Word Count: 40000
Summary: Spells & Stardust is Scott's first anthology - eight sci fi and fantasy shorts that run the gamut from regeneration to redemption. The Bear at the Bar: A gay fish out of water tale with a pinch of magic. Tight: What happens when your lover disappears in midair? Morgan: The year when everything changed. Re-Life: What if you were reborn in a strange new future? A New Year: They met every eleven years. And each time, Hank's life changed. Repetition: What if you wanted to go back in the closet? Gargoyle: Sometimes you get what you deserve. Sometimes it happens on All Hallows Eve. Avalon: A few bright moments in the sun, stolen from outside time. Most of these stories have been previously published in various anthologies and journals. This is the first time they have all been collected in one place.
Word Count: 78000
Summary: Targeted by a mad scientist's deadly serum, these outcasts band together to uncover the truth and to fight back. Spire City is home to mighty machines of steam power and clockwork, and giant beetles pull picturesque carriages over cobbled streets, but there is a darker secret behind these wonders. A deadly infection, created by a mad scientist, is spreading through the city, targeting the poor and powerless, turning them slowly into animals. A group of those infected by the serum join together to survive, to trick the wealthy out of their money, and to fight back. Originally serialized in weekly installments, this book collects the entire first season of episodes in one complete novel.
Word Count: 58841
Summary: "In range alone, Richard Thomas is boundless. He is Lovecraft. He is Bradbury. He is Gaiman." —Chuck Palahniuk With a Foreword by Brian Evenson In this new collection, Richard Thomas has crafted fourteen stories that push the boundaries of dark fiction in an intoxicating, piercing blend of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Equally provocative and profound, each story is masterfully woven with transgressive themes that burrow beneath the skin.
- A poker game yields a strange prize that haunts one man, his game of chance now turned into a life-or-death coin flip.
- A set of twins find they have mysterious new powers when an asteroid crashes in a field near their house, and the decisions they make create an uneasy balance.
- A fantasy world is filled with one man’s desire to feel whole again, finally finding love, only to have the shocking truth of his life exposed in an appalling twist.
- A father and son work slave labor in a brave new world run by aliens and mount a rebellion that may end up freeing them all.
- A clown takes off his make-up in a gloomy basement to reveal something more horrifying under the white, tacky skin.
Word Count: 7000
Summary: They’ve been friends since childhood. But can their friendship survive adult reality? Confirmed geeks and childhood friends, Lem and Devon are looking forward to reuniting at a convention. Despite their diverging lives and their fair share of secrets, their shared love of cosplay and science fiction brings them together in ways that nothing else could. But not all friendships are perfect. When their old schoolfriend Nerys joins them for the day, rifts soon begin to show as the three realise how far they’ve grown apart. Struggling with Nerys’s insensitivity and her misguided approach to non-binary gender expression, the group are determined to make the most of their time together and embrace their nerdy selves. But with tensions rising, can their friendship withstand the dramatic ways their lives have changed? A short, thought-provoking backdrop to the author’s White Hart series and her forthcoming Starship Teapot series, Stardust Wake provides an insightful glimpse at complex issues while brimming with passion for all things geek.
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Summary: In the year 2069, humanity’s last chance for peace is the first ever interstellar mission. A multi-national crew of the most talented scientists and pilots has been chosen based on their expertise and skill. The final spot aboard the craft is assigned as a prize in a global “BerthRight” lottery, and Leif Grettison is the “everyman volunteer” who won. However, Leif isn’t really an “everyman.” He’s a helicopter paramedic, a lab tech and a former army ranger who fought in The Troubles – a decade plus war that brought the world to the brink of apocalypse. He’s the perfect brawn to the brains aboard the ship and quickly finds himself playing the role of security and handyman as the crew begins to fragment and divide by country, just as they had during the war. Little is known about the world circling the distant star that is the target for the voyage and the journey will take almost fourteen years, Earth-time, each way. To deal with the unexpected, the crew has the finest equipment and the planners believe they have thought of everything. However, when you believe you have thought of everything, the universe has a way of showing that you haven’t. What do you do when it goes wrong, when you can’t call for help, and when adventure leads to deaths?
