Our free range oyster had a death in the family — if you’re praying people, please pray for them. So, he didn’t collate the promo post this week (and I don’t blame him.)
Because I woke up all stuffed up, I just stole Amanda Green’s compilation of the GREAT LABOR DAY SALE. (Chapter later. I’m going to go stand under a hot shower.)
A number of authors, including yours truly, have gotten together to offer some of their work for $2.99 or less over the Labor Day Weekend. You’ll find everything from science fiction to fantasy, mystery to romantic suspense, historical fiction to Musketeers Mysteries to even some non-fiction. Please take a few minutes to check out the titles and, if you see something of interest, support the author by buying a copy. Thanks!
Please note that the sale starts this Friday, although some of these titles are already listed at $2.99 or under.
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Science Fiction/Fantasy
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Craig Allen
Beyond the Sky
Aura only wishes to live in peace, but there’s little hope of that. The gift she possesses makes her life as tumultuous as the everlasting storms that make up the sky. Now, accused of murdering the highest ranking sorcerer in the sorcerers’ guild, Aura has no choice but to flee with those that were with her that night: an outcast sorcerer who is a hero to all, a regulator with a violent streak, an exotic elf with mysterious intentions, and a sorcerer who holds the queen’s ear.
But Aura’s problems are just beginning. The leader of a cult that wishes to end the use of sorcery forever has stolen a relic of unimaginable power. Such a relic could do more than eliminate sorcery. It could alter the world forever, even end it.
Journeying across the open countryside where no weathering rods exist to keep the storms at bay, where evil creatures haunt tainted lands, Aura and her new comrades have little choice. Find the relic, or allow fanatics to gain the power to end creation itself.
It’s bad enough her comrades won’t stop bickering. It’s worse when she finds she is falling in love with one of them.
Beyond the Sky is a full-length epic fantasy adventure novel about sorcery, guns, love, and courage.
Note: This book contains violence and adult situations.
Kali’s Children
Crash landing on an uncharted world is bad enough. Losing most of the crew as the ship sinks to the bottom of an alien ocean is even worse. And that’s just the beginning.
Ragged and terrified, the last few survivors—-a fireteam of battle-hardened marines and an inexperienced civilian adviser—-search for a way to contact the nearest inhabited system for rescue. But as they encounter the denizens of this world, they learn something remarkable. From the red reeds that cover the land to the ferocious predators that fear nothing, every living thing on this world is highly intelligent… and utterly hostile. Violence is a normal part of life. Murder and war are nothing more than a means to acquire food. Kindness is unimaginably alien.
For the survivors, escape is not enough. They must also keep their technology out of the hands of the barbaric monsters around them. For the planet’s natives have learned that it is possible to leave their world, and out there among the stars is the most prolific source of food they have ever known: humans.
Kali’s Children is a full length action adventure science fiction novel.
This book contains violence and adult language.
Season of Bliss
When Jester came to Sasha’s world, their lives changed forever.
Jester belongs to one of the many colonies of humanity that spread across the galaxy eons ago. His people merely wish to reach out to Sasha’s people in friendship as fellow descendants of humanity.
But Jester has arrived on Sasha’s world on the eve of the Bliss, a madness that is both overwhelming and necessary for the survival of her people. The changes she experiences, changes they experience every two years, draw her to Jester in ways that both excite and terrify her. For Jester is ignorant of not only the Bliss, but also to the meaning of the one word that binds Sasha’s people together, a word they always thought was a part of humanity wherever they may be.
As Sasha shows Jester how the descendants of humanity live on her world, she feels a gnawing in her soul. If she can teach him the meaning of the word, she’ll know a happiness she has not felt in years. If not, it could mean the end of her life.
Season of Bliss is a science fiction romance short novel.
Without You
Anna sings like an angel, and it moves Eric in ways he can’t describe. Watching her die is an agony he cannot bear. So he goes back and prevents her death.
It isn’t be the first time he changed history to save her, and it won’t be the last. Eric continually goes back through time to alter whatever may harm her, but it’s a full time job. No matter how many times he goes back through time to prevent her death, some new tragedy arises to end her life. Whether a lighting rig that falls on her during a concert or a train that crushes her—it’s as if fate wants her dead.
