Science Fiction Sci-Fi Books

Book Synopsis From a Grand Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy: In a post-apocalyptic future, a priest must fight the forces of evil in order to bring freedom to humanity.   Three-hundred and sixty years after a nuclear holocaust ravaged mankind, the world is fraught with chaos and superstition. Endowed with scientific knowledge lost to the rest of humanity, Techno-priests of the Great God now rule. Jarles, originally of peasant descent, rises to become a priest of the Great God. He knows that the gospel is nothing but trickery propagated by non-believers. One day, he defies his priestly training and attempts to incite the peasants to rebel—but Jarles is not the only dissenter trying to bring down the priesthood—witchcraft is slowly gaining strength and support among the populace. Little does Jarles know his rebellion is about to throw him headlong into the middle of the greatest holy war the world has ever seen.  

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Book Synopsis The “provocative and entertaining follow-up” to The Forge of God: Exiled from their planet, humans unite with one alien race in the fight against another (Publishers Weekly).  The Ship of the Law travels the infinite enormity of space, carrying eighty-two young people: fighters, strategists, scientists—and children. After one alien culture destroyed their home, another offered the opportunity for revenge in the form of a starship built from fragments of the Earth’s corpse, a ship they now use to scour the universe in search of their enemy.   Working with sophisticated nonhuman technologies that need new thinking to comprehend them, they’re cut off forever from the people they left behind. Denied information, they live within a complex system that is both obedient and beyond their control. They’re frightened. And they’re waging war against entities whose technologies are unimaginably ad

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Book Synopsis “A minor classic. A small book but with big characters . . . and great ideas” from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of Dinosaur Summer (SF Reviews). The planet Hegira is the universe’s melting pot. Hundreds of tribes in dozens of cities intermingle in the vast uncharted territory. The only thing holding the people together are the massive Obelisks, the chronicles of all the truths and falsehoods each tribe has brought to Hegira. Young Bar-Woten is in search of knowledge and he knows the key to the truth about his homeland is contained in the writings of the Obelisks. With his fellow companions, Bar-Woten must travel through Hegira’s exotic cities to discover the lies within the words of thousands. 

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Book Synopsis A contemporary couple journeys back in time to ancient Ireland in this delightful fantasy by the author of Tea with the Black Dragon. John Thornburn is an artist, mild-mannered and nonviolent. To make ends meet, he teaches some courses in Celtic design. And although his background is half Micmac Indian, he lives in Ireland for two reasons: his far more confrontational and warrior-like girlfriend, Derval O’Keane, and his fascination with the beautiful illuminated manuscript known as the Book of Kells.   But he’s about to take a journey to a far more distant place, one that he could not have imagined. Along with Derval, John will find himself in an ancient Celtic realm, where a Viking attack begs to be avenged and a fantastic—and sometimes terrifying—adventure awaits . . .   From a master of magical fantasy, the author of the Damiano Trilogy and a winner of the John W. Campbell Award, this

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Book SynopsisA peasant is sent to the arena, fodder for the carnage—but before the horrified gaze of noble ladies, the warrior named Dog slaughters headsmen, hunters, and beasts to win freedom as a full-fledged gladiator. Then deep-space rebels attack an Empire ship where Dog performs combat killings for the amusement of the passengers, and the gladiator becomes a rebel. Now a beautiful officer of the court finds her life depends on the mercy of Dog, the man she ordered put to death! 

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Trade Review“There are two things Lukyanenko does exceedingly well—building an intricate, believable world and then forcing characters to make hard choices within that world—and he brings both strengths to the fore in The Genome, a multi-layered mystery with some impressive sci-fi ornamentation.” —San Francisco Book Review “Lukyanenko uses his questing hero to explore the mind, the heart, and many genres . . . allowing even jaded readers to see their fields of interest anew, gain a deeper understanding—and be thoroughly entertained.” —Faren Miller, Locus “The narrative moves briskly and often mysteriously, with a curiously boyish enthusiasm. Add in splashes of humor, quirky references to Western cultural tropes and a true-to-life conclusion. . . . refreshingly different and something of a page-turner: well worth investigating.” —Kirkus Reviews“[An] excellent 1999 novel by the noted Russian SF author, finally available in an English translation . . . Lukyanenko is at the forefront of contemporary Russian SF, and his English-speaking fans should be thrilled to finally have a chance to read this fine novel.” —Booklist“The Genome is complex, witty, ambitious, amusing and entertaining.” —SF Site “Night Watch is an epic of extraordinary power.” —Quentin Tarantino “Like Tolkien getting mugged in a Moscow back alley by John le Carré.” —Bleeding Cool on New Watch “[A] sceptical, intelligent thriller.” —The Daily Telegraph on Night Watch “[As] potent as a shot of vodka . . . [a] compelling urban fantasy.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review of Night Watch

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Trade Review“Implications of [Soulminder’s premise] mount up in interlocking stories, which make for an intriguing thought experiment. . . . Those who enjoy deep philosophical questions will appreciate being left with much to ponder.” —Publishers Weekly “Zahn is clearly an expert in his craft. Vividly described and immaculately well thought-out, the theoretical scenarios he presents make Soulminder a fascinating read.” —CBS Local’s Man Cave Daily blog

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Book Synopsis The creator of Gor delivers a wide-ranging story collection, all previously unpublished, with a handful of directly Gor-related pieces and several more stories that involve Gor-like female slavery and submission. Many of the stories are philosophical monologues which play with existential and phenomenal ideas by discussing their philosophical underpinnings and their relation to the real world as observed with a philosophical mind-set. They are often without dialogue or even characters, merely thoughts, descriptions and speculations. Some could almost be lectures given narrative form. Some stories are SF, some are horror, some have “mainstream” settings. Among the characters in the various stories are a couple of talking frogs, a couple of independently-thinking computers, a fair number of philosophers and a number of clinical psychologists or psychiatrists, often analyzing or counseling computers or intelligent alien lifeforms.

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Book SynopsisDr. Brenda Hamilton—a PhD mathematician from Caltech—is beautiful, though she does not know her true beauty. She is a woman, though she does not know her true womanhood. Deep within herself she is sensual, though her senses have been dulled by this modern world. Hamilton has come to Africa to work under the brilliant Danish scientist Herjellsen, a man who speaks of reaching the stars. But what does the ancient stone axe laying on his lab table have to do with space travel? Soon it becomes clear that Herjellsen’s experiment is much larger than Hamilton or Herjellsen or even space travel itself. It is about correcting a mistake made tens of thousands of years ago in human evolution.  Thrown back in time, Hamilton must be shown her place in a tribe known simply as “the Men,” Stone Age hunters who take what they desire and know their true manhood. Will Hamilton survive in this savage land? Will her lover, Tree, teach her what

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Book Synopsis The fourth volume in John Norman’s epic Telnarian Histories describes the continuing rise to power of an unsung warrior thrown into the maelstrom of ambition, treachery, and violence that is the galactic empire When Filene, a former noblewoman masquerading as a slave, attempts to assassinate the ascendant tribal king, Ottonius, she fails and becomes fully enslaved. The story of her education in proper submission is told in counterpoint to the tale of the powerful but primitive warrior who finds himself drawn into intrigues affecting the destiny of a threatened and crumbling empire. This ambitious novel, written on an interstellar scale, follows the latest adventures of a man who has fought and killed his way out of obscurity to become a newly crowned king. As events unfold, he finds himself on a bloody and violent path that may lead to the imperial throne itself.

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