Epic battles. Artificial Intelligence's longing for meaning. Life as we know it, ending... Sci-Fi Bridge is thrilled to present its second collection from bestselling authors and newly emerging writers. These stories span the near and far future. They transport you to worlds unknown. They examine today's fears amid tomorrow's technologies. From the far corners of the galaxy to the inner reaches of the human heart, the exciting stories in At the Helm will thrill, inspire, and make you wonder--do humans have what it takes to build a better future? Or are we doomed by our own failings? Foreword by Jay Allan. "Scout" by Will McIntosh. "Gelassenheit" by Chris Pourteau. "Rubbish with Names" by Felix R. Savage. "Galaxy's Edge" by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole “A God Among Us” by Rhett C. Bruno "Just An Old Fashioned Lust Story" by Christopher J. Valin "The Quarium Wars" by E. E. Giorgi "Death-Life on Kepler 452b" by Hall & Beaulieu "The Tunnel" by Andreas Christensen "Caterpillar" by Isaac Hooke "The Null" by Vincent Trigili "The Machine" by Mark R. Healy "Bottled Lightning" by Philip Harris "The Gambit" by Rysa Walker "Control" by Will Swardstrom "The Greatest Serial Killer in the Universe" by Robert Jeschonek "Magnet" by David Adams "Stasis Dream" by Josi Russell

    Now, after twenty-one annual collections, comes the ultimate in science fiction anthologies, The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction, in which legendary editor Gardner Dozois selects the very best short stories for this landmark collection. Contributors include: * Stephen Baxter * Greg Bear * William Gibson * Terry Bisson * Pat Cadigan * Ted Chiang * John Crowley * Tony Daniel * Greg Egan * Molly Gloss * Eileen Gunn * Joe Haldeman * James Patrick Kelly * John Kessel * Nancy Kress * Ursula K. Le Guin * Ian R. MacLeod * David Marusek * Paul McAuley * Ian McDonald * Maureen F. McHugh * Robert Reed * Mike Resnick * Geoff Ryman * William Sander * Lucius Shepard * Robert Silverberg * Brian Stableford * Bruce Sterling * Charles Stross * Michael Swanwick * Steven Utley * Howard Waldrop * Walter Jon Williams * Connie Willis * Gene WolfeWith work spanning two decades, The Best of the Best stands as one of the ultimate science fiction anthologies ever published.Contents xi • Foreword (The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction) • essay by Robert Silverbergxvii • Preface (The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction) • essay by Gardner Dozois1 • Blood Music • (1983) • novelette by Greg Bear19 • A Cabin on the Coast • (1984) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe28 • Salvador • (1984) • shortstory by Lucius Shepard42 • Trinity • (1984) • novella by Nancy Kress78 • Flying Saucer Rock and Roll • (1985) • novelette by Howard Waldrop (aka Flying Saucer Rock & Roll)93 • Dinner in Audoghast • (1985) • shortstory by Bruce Sterling103 • Roadside Rescue • (1985) • shortstory by Pat Cadigan109 • Snow • (1985) • shortstory by John Crowley121 • The Winter Market • (1985) • novelette by William Gibson137 • The Pure Product • (1986) • novelette by John Kessel152 • Stable Strategies for Middle Management • (1988) • shortstory by Eileen Gunn162 • Kirinyaga • [Kirinyaga • 2] • (1988) • novelette by Mike Resnick177 • Tales from the Venia Woods • [Roma Eterna] • (1989) • shortstory by Robert Silverberg191 • Bears Discover Fire • (1990) • shortstory by Terry Bisson199 • Even the Queen • (1992) • shortstory by Connie Willis213 • Guest of Honor • (1993) • novelette by Robert Reed238 • None So Blind • (1994) • shortstory by Joe Haldeman246 • Mortimer Gray's History of Death • (1995) • novella by Brian Stableford (aka Mortimer Gray's "History of Death")293 • The Lincoln Train • (1995) • shortstory by Maureen F. McHugh303 • Wang's Carpets • (1995) • novelette by Greg Egan328 • Coming of Age in Karhide • [Hainish] • (1995) • novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin342 • The Dead • (1996) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick352 • Recording Angel • (1996) • shortstory by Ian McDonald363 • A Dry, Quiet War • (1996) • novelette by Tony Daniel380 • The Undiscovered • (1997) • novelette by William Sanders400 • Second Skin • (1997) • shortstory by Paul J. McAuley418 • Story of Your Life • (1998) • novella by Ted Chiang454 • People Came from Earth • (1999) • shortstory by Stephen Baxter464 • The Wedding Album • [Cathy] • (1999) • novella by David Marusek502 • 10 to 16 to 1 • (1999) • novelette by James Patrick Kelly (aka 1016 to 1)520 • Daddy's World • (1999) • novelette by Walter Jon Williams541 • The Real World • [Silurian Tales] • (2000) • shortstory by Steven Utley561 • Have Not Have • (2001) • novelette by Geoff Ryman577 • Lobsters • [Macx Family] • (2001) • novelette by Charles Stross597 • Breathmoss • (2002) • novella by Ian R. MacLeod647 • Lambing Season • (2002) • shortstory by Molly Gloss

