Category: scifi 2010-2020

The Jim Baen Memorial Award: The First Decade

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The Jim Baen Memorial Award: The First Decade
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A DECADE OF SCIENCE FICTION EXCELLENCE

Since 2007, Baen Books and The National Space Society have sponsored The Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award, to honor the legacy of Jim Baen and to promote the ideals of forward-thinking, positive science fiction.

Here gathered together for the first time are the best of the best of the first decade of the Jim Baen Memorial Award. Winners and runners-up whose stories dared imagine a bright future in which humankind has shaken off the shackles of gravity and moved into that limitless realm known as “outer space.”

Each tale is set in a plausible, near-future setting, and yet the variations are as limitless as the imaginations of the array of authors represented. Stories that ask, “What if?” Stories that dare to say, “Why not?” Stories that continue the grand science fiction tradition, looking to the future with a positive outlook on humanity’s place in the universe.

RHATS!: A Takamo Universe Novella (Muto Chronicles Book 1)

RHATS!: A Takamo Universe Novella (Muto Chronicles Book 1)
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Kerry Nietz, the award-winning science fiction author of Amish Vampires in Space and A Star Curiously Singing brings you RHATS!

As battles rage and allegiances shift, the Muto Frohic returns home an unlikely hero. Now rich beyond measure, fat from the spoils of conquest, he takes his place among the emperor’s honored champions. His symbol is raised over the Black Wall and his name inscribed into the Book of Remembrance. Yet Frohic’s heart is troubled. His destiny unfulfilled. For somewhere in the dark reaches of—

Who is writing this stuff? That isn’t how it is at all.

Frohic again. Listen, I got home to find squatters living in my family’s hovel and no clue as to where father, mother, and the rest of the family went. The only help I have is from someone I just met, and I half suspect she’s looking for a sire to start her own family. I don’t trust her, and I certainly don’t like her. Least, not like that.

Meanwhile, an old friend shows up with a fantastic offer. Lose years of my life on another scavenging mission! And this time we’re going to a part of the galaxy that no muto has ever seen. Much less returned from.

Did I mention there might be ants? Giant, ugly ants. Plus, a crew of lunatics. Always fighting or fussing.

If I survive, I might get to see my family again. Do I want that? Do I want any of this?

Torchship

Torchship
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A captain who’ll take any job if there’s enough money in it.

A pilot with an agenda of her own.

And a mechanic with an eye on the pilot.

The crew of the Fives Full are just trying to make enough money to keep themselves in the black while avoiding the attention of a government so paranoid it’s repealed Moore’s Law. They’re not looking for adventure in the stars . . . but they’re not going to back down just because something got in their way.

Combat Frame XSeed

Combat Frame XSeed
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The future is over.

Civilization on Earth has collapsed. Oligarchs have established a new order in manmade space colonies at the Earth-Moon LaGrange points.

A group of powerful colonies form the Systems Overterrestrial Coalition to re-civilize the earth, but grounders view the colonists as hostile meddlers. The Coalition counters the rising violence with giant manned robots called combat frames.

The independent L3 colonies denounce the war on Earth. In response, Coalition Security Director Sanzen takes L3 leader Josef Friedlander’s wife and daughter hostage. Amid the tense standoff, Friedlander’s son Sieg launches an unsanctioned rescue mission to L1’s Byzantium colony.

Firefly – Big Damn Hero

Firefly - Big Damn Hero
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The original novel tying into the critically acclaimed and much-missed Firefly series from creator Joss Whedon.

The Battle of Serenity Valley was the turning point that led the Independents to their defeat at the hands of the Alliance. Yet the Browncoats had held the valley for weeks against all odds, before being ordered to lay down their arms. Command stated they refused to send in airpower because the ground war was “too hot.” But the soldiers who were there insist that was not true…

While picking up a new cargo on Persephone, Captain Malcolm Reynolds is kidnapped by a bunch of embittered veteran Browncoats who suspect him of sabotaging the Independents during the war. As the rest of the crew struggle to locate him, Mal is placed on trial for his life, fighting compelling evidence that someone did indeed betray them to the Alliance all those years ago. As old comrades and old rivals crawl out of the woodwork, Mal must prove his innocence, but his captors are desperate and destitute, and will settle for nothing less than the culprit’s blood.

Constellation: A Space Opera in the Classic Tradition (Blood Empire Book 1)

Constellation: A Space Opera in the Classic Tradition (Blood Empire Book 1)
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A powerful battlecruiser lost to the stars. Will her high-stakes salvage operation spark an intergalactic war?

Indy Jackson longs to blast her father’s killer to ashes. But when her latest shady interplanetary deal goes bad, the bold space smuggler is forced to go on the run, framed for an alien massacre. And when her brutal blackmailer demands she recover an abandoned fabled warship, she heads into dangerous territory…

Desperate to return to her black-market trades and hunt down her father’s murderer, Indy teams up with a ragtag crew of mercenaries. But as she confronts the impossible task and uncovers a shocking truth, any misstep could bring a fragile galactic sector to its knees.

Can one daring pirate outsmart ruthless factions and play deadly politics to pull off the coup of the century?