But fate has nothing to do with it. The tyrannical government of Eric’s timeline knows this talented young singer’s very existence is a threat to their power. Something she does changes the awful future that is Eric’s present, and only with her death can their “perfect” society prevail. With access to Eric’s machine, they’ll stop at nothing to end her life for good.
Ironically, Eric is running out of time. His machine is breaking down. Soon he won’t be able to undo the damage done by the leaders of his world. His choices narrow, and he knows even if he can save her she may never remember he existed.
Eric has to try, for a world without her is unthinkable.
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Tom Ashwell
Phul of Surprises
Here they go again…Harvey, Linda, Pymander and the rest are all off racing around the Galaxy, at light speed, in their next exciting saga. This continuing series by Thomas Ashwell has them facing many new and exciting challenges that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and turning pages to get to the next part of the adventure. In this episode, they are all back in their star ship and figuring out how to fix “EVERYTHING”! This is all in a effort to save Earth and its inhabitants in its hour of need. You’ll be glad to have Harvey on your side, because he is sure to save us all before this exciting series comes to an end….or will he?? Harvey holds the fate of the various planets and life forms he encounters in his hands; as he is known for always making the right decision. He fixes things on planets that seem irretrievably broken, yet still doesn’t hesitate to annihilate a planet and all the different races on it if it is necessary to better the Galaxy; yet you can never tell which is which until its all over. Mr. Ashwell has written a truly unique series that is full of surprises that always keep you guessing; plus it contains enormous amounts of unique information and references you will never find anywhere else woven so intricately into any other novel. There is everything from scientific facts and theories, to ancient mythological references, plus unique characters, weapons, and environments and so much more that one can’t even allude to it all here. So many things are wrapped up and buried in this story that it seems impossible for any one reader to “get” all the amazing references. You will find this writing skilled and intellectual, interesting and fun. It will challenge, educate and entertain readers of all ages and reading preferences. It is filled with anything you could ever want in a novel: excitement, adventure, romance, danger, and intrigue, in a format that is suitable for anyone. You will find this truly enjoyable and just plain fun! So, just get comfortable and set aside plenty of time to enjoy it once you get started; because you will find it impossible to set aside…then, as soon as you are finished you will be looking for the next episode! – Karen Konzak
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Cynthia Bagley
Perchance to Dream
Kat Igardson is a visionary, a psychic, and a protector, but doesn’t gain her hereditary powers until the death of her Grandma. Daisy Amulda, a black witch, is stripped of her power by her father. These two unlikely women become allies to fight an evil that corrupts and taints Earth and its innocents.
Will they survive?
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Alma Boykin
Elizabeth of Vindobona: Book Three of the Colplatschki Chronicles
The fate of the Empire rests with Elizabeth von Sarmas.
In the ten years since she fled to the Eastern Empire, Countess Colonel Elizabeth von Sarmas has risen to be one of Emperor Rudolph’s most skilled commanders. Ably assisted by Lady Ann Starland and Lazlo Destefani, she’s fended off the amorous attentions of Archduke Lewis, thus far. But after losing a political battle, Elizabeth and her men find themselves at the wrong end of the Empire when disaster strikes. Court intrigue and surprise proposals fade into nothing when the Turkowi launch a do-or-die assault on the Empire.
And King Laurence has one last dagger in his sleeve, one that may accomplish what ten years of warfare could not.
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David Burkhead
Plague Station
Doctor Susan O’Bannon on Space Colony 42 attempts to find a cure for a new disease that’s putting people into comas. But when people wake from the comas driven by rage and hunger, can she survive the onslaught, let alone find a cure?
The Kinmar
Kreg and Kaila, knights of Aerioch, interrupt their mission to chase down the raiders that destroyed a village. Much to their surprise, the raiders turn out to be Kinmar, the half-man/half-animal remnants of the magical Changeling War. Outnumbered and surrounded, wounded, with only the strange magic of the Knightbond on their side, can they survive, much less ensure that no one ravages the people of Aerioch with impunity?
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Mackey Chandler
April
This current book is a heavily edited second edition. I simply could not afford a professional editing when it first came out. It is edited now in anticipation of paper editions. I was aware and was told of the need by many readers. I think all of you who found the story worthy in spite of the typos and errors. This new edition should make you happy.
