Past Kindle Book Deals but Still Must Read Books!
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125 past books matching Hard Sci-Fi
In the 25th century, humanity’s long peace has left its warships outdated and its defenses complacent.
Warship
Sci-Fi · Hard Sci-Fi · Military Sci-Fi · Space Exploration
Our take
In the 25th century, humanity’s long peace has left its warships outdated and its defenses complacent. When a terrifying new enemy emerges, Captain Jackson Wolfe and his aging vessel become the first and only line of resistance. Outmatched but unwilling to surrender, Wolfe must rally a civilization that has forgotten how to fight in Joshua Dalzelle’s gripping military sci-fi opener.
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2015 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Science Fiction
From Joshua Dalzelle, author of the bestselling "Omega Force” series, comes an all new vision of humanity's future.
In the 25th century humans have conquered space. The advent of faster-than-light travel has opened up hundreds of habitable planets for colonization, and humans have exploited the virtually limitless space and resources for hundreds of years with impunity.
So complacent have they become with the overabundance that armed conflict is a thing of the past, and their machines of war are obsolete and decrepit. What would happen if they were suddenly threatened by a terrifying new enemy? Would humanity fold and surrender, or would they return to their evolutionary roots and meet force with force? One ship—and one captain—will soon be faced with this very choice. Against incredible odds, Jackson Wolfe is determined to save humanity–and in the process, might end up saving himself.
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Four years after vanishing on Bodmin Moor, Mal reappears, pulling her friend Lee—and MI5 investigator Julian Sabreur—into a mystery tied to physicist Kay Amal Khan’s research on parallel…
The Doors of Eden
Sci-Fi · Genetic Engineering · Hard Sci-Fi · Space Opera
Our take
Four years after vanishing on Bodmin Moor, Mal reappears, pulling her friend Lee—and MI5 investigator Julian Sabreur—into a mystery tied to physicist Kay Amal Khan’s research on parallel Earths. As fractures between worlds widen and strange beings cross through, humanity faces threats it never imagined. Adrian Tchaikovsky delivers a tense, inventive multiverse adventure from an Arthur C. Clarke Award winner.
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From the Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Doors of Eden is an extraordinary feat of the imagination and a page-turning adventure about parallel universes and the monsters that they hide. They thought we were safe. They were wrong. Four years ago, two girls went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor. Only one came back. Lee thought she'd lost Mal, but now she's miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has she been all this time? Mal's reappearance hasn't gone unnoticed by MI5 officers either, and Lee isn't the only one with questions. Julian Sabreur is investigating an attack on top physicist Kay Amal Khan. This leads Julian to clash with agents of an unknown power - and they may or may not be human. His only clue is grainy footage, showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor. Dr Khan's research was theoretical; then she found cracks between our world and parallel Earths. Now these cracks are widening, revealing extraordinary creatures. And as the doors crash open, anything could come through. "Tchaikovsky weaves a masterful tale... a suspenseful joyride through the multiverse." (Booklist)
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Kim Stanley Robinson reimagines world history after the Black Death wipes out nearly all of Europe, reshaping global power and belief for centuries.
The Years of Rice and Salt
Speculative Fiction · Sci-Fi · Hard Sci-Fi
Our take
Kim Stanley Robinson reimagines world history after the Black Death wipes out nearly all of Europe, reshaping global power and belief for centuries. Through the lives of soldiers, scholars, rulers, and exiles, a new world emerges—one led by Islamic and Buddhist traditions, marked by upheaval, innovation, and enduring human questions. A Locus Award winner from a master of speculative storytelling.
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WINNER OF THE LOCUS AWARD • The bestselling author of the Mars trilogy boldly reimagines the past seven hundred years in this “exceptional and engrossing” (New York Post) saga, constructing a world vastly different from the one we know. . .
“A thoughtful, magisterial alternate history from one of science fiction’s most important writers.”—The New York Times Book Review
It is the fourteenth century and one of the most apocalyptic events in human history is set to occur—the coming of the Black Death. History teaches us that a third of Europe’s population was destroyed. But what if the plague had killed 99 percent of the population instead? How would the world have changed? The Years of Rice and Salt is a look at the history that could have been—one that stretches across centuries, sees dynasties and nations rise and crumble, and spans horrible famine and magnificent innovation.
