Steampunk Specs

Steampunk Specs
Author: Christopher Barzak
Publisher: AudioText
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2013-02-28
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

This collection of unabridged, spectacular steampunk speculations includes several classics of the genre. These tales will sweep you away with their amazing automata, daring dirigibles, grinding gears, and scintillating steam as days long gone are infused with tech. In “Smoke City,” by Christopher Barzak, a woman comes to terms with the loss of her family to the child labor mills of the city. A doctor tries to cope with a strange plague terrorizing the citizens of London in Jeffrey Ford’s “Dr. Lash Remembers.” In “Machine Maid,” by Margo Lanagan, a sexually repressed wife gets revenge on her husband through a robot maid. Friedrich Engels strives to spread class revolution as a labor organizer for factory cyborg matchstick girls in Arbeitskraft, by Nick Mamatas. In “Ninety Thousand Horses,” by Sean McMullen, an acclaimed mathematician, with a murky past, is forced to spy for an industrialist prior to becoming Britain’s foremost rocket expert during World War II. An orphan boy builds an automaton, in an aging scientist’s laboratory, that becomes more than an idle companion in Cherie Priest’s “Tanglefoot (A Clockwork Century Story).” In “Clockwork Fairies,” by Cat Rambo, an English aristocrat courts a woman who would rather spend her time in a laboratory than at high society balls. At Chicago’s Columbian Exposition, in 1893, an Algerian bodyguard crosses paths with a disoriented naked man in Chris Roberson’s “Edison’s Frankenstein.”. In “A Serpent in the Gears,” by Margaret Ronald, a dirigible journeys to an isolated land and discovers people and animals merged with machine parts. Radio Jones finds a way to listen in on the Naked Brains, who rule the world, while Rudy the Red fights against the oppressors in “Zeppelin City,” by Michael Swanwick& Eileen Gunn.

The Year's Top Short SF Novels 5

The Year's Top Short SF Novels 5
Author: Cory Doctorow
Publisher: AudioText
Total Pages: 473
Release: 2015-12-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Short novels are movie length narratives that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This unabridged collection presents the best-of-the-best short science fiction novels published in 2014 by current and emerging masters of this vibrant form of story-telling. In “The Man Who Sold the Moon,” by Cory Doctorow, hardware geeks and Burning Man fanatics band together to overcome challenges such as crowdfunding a space mission, falling in love, battling cancer and perfecting an open source engineering marvel in order to put a 3D printing robot, that creates ceramic building panels from sand, on the moon. “The Man Who Sold the Moon” won the 2015 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best short science fiction. In “The Regular,” by Ken Liu, a cybernetically enhanced private investigator keeps her emotions in check with a piece of hardware called The Regulator while she searches for the murderer of a prostitute whom she suspects is a serial killer. “Claudius Rex,” by John P. Murphy, is a sci-fi whodunit comedy that pays tongue-in-cheek homage to Rex Stout and Isaac Asimov. A humble PI partners with an arrogant AI to solve the murder of the AI’s creator. Ai! In “Of All Possible Worlds,” by Jay O’Connell, an old timeline wizard coaxes a younger man to become his apprentice in an attempt to edit Earth’s history so that the planet will escape the ravages of the Long Night and ensure that our timeline is the best of all possible worlds. In “Each in His Prison, Thinking of the Key,” by William Preston, the U.S. government brings a telepathic interrogator, who is a veteran of the American war in Iraq, to a secret complex in Texas to get a handle on an enigmatic prisoner known as “The Old Man.” A test of wills ensues between the two in this homage to Doc Savage. Finally, in “The Last Log of the Lachrimosa,” by Alastair Reynolds, set in the Revelation Space universe, a crew investigates a cave on a volcanic planet in the hopes of salvaging valuable abandoned tech only to discover that the cave is defended by a horrific psychological weapon.

