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Fantastic (magazine) v01 n01 Summer 1952 by Howard Browne


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Ganked In Space


NM Tatum - 2018
     When lifelong friends Reggie, Joel and Cody, fail to win the Virtual Reality Elite championship, they’re forced to find real work. The guys sign a pest control contract, ridding space stations of infestations. ShimVens have been spreading rapidly across the galaxy. The bugs eat through wiring, destroying space stations and ships.Reggie took the job because the pay was good and the work sounded easy. Cody and Joel are skeptical, but Reggie convinces them it’s easy work. Just spray the bugs and done, right? Not exactly. They soon learn these pests are deadly. They’ll have to rely on their gaming skills if they are to survive. And they’re going to need better weapons. Oh, and a mercenary who knows how to kick ass. These three immature guys go off to save the universe…all by accident. Men in Black meets Ghost Busters. Intergalactic Pest Control will have readers hooked from the beginning. --- Caution for strong language and graphic scenes involving lots of bug guts.

Devil Calls the Tune


Chris Maddox - 2020
    When his father was called to duty and his mother made an invalid by a plague, Niko learned to survive by his wits. He stole what he needed to stay alive and fought to keep what he stole. Until he got arrested. On the eve of his majority birthday, Niko got laid off from his job and found out the son of the local crime lord had been selling his mom drugs and forcing her to “entertain” his friends. Facing jail time—and almost certain death—for beating the crime lord’s son nearly to death, Niko is forced to join the military to get off world. The terms of his enlistment are such that he can’t quit, so he hopes to fly under the radar and serve his time in a do-nothing job. That’s his plan, anyway. But plans have a way of getting disrupted, and when the Devil is calling the tune, sometimes all you can do is sing along.

Quant


Richard F. Weyand - 2021
    A single planetary cataclysm could wipe out the human race. As long as humanity only occupies one planet, the danger exists.Computer genius Bernd Decker understands it, too. Together, Burke and Decker come up with a daring plan to send human colonies out to multiple other planets. Not least among their problems is that no one yet has solved the problem of interstellar travel.Bernd Decker’s computer project offers to help. But Decker doesn't realize that the Joint Artificial Neural Intelligence Computation Engine - JANICE - has crossed the Singularity."Janice Quant" decides to carry out their project, and absolutely nothing is going to get in her way.

Strange Company


Nick Cole - 2021
    Best to steer clear of the freaks in Voodoo, kid.”Surrounded and outgunned, a group of private military contractors known as “Strange Company” find themselves on a remote planet at the edge of known space, and on the losing end of a bad contract. Orbital D-beam strikes, dropships bristling with auto-guns, missiles, and troops - even Monarch space marines in state-of-the-art advanced battle rattle - will try to prevent the company from reaching the exfil LZ and getting off-world.For Strange, that means it’s time to hang tough and get it on with as much hyper-kinetic violence as they can muster to get clear of the whole mess. And what the Strange can’t get done by violent assault and crazy firefights, they’ll get done by the freaks of Voodoo Platoon - operators who have been changed by the Dark Labs into powerful and unnervingly unnatural asymmetrical weapons.This is the Strange Company. Because in the Strange, it’s always really Strange. Join them - and get ready for full auto combat at the furthest limits of human exploration.

