stories in and

World Running Down

World Running Down by Al Hess

Valentine Weis is a salvager in the future wastelands of Utah. Wrestling with body dysphoria, he dreams of earning enough money to afford citizenship in Salt Lake City—a utopia where the testosterone and surgery he needs to transition is free, the food is plentiful, and folk are much less likely to be shot full of arrows by salt pirates. But earning that kind of money is a pipe dream, until he meets the exceptionally handsome Osric. Once a powerful AI in Salt Lake City, Osric has been forced into an android body against his will and sent into the wasteland to offer Valentine a job on behalf of his new employer—an escort service seeking to retrieve their stolen androids. The reward is a visa into the city, and a chance at the life Valentine's always dreamed of. Finding the androids means navigating both pirate territory and Val and Osric's growing feelings for each other. And as they attempt to recover the "merchandise", they encounter a problem: the android ladies are becoming self-aware, and have no interest in returning to their old lives. The prize is tempting, but carrying out the job would go against everything Valentine stands for, and would threaten the fragile found family that's kept him alive so far. He'll need to decide whether to risk his own dream in order to give the AI a chance to live theirs.


Replacement (The Lost Clone, #1)

Replacement (The Lost Clone, #1) by Jordan Rivet

SPSFC 2023

Jane is a leftover clone. Created for an unknown purpose, then abandoned at a rundown facility outside Grid City, she has a knack for trouble and a burning desire to find out why she was made. When a powerful tycoon hires her to replace his son Isaac’s best friend, a girl from the same clone batch as her, Jane jumps at the chance to finally get some answers. All she has to do is convince the charming Isaac that his friend is still alive, without getting too close to him. Stepping into someone else’s life isn’t easy, though, even when you have the same genes. As Jane struggles to survive at Isaac’s elite private school, she discovers the other clone’s death was no accident—and she might be next. She must solve her batchmate’s murder and unravel the mystery of their origins before the killer comes for her too.


The Money Cure

The Money Cure by Linda Peer

SPSFC 2023

What if avarice after billionaire-ism is just a subset of ordinary hoarding disorder? What if someone discovered a way to repair that? Who would benefit? Who would oppose such a cure, and how aggressively? The Money Cure is a comic romantic adventure set in the near future, when a housing crisis forces working people, from retail employees to programmers, to live in illegal housing called underhousing. Jemma is a beautiful loner with aspirations as a graphic novelist. She wants to make money to buy the time she needs to create a work of art. Employed in a menial job at a spa for the ultra-wealthy, her real ambition is to delight readers. Jemma also wants to acquire enough money, cash, assets, or whatever, to move out of her van, parked in underhousing. Financially challenged and stuck in a dead end job, Jemma devises an only slightly illegal plan to fix her money problem. Oz Vasquez is a sociable, outgoing biologist. He is one of a group of scientists who believe the solution to the deepening housing crisis is a change in how people, especially billionaires, regard the acquisition of vast hoards of money. The scientists believe the ultra-wealthy behave as crudely and irrationally as dragons sitting on hoards of gold in fairy tales. They are searching for a cure for what they call the dread moneypox. If they find such a cure, some of them intend to administer it to the ultra-wealthy by any means necessary. When Jemma and Oz meet, each secretly hopes to use the other to advance their scheme. Then they fall in love. Their intentions toward each other change, but their plans are already in motion. Their situation is complicated when they become entangled with a group of minor criminals called the Candy Mommies and Daddies. The Candies are masters of the misdemeanor, who sometimes step over the line into felony. Will either Jemma or Oz, or both, succeed? Will they betray each other, or help each other? Will their love survive their ambitions?


The Rains Came Down

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.


Godspeed, Lovers

Godspeed, Lovers by TQ Sims

Lovable loner Casey Isaac thinks love isn't for him. Not since extraordinary events left him with supernormal powers and a great deal of trauma. But when Oscar Kenzari looks at him, he can't help but change his mind. As Divinators, Casey and Oscar have used their psychic powers to defend humanity from sentient, extradimensional storms for one hundred years. But a storm more powerful than any before is brewing. MaalenKun, prince of the maelstrom, conqueror of countless realities, plans to turn the tables by infecting Casey's mind. Maalen Kun is not the only threat. Casey and Oscar must determine who they can trust: the eccentric trillionaire keeping them in the dark, the independent contractors with secrets of their own, or a seemingly helpful extradimensional being shrouded in mystery. As Casey works to defeat threats around and within himself, he must open to love for his chosen family, for Oscar, and for himself to unlock a transformative power capable of banishing MaalenKun. And Oscar must make a difficult choice that could cost him the future he dreams of. Can Casey and Oscar's love break the storm?


Android Affection - Book 1: Rogue Zero

Android Affection - Book 1: Rogue Zero by Beau Van Dalen

Ian's parents were murdered. The culprit isn't human—he's a robot. Androids used to be Ian’s passion. Now, he sees them as mindless killing machines to be feared. After Ian's adoptive family kick him out for being transgender, Ian finds himself homeless without a soul to turn to for help—which is when he meets Gilbert: a mysterious detective who treats Ian to breakfast one fateful day. Gilbert tells Ian about a case close to his heart. He drags Ian into adventures far beyond Ian's wildest dreams. And then, Ian falls in love. But it is wrong. So wrong. Because Gilbert is an android, and Ian swore he'd never trust another machine again.


