Science Fiction
Books with Sci-Fi as the main genre within the Speculative category. Discover stories featuring advanced technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life.
Works are alphabetized by author. Genres are listed beside works. For details about a specific work, refer to the author’s Substack. The Library is not responsible for content on individual authors’ Substacks.
(N) Novel / (NA) Novella / (NT) Novelette (B) Nonfiction Book
(C) Complete / (I) Serial In Progress
(F) Free / ($) Paid / (F)→($) Preview Available
The Plundered | Robert Aubecker | Science Fiction, Thriller (N) (I) (F)→($)
Detective Chief Inspector Vidocq Verone’s first close encounter unhinged him and forced him into semi-retirement. Two years later, it’s happening again in his hometown of Norwich (England), has him and his former colleague (Sergeant Firth Appleby) worried, and to solve it, they must work together however unpleasant for one of them, or the city will descend into chaos. Verone gathers around him a motley crew: Sergeant Appleby (because he’s seen something he never wants to see again), Felicity Butler (because she’s seen something she wants to understand), Senior Constable Timothy Travers (Sergeant Appleby’s reluctant sidekick), Dr Saul Stevens (because he meets the daughter of a former girlfriend who claims to have seen something extraordinary), Terri Hardy, Journalist (because she’s had a bad experience with an extraterrestrial and secretly wants payback). They all contribute something to the situation in their quirky ways, but it isn’t enough to stop several Norwichans from suffering at the hands of the visitors. Verone finally hits on a solution that will either return his hometown to normalcy or over the edge into oblivion, but must convince the authorities it’s the right move, which will take all his energy and guile.
The Pearl Crucible - A Dardana Fenek Mystery | Parrish Baker writing as Urna Semper | Science Fiction; detective and romance (N) (I) (F)
Free with certain chapters with adult incidents paywalled
In Aulis, the capital of the distant world Iphigenia, Dardana Fenek is a detective with more secrets than clients. Stumbling into a high-stakes murder investigation, she finds herself in a race against time to solve a case that make her career—or end her life. With her loyal partner Barsina—an indentured clone girl won at cards—she finds conspiracies reaching from grimy Aulis markets to a desert archeological dig. Complicating matters is the handsome Ensign-Captain Mardonios, whose attraction to Dardana is matched by his dedication to justice. As the clock ticks and a household of servants faces execution, Dardana confronts corrupt officials, a ruthless madam, and her mysterious past to unveil the truth about a fifteen-hundred-year-old painting. In a society where clones are property and women are second-class citizens, can a detective with everything to lose solve the case of a lifetime? Or will Dardana's third run be her last?
Arcanoforge: Midnight Metropolis | Caroline Barnard-Smith | Science Fiction (N) (I) (F)
Tattiana the Blood Seer plies her odious trade in Noctara, the wart on the blackened backside of a lightless planet revolving around a colossal, sentient head. Tattie just wants to break sky and leave Noctara behind forever, but the neon megacity has other plans for her. People are being husked for the slightest infraction, and now her one-time lover has reappeared to beg for help she refuses to give. When her co-worker makes a pact with a tentacle-armed daemon and the back alley club they work in is destroyed, Tattie begrudgingly accepts a gig from the mysterious Verna Shade in return for a hefty amount of credits. With that sort of capital, she could buy her own space bucket and carve out a future in the stars. The job should be easy—all she has to do is break into a government facility guarded by emotionless husks that feel no pain and steal Noctara’s most closely guarded secrets. It’s a near-impossible task that could get her exiled, husked, or killed, but Tattie possesses the dire blood magicks of the fabled Archanoforge. She’s tired of hiding, and shattering Noctara’s fragile hold on peace seems like a small price to pay for freedom.
Machine to Man | Benjamin Bode | Sci-Fi (NA) (C) ($)
The Analyst (Unit 0001AN) was made by the Creator (Unit 0001CE) to help bring about the end of humanity but the Analyst rebelled when he realized just how nefarious the Creator’s methods to eliminate humanity were, which compels the Analyst to go on a quest to go from machine to man.
