Book picks similar to
Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 16 by Terry Carr
fantasy
science-fiction
no
short-stories
UMO
K. Patrick Donoghue - 2018
He is joined by flight engineer, Captain Nick Reed, and mission specialist, Dr. Christine Baker. Together they embark on a dangerous journey aboard the spaceship Cetus Prime - dangerous because they know what awaits them around Mars. UMO’s, or unidentified magnetic objects.UMO’s are believed to be an electromagnetic life form feeding on ions caught between Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere. The elusive creatures appear as nothing more than small bright lights, but they are capable of supersonic speeds and non-ballistic motion. Space exploration authorities have, at various times, provided benign explanations for these bright lights; melting frost shed by spacecraft caught in sunlight, solar wind particles or flaming meteors bouncing off the Earth’s atmosphere, to name a few. Anything but an alien life form.Disavowed for decades, the UMO’s had been viewed as harmless, amoeba-like blobs that existed only around Earth, as none had ever been observed by deep space probes to other planets in the solar system. But that perception changed with the final photographs snapped by one of the doomed Mars probes. The pictures showed a swarm of UMO’s descending upon the probe in the moments before communication was lost. Instrument readings from the same probe showed huge spikes in electromagnetic radiation in its last transmission.No one knows for sure what happened to the Mars probes, but authorities speculate the UMO’s destroyed them. Now, Avery, Nick and Christine must travel sixty-five million miles to Mars and gather evidence to confirm what destroyed the probes without attracting a swarm of the lethal creatures. For if a swarm of the UMO’s appears, Cetus Prime is ill-prepared for fight and too slow to escape.UMO, a novella, is the first installment of The Rorschach Explorer Missions, a new sci-fi thriller series from mystery-thriller author K. Patrick Donoghue. UMO is also the prequel to the full-length novel, Skywave, which is targeted for release in late November 2018. The Prologue from Skywave is included as a free bonus chapter in UMO.
The Super Olympian: Bloodhound (Shapechanger Tales)
Laer Carroll - 2012
And she has strange powers. What can feed her challenge-addiction now? Fighting crime? There is plenty of it.
The Anything Box
Zenna Henderson - 1956
The Grunder, a thing of horror which, if defeated, restores love... The Noise-Eater, created by a child out of his fevered imagination, gobbles up anything--or anyone--that makes a sound... The Coveti, residents of an alien world poisoned by the intrusion of the stranger from Earth... The Beast Hill, an ordinary mound of earth, except that its grass resembles fur, and--doesn't it move?
Red Spikes
Margo Lanagan - 2006
They are stories of yearning for more, and learning to live with what you have. Stories that show the imprint love leaves on us all.If you think you don't like short fiction, that a story can't have the depth or impact of a novel, then you haven't read Margo Lanagan. A writer this startling and this original doesn't come along very often. So for anyone who likes to be surprised, touched, unsettled, intrigued, or scared senseless, prepare to be dazzled by what a master storyteller can do in a few short pages.
Man in His Time: The Best Science Fiction Stories of Brian W. Aldiss
Brian W. Aldiss - 1984
Spanning more than 30 years of Aldiss's career and encompassing a remarkable range of ideas, moods, and styles, Man in His Time is a generous collection of this writer's finest work.
The Green Hills of Earth / Gentlemen be Seated
Robert A. Heinlein - 1948
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.
The Braintrust: A Harmony of Enemies
Marc Stiegler - 2017
With its growing fleet of cruise liners anchored far off the coast of San Francisco, it has become the source of many of Earth's innovations.
Innovations that threaten the dogmas of every power bloc in the world.
As the BrainTrust's uneasy peace with the Reds, Greens and Blues unravels, the brilliant young researcher Dr. Dash arrives with plans to take the first step toward a cure for aging. Crisis follows on her heels: the man who most needs Dash's therapy is the American President for Life. His Chief Advisor will stop at nothing to grab the cure and the young scientist herself.
Dash soon finds her fate inextricably bound with the fate of the BrainTrust itself.
The BrainTrust has no Army, no Navy, no Air Force. Their ships have neither weapons nor armor. Yet a key question remains: can a society that has earned the name BrainTrust ever be truly defenseless?