Steampunk Crescendo - Softcover

Steampunk Crescendo - Softcover
Author: Dave M
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2012-01-08
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN: 1105431959

Will you succumb to temptation? In a dystopian era of vampires, magic, and steampunk super-science, you face overwhelming oppression. Will you oppose your Antagonist? Will you fight for your Goal, and in so doing, bring meaningful change to your world? Or will you be tempted by the distractions of this world. A roleplaying game for 3-6 players. 3+ hours, one or multiple sessions. Intuitive, streamlined ruleset. Overcome Antagonists using an action-based resolution system. Compelling, dystopian, steampunk setting with room for personalization and change.

The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 10

The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 10
Author: R. S. Benedict
Publisher: AudioText
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2018-06-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

An unabridged collection spotlighting the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2017 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “My English Name,” by R. S. Benedict, an intelligent alien, who parasitizes an English teacher in China, falls in love. After a victorious space battle, an indentured robot finds a refugee who makes an offer it can’t refuse in “Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance” by Tobias S. Buckell. In “The Moon is Not a Battlefield,” by Indrapramit Das, an Indian soldier retires on Earth after spending most of her life on the Moon. A young woman joins the U.S. Army to fight terrorists after aliens arrive on Earth bearing tech gifts unevenly dispersed to humans in “Dear Sarah” by Nancy Kress. In “An Evening with Severyn Grimes,” by Rich Larson, a gifted hacker uses cyberspace to extract pay back on the rich businessman who put her in prison. Set in the author’s hexarchate universe, an ex-Kel super soldier is enlisted to retrieve a weapon of mass destruction stolen by a rogue general in “The Chameleon’s Gloves” by Yoon Ha Lee. In “The Martian Obelisk,” by Linda Nagata, on a dying Earth, an architect remotely building a monument to mankind on Mars receives a message from an abandoned Mars colony. A petty meat counterfeiter is blackmailed into forging T-bone steaks for an anonymous thug in “A Series of Steaks” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. In “The Residue of Fire,” by Robert Reed, a torturer tries to cope with one of his alien victims who witnessed a pivotal moment in the lives of two immortals, in this Great Ship tale. And finally, in this Revelation Space tale, a starship captain wakes from hibernation with her ship stalled next to an alien artifact and a mutiny in progress in “Night Passage” by Alastair Reynolds.

The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 7

The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 7
Author: Nina Allan
Publisher: AudioText
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2015-06-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

An unabridged audio collection of the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2014 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “Marielena,” by Nina Allan, an immigrant is haunted by his past, as well as his present and future, in a disturbingly mean-spirited near-future England. A convicted serial killer is sentenced to “rightminding” to cure his neurological disorder that resulted in the sociopathic murdering of thirteen women in “Covenant,” by Elizabeth Bear. “The Magician and LaPlace’s Demon” by Tom Crosshill, follows a powerful AI that discovers the existence of magic and then prosecutes a vendetta against the magicians who grow more powerful as their numbers dwindle. In “Sadness,” by Timons Esaias, a man strikes back, as best he can, against the powerful aliens who conquered Earth long ago. In “Amicae Aeternum,” by Ellen Klages, a young girl shares her last morning on Earth with her girlfriend before boarding a generation starship. “Red Lights, and Rain,” by Gareth L. Powell, is a blend of sci-fi and vampire-hunting lore in which the vampires are made, not born. In “The Sarcophagus,” by Robert Reed, the maintenance cyborgs of the Great Ship encounter a stranded spacer in a derelict lifesuit from a long ago ship. “In Babelsberg,” by Alastair Reynolds, showcases a robot whose account of the dead colonists recently found on Titan are challenged by another AI. In “Passage of Earth,” by Michael Swanwick, a coroner gets a taste of the Earth invaders’ superior intelligence while dissecting a giant worm-like alien. Finally, in “The Colonel,” by Peter Watts, Colonel Moore tries to assess the capabilities of the hived human intelligences that have attacked a compound under his command.