April is an exceptional young lady and something of a snoop. After a chance encounter with a spy, she finds herself involved with political intrigues that stretch her abilities. There is a terrible danger she, and her friends and family, will lose the only home she has ever known, and be forced to live on the slum ball Earth below. It’s more than an almost fourteen year old should have to deal with. Fortunately she has a lot of smart friends and allies. It’s a good things because things get very rough and dicey. They challenge the political status quo, and with a small population the only advantage they have in war is a thin technological edge.
Common Ground
A collection of seven Science Fiction short stories by Mackey Chandler.
The lead story, Common Ground is big enough to be a novella. It was published in Jim Baen’s Universe e-zine. Sadly that has gone out of business. They had a goal of paying professional rates which made it more difficult. I’m somewhat spoiled because this was the first short story I ever attempted and it sold.
I won’t ruin your read with detailed spoilers – sufficient to say the seven shorts contain an alien with a very human foible, a joker Joyboy banished to selling shoes on the moon, a crotchety old man holding aliens at bay with a leaf blower, the ultimate Windoze -FAIL-, a self made billionaire who never lost his touch, a sword wielding Earth diplomat who was either very very good or incredibly lucky, and a future Mama’s boy dealing with family in an era of extended life times.
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Sabrina Chase
The Scent of Metal
The expedition ship Kepler races to Pluto, intent on uncovering the secrets of the alien structure recently discovered under the ice. Computer scientist Lea Santorin can’t wait to figure out the alien technology. Instead, she wakes it up … and it continues its long-interrupted journey across the galaxy, taking Lea and Kepler with it.
And something strange also wakes in Lea. She hears voices no one else can, and sees things the mission command prefers hidden. Why bring so many soldiers along with the scientists? Who concealed the structure, and when?
Who waits at the final destination…and will they survive the meeting?
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Jason Cordova
Kaiju Apocalypse
The oceans rose and from their depths the Kaiju came. Mankind survives in fortified, domed cities, fighting what seems an eternal war with the giant monsters and the smaller creatures they use as foot-soldiers. Now that war is coming to an end as one by one the city states of humanity fall to the Kaiju. Kaiju Apocalypse is the tale of the human race’s desperate, final stand.
Kaiju Apocalypse II
The oceans rose, flooding the world of man, and from their depths emerged the Kaiju, armies of giant monsters and their bestial foot soldiers intent upon the destruction of the humanity. A desperate plan for the survival of human race was put into action during the early days of the war. A massive colony ship, the Argo, was constructed in orbit and launched for the Alpha Centuri system in hopes of finding a new home among the stars. The Argo’s mission failed. Now, years later, the Argo is returning to Earth. Will its crew be ready for the horrors that await them? Have the island city states of man held their own against the Kaiju armies or has the Earth become nothing more than a wasteland dominated by giant monsters? The all out action of the Kaiju Apocalypse series continues here as the battle for Earth rages on.
Kaiju Apocalypse III
Though scattered, ragtag groups of humans still continue to fight back, the war with the Kaiju was lost. Humanity teeters on the brink of extinction and the world has become a wasteland of dead cities and scorched Earth. One scientist has a plan to end the Kaiju once and for all but will it come at too high a cost?
Murder World: Kaiju Dawn
Captain Vincente Huerta and the crew of the Fancy have been hired to retrieve a valuable item from a downed research vessel at the edge of the enemy’s space.
It was going to be an easy payday.
But what Captain Huerta and the men, women and alien under his command didn’t know was that they were being sent to the most dangerous planet in the galaxy.
Something large, ancient and most assuredly evil resides on the planet of Gorgon IV. Something so terrifying that man could barely fathom it with his puny mind. Captain Huerta must use every trick in the book, and possibly write an entirely new one, if he wants to escape Murder World.
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Vox Day
A Throne of Bones
In Selenoth, the race of Man is on the ascendant. The ancient dragons sleep. The ghastly Witchkings are no more; their evil power destroyed by the courage of Men and the fearsome magic of the Elves. The Dwarves have retreated to the kingdoms of the Underdeep, the trolls hide in their mountains, and even the savage orc tribes have learned to dread the iron discipline of Amorr’s mighty legions. But after four hundred years of mutual suspicion, the rivalry between two of the Houses Martial that rule the Amorran Senate threatens to turn violent, and unrest sparks rebellion throughout the imperial provinces. In the north, the barbarian reavers who have long plagued the coasts of the White Sea beg for the royal protection of the King of Savondir, as they flee a vicious race of wolf-demons. In the east, the war drums echo throughout the mountains as orcs and goblins gather in great numbers, summoned by their bestial gods.
