Showing results for "The Cold" in Science Fiction

Cold Hand in Mine stands as one of Aickman's best collections and contains eight stories that show off his powers as a 'strange story' writer to the full. The listener is introduced to a variety of characters, from a man who spends the night in a Hospice to a German aristocrat and a woman who sees an image of her own soul. There is also a nod to the conventional vampire story ("Pages from a Young Girl's Journal") but all the stories remain unconventional and inconclusive, which perhaps makes them all the more startling and intriguing.

Everyone knows the name Vesper Quill. I used to be a lowly lab rat working in a Regal-owned corporation, but thanks to my truebond with Kyrion Caldaren, I’m now one of the most wanted fugitives in the Archipelago Galaxy. Kyrion and I have spent the last few weeks avoiding bounty hunters, along with the Arrows, the elite Imperium warriors tasked with capturing us. Now we’ve journeyed to a distant planet that’s supposed to be a refuge for truebonded couples, but when new enemies appear, we’re once again in grave danger.

In NecroTek, the space station Asphodel was accidentally teleported to the far side of the galaxy, where they became embroiled in a never-ending war against ancient cosmic horrors. But there is much more to the story … On Earth, scientists uncover an alien spacecraft buried for millions of years beneath Antarctic ice. Inside are terrible secrets and a creature desperate to escape. Soon the scientists studying the Artifact begin to have terrifying dreams, driving many of them to madness and acts of shocking violence.

""On every level, Cold Storage is pure, unadulterated entertainment.""—Douglas Preston, The New York Times For readers of Andy Weir and Noah Hawley comes an astonishing debut by the screenwriter of Jurassic Park: a wild and terrifying adventure about three strangers who must work together to...

Deep in the stars, a young officer and her lover are plunged into a murder mystery and a deadly conspiracy in this first entry in a stellar military science-fiction series in the tradition of Lois McMaster Bujold. When her crewmate, Danny, is murdered on the colony of Volhynia, Central Corps...

Hace treinta y dos años, Roberto Díaz, que forma parte de un equipo élite y secreto del Pentágono, viajó al desierto australiano para investigar un posible ataque bioquímico. Lo que encontró fue mucho peor: un organismo altamente mutante, similar a una planta, capaz de causar epidemias...

In a Europe fractured by a flu pandemic and crippled by economic collapse, the continent has fractured into a hundred tiny principalities of ever-shifting loyalties, borders and covert operations. For Carey Tews, a former operative with Les Coureurs des Bois—a clandestine organisation of high-risk smugglers—Europe and the coureurs are in her past. Her legend in Hungary is blown six way from Sunday, and even if she could go back to working in Europe, she wouldn't. That is until an old friend and lover is declared dead in mysterious circumstances.

The UN warship Magellan is twelve light-years from Earth, exploring a cold eye, a tidally locked super-Earth called Bee. At least two advanced intelligent species evolved on the planet, but the crew's attempts at radio communication result in garbled replies. No one is waiting for them in orbit. The crew has to figure out why. Any misunderstandings could lead to war.

Then I go to stay at my aunt's while starting college, and she's killed because of me, her home invaded by demons, and I learn there is so much more going on in the world than I could have ever understood. Throw in a couple of gargoyles and me unlocking an ancient path to insane amounts of magic, and you have my story. Be careful, though, as it's not for the prude at heart.

Summoned to the home planet of her family's business empire, space-fleet commander Kylara Vatta is told to expect a hero's welcome. But instead, she is thrown into danger unlike any other she has faced and finds herself isolated, unable to communicate with the outside world, commanding a motley group of unfamiliar troops, and struggling day by day to survive in a deadly environment with sabotaged gear. Only her undeniable talent for command can give her ragtag band a fighting chance.

The Ravennox are still out there. But thanks to Darius Spann and the Superba, Lawson and the other forces of the newly-restored Cygnus Realm face another, far more immediate threat. Spann and his Superba allies still hold sway over a huge swath of human territory, declaring it all Imperial space. Humanity is split, the Realm on one side and the Empire on the other, both claiming to be led by the Messenger. With neither able to land a decisive blow to knock out the other, a cold war now simmers between these two competing visions for the future.

Generations after global annihilation, Kansas is a mutated landscape of dense, deciduous forest. Gone are the amber waves of grain, another hideous result of nuclear devastation that changed the face of the Earth forever. Now it's survival of the freakish. Following rumors that might lead them to the long-lost Trader, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists find themselves the unwilling house guests of the wealthiest barons in all of Deathlands.

Simon Bovey is an established writer and director who has penned numerous compelling dramas for BBC Radio. Collected here are four of his sensational sci-fi tales, packed with mystery, suspense and terror...

Far from the Imperial throne of Terra a religious zealot rises up to challenge the authority of Emperor Tigranes. The task of subduing the rebellion before it grows out of hand falls to a disgraced imperial noble, Andranik Haduni. Exiled from his family and trapped within the confines of the Frontier Corps can he and his outgunned tank crew stop this challenge to imperial power before it sets the galaxy on fire?

What happens when the world's deadliest operative is activated with no target to take out? Tina Hutchinson was a member of the black ops team known as C.O.R.P.S.E.-until she was killed. But her death triggered a secret program, activating an android that was trained to kill, yet is now confused about its mission.

With resources dwindling, the death toll mounting, and foreign troops laying waste to the east coast cities, a strike team comprised of Burning Hollow and Smokey Hills’ fiercest warriors will attempt the impossible: They will wade into the apocalyptic wasteland to meet and attack the enemy at their own stronghold.

It's not easy being human when Earth is run by aliens. Lena has been locked up, imprisoned in a multi-species penitentiary on Earth, and all she wants is to get back to what she's good at: keeping her sister safe. Kormak is a Levekk - a member of the same cold-blooded alien species that enslaved her planet - and he is the key to her escape. Kormak hates humans, and he's not afraid to show it. They burn hot and bright but are snuffed out quickly, and the last thing he wants is a human slowing him down. But she needs a protector, and he's drawn to her flame.

Guerrilla activist and rebel journalist Thomasina Lyell discovers a destructive, mind-shattering power that threatens the future of humankind and will stop at nothing to reveal it to the world.

All Ellie has ever wanted is freedom, but that's hard to find when Earth is under Levekk rule. She'll do anything for a better life under the domes of the city - even pledge herself to work as a housemaid for a member of the same alien species she's supposed to fear. Except her new boss isn't the clean-cut senator that he pretends to be. His icy eyes are like daggers, and his presence is captivating, but captivity isn't what Ellie signed up for. Signing that contract was meant to free her from poverty, not snare her in an entirely new type of cage.

Cold Open Stories was founded as a love-letter to short fiction and pulp stories which have the power to quickly throw us into new worlds, cultures, and feelings. Enjoy unofficial short fiction, audio dramas, and immersive experiences that transform fan-writing into professional productions, as well as new stories from original worlds. Find more at coldopenstories.com.