SPSFC 2024 Self-published Science Fiction Competition 2024
A sister competition to the SPFBO, the SPSFC is for sci-fi self-published works. Stories tagged with this mark were entered into the fourth year of this competition.
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Your Service is Required by Jeff Walker From the author of space opera novella The Long Lost War and the sci fi/fantasy series Outer Red. Jeff Walker brings you his vision of a dystopian society in Earthâs distant future, where robots rule over whatâs left of humanity. A science fiction drama centred on one man trying to survive in a machine dominated world. Earth is now under the control of two artificially intelligent rulers. Angela and Malcolm; they govern the planet and use humanity to service their needs. David 00472 is one of those daily service attendants that must obey the commands of the two AI overlords. David becomes a person of interest to Angela as she helps him to improve the quality of his life. David, suspicious and fearful of her sudden concern for him, is cautious about her true intent. Malcom, ever watchful of all humans, is unsure why David 00472 has become Angelaâs pet project. Is this part of their cruelty? Do they delight in using humans for their amusement somehow? David meets a man, another Human Service Attendant, that will change and challenge his notion of freedom, and what it truly means to be free. |
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A theme park worker can travel back in time to walk the decks of the Titanic. But can he save one of her heroes from a watery grave? Ever since he graduated from high school, Liam Peterson has worked at the Titanic Voyage ride in Historytown, a struggling amusement park in Eloy, Arizona. Heâs enchanted by the journal of Clara Jones, a hero of the Titanic who saved several fellow Third Class passengers before she perished in the sinking. He never dreamed heâd meet her. One night, the teenage son of Historytownâs founder tricks Liam into thinking that a 3D projection of Clara is a theme park guest. As Liam spends time with Claraâs âholoactorâ on the sets of Titanic Voyage, the past starts to change, and he realizes heâs been visiting the real Clara Jones. When tragedy strikes Liamâs life outside the ride, his only escape from the grief is the hope of saving Clara and giving her a long, happy life. But if he rewrites her history, he might erase his own. |
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Timeâs Ellipse by Frasier Armitage No solution saves everyone. Only one keeps us human. The hope of a dying Earth rests on a crew of astronauts. Their mission: find a new home. But when they touch down on a distant planet, a time-bending anomaly traps them in a situation that no one couldâve predicted, causing them to question the nature of humanity, the snare of destiny, and the shape of time itself. Timeâs Ellipse spans generations, orbiting the lives of the scientists and astronauts involved in this historic mission as they discover that escaping the planet is simpler than evading its legacy. |
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Time Travel Rescue: Escape from the 21st Century by Tom Kranz âWE LIVE IN A WASTELANDââRick Twenty third century Earth is barely hanging on. Climate ignorance and environmental abuse have diminished the population by 48%. Land masses are a toxic sprawl. Five companies run whatâs left. WHAT TO DO? A world class hacker and an altruistic citizen go back in time to stop the Earthâs destruction by the forces of 21st century evil. |
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Time of the Cat by Tansy Rayner Roberts Itâs time to take history seriously. The cats and humans of Chronos College know that time travel is the best job in the world, and nothing bad can ever happen to them in the past⊠except that one time they lost a traveller. And that other time they lost a cat. Now they have a chance to make up for past mistakes by rescuing a long lost legend. If only they could convince Professor Boswell, the grumpiest marmalade tabby of all time, to join their mission to the Swinging Sixties, and save one of their own. (Plus pick up a missing piece or two of lost media along the way.) Join Ruthven, Boswell, Monterey and Lovelace on the most chaotic time travel adventure of their lives. Featuring special appearances by Cleopatra, Anne Boleyn, famous actress Fleur Shropshire, and the even more famous house where they filmed TV show Cramberleigh between 1964-1986. Time of the Cat is a cozy sci-fi romp through the centuries, featuring academic endnotes, epic friendships, and far more cat hair than is strictly necessary. If youâd rather use time travel to steal the pens of famous writers of history than stop to fill in the proper paperwork, then this is the novel for you. |
