Adventures in Bodily Autonomy: Exploring Reproductive Rights in Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror by Nisi Shawl, Elizabeth Bear, Annalee Newitz, Ellen Klages, Cecilia Tan, Jaymee Goh, Raven Belasco, Kathleen Alcalá, Tara Campbell, Cynthia Gralla, K Ibura, Helena María Viramontes, Sonya Taaffe, Anya De Niro

The fourteen tales in Adventures in Bodily Autonomy flow across alternate universes and through space and time to consider the issues of reproductive justice through a fresh perspectives. There is an adventure here for everyone. An astronaut on her way to Mars discovers she’s pregnant — can she keep her baby? Bee-like entities try to force a human to be their queen. In1930s Philly, a vampire offers a novel form of birth control. From a ghost, lessons learned too late. Women who cannot find a comfortable fit in their mythic realities. Future worlds where reproductive choices are different, but individual choice and external battles for that choice are just as real. Adventures in Bodily Autonomy will be released on October 16th, 2023, a date important in the history of women’s healthcare rights. On October 16, 1916, in Brooklyn, New York, Margaret Sanger opened the country’s first birth control clinic. Just nine days later police shut down the clinic, and Sanger served 30 days in prison. For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels — including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and postpartum care, and paid family leave—for every body. Authors include Kathleen Alcalá ~ Elizabeth Bear ~ Raven Belasco ~ Tara Campbell ~ Anya De Niro ~ Jaymee Goh ~ Cynthia Gralla ~ K Ibura ~ Ellen Klages Annalee Newitz ~ Nisi Shawl ~ Sonya Taaffe ~ Cecilia Tan ~ Helena María Viramontes One hundred percent of the royalties of Adventures in Bodily Autonomy are being donated to Reproductive Freedom for All to help them continue their vital fight for women’s bodily autonomy and basic human rights. “So satisfying to read a volume of new speculative fiction stories centered on women’s experience, women’s lives, women’s choices! You’ll find a pleasurable variety here: hard sf, fantasy, ghosts, vampires, horror, sweet lyricism and steel-edged noir — stories from well-known names, and stories from writers you've never encountered before. I guarantee that at least one story in this volume will make you punch the air in triumph, and another will work its way into your dreams, and not let go.” —Elizabeth Lynn, World Fantasy Award Winner “This anthology will be a breath of fresh air ins the ongoing fight for the right of women to control and make decisions about their own bodies.” —Chinelo Onwualu, author of “What The Dead Man Said” “Adventures in Bodily Autonomy is a fresh and bold collection. In our current political climate, these stories and imaginings are desperately needed.” —Myriam Gurba, author of Mean

PERMAFROST by Kate Kelly

The key to the future is a book from the past. The world is a frozen wasteland. Oskar and his sister Mitzi are fleeing south, trying to escape the Northern Raiders who have slaughtered their people. They find sanctuary in a strange city where they are made welcome. But the Northern Raiders have followed, and the city is besieged. Oskar joins with his new-found friends and takes up arms to help them defend their home. But then he discovers an old diary hidden away in the library. The diary was written at the time of the city’s foundation and reveals the truth about what happened all those years ago – and what caused the world to freeze. Oskar soon realises that there is more than one way for him to save this city.

Wraith and the Revolution by A.J. Calvin

Kye Verex is trapped. Due to a fluke of genetics, the decisions of the galaxy’s elite, and a lack of finances, he’s stuck on his polluted and noxious home world indefinitely. And it’s slowly killing him. Then his more fortunate sister returns one day, bringing the promise of salvation. Kelsey has always hoped to find the means to pull him out of his desperate cycle of survival, but it has taken years. Now, she has a plan, one that will cure his genetic condition and clear him for interstellar travel. The catch? He has to sign over his very existence – and a portion of his humanity – to Zylar Inc., the galaxy’s most prominent and notorious corporation, in exchange for the necessary treatment. Is his cure worth the cost?

The Kiss Catastrophe by Raima Larter

It is 2071, 29 years after Earth's Great Climate Catastrophe. Syd, a chemist at a powerful mega-corporation, meets Jake who takes her to a cave that contains a portal to another planet, Cascadia, an oceanic world suffering its own climate crisis. Meanwhile on Cascadia, Ruddy, a poet employed by the Ministry of Poetry is pursued by resistance forces of an enslaved minority, the In-Between, who see him as the key to their deliverance. An explosion strands him and an In-Betweener scientist on Earth and the four must join forces to save both planets from their climate crises.

Specimen by C. Quince

David Cortez, a decorated US Marine, is now on the run from his own government after escaping a top-secret CIA lab when an experimental medical procedure turned sour. While lying low in Mexico, an assassin sent from British Intelligence tracks him down. However, Sonny from MI6, a British-Iranian with a cockney accent, offers David a choice: join his team, or be killed. David chooses to work with Sonny, not only because he wants his life back, but because he feels a kinship with the man. They’re also both in the unique position of being the only living test subjects with alien DNA in their blood. Could that explain the strong attraction between them?

