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Nothing So Powerful As Truth by O.H. Phukdischidt Raj and Quill continue to assist the village council in making plans to rescue the children from the governmentâs secret labs. Meanwhile, Darla is a prisoner there, being experimented on. Kids are dying around her and she never knows when she might be next. Fury and the need for vengeance are the only things fueling her. Will Raj and Quill find the children in time? Can they survive the rescue mission? Will hollow-boned ever be free of the governmentâs cruelty? |
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Truth Will Set You Free by O.H. Phukdischidt Raj continues his pursuit of knowledge about what the government of Tar is secretly doing to hollow-boned, hoping to save his people from experimentation, or worse. Even still, he tries to get Quill, the pale beauty he dumped at the Sentinels of Light headquarters, out of his mind. He canât help wondering if what they had was real. Should he have trusted the man? Meanwhile, Quill is confined to headquarters pending a trial. He is now seen as a traitor, a fallen hero. To make matters worse, his health continues to decline and no one will help him figure out why. Lamenting his wasted life, he finds himself thinking about Raj and what could have been. While the famed Red Raven becomes more merciless with his victims, the shamed Sentinel is left to waste away. What will become of our two lovers? Can they put their differences aside? |
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Time Thief (Eclipse Book 1) by Lindsay French In a world in which Prophets wield the power of wayward gods, a banished woman is determined to regain her own powers and free her people. When Max learned her world and its advanced race posing as gods were not all they seemed, her powers were sealed off by an unbreakable curse. Banished from the Mountain of the Gods, she devotes her life to protecting the village that adopted her as their ownâuntil the Prophet of the Valley captures her and her people, intent on using them as a blood sacrifice. Max vows to escape and return to the mountain to reclaim a power she hates in order to save the people she loves. But sheâll need the help of one of the Prophetâs fiercest warriors, Nash the Unknown, who has his own reasons for joining her, and she isnât sure she can trust him. The journey will be a grueling one, made even more dangerous by the draw Max feels to the charming Nash. Together, the pair must climb the Mountain of the Gods and steal back Maxâs powers. Only, the mysteries of the mountain reveal ever more about the godsâ cruel intentions and the reality-breaking secrets of her world, leading her to a harrowing discovery. Come what may, Max will destroy the Prophet and reach beyond her world to rescue her home from the ruthless godsâin this life and every other. |
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Transcendence by Matthew Nation One year after the fall of America, Dylan Meyers finds himself the second most powerful person in New Genesis. In name only. The people love him, and that just might be his end. With an assassin on his trail, he can't trust anyone, not even the ones he loves. With war just around the corner, he's forced to choose between what he wants and what he needs. Either way, many will die. He must overcome his regrets and failures, in order to not just survive, but to win. It's God's Will. |
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The Ex Factor by Varsha Chitnis Aarti Bhatia They say distance brings perspective⊠When my ex announces his marriage, I get out of Dallas under the ruse of examining our newly acquired properties in New York City. Work is a good distraction, but the kind, brilliant billionaire I meet on my first night there could be an even better one. Heâs tall, dark, gorgeous, and . . . used to date the woman whoâs marrying my ex-fiancĂ©. How can I have such incredible chemistry with someone linked to the biggest humiliation of my life? I donât know, but that doesnât stop everyone around me from cautioning me. Iâm not sure how to build a future with Sujit when our families wonât let us forget our pasts. Sujit Rao Even heartbreak canât distract me from Aarti Bhatia⊠She is fire and I run to her like moth to a flame. Beautiful, brilliant, and powerful, sheâs the kind of woman I could see a future with. If only she wasnât linked to my past. Aarti loved the man whoâs marrying my ex-girlfriend. When our pictures are splashed in a tabloid and the walls begin to close around us, Iâm ready to unleash my aggressive side the world hasnât seen before. I am ready to stake it all. The question is, will she? The Ex Factor is a stand-alone billionaire romance that takes a critical view of unrestricted wealth accumulation and class elitism. |
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Stars Above the Never Sea by Evelyn Flood It was said that to be loved by a Faeyte was beyond words. That when the ability to fall in love was ripped from them, they grieved for a loss they could no longer recognize. And it cost them everything. *** Selene Amaris is finally going home. After ten years of enslavement in the red lands of Terrosa, she finds herself chained once more, her wings bound and held in the cargo of a silent ship heading back to her homeland, Asteria. No one is waiting for her. Her people were wiped out ten years ago before the Great Shift, when the air turned to wind and water in a single violent moment, and the sea became an endless inky starlight. But the beat of her heart calls her back, and she will answer. One last time. *** Callan Edgeborn has one plan. Survive. To keep those he cares about safe, he follows orders and transports desperately-needed goods across the Never Sea â a sea made entirely of starlight, where one fall can send a man tumbling into unending night. Heâs the only one with the ability to make it through. Selene has no patience for a cocky, lazy, irreverent ship captain, and Callan has no time to watch over an emotionless, cold female with infuriatingly captivating eyes. But as they both know all too well; it only takes a second for the world to shift. As Selene navigates her return, Callan finds himself risking everything he cares about to keep her safe. And with every passing day, it becomes clear that Selene has been sent back to Asteria for a reason. One meeting will change their lives forever. And one Faeyte will tear the heavens apart for a love that was never supposed to exist. Stars Above the Never Sea is the first installment in a brand-new romantasy series from bestselling author Evelyn Flood filled with magic, found family, emotional angst, rage and a love that defies the gods themselves. |