Word Count: 74061
Summary: Peace in the Sky Peace-in-the-Sky awakens, captive, after a brutal head injury. With her fractured memories, she knows only that she must protect her daughter Anissa. Even if Peace-in-the-Sky manages to escape the fierce wasteland tribe holding her captive, she and Anissa face a journey through a blasted landscape inhabited by warring peoples scrabbling for subsistence. To find safety, Peace-in-the-Sky must use her developing power of the pillars-of-flame to clear their path. As her memory reveals the secret of her true nature, her body and mind deteriorate. But nothing can stop her from delivering Anissa to the promised paradise of safety and plenty, even at the expense of her life. Station in the Sky Donna, once Peace-in-the-Sky, awakens aboard Station-in-the-Sky and rejoins a society that had been her home for thousands of years before knowing Anissa. But she soon discovers her fellow stationers have lost sight of their original mandate to protect Earth. Instead, their new plans will threaten all of Earth’s inhabitants. As her memories return, she becomes suspicious her head injury was actually an attack by another stationer. Framed as being faulty, Donna must navigate the eccentricities of the other stationers without being caught, and covertly assemble proof of their plans before they realize she will do anything to keep Earth safe from their meddling.
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Summary: It was a last adventure…a final fling… Sinbad sh’en Singh, patriarch of the Clan sh’en Singh, has finally gone off the Deep End—at least that’s what his children think. Fed up with the younger generation’s condescending ways, he’s resigned as CEO of sh’en Singh Shipping, and with youngest son, Mal, and grandson, Lynx, is sailing away on a sentimental journey. Retracing the steps of that fateful first voyage he made with his beloved Andi, all Sin expects to worry about is dodging old girlfriends, renewing the acquaintance of former comrades-in-crime—if any are still around, that is—and keeping the boys sober. When Mal disappears, the light-hearted cruise becomes a deadly manhunt. A frantic father searches for his missing son with one goal in mind: Find Mal and punish the ones who took him.
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Summary: Stories for Chip brings together outstanding authors inspired by a brilliant writer and critic, Science Fiction Writers of America Grandmaster Samuel R. “Chip” Delany. Award-winning SF luminaries such as Michael Swanwick, Nalo Hopkinson, and Eileen Gunn contribute original fiction and creative nonfiction. From surrealistic visions of bucolic road trips to erotic transgressions to mind-expanding analyses of Delany’s influence on the genre—as an out gay man, an African American, and possessor of a startlingly acute intellect—this book conveys the scope of the subject’s sometimes troubling, always rewarding genius. Editors Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell have given Delany and the world at large, a gorgeous, haunting, illuminating, and deeply satisfying gift of a book. Nisi Shawl is a writer whose work has been published at Strange Horizons, in Asimov’s SF Magazine, and in anthologies including Dark Faith 2, Dark Matter, The Moment of Change, and The Other Half of the Sky. Her story collection, Filter House, was one of two winners of the 2009 James Tiptree Jr. Award. She is a cofounder of the Carl Brandon Society and serves on the Board of Directors of the Clarion West Writers Workshop. She lives in Seattle. Bill Campbell is the founder of Rosarium Publishing and the author the novels Koontown Killing Kaper, My Booty Novel, and Sunshine Patriots as well as the essay collection, Pop Culture: Politics, Puns, and “Poohbutt” from a Liberal Stay-at-Home Dad. He coedited, with Edward Austin Hall, the groundbreaking anthology Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond. He lives in Washington, DC.
Word Count: 99,800
Summary: The Storm has arrived. For Davra Andraste, redemption comes as she accompanies the resistance commander to confront the human warlord fighting against both sides. And the newest overlord on Amargosa. For an ambitious politician, control of human evolution is almost in his grasp. Only a very old foe threatens to undo his plans. For Laral Farad, it is his family's last hope to tame the "rogue colony" called Cyal, which humans call Amargosa. For JT Austin, it's a now or never moment to prove himself as he trains to liberate his adopted homeworld. For Amargosa, it's a chance to end a year-long nightmare. The Amargosa Trilogy comes to a thrilling conclusion!
