Sci Fi Genre

Word Count: Click here to reveal126600 (Click here to hide)

Summary: The fight for the Commonwealth comes to an explosive conclusion! The good news is that Captain Vaslisha Tor Dain and most of her rag tag band of mercenaries managed to survive a devastating confrontation with the resurrected ancient enemy the Asarlaí. The bad news is that the Warrior Wench has crash landed on a deserted planet in an unknown galaxy. Priority number one is getting off this dead rock and hopefully reuniting with the rest of their missing crew. Sadly, that’s easier said than done, especially when a supposedly long ago destroyed ship called the Defiant shows up. Vas and the gang can’t seem to catch a break, for just as they are starting work on salvaging the Defiant, Garmainian bounty hunters suddenly appear to claim a prize on Vas’s head. Vas is guilty of a lot of things, but she honestly can’t remember the crime she is accused of committing and as far as she knows hasn’t ever been to Garmainian space. Disturbingly, this crime apparently occurred during the mysterious missing weeks Vas experienced on her recent “vacation”. Vas and her second in command Deven’s to do list keeps getting longer: escape from the Garmainian hunters before they get executed; reunite their small banged up fleet and try to get back into Commonwealth space; find out if their frenemy Marli survived; and of course, finally defeat the Asarlaí for good. Unfortunately during the six months Vas and company have been stranded, the Asarlaí have been on the move….which means time and options are rapidly running out!

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Summary: The near future is progressively free from discrimination based on race, class, and sexual orientation. But in a world populated by the gifted, fifteen-year-old Alejandro Aragon (Alé) is part of the only remaining minority—he’s a Deficient. Powerless. The one that accelerated genetics left behind. Alé knows that he’ll need a miracle to graduate and pursue his dream of a legal career in the capital. His only ally is his best friend Yalamba, an outspoken and exceptionally gifted artist renowned for her unique ability to draw things into existence. But when she’s kidnapped in a hate crime against her ability, it appears that Alé has every motive and no believable alibi. To prove his innocence and track down the real culprit, Alé teams up with the other outcasts in school, who each have their own reasons for getting involved. But the deeper they dig, the more they fear Yalamba’s kidnapping is linked to a string of unsolved murders against the exceptionally gifted. With time running out, Alé must discover who he really is if he and his new friends plan to track down the culprit, clear his name, and rescue Yalamba—all before she herself is drawn out of existence.

Word Count: Click here to reveal51,180 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Elvis impersonators, art-fueled lust, forbidden longings, hot women, unexpected love, rekindled flames, magic, all these and more populate the pages of DESIRE. Meet thieves and goddesses, activists and actors, ex-spies and tourists in this spicy collection of 11 tales of sensual lesbian erotica by author Emily L. Byrne. Table of Contents: Viva Las Vegas The Further Adventures of Miss Scarlet Summer Stock Spoonbridge and Cherry An Evening in Estelí A Room with a View Treehugger Diplomacy The Old Spies Club Heart’s Thief The Goddess Within

Word Count: Click here to reveal80000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Other stories will take you to Mars. This one will take you inside the boardroom, the pub, and the bedroom with the people planning the mission. Gurdeep is an engineer and a soldier. Georgie’s a food scientist. One is pragmatic with a tough outer shell; the other’s an optimist, a person of ideas and compassion. In the span of a single afternoon, the couple find themselves in charge of planning a self-sustaining colony on Mars. Together, they’re humanity’s last hope for survival. They have 160 slots to fill with experts from all over the world as they set about designing an all-new society with its own government, economy, and culture – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Among those chosen for the mission is Devon, an autistic scientist with a unique skill set who finds life on Earth strange and alienating. Maybe a whole new planet is exactly what’s needed. With 1,114 days until the launch, excitement and tensions run high. Earth’s second chance hangs in the balance. Between strict genetic requirements and the dangers of the dystopian almost-present, will everyone make it to the final countdown? This is a work of neurodiverse, culturally diverse, gender-bendy, socio-politico-economic, drunken-arguments-in-the-pub science fiction – not bang-bang-pew-pew science fiction.

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Summary: Murmur and Fable are left reeling after Somnia’s servers crash, and nothing is quite the same. Even as they challenge new dungeons, Murmur is haunted by an old enemy who seeks to take her down a dark path. Meanwhile, Laria and Shayla struggle to hide Wren’s prolonged immersion in the game from coworkers and sponsors alike, forcing them to seek out unlikely allies. As more people are made aware of Wren’s predicament, freeing her from Somnia becomes even more crucial. But it seems the game has other plans for her, and not even the AIs know what they are.