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Thrill Kings: Fragmented Sky by Rik Ty Youâre an interdimensional rescue worker. Actually, youâre a young test driver, but in hard times, you aim higher. One night in early summer, a Bleed Zone erupts along a California parkway. Strange creatures from other worlds rip through to ours. Your team has the means to set things right, and you get to work. As you are completing the mission, a shadow branch of the Army arrives, once again trying to capture your team and seize control of your technology. Itâs crazy. You hang back. Maybe you can make the soldiers see reason. Every one of them is roughly your age. It shouldnât be too hard⊠Itâs crazy hard. Youâre lucky to escape with your life. But in the encounter, you inadvertently supply the soldiers with information their commanding officer has been seeking. Now he has everything he needs to launch his end game. Heâs going to finish you quickly. Heâs going to play rough. And playing rough â with interdimensional technology â is not a good idea. The following 24 hours will steer us all âŠbetween a promised age of discovery⊠and the frantic collapse of traditional reality. |
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Theft of Fire by Devon Eriksen Discover SciFi #5 Best Book of 2023 Atomic Rockets Seal of Approval, for Excellence in Correct Science Prometheus Award Finalist for Best Novel Dragon Award for Best Scifi Novel Finalist âA great read â hard SF by a retired engineer.â âJohn Carmack, creator of Doom At the frozen edge of the solar system lies a hidden treasure which could spell their fortune or their destructionâbut only if they survive each other first. Marcus Warnoc has a little problem. His asteroid mining shipâhis inheritance, his livelihood, and his homeâhas been hijacked by a pint-sized corporate heiress with enough blackmail material to sink him for good, a secret mission she wonât tell him about, and enough courage to get them both killed. She may have him dead to rights, but if he doesnât turn the tables on this spoiled Martian snob, heâll be dead, period. Heâs not giving up without a fight. He has a plan. Miranda Foxgrove has the opportunity of a lifetime almost within her grasp if she can reach it. Her stolen spacecraft came with a stubborn, resourceful captain who refuses to cooperateâbut heâs one of the few men alive who can snatch an unimaginable treasure from beneath the muzzles of countless railguns. And if this foulmouthed Belter thug doesnât want to cooperate, sheâll find a way to force him. Sheâs come too far to give up now. She has a plan. Theyâre about to find out that a plan is a list of things that wonât happen. |
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The Unceasing Mistress by Casey White In the sprawling, decrepit world-city of Cascartia, youâre only as strong as the people you surround yourself with. When Niall Torson passed through the enclave of Lorellan looking to freelance, he found an oasis of calm, a safe haven from the scavengers and enterprising murderers of the outside world. All thanks to Lorellanâs enigmatic leader â the White Lady. While her bold reign keeps the enclave safe, the Lady is erratic, her judgements swift and brutal. When she pushes her last aide off a cliff for wasting resources, a replacement is the next order of business â and Niall finds his diligent efforts rewarded with an unexpected, very much unwanted promotion. Refusing the dictator is usually a good way to wind up at the bottom of the cliff yourself, though, so Niall sets himself to the impossible task of keeping his mistress happy while plotting his escape. With his peek behind the curtain comes the realization thereâs more to the White Lady than he ever knew â and that the world threatens Lorellan more than its citizens suspect. But is the cure worse than the poison? |
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* A stand-alone adventure set in the Amaranthe universe * The Hesgyr are thieves. âScavengers,â to hear their victims tell it; ârepurposersâ by their own reckoning. As Chief of Intelligence for Non-Anaden Affairs, Eren Savitasâ job is to protect the Advocacy from all manner of alien threats: sabotage, assassination, insurgency and, way down the list, theft. So when he spots a Hesgyr running off with valuable technology, he follows the alien homeâand discovers a civilization unlike any heâs ever encountered. Yes, the Hesgyr are thieves. But they are also being hunted. Systematically exterminated by an insidious enemy they canât see, touch or find. Eren finds himself drawn ever deeper into the Hesgyrâs fascinating yet labyrinthine world as he races against time to solve the mystery of the deadly attacks. What he discovers is a complex web of loyalties and betrayals, of grudges and grievances millennia oldâand beneath it all, a secret that may hold the key to the survival of more than one civilization. THE THIEF is a humorous, pulse-pounding sci-fi adventure about alien culture clashes, the flaws and foibles that transcend species, and the satisfaction that comes from breaking all the rules to save the day. |
