The universe is not interest in fair play.  The universe is interested in survival.  That is lesson number one aboard the giant advanced-training ship called "Starschool."  Those who fail to learn lesson one very rarely have cause to worry about what comes next.

Wide and smooth, the Road was seared into planet Destiny's rocky surface by the fusion drive of the powered landing craft, Cavorite. The Cavorite deserted the original interstellar colonists, stranding them without hope of contacting Earth.

Now, descendants of those pioneers have many questions about the Road, but no settler who has gone down it has ever returned. For Jemmy Bloocher, a young farm boy, the questions burn too hot--and he sets out to uncover the many mysteries of Destiny's Road.

The pleasure planet Liantac was once the greatest gambling resort in the Unchartered Territories. Even now, having fallen on hard times, it remains a spectacle of glitz and greed. Astronaut John Crichton and his fellow interstellar fugitives see Liantac as the source of much-needed supplies--except for Rygel, whose boundless avarice is tempted by the promise of easy riches.

Imagine his shock, then, when he loses their starship, Moya, in a game of chance!

To discharge the debt, and liberate their ship from the planetary authorities, Crichton, Aeryn, and the others must take on a number of challenging assignments. But all is not what it seems, for treachery and deadly intrigue hides within this...House of Cards.

From Publishers Weekly

With its slip of a plot and screwball ensemble, this slim spinoff of the hit Sci-Fi Channel series of the same name reads like a high-energy episode. The Moya, a sentient Leviathan starship, is home to a crew of good-natured outlaws, renegades and misfits led by Comdr. John Crichton. Relaxing for a spell in the Uncharted Territories, Crichton and his cronies are duped into visiting Liantac, a casino planet, where Rygel, their irresponsible insectoid sidekick, promptly loses the Moya in a card game rigged by Netoros, a woman with considerable power and ambitions for her planet. Paying off Rygel's debt requires Crichton and his crew to perform a series of services for Netoros that seem benign on the surface, but are really part of a ploy between Netoros and the interstellar authorities to boost Liantac's free-falling economy. DeCandido (Star Trek: The Next Generation: Diplomatic Implausibility) orchestrates events so that complications can be resolved as easily as they are in an episode's one-hour time frame, but he keeps the action brisk and the ongoing arguments between the characters sparkling with humor. No adjectives can faithfully re-create the show's trademark costume and make-up effects, but Farscape fans will find this frothy flight a tide-me-over to fill the between-season downtime.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Keith R.A. DeCandido has written four novels, one comic-book miniseries, a short story, and half-a-dozen eBooks based on Star Trek®. He has also written several Farscape novels and short stories, best-selling books based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and other fiction based on Doctor Who, Xena, Spider-Man, and the X-Men. DeCandido lives in New York City. 

Paul Stein wakes in a prison cell, with no idea why he's been imprisoned, or how he got there.  One thing is made clear to him by the guards, however:  He's scheduled to die in three days' time.

How could this have happened?  What crime could he have possible committed that would condemn him to death?  For Paul, the answers may be found among the secrets of the N'lani, the alien invaders who now rule Earth, or simply by looking in a mirror--for the body Paul Stein inhabits is not his own...

AN ALL-NEW ADVENTURE BY THE CO-AUTHOR OF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: RESURRECTION

Giraut Leones, special agent for the human Thousand Cultures' shadowy Office of Special Plans, is turning fifty--and someone is trying to kill him.

Giraut's had a long career; the number of entities that might want him dead is effectively limitless. But recently Giraut was approached by the Lost Legion, an Occitan underground linked to an alliance of illegally human-settled worlds beyond the frontier. Also, it turns out that the Lost Legion colony has a "psypyx" --a consciousness-recording--of Shan, onetime boss of the Office of Special Plans. If they have that, they have literally thousands of devastating secrets.

Now, returning to his native Nou Occitan, Giraut will encounter violence and treachery from human and artificial consciousnesses alike. As bigotry and mob violence erupt throughout the rapidly destabilizing interstellar situation, Giraut will be called on the make the ultimate sacrifice, for the sake of civilization itself…

Casper Beech is a corporate drone. One day his boss sends him in for neural imprinting but a computer glitch loads the wrong file, and Casper is programmed with something that has nothing to do with his job. Instead of learning a new software package, he learns a new way of thinking — a mindset designed by a secret government agency for use in enemy nations, and never meant to be unleashed in the United States. Lethal government agents seek to correct the error in a steadily-escalating conflict, while Casper struggles to survive and to find out just what was in the Spartacus File.

