Science Fiction

On a post-apocalyptic Earth, three lifelong friends embark on a summertime river trip. Brad, Rob and Mindy want to rekindle their childhood relationships, and have a few days of fun and relaxation. What they find is a hair-raising journey. Their ill-fated river excursion leads them into danger and disaster in this rapid-paced fantasy. They encounter many strange things. A mischievous dancing skeleton. The discovery of intelligent, man-eating lizards. A whirlpool that takes them on an unwitting t... more info>>

In the 33rd century, unbridled pleasure and unparalleled peace make the world go round--under the watch of a vast corporate order that includes living goddess Gloria VanDeen, a powerful player as gutsy as she is gorgeous. More popular and more ambitious than ever, Gloria is entertaining two tempting offers: to become Empress, or to rise through the ranks of the Department of Extraterrestrial Affairs and take out some bad guys along the way--if they don't get her first.... When someone takes a po... more info>>

In his riveting debut, Hammerjack, Marc Giller unspooled a futuristic thriller of global intrigue, corporate espionage, and techno-terrorism. Now he delivers a gritty new novel of deadly resurrection and a no-holds-barred fight for the future ... Once an elusive hammerjack plunged into a virtual world of code, Lea Prism has been reborn as a corporate spook, hell-bent on ridding the universe of the anti-tech Inru terrorists. Their attempt to accelerate evolution robbed her of her once chance for ... more info>>

When humans first came to Saril, they had only one goal--to create a new paradise to rival their lost homeland. But as the centuries passed, they realized there was something else on their new world. Some thing strange and wonderful. Their decedents wielded powers the original settlers had never dreamed of. They could raise cities with their minds... heal with a touch... But every silver lining has a cloud, and Saril's was no different. There were some who twisted those gifts, perverted them to ... more info>>

Humanity's first interstellar ship, the Envoy, has been destroyed following a disastrous first contact with a theropod-like alien species. Major Jack Killian and Lieutenant Robyn O'Reilly of the Terran Republic Marines were able to return to Earth and save nearly half the colonists, but the mission was a devastating failure and a massive setback in the 200-year old program to relocate some of Earth's twenty billion humans. Someone is going to have to answer for that.

Hugo Winning Author's Masterwork of Alien Invasion! Orejas de ellos, the things who listen, whispered the superstitious fishermen when the strange occurrences began off the Philippine coast. How else could you explain the sudden disappearance of a vessel beneath a mysterious curtain of foam? The writhings of thousands of maddened fish trapped in a coffin-like area of ocean? An alien intelligence gorged at the bottom of the Luzon Deep and made its plans. Radar expert Terry Holt and the crew of th... more info>>

Jewish magic, Celtic magic, or superscience? In 1937 something truly bizarre is haunting Sussex, England. [Author's comment: After researching late Thirties Sussex dialect and slang, I felt it best to make some linguistic compromises to keep the tale comprehensible to my non-British readers. But I hope I've included enough of the genuine article to help provide the flavor of that time and place.]

Fiona and Ted have the ultimate long-distance relationship. He's a space pilot; she's an Earth-bound actress. It's bad enough when Ted is only flying to Saturn. But when he's offered command of the first relativistic-speed interstellar flight--three years for him, 181 for her--Fiona faces a dilemma. An unabashedly romantic fable with a strong science-fictional twist, this story's first publication was deliberately timed for Valentine's Day.

In a sprawling galactic civilization, a wealthy hermit stakes a claim to an entire solar system, seeking to protect it from exploitation. Then, inevitably, a boatload of colonists stumbles onto the scene.

Get ready to experience the adventures of two brothers, Armulen and Doran as they fight off the ruthless invasion of the grotesque Gorg aliens. The monsters from a far off planet are set on raping the lands of Thanos for its rich food supply. During their conquest they find out that humans and Slefs (gnome like people with magical powers) also taste pretty darned good when grilled just right. Now the future of Thanos falls into the hands of two brothers who were raised in a small village outside... more info>>

In this horrifying story of science gone darkly wrong, Aaron Kessler strives to save the world from genetically modified food. He inadvertently exposes his daughter, Grace to a deadly infestation. Aaron discards his professional ideals when experimental gene therapy offers hope for his daughter. Aaron soon realizes he must give up more than he could have imagined to pay the price of saving Grace.

