Most Popular Books by Karl Schroeder

On the terraformed planet of Ventus, Jordan Mason, a young man plagued by visions, is kidnapped by offworld human Calandria May and then escapes to seek his own destiny in the midst of gathering apocalyptic forces.

"Permanence" is the story of young Rue Cassels'' quest to visit and claim an alien ship and its treasures, set against a background of interstellar intrigue and warring empires.

From Karl Schroeder, author of Lockstep, comes the near-future, science fiction, hacker’s heist, Stealing Worlds. The Verge—New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Check Out in June Sura Neelin is on the run from her creditors, from her past, and her father’s murderers. She can’t get a job, she can’t get a place to live, she can’t even walk down the street: the total surveillance society that is mid-21st century America means that every camera and every pair of smart glasses is her enemy. But Sura might have a chance in the alternate reality of the games. People can disappear in the LARP game worlds, into the alternate economy of Notchcoin and blockchains. The people who build the games also program the surveillance networks—she just needs an introduction, and the skills to play. Turns out, she has very valuable skills, and some very surprising friends. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Centuries of sleep bring a young space voyager into a strange future where he must confront his own tyrannical brother in this epic space opera. When seventeen-year-old Toby McGonigal finds himself lost in space, his next drift into cold sleep to be his last. After all, the planet he''s orbiting is frozen and sunless, and dotted with dead cities. But when Toby wakes again, he''s surprised to discover a thriving planet, a strange and prosperous galaxy—and that he''s been asleep for 14,000 years. Welcome to the Lockstep Empire, where civilization is kept alive by careful hibernation. Here cold sleeps can last decades and waking moments mere weeks. Its citizens survive for millennia, traveling asleep on long voyages between worlds. Not only is Lockstep the new center of the galaxy, but Toby is shocked to learn that the Empire is still ruled by its founding family: his own. Toby''s brother Peter has become a tyrant. Suspicious of the return of his long-lost brother, whose rightful inheritance also controls the lockstep hibernation cycles, Peter sees Toby as a threat to his regime. Now, with the help of a lockstep girl named Corva, Toby must survive the forces of this new Empire, outwit his siblings, and save human civilization.

Futurist and award-winning author Karl Schroeder imagines infiltrating the elite of a marginal society in The Million. Every thirty years, ten billion visitors overrun Earth during one month of madness: partying, polluting, and brawling. In between, the world is ruled by the Million; the inheritors and custodians of all of humanity’s wealth and history, they lead unimaginable lives of privilege and wealth, and they see it as their due. Gavin Penn-of-Chaffee is an illegal child—a visitor hidden among the Million. When the family that raised him in secret is torn apart, Gavin must impersonate a dead boy to survive. What he doesn’t know is that his new identity is expected at the School of Auditors—the Million’s feared police force, sworn to find and capture outcasts like him to keep the peace. In order to solve the murder of his adoptive father, Gavin must keep his disguise and his wits intact within the stronghold of those threatened by his very existence. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

One of the new stars of hard SF returns to the same distant future in which "Ventus" is set, but employs a broader canvas to tell the story of Teven Coronal, a ringworld with a huge multiplicity of human civilizations.

Return to Virga, a bubble universe artificially separated from our own future universe, and the setting ofSun of Suns and Queen of Candesce. Chaison Fanning, the admiral of a fleet of warships, has been captured and imprisoned by his enemies, but is suddenly rescued and set free. He flees through the sky to his home city to confront the ruler who betrayed him. And perhaps even to regain his lovely, powerful, and subversive wife, Venera, who he has not seen since she fled with the key to the artificial sun at the center of Virga, Candesce. With Pirate Sun, Schroeder sets a whole new standard for hard science fiction space opera. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A bitter and friendless young man who has been living with pirates, Hayden Griffin journeys to the city of Rush in the nation of Slipstream to seek revenge for the deaths of his parents when his home nation of Aerie was conquered by Admiral Chaison Fanning, leader of the fleet of Slipstream, in the first volume in a futuristic adventure series.

"Jubilee" is a new story by Karl Schroeder. His new novel, Lockstep, will be published in March 2014. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Venera Fanning was last seen falling into nothingness at the end of Sun of Suns. Now, in Queen of Candesce, Venera finds herself plunging through the air between the artificial continents of Virga, far from home and her husband, who may or may not be alive. Landing in the ancient nation of Spyre, Venera encounters new enemies and new friends (or at least convenient allies). She must quickly learn who she can trust, and who she can manipulate in order to survive. Queen of Candesce is her story. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The Sunless Countries is the fourth novel in the Virga series of hard science fiction space opera adventures In an ocean of weightless air where sunlight has never been seen, only the running lights of the city of Pacquaea glitter in the dark. One woman, Leal Hieronyma Maspeth, lives and dreams of love among the gaslit streets and cafés. And somewhere in the abyss of wind and twisted cloud through which Pacquaea eternally falls, a great voice has begun speaking. As its cold words reach from space to the city walls—and as outlying towns and travelers'' ships start to mysteriously disappear—only Leal has the courage to try to understand the message thundering from the distance. Even the city''s most famous and exotic visitor, the sun lighter and hero named Hayden Griffin, refuses to turn aside from his commission to build a new sun for a foreign nation. He will not become the hero that Leal knows the city needs; so it is up to her to listen, and ultimately reply, to the voice of the worldwasp—because an astonishing disaster threatens Virga. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A remote village is determined to keep their robot teacher from being fired. A poetry-loving AI controls the wastewater treatment facility, but a series of malfunctions are beginning to cause concern. The biggest pop idol of the twenty-second century is trapped on Enceladus, and deeply alone. Latchko can talk to the banned AIs and now that his secret is out things are about to get complicated. A former child soldier is raised by a plant-like species but struggles to understand them. Ice fishing on Europa just keeps turning up rocks and things just got worse ... something is changing the world, making it better, but for whom? Short fiction is the heart of science fiction, introducing new voices, experimenting with ideas and technique, and paving the way for the future of the field. Thousands of stories are published every year in the many genre magazines, anthologies, collections, podcasts, and websites, as well as other less common venues. Each year, Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning editor Neil Clarke sifts through the myriad of offerings to select works that represent the best and the brightest, report on the state of the field, and recommend additional stories for further reading. In this volume, covering 2021, you''ll find works by Aliette de Bodard, Meg Elison, Rich Larson, Ken Liu, Ray Nayler, Suzanne Palmer, Hannu Rajaniemi, Robert Reed, Karl Schroeder, Vandana Singh, Tade Thompson, and many more.

A world of endless sky, with no land, no gravity: this is Virga. Beginning in the seminal science fiction novel Sun of Suns, the saga of this striking world has introduced us to the people of stubborn pride and resilience who have made Virga their home; but also, always lurking beyond the walls of the world, to the mysterious threat known only as Artificial Nature. In The Sunless Countries, history tutor Leal Hieronyma Maspeth became the first human in centuries to learn the true nature of this threat. Her reward was exile, but now, in Ashes of Candesce, Artificial Nature makes its final bid to destroy Virga, and it is up to Leal to unite the quarrelling clans of her world to fight the threat. Ashes of Candesce brings together all the heroes of the Virga series, and draws the diverse threads of the previous storylines together into one climactic conflict. Blending steampunk styling with a far-future setting and meditations on the posthuman condition, Ashes of Candesce mixes high adventure and cutting-edge ideas in a fitting climax to one of science fiction''s most innovative series.

This edition includes the first two novels in the acclaimed space opera series: “Outrageously brilliant and absolutely not to be missed” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review, on Sun of Suns). It is the distant future. The world known as Virga is a fullerene balloon three thousand kilometers in diameter, filled with air, water, and floating chunks of rock. The humans who live in this vast environment must build their own fusion suns and “towns” —enormous wood and rope wheels that are spun for centripetal gravity. In Sun of Suns, Schroeder introduces his complex and fascinating world through the story of Hayden Griffin, a dangerous man determined to avenge the deaths of his parents. He ventures into the enemy nation of Slipstream to find Admiral Chaison Fanning, who led the invasion of Hayden’s home. Queen of Candescence continues the saga as Venera Fanning, Admiral Fanning’s wife, finds herself in the nation of Spyre. As the cunning Venera encounters new enemies and useful allies, she must discover who—if anyone—she can actually trust.

An unabridged collection of the “best of the best” science fiction stories written in 2011 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “Dying Young,” by Peter M. Ball, cyborgs, clones and post-humans collide with a dragon bent on revenge in a post-apocalptic space western. “Martian Heart,” by John Barnes, chronicles a teenage couple taken to Mars as indentured servants in a “rags to riches” tale. In “Canterbury Hollow,” by Chris Lawson, two lovers on a planet orbiting a killer sun share their few remaining weeks together before they die. “The Choice,” by Paul McAuley, set in the author’s Jackaroo universe, follows two boys who set sail to investigate a beached alien vessel on the English coast. In “After the Apocalypse,” by Maureen McHugh, a mother and daughter traverse a ravaged U.S. in a tale that takes on McCarthy’s, The Road, from a female viewpoint. “Purple,” by Robert Reed, tells of a blind and maimed young man convalescing in an off-world menagerie of wayward alien species, prior to returning to Earth. In “Laika’s Ghost,” by Karl Schroeder, a Russian and an American search the steppes of the former U.S.S.R. for metastable weapons that terrorists could use to make nuclear bombs. “Bit Rot,” by Charles Stross, follows post-humans struggling to survive after their generation ship is struck by a Magnetar ray in this clever zombies-in-space tale. In “For I Have Laid Me Down on The Stone of Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back Again,” by Michael Swanwick, Irishmen plot to strike back against alien occupiers by enlisting an Irish American tourist to their cause. Finally, Steve Rasnic Tem, tells of a young man awakened from suspended animation, on a future Earth, with the technological know-how of plant-like aliens in “At Play in the Fields.”

Reprint of the original, first published in 1873.

The Claus Effect is a continuation of "The Toy Mill", the 1993 Aurora-Award-winning story about a malevolent, post-industrial-revolution Santa Claus and Emily, the little girl whose wish to be a Christmas Elf nearly destroys the world. The Claus Effect takes up eight years later, when events propel teen-aged Emily and West Point cadet Neil Nyman on a breakneck journey through suburban shopping malls, Ontario cottage country, and the frigid northern wastes of the former Soviet Union - battling displaced Cossacks, blue-blooded cottagers and homicidal, down-sized elves along the way. Finally, they must face down the terrifying truth: about Christmas, the New World Order - and the Claus Effect.

A collection of ten short stories combining adventure and speculation.

La corona Teven, una enigmática región del espacio situada más allá de Júpiter, es el hogar de millones de poshumanos que viven en un laberinto de realidades diferentes y solapadas llamadas colectores. Cada colector es una cultura en sí misma, con una historia, mitología y tecnología únicas, aunque virtuales. Para mantener la integridad de cada colector, la interacción entre estos mundos es limitada, y se reserva a unas pocas personas. Entre ellas está Livia Kodaly, una diplomática cuyas especiales dotes para ver más allá de la realidad virtual harán de ella la perfecta candidata para hacerle frente a una entidad conocida como 3340, que intenta derribar los horizontes entre culturas y destruir las barreras que mantienen las tecnologías bajo control.

After terrifying and titanic struggles, a godlike artificial intelligence gone rogue has finally been destroyed. But not before it scattered seeds of itself throughout the galaxy. On the terraformed planet Ventus, benign AIs -- the godlike Winds – which shaped and guarded its transformation, have fallen silent. Calandria May is sent down to the surface where she quickly finds that an extension of the rogue AI, a cyborg called Armiger, has planted a strange and powerful device in a young man named Jordan Mason. Jordan has visions. He is desperate to find their meaning and source -- desperate enough to risk awakening the Winds, perhaps invoking the power that can destroy technology to protect the environment they created. Ventus is an epic journey across a fascinating planet with two big mysteries -- why have the Winds fallen silent? And is Armiger, or Jordan, carrying a Resurrection Seed? At the publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

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