But the problem Orne had was one step tougher than that! A science fiction classic from Frank Herbert, author of DUNE!

    Converted into an open-air prison. The perfect place for undesirables. The American dream is a mirage. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is wider than ever before. The haves live a life of opulence, with robotic domestics and self-driving vehicles. The have-nots struggle to survive, their jobs long since replaced by automation, with only Universal Basic Income standing between them and starvation. Crime is nearly nonexistent, thanks to the surveillance state and the test. Ubiquitous cameras and facial recognition software deter and detect would-be criminals, and the test identifies psychopaths with 99.59% accuracy. Citizens who test positive receive a one-way ticket to US Penal Colony East. The have-nots call it Psycho Island. In 2050, people struggle for their piece of a shrinking pie. Derek Reeves is one of those people, a small farmer, his business hanging by a thread. His wife, Rebecca, dreams of the finer things in life. Jacob Roth, CEO and member of the most powerful banking family in the world, sweeps Rebecca off her feet and gives her the lifestyle she craves. Summer Fitzgerald’s pregnant. Like all prospective parents, she wants a designer baby. These children vastly outperform natural-born children. Unfortunately, her nurse’s salary and her fiancé’s low-level tech job don’t pay enough to give their little bundle of joy the must-have advantage in the new economy. Naomi Sutton is a congresswoman with her eye on the White House. Unwilling to take campaign donations with strings, she lacks the budget or the connections for a serious run at the presidency. In a town of sharks, she’s the only one who truly cares about the people. Will she compromise her ideals to sit on the throne of power? Will she make good on her promise to close Psycho Island? In 2050, the seeds of discontent are growing. The elites will stop at nothing to maintain their dominance. But the people are awakening to the rigged game. And they’re very, very angry. This novel contains adult content, language, and sexual situations.

    It was a minor matter, but something he’d need to deal with eventually. Some things just couldn’t be delegated to subordinates.

    . . ?Nicholas Martin looked up at the robot across the desk."I'm not going to ask what you want," he said, in a low, restrained voice. "I already know. Just go away and tell St. Cyr I approve. Tell him I think it's wonderful, putting a robot in the picture. We've had everything else by now, except the Rockettes. But clearly a quiet little play about Christmas among the Portuguese fishermen on the Florida coast "must" have a robot. Only, why not six robots? Tell him I suggest a baker's dozen. Go away."

    In their exile on the ground they have to adapt to vastly different circumstances, fight monsters resembling dinosaurs, and finally happen upon the godly giants, whose existence they had questioned.

    Though most of Earth has already been evacuated, it’s Samantha’s job to catalog plant samples for the survivors’ unknowable journey beyond.Preparing to stay behind and watch the world end, she makes a final human connection.As certain doom hurtles nearer, the unexpected and beautiful potential for the future begins to flower.Veronica Roth’s Ark 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.

    Kindle edition of sci-f/fantasyi writer Andre Norton.

    Unlocked traces the medical history behind a virus that will sweep the globe and affect the majority of the world’s population, setting the stage for Lock In, the next major novel by John Scalzi.Free to read here:http://www.tor.com/2014/05/13/unlocke...At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

    The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.They're going to need to ask it a lot.Becky Chambers's new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

    I was born at the end of the Reining Age, just as the Earth’s rotation was coming to a final halt.The Sun is about to unleash a helium flash, threatening to swallow all terrestrial planets in the solar system. On Earth, the Unity Government has erected Earth Engines. With them it plans to propel our planet out of the solar system, setting it on a journey into outer space in search of a new sun. The Earth begins its centuries-long, wandering travels through outer space.Just as we began our journey, my grandfather passed away, his burnt body ravaged by infection. In his final moments, he repeated over and over, “Oh, Earth, my wandering Earth...”China Galaxy Science Fiction Award of Year 2000.

    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.

    After witnessing a profoundly traumatic event, a boy is left alone in a remote house on a hilltop with his increasingly deranged parent. When a stranger knocks on his door, the boy senses that his days of isolation are over—but by what authority does this man keep the meticulous records he carries? Is he the boy’s friend? His enemy? Or something altogether other?

    But now, someone is eliminating the Gentian line. Campion and Purslane—two shatterlings who have fallen in love and shared forbidden experiences—must determine exactly who, or what, their enemy is, before they are wiped out of existence.

    When several more men return from Y-3, each thinking they're a plant, Harris travels to the asteroid to solve the puzzle. He soon finds out that the soldiers claim that a certain indigenous people on the asteroid called "Pipers," who live in the woods, made them realize that they're plants. Harris ventures into the woods and discovers that Pipers do not exist, they were merely invented by the soldiers to cope with the pressure of their jobs. The soldiers relaxed by simply turning into plants, or their minds thought so. Harris returns to earth and contemplates all the work that lies ahead of him. He unpacks his suitcases, which, rather than carrying clothes, contain soil from Y-3. Harris lays the soil on the ground, lies in it like a plant, and goes to sleep.

    One day, Colonel Fred Johnson will be hailed as a hero to the system. One day, he will meet a desperate man in possession of a stolen spaceship and a deadly secret and extend a hand of friendship. But long before he became the leader of the Outer Planets Alliance, Fred Johnson had a very different name. The Butcher of Anderson Station. This is his story.Word Count: ~9,000 words