And when the Most Holy and Sanctified Father is found dead in his bed, leaving the Ivory Throne of the Apostles unclaimed, the temptation to seize the Sacred College and wield Holy Mother Church as a weapon is more than some fallen souls can resist. A THRONE OF BONES is Book I in the ARTS OF DARK AND LIGHT epic fantasy series. DRM-free.
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Vox Day and Steve Rzasa
QUANTUM MORTIS A Man Disrupted
The independent planet of Rhysalan provides Sanctuary to 1,462 governments-in-exile. It is the responsibility of the Xenocriminology and Alien Relations department of the Military Crimes Investigation Division to keep a firm leash on the hundreds of thousands of xenos residing on-planet. Assassinations, revolutions, civil wars, and attempted planetary genocides are all in a day’s work for Chief Warrant Officer Graven Tower, MCID-XAR.
In addition to a missile-armed aerovar, his trusty Sphinx CPB-18, and MCID’s extremely liberal policies concerning collateral damage and civilian casualties, Chief Tower is assisted by his extreme xenophobia as well as a military-grade augmented machine intelligence that believes it has found God. So when the disintegrated remnants of the heir apparent of an alien royal house are discovered on the streets of Trans Paradis, the question is not so much whether the killers will eventually be found, but if it is the criminals or the crime investigators who will contribute more to the final body count. DRM-free.
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Lance Erlick
The Rebel Within (Rebels Book 1)
Action-packed first book in the series.
Rebellious, Annabelle (16) lives in a world where men are exiled, quarantined or forced to fight to the death to train the military elite. The first boy Annabelle has ever met just escaped prison. As a cop intern, she’s expected to capture him. Instead, she risks everything to help the boy, even while she’s forced into the elite military that took her parents, in order to avoid exile.
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D. Jason Fleming
The Spring That Never Came
Tammy Kirsch has had her shot at fame. She came to Hollywood with stars in her eyes and lint in her pockets and looks that would open any door in town just to try to get her onto the casting couch. After several guest roles in TV shows, one starring role in a movie that nobody saw, inadvertantly dodging the mid-70s porno chic moment and keeping her dignity and reputation intact, her career sputtered to a halt.
Then she lost her daughter in a custody case, and what was left of her world came crashing down around her ears. When the crazy homeless man tried to talk to her incoherently as she was leaving the court building, that only seemed to be the cherry on top of the layered dessert of her misery. In fact, it was just the first step on her path, a path that would end with her defending the entire world from an invasion of other-dimensional eldritch horrors.
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Dave Freer
A Mankind Witch
To the North of the Holy Roman Empire are the pagan Norse-lands. It is here that Prince Manfred of Brittany, and Erik, his Icelandic bodyguard, must venture in the dead of winter to a mountainous land of trolls and ice to find a stolen pagan relic, the arm-ring of Odin, something so magical that it should not be possible to move it beyond its wards, let alone take it away. It is gone, and unless it is recovered before Yuletide and the re-affirmation of truce-oaths, a new Viking age will be born. King Vorenbras will lead his berserkers in an orgy of killing, rapine, looting and destruction, across the Empire’s unguarded North-Western flank.
Princess Signy is the King’s older stepsister, and everyone believes her to be the thief, a witch and a murderess. Everyone, that is, but Cair, her stable-thrall, a man plucked from the ocean, with a hidden past. Cair doesn’t believe in witches or magic, let alone that Signy could steal and murder. If he has to drag the foremost knight of the age, and his deadly bodyguard kicking and screaming though the entire Norse nine worlds to prove it and free her, he’d do it. No Kobold, dwarf, or troll is going to stop him, or his scepticism. Not the wild hunt. Not even a Grendel. He doesn’t believe in this superstitious rubbish. He’s a man of science and learning, and he’s used that to fake his way into being feared as a magic worker. But for Signy, he’ll be all of mankind’s witches.
He’ll have to be, because that’s what it’ll take to defeat the dark magical forces which are marshalled against them.
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John Holmes
Irregular Scout Team One: The Complete Zombie Killer series (Zombie Killers)
Two years after a parasitic infection has wiped out most of civilization, a small team of military and civilian scouts, working for Joint Special Operations Command, spearheads the Army’s drive to take back the United States.