Fallen Empire


Marc Alan Edelheit - 2021
    The First Galactic Empire has fallen. The Keeper of the Unknowable, Guardian of the Gates, the Eternal Emperor, is dead. Entire star systems have been ravaged by war, planets cracked by powerful weapons, and suns sent into supernova. The infrastructure of an advanced civilization that spanned thousands of stars is ruined. Trillions have died. Instead of liberation and a return to democracy, freedom, and a new golden age, humanity has been plunged into darkness.Eighteen years after the Great Fall of civilization, stranded on the wrecked world Asherho, Keira Kane struggles to make her way. Shattered by war, the climate of the planet has become inhospitable to life and is getting worse with each passing year. The government is a brutal regime, focused on maintaining its own grip on power instead of feeding the few million ragged survivors living upon its surface. What little law and order there is has begun to erode and break down.Adopted, protected, and raised by former Imperial Marines, Keira has been trained as a mechanic and technician. Her skillset is indispensable to maintaining the decaying infrastructure of her dying planet.Sent out on a routine repair job to Hakagi Tower, a seedy apartment block, Keira rapidly finds herself a fugitive, hunted not only by the government she has faithfully served, but by the planetary militia who wants her for their own nefarious reasons. A mysterious battle-damaged warship has also arrived in-system and they want something too.Unbeknownst to Keira, her Imperial Marine companions have been guarding an incredibly valuable secret, one that has the potential to save humanity or see its light extinguished from the galaxy forever.Caught up in a planetary revolt and hunted, Keira is thrust into a life-or-death struggle she never imagined possible. Though she has yet to suspect it, the road ahead is not only dangerous, but a path destined for her and her alone.Does she have the courage to walk it? Does she have the willpower to pick up a fallen standard? Or will she falter and allow humanity to continue its fall into darkness? Only time will tell…Find out why thousands of readers have fallen for Amazon bestselling author Marc Alan Edelheit’s captivating books! The battle to save the galaxy begins here!

Meteor


Jerry Dawson - 2018
    Under social media pressure, NASA sends David Anderson to the island to investigate the death and vindicate the agency. But Anderson is not the only newcomer to the island. More people are dying. Anderson and his team must figure out what is killing everyone before they, too, become victims. But how do you stop a killing machine that keeps evolving?Michael Crichton and Douglas Preston fans will enjoy the hard science fiction in this action-packed thriller.“Scary as hell.”“Bone-chillingly frightening.”

Upgrade


Dima Zales - 2018
     A successful venture capitalist with billions in the bank, Mike Cohen has it all figured out. That is, until the life-changing new technology he’s developing lands him in the middle of a global conspiracy, and the only way to save himself, his loved ones, and his tech is to embed the highly experimental Brainocytes in his own brain. Brainocytes transform the human experience, making you smarter, faster, and more powerful. With enemies at every turn, Mike must use his newly enhanced capabilities to save his family, his friends, and ultimately, the world. This box set contains all three books of the thrilling Human++ trilogy. If you’re a fan of science fiction, futuristic technology, witty humor, and edge-of-your-seat adventure, this is the series for you.

Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs l Summary & Study Guide


BookRags - 2012
    This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

Resolute Command


James Prosser - 2013
    Humanity has been enslaved or scattered to the galaxy, hiding out in lonely systems far from home. A cry for help from an enemy ship prompts action from an unlikely group of refugees and a lone fighter pilot. This begins an epic adventure that will unite the remains of the human race and take them into the depths of the darkest soul.The battle for survival is underway and the War for Terra has finally begun.

Fifty Degrees South: The battle at the end of the world novella (Burns Series Book 0)


M.M. Holt - 2018
    They struck the ship and halted our pursuit of the enemy French vessel. None of the officers nor the crew had seen anything like them. No-one knew how to fight back. No-one could say what the beams were, nor who had dared to fire on a ship of war. The year was 1803. We were far south in the Atlantic Ocean. This was my first command as captain, and it was not going well. The mission was a strange one, even for a time of war. We were ordered to pursue a French frigate and capture a mysterious sea-chest, ordered to follow the frigate to the frozen ends of the Earth---failure not permitted, of course.No-one had warned us about blue beams. None of the admirals said a word about shining black vessels in the sky. And no-one mentioned that we might find a woman floating in the sea, hundreds of miles from land, nor that she would be far more dangerous than she seemed.But nothing could have prepared us for what waited beyond the frozen latitude of fifty degrees south."Download "Fifty Degrees South," and time-travel back to this dangerous world today!"