For more than two decades, Star Trek has worked its special magic on ever-growing legions of fans the world around, from youngsters just beginning to discover this wondrous creation to those who have been loyal viewers from the very first episode.  And this latest collection of both speculative and fact-filled articles offers new insights into the TV series--both old and new--all five movies, the novels, comics, games, and the individual characters, revealing and resolving seeming inconsistencies, expanding our knowledge of the entire Trek universe, and reaching out to forecast the new directions Star Trek may take in the years ahead.

Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ringworld, Debt of Honor, and The Integral Trees.Together they have written the critically acclaimed bestsellers Inferno, Footfall, and The Legacy of Heorot, among others. 

The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre.

In the year 3016, the Second Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems, thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive. No other intelligent beings have ever been encountered, not until a light sail probe enters a human system carrying a dead alien. The probe is traced to the Mote, an isolated star in a thick dust cloud, and an expedition is dispatched.

In the Mote the humans find an ancient civilization--at least one million years old--that has always been bottled up in their cloistered solar system for lack of a star drive. The Moties are welcoming and kind, yet rather evasive about certain aspects of their society. It seems the Moties have a dark problem, one they've been unable to solve in over a million years.

As this novel begins, the peaceful village of Çiron faces conquest and domination by the army of Myetra, as led by a cruel prince. The Myetrans subdue Çiron, killing many and enslaving the rest.

But Rahm escapes—and then befriends one of the fearsome Winged Ones, humanoids with batlike wings. Meanwhile, led by the young village garbage collector and an itinerant singer, the Çironians resist where they can, as the Myetran lieutenant Kire struggles with his conscience and tries to ease the Çironians' burden.

They Fly at Çiron—appearing here in its first paperback publication—offers "vintage Delany in his finest fantasy mode" —Ursula K. Le Guin

From Publishers Weekly

Nebula and Hugo winner Delany's latest novel expands on a short story he wrote in 1962, which his friend James Sallis "reworked" in 1969. In a prefatory note, Delany acknowledges Sallis's critical assistance but explains that none of Sallis's additions have been retained. It's not as stunning as Dhalgren , et al., nor as complex as the Neveryon fantasies, but it's enjoyable and stimulating nonetheless. Here, the peaceful village of Ciron faces conquest and domination by the army of Myetra, led by a cruel prince. A village youth, Rahm, encounters a Myetran advance scout, Lt. Kire, in the forest, and the Cironian's innocence confirms the already doubting Kire in his disgust for Myetran violence. Still, the Myetrans subdue Ciron, killing many and enslaving the rest. Rahm escapes and befriends one of the fearsome Winged Ones, humanoids with batlike wings. Meanwhile, led by the young village garbage collector and an itinerant singer, the Cironians resist where they can, as Kire struggles with his conscience and tries to ease the Cironians' burden. Delany invigorates a traditional fantasy plot and stylistic elements with his sensitivity and evocative language--the characters, even the Myetran soldiers, are portrayed with depth and sympathy.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. 

Cassie Strange is the only normal person in her family. Her dad is a TV celebrity who debunks the paranormal in his weekly cable show I Don't Believe It! Her mom is a naturalist who once wore a gown of grass to get her point across. Cassie's genius brother is an aspiring actor who's always in costume. And Amber, Cassie's kid sister, has a secret way of talking to animals. 

When her family goes on a camping trip, Cassie finally feels they are doing something "normal" - that is,  until she finds out that the vacation is really an excuse for her dad to investigate UFO sightings in the area. 

After their first night in the tent, Amber is not acting at all like herself. Cassie realizes that something is up, and she soon discovers that her "sister" is an alien impostor named Vee. Of course, her father doesn't believe her. How can Cassie alone rescue Amber before the aliens use her sister for show-and-tell? 

Late in the twenty-sixth century, the human race has advanced enough to accidentally trigger the Inhibitors--alien-killing machines designed to detect intelligent life and destroy it.  The only hope for humanity lies in the recovery of a secret cache of doomsday weapons--and a renegade named Clavain who is determined to find them.  But other factions want the weapons for their own purposes--and the weapons themselves have another agenda altogether...

