Space Travel Fiction

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.

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.

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.

In this poetic and philosophical science fiction odyssey, the mind and emotions are no longer bound together. Higgs, a liberated mindwave, escapes the chaos of Earth and travels to the planet Proton—a place of eternal light and engineered perfection. There, with the help of Quark, a native being of pure intelligence, Higgs takes human form and begins a journey that defies space and time. Together with Ardi—an ancient hominid resurrected through cosmic time dilation—they travel back to Earth’s past, witnessing firsthand the evolution of civilization and the collapse of human values.

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...

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.

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...

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...

Set in 2040, the Mars Diaries feature 14-year-old Tyce Sanders, the only child ever born on Mars. He lives under a dome on the red planet with 200 scientists and techies, including his mother, Kristy Sanders, a biologist and a believer. Tyce is confined to a wheelchair, but virtual reality and...

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...

Blast off!...for thrilling interplanetary adventures with courageous teen space explorer Tom Corbett and his pals, the brilliant but enigmatic Roger Manning & the affable Venusian engineer Astro. * * * Here’s Carey Rockwell’s fabulous first foray into the future world of the Solar Alliance...

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...

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...

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?...

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. **When everything is lost, creation begins.** The universe has been torn apart. Time has fractured. And the greatest mysteries of existence are only beginning to unfold. Waythrel of Xix has witnessed the impossible. He has seen civilizations rise and...

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. **From the future, a desperate warning. From the past, humanity's last hope.** Ambra Dawn was born into a world where nothing is quite what it seems. But as she discovers the extraordinary truth about her existence, she begins to understand that time...

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...

Eversion is a superb, original Gothic SF novel. A small group of intrepid explorers are in search of a remote and mysterious artefact. It's a well-funded expedition, well organised, which is lucky as they're sailing north of Bergen on the schooner Demeter, searching for a narrow inlet which will...