Sci fi stories that involve individuals using and being affected by the use of do-it-youeself renewable resources, recycling and repurposing.. Return to general Sci Fi
Note: these books are currently sorted by release date, with newest first.
Word Count: 24000
Summary: 1915. Teddy Roosevelt is building an empire. Only Pancho Villa stands in his way. The American Expeditionary Force under the command of General "Black Jack" Pershing has invaded Northern Mexico. Pancho Villa leads his revolutionary army in a desperate raid against the American force only to be outflanked. Just as Pershing's airships prepare to deliver the death blow, Pancho Villa is transported to a parallel Earth where he finds an unexpected ally and the technology that might just turn defeat into victory. Revolution of Air and Rust is a stand-alone novella set in the Empires of Steam and Rust world created by Robert E. Vardeman and Stephen D. Sullivan. A story filled with military action, espionage and gadgetry that's sure to satisfy fans of steampunk and alternate history.
Word Count: 35000
Summary: Rollo is the overworked, stressed-out Head Elf at the North Pole. As he prepares for Christmas Eve, he has to deal with toys that look like they're having sex, terrorist reindeer, and worst of all, the sudden death of Santa Claus. Rollo has to save Christmas after he finds out that Santa is not just dead -- he is undead. 'Twas the Night is a novella of approximately 35,000 words. It is a satire and contains adult language and themes.
Word Count: 80000
Summary: The kingdom of Somerlie has been in the grip of the evil overlord Tashtalon for over 500 years. No one has ever seen Tashtalon, but he puts the kingdom to sleep every night, and during the night, people disappear, never to be seen again. Gill has spent her life thinking these things could not possibly by changed, until strange events point her to the only thing that can defeat Tashtalon…a magical weapon called the Sword of Queens. To prevent its use, Tashtalon made a law saying that any woman wielding a sword will be put to death…and he enforces that law savagely. Can Gill summon the courage to find the sword and use it before Tashtalon kills her?
Word Count: 41099
Summary: Terra is overcrowded, but a solution may have been found -- tucked away in Roswell is alien technology that leads to the creation of a method of space travel known as portaling . A party of soldiers and scientists led by Dr. Emma Bradley, Colonel John Berger, and Dr. Layton Tremayne are about to take what they believe is the first step into the unknown. But what they discover is not only a wonder but a puzzle. The city of Eden on the distant planet Nibiru has obvious Terran influences. Who was there before them? When Emma, John, and Layton return to Terra, they're dismayed to find things are even worse than they were when the trio left. The atmosphere is on the verge of toxicity and the population is reaching Malthusian proportions. Worse, there are plans afoot to portal the excess population off Terra to planets which may not be what their new inhabitants expect. Most won't survive. Then they learn that a platoon of soldiers were portaled to Eden for a planned invasion of Nibiru and the surrounding planets. Emma, John, and Layton scramble to stop the military action, but will they be able to take back the city that’s become their home?
Word Count: 67000
Summary: Winner of the 2013 PRISM Award for Futuristic Romance When Earth Central Command tells you to travel 24 light-years to a long-term assignment you never asked for, you go. High school teacher Marianne Woolsey has no choice but leave her hometown in rural Iowa to spend 26 years teaching the daughter of an alien ruler so humanlike that she has to keep telling herself that he is just her boss. Handsome, deadly, and far older than he looks, the Sural finds himself drawn to the tutor he requested from Earth. He cannot reveal anything to her that he wants to conceal from the spacefaring races of the Interstellar Trade Alliance, but he cannot stay away from her. As their friendship grows, so does his conviction that she is hiding something from him. This first novel in the Tales of Tolari Space series explores what can happen when you put an unsuspecting human on a planet of empaths.
Word Count: 254
Summary: Nukekubi are a form of Japanese goblin that during the day look like ordinary folk. At night they separate their head from their body and fly around scaring people to death to feed on the energies released. Ray McAndrues, a Pagan wizard/priest, encounters a Nukekubi that is feasting on the people of Toronto and decides that he has got to put a stop to it. Ray gains allies in his quest in the form of two Japanese martial artists who have made hunting Nukekubi their life’s work and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Cathy, who is also a mystic. Problems arise when east and west do not communicate wall and Cathy is his on-again, off-again girlfriend. Also, what is the centuries-spanning tie that binds Ray to the Nukekubi and will it help or hinder the quest?
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Summary: This is not Shakespeare's Oberon and Titania. And Lydia has no desire to be their chosen one. Welcome to the subtle war between overt and covert magic, where every choice has consequences. THE BETWEEN, Changeling's Choice book 1: a modern take on the myths of Faerie. High school senior, Lydia Hawthorne, is less than grateful when Oberon has her snatched from the mortal world and she finds out she's actually Fae. And not just any Fae, but a trueborn with enough inherent magic to tip the balance between Oberon and Titania's warring Bright and Shadow courts. But that's their game and she doesn't want to play by their rules. Together with Clive Barrow, a Bright Court Fae with embarrassing family ties to the mortal world, Lydia fights to regain her old life, fueling her magic with the very human power of love and loss, challenging the essential nature of Faerie itself.