    1) is a print anthology of 17 short stories previously published via BattleCorps, and an 18th, previously unpublished story (Destiny's Challenge) that continues the story of one of the others.It also includes a Foreword by the editor, Loren L. Coleman, how BattleCorps came into being; an "About the authors" section at the end; and a collection of BattleMech illustrations in the back. StoriesA Race to the End (Loren L. Coleman)Damage Control (Ilsa J. Bick)Eight Nine Three (Steven Mohan Jr.)Isolation's Weight (Randall N. Bills)Destiny's Call (Loren L. Coleman)Poison (Jason M. Hardy)The Immortal Warrior at the Battle of Vorhaven (Kevin Killiany)Ghost of Christmas Present (Michael A. Stackpole)Zeroing In (Robert Thurston)For Want of a Nail (Dan C. Duval)Art of the Deal (Loren L. Coleman)McKenna Station (Kevin Killiany)Echoes in the Void (Randall N. Bills)The Longest Road (Blaine Lee Pardoe)The Back Road (Louisa M. Swann)Commerce Is All (Steven Mohan, Jr.)En Passant (Phaedra M. Weldon)Destiny's Challenge (Loren L. Coleman)

    The true universe is unfathomably vast, teeming with life and untold wonders. And it is enslaved.Created by ancient aliens in a daring gambit to understand the nature of the enemy, humanity is now asked to be the savior of a universe not their own. If they are to succeed, they must rise above not only their fractious past but the sins of their genetic ancestors to boldly embrace a future they never dared imagine possible.*RELATIVITY"I'd tell you to be careful, but we wouldn't be here if you'd ever taken that advice. No reason to start now, right?"For millennia the Anadens have ruled the known universe. They believe they've crafted the perfect empire, ordered and impervious to challenge. They believe the fight has been crushed out of the species they subjugate. They are wrong.It's a suicide mission, without a doubt. Alex Solovy and Caleb Marano must steal crucial intelligence from the Anadens' central military headquarters. To succeed, they'll need to navigate a strange universe ruled by a cabal of powerful immortals, populated by aliens they've never met and fueled by technology they've never seen. They're going to need a little help--the kind of help only a suicidally defiant anarchist on the run from more than just personal demons can provide.*RUBICON"We are you--the you that you could have been."The Anaden Directorate has ruled Amaranthe for millennia, subjugating species and galaxies in a neverending quest for control and order. For as many millennia, the anarchs have rebelled, defiantly claiming their own freedom yet without hope of winning it for everyone. Now, an alliance with humans offers a tantalizing chance to at last defeat their immortal masters. But can they trust an ally who looks suspiciously like the enemy?Humanity is the genetic recreation of the Anadens, but genetics aren't everything. Humans like to make their own destiny, and they have overcome great challenges to achieve unprecedented peace and prosperity. But have their trials prepared them for the enemy they now face?"The battle for the heart and soul of Amaranthe will be joined, and we must be unafraid."Amidst the chaos of an escalating war, Caleb's bond with the mysterious diati grows ever more powerful, even as Alex's forays into the hidden dimensions of the universe lead them to unfathomable places. But when the anarchs are pushed to the breaking point and the AEGIS fleet is dealt a devastating blow, Miriam Solovy must find a way to defeat a foe wielding superior technology, firepower and numbers, or else more than one civilization will be lost.*REQUIEMThe end of the world began with a library query...how will it conclude?What began as a chance discovery of an anomalous signal is now a multiverse war between humanity and its genetic ancestors over who controls the levers of life and death. Over who decides what life is and whether it will be allowed to exist. For the ruling Anaden Directorate, victory means immortality. For humanity, defeat means extinction.