Constellation is the first book in the action-packed Blood Empire space opera trilogy. If you like rebellious heroines, classic sci-fi battles, and planet-loads of hidden agendas, then you’ll love Robert Scanlon’s plasma-fueled leap into danger.

Hide the Lightning (The Coalition Book 1)

Hide the Lightning (The Coalition Book 1)
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Harmon Tomeral, along with his friends and allies, continues to develop the forces of Salvage System, for its own defense and—if the cause is just—to defend others. Humans and aliens working together would seem novel…but then again, outside of Earth and the Sol System, humans are aliens, too.

Having salvaged, repaired, and rebuilt a number of warships, the Salvage Fleet is a presence to be reckoned with. The Ground Force, including its specialty unit, the Bolts, has also continued to grow, and they spend their time training with the weapons of war—mechs, tanks, artillery, and battle armor—and anything else they can get their hands and paws on that will give them an edge in battle.

When the Nazrooth System calls, they are once again compelled to right a wrong. It won’t be easy…but then again, it never is. Just don’t tell Harmon the odds—he doesn’t want to know them. Despite a staggering imbalance in forces, Harmon boards his flagship, Salvage Title, and leads the majority of his fleet to free Nazrooth. Only a small, defensive fleet is left behind, full of trainees and reservists.

Both Salvage Fleet and the home forces are ready to face the odds, but what if this time they’re insurmountable?

Salvage Title (The Salvage Title Trilogy Book 1)

Salvage Title (The Salvage Title Trilogy Book 1)
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The Salvage Title journey begins!

They couldn’t afford a ship, much less the cost of registering one. But there is always a loophole…

Harmon Tomeral wanted nothing more than to go to space. Sent to an orphanage when his parents were killed in a sandstorm, the odds were stacked against him. Despite that, he made it to the academy and graduated in the top ten percent of his class…only to find out the fleet did what it wanted, regardless of regulations, and he came from the wrong planet.

He didn’t give up his dream, though, because where there’s a will, there’s a loophole, and Harmon and his friends found their loophole in the Top Fleet Marine competition—the winner would get 100,000 credits, which would just be enough to start their own salvage company. If they could build a mech and win the competition, they would be set.

But the fleet had already shown they didn’t want him in space, so it would be an uphill fight. Good thing his friends and crew were very much against fleet regulations.

The Eternity War: Pariah

The Eternity War: Pariah
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Set in the same universe as Lazarus War trilogy,

 

‘A NEW MASTER OF SCIENCE FICTION’ William C. Dietz, author of the Halo tie-in novels

‘Jamie Sawyer is easily one of the best military SF writers working today – a must read for anyone who grew up watching Aliens and reading 2000AD’ Gavin Smith, author of The Bastard Legion

The Eternity War series is an explosive tale of elite marines, deep-space exploration and warring galactic empires.

The soldiers of the Simulant Operations Programme are mankind’s elite warriors. Veterans of a thousand battles across a hundred worlds, they undertake suicidal missions to protect humanity from the insidious Krell Empire and the mysterious machine race known as the Shard.

Lieutenant Keira Jenkins is an experienced simulant operative and leader of the Jackals, a team of raw recruits keen to taste battle. They soon get their chance when the Black Spiral terrorist network seizes control of a space station.

Yet no amount of training could have prepared the Jackals for the deadly conspiracy they soon find themselves drawn into – a conspiracy that is set to spark a furious new war across the galaxy.

The Eternity War series is an explosive tale of elite marines, deep-space exploration and warring galactic empires.

Praise for Jamie Sawyer:

‘A gripping read that moves at warp speed’ Jack Campbell, author of the Lost Fleet series

‘Alien biomechs . . . terrorism, subterfuge and traitors . . . starships sporting particle beam weapons, railguns the size of skyscrapers, laser batteries, missiles . . . This, dear readers, is the good stuff’ Neal Asher, author of the Agent Cormac novels

The Lazarus War: Artefact

The Lazarus War: Artefact
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Artefact is book one of The Lazarus War, an explosive new space adventure series from one of the brightest new stars in science fiction — perfect for fans of The Edge of Tomorrow, Alien and James S. A. Corey’s Expanse series. Jack Campbell, author of the Lost Fleet novels calls it “a gripping read that moves at warp speed.”

Mankind has spread to the stars, only to become locked in warfare with an insidious alien race. All that stands against the alien menace are the soldiers of the Simulant Operation Programme, an elite military team remotely operating avatars in the most dangerous theatres of war.

Captain Conrad Harris has died hundreds of times — running suicide missions in simulant bodies. Known as Lazarus, he is a man addicted to death. So when a secret research station deep in alien territory suddenly goes dark, there is no other man who could possibly lead a rescue mission.

But Harris hasn’t been trained for what he’s about to find. And this time, he may not be coming back . . .

Artefact is an action-drenched tale of elite space marines, deep space exploration and galactic empires. Discover The Lazarus War — the thrilling new space opera series from one of the most exciting new voices in science fiction.

There is another trilogy in the same universe : The Eternity War: Pariah