Zombie Blues by Dorothy Emry

Apocalypse got you down? Lines at the supermarket and rush hour traffic might be non-existent, but avoiding those pesky, flesh-eating undead can sure be a hassle. Find out what others are doing to cope with the zombie blues in nine short stories with a slightly quirky look at life in the apocalypse. A disgraced psychologist observes and records holiday shoppers' increasingly disturbing behavior in "Stress of the Season.” A horror film actress finds her true calling after the walking dead become a reality in "Diary of a Professional Screamer." An undead socialite refuses to give up being chic, though it may be harder to get reservations at the more fashionable restaurants in "And Her Little Dog, Too." A Chicago bluesman carries an axe of another kind in "Jasper Wills and the Zombie Blues."

Zombie Cafe by Dorothy Emry

In a little town in Indiana, in a place called the Zombie Café a possible solution to survive the apocalypse is brewing. Meanwhile, scattered across the country, a roller rink deejay, a handful of college students, and an English teacher walk into the zombie apocalypse.... If you're hungry for the drama of the zombie apocalypse served with a side of humor put this book on your menu.

King of the Dead: A zombie romance by Ryana Hunter

Almost a decade after the fall of man, the undead rule the world, and somehow Renee is still alive. Only a teenager when the apocalypse started, she watched everyone around her die. What she doesn’t realize to the king of the dead is she’s a ghost from the past. So, when his horde takes the city and he sees her, Zane doesn’t hesitate to seek her out. Without knowing it, she is the reason he became the monster he is. Given a second chance, he makes her his own. He’s devastated when she doesn’t remember him, but he can’t let her go, not this time. Zane will stop at nothing to make her his queen. She had given up when Zane found her, but she’s furious he forced her to become his prisoner. When Renee learns the key that might save humanity and destroy the zombies, it breathes a new purpose into her existence. However, to understand the secrets of the king of the dead, she has to get close to him. They discover they are bound by more than circumstance, that life and death may not be what they believe, and they can be reborn through love. Together they can create the Kingdom of the Dead.

"Null (Void)" by MultiMind

A chef, a choir boy and a newly minted office grunt are ripped away from their everyday lives and landed on a deserted island. They do not know each other or where they are. Nor why they hear a large computer voice that informs them “The world that you know is not available right now. Rebooting world now.” All they know is that nothing is as it seems and everything keeps changing. Available free on the Nightlight Podcast

Attack of the 50ft Trans Woman by Caledonia Fife

Lily Watson will do anything to transition, so when a shady biotech company offers her an experimental gene-editing gender change for free, she jumps at the chance. It means the end of her marriage, but she is prepared to live with that. She isn’t prepared for the radiation mutating her edited DNA, causing Lily to grow to an astounding FIFTY FEET! Now the biotech company wants her dead, genital-obsessed cultists are whipping up a public fear of her, the media has labelled her a terrorist for the crime of being a (really, really) tall woman, the police are after her for stealing her own DNA, and the government has sent the army to kill her. She’s big and she’s angry Fine, if they think she’s a threat, she’ll be a threat. She sets out for Downing Street, with death, destruction and murderous mayhem on her mind. When she is given the opportunity to affect meaningful change for trans people, she must choose if that is more important than her lust for vengeance… #GiantTransLivesMatter

Trails: Pit Miners by Gail Brown

The middens of the ancestors slowly empty. The last few usable pieces are found. Only a generation since KlaPit mine was abandoned, the new mine at Shells is almost empty. Buried dangers emerge from the bottoms of the pit mines. Forgotten fears told as campfire tales emerge in their spectral forms. Rusty worries her life skill is at an end. She has no other interest, than being the dig leader following Zella. Ambrena feels threatened that her life skill will be less valued as Tanna's daughters grow up. Every mistake is magnified as if it were life threatening. Corandra fears her ancestors have cursed her. Corandra knows they don't want her. Everything she touches crumbles. The box she found spreads a devastating illness. She abandons her villa for a cure. Corandra feels abandoned by her older friends, Ambrena and Rusty, as they embrace their life skills. The only person who notices her anymore is her verbal sparring partner, Henry. Or so she thinks. Will Corandra forgive herself? Will she allow others to forgive her for the damage her ancestors committed? When she has to choose between saving Ambrena and Rusty, or saving Henry, how will she decide? What will that decision mean to the future of the Pit Miners? Will Ambrena and Rusty find the cure they so desperately seek? Is it even what they think it is? Will the battle in the Grass Sea lead to peace, or the forgotten specter of war?

