The Instant Bard

The Near-Earth Mysteries Book 1 – A Blue Collar Space novel At the heart of a mystery unfolding in space, the opposing forces make a treacherous journey between Earth and Mars. In space, mutiny means death—that’s why Inspector General Park Yerim is taking her investigation so seriously. The alleged mutineer is Captain Nicolau Aames, whose command of ...

The Near-Earth Mysteries Book 2 – A Blue Collar Space novel A colony on Mars becomes home to a killer conspiracy in a Near-Earth Mystery by the award-winning author of The Last Dance. Brazilian investigator Rosalia Morais, and her husband, revered American spacer Nicolau Aames, are building a life together in Mars’s Maxwell City, the fastest-growing settlement on ...

Machine. Human. Carey. REMARKABLE DEBUT NOVEL FROM CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR MARTIN L. SHOEMAKER. Shoemaker proves why he has consitently been praised as one of the best story writers in SF today with this touching, thoughtful, action-packed debut novel, based on his award-winning short story Today I am Paul. TODAY Mildred has Alzheimer’s. As memories fade, she acquires the ...

The future doesn’t just happen…Somebody has to build it. Martin L. Shoemaker, award-winning author of “Today I Am Paul”, presents stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary work. Planning, exploring, constructing… living and growing and dying… across the Solar System. Includes these award-winning stories: Scramble (second place, Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award, 2012) Unrefined (third place, Writers of the Future, 2014) Racing ...

Coming November 2, 2021! ALL-NEW STORIES TAKE THE WILD, WILD WEST TO THE FINAL FRONTIER An actual wagon train to space? Gunslinging cowpokes riding in rickety rocketships? What isn’t possible when you mix science fiction and Westerns? The final frontier ain’t so final in these 12 tales of space exploration and adventure: each a timeless yarn told around the warm ...

And Other Tributes In Today I Remember, Martin L. Shoemaker—award-winning author of Today I Am Carey and The Last Dance—shares stories written as tributes to the people who inspired him in his life and his writing. A circus acrobat relives tragedy and triumph Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest creation exceeds even his vision A manager must save a space colony ...

A Charity Anthology Surviving Tomorrow is a charity anthology of stories about everyday people living through extraordinary, history changing times. Facing societal collapse or personal tragedy, some may lose who they are, some will suffer greatly… all will find new ways of being, of surviving, or not as the case may be. There may be a ...

Using Dictation to Be a Better Writer (from the Million Dollar Writing Series) – With Kevin J. Anderson Tired of being stuck in a chair behind a desk? Do you want to write more without sacrificing your health and sanity? Learn how you can get more written while Hiking or just going for a stroll Driving Watching your kids play at ...

Haunted Cold War Visions! TALES OF THE WAR THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN What if the United States had gone to war with the Soviet Union? What if these rival superpowers had fought on land, sea, air, and the astral plane? What if the Soviets and Americans had struggled for dominion across parallel dimensions or on the surface ...

The Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF series roars into its fourth year, with more stories of derring-do, military combat, and edge of your seat suspense. Thrilling tales of grand science fiction adventure and military action. Selected from the top print and digital markets, these stories are guaranteedd to challenge, provoke, and entertain. Plus, you be ...

The Best New Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 2015 Best Science Fiction and alien anthology, Publisher’s Weekly Science Fiction Best Seller The future is here…the future is now!  Orson Scott Card, Kevin J. Anderson and Larry Niven have seen the future. Now, you can, too. A constellation of the brightest lights in the Science Fiction and ...

From rampaging Tyrannosauruses to an army of duplicate versions of your future self, time travel is a genre where anything is possible. This anthology contains new time travel short stories, mixed with some of the best stories published this century, including New York Times best sellers, Nebula and Hugo nominated writers and winners, as well as ...

A treasury of science fiction & fantasy. Ten international award-winning authors. Ten fabulous stories. One must-read anthology.Lab rats on the run? Got ‘em. Alien pets? Check. Rocket borne dreams? Roger. Serlingesque kismet? Weird causality loops? All that’s here, plus two Gold Pen Award winners, a Jim Baen Memorial Award finalist, a Tangent Online Recommendation, a Nebula ...

Stories of Androids, Robots, and Manufactured Humanity The idea of creating an artificial human is an old one. One of the earliest science-fictional novels, Frankenstein, concerned itself primarily with the hubris of creation, and one’s relationship to one’s creator. Later versions of this “artificial human” story (and indeed later adaptations of Frankenstein) changed the focus to ...

THE POPULAR MAN-KZIN WARS SERIES ROARS BACK INTO ACTION! New stories of the war between humanity and the catlike Kzin from Brad R. Torgersen, Brendan DuBois, Martin L. Shoemaker, and more! The predatory catlike warrior race known as the Kzin never had a hard time dealing with all those they encountered, conquering alien worlds with little effort. ...

A Romance Anthology Romance stories from today, yesterday, and in the future; from this world and beyond. Bestselling authors Rosanne Bittner, Diana Lloyd, and friends invite you to discover love that has been lost and found again in this collection of sweet, spicy, and hot romances. Thimbleful by Diana Lloyd: When Franz Frederick Fitzjohn meets Alice Ashdown ...

From Hugo-nominated editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt and Nebula nominated author Robin Wayne Bailey, here are nineteen top-notch science fiction stories guaranteed to make you think –and- laugh, featuring such major writers as Robert Silverberg, Mike Resnick, Allen M. Steele, Esther Friesner, Elizabeth Moon, Seanan McGuire, Jody Lynn Nye, James Gunn, Kristine Kathryn Rusch and many ...

A DECADE OF SCIENCE FICTION EXCELLENCE Since 2007, Baen Books and The National Space Society have sponsored The Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award, to honor the legacy of Jim Baen and to promote the ideals of forward-thinking, positive science fiction. Here gathered together for the first time are the best of the best of the ...

What will it mean to be human in the future? How will we evolve in order to reach the stars? Fifteen short stories collected in this book examine how interstellar flight might change humanity itself. Will we choose to upload our minds into a singularity? Enhance ourselves with alien DNA? Will our bodies remain the same, ...

A Sci-fi Celebration of the Indomitable Spirit That Carried Humanity to the Moon Paperback Strap yourself in for the adventure of our generation! 50 years after the moon landings, the commercialization of space travel is finally here, but do we still know how to dream? Final Frontier recalls the heady thrill of the Apollo era and glimpses wonders yet to ...

Spend an afternoon antiquing and it’s not hard to figure out why picking has become one of America’s fondest pastimes. It’s treasure hunting while connecting with history. But what if those treasures hunt us back? From old books, to vinyl records, antique mirrors, vintage figurines, or a Bob’s Big Boy piggy bank, curses have no limits. Featuring ...

Science Fiction Visions of Avatar Technology The development of “Avatar” technology—the fusion of human awareness consciousness with remote robotic bodies—offers breathtaking advances in medicine, culture, work, transportation, education and imagination. The Avatar project is designed to drive the exponential innovations needed to make General Purpose Avatars an everyday reality.The transformational potential of avatars is endless—and who ...

Twenty published authors share tips, tricks, advice, and encouragement for other writers. They talk about working through the rough times, making their first sales, and finding success in the publishing industry. Whether you’re traditional, indie, or hybrid; a journalist, novelist, or blogger, we hope their stories provide encouragement for you, wherever you are in your journey ...

Now that contracts have been signed, I’m honored to announce that Analog Science Fiction and Fact will be publishing my story “Uncle Roy’s Computer Repair and Used Robot Parts”!

Blackheart Hal stood nearly knee-deep in the ocean bottom and stared up through the depths. “Storming up there. It’s going to take one down.” Blake looked up as well. It was impossible for normal eyes to see through that much water even in daylight, but their type were hardly normal. Still… “I don’t see it. How ...

The slush is alive. Maybe you don’t know. Maybe you don’t have the writer disease. Maybe you’re not a writer or an editor like me. Maybe you’ve never met the slush pile: that massive pile of manuscripts submitted for your consideration. Once, long ago, it was a pile of physical manuscripts, paper tossed over the transom and into ...

“Mr. Hudson.” I sank down in my auditorium seat and tried to hide behind the tall blonde hair of the woman in front of me. I should’ve remembered her name, I’d seen her before, but it just eluded me. And hiding didn’t help. Professor Moorehead looked right past her. “Mr. Hudson, you will now come to ...

Myra was careful not to scuff her boots in the red-yellow leaves. Who knew what artifacts meant lie just beneath the thick cover? Archaeology was slow. Slow answers to slow questions. If you don’t take your time, you’re doing it wrong. She carefully lifted one foot at a time, and then lowered it cautiously, waiting ...

Paula Winn settled back in the uncomfortable vinyl seat of the delivery van, and she let out along sigh. She looked at her dispatching app on her phone. It told her she had a whole thirty-seven seconds to catch her breath before she had to leave for the next stop. Paula was just tired enough ...

Wendy pulled the van into the extra wide handicapped parking spot at Marge’s Donut Den. I tried for a joke. “Parking’s easier now.” But the joke wasn’t that good, and Wendy didn’t have her sense of humor back yet. “There’s nothing easy about this, Wayne.” I sighed. “I know. It was my accident, remember? I just… I ...