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A History of Madness by Rebecca Crunden The four remaining fugitives are now spread across the Kingdom. And with the fate of the others unknown to him, Nate Anteros prays for a fast execution. Yet execution does not come. After a meeting with the King which leaves Nate questioning his sanity, he’s sent to a workcamp in Argon Basin for five years of hard labour. It’s there that Nate learns what became of his friends upon their arrest. And as his strength returns to him, and he’s plagued by dreams which are much too real to be ignored, Nate decides five years is far too long to wait … |
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A Touch of Death by Rebecca Crunden A thousand years in the future, the last of humanity live inside the walls of the totalitarian Kingdom of Cutta. The rich live in Anais, the capital city of Cutta, sheltered from the famine and disease which ravage the rest of the Kingdom. Yet riches and power only go so far, and even Anaitians can be executed. It is only by the will of the King that Nate Anteros, son of the King’s favourite, is spared from the gallows after openly dissenting. But when he’s released from prison, Nate disappears. A stark contrast, Catherine Taenia has spent her entire life comfortable and content. The daughter of the King’s Hangman and in love with Thom, Nate’s younger brother, her life has always been easy, ordered and comfortable. That is, where it doesn’t concern Nate. His actions sullied not only his future, but theirs. And unlike Thom, Catherine has never forgiven him. Two years pass without a word, and then one night Nate returns. But things with Nate are never simple, and when one wrong move turns their lives upside down, the only thing left to do is run where the King’s guards cannot find them – the Outlands. Those wild, untamed lands which stretch around the great walls of the Kingdom, filled with mutants and rabids. |
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Footprints in the Worm Garden by Fabrina Glitchlace Runt hasn't been harmonizing with her sister for a while. But a death in the family forces a remix of roles, and she finds herself with a whole new pet peeve. |
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The Clarity of Cold Steel by Kevin Wright The kid disappeared two days ago. Missing. Abducted. Murdered. What have you... Just another in an endless line of indigent kids wrung from the dregs of the Machine City. And it’s my job to find him. Me. Avinash Shakteel, detective extraordinaire. Probably you ain’t heard of me. Not if you run the straight and narrow and ply the right side of the tracks. Cause me? I ply the other. Two days missing… Two long days in the Machine City, last bastion of mankind in all its fallen glory. Where the sum total of life’s cheaper than in part. I hope I find the kid. By God, I do. But if I can’t find all of him, I pray I find none. Join Detective Shakteel in this gritty steampunk thriller sure to set your blood to boil. |
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Gleeman's Tales by Matthew Travagline Gnochi Gleeman is not like other entertainers. Because of his expansive knowledge of pre-apocalyptic Earth, the stories he tells are valued well beyond the flashes of an illuminator, or the spheres of a juggler. Gnochi spent the first decade of his career telling stories while traveling between taverns, inns, and any hole-in-the-wall which would feed him. Cleo, a young teen from across the ocean, flees from her chaperone into the woods of an unknown land. During her first months journeying through eastern Lyrinth, she discovers something life-changing about herself. With that discovery comes the knowledge that her life is in grave danger. Despite a love for the open road and a thrill for telling new audiences about the lost age, Gnochi chooses to retire and focus on curating his family’s hidden library of first-age texts. But the fates would not grant Gnochi the boon of a peaceful retirement. Not long after settling down, he learns that his sister and niece have been kidnapped, and in order to free them, he must assassinate the land’s ruling monarch. On the path to murder, Gnochi runs into Cleo and the unlikely duo seek safe passage to Lyrinth’s capital among the dilapidated tents of a traveling menagerie. All the while, people across the world are beginning to prepare for the once-in-a-decade winteryear. These winteryears, one of the echoes of the first age still present in the current world, have been ravaging the Earth since it awoke from its eternal winter and recovered from its near destruction thousands of years ago. Will proper preparations be taken before the Earth is blanketed in its yearlong snow? |
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Humanity’s wake-up call. Answer it or face extinction. When Bleu’s little sister shows symptoms of the deadly Sickness, a strange vision directs him to leave humanity’s subterranean haven and seek the cure on Earth’s glacial surface. Joining the expedition team, Bleu expects extreme temperatures, not a surface ruled by ingenious predators. Rana and her fellow star beings have co-existed with Earth’s top carnivores since the humans disappeared. But when her peers transform into Crowned Ones, the final stage of star being development, she fears remaining Uncrowned like her parents. To prove her worth, she undertakes a dangerous mission—contacting the hostile and nearly extinct humans. But Rana’s plan backfires, and Bleu’s team retaliates. As war with the more advanced star being civilization looms, both Rana and Bleu separately seek a way to save their people. |
