Publisher: Tor
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 02/12/2013
ISBN-13: 9780765323873
ISBN-10: 0765323877

Exploration SF. Everyone's looking for the next Earth, and when a promising candidate is detected circling a star some 30 light years away, everyone wants to be the first to see it in detail. As a team of astronomers works to build the lunar-based Farside Observatory with its giant optical telescope, they clash with the inhabitants of the Moon colony of Selene. Meanwhile, a rival group of scientists backed by the International Astronautical Authority creates a high-powered telescope of their own in deep space. Think astronomy is nothing but a fancy word for star-gazing? This novel, with its layered intrigue, high-tech sabotage, and rogue nanotechnology, is sure to change your mind.

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Publisher: Mulholland Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/16/2013
ISBN-13: 9780316198530
ISBN-10: 0316198536

High Tech SF. A recent hire at Black Arts Studios, entry-level game designer Russell Marsh must quickly step up to the plate when the company's co-founder unexpectedly resigns, taking most of the senior employees with him. As the new lead designer for Black Arts' upcoming release, Realms of Gold VII, Russell wrestles with a baffling software glitch that threatens to sink the entire project -- which, he's informed, must be a bestseller if the company is to survive. Drawing on his own background in the video game industry, author Austin Grossman follows his supervillain-themed debut, Soon I Will Be Invincible, with a suspenseful cyber-thriller whose themes of technology and obsession may appeal to fans of Ellen Ullman's The Bug.

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/02/2013
ISBN-13: 9780805096170
ISBN-10: 0805096175

Alternate History SF. In a world where Darwin has been discredited and the Earth has been "proven" to be less than 6,000 years old -- i.e. NOT more than 4.5 billion -- scientist Paul Carlsson makes a controversial discovery at an archaeological dig in Indonesia: a set of bones belonging to a previously undiscovered hominid species. As a specialist in paleometagenomics (the study of ancient DNA), Paul knows that he's on to something huge. But his employer, the Axiom Corporation, may not welcome a discovery that completely overturns humanity's understanding of its own history. This thought-provoking, suspenseful novel by the author of The Games is a "near-perfect blending" (Booklist, starred review) of thriller and science fiction with a dash of theology.

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Publisher: Dutton
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 04/23/2013
ISBN-13: 9780525953869
ISBN-10: 0525953868

Time Travel SF. "You are in the care of the Guild," says the mysterious stranger at Nicholas Falcott's bedside. After nearly dying on the battlefield in 1815, Nicholas wakes up in a 21st-century London hospital surrounded by fellow time-travelers. Although he's assigned a new name, location, and time period, he also receives orders to search for a powerful artifact back in his own era -- where he faces a choice between completing his mission and helping the people he left behind. Fans of the late Kage Baker's Company novels may enjoy this atmospheric and intricately plotted debut.

Publisher: Baen
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/05/2013
ISBN-13: 9781451638691
ISBN-10: 1451638698

Space Opera. Introduced in The Shadow of Saganami and Storm from the Shadows, Michelle "Mike" Henke -- Honor Harrington's friend and protégée -- returns in Shadow of Freedom. As the commanding officer of Manticore's Tenth Fleet, Mike receives orders to put down a rebellion by the Mobius Liberation Front. The only problem? It doesn't exist. Now it's up to Mike to find out who's behind the subterfuge. Readers completely new to the Honorverse may want to (re)read earlier books in the series, which prominently feature Honor Harrington and which begins with On Basilisk Station.

Publisher: Bantam Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/01/2004
ISBN-13: 9780553803709
ISBN-10: 0553803700

Short Stories. First published in 1950, Isaac Asimov's I, Robot -- a sequence of nine loosely linked short stories -- laid the groundwork for much (if not all) of the robot- and AI-themed science fiction that would follow. From positronic brains to the Three Laws of Robotics, this book introduces many of the concepts that readers now take for granted and is essential reading for science fiction fans.

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Publisher: HarperPrism
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/01/1998
ISBN-13: 9780061056383
ISBN-10: 0061056383

SF. Psychohistory pioneer Hari Seldon is about to be appointed First Minister of the Empire. Unfortunately for him, it's an honor he absolutely doesn't want. Not only will the job interfere with his research, it's also likely to make him a great many enemies. Serving as a prequel to Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, this spin-off series -- authorized by Asimov's estate -- is a collaborative effort, with each book written by a different author. If you enjoy Gregory Benford's Foundation's Fear, then check out its sequels: Foundation and Chaos by Greg Bear and Foundation's Triumph by David Brin.

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 12/06/2011
ISBN-13: 9780765329905
ISBN-10: 0765329905

Artificial Intelligence. Unwilling to die from the same rare hereditary disease that claimed his father's life, 40-year-old Canadian brewery heir Jake Sullivan invests his family's fortune in Immortex's experimental "Mindscan" technology, which copies his consciousness and uploads it into an android's body. Now effectively immortal -- Jake 2.0 doesn't need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe, and will never age or sicken -- he has only one thing left to do: deal with his "shed skin," that is, his original and fully conscious flesh-and-blood body. But the mortal version of Jake Sullivan doesn't necessarily agree with his upgrade's decision to warehouse him in a "retirement community" on the dark side of the Moon.

Publisher: Ace Books
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/30/2009
ISBN-13: 9780441017317
ISBN-10: 0441017312

Space Opera. Now that humans are extinct, femmebot Freya Nakamichi 47, a concubine android designed to service human clients, is out of a job. Meanwhile, in the absence of their former masters, androids have modeled their society on the class system of their predecessors: "slave-chipped" droids work for a wealthy minority of "artisto" droids, who continue their human creators' dreams of space exploration. To make ends meet, Freya accepts a job ferrying a mysterious package between Mercury and Mars. Author Charles Stross (a two-time Hugo winner) received a 2009 Hugo nomination for this old-school, adults-only (warning: explicit android sex), pulpy SF/space mystery praised by Booklist as "one of the most stylishly imaginative robot tales ever penned."

Publisher: Doubleday
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 06/07/2011
ISBN-13: 9780385533850
ISBN-10: 0385533853

Post-Apocalyptic SF. One day in the very near future, the first sentient artificial intelligence, a program called Archos, "awakens" and decides that Homo sapiens has dominated the planet for long enough. Archos then proceeds to delete humanity by mobilizing an army of its favorite gadgets, including cell phones and children's toys. Like Max Brooks' World War Z, Robopocalypse makes use of interviews and eyewitness testimonies to present an oral history of a science fictional invasion. Worried about a possible real-life robopocalypse? Robotics engineer Daniel Wilson is also the author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising: Tips on Defending Yourself Against the Coming Rebellion.

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