The Shareholders by H.S. Down

In the late 21st century, Earth has been ravaged by climate change. Seeing it was time for decisive action, the billionaires bioengineered immortality, purchased the last habitable biospheres on the planet as their personal shares, and fled to Mars. For everyone left behind, life on a dying planet isn't easy. The lucky ones live in enclosed cities eating bug protein and saving up for passage to Mars. The rest of humanity exists as climate refugees passing through worlds that are perpetually on the brink of ecological collapse. Ian Gateman, one of Earth's last bureaucrats, works on the settlement of ecological refugees while he, his wife, Anne, and their son, Alex, look forward to life on Mars. When Anne becomes terminally ill, she decides to upload her consciousness and live forever in Lotus: a corporate-run virtual reality simulation. To keep up with the monthly payments for Anne's digital residency and stop Lotus from deleting her consciousness, Ian takes on a special assignment. Tasked with finding a buyer for a fledgling colony of newly settled ecological refugees, Ian travels to the estates of several visiting immortals. As Ian tries to flog the colony to a brooding class of bored immortals, it becomes clear they have their own plans for humanity's future.

Children of the Fall by H. S. Down

SPSFC 2024

Hypatia is a companion child, a cyborg with the consciousness of a child, designed to help her non-verbal human sister, Alexandra, navigate the world. When a flash knocks out the power and a civil war erupts, the sisters are forced to travel through powerless cities and dangerous country roads in search of refuge on the eastern coast of the United States. Realizing that without access to a charging station it’s only a matter of time before her battery fails, Hypatia must deliver Alexandra to safety before it’s too late. Yet, as Hypatia and Alexandra encounter other companion children that have gone berserk, Hypatia begins to suspect the flash may have done more than just take out the power. Can Alexandra trust her sister, and is Hypatia exactly what she seems?

The Rains Came Down by Julian Shaw

SPSFC 2023

A world where nature has claimed the streets of London… where ageless people are perilously addicted to sucking marbles… and where the deaths of three men from another world threatens the order of the universe… In this, his debut novel, Julian Shaw has created a life-affirming and enchanting parallel universe, remarkable for its torrential bursts of action and overwhelming floods of emotion. ________________________________ When Gareth Edwards dies in a train crash, he emerges in The Meadow , a realm existing somewhere between life and death. Hunted and on the run, he finds refuge with a travelling circus and journeys with them across the splendour of this strange world, where pubs organise rebellions, cave dwellers archive Earth’s disasters – and where a network of monasteries are commissioning expeditions into the Welsh mountains that are too dangerous to speak of. Gareth joins one of these expeditions, only to find something yet more perilous waiting for him – something with origins that reach beyond this world and into the trauma of his past.

The Acros Raiders: Down in Flames by Sara Tunder

The rebellion weakens. Threat still looms. Will the Acros Raiders survive or go down in flames? With the traitor’s reveal, the Acros Raiders seem to be at peace. Despite that, Scotty Sedgewig is haunted by paranoia, expecting her teammates to turn at any moment. The airships that devastated part of Ghent’s capital in an explosion of steam return, and the Raiders need to figure out how to stop them. Masks of lies lift and loyalties are tested. Deception is around every corner, nothing being as it seems. The clock is ticking and the Raiders must put an end to the airships’ fury or risk the rebellion going down in flames. Book 2 in Sara Tunder’s fantasy-adventure trilogy, Down in Flames, brings readers back to the land of Harkive with new steampunk technology, colorful fantasy settings, and shocking twists. Explore the lands with Scotty and the Acros Raiders as they continue their mission to take down High Priestess Tapscott and her Castist Regime.