This book contains all four Zombie Killer books: Even Zombie Killers Get The Blues, Even Zombie Killers Need A Break, Even Zombie Killers Can Die, and Zombie Killers, Ice & Fire.
The stories have been placed in chronological order.
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Robert A. Hoyt
Cat’s Paw
Many humans know there is a mountain at the end of the universe to which a bird flies every thousand years to sharpen its beak, until the end of the mountain comes, and thus the end of eternity. What few of them know is that of the mountain only a few small grains of sand remain. And the bird that is to end eternity is alive and ready to fly. At half past noon at the end of the universe, the last great hopes of everything that exists, ever existed or has yet to exist, rests with a stray cat with alcohol issues, a Siamese cat with gender issues, and a Persian cat with pregnancy issues. Things are just about to get fun.
Ratskiller
… Long before the bird reared its ugly beak, there was beer. And lots of it.
In the humble world of alley cats, Tom has everything he needs: interesting enemies, a long list of girl cats who’d like to scratch his eyes out, and enough beer to make sure his repressed memories and his mysterious destiny stay repressed.
Until Wild Rat microbrewery shuts down.
To restore his favorite beer to its former glory, Tom will have to fight prissy bureaucrats, streetwise alley cats, and Broxton’s most barbaric rats. And behind it all, an evil so great that even Broxton’s most hardened rodents dare not squeak of it.
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Sarah A. Hoyt
Ill Met by Moonlight (Magical Shakespeare Book 1)
Young Will Shakespeare is a humble school master who arrives home to find his wife and infant daughter, Susannah are missing, kidnapped by the fairies of Arden Woods, the children of Titania and Oberon. His attempts at rescue are interrupted and complicated by a feud over throne of fairyland, between Sylvanus, king regnant, and his younger brother Quicksilver who is both more and less than he seems. Amid treachery, murder, duel and seduction, Shakespeare discovers the enchantment of fairyland, which will always remain with him, for good and ill. (This book was originally published by Ace/Berkley 10/2001)
“Filled with quotations and references to the Works of Shakespeare, this debut novel will interest the playwright’s fans of any age” VOYA
“Sarah Hoyt has taken tremendous chances: She has told a tale of how Shakespeare became Shakespeare, weaving the language of the plays deftly through the narrative. Reading the book feels like discovering the origins of the quotes we know so well, rather than something derivative.” San Jose Mercury News.
All Night Awake (Magical Shakespeare Book 2)
Touched by the magic of fairyland, unable to forget Lady Silver, Shakespeare goes to London to seek his fortune. But there, the elf will follow, on the trail of a creature so deadly that, unless Shakespeare and the king of Elves stop it, it might very well consume London and all of England.
(This book was originally published by Ace/Berkley 10/2002)
Any Man So Daring (Magical Shakespeare Book 3)
William Shakespeare, successful playwright, receives word that his only son has died. Reality is far more complex. The young Hamnet is a hostage in fairyland, where a war rages, and where a young princess waits a Prince Charming who might never come.
Can an all too human playwright stop the magical war that threatens both worlds?
(This book was originally published by Ace/Berkley 10/2003)
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Walter Knight
America’s Galactic Foreign Legion – Book 2: Reenlistment
The sweeping, satirical military space saga continues…
Decorated war hero, or war criminal guilty of atrocities? It depends on who’s passing judgment on ex-legionnaire Joey Czerinski.
The story of this lucky gambler turned soldier turned casino boss picks up as he and his business partner, Manny Lopez, find themselves broke and devastated after their business holdings are completely destroyed by continuing spider insurgent activity. Hidden deep underground, beneath the rubble of their once profitable casino, is a big, big secret that could solve their sudden financial problems, but neither Czerinski nor Lopez can figure out how to drum up the manpower and funding to unearth it.
Forced to find a quick source of money for a loan, Czerinski and Lopez are lured back to the Legion by their old friend, the slick-talking legionnaire-recruiting ATM. And then the real trouble begins…
Follow Czerinski and his pals through their ups and downs and continual serendipitous surprises in the next installment of this ongoing satirical, politically incorrect, sweeping military space opera.
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Laura Montgomery
Erawan
Short story. In the second half of the 21st century, Charlotte Fisher’s father moves the family to Thailand so he can take care of a tourist habitat orbiting Earth. Charlotte makes a new friend, learns about spirit houses, and goes to school. Everything is fine until the day the habitat faces a deadly danger.
