Book picks similar to
First Contact (Digital Science Fiction Anthology, #1) by Jessi HoffmanKen Liu
science-fiction
sci-fi
short-stories
anthologies
Lost Mars: The Golden Age of the Red Planet
Mike Ashley - 2018
Wells, Ray Bradbury and J.G. Ballard, as well as lesser-known writers from the genre. An antique shop owner gets a glimpse of the red planet through an intriguing artefact. A Martian's wife contemplates the possibility of life on Earth. A resident of Venus describes his travels across the two alien planets. From an arid desert to an advanced society far superior to that of Earth, portrayals of Mars have differed radically in their attempt to uncover the truth about our neighbouring planet. Since the 1880s, writers of science fiction have delighted in speculating on what life on Mars might look like and what might happen should we make contact with the planet's inhabitants. In these stories, they reveal much about how we understand our place in the universe. Lost Mars: The Golden Age of the Red Planet is the first volume in the British Library Science Fiction Classics series.
The Lives of Dax
Marco Palmieri - 1999
One of the most popular and compelling Star Trek characters ever created, Dax is a wormlike being who is joined body and soul to a succession of humanoid hosts. Each life is different, each body is different, each personality is different, but all of them are Dax. At one time or another Dax has been male, female, a Starfleet officer, a statesman, a scientist, and ambassador, even a serial killer. The symbiont's humanoid hosts have included Curzon, friend of Klingons, and Jadzia, science officer on Deep Space Nine and latterly wife of Worf. The most recent incarnation is Ezri Dax, station counsellor on Deep Space Nine. Designed to appeal to fans of every version of Star Trek, the stories in The Lives of Dax each show a different host's adventure—nine incredible lives stretched out over 357 years of Star Trek history. The stories are rich with different aliens, planets, battles, personal struggles, surprising revelations, and guest stars galore.
Alt.History 101
Samuel PeraltaNicolas Wilson - 2015
From Samuel Peralta, creator of the #1 bestselling Future Chronicles anthology series, comes a new speculative anthology series that turns the world you know upside down.In Alt.History 101, thirteen top speculative fiction authors re-imagine the world - as one where the inventor of the smallpox vaccine died before he'd created it, as one where the women's suffragist movement failed to win the right to vote, as one where the death penalty exists but where all forms of capital punishment are ruled inhumane - and ten other compelling stories charting the histories of these worlds.Enter worlds so much like our own, yet so different - where everything you know... is history.
Nightflyers
George R.R. Martin - 1985
Nine misfit academics on an expedition to find the volcryn, a mythic race of intersteller nomads, and the only ship available for this strange quest is the Nightflyer, a cybernetic wonder with a never-seen captain...Nine innocents are about to find themselves in deep space, trapped with an insane murderer who can go anywhere, do anything, and intends to kill them all.
Legends
Stephen Arseneault - 2017
For 500 generations Humans have been addicted to a drug called Shackle. We are slaves to the alien species of the galaxy. Bought, traded, sold, and hunted for sport. Our value is only in credits. But a virus is sweeping through the Human population. Altering a gut bacteria, the virus is making Humans immune. As we become aware of our condition, we begin to yearn for freedom. Will the legends of our past be enough to show us the way?
More Than Honor
David Weber - 1998
Weber is joined in Honor's universe by two leading science fiction writers, David Drake and S.M. Stirling.
The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories
Allan KasterCraig DeLancey - 2017
In “Vortex,” by Gregory Benford, astronauts find a once thriving microbial lifeform that carpets the caves of Mars dying off. A code monkey tracks down the vain creator of a pernicious software virus that people jack cerebrally in “RedKing,” by Craig DeLancey. In “Number Nine Moon,” by Alex Irvine, illicit scavengers on Mars are on a rescue mission to save themselves after one of their team members dies. A young girl’s thirst for vengeance becomes a struggle for survival when she is swallowed by a gigantic sea creature on an alien planet in “Of the Beast in the Belly,” by C.W. Johnson. In “The Seventh Gamer,” by Gwyneth Jones, a writer immerses herself into a MMORPG community to search for characters being played by real aliens from other worlds. A woman armed with a rifle stalks a herd of cloned wooly mammoths in British Columbia in “Chasing Ivory,” by Ted Kosmatka. In “Fieldwork,” by Shariann Lewitt, a volcanologist struggles with her research on Europa where both her mother and grandmother suffered dire consequences. A daughter pays homage to her mother with mega-engineering projects to deal with climate change over eons in “Seven Birthdays,” by Ken Liu. In “The Visitor from Taured,” by Ian R. MacLeod, a cosmologist in the near future is obsessed with proving his theory of multiverses. The citizens of a small town on a “Jackaroo” planet object to a corporation placing a radio telescope near local alien artifacts in “Something Happened Here, But We’re Not Quite Sure What It Was,” by Paul McAuley. And finally, in “Sixteen Questions for Kamala Chatterjee,” by Alastair Reynolds, a graduate student defends her dissertation on a solar anomaly that threatens humanity.
