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Star's end
by Cassandra Rose Clarke
The Corominas family owns a small planet system, which consists of one gaseous planet and four terraformed moons, nicknamed the Four Sisters. Phillip Coromina, the patriarch of the family, earned his wealth through a manufacturing company he started as a young man and is preparing his eldest daughter, Esme, to take over the company when he dies. When Esme comes of age and begins to take over the business, she gradually discovers the reach of her father’s company, the sinister aspects of its work with alien DNA, and the shocking betrayal that estranged her three half-sisters from their father. After a lifetime of following her father’s orders, Esme must decide if she should agree to his dying wish of assembling her sisters for a last goodbye or face her role in her family’s tragic undoing.
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The Return
by Joseph Helmreich
During a live television broadcast on the night of a lunar eclipse, renowned astrophysicist Andrew Leland is suddenly lifted into the sky by a giant spacecraft and taken away for all to see. Six years later, he turns up, wandering in a South American desert, denying ever having been abducted and disappearing from the public eye. Meanwhile, he inspires legions of cultish devotees, including a young physics graduate student named Shawn Ferris who is obsessed with finding out what really happened to him. When Shawn finally tracks Leland down, he discovers that he’s been on the run for years, continuously hunted by a secret organization that has pursued him across multiple continents, determined to force him into revealing what he knows. Shawn soon joins Leland on the run. Though Leland is at first reluctant to reveal anything, Shawn will soon learn the truth about his abduction, the real reason for his return, and will find himself caught up in a global conspiracy that puts more than just one planet in danger.
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| Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation by Ken LiuShort Stories. China's "vibrant, diverse science fiction culture" is on display in this anthology of short stories edited by author and translator Ken Liu. In addition to an introduction explaining his selection process, Liu provides notes on language and dialect as well as cultural context to help general readers navigate the collection. Short author bios preface the stories, which are supplemented by accessible essays written by literary scholars on topics such as "What Makes Chinese Science Fiction Chinese?" If you're curious about the universe of science fiction beyond the English-speaking world, check out Invisible Planets. |
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Spaceman of Bohemia
by Jaroslav Kalfar
Raised by his grandparents on the Czech countryside and rising to the country's first astronaut, Jakub abandons his wife to atone for his father's sins as a Communist informer by accepting a dangerous solo mission to Venus and encounters fantastical, philosophical elements before clashing with Russian rivals. A first novel.
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| After the Crown by K.B. WagersSince ascending to the throne of the Idranan Empire, Empress Hail Bristol has avenged the murders of her entire family and put down a palace coup. However, war with the neighboring Saxon Empire threatens the newfound stability of her realm. Accompanied by her personal bodyguards, Emmory and Zin, Hail will have to reach out not only to her fellow Idranans (not all of whom are pleased that she's in power) but also an assortment of unlikely allies from her wild days as a gunrunner. After the Crown is book 2 in the Idranan War series; although the primary cast remains the same, newcomers should start with Behind the Throne in order to fully enjoy the complex politics and intricate plotting that propel this action-packed saga. |
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| Last Year by Robert Charles WilsonTalk about a long-distance relationship. Jesse Cullen lives in 1870s Ohio; the woman he loves is from the 21st century. Both are involved with the City of Futurity, a metropolis built by time travelers to give 19th-century tourists a (selective) glimpse of the future. As an employee of Futurity, Jesse appreciates his steady and remunerative job, not to mention all the perks (futuristic healthcare, designer sunglasses). However, the word on the street is that the portal connecting Futurity and the world of the time travelers is about to close forever. And while forced breakups are no fun, it's an outcome that pales in comparison to other potential consequences of the closure. |
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Infinity engine
by Neal L. Asher
In the outskirts of space, and the far corners of the Polity, complex dealings are in play. Several forces continue to pursue the deadly and enigmatic Penny Royal, none more dangerous than the Brockle, a psychopathic forensics AI and criminal who has escaped the Polity's confinements and is upgrading itself in anticipation of a deadly showdown, becoming ever more powerful and intelligent. Aboard Factory Station Room 101, the behemoth war factory that birthed Penny Royal, groups of humans, alien prador, and AI war drones grapple for control. The stability of the ship is complicated by the arrival of a gabbleduck known as the Weaver, the last living member of the ancient and powerful Atheter alien race. What would an Atheter want with the complicated dealings of Penny Royal? Are the Polity and prador forces playing right into the dark AI's hand, or is it the other way around?