     Hit the road with this anthology of trucking horror fiction!

    Winston K. Marks (1915-1979) is one such unjustly forgotten author.Included here are 12 science fiction stories, published between 1953 and 1959, representing some of his best work:THE WATER EATER (1953)UNBEGOTTEN CHILD (1953)…SO THEY BAKED A CAKE (1954)BACKLASH (1954)TABBY (1954)BREEDER REACTION (1954)FORSYTE'S RETREAT (1954)MATE IN TWO MOVES (1954)THE TEST COLONY (1954)BROWN JOHN’S BODY (1955)THE MIND DIGGER (1958)THE DEADLY DAUGHTERS (1958)If you enjoy this book, search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the more than 100 other entries in the series, covering science fiction, modern authors, mysteries, westerns, classics, adventure stories, and much, much more!

    First, when the armor starts to take over, even the generals may be at its mercy–and under its control. Then solve the problem of armored rescue when irradiated vacuum stands between the frail flesh of the living and safety.  And what happens when the marriage of soldier and armor becomes a bit too intimate—and that marriage goes sour! It’s an armor-plated clip of hard-hitting tales featuring exoskeleton adventure with fascinating takes on possible future armors ranging from the style of personal power suits seen in Starship Troopers and Halo to the servo-controlled bipedal beast-mech style encountered in Mechwarrior and Battletech.

    Make yourself at home alongside a hitman who always tells the truth, no matter how reality has to twist itself to suit; electric matchstick girls who have teamed up with Friedrich Engels; a telepathic boy and his father’s homemade nuclear bomb; a very bad date that births an unforgettable meme; and a dog who simply won’t stop howling on social media.The People’s Republic of Everything features a decade’s worth of crimes, fantasies, original fiction, and the author’s preferred text of the acclaimed short novel Under My Roof.Please note that the digital edition does not contain the story “North Shore Friday.”

    Afraid of being thrown into an isolation chamber, Michael goes home, but quickly falls violently ill. By the time he recovers and returns to work scary things are happening. Everyone who has come into contact with that patient is being systematically killed. On the run, he accidentally infects a woman living in the shadows of the underworld. She becomes ill as well, but survives. Then they begin feeling younger-and younger. Why would the government want to suppress something like this? After barely escaping federal gunmen, the two of them set out to discover what kind of infection they are harboring even though it might mean the end of their freedom.

    Get Ready for plenty of action-packed military science fiction as the dogs-of-war are let loose on an unsuspecting universe in sixteen hard-hitting stories by: Jack McDevitt, John C. Wright, Mike McPhail, James Danielle Ross, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, James Chambers, Jeffrey Lyman, John G. Hemry ( Jack Campbell ), Bud Sparhawk, Lawrence M. Schoen, Patrick Thomas, Tony Ruggiero, and C.J. Henderson. Winner of the Dream Awards for Best Anthology.

    Best to steer clear of the freaks in Voodoo, kid.”Surrounded and outgunned, a group of private military contractors known as “Strange Company” find themselves on a remote planet at the edge of known space, and on the losing end of a bad contract. Orbital D-beam strikes, dropships bristling with auto-guns, missiles, and troops - even Monarch space marines in state-of-the-art advanced battle rattle - will try to prevent the company from reaching the exfil LZ and getting off-world.For Strange, that means it’s time to hang tough and get it on with as much hyper-kinetic violence as they can muster to get clear of the whole mess. And what the Strange can’t get done by violent assault and crazy firefights, they’ll get done by the freaks of Voodoo Platoon - operators who have been changed by the Dark Labs into powerful and unnervingly unnatural asymmetrical weapons.This is the Strange Company. Because in the Strange, it’s always really Strange. Join them - and get ready for full auto combat at the furthest limits of human exploration.

