Aztra's Mirror by Charles Freedom Long

SPSFC 2022

Beneath the surface of Trychnos and its twin, Saecula, lie a galaxy’s wealth of gemstones. The Trux have despoiled their world through mindless quarrying. The Saec rejected wealth and all modernity. They detest each other. To the point where their saints have abandoned them. With Trychnos on the verge of ecological collapse, the Trux plan to invade Saecula and repeat the mining calamity. Centuries of hate cannot simply be erased. But deep within the bowels of Trychnos, lies a magical mirror, made of one perfect diamond by the god Aztra herself. Whoever gazes into Aztra’s Mirror—if they survive the mirror’s gazing back into them—will have power beyond their wildest dreams. Power to bring about whatever change they desire. If they do not survive, they will pay a price beyond imagination. Neither Zakan nor his twin Javek ever wanted more than to live as simple acolytes in their pastoral village. But the God Aztra herself calls Zakan to the challenge of the Mirror. Despite Zakan’s recurring dream that he will die in this quest, driven by Aztra’s calling, aided by saints, sinners, sorcerers, and the dead of both planets, Zakan sets out to find Aztra’s Mirror and use its power to save both worlds. If he fails, both the simplistic Saec and avaricious Trux will die, and their planets with them. The mirror has its price. And it will be paid.

Witches' Gambit: Book One of the Seven Worlds by Charles Freedom Long

FINALIST- BEST SF/F BOOK OF 2018—Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Aidan Ray, successful attorney—and psychic—secretly communes with the dead in a fascist fundamentalist society that would call her “Witch” and wipe her mind. Earth is split into separate warring theocracies who want to dominate the planet. They are on the verge of expanding their conflict into outer space. Michael good, an executive who likes to live dangerously, leads a secret insurgency in Aidan’s home state. Fate places them together. And together, they must face a crisis that could destroy the earth. A mediating alien, concerned about the future of their shared universe, has come to earth. His galaxy is on the verge of making a preemptive strike against earth, to prevent the spread of a species that resolves its problems by murdering each other—a diseased specimen that may have to be exterminated before it infects other worlds. He ponders if earth is worth saving? And asks Aidan and Michael to plead humanity’s case to the council of the seven worlds, before the earth is destroyed. But to do that, they must brave the hazardous passage to another galaxy from which they may never return. Or have anything to return to.