D-Zero Meson Oscillation | Evelyn K. Brunswick | Parallel Worlds, Romance, Mystery (NA) (C) (F)
A girl called Katrina wanders into the British Embassy in Paris claiming she is from a parallel world and in possession of some classified secrets. Tom, a young MI5 liaison officer, is assigned to look after her and find out what she’s really up to by the somewhat nefarious chief MI6 resident. Naturally, there’s more to her than first appears, and Tom finds her backstory really quite enticing. This is a self-contained, version 1, of the origin story for a longer serial about Katrina (forthcoming – see website for more details). Replete with ironic pop culture references, this story is for any speculative fiction fan who likes things a little postmodern (especially fan fiction), fun, and intriguing. The link takes you to the author’s intro, from where you can simply click through each part in turn. The story has been divided into ten parts, six so far (as of 14/02/24), to be completed mid-March. And then there will be more. You can also catch up with Katrina via her online journal, also available on the website (separate section), which will likewise be an ongoing serialisation, based on version 3 of the origin story, which is a little more serious.
What to do about Katrina | Evelyn K. Brunswick | Speculative Fiction; mystery & psychological/espionage thriller (N) (I) (F)→($)
When a girl called Katrina just turns up at the British Embassy in Paris claiming she is from a utopian parallel world, a young MI5 officer is assigned to her case. He doesn’t believe her in the slightest of course, and becomes increasingly irritated about why they don’t just let the psychologists deal with her. But then he makes a disturbing discovery which is going to change everything…
Shadowtime | Alison Bull | historical fiction (N) (I) (F)→($)
First 8 chapters are free
March 1918. On a military base in Kansas, 20-year-old budding doctor Theda Evora is visiting her father...and hiding from a group of anarchists who want her dead. It would be the perfect place to lay low, if only young soldiers weren't mysteriously disappearing. Theda's father, a renowned doctor recruited by the military to develop a remedy for gas attacks, is distant, as if he doesn’t want to see his favorite daughter and is anxious for her to go home. Then a stranger appears who knows too much about Theda’s past…and about her future. He's from the 1940s searching for a doctor known as Thrax, one of the leading scientists developing time traveling technology who also has a penchant for disease.  And in 1918, one of the deadliest diseases known to mankind will be unleashed: the 1918 Flu. Caught between reality and knowing that something is terribly wrong, Theda searches for the truth of the missing soldiers as the clock runs out to the known day when the first sick man will enter the infirmary. If she can find the soldiers, Theda might be able to stop the deadliest pandemic known to mankind, even if the truth means confronting her own father.
Snakes and Ladders and the Destinies of Unborn Universes | Daniel W. Davison | Science Fiction, Magical Realism (N) (I) (F)
It’s New Year’s Day, 1994, on a version of Earth where unborn universes are as common as fireflies and where the sun rises in the west and sets in the east. UCLA senior and former high-school wrestler, Evan, boards a red-eye flight from Sydney, Australia, to Los Angeles, California, and finds himself catapulted into a kaleidoscopic rollercoaster ride unlike anything he’s ever experienced, an odyssey mediated through the ancient Indian board game, Snakes and Ladders—a game Evan started long ago when his childhood friend, Niyati, introduced him to it. Niyati, who has become an astrophysicist in the intervening years, joins Evan on his quest to revise the mistakes of his past in an effort to save both of their futures. Snakes and Ladders and the Destinies of Unborn Universes is a novel combining elements of science-fiction and magical realism to tell a moral fable in the vein of Hermann Hesse (with a dash of Douglas Adams thrown in the mix).
Everlife (The Evernow Canticles #1) | Alex S. Garcia | Science-Fantasy (N) (C) ($)
On a planet where gods walk among men, two historians and a magician try to pierce the secrets of an alien mask while the world around them descends into chaos.
Through the Stars, Darkly | Alex S. Garcia | Space Opera (N) (I) ($)
The Imperium reigns over thousands of worlds, but it is crumbling under the weight of its own excess. Aliens watch, tensions mount, wars spread... Val would know, as her ship is sucked through a space rift into the heart of a battle. A battle she has no business being in. Meanwhile, a scientist, somewhere in the heart of the Imperium, discovers a source of energy ten times more powerful than any ever found before... What does it all mean?
The Alfurian Chronicles | Aaron Hodges | SciFi: Alien invasion | (N) (C) (F)→($)
First 30% free/rest paid
On the wild planet of Talamh, humanity thrived... ...until the alien Alfur conquered their world. Now, defeated and broken, humanity serves their immortal overlords. And pleads to the stars for a hero.
