Book picks similar to
Scanners and Others: Three Science Fiction Stories by Cordwainer Smith
science-fiction-fantasy
soon
speculative-fiction
short-stories-collection
Beyond Kuiper: The Galactic Star Alliance
Matthew Medney - 2020
There is no question on sentience. The galaxy is alive, filled with life, the only issue, us humans aren’t invited. The Galactic Star Alliance awaits your exploration. We acknowledge the vastness of time, the cyclical nature of civilization; and the obscurity of our own history. When we began debating “why hasn’t sentient life has been found in our galaxy?” All those years back, we were among the era of exoplanets. Every week it seemed NASA would announce a new outpouring of worlds, all vastly beyond reach, but each recalculating the likelihood of potential Earths. But to us, the numbers seemed staggering, compelling, surely there are others. So if our galaxy is full of sentient life, we thought of a simple, logical reason why no one has said hello: no one wants to. Stepping back and casting an objective eye on ourselves, it seems painfully obvious that humans lack a fundamental respect for their planet and each other. They possess extremely short memories and long grudges, and the idea of giving them the motivation or tools to hasten their expansion seems downright foolhardy. That being said, who are these judges?From that simple notion birthed a million questions; How is faster than light possible? Could you have cohesive interstellar civilizations without it? How could you even govern a coalition of not different countries, but of species? Each question only created another, and each answer built our world piece by piece until it spanned thousands of answers and millions of lightyears. As for the title, from where would our judges watch us?- Matthew is the CEO of Heavy Metal Entertainment that encompasses Heavy Metal Magazine & all other media ventures. As well, Matthew has been an Adjunct Professor at NYU, teaching classes on IP Creation and Digital marketing strategy and John is an aerospace engineer for Lockheed Martin who performs mechanical design for NASA deep space missions. with 3 satellites using his designs currently orbiting our planet.All science in the book is accurate and the theoretical science is backed up by science theory. No assertions in these works is fanatical.
Grendel
Larry Niven - 1968
[A Beowulf Shaeffer Story] Itinerant space pilot and epic hero Beowulf Shaeffer finds himself in the midst of an interstellar scandal when an alien sculpture artist is kidnapped from his passenger starship.
Ripples in the Dirac Sea
Geoffrey A. Landis - 1988
Quite a number of disparate threads wove into the final narrative. One important thread was my feeling that a story involving time travel should have a nonlinear narrative to reflect the discontinuous way the characters experience time. I also wanted to see if it was possible to write a story in which real physics is presented. Very little of modern SF goes beyond the early quantum mechanics of Heisenberg and Schrodinger, work which is admittedly remarkable and beautiful, but by no means the end of the story. Here I tried to invoke some of the strangeness and beauty— I might even say sense of wonder—of the physics of Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac. In 'Ripples' I decided to explore the inconsistency between Dirac's relativistic quantum mechanics and the mathematics of infinity developed by Cantor and others (as far as I can tell, a quite real inconsistency). The Dirac sea is also real, not an invention of mine— despite the very science-fictional feel of an infinitely dense sea of negative energy that surrounds and permeates us."
My Brother's Keeper
Charles Sheffield - 1980
His twin brother, Leo Foss, was a researcher in government work that he couldn't talk about. Then the helicopter they were flying crashed.When he woke up, Lionel learned that both he and Leo had sustained fatal injuries, and he was only alive because the surgeon had used organs from Leo to repair Lionel's slightly less damaged body. More than half of Lionel's brain was gone, and had been replaced with Leo's. Lionel, in fact, had become "His Brother's Keeper!"
The Tenth Planet
Dean Wesley Smith - 1999
Mankind has just discovered that a tenth planet exists in the solar system. And soon it will also discover that the planet's hibernating inhabitants emerge every 800 years to harvest a new supply of food from Earth.
The Methuselah Treatment
T.C. Powell - 2015
Not everyone can. Who decides? Desperate to save his daughter from a mysterious sickness, Daniel applies for the Methuselah Treatment. If she gets it, his daughter won’t just recover, she’ll live forever. But the drug is tightly controlled, and only the special, the talented, and the truly deserving ever receive it. There is nothing special about Daniel’s destitute ten- year-old girl—or is there?
The Narrow Land
Jack Vance - 1967
Contains the stories:"The Narrow Land""The Masqerade on Dicantropus""Where Hesperus Falls""The World-Thinker""Green Magic""The Ten Books""Chateau D'If" (aka "New Bodies for Old")
Thermals (Anselm Gunnar)
Evan Currie - 2011
At the Australian Solar Power facility that Tower City is built around, however, the inspector is about to learn that the man everyone thinks is hiding from the law is actually doing anything but.Thermals is a fast paced near future terrorism thriller that will keep you flipping the pages as fast as your reader, and your eyes, will allow. From the start it builds to a rising crescendo that will leave you breathless and cheering.