The January–February issue of Britain's longest running science fiction and fantasy magazine contains the latest Wergen story by Mercurio D. Rivera, plus other stories by Rahul Kanakia, Ian Sales, Carole Johnstone, T.R. Napper, and Philip A. Suggars. The 2016 cover artist is Vincent Sammy, and interior colour illustrations are by Jim Burns and Richard Wagner. Features: The Imitation Game by Vincent Sammy; Ansible Link by David Langford (news and obits); Mutant Popcorn by Nick Lowe (film reviews) - includes Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Laser Fodder by Tony Lee (DVD/Blu-ray reviews); Book Zone (book reviews, including Dave Hutchinson interviewed by Andy Hedgecock); Jonathan McCalmont's Future Interrupted (comment); Nina Allan's Time Pieces (comment).

“Sharing aspects of Calrke's Rendevouz with Rama, its uniqueness arises from Bear's bold imagination. Bear is a writer of passionate vision. Eon is his grandest work yet.” ―Locus

“Eon may be the best constructed hard SF epic yet.” ―The Washington Post

The 21st century was on the brink of nuclear confrontation when the 300 kilometer-long stone flashed out of nothingness and into Earth's orbit. NASA, NATO, and the UN sent explorers to the asteroid's surface...and discovered marvels and mysteries to drive researchers mad.

For the Stone was from space--but perhaps not our space; it came from the future--but perhaps not our future; and within the hollowed asteroid was Thistledown. The remains of a vanished civilization. A human--English, Russian, and Chinese-speaking--civilization. Seven vast chambers containing forests, lakes, rivers, hanging cities...

And museums describing the Death; the catastrophic war that was about to occur; the horror and the long winter that would follow. But while scientists and politicians bickered about how to use the information to stop the Death, the Stone yielded a secret that made even Earth's survival pale into insignificance.

Analog : Science Fiction & Fact September 2011

Novella : Energized, Part III of IV, Edward M. Lerner

Novelettes :

Therapeutic Mathematics and the Physics of Curve Balls, Gray Rineheart

Helix of Friends, Carl Frederick

Short Stories :

Hostile Environment, Emily Mah

The Chaplain's Assistant, Brad R. Torgersen

Asteroid Monte, Craig DeLancey

Science Fact :

Shake, Rattle, and Roll : Is Missouri Really America's Most Dangerous Earthquake Zone?, Richard A. Lovett

Reader's Departments : In Times to Come, The Alternate View of Jeffery D. Kooistra, Biolog—Brad R. Torgersen, The Reference Library by Don Sakers, Brass Tacks, and Upcoming Events by Anthony Lewis

The classic novel of non-Aristotelian logic and the coming race of supermen

Grandmaster A. E. van Vogt was one of the giants of the 1940s, the Golden Age of classic SF. Of his masterpieces, The World of Null-A is his most famous and most influential. It was the first major trade SF hardcover ever, in 1949, and has been in print in various editions ever since. The entire careers of Philip K. Dick, Keith Laumer, Alfred Bester, Charles Harness, and Philip Jose Farmer were created or influenced by The World of Null-A, and so it is required reading for anyone who wishes to know the canon of SF classics.

It is the year 2650 and Earth has become a world of non-Aristotelianism, or Null-A. This is the story of Gilbert Gosseyn, who lives in that future world where the Games Machine, made up of twenty-five thousand electronic brains, sets the course of people's lives. Gosseyn isn't even sure of his own identity, but realizes he has some remarkable abilities and sets out to use them to discover who has made him a pawn in an interstellar plot.

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut--young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. 

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If the world survives, that is.

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

Collection of short stories, including the one on which 2001: A Space Odyssey was based.  Other stories include:  Breaking Strain; Exile of the Eons; Expedition to Earth; Hide and Seek; History Lesson; If I Forget Thee, Oh Earth...; Inheritance; Loophole; Second Dawn; Sentinel; Superiority.

The New York Times bestselling conclusion to a tour de force near-future adventure trilogy from China's bestselling and beloved science fiction writer.

With The Three-Body Problem, English-speaking readers got their first chance to read China's most beloved science fiction author, Cixin Liu. The Three-Body Problem was released to great acclaim including coverage in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and reading list picks by Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg. It was also won the Hugo and Nebula Awards, making it the first translated novel to win a major SF award.

Now this epic trilogy concludes with Death's End. Half a century after the Doomsday Battle, the uneasy balance of Dark Forest Deterrence keeps the Trisolaran invaders at bay. Earth enjoys unprecedented prosperity due to the infusion of Trisolaran knowledge. With human science advancing daily and the Trisolarans adopting Earth culture, it seems that the two civilizations will soon be able to co-exist peacefully as equals without the terrible threat of mutually assured annihilation. But the peace has also made humanity complacent.