Through the eyes of soldiers and kings, explorers and philosophers, inventors and exiles, renowned storyteller Kim Stanley Robinson navigates a world where Buddhism and Islam are the most influential and practiced religions, while Christianity is a mere historical footnote. Probing the most profound questions as only he can, Robinson shines his extraordinary light on the place of religion, culture, power—and even love—in this bold new world.
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In 2098, humanity is gone and Earth lies in radioactive ruin.
Homo Machina
Sci-Fi · Genetic Engineering · Hard Sci-Fi
Our take
In 2098, humanity is gone and Earth lies in radioactive ruin. On Mars, synthetic humanoids search for meaning in the memories they no longer possess—until Sol-5 receives a desperate message from a surviving human. His journey to Earth reveals the truth behind humanity’s extinction and the danger that still lingers. A Global Book Awards gold medalist for dystopian sci-fi.
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About the book
GOLD MEDAL WINNER FOR DYSTOPIAN SCI-FI in the 2025 GLOBAL BOOK AWARDS
The year is 2098. Humanity is no more.
Earth is a ravaged, radioactive wasteland. On Mars, a small group of synthetic humanoids survive—their memories of the apocalypse wiped, seeking to understand their role in the fall of humanity.
Until Sol-5 receives a message. A message from a possible human survivor, and a plea to go to Earth to find her.
But what he finds there will change everything.
The humans were wiped out for a reason.
Homo Machina is the new post-apocalyptic thriller from the pen of award-winning author PA Vasey [Harbinger, Trinity Trilogy].
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Ideal for readers drawn to ambitious science fiction about technology, consciousness, mortality, and digital worlds.
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
Sci-Fi · Hard Sci-Fi · Speculative Fiction · Techno-Thriller
Our take
A New York Times bestseller called “an audacious epic with more than enough heart” by Kirkus Reviews, this speculative novel follows Richard “Dodge” Forthrast after his brain is preserved and eventually revived in a digital afterlife called Bitworld, with a 4.1-star rating from more than 6,200 Amazon reviewers. Ideal for readers drawn to ambitious science fiction about technology, consciousness, mortality, and digital worlds.
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New York Times Bestseller
A New York Times Notable Book
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Seveneves, Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon returns with a wildly inventive and entertaining science fiction thriller—Paradise Lost by way of Philip K. Dick—that unfolds in the near future, in parallel worlds.
In his youth, Richard “Dodge” Forthrast founded Corporation 9592, a gaming company that made him a multibillionaire. Now in his middle years, Dodge appreciates his comfortable, unencumbered life, managing his myriad business interests, and spending time with his beloved niece Zula and her young daughter, Sophia.
One beautiful autumn day, while he undergoes a routine medical procedure, something goes irrevocably wrong. Dodge is pronounced brain dead and put on life support, leaving his stunned family and close friends with difficult decisions. Long ago, when a much younger Dodge drew up his will, he directed that his body be given to a cryonics company now owned by enigmatic tech entrepreneur Elmo Shepherd. Legally bound to follow the directive despite their misgivings, Dodge’s family has his brain scanned and its data structures uploaded and stored in the cloud, until it can eventually be revived.
In the coming years, technology allows Dodge’s brain to be turned back on. It is an achievement that is nothing less than the disruption of death itself. An eternal afterlife—the Bitworld—is created, in which humans continue to exist as digital souls.
But this brave new immortal world is not the Utopia it might first seem . . .
Fall, or Dodge in Hell is pure, unadulterated fun: a grand drama of analog and digital, man and machine, angels and demons, gods and followers, the finite and the eternal. In this exhilarating epic, Neal Stephenson raises profound existential questions and touches on the revolutionary breakthroughs that are transforming our future. Combining the technological, philosophical, and spiritual in one grand myth, he delivers a mind-blowing speculative literary saga for the modern age.
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The sentient warship Trouble Dog once fought a war that scarred the galaxy.
Embers of War
Sci-Fi · Hard Sci-Fi · Space Exploration · Space Opera
Our take
The sentient warship Trouble Dog once fought a war that scarred the galaxy. Now, as part of a rescue mission gone wrong, she must face her violent past to save her crew. Gareth L. Powell’s Embers of War is a fast-paced, character-driven space opera about redemption, rebellion, and the price of doing what’s right.
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A sentient warship built for destruction. A crew searching for redemption. A mission that could ignite a new galactic war.