Alter Ego

Alter Ego by Kate Sheeran Swed

Hollywood days. Vigilante nights. To the world, she's a star. To the league of heroes who raised her? She's a liability. Mary's got a penchant for gadgets, a resume packed with criminal-busting credentials, and a reckless streak that tends to land her in trouble. So when a potential recruit blazes a trail through a local bar--literally--Mary blows off league protocol and whisks the girl off to HQ. But Mary's heat-of-the-moment rebellion endangers her family when the recruit's father shows up; more blowtorch than human, he's got a vendetta against the league and powerful investors to back him up. Instead of letting Mary help, the league banishes her to a stint of camera-courting under the guise of her celebrity secret identity. But Mary's got no intention of benching her grapple hooks; she chases her own leads through a web of secrets that threatens to unravel her history with the league. As conspiracies pick her family apart, Mary must question everything she's been raised to believe--and what it really means to be a hero--before her fiery enemy sets his sites on the rest of the world. ALTER EGO is a twisty superhero saga for fans of Umbrella Academy and Renegades.


A Starbound Solstice

A Starbound Solstice by Juliet Kemp

Chipped Cup

A festive space queer romance that will melt your heart and warm your exosuit. Linn and xyr crew are halfway through their long journey from Earth to Cetalla; what better time to celebrate a solstice? Bid farewell to Sol and hello to a new homestar. Traditions around mistletoe—not to mention Linn’s totally non-existent crush on xyr crewmate Taye—have nothing to do with it. Explaining paperchains to xyr alien crewmate and plotting present-giving keeps Linn busy enough, but then something goes wrong with Heron, the ship’s AI. Tracing the cause to a giant hullbreach onto needlespace, Linn and Taye have no idea what to do about it, or the stranger who came through it. Can they save their ship and get to their new home before the pressures of needlespace damage Heron beyond repair? And is Linn ever going to get that kiss under the mistletoe? "This is such a sweet science fiction holiday story set on an interstellar ship, with just enough natural tension to be fun but with an overriding message of hope and kindness and a real feeling of light - just perfect for the theme of a solstice celebration." — Stephanie Burgis, author


The Heart of Space

The Heart of Space by Adam Gaffen

The Cassidyverse is back! Kendra and Aiyana's world is as vibrant and rich as ever in this new collection of thirteen pieces of short fiction. You might think their world runs on fusion power, or antimatter plants, or maybe even warp drives. But it doesn't. It runs on emotions and relationships and heart. What happened after Kendra's near-disastrous Christmas party? You're not going to believe it! Kendra's journey from actress to assassin continues in "Roses Have Thorns" Lexie wants to break up with her boring boyfriend, but she never expected a goddess Shi faces her demons in "Lupus in Astris", putting the ghosts of her past to rest In "Heart of Molycirc", Elsa confronts a lying, corrupt bully to regain her self-respect Step into the distant future of the Terran Empire in "Chooser of the Living" and see the covert battle that could launch a revolution These stories and more show what we mean when we say that the Terran Federation is the Heart of Space.


The Long Lost War

The Long Lost War by Jeff Walker

SFINCS

Far from Earth, in a distant solar system, clone soldiers are stuck in an on-going battle against colonial separatists. John 999801 must battle against an enemy that refuses to give up, and dreams of a woman he feels he's seen before. The life of this low ranking clone soldier is about to take a turn for the worst. Or is it going to open his eyes to the truth? Can one clone soldier make a difference? And who is the woman in his dream? Answers and horrors await him as he joins his fellow replicas to the surface of a planet called... Hell.


Daughter of Sorrow

Daughter of Sorrow by Abigail Silver

Gracie has come a long way from the state-run orphanage she spent a year in at age 6. Now a highly trained member of the Overwatch and one of the most powerful elder children on Cybele, she is trying to keep the peace between her psychic kin and the planet's mortal population. When her father's dark past— something she thought she knew and had come to terms with— comes to light with a new and devastating twist, Gracie must decide what is real before everything she loves burns to ashes.


Visions of Fire

Visions of Fire by Abigail Silver

Visions of Fire follows Gracie Usuriel, a young pyrokinetic, as she leaves the safety of her father's farm to find her calling at Landing University. Eager to learn the truth about her father's past, which he always carefully curated when she was living under his roof, Gracie is unprepared for the brutal reality that awaits her. Will her strange and growing powers be enough to protect her from the darkness her father held at bay or will they be her undoing?


Suspended in the Stars

Suspended in the Stars by E. A. Hendryx

A girl in hiding. A boy on the run. The fate of the galaxy between them. When Talie Zarna is forced to hide rogue soldier, Renner Cartha, her life isn’t the only thing threatened. Living as the famed Soaring Staress on the circus spaceship Midway masks her true identity, but Renner’s very presence threatens to draw unwanted attention. As a former royal guard, Renner holds secrets of his own. Like evidence of a political assassination he is on a mission to deliver to the Xerus Galaxy’s governing council. Renner's flirtatious confidence is at odds with the seriousness of his mission, but when his former guard captain, Jas Uli-Tai, discovers him hiding among the circus performers, Talie risks everything she's come to cherish—going so far as to leave the safety of the Phenomena circus—to do what is right. With Jas closing in at every turn, Talie and Renner come close to finding the High Council only to discover corruption at its core. Their only option for escape is a cocky smuggler who’s not quite what he seems and an underground resistance group called The Rising that’s fighting for change in the galaxy. Faced with the weight of her true identity and the cost of embracing it, Talie must decide if she is willing to give up everything for the sake of saving the Galaxy, even if that means giving up the boy she loves. --- Suspended in the Stars is the first book in the Xerus Galaxy Saga. It is a no spice romantic space opera perfect for fans of The Lunar Chronicles, The Starboard Trilogy, and The Illuminae Files .