Trails: First Generation by Gail Brown

A devastating cascade of earthquakes strike New Mexico's forgotten fault lines. Quakes spread across the continent. Fumeroles emerge in unknown hotspots. The Earth shakes and begins the process of opening the Rio Sea, where once, in prehistory, a great ocean thrived. Oceans heave as the Ring of Fire bursts with increased activity. Continental plates shift, rip apart, and bounce against each other. Oceans heave as the Ring of Fire bursts with increased activity. Disaster builds on disaster. Continental plates shift, rip apart, and bounce into each other. Everyone thought Arizona and New Mexico would be forever safe from earthquakes, volcanoes, and shifting water tables. Only, they aren't. As the continental plates shift, so do the lives of Amber and Alex as they struggle to find firm ground in the altered landscape. Aftershocks spread through the land, changing communities, forcing most to flee for their lives. The world as Amber and Alex knew crumbles around them. Family and friends missing. Communication relays fail. There is no power, or phone service, with remaining fuel reserved for military missions. Society as they knew it, teeters on the brink of collapse. Established communities melt apart, as walls between human population groups soar. Men, women, and cultures clash as if they had never learned to live together in peace. Together, survivors must build a future in a tangled environment of fear, hunger, cold, and desolation.

Galataria's Echoes by Gail Brown

Galataria teeters on the brink of destruction. At least, the human population does. The rest of the world has been rescued. At what cost? Earth stumbles along the path to the Devolution War Galataria fought generations ago. Dreams begin to cross the dimensional boundary between Galataria and Earth. Dreams of people and places that don't match the lived experiences of the receivers. For Kalara and Leonard on Galataria, the dreams appear like nightmares, a haunt of a past best forgotten. For Shalin and Jendal, the dreams of Galataria are peaceful and serene. A beauty in life they have never seen. Stress builds in both worlds. Although the connection falters, it soon becomes the only way to save Galataria. Ties bind them together, between worlds. Bringing a bit of both worlds across the bridge into the other. Both worlds are threatened with ideas, and a life most don't recognize, and many fear.

Concurrent Earths by Gail Brown

Explore worlds, not quite as you know them. Alternative Earths, or human-like beings on other planets. Other times, history has changed. A forgotten past. An unreached future. A dream of places that may, or may not, be. Various short stories that stir the soul, and grasp at long forgotten details, which beg to be heard again. Concurrent Earths contains 40 short stories of Earth, or almost Earth, that may, or may not, exist. These stories reach to us across the stars. They share a thought, a dream, or a hope. Stories that touch the heart and soul. Whether a single individual, a community, or a society, each story delves into specific situations, and how they might benefit society. Or, how they might go wrong. Very wrong.

Terraform Charlie by Edge O. Erin

Humans are destroying the Earth and need a new home. After years of work and fighting those determined to stop him, terraforming scientist Charlie Kehler and his dedicated team have the solution-sowing life in the primordial soup of Nova Terra. A planet in the Alpha Centauri star system, Nova Terra is the destination for Shia and her fellow colonists and home to the indigenous Manots. How do two peoples with a common ancestor react when they meet? When Charlie seeded life on Nova Terra thousands of years previously, he feared things could go monstrously wrong. As the lives of the two races collide, will they choose war... or peace? Was Charlie right?

Legacy of Seconds by Edge O. Erin

"Crux of a whipscrew!" A chip of red coral found a gap between Claire's shield and work-shirt, and it stung like a bee. But that discomfort paled in comparison to the invisible sliver that steadily wormed its way into her mind. Her very own family and the Ghan elite were using her dearly departed sister as a vehicle to achieve global rule and facilitate a colonisation mission to a distant world. It pained her even more than her prosthesis. That her sister Mariot might still be alive fuelled her desire to use her affiliation with a resistance movement as a vehicle to redeem - if not rescue - her and bring down the reigning plutocracy. But the Ghans' and Graces' power, combined with the vicious clone Riot they animated, and some of the inhuman men they lorded over, represented a force that might only, at best, be circumvented.

Time Sneak: Emergence by Edge O. Erin

Brain trauma has rendered 21-year-old Emily colorblind, but the ability to see far more colors than the average person is hard-wired in her brain. Now, as a test subject with CuraeCare, Emily is working with InView, a platform that could save lives and possibly restore her ocular gift. But the past, both her own and that of nuclear Russia, has leveraged InView to claim lives and gain an otherworldly foothold on Earth. With a murderer on her trail and a demonically possessed CuraeCare executive penetrating her mind, Emily is in danger. As evil closes in, her best friend Holton, and a heroic indigenous shaman, put up the fight of their lives to save her.

Serendipity: The Quantum Realm Book #3 by Robert P. Edwards

Divided but still connected, humanity has made the leap into space. Can those humans that have evolved ever return to reclaim the Earth?

Inheritance: The Quantum Realm Book #2 by Robert P. Edwards

At the dawn of the 22nd Century, humankind stands on the brink of extinction or radical evolution. The Northern Alliance is at war on multiple fronts. Young bio-engineered soldiers called Readers are used to locate and destroy the last of the Quants. However, the elite Scania Quants, led by the merciless Tyr, are poised to strike back. Mackenzie and Chris are making plans to migrate to the moon. Like many, they look to the stars as an escape from a world irrevocably damaged by climate change and war. However, an unexpected event sends Chris on a desperate mission to save Antarctica from a tipping point that will have global consequences.