Cheng Xin, an aerospace engineer from the early twenty-first century, awakens from hibernation in this new age. She brings with her knowledge of a long-forgotten program dating from the beginning of the Trisolar Crisis, and her very presence may upset the delicate balance between two worlds. Will humanity reach for the stars or die in its cradle?

The bestselling cult classic—soon to be a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg.

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. 

But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“The science-fiction writer John Scalzi has aptly referred to READY PLAYER ONE as a 'nerdgasm' [and] there can be no better one-word description of this ardent fantasy artifact about fantasy culture…But Mr. Cline is able to incorporate his favorite toys and games into a perfectly accessible narrative.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times 

“Triggers memories and emotions embedded in the psyche of a generation...[Cline crafts] a fresh and imaginative world from our old toy box, and finds significance in there among the collectibles.” —Entertainment Weekly

“A most excellent ride…the conceit is a smart one, and we happily root for [the heroes] on their quest…fully satisfying.” —Boston Globe

“Enchanting…Willy Wonka meets the Matrix. This novel undoubtedly qualifies Cline as the hottest geek on the planet right now. [But] you don't have to be a geek to get it.” —USA Today  

“An addictive read...part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance and all heart.” —CNN.com

"Prepare to fall in love with Binti." ―Neil Gaiman

Winner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novella!

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost, one that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race that has become the stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti's stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war not of her making, she will need both the the gifts of her people and the wisdom enshrined within the University, itself ― but first she has to make it there, alive.

PRAISE FOR BINTI

"Binti is a supreme read about a sexy, edgy Afropolitan in space! It's a wondrous combination of extra-terrestrial adventure and age-old African diplomacy. Unforgettable!" ― Wanuri Kahiu, award-winning Kenyan film director of Punzi and From a Whisper

Morton Cargill is About to Die for a Crime He Committed 400 Years Ago...

Lieutenant Morton Cargill was brought from the past to be punished for his crime, an accidental murder that took place centuries before.  Now he is in a world rules by the Shadows, an evil people who can pass through solid walls and remain untouched by weapons.

But the Shadows are being threatened by the Planiacs, a celestial race that lives high above the Earth and to whom the preservation of Cargill's life means their own existence.

Now Cargill is hunted by one race, held captive by the other, caught in a deadly clash of minds and machines--in a terrifying world where he doesn't know the rules!

Twelve short stories by Arthur C. Clarke, called by The New York Times Book Review, the "ablest practitioner of science fiction."

Ten years ago, Emperor TaSherion and his wife were murdered by a traitor. Their five children were taken by loyal friends and scattered across the galaxy, their memories wiped to protect them. Parts of their father’s plan for an unfinished secret weapon have been microchipped and implanted in each sibling. An invasion by the reptilian Crogians sets into motion a series of events that forces one of the children to regain her knowledge of the past. Min, working as a lowly servant in a space-gladiator complex, escapes the attack with one of the gladiators named Ruffian, and together they race across space hunting down her remaining siblings. Now, it’s up to these children of the empire to restore their father’s secret weapon, and lead the rebellion before the Crogians complete their evil plan to destroy humanity.

After twenty-three years, Orson Scott Card returns to his acclaimed best-selling series with the first true, direct sequel to the classic Ender's Game.

In Ender's Game, the world's most gifted children were taken from their families and sent to an elite training school. At Battle School, they learned combat, strategy, and secret intelligence to fight a dangerous war on behalf of those left on Earth. But they also learned some important and less definable lessons about life.

After the life-changing events of those years, these children―now teenagers―must leave the school and readapt to life in the outside world.

Having not seen their families or interacted with other people for years―where do they go now? What can they do?

Ender fought for humanity, but he is now reviled as a ruthless assassin. No longer allowed to live on Earth, he enters into exile. With his sister Valentine, he chooses to leave the only home he's ever known to begin a relativistic―and revelatory―journey beyond the stars.

What happened during the years between Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead? What did Ender go through from the ages of 12 through 35? The story of those years has never been told. Taking place 3000 years before Ender finally receives his chance at redemption in Speaker for the Dead, this is the long-lost story of Ender.

For twenty-three years, millions of readers have wondered and now they will receive the answers. Ender in Exile is Orson Scott Card's moving return to all the action and the adventure, the profound exploration of war and society, and the characters one never forgot.

On one of these ships, there is a baby that just may share the same special gifts as Ender's old friend Bean…

In this riveting, ultra-realistic novel from J.L. Bourne, a man struggles to survive after the US infrastructure collapses and martial law engulfs the streets of America.