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Summary: Embark on adventures to discover stories about science, magic, the tarot, Haitian vodou, the clash of epistemologies, and addiction. These stories are about people trying to control their environment, their sense of self, even the smallest of things within their power… …and failing.
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Summary: When the shares Nicolas’s family rely on become worthless, he seeks help from their estranged Uncle Secundus Broadberry—a selfish man with no familial loyalty. Forced to live in a veritable hovel, Nicolas and his sister must find work to support themselves and their mother. Through his uncle, Nicolas meets Rufus Melbeck and accepts a post aboard his spaceship Strawberry Fields. Although the ship gives Nicolas a bad feeling, he quickly makes friends with Nathan Smith, a gentle, young man who seems very much out of place. Nothing and no one aboard the vessel are what they seem. Nicolas soon finds himself plunged into a dangerous adventure the likes of which he could never have imagined. Can Nicolas and Nathan survive the dangers of Strawberry Fields and solve the mystery that surrounds Nathan, or will Nathan's past reach out to destroy them both?
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Summary: Kyle Anderson grew up with the lie that he was one of the last humans born. Then Kyle’s quiet, lonely life as a research assistant and student is shattered when he discovers the government has been lying to the world for more than twenty years. Now on the run from authorities who would kill for his silence, Kyle is taken in by Daniel Shanks, a member of a militia group dedicated to discovering the truth. Daniel has seen death and violence in this new, radically changed society, and the closer he gets to Kyle, the harder his fears ride him. They will need to stop listening to the lies told by the government and start facing the lies they’ve been telling themselves, because the only place strays like them may be safe in this uncertain world is in each other’s hearts.
Word Count: 93000
Summary: The danger threatening the Valespian Pact could tear Zeus, Dargon, and Alpha apart. The peaceful respite for which Zeus and his intended, Dargon and Alpha, had been hoping for is shattered when Zeus is unexpectedly drawn into the Waters of Poseidon and told that the safety they've been promised is a trap. But the Fal'Amoric aren't the only important cargo on the Oethra 7, and countless others are depending on the success of their mission. If Zeus hopes to break the silent siege on Valespia and protect those most precious to him, he will need not just powerful allies but the fortitude to survive overwhelming odds. **Striker is a 93k sci-fi romance that has mature themes and content as well as a polyamorous relationship. This 2nd edition has been re-edited and 5k words added to add clarity.
Word Count: 45000
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.
Word Count: 72000
Summary: On a peaceful evening, Suicide's meditation is interrupted when a ship crashes near her remote home on Amargosa. It's a modified lifepod containing Tishla, First Citizen of Hanar, and her daughter. A coup has sent Tishla fleeing for help from Suicide and her surrogate son, JT Austin. Together, they will smuggle Tishla to the Realm, humanity's reluctant enemy, to plead for help from the Sovereign, the absolute ruler dubbed "the Father of All Gelt." Tishla will submit to a life of indentured servitude if He will restore Hanar's independent status. But an old foe seizes the opportunity to claim Tishla for himself, revenge for the deaths of his uncle and cousins, the Laral family, who brutally occupied Amargosa for a year. JT refuses to allow this and challenges her would-be master to a duel for her indenture contract. Both JT and Suicide will risk death in the arena to save Tishla and Hanar. But is it already too late? Through flashbacks to her time on Aphrodite, Suicide's past is revealed, how she met the founder of Cubism and the radical who corrupted the new faith, how she worked to build a new Aphrodite after centuries of civil conflict, and how a woman named Priya awakened both a capacity for love and a need to create art in Suicide.