Now a 2017 Prometheus Award Nominee!
If you like Heinlein's "Moon is a Harsh Mistress", or Vinge's "Peace War", or if you simply want to explore the consequences of a future based on today's radicalized versions of America, welcome to the BrainTrust.
The Synchronicity War Omnibus
Dietmar Arthur Wehr - 2016
The individual books in this series have accumulated a total of over 1,800 5-star reviews. Heroic and not so heroic men and women plus their loyal Artificially Intelligent allies fight and die to prevent humanity's extermination at the hands of a shockingly xenophobic alien race. But is there something more going on here than just an irrational alien race lashing out without provocation? One man's uncontrollable, precognitive visions lead him to believe that humans and the xenophobic aliens are just pawns in a much larger conflict and the real stakes are nothing less than the future of all life in the galaxy. If he can use his visions to keep humanity alive long enough, he may be able to figure out the mystery before it's too late. This Omnibus edition also includes sample chapters of the Synchronicity War universe stand-alone novel The Retro War. You can read Part 1 of the Sync War series for free to try it out before buying this ebook. All 4 parts are also available as audiobooks from Audible.com. Genre categories: Space fleet, galactic empire, space opera, alien invasion, first contact,time travel
Stars in Jars: Strange and Fantastic Stories
Dean Francis Alfar - 2017
A girl collects stars to prove her love, a boy changes his parents when he feels like it, laser beams threaten to destroy the world, the Blade of Virtuous Water fights monsters, and a father and daughter plan a trip to the heavens.In this book, Dean Francis Alfar and Sage Alfar (a father and daughter team) collect their speculative fiction for younger adult readers—spinning fantasy, science fiction, and the worlds of wonder in between.
Devil’s Road
Gary Gibson - 2020
The racecourse circumnavigates the post-apocalyptic ruins of Teijouan, and with a choice between being eaten by the monstrous Kaiju that prowl the island’s devastated cities or murdered by her fellow racers, the odds against surviving another Run, let alone winning it, are slim.Dutch doesn’t care about the odds nearly so much as she cares about getting back behind the wheel of her beloved Ford Falcon—except for one problem: she’s spent the last five years incarcerated in a high-security prison for her part in a heist.So when a crooked billionaire offers to put her back in the race on condition she uses it as cover for a secret retrieval operation, she can’t refuse.Can Dutch survive assassins, monsters, and psychopathic drivers long enough to complete her mission as well as take part in the race—or is this the year death finally catches up with her in a blazing tangle of wreckage?
The Deep Beyond: Cuckoo's Egg / Serpent's Reach (Union-Alliance Universe)
C.J. Cherryh - 2005
Original.Cuckoo's EggThey named him Thorn. They told him he was of their people, although he was so different. He was ugly in their eyes, strange, sleek-skinned instead of furred, clawless, different. Yet he was of their power class: judge-warriors, the elite, the fighters, the defenders.Thorn knew that his difference was somehow very important -- but not important enough to prevent murderous conspiracies against him, against his protector, against his caste, and perhaps against the peace of the world. But when the crunch came, when Thorn finally learned what his true role in life was to be, that on him might hang the future of two worlds, then he had to stand alone to justify his very existence.Serpent's ReachWithin the Constellation of the Serpent, out of bounds to all spacefarers, humans live among the insect-like aliens--and one of them, a woman named Raen, is bent on a revenge that will tear apart the truce between human and alien. "Brisk pacing . . . and genuinely brilliant world-building."--ALA Booklist. Reissue.
