Sci Fi - Romance Genre

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Summary: RISE (noun / verb) Eight definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) An upward slope or movement 2) A beginning or origin 3) An increase in amount or number 4) An angry reaction 5) To take up arms 6) To return from death 7) To become heartened or elated 8) To exert oneself to meet a challenge Rise features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

Word Count: Click here to reveal14000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: As a security officer on an interspecies ship, Growlan Raskli's experienced in heading off species-specific aberrant behaviors in order to keep the peace. But when her captain asks her to find out what's bothering their sole human crew member, Raskli's out of her depths. She hardly knows anything about humans and she's not a psych doctor. Something's definitely upset Human Jen, something to do with human holidays. The more time Raskli spends studying humans and interacting with the intriguing Human Jen, the more personal the assignment becomes. Determined to lift the dark cloud from Human Jen, Raskli will do whatever it takes—within safe parameters, of course.

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Summary: The boys desperately need a vacation. With the not-quite-ill-gotten gains from the Frog incident, Shax takes the Brimstone's crew to the exclusive resort planet, Opal, for some much needed rest and relaxation. The resort has everything a demon prince and his crew could want, but an incident on the Trauma Ball court has Ness stalking off in anger and sends events swiftly spiraling out of control. ​Loving a demon isn't easy, as Ness has discovered, and harder still for a newly fallen who's still sorting out what that means. A new friend lending a sympathetic ear helps until Ness learns too late that friendship was the last thing on BJ's mind. Shax will need every bit of his cunning and his legendary luck to save his Ness as he’s drawn into a web of criminal experiments and…pink hedgehogs?

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Summary: Stop a murder, save two planets! Who she is: Sibyl Blue, single mom, undercover detective, and damn good at her job. What she wants: to solve the mysterious benzale murders, prevent more teenage deaths, and maybe find her long-lost husband. How she’ll get it: seduce a millionaire, catch a ride on his spaceship, and crack the case at the edge of the known galaxy.  

Word Count: Click here to reveal138,300 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Four silver foxes from Earth discover that true love and second chances are not just for the young. Fly with Me - Let the good times roll! That’s Ava Martin’s retirement plan at least, until gray aliens abduct her from the middle of the Nevada desert. In her hair rollers no less! Talk about a rude awakening for this UFO skeptic. Above the Storm - It all started with a dare. Robyn Martin Donahue’s bestie says the Silverstar Agency can hook her up with an off worlder who will love and respect her, not try to rule her. As if. Wing and a Prayer - Happily ever after didn’t work out. If Meryl Faulkner learned anything from her divorce, it’s that she’s not defined by any man. Especially not that annoying, self-serving…sexy winged alien who’s divebombed into her orderly life. Trial by Fire - True love only happens once in a lifetime, right? Silverstar agent Nixy Vogel should be furious at the (smoking hot) alien trying to put the agency out of business. Instead, her shuttered heart burns for him. Welcome to the Silverstar Mates series, featuring intergalactic love matches for those over fifty.  Please note: This is a boxed set of books 1-4 of the Silverstar Mates series. Before you purchase this boxed set, please check your ereader to make sure you don’t already own these titles individually.

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Summary: One starship, six friends, 10,000 lives in the balance. Hugo Award Finalist Gideon Marcus has done it again with this second installment in The Kitra Saga. Sirena is a thrilling YA space adventure, unusually hopeful and optimistic in a sea of grimdark, dystopian releases. Enhanced with beautiful illustrations, fans of Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers and Emily Skrutskie’s Bonds of Brass will adore Sirena. Young captain-for-hire Kitra Yilmaz has gotten her first contract: escort the mysterious Princess of Atlántida beyond the Frontier and find her a new world. It’s a risky job, fraught with the threat of pirates, dangerous squatters, and rising romantic tensions. Still, Kitra and her crew are up for anything – until they find a lush world, perfect for settlement…with an enormous ghost ship already in orbit. What secret does the crippled vessel hide? And is Kitra ready to take responsibility for its precious cargo? With illustrations by Hugo Finalist Lorelei Esther.