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Walkaway
by Cory Doctorow
Hubert Vernon Rudolph Clayton Irving Wilson Alva Anton Jeff Harley Timothy Curtis Cleveland Cecil Ollie Edmund Eli Wiley Marvin Ellis Espinoza―known to his friends as Hubert, Etc―was too old to be at that Communist party. But after watching the breakdown of modern society, he really has no where left to be―except amongst the dregs of disaffected youth who party all night and heap scorn on the sheep they see on the morning commute. After falling in with Natalie, an ultra-rich heiress trying to escape the clutches of her repressive father, the two decide to give up fully on formal society―and walk away. After all, now that anyone can design and print the basic necessities of life―food, clothing, shelter―from a computer, there seems to be little reason to toil within the system. It’s still a dangerous world out there, the empty lands wrecked by climate change, dead cities hollowed out by industrial flight, shadows hiding predators animal and human alike. Still, when the initial pioneer walkaways flourish, more people join them. Then the walkaways discover the one thing the ultra-rich have never been able to buy: how to beat death. Now it’s war – a war that will turn the world upside down.
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Grimspace
by Ann Aguirre
Due to a rare gene, Jax is able to jump ships through grimspace, making her a highly prized navigator for the Corp until she is accused of murder, forcing her to enter into a devil's bargain with the mysterious March who will break her out of prison if she will help him establish a new breed of jumper.
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Hunger Makes the Wolf
by Alex Wells
The strange planet known as Tanegawa’s World is owned by TransRifts Inc, the company with the absolute monopoly on interstellar travel. Hob landed there ten years ago, a penniless orphan left behind by a rift ship. She was taken in by Nick Ravani and quickly became a member of his mercenary biker troop, the Ghost Wolves. Ten years later, she discovers that the body of Nick’s brother out in the dunes. Worse, his daughter is missing, taken by shady beings called the Weathermen. But there are greater mysteries to be discovered – both about Hob and the strange planet she calls home.
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The Rescue
by Diana Palmer
Rhemun, commander of the Cehn-Tahr Holconcom, has worked tirelessly to get where he is and he's not going to let any human drag him back down. Especially not Lt. Commander Edris Mallory, whose very presence aboard the Morcai serves as a too-painful reminder of a past tragedy he can neither forgive nor forget. But Mallory has secrets of her ownones she can't afford to see come to light. Frantic to protect herself, she flees, abandoning her position. When Rhemun learns of her devastating situation, he realizes the all-consuming feelings he's harbored for her may not be hatred. But in a vast universe rife with peril, is it already too late?
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Interstellar Civilizations
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| The Dark Between the Stars: The Saga of Shadows, Book One by Kevin J. AndersonSpace Opera. This opening installment of Kevin J. Anderson's Saga of Shadows trilogy picks up where the author's Saga of the Seven Suns left off. In the aftermath of the Elemental War, the human Confederation -- replacing the corrupt Terran Hanseatic League -- has formed an alliance with the Ildiran Empire. But the Ildirans have old enemies with scores to settle, while the insectoid Klikiss want to destroy both races. And if these foes join forces, the galaxy is doomed. |
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| Undercity by Catherine AsaroSF Mystery. Once an Imperial Space Command officer, "Major" Bhaajan is now a private investigator in Selei City on Parthonia, the capital of the Skolian Empire. Hired by the Matriarch of the powerful House of Majda to locate a missing prince, Bhajaan travels to the City of Cries on the planet Raylicon and ventures into the slums of the Undercity -- her home, to which she never expected to return. In addition to solving the case, Bhaajan will have to confront her past and those she left behind. While the detailed world-building in Undercity is consistent with other installments of Catherine Asaro's Saga of the Skolian Empire, the novel easily stands on its own. |
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| Leviathan Wakes: The Expanse by James S.A. CoreySpace Opera. Earth's colonies include Mars and frozen rocks in "the Belt," asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. While ice-rig captain Jim Holden discovers a deserted Belter ship bearing the marks of a Martian military assault, Earth-based Detective Miller pursues a missing persons case that may be related. The duo must dodge violent revolutionaries, corporate heavies, and corrupt government foes to find the truth before it's too late. Fortunately, the Belt favors underdogs. Leviathan Wakes is the opening installment of a collaborative effort by author Daniel Abraham (of Long Price Quartet series fame) and newcomer Ty Frank; it's also been adapted for television as The Expanse. |
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| Ancillary Justice by Ann LeckieSpace Opera. Artificial intelligence One Esk once commanded an entire starship, the formidable Justice of Toren; now, confined to a single mortal body cobbled together from interchangeable human parts, the entity known as "Breq" must figure out how to survive as a multi-segmented ancillary humanoid being in an oppressive galactic empire -- and without disobeying the law that forbids AIs from harming their creators. With its sympathetic protagonist and complex plot, this compelling debut serves as the opening installment of the Imperial Radch series, which continues with Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy. |
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| Out of the Dark by David WeberMilitary SF. Although the Hegemony long ago wrote off Earth civilization as too violent and unstable to benefit from membership in a galactic alliance, they have no problem with letting the expansionist Shongairi conquer the planet. However, the humans of Earth refuse to submit to its new alien overlords, instead joining forces with their former enemies -- vampires -- to repel the extraterrestrial invaders. Bestselling author David Weber applies his skill at depicting futuristic warfare (honed in his Honor Harrington novels) to this stand-alone novel, which began life as a short story in the anthology Warriors, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. |
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