The crusty mountain gal named Calamity Djinn hankers to marry Butch Parker, quit the fur trade, and make wee tads in the shadow of the Shining Mountains. Courtship commences with an ambush with a loaded Sharps. Things turn calamitous, as they do for her too often, but the Djinn part of her name might provide succor.

In a classroom a large step beyond virtual reality, a dedicated teacher is assigned five teenaged students too dysfunctional to attend any normal school. How fast the teacher learns will be a matter of life and death. [Author's comment: Another of my favorites. I derived the slang used in the story through personal research, studying trends in slang evolution, and doing my best to predict where that evolution would wind up at the appropriate time. I'm quite serious about the cautionary notes I s... more info>>

A small-town private investigator confronts the weirdest case of his life and a different kind of invasion. [Author's comment: Don't be surprised to see the two investigators in this tale appear again. The little town of Boon contains more than one major mystery!]

Major Jack Killian and the crew of the Envoy discovered humanity's first extrasolar planet, which they named New Eden. Shortly after landing, they found evidence of another sentient life form on the planet. Jack accompanied the captain of the Envoy to meet the aliens, an avian race resembling a large-brained cross between a velociraptor and a turkey. The aliens attacked as soon as they saw the humans. Now Jack and his team have to evacuate the colonists or die trying.

They laughed at his ideas of heavier-than-air flying machines. But he had the last laugh with the Albatross--the most incredible flying machine ever built. Lord of the skies, Robur became the would-be conqueror of the world! A fascinating companion to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Robur the Conqueror explores many of the same themes. The Wildside Press edition contains a newly revised version of the first English-language translation. (Revisions by Dainis Bisenieks and John Gregory Betancourt.)

AEon Eight features stories by Daniel Marcus, Will McIntosh, Stephanie Burgis, Lawrence M. Schoen, Ron Savage, Liz Holliday, and Martin McGrath, and poetry by Amanda Downum and Marcie Lynn Tentchoff. Also, Kristine Kathryn Rusch takes on The New York Times, and Dr. Rob Furey contributes another fascinating look at science and how it applies to our experience of the universe.

If it is possible to conquer space, then perhaps it is also possible to conquer time. At least that was the theory American scientists were exploring in an effort to explain the new sources of knowledge the Russians possessed. Perhaps Russian scientists had discovered how to transport themselves back in time in order to learn long-forgotten secrets of the past. That was why young Ross Murdock, above average in intelligence but a belligerently independent nonconformist, found himself on a "hush-h... more info>>

Dale Strausser's ranch outside Three Pines, Wyoming is a tranquil place. Home. Suddenly, something appears on the bridge across Three Pines River. A giant black domino, right out of a science fiction movie. On the other side--who knows? You can toss things through but nothing comes back. One day, somebody accidentally falls through. Soon, people choose to go through. Exodus.

Ian Beleri, the chief honcho of Mars, suddenly gets this idea to raise up a tree on Mars. A Christmas tree, like they used to have back on Earth. I get to fly the shuttle to Earth and back with the goods. Now, everybody expects the cargo to be seedlings, or small sprouts, but no. One tree. Why? The answer might spell interplanetary war and I'm in the middle of it.

How could you win a poker game against an opponent capable of seeing your cards clairvoyantly, and stacking the deck telekinetically? A trip on the ultimate luxury ship, with an impossible challenge....

Could there be a connection between the Horn of Plenty, yetis, and Thor's hammer? The heart and heights of Nepal hold some strange answers--and an even stranger love story.

It is the twenty-third century. Herb, a young entrepreneur, returns to the isolated planet on which he has illegally been trying to build a city--and finds it destroyed by a swarming nightmare of self-replicating machinery. Worse, the all-seeing Environment Agency has been watching him the entire time. His punishment? A nearly hopeless battle in the farthest reaches of the universe against enemy machines twice as fast, and twice as deadly, as his own--in the company of a disarmingly confident AI... more info>>

Atlantis Anat'ellon is ancient Greek for Atlantis Rising. This is the story of a team of adventurers searching for the lost city. The tablet has been lost, Ray is near death. In short things can't get much worse.

He Promised To Love Her Until The Stars Grow Cold! It is a dark time for the ancient vampire hunters known as the Wraith. The oldest and most prestigious of their academies lies in ruins, and the ruling order, the Council of Seven, is dead. The armies of Vampire Lord Bane march almost undaunted across the face of the Earth. Thousands of Wraith have died during a war they have come to know as "The Purge." The Wraith are facing extinction. Yet there are heroes still. A talented and powerful young ... more info>>