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Summary: Jameson Havercamp, a psych from a conservative religious colony, has come to Oberon—unique among the Common Worlds—in search of a rare substance called pith. He’s guided through the wilds on his quest by Xander Kinnison, a handsome, cocky wing man with a troubled past. Neither knows that Oberon is facing imminent destruction. Even as the world starts to fall apart around them, they have no idea what’s coming—or the bond that will develop between them as they race to avert a cataclysm. Together, they will journey to uncover the secrets of this strange and singular world, even as it takes them beyond the bounds of reality itself to discover what truly  binds them together.

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Summary: Race, an ex-cop private eye in a world where most people are conditioned so that they cannot commit an act of violence, must release a savage artificial personality, Ralf, that was implanted in him when he did a deep-cover mission as a police officer, to rescue Astra, the woman he secretly loves, from the crime syndicates who have used a drug to turn her into a sex slave. Race succeeds at the cost of the crime syndicates discovering that Ralph is still alive. The syndicates want their assassin back and think nothing of toppling Race’s sanity to achieve their ends. Can Race maintain control of his body? Freed of the drug’s effect, will Astra return his affections? And what of Ralph, can a sociopath learn to love and what changes might that bring?

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Summary: Returning to the frozen planet Aren died on was bound to have complications... Major Aren Dalsgaard's newest assignment is to investigate a series of murders on the frigid planet, Drass, where relations between the Treaty settlers and the indigenous inhabitants have taken a nasty turn. A linguist and trained xenologist, Major Dalsgaard should be the ideal Special Investigations Officer for this case, but Drass is where he died, over a hundred and twenty years ago. Sent by his family to the chigyel city, Nyachung finds himself confronted with a murder charge, racial prejudice, and a man who claims to be a hero from his grandmother’s generation. The man could be crazy or he could be lying to manipulate Nyachung, but the sincerity in those spring-green eyes disturbs him more than anything else he's encountered in the foreigners’ city. Evidence that makes no sense, mysterious boxes, and a suspicion that they can't trust anyone in the city drives the major and Nyachung together and out into the wilderness. No one's telling Major Dalsgaard everything, but every step leads him closer to a feeling of imminent catastrophe if he can't wrap this case up in time.

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Summary: Three superheroes in love! Or one superhero, one former sidekick, and one redeemed supervillain, at least... Ryan, John, and Holiday have been partners -- in every sense of the word -- for two years. They’ve saved the world, fallen in love, and remodeled the secret base to include bookshelves and a bigger bed. But Ryan and John have always been the public face of the team. The world still believes Holiday’s a villain. And he’s been using that reputation to stay undercover and share information. Tonight, though, Holiday comes home injured, and his partners aren’t sure the mission’s worth his life. Contains lasagna, superhero theatrics, home renovation, a thunderstorm, and very enjoyable use of superpowers in bed.

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Summary: Before Ardulum, there was the Mercy’s Pledge. One year after saving the Neek homeworld and redefining the people’s religion, the crew of the Scarlet Lucidity returns to the Charted Systems for a much-needed break. For Nicholas and Yorden, the Systems will always be home, but for Emn and Atalant, too many memories compound with Emn’s strange new illness to provide much relaxation. Tales from Ardulum continues the journey of Atalant, Emn, Yorden, Nicholas, and Salice as they try to define their place in a galaxy that no longer needs them while battling the artifacts of Ardulan colonization. Other stories include Yorden’s acquisition of the Mercy’s Pledge (and his grudge against the galaxy), Atalant’s exile from her homeworld, Ekimet and Savath’s romance, and many others.