In the not-too-distant future, during an unacknowledged mission inside the Syrian border, a government operative unwittingly triggers an incredible event that alters the course of society. A terrible weapon has been unleashed—a weapon that, left to run its course, will destroy the moral fabric of humanity.

In the midst of crisis, the population struggles to survive in a world short on vital resources. Inflation cripples the US economy and post-war armored military vehicles patrol the streets.

One man stands up to push back the overwhelming wave of tyranny triggered by the onset of nationwide martial law. How can he possibly succeed against a high tech and tyrannical enemy that is hell-bent on ripping liberty from the pages of future history?

From the author and military expert who brought readers the riveting horror series Day by Day Armageddon, Tomorrow War is a compelling account of an alternate dystopian America located just down the tracks of oblivion.

From the Author

This is not a novel about zombies, or at least undead zombies. For that tale, please point your e-readers or feet to my Day by Day Armageddon series. Although we are not overrun by real living dead (yet), some experts say the world economy may be on the brink of collapse. In a few moments, I hope you will embark on a journey down a similar dark road, one that wholly diverges from rosy predictions, gushing mainstream optimism, and suspicious government economic statistics.

What if this complex yet fragile socioeconomic system were to tumble uncontrollably like an animal on a frozen pond? Consider the Eurozone turmoil, the recent NYSE and United Airlines "glitches" and the frequent long periods of artificially frozen national debt. Complex systems cannot be controlled or even predicted; first world nations' leaders only perform in a political theater of public deception; someone is at the helm and everything will be fine, just be a good citizen or subject and go back to your favorite sitcom, football team, or reality TV program.

At the time of this novel, elected leaders are calling for abolition of our debt ceiling, draconian gun control, the use of armed drones in the skies above us, banning history, and are openly engaging in warrantless NSA pilfering of our private e-mails, text messages, persons, and effects. Where might this dangerous road lead? Has it ever been about your safety and security? The thought crime ahead goes beyond the paradigm of right, left, Democrat, or Republican, the outdated behavioral placement control mechanisms, forcing us to choose between two heads of the same serpent.

Slay the beast, get this book, and choose liberty.

J.L. Bourne
Pensacola, Florida 

J.L. Bourne is a commissioned military officer and acclaimed author of the horror/Sci-Fi series DAY BY DAY ARMAGEDDON (Simon & Schuster), and dystopian thriller, TOMORROW WAR (Simon & Schuster). With twenty years of active military and intelligence community service behind him, J.L. brands a realistic and unique style of fiction. He currently resides in Florida.

Martin and his friends discovered that their world is computer generated and that by altering the code, they could alter reality. They traveled back in time to Medieval England to live as wizards. Almost everything they've done since then has, in one way or another, blown up in their faces. So of course they decide to make dragons. It does not go well. As the wizards struggle to control their creations and protect innocent citizens, they try new things (most of which they don't enjoy), meet new people (most of whom are angry at them), and fight epic battles (most of which they lose). But their biggest challenge may be a young girl who knows that the wizards created the dragons and is determined to make them pay. On her side she has powerful allies, a magical artifact, and a faithful if not particularly helpful dog. Fight and Flight is a rollicking tale of bravery, wonder, love, revenge, greed, discovery, deception, and animal husbandry.

Ever since Martin Banks and his fellow computer geeks discovered that reality is just a computer program to be happily hacked, they’ve been jaunting back and forth through time, posing as medieval wizards and having the epic adventures that other nerds can only dream of having. But even in their wildest fantasies, they never expected to end up at the mercy of the former apprentice whom they sent to prison for gross misuse of magic and all-around evil behavior.

Who knew that the vengeful Todd would escape, then conjure a computer game packed with wolves, wenches, wastelands, and assorted harrowing hazards—and trap his hapless former friends inside it? Stripped of their magic powers, the would-be wizards must brave terrifying dangers, technical glitches, and one another’s company if they want to see medieval England—and their favorite sci-fi movies on VHS—ever again. Can our heroes survive this magical mystery torture? Or will it only lead them and their pointy hats into more peril?

The adventures of an American hacker in Medieval England continue as Martin Banks takes his next step on the journey toward mastering his reality-altering powers and fulfilling his destiny.

A month has passed since Martin helped to defeat the evil programmer Jimmy, and things couldn’t be going better. Except for his love life, that is. Feeling distant and lost, Gwen has journeyed to Atlantis, a tolerant and benevolent kingdom governed by the Sorceresses, and a place known to be a safe haven to all female time-travelers.