Word Count: Click here to reveal132,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Rules were made to be broken. From terraformed outposts to magical realms, journey to worlds where deadly plants, rampant biodiversity, or failed colonies have created irresistible opportunities for those brave enough to seize them. New worlds, found family, mystical secrets, and deadly science weave together in this lesbian-centric anthology focusing on a very different kind of first time—a first encounter with a world, or being, entirely unlike our own. If you like diverse stories with lesbian heroines practicing science, magic, and seduction, buy Distant Gardens today!

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Summary: Former Royal Navy diver Imogen Waide’s job thrusts her into people’s lives on their worst days. Called to Brandywine Lake in Kentucky to search for a missing child, she finds the idyllic resort town far from ordinary. During a routine dive, she discovers a horde of discarded bones. Among the animal remains is a distinct human skull marred by a traumatic and bizarre injury. Maxwell Rue, a native hunter and conservationist, aids in the rescue efforts. Rue has lived in the Appalachian Mountains his entire life, trapping and relocating dangerous animals. His inability to identify the markings is an ominous sign. During a torrential storm, a second child goes missing. Waide and Rue are on the hunt for a creature moving unseen in Brandywine Lake. Will they find the lost children, or will the beast add two more skeletons to its collection?

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Summary: Well, she's not dead. That's better than Murmur expected. But after Telvar cast her out of the game with all her strings attached, Murmur has more than in-game death to deal with. When some of the abilities of Somnia remain with her, Murmur must figure out where she ends and the game begins. But even as she realizes the complicated nature of her connection to Somnia, more elements of the virtual reality begin to snag. The race for keys continues, and time is running out. Murmur begins to suspect Fable can’t manage the next tier of dungeons alone before the system's instabilities risk inescapable cascades. While Fable struggles to keep their head start, game elements run off script and leave Laria and Shayla floundering for answers. For every problem they solve, two more appear in its place. If they’re not careful, the whole of Somnia will be corrupted.

Word Count: Click here to reveal59349 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Question your typical perception. See beyond the normal you know. Step into divergent realms. Let this anthology of new and original short stories show you the fantastic and futuristic through a new lens. A struggling father discovers why his autistic daughter becomes consumed with a virtual reality simulator in the wake of her mother’s death. An android who can’t stop ruminating about her consciousness being trapped inside a machine for all eternity confronts her worst fear to stop a sentient AI. Authorities deny a man with a distractible mind a position navigating a chaotic place outside space and time that provides access to other universes, only to realize he’s their only hope to recover their lost agents. Divergent Realms showcases the wide spectrum of neurodiversity through the open worlds of speculative fiction. Written and edited by the neurodiverse themselves, these stories express a new side of ADHD, Autism, OCD, and more. Experience an atypical reality and deepen your understanding of the world around you today!

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Summary: Shiver during the long nights with these dark tales Featuring stories by Brett Thomas Abrahamsen, Mike Adamson, Christopher Bond, John M. Campbell, Arasibo Campeche, Brandon Case, Elizabeth Cobbe, Ryan Cole, Sarina Dorie, Monica Joyce Evans, P.G. Galalis, Kara L. Hartz, Brian Hugenbruch, Andrew Rucker Jones, Andrew Kozma, Steven P. Mathes, Jen Mierisch, Iseult Murphy, Ira Nayman, Tarver Nova, Frank J. Oreto, Anthony Regolino, and Lauren Reynolds

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Summary: Pass the long days with these short tales Featuring stories by Raluca Balasa, Gustavo Bondoni, Sasha Brown, Mario Caric, Jordan Chase-Young, Chris Cornetto, Marc A. Criley, Megan M. Davies-Ostrom, Malina Douglas, Jen Downes, R.E. Dukalsky, Allan Dyen-Shapiro, Lu Evans, LL Garland, Kai Holmwood, Steve Loiaconi, George Nikolopoulos, Antony Paschos, Christopher Rowe, Lauren Stoker, Adam Strassberg, Edgar Strid, DJ Tyrer, and John Walters

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Summary: An anthology for those cold winter months.