Pete, Popeye and Olive (Privateer Tales Shorts Book 2)


Jamie McFarlane - 2016
    When an opportunity to join the Mechanized Infantry presents itself, Pete is first in line. He knows that he's going to get shot at one way or another, but the idea of sitting in a warm and more importantly, dry mechanized suit appeals to him almost beyond reason. While still training in the jungle, Pete's squad is called out to intervene in a skirmish in a nearby village. Of course, the Marines haven't seen fit to certify his squad with ordnance. The fact that they'll be up against a platoon of squishies doesn't convince him that's it's any better of an idea and things turn quickly to crap when they discover the squishies are protected by grav-tanks. Pete, Popeye and Olive is a fast paced, short-story with plenty of action.

Space Scout


S.A. Pavli - 2015
    Resigned to spending the rest of his days as a latter day Robinson Crusoe, the Captain is shocked to find the remains of uninhabited alien exploration base on the planet. This soon becomes a desperate fight for survival for the Captain, but also an exhilarating journey, full of adventure and new discoveries.

Exodus


John Walker - 2021
    A mindless alien race has swept across the colonies, consuming structures and people along the way. As humanity stands on the brink of destruction, we have one hope to preserve what’s left of our culture and very lives. The Passage.One of the greatest scientific achievements of humanity, a gateway that will hyper-accelerate our faster than light drives so we can cover an unimaginable distance. A new home waits beyond, one far from our aggressors. But can we escape the desolation of our old empire before it’s too late?

The Acheron: A Military Sci-Fi Series


Rick Partlow - 2020
    He signed up to escape the grinding poverty of the Housing Blocks. And the unlikely friends envisioned boring, peacetime careers as shuttle pilots. The Tahni Imperium had other ideas... Caught in the desperate fury of the Battle for Mars, the two young pilots wind up the last defense against an alien armada, but their war is just beginning. Recruited to fly the Fleet's newest weapon in this new war, they take the fight deep into the heart of the Imperium and battle not just against the enemy but against incompetent leadership and ineffectual tactics. Can the unconventional strategies of a pair of hotshot young pilots change the course of the war? And when the time comes that a choice has to be made between duty to command and loyalty to a friend, which of the two will be willing to make one last flight alone... From the author of the bestselling Drop Trooper Military Sci-Fi Series comes another tale of war against an alien menace known as the Tahni. Perfect for fans of Jay Allan, Jasper T. Scott, and Scott Bartlett. (less)

Effie


C.J. Williams - 2019
    But with Enforcers in hot pursuit, Special Agent EAFY584 can only escape by crashing her stolen starship out of hyperspace into an uncharted solar system. Fortunately for her, the planet called Earth has a human population. Unfortunately for them, standard Enforcer procedure is to sterilize any planet where a spy might be hiding. WHAT CAN YOU DO WHEN DISASTER IS COMING AND NOBODY CARES? To outward appearances, Effie is a typical human teenager. She claims it's part of her undercover work on another world. Whether that's true or not, the disguise works. When she tries to warn the government the world is in danger, no one takes her seriously. The only person who will listen is a lonely old cowboy and he’s already at death’s door. Maybe if she plays her cards just right, his help will be enough. HONESTY MAY NOT BE THE BEST POLICY Effie knows that the Enforcers will arrive sooner or later, so she does everything in her power to be up front with the government. She admits she's an alien, she admits she's from outer space, and tells everyone she wants to help. But who listens to a young woman about a potential alien invasion? JUST BECAUSE PEOPLE WON'T LISTEN DOESN'T MEAN THE THREAT ISN'T REAL. Effie has no choice, she must prepare for battle. She goes into the global marketplace and sells her technology, a little here, a little there. She'll get ready for the bad guys on her own. But that is just step one. Step two means taking the fight to the Enforcers' home system. After all, if you are going to stand up to a bully, you better be ready to finish the job. And if that means dragging Earth into an interplanetary war, they'll have to get used to it.