Showing titles in Hard Science Fiction

In the vast, domed cities of Earth, artificial intelligence is strictly controlled; in the distant Outer Worlds, colonists and robots live side by side. A Spacer ambassador is found dead and detective Elijah Baley is assigned to find the killer. But with relations between the two cultures in the balance, the Spacers insist that he work with a partner of their choosing – a robot partner, R. Daneel Olivaw. Baley has never seen a robot like Daneel before – and soon, though the Three Laws of Robotics should render the crime impossible, Baley’s partner becomes his prime suspect.

Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping. Larry Niven's novel, Ringworld, is the winner of the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.

Survival hangs in the balance for Renton Hicks and his fellow colonists at Moon Base Delta. With a tight blockade being imposed by the Xilinex Corporation, their supplies are running dangerously low. Hope emerges in the form of a Martian evacuation ship carrying genetic engineering technology that could potentially secure their future. However, getting their hands on it demands not just outwitting Xilinex but also securing assistance from the last vestiges of the SINO power block.

‘Up there with the best of Le Guin in terms of beautiful, engrossing, brilliantly imagined sci-fi’ VULTURE ‘SEMIOSIS combines the world-building of Avatar with the alien wonder of Arrival, and the sheer humanity of Atwood. An essential work for our time’ STEPHEN BAXTER NOMINATED FOR THE...

After centuries in stasis, a lost task force returns home. Arriving from the infinite void the surviving ships discover that the Imperium lies in ruin. The Homeworld itself is destroyed, and nothing lives in the Ancestral System except an infestation of unknown bipedal beings - creatures soft, red of blood and warm of flesh.... When you colonize a planet, make sure the owners aren't coming back.... MECH is the story of a new Earth colony built upon the ancient Homeworld of a civilization presumed (incorrectly) to be long dead.

In 2018, Canadian archaeologist Ron Jackson makes a mind-boggling discovery in Antarctica - right before disappearing without a trace, leaving behind only his controversial theory that humans have lived on Earth far, far longer than we think they have. Decades later, in 2042, when Jackson's wife dies under mysterious circumstances, an unlikely pair of investigators, Agatha Devenworth and Pano Hofer, begin investigating whether her death might be connected to Jackson's disappearance.

In High Earth, digital entertainment is everything. Shows. Virtual worlds. Simulations - there’s something for everybody in a city where working for a living has been rendered obsolete by technological advancements. Even a short walk outside to visit with others is no longer necessary. Just load into the network and you can be with anyone, anywhere. For Asher Reinhart, nothing compares to Ignis; a live reality show that pushes human beings to their very extremes.

Glasgow, 2025. Dr Amanda Maclean is called to treat a young man with a mild fever. Within three hours, he dies. The mysterious illness sweeps through the hospital with deadly speed. This is how it begins. The victims are all men. Dr Maclean raises the alarm, but the sickness spreads to every corner of the globe. Threatening families. Governments. Countries. Can they find a cure before it’s too late? Will this be the story of the end of the world - or its salvation?

Astronomers in England and America have made a terrifying discovery: an ominous black cloud the size of Jupiter is travelling straight towards our solar system. If their calculations are correct, the cloud’s path will bring it between the Earth and the Sun, blocking out the Sun’s rays and threatening unimaginable consequences for our planet.

As tension between Mars and Earth mounts, and terrorism plagues the Martian city of Londres Nova, 16-year-old David Draper is fighting his own lonely war. A gifted chemist vying for a place at the university, David leads a secret life as a manufacturer for a ruthless drug dealer. When his friend Leelee goes missing, leaving signs of the dealer's involvement, David takes it upon himself to save her. But first he must shake his aunt Bobbie Draper, an ex-marine who has been set adrift in her own life after a mysterious series of events nobody is talking about.

Only a few short months after humanity's first interstellar flights, the first shots have been fired in what will eventually become known as the Alliance Wars. Terran Fleet Command teeters on the edge of chaos in the aftermath of Chairwoman Crull's removal from power, while in space, Earth's defense falls squarely on the shoulders of Admiral Kevin Patterson. With only a small number of ships capable of bringing the fight to the enemy, he makes the bold decision to divide his forces, meeting the Resistance task force head-on at two separate locations.

A year ago the Kher Empire was forced to retreat, but they were not beaten. In Orion Fleet, they return with a new weapon. A huge ship driven by AI begins methodically grinding inhabited worlds to dust. This unstoppable enemy is without fear or remorse, and the Rebels begin a desperate battle just to slow its advance. Leo Blake takes Earth's first warship into space to find a counter to this deadly new attack. The Imperial Fleets take notice of Earth's interference, and they're intent upon revenge. Even if he wins, Blake might have doomed our homeworld.

The alien creatures have made it to Earth. Entire cities are battling invasion from the menacing swarms. This is worse than Zola. It’s worse than the Leak. It’s worse than all of our nightmares put together. The creatures are indestructible, shrugging off our strongest weaponry. Now, our only hope lies inside a powerful ancient artifact we don’t understand. To save Earth’s future, we have to unlock the secrets of a lost alien past. Whatever it takes, we have to harness the power of the Orb. Humanity is coming together for one last stand against this threat from afar.

When the Earth is invaded by a rival empire, James McGill's legion must defend the Home World. The top brass has complex plans, but none of that matters much to McGill, who chooses his own unique path. Traveling to star systems no human has ever visited, he searches for a technological edge to beat the enemy before it's too late. Along the way he unleashes new terrors, triggering the biggest battles in human history.

“Like Carl Hiaasen, Berney delights in the cartoonish. Like Elmore Leonard, he can drive a plot. What sets him apart is how well he evokes love, making the romance…as compelling as the mystery.” —Boston Globe Lou Berney immediately earned a seat of honor at the mystery masters’ table...

‘A striking adventure story that could hold a galaxy in its scope’ – KIRKUS REVIEWS Astrophysicist Reggie Straifer has discovered a mysterious object in deep space: a strange star, blinking in a seemingly impossible pattern. As humanity plans its first adventures beyond the solar system...

The UFS Phoenix is on a mission to find a lost data-core that may contain the secret to defeating the alo-deepynine alliance. But the means to find the data-core is hidden deep in tavalai space, in a highest-security vault where the tavalai's manipulative State Department keep all their most treacherous secrets. To recover it, Phoenix must pull off the most daring heist the Spiral has ever seen.

Karl Meier is a private in the German Army. He's been sent to occupied Greece on a secret mission in late 1944 as the Wehrmacht is withdrawing from the country. Karl has been assigned to support Professor Johannes Schmidt in the excavation of the ruins at Delphi, searching for a wunderwaffe—a wonder weapon that could help Germany win the Second World War. Deep within a cave, he finds a golden orb. On touching it, Karl connects with an alien intelligence that has sat dormant on Earth for thousands of years—the Oracle.

Hundreds of years in the future, on a stagnating and almost empty Earth, a space shuttle pilot from the early days of the 21st century is awoken from the cryogenic sleep he entered after a devastating accident. As he comes to terms with this new world, he begins to realise that their history...

Now that the truth of the genetic experiments on Mars has been revealed, new missions are on their way to gain control of this extraordinary technology. In the process, they seek to exploit and enslave the colonists—turning them into nothing more than lab rats. Worse, these newcomers are well armed, and prepared to go to war with each other to win control of the colony and its people.