Ascendant by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

WHAT DOES ASCENSION TO POWER REALLY COST? Six months after the triumphant collaborative conclusion of the AgInnovator Superhero game show, Ruby Barkley and her ex-husband Gabriel Martiniere still struggle with the professional and personal fallout from their victory. The Superhero money allowed Ruby to launch her line of agricultural biobots. But one of the RubyBot spinoffs, the Defender, leads to unsettling revelations about crop tampering using body-modified indentured workers. Their son Brandon uncovers even more disturbing information about the abuse of indentureds as he campaigns to end it. All of these disclosures lead back to the Martiniere Group, the family corporation controlled by Gabe’s malevolent uncle, Philip Martiniere. Meanwhile, Ruby and Gabe wrestle with what form their resumed relationship will take, as Ruby contemplates whether she wants to take on the role of a Martiniere wife. The revelation that Gabe’s father is not who they thought, and Philip’s attempt to force Ruby away from Gabe once again confirms her decision. But the need to rescue one of Brandon’s valued indentured informants turns celebration into catastrophe. Will Ruby and Gabe be able to recover from this disaster—or will Philip triumph yet again in his campaign to destroy Gabe?

Realization by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

THEY’VE ALMOST REALIZED THEIR DREAMS…BUT CAN THEY REMAIN THEMSELVES? The indentured labor wars heat up as Ruby Barkley and Gabriel Martiniere struggle with medical complications that interfere with their fight to stop the sinister goals of Gabe’s father Philip. Discoveries by their son Brandon about the degree to which Philip and the family corporation, the Martiniere Group, are involved in unethical, interdicted human experimentation push them into accepting a questionable treatment to speed their recovery. Philip’s direct challenge initiates Gabe’s final push to take over the Martiniere Group. Ruby and Brandon consolidate family support behind Gabe. When a high-profile assassination attempt at a political banquet reveals the existence of cyborged Martiniere descendants and clones of Philip intended to provide him with replacement parts, Ruby and Gabe must take action. One clone—Michael—still survives. Along with their bid to win control of the Martiniere empire, Ruby and Gabe now face the dilemma of what is to be done with Michael. Can they save both the family and Philip’s clone—or should they even try? The realization of their dreams is within Ruby and Gabe’s reach. Can they fulfill it while still remaining true to themselves?

Inheritance by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

YOU CAN’T ESCAPE THE INHERITANCE OF THE PAST…OR CAN YOU? Rancher Ruby Barkley and her ex-husband Gabe Ramirez are competing head-to-head for the AgInnovator game show’s new one-shot award, the Ag Superhero. The winner walks away with $3.75 million per year for five years, with no accountability or need to re-earn the Superhero, unlike the Innovator’s other awards. But issues beyond those raised by their long-ago acrimonious divorce face Ruby and Gabe. Fence cutting. Rogue biobots destructively ranging beyond programmed parameters. Physical attacks. And the realization that they may need to reunite to save their son Brandon from indentured servitude. Then the secret shadow of Gabe’s hidden inheritance reveals itself. Will he step up to the Martiniere Legacy—and what role will Ruby accept in any future they may share?

Becoming Solo by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

SFINCS

WHAT WILL A WITCH DO TO SAVE THE MAGIC FAIR THAT PROTECTS HER POWERS? Yesenia Cruz is ambitious. She wants to become a Solo witch, one who doesn’t need to renounce her powers at age twenty-one unless she becomes part of a protective family spell matrix. She has plans with her best friend, Kirsten Rogers, to open a boutique selling magic-spelled goods to the non-magical. But. In order to become Solo, Yesenia needs to win the Bright Star Magic Fair crown for a third year. She can’t afford the academy that will qualify her to become Solo. Her family wants her to give up her dreams of becoming Solo, marry Saul Ramos and become part of the Cruz family spell matrix. And a strange new witch, Shadow the Question, from a Lost Fair, is a potential challenger—even as Yesenia and Kirsten become aware of a new threat to Bright Star Fair. They have to draw on Shadow’s knowledge to save Bright Star—but is Shadow’s knowledge sufficient? Can these three witches save the Fair? For if Bright Star fails—then all magic fails. Eventually.

Life in the Shadows by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

IN A TECH-DRIVEN BIOREMEDIATION FUTURE, HARD CHOICES MUST BE MADE. Powerful mother. Powerful daughter. Sarah Stephens and her daughter Diana Landreth run bioremediation companies dependent upon neural nets and nanotechnology to operate complex biobots. Sometimes competitors, sometimes collaborators, while they disagree, they are still mother and daughter. And then the Disruption Machine begins its campaign of devastation. In the process of their collaboration to stop the Disruption Machine, the shadows in their lives force their paths into a dangerous divergence. Sarah chooses politics and power. Diana chooses research and family. What happens when their choices collide?

Beating the Apocalypse by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

SPSFC 2023

Rianna and Bobby are Canaries—two of the living toxin monitors who are the Coalition for North American Survival’s best tools for predicting and enduring an outbreak of the poisonous Clouds that threaten to destroy all life under the Dome. Their heightened sensitivity to airborne toxins coupled with bioengineered tweaking, training, and medications means they can take data on current conditions as they affect living beings—and tolerate higher exposures than most people. More than that, Rianna and Bobby are a couple. They’re the two best forecasters of Cloud behavior, prized and protected by their supervisor, LeBrand, because of their complementary talents. So why are their bosses trying to kill them? What’s the real agenda—and just how bad is that last Cloud formation going to be? Can Rianna, Bobby, and LeBrand manage to stay alive long enough to find out what’s going on?

A Different Life--What If? by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

What if Gabriel Martiniere's family didn't die in a plane crash when he was twelve? What if he didn't have to go into hiding after testifying against the atrocities committed by his father, Philip Martiniere? What if he met and fell in love with Ruby Barkley as himself, not as Gabe Ramirez, a broke saddle bronc rider on the run from indenture bounty hunters? Gabe's a billionaire nerd with a conscience, unlucky at love, striving to overcome the shadows of his past while searching for agritech to fight climate change. Ruby's a former rodeo queen, trying to get her degree in agricultural robotics, searching for agritech means to fight climate change, also unlucky at love and struggling with a shadowy past. Can Ruby and Gabe successfully negotiate the complexities of the Martiniere Group and launch Ruby's world-changing biobots without interference from competitors?

Broken Angel: The Lost Years of Gabriel Martiniere by Joyce Reynolds-Ward

SPSFC SPSFC 2022

Exiled heir. Rebel. Husband. Father. In 2029, Gabriel Martiniere testified against the Martiniere Group's forced imposition of mind control programming on unwilling indentured workers. For his pains, he was forced into exile for over thirty years. Forced to divorce the love of his life. But he's still coming. Still bent on vengeance against the man who forced him into exile, Philip Martiniere. Gabe will win...or die trying.