Ever the Hero by Darby Harn

SPSFC 2022

Superheroes are big business. Imagine not being able to afford them. Kit Baldwin just wants to make rent. The only work she can find in the ruins of her devastated city is scavenging for alien technology. When she finds a powerful alien weapon, her discovery pays off more than she could have hoped: it draws the attention of the most powerful of the superhuman Empowered, Valene. Valene hears everything, everywhere. She suffers for it, and as they begin a precipitous romance, Kit believes she can use the weapon she’s scavenged to mitigate Valene’s pain. If she can’t, Valene will retreat to the soundlessness of space. Without Valene’s compassion, the stricken city is left to the mercy of Valene’s ruthless father, who denies the assistance the city needs unless it can pay for it. As Valene’s condition worsens, Kit becomes more desperate and unleashes the full power of the alien weapon. In an instant, she is transformed into a being of cosmic power. She can acquire the knowledge and energy of anything – or anyone – she touches.

Stargun Messenger by Darby Harn

SPSFC 2023

Astra Idari must keep the last living star alive in a galaxy lost to shadows. Astra Idari is a mess. She drinks too much, remembers too little, and barely pays for it all as a Stargun Messenger. She hunts down thieves who steal filamentium, the fuel that allows for faster-than-light travel. When Idari meets Gen Emera, she meets the girl of her dreams and the last living star. There's just one problem. Filamentium is only found in the blood of living stars. Everyone wields knives and justifications for butchering the living stars, but once Idari knows the truth, she faces a stark choice. Either she turns Emera over to her employers who control the filamentium monopoly, or risks everything to help Emera fulfill her quest to save her people. The choice should be simple, but it's not losing her life that terrifies Idari. It's finally living. Idari knows she's human despite outwardly appearing to be an android with a failing memory stitched together by her ship's irascible AI, CR-UX. She's been just getting by for longer than she remembers, assured in her humanity, but not enough to risk it. Idari has lived her entire life in darkness. The dark comforts and shields. The dark preserves in its cold, and Idari may not be able to keep her star out of her shadow.

Astra Idari and The Drift Divoon by Darby Harn

SFINCS

Astra Idari is out of fuel and out of luck. Astra Idari is a Stargun Messenger out of fuel and out of work. She's aboard The Drift Divoon, a starplane tender, to seek work in a faraway star system. When a passenger is murdered aboard the tender, Idari finds the work she's looking for. Only it's far from what she expected. Idari's investigation leads to a powerful shipping magnate whose own presence aboard the tender raises major questions. The deeper she looks into the crime, the more dangerous it becomes for Idari, desperate to find some fuel to light ahead of the shadows chasing her. Discover Idari's past in this intriguing prequel novella to STARGUN MESSENGER!