stories in and

Dawnbreak (The Farthest Star Book 1)

Dawnbreak (The Farthest Star Book 1) by Rebecca Mickley

You can't choose what you are, except when you can. It's only been a few months since first contact and, although peaceful, humanity will never be the same. The new treaty with the Mendians is seemingly too good to be true; free access to hundreds of star systems and the means to get there. All they ask in return is that humanity make the Mendian's "Path of the Other" free to any who desire it. Although following it means to surrender your humanity, for the UEA leadership, the price is worth it. After all, who would choose that? Joyce and John were both born feeling different, like they were meant to be something else, a feeling they've never been able to share except with each other. Now they can become anything and suddenly there is hope. Joyce can't wait to be one of the first human-animal hybrids called Morphics. John is supportive but worried about the risks and the stigma from society as distrust of the treaty grows. A great divide is growing within humanity between those who see the hope for a new age of mankind and those who fear the beginning of the end for humanity itself. Hope or fear, the lines are drawn, and to the victor goes the fate of humanity itself.


A Fortnight to Bloom

A Fortnight to Bloom by Dani Morrison

When it rains it pours and Stephanie Renaut has had enough, thank you very much. The collapse of her engagement is the last straw and she takes a gamble on the irrational; a two week spiritual retreat on the far flung world of Elysia VII. Verdant, lively, and soothing, the planet’s facilities are renowned for their ability to help soul-weary seekers. But, she isn’t the only traveler seeking answers and redemption. Pahali’s Festival approaches, a celebration of the early bloom, and Davinth Xan-Curson returns for his ancestral rites without a mate. Again. He’s devoted his life to unlocking the secrets of Elysia’s flora, but finds the opportunity for a new kind of discovery with an impromptu travelling companion. Paths cross and sparks ignite, but to make way for new life, two strangers must come to know themselves to find each other.


Footprints in the Worm Garden

Footprints in the Worm Garden by Fabrina Glitchlace

Runt hasn't been harmonizing with her sister for a while. But a death in the family forces a remix of roles, and she finds herself with a whole new pet peeve.


The Zero Day Proposal

The Zero Day Proposal by Fabrina Glitchlace

Daniqua was just a regular single woman; hungry, horny, and trying to make it on her own in the world. But her past came calling and now her weekend plans are FUBAR. Will she play her role, prevent nuclear annihilation, and win financial freedom? What will be her answer to The Zero Day Proposal?


Shitlord In the Anus of Madness

Shitlord In the Anus of Madness by Fabrina Glitchlace

Like all great artists do, Shia tried to become his art. He tried to be a force for good in the world. He tried to change minds. He tried his best to elevate consciousness; to help people realize their potential for self actualization. He tried to enable them to become like him: Master of their own destiny. To not let their dreams be dreams. But instead, he ended up exhausting his social capital, leaving sloppy personal messes in his wake which could not be cleaned. He became unemployable. Toxic. He was pushed out by those who had once accepted him. He was dumped. Now he hungers for the success that he once tasted.


Norylska Groans

Norylska Groans by Michael R Fletcher & Clayton W. Snyder

SPFBO7 SPFBO Finalist SPSFC 2024

Norylska Groans... with the weight of her crimes. In a city where winter reigns amid the fires of industry and war, soot and snow conspire to conceal centuries of death and deception. Norylska Groans... and the weight of a leaden sky threatens to crush her people. Katyusha Leonova, desperate to restore her family name, takes a job with Norylska's brutal police force. To support his family, Genndy Antonov finds bloody work with a local crime syndicate. Norylska Groans... with the weight of her dead. As bodies fall, the two discover a foul truth hidden beneath layers of deception and violence: Come the thaw, what was buried will be revealed.


NACL: Eye of the Storm

NACL: Eye of the Storm by Allegra Pescatore & E. Sands

SPFBO7 SPSFC 2022

Lani should never have trusted any plan that started with the words, "So, I have an idea, but first you need a drink." When a crazy Precog handed Lani the coordinates to a stretch of ocean just off the Salt Spire, she should have thrown them overboard. Going there would be a horrible idea. Lani, though, was a pro at making bad decisions. A not-so-chance encounter with escaped salt slave Adavera launches them on a path to forsake all that they know and dare to take on the cruel Corporation that controls every grain of salt on their planet. With the help of old friends, new friends, and people they are pretty sure might be enemies, Adavera and Lani travel outside the protective reef that keeps the worst of the Storms off the Islands and venture into a world of piracy, astonishing powers, and unexpected love. The odds might be against them, but with a little planning and a lot of brass, this team of misfits intends to do the impossible. They have very little in common, except for two things: They all want to blow the Crystal Corporation into oblivion... And are willing to sacrifice anything to see it done. NACL: Eye of the Storm is a high-octane, non-stop, foul mouthed and steamy roller-coaster of a novel. Grab your favorite bottle of rum and revolutionary spirit, and jump into the ride of a lifetime.