Survivor
Saff - 2014
During a routine collection, she finds herself dragged into the middle of an alien uprising. The Ancients, merciless beings set on reclaiming the universe, have only one person left to stop them: Nova. She must battle the Ancients, time, and her sanity, in order to stop the annihilation of the human race. Fear the hero who has nothing left to lose. Buy now to join the fight!
The A.I. Chronicles
Ellen CampbellAlex Albrinck - 2015
Even today, machines that mimic human thinking surround us. As the intellectual feats of computing machines grow more and more astounding, will there be a day when their apparent intelligence approaches, or even surpasses, that of human beings? And what if these machines then become conscious, self-aware?In this latest title in the acclaimed Future Chronicles series of speculative fiction anthologies, thirteen authors confront the question of the Singularity: that point of time when A.I. becomes more than simply a human construct. From machine awareness to omniscience, these original short stories explore that territory where human intelligence comes face-to-face with what is either its greatest hope, or its greatest threat.The A.I. Chronicles features stories by bestselling author David Simpson (the Post-Human series), Prix Aurora winner Julie Czerneda (In the Company of Others), plus eleven more of today's top authors in speculative and science fiction.
Endurance: The Complete Series
A.C. Spahn - 2016
A disrespected ship, exiled to lonely patrol in the dark corners of the solar system.A crew of screw-ups, written off by the entire fleet.They're about to change everything.If they don't blow themselves up first.Join the Endurance's crew - a trigger-happy first officer, a hyperactive engineer, a shy covert operative, a conspiracy-spouting physicist, and a captain trying to earn his way back into his superiors' good graces - as they explore the galaxy by accident and trip their way into saving the world.This anthology includes all five Endurance novellas, as well as two bonus short stories.
Canto Bight
Saladin Ahmed - 2017
This collection of four short stories will focus on creatures from the glamorous casino world of Canto Bight, described as the galactic version of Monaco.
Wild Cards
George R.R. MartinBrian Bolland - 1986
Most victims die, others experience physical or psychic changes: aces have useful powers, deuces minor maybe entertaining abilities, jokers uglified, disabled, relegated to ghettos.
Missing
Andrew C. Broderick - 2016
Haunted by the death of his father and one fatal decision that questions his morality, he doubts he will have a chance to redeem himself for a past he cannot escape. But when 100 colonists go missing on an alien planet, he sees his chance to prove once and for all that one decision doesn’t create a monster. With only a skeleton crew chosen to lead the rescue mission, and John not making the cut, he struggles to find any way possible to help save them. Can John find a way to get on board the vessel bound to find the lost colony, or will he be forced to watch from the sidelines as his destiny is snatched from him? Strap in for Missing! The first book in Andrew Broderick’s new Sci-fi adventure, The Lost Colony series! Please note: Missing is a novella, complete at 15,000 words Save $5 by buying The Lost Colony Series: Omnibus Edition, which contains all 4 books in one
Clones: The Anthology
Jessica WestMichael Patrick Hicks - 2016
Technology evolves faster than we do. The law shields us from our worst temptations.But the opportunity is there, dangling just out of reach—perfection and ascension… or delusion and destruction. In this collection of clone-themed stories, ten of today’s top speculative fiction writers explore our morality, our built-in societal restraints, and reflect upon our state of grace. Similar is not necessarily the same. “CLONES: The Anthology” features stories from Amazon bestselling authors Rysa Walker (the CHRONOS series), R.D. Brady (the Belial series), Susan Kaye Quinn (the Singularity saga), Best American Science Fiction notable Samuel Peralta (Faith), and USA Today Bestselling and Multi-Award Winner P.K. Tyler, plus five more of today’s top authors in speculative and science fiction.“CLONES: The Anthology” is Book 1 of the 2 Book Frontiers of Speculative Fiction