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Abominable: A Holiday Monster Romance (Possessive Monsters) by Maggie Mayhem My holiday plans are simple: drive home, spend time with the family, and avoid conversation about my recent divorce. But fate has other plans. My car breaks down right as a snowstorm blows in, leaving me freezing and stranded in the middle of nowhere. Enter a huge mountain of a man named Axel (totally not an axe murderer), who whisks me away to his giant-sized, yet cozy cabin. My rugged rescuer is sweet and charming, but something is off. Because heâs bigger than any human could ever be, and I swear he just turned furry for a second. And Iâm strangely intrigued⊠But Axelâs not the only beast prowling these woods, and when my past comes back to haunt meâyour girl just canât catch a breakâhaving my very own possessive monster is the best gift I never expected. This is a standalone novella-length holiday story set in the Possessive Monster universe. Get ready for a sweet and steamy adventure with a HEA guaranteed! |
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A Lab Rat's Guide to Fated Love by Aridam S. Dojie A LAB RAT'S GUIDE TO FATED LOVE is a swoony, slow burn, speculative romance with MCs in STEM, light paranormal elements, and dual POV đ«đ Perfect for fans of Ali Hazelwood and low fantasy K-Dramas! â In another life, he promised to love her first, and she promised to keep him safe. Now, she wants nothing to do with love, and he doesnât want to be saved. Fate, however, has other plans. Vir Varma wants to die in peace. Rot away alone, on a warm, sunny beach. No more medical procedures and no more feeling his familyâs anguish play-by-play while they grieve his impending demiseâall thanks to his awful heightened sensitivity to othersâ emotions. But when his stubborn brotherâs meddling lands him into an experimental program, bringing him face-to-face with Dr. Nori Arya, a nano-biotechnology scientist, her uncanny resemblance to the woman haunting his dreams has Vir questioning his sanity. Heâs drawn to her with an irrefutable need to be in her periphery, without reason or logic, and despite the obvious repulsion he senses underneath her stoney façade. A façade that also hides a certain darkness, tucked away in a corner Vir canât reach. But one he must reach. Now that Nori finally has her first human subject, her rivals refuse to sit back and watch. Their attempts at sabotage threaten both Virâs life and Noriâs career, compelling her to sneak him away to her grandmaâs old cottage in the hills. Only, she isnât prepared for the complication that is Virâs ability to see right through her. Or her own embarrassing reactions to his proximity, and the way his presence calms her nerves and stirs things in her she never thought she could feel again. Things she must not feel again. Because when love becomes a minefield of consequences and the cost of holding on gets too high, they must choose what theyâre willing to give up firstâhis sanity or her life. |
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Luxe in Between by Cara Blaine A prophecy. A ruthless queen. Three hot fae males. And Luxe, in between. After her parentsâ mysterious disappearance and the recent loss of her aunt, Luxe is determined to keep her auntâs business alive and finish grad school, even as grief threatens to pull her under. But when a dangerously handsome stranger appears with secrets about her family and her past, Luxeâs life is thrown into chaos. Her dormant magic awakens, a deadly prophecy is unleashed, and the queen of the fae sets her sights on the halfling who should never have existed. On the run and hunted through realms, Luxe finds herself relying on three powerful fae males, each protective, tempting, and hiding wounds of their own. Between the banter, the battles, and the one bed theyâre forced to share, sparks start to burn. This is her destiny. Their fight. Where falling for one might mean losing them all. Luxe in Between is a slow-burn, Why Choose romantasy filled with danger, magic, and irresistible tension. Expect three swoon-worthy fae males, found family bonds, a fierce heroine discovering her power, and yesâonly one bed. Perfect for fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses and The Serpent and the Wings of Night. |
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Token of a Wolf by Cara Blaine What if the big, bad wolf wasn't actually the villain? What if Little Red found herself allying with him... And even falling for him? Roux Torres just wants answers after her elderly neighbor vanishes without a trace. But when her search draws the attention of a vigilante known only as the Wolf, sheâs thrust into a world of blood magic, justice, and buried secrets. The Wolf is a shapeshifter hunting the secret society responsible for abducting his closest ally. Protecting Roux should be a distraction, but when he discovers she might be their next target, watching from the shadows is no longer enough. As stalkers close in and trust turns to fire, Roux and the Wolf must decide which is more dangerous: the hunters in the dark, or the pull between them. Magic. Murder. And a romance that bites back. Token of a Wolf is the first book in the Venandi Venator series, a dark urban romantic fantasy perfect for fans of slow-burn tension, supernatural intrigue, and sharp-tongued heroines who refuse to be saved. Expect danger, desire, and a vigilante romance that howls long after the last page. |