A Time of Ashes

A Time of Ashes by Ru Pringle

SPFBO7

IN THE YEARS BEFORE THE CORRUPTION CAME, Murrin Kentle lived in a world where the largest island could be walked across in a day, and humans traded and fished in bladeships made from the bones of the gigantic and bizarre sea monsters patrolling its stormy, bottomless oceans. As a truthkeep of the Brotherhood of the First Mind, it’s been his duty to fight the decay of knowledge with religious fervour. A fervour he has increasingly struggled to maintain. Before the Corruption came, Sheehan hahe Seeheeli was a carefree countess of the Shi’iin. Amphibious and fiercely matriarchal, her people have maintained an uneasy coexistence with the human scholars dominating the islands. Then an emissary of the gods brings news of an impending catastrophe. Now, she and Murrin must embark on a desperate voyage in the hope of salvation, although both the subject of their search and the path they must take remain stubbornly obscure. Before the Corruption came, a wild young man named Coll grew up in a desert town, consumed by rage over what was done to his mother. His thirst for retribution will set in motion a train of events not even the gods could fully have foretold. NOW THE CORRUPTION IS HERE, and nothing in Murrin's world, nor any of the worlds of the Sundered Realm, will ever be the same. By turns touching, humorous, tense and horrific, A Time of Ashes is a thrilling and wildly imaginative tale of existential discovery: the first part of Fate and the Wheel, a beautifully written epic tale of friendship, loss, revenge, war, and survival against crushing odds.


Ryswyck

Ryswyck by L.D. Inman

SPFBO7

In a world still scarred two centuries after a nuclear holocaust, a military academy in an embattled nation has been turning out brilliant officers whose skill in fighting is exceeded only by their devotion to the law of courtesy. Then two of its elite students uncover a secret that has haunted its founder for twenty years. As the building scandal threatens Ryswyck Academy, their friendship becomes an indispensable grace for their community and the linchpin of a perilous solution to their country’s desperate struggle. Lieutenant Stephanie Speir has just won a place in Ryswyck’s junior officer cadre. Her buoyant, balanced joy in combat is shadowed by the illness of her father, a retired intelligence officer and former prisoner of war. In the single-combat arena she faces Lieutenant Walter Douglas, the youngest son of a rural family, and they kindle an unshakable friendship. That friendship becomes their anchor when a security breach reveals to them the dark secret behind General Barklay’s drive to found Ryswyck Academy. Already troubled by Ryswyck’s isolated culture and the problems of translating the ideal of courtesy to modern warfare, Douglas becomes profoundly disturbed by the revelations of Barklay’s past participation in a heinous act. His only confidant is Speir, who up till this moment had been shielded from the details of her father’s experiences as a prisoner in Berenian hands. Barklay’s secret sets Ryswyck’s loving ethos against the context of a brutal war with Ilona’s enemy across the strait, a contrast that only grows starker as the two friends take commissions at an inhospitable island base. Soon Speir and Douglas find themselves drawn not only into the looming threat of scandal, but into the overwhelming prospect of battle, which will put their skill, their courtesy, and their friendship to the ultimate test.


SkyView: Lord of The Wills

SkyView: Lord of The Wills by M. Sheehan

SPFBO7

Seven-Centuries, Seven-Heirs. If one holds the world's knowledge, then one can shape its reality. A unique perspective on history and time, SkyView draws readers into a seven-hundred-year struggle between good and evil. Eight family lines are on a quest to discover and control the family's centuries-old accumulation of wealth. William Ward, the twenty-first century heir to this wealth, is tasked with destroying the leader and heir of the evil line and ending the malice that has been thrust upon the world. Guided by his uncle and protected by the six others with claims to the fortune, he embarks on a geographical and historical journey that reveals secrets, manipulations, and unbelievable connections. From the vantage point of SkyView, a jet with an Augmented Reality window and the capacity to digitally project history onto the landscape as it happened, William and his team desperately try to follow the fortune. A brilliant combination of science fiction, historical fiction, action and adventure, and mystery, SkyView is a unique reading experience that will keep readers turning the pages.


Defiant

Defiant by Aaron Hodges

SPFBO7 SPSFC

On the wild planet of Talamh, humanity thrived... ...until the alien Alfur conquered their world. Now, defeated and broken, humanity serves their immortal overlords. And pleads to the stars for a hero. Rydian Holt is nothing, nobody. Just another human from the streets of Talamh. Or at least, that’s what he thinks—until his mother is caught up in a fledgling resistance group. Branded a traitor and sentenced to fight in the arena, now Rydian must face hardened gladiators in single combat. To survive and advance through the ranks, he’ll need the help of an enigmatic weapons master—and more than a little luck. But after a lifetime of servitude, survival is no longer enough for Rydian. He seeks a way to fight back— not just against his fellow gladiators, but against the Alfur themselves. If Rydian can uncover their greatest secret—the truth about the mysterious Light that powers their world—he might just win his freedom.


UNJU - The Jump

UNJU - The Jump by Gleneley Liesl Stander

SPFBO7

How far would you go, and what would you sacrifice for those you love? In a setting where the multi-verse is real, and travel between them can be manipulated, Katherine and Ethan must learn to navigate to these alternate realities to try to save their dying planet. Humanity is on a countdown towards extinction as climate change, pollution, and radiation have gone unchecked for decades, and it has taken its inevitable toll on their Earth-like planet and all of its inhabitants. The air has become unbreathable, the water undrinkable and mutants in all species have emerged. Trained since they were children to connect with their genetic doubles they work for the corrupt rulers of their planet, the First Family, in the Jump Unit. Katherine and Ethan face many dangers within the multi-verses and the outside world where they uncover secrets that the First Family would rather have remain hidden.