Child of Awareness

Child of Awareness by Abigail Silver

Follow Gracie Usuriel, a young firebird, as she grows up among an eccentric family of immortal psychics. Making friends with her sister's ghost and falling for a cybernetic diplomat-in-training are average days for the daughter of the most (in)famous man in the world. If Gracie's flames can't illuminate her father's dark past, they may consume everything she loves.


Undiscovered

Undiscovered by Ashley Anglin

Sometimes truth is stranger than folktales. Bilingualism and plate tectonics were the only kinds of shapeshifting Arden Araujo’s troubled geoscientist dad prepared her for. But it turns out, the outlandish prediction that wrecked his career–a devastating North Sea tsunami–might not be the unlikeliest truth he took to his grave. In the 2097 tsunami’s aftermath, environmental first responder Arden expects her mission in hard-hit northeast Scotland to involve the usual grunt work, maybe a little freediving if she’s lucky. Instead, she stumbles upon a critically endangered species of Orkney and Shetland legend, hiding in plain sight among the refugees. They trust that she can help restore their kind, despite storms, aftershocks, and policy decisions way beyond her pay grade. Increasingly at home on the shores of their life-giving sea, she may have found her calling; true love might not be a mere children’s story either. Yet the deeper she’s immersed in their tale, the less sure she feels that she’s the right hero to protect the hidden treasure of their existence. UNDISCOVERED is a unique sci fi/fantasy fusion: climate fiction, hopeful fabulism, and a feminist hero’s journey, told in lyrical prose (and occasional Spanglish).


The Orchid and the Lion

The Orchid and the Lion by Gabriel Hargrave

Dorian Vidales left his cushy but constrictive life on Earth behind to become the star femme Dom at a space station brothel. Convinced that love makes people stupid and will ruin everything he’s worked so hard for, Dorian remains happily married to his career. But when Laith Ritter, a gorgeous trans man, is hired at the brothel and Dorian gets roped into training him as a sub, he’ll find it hard to follow his own “don’t get attached” rule. At first, having a bratty, inexperienced live-in sub is more chaos than he expects, but it soon becomes everything he could never admit he needed. As he trains Laith, Laith helps Dorian find himself outside of his high-strung, overly controlled work persona. With their relationship growing more and more serious, Dorian realizes this is what was missing in his otherwise glamorous life. But amidst the glitz and glamour of the space station—a haven for people otherwise disenfranchised by Earth’s Purity Laws—trouble is brewing. When a pro-Purity politician gains power and begins pushing her political agenda, Dorian and the man he’s falling in love with will be thrust into a dangerous fight to keep the station free. The trials they face will test their burgeoning romance and change their lives forever. The Orchid and the Lion is the first novel in a kinky, sensual series about love, self-acceptance, and fighting for what you believe in.


The Lion and the Dahlia

The Lion and the Dahlia by Gabriel Hargrave

It’s been months since Earth supported a pro-Purity coup on Baldwin, and Laith Ritter is settling into his new home on Europa Station. He’s a hit at work, he’s building a life with his boyfriend and Dom, Dorian Vidales, and he’s found a family, one that he would do anything for. He’s even caught the eye of his handsome coworker, Omar. On the surface, it would seem Laith’s star is on the rise and still climbing. But in reality, he’s struggling. And so is Dorian. He’s desperately trying to find his boyfriend, Kenny, and figure out how to help his coworkers who got arrested the night of the raid. And unlike Laith, Dorian’s not as big a hit as he used to be, which is hurting his already fragile ego. With their relationship already shaky, the last thing they need is to get swept up in more chaos. But some always manages to find them... When a client is found murdered, it’s up to Laith to figure out who really killed him and why. But the list of suspects is long—and some of them are people he cares about. As he and Omar work together to clear an innocent man’s name, Laith uncovers secrets that he’d rather not know, ones that throw what he believed about some of the most important people in his life into question. Can he find the murderer before it’s too late? And can Dorian and Laith’s rocky romance survive the chaos? The Lion and the Dahlia continues the epic kinky queer sci-fi romance series that began with The Orchid and the Lion and sends Dorian and Laith hurtling towards a fierce battle to reclaim the home they lost.


JUNKER SEVEN

JUNKER SEVEN by Olive J. Kelley

A romantic, queer sci-fi epic about changing the galaxy, one girl at a time. Castor Quasar is a junker— a bounty hunter making a living off of collecting and selling valuable scrap. They live a quiet life, bouncing from job to job and not worrying about the brewing galactic rebellion. Except, when they get a job offer for an irresistible amount of money, they find themself embroiled much deeper than expected. Their task? To smuggle transgender activist Juno Marcus across the galaxy under the watchful eye of the Intergalactic Police Force and a propaganda-informed galaxy. It’s too dangerous to accept, but too valuable to refuse, and it doesn't help that Juno herself is charming and beautiful. Agreeing drags Cas into a whirlwind race against those who want Juno dead to make it across the galaxy to safety, risking it all for a cause they can’t– or won’t– believe in.


Electron Spin

Electron Spin by Qualia Reed

Can a rock band save the universe? After surviving everything the galaxy could throw at her over half a million years, the android Esmerelda did the only thing that made sense to her. She stole a state of the art, experimental starship with her best friend, and started a rock band. Together, they began to travel around the galaxy creating art and music while trying to move on from their respective pasts. When a strange couple beg for asylum after a gig, Esmerelda feels the galaxy pulling her back into a life of violence once again. She'd sworn to herself that she'd never go back to her life as an assassin, but when events threaten her new chosen family, Esmerelda must do what it takes to keep the people she loves safe.