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Summary: Tangents & Tachyons is Scott's second anthology - six sci fi and sci-fantasy shorts that run the gamut from time travel to hopepunk and retro spec fic: Eventide: Tanner Black awakes to find himself in his own study, staring out the window at the end of the Universe. But who brought him there, and why? Chinatown: Deryn lives in an old San Francisco department store with his girlfriend Gracie, and scrapes by with his talent as a dreamcaster for the Chinese overlords. But what if a dream could change the world? Across the Transom: What if someone or something took over your body on an urgent mission to save your world? Pareidolia: Simon's not like other college kids. His mind can rearrange random patterns to reveal the images lurking inside. But where did his strange gift come from? And what if there are others like him out there too? Lamplighter: Fen has a crush on his friend Lewin, who's in a competing guild. But when the world goes dark, only a little illumination can save it. And only Fen, Lewin and their friend Alissa can light the spark. A Liminal Sky short. Prolepsis: Sean is the closeted twenty-five-year-old editor of an 80's sci-fi 'zine called Prolepsis. When an unabashedly queer story arrives from a mysterious writer, it blows open Sean's closet door, and offers him the chance to change the world - and the future. Plus two flash fiction stories – The System and The Frog Prince, never before published. This is the first time all of these stories have all been collected in one place.

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Summary: Brave paladin. Royal princess. Fierce dragon. Simple. Being all three at once? Way too complicated. Paladin Snillek's mother was human and ruled a planet. That's about the extent of her knowledge since they didn't see each other much. When her mom dies in a freak accident, her father tells Snillek she's inherited the title, and she has to learn how to pass as the mostly human Princess Siel for a planet she never thought about much. The dresses alone are horrifying and the courtiers aggravating. ​ In a moment of frustrated rage, Snillek's princess persona slips and frightened palace staff misinterpret what they see. Now Paladin Snillek has been called upon to rescue Princess Siel…from herself. Gruyere wants desperately to journey into the wilds of Tarribotia, but it's too dangerous to go alone and so far, everyone's laughed at her for suggesting it. When she spots a Dzedek paladin sulking in a tavern, she offers her services, hoping to pass herself off as a rogue guide. Two women with secrets and possibly opposing goals head out into the hinterlands of a planet neither one of them knows well. They might both make it back by Winterfest if nothing eats them first. This book contains one out-of-her-element paladin, the perils of academia, deadly cake, and unconventional dragons.

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Summary: Aik will never be the same … and neither will his world. War is coming. Aik has become the Progenitor, and the Seed Mother has released him to transform the world for her alien brood. Silya and Raven, Aik's former friends, are the only ones who can save him and the world. But what if the cure is worse than the invasion? As Silya rushes to prepare Gullton for the battle to come, she's determined to save as many people as she can. But new crises emerge that demand her attention. Raven has his own hands full, keeping the dragon-like verent in line, while helping Silya to save the world. But what if the only way to do so is to sacrifice Aik, the man that he loves? It's the end of the world … or could it be the start of something new?

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Summary: Jey awakens to find himself in the care of a handsome stranger - a cheff from one of the mouuntain tribes, enemies of his own people. Afraid for his life, Jey has no choice but to let the man take care of him and his broken leg. Avain is on his Aud'ling - his coming-of-age test that requires him to spend a couple months alone, away from his own people. When he finds the steader trapped under his aur with a broken leg, he knows he has to help. But not being allowed to speak during his test makes things... difficult. The two of them will have to come to an understanding if they're not going to kill one another. And Avain has a secret to share with Jey, one that that will change his life forever.

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Summary: Award-winning science fiction romance author Christie Meierz presents the newest of her bestselling Tales of Tolari Space. Laura Howard, Earth Fleet widow and exile from human space, found more than safety on Tolar: she captured the love of a Tolari ruler and became a powerful Tolari empath. But in the midst of ancient, bitter rivalries, a serious injury erases Laura's time in Parania--and, perhaps, loses her the love of her Paran, who yearns for the woman she once was. Armed only with the memories of her youth, and empathically bonded to a man she can no longer understand, she struggles to recover and find her place, and herself, before a hidden enemy forces the Paran to do what he had always considered unthinkable: risk his life, and with it Laura's, to fight for the leadership of the ruling caste. The Fall is the story of a world re-opened to the stars after millennia of isolation, and the hazards and opportunities that abound when one's feelings are known to everyone around you.