Quantum Cultivation

Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang

SPFBO7

A Cultivation system based on Daoist Five Elements and Eight Trigram Theories, written by an Acupuncturist/Wing Chun Sifu. Like all Purebred with their menial jobs, Ken ekes out a living sweeping the floors of Kyoto Peacekeeping Central. His kind serve as a benchmark for XHumans to measure how far they’ve progressed, and a reminder of what homo sapiens once was. His life changes when eight-hundred-year-old Ryu crosses over from the World of Rivers and Lakes, looking for a lost temple; and Aya, a beautiful hacker whose Sensory Interface perceives the EtherCloud as Feudal Japan, learns that XHumans aren’t as perfect as they thought. They’ve edited out the genes which allow for Cultivation. That will give Ken a chance to surpass them. And maybe use mythical martial skills to save the world from an oppressive government, spirit beasts, and alien invaders. WARNING: This story contains graphic scenes describing the Daoist methods of Dual Cultivation, but no harem elements. Suggested audience 18+.


Psycho Hose Beast From Outer Space

Psycho Hose Beast From Outer Space by C.D. Gallant-King

SPFBO7 SPSFC SPSFC 2022 SPSFC 2023

Newfoundland, Canada, 1992. Gale Harbour hasn’t seen any excitement since the military abandoned the base there thirty years ago, unless you count the Tuesday night 2-for-1 video rentals at Jerry's Video Shack. So when a dead body turns up floating in the town water supply, all evidence seems to point to a boring accident. Niall, Pius and Harper are dealing with pre-teen awkwardness in the last days of summer before the start of high school. The same night the body is found, the three of them witness unusual lights in the sky over the bay. Is it a coincidence? Are the lights connected to the rapidly-increasing string of mysterious deaths? And what does the creepy old lady at the nursing home have to do with it? There is an evil older than time hidden deep beneath the waters of the North Atlantic. It is hungry, and vengeful, and it has its sights set on Gale Harbour to begin its path of destruction. All that stands in its way are a group of kids who would rather be playing Street Fighter II...


The Rave (The Aelfraver Trilogy Book 1)

The Rave (The Aelfraver Trilogy Book 1) by J.R. Traas

SPFBO7 SPSFC 2023

Time, it stretched before her, every second crawling by, lengthening like an uncurling worm. Alina absorbed it all in painful detail: the twinkles of firelight caught in the breastplates and gauntlets of the Chimaera Guard, the panic in Cho’s eyes, the spittle glistening on Mezami’s fangs, every growl and sputter of all their raised voices. The Aelfraver Trilogy, set in J.R. Traas's futuristic fantasy world of El, is a story about teenage rebellion—against the ruling elite and their gods. GO HOME, ALINA When Alina K’vich lost her parents, her grandfather Dimas gave her a home and a purpose. At The School, he trained her to become an Aelfraver—a hunter of arcane beasts, demons, and other anti-human entities. For ten years, they built a life together. Then, one night, in the middle of preparing dinner, Dimas vanished. Now seventeen, and stuck with her grandfather’s debts, Alina resorts to illegal Raves in her rundown hometown. But these small-time contracts simply aren’t enough: The School lies in disrepair, the power’s shut off, and the bills remain insurmountable. In a last-ditch gamble, she signs up for a Rave whose massive reward could rewrite her entire future. However, she’s far from the only Aelfraver to answer the call of such an alluring bounty
 Out of options, Alina sinks the last of her money into a forged Raver’s license and a one-way ticket to New El, the floating Capital. There, an unnamable horror—her target—busies itself slaughtering the nobility in the dead of night, leaving no survivors and no witnesses. Protected only by her wits and spells, Alina must find a way to save New El, her School, and herself.


One Nation Under Gods

One Nation Under Gods by Reeshi Ray

SPFBO7 Indie Recs Indie

The war raged for five years. When the smoke cleared the United States was a memory, conquered by a race unlike the world had ever seen. They are the Specials—a godlike race gifted with powers so cataclysmic that the human survivors of the war had no choice but to surrender to their invincible overlords. But Houston Holt doesn't surrender. A war veteran turned underworld fixer, Houston spends his nights evading the regime's secret police, building his criminal empire brick by brick in his relentless quest to escape the human slums. But one night, Houston steals a truck from the wrong people and sets off a chain reaction of mayhem that engulfs the empire. Because the truck contains a shocking secret—a secret of such fabled power that the Specials will unleash their most savage killers to hunt it down. Enter a world of immortals, assassins, and rogues in One Nation Under Gods—an epic adventure that combines the best of science fiction, superhero lore, and fantasy into a non-stop thrill ride.


Snowborn

Snowborn by Larema Dixon

SPFBO7

A millennium has passed since the small world of Incari was struck by a meteor known as the Kutsal Stone. In the celestial object's wake, two powerful inhabitants of another realm—beings of light and creatures of shadow—ravaged the land with war until they were ultimately banished. Time distorted tales of these god-like creatures into myth and legend, but Princess Elurra quickly finds there is legitimacy amongst the lore. After her parents' deaths pave the way for her exiled aunt to claim the throne, she finds herself desperate and on the run. Elurra must uncover the truth about magic and untwist the legends of old in order to protect the future of her homeland and thwart her aunt's malicious plots. Mysterious visions lead Elurra and her unlikely allies down a path to the truth; however, they find the conflicts of the past may be impossible to repair before they rip Incari apart.