At the Manor House

At the Manor House by E A Stoy

As a secret agent in a war between supernatural societies, Brand has made himself into an expert in social engineering and information gathering -- or, as some might put it, sexpionage. His world is upturned when a new handler back at the office takes an interest in him and pulls out all the stops to save him from a trivial lapse in intelligence. Intrigued, he resolves to learn more about what turns out to be a shy and withdrawn man in the Extraction department, whose blisteringly competent work persona is at odds with his awkwardness and inability to control his own elemental powers. Feeling that he owes this handler a favor, and with growing interest in this strange and quiet man, Brand takes him under his wing and swiftly develops a reason to come home at the end of a mission. Meanwhile, he's being sent back into the fray to seduce a dangerously skilled mage bred by an opposing society. It certainly appears that he'd prefer a clean break from his own organization, but will that be enough to flip him as an asset to Headquarters? A queer romance based on mutual respect and admiration.


The Trouble With Love

The Trouble With Love by Maurice X. Alvarez

SPSFC 2022

Teenage thief, Kormèr Lezàl, tumbles through his inter-dimensional portal to the distant future and into the middle of a fire fight on a distant world. Swept into a web of industrial espionage, an impossible jewel heist and romantic intrigue, there's trouble at every turn, but he'll do whatever it takes to win over Averia's beautiful chief of police... if she doesn't arrest him first.


Idyllian

Idyllian by R.Z. Held

SPSFC 2022

Nanite and implant internal technology began in the Pax Romana planetary empire's army, but it hasn't stayed there. Across four novellas and more than a century, two natives of the conquered planet Idyll must each contend with technological abilities thrust upon them without their consent. Genevieve, living in a time of war on her planet, was infected with nanites from a dying super-soldier—nanites that remade her in the image of those super-soldiers. Sienna, caught between the now-aging empire and even more violent rebels, was captured and used in a prisoner exchange in the place of a dead Pax Romana spy—leaving her with that spy’s implant in her head, leaking memories. Can Genevieve and Sienna remain themselves with internal technology taking over their minds? And what can they do when the abilities granted by that hated technology are the only thing that can save the ones they love most?


The Pharaoh's Curse

The Pharaoh's Curse by Kyro Dean

There was a reason the assassins always won in the end. Why her family always died. He was smarter than her, whoever he was. More prepared. A mongoose to her cobra. And it didn’t matter how hard she fought back, how hard she bit. In the end, he’d eat her up. Zarina Nefartari is the last descendant of the ancient queens. As novel and grand as a royal heritage sounds, descending from a line of queens has only ever brought her trouble. She is, after all, a descendant of the sun god who can’t bear to see its light without getting migraines and who needs colored lenses just to stand in its rays. The laughing gods were cruel like that. Not to mention the assassin that has been hunting her family for millennia. The begrudging family of killers has been the end of every one of her female ancestors since the great queen herself--and they're coming for her next. To make matters worse, her god-appointed bodyguard since birth, Farak, does not reciprocate her growing feelings. Too bound to his godly oath, he has committed to forsaking love and protecting her at all costs. Unsatisfied with the lot the fates have dealt her, Zarina wants more than anything to free them both from the curse of an early death. She leaves her life of hiding to solve the mystery that has shaded her family for two-thousand years, hoping that if she takes fate into her own hands and fights back against the assassin, Farak's allegiance will change. The problem? Lord Richard DeClare: an over-excited Brittanian Aegyptologist who finds her absolutely mesmerizing--and who reveals her identity to all of Aegyptus. With the mysterious assassin hot on her newly-announced trail, a street lord who wants her dead so he can steal her family's treasure, and that pesky Britannian who happens to possess the resources she needs, Zarina is thrown into a foray of chaos that threatens to kill her at every turn. Now, she must use her colored lenses to solve the clues in the tunnels and tombs of her family's legacy to figure out who the assassin is and why they've wanted her family dead since Queen Nefertari's reign over two millennia ago. Deep in the heart of an alternate-history Egypt, Zarina must learn what matters more--family or fate--and how much control she has over a life ruled by the gods.


Stargun Messenger

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.


Echo: Part Two

Echo: Part Two by Michael Listen

Death is not the end. Kai Randal’s future looks bleak due to the galaxy-wide bounty on his head and the catastrophic events at Zorb Keep. Meanwhile, Shreya holds onto hope amidst her despair, as she now possesses the means to find her missing husband. As the crew embarks on a journey through an uncharted region of the universe, Kai will come to comprehend the depths of despair like never before. Kai will face a deeply disturbing situation that will push him to his limits and make him doubt his own mental stability. The Echo series reaches a captivating conclusion that explores the profound impact of loss on individuals. The story takes a heart-wrenching turn, shifting the tone and keeping emotions high. Despite this, the novel remains engaging and ultimately provides a gratifying resolution.


Echo: Part One

Echo: Part One by Michael Listen

What lengths would you go to save a stranger? Kai Randal is a retired commander of the Colonial Navy who currently operates as an independent pilot in a galaxy torn apart by conflict. Although his profession is fraught with peril, he seems to possess a unique form of good fortune that allows him to survive while also making the situation worse. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is typical for Kai. Although, when he becomes the sole witness to an alien attack on a Dynasty ship, he is put in an awkward position to help the victims. This one act of kindness will send him spiraling deeper into the affairs of Shreya Nova, the enemy, and her troubles have just started. The Echo series is a thrilling Space opera consisting of two books. It features endearing characters with complex problems that will keep you on the edge of your seat, engrossed in the intense drama and despising the antagonist.


