A ReadOrbit guide
Explore recommendation-ready books selected for readers interested in hard science fiction.
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2018
by Benjamin Eldon Stevens, Brett M. Rogers
"Frankenstein and Its Classics is the first collection of scholarship dedicated to how Frankenstein and works inspired by it draw on ancient Greek and Roman literature, history, philosophy, and myth. Presenting twelve new essays intended for students, scholars, and other readers…
2017
by Jay Hosking
"Three Years with the Rat is a mind-warping thriller that will make you question reality as you conceive of it. One of the most assured and haunting debuts I've read in recent memory." --Blake Crouch, author of Dark Matter After several years of drifting between school and go-now…
2014
by Toby Whaymand
Susan Atkins, Captain of Starship NOVA, is on a special mission to transport prisoner CX589 to the planet Troidon. It is Earth Year 2288, and she and her crew must ride a wormhole in order to propel themselves into the future to reach Troidon. While time travel is impossible, The…
2014
by Karen Burnham
"Greg Egan (1961- ) publishes works that challenge readers with rigorous, deeply-informed scientific speculation. He unapologetically delves into mathematics, physics, and other disciplines in his prose, putting him in the vanguard of the hard science fiction renaissance of the 1…
2014
by Ryk E. Spoor
"In a world of data manipulation and cyberspying, an investigative journalist find that the supernatural lurks! A major revision of Spoor's first novel, Digital Knight, with all new material. Being an expert in information searches, image processing and enhancement, pattern match…
2012
by Lois McMaster Bujold
"Book Fourteen in the best-selling Vorkosigan series. Captain Ivan Vorpatril is happy with his relatively uneventful bachelor's life of a staff officer to a Barrayaran admiral. Ivan, cousin to Imperial troubleshooter Miles Vorkosigan, is not far down the hereditary list for the e…
2008
by Neal Stephenson
Anathem, the latest invention by the New York Times bestselling author of Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle, is a magnificent creation: a work of great scope, intelligence, and imagination that ushers readers into a recognizable — yet strangely inverted — world.Fraa Erasmas is…
2008
by James Rollins
What if you could bioengineer the next great world prophet: scientifically produce the next Buddha, the next Muhammad, or the next Jesus? Would it mark the Second Coming or initiate a chain reaction with disastrous consequences?A master at combining historical and religious intri…
2006
by James Rollins
The bestselling master of astonishing adventure James Rollins delivers his most relentlessly exciting page-turner to date -- a gripping and explosive novel of an ancient conspiracy to create a terrifying new world order out of the ashes of modern civilization.The crime is inhuman…
2005
by Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter's gripping page-turners are feats of bold speculation and big ideas that, for all their time-and-space-spanning grandeur, remain firmly rooted in scientific fact and cutting-edge theory. Now Baxter is back with the final volume in his monumental Destiny's Children…
2005
by Kim Stanley Robinson
The bestselling author of the classic Mars trilogy and The Years of Rice and Salt returns with a riveting new trilogy of cutting-edge science, international politics, and the real-life ramifications of global warming as they are played out in our nation's capital--and in the dail…
2004
by Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur C. Clarke is a living legend, a writer whose name has been synonymous with science fiction for more than fifty years. An indomitable believer in human and scientific potential, Clarke is a genuine visionary. If Clarke has an heir among today's science fiction writers,…
2004
by Bruce Sterling
Like his peers William Gibson and Neal Stephenson, bestselling author Bruce Sterling writes cutting-edge speculative fiction firmly rooted in today's reality. Now in The Zenith Angle, he has created a timely thriller about an information-age security expert caught up in America's…
2004
by Julie E. Czerneda
Herself a biologist, Julie E. Czerneda has earned a reputation in science fiction circles for her ability to create beautifully crafted, imaginative, yet believably realized alien races. In Survival, the first novel in her new series, Species Imperative, she draws upon this talen…
2004
by Neal Stephenson
Volume One of The Baroque Cycle (Not to be confused with [Quicksilver: The Baroque Cycle #1](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL18199543W/Quicksilver)) Quicksilver is a massive, exuberant and wildly ambitious historical novel that's also Neal Stephenson's eagerly awaited prequel to…
2004
by Stephen Baxter
When it comes to cutting-edge science fiction, Stephen Baxter is in a league of his own. His mastery of hard science, his fearlessly speculative imagination, and his ability to combine grand philosophical questions with tales of rousing adventure make him essential reading for an…
2003
by Howard Waldrop
A stew of talent, well simmered... In a career that has spanned thirty-four years, Howard Waldrop has withheld these collaborations from his five short story collections, in order to create a dream, this special volume. Included are several Hugo and Nebula nominated stories, rang…
2003
by James Rollins
When an American deep-sea research team discovers something moving -- something alive -- inside an abandoned Russian ice station, two powerful nations scramble to hide the nightmarish truth, because once it is revealed, the future of all human life on Earth will be altered -- or…
2003
by Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter possesses one of the most brilliant minds in modern science fiction. His vivid storytelling skills have earned him comparison to the giants of the past: Clarke, Asimov, Stapledon. Like his great predecessors, Baxter thinks on a cosmic scale, spinning cutting-edge s…
2002
by Greg Bear
Blending fierce, fast plots with vivid characters and mind-bending ideas, Greg Bear has mastered a powerful alchemy of suspense, science, and action in his gripping thrillers. Darwin's Radio was hailed across the country as one of the best books of the year. His newest novel, Vit…
2002
by Tite Kubo
Bleach (ブリーチ Burīchi?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo. Bleach follows the adventures of the soulless ginger kid Ichigo Kurosaki after he obtains the powers of a Soul Reaper (死神 Shinigami?, literally, "Death God") —a death personification similar t…
2001
by Joe Haldeman, Kevin Orton
The Arrival Is Imminent Joe Haldeman's novel The Comingis a tightly constructed near future thriller which begins by recapitulating a classic science fictional motif: the moment of first contact with an alien intelligence. The story begins on October 1, 2054. Aurora (Rory) Bell,…
2000
by Olaf Stapledon
One of the most succinct and accurate renderings of mankind's present state of mind and future progression. It documents the future of man from the start of WW2 and continues until the Sun engulfs the earth, and beyond. Considering this book was first published in 1931, it is rem…
1999
by R. A. Salvatore
For the first time Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore is available in eBook format!This special eBook edition of Vector Prime includes: The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore Origins of the New Jedi Order - An interview with some of the ke…