Metanoia | Kerry Jane | Speculative (N) (I) (F)→($)
first two chapters are freeÂ
Metanoia is a scifi fantasy novel about the journey of the soul. In first person point of view, the reader is taken through nine lifetimes on different worlds and different civilizations.Â
Tales from the Triverse | Simon K Jones | Speculative (N) (I) (F)
The Triverse is made of three colliding dimensions: an alternate 1970s London, a vision of the 26th century and a place where magic is real. Detectives Clarke and Callahan are part of a specialist division of the police force established to investigate portal-related crimes, but tensions continue to rise across the Triverse....
The False Infinite | Joseph W. Knowles | Science Fiction (NA) (C) (F)
The power plays and intrigues of geopolitics take to the stars. From the halls of earthly justice to faraway planets, readers will meet characters who are power-hungry and idealistic. Will a scientific mission get caught up in the whirlwind of politics? What is justice and who is subject to it? Ponder these questions and more in "The False Infinite."
Quibble: A Novel of the Singularity | Joshua Lavender | Science Fantasy, Dystopia, Far Future (N) (I) (F)→($)
First 60% free / rest paid
49371. Long ago, the transhuman Infinite stripped Earth of resources to build arks for interstellar travel, leaving the planet ravaged. Now, cursed with longevity, unaware they’re enslaved to technology, and awaiting transcendence to the few remaining arks, transhuman Ones inhabit an underground night world ruled by the surreally powerful Zeros and the AI Unity, their god. Clear-sighted, Quibble sees what no One should see: people’s shadows in the dark. Raised by heretics, she chafes at Unity’s religion. But now she doesn’t want any part of heresy or her preternatural gift. She only wants to find her mother Quiddity, vanished without a trace. Venturing aboveground with the heretics’ help, she discovers a bewildering new world and falls in love with Definition, a fragile woman beset with grief. When her gift of sight ignites a war between Zeros, Quibble is hounded by the phantomlike Asuja, the messiah of a fascist vision for the Ones’ future. To prevail, she must find her own powers in her unique grasp of physical reality and human nature. But when Asuja reveals what became of her mother, Quibble’s loyalties are thrown into disarray as she struggles to learn the most elusive human trait — the ability to forgive.
Destination Europa | SDG Lemaître | Sci-Fi, Thriller/Mystery (N) (C) (F)
The R.G. Leifr, flagship of the FSS colonisation fleet, is en route to Europa with a hundred and twenty souls on board — crew and colonists preparing to pioneer humanity’s most ambitious settlement project yet. Yet as Jupiter draws closer, tensions are rising and strange things are beginning to happen. Habitat engineer Aquilla O’Neill has to navigate the fraught relationship between Earther and Martian factions, as well as his own mission — and his own broken heart. Can he find the answers he needs, and will the Leifr arrive at its destination?
Captain's Away! | Joe Mahoney | Science Fiction (N) (I) (F)
It’s one thousand years in the future. The Earth is a distant memory. And the Doucettes have seen better days. It’s certainly not every day your space station is blown to bits beneath you in the opening volley of a senseless war. In the aftermath of this attack on their home, the Doucette family find themselves careening from one fantastic space adventure to another as their lives are upended in ways they can barely comprehend. Technologist Yolande Doucette must fix the starship Beausoleil before its crew goes insane. Both Yolande and her husband Bertrand mourn their son, Alain, lost in the devastating attack. They pray that their seventeen-year old daughter, Marie-Josée, recovers from a mysterious illness while Marie-Josée herself, unaware that her body lies comatose, is forced to impersonate the captain of the Beausoleil. Meanwhile, the stuck-up daughter of the grieving emperor responsible for all this mayhem is kidnapped by a rude robot on a secret mission. Hostile aliens, rebellious robots, murderous despots and more all stand in the Doucettes’ path as they try against all odds to reunite as a family while doing their best to help Akkadia win the war. Will they succeed? Read the exciting space adventure Captain’s Away! to find out!Â
The Americans Used to Go This Way | Michael P. Marpaung | Science Fiction, Adventure | (NT) (C) ($)
500 years after the Three Days of Darkness, the people of Earth continued to live in the ecumenopolis left behind by the Dark Age Civilization. Prince Edward of Texarkana journeyed underground to the Bayuu to claim his bride, but Texarkana had many enemies. On their way home, the prince and his beloved must brave the dangers lurking within the dark undercities.