Author’s note: this short story first appeared in Manx Prize as a flashback. If you have read Manx Prize, you have read this short story.
Manx Prize
In the second half of the twenty-first century, when Charlotte Fisher was just thirteen, orbital debris took its first large-scale human casualties from an orbiting tourist habitat. Haunted by visions of destruction and her father’s anguish, as a young engineer Charlotte follows in his footsteps and determines to win a prize offered by a consortium of satellite and orbitat operators for the first successful de-orbiting of space junk. Her employer backs these efforts until the reentry of a piece of debris kills two people, and she and her team are spun off to shield the parent company from liability. With limited resources, a finite budget and the unwanted gift of a lawyer who, regardless of his appeal, she doesn’t need, she must face a competitor who cheats, a collusive regulator, and the temptations dangled by the strange and alluring friends of a powerful seastead.
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Stephanie Osborn
The Fetish (Burnout Book 2)
When Dr. Mike Anders purchases a Zuni spaceman fetish from an elderly Zuni in a trading post in Burnout: The mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281, there’s a story behind that fetish. What is it, and how did the little lapis lazuli spaceman carving come to be?
The More Things Change
Griblich and his family are happily ensconced in the Village, a settlement of The People, who are offshoots of The Founders. Their lives are peaceful and pastoral as they hunt and gather and play beneath their lovely red sun and green skies, and love and sleep by the light of their moons. But as Griblich is fond of saying, “Wait awhile, and everything will change.”
And it always does…
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Kate Paulk
ConVent
A vampire, a werewolf, an undercover angel and his succubus squeeze. Whoever picked this team to save the world wasn’t thinking of sending the very best. But then, since this particular threat to the universe and everything good is being staged in science fiction conventions, amid people in costume, misfits and creative geniuses, any convetional hero would have stood out. Now Jim, the vampire, and his unlikely sidekicks have to beat the clock to find out who’s sacrificing con goers before all hell breaks loose — literally.
ConVent is proof that Kate Paulk’s brain works in wonderfully mysterious ways. A sarcastic vampire, his werewolf best buddy, an undercover angel and his succubus squeeze. The “Save the world” department really messed it up this time.
ConSensual
There are vampires in the lobby, succubi in the beds, and bodies in the bathroom. It’s ConSensual, where the editors are demons, the writers are crazy and the vampires and werewolves might be the most stable people in the room.
If that isn’t enough, Dracula is staying at the hotel on a business trip for his wood-based hardware chain, Kit Marlowe is one of the authors, and there’s an out of control baby vampire to deal with. Once again, the “Save the World” department is caught with its pants down.
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Cedar Sanderson
Pixie Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 1)
You can’t keep a tough Pixie down…
Lom is a bounty hunter, paid to bring magical creatures of all descriptions back Underhill, to prevent war with humans should they discover the strangers amongst them. Bella is about to find out she’s a real life fairy princess, but all she wants to do is live peacefully in Alaska, where the biggest problems are hungry grizzly bears. He has to bring her in. It’s nothing personal, it’s his job…
“They had almost had me, that once. I’d been young and foolish, trying to do something heroic, of course. I wouldn’t do that again anytime soon. Now, I work for duty, but nothing more than is necessary to fulfill the family debt. I get paid, which makes me a bounty hunter, but she’s about to teach me about honor. Like all lessons, this one was going to hurt. Fortunately, I have a good gun to fill my hand, and if I have to go, she has been good to look at.”
Trickster Noir (Pixie for Hire Book 2)
After the battle of Tower Baelfire ended, Lom lay dying. Bella was tasked with not only the job she never wanted, but the one she did. Could she keep Lom alive long enough for him to come to the rescue when their kingdom needed them? And what did Raven, mysterious trickster spirit and honorary uncle to Bella, want with them? If the threat was big enough to have the trickster worried, Bella knew she needed to have Lom at her side. Underhill might look like a soap-bubble kingdom, but Bella and Lom knew there was a gritty underside. Why else would fairyland need a dark man willing to carry a big gun and be the Pixie for Hire?
The Eternity Symbiote
Earth sits at the center of a galactic power struggle humanity knows nothing about. Then an alien delegation suffers a fatal accident and hidden plans unravel around the wreckage in the Alaskan wilderness. Infectious disease expert Gabrielle McGregor discovers the hidden machinations and what they’ll mean for her and her family.
