Showing titles in Space Exploration

Despite increasing restrictions on the freedoms of women on Earth, Valerie Black is spearheading the first all-female mission to a planet in the Goldilocks Zone, where conditions are just right for human habitation. It's humanity's last hope for survival, and Naomi, Valerie's surrogate daughter and the ship's botanist, has been waiting her whole life for an opportunity like this - to step out of Valerie's shadow and really make a difference.

A good Gajur gave his life. Will that sacrifice help bring the galaxy back to balance? Or topple known space into a war to end all wars? Armagost wasn't the only light snuffed prematurely. The attack destroyed an irreplaceable piece of Valint's life, as well. Now, Mark must toe the delicate line between lawman and friend, partner and lover. With those in power divided, the work has only begun. The galaxy no longer needs a maker of peace, but a lobbyist and negotiator. In order to deconstruct the entombed and corrupt system, Mark and the gang must stack the deck in their favor.

The colonies of the Faustian Chain have gone dark. No star freighters have come from the star cluster for many years. Captain Bill Gorman, a smuggler on the Fringe, is one of the few who know the truth. He’s personally battled the alien invaders who’ve overrun the human colonies of the Chain. He and his crew are faced with a choice: Will they fight the invaders, or will they run?

Alex Archer is a soldier now, the only civilian survivor from Scorpio to join the NAC Defense Corps. With their training complete, Alex and her friend Private Isa Cressey find themselves on emergency combat deployment with their new unit. The destination is the Alpha Corvi system, where an allied warship has vanished. Alex can guess why.

The year is 2650. Seventy-five years ago, an alien fleet attacked Earth. Without warning. Without mercy. We were not prepared. Hundreds of millions perished. Dozens of cities burned. We nearly lost everything. Then the aliens abruptly left. We rebuilt. We armed ourselves. We swore: never again. But the aliens never came back. Until now. With overwhelming force the aliens have returned, striking deep into our territory, sending Earth into a panic.

When a small group of humans are abducted from Earth, they find themselves thrust into a battle for the fate of the known universe. They are forced to put their trust in a mysterious artificial intelligence who has its own secret agenda. Banding together with beings from across the universe, the band of misfits must overcome an empire bent on the subjugation of Earth. Can the small band of allies overcome an ancient evil while unlocking the very secret of humanities origins?

The Dusahn Empire has been contained for the moment. But there is much work to be done in order to keep them from reasserting their dominance over the Pentaurus sector. As much as Captain Scott wants to see the Empire destroyed, he may have no choice but to find a way to coexist with them.

Ellie Masters comes out of a coma to find herself the only inhabitant of an eerily empty moon station. She’s not on Earth any more; she’s not even in the right solar system. So when someone reaches out to her, tells her he’s her friend, she’s happy to believe it. The alternative is to be stuck alone with an enemy. Renn Sorvihn has been chasing a rogue Tecran ship for over a month. But when Renn follows the Tecran ship into an uncharted sector, and realizes the Tecran have been working their way to a secret moon base, he suddenly understands things are not as they seem.

Noah, Ben, and the rest of the crew have done the impossible—defied the Warden and lived to tell the tale. But for how long? Faced with the Warden’s retribution, they’ll have to put all their combined skills and teamwork to the ultimate test to survive. And even if they make it through the gauntlet in one piece, their reward is hardly a reward at all…

Commander Jacob T. Grimm is eager to get back in the war, but when an ambassador to a nothing planet called Cordoba pulls strings, Interceptor is the convenient puppet. Assigned to escort the ambassador, accompany the Marines, and participate in wargames with Cordoba, Jacob fears the only action will be against boredom. He couldn't be more wrong.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, the endlessly-mysterious moon is explored in this reprint short science fiction anthology from award-winning editor and anthologist Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld, The Best Science Fiction of the Year).

In the near future, a new space race is in full swing to be the first to colonize Mars. In preparations, an engineering team is building out the interplanetary communications network when a mysterious object emerges from the depths of interstellar space. As the nations of Earth scramble to investigate this strange comet, they must overcome plots from within and the machinations of a malignant AI in order to be the first to meet the menace, or the promise, that the intruder foretells.

What could possibly be in Longbourn Crater that was worth their while?When damage to his ship forces Captain Darcy to land in an unexpected location on an alien world, he's not prepared for what he finds. He expected aliens, certainly, but he didn't expect a contingent of humans related to Earth's most notorious traitor, or for those humans to be his crew’s only chance to repair their ship and complete their mission. Brilliant and beautiful, the human women they meet seem poised to do more harm than good.

A year ago, the war against the Theocracy ended. But it didn't bring peace. Admiral Kat Falcone was lucky - her side won the war. But without an external threat, Kat’s homeworld government, the Commonwealth, begins to burst. The galactic war may be over, but there is a civil war on the horizon. The king and parliament disagree over the Commonwealth's future. The Commonwealth's first recession is plaguing corporations.

Damien Montgomery serves the Mage-King of Mars as a Hand: a troubleshooter, judge, and roving representative. Now, his duties have brought him home and into conflict with his fellows. A Hand is dead in nuclear fire amongst the mountains of Mars. The conspiracy she served is broken and scattered, but Damien must know who they are and what drove them. What secrets could convince a Hand of the Mage-King to betray everything?

In a bold and brazen act of treachery, the Royal Martian Navy exploratory cruiser Rose was stolen and is now in the hands of the conspiracy group known as Nemesis. Guilty of a thousand crimes, Nemesis and its leader, Kent Riley, are determined to find proof of the alien threat they have secretly been preparing humanity to face. Set in pursuit by the Mage-Queen of Mars herself, Mage-Captain Roslyn Chambers commands Rose's sister ship, Thorn, in a chase that brings her to the far reaches of the galaxy.

The problem is, we didn't come home alone. No one has ever seen anything like this. What they're calling it sends shivers down my spine: a parasitic alien pathogen. It could be a virus, a toxin, or maybe something even worse. And believe me: what we don't know definitely can hurt us. It's too late for me—I've been exposed. But this has never been about me. It's going to take some incredible risks and another long-shot space mission to get to the bottom of this, but I'll fight until my last breath to undo the damage I've done.

Six astronauts dare to do the impossible: a mission to Venus, a planet full of dangers and ancient secrets. But what begins as a scientific exploration turns into a race for survival. Caught between four rival factions and a mysterious resonance capsule that defies the laws of time and space, the crew is faced with an impossible choice: truth or destruction. Friendship, trust and even lives are put to the test as the astronauts find themselves caught up in a maelstrom of riddles, love, a tribunal and paradoxes that challenge every known reality.

Bad luck seems to follow navy officer Archer Devereaux like toilet paper stuck to his shoe. Even when he tries to do the right thing, he ends up in hot water—or behind bars. Hemmed in by circumstances beyond his control, his reputation, particularly among graduates of the Phlegraean Naval Academy, has become a mess. Fortunately, one of his superior officers knows that Devereaux is more than his mishaps. She sees that he's a clever young officer. Cool under fire.

Keeping up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more - a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.