 Kazumi is now the CEO of Mashimoto. His innovations have kept Greater China at the forefront of AI and quantum technology, and an all-too-human Quant variant is rolling off the production line. Sophie leads a relatively normal life as an academic in climate science—normal, except for Scania mind-reading sessions for the Northern Alliance and her violent lucid dreams in The Quantum Realm. Along with Francois and Nicky, who are at the forefront of humanitarian efforts in South America, they are Global Village—connected, well-funded and well-meaning individuals who continue to make a difference in a world that appears to be wired to self-destruct.

Queeird: A Collection of Unusual Trans Masculine Erotica (2023) by Max Turner

Androids and aliens, werewolves and vampires, furries and… tentacles? Queeird is a collection of unusual, and at times monstrous, erotic short stories featuring trans masculine characters. From the ridiculous to the romantic, expect kinks, quirks and tropes. All the stories feature trans masculine main characters, with a variety of cis, trans female, trans male and non-binary lovers.

A Toxic Ambition by Erik A. Otto

AN ACTION-PACKED YA NOVEL SET IN A SOCIALLY FRAGMENTED SAN FRANCISCO The world has descended into a morass of radioactivity and harsh climate shifts. The wealthy have escaped to rule from the protected Inworld; enormous, impenetrable domes that dominate urban skylines. Outworlders must live a life of serfdom catering to the Inworld, unless salvation can be won through prowess in Ket—a game of dangerous anti-gravity maneuvers and debilitating energy pulses. This is the story of three lost Outworlders youths. Tristan is unmatched in his dedication to the games, Luisa is plagued by the memories of her family, and Michaelis has been cast aside by a corrupt system. Together, they need to find a way in, and Ket may hold the key. Praise for A Toxic Ambition from Kirkus Reviews "Like with 1984, The Hunger Games, and countless others, social commentary and plot are intrinsically woven together in Otto's tale...The book becomes a propulsive procedural, running headfirst into scenes of tension building action, driving the two worlds together towards their inevitable climactic conflict."

Transition by Erik A. Otto

From the author of Detonation (named to Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2018) comes Transition, a 16,000 word science fiction short story set in an enclosed city that is besieged by an endless war. It follows Alder and Lena, who both want a family. Their only option is to have lacrotic children; precious gifts that come with an expiry date. They struggle to maintain hope and dream of escaping to the stars as the transition looms ever closer.

Requiem by James Hornby

A young Chris Cwej, fresh out of an experimental time travel surgery, has been transported with his alien co-worker Tyron to a planet with deadly monsters and a single human woman. The robotic Captain of the INITEC vessel the Gold Reserve, along with his crew, are tracking the course of a massive Universe-wide disaster in the making. Gregori Glasst, famed spacefaring composer, is on tour for a musical celebration of Earth history, and has prepared his magnum opus to be played at a very specific venue. Chris, Tyron, the Captain, Glasst, and music student Fionara are all embroiled in something far bigger than they realize. Two notes of music that should never touch have melded into the sound of chaos. Chris must stop the Sol Three Tour, or else a requiem will play the Totality of Existence to its end.

The Nameless by Stuart White

For dystopian fans of THE LAST OF US, THE MAZE RUNNER, and THE HUNGER GAMES. The YA debut from award-winning author, Stuart White. IN A NAMELESS WORLD, ONE HERO RISES BY DISCOVERING THEIR IDENTITY. In a dystopian world dominated by genetic perfection and numbered gene pools, sixteen-year-old E820927, known as Seven, yearns for an identity beyond his assigned number. To escape a life as a Nameless Exile, and become a citizen of the Realm, he must pass a loyalty test to prove his allegiance to the totalitarian Autokratōr. But as the truth unfolds, Seven faces a difficult choice between revenge, love and discovering his identity.

Three Men In Orbit by Sandra Bond

"They're back... and they've got a sextant!" A steampunk extravaganza set in an early twentieth century where science has conquered gravity and colonised the Moon, but where other issues of the day remain as problematic as in our own timeline... such as the vexed question of votes for women. The beloved characters of Jerome K. Jerome's THREE MEN IN A BOAT take a pleasure-trip into space in an anti-gravity sphere, only to find themselves caught up in shenanigans and skullduggery millions of miles from anything to be found on the Thames. Will they be able to make it back to Earth with their skins and their reputations both intact?