Cursed

Cursed by Brent Miller

SPFBO7

With his life now divided between myth and reality, Garrick Elliott struggles to learn what it truly means to be human. As a fledgling lycanthrope, Garrick battles his own dark thoughts and the encroaching threat of hunters, as well as the ever-growing willpower of the beast within. Despite those around him accepting what they are, Garrick desperately clings to a hope of one day returning to his life as a normal teenager. His obsession with ridding himself of the wolf may just be the drive he needs to find a cure—or the fatal error which puts him and his pack in danger. As he vies for control of his own mind, Garrick questions if fighting his affliction is worth the sacrifices he must make, or if he is destined to live the rest of his life Cursed.


The Stars Within

The Stars Within by Lena Alison Knight

SPFBO7 SPSFC 2022

Escape was impossible...until she had nothing to lose. For Kerelle Evandra, her psionic powers have always meant three things: mandatory service to a multigalactic corporation, a luxurious lifestyle as a prized asset, and an electronic collar that will kill her if she steps out of line. As much as Kerelle might resent her gilded cage - and obedience to her corporate masters’ cold directives - everyone knows that escape is impossible. And defiance risks not just her own life, but also the life of the person closest to her: Galhen Ambrel, her lover and fellow bound psionic. But when Galhen’s contract is suddenly sold to a distant oligarch, Kerelle learns that obedience was not the guarantee of safety she once thought - and that escape may not be as inconceivable as she was taught to believe. When a mission brings her into contact with an unexpected ally, she must decide how far she can go, and how much she’s willing to risk for freedom.


The Bright Lord

The Bright Lord by Alex Knowles

SPFBO7

A home, a family. Lies, resentment. To save the future, he must reclaim his past.Ryan Hart thought he had saved them all. He'd served as Lord Commander of the Sarashead guild, faithfully and with honor for thousands of years. His work expanded their empire and brought peace.But peace never lasts. . . .Emperor Duhan has been murdered, ripping Ryan out of his new life as a citizen on Earth. Once again, he must leave those he loves for the greater good.Rebirth is the path, a reset into a new body that he must cultivate and train. The collision of two worlds draws ever closer, and if he can't claim what was once his, all will be lost.The Bright Lord is a thrilling Litrpg, cultivation story that spans multiple worlds, love and friendship.


The Clarity of Cold Steel

The Clarity of Cold Steel by Kevin Wright

SPFBO7 SPSFC SPSFC 2022

The kid disappeared two days ago. Missing. Abducted. Murdered. What have you... Just another in an endless line of indigent kids wrung from the dregs of the Machine City. And it’s my job to find him. Me. Avinash Shakteel, detective extraordinaire. Probably you ain’t heard of me. Not if you run the straight and narrow and ply the right side of the tracks. Cause me? I ply the other. Two days missing
 Two long days in the Machine City, last bastion of mankind in all its fallen glory. Where the sum total of life’s cheaper than in part. I hope I find the kid. By God, I do. But if I can’t find all of him, I pray I find none. Join Detective Shakteel in this gritty steampunk thriller sure to set your blood to boil.


Gleeman's Tales

Gleeman's Tales by Matthew Travagline

SPFBO7

Gnochi Gleeman is not like other entertainers. Because of his expansive knowledge of pre-apocalyptic Earth, the stories he tells are valued well beyond the flashes of an illuminator, or the spheres of a juggler. Gnochi spent the first decade of his career telling stories while traveling between taverns, inns, and any hole-in-the-wall which would feed him. Cleo, a young teen from across the ocean, flees from her chaperone into the woods of an unknown land. During her first months journeying through eastern Lyrinth, she discovers something life-changing about herself. With that discovery comes the knowledge that her life is in grave danger. Despite a love for the open road and a thrill for telling new audiences about the lost age, Gnochi chooses to retire and focus on curating his family’s hidden library of first-age texts. But the fates would not grant Gnochi the boon of a peaceful retirement. Not long after settling down, he learns that his sister and niece have been kidnapped, and in order to free them, he must assassinate the land’s ruling monarch. On the path to murder, Gnochi runs into Cleo and the unlikely duo seek safe passage to Lyrinth’s capital among the dilapidated tents of a traveling menagerie. All the while, people across the world are beginning to prepare for the once-in-a-decade winteryear. These winteryears, one of the echoes of the first age still present in the current world, have been ravaging the Earth since it awoke from its eternal winter and recovered from its near destruction thousands of years ago. Will proper preparations be taken before the Earth is blanketed in its yearlong snow?


Blood Indigo

Blood Indigo by Talulah J. Sullivan

SPFBO7

A centuries-long stalemate endures over possession of a sentient world. In one corner, a dwindling cabal of shamans holds onto a desperate defense; in the other, a colony of aliens try to control a bio-engineering experiment run amok. In the middle stands a youth who has been genetically altered to ‘Shape’ the elemental powers. Yet if Tokela claims his power, it will make of him an outcast, a catalyst--and a weapon. The stalemate is about to break...