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The Scotty! by Eric J. Hildeman The Scotty is a device which transforms matter into energy and then energy back into matter, just like Scotty used to do on Star Trek, hence its name. But the harsh reality is that this is no mere transportation device. Taken to its logical conclusion, it is a technology which gives its user the powers of an absolute god! And as the old saying goes, power corrupts. |
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The Sakura Element by S. C. Vincent When tradition means damnation, and the future is the past⊠Alia Academia â school for the elite. Genetically modified Oka Latellay faces discrimination orchestrated by fellow student Allen Debois. Allen enforces a caste system by the Purveyors of Tradition, keeping modified people in the bottom rung of society. But Okaâs gumption inspires him to start a fencing tourney where everything is at stake. If she loses, her life in high society is over. But if she wins, so ends the bullying of all mods in the school. Oka struggles with her fencing bouts and growing feelings for Allen as he reveals there is more to him than the cold cruelty he portrays. Simultaneously, Allen is torn between adoration for Oka and the Purveyors of Tradition influence. Choosing the former could risk his familyâs wealth and good name. Little do the two know how much their struggles intertwine when Allenâs friend begins to vie for Okaâs affections, and Allen finds himself blackmailed about his familyâs past. In a post-World War world where society functions on sleight of hand and discrimination, Oka and Allen must find the one thing that will save them. Love. |
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Tomorrowâs Child by D. G. Barnes It should have been easy money: deliver the cargo to the Proxima Colony via the Jump Gate, donât ask questions, collect the pay cheque. But a freak accident, one that shouldnât even be possible, sends the tramp freighter Calypso to an uncharted star system. After a forced landing on the systemâs only habitable world, Captain Jax Hunter and the crew of Calypso find themselves questioning everything they thought they knew about time and space. Join Jax as she unravels the secrets of this alien world and explores a burgeoning romance, all while struggling to get her ship and crew home. |
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Trouble Wore Red by Chris Lewis Robert âRockyâ Mountain, a private investigator from Mars, got the kind of job he loved: taking down a crooked politician. It was back on Commerce Station, his old haunt, but he thought he could slip in and out. Nice and clean. But then his ex, Penny, shows up offering the kind of job he hated: personal. He wouldâve turned her down. He shouldâve, but that was before he saw what theyâd done to her apartment. Her life. Her. And he found that he could not help but mix pleasure with business, all into one explosive cocktail. So Rocky calls in his team from Mars to help. Kershaw, his security expert, who thought a good weekend was hanging off the side of a building. Kim, his hard-nosed assistant, whoâll make sure he charges Penny expenses and overtime. However, the more Rocky investigates, the more everything is just a little too perfect, and he starts to worry if heâs been playing with trouble. |
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Wilderness Five by C. R. Walton Extinction is only the beginning . . . Accelerated evolution âManifoldâ technology has changed everything â dead worlds and asteroids bloom with strange new life. People flocked to colonise the new wilderness only barely to survive obliteration by a Manifold experiment gone wrong. Like so many others, Bryn watched his people burn that day. Unlike the rest, Bryn finds himself hailed as the lone hero who saved his species. Only he knows better. Brynâs grim new life of solitude in the depths of the wilderness is shattered when the past comes calling. His presence is requested on the ringworld Wilderness Five. There, at the edge of inhabited space, the oldest and richest man in the System has expended every drop of his money and influence to launch the most daring Manifold experiment ever attempted. Brynâs moment has come. Plunged back into a world of faceless corporations, hell-bent scientists, and terrifying engineered species, he must learn to finally live up to his reputation. Otherwise, nature will take its course with humanity once and for all. On Wilderness Five, the fate of the species comes down to one question: whom to trust and whom to kill? |
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Whiskey and Warfare by E. M. Hamill Running on caffeine and spite with nothing left to prove. GOLDEN GIRLS meets FIREFLY in this rollicking space opera adventure. Maryn Alessi retired from mercenary service after her last assignment went horribly sideways and settled down on a quiet planet with the love of her life. Unexpectedly widowed, Maryn must fulfill a promise to return her mateâs ashes to zer home planet for funeral rites, but a brutal civil war has destabilized space travel. Former Artemis Corps sisters-in-arms and their sassy ship, the Golden Girl, are up to the task, counting on luck and their rather sketchy cargo business to get Maryn passage through the contested star lanes. But when the crew of the Girl rescues survivors of a ruthless war crime, Maryn and her ride-or-die friends must take up their old profession to save the lives of innocents from a genocidal dictator. |