After the horrors of genocide, the warship Trouble Dog abandons her past and joins the House of Reclamation, rescuing ships lost among the stars. But when a civilian vessel disappears in a contested system, her crew of outcasts is drawn into a rescue that’s anything but routine.
Across the galaxy, a secretive poet holds the key to a conflict that could consume entire worlds. To save her crew, Trouble Dog must confront the violence she was created for—and decide what kind of being she wants to be.
Gareth L. Powell’s Embers of War is a thrilling, emotional space opera of redemption, rebellion, and survival.
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A rescue crew arrives on an alien moon to find survivors living beneath the ice and a mystery that is killing them.
The Minotaur
Sci-Fi · First Contact · Hard Sci-Fi · Space Exploration
Our take
A rescue crew arrives on an alien moon to find survivors living beneath the ice and a mystery that is killing them. As deaths mount, understanding the alien life becomes a matter of survival. This thoughtful first-contact novel blends suspense and psychology, earning 4.5 stars on Amazon and praise for its classic science fiction sensibility.
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Life has been found beneath the icy shell of the moon of a gas giant orbiting a red dwarf at a distance of 11 light-years from Earth. When the crew of the original exploration mission crashes on the alien moon, a rescue ship is launched. Arriving decades later, the crew of the Kelvin finds a colony of survivors living in the labyrinth of caves beneath the surface of the moon. When people start dying, they realize they need to unravel the secrets of this alien world and the mystery of the minotaur.
The Minotaur is a tribute to the 1961 classic Solaris, written by Stanislaw Lem, and considers the psychological impact of examining an exotic alien life form unlike anything ever encountered on Earth.
FIRST CONTACT is a series of stand-alone novels that explore humanity's first interaction with extraterrestrial life. This series is similar to BLACK MIRROR or THE TWILIGHT ZONE in that the series is based on a common theme rather than common characters. This allows these books to be read in any order. Technically, they're all first as they all deal with how we might initially respond to contact with aliens, exploring the social, political, religious, and scientific aspects of First Contact.
Peter Cawdron is a fan of such classic science fiction writers as Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke and Michael Crichton and their influence on his style and storylines is readily apparent. His forays into hard science fiction could best be described as informative science fiction or enjoyable science fiction. They focus on character and plausibility.
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Good for readers who want classic science fiction about rebellion, space politics, virtual consciousness, and authoritarian control.
Harvest of Stars
Sci-Fi · Hard Sci-Fi · Space Exploration · Space Opera
Our take
In a future where individual freedom is a thing of the past, a long-dead entrepreneur's virtual persona threatens to incite a revolution from space that could topple Earth's powerful and repressive religious-technological dictatorship, with a 4.0-star rating from more than 90 Amazon reviewers. Good for readers who want classic science fiction about rebellion, space politics, virtual consciousness, and authoritarian control.
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The virtual persona of a long-dead entrepreneur threatens to incite a revolution that could topple Earth's dictatorship in this science fiction classic.
In the future, individual freedom is a thing of the past. North America is a police state controlled by the Avantist government, a despotic, techno-religious ruling order that promises an impending transcendence for the oppressed. Space, however, remains free, thanks to Anson Guthrie's powerful Fireball Corporation. Guthrie's corporeal self died many generations ago, but his essence lives on, preserved forever in a computerized state that enables him to inspire his loyal employees and adherents to keep reaching for the farthest stars.
But now the totalitarian enemy, led by sadistic secret policeman Enrique Sayre, has gained possession of a Guthrie download, intending to subvert it to the Avantist cause, thereby breaking Fireball's hold on the cosmos. The corporation is doomed unless ace pilot Kyra Davis can smuggle a still-unreconstructed version of Guthrie out of enslaved America and rocket him to the moon and beyond, where Fireball's virtual creator can attempt to stoke the flames of revolution—and change the direction of his world.
A truly remarkable work, Harvest of Stars might be the most ingenious and ambitious novel of Poul Anderson's acclaimed and prolific career. Thoughtful and adventurous, rich in imagination and integrity, it offers definitive proof of the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning, Grand Master of Science Fiction's unparalleled mastery in the field of speculative fiction.
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Best for readers who like science fiction survival stories with hostile planets, alien intelligence, first contact, and creeping dread.
Shroud
Sci-Fi · Hard Sci-Fi · Space Exploration · Space Opera
Our take
A #1 bestseller in Space Exploration Science Fiction eBooks, Shroud follows Juna and Mai after a catastrophic accident strands them on a lethal alien moon where the darkness may be alive, with a 4.6-star rating from more than 5,300 Amazon reviewers. Best for readers who like science fiction survival stories with hostile planets, alien intelligence, first contact, and creeping dread.
