Death Drop


Sean Allen - 2011
    But the cost of Dezmara Strykar’s operation has forced her to win each smuggling run she enters. Now every smuggler is gunning for her top position, and her rare black Zebulon star freighter makes her an easily recognizable target. But dodging jealous smugglers, safeguarding her Human identity and solving the mystery surrounding who she is will become harder than she ever imagined. A mysterious creature in a black Zebulon star freighter has murdered a freedom fighter and has stolen the only weapon that can save countless worlds from an unspeakable evil. Dezmara’s next run will turn into much more than just cover to search for Humans. Dezmara Strykar just became the most wanted murder suspect in the universe. Now she is going to have to run for her life.

First Steps


Chris Hechtl - 2010
    They and several heroes of future space flight take on and do the impossible, build a program to explore and settle the red planet in a very short time period. Along the way they dig up old and invent new technology to overcome the many problems facing them. Mario and his wife are forced to take his brother's place when he is viciously attacked moments before launch. The team must overcome many problems, weather, radiation, and politics to get the colony started. Along the way they must divert an asteroid which has some far reaching consequences. Mankind will never be the same after the Mario brothers come on the scene!

Equations of Life


Simon Morden - 2011
    Dick AwardSamuil Petrovitch is a survivor.He survived the nuclear fallout in St. Petersburg and hid in the London Metrozone – the last city in England. He’s lived this long because he’s a man of rules and logic.For example, getting involved = a bad idea.But when he stumbles into a kidnapping in progress, he acts without even thinking. Before he can stop himself, he’s saved the daughter of the most dangerous man in London.And clearly saving the girl = getting involved.Now, the equation of Petrovitch’s life is looking increasingly complex.Russian mobsters + Yakuza + something called the New Machine Jihad = one dead Petrovitch.But Petrovitch has a plan – he always has a plan – he’s just not sure it’s a good one.

Venom


Christian Cantrell - 2011
    Gabriel Kane goes from a struggling architect to one of the most powerful men in the world; Armonía Solorsano -- a young Hispanic girl who grew up in a dilapidated suburban McMansion-turned-tenement -- invents one of the most important and influential pieces of technology in history; a non-profit organization goes from a charity to a decentralized domestic terrorist group; and the greatest democracy in the world finds itself falling into the ever-tightening grip of a dictator.As five people come together with the shared goal of changing the world, they discover that their approaches are fundamentally and irreconcilably at odds. Their partnership becomes a bitter political and high-tech rivalry from which only one of them can emerge.This novella by Christian Cantrell (about 16,000 words) portrays an intersection of politics and technology which is both extremely relevant, and frighteningly feasible.

The Nex


Tim Pratt - 2010
    Teenager Miranda Candle finds a mysterious necklace and is suddenly transported to The Nex, the bizarre city at the center of all possible universes, where she falls in with a pair of would-be revolutionaries-the skinshifter Howlaa and the bodiless Wisp-fighting the oppressive regime of the city-state's Regent and his army of steam colossi, cynical cyborgs, and the depraved royal orphans. This is a classic story filled with new twists. Featured in this volume are two related bonus stories, "Dream Engine" and "We Go Back."

In the Black


Patrick S. Tomlinson - 2020
    Captain Susan Kamala and her crew are dispatched to figure out what's going on and solve the problem. That problem, however, is a mysterious, bleeding edge alien ship that no human vessel could hope to match in open conflict. But, it's not spoiling for a fight. Now, the Captain and her crew must figure out how to navigate a complicated game of diplomacy, balancing the needs of their corporate overlords and the honest desire for a lasting peace between the two races, all without letting a longstanding cold war turn hot."

Galaxy's Edge, Part III


Jason Anspach - 2018
    But the galaxy is spiraling into all-out war.Captain Chhun's Dark Ops squad is reunited with Wraith. When their mission to deny Goth Sulluss the shipyards he so eagerly desires goes awry, Chhun and Wraith must find a way to stop the Black Fleet's advance - even if it costs them their lives.Meanwhile, an old friend from Nether Ops executes a covert operation that will turn the focus of the Last War of the Republic in a terrible new direction.Following Goth Sullus's ruthless onslaughts against the Republic, a desperate House of Reason searches for scapegoats - and finds one, deserving or not, in Commander Ellek Owens. His sentence is cruel, unjust - and final. Unless Victory Squad has anything to say about it.In the Umnar system, the soulless menace known as the Cybar seeks to break Prisma Maydoon - and to set the stage for the total annihilation of not only the Republic, but all life in the galaxy.

The Pawn in the Portal


Nick Cole - 2016
    Ward, a tier-one operator turned mercenary, has just flung himself off the cargo deck of a doomed C-130. Now he’s out of the Drop Zone and evading the undead as a terrible new breed of hunter enters the Wyrd. But these new, faster predators might not be the only thing to fear in an apocalypse beset by zombies, nukes and killer A.I.’s. One of the last warriors of a collapsed government is planning on putting up some big numbers in this final, ultimate game of Survivor, until he finds a mysterious new companion... a stranger dressed in black.