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What Swims On Uncharted World 550 by R. B. Lovitt Meet Dr. Elora Stephenson, a biologist joining a team on a small outpost on an alien world. As soon as she arrives, strange occurrences and unexplained deaths throw the outpost into chaos. Who can be trusted? Who is hiding who they are? Elora must navigate the treacherous web of suspicions and sabotage, racing against time to unmask the culprit before the outpost is completely wiped out. The fate of the team on uncharted world 550 rests in Eloraâs hands in this thrilling tale of mystery and deception. |
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Wakers of the Cryocrypt by Nathan Kuzack The future. The human race is extinct. Earth is ruled by âeltecsâ, descendants of the AIs humans created before their demise. While searching for prehistoric cave paintings, two eltec explorers discover a hidden cryogenic crypt containing 23 perfectly preserved human bodies frozen inside crystal columns. As eltec society argues over who might have built the crypt and what to do with it, one of its occupants is restored to life. Human beings are no longer extinct, but, for reasons of their own, not every eltec wants to see them come back. The only living man on Earth is in terrible danger. |
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Vermilion Flames by Adam Fernandez In the shadow of a ruined Earth, the Republic and its church claim to offer safety and security while burning ideas and people alike. No moon or planet is free of flames and bloodshed, even as the rebel organization, the Vermilion Coalition, seeks to dismantle the Republicâs oppressive regime. On a terraformed Mercury, Kaya al Vardan hopes to find the truth behind her motherâs murder; a difficult task when everyone insists it was a tragic accident. When Kayaâs adventurous spirit leads her into the forbidden Great Desert, sheâs sent to the Republicâs capital on Mars to study under the watchful eye of the all-powerful church she despises. There she unravels mysteries about her motherâs life and faces a choice: fall in line or risk everything to take up her motherâs mantle. Silas Beckett, High Commander of the Pandora Fleet and hero of the Republic, can feel his time running out. Fighting terrorists has been his lifeâs mission, but his nemesis Hexâleader of the Vermilion Coalitionâstill eludes him. As his failures mount and his allies abandon him, he has few chances left to bring Hex to justice. Can Silas secure peace for his family and for the entire solar system? Vermilion Flames is the first book in the Midnight War series, an action-filled epic set long after the destruction of Earth. |
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Utopia by Marie-HĂ©lĂšne Lebeault A Clean YA Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Adventure Three extraordinary teenagers, each an outcast in their worlds, unite to reshape the destiny of a utopian society. Ryn, who couldnât adapt to life under the sea, Eira, born above the clouds but unable to breathe the thin air, and Aiden, rejected by the subterranean civilization, embarks on a thrilling journey to Vancouverâs utopia. Theyâll challenge the elders, confront hidden truths, and discover the power of unity in a fast-paced young adult sci-fi adventure that explores the boundaries of human resilience, and the promise of a better world. Utopia is a What Happens Next? novel developed from the Under the Iceshort story. |
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A newbie pilot with a secret, broken comms, alien artifact, viral code, empty space. What can go wrong? Jax, a freshly minted spaceship pilot had a simple job: taking a group of sick people to Rebelsâ Republic space station to have their brain implants fixed while keeping her secret â secret. She had a smart plan to get it done: just some tweaking of the comms to make it look like an accident. But her ship had some surprises aboard: two healthy passengers, who werenât who they claimed to be, a real emergency, and a piece of virally spreading rogue code. Then⊠came some more problems⊠Can a loner learn teamwork to survive and save the solar system from collapse? |