Minimum Wage Magic

Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron

Making a living is hard. In a lawless city where gods are real, dragons are traffic hazards, and buildings move around on their own, it can feel downright impossible. Good thing freelance mage Opal Yong-ae has never let little things like impossibility stop her. She’s found a way to put her overpriced magical art history degree to use as a Cleaner: a contract municipal employee who empties out abandoned apartments and resells the unusual treasures she finds inside for a profit. It’s not a pretty job, or a safe one--there’s a reason she wears bite-proof gloves--but when you’re neck-deep in debt to a very magical, very nasty individual, you can’t be picky about where the money comes from. But even Opal’s low standards are put to the test when the only thing of value in her latest apartment is the body of the previous tenant. Dealing with the dead isn’t technically part of her job, but this mage died hiding a secret that could be worth a lot of money, and Opal’s the only one who knows. With debts she can’t pay due at the end of the week, this could be the big break she’s been waiting for, but in a city of runaway magic where getting in over your head generally means losing it, the cost of chasing this opportunity might be more than Opal can survive. AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a new series set in the same universe as my Heartstrikers books, but you don’t need to have read those stories to enjoy this one. MINIMUM WAGE MAGIC was written to stand by itself, so if you haven’t read the others, don’t worry! I wrote this book with you in mind. Thank you so much for reading!


The Scars of Gaia

The Scars of Gaia by R P Lauer

SPFBO7

In the war torn world of Gaia, only two nations have survived the years of conflict. One covets power and strength, while the other covets science and knowledge. Both believe that they alone follow the true path of God. James, a poverty-stricken merchant in the nation of strength, struggles to provide for himself and his mother. In his travels, his life will become intertwined with Claire; a scientist on the wrong path from the rival nation of knowledge. They meet on a day like any other, but events will transpire which alter the course of fate. Together they will discover answers for their own lives, while also uncovering deeper secrets within the world around them. Can the two of them help bring compassion to a world of arrogance, oppression and brutality? As they begin to unravel the thread of truth and myth, they will be forced to ask: Can compassion heal The Scars Of Gaia?


The Ninth Scripture

The Ninth Scripture by D Wolfsbane

SPFBO7

Wishing Shelf Book Awards Finalist (teen category) B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree *** Cuest is a world at war, where men are conscripted when they come of age and women are sent to nurtures to birth more soldiers to replace those they bury. At the orphanage of Sector Six, Zecaar, a hopeful pessimist, is saved from her numbing fate and taken to Talcom Academy because she has something the others do not—she has the talent. As she cultivates her telepathic and telekinetic abilities amid sanctioned fights, discrimination, hidden agendas, and desperate acts, events spin out of control until Zecaar begins to ask herself—is this where I truly belong? The Hunt is the first installment in The Ninth Scripture trilogy and is a fast-paced adventure of one teenager’s journey to find meaning in a world gone mad, where choice challenges fate, perception eclipses truth, and the twisting path is haunted by the ghosts it creates.


Gathering of the Four: Book One of the Serrulata Saga

Gathering of the Four: Book One of the Serrulata Saga by A.E. Bennett

SPFBO7

​Leora of Mae is a young woman orphaned at birth and raised on a remote farm. As a wielder of Xanthcraft, her abilities set her apart from her adoptive family and the other villagers. Shortly before her twentieth birthday, she learns of her family’s plot to sell her into servitude. Fearing for her life, she flees from the only home she’s ever known. As she runs, Leora meets Roland Shallowbrook, a traveler on the Thieves’ Road; Lady Aurora Verte, daughter of a powerful member of the gentry; and the White Rider Leopold, a soldier with a secret. ​ Together, this found family will have to band together to survive. Set in the far future during the return of the Hale-Bopp comet, Gathering of the Four is the first book in the Serrulata Saga.


Ad Luna

Ad Luna by Hûw Steer

SPFBO7 SPSFC SPSFC 2022

The Moon is on the brink of war. Alexander Dio, an officer of the Vulture Dragoons, flies in defence of the Lunar people against the monstrous armies of the Sun. He is ready for war - or at least he thinks he is. But when Dio's patrol finds a crashed ship out in the Sea of Tranquility, his life is turned upside-down. Because the ship is not from the Moon, and its captain is unlike anyone he's ever known. His name is Lucian, and he comes from the Earth. Based on the ancient Greek story by Lucian of Samosata, this voyage of fantastic discovery goes back to the very beginning of science-fiction. HĂ»w’s previous novel, The Blackbird and the Ghost, was a semi-finalist in the fifth Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. His short stories have been published in various anthologies.


Who Built The Humans?

Who Built The Humans? by Phillip Carter

SPSFC 2023

Who Built The Humans? is a fragmented novel, a multiverse of 47 stories that combine into 11 interconnected universes. These universes range from soaring science fiction to searing satire, and pose increasingly strange answers to that ancient question, Who Built The Humans? Concepts and theories explored thoughtfully in one story will be relentlessly parodied in the next, and characters and objects will hop between universes to knit the multiverse together in unexpected ways. In this way WBTH is both a short story collection and a novel, and can be read in almost any order. No two stories from the same reality touch across the pages, meaning WBTH can be read front to back as a novel, or universe by universe if you become sucked into one particular reality. If this happens, helpful signs will lead you across time and space into the next story in that universe. This concept is pushed to its limits with the On-Series universe, a darkly satirical universe of poetic short stories that requires reader participation to decide the ridiculous fate of humanity. Will we be destroyed by shame machines, or remembered in the nightmares of some future cyborg? Within the book you will discover shapeshifting televangelists, talking crystals who hate anyone called Susan, the physical manifestation of your inner self, time travel (again), artificial afterlives, intelligent planets, bottleneck spacetimes, collapsing universes, poets that turn into black holes, black holes that turn into poets, shame machines that use those black holes for fuel, time travel, reincarnation cults, parallel universes, deceptive aliens, new Earths, old Earths, sarcastic living metaphors, robots who struggle to learn jokes, intersecting realities and the occasional probing. It's a ridiculous multiverse. You should visit it. (and visit Goodreads for the reviews)