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On a planet shrouded in darkness, a stranded crew must fight for survival. But, the darkness may have plans of its own in this wildly original story from Adrian Tchaikovsky, Hugo and Arthur C. Clarke Award–winning author of Children of Time.
They looked into the darkness and the darkness looked back . . .
New planets are fair game to asset strippers and interplanetary opportunists – and a commercial mission to a distant star system discovers a moon that is pitch black, but alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is anathema to human life, but ripe for exploitation. They named it Shroud.
Under no circumstances should a human end up on Shroud’s inhospitable surface. Except a catastrophic accident sees Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne doing just that. Forced to stage an emergency landing, in a small, barely adequate vehicle, they are unable to contact their ship and are running out of time. What follows is a gruelling journey across land, sea and air. During this time, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud’s dominant species. It also begins to understand them . . .
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With 4.3 out of 5 stars, this Hugo Award–winning author’s fast-paced adventure is perfect for fans of Firefly and Treasure Planet.
Revenger
Hard Sci-Fi · Teen + Young Adult · Space Opera
Our take
Alastair Reynolds’s Revenger is a rocket-fueled space opera filled with pirates, treasure hunts, and vengeance. When two sisters join a legendary captain’s crew, they uncover cosmic horrors and a killer who haunts the stars. With 4.3 out of 5 stars, this Hugo Award–winning author’s fast-paced adventure is perfect for fans of Firefly and Treasure Planet.
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Adrana and Fura Ness are looking for adventure, or at least enough treasure to buy back their family’s future. Signing aboard the ship of the daring Captain Rackamore, they use their uncanny Bone Reading abilities to seek out relics hidden across the galaxy’s dead worlds. But the void holds more than riches.
Whispers tell of Bosa Sennen, a pirate whose name drips with dread, and of ancient weapons better left buried. When the sisters’ journey turns from discovery to survival, Fura must decide what she is willing to sacrifice for revenge.
Alastair Reynolds delivers a dark, pulse-pounding space adventure where loyalty is fragile, vengeance burns bright, and the stars hide secrets sharp enough to cut.
The galaxy rewards the brave and punishes the reckless.
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Joe Haldeman’s The Accidental Time Machine blends razor-sharp humor with big-idea science fiction.
The Accidental Time Machine
Sci-Fi · Hard Sci-Fi · Time Travel
Our take
Joe Haldeman’s The Accidental Time Machine blends razor-sharp humor with big-idea science fiction. When a washed-up MIT researcher stumbles onto a working time machine, his life—and all of human history—spirals out of control. From the Nebula Award–winning author of The Forever War, this 4.3 out of 5 stars classic is witty, mind-bending, and impossible to put down.
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Matt Fuller’s life is going nowhere fast. He’s a burned-out MIT research assistant with no career prospects, no girlfriend, and no reason to expect tomorrow will be any better. Then, in a fluke of science and boredom, he accidentally creates a time machine.
At first, the jumps are small—seconds, then minutes. But each leap propels him further into the future, where the rules of civilization keep changing and humanity itself begins to look unrecognizable. What starts as a desperate experiment turns into an odyssey across centuries, as Matt races through collapsing societies and strange utopias, searching for a way home.
But the further he goes, the more he realizes time may not want him back.
Some discoveries should never happen by accident.
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A must-read for fans of epic, idea-driven science fiction.
The Ministry for the Future
Dystopian · Hard Sci-Fi
Our take
Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future is a 4.3 out of 5 stars masterpiece of climate fiction, named one of Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year. Urgent, terrifying, and hopeful, this visionary novel uses fictional accounts to explore humanity’s fight to turn the tide against climate collapse. A must-read for fans of epic, idea-driven science fiction.
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ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR
An unsettling masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will impact us all.
“The best science-fiction nonfiction novel I’ve ever read.” —Jonathan Lethem, New York Times bestselling author of The Fortress of Solitude
The Ministry for the Future's setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us. This extraordinary novel from visionary science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson will change the way you think about the climate crisis.
"If there’s any book that hit me hard this year, it was Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future, a sweeping epic about climate change and humanity’s efforts to try and turn the tide before it’s too late." -Polygon (Best of the Year)
"Masterly." —New Yorker
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