The Year's Top Short SF Novels 2

The Year's Top Short SF Novels 2
Author: Carolyn Ives Gilman
Publisher: AudioText
Total Pages: 431
Release: 2012-11-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Short novels are movie length narratives that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This unabridged collection presents the best-of-the-best short science fiction novels published in 2011 by current and emerging masters of this form. In "The Ice Owl," by Carolyn Ives Gilman, an adolescent, female, Waster in the iron city of Glory to God finds an enigmatic tutor who provides her with much more than academic instruction while a fundamentalist revolt is underway. In the HUGO AWARDwinner, "The Man Who Bridged the Mist," by Kij Johnson, an architect from the capital builds a bridge over a dangerous mist that will change more than just the Empire. In "Kiss Me Twice," by Mary Robinette Kowal, a detective, with the assistance of the police department's AI that takes on Mae West's persona, solves a murder with all the flair of an Asimov robot story. "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary," by Ken Liu, is a moving chronicle of attempts to witness the history of Japanese atrocities against the Chinese in a World War II prison camp by traveling back in time using Bohm-Kirino particles. In "The Ants of Flanders," by Robert Reed, a teenage boy, incapable of fear, takes center stage in an alien invasion of Earth that pits alien foes against each other in a war that has no regard for mankind's existence. Finally, in "Angel of Europa," by Allen M. Steele, an arbiter aboard a space ship, exploring the moons of Jupiter, is resuscitated from a hibernation tank to investigate the deaths of two scientists that took place in a bathyscaphe underneath the global ocean of Europa.

The Year's Top Short SF Novels 6

The Year's Top Short SF Novels 6
Author: Aliette de Bodard
Publisher: AudioText
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2016-12-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Short novels are movie length narratives that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This unabridged collection presents the best-of-the-best science fiction novellas published in 2015 by current and emerging masters of this vibrant form of story-telling. In “The Citadel of Weeping Pearls,” by Aliette de Bodard, set in the author’s Dai Viet interstellar empire, an Empress orders her scientific Grand Master to search deepest space and track down the missing Citadel, along with its technologies, to help defend against enemies amassing on her borders. In “The New Mother,” by Eugene Fischer, a freelance journalist pursues the career-making opportunity to write a feature article for a major publication following a contagion that turns human ova diploid, capable of parthenogenesis—reproduction without the need for sperm. In “Inhuman Garbage,” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, set in the author’s popular Retrieval Artist series, a detective investigates the murder of a body found in a recycling/composting waste disposal crate in a dome on the moon. In “Gypsy,” by Carter Scholz, a meticulously rendered, slower-than-light, starship flees a totalitarian Earth on a mission whose outcome is not a clear-cut success or failure. Finally, in “What Has Passed Shall in Kinder Light Appear,” by Bao Shu, Xie Baosheng and his lifelong love, Qiqi, are small children as the countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics has begun. Their lives in China are prosperous but then history starts to run backwards.

The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 8

The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 8
Author: John Barnes
Publisher: AudioText
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2016-08-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

An unabridged collection spotlighting the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2015 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “My Last Bringback,” by John Barnes, an expert on restoring the memories of Alzheimer's patients becomes her own patient.A young man living in a bubble habitat on the ocean floor of Venus must deal with terraforming gone awryin “The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss,” by David Brin. In“Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight,” winner of the British Science Fiction Association Award, byAliette de Bodard,the death of a scientist in the Dai Viet interstellar empire is mourned. The shipmind of a cobbled together fighter spacecraft and its pilot press on under dire circumstances in “Damage” by David Levine. An aristocrat’s trip to Venus, in search of her disgraced brother, is memorialized by papercuts of flora native to this planet in “Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathangan,” by Ian McDonald. In “The Audience,” by Sean McMullen, a spacecraft’s trek to another planet discovers a malevolent species interested in Earth. An AI is on a mission to the outer reaches of the solar system to found a sanctuary in a posthuman universe in “Empty,” by Robert Reed. In “A Murmuration,” by Alastair Reynolds, a scientist struggles to publish a paper on her exhilarating findings on the flocking behavior of birds. In the dystopian future of “Two-Year Man,” by Kelly Robson, a janitor brings a mutant baby home to his wife hoping to fill their lives with love. And finally, an android medical attendant, capable of mimicking family members, cares for an Alzheimer’s patient in “Today I Am Paul,” by Martin L. Shoemaker.