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Sam Schall
Vengeance from Ashes
First, they took away her command. Then they took away her freedom. But they couldn’t take away her duty and honor. Now they want her back.
Captain Ashlyn Shaw has survived two years in a brutal military prison. Now those who betrayed her are offering the chance for freedom. All she has to do is trust them not to betray her and her people again. If she can do that, and if she can survive the war that looms on the horizon, she can reclaim her life and get the vengeance she’s dreamed of for so long.
But only if she can forget the betrayal and do her duty.
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Kal Spriggs
Look to the Stars
Mason McGann is a smuggler, a liar, and a cheat. With his ship impounded by customs, he figures he has no choice left but to auction off information about the lost Dreyfus Fleet. But things are never what they seem when you hold information that can change the course of history.
Look to the Stars is a short story in the Shadow Space Universe.
Renegades: Deserter’s Redemption: Book I of The Renegades
Mike doesn’t want to be anyone’s friend. He doesn’t want to be a leader. He sure doesn’t want to be a hero. He’s tried all of that before; it didn’t work out then and he knows it wouldn’t work out now.
He doesn’t have a choice.
Caught by an invading alien race and shipped off to a prison station as (expendable) labor, Mike will have to become all of those things in order to escape. More, he’ll have to turn a band of misfits into a group that can not only survive… but escape from a place where survival is measured in hours. In the doing, he may have to do the one thing he knows will get him killed: learn how to trust.
Deserter’s Redemption is the first novella of the Renegades series and is continued by Renegades: The Gentle One.
Renegades: The Gentle One: Book II of The Renegades
Ariadne has built her life around being a good person. She thinks positive, she tries to help people, and she never gets angry. The last is especially important, because Ariadne is a psychic, and bad things can happen if a psychic loses control of her emotions.
The problem is, Ariadne and her friends are on the run from an expansionist alien race. As an escapee from a prison station, she’s been marked for death, and the only way out of the star system is to hijack a ship. With limited supplies, powerful enemies, and companions whose trustworthiness is questionable, her enemies seem almost assured of victory. Ariadne is going to have to do the one thing she’s sworn never to do again…
She’s got to get angry.
Renegades: The Gentle One is the second novella in the Renegades series.
Renegades: Declaration: Book III of The Renegades
Pixel is an engineer on the run from his own past. He doesn’t understand people and he’s focused on the things he can understand: machinery, mathematics, and design. Now he’s on the run from the alien Chxor, after he and his new friends escaped from a prison station, hijacked a ship, and managed to sabotage a lot of Chxor orbital infrastructure in the process. They’re far beyond safe human space and they’ve had to work together to survive.
Pixel has come to trust the mismatched group of humans and aliens that have become his friends. The thing is, they want to select a leader, a Captain for their crew. Pixel knows it is a bad idea… and worse, it looks like blood is about to be spilled over who might become the Captain.
It shouldn’t be Pixel’s job to solve it. He fixes problems with machines… not those of friendship, trust and leadership. But he knows if he doesn’t do something, this election might well turn into a bloodbath. Worse yet, as it calls up echoes of his past, Pixel wonders not only if he can intervene, but if he can do so in a way that will not make things worse.
Renegades: Declaration is the third novella of the Renegades series.
Renegades: Ghost Story: Book IV of The Renegades
Eric Striker is a man on the run with a past that haunts him, which has led him to his current rag-tag companions. They’ve escaped from the xenocidal alien Chxor, hijacked a ship, are headed for human space, and they’ve even selected a captain for their motley crew. Yet on the edge of human space, the margin of survival is as thin as the blade of a razor.
When they encounter a ghost ship, the crew awakens a threat. Something awaits them, something that preys upon ships and crews as they ply the void. It will test the fragile alliances of the crew to the breaking point and beyond. Eric will have to bury the ghosts of his past to face that danger… or his past will bury him.
Renegades: Ghost Story is the fourth novella of the Renegades series.
Renegades: A Murder of Crowes: Book V of The Renegades
Among the rag-tag crew of outlaws and escapees, Simon has a unique background: he’s a cop. So when one of the crew winds up dead, naturally the others turn to him to find out the identity of the killer. It should be a quick investigation aboard the tiny ship with a small crew…. Except that in this case, everyone is a suspect. Simon has to wonder, not who is guilty, but who, on this ship, is really innocent.