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Cold Blooded: A Cold Rush Novella by Rohan O'Duill âDonât mistake my silence for weakness. No one plans a murder out loud.â Veteran Marine Mint only worries about one thingâherself. But after being ordered back to the front lines, she has a decision to makeâstand up and do the right thing, or finally get what she always wanted. Fifteen-year-old Frida lives in deep space on a pirate vessel. Her father is a dissident warrior who fights the corporations running the system. When a corporation battle cruiser catches up to the ageing pirate vessel, death appears to be the only escape. A gripping tale of war, survival, and corporate exploitation in the depths of space. Filled with bone-crunching action and unexpected twists, 'Cold Blooded' will keep you on the edge of your seat until the bloody end. Melding the best of 'The Expanse' style deep-space battles and corporate greed with the class struggle of 'Red Rising', fans will love this riveting sci-fi adventure. Grab your copy now. Cold Blooded is part of the Cold Rush universe, but can be read as standalone and in any order. The book is printed in a dyslexic friendly font, making the page count slightly longer than normal. |
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Mist and Divide by M. E. Shotwell Ten Lands Divided. One Shattered Past. A Forbidden Magic on the Brink of Awakening. In a world torn apart by the catastrophic Quake, Evella Trapper has lived a life of isolation on the northern banks of Corallon. For generations, her family has struggled to survive, relying on hunting and trapping to sustain themâbut no matter how much time passes, the sins of her past still haunt her. Everything changes when Evella meets Arek, a stranger displaced by the quakes, who reveals a shocking the king has sent him to recruit her for a secret army, one that wields a powerful, forbidden magicâSoulmagic. As the quakes grow stronger and threaten to tear the world apart, Evella embarks on a journey to master her powers. But her Soulmagic only emerges in her sleep, leaving her unable to fight back in the waking world. With the fate of her family, her homeland, and her own future at stake, she must confront her darkest fearsâboth the ones buried in her past and those that threaten the fragile peace of the present. Joined by a team of Soulmagi, Evella faces the ghosts of her past, uncovers the deadly truth behind the quakes, and must make an impossible choice. Will she harness her power in time to protect the people she loves and secure the future she desperately wants? |
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Cage of Stars by Frasier Armitage Winner of the SciFidea Dyson Sphere Contest and shortlisted for the Andromeda Award, Cage of Stars is the latest from Frasier Armitage, acclaimed author of Time's Ellipse and A Stitch Between Worlds. HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO BE FREE? Inside the paradise of a Dyson Sphere, artificial intelligence has been outlawed and hunted. When a robot is dug up at the equator, it will have to flee if it wants to survive. Told from the different perspectives of the humans and creatures who encounter the machine as it crosses the Sphere to seek refuge at the pole, can one robot's struggle for freedom change the world? "A fabulous story with excellent characterisation and a deep understanding of the Dyson Sphere concept. I loved it!" - Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo award winning author of Flashforward and Hominids "CAGE OF STARS brings to mind both questions philosophical and technological, the biological and artificial, nature versus innovation, with an immersive expansiveness that is tightly paced" - Ai Jiang, Nebula award winning author of Linghun, I Am AI, and A Palace Near The Wind |
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CTRL-Z: Welcome to the zombie apocalypse...on repeat by Iain Benson Welcome to the apocalypse. On repeat. On any given day, millions of people are in London. Now theyâve gone. But theyâre still hungry, and these dead donât walk⊠they run. At moonrise, London reboots: sirens, smoke, sprinting dead. Parkour-hardened survivor Zane survives by motion, flying from roof to roof, balcony to bus. He wakes every day beside his former friend, forcing a last-second swan dive off Tower Bridge for breakfast. Death isnât an exit; itâs a restart. Zane hunts for the cause, a way out, five lifetimes of searching. His only clue, a flash across the financial district. Until one day, a bedsheet hanging from the Tower of London sends him to the Sky Garden to meet Nina. He measures days in rooftops and near-misses; she measures them in the things time refuses to delete. Together, they face a crumbling London, unravelling time, and intersecting only once every five days. With Nina at his side, Zane will stop running and start fighting back, Even if it risks time itself. CTRL-Z is a breathless and gory daily apocalypse with gallows humour and zombies. Run. Reset. Repeat. Remember. |
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Breakwater by Vivian Wilderbridge Breakwater is a timely and lyrical novel exploring themes of climate change, motherhood, and resilience. As floodwaters surge in South Florida and millions evacuate, Carey Marilla, a middle school music teacher, learns she's pregnant. Though the waters are undeniably rising, Carey and her world-weary mother resist departure, alongside their aging yard man and a runaway student. Together, the unlikely family navigates the coming months of slow devastation and radical change while Carey grapples with the psychological trials of pregnancy. Meanwhile, blue herons, silver mullet, and sly alligators reclaim the drowned city streets. Rain, indifferent and dazzling as ever, dances blithely among the telephone poles. |
