CLASSIC SF STORIES FOR ANYONE THINKING ABOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Imperium Sine Fine

Step back in time and traverse the stars with classic stories that reimagine the grandeur of the Roman Empire—with a science fiction twist.

From the vastness of interstellar conquests to the intricate politics of alien worlds, these tales blend history and imagination, exploring what might have been if Rome had extended its reach beyond the cosmos.

Join us as we uncover the stories that blend the glory of the past with the possibilities of the future—where the empire never truly fell, but soared among the stars.

Interstellar medic Melanie Mooney races against time to save her patients while unraveling cosmic mysteries and navigating the dangers of space, all while longing for the Earth she left behind.

Find a Way Home

Everything is relative. Einstein said so.

After years of traversing the galaxy as an emergency medic, Melanie Mooney is learning this in a personal way. With each run to a far-flung star system, she is taken ever farther from her former life, and not only in distance. The penalty for zipping around the galaxy at light speed means time is moving slower for her than it is back home, and the difference is adding up. If Melanie ever hopes to return, she must do so before the Earth she knew becomes as unrecognizable to her as the alien worlds of the Galactic Union.

Intergalactic travel is expensive, far beyond anything Melanie can afford with her Medical Corps pay. There may yet be a way to not only get a free ride home, but in a manner that would avoid the pernicious effects of relativity. It’s risky, and will force Melanie to place her trust in some unsavory characters, including the last person in the galaxy she wants to be caught dead with.

The trick will be not getting caught dead or hopelessly lost in dimensions of the universe where no human or alien belongs. That’s a lot for a woman who just wants to go home.

In a desperate fight for humanity's survival, Captain Saef Sinclair-Maru must lead the powerful private warship Salahdiin and an unlikely alliance against genocidal forces, balancing the demands of shareholders with the heart of a rebellion.

Piracy, War, and Humanity's Last Stand

The heavy cruiser Salahdiin is the most powerful private warship in the history of the Myriad Worlds, and bears a Letter of Marque, the Imperial charter for legalized piracy. As the most successful fighting captain of the Imperial Fleet, Saef Sinclair-Maru is the ideal choice to command the privateer, but exchanging egotistical admirals for demanding shareholders carries its own unique challenges, particularly when the fate of humanity lies in the balance.

While war rages within the Imperium, few comprehend the inhuman instigators at the heart of the conflict or their genocidal ambitions, but Saef and his counterpart, Inga, draw a surprising coterie of allies to their campaign of desperate resistance, including spy master Winter Yung, former Molo Ranger Kyle Whiteside, and even Erik Sturmsohn, a Thorsworld war chieftain sworn to overthrow the emperor.

Together, in the face of approaching annihilation, they each must choose: Obedience to the edicts of their leaders, or loyalty to a deeper motivation that defines the very heart of humanity.

When a prank bonds Harper Tavros to a fierce griffin instead of the dragon she always dreamed of, she must battle her doubts and rise to the front lines, forging an unbreakable alliance to save her country from impending doom.

Together we fly, divided we fall.

All Harper Tavros ever wanted was to be a dragon rider.

But after a prank goes wrong, she ends up soul bonded to a griffin. Now, she'll have to learn an entirely new skillset before she ends up on the front lines of a war her country is slowly losing.

If she's going to make a difference, she'll need to rise up from the ruin of her dreams and embrace a new path. One that includes her accidental bondmate, an utterly ridiculous, insanely brave griffin. But in order to form a strong enough bond to defend their country, they'll need to keep the pressures of war, loss, and doubt from tearing them apart. Because the only way Harper and her griffin will survive is together.

Conspiracy Theories Meet Superhero Reality

ALL IT TAKES

It’s there for anyone to see: There are dark forces at work on the world, working to destroy civilization. All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing. We need a good guy.

NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES—BUT SOME DO

For a generation, individuals have arisen with super powers, able to change the course of history, or at least save a few lives. But these people have free will—and not all choose to work for the forces of good. We need someone with an unblotted escutcheon, a Galahad for the 21st Century, someone pure of ethics and morality.

NOT THAT KIND OF GOOD GUY

What we get is Michael: the product of a broken childhood, raised in the foster system of one of America’s most dangerous inner cities, his wisdom comes from drug addicts and whores. Maybe he’s not the hero we asked for, but he’s the hero we need. And he’s about to hit puberty.

Fleeing her sheltered life, a noblewoman must trust a warrior, a forester, and a thief to unlock her true power and face her destiny.

Embrace Your Power and Forge Your Destiny

All her life, Aelys of Brionne had been weak. As the noble daughter of one of the empire’s most powerful magic-wielding families, it should have been easy for her to live her dream of bonding with a warrior protector and joining the Imperial Battlemage Corps. But when her weakness robs her of her dreams, her best friend, and the man she loves, Aelys makes the only choice she can see: she takes her fate into her own hands and she runs, leaving her safe, protected world behind.

Now she must find a way to work with three dangerous strangers—a warrior, a forester, and a thief—to escape the bandits stalking her, fight through the dangers of the untamed forest, and make her way back home, where her family and her destiny await.

Only . . . her violent protectors might be the key to the power and freedom she’s always craved. Can Aelys find the strength to choose her own destiny and become the sorceress she was born to be? Or lose herself on the path to power?

A Wild Chase Through Elizabethan England

Thomas Rimor, a man hunted by time and bound by destiny, roams the sinister pathways of Þagalwood—a haunted realm where grotesque trees whisper his name and prey upon the unwise. Armed with a mysterious ördstone and fueled by a relentless mission to thwart the sinister Yvag elves, Thomas risks his life to rescue the helpless teinds, victims destined for sacrifice in the fathomless pit of Hel.

But the woods hold secrets as dangerous as the Yvags themselves. When a spectral figure emerges from the depths, leaving a trail only the ördstone can illuminate, Thomas is drawn into a deadly mystery that challenges the limits of his courage and cunning. Poisonous blooms, traps within traps, and a shocking betrayal await him in a perilous game of survival against ancient powers.

With each step, Thomas ventures closer to uncovering the truth of his enemy’s dark designs—and the shadowy forces that may already control his fate.

NEW ENTRY IN THE ICARUS SAGA FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR TIMOTHY ZAHN

For years Gregory Roarke and his Kadolian partner Selene have worked for the ultra-secret Icarus Group, hunting for the mysterious Icari teleportation portals so valued by the Commonwealth.

But their job has now come to a wrenching end. The two of them are fugitives, sought by the Commonwealth, the rival Patth, and the remnant of the ancient Ammei who once controlled the portals and who hunger for a return to those days of glory. All three groups want Selene and her unique ability to understand and deal with Icari technology.

Or is it unique?

In the shadow of an Ammei stronghold they stumble across an unfamiliar and badly confused alien named Bubloo who has the same ultrasensitive sense of smell as Selene and her fellow Kadolians. If the Ammei get hold of him, can they achieve their goal of domination without Selene?

Roarke doesn’t know. But he doesn’t dare take that chance.

Things are looking grim, with multiple puzzles and questions intertwined around Bubloo and the portals, and the future of the Spiral hanging in the balance.

And then, the Patth assassination squad arrives . . .

After the end of the world, a tropical paradise might just be the hardest place to survive.

The virus robbed humans of their higher thought processes, turning them into uncontrollable savages. The Hawaiian Islands are separated from the rest of the world by thousands of miles of ocean, but that couldn’t stop the virus. Civilization fell, and it fell HARD.

Can paradise survive the end of the world?

High atop a dormant volcano, a team of scientists preserve the last remnants of higher technology. Off the coast of Kauai, a flotilla of survivors must decide whether to return to their island, or make their way to another location, risking pirates and nature on the gamble of safer shores. On the central plateau of the Big Island, a group of ranchers want to rebuild civilization . . . but to do that, they’ll need to reunite a people scattered across an ocean of stars.

NEW RING OF FIRE SERIES ENTRY FROM IVER P. COOPER

A cosmic catastrophe, the Ring of Fire, strands the West Virginia town of Grantville back in time in the middle of the Thirty Years War. One of its ripple effects is that Japan has pulled back from a policy of isolation and staked out its own claims on the west coast of North America. But it is not the only power interested in that part of the New World, and the native Americans have also responded, in different ways, to the unexpected colonists. And there are conflicts among the colonists themselves.

In settling the fate of this part of the New World, a few remarkable individuals have an outsize role to play: Oyamada Isamu, a samurai on his first independent command; Yells-at-Bears, a young native woman of Vancouver Island; Father Blanco, a Jesuit priest and former missionary; and Iroha Data-hime, the daughter of the Grand Governor of New Nippon.

If someone gave you all the money in the world, just what would you do with it?

Finally free of Earth and all of his connections to it, David can now focus on his and Kacey’s fledgling cargo company, and start considering his future goals as an engineer. There is still the small matter of the agreement he made with his grandfather, one of the richest men in the solar system, but Dave knows his brother won’t be solving the FTL issue anytime soon.

So he’s got time.

However, there are forces on Earth that while David may believe he is done with them, are by no means done with David. An escalating tit-for-tat is about to begin, over issues that will one day be worth far more money and power than he or anyone else can imagine. An escalation that will soon spiral out of all control, and David will find himself with no choice but to unleash the horrors of war on an unsuspecting populace. A war that will exact a price from his own flesh and blood before it is over.

The final novel in New York Times best-selling author Larry Correia’s epic fantasy Saga of the Forgotten Warrior series.

What happens after the War of the Gods?

The answer lies in the Heart of the Mountain . . .

Ashok Vadal was chosen by a powerful weapon to be its bearer. As a Protector, an elite roving law-enforcer, his path to leader of the Sons of the Black Sword has been anything but straight

Thera Vane, a child of privilege, has become the reluctant prophet of an illegal and forgotten god—whose prophecies are proving all too correct, if frustratingly unclear about the war between demon and man.

Ashok’s erstwhile sword brother, Lord Protector Devedas, was meant to be a puppet king, but he and his wife, a court scholar, have other plans. And possibly even access to the lore that will let them triumph.

Grand Inquisitor Omand Vokkan is a man of ambition. He’s set in motion all that was necessary to destroy the current order and install Lord Protector Devedas as a tyrant. But Vokkan has a vision beyond control of the continent. He would challenge even the gods. . . .

It seems the time of prophecy and the Age of Law is over: it is time the prophecies will be fulfilled.

An ancient treasure in deep space holds the key to a deadly conspiracy which will shake the Billion Worlds of the Tenth Millennium.

At the end of the Tenth Millennium, Zee and his AI buddy Daslakh arrive on the icy moon Miranda, hoping to make a good impression on his girlfriend Adya's upper-class parents. Instead they discover that Adya's father is the target of a political conspiracy. While Adya tries to discover who is trying to to ruin the family fortunes and expel them from Miranda's exclusive ruling class, Daslakh and Zee go on the trail of a lost treasure in deep space. As they both dig deeper they run afoul of rival political factions, romantic complications, space mercenaries, octopus gangsters, and ruthless secret agents—and all the while dealing with interference from Adya's parents and party-going sister. Love, power, wealth, and honor collide in the floating cities and palaces inside Miranda.

All he wanted was a simple job to make ends meet. What he got was a mysterious cat girl, a shot at a hoard of treasure, and a whole lot of trouble.

The Solar System ain’t what it used to be!

In the far distant future, Saturn’s rings are gone, Mercury is a gas giant, and Earth is remembered only as a unit of measure. Nearly godlike AIs reshaped the Solar System in eons past, but they too are now nothing more than a fading memory.

Captain Nathaniel Kade cares for none of that. He’s but a simple freelancer from the orbital ring of Neptune, struggling to make ends meet and to keep his understaffed spaceship from falling apart. All he wants is a decent, uneventful job to help put his finances back in order.

What he receives instead is Vessani S’Kaari, a mysterious and beautiful cat girl who tried—and failed—to steal a ship belonging to a band of space pirates. Vessani’s in over her head and is clearly more trouble than she’s worth, but she also has a lead on what may be the greatest treasure trove of lost technology the Solar System has ever seen.

Nathan pulls her butt out of the fire, and together they begin to assemble a team to seek out this long-lost bounty. But other interested parties have their eyes on the same prize; the Jovian Everlife has dispatched a fleet of warships with one of their elite, many-bodied agents in command, and he’d like a few words with Nathan and his new crewmember.

New Entry in the Best-Selling Black Tide Rising Series

FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN

When the lights went out, humanity died. But from darkness came hope.

The surviving students at St. Dominic’s Preparatory School for Girls have had it rough since the H7D3 virus virtually wiped out human civilization. Between rampaging hordes of zombies and wannabe tinpot dictators, the only thing holding them together is the iron will of the school’s lone surviving nun, Sister Ann. They know how to survive, but rebuilding isn’t only about surviving—it’s about rising up.

As more survivors start to seek asylum at the isolated school, it becomes readily apparent that the school can be the anvil from which humanity is reforged. To achieve this, though, the survivors must rely on one another to rebuild. The flames of life will be fanned, and the sparks from every strike of the hammer will provide light in the darkness.

But it will not be easy.

From atop the mountain of fire, this beacon of hope must spread—or humanity will die quietly in the long, final night.

At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Book two in David Weber and Richard Fox’s Ascent to Empire series.

HE NEVER WANTED TO BE A REBEL

The Five Hundred, the elite families who rule the Terran Federation, control its political power and its wealth, and they’ve grown steadily wealthier and more powerful, thanks to the war against the Terran League. War may be hard on the people who get caught in its path, but it’s very good for business, in the short term, and the Five Hundred own the shipyards that build the Navy’s ships. They own virtually all the industry that produces the weapons and matériel the war consumes so voraciously . . . and they’ve made damn sure someone else does the dying.

True, there are a few flies in the Five Hundred’s ointment.

