Epic battles. Artificial Intelligence's longing for meaning. Life as we know it, ending... Sci-Fi Bridge is thrilled to present its first collection from bestselling authors and newly emerging writers. These stories span the near and far future. They transport you to worlds unknown. They examine today's fears amid tomorrow's technologies. From the far corners of the galaxy to the inner reaches of the human heart, the exciting stories in At the Helm will thrill, inspire, and make you wonder--do humans have what it takes to build a better future? Or are we doomed by our own failings?Foreword by Samuel Peralta. "Pressure" by Jeff Carlson. First published in Strange Horizons. "This Long Vigil" by Rhett Bruno. First published in Perihelion Science Fiction Magazine. "Gao Yao Engine" by Rachel Aukes. “Brood Company” by Steve Beaulieu & Aaron Hall."Life” by Daniel Arenson. “I, Caroline” by David Bruns. “Unconditional” by Chris Pourteau. “Lara QR” by Bob Mayer. “Carindi” by Jennifer Foehner Wells. “Into the Dark” by Robert Kroese. “Pete, Popeye and Olive” by Jamie McFarlane. “Codename Delphi” by Linda Nagata. First appeared in Lightspeed Magazine. “Patchworker” by M. Pax. “Dark Space: A Chance Encounter” by Jasper T. Scott.

    Table of Contents: * Editor's Introduction (Rick Katze) 6 * Poul Anderson (Greg Bear) 7 * Call Me Joe 11 * Prayer in War 36 * Tomorrow's Children 37 * Kinnison's Band 57 * The Helping Hand 58 * Wildcat 77 * Clausius' Chaos 100 * Journey's End 101 * Heinlein's Stories 107 * Logic 108 * Time Patrol 129 * The First Love 156 * The Double-dyed Villains 157 * To a Tavern Wench 177 * The Immortal Game 178 * Upon the Occasion of Being Asked to Argue That Love and Marriage Are Incompatible 186 * Backwardness 187 * Haiku 195 * Genius 196 * There Will Be Other Times 222 * The Live Coward 223 * Ballade of an Artificial Satellite 240 * Time Lag 241 * The Man Who Came Early 266 * Autumn 283 * Turning Point 284 * Honesty 294 * The Alien Enemy 295 * Eventide 307 * Enough Rope 308 * The Sharing of Flesh 329 * Barbarous Allen 353 * Welcome 354 * Flight to Forever 360 * Barnacle Bull 399 * To Jack Williamson 411 * Time Heals 412 * MacCannon 425 * The Martian Crown Jewels 426 * Then Death Will Come 438 * Prophecy 439 * Sea Burial 444 * Einstein's Distress 444 * Kings Who Die 445 * Ochlan 466 * Starfog 467

    Banks.Over the last thirty years, M. John Harrison has been inspiring readers and writers alike across the world. His return to science fiction in 2002 with the magnificent space opera LIGHT was a monumental triumph, shortlisted for every major award in the genre. He combines brilliant storytelling with complex plots and evocative, mesmerising writing.THINGS THAT NEVER HAPPEN is M. John Harrison's definitive collection of short fiction, twenty-four dazzling stories of science fiction and fantasy; the perfect introduction to one of Britain's most brilliant writers.Contents:Settling the World (1975)Running Down (1975)The Incalling (1978)The Ice Monkey (1980)Egnaro (1981)Old Women (1984)The New Rays (1982)The Quarry (1983)A Young Man's Journey to London (1985)Small Heirlooms (1987)The Great God Pan (1988)The Gift (1988)The Horse of Iron and How We Can Know It and Be Changed by It Forever (1989)Gifco (1992)Anima (1992)Isobel Avens Returns to Stepney in the Spring (1994)Empty (1995)Seven Guesses of the Heart (1996)I Did It (1996)The East (1996)Suicide Coast (1999)The Neon Heart Murders (2000)Black Houses (1998)Science & The Arts (1999)

    It asks what would have happened if Damien Hirst had never arrived? If someone else had become the most notorious and influential young British artist? And what if that someone had been more talented, more provocative, more outrageous? And far, far funnier?Early on in this bravura debut we are informed that Hirst was hit and killed by a train in 1989 (“apparently when drunk”) – and the focus of everyone’s attention falls instead on Randall. Randall – a big, lumbering ape of a man – is a genius of language as much as art, supremely able to baffle, bemuse and amuse the press, public and all around him. He makes a fortune, causes chaos, changes the art world – the whole world – and provides brilliant quips every step of the way: “There’s only two things you can do with art: make it, and buy it. Everything else – talking about it, thinking about it, selling it, looking at it – either comes under one of those two, or doesn’t count.”

    It will then be about them only. It will be all about the one they loved like thunder, about the one they struggled hard to keep, about the one who had left them in the middle of their 'forever', about their world shattering into pieces, about them gluing together every piece, and about them falling in love one more time.And if you still think it is about you and me, you haven't loved someone like thunder, yet.

     Aden Garrett is fresh out of security academy and looking for a little excitement. A little more than walking security at local space station bars and a little less than the job that got him kicked out of the academy. Meshelle and Janna are Vagnosian sisters that run a small transport and special operations ship, and they're looking to replace a fallen crew member. Chance brings them together and puts them work for one of the mysterious Kesari merchants who's looking for some expendable assets for a special job. It's a perfect match, except the crew of the Uma, Janna's ship, doesn't agree to being disposed of when the job is done. What follows is a game of cat and mouse through the galaxy with twists and turns at every solar system. Lost alien civilizations, six limbed insectoid warriors, plasma rifles, and more await. Much, much more… Keep your eye out for future Dark Universe novels: Book 1: Into the Dark Book 2: Out of the Dark Book 3: Chasing the Dark

    But the reviews and growing readership proved that it was more. It transcended its original target audience to appeal to many who had no previous interest in survivalism or preparedness as a lifestyle and made the jump to general adventure fiction.The reasons for this were several. It was well written, expansive in scope yet easy to follow. It told an interesting, compelling, story - intricate in its construction but smooth in its presentation. It introduced well-developed characters who jumped from the pages and spoke to the reader as easily and completely as do those around us, with thoughtful depth and easy humor. It spoke to our hearts, our souls, and the parts of us that search for a better way. But, more importantly, it asked, and answered, the seminal questions of our lives: Who are we? What do we believe in? What do we stand for? What will we stand against? And what is it, at our core, that enables ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things?Where The Reversion left off, The Revival picks up. From survival of an existential collapse, we enter the initial stages of the rebuilding of a society - a rebuilding seen through the eyes of those from Stonemont, and, eventually, beyond.As it should, The Revival takes us beyond The Reversion into a world we do not know, and cannot know, unless and until it happens. In doing so, it addresses unknown and unknowable situations with known and knowable human traits, tactics and strategies in pursuit of the stabilization of a world turned upside down. It is James Wesley, Rawles meets S.M. Stirling. It is a study of love, fortitude, morality, patriotism and the things that made America great, a critique of what caused the world to crumble, and a blueprint for the revival of those things we feel to be foundational for a people to return to a world of liberty, justice and freedom.As did The Reversion, The Revival breathes hope and fresh air into a genre which often, and rightly, concentrates on the devastation of society, and shows us a future world which is, in many ways, more positive than the one in which we currently live. Many readers, in fact, have stated that they prefer the world they have found in the Stonemont series to the one we live in. It can easily be understand why. The Revival continues the journey The Reversion started. It is a journey of life, love, learning and the human spirit. It is a journey you will be glad you are on.

    

    When war erupts, the heart of their battle fleet is Goliath, the largest battleship ever built, the result of years of work in hidden shipyards lost in the depths of space. Earth has no answer to her, no ship in her fleet a match for the overwhelming power of the warship. Defeat seems inevitable. Until a renegade Admiral concocts a final, desperate plan. Only one ship, an experimental warship, the Avenger, might possibly stand a chance against the might of Goliath. One ship, with a picked crew, a crew with nothing to lose and everything to gain, gathered from the dregs of Earth’s space forces, all facing charges ranging from murder to mutiny, but all of them the best in their respective fields. The last hope for the Terran Republic. The last, desperate hope for victory.

    It works unseen, sending out vast entropy factories to construct machines of war for a single purpose: to bring extinction. Now, these spaceships are converging on human territory. The Confederation is worn down by endless conflict, its warfleet depleted and its armies stretched. Humanity never gives in. Two of the Space Corps’ top officers - Joe Nation and Becky Keller - are determined to fight for as long as it takes, in a battle which will lead them to alien places and to spaceships fitted with incredible weapons. The coming conflict will offer them a fleeting glimpse into the designs of an entity so powerful it might as well be a god. For Nation and Keller, the things they learn ensure nothing will ever be the same again. Monolith is a high-action science fiction adventure involving massive space battles, overwhelming odds and exciting technologies. It continues the Transcended series and picks up straight after book 5: Void Blade.

    What do you do if you wake up hundreds of light-years from home in a strange ship and someone is trying to eat you?Jaeger can’t remember who she is or anything about her life, but she knows that's just wrong.The ship's AI tells her there are thousands of other lifeforms on board, but the instruments say she's alone—except for the killer.Something deep inside her screams that humanity’s fate hinges on her completing her mission…whatever it is.Jaeger must repair the ship and figure out her past while fighting for her life.Will she survive? If she can’t recall her mission, will humanity?

    

    Lovecraft, the most-fevered mind of 20th century horror and weirdness! These weird tales blend horror, science-fiction and fantasy to weave stories of darkness and terror that will alternately leave you checking dark spaces for hidden horrors and wondering at the nature of reality itself. From the horror/mystery of The Altar in the Hills to the private confessions and revelations of one of mankind's most brilliant minds in Through the Ether, these seven stories bring with them Old Gods, strange twists and interesting characters that will both surprise and delight fans of horror fiction.

    Replacing the slim volume which introduced Stevie Smith to American readers, New Selected Poems is chronologically arranged and contains 165 poems along with many of the author's doodles.

    This richly varied collection of observation, fancy and fiction shows the London he knew so intimately at its best and worst - its streets, theatres, inns, pawnshops, law courts, prisons, omnibuses and the river Thames - in honest and visionary descriptions of everyday life and people. Through pen portraits that often anticipate characters from his great novels, we see the condemned man in his prison cell, garrulous matrons, vulgar young clerks and Scrooge-like bachelors, while Dickens's powers for social critique are never far from the surface, in unflinching depictions of the vast metropolis's forgotten citizens, from child workers to prostitutes. A startling mixture of humour and pathos, these Sketches reveal London as wonderful terrain for an extraordinary young writer.Sketches is a remarkable achievement, and looks towards Dickens's giant novels in its profusion of characters, its glimpses of surreal modernity and its limitless fund of pathos and comic invention.