The Psychopath Club by Sandra Bond

"He's a good kid. He just wants to kill you." The high school misfits and loners who call themselves The Psychopath Club don’t know that among them is a budding serial killer, Darroll Martock. Now, thanks to an enigmatic creature from somewhere beyond imagination, he’s gained a frightening new power...and this cold, remote Midwest town will never be the same. “The Psychopath Club is dark, funny and plays with your expectations. ...A proper psychopath, an unwanted horse’s head and more than one slip into strange new worlds...drawing you on to see just where the outrageous Darroll Martock is going to end up.”Stewart Hotston, author of Tangle’s Game

Life After Dusk by Douglas Jern

Liv has awakened after decades of cold sleep, only to learn that the world she knew has ended. The ruins are covered in a toxic gas known as ether, which causes horrific mutations when inhaled. Liv sets out on a journey through the benighted wasteland, dodging bloodthirsty mutants and killer robots along the way, in a desperate gamble to save the future from the endless, lifeless twilight. Interspersed with Liv’s journey are glimpses into the world before the fall, from the creation of Y, an immortal being whose blood holds the key to eternal life, to the cataclysmic war between humanity and Y’s progenies. A combat android forced to fight, die, and fight again, seeks a way to break the cycle and reach the promised heaven beyond. A college dropout goes on a road trip that takes a turn for the nightmarish when he sets foot in an old house that hides a terrible secret. A young girl, created for a purpose she cannot understand and banished from her home, discovers the power hidden within her, and the meaning of her existence. The fate of the ruined world rests on Liv’s shoulders. Her journey will not be an easy one, but where there is life, there is hope, and Liv always finds a way.

Nowhere Else by Felicia Davin

Solomon Lange was a brilliant, ambitious physicist until a catastrophe in his lab trapped him in the void between worlds. Newly rescued but traumatized and uncontrollably telekinetic, Lange no longer feels at home in the world or in his body. All he wants is to return to the Nowhere. But one crew member—the intolerable, imperturbable, incredibly patient, unbearably gentle Jacob McCreery—refuses to let him. Jake insists that Lange is the only one who can fix the damage in his lab, a breach to the Nowhere that’s simultaneously devouring and distorting the space around it. Left open, the growing breach threatens all of humanity. Jake’s not ready to give up on saving the world just yet—and he’s willing to dodge whatever Lange throws at him. Working together brings Lange and Jake closer than they’ve ever allowed themselves to be with anyone else. Can two wounded, lonely people repair each other in time to repair the world?

Out of Nowhere by Felicia Davin

Aidan Blackwood barely survived an unethical experiment by Quint Services. Researchers there robbed him of his ability to access the Nowhere, a void between worlds that allows him to teleport. Aidan plans to destroy the company and the man behind it, trillionaire Oswin Lewis Quint. The problem? Aidan’s childhood best friend Caleb is the one who rescued him. Aidan’s spent years distancing himself from Caleb. It’s the only way to protect him from the dangers of Aidan’s life as a Nowhere runner—and the only way for Aidan to protect his fragile heart from unrequited love. Now Caleb is inextricably involved in Aidan’s most dangerous plan yet. Aidan’s already lost his power. He can’t lose the person he cares about the most. Caleb lied his way into a secret Quint Services facility to rescue his best friend. He won’t be shut out of Aidan’s life now, even if it means risking his own life in Aidan’s wild scheme for revenge. As they pit themselves against a ruthless, corrupt trillionaire, Caleb worries that his unexplored feelings for Aidan might be love—and that he might not live long enough to find out.

Edge of Nowhere by Felicia Davin

Kit Jackson has two talents in life. He can navigate the void known as the Nowhere to teleport himself across long distances and he can keep his mouth shut. These talents have earned him a reputation as a discreet, reliable Nowhere runner—he’ll smuggle anything for the right price—and that’s how Kit likes it. Morals don’t earn money, and neither do friends. When the private research firm Quint Services makes Kit an astounding offer for a mystery delivery, he says yes. The parcel turns out to be an unconscious man, and even for Kit, that raises questions. When something monstrous attacks them in the Nowhere and throws them into an unknown wilderness, Kit and this stranger, a man named Emil, have to rely on each other. Kit just wants to make his delivery and get paid, but he finds himself increasingly entangled in Quint Services’ dangerous research—and his own attraction to Emil. Emil Singh left his career in the Orbit Guard to work at Quint Services Facility 17, a base hidden in an asteroid, to prepare a team to cross the Nowhere into other worlds. It’s the chance of a lifetime and he can’t wait to explore the universe. But then Emil witnesses a terrible accident in a Facility 17 lab and gets sent to Earth for questioning. Something isn’t right, but before Emil can investigate, he and the Nowhere runner hired to transport him are knocked off course. Is the monster that attacks them a creation of Quint Services? What else is the corporation hiding? He has to get back to Facility 17 to protect his team and he needs Kit’s help. Can he trust the cynical young smuggler?