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Unnatural Selection by Robert P. Edwards At the end of the 21st Century, humanity is enjoying a renaissanceâor so it seems. For the wealthy, a quantum biotechnology called Stem has eliminated disease and seamlessly integrates with The Web. So why are people dying? Amongst us live the Quants, a meld of robotics, AI, and quantum computing. They carry out vital work in a world dependent on technology. Personal Quants can be built to order for the privileged few. Sophie and her marine biologist father, Chris, live in one of the few habitable zones left in the southern hemisphere. Kazumi is the son and heir of Mashimoto Corporation, a leading manufacturer of quantum technology. Mackenzie is the gifted daughter of technology billionaire Alistair âAceâ Abernathy. Love and loss will drive them together. Across a world scarred and divided by climate change. Only together will they discover the terrifying truth about who is really behind the death of their loved ones. |
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Twilight Divide by Melanie Bokstad Horev In a world where hope has been scorched by fire and forgotten gods, Nour fights to survive. Sheâs a warrior, a sister, and a survivor in the brutal wasteland of Aridex. But when she discovers a long-hidden truth about her family, her life becomes a race against time. A prophecy, whispered through time, binds her to a destiny she never wanted. She must choose: protect her brother, the only family she has left, or embrace a fate that could save or destroy them all. The Day Blazers, a ruthless force with blades thirsty for blood, hunt her across the desert. And from the ruins of the old world, monstrous night creatures rise, their hunger as ancient as the wasteland itself. Can Nour find the strength to stand against the darkness and save her people, or will the desert bury their dreams beneath the sand and grit they were born in? |
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Turn Left at the Mooncrow Skeleton by Linda Raedisch âWelcome to Planet 5372, a uniquely dystopian world where the unlikely heroes include a handful of shambolic university students and their taciturn landlord. Raedischâs layered writing and photographic attention to detail make this slice-of-life archaeological adventure entirely believable.â âClarissa Simmens, author of Parallel Universe Cafe and Other Poems For the past two hundred years, the colonists marooned on Planet 5372 have been confined to a volcanic basin the size of New Jersey. Outside the Basin lie the uninhabitable (some say haunted) ruins known as the Outer Cities. Bored with campus life at the colonyâs only university, twenty-year-old Numi rents a room from Kelda, an uneducated, thirty-something carpenter whose movements are closely monitored by the âshinglesâ or neighborhood deputies. Numi doesnât mind running interference between the reserved Kelda and his rambunctious tenants, but the two can never be more than friends. Numiâs an up-and-coming academic, and Keldaâs a Tyrrhenian, a descendant of the manual laborers who cleared the toxic vegetation from the Basin. As Halloween approaches, Numi is still summoning the courage to confront Kelda with her suspicion that heâs mixed up in the black market trade in âmagical paraphernalia,â mysterious carved objects left behind by the planetâs indigenous, supposedly extinct inhabitants. Time runs out on Mischief Night when Kelda disappears, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Numi faces a decision. She can report her suspicions to the shingles, or she can follow her landlord to the one place she thought she could never go: the Outer Cities. |
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Some people say to never trust a spy A militia officer on the hunt for a murderer. A scientist with the key to humanityâs future. A girl in a glass tank with no memory. One seeking justice. One seeking fame. One seeking answers. With the galaxy on the brink of war, time is not on their side. Join them in their battle for survival. |
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The Murder Algorithm by Wilson Kincaid In a not so distant future where lives are broadcast 24 hours a day, how can one man prove he is innocent of a crime the whole world watched him commit? In this frighteningly plausible story, âThe Murder Algorithmâ thrusts us into a labyrinth of deception, fame, and a society teetering on the edge of destruction at the hands of its own desire for celebrity and approval. Roman Glass, accused of murdering beloved social media icon Starla Devine, must race against the clock to unravel a web of deceit. As he fights to prove his innocence, Social Media Investigator Rae Dettmer unearths a sinister pattern: a series of seemingly unrelated murders connected by the invisible threads of the digital realm. âThe Murder Algorithmâ is an exciting blend of science fiction and mystery, where the line between private and public is as thin as the pixels on a screen. With each revelation, layers of intrigue are revealed, leaving readers questioning the price of fame, and the lengths the powerful will go to maintain control. Get ready for an adventure where every click, every post, and every like is a weapon. Because in the age of perpetual surveillance, the most dangerous game is the one played in plain sight. |
