Non-Conscious by Andi van Houten

SPSFC 2024

In a post-cybernetic world where most have abandoned their neural enhancements, seventy-year-old Herbert Ferris clings to his outdated tech—and the troubled legacy it carries. Once a rogue hacker, Ferris now clocks in at Re/Live Corporation as a digital ecologist, crafting biomes for the popular fantasy game world, New Europa. But when a glitch starts turning players’ avatars pink, triggering an online uproar, Ferris is thrust into the heart of a spiraling corporate crisis. Ferris is ordered to clean up the mess alone. Fed up, he decides to go non-con, using his neuromod to become the perfect corporate zombie until the storm blows over. But when he reawakens, the chaos has only escalated: protesters are picketing Re/Live’s head office, his job is on the line, and, to make matters worse, an innocent schoolgirl has gone missing. Gripped by a paranoia he hasn’t felt in decades, Ferris races to uncover the truth, clashing with police, protesters, ruthless rivals, and—worst of all—his vindictive ex. Non-conscious is a darkly humorous journey of one man’s battle to reclaim his dignity and sanity in a world where the line between fantasy and reality has blurred beyond recognition.

The Fealty of Monsters Volume 1 by Ladz

Chipped Cup SPFBO10

Illustrated by Soren Häxan Winter 1917. After years on the run from a dangerous cult, Sasza Czarnolaski and his father have found themselves among the Odonic Empire’s ruling class. One problem: vampires aren’t supposed to get involved in human governance. What the aristocracy doesn’t know, cannot hurt them. But aristocratic rumors blame the vampires for a summertime massacre months unsolved. Sasza suspects that same cult has finally shown up on his doorstep. It’s already in his bedchambers. Though his pro-proletariat lover, Finance Minister Ilya Górniak, has always been against putting working class lives at risk, he cannot say the same for his other comrades. Despite all rational arguments against it, the Emperor declares war upon the vampire states as vengeance. Ilya does not protest, and Sasza finds himself alone in a den of political wolves. Diplomacy has failed and insurrection comes from an unlikely source—the emperor’s own progeny, Świetlana. She invites Sasza into a bloody plan which will save his station and the lives of thousands at the cost of those he swore to serve. He will do anything to preserve his peace—even if it means giving into the monstrosity he spent so many years concealing from even himself.

Stud Like Her by Fiona Zedde

Chance has been in love only once, but it wasn’t with the girlfriend she stayed with for far too long. The same girlfriend who dropped Chance when she became too inconvenient. Or maybe just boring. To bury her disappointment, Chance tries to return to the woman she loved back when she was too afraid to be herself. A stud attracted to other studs. Instead of her old love, though, Chance finds Garett: a new and persistent admirer with the kind of swagger that leaves Chance weak in the knees. Garett is hot and very popular with her half a million followers on social media. She’s also a lot younger than Chance is used to. Not to mention there’s something familiar about her, something dangerous, that Chance can’t quite put her finger on.