Engines of Empathy
Paul Mannering - 2014
Apart from her homicidal toaster, dead parents, and general ennui. Well, maybe not that happy. Either way, now that she’s on the run from a shadowy corporation, seeking the secrets of her own family history and tolerating the inanities of a retired god, things are looking a bit more interesting. -- “A hint of Adams, a dollop of Pratchett, all delivered with a mischievous smile for an intriguing tale that is great fun … A wonderfully humorous tale that keeps you smiling and intrigued to the very end.” - Te Radar “Ever wondered what life would be like if all our machines were powered not by electricity or petrol, but by emotions? Neither had I. But now, thanks to Paul Mannering, I can't stop wondering. "Clever, satirical and more than a little weird, Engines of Empathy introduces one of the strangest worlds I've encountered in New Zealand fiction - a world that, much like our own, is haunted by the moral consequences of an energy-intensive industrial revolution. From sulking toasters, depressed computers and a passive aggressive fridge to quantum religions and corporate conspiracies, Engines of Empathy is a crazy ride.” - Dylan Horrocks “Engines of Empathy is charming, clever, funny, and a rollicking good read. Charlotte Pudding is a heroine sensible and capable enough to tackle an abundance of eccentric characters, shady conspiracies, neurotic machines, attack-sarcasm, and a religion based on quantum mechanics. If Douglas Adams had been forced to undergo relationship counselling with his toaster, this is the book that would have resulted.” - Debbie Cowens, author of Mansfield with Monsters
The Wrong Stars
Tim Pratt - 2017
or awaken an ancient evil and destroy all life in the galaxy.The shady crew of the White Raven run freight and salvage at the fringes of our solar system. They discover the wreck of a centuries-old exploration vessel floating light years away from its intended destination and revive its sole occupant, who wakes with news of First Alien Contact. When the crew break it to her that humanity has alien allies already, she reveals that these are very different extra-terrestrials... and the gifts they bestowed on her could kill all humanity, or take it out to the most distant stars. File Under: Science Fiction
Collision
J.S. Breukelaar - 2019
Breukelaar's darkest, finest stories with four new works, including the uncanny new novella "Ripples on a Blank Shore." Introduction by award-winning author, Angela Slatter. Relish the gothic strangeness of "Union Falls," the alien horror of "Rogues Bay 3013," the heartbreaking dystopia of "Glow," the weird mythos of "Ava Rune," and others. This collection from the author of American Monster and the internationally acclaimed and Aurealis Award finalist, Aletheia, announces a new and powerful voice in fantastical fiction.
The Last Defender of Camelot
Roger Zelazny - 2002
One of the most acclaimed writers in the field, Zelazny's rare ability to mix fantastical dream imagery with the real-life hardware of science fiction has won him more than a score of Hugo and Nebula nominations. He creates characters who live to haunt the reader beyond the page and who inhabit worlds both enchanting and disturbing--dazzling and memorable.7 • Introduction (The Last Defender of Camelot) • essay by Robert Siverberg11 • Comes Now the Power • (1966) • short story by Roger Zelazny18 • For a Breath I Tarry • (1966) • novelette by Roger Zelazny65 • The Engine at Heartspring's Center • (1974) • short story by Roger Zelazny76 • Halfjack • (1979) • short story by Roger Zelazny83 • Home is the Hangman • [Nemo] • (1975) • novella by Roger Zelazny165 • Permafrost • (1986) • novelette by Roger Zelazny195 • LOKI 7281 • (1984) • short story by Roger Zelazny204 • Mana from Heaven • [Magic Goes Away] • (1983) • novelette by Roger Zelazny250 • 24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai • [Cthulhu Mythos] • (1985) • novella by Roger Zelazny329 • Come Back to the Killing Ground, Alice, My Love • [Kalifriki] • (1992) • novella by Roger Zelazny388 • The Last Defender of Camelot • (1979) • novelette by Roger Zelazny
Set Ablaze
Teyla Branton - 2016
. . Tie-in to the series that shows where Ritter was those two missing months after The Change. In and out. Do the job. Renegade Blaze Vincent has survived years with this motto. Barely. Plucked from death’s door and revived repeatedly with curequick, he’s developed an addiction that threatens to destroy everything he’s worked for. Now the Emporium is buying fields around a tiny Portuguese town, and mortals—Blaze’s countrymen—are dying. Blaze and his partner, Kenna Murray, are determined to unravel their enemies’ intentions before the entire town is lost. But things tend to explode when Blaze is around. Literally. And to save his people, he must be willing to take yet one more step over the edge. Please Note: Set Ablaze is not as long as the books from Erin's viewpoint. This tie-in to the series can be enjoyed at any time. However, between The Change (Unbounded Book 1) and The Cure (Unbounded Book 2), Renegade Ritter Langton disappears for two months. Set Ablaze fits between those books in the Unbounded timeline, giving us a glimpse into what Ritter was doing. Keep in mind this novella ISN'T ABOUT RITTER, but tells the story of someone very close to him. Because readers are not made aware of Ritter’s whereabouts until nearly the end of The Cure, readers may better appreciate Set Ablaze after reading the first two books. If you’ve enjoyed the Unbounded series, you will love this extra peek into Ritter’s family. Praise for the UNBOUNDED series: “Excellent and well written!” “I recommend reading the entire series” “Thoroughly enjoyable” “High action and adventure” “Teyla Branton belongs right alongside Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison, Ilona Andrews, Jennifer Estep, and Kelly Armstrong.”
The First & Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (Thomas Covenant, #1-6)
Stephen R. Donaldson