Thankfully, Martin and Philip are invited to a summit in Atlantis for all of the leaders of the time-traveler colonies, and now Martin thinks this will be a chance to try again with Gwen. Of course, this is Martin Banks we’re talking about, so murder, mystery, and high intrigue all get in the way of a guy who just wants one more shot to get the girl.

The follow-up to the hilarious Off to Be the Wizard, Scott Meyer’s Spell or High Water proves that no matter what powers you have over time and space, you can’t control rotten luck.

An io9 Can’t Miss Science Fiction and Fantasy title in March 2014.

Martin Banks is just a normal guy who has made an abnormal discovery: he can manipulate reality, thanks to reality being nothing more than a computer program. With every use of this ability, though, Martin finds his little “tweaks” have not escaped notice. Rather than face prosecution, he decides instead to travel back in time to the Middle Ages and pose as a wizard.

What could possibly go wrong?

An American hacker in King Arthur’s court, Martin must now train to become a full-fledged master of his powers, discover the truth behind the ancient wizard Merlin…and not, y’know, die or anything.

Dubbed the “next Ready Player One,” by former Warner Brothers President Greg Silverman, and now in film development at Lionsgate.

"Featuring themes similar to Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter, the dense sci-fi feel of a Michael Crichton thriller and clever Douglas Adams-like charm, the book posits an intriguing future that is both inviting and horrific." ―Brian Truitt, USA TODAY

It's the year 2147. Advancements in nanotechnology have enabled us to control aging. We’ve genetically engineered mosquitoes to feast on carbon fumes instead of blood, ending air pollution. And teleportation has become the ideal mode of transportation, offered exclusively by International Transport―the world’s most powerful corporation, in a world controlled by corporations.

Joel Byram spends his days training artificial-intelligence engines to act more human and trying to salvage his deteriorating marriage. He’s pretty much an everyday twenty-second century guy with everyday problems―until he’s accidentally duplicated while teleporting.

Now Joel must outsmart the shadowy organization that controls teleportation, outrun the religious sect out to destroy it, and find a way to get back to the woman he loves in a world that now has two of him.

From the author of Ready Player One, a rollicking alien invasion thriller that embraces and subverts science-fiction conventions as only Ernest Cline can. 

Zack Lightman has never much cared for reality. He vastly prefers the countless science-fiction movies, books, and videogames he's spent his life consuming. And too often, he catches himself wishing that some fantastic, impossible, world-altering event could arrive to whisk him off on a grand spacefaring adventure. 

So when he sees the flying saucer, he's sure his years of escapism have finally tipped over into madness. 

Especially because the alien ship he's staring at is straight out of his favorite videogame, a flight simulator callled Armada--in which gamers just happen to be protecting Earth from alien invaders. 

As impossible as it seems, what Zack's seeing is all too real. And it's just the first in a blur of revlations that will force him to question everything he thought he knew about Earth's history, its future, even his own life--and to play the hero for real, with humanity's life in the balance. 

But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can't help thinking: Doesn't something about this scenario feel a little bit like...well...fiction? 

At once reinventing and paying homage to science-fiction classics, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a coming-of-age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you've ever read before.

From the author of the popular Magic 2.0 series comes the witty tale of a mischievous A.I. gone rogue.

Al, a well-meaning but impish artificial intelligence, has the mind of a six-year-old and a penchant for tantrums. And the first one to discover just how much trouble Al could cause is Hope Takeda, the lab assistant in charge of educating and socializing him. Day care is a lot more difficult when your kid is an evolving and easily frightened A.I.

When Al manages to access the Internet and escape the lab days before his official unveiling, Hope and her team embark on a mission to contain him—before he creates any real problems.

Soon the NSA is on Al’s back, the US Army is fighting a brigade of mass-produced robots, and a wannabe cyberterrorist is looking to silence Al permanently. After months spent “raising” Al, Hope knows she’s running out of time—and she’s not sure she’ll be able to protect him. Will she manage to control the unruly A.I. and quell a global crisis, or will Al outsmart them once and for all?

About the Author

Scott Meyer has worked as a radio host, a stand-up comedian, an office worker, and a theme-park ride operator. (He held those jobs in the order they’re listed, which is probably the opposite of what you’d expect.) He has written for several video games and created the comic strip Basic Instructions, which ran online and in various alternative weekly papers across the country for nearly a decade. Scott is the author of the Magic 2.0 books and several other novels and comics collections. Scott and his wife live in Phoenix, Arizona, to be close to their cats.