Word Count: Click here to reveal102000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Dragons in space?  A preposterous legend, dragons dueling with riggers. Nothing can live in the interdimensional Flux of interstellar space. But in the Flux, visions of the mind converge with reality, and visions can be perilous. When star pilot Jael defies an abusive ship's master and rigs "the mountain route to Lexis," dragons indeed appear in the night sky—and challenge her to duel to the death. Just one dragon, Highwing, offers her friendship. If she escapes, she would be wise never again to fly this route between the stars. But Jael has been caught up in an age-old struggle of good and evil, in unwitting fulfillment of an ancient prophecy of "One" from the outside who will shake the realm to its foundation. Fate has its ways, and when the currents of space once more bring her back to the dragon realm, she finds Highwing under sentence of death for the kindness he showed her. Only "the One" can intervene—and so Jael must, for the sake of one who risked his life to save hers. A genre-bending novel of the Star Rigger Universe, from the Nebula-nominated author of Eternity's End, and recipient of the Frank Herbert Lifetime Achievement Award for writing science fiction. Original print publication by Tor Books. Also available in the ebook Dragon Space: A Star Rigger Omnibus. REVIEW QUOTES: "Carver writes powerfully and clearly and has produced a book that is likely to find an audience among hard SF readers." —Booklist  "An interesting and entertaining blend of genres." —Science Fiction Chronicle  "Carver's prose effectively lends a spare yet evocative resonance to the draconian realm. Like a good stage performer, this story should leave its audience wanting more." —John Bunnell, Amazing Stories

Word Count: Click here to reveal65000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Will Logan and Luke Warren are still running, with no refuge in sight. After stopping in Tennessee to meet up with teammates Ron Perry and Jake Wilson, they head for Atlanta, to rendezvous with the remaining member of their team, Todd Jackson. Kowalski told Logan he murdered Jackson, but Logan knows all too well how hard it is to kill any of them now. He’s hopeful that Jackson survived and is waiting to meet them. Once they arrive in the city, they find Jackson easily enough. They soon discover, however, that he’s involved in a strange and savage situation, a member of a vicious fight club in the basement of an Atlanta club. When he tells Logan he’s in trouble and can’t extricate himself, Logan finds an oppressive atmosphere of evil in the club, seeming to center around the club’s owner, a charismatic man named Austell. Logan is disgusted by the illegal fighting, but Luke and the others are all inexplicably drawn to it. Something or someone is influencing the men, infusing them with violence and cruelty. A chain of events begins to unfold that will test Logan and Luke’s bond to the breaking point. Logan’s life is turned upside down as he has to fight for the lives of his friends and the man he can’t live without. When they're kidnapped, and everything Logan holds dear is in deadly danger, will he be strong enough to save them all? In this book, the second in a three part series, new clues and revelations emerge as to what happened to Logan and his friends in book 1, Origins, Gods of War, to change their lives. They face a new and savage threat to their safety, and receive intervention from Heaven itself? Or could it be Hell?

Word Count: Click here to reveal130000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Life after the Crash. Over a century after the end of the Earth, life goes on in Redemption, the sole remaining Lunar colony, and possibly the last outpost of humankind in the Solar System. But with an existential threat burrowing its way into the Moon's core, humanity must recolonize the homeworld. Twenty brave dropnauts set off on a mission to explore the empty planet. Four of them—Rai, Hera, Ghost and Tien—have trained for two-and-a-half years for the Return. They're bound for Martinez Base, just outside the Old Earth city of San Francisco. But what awaits them there will turn their assumptions upside down—and in the process, either save or destroy what's left of humanity.

Word Count: Click here to reveal71,661 (Click here to hide)

Summary: A dead-end job, a slob for a boyfriend, and neglectful friends: this is Kat Wallace's life. Ever since her best friend got married, Kat has been struggling to find happiness. All that changes when she meets Melody Adebayo, a field agent with the mysterious transdimensional company Clockwork & Associates. Melody's job is to send the consciousness of others to a scarier dimension in order to make them kinder and more grateful for their lives, which, in theory, will influence them to do good. But when Kat is sent to B-215, she awakes in a world beyond her wildest dreams. She's wealthy, well-liked, and has a successful career. Kat realizes she doesn't need to find happiness in her own world ... she can just steal it from her other self. Because of a certain (ahem) incident, Melody owes a lot of money to her evil ex-girlfriend, and Kat works out a deal with her in order to keep visiting B-215. With each visit, a sinister plot unfolds. Kat discovers her life is at risk, and she isn't alone in this dimension. To eliminate the threat, she must team up with Melody, but can the two uncover the truth before Kat loses her life? More important, will they be able to move on from the mistakes they made in the past and find love with each other?

