The Next Logical Step


Ben Bova - 1962
    But, logically, there would be times--

Qualify


Vera Nazarian - 2014
    You die, or you Qualify. The year is 2047. An extinction-level asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, and the descendents of ancient Atlantis have returned from the stars in their silver ships to offer humanity help.But there’s a catch.They can only take a tiny percent of the Earth’s population back to the colony planet Atlantis. And in order to be chosen, you must be a teen, you must be bright, talented, and athletic, and you must Qualify.Sixteen-year-old Gwenevere Lark is determined not only to Qualify but to rescue her entire family.Because there’s a loophole.If you are good enough to Qualify, you are eligible to compete in the brutal games of the Atlantis Grail, which grants all winners the laurels, high tech luxuries, and full privileges of Atlantis Citizenship. And if you are in the Top Ten, then all your wildest wishes are granted… Such as curing your mother’s cancer.There is only one problem.Gwen Lark is known as a klutz and a nerd. While she’s a hotshot in classics, history, science, and languages, the closest she’s come to sports is a backyard pool and a skateboard.This time she is in over her head, and in for a fight of her life, against impossible odds and world-class competition—including Logan Sangre, the most amazing guy in her class, the one she’s been crushing on, and who doesn’t seem to know she exists.Because every other teen on Earth has the same idea. You Qualify or you die. * * *EXCERPT!Now you can read Chapter One in its entirety (click here)!* * *

Death of a Spaceman


Walter M. Miller Jr. - 1954
    Take old man Donegal, for example. Most of his adult life was spent in digging a hole through space to learn what was on the other side. Would he go out the same way?Play Duration: 00:38:25 Down load file sizes[mp3@64kbps - 18.4MB][mp3@128kbps - 36.8MB]Public Domain stories from Project Gutenberg, that are read by volunteers. First published in Amazing Stories

At the Core


Larry Niven - 1966
    [A Beowulf Shaeffer Story] A human spaceship pilot accepts an offer to guide a cramped (but very fast) experimental alien ship to the center of the galaxy on a promotional stunt--but what he finds at the core is much more important than just publicity.

Year of the Big Thaw


Marion Zimmer Bradley - 1954
    Moore, and Leigh Brackett, especially when they wrote about "the glint of strange suns on worlds that never were and never would be." In this warm and fanciful story of a Connecticut farmer, Marion Zimmer Bradley has caught some of the glory that is man's love for man -- no matter who he is nor whence he's from. By heck, you'll like little Matt.

Bad Medicine


Robert Sheckley - 1956
    He didn't want to use the weapon, but feared he might anyhow. This was a justifiable assumption, for Caswell was a homicidal maniac.It was a gentle, misty spring day and the air held the smell of rain and blossoming-dogwood. Caswell gripped the revolver in his sweaty right hand and tried to think of a single valid reason why he should not kill a man named Magnessen, who, the other day, had commented on how well Caswell looked.What business was it of Magnessen's how he looked? Damned busybodies, always spoiling things for everybody....Caswell was a choleric little man with fierce red eyes, bulldog jowlsand ginger-red hair. He was the sort you would expect to find perchedon a detergent box, orating to a crowd of lunching businessmen andamused students, shouting, "Mars for the Martians, Venus for theVenusians!"But in truth, Caswell was uninterested in the deplorable social conditions of extraterrestrials. He was a jetbus conductor for the New York Rapid Transit Corporation. He minded his own business. And he was quite mad.Fortunately, he knew this at least part of the time, with at least half of his mind........

The World Set Free


H.G. Wells - 1914
    Wells was a genius and visionary, as demonstrated by many of his other works, but this book is clearly one of his best.He predicts nuclear warfare years before research began and describes the chain reactions involved and the resulting radiation. He describes a weapon of enormous destructive power, used from the air that would wipe out everything for miles, and actually used the term "atomic bombs."This book may have been at least part of the original inspiration for the development of atomic weapons, as well as presenting many other ideas that would ultimately come to pass. Some ideas may still be coming, including a one-world government referred to as The World Republic, that will attempt to end all wars.

The Change


Angela White - 2011
    Men have been enslaved for their own protection and the only way to get a mate is to enter the Network Games and fight for one. The catch? It's a live battle to the death and the competition is fierce. Who's ready to play? Are ya? Are ya really?

Keith Laumer: The Lighter Side


Keith Laumer - 2002
    Chester IV, who has inherited his great-grandfather's lifework--a super computer that can bring any situation or time to life; and Roger Tyson, who is being pursued through time by a motorcycle-riding, rutabaga-like alien in a world where eras millions of years apart have been combined into an insane smorgasbord of eons.Contains:In the QueueThe Planet WreckersThe Body BuildersThe Devil You Don'tThe Exterminator (aka "A Bad Day for Vermin") The Big ShowGooberealityPrototaphThe Great Time Machine Hoax

Armageddon 2419 A.D.