The Heart Thief by Rose Grey

Interim Marshal Poe Lancaster tries to maintain peace between factions in his small frontier town, but when a group of unattached women arrives in Sector 1065 all bets are off. Dilara Elian knows all about plans. She planned to marry until she learned she was being played. She planned to flee the galaxy, but now, thanks to the marshal’s interference, she is stranded in Sector 1065. The new plan is to keep a low profile until she earns enough money to buy a ticket on the next spaceship out. She didn’t plan to incite a riot. As far as Poe is concerned, women and trouble go together. He married one once and the best part was when she left. Still, there is no law against friendship and keeping his eye on Dilara seems prudent given her secretive nature. But when a bounty hunter arrives, Poe will have to choose between the law and the women who stole his heart.

More Bugs by Em Reed

Dumped, broke and stranded at her mother’s house, Amy has few options for escape. Hanging out with her ex comes with getting to know his new girlfriend, someone who looks suspiciously like Amy’s younger, straighter doppelgänger. Strapped for cash and desperate to be out of her mother’s home, she ends up babysitting the UFO-obsessed kids of the hot working mom down the street. Over a dull, torrid summer in the Pennsylvania suburbs, strange lights linger on the horizon, and subterranean connections reach out their tendrils in the dark, signalling another, otherworldly possibility…

The Finery by Rachel Grosvenor

Tyranny is in the air in the city of Finer Bay, and Professor Wendowleen Cripcot would like to be left alone, thank you very much. The memories of the last one hundred years are quite enough to be getting on with, if only these young upstarts from the government body, The Finery, would stop trying to control her every move. With the eyes of a dictator upon her, there are not many places to hide… but Wendowleen has never been one to back down from a fight (just ask her pet wolf), and insurrection is brewing underground.

Tomorrow Was Beautiful Once by Amy Orrell

Tomorrow was beautiful once, and it could be again. But Jack can only choose one future… England, 2150. Time travel has accelerated climate change and set humanity on the brink of destruction. As a Person of Mixed Era Origin with the ability to recall parallel versions of time, British historian, Jack Elliot, seems the perfect candidate to travel to the past and prevent the advent of time travel. The catch? Success means Jack will cease to exist. Critically injured when he arrives in the past, Jack’s life is saved by Maddie, a second-generation immigrant and resistance fighter, who mistakenly believes he’s connected to the disappearance of her sister, Suraya. Jack’s denial soon unravels with the discovery that Suraya can lead him to his father — the man who robbed him of his mother — and the inventor of time technology. What begins as a fragile alliance soon puts their feelings and their missions to the test. Jack’s won’t be the only life affected by his sacrifice, but does he have the right to decide who should live and who should die — and will it be worth it for the futures he and Maddie hope to create?

From Within, A Darkness by Ray Adams

A mining operation deep in space. A crew of five, a security team of four. It's drudge work; routine, repetitive. Until it isn't. For some of the crew, there comes a growing sensation that they're not alone on the asteroid. Something is out there, waiting to be found, in the darkness. But does the biggest threat come from outside? Or from within? In the meantime, an ailing ship limps toward them, its own crew oblivious to the horror that awaits them. They come seeking help, but who are the rescuers and who, if anyone, will be the rescued?

Eschatonus by Ray Adams

Two ecology students monitoring illegal loggers on the planet Netaris stumble across a secret military operation that represents a threat to the lives of thousands. Cut off from civilisation, a dangerous trek through the forest is the only hope of getting the word out. The crew of a crashed spaceship offer their help but it soon becomes obvious that there is more to fear in amongst the trees than the soldiers hunting them... Ray Adams' new novel is a tense, suspenseful drama about those who would pervert nature to their own ends and those who refuse to stand by and let them. When it comes to the crunch, though, all anyone wants to do is to escape the forest with their lives.

The Last Sanctuary by Ray Adams

Roo Raka's body lies dead, his consciousness downloaded into a hard drive through a revolutionary and dangerous procedure. Though with no way of reuniting his body and his mind, and the Galactic government set on retrieving the mysterious entity known as the Memm, the crew of the Lady Julian are fast running out of options.

The Jollet Procedure by Ray Adams

After the events of The Forcek Assignment, Poonsar is left devastated by the fate of his captain, Roo Raka, and retreats to his homeworld under a dark cloud of depression. Bo Dans and the rest of the crew of the Lady Julian meanwhile go in search of a new strategy to combat the Memm. Does the answer lie outside the Federation with a rogue scientist? How will they extract this scientist from the clutches of the Committee? And will Poonsar be able to fight through his mental anguish and rejoin them in their mission?

The Forcek Assignment by Ray Adams

A quiet life on the fringes of society is all Roo Raka wants. Regular work, enough to keep his crew happy, and if it strays into grey areas of legality then, well, a little bending of the law never hurt anyone. Not anyone who didn't deserve it, at least. There's always a bigger picture to consider though, and after he runs into trouble on what should have been a routine cargo pick-up, Roo Raka finds himself drawn into a web of conspiracy, a plot that's aimed at the heart of Galactic government. As those in power tighten their grip, and law enforcement cracks down on an increasingly unhappy populace, plans are drawn up and there's a decision to be made. Can Roo Raka stand by and ignore everything he sees around him? Is it really nothing to do with him? Or does there come a time when a good man no longer has the luxury of doing nothing?