    SCOTTDark Space: The Complete Series, 6 books, over 600,000 copies sold, 15,000+ Reviews on Amazon, and 4.4/5 Stars average rating. For a limited time, enjoy over 2000 pages of this epic space opera for one low price. From book one... HUMANITY IS DEFEATEDTen years ago the Sythians invaded the galaxy with one goal: to wipe out the human race.THEY ARE HIDINGNow the survivors are hiding in the last human sector of the galaxy: Dark Space--once a place of exile for criminals, now the last refuge of mankind.THEY ARE ISOLATEDThe once galaxy-spanning Imperium of Star Systems is left guarding the gate which is the only way in or out of Dark Space--but not everyone is satisfied with their governance.AND THEY ARE KILLING EACH OTHERFreelancer and ex-convict Ethan Ortane is on the run. He owes crime lord Alec Brondi 10,000 sols, and his ship is badly damaged. When Brondi catches up with him, he makes an offer Ethan can't refuse. Ethan must infiltrate and sabotage the Valiant, the Imperial Star Systems Fleet carrier which stands guarding the entrance of Dark Space, and then his debt will be cleared. While Ethan is still undecided about what he will do, he realizes that the Imperium has been lying and putting all of Dark Space at risk. Now Brondi's plan is starting to look like a necessary evil, but before Ethan can act on it, he discovers that the real plan was much more sinister than what he was told, and he will be lucky to escape the Valiant alive. . . .Included in this box set...Dark Space I: Humanity is DefeatedDark Space II: The Invisible WarDark Space III: OriginDark Space IV: RevengeDark Space V: AvilonDark Space VI: Armageddon

    Every day the cynical, cigar-chomping, hard-drinking monkey climbs into his Spitfire to do battle with the waves of German ninjas parachuting over the gentle fields of Kent. But life is not all the joyous rattle of machine guns and the roar of the engine, as Ack-Ack is about to find out… Because it is not 1944. It is the 21st century, in a world where France and Germany merged in the late 1950s, where nuclear-powered Zeppelins circle the globe, where technology is rapidly changing humanity, and Ack-Ack has lived his whole life in a videogame. Ex-journalist Victoria Valois finds herself drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man who butchered her husband and stole his electronic soul. The heir to the British throne is on the run after an illegal break-in at a research laboratory, and Ack-Ack has been rudely awakened from his game world to find the doomsday clock ticking towards Armageddon… Two unlikely heroes and one mightily pissed-off monkey come together in a sci-fi trilogy full of action, adventure, bananas and bottles of rum. Includes the original Ack-Ack Macaque short story and a brand new epilogue, The Last Macaque.

    A listing of alternate histories tells you all the various ways Hitler has died. A lawyer sues an interplanetary union for dangerous working conditions. And four artificial intelligences explain, in increasingly worrying detail, how they plan not to destroy humanity. Welcome to Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi.These four stories, along with 14 other pieces, have one thing in common: They're short, sharp, and to the point - science fiction in miniature, with none of the stories longer than 2,300 words. But in that short space exist entire universes, absurd situations, and the sort of futuristic humor that propelled Scalzi to a Hugo with his novel Redshirts. Not to mention yogurt taking over the world (as it would).Spanning the years from 1991 to 2016, this collection is a quarter century of Scalzi at his briefest and best and features four never-before-published stories exclusive to this collection: "Morning Announcements at the Lucas Interspecies School for Troubled Youth", "Your Smart Appliances Talk About You Behind Your Back", "Important Holidays on Gronghu", and "The AI Are Absolutely Positively Without a Doubt Not Here to End Humanity, Honest".John Scalzi is the New York Times best-selling author of Old Man's War, Lock In, and Redshirts, among others. His work has won the Hugo and Locus Awards and been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell Awards. He lives in Ohio and online. He enjoys pie.Full cast of narrators includes Oliver Wyman, Dina Pearlman, and Allyson Johnson.

    Lovecraft's classic stories, among them some of the greatest works of horror fiction ever written, including: