National Network for Equitable Library Service

The new world is full of wireless technologies, medical marvels, and advanced security. It's 2133, and Earth has rebuilt after a global catastrophe. Megacities, wireless tech, and augmented humans are all commonplace. What isn't common, is Kraft. Kraft sees monsters. This tends to get him in trouble, especially when the rest of the world doesn't believe they exist. For Kraft, even an easy job like cleaning a corporation's computer system involves a dark cult, a battle with faeries, and a computer virus that reaches into the real world.

A collection of stories about what you've always feared. Lovers of shows such as Black Mirror, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, will enjoy Mark Le Dain's dark satirical collection of stories, Dreamtime. Dreamtime is a collection of twenty tales set in the near future where a person's life is monitored, influenced, and sometimes crafted by the technology we both love and hate. What would an autonomous car be willing to do when it's primary directive is to save your life over everything else? What if governments made you live in an environment that reflected your carbon footprint?

Nevertheless (Tesseracts Twenty-one) is a collection of optimistic speculative fiction stories, each optimistic in a slightly different way. These stories explore the optimism that drives us to seek out new worlds, that inspires us to sacrifice for others or fuels us to just keep going when everything seems lost and in so doing turn the idea upside down and inside out. One of the best reasons for doing an anthology of optimistic future this year was because no matter which side of the political or social spectrum you land on, it's been a tough year.

"Mad Science? Obsession? Folly? Telesensation agent Justin Bremer studies time - specifically the effects of journeying through it. His assignment, funded by a mysterious organization, 'Les Charges de L'Affaires,' is to observe the timeline of a young Victorian scientist who lived approximately 2000 years in the past. Equipped with an AI neural-interface, Bremer carefully documents the experiments of Dr. Petronella Sage and her archeologist friend Erasmus Savant.

One of the unquestioned masters of military science fiction, New York Times best-selling author John Ringo teams with real-life rocket scientist Travis S. Taylor for this action-packed sequel to Into the Looking Glass. The alien Dreen are still a terrifying menace across the galaxy, but Earth has a new weapon-the first human warp ship. Aboard the Vorpal Blade, America's tough-as-nails Force Recon Marines seek the Dreen, hoping to bring the fight directly to them.

Award-winning author Sylvain Neuvel explores an immigration dystopia in The Test Britain, the not-too-distant future. Idir is sitting the British Citizenship Test. He wants his family to belong. Twenty-five questions to determine their fate. Twenty-five chances to impress. When the test takes an unexpected and tragic turn, Idir is handed the power of life and death. How do you value a life when all you have is multiple choice?

All emotions are universal. We live, we dream, we strive, we die... Stories that explore magic and science. Stories about love, revenge, and choices. Stories that challenge ideas about race, belonging, and politics. Each wrestling between ghostly pasts and uncertain future. Each trying to find a voice in history. Orphans and drug-smuggling in deep space. Mechanical arms in steampunk Vancouver. Djinns and espionage in futuristic Istanbul. Humanoid robot in steamy Kerala. Monsters in the jungles of Cebu. Historic time travel in Gyeongbok Palace. A rocket launch in post-apocalyptic Tokyo.

Robert Jackson Bennett's Vigilance is a dark science fiction action parable from an America that has permanently surrendered to gun violence. The United States. 2030. John McDean executive produces "Vigilance," a reality game show designed to make sure American citizens stay alert to foreign and domestic threats. Shooters are introduced into a "game environment," and the survivors get a cash prize. The TV audience is not the only one that's watching though, and McDean soon finds out what it's like to be on the other side of the camera.

Long months have passed since Siris and the God King, enemies betrayed together, were left to rot in the prison at the Vault of Tears. Their true enemy the Worker of Secrets, creator of the Infinity Blade itself now reigns. Upon finally obtaining freedom, Siris must unravel plots that seem to make no sense, lead a rebellion with no direction, and fight against the division within his very heart.

A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready? In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days. When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune--and control of the OASIS itself. Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he's beset by rivals who'll kill to take this prize.