Hangdog Souls by Marc Joan

Kingdom of Mysore, 1799. A guilt-racked British Army deserter tries to win safety for those he loves – but his reckless bargaining only leaves him trapped between destinies, condemned to facilitate centuries of suicide and murder. Death after death, and each death diminishes him, until — a quarter of a millennium later — a Keralan astrophysicist has the chance to annul the soldier’s Faustian bargain. But Chandy John is weakened by his own burden of grief — will this twenty-first century scientist only become another helpless nexus between undeserved death and undeserved life? Hangdog Souls is set in the Dravidian heartlands of South India — and in a blurred edgeland where alternative realities elide. Through linked narratives of guilt, shame and the search for absolution, this book takes readers from the arid Tamil plains to the highest peaks of the Nilgiris, and from occult horrors in Tipu Sultan’s kingdom to creeping madness in the world of particle physics. Spanning three hundred years, the stories in Hangdog Souls weave together the fates and fortunes of multiple characters – individuals that echo through the generations, asking always the same question: What weight can balance the death of an innocent?

Falling Into Oblivion by Aaron M. Payne

MODIFICATIONS COME AT A PRICE. Detective Sol Harkones is tangled in the wires of a deadly conspiracy involving defective body modifications causing permanent brain damage. A suspect is known, but something more dangerous may be lurking in the shadows. A city plagued by waste. Violence fills the streets. Oblivion is within reach. Falling Into Oblivion is the electrifying first book in the Tendrils of Chrome cyberpunk sci-fi series. If you're a fan of William Gibson's Neuromancer, HBO's True Detective, or Philip K. Dick’s Blade Runner, you will love Aaron M. Payne’s rapid-fire saga.

Snapshots of the Apocalypse by Katy Wimhurst

In these dark, witty short stories, Katy Wimhurst creates off-kilter worlds which illuminate our own. Here, knitting might cancel Armageddon. A winged being yearns to be an archaeologist. Readers are sucked into a post-apocalyptic London where the different rains are named after former politicians. An enchanted garden grows in a rented flat. Magical realism meets dystopia, with a refreshing twist.

An Orchid in My Belly Button by Katy Wimhurst

Offbeat short stories that explore our fragile world These stories savour the surreal, flirt with magical realism, dabble with dystopia. A boy sees the ghosts of dead crabs. A girl with a fox tail is bullied. A disenchanted woman sprouts orchids from her belly button. Fashion models pursue the trend of having plants as hair. Electronic goods amassing all over London herald an apocalypse. Darkness and wonder, the strange and the ordinary, interweave to offer an environmental and social portrait of our times. Guaranteed to evoke a response, whether a giggle, a gasp, or a nervous gulp, these stories will stay with you, enriching your perception of the world. Surreal, absurdist, magical realist; Katy Wimhurst writes speculative fiction that meditates on our reality. Although bleak themes are examined – dystopian futures, the climate crisis, bullying – a quirky imagination and wry humour lift the tales above the ‘realm of grim’.

2033: The Year Things Fell Apart by Rebecca Doll & James Gordon

"A hyperreal tapestry of the death of a nation!" A disputed election…a terrifying future! Em, with her partner Ava and stepdaughter Sophia, left a tiny East Coast apartment for a lucrative IT job in Louisville that could fund their future. A disputed 2032 U.S. election and the rise of a powerful neo-fascist demagogue lays waste to her dreams while Em struggles to survive in the belly of the beast itself. Her government contract job turns out to place her in direct proximity to the most hated media figures of the new regime. She can hurt them, but at what risk in a place where her family’s queer identity makes them a target? In the rising fire of a Civil War, Em must struggle to survive and preserve something of her hopes, her family, or even herself. 2033: THE YEAR THINGS FELL APART Presents a realistic and chilling look at a dystopian world that may lie just around the corner. Beltway insider and political wonk James Gordon is writing again with Alternative Sexuality Educator Rebecca Doll to present a sobering look at a future that may be too close to our own for comfort.

The Warm Machine by Aimee Cozza

When a robot built for construction work first sees an angular, sleek prototype military robot slink onto the base he’s working outside of, he immediately falls in love. The problem is, only anomalous bots understand the concept of love, and the lowly laborbot has not deviated from his default programming once. So he thinks, anyway. When the laborbot is scheduled for decommission, the military bot cannot possibly live without him, and the two bots set out on a path to find the fabled anomalous robot utopia Root.

