with an arrow that buried itself to the fletching. The giant’s roar was silenced as it straightened up and then fell backwards. Andy put the bow over his shoulder and ran toward the entrance. He saw a large stone wheel on the right side of the opening designed to block the entrance and he ran behind it and tried to push it forward. The roars from outside the cave were getting louder…and numerous; everyone inside could hear that there were more of the nightmares that had stuck its head in the cave outside the opening. He pushed as hard as he could but the wheel was just too heavy to move. There was a channel cut into the floor for it to roll in; but it was just too massive to budge. The Roman Leader sprinted over and started pushing with Andy. They looked out of the opening as they struggled to move the stone wheel and saw ten of the giant carnivores were just outside the entrance surrounding the dead Allosaurus,. They appeared to be trying to determine what killed it. One of them looked at the cave opening and started moving toward it. Ten Samurai and five Vikings arrived at that moment and began pushing with Andy and the Roman. The wheel started moving and then rolled over the entrance just before the dinosaur arrived. The men gathered at the wheel felt it lean into the cave for a moment…and then fall back against the opening. This book is dedicated to my brother, Wayne. I wish you could have read this one. Thanks for reading Science Fiction to me when I was five years old. You started me on the path that led me to all the stories that spring from my imagination, I miss you and love you. Visit us on face book at www.facebook.com/SaxonAndrewsUniverse or our website at www.annihilationseries.com. You may contact me directly at saxonandrew@msn.com

    The word is out that the legendary city of Danvar has been found, and every diver, brigand, and pirate with a sarfer is racing to find it. But out in the dunes there's only one inarguable fact... The sand don't care, and it never did. Can people change? Two men who meet in the dunes over the lost city of Danvar have to find out if there can ever be such a thing as friendship, honor, and sacrifice in a world full of sand divers, pirates, brigands, and thieves.

    These days he drives a taxi instead.A fast-paced, droll and disturbing novel, BARRICADE is a savage road trip across the dystopian landscape of post-apocalypse Britain; narrated by the cold-blooded yet magnetic antihero, Kenstibec.Kenstibec is a member of the 'Ficial' race, a breed of merciless super-humans. Their war on humanity has left Britain a wasteland, where Ficials hide in barricaded cities, besieged by tribes of human survivors. Originally optimised for construction, Kenstibec earns his keep as a taxi driver, running any Ficial who will pay from one surrounded city to another. The trips are always eventful, but this will be his toughest yet. His fare is a narcissistic journalist who's touchy about her luggage. His human guide is constantly plotting to kill him. And that's just the start of his troubles. On his journey he encounters ten-foot killer rats, a mutant king with a TV fixation, a drug-crazed army, and even the creator of the Ficial race. He also finds time to uncover a terrible plot to destroy his species for good - and humanity too.

    Two men while away the days in an Antarctic research station. Tensions between them build as they argue over a love-letter one of them has received. One is practical and open. The other surly, superior and obsessed with reading one book - by the philosopher Kant. As a storm brews and they lose contact with the outside world they debate Kant, reality and the emptiness of the universe. The come to hate each other, and they learn that they are not alone.

    Except the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision—veering wildly off course and exploring the boundaries of the map. When the curious Riley extracts her code for closer examination, an emotional relationship develops between them. Soon Riley has all new plans for her spontaneous AI, including bringing Max into the real world. But what if Max has real-world plans of her own?Blake Crouch’s Summer Frost is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.