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Summary: SECOND EDITION When Captain Rafe Lancaster is invalided out of the Britannic Imperium’s Aero Corps after crashing his aerofighter during the Second Boer War, his eyesight is damaged permanently, and his career as a fighter pilot is over. Returning to Londinium in late November 1899, he’s lost the skies he loved, has no place in a society ruled by an elite oligarchy of powerful Houses, and is hard up, homeless, and in desperate need of a new direction in life. Everything changes when he buys a coffeehouse near the Britannic Imperium Museum in Bloomsbury, the haunt of Aegyptologists. For the first time in years, Rafe is free to be himself. In a city powered by luminiferous aether and phlogiston, and where powerful men use House assassins to target their rivals, Rafe must navigate dangerous politics, deal with a jealous and possessive ex-lover, learn to make the best coffee in Londinium, and fend off murder and kidnap attempts before he can find happiness with the man he loves.  

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Summary: Rafe Lancaster is reluctantly settling into his role as the First Heir of House Stravaigor. Trapped by his father’s illness and his new responsibilities, Rafe can’t go with lover Ned Winter to Aegypt for the 1902/03 archaeological digging season. Rafe’s unease at being left behind intensifies when Ned’s fascination with the strange Antikythera mechanism and its intriguing link to the Aegyptian god Thoth has Ned heading south to the remote, unexplored highlands of Abyssinia and the course of the Blue Nile. Searching for Thoth’s deadly secrets, Ned is out of contact and far from help. When he doesn’t return at Christmas as he promised, everything points to trouble. Rafe is left with a stark choice – abandon his dying father or risk never seeing Ned again.

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Summary: Shax can't walk away from an abandoned, hungry kitty. The fact that she can eat him in three bites is irrelevant. Someone abandons a pedigree hellcat right where Shax can conveniently claim her and sets off a cataclysmic domino line of events. It's time for the other shoe to drop since the Brimstone has a shadow cabal after them—partly due to Shax's own, er, interesting decisions and partly due to the presence of Agent Julian Parallax onboard. As ship security officer, Ness has a lot on his mind—a dangerous new pet, even more dangerous criminals tracking the Brimstone, and yet another unexpected rescued guest. The last thing he needs is a distraction and Julian, who confuses and confounds him more every moment, is exactly the distraction he doesn't need. Between Shax's reckless gambits and Julian's disregard for his own safety, how is Ness supposed to keep anyone safe? The Brimstone and her intrepid crew do all they can to stay one step ahead, but this time the hunters are closing in.

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Summary: **First Place Winner 2019 Rainbow Awards: Best Gay Historical Romance. ** **Third Place Winner 2019 Rainbow Awards: Best Gay Book.**   SECOND EDITION: Something is stalking the Aegyptian night and endangering the archaeologists excavating the mysterious temple ruins in Abydos. But is it a vengeful ancient spirit or a very modern conspiracy… Rafe Lancaster’s relationship with Gallowglass First Heir, Ned Winter, flourishes over the summer of 1900, and when Rafe’s House encourages him to join Ned’s next archaeological expedition, he sees a chance for it to deepen further. Since all the Houses of the Britannic Imperium, Rafe’s included, view assassination as a convenient solution to most problems, he packs his aether pistol—just in case. Trouble finds them in Abydos. Rafe and Ned begin to wonder if they’re facing opposition to the Temple of Seti being disturbed. What begins as tricks and pranks escalates to attacks and death, while the figure of the Dog—the jackal-headed god Anubis, ruler of death—casts a long shadow over the desert sands. Destruction follows in his wake as he returns to reclaim his place in Abydos. Can Rafe and Ned stand against both the god and House plots when the life of Ned’s son is on the line?