Silence of the Song Trees

Silence of the Song Trees by Branwen OShea

Young Cerulean's carefree life as a Firth is shattered when a planet-wide disaster wipes out all of his kind except him. The song trees that once harmonized to maintain the ecological balance of their shared planet Lenglood are silenced by the tragedy. Grief-stricken, Cerulean struggles to survive and awaken the dormant trees. But when human colonists show up, he has more to lose--the planet of Lenglood itself.


The Calling

The Calling by Branwen OShea

Humanity’s wake-up call. Answer it or face extinction. When Bleu’s little sister shows symptoms of the deadly Sickness, a strange vision directs him to leave humanity’s subterranean haven and seek the cure on Earth’s glacial surface. Joining the expedition team, Bleu expects extreme temperatures, not a surface ruled by ingenious predators. Rana and her fellow star beings have co-existed with Earth’s top carnivores since the humans disappeared. But when her peers transform into Crowned Ones, the final stage of star being development, she fears remaining Uncrowned like her parents. To prove her worth, she undertakes a dangerous mission—contacting the hostile and nearly extinct humans. But Rana’s plan backfires, and Bleu’s team retaliates. As war with the more advanced star being civilization looms, both Rana and Bleu separately seek a way to save their people.


THE DINOSAUR FOUR

THE DINOSAUR FOUR by Geoff Jones

SPSFC

An R-Rated B-Movie Time-Travel Dinosaur Thriller Ten strangers trapped in time.... A ticking sound fills the air as Tim MacGregor enters The Daily Edition Café, hoping to meet his new girlfriend for coffee. Moments later, the café is transported 67 million years into the past, along with everyone inside. Time is running out as 10 unlikely companions search for a way home, while one member of the group plots to keep them all trapped in the past. Who will survive? Audiobook performed by award-winning narrator Nick Podehl


The Kavordian Library Omnibus (Fyskar, Subject 15, Polaris Skies, Subgalaxia)

The Kavordian Library Omnibus (Fyskar, Subject 15, Polaris Skies, Subgalaxia) by Chapel Orahamm

Collects Fyskar, Subject 15, Polaris Skies, and Subgalaxia. Content Warning-18+, not suitable for young people-Depictions and mention of sex, blood, gore, violence, abuse, suicide, rape, death, homophobia, racism, sexism, drowning, PTSD, psychological trauma, war, language, loss of pregnancy


Under a Cat's Eye

Under a Cat's Eye by David Reynolds

Ron had this strange knack of knowing when his boss Serenity was about to get hurt. This time, he took the brunt of her fall, catching her before she smacked into the linoleum covered concrete floor only to get slapped by her for touching him. Ron's headaches, which seemed to happen whenever Serenity was about to get hurt, get much worse when a driver arrives at Ron's retail store with a semi loaded with barbecues and propane cannisters. Barely able to keep them alive, Ron finds himself stuck in the middle of a battle between his cat and Serenity's furious ex-husband. Or are they something else? Find out in Under a Cat's Eye, available now on Amazon.com.


Return of the Knave

Return of the Knave by David Reynolds

Fresh off an encounter with the deadly M’Oag—a being that makes a Great White Shark look like a guppy—The Knave needs to warn Earth before more M’Oag sterilize the planet. Can Theo find a way to persuade disbelieving leaders, protect Earth and keeping his K’Haat friends safe? Read Return of the Knave and find out. Available now at Amazon.com.


Birth of the Knave

Birth of the Knave by David Reynolds

“No good deed goes unpunished,” and if Theopolis Knavidowsky had known what kind of punishment he was going to get, he would have run away screaming as far and as fast as he could go. A small-town reporter and photographer, Theo lets a “friend” persuade him to shoot a rocket launch. Through a series of errors, Theo is blasted unprepared into space aboard a rocket module. One of four in this batch, the modules are designed to be connected and then sent to the surface of Mars. Each module has its own function, though one is filled with food and supplies. Unknown to its passenger, the “unoccupied” rocket’s purpose is changed from being part of a Mars mission to fending off an approaching asteroid. NASA’s people on Earth do not know the former moon is not an empty hunk of rock but something else entirely ... and it's occupied. Read Birth of the Knave available now on Amazon.com


The Gravity Shield

The Gravity Shield by David Reynolds

“Melissa,” a security guard at the front entrance to the Field Museum in Chicago said when McAllister’s phone rang, “I’ve got a geezer down here who claims to have some Martian meteorites. What should I do with him?” “What the hell,” she said, thinking aloud, “I’m not going to get any more productive work done today anyway. Send him up, Harry.” “How do you know these are Martian meteorites?” she cynically asked the large man holding a 5-gallon bucket filled with reddish sand and rocks. "I was hoping you’d have one of them there mass spectrometers that could tell me—us—for sure,” the man known as Wooly Wally replied. Melissa didn't know it then but her life was about to be permanently changed when the museum's lab did the unthinkable: Wooly Wally was right: the bucket's contents were from Mars. Find out what happens next by reading The Gravity Shield, available now at Amazon.com.