The Fractured Balance by N.A. Soleil

When emotionless, immortal genetic experiment Pheonix escapes the slavers’ arena and arrives in the utopian elven city of Terelath, he learns the metacosm is governed by an ideology known as ‘the balance,’ which claims the kind of evil Pheonix experienced while enslaved to be a tolerable part of the natural order. Unbeknownst to him, Pheonix is the long-awaited Ascended of Justice, and those drawn to Justice quickly gather around him. With their help, he hones his innate abilities and sets out to investigate the covert system supporting ‘the balance.’ As Pheonix begins to uncover that the metacosm’s governing bodies are chained to injustice at the core, he and his newfound allies vow to excise the corruption … even if it means all-out war.

Everdark by N.A. Soleil

Sixteen year old Redd is a runaway with psionic powers and PTSD. While escaping the parents who experimented on her, Redd unwittingly opens a portal to a planet populated by the last remnant of the angelic species. Trouble follows. With nowhere else to go, she is caught up in an intergalactic conflict: the militant, space-faring Rangers and their allies must prevent the fortress Everdark, the angels’ last bastion, from being overrun by evil forces. The abuse Redd survived takes its toll in the form of nightmares, mood swings, and paranoia — but there is comfort in combat, so she joins the front line. There, she discovers that she can wield terrible power at the behest of a mysterious entity residing somewhere within her, though the transaction is not in her favor. Clinging to an often nebulous connection to shared reality, she becomes inextricably involved with more than just the battle to protect the angels. The events of Everdark are the key to a mechanism that, with Redd and her companions as integral gears, will start a countdown. And at zero … a shift in the core of the metacosm, one written into its very code before Time began.

The Battle of Euangelion: Reborn by S Steyn

The first book in a coming-of-age series about the origins of evil on Earth and the supernatural struggle for humanity’s redemption. The epic unravels through the adventures and misadventures of eighteen-year-old Alexis Sharp and her unlikely friends as they navigate trials, quests, and secrets that transcend both time and space. Humanity’s future is tucked away in a wretched prison world. A home to deviant rebels who once betrayed the very magic they were created with. Old magic. This story more or less hinges on old magic and those it emanates from. It’s an extremely pure and powerful kind of magic, but also peculiar. As pure as it is, it allowed, for instance, a jealous and spiteful rebel to spearhead mutiny against a father - a King who had the audacity to gift his only son and heir with a Realm of his own. A catastrophic civil war followed and contributed to the downfall of the Prince’s young world and all its inhabitants. Their original greatness was doomed to ebb away as darkness gradually took over. The Prince petitions to ransom mankind from the Scale of Justice; the price being codified and presently hidden in an age-old Prophecy. All we know for certain is that human recruits are to participate in the battle to come as the Great Wizard of Sanctum oversees their transformation. Prince Salvatore needs an army. Alexis Sharp is numbered among the newest recruits. Quick to temper and slow to listen, she must learn to find her place and way on the mystical Isle of Sanctum where humans enjoy immunity and immortality as they prepare for war. The forces in the neighboring Realm of Nullius Terram aren't stagnant either. On the contrary, they’re proliferating. The veil between Nullius Terram and the Kingdom of Euangelion still stands in the exiled Diabolus' way, but for how long? This war is written in destiny, and if there’s anything we know about destiny it’s that you can’t outrun, outsmart, or even outwait it. Providence begins to pull the thread when a secret quest in search of a mysterious artifact intertwines with the discovery of the Prophecy. A human bloodline is implicated, and a Chosen One is named. Alexis and her unlikely friends hang in the balance as they try to navigate through an impossible mission.

Liminal Space by Vicki-Ann Bush

Two worlds, a desperate fate, and the secret that binds them. A weekend getaway turns dark when friends Jesse and Micah witness a woman drenched in blood screaming in the middle of a casino. Security quickly whisks the woman away and the two friends are left shaken. Trying to get past what they saw, they attempt to move forward with their plans. But when mysterious events continue to occur, like a town appearing and disappearing from the view in their hotel room, the girls begin to wonder if their weekend getaway is a weekend nightmare. Their curiosity drives them to seek out and investigate the vanishing town. Initiating a journey that leads to a truth much bigger than they could ever have imagined and changing their lives forever.

Sol Accords: Starbourne by DG Podporski

Everyday life for Jaeden Starbourne has been challenging for as long as he can remember, which as it happens, isn’t quite as long as one might think. In fact, Jaeden can’t remember anything that happened more than five years ago. He woke up aboard a medical space station with no identity, no family, no friends, no money, and no clue what to do next. For someone without a past, finding work was never an issue. Finding honest work above-board that didn’t include illegal activity was the challenge. Securing a dangerous job as an orbital shipbreaker was by no means Jaeden’s first choice, but in this galaxy and given his circumstances, beggars can’t be choosers. As his life in this new and unfamiliar place begins to spiral uncontrollably around him, Jaeden quickly finds himself crossing paths with criminal syndicates, mercenary companies, and worst of all, a corporate Technologist; an agent with artificial enhancements that grant the user nearly limitless abilities. Not having a past is no longer Jaeden Starbourne’s biggest issue, because if he’s not careful, he’ll lose his future as well.