Book picks similar to
Astronaut by Maria Dahvana Headley


short-stories
short-story
tor-shorts
historical-fiction

The Nearest


Greg Egan - 2018
    But it slowly becomes clear that something much darker may be at play, something that spreads out from the scene of the crime to corrode the closest relationships of everyone it touches.

I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream


Harlan Ellison - 1967
    It was first published in the March 1967 issue of IF: Worlds of Science Fiction.It won a Hugo Award in 1968. The name was also used for a short story collection of Ellison's work, featuring this story. It was recently reprinted by the Library of America, collected in volume two (Terror and the Uncanny, from the 1940s to Now) of American Fantastic Tales (2009).

Harrison Bergeron


Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - 1961
    Because of Amendments 211, 212, and 213 to the Constitution, every American is fully equal, meaning that no one is stupider, uglier, weaker, or slower than anyone else. The Handicapper General and a team of agents ensure that the laws of equality are enforced.One April, fourteen-year-old Harrison Bergeron is taken away from his parents, George and Hazel, by the government.

The Autobiography of a Traitor and a Half-Savage


Alix E. Harrow - 2016
    By tracing rivers in ink on paper, Oona pins the land down to one reality and betrays her people. Can she escape the bonds of gold and blood and bone that tie her to the Imperial American River Company?At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Weight of Memories


Liu Cixin - 2010
    From the author of The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death's End comes a story about unborn memories.With The Three-Body Problem, English-speaking listeners got their first chance to experience the multiple-award-winning and bestselling Three-Body Trilogy by China's most beloved science fiction author, Cixin Liu.The Weight of Memories is a Tor.com Original story.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Nine Last Days on Planet Earth


Daryl Gregory - 2018
    How much time do we have left, and do we even understand what timescale to use? As a slow apocalypse blooms across the Earth, planets and plants, animals and microbes, all live and die and evolve at different scales. Is one human life long enough to unravel the mystery?Nine Last Days on Planet Earth is a Tor.com Original from the award-winning science fiction author Daryl Gregory.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

There Will Come Soft Rains


Ray Bradbury - 1950
    First published in Collier's, May 6, 1950.The story concerns a household in Allendale, California, in the aftermath of a nuclear war.

First Impressions: A Firebird Ficlet


Claudia Gray - 2014
    Definite spoilers for the book!

If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again


Zen Cho - 2018
    For a long time, things don't go well. Then, it meets a girl. The B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog presents an original short story by Campbell Award-nominated author Zen Cho.

His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light


Mimi Mondal - 2019
    I am a trapeze master. An act of compassion puts a trapeze artist in India on a collision course with a terrifying supernatural power in His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light: a Tor.com Original from Dalit writer Mimi Mondal.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Impossible Dreams


Tim Pratt - 2006
    But there's something even more interesting than the remarkable movies: the woman working behind the counter.

Our King and His Court


Rich Larson - 2018
    "Our King and His Court" by Rich Larson is a futuristic story about a high-ranking soldier in a criminal gang who has conflicting loyalties to his monstrous boss and that boss’s innocent young son.

Sisters of the Vast Black


Lina Rather - 2019
    Now, the sisters of the Order of Saint Rita are on an interstellar mission of mercy aboard Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, a living, breathing ship which seems determined to develop a will of its own.When the order receives a distress call from a newly-formed colony, the sisters discover that the bodies and souls in their care—and that of the galactic diaspora—are in danger. And not from void beyond, but from the nascent Central Governance and the Church itself.

Summer Frost


Blake Crouch - 2019
    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.

Song for a Viking


K.J. Charles - 2015
    It is not a standalone. You will definitely get the most out of it if you remind yourself of Think of England’s last chapter before reading.