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Summary: During the 1992 Clarion West Writers Workshop attended by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward, one of the students expressed the opinion that it is a mistake to write about people of ethnic backgrounds different from your own because you might get it wrong—horribly, offensively wrong—and so it is better not even to try. This opinion, commonplace among published as well as aspiring writers, struck Nisi as taking the easy way out and spurred her to write an essay addressing the problem of how to write about characters marked by racial and ethnic differences. In the course of writing the essay, however, she realized that similar problems arise when writers try to create characters whose gender, sexual orientation, and age differ significantly from their own. Nisi and Cynthia collaborated to develop a workshop that addresses these problems with the aim of both increasing writers’ skill and sensitivity in portraying difference in their fiction as well as allaying their anxieties about "getting it wrong." Writing the Other: A Practical Approach is the manual that grew out of their workshop. It discusses basic aspects of characterization and offers elementary techniques, practical exercises, and examples for helping writers create richer and more accurate characters with "differences." “The book is excellent. I highly recommend it. It should be read by every ‘dominant paradigm’ writer for that is its true audience. Recommended also for schools, colleges, and creativity workshops, and sociology classes.” —The Compulsive Reader “Along with personal experience and examples, the book presents exercises to help writers step outside their own ROAARS. The exercises, developed from workshops the authors have conducted, reward writers with learning more about developing characters—including those who are ‘just like’ themselves—and understanding past and present stereotypes.” —Paula Guran, Writers.com Newsletter Vol 9, no. 3 “This book can help interested writers develop characters to exhibit the complexity of the human experience (and, since we’re talking genre here, multifaceted non-human experiences as well) [...] What I like best about this book is that Shawl and Ward encourage people to acknowledge their fears and concerns, but also to try anyway.” —Broad Universe, November 2007
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Summary: When young paleontologist, Ryan Thompson, finds a new species of mosasaur in Cretaceous seaway sediments, he is thrilled. The discovery should jumpstart his career. Joy quickly turns to fear when he touches an artifact buried among the sea reptile’s ribs. Suddenly, he must fight a mental takeover by an alien intelligence committed to transforming the Earth into a refuge for her own race. As Ryan and his girlfriend, Skeets, attempt to thwart alien plans to colonize Earth begun in the deep past, even this crisis becomes trivial. The uneasy symbiosis of Ryan and the alien, Siu, generates a new entity with the power to transform the entire universe.
Word Count: 111000
Summary: Now a Free novel in ebook: For a hidden shifter, falling in love with a man may be the death of them both. Simon Conley knows about being an outcast. Born into a secret werewolf pack, he’s the lone gay wolf, an outsider even among his packmates. The top wolves consider him a perversion, a failure, and a security risk. To survive in the human world, werewolves rely on absolute secrecy, and any breaches of their code are dealt with swiftly— and violently. So when Simon falls in love with Paul, a human man, even his Alpha's grudging tolerance won't protect him. He must keep Paul from discovering the truth about him and the secrets the pack jealously guards, or it’s not just their love that’ll end up dead. (rereleased Jan 2021 with light editing and the 1.15 short story included)
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Summary: When eight-year-old Virginia "Sissy" Clemm meets her handsome cousin, Eddy, she sees the perfect husband she's conjured up in childhood games. Thirteen years her elder, he's soft-spoken, brooding, and handsome. Eddy fails his way through West Point and the army yet each time he returns to Baltimore, their friendship grows. As Sissy trains for a musical career, her childhood crush turns to love. When she's thirteen, Eddy proposes. But as their happy life darkens, Sissy endures Poe's abrupt disappearances, self-destructive moods, and alcoholic binges. When she falls ill, his greatest fear– that he’ll lose the woman he loves– drives him both madness, and to his greatest literary achievement. Part ghost story, part love story, this provocative novel explores the mysterious, shocking relationship between Edgar Allan Poe and young Sissy Clemm, his cousin, muse and great love. Lenore Hart, author of Becky, imagines the beating heart of the woman who inspired American literature's most demonized literary figure– and who ultimately destroyed him.
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Summary: Something More and More is published in conjunction with the appearance of Nisi Shawl as the Guest of Honor at WisCon 35, May 26-30, 2011 Madison, WI ''He manifested relatively whole, unrotted. Post one of his many surgeries, with makeup evening out the white patches on his poor skin. But beautiful. His song shimmered in the blackness, sweet and silver, ice and snow. About mirrors. Rianne reached out with insubstantial arms and held the mojo toward his chopped up face...'' -- from ''Pataki'' Something More and More collects stories about hoodoo women and musicians, and essays about reading, crowns, and the work of Octavia E. Butler. It also includes a new interview of Nisi by Eileen Gunn, in which she talks about editing, being edited, and the competing charms of writing and making music. ''...Music is essential and powerful in my life, and, I believe, in the world as well. At one point I had to choose which to concentrate on: music or writing. This was in my mid-thirties. I thought I was a bit long in the tooth for a music career, plus bands are so bumpy and full of egos. Writing you can do more or less on your own-- you don't have to, but you can. Music is so seductive, though-- the payoff is more immediate, feeling the resonance of a guitar next to your heart, being inside the sound at the same time the sound is inside you...''-- from Eileen Gunn's ''Interview with Nisi Shaw''
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Summary: As the Conover family drives from L.A. to Chicago strange things begin to happen. Nine year old Michael sees a face form in the window of the family car. Two creepy children stare at fourteen year old Alison at a motel. A car follows the family for many miles, then hits their car and drives away. Wherever the Conover family goes, wherever they look, they see a large woman and her children coming closer. The woman and her children are superhumanly strong. They can enter a locked room without opening the door. Confused and scared, the Conovers can’t comprehend what is happening to them. Everywhere they turn they see the woman and her children. The woman is Mama, and as she teaches her children, like a lioness teaching her cubs to hunt, the Conovers realize that they are the prey.