Unanimity

Unanimity by Alexandra Almeida

"Great for fans of Becky Chambers's A Closed and Common Orbit and Daniel Suarez's Daemon." Booklife The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Shadow is a reluctant god with a broken mind and a death wish. He used to be Thomas Astley-Byron, an affluent young screenwriter whose creativity and idealism saved a world from the brink of collapse. Together with Henry Nowak, an AI expert, Tom created heaven on earth by inventing a Jungian simulated reality that helps humans confront their dark sides. The benevolent manipulation platform turned the two unelected leaders into beloved gods, but now everything is failing. The worlds suffer as a sentimental Tom descends into his own personal hell, becoming the embodiment of everything he despises and a shadow of his former self. His journey from an optimistic, joyful Tom to a gloomy Shadow is paved with heartache and sinister interference from emerging technology. Humans and bots fight for his heart, but their aims differ: some want to own it, some to dissect it, and others to end its foolish beat. Estranged from the love of his life—the activist poet Nathan Storm—Tom fails to realize the biggest threat comes from within. None of the sticky stories that steer his life end well. Now, a young goddess—Estelle Ngoie—has been appointed to replace him, and unlike Shadow, Stella takes no prisoners, and her heart bleeds for no one. Who’s pulling on Shadow’s heartstrings? Are their intentions malign or benign? It’s all a matter of perspective, and Shadow has none left. The Series Themes An epic tale spanning across six days—one per book—and forty past decades of life lived across ten worlds and two universes. Weaving sci-fi elements with social commentary and queer romantic suspense, Spiral Worlds explores the nature of consciousness and how it's connected to a not-so-secret ingredient—story. As software consumes the world, intelligence is nothing but the appetizer; the human heart is the main course. There is no black or white in this story about a contrast-making machine.


The Alien's Allegiance (Norakian Warriors Book 1)

The Alien's Allegiance (Norakian Warriors Book 1) by Calla Ze

"She arrived on this new planet with two hot suns, but it was this blue warrior who burned away all her doubts." As Captain of the Norakian warriors, Kazstrom anticipates the upcoming competition that can promote him to be the next General of his legion. But a poisonous wound threatens to eliminate his dream. The hunt for a cure leads him to Earth, where he encounters an alluring human female who not only possesses the moonstone he desperately needs, but she also ignites something deep within him. Intrigued, he is compelled to protect her from enemies who are after the same moonstone. Teegan, a second-grade teacher, is drowning in debt and doubt after a failed engagement when a stunning star-being asks her to go to his planet and heal him. With nothing to lose, she decides a mini out-of-this-world adventure with Kazstrom is the exact escape required to alleviate her life’s issues. But her heart has its own plans and tosses her into an escalating romance filled with danger that will leave them both shattered if they are not careful. As Kazstrom battles his worst enemy to protect his starmate, Teegan must find her warrior spirit to defend the star-being she has come to love. If you like strong women, attractive star-beings, and galactic adventures infused with romance, then you’ll love the world of the Norakian Warrior Series! The Alien's Allegiance is a full-length sci-fi romance novel.


Love at 20,000 Leagues

Love at 20,000 Leagues by Lizzy Gayle

Paradise Atlantis: The underwater, high tech vacation destination where utopia awaits. Not for Sam. Not only is she deathly afraid of being submerged under millions of tons of ocean water, she's stuck for an entire month with the people she blames for her family falling apart. Even with the unexpected attention of two sexy men, including her longtime celebrity infatuation, Sam is sure the trip will be a nightmare. She’s both right and wrong. A type of pressure sickness she was unprepared for hits Sam hard, causing both lowered inhibitions and blackouts. When she gives in to her desires, a passionate romance blossoms. Unfortunately, even this steamy new relationship can’t salvage the trip when a saboteur uses the AI to commit murder – murder timed perfectly with Sam's mysterious blackouts. Now Sam must clear her conscience by finding the truth. But is she prepared for what she’ll find? Because either she’s a killer or she’s setting herself up to be next on the growing list of victims. “Gayle transports readers to an underwater utopia in Love at 20,000 Leagues... Devoted paranormal and sci-fi romance fans will enjoy the futuristic setting.” – Publisher’s Weekly


A Matter of Time

A Matter of Time by Lizzy Gayle

Arizona circa 1888 may be a fun place to visit, but the Time Capsule Fantasy Resort didn’t mean to crash land there. It’s up to Walter Doyle, inventor of the new technology, to find and repair the missing cloaking device without altering the timeline. Easier said than done when he runs into a real-life, real-sexy Annie Oakley named Sadie. From the moment she points her shotgun at him, he’s smitten. All Sadie Rogers wants is to be left alone to mind her ranch and her son, something the men in town wouldn’t be keen on if they found out her husband was dead. Keeping a low profile gets more complicated when the handsome Wally shows up on a hush-hush mission from Washington. When his top-secret contraption kills a man on Sadie’s property, she hides the evidence. Though, she might be convinced to turn the thing over in exchange for Wally posing as her new fiancé to help save her ranch… With sabotage afoot and a town full of corrupt cowboys and nosy neighbors, can Wally and Sadie find a way to solve both their problems? Maybe. But they’ll create an even bigger one while trying—how to hold on to love that transcends time itself.