The Year's Top Short SF Novels 3

The Year's Top Short SF Novels 3
Author: Elizabeth Bear
Publisher: AudioText
Total Pages: 513
Release: 2013-10-23
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Short novels are movie length narratives that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This collection presents the best-of-the-best short science fiction novels published in 2012 by current and emerging masters of this vibrant form. In "In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns," by Elizabeth Bear, Police Sub-Inspector Ferron investigates the murder of genetics engineer, Dexter Coffin, who has been turned inside out, in a cutting edge biomedical lab set in a not too distant future India. In Jay Lake's"The Stars Do Not Lie," Morgan Abutti is soon in fear for his life when he tries to announce his discovery of something in the stars that contradicts the creation myth of a major religion on his planet. In "The Weight of History, the Lightness of the Future," also by Jay Lake, set in the author's "Sunspin" series, the Howard Immortal, Before Michaela Cannon, and an untrustworthy shipmind investigate the cause of the Mistake, an alien attack on human civilization with an EMP weapon that occurred more than a thousand years ago and wiped out most of its technology. In "Sudden, Broken and Unexpected," by Steven Popkes, a burnt-out, talented musician is hired to help a world-class rock star divaloid, an electronic construct, prepare for her new world tour. There's only one problem, the musician passionately despises divaloids. In Robert Reed's"Eater-of-Bone," marooned human colonists, from the "Great Ship," fight for dominance on a planet inhabited by smaller, weaker, and less intelligent aliens. Finally, in "The Boolean Gate," by Walter Jon Williams, set in the 19th century, an elderly Samuel Clemens escapes his Mark Twain persona through his friendship with Nicola Tesla. As Tesla's inventions come to fruition, Twain suspects that Tesla has opened up a gateway to an alien intelligence.

The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 9

The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 9
Author: Nina Allan
Publisher: AudioText
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2017-06-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

An unabridged collection spotlighting the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2016 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “The Art of Space Travel,” by Nina Allan, the staff of a hotel prepares for the crew of a one-way mission to Mars on the heels of earlier disasters. An artist and his wife search for fulfillment in a utopian world created by AIs in “They Have all One Breath” by Karl Bunker. In “Patience Lake,” by Matthew Claxton, an injured military cyborg helps defend a farm family that has helped him. In a top secret job, an all too conscious bus driver takes a non-cognizant alien and his human translator on a tour of the United States, in “Touring with the Alien” by Carolyn Ives Gilman. In “My Generations Shall Praise,” by Samantha Henderson, a woman on death row is persuaded to have her mind overwritten so that a wealthy relative can use her as a host body. People adapting to a melted Antarctica evolve new folklore, superstitions, and myths in “Elves of Antarctica” by Paul McAuley. In “Red in Tooth and Cog,” by Cat Rambo, a woman acquires a keen interest in the small domestic appliance AI ecosystem that evolves in a park after her phone is stolen. An ancient robot tells a human how it helped build the Great Ship, a planet-sized starship, from hyperfiber in “Parables of Infinity” by Robert Reed. In “Prodigal,” by Gord Sellar, an uplifted family dog questions the relationship between dogs and humans and then takes action. And finally, in a Bradburyesque tale, people go to Mars via cheap, one-person, one-way spacecrafts called jalopies in “Terminal” by Lavie Tidhar.