During an ordinary night spent together in a basement, a philosophical discussion turns into a thought experiment with inexplicable consequences. When a VCR display freezes and a playing card reveals an impossible secret, four young men realize they have stumbled upon a biological anomaly. An intense short story about the perception of reality, where the human mind pushes beyond the boundaries of the present to touch the true nature of time.

First unmissable episode of sci-fi comedy! For the team of space truckers at R.U.S.C.O. (Rapid Unsorted Space Garbage Operation), the daily routine gets turned upside down by an unusual delivery: four shipping containers bound for Arin 5 Station that reek to high heaven.Between Pillola's hypochondriac panic, Pummarola's culinary theories, and Tito's unfazed composure at the wheel of their powered AstroTrucks, the crew embarks on a short, hilarious adventure packed with gag...

In 2234, Earth has changed its face, yet the relationship between humanity and the environment remains an unresolved issue. Since the scientific discoveries of the late twenty-first century, a select elite has learned to live without organic food."Monofasting" is not a simple dietary choice: it is a radical philosophy. For its practitioners, any organism that is born, grows, and dies has the right to fulfill its own life cycle. Respecting the habitat means ceasing to take life away...

For the crew of the cargo ship Gloria, every day is the same: fusion engines humming, recycled cargo moving, and the endless monotony of interplanetary travel. Captain Laxis and his loyal team – Tito, Zara, Boris, and Tia – know every bolt of their sturdy vessel, a pulsating artery in our chaotic solar system. Their mission? To haul debris and materials, nothing more, nothing less.But a routine anomaly in a ventilation duct is about to change everything. Amidst the remnants of huma...

Formula Fly - Interview with Birds Founder Nicola PasseriniThe year is 2080, and this is an interview with Nicola Passerini, founder of Birds, the Italian car manufacturer that, back in the 2040s, dared to fly race cars with recycled plastic and pilots aboard, thus creating the Formula Fly races.Passerini discusses the audacity of pushing past the limits of logic and expectations. This journey quickly led him from a failure to a great victory: his innovative technology is n...

The quiet French village of Saint-Éloi embraces humanoid technology—domestic robots, scarecrows, and livestock companions—seamlessly integrating it into rural life. By freeing residents from arduous labor, these robots allow the community to focus on social initiatives, eldercare, and education. The story celebrates a harmonious coexistence, demonstrating how a benevolent approach to technology can enhance and strengthen human community bonds.

Italy, 1950s. On a small, secluded farm nestled in the Apennines, young Mirco shares an unbreakable bond with Ortica, a colt with a quirky name and unimaginable talent. Their world is one of innocent play, breathless sprints through open fields, and a whispered promise: to race together, faster than the wind.When a chance encounter lands them on a real track, their brilliance sends shockwaves through the glittering, ruthless world of horse racing. An unexpected victory turns the ou...

A galaxy-altering scientific breakthrough on Mars inspires treachery and revolution in this Nebula Award–winning science fiction epic.The child of one of the oldest, most revered family-corporate units on colonized Mars, Casseia Majumdar has spent her entire life in the tunnels that run beneath the surface of her homeworld. As a young college student in 2171, the fifty-third year of the Martian settlement, she experiences a profound political awakening, and her emb...

Geronimo Stilton meets outer space in this cosmically fun spin-off series!Geronimo Stiltonix and his crew head to the planet Jurassix to warn its inhabitants of a giant comet heading straight toward them! But the creatures there turn out to be ferocious, dinosaur-like beasts . . . who like to eat rodents. Squeak! Can the spacemice save these aliens and still make it out alive?

The final volume in the Nebula Award–winning author's classic hard SF series—"as at the end of any great symphony, one can only stand and applaud" ( Asimov's Science Fiction ).Humanity's final chapter has begun, and three men hold the key to survival. As the fierce, artificially intelligent mechs pursue their savage and unstoppable destruction of the human race, it soon becomes apparent that three men—three generations in ...

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...

To keep up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more—a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the inaugural volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, a new yearly anthology compiled by Hugo and World Fantasy award–winning editor Neil Clarke, c...