Zena the Lesbian Space Pop Star

Zena the Lesbian Space Pop Star by Summer Rena

A brilliant scientist, skilled fighter, adored pop star, and incredibly modest about it all, Zena Starr is the most beloved woman in the galaxy. And only a few people want to kill her for it. One of them? A bloodthirsty aristocrat from Zena's past. The other? The mutant assassin she hired to bring back Zena's head. There’s nothing Zena hates more than losing, and the assassin’s trap awaiting her at an empty lunar amusement park risks the loss of everything Zena’s ever given a damn about: her stardom, her reputation, and her eccentric crew of misfits that have become Zena’s family. To protect what she loves, Zena must survive a life or death battle with the most dangerous assassin to ever cross the stars, facing off with murderous singing robots, rogue petting zoo monstrosities, and off-the-rails hyperspeed trains along the way.


The Blood We Spill

The Blood We Spill by Jo Havens

What would make the most ruthless ice-queen assassin in the Kingdom hesitate? Bound to the Kingdom for life, Cie serves a cruel King, her knives pledged to his word, her life at his mercy. She is also one of the Kingdom’s most privileged slaves – one of the Praetoria: five of the best, sworn to protect the Prince and, one day, to rule at his side. It’s not a bad life – luxurious parties in any of the eighteen worlds, beautiful women falling over themselves to land in her bed, her orders to be obeyed by over forty-eight billion citizens. But when a routine job goes spectacularly wrong, Cie discovers there is a witness to her failure – a witness to a political assassination the King would never want revealed. It’s Cie’s intense misfortune that the witness is a beauty – a woman with sweet, warm skin that Cie longs to sink into, with deep, brown eyes that hold promises that Cie has only ever dreamt of, a woman whose embrace offers a gentleness and a kindness Cie craves above all else. Jemma thought she’d been in love before, but when she falls for the King’s assassin, she falls hard. Cie burns her up – the assassin plays fast and loves harder, and Jemma’s head is whirling even as her body is thrilled. Jemma watches as a growing terrorist threat pushes the King to madness and Cie’s orders become more and more violent. The woman she thinks she loves is steeped in red. Is it even possible for a girl from the suburbs to love a person so drenched in blood?


The Symbiosis

The Symbiosis by Casie Aufenthie

A hero lost. An assassin on the warpath. A villain forced to be a savior. Eight months after Tristan Faraday sacrificed his identity to save the woman he loved, the newest member of the Council faces danger on all sides. The woman he was programmed to care for, Emmeline Boucher, grows more unstable and dependent on him daily while he becomes embroiled in a deadly political game with the ruthless Head of the Council, Fang Chen, who will do anything—destroy anyone—to hold on to her power. To honor Tristan’s legacy, Samara Zidan has thrown herself into ending the Council’s reign, leading the Resistance in a furious offensive against them. However, her heart remains fixed on finding a way to save the man she loves. When an opportunity presents itself, Samara will end up in the path of the most dangerous people on the planet, risking both her heart and her life. Desperate to uphold his promise to make amends, Wyatt Faraday has worked tirelessly to find a way to fix Tristan’s faulty memories, but with Fang out for his brother’s blood, time is running out. If he doesn’t restore what was taken from Tristan soon, everything Wyatt cares about will be lost.


The Drift

The Drift by Casie Aufenthie

SPSFC 2022

In a future where the human race has split into three species, the mentally-evolved Illuminatos have conquered the other two in a brutal Evolutionary War. Now, the seven most powerful Illuminatos, the Council, control the Earth, ruling over the other two human species through violent oppression. As one of the defeated physically-evolved Corporis, Samara lost everything: her family, her freedom, and her will to fight. But when her master, Lord Wyatt Faraday, commands her to find the mysterious leader of the Resistance, Tristan, everything she thought she knew is challenged. Tristan is an Illuminatos who has turned his back on his own kind to follow his principles. An idealist hoping to restore peace and equality for all species, he cannot escape his past, and it may force him to make a terrible choice. Their meeting will change the world, but will it be for the better?


The Ghosts of Tantor

The Ghosts of Tantor by Adam Gaffen

They think they're ready for this mission. They're wrong. The Terran Federation is finally at peace and ready to begin serious exploration. The TFS Pike is the newest ship in the Fleet, purpose-built for deep space missions. Four kilometers long, with a crew of four thousand, she’s well-equipped for the years ahead. If only her crew was as prepared. Ensign Nicole Crozier, the former Premier of the Luna Free State, has left politics behind to pursue a career in the Fleet. But her stint as the Artemis Minister of War has landed her in Tactical instead of Science, her passion, and she’s not happy about it. Still, she’s been promised a chance to switch tracks, so for now she’ll deal. Everything changes when Nicole discovers a rogue planet, and she’s given command of the landing party. She’s irritated her superior but that’s the least of her problems when an ancient alien artifact emerges from the ice. As Nicole and her team explore the interior, the planet and her team vanish. The crew of the Pike must use all the tricks and tools available to get their missing people back. When they finally do, Nicole brings aboard a discovery which could change the course of history. Or end it. If you're a fan of Star Trek: Voyager, Battlestar Galactica 2003, Interstellar, or 2001: A Space Odyssey, then this is for you.


Realization

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?


Ascendant

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?


Inheritance

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?


A Different Life--What If?

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?