Radio Freefall


Matthew Jarpe - 2007
    Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress but with a healthy dose of cyberpunk: Radio Freefall is about a plot to take over the Earth by power-mad, sociopathic computer-geek billionaire, Walter Cheeseman. It's up to a strange cast of rock stars and oddballs to stop him. Aqualung, a mysterious blues musician who also has superhuman tech skills, might be the catalyst for the resistance--or he might just be the pawn of artificial intelligences. To thwart the takeover, the orbitals and the moon colonies secede from Earth. And then something like the Singularity happens, but no one is quite sure. This is a novel of cyberpunk and rock and roll, of technology, artificial intelligence, and wild riffs off of Heinlein all mixed into an explosive debut. Matthew Jarpe launches his SF career with a bang!

Change Agent


Daniel Suarez - 2017
    . . .    In 2045 Kenneth Durand leads Interpol’s most effective team against genetic crime, hunting down black market labs that perform "vanity edits" on human embryos for a price. These illegal procedures augment embryos in ways that are rapidly accelerating human evolution—preying on human-trafficking victims to experiment and advance their technology.   With the worlds of genetic crime and human trafficking converging, Durand and his fellow Interpol agents discover that one figure looms behind it all: Marcus Demang Wyckes, leader of a powerful and sophisticated cartel known as the Huli jing.   But the Huli jing have identified Durand, too. After being forcibly dosed with a radical new change agent, Durand wakes from a coma weeks later to find he’s been genetically transformed into someone else—his most wanted suspect: Wyckes.   Now a fugitive, pursued through the genetic underworld by his former colleagues and the police, Durand is determined to restore his original DNA by locating the source of the mysterious—and highly valuable—change agent. But Durand hasn’t anticipated just how difficult locating his enemy will be. With the technology to genetically edit the living, Wyckes and his Huli jing could be anyone and everyone—and they have plans to undermine identity itself.

Tumbler


Brand Gamblin - 2009
    However, her escape turned into a trap, leaving her stuck in indentured servitude, living on a tiny rock in space. As she tries to dig herself out, she gains friends and finds adventure.

Hegemony


Mark Kalina - 2012
    The Hegemony's vast warships dominate the skies over a hundred worlds, protecting its subjects and enforcing its will. The interceptor pilots of the Hegemonic Fleet are the cutting edge of the Hegemony's military might, the tip of the spear. In a split second, they can decide the outcome of a battle that can affect the fates of whole star systems. The life expectancy of an interceptor pilot is measured in minutes. It's debatable if they're still human. It's debatable if they're even alive to begin with. Alekzandra Neel has attained what she sought; a place among the stars, a chance to be an interceptor pilot of the Hegemonic Fleet. She doesn't expect it to be safe or easy. But as war clouds gather and billions look to the skies with nervous fear, she has no idea what the real cost could be.

Short Story Collections by Stanislaw Lem: The Cyberiad, Tales of Pirx the Pilot, the Star Diaries


Books LLC - 2010
    Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 20. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Cyberiad (Polish: ) is a series of short stories by Stanisaw Lem. The Polish version was first published in 1967, with an English translation appearing in 1974. The main protagonists of the series are Trurl and Klapaucius, the "constructors." The vast majority of characters are either robots, or intelligent machines. The stories focus on problems of the individual and society, as well as on the vain search for human happiness through technological means. Two of these stories were included in the book The Mind's I. Trurl and Klapaucius are brilliant (robotic) engineers, called "constructors" (because they can construct practically anything at will), capable of almost God-like exploits. For instance, on one occasion Trurl creates an entity capable of extracting accurate information from the random motion of gas particles, which he calls a "Demon of the Second Kind." He describes the "Demon of the First Kind" as a Maxwell's demon. On another, the two constructors re-arrange stars near their home planet in order to advertise. The duo are best friends and rivals. When they are not busy constructing revolutionary mechanisms at home, they travel the universe, aiding those in need. Although the characters are firmly established as good and righteous, they take no shame in accepting handsome rewards for their services. If rewards were promised and not delivered, the constructors may even severely punish those who deceived them. The universe of The Cyberiad is pseudo-Medieval. There are kingdoms, knights, princesses, and even dragons in abundance. Robots are usually anthropomorphic, to the point of being divided into sexes. Love and marriage are possibl...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=59380

Brothers


Ben Bova - 1995
    Essef - When genetic research yields the hope of immortality, two brothers, both doctors, find themselves on opposite sides of the controversy, and they must bridge the gap that divides them on an issue that could mean nothing less than life or death for millions.

Hardwired


Walter Jon Williams - 1986
    According to Locus, Hardwired is Walter Jon Williams's "best book to date".Ex-fighter pilot Cowboy, "hardwired" via skull sockets directly to his lethal electronic hardware, teams up with Sarah, an equally cyborized gun-for-hire, to make a last stab at independence from the rapacious Orbitals.