Word Count: Click here to reveal41000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: A yuletide wedding brings tidings of comfort, joy… and peril. Eighteen months ago, Tarik Jaso, Duke of Arles, would have been thrilled if Sander Fiala, Duke of Roses, sank beneath the waves along with his stupid boat. That was then. Now, Tarik can’t wait to head out on a private sail with Sander—a sail that will culminate in a highly public, politically significant wedding. Their union will be the first one between North and South Abarran royalty in centuries. If all goes to plan, it will usher in a new era of peace and cooperation between their countries. But as the big day approaches, their meticulous arrangements begin to fall apart. Can Sander and Tarik weather the storm of political opposition, familial objection, and outright betrayal to reach the altar at last? Duke the Hall is a 41,000-word M/M superhero rom-com featuring two dukes determined to tie the knot, relatives both helpful and annoying, spiteful thunderstorms, superhero sabotage, and hints that things are not all they seem. Note: Duke the Hall is not a stand-alone story. It’s the sequel to Duking It Out and as such contains spoilers for the earlier book.

Word Count: Click here to reveal46000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Royal dukes from rival countries, shipwrecked on a deserted island. The grudge match of the century—or a love story of super-heroic proportions? Sander Fiala, Duke of Roses, is fourth in line to the South Abarran throne, even though his rogue power earned him the nickname “The Monster of Roses” and got him banished from the Castle. But right before he’s about to set off on his annual birthday sailing trip, the Queen asks him to meet with the notoriously volatile North Abarran Duke of Arles. Tarik Jaso, Duke of Arles, expects the worst from people because—let’s face it—people are the worst. His superpower bombards him with any and all electronic transmissions, which…yeah, people suck. So when he’s attacked and wakes up in the cabin of a stranded boat, he knows he’s royally screwed. Because the man looming over him—the man he’d gone toe-to-toe with right before the attack—is the infamous Monster of Roses. Tarik is positive the Monster is behind his kidnapping. Sander is sure the whole thing is Tarik’s fault. As they work toward rescue, Tarik realizes that the disturbingly hot Sander is no monster, and Sander discovers that Tarik’s temper masks a caring soul wrapped in a cantankerous (though undeniably sexy) body. tt For their burgeoning connection to endure, they’ll have to duke it out with political factions, dark conspiracies, and centuries of traditions that keep them on opposite sides of the border. But first? They have to get off this damn island. Duking It Out is a 46,000-word M/M enemies to lovers, opposites attract, superhero rom-com, featuring Only One Bed, a grumpy duke who should know better than to jump to conclusions, a self-doubting duke who’s good with his hands (heh), gossipy seagulls, competent assistants, a guaranteed HEA, and (unfortunately) capes.

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Summary: Earth on the Cusp of the Twenty-Second Century Just think how the world has changed in the last seventy-six years. In 1948, scientists ran the first computer program, and "the Ultimate Car of the Future," the futuristic, three wheeled Davis Divan, debuted. Since then, a succession of inventions—the personal computer, the internet, the World Wide Web, smart phones and social media—have transformed every aspect of our lives. How might the next seventy-six years change us, in ways we can barely even begin to imagine, as culture, climate change, politics and technology continue to reshape the world? Earth in 2100 will be as unrecognizable to us as today would be to someone from 1948. Eighteen writers tackled this challenge, creating an amazing array of sci-fi possibilities. From emotional AI's to photosynthetic children, from virtual worlds to a post-urban society, our writers serve up compelling slices of life from an Earth that's just around the corner. So dive in and and take a wild ride into these amazing visions of our collective future.

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Summary: Flee. Scatter. Take your mates and your offspring and run. The escape pods fall to Earth one by one over the course of weeks, a mysterious and diverse alien diaspora, each pod containing a different alien race and leaving the world's governments scrambling to deal with this unexpected immigration. Serge Kosygin, still grieving and isolated after his husband's death, watches events with gray disinterest until one day he witnesses a pod crash for himself while driving home. Two of the alien visitors have died, but one survives, badly injured, and Serge is determined that if this alien is also going to die, it won't be under the harsh lights of a government facility. Devastated by the loss of his life mates in their desperate effort to reach safety, the knowledge that Een is the last Aalana in this sector of the galaxy only compounds his sorrow. He wakes in an alien dwelling under the care of one of the native dominant builder species, a being who appears to share nothing with Een besides a bipedal structure. Slowly, with the help of his patient and kind host, he discovers they are more similar than he imagined as they share harmonies and his host assists him with language acquisition. Their tentative first contact soon evolves into a deepening friendship, a balm for two grief-weary souls. They'll need each other and their growing bond for the troubles lurking just ahead. Publisher's Note: Eating Stars was previously published as part of Meteor Strike: Serge & Een as a novelette. It has undergone extensive rewrites and edits with over 10,000 words of new content added.