Philip Francis Nowlan - 1928
    Now it occurs to me that my memoirs of the 25th Century may have an equal interest 500 years from now—particularly in view of that unique perspective from which I have seen the 25th Century, entering it as I did, in one leap across a gap of 492 years. This statement requires elucidation. There are still many in the world who are not familiar with my unique experience. Five centuries from now there may be many more, especially if civilization is fated to endure any worse convulsions than those which have occurred between 1975 A.D. and the present time. I should state therefore, that I, Anthony Rogers, am, so far as I know, the only man alive whose normal span of eighty-one years of life has been spread over a period of 573 years. To be precise, I lived the first twenty-nine years of my life between 1898 and 1927; the other fifty-two since 2419. The gap between these two, a period of nearly five hundred years, I spent in a state of suspended animation, free from the ravages of katabolic processes, and without any apparent effect on my physical or mental faculties.

Fall to Earth


Ken Britz - 2017
    A super-soldier experiment. Will cutting-edge technology change the world or destroy it?Indiana Beckham’s lifelong goal has just been cut down. Banned from competing in Olympic fencing, she jumps at the chance to join a research project that could make her the best. But to unlock the promise of her unlimited potential, Indiana must endure a risky, life-altering transformation…Lieutenant Arthur MacGabran has a mission: advance humanity in a single generation. Eager to prove his neuro-technology, he ignores the dangers and recruits his first live test subject. But when Indiana’s enchanted abilities turn deadly, he’ll have to keep a shocking secret to fuel his twisted dream…As Indiana harnesses her super-skills, the project and its subjects teeter on the edge of termination.Will the fencer’s attempt to better herself end up destroying her instead?Fall to Earth is the first book in the action-packed Pillars of Fire and Light military sci-fi series. If you like high-stakes technology, intriguing characters, and super-human soldiers, then you’ll love Ken Britz’s thrilling novel.

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins


Randolph Lalonde - 2008
    He is employed by Freeground station as a port traffic controller, a job he took after completing a tour in the military. His only real joy in life is his participation in true-to-life military simulations with a cadre of friends who come together regularly to defeat challenges made to test the brightest military cadets and officers alike. These restricted scenarios stand as an addictive preoccupation that is so enticing that they ignore the potential repercussions of breaking in to participate. When someone betrays their identities to the Freeground Fleet Admiralty, Jonas and his friends are faced with a far greater challenge: to venture out into the more populated regions of the galaxy to acquire technology and knowledge. They are tasked with laying the groundwork for the Freeground Nation in their efforts to reconnect with the rest of humanity, and to secure the armaments they might need to defend themselves from encroaching enemies. Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins is a collected trilogy that chronicles the early adventures of an ambitious crew. Their leader, Jonas Valent, has the least to lose and everything to gain as he tells the tale of his first tour as Captain of a ship tasked with making allies and discovering new technologies for the good of his people. This simple mission becomes more complicated as the crew ventures further into the settled fringes of the galaxy. This trilogy spawned the best selling Spinward Fringe eBook series. This is where it all began, when one man was challenged to aspire for more than an idle life. A Space Opera Adventure enjoyed across the globe by all ages.

Awakening


Jeremy Laszlo - 2013
    But he never came back. With supplies running out and vital life support systems failing, Jack, Samantha, and Will have no choice but to ignore their father’s warnings and leave the vault. With no knowledge of what befell the world outside, or what they might expect once the door is opened, they find themselves in a world they do not recognize. Thrust into the remains of the world they remember, how will they survive on their own, not knowing what or who else remains amongst the ruins?

Empire


Michael R. Hicks - 2009
    Nightmarish female warriors with blue skin, fangs, and razor sharp talons, the Kreelans have technology that is millennia beyond that of the Confederation, yet they seek out close combat with sword and claw, fighting and dying to honor their god-like Empress. Captured and enslaved, Reza must live like his enemies in a grand experiment to see if humans have souls, and if one may be the key to unlocking an ages old curse upon the Kreelan race. Enduring the brutal conditions of Kreelan life, Reza and a young warrior named Esah-Zhurah find themselves bound together by fate and a prophecy foretold millennia before they were born.

Steamborn


Eric R. Asher - 2015
    These towering barriers keep the Deadlands creatures at bay, but the monsters move higher into the peaks every year. More and more, they breach the defenses of the Lowlands while the Highlands rest easy. A swarm overruns the walls and wreaks utter devastation on the Lowlands. Charles, the old tinker, suspects the attack may not be natural. With help from Jacob's closest friend, Alice, and Samuel, one of the city's elite spider knights, Jacob and Charles will uncover a terrible darkness at the heart of their city.