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The Minority Rule by Alexia Muelle-Rushbrook Years of greed and war devastated most of Earth. Now largely infertile, the remnants of the world have been united under one strict, unwavering power focused on Earthâs guardianship as well as humanityâs prosperity. Maia believes in the established order, yet as a budding young scientist, she also wants more than the decreed roles of housewife to a stranger, egg donor, and mother. As family and state force Maia into submission, she resigns herself to a life of compliance until she unexpectedly meets two vastly different women. Discovering they both hold secrets, Maia questions if she can keep silent, even if revealing the truth threatens to irrevocably challenge the foundations of her existence. Silence may not be golden â but it is safer. |
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The First Herald by Carol T. Luna What price would you pay to protect your country? When his city burned around him, Zacharias Eld swore on his life it would never happen again. Sworn in as the First Herald, there is no camera he cannot access, no idle chatter he cannot hear. No secrets he cannot unearth. But a break-in at a lab reveals the hole in the network he spent seven years to build. Worse, the evidence is contaminated, the suspects missing, and the innocent refuse to speak. Zach soon finds himself in a world he thought he had purged years ago, festering in the shadows he once scoured. As the layers of the conspiracy peel back, so too, does the safety of Zach those around him. Either Zach finds the culprit or he will witness the fall of the city heâd spent his life to protect. |
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The Faithless and the Damned by Sev Romero When the world is on fire, justice eventually comes for all. As temperatures and water lines rise, a revolution led by the young and desperate dispenses bloody vengeance against what remains of the establishment. The Daughters of Adrestia send anxious teen Ava to execute a notorious climate criminalâbut the job does not go to plan and Ava is forced to flee. Elsewhere in the decaying city, grieving widower Victor agrees to deliver a mysterious young boy to a shadowy sect, however, the boy escapes, placing Victor in danger. Ava crosses paths with the runaway boy and he joins her on the run. Victor pursues them, but discovers more ominous threats have also joined the hunt. A deadly game of cat and mouse ensues across the back roads and towns that litter the smouldering Australian landscape. To survive, Ava must fight to find her resolve, while Victor must confront his convictions. And as the chase intensifies to its feverish conclusion, both must decide whose side they are on before the world burns down around them. The Faithless and the Damned is a gripping, provocative dystopian thriller by the award-winning Australian speculative fiction author Sev Romero. |
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The Dryburgh Chronicles Part 1: The Existence of Shadows by L. P. Halliday Scotland is a land steeped in magic and mystery, but Lilian Darling doesnât believe in such things. She has dedicated her career at Oxford University to clearing the names of those falsely accused of consorting with the devil, and that never involves any actual witchcraft. Until now. When she and her research partner, Edgar Falkirk, head to the misty hills of the Scottish Borders to meet a promising source, their journey takes an unexpected turn. Edgarâs accidental discovery of an ancient spell book, combined with an encounter with an overly enthusiastic research student, thrusts them back through time to the 16th century at the outbreak of the witch craze ensnaring early modern Scotland. In this perilous era, the pair of astute academics must navigate a landscape where their modern knowledge and skepticism could mark them as heretics. As they race to find a way back to their own time, they must confront the very myths they sought to debunk and uncover a truth that transcends reason. The Dryburgh Chronicles Part 1: The Existence of Shadows is a fast-paced magical mystery that combines quick wit with enchanting scene building weaving a time-traveling tale where nothing and nobody are what they seem. |
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The Dream of the Forest by Stjepan Varesevac Cobets More than one hundred years have passed since the cataclysm. The year is 2197 and Earthâs surviving inhabitants now live in heavenly cities above the clouds, unwilling to descend back to the unstable surface. Helen is a lawyer whose life is seemingly perfect, complete with career, partner and plans for a family. But she soon discovers that it is all an illusion. A car accident turns her life in a different direction and she finds herself on the Earthâs surface, in a forested world utterly foreign to her. Is it true that Earth cannot sustain life? What if the truth was entirely different? