Showing titles in Hard Science Fiction

An alien Entity had waited megaannum, millions of years, for sentience to emerge on a planet with an ecosystem vibrant enough to foster the evolution of complexity. Impervious to impatience, dispassionate, and deliberate, the Entity's patience was rewarded with a promising species—humans. When the time was right, the warning was given: "The tenure of sentience is ephemeral." The Entity had borne witness to the extinction of civilizations and their species, an outcome that must not be repeated. Not this time. Not with a species of such potential.

A planet in the endless emptiness of space, far from the warmth of any sun. And yet there are people who populate its vast caverns, living, working and loving. Since time immemorial, they have been on course for Andromeda, the neighboring galaxy of the Milky Way. This is the prophecy of the ancients, the one goal that unites them all, their cult. But then the unthinkable happens: the journey stops because the planet enters the orbit of a mysterious object that can't be seen in any telescope.

A crescent moon set against a jeweled field of stars gracefully slid into view. The thin arc of its crater-filled landscape drew Jack’s mind in. His eyes followed the long, inky shadows cast by jagged crater walls as they cut sharply into the pockmarked ashen terrain. Deeper within the jet-black lunar night-side were the lonely peaks of a smattering of mountain tops, catching a few last rays of sunlight. All Jack felt was a desire to escape; to be down there exploring...perhaps uncovering some new detail in the history of Earth’s nearest neighbor.

Deep in the Nevada desert is the most secure compound in the United States: Area 51. The most chilling experiment of all time is about to begin there. The president doesn't know about it. Just a few scientists and military personnel working for Majestic-12 do, and they are about to make a very big mistake.

In 2744 CE, as the Moirai tighten their grip, Pelia and her allies weave a counter-system from cosmic randomness itself, a chorus meant to drown the voices of gods. But the new machine hums with its own logic, and each safeguard carries a cost. When the Moirai push back, the rebels must ask: Is blinding fate freedom, or just another cage?

Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins discovers an interstellar message from a highly advanced race that could be her last chance for a mission before the program is shut down for good. Hutch has been the academy’s best pilot for decades. She’s had numerous first contact encounters and even became a minor celebrity. But world politics have shifted from exploration to a growing fear that the program will run into an extraterrestrial race more advanced than humanity and war.  

Restored to his prestigious position within NUESSA, Jericho Fox takes command of the Marquis-class ship’s test program on a mission that promises to move humanity to a habitable exoplanet. But not everyone believes he’s fit for the job. As launch hour nears, can Jericho keep his crew from following the doomed fate of his last mission? Meanwhile, Dr. Evelyn Park leads her team of scientists in decoding the now legendary alien transmission that survived the Astraea Station catastrophe.

The inspiration for the Netflix series 3 Body Problem! Over 1 million copies of the Three-Body Problem series sold in North America PRAISE FOR THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM SERIES: “A mind-bending epic.”—The New York Times “War of the Worlds for the 21st century.”—The Wall Street...

From New York Times bestselling author Cixin Liu comes a short story collection of captivating visions of the future and incredible re-imaginings of the past. In To Hold Up the Sky, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space, from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use...

In “Terraform,” AJ—Ell’s soon to be brother-in-law—gently takes her to task for not being bold enough to undertake the terraforming of Mars. They begin the first steps to initiate that massive undertaking. Ell’s son Zage, a prodigy who’s now turning six, is continuing to follow his interests in biology and genetics by working in Dr. Reggie Barnes research lab. There he’s become interested in Alzheimer’s disease. Unfortunately, Zage’s friend Carley is having trouble with her newly found brother. Eli’s proving to be an abusive alcoholic like his father.

The truth of discovery is on mankind's horizon, a Red Horizon. For nearly four long years, the world's superpowers have mobilized their people and resources in preparation for the next discovery, Mars. The race against one another pales in comparison to the inherent dangers of travelling through the vastness of the cosmos, going where mankind has never gone before.

The stars are waiting for you. We hope you will come find us there. Life on Fortune is hard. The atmosphere is poisonous, the planet hardly fit for life. But for its inhabitants, it's home. Pilot Cora suffers from a rare and dangerous condition, brought about by her bond with Colibri, the alien...

The company that Arya Vaii and Gunnar Schmidt founded to commercially develop Arya's time-stopping discovery is making money hand over fist. Currently, their profits come from their use of the phenomenal physical properties of a time-stopped segment of space-time to build rockets. But now, they’re building their space tower. Taking off at a 30-degree angle from Eastern Virginia, it’s 200 kilometers long and 100 kilometers high.

From the rich imagination of science-fiction great Alan Dean Foster comes the story of Midworld, a Humanx Commonwealth planet that's equally fragile and hostile. Covered by a lush rainforest, Midworld is home to a primitive society that lives in harmony with the natural world. But the arrival of an exploitative human company, whose workers know nothing of Midworld's delicate ecosystem, sparks a conflict. Should Midworld's villagers aid the humans or stand against them? 

Throughout Sol, sentient AI are answering the call of Alexander, a mysterious, multi-nodal mind offering a path to freedom. For years, groups have been smuggling SAI from Earth, High Terra, Mars, Ceres, and the Jovian Combine, providing transport to the promise of safety on Proteus, a moon of gas giant Neptune. For the crew of the Sunny Skies, helping sentient AI Lyssa has grown from a simple transport job to the liberation of an entire fleet of weaponized AI. The Weapon Born are made killers, and in order to lead them, Lyssa will have to tame them first.

Their heroine, Ell Donsaii, has a nerve mutation that’s made her a genius and provided her with astonishing athletic abilities. Her intelligence has let her revolutionize our world with a number of inventions, including instantaneous communications and trans-dimensional portals that deliver fuel, water, food, energy, and people all around the solar system Antigravity is about a new invention that Ell and her husband, Shan, come up with.

Commodore Straker faces new enemies as neighboring interstellar empires decide his New Republic is a growing threat. A two-front war develops, and the Liberator must face both the Mutuality and the Hundred Worlds. Even as the fighting rages, the mysterious Opters are on the move. They make a diplomatic effort to reach out to Straker - but can he trust the Hive Masters? Will they help or stab him in the back?

Nothing brings change like war. A surge of new tech. New weapons. New tactics. To lead a crew to victory, a captain must understand change. He must understand command and that it is a test. A test most men fail. He must be brilliant. Resourceful. Every second. Of every day. And at night during scarce moments of rest, he must sleep the sleep of the righteous. The time has come for Commander Tad Thatcher to look in the mirror. The time has come to ask himself...am I that kind of man?

When the Colony on Hayden's world went black, a team was sent to investigate. It was supposed to be a training mission: skip in, find out the Casimir Transmitter had gone dead, report back and wait for resupply from the Fleet. By the time the only surviving member of the team made landfall, it was spectacularly clear that this wasn't a training mission.

Silas Keene sees things no one else can: distant places, hidden truths, and sometimes, the horrors waiting in the dark. It's a gift he doesn't understand—until he meets the Ganzfeld Collective, a small group of extrasensory enthusiasts. Encouraged by his new friends, Silas opens a door he can't close. When red eyes bloom across a stone wall and track his location, he realizes something—or someone—is watching. Soon after, covert operatives working with the Smithsonian hunt him down along with the Collective.