The Curse of the Minotaur (Perils of S.P.A.C.E Book 2)

The Curse of the Minotaur (Perils of S.P.A.C.E Book 2) by Cameron D. Blackwell

Captain Sundance Starmont and Lieutenant Timmy Falken escort their new friend, Astralyn to Planet Destin to pick up an Old Earth Artifact known as The Minos Cube. It looked like a simple cube, but upon retrieval of said cube, they find themselves trapped inside it, lost in an ever-changing maze. If that wasn't bad enough, they find they are not alone. They are being hunted by a massive minotaur who is very hungry. Can the StarTango crew survive the maze long enough to escape? Or will they succumb to the hunger of the beast?


The Crystal Eggs

The Crystal Eggs by Cameron D. Blackwell

S.P.A.C.E. agents Captain Sundance Starmont and Lieutenant Timmy Falken attend a gala event for the reveal of the Ovarium Crystal Eggs when suddenly a gang of Space Chickens busts it up, demanding the Eggs be returned to them. With the Eggs stolen, the S.P.A.C.E. agents realize that was only the beginning. Queen Chickadee seeks to use the Eggs to exact her revenge on the human race for the destruction of her planet. Joined by a museum curator, Astralyn Winner, Sundance and Timmy must retrieve the Eggs, and save New Earth from annihilation. If you like Flash Gordon and Doctor Who, this is the series for you!


Rusted Lies, a Dalton Rust P.I. Novel

Rusted Lies, a Dalton Rust P.I. Novel by Jacob Klop

You'd think being a detective is a pretty good gig, but when Dalton Rust gets roped into his newest case he can't help but wonder why he ever got into the business. The Royals are looking for blood, the Harpers won't stop badgering him, and even his own cat, Thatch, keeps tripping him up. The news doesn't get any better when Rust discovers a cybermancer who's capable of turning invisible and tossing people around like paper plates is protecting the document he needs to retrieve. But it's not all bad. His coffee maker still works like a dream. Now if only Rust could figure out why a bunch of high powered families from the Hill are so interested in an average crank like him...but no one wants to talk, and time is running short.


Sun Giver

Sun Giver by Jacob Klop

Born powerless, Arabel is abandoned in twilight by her lumin parents. Raised by greys, she is treated like an outsider for most of her life, yet when her enclave is raided by lumin soldiers, Arabel vows to rescue her people at any cost. In spire city Coronus, Supreme Solar Roland discovers a dangerous firearm that violates the Great Edict – All machinery and weapons must be powered by lumins. Roland casts a suspicious eye upon the twilight dwelling greys, and ponders the relevance of their existence. Two nations that once lived in harmony have become divided by prejudice and fear. But conflict will not restore their fractured bonds. Only the return of sun givers can set Tandor's people on a path to reforging their broken ties. Only a sun giver can save them from destroying one another. But a sun giver hasn't been discovered in generations
 
until now.


The Community

The Community by Jacob Klop

WriteHive Book Club

For generations, the Community has thrived within a complex cave system, sheltered from a blight that has infected the rest of the world. Despite the seeming perfection of their society, its people want nothing more than to return to the Outside, and so, every ten years, a Hope is chosen to venture forth and discover whether it is now safe for them to emerge from their rocky home. The Hope has never returned.​ Generations of Fathers and Mothers have always guided the Community, and the people are completely devoted to them and their society, but after Bastion's dad is chosen, he questions whether Father is truly the benevolent leader the rest of the Community believes. His lack of faith leads him on a path of self discovery and redemption, but he loses sight of those closest to him. Through his ignorance he sets the Community on a path that teeters between salvation and destruction. Sometimes, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing...


Counterparts

Counterparts by Marcus Herzig

His senior year in high school couldn’t be more boring for overachieving science nerd Taylor Young until Brad, a mysterious but hot new character, starts walking the school halls. Ignoring the rumors about his mental state and his murky past, Taylor falls for Brad head over heels. United in their love for science and for each other, they invent the Jump Box, a revolutionary piece of teleporting technology that changes their lives – and the world – forever, but then a series of freak accidents that threaten the fate of the entire planet finally uncovers the hidden truths that Brad had so carefully buried and worked so hard to forget.


The Merry Maids

The Merry Maids by Stefanie Contreras

SPSFC

Alyvia Tippin is done with her training at the Academy, and ready to serve the Order. Her abilities with movement and telekinesis earn her a spot with The Merry Maids, a small black-ops team that works on the Order's behalf to unofficially clean up official messes. As the new Courier for The Merry Maids, Alyvia's training is immediately put to the test when the Order sends them on a mission to collect the disassembled pieces of an artifact called the Starkiller. The pieces are hidden across the galaxy like a deadly scavenger hunt, and the person who hid them wants Alyvia to destroy the Starkiller instead of turning it over to the Order. Luckily, The Merry Maids have her back. She's going to need it.