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A String of Fate in the Darkness by Azzie Drauch It had been three long years since Lilliana St. James vanished without a trace and Persephone had nearly resigned herself to the heart-wrenching reality that she might never see her best friend again. But, just as her last flicker of hope was about to extinguish, Lilliana was found. Not by any ordinary being, but by the one god Persephone's mother had warned her to avoid at all costs. Hades, the enigmatic God of the Dead. Determined to uncover the truth behind her best friend's disappearance, the Goddess of Spring decides to throw caution to the wind. She seeks out Hades, the one being in all the realms that may be able to help her stop other mortals from going missing. Driven by his own desires to solve the case, Hades proposes a daring plan; Persephone will go undercover as his favored mortal to lure out the culprits behind the kidnappings. But as they dive deeper into the case, the proximity between Persephone and Hades ignites a forbidden attraction. Hades, despite his stoic nature, finds himself captivated by Persephone's strength and determination. The tension between them sizzles as they navigate the dangerous waters of their new found feelings. Every moment they spend undercover bring them closer, the lines between their ruse and reality quickly blurring. But with that closeness comes a target painted on Persephone's back. Will Hades protect her from the rising threat, or will their fate unravel as the darkness threatens to consume them? |
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Falling for the Winged Witch: A Villainous Twist on Wild Swans and Jack and the Beanstalk by Sarah Beran A widowed queen trapped by her past. A giant who just wants to be left alone. A fowl curse that could cost them both everything. Lindy never wanted to get married or have childrenâespecially not seven stepsons old enough to be her brothers and a doddering royal husband. Just when it seems like things couldnât possibly get any worse, the king suddenly dies, and her sinister reputation for casting curses means that all eyes and fingers are pointed at her. Rather than support their new mother, her stepsons seem determined to do everything they can to make her life miserable. When the youngest fills her room with water fowl as a prank, Lindy finally decides to take things into her own handsâand everything goes wrong. Atlas lives with his head in the clouds, and he likes it that way. His ancestral home is hidden away so high in the mountains that itâs practically inaccessible. But somehow the secret has slipped, and he keeps chasing away unwanted visitors. After the latest break-in ends with his prized goose missing, Atlas is forced to do the one thing never wanted: climb down the beanstalk. Unfortunately, the scoundrel who took his goose is now a swan, and the only way to get him to tell Atlas where she is is to help the witch who cast the curse in the first place. The nettlesome woman wonât give him the time of day, refusing to speak until the sun goes down. When she does, itâs to instruct him in the most ridiculous task heâs ever heard of. But Atlas really wants to get his goose and go home, and if knitting is the way to achieve that, so be it. If only the task didnât threaten to knit his heart to hers in the process⊠Falling for the Winged Witch is a combined retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk and The Wild Swans, featuring tropes such as Unlikely Allies, Found Family, and Opposites Attract. It is the third book in the To Win a Dark Heart series, which retells fairy tales as old as time, but this time itâs the villainâs turn to get a happy ending. |
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Tobais Halson: Werewolf Hunter by John Evans obias Halson is back, and this time, the city of Philadelphia is the hunting ground for a monstrous serial killer. Tobias must track down an enemy who looks almost completely normal, except werewolves are anything but human, and all while teaching two new apprentice Hunters. Did he mention dealing with an annoying wizard and juggling his love life with Detective Benson? |
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Tobais Halson: Vampire Hunter by John Evans Tobias Halson, a young paranormal hunter, is charged with protecting the city of Philadelphia from the undead creatures of the night. A corporate board member is thrown out of an office building showing signs of vampire attack, and Tobias is called in to investigate. But he soon realizes heâs out of his element, lost in a world of white collar politics and water cooler plots. With the innocence of a young woman in danger, itâs a race against time to find the killer, preferably before Tobias ends up the next victim. |
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Speak with the Dead by E. C. Taylor Annalyn Hale doesnât believe in the gods. If they do exist, theyâve only ever taken from her. After her father dies, Anna lives a small, quiet life with her mother, gathering what their bakery needs from the woods. For fun, she treks deep into the trees surrounding her home to find dangerous ruins and the treasure they hold within. Her world shifts when she returns home to find debt collectors harassing her mother. They give her a choiceâeither her mother goes to jail for missing payments, or Anna joins the governorâs armed forces and they take the money out of her wage. Anna enlists and when the commander gives her a mission that would pay off half her debt, she accepts, even though she doesnât think sheâs ready. But the mission is steeped in treachery before it can begin. Is the team strong enough to triumph over the conspiracy set against them? Will Anna succeed despite her shortcomings, or are they too much for her to overcome? If the gods do exist, what will they take from her now? |
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Nugget's Tenth Life by Adam Holcombe Nugget the cat lived an adventurous nine lives, protecting and playing with his family. Until disaster brought an end to his familyâs peace, and his own life. Not all stories end at their death, however. This is the story of Nuggetâs tenth life. Nugget's Tenth Life is available free on the Bounty Ink Press website and included in all physical editions of The Wishing Stone. |
