Showing results for "Media" in Hard Science Fiction

The Other Now by Murray Leinster is a haunting and emotionally resonant science fiction novella that explores love, grief, and the fragile boundaries of reality itself. When Jimmy Patterson is left shattered by the death of his wife, Jane, his quiet mourning is disrupted by unsettling anomalies—familiar moments replayed out of sequence, a doorway that seems charged with meaning, and diary entries written in Jane’s unmistakable hand after her passing.

When an unauthorized oil rig appears offshore of Ecuador, a military team is sent to investigate. The deep-water platform has no markings, no drilling rig, and no workers—but it's surrounded by a curious bank of fog. When their helicopter closes in, it's swallowed without a trace.

Daniel Rice hasn't felt right since his return from a dystopian future. Curious dreams repeat with detailed precision. A voice—or something—seems to be calling him. His problem isn't medical, it's not even scientific, and it's driving his wife crazy. Nala is worried, and she's not the type to pace the halls while her overly analytic husband procrastinates. Earth's scientific power couple is soon halfway around the world to consult with alien android, Aastazin. Zin is no doctor, but he has friends in high places.

Is our sun behaving differently from other stars? When an amateur astronomer discovers something strange on telescopic solar pictures, an explanation must be found. Is it merely artifact? Or has he found something totally unexpected? An expert international crew is hastily assembled, a spaceship is speedily repurposed, and the foursome is sent on the ride of their lives. What challenges will they face on this spur-of-the-moment mission to our central star?

A newly repaired ship...A willing and eager crew...A host of new technologies...A long anticipated return home...The crew of the UES Aurora finally has the chance to fulfill their mission, but first they must complete a long and dangerous journey across a thousand light-years of unexplored space.

Particle physics was always an unlikely path to the stars, but with the discovery that space could be compressed, the entire galaxy had come within reach. The technology was astonishing, yet nothing compared to what humans encountered 4,000 light-years from home. Now, with an invitation from a mysterious gatekeeper, the people of Earth must decide if they're ready to participate in the galactic conversation.

There is a huge, bold black streak in the sky. Branches appear out of nowhere over North America, Southern Europe, and Central Africa. People who live beneath The Rift can see it. But scientists worldwide are distressed - their equipment cannot pick up any type of signal from it. The rift appears to consist of nothing. Literally. Nothing. Nada. Niente. Most people are curious but not overly concerned. The phenomenon seems to pose no danger. It is just there. Then something jolts the most hardened naysayers, and surpasses the worst nightmares of the world's greatest scientists.

A world recovering from a devastating plague. A brutal enemy threatening invasion. A young man seeking to escape the shadow of his father. A ship manned by a crew of fresh academy graduates. A top-secret experimental propulsion system. A questionable alliance with a mysterious green-eyed woman. What destiny has in store for the crew of the UES Aurora is far greater than any of them could ever imagine. And this is only the beginning....

A ship under siege. A world on the brink of civil war. A distraught people seeking a new beginning. A battle weary crew that can barely hold it together. Even a legend can use a little help from time to time. The crew of the Aurora, the Karuzari, and the Corinairans must find a way to work together, or else they may all perish.

Commander Gray of the United Colonies Space Force died when his experimental ship crashed on Mars, but a backup of his mind survived. When Maggie discovers the wreck a century later, she becomes the target of a psychopathic rival intent on stealing the ship, and a hive of weaponized lifeforms bent on erasing the backup.

Amri was a Rabbit, one of a tribe of survivors scratching out an existence in the blasted landscape of a shattered, poisoned world. The Seagull fight, the Pigeon trade and the Cockroach scavenge, but the Rabbit had one rule: If you want to see tomorrow, you run. But they didn't run fast enough when a weapon fell from the sky and consumed their home, and now Amri is alone, in the company of a fallen god named Guy Vesten. A god who promises revenge against the three gods who turned against him, and who killed her tribe.

How can a colony on Mars survive when the greatest danger on the planet is humanity itself? All contact is lost with the first privately funded colony on Mars during a long and destructive sandstorm. Satellite imagery of the aftermath shows extensive damage to the facility. The 54 colonists who called it home are presumed dead.

Audacious astronauts encounter bizarre, sometimes deadly life forms, and strange, exotic, cosmic phenomena, including miniature black holes, dense fields of interstellar plasma, powerful gravity-emitters, and spectacularly massive space-based, alien-built labyrinths. Tasked with exploring this brave new, highly dangerous world, they must also deal with their own personal triumphs and conflicts.

First contact with the seemingly impossible human civilization at Proxima Centauri is not going well. The Earth ships sent to render aid have not been able to reverse the contagion ravaging their population and, worse, many Proximans are now wondering if the humans from Earth are there for other, not so charitable, reasons. Can the extinction-level disaster faced at Proxima be reversed by the combined ingenuity of scientists from both worlds working together?

The black monolith on the moon is history—but now a near-Earth asteroid suddenly changes in an unknown and actually impossible way. Once again, a race between nations is set in motion. Will it be possible to avoid the mistakes of the first contact with the phenomenon? Or will the researchers who want to use the black monolith for their own purposes prevail—without having the slightest understanding of its true nature?

A human expedition to colonize another star system is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure cupping a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths. And which, tantalizingly, is on a direct path heading toward the same system.

Science fiction masters Larry Niven (Ringworld) and Gregory Benford (Timescape) continue the thrilling adventure of a human expedition to another star system that is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space: a bowl-shaped structure cupping a star, with a habitable area equivalent to many millions of Earths. And which, tantalizingly, is on a direct path heading toward the same system the human ship is to colonize.

The black monolith has escaped destruction—for now. What no one on the moon realizes is that the artifact is holding the explorer who first touched it captive in a very special way. Will he be able to escape this trap in time? If not, the very existence of the solar system is at stake. Because the monolith has a purpose that its human discoverers would consider utterly impossible—if they knew about it.

Lords of Creation, the eagerly anticipated finale in S. M. Stirling's acclaimed Lords of Creation series, promises to be a masterful conclusion to a saga that has captivated audiences worldwide. Following the remarkable adventures in The Sky People and In the Courts of the Crimson Kings, this third installment is set to weave the intricate tales of alternate Venus and Mars into a climactic narrative.

The Space Race of the Sixties, at the height of the Cold War, had been nail-biting—until the Soviet Union forfeited. In the thirties—amid a second Cold War—China is not about to lose the race to Mars. Nor is the United States. Nor, quite the wildcard, is a secretive cabal drawn from among the world's multi-billionaires. All of them are scrambling to launch deep-space missions on a schedule that makes the Sixties contest appear lackadaisical. This competition could only continue on the Red Planet.