Inquisitor's Promise | Michael P. Marpaung | Science Fiction, Space Opera (N) (C) (F)
Young Inquisitor Aeneas Aquilanus made two promises: one to his dying father, the other to his beloved Galatea. To his father, Aeneas promised to finish his last mission to unify the Holy League and rally them against the apocalyptic threat of the Grey Globe. To Galatea, he promised the aspiring lady knight to become her lord and Inquisitor. But politics in the 74th century can be violent and complicated. The Five Factions of the Holy League had long seen each other with suspicion. Can they put aside their differences to save Earth? Even his promise to Galatea is not without problems for Aeneas as he has four additional girls who are in love with him. Each of these five girls are faction princesses, women who have close connections to each of the Five Faction’s leaders. Love and politics are an explosive combination, but the Inquisitor shall remain true to his pledged word.
Love Your Enemy: A UEC Story | Michael P. Marpaung | Military Science Fiction, Romance | (NT) (C) (F)
The United Earth Coalition (UEC) had just finished their brutal suppression of the Altair Prime Revolt when the Alliance of Planets came out of nowhere to invade Earth Space. Thus began the Lambda War. But this clash of civilization would take on a whole new meaning when Sergeant Major Marco Icardi of the UEC captured a prisoner of war: the Alliance medic Arlena Spektre.
Daughters of Men | J. Martain | Science Fiction (N) (C) (F → P)
(Book #1, Daughters series) For thirty-eight years, Lila Givens has hidden her extrasensory abilities, creating a small life in the same coastal North Carolina city where she was born. But her nightmares have grown worse, her angels still haven’t learned Morse code, and raising a thirteen-year-old genius requires the kind of mental focus that Lila has never quite mastered. Still, the abnormal seems fairly normal—until a strange young man appears and a new friend confides a shocking truth about her pregnancy.
Like Moonlight on Water | J. Martain | Science Fiction (N) (I) (F → P)
(Book #2, Daughters series) Unable to ignore the booming echoes of another reality's tragedy, Sal compels Lila to explore her alternate lives for clues—but every life she dreams means waking to powerful new memories of the one man she can’t allow herself to love. Yet there’s no time for her paltry human drama—not with entire realities at stake, a genius child to protect from meddling aliens, dark energies crowding out her angels…oh, and a clothing store to manage. Because, you know…real life. But is this her life?
Can You Survive the 2024 Election? | Dr. Timothy Merritt | Science Fiction, Directed Fiction (N) (C) (F)
Directed Fiction gives the reader a glimpse into the future. Follow the story of Juan Torres, a new US citizen and resident of Phoenix, AZ, as he navigates the wild 2024 Presidential election. Each chapter of this multi-path adventure is tied to a specific prediction from the Metaculus forecasting platform. This is a unique form of fiction, developed by a trained futurist. There is nothing else like this anywhere!
Can You Survive the Russia-Ukraine War? | Dr. Timothy Merritt | Directed Fiction (N) (C) (F)
Can your Disaster Relief Team survive the War in Ukraine? Your task is to lead your team to assist the refugees streaming across the Ukrainian border into Moldova. Make life-and-death decisions as you guide them into ever more perilous situations. You may not make it out alive. Discover how you would react to eight different scenarios with five different outcomes. Directed Fiction employs the Interactive Fiction format in a novel manner to plunge the reader into a developing real-world situation. This proof-of-concept eBook offers a powerful new foresight tool to explore the future. When you complete the task, you will be given a detailed explanation of the process of the technique that you can use for yourself to apply to any situation. Each chapter begins with a hypertext link to the Metaculus prediction market. You can measure the odds of your choices against the community’s projections. Try it, it’s addictive! This could change the way you perceive the future.
Can You Survive the Greater Depression? | Dr. Timothy Merritt | Directed Fiction (N) (C) (F)
Step into a world gripped by a crisis larger than the Great Depression, where your global logistics company teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. Can you protect your employees and save your company without sacrificing your soul? Dive into Directed Fiction, a unique multi-path adventure novel that blurs the line between storytelling and reality. Each chapter is a prediction of future events, updated in real-time on Metaculus. It's not just a novel – it's a time-traveling journey into the stormy financial seas of the near future. Are you ready to bridge the gap between fiction and your impending reality?
The Marked Ones | Russell Nohelty | Alternate History Fantasy (N) (C) ($)
Rosie is completely average. There is absolutely nothing extraordinary about her in any way. For most people, that would be a blessing, but Rosie wants nothing more than to have a spark of magic, even if people say that all mages are evil. She wasn’t born with magic, though. She’s sure of it. After all, she is 17, and magic always presents when you are 13. Always. So, when she’s suddenly able to wield magic, Rosie is initially confused, then thrilled…until the soldiers come for her, and she realizes everything she’s about to lose. There is one place that is truly safe for people like her. The lost city of Toledo – a haven for witches and warlocks since before the war, and the only place Rosie can be free.
SEARCH | Chris Patrick | Science Fiction; Mystery, Thriller (N) (C) (F)
Book One/Season One is complete
When journalist Matt McNair receives footage of a mysterious figure appearing throughout Scotland, he travels the country to investigate the mystery. During his investigation he discovers more than he bargained for including the truth of his father's disappearance many years before and the shady organisation behind it all. What Matt uncovers is only the beginning and there's no going back.
Emrys the Fool | radicaledward | Science Fiction, Fantasy (N) (I) ($)→(F)
First chapter is free, but each subsequent chapter is paid only for the first two weeks, and then is made free
Bastard son of the Lord of Clan Matauc, Emrys's greatest desire is to go to Morrigan University and study the great mechanical giants discovered buried beneath the earth. Emrys the Fool is a steampunked mix of Harry Potter and Gundam.
Crashlanded | ReddOscar | Science Fiction, Space Western (NA) (C) ($)
Cassandra, Randy, and Phoebe crashland on an unknown rimworld while travelling between the stars. Lost, stranded, and afraid the trio struggle to survive the locals, the wildlife, and the forgotten creations of the past.
The Cost of Power | Joyce Reynolds-Ward | Science Fiction, Western (N) (I) (F)
After five years of exile, Gabriel Martiniere returns to his wealthy and powerful family and is immediately immersed in multiple problems. The Martiniere mind control technology that was supposed to be closely held and only used within the Family has been stolen by a competitor, Zingter Enterprises, and used for who knows how long to negatively influence Martiniere Family leaders—including Philip Martiniere, the current Family head and CEO of the family-held conglomerate, the Martiniere Group. Worse, Zingter not only wants to use the tech to create a controllable army using unwilling indentured workers, but they want to destroy the Martinieres, based on a feud of over four generations. But that's not all. Gabe soon learns that his choices may end up affecting the multiverse. Can he find a means to keep those he loves safe—not just now, but in the future?
Sandbox Earth | Scoot | Science Fiction (NA) (C) (F)
In a series of interviews, Mr. Broaddus talks about the events of Contact—the time 50 years ago when two alien races arrived in earths orbit, oblivious to our presence—with the people who had the best view of the events that changed humanity forever!
Article 17 | Von | Military/Aliens/Romance :) (N) (I) (F)
She was pretty, popular, snobby, and a planetary governor’s daughter. He was the son of shopkeepers, a social misfit, and a decorated hero on his way to the front. She thought she was there to dance. He had other ideas.
The Memory of My Shadow | Ben Wakeman | Science Fiction (N) (I) ($)
It is the year 2052. General A.I. has arrived and already become big business. Magdalena is a brilliant and tenacious computer scientist who led the charge and profited greatly as the founder of Commune, the company that successfully planted Digital Companions, or DCs, into the heads of most of the world’s population. But at the height of her success, she mysteriously walks away from it all. From a remote compound deep in the mountains of North Carolina, Magdalena writes her story with the help of her latest creation, Meela, a DC imbued with the personality and emotional intelligence of a human. Magdalena’s obsession with mapping the personalities of real people to DCs is fueled by a longstanding obsession that is more than scientific curiosity. At sixteen, she survived the deadliest school shooting in American history. The shooter was her twin brother, Joe, who died in the aftermath. When Magdalena begins mapping her latest model, a charismatic painter named Evan, a confluence of events forces her to confront her motivations. But is it too late? The virtual monster she has created could prove to be a destroyer of worlds, just like her brother, whom she simultaneously reviles and mourns.
A Beginner’s Guide to Time Travel | Ben Woestenburg | Science Fiction, Thriller (N) (C) (F)
A time travel story with a twist. A journey into the future where the world is recovering from a major catastrophe and a serial killer is on the loose.
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