About this ebook
Across the vast expanse of space and time lie the remnants of civilizations that reached for the stars—and vanished.
Silent cities carved into asteroids. Derelict megastructures drifting between galaxies. Temples buried beneath the red sands of dead worlds.
This book contains 13 bold tales of humanity’s encounters with these cosmic ruins. Think Indiana Jones meets Arthur C. Clarke.
Follow determined xenoarchaeologists as they reconstruct the fall of an ancient alien civilization, or track seasoned salvage crews discovering terrible truths in abandoned waystations.
These stories capture the thrill of discovery while grappling with the humbling reality of our place in the cosmos.
Includes the following short stories:
- “Blood Halo” by M.G. Herron
- “Captain Thurgood and the Chamber of Whispers” by Benjamin Wallace
- “Perihelion” by Robert Appleton
- “Harbor” by Luke Mitchell [Novella]
- “Curios” by Ginger Booth
- “The Cathedral of the Unfinished God” by Pierino Gattei
- “What the Walls Remember” by Peter J. Foote
- “Sunrise” by James Pyles
- “Hole Cards” by Michael LaVoice
- “The City of Glass” by Jeannette Bedard
- “The Organ in the Ice” by D. C. Wynters
- “Ascension to Extinction” by Dawn Ross
- “Zero Sum Salvage” by Keyla Damaer
Discover more
About the author
M.G. Herron is the author of Relics of the Ancients, The Gunn Files and many more science fiction novels. Known as Matt among his family and friends, he lives in Austin, Texas with his patient wife, their four unruly kids and one loyal canine sidekick. MG has a story in Ruins, and he’s serving as both editor and publisher for the project.
Benjamin Wallace is the author of the Shattered Alliance Saga, The Duck & Cover Adventures, Dads vs Zombies, and other deadly serious works.
Robert Appleton is a British science fiction and adventure author wild about tales of exploration and survival in far-flung locations. Many of his sci-fi books share the same universe as his popular Alien Safari series. His well-received Beyond Limits series features standalone disaster survival stories. The night sky is his inspiration.
Luke Mitchell is an ex-neuroscientist, turned full-time storyteller, turned full-time dad of three, turned melted heap of goo on the living room floor. If you love high-octane sci-fi adventures with lovable characters, snarktastic banter, and lots of explosions, you’ll probably dig the cut of his jib.
Recovering computer programmer Ginger Booth has over 50 science fiction books, most split between the Thrive space colony future history, including Nexus, and the Calm Act climate collapse on Earth. Her compelling civilian characters and believable world-building tackle serious challenges with humor and friendship.
Dawn Ross writes intimate, character‑centered sci‑fi that explores humanity through personal, high‑stakes journeys. She is the author of the StarFire Dragons series, enjoyed for its emotional resonance and grounded, soft‑sci‑fi approach.
Pierino Gattei is a regular contributor to Boundary Shock Quarterly. His first novel, The Keeper of Secrets, is forthcoming in 2026. He also writes children’s fiction under the name Jeffrey Pennyfeather, and is the editor behind the Bright Futures anthologies for young writers, published by Sunlight Books.
James Pyles is a science fiction and fantasy author with over seventy short stories and novelettes published. His latest novel is Our Legacy the Stars: A Tom Corbett Adventure.
Michael LaVoice is the author of the Galaxy’s Most Wanted series, the Gladius Leagues series, and has a smattering of sci-fi and fantasy short stories in anthologies across the world. He also runs a Booktok and Youtube Channel called LaVoice In Your Head, and generally manages to have a good time.
Born and raised in Rome, Keyla Damaer has crafted human-centric sci-fi since 2017. A part-time accountant, she is the mind behind the complex Sehnsucht Series and the gritty Vigilante’s Code. Her thriller Outpost 9001 was lauded as “perfectly put together”, bringing human drama to the stars.
As a blue-collar sci-fi author, Peter J. Foote tells gritty and personal sci-fi and fantasy stories of ordinary people placed in extraordinary situations that resonate with readers and provide much-needed escapism.
D. C. Wynters is an author and astronomer originally from the Pacific Northwest. He is the author the novels The Black Crescent and The Shadowrunner as well as several short stories and essays. He co-hosts the writing podcast Quid Prose Quo. He and his wife currently live in Utah.
Always writing, Jeannette Bedard has filled hard drives with ones and zeros that occasionally coalesce into books. She lives on a non-tropical island in the Pacific and loves a good math joke, especially if there is pi involved.