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Summary: Filter House is a collection of short fiction by Nisi Shawl, with an introduction by Eileen Gunn (author of Stable Strategies). The collection's fourteen tales offer a haunting montage that works its magic subtly on the reader's subconscious. As Karen Joy Fowler says, "This lovely collection will take you, like a magic carpet, to some strange and wonderful places."
Word Count: 49112
Summary: Tristan has agreed to bond with Ushna, but there is still much to do. Returning to Tribe Enkidu puts everyone on edge, and Tristan is being stalked like prey. It doesn't help that he fights depression as he mourns the loss of Nikita, or that claiming his birthright becomes a battle of wills with the Elder Council. The pleading of his adoptive daughter only adds to the oppressive feeling. Stumbling onto a secret prison while searching for Ushna leads Tristan to risk everything to free a lost God. But breaking the bond to his Twin Flame all those years ago has more repercussions than Tristan knew, and the assistance of a forgotten Goddess and a centuries-old lover may not be enough to save him. Surrounded by Crimson is the 4th book in the Sumeria's Sons series and features a poly (M/M/M) relationship that includes male pregnancy (mpreg). This book was previously released by another publisher and has been re-edited. Surrounded by Crimson is the 4th book in the Sumeria's Sons series and features a poly (M/M/M) relationship and includes male pregnancy (mpreg).
Word Count: 424
Summary: She lost a war… Ravel, a captain in her father’s cavalry unit, alone survived the defeat of her prince and country at the end of a civil war. Now, she is a fugitive without a home. He won a kingdom… Prince Glea returned after forty years lost at sea. Still youthful as the day he sailed, he could not explain how he gained immortality. When his doubting brothers called him a pretender, he waged a civil war to reclaim his royal birthright in blood. Now, he must deal with the aftermath. One chases the sky… A nobleman scholar avoided the civil war to embark on a solitary quest. Lord Torval must elude his pursuers long enough to find what he seeks. More innocent lives are at stake than anyone knows, and only he holds the key to their survival.
Word Count: 99837
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?
Word Count: 92459
Summary: Ben and Alysia, sole mates, cursed to be separated by age and social norms until they live a life and raise a child together in love, struggle to defeat the curse. Meanwhile, the originator of the curse, Dorry, hounds them from life to life in a selfish and self- destructive vendetta. Follow these souls through Albert, Bernidine and Darius, nobles in fifteen hundreds France when the curse begins. To Abigail and Bernia Sapphic lovers in the year 1774 who are hounded by Donald, a false pretender to Abigail’s Estates. Later still in the Colorado Territories of the American west shortly after the civil war Ada and Bailey, a young emancipated slave and a radical Doctor from the North, struggle to love against the bias of their time and the plots of Deigo. Then in our current times, the lovers strive to break the curse and let love triumph. But is love enough when the world is against you?
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Summary: Ash, an orphaned peasant boy, survived an unnatural plague at a copper mine with help from a mystic healer. He was adopted by a noble house and educated as a gentleman—a house where every male heir in the bloodline is burdened by a debilitating curse. Years later, the long-lost Prince Glea returned after forty years gone at sea. Still youthful as the day he sailed, he could not explain how he gained immortality. When his doubting brothers called him a pretender, he waged a civil war to reclaim his royal birthright. Ash, as a grown man, takes up arms on behalf of his adopted household to support restoring Prince Glea to the throne. But in the aftermath of battle, he discovers an ancient secret that reveals the truth of his childhood trauma. Now, he must choose to make a sacrifice to save his prince and every living thing in the world.
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Summary: Collected here are 35 short vampire tales by David Lee Summers and Lee Clark Zumpe. You'll find humor, horror, and history, loss, love, and legends, sex, seduction, and surprises. Many are good tales for couples to share. You'll find vignettes such as "Jornada del Muerto,""On the Ramjet," "Nosferatu Watches Dracula on the Lateshow," "Until Tonight,""The Poet," and "Ostrava, 1995." These particular pieces first ran in the magazine Blood Samples between 2001 and 2003. You'll also find longer works here including "Dragon Reborn" which is an excerpt from Dragon's Fall: Rise of the Scarlet Order Vampires that tells the origin of Lord Draco from Vampires of the Scarlet Order and Lee Clark Zumpe's story "Becalmed". The collection features a cover by Laura Givens and interior illustrations by Marge Simon. Blood Sampler is a must-read, even if you don't care for the usual suckers.