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Pilgrimage to Skara by Jonathan Pembroke Finalist in the 2017 Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off contest! It has been nearly two decades since Pell Wendt abandoned the power and prestige of Collum. Ruled by the semi-divine Ajudicar, the city had been his home all his life, but no longer. Spurned by the woman he loved, the former pathfinder, adventurer and criminal walked away from his life of escorting promising youngsters to the shrines of power, and retreated to his farm in the Sogras, to live a life of bitter and brooding rejection. Now, House Kettiburg has reached out with a an offer he can't refuse: a pilgrimage to Skara, a mythical and dangerous shrine far out in the barbarous Outlands, for the supplicant Keilie - the daughter of the very woman who rejected him. Trapped by the love his heart cannot deny, Wendt agrees to the pilgrimage and finds himself embroiled in intrigue and betrayal, with far-reaching implications for himself, Keilie, and the tattered remains of the human race. |
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The Nothing Within by Andy Giesler Root is... different. Though raised in a fearful society that reveres tradition and conformity, she’s irreverent, outspoken, and deeply curious. Her blindness sets her even further apart. Centuries after the Reckoning, a global biotech plague, savage chimeras still threaten human survival. After Root hears a voice that no one else can hear, she flees into the wilderness. Outcast and hunted, she must confront a dire threat to her people--and unravel the mystery of who she really is. |
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Lazarus Code (First Family Saga #1) by Sharon Van Orman "I am Ryder of the Pentimalli, a member of the first families and Captain of the deep space exploration vessel, Serendipity." In the centuries since our forefathers tamed an uncivilized land and revolted against a King we had grown complacent. When our government waged cyber war on us the spirit of those long dead patriots was ignited, sparking a second revolutionary war. It was then that the First Families were born. Genetically enhanced humans who carried within our blood stream nano-bots that repair and regenerate. We were meant to be the record keepers. The vanguard of our species as we spread across time and space. I have returned home after a decades long mission to find Earth devastated by the Weeping Death. A disease that has made it possible for the dead to rise. With the help of my brothers and my crew we will find who is responsible. They expected us to be complacent. They were wrong. |
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Emissary (Emissary Quintet #1) by E.B. Brooks Ewan O’Meara dreams of becoming the greatest adventurer Veridor has ever known. Problem is, there haven’t been any epic quests since the ancient war of independence. His parents keep badgering him to take a respectable profession, and the overbearing Church soaks him for penance gold every time he dies. When he encounters a young woman fleeing arrest, he can’t resist helping her. At first glance, Treanna Rothchild needs it: she’s clueless about Veridian life. But she has other skills that defy Ewan’s understanding, and she knows things. Unsettling, seditious things the Church wants kept secret at any cost. And she’s here to raise an army. Risking both life and soul, Ewan follows Treanna where no Veridian has been, but he must come to terms with the harsh world she reveals as he discovers how much they have in common—and how much they depend on each other to survive. |
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What Branches Grow by T.S. Beier A boldly imagined, exhilarating quest through post-apocalyptic America, where human nature is torn between the violent desperation to survive and the desire to forge connection. Thirty-five years ago, the world was ravaged by war. Delia, driven from her home in Savannah by loss, travels North in search of a future. Gennero is tortured by his violent past and devotion to his hometown. Ordered to apprehend Delia, he follows her into the post-apocalyptic landscape. The wasteland is rife with dangers for those seeking to traverse it: homicidal raiders, dictatorial leaders, mutated humans, and increasingly violent and hungry wildlife. What Branches Grow is an unflinching depiction of life after civilization, where, above all else, trust is the hardest thing to achieve and to give. The survivors have an audacious dream of a better life, but their quest may end up being a fruitless endeavour in a world openly hostile to hope. |
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The Engineer by Darran M Handshaw Indie Recs Indie SFFOasis SPSFC 2022 "We are born in the shadow of fading memories and fallen dreams, living our days within the decaying bones of an age long gone." When the Engineer, Actaeon, arrives at Pyramid in the heart of Redemption, nothing goes according to plan. Mysterious raiders pursue him relentlessly across the shattered remains of the ancient metropolis, and the leaders of his homeland pay no heed to his ambitious ideas. Meanwhile, deep beneath Pyramid, a deadly creature stirs. And, when Actaeon meets a skilled young Knight Arbiter with brilliant blue eyes, he starts down a path he could never have imagined. The vast, fallen city of the Ancients is home to a new people who face the constant struggle to find resources needed to survive in the dangerous ruins. For the Engineer, however, Redemption is a treasure trove of technology, opportunity, and answers. But his unique skills make him a target for those who would use his talents to achieve their own dreams of power and control. In his endless quest for the truth, will Actaeon discover the fallen city’s greatest secrets? Or will he share the same fate as the Ancients of whom nothing remains but a whisper? One thing is certain: in Redemption, everything comes with a cost. |
