Hard Space Opera

Contemplating war is a terrible thing, but not contemplating it can be worse. As terrible as war is, failure to prepare is more terrible yet. This story is set at the same time and in the same universe as Hannah Sawyer.

The first eight novellas of Blaze Ward's Science Officer series collected together for the first time!

The generation ship Peerless is in search of advanced technology capable of sparing their home planet from imminent destruction. In theory, the ship is traveling fast enough that it can traverse the cosmos for generations and still return home only a few years after they departed. But a critical fuel shortage threatens to cut their urgent voyage short, even as a population explosion stretches the ship’s life-support capacity to its limits.

Poised to reconquer humanity's home, Captain Absen and Conquest are confronted with a new enemy that upsets the balance of power and changes everything EarthFleet expected. Their struggle to free Earth becomes instead a desperate battle for sheer survival as they contemplate the unthinkable: total annihilation.

Konran Andacellos has all but given up on his dream to be a starfighter. After botching an airshow maneuver and being reduced to a captaincy on a rock hauler, the ambitious 22-year-old never expected an ambush to sweep in and blow his convoy to dust. With the lives of his crew on the line, Konran leaps into a pitiful one-man defense craft and obliterates the enemy against impossible odds.

Five months there. Five months back. And seven months waiting for the planets to align. In a tiny ship never meant for deep space. Denali is one hell of a trip. But the leading mind in nanite medicine is stranded there. Captain Sass Collier wants him back, to cure failure to thrive syndrome in her own colony. Each of the crew has a motive to embrace the risk. The lucky ones wish for adventure. Adventure is assured. But Denali holds another prize beyond their wildest dreams. Can Sass hold her fractious crew together, get the goods, and meet her launch window home?

Hannah Sawyer is the spiritual descendant of Stephanie Kinsella. She has many special and unique abilities, but courage maybe isn't among them. Alas, she is caught up in a monstrous war, a war that requires the best efforts of everyone. When you think you have lost something, you find it the last place you look!

The Morthans were physically and mentally superior. Descended from humans, they were now, literally, “more-than" human … and considered the human race to be little better than animals. They would stop at nothing to conquer the remaining human-controlled worlds. Docked for repairs after a harrowing battle with a Morthan ship, Jonathan Korie and his crew discover they have a Morthan imp aboard—a Morthan weapon so quick they have no chance of catching it, so clever they have no hope of outsmarting it and so deadly they have no choice but to try.

Welcome to future-shock. Hold on tight and buckle yourselves in, because the future is on a relentless onslaught, for better or worse. This is a collection of the short speculative fiction of Gabriel Walker Land. Most stories are flash fiction, meaning less than 1000 words. Each contains a story of mystery, action, romance, and suspense.

Matthew found Marie, now can he get her to safety? After what seemed like an eternity, Matthew's finally saved Marie. In the time since she saw him last he's been through Hell. Not only that, but he's killed a lot more people than he ever thought he would. He's ready for some reprieve. On the other hand, Marie's been held against her will and has been forced to patch up the same Fulcrum soldiers who kidnapped her. Now two parties stand between them and their sought-after safety. The Fulcrum want to hunt them down and take revenge. The invading alien Beets are just willing to take whatever ...

He dreamed of reaching the stars, but everythig has a price… Ethan develops the first warp bubble technology to break the light speed barrier. Excited by his achievement, he builds the first spaceship size warp bubble drive. But blood drains from his face when he discovers the project sabotaged. It must be someone on the project team. Who can he trust? As they begin the ship’s maiden voyage, his worst fears are realised when someone murders his best friend and they detect another spaceship headed to their destination. Despairing, he sees his life-long dream slipping from his grip. Can ...

In the Year 2889 by Jules Verne is a diary of the observations of Fritz Napoleon Smith, the editor of an influential futuristic newspaper. It is an action-packed tale of technological advances and science fiction scenarios. Some of the predictions were remarkably accurate.

Are you ready for a thrilling journey through the depths of space? Then look no further than "Shackled in Space" by Alexander Hawthorne. In this pulse-pounding science fiction adventure, you'll be transported to a distant galaxy where a group of prisoners have been exiled to an inhospitable planet. With no hope of escape and a hostile environment to contend with, they must band together if they have any chance of survival. But as tensions rise and alliances are tested, the prisoners quickly realize that the greatest threat to their survival may come from within. Will they be able to ...

It is the distant future. The world known as Virga is a fullerene balloon three thousand kilometers in diameter, filled with air, water, and aimlessly floating chunks of rock. The humans who live in this vast environment must build their own fusion suns and "towns" that are in the shape of enormous wood and rope wheels that are spun for gravity. Young, fit, bitter, and friendless, Hayden Griffin is a very dangerous man. He's come to the city of Rush in the nation of Slipstream with one thing in mind: to take murderous revenge for the deaths of his parents six years ago.

When a brilliant scientist gets a letter from herself about faster-than-light travel, she doesn't know what to believe. The equations work, but her paper is discredited - and soon the criticism is more than scientific. Exiled by the establishment, she gets an offer to build her starship from an unlikely source. But in the heights of Venus and on a planet of another star, a secret is already being uncovered that will shake humanity to its foundations.

The game never changes, only the players do. Others might call it rebellion, call it cowardice. The vanguard will not forgive, nor will they forget. Their trust lays with one another, in those that have shed blood with them and joined the net. Empires, government, leaders, alliances, planets, corporations - many have fallen in humanities past. Now a new Empire will stand on the shoulders of the vanguard, the troopers, the people of Tricticus, and the Victor Corporation. Their goal: survive, and defend those they care for by any means necessary.

Pro tip: When a bunch of alien cats from outer space start blowing up cities without warning, prior plans may have to be altered. Be prepared to improvise. Yosi Weismann had a simple gig: Babysit a grossly irresponsible young man, who just happened to be a prince. Let His Excellency sow his wild oats. Don’t let him kill himself, or anyone else, in the process. Piece of cake for a man of his skills. A glorified vacation. That's how things were supposed to go, at any rate. Now Yosi is marooned on a foreign world, surrounded by people whom he doesn’t understand, hunted by enemies who ...

Kas is a junior researcher on a fact-finding mission to old Earth. But when a con-artist tricks her into wagering a large sum of money belonging to her university on the outcome of a manned robot arena battle, she becomes drawn into the seedy underworld of old Earth politics and state-sponsored battle-droid prizefights.

A woman having a psychotic episode, talking with her oldest friend from college who’s calming her, sees Earth devoid of humans is populated with monsters and discovers two secrets, he’s her “father” and…

Earth’s first colony ship finally reaches the target world. The excitement of planetfall is indescribable, but quickly transforms into sick disappointment when they find the atmosphere is a roiling mass of hydrochloric acid, carbon dioxide, and other deadly poisons. They fly onward, seeking better planets. They find them, but none are ideal. The search goes on for a century, then longer still. As they move farther from Earth, aliens discover the intruding ship, and they begin to investigate humanity. They find our species unacceptable.