Reality Testing

Reality Testing by Grant Price

Welcome to Berlin. Population: desperate. In the throes of the climate crisis the green tech pioneers are king, and if you aren't willing to be their serf then you're surplus to requirements. Carbon credit for sleeping on the job. That's the offer a dreamtech puts to Mara Kinzig, and she jumps on it. After all, the city ain't getting any cheaper. Then somebody changes the deal while she's dreaming in the tank. Now Mara has a body on her hands, an extra voice in her head, and the law on her tail. Only the Vanguard, a Foreign Legion of outcasts seeking an alternative path in the dust between the city states, might be able to help her figure out what went wrong. First, though, she'll have to escape the seething streets of Berlin alive.


Of Anchors and Aspirations (Book 1 - Worlds Afire)

Of Anchors and Aspirations (Book 1 - Worlds Afire) by Scott Kelemen

Worlds Afire Book 1 Hunted by a rogue operative on her home world, Johanna Summer is sent away to embark on a new life as a cadet at the Alliance’s Navy Space Academy. The challenging new life offers her the chance of finding a real purpose for the first time, a vision shared by her new friends and classmates. As these new friends start their careers, another group of more senior military cadets try to carve out a different way of life, shunning the Navy for a lifestyle of their own choosing. Stealing weapons, ships, and whatever else they might need, the thieves will stop at nothing to break free, whatever the cost. In the process, they will align with the one hunting Johanna, and everyone involved will discover just how far a zealot will go for his cause. Of Anchors and Aspirations is the first novel in the "Worlds Afire" series, set in a future where the human diaspora has carried humanity into a distant region of the galaxy where they have carved out a new destiny for themselves far from Earth.


Of Bravery and Bluster (Book 2 - Worlds Afire)

Of Bravery and Bluster (Book 2 - Worlds Afire) by Scott Kelemen

Book 2 of Worlds Afire After years of intense training in the star system of Havoc, five cadets are nearing graduation from the Academy which trains officers for the Alliance Navy, the force responsible for protecting humanity in a region of space far from Earth. Having survived every test the Academy has to offer, including a deadly encounter with rogue cadets that was never planned, the cadets must now embark on a new series of challenges that will have them face to face with aliens, meet high powered politicians, and tested for bravery under deadly stress. Yet as difficult as those trials might be, there are worse dangers stalking them in the dark. The agents who manipulated the rogue cadets seek a reckoning for their disrupted plans, and an old enemy is about to resurface who is not nearly as dead as everyone thinks. The Academy wants to test the mettle of these cadets. But what they are about to experience will go far beyond anything their instructors ever intended.


Protostar: An Automatic Apocalypse

Protostar: An Automatic Apocalypse by Jesse Pohlman

WriteHive Book Club

Lahira Ocean is the Captain of the Messenger, a cutting-edge Cruiser defending Humanity and its allies against an alien race called The Orphans. After a hectic battle at the planet Gagarin, Lahira awakens from a two-week long coma to find two strangers carefully awaiting her recovery. The first is clearly from the upper echelons of Earth's government who calls himself Herodotus Fork; the second is distantly familiar to Lahira as a woman named Amber, an ambassador from the Automatons, a 'species' of alien who are fully artificial intelligences. Neither are happy to be sitting over her hospital bed. Lahira is suspected of being involved in an unprecedented attack on an Automaton: During the Battle of Gagarin, Lahira's ship emitted a strange signal which seemed to corrupt the mind of an elder Automaton, and Amber has been assigned to levy judgment about what happened. Unfortunately for her, the chaos of the ensuing melee led to the Human receiving serious injuries: She was mentally connected to a computer system which shorted out. These injuries - along with others lurking deeper under the surface of her thoughts - have induced retrograde amnesia, meaning she cannot fully explain the events leading to her role in the brawl.


Unicorn Farmhand

Unicorn Farmhand by Samuel Yaw Jian Fong

Every horse has a talent or two. Some can sit, some can jump over obstacles, and some can select a button for a treat. For one particular draft horse, Dok Saau, his talent is in writing. He does not just scribble letters in the ground as a trick, but he also uses his talent to express his own thoughts to his bemused owners. Surprised by his strange talent, his owner Chang Gao brings him to the Horse Fair, where he beats the other horses by writing proper answers to several questions. After a DNA scan, he is revealed to be a unicorn: even though he was supposed to be released into the wild, the authorities let Chang Gao keep him so that he might become a local attraction. Yet even as he tries to adjust to his new life as an animal celebrity, every now and then he faces recurring nightmares from his troubled past. As he seeks Chang Gao's help, will he be there to help him defeat his fears? Or would they instead attract something much worse: something that could threaten his comforts or even his own life?


Of Daring and Devilry (Book 4 - Worlds Afire)

Of Daring and Devilry (Book 4 - Worlds Afire) by Scott Kelemen

Book 4 of the Worlds Afire Series: For those who survived the conflict at New Liberty, the galaxy has been forever changed. Nothing had prepared them for the realities of open conflict, and most found themselves unready. Even those who displayed courage cannot ignore that the battle unveiled how centuries of peace have eroded the Navy's fighting edge. Johanna Summer and her friends try to put the pain they suffered behind them and look toward the future. Their careers are still new, and they still have much to prove. But sweeping change is not kind. It does not wait for people to be ready. Events have been put into motion that cannot be stopped. War is coming. Once again, all these young officers can do is try and survive lest they be pulled under by the violent currents swirling around them.


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