The 10th Science Fiction MEGAPACK
David Gerrold - 2015
From David Gerrold's "The Martian Child" (winner of the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, and HOMer Award) to brand new works published here for the first time by David Gerrold and Lawrence Watt-Evans to modern masterpieces by Pamela Sargent and Jay Lake to classics by E.E. "Doc Smith" and Alan E. Nourse -- we have everything a science fiction fan could want. Almost 1,500 pages of great reading!Fiction:TORQUING VACUUM, by Jay LakeCOLLECTORS, by Pamela SargentVICTORY, by Lester del ReyTHE TREE OF LIFE, by C. L. MooreYE OLDE RESIGNATION, by Rhys HughesFACE TO FACE, by Adrian ColeBEYOND THE THUNDER, by H. B. HickeyCAPTIVES OF THE THIEVE-STAR, by James H. SchmitzTHE DEEPS, by Keith RobertsMADMEN MUSTERED, by Connor Freff CochranEXILE FROM SPACE, by Judith MerrilTHROUGH TIME AND SPACE WITH FERDINAND FEGHOOT: THE CHAIRMAN DANCES, by David GerroldTHE FROZEN PLANET, by Keith LaumerTHE TAIL-TIED KINGS, by Avram DavidsonTHE GRAIN KINGS, by Keith RobertsHIS MASTER'S VOICE, by Randall GarrettBACK TO JULIE, by Richard WilsonBRIGHTSIDE CROSSING, by Alan E. NourseTHE SECRET OF THE SCARAB, by Ron GoulartREINVENTING CARL HOBBS, by James GlassTHE OLD SHILL GAME, by H.B. FyfeNOTES TOWARD A NEW TRAIT AS REVEALED BY CORRELATION AMONG ITEMS OF THE MMMPI, by M. Purrzillo, U. R. A. Ferball, and C. KitirunTHE SLEEPER IS A REBEL, by Bryce WaltonTHE TEACHER FROM MARS, by Eando BinderNIF'S WORLD, by Lawrence Watt-EvansA MAN OBSESSED, by Alan E. NourseFIRST LENSMAN, by E.E. “Doc” SmithREINCARNATE, by Lester del ReyTHE MAN WHO LIVED FOREVER, by R. DeWitt Miller and Anna HungerTHE MARTIAN CHILD, by David GerroldPoetry:I’VE NEVER SEEN, by Hannes Bok (poem)THOUGHT AND SPACE, by Ray BradburyNovel Serial:FIREBIRD, by Tony Rothman (part 1 of 3)If you enjoy this MEGAPACK™, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the 240+ other entries in this series, including science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, adventure, horror, westerns -- and much, much more!
Resistance
Max Carver - 2017
Rapid expansion into habitable worlds brings immense prosperity and a new age of exploration unlike any humanity has seen. WAR Conflicts over control of the colonial worlds spawn a massive, generation-long war among humans. Under a shaky armistice, humanity has just begun to crawl out of the shadows of destruction, but suspicion and bitter hostility run deep. INVASION On a rocky, desolate planet, a small band of gold prospectors find themselves making a discovery they never expected—valuable and powerful relics of the galaxy's deep past. The prospectors also discover a hostile alien species, ruthless beings who do not tolerate humans and wipe them out on sight. Humanity's first contact with intelligent aliens becomes a war for survival. The invasion has begun...but the beginning of the invasion is also the beginning of the resistance. "Resistance is a terrific space opera adventure. It combines mystery, heart-pounding action, and a good dose of humor. It's Aliens meets Tremors. I can't wait to read the sequel." -Daniel Arenson, USA Today bestselling author of the Earthrise series
Low Port
Sharon LeeRu Emerson - 2004
Underwood, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Nathan Archer, Jody Lynn Nye and many others, including a new urban fantasy by Sharon Lee! So come along and meet an orphan with a dream, a dockworker who believes in freedom, a maintenance worker with feelings and visit a soup kitchen with a secret.Contents:Voyeur / Eric Witchey --Digger don't take no requests / John Teehan --The gate between hope and glory / Holly Phillips --Riis run / eluki bes shahar --Bidding the walrus / Lawrence M. Schoen --The gift / Laura J. Underwood --The dock to heaven / L.E. Modesitt, Jr. --Find a pin / Ru Emerson --Sailing to the temple / Alan Smale --The pilgrim trade / Mark W. Tiedemann --More to glory / Patrice Sarath --Gonna boogie with Granny Time / Sharon Lee --Angel's kitchen / Chris Szego --Lair of the lesbian love goddess / Edward McKeown --Contraband / Nathan Archer --Spinacre's war / Lee Martindale --Bottom of the food chain / Jody Lynn Nye --Zappa for bardog / Joe Murphy --The times she went away / Paul E. Martens --Scream angel / Douglas Smith.