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Blue Shift Protocol by I.O. Adler In the coldest reaches of Jupiterâs orbit, the mining vessel Nightingale intercepts an incoming asteroidâhollowed, shaped, and unmistakably touched by human hands. To the crew, itâs an unexpected find raising many questions as they prepare to bring their prize back to Nexus Station. To Trenton Keller, the shipâs mechanic, itâs something else entirely. As the miners work to haul the rock home, clues to the objectâs history begin to surface, linking the asteroid to a classified experiment buried in their colonyâs past. And when the mission turns deadly, it falls to Trenton to uncover the truth before the artifact claims more lives and threatens to tear the crew apart. Blue Shift Protocolis a chilling blend of hard sci-fi with horror elements set against the unforgiving backdrop of a struggling human colony in Jupiter's orbit. It will appeal to fans of The Expanse, Event Horizon, and The Martian. Dive into the mystery today! |
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Blaze Forth the Death of Princes by A.M. Colwell Nova Martin is a simple smuggler trying to get away from her crime boss to make a life of her own. But after she stows away on an errant ship and kills an assassin in self defense, she's forced to take his place, finding herself embroiled in the political machinations of a galactic regime and tasked with assassinating princeling playboy Drace, heir to the Sovereignty. Nova just wants to keep her true identity secret and get out of the situation alive, but the deeper she gets, the more she learns that nothing is quite as it seems, and Drace is keeping secrets of his own. As Nova learns what life is like for civilians under the Sovereignty's rule, she must make a difficult decision. Will she be complicit and follow orders, or will she join the growing rebellion to overthrow the authoritarian Premier and her corrupt dominion? Nova Martin's is a story filled with intrigue, upheaval, and more than a fair share of romance. |
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Breadbasket Rebellion by J. Trevor Robinson A gripping YA adventure about freedom and faith against all odds. Gideon Elmwood is a 16-year-old boy and a third-generation Class R citizen in what was once the Canadian Prairies, confined to a forced-labour farming community. Forbidden to leave his town, he has never known anything but the Regimeâs restrictions and his grandfatherâs stories of how life used to be. This year, the unthinkable has happened: the Regime has finally increased the townâs quota beyond what they could ever produce, and the consequences for failure would be deadly. In desperation, Gideon and his friends set out in hopes of finding technology and machines that could save the only home theyâve ever known. When knowledge of what they find falls into the wrong hands, the townspeople find themselves under the control of a petty but effective tyrant. With the adults incapacitated or coerced into fighting for the tyrant, it falls on Gideon to recover control of the technology and save his family, friends, and neighbours. If he fails, the Regime will wipe the town off the map rather than risk a threat to their power. |
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Bastion by Michael Scott Walton Alistella Pareides Caliday sacrificed her home to save it. Ten years after the devastating Solar Gulf War, former Bastion soldier Alis has built a new home on the utopic post-war, post-capitalist Earth with refugee runner and fellow survivor Toristani Arcay Orius. But that home, too, is on the verge of slipping away. Together, they ended the war, but not without consequence: defecting from Bastion and ejecting from her Aegis mech caused Alisâ state-installed mindjack to malfunction. Now, when Earth aligns with Mars, the Wolf emerges. And where the Wolf walks, death follows. When a mission to finally cure the Wolf ends in blood and betrayal, Alis and Toris are thrust back into a fight they thought was over. If Toris hopes to save Alis, and if she hopes to save herself, they must finally confront the consequences of the war they endedâand the ghosts that chase themâbefore the cycles of history turn again and snag them in its jaws. From grappling with fifty-foot mechs above Mars to slicing through the last capitalist stronghold on Earth, Bastion is a gripping solarpunk science-fiction epic about identity, resistance, and the courage it takes to build something better from whatâs broken. |
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Augmosis: The new technothriller by Steven Tye AI, AR and the Metaverse. Today's technology has become humanity's saviour, as well as its master. Augmosis an original techno-thriller, set in a world where reality is no longer absolute. Humanity has forgotten the disaster that destroyed the world. Now confined to a network of underground cities, their bland reality has been concealed through augmented reality. Technology integrated into the eyes and ears masks and improves the way each person views their world. Everything, from a personâs appearance to the city's architecture, has been re-sculpted. Virtual projections hide what is beneath and empower each person to project a perfect version of themselves to the world around them. Even telepresence robots: remotely piloted personal avatars, have their appearance masked by their pilotâs projection. But in this seemingly perfect society, several murders lead Detective Hal Briggs, an outcast in his department, from unexplained anomalies to conspiracy, with the unpopular consequences likely to rock the society to its core. At the same time, sculptor Carli Dawes faces a crisis of purpose when she discovers that the Collective seems to be actively pushing back against some of the freedoms she holds dear and that fighting for those freedoms will come at great personal cost. Augmosis is the debut Science Fiction Thriller series by Steven Tye. |
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Alternative Science by Chad Eastwood We shall not let the facts stand in the way of the truth! Satire meets science in this intelligent comedy which sees sceptic and journalist Tom Dotherty take on Alternative Science, an organisation of pseudoscience which does not believe in pseudoscience. This hilarious pastiche on popular science features a creature which attacks the mind with logical fallacies, proof that the universe is infinite (triangles are the key), lunacy of the highest order, a dope-smoking conspiracy theorist, and Jesus, who is in training for the Second Coming. Leave your cognitive dissonance at the door and step into a world which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. |