There’s the growing hatred and resentment of the Fringe Worlds, whose children do eighty percent of the dying in the Five Hundred’s war. But the Five Hundred have made sure the Fringe knows what will happen to any system that goes ”out of compliance.”

There are the lunatic conspiracy nuts who insist that the alien Rishathan Sphere is secretly aiding the League’s military, but the Five Hundred have forced them to keep their mouths shut where it matters.

And then there’s Terrence Murphy, a man of honor who loves the Federation, who springs from the Five Hundred, yet knows it for what it is and is determined to speak for its victims. But the five hundred have dispatched ample force to deal with him and his handful of lunatic followers.

Unfortunately, the Fringe has paid enough of its children’s lives, and it no longer cares what may happen if it dares to defy the Five Hundred.

Worse, the lunatic conspiracy nuts were right, and the Rish have planned carefully for the Federation’s destruction.

NEW FICTION AND NONFICTION FOCUSING ON THE UNITED STATES SPACE FORCE FROM TOP AUTHORS

It has been six decades since mankind first shook off the yoke of gravity and flew into outer space. After cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first fateful trip into the vastness beyond our atmosphere, the Apollo missions landed twelve men on the moon. Since the building of the International Space Station, humankind established a semi-permanent base in space. But wherever people and their interests go, the military and law must eventually follow. Enter the Space Force!

Here then, stories and essays of the United States Space Force, the first new United States military service since the establishment of the Air Force in 1947.

With stories and essays by Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Harry Turtledove, Brian Trent, Gregory Benford & James Benford, David Brin, Jody Lynn Nye, Martin L. Shoemaker, M.T. Reiten, Avery Parks, C. Stuart Hardwick, Karl K. Gallagher, Gustavo Bondini, Liam Hogan, Henry Herz, Marie Vibbert, Laura Montgomery, Sylvie Althoff, Matt Bille, William F. Otto, and Michael Morton.

NEW ENTRY IN THE BEST-SELLING LIADEN UNIVERSE® SERIES

On a world where cake is a necessity, it takes the Grid to protect the civilized and the deaf from the dire influences of the ambient and to keep the chaotic Haosa at bay.

Having arrived at recently Dust-bound Colemeno, Trader Padi yos’Galan is essential to Master Trader Shan yos’Galan’s plan to recoup Clan Korval’s fortunes by establishing new routes for the clan’s tradeship. Shan’s inner Healer insists Padi come to terms with her as-yet unplumbed psychic abilities, which might place her in the top tier of dramliz, if she can learn control.

Padi yearns to concentrate on trade, but Colemeno’s fey ambient and deadly long-term politics combine to bring her face-to-face with the Haosa, and in particular with the mysterious and untouchable Tekelia, as Korval’s trade mission’s necessity of a port audit collide with a cruel history of murder, deception, and brutality. Amid the dangers, Padi unexpectedly finds herself eagerly exploring her dramliz side when faced with the unspoken powers of the ambient, the sky-filling energy of the ribbon dance, and Tekelia’s mutable eyes.

Not that Kind of Good Guy

by John Ringo

Rhymer: Hel

by Gregory Frost

Magelight

by Kacey Ezell

Toll of Honor

by David Weber

To Turn the Tide

by S. M. Stirling

The Thermopylae Protocol

by David Weber and Jacob Holo

Ribbon Dance

by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Essen Steel

by Kim Mackey

NEW NOVEL IN THE BEST-SELLING GORDIAN DIVISION SERIES FROM NYT BEST-SELLING AUTHOR DAVID WEBER AND JACOB HOLO

After an industrial ship carrying advanced self-replicating machines explodes on its way to Mercury, analysis of the wreckage reveals it to be forty years too old. Raibert Kaminski, the Gordian Division’s top agent, and his crew on the TransTemporal Vehicle Kleio soon discover the ship was transported to an uncharted universe, one with temporarily accelerated time. Forty years passed for the ship’s industrial machines while everyone else experienced only a few short days. Raibert is certain a powerful weapon of some nature has been built out in the unexplored reaches of the multiverse, but where and by whom remains unknown.

The search is on, and the Gordian Division musters its fleet of time machines at Providence, a massive transdimensional station under construction. They call upon their allies from the militaristic Admin for aid in their search—but before plans can be formalized, the leader of the Admin’s Department of Temporal Investigation is murdered while visiting Providence, and the joint operation is thrown into chaos.

Accusations fly and tensions mount between the two organizations. Detectives Isaac Cho and Susan Cantrell—both fast becoming experts in transdimensional crime—are dispatched to Providence. But the clock is ticking for the detectives and Raibert’s crew. A vast, powerful conspiracy has shuddered into motion, and the two teams may be all that stand between it and destruction on a universal scale.