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Consequences: A Wilders Finale by Cass Kim The exciting conclusion to the captivating Wilders Series. The virus is morphing and moving fast. Wilders aren't following the three rules anymore. Nobody is safe. Running low on supplies while waiting for a response from their plea for help, the camp in the Adirondak forest can't wait any longer. Emerson is selected to lead a supply run on what should be a short trip into town. With the world sliding dangerously close to a full apocalypse, his team will have to make hazardous decisions. Back in the camp, help arrives. But the form it takes is unexpected. Renna doesn't know who to trust. Or how she'll survive. Bold choices always have consequences. Now it's time to face them. |
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The Recoil Trilogy by Joanne Macgregor FROM RECOIL (BOOK 1): When a skilled gamer gets recruited as a sniper in the war against a terrorist-spread plague, she discovers there’s more than one enemy and more than one war. The Game is real. Three years after a series of terrorist attacks flooded the US with a lethal plague, society has changed radically. Sixteen year-old Jinxy James spends her days trapped at home – immersed in virtual reality, worrying about the plague and longing for freedom. Then she wins a war simulation game and is recruited into a top-secret organisation where talented teenagers are trained to become agents in the war on terror. Eager to escape her mother’s over-protectiveness and to serve her country, Jinxy enlists and is trained to become an expert sniper. She’s immediately drawn to Quinn O’Riley, a charming and subversive intelligence analyst who knows more about the new order of government and society than he is telling. Then a shocking revelation forces Jinxy to make an impossible decision, and she risks losing everything. THE RECOIL TRILOGY is a fast-paced, exciting, original Young Adult dystopian romance series, which makes great reading for lovers of Rick Yancey (The Fifth Wave), Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games), and Veronica Roth (Divergent). |
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The Frost Eater by Carol Beth Anderson Sink your teeth into The Frost Eater, a new novel reviewers call “a great read” that “sizzles along to an unexpected end” with “heavy-hitting action,” “magic and dragons,” and “a touch of romance.” ***** A lonely princess. A flying teen. A kidnapped girl who only remembers what happens at night. Seventeen-year-old Princess Nora is a frost eater who creates magical ice. Her royal life is luxurious but stifling. Krey West has a rare magical talent: when he eats feathers, he can fly. His one goal is to find his missing girlfriend, Zeisha. He thinks someone in power abducted her. Krey’s daring feats of magic earn him an invitation to the palace. Craving adventure and friendship, Nora offers to help him find Zeisha. He’s desperate enough to accept—though he hates the monarchy. The truth is more terrible than they could imagine. Every night, Zeisha wakes in a dark room full of sleeping people, unable to remember what she did in the light. Her dreams provide violent glimpses into her forgotten days. If Krey and Nora can’t save her, Zeisha may lose herself forever. The post-apocalyptic fantasy world of The Frost Eater will keep you compulsively turning the pages. Devour it today. ***** Quotes are from Goodreads reviewers Mike, Clarissa Gosling, and K. Law, and Booksprout reviewer Beth H. |
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Heal The Sick, Raise The Dead by Jacob Prytherch With the choice between the nightmare known and the nightmare unknown, it is the pull of the journey that drives Guy onwards, surrounded by a strange demonic family: the giant of aggression, the hideous shrinking man and the silent child. Together they travel from their lonely island home into a land of rain and blood, where the last remnants of humanity desperately hold on to the spark of life against a growing flood of the undead, and where either sanity or truth will finally be unravelled. Heal The Sick, Raise The Dead is the second novel from Jacob Prytherch, author of The Binary Man. |
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The Glooming (Wrath of the Old Gods Book 1) by John Triptych BOOK 1 OF AN EPIC POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIES! MYTHS ARE NO LONGER JUST LEGENDS, THEY ARE REAL. The end of the world is finally here. And it will be nothing like what you’d expect. All over the earth, strange and horrific events begin to unfold. A US combat team in Iraq comes under attack from mystical forces, an anthropology professor has an eerie encounter at Stonehenge, a runaway teen finds a very strange pet in Arizona, a young orphan in Siberia meets a terrifying old woman, and a pair of NYPD detectives discovers the ghastly doings of a supernatural cult. A large and diverse group of characters struggle to survive as civilization begins to collapse all around them. As each one realizes their true potential, every one of them must go through a personal, danger-filled journey in order to turn back the sweeping tide of chaos and destruction that threatens the entire world as we know it. Many will die, others will be corrupted, and the remaining few will be the humanity’s only hope. For the old gods have returned to cleanse the earth, and their revenge will be swift and merciless. |