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ab initio: a novel by Jacob Terracina Raza Mugabi, a biologist turned software engineer, is not sure why this particular tech startup hired him. His track record is far from stellar. In fact, heâs not certain what the company ultimately even does. Sometimes itâs better to keep your head down and your mouth shut, he figures. At least, until his curiosity gets the better of him. Eight years later, Raza finds himself as a defendant and key technical witness in a high-profile court case. A world-class prosecutor and a woefully inexperienced defense attorney go head-to-head against each other, their clients, and their consciences in an effort to answer the question on everyoneâs mind: Is the startupâs invention, legally speaking, human? The arguments leap between the technical, political, ethical, and philosophical consequences of the decision, and as the trial progresses, the many, many secrets of the startup are laid bare in this hilarious cross-genre thrill-ride. |
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A Part Of The World by R. M. Beristain Welcome to the Unified State, where privacy is a thing of the past and thinking machines control everything. For Dale and Camille, making a living in this Total Transparency society is hard, but trying to hide something can be lethal. Dale thought he was coming to the Unified State to save his parents, but soon realises that every path leads to a dead end. Camille was fighting against the system with her resistance group until she was captured and charged with terrorism. When Dale stumbles into the Country's most dangerous secrets and Camille's captors believe he's involved with her, everyone's choices could have devastating consequences. Can Dale trust the government he suddenly needs to save? Can Camille free herself in time to save her resistance friends? Find out in this original tale of survival, loyalty and love in the near future. Original. Complex. Utopia or Dystopia - depends on you. Question the decisions we make, the world we build, and how we live in it. Discover the story of ordinary people living life, trying to get byâŠuntil intrigue and danger show them what theyâre truly made of. If you enjoyed rich near-future world building like in The Peripheral and The Expanse series (minus space travel), youâll love A PART OF THE WORLD. AI rules the country and swaps robotic bodies on a whim. Augmented reality drives peoples lives. There are wars and freedom fighters on the fringes, and machine cults inside. People bend reality online and offline. Even the English language as you know it has changed. A part of the world / Apart of the world. The near-future isn't what you expected. |
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Dragon City: A Sci-Fi Dystopia by Iryna Karban Tread quietly on the Bottom. Sheâd never seen him before, yet she recognized him. And where? In one of her nightmares, the worst one so far, when she dived deep below the mist and went down to the Bottom, the ground level of the abandoned city. Veiled by perpetual mist, it terrifies the residents of the megapolis with legends of dreadful creatures prowling among the ruins. Now desperate to warn him, she will see for herself if the legends are true. Dragon City invites you to journey into a dark, dystopian world where the line between dreams and reality is razor thin. Perfect for cyberpunk, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, and sci-fi romance fans. âThis novel is an ambitious debut from a new author and I look forward to reading her future works.â âThe plotâs numerous twists and turns made the book impossible to put down.â âthe story kept me on the edge of my seat, a real page turner.â |
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Hold by Penny Heart Will she be all in, or will they call her bluff in the continuing Why Choose adventures of a once-shy librarian? Sheilaâs most recent adventure involved flirting with her dear friend, Derek, and they got up to some pretty naughty behavior in public. Now Derekâs friend Alexander has invited the two of them to continue their eveningâand their playâat his apartment for a rousing game of poker. Sheila doesnât know how to play poker, but sheâs confident sheâs going to win tonight, regardless of the outcome of the cards. The real question is exactly how far she wants to take things. She holds all the cards, but itâs hard to overcome a lifetime of insecurities and bad hands. Is this once-shy librarian ready to commit to a full house, or will she fold before things get that far? |
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Have it All by Beverly Anne Michel Liora King dreams of becoming a professional ballet dancer. She leaves her small hometown to pursue her dream, but she meets trouble along the way. That trouble's name is Penelope Reyes. Penelope is already one of the best in Chicago and the lead of the troupe Liora wishes to join. They butt heads every chance they get as they rival for the starring role in their troupe's performance of The Nutcracker. They continue to fight until slowly but surely they develop feelings for each other. Neither of them wants to admit their feelings. Liora and Penelope must learn to get over their anger and let themselves be happy |
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A Klaus Encounter: A SciFi Alien Warrior Holiday Romance (Horned Holidays #5) by Honey Phillips Can a cold alien warrior and a struggling woman give a grieving boy the one gift he needs mostâa family? When Talia moves to an isolated village to care for her angry, grieving nephew Theo, she quickly discovers that her city-based skills are useless. Her efforts to reach her nephew and save his home are failing. The last thing she needs is another problem, but when she finds a huge, horned alien unconscious in the snow, sheâs determined to save him. Commander Klausan D'Kringar's mission has come to an ignominious end. Crashed, injured, and alone, his only goal is survival. But when he wakes up in a primitive cellar, tended to by a fierce, captivating female, his priorities begin to shift. Her compassion is irrational, her living situation is unacceptable, and the unexpected attraction between them is completely outside his experience. Logic dictates he should escape, but a new, protective instinct demands he stay. As they work together to ease Theoâs sorrow, an unforeseen bond begins to grow between the three of them. And when they attract the wrong kind of attention, Klausan will do whatever it takes to protect his new family. A sweet and steamy holiday tale featuring a grieving boy, a loyal alien reindeer, a heroine who rediscovers her purpose, and a hero who learns that sometimes the most logical choice of all is to follow his heart. (Intended for mature audiences.) |
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Suck Suck Suck by Brandt Scheidemantel "Riveting, disturbing." "Deeply weird...very ticklish...the strangest thing I have ever read." "An odd collection...Scheidemantel can weave a story!" In this genre-bending debut short story collection, psychological horror gets a magical twist. A man makes a routine stop at the bankâand surfaces days later sucked dry of his identity. Faced with eviction, a babysitter trades her sin to a trollâbut thereâs a lustful catch. A breast cancer survivor awakens in the Devilâs sock drawer and runs like Hell. Two closeted young men find loveâbut a deranged murderer finds them, too. Suck Suck Suck is a surreal ride fueled by dark comedy, satire, and desperate longing. |
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Once We Were Stardust by Gareth Lewis Who printed the gun isnât an interesting mystery. Whether they also printed the assassin, however... The technology to print any resource saved the future. Their material needs met, jobs are optional, and life is peaceful. Until that peace is threatened by a series of shootings in a city where guns are illegal â by a killer who might have recycled themselves afterwards. To detective, Ceri, they offer more mystery than most crimes â and excuse her lack of diplomacy with idiots. Distraction from the mundanity of life is less attractive as the danger grows, and by the time she realises the victims were killed because of what they might know, Ceri knows too much. Can she outwit the assassin on her tail, and uncover a secret at the heart of printer technology? |
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A Thousand Reasons by Titania Tempest Shadowed by masks and etched with scars, can love bloom beneath the glare of the spotlight? Rowan Hart wants to believe it. Vivienne Vale stopped hoping long ago. Rowan arrives for the final season of The Crystal Throne determined to prove herself opposite the legendary Vivienne Vale. After weathering her last media storm, sheâs ready to reclaim her confidence, find her courage, and finally cement her place as an A-list actress. Viv steps onto set carrying decades of discipline, the scars of an old scandal, and a reputation polished to brilliance. She has rebuilt her life once already, and she wonât risk it again â not even for the magnetic co-star who disarms her with unsettling ease. Rowanâs quick wit and earnest warmth crack Vivâs composure. Vivâs fierce grace and quiet vulnerability catch Rowan completely off guard. What starts as professional admiration drifts into amiable rivalry â and then into a soft, dangerous friendship. Long days, dazzling sets, and unspoken truths draw them closer until one stolen night shifts everything. Their connection is undeniable⊠and utterly impossible. Careers, reputations, and old wounds stand between them, along with a thousand reasons to walk away. With the world watching and wrap day looming, Rowan and Viv must choose between protecting the glittering masks theyâve built â or risking everything for one fragile, fiercely earned chance at something real. |
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Forgotten Atnama by Sam Schreiber Blind faith is an incredible thingâan incredible, scary thing. Anjidia was a peaceful and harmonious place until its last ruler, Atnama Aryket, was the victim of the worldâs first murder. Now, the gryphon colony has isolated itself. Dragons and humans are at odds. And no one has seen the Atnamaâs phoenix in over a decade. Heading straight for her enemies is the last thing seventeen-year-old Lili should do, but what other choice does she have after the Honor Guard track her down and capture her Aunt Nix? To save the woman who raised her, Lili must gather allies among the outcast and disenfranchised and prove to them, and herself, that she is the Atnamaâs long lost daughter and heir. As danger increases with each step on her journey, can Lili accept the costs of her birthright? Is she ready to lead a revolution to save her aunt? And what will she have to lose before she can win? |
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Let the Mask Fall by G.E. Masters Danielle Iâm being watched. It isnât a figment of my imagination. Someone is watching me, following me, standing over me as I sleep. I donât know who she is, or what she wants. But Iâm determined to find out. Blair She sleeps soundly, her chest rising and falling with each breath. Sheâs been living a lie. The mask she wears to hide her true nature is stuck to her face. Iâm the only who can set her free. - Danielle is running from her old life. She has a new house, a new job, and a new secret admirer. An admirer who likes to break into her home and watch her sleep. Blair doesnât feel muchâemotions are beneath her. But something about Danielle has thrown her through a loop. Sheâs begun doing the only thing she can think to do: stalk this mystery of a woman. Danielle has more to her than meets the eye, and Blair will be the one to figure her out. Meanwhile, the town is on high alert with the news of a potential serial killer. Danger lurks behind these women at every turn. Will they outrun it, or succumb to the thrill? |
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Go Easy on Me by Bradley James How do you rebuild a life shaped by loss? Eight years after a devastating accident left his father permanently disabled, Theo Branson is still carrying the weight of a decision no teenager should have been asked to make. Now in graduate school for mental health counseling, he hopes to find a way forward and focus solely on his education and building his career. After years of dedication to his caregiving responsibilities, heâs ready to live a life thatâs his own. But when it comes to romanceâsomething Theo has sworn off entirelyâhe is urged by his best friend to open his heart to the idea of finding love in his new era of independence. With this push, Theo meets Javier, a gentle music tutor with a quiet sadness, and Randall, an enigmatic Army veteran whose sudden arrival stirs something Theo canât explain. As he navigates the growing pull between the two men, Theoâs home life begins to unravelâfractured by secrets, addiction, and another tragedy that threatens to undo everything. Just when Theo thinks heâs lost his chance at love and healing, a revelation shifts the world beneath his feetâone that defies logic and opens the door to something both heartbreaking and miraculous. |
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Stableshoes by Jo Morgan Sloan Why would a prince need a ball to pick a bride? He's in love with the palace stableman, of course! Prince Darian has met all the requirements necessary to claim his fatherâs throne; at least, he thinks he has, until his sinister cousin Bertram reveals a law that states Darian must marry by his twenty-fifth birthday, or lose the crown. With only four weeks to find a bride, Darian turns to his beautiful, irreverent, clever friend Ashley for help before a grand ball is to be thrown in his honor. But there is another who catches the prince's living in perpetual silence is Eric, the stronghold stableman, whose kindness disrupts Darianâs plans to hide his nature. Each day that passes is another day closer to Bertramâs takeover, and heâs counting on Darian to fail. While Eric has the princeâs heart, the stableman also carries a secret mark that could jeopardize Darianâs claim to the throne. To protect the nation he loves from a tyrant, Prince Darian must choose between true love and living a lie. |
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Bury Me Cold by Jacob Steven Mohr An uncanny snowfall revives a cattlemanâs dead wifeâwith terrible secrets from beyond to spill like blood. A plague-like curse infects the memories of its victims, forcing them to go viral in an increasingly grisly fashion. Twin sisters share a psychic link nothing can sever, not even the cold of the grave. Curiosity lures two stepbrothers into an imaginary haunted houseâand the eager arms of its very real sole occupant. Infatuations. Trespasses. Abominations. Resurrections. Jacob Steven Mohrâs second volume of pitch-black fiction kicks over moss-covered rocks and shows us all the awful things that squirm beneath. In fourteen talesâincluding the titular âBury Me Coldââthis collection is living, bleeding proof that when the lights go off, terror always gets the last word. |
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Raising Loki by Elliot Manarin The incredible true story of an unlikely friendship between an abused raven and a grieving human⊠In 2014, an abandoned raven in need of rehoming came to the Coda Falconry, where Elliot Manarin worked. Little did Elliot know at the time, but the âcheeky corvid,â soon to be known as Loki, would end up putting him in hospital over a dozen times from vicious attacks. But Elliot refused to give up on him. Through trial and error, he earned Lokiâs trust, creating a bond unlike any other. Their friendship only grew through the trials and tribulations to come, and soon, the mischievous Loki transformed from an abused raven, terrified of humans, into a true celebrity. With thousands of social media followers and people from all over the world traveling to meet him, Loki the Raven loves to entertain. But beyond his popularity, he has shown Elliot and the world that ravens are not only intelligent but empathetic and loving, capable of joy, remorse, and even forgiveness. |
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Reanimated Love by Kevin L. Williams Elizabeth Lavenza is a tortured woman living alone in a crumbling estate. Haunted by her father's death, she is an outcast ridiculed for her appearance and otherworldly abilities. Tambora is a reanimated creation, hunted as a monster and tormented for being different. He longs to find peace amid the harshness of the world. When Elizabeth discovers the injured giant on her doorstep, what begins as a mystery soon blossoms into a love that will transcend death, life, and death again. A true Gothic romance, Reanimated Love tells the story of a timeless love between two lost souls reaching out. |
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The Bone Drenched Woods by L.V. Russell Carve the bones. One for the gate, one for the door, two for the mantel, and three for the floor⊠Hyacinth Turning knows the terrors beyond her village, the insatiable hunger of the Teeth. She listens to the sermons given by the Elders in their hare-skin masks. She watches as the heathens hang and the witches burn. They tell her to be good and quiet. But Hyacinth is neither good nor quiet. After a series of tragic events, Hyacinth finds herself hastily wedded and sent far away from all she has ever known to a settlement at the edge of the sea. Where more than just the Teeth are hungry. Another horror swims below, leviathan shadows kept at bay by offerings of flesh and bone. But no sooner does Hyacinth take root in her new home do the Teeth and the Deep come to feed. Suspicion soon falls upon the outspoken Hyacinth, who spends more time with the outcasted Morgan Carroway than her own husband. The Elders want her burned, her husband wants her hanged, and a long-lost love claws at her dreams, but Hyacinth only wants one thing. A life and death of her choosing. |