Renegades: A Murder of Crowes is the fifth novella in the Renegades series.
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Pam Uphoff
Outcasts and Gods (Wine of the Gods Book 1)
*First book* of the Wine of the Gods
Wolfgang was a nice kid–until they decided he wasn’t even human.
Genetic engineering.
First they cured the genetic diseases.
Then they selected for the best natural traits.
Then they made completely artificial genes.
As the test children reached puberty, abilities that had always been lost in the random background noise were suddenly obvious. Telepathy, telekinesis.
At first their creators sought to strengthen these traits. Then they began to fear them.
They called them gods, and made them slaves.
Wolfgang Oldham was sixteen when the company laid claim to him.
He escaped, and stayed free for three years.
When he was arrested, identified and returned to the company, they trained him to be useful.
They didn’t realize that they were training him to be dangerous.
* * *
John C. Wright
Awake in the Night Land
AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND is an epic collection of four of John C. Wright’s brilliant forays into the dark fantasy world of William Hope Hodgson’s 1912 novel, The Night Land. Part novel, part anthology, the book consists of four related novellas, “Awake in the Night”, “The Cry of the Night-Hound”, “Silence of the Night”, and “The Last of All Suns”, which collectively tell the haunting tale of the Last Redoubt of Man and the end of the human race. Widely considered to be the finest tribute to Hodgson ever written, the first novella, “Awake in the Night”, was previously published in 2004 in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-First Annual Collection. AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND marks the first time all four novellas have been gathered into a single volume. DRM-free.
* * *
Anita Young
Eyes of Osiris: A Kayara Ingham Novel (Architects of Lore Series Book 1)
Thanks to the curse of foresight, Dr. Kayara Ingham has had a vision of her husband’s death. While she desperately tries to avert the grim future, she meets a mysterious Osiris Corporation man who gives her an impossible ultimatum. When Kay is forced to choose, she learns that Osiris Corporation is not what it seems. The company is made up of a people that call themselves the Architects of Lore and, like many powerful organisations, their reach is extensive—one might say inescapable.
Fenrir Reborn: A Sindri Modulf Novella (Architects of Lore Book 2)
Sindri Modulf has been tested many times throughout his long life, but for every feat he has faced, he has artfully dodged countless more with easy humour and a deadly axe. Those well-honed abilities will prove useless when he is faced with one of the greatest challenges of his life; he must bring back a grief-stricken Seer from the edge of catatonia. Unwilling to let the mind of the most powerful woman in 1000 years be ravaged by Empaths and Telepaths, Sindri does something he hasn’t done for centuries: bare his soul.
* * *
James L. Young
An Unproven Concept: The Unfortunate Starwreck of the Spaceliner Titanic (The Vergassy Chronicles Book 2)
The Confederation of Man has overseen humanity’s prosperous expansion for almost eight centuries, with the Confederation Fleet its bulwark against all enemies both internal and external. Despite its numerous successes, the Fleet is a shield that is becoming warped by the schism between its Carrier and Line factions. In the year 3050, Fleet Admiral Malinverni has overseen the design and commissioning of a vessel intended to merge the best of both factions: the battlecruiser Constitution. Intended as a harbinger of a better future, the Constitution is considered a flawed concept by all except her crew. If either Fleet faction has its way, neither the Constitution nor her captain, Mackenzie Bolan, will ever get a chance to prove their naysayers incorrect.
The starliner Titanic is considered to be the epitome of her type. With a handpicked crew, the Titanic is expected to see to passengers’ every need and whim, be it a rare artifact of opulence to stringent, discreet security. Unfortunately Captain Abraham Herrod, her master, is confronted with the growing likelihood that his vessel may soon be rendered obsolete by the ever pressing march of technology. Pushed by his superiors, Captain Herrod must decide just how far he’s willing to go in an attempt to prolong the “Golden Age of Starliners.”
At the convergence of these two ships’ path lies carnage unimaginable to either of their crews. Packed full of action, mecha, and mayhem, An Unproven Concept is a chilling tale of First Contact gone terribly awry.
James Young & Anita C. Young
Across Four Realms: A Short Story Omnibus
Across Four Realms is a collection of short stories that introduces the reader to four disparate universes, with the sole constant that chaos knows no boundaries…and pain is a companion to all.
*** “Ride of the Late Rain” (Vergassy Chronicles #1) ***
“Rid