Word Count: 83,000
Summary: Life on Amargosa was supposed to be quiet for Cui Yun, better known by her call sign Suicide. But when a baby is dropped on her doorstep, the mother's disappearance leads her across the galaxy to a world of Neanderthals, a colony devoted to Marilyn Monroe as a goddess, and a planet still in a post-apocalypse and rife with monster plants. She and her protege will find themselves above the galactic plain facing down an enemy that wants control of human evolution itself. Suicide Run marks the return of one of TS Hottle's most popular characters. Find out where she came from, how she became a pilot, and why her call sign is 'Suicide".
Word Count: 122000
Summary: If Sūnder Alārd had been born female he would have been cherished for being Faeborn—born with magick—and his birth celebrated. Instead, the L'fÿn insisted on his death. Only his Panthrÿn father's desperate escape saved him. With most Chándariāns uneasy in his presence due to whispers that he is doomed to become a darksoul, and unlikely to find a mate because of it, Sunder has nevertheless carved out an honorable existence as a warrior and commander. Now bodyguard and chaperone for the Chándariān prince, Sūnder attends the annual mating festival on Earth with his charge. He can't help but be fascinated by Gabriel St. Baptista, the tongue-tied nurse he meets after the prince's accident. When he was sixteen, Gabe came home to discover his parents had headed out into space, leaving him behind. Gabe never recovered from the unexpected desertion and keeps everyone at arm's length to avoid being abandoned again. However, after meeting Sūnder, Gabe finds himself unable to resist the bond between them and breaks all of his carefully crafted rules to spend time with the Chándariān—regardless of the fact that Sūnder will soon leave Earth. Scared by how fast he is falling for Sūnder, Gabe just hopes his heart won't be too broken when Sūnder leaves. Neither expects the deceit and treachery stalking them, and when Gabe saves Sūnder's life, it sets off a chain of events that could either tear Gabe and Sūnder apart—or give them both exactly what they want.
Word Count: 15473
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: Captain Quinn has always been the savior, rescuing his little human mate Del from every unlikely predicament. Even with Quinn’s protective nature and Del’s tendency to find trouble, they balance each other. The mated pair are ecstatic, anxiously awaiting the birth of their twins, when disaster strikes. A mysterious illness waylays the Captain, leaving Del in charge. Being the Captain leaves Del in a bind--pregnant, a magnet for trouble, Del struggles to find his feet and keep everyone safe. All their lives are deeply impacted by Del’s command decision to seek assistance from an old enemy. Brync and Kai fear Kai’s parents won’t accept their blossoming relationship. When Kai is ordered to return home Brync must make the decision of his life. Rathian Raider Hastor, annoyed that he’s been mated to a Xolian, plans to ignore the spoiled, whiny, green-eyed alien until he dies from exposure to the desert climate. But Braxx may be more interesting and resilient than Hastor first expected. Now if those babies would just arrive on time and follow their fathers well laid out plan, life could get back to normal.
Word Count: 170000
Summary: In the not so distant future… Kiah Hasan, a young, talented computer scientist haunted by her war-torn past, is reaching for something just past the edge of theoretical possibility. Her best friend, physicist Nigel Evans, is obsessed with pushing the boundaries of space travel. And Captain Josh Walker? He’s just out here for the adventure – and Kiah. Together with the crew of Trinity Station, they head toward the Kuiper Belt and disappear just as simmering political tension on Earth erupts into outright war. A hundred years later… Admiral Darren Winters leads a mission to the Kuiper Belt to find out what happened to Trinity Station. To his, and Earth’s, surprise, not only have the Trinity Station scientists survived, but have reached levels of advanced technology due to the success of Dr. Hasan’s AGI experiments. After shaky negotiations with Earth that ends with the birth of the new nation of Survey, Admiral Winters is offered a new position with the AI ship Musashi. His first mission is to figure out what happened to the youngest AI, Loki, whose first crew was killed in a tragic accident. With psychologist Dr. Alex Campos, they uncover a secret that could endanger the newly formed Survey nation and its AIs. Can Darren and Alex find Loki before it’s too late?
