Space Travel Fiction

The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Neil Clarke has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year's writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome "sensawunda" that the genre has to offer.

In the not-too-distant future, a 21-member crew launches from Earth. Their mission: to establish a temporary colony on Mars. Little do they know that colony will become permanent–and the last stand of the human race. Because, without warning, every single person left on Earth simply...vanishes. Now, a thousand years later, the resources needed to sustain life are running out, and the very existence of the Mars colony is threatened. Humankind has only one option–to return to its home planet.

It’s the end of term, and the students are in the grip of revision fever…until a real fever takes over. The only possible cure lies in a distant nebula, but with the whole school under quarantine, who will be brave enough to go and get it?

For centuries, men and women have manned lighthouses to ensure the safe passage of ships. It is a lonely job and a thankless one for the most part. Until something goes wrong. Until a ship is in distress. In the twenty-third century, this job has moved into outer space. A network of beacons allows ships to travel across the Milky Way at many times the speed of light. These beacons are built to be robust. They never break down. They never fail. At least, they aren’t supposed to.

Following the smash-hit sci-fi comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is the second part in Douglas Adams' multi-media phenomenon and cult classic series, read by Martin Freeman. If you've done six impossible things this morning, why not round it...

Bova, a six-time Hugo Award winner and past president of the National Space Society, returns to his most popular and bestselling subject: the quest for Mars! How do you get to the Red Planet? Not via a benighted government program trapped in red tape and bound by budget constrictions, that's for...

Earth has fallen under the influence of the Fermion Party, whose members believe humanity’s future lies in the metaverse, a simulated environment to which people can upload their consciousness to become immortal. As a simulant, one cannot get sick, grow old, or die. Human beings have no business risking their lives in the betaverse, where injury and illness can kill them. And those who wish to explore beyond the solar system blaspheme what the Fermions believe is the natural order.

‘Ted Chiang is one of the most exciting writers in science fiction . . . These parables are filled with hope and humanism.’ – The Daily Telegraph From the acclaimed author of Stories of Your Life and Others – the basis for the Academy Award-winning film Arrival – comes a groundbreaking...

The instant Sunday Times bestseller, Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel investigates the idea of parallel worlds and possibilities, and plays with the very line along which time should run. 'So wise, so graceful, so rich' - Naomi Alderman, author of The Power 'Ingenious' - Guardian...

For three hundred years, humanity’s greatest works of art have been on loan at the Greenwood Museum. It was finally time for them to come home...but the alien curators were disinclined to return them. Force was out of the question. Earth’s government was clear: they were not going to press the issue. So, all we had was guile and hubris to fuel our little intergalactic art heist.

One of Heinlein's best-loved works, The Rolling Stones follows the rollicking adventures of the Stone family as they tour the solar system. It doesn't seem likely for twins to have the same middle name. Even so, it's clear that Castor and Pollux Stone both have "Trouble" written in that spot on...

From the grand master of science fiction comes this classic story about pioneers at the dawn of space exploration. Ross Jenkins, Art Mueller, and Morris Abrams are not your average high schools students. While other kids are cruising around in their cars or playing ball, this trio, known as the...

Bestselling science fiction superstars Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle combine their talents with those of Steven Barnes in an extraordinary adventure of humankind's first outpost in the farthest reaches of space. Light years from Earth, colonists land on a planet they name Avalon. It seems like...

You know him as a swashbuckling, giant-nosed lover immortalised in a play... but did you know he wrote one of the earliest sci-fi novels? Long before Edmond Rostand immortalized him, the real Cyrano de Bergerac was a freethinking philosopher and soldier who turned his sharp wit from the...

Five tales of time-travel, vampires, Snow White and Odysseus from the legendary Tanith Lee Tanith Lee was one of the 20th century’s most influential writers of fantasy, horror and science fiction. She wrote over 90 novels and 300 short stories, as well as children’s books, poems and several...

They could find a bright future . . . or the end of everything. From Peter F. Hamilton, The Evolutionary Void is the startling conclusion to the Void trilogy, set in the world of the Commonwealth Saga. Millions of Leaving Dream pilgrims have boarded ships, and are speeding towards the Void at...

Dazzling space battles, intergalactic politics, and rogue AI collide in the second book in this epic space opera by award-winning author Megan O'Keefe. Sanda and Tomas are fleeing for their lives after letting the most dangerous smartship in the universe run free. Now, unsure of who to trust...

Read by Peter Kenny, award-winning narrator of the Culture series by Iain M. Banks. In a ravaged near-future England, a private detective with psychic powers might be the last hope standing between mankind and total collapse. Mindstar Rising is the first cyberpunk thriller in Peter F. Hamilton's...

Will their heart's desire doom a civilization? The bestselling Void trilogy continues in The Temporal Void, an astonishing and vast space opera from Peter F. Hamilton, set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is in turmoil, as a cult prepares for its pilgrimage into the Void...

Fabulously cosy sci-fi adventure for fans of Becky Chambers and Martha Wells. 'Absolutely wonderful . . . Filled with fantastic characters and so much heart, this book is a treasure' -Sarah Beth Durst, author of The Spellshop Her starship gave her freedom. But could it also become a friend?...