Adrift in Starlight

Adrift in Starlight by Mindi Briar

When set adrift in the universe, some things are worth holding onto. Titan Valentino has been offered a job they can’t refuse. Tai, a gender-neutral courtesan, receives a scandalous proposition: seduce an actor's virgin fiancée. The money is enough to pay off Tai’s crushing medical debt, a tantalizing prospect. Too bad Aisha Malik isn’t the easy target they expect. A standoffish historian who hates to be touched, she’s laser-focused on her career, and completely unaware that her marriage has been arranged behind her back. This could be the one instance where Tai’s charm and charisma fail them. Then an accidental heist throws them together as partners in crime. Fleeing from the Authorities, they’re dragged into one adventure after another: alien planets, pirate duels, and narrow escapes from the law. As Tai and Aisha open up to each other, deeper feelings kindle between them. But that reward money still hangs over Tai’s head. Telling Aisha the truth could ruin everything... Their freedom, their career, and their blossoming love all hang in the balance. To save one might mean sacrificing the rest.


True Teryn

True Teryn by S.G. Blaise

Lilla must recruit the biggest and most dangerous army in the Seven Galaxies, but the Teryn emperor will not comply unless Lilla earns the blessing of the Teryn Guardian Goddess Laoise. Dealing with gods is never easy. Guardian Goddess Laoise’s condition for bestowing her blessing is for Lilla to bring her the mysterious Heart Amulet. Now Lilla is trapped in a strange place with no way out, no idea where to go or how to find the amulet. The only way for Lilla to complete her mission is to uncover the biggest secret of all Teryns. Will she survive discovering the secret of what it means to be a True Teryn?


Anstey's Revenge

Anstey's Revenge by Susan Hancock

He'd imagined himself safe, restored, with her beside him; instead he's lost and alone and he can't reach her anymore Kat hadn't wanted to return to the underground world of the Aurigan refugees. But giving birth in the outside world of sixteenth-century Earth was too dangerous for a half-Aurigan, half-human like her. Thankfully she now has a precious baby daughter, but the price is isolation from the world she knows and loves. She also has to bear the nightly misery of seeing Thomas, her husband, slip further away from her as he battles appalling memories which threaten to overwhelm him completely. Thomas can see no escape. He cannot envisage a future with the love of his life. In the darkness of depression he compares his own helplessness with the power only Kat can access. Beyond that, he will never share with her the full extent of what happened to him as Anstey's captive, and questions whether he can let her share his mind or his bed again. The desperate pair try to make a new life beyond the confines of the exiled community. Kat battles to save him. Malign fate has much worse in store for them. A natural disaster threatens Kat and their baby, while both new and old enemies have plans that will bring them to their knees. In Surviving Anstey (Anstey's Kingdom Book 1) Kat discovered she was not wholly human and fell in love with a man from beyond the stars. Thomas, an exile from a war torn planet, saved her from death and gave her his heart. It seemed as though a brand new life awaited them. But in Anstey's Revenge, the lovers seem to be fated to be wrenched apart. As this sequel draws to a close, they both must ask... will love be enough?


Tasmanian Gothic

Tasmanian Gothic by Mikhaeyla Kopievsky

SPSFC 2022 SPSFC 2023

A modern gothic thriller set in a decaying urban environment and lush mutant wilderness. Solari wasn’t alive when the ozone layer split above Tasmania and spilled radiation over the edge of the stratosphere, but she’s living with the consequences—the mutations, the gangland war, and the border wall that divides the affluent North from the contaminated South. Orphaned and alone in the southern reaches, Solari survives the chaos the only way she knows how: cooking the wildly addictive snowrock for local crime lord, Worcsulakz, and avoiding the mutants that skulk in the lush, untamed wilderness of the Fringes. But, when her junkie ex-boyfriend puts Solari more firmly in Worcsulakz’s debt, she runs—escaping the promise of violent retribution with a stolen van and a pair of giant wings cleaved from a mutant moth. Grafting the wings to her body disguises Solari as one of Tasmania’s most reviled and hunted, but grants her refuge in the one place Worcsulakz won’t look for her—a mutant enclave. There, Solari will form an unlikely alliance and commence the dangerous journey through gangland strongholds and carnival towns to get to the Border Wall in the north. Hunted by Worcsulakz, the hidden terrors of the Fringes, the secrets in her family’s past, and the deception at the core of her fragile alliance, Solari will need to confront them all or stay condemned to a life of loneliness and brutality. -- This dark biopunk adventure set in a post-apocalyptic world of danger and decay is perfect for readers of dystopian, gothic, and new weird science fiction, and fans of China Mieville, Jeff VanderMeer, Kameron Hurley, and Tamsyn Muir.


Revolution (Divided Elements #3)

Revolution (Divided Elements #3) by Mikhaeyla Kopievsky

With her conditioning finally unravelled, Anaiya is free. But her single-minded pursuit to pull down the Orthodoxy is made more complicated with the return of old friends and foes who challenge and fight her for the chance to decide Otpor's future. In a world of fragile trust and heavy betrayals - will Anaiya finally get what she wants? Or will she, too, join the legacy of her former mentor - the infamous Original Resistor, Kane 148?


Rebellion (Divided Elements #2)

Rebellion (Divided Elements #2) by Mikhaeyla Kopievsky

"The sky over the Edges shimmers then falters. Hovering between night and day, the dawn has come and trapped it between two very different realities - blurring it at the fringes until it becomes impossible to tell whether it is in one state or the other. Maybe both, maybe neither. Maybe something altogether different." In the anticipated sequel to Mikhaeyla Kopievsky's award-winning debut, Resistance, Anaiya 234 finds herself abandoned and reviled by both the Fire and Air Elements. While desperate to stay off the radar and keep her own Heterodoxy hidden, her guilt and need for redemption drive her back into the conflict that first unraveled her identity. But Otpor has changed - now a battleground scarred by violent attacks and reprisals. And Anaiya is no longer the Elemental she once was. Forced to confront her fractured identity and forge new relationships, will Anaiya's past come back to haunt her...or help her?


Bypass the Stars

Bypass the Stars by Kate Sheeran Swed

SPSFC

Seventeen-year-old Frankie Hartiger can reroute any elevator, steal the data from any ID chip, and scramble the facial recognition software on any security bot. The only thing she can’t hack? Her parents. They won’t trust her with a coffee order, never mind a position in their interworld exploration company. When their very first inter-universal tour goes wrong, Frankie sets out to rescue her parents—accompanied by Earth’s first (and most annoying) interworld immigrant, Jord Mathison. But a transport malfunction hurtles them into the wrong world, where a deposed prince wears Jord’s face. To the prince, Frankie’s last name is equivalent to a curse: his world is dying, and Frankie’s family is at fault. As a breadcrumb trail of conspiracies leads Frankie toward her parents, she’s sure Jord knows more than he’s willing to admit. If she can’t forge a truce with him to root out the truth, she’ll be stuck forever—and if the inhabitants get their way, she’ll burn with their world.


Dragon's Baby

Dragon's Baby by Miranda Martin

SPSFC

My strange life as a scientific researcher is ripped apart the day blood-thirsty pirates attack our space ship. In the confusion, the ship is thrown off course. We crash land on a planet that can barely support life. Yeah…things are going swell. I’ve escaped the pirates, at least. But when Ladon, a powerful Zmaj warrior, rescues me from the scorching desert wasteland, I soon learn I have bigger problems. This planet is home to a dragon-alien...and he has eyes set on me. Ladon takes me to his lair, where it soon becomes clear I'm not just a prisoner. I’m his mate. In love with my curves and my soft, human form, he declares he intends to keep me and claim me in every way. And the moment he touches my trembling body, he leaves no doubt... This fierce, protective dragon owns me. Fans of Ruby Dixon and Calista Skye will love Dragon's Baby by USA Today Bestselling Author Miranda Martin, a full length, standalone science fiction romance with a happily ever after, plenty of steam, bloody battles, and alien-human intrigue. Scroll up and one click to start this scorching hot SFR today!


The Empress Capsule

The Empress Capsule by R. K. Thorne

SPSFC

A dangerous new passenger. A ship full of elite women marines. A package containing a terrible secret. Meet Kael Sidassian: disgruntled mercenary and glorified guard of doors. Forced into a life he would never have chosen as a cyborg merc, he's lost not only his freedom but also his ability to feel anything—or appreciate the opposite sex—because of his cybernetic augmentations. That is, until last week when a renegade scientist blew the lock off his testosterone and reopened his eyes. A chance to free himself has landed in Kael's lap. He can run and hope his "employers" forget he was ever born. He just needs to get a ride off this backwater planet and deliver the strange capsule that's been foisted on him. One last mission. Unfortunately for Kael, there's only one ride off this planet. And it's on the starship Audacity, led by famed war veteran Commander Ellen Ryu and her elite marines. Dangerous, competent, well-trained, female marines. Commander Ryu is not to be trifled with, and she doesn't trust easily. And she certainly doesn't appreciate flirting. As an enemy rises to face them both, Ryu could be Kael's savior—or the one to finally end him. Because these women are on a hidden mission to seek and destroy abuses of technology anywhere in the galaxy. Abuses like the strange capsule hidden in his cabin. For lovers of sci-fi adventure with a side of romance in the tradition of Lindsay Buroker, David Weber, Elizabeth Moon, and Lois McMaster Bujold, THE EMPRESS CAPSULE is the first volume in the Audacity Saga.


Passages

Passages by Laurel Wanrow

SPSFC

On the run, Quinn holds a secret that nearly got him killed. If only he knew what it was. 

Though the ambush scrambled his memories, Quinn is sure of one thing—he can’t trust the electorgs on this alien planet. But they know information he desperately needs to puzzle out who wants him dead, and why. 

For decades, Eve and her fellow electorgs—part human, part machine—have beaten back toxic spores that poison the native people on the quiet planet of Aarde. When their new commander halts work right before a deadly spore release, Eve races to protect the villagers she considers friends and family. 

In the fray, a handsome traveler arrives with a story in conflict with the emotions the psychic Eve detects wafting from him. Quinn may not remember his past, but he knows this capable woman can help him, and soon they’re caught up in his dangerous mission: Space marauders are risking the planet to harvest a valuable resource. But what is it? 

With the fate of life on Aarde in the balance, the logic of joining forces erupts into an attraction that could prove fatal for both of them. Buy Passages to unwind a thrilling science fiction fantasy mystery today!


Dropnauts

Dropnauts by J. Scott Coatsworth

SPSFC SPSFC 2022

Over a century after the end of the Earth, life goes on in Redemption, the sole remaining lunar colony, and possibly the last outpost of humankind in the Solar System. But with an existential threat burrowing its way to the Moon's core, humanity must recolonize the homeworld. Twenty brave dropnauts set off on a mission to explore the empty planet. After training for two and a half years, four of them-Rai, Hera, Ghost and Tien-are bound for Martinez Base, just outside the Old Earth city of San Francisco. But what awaits them there will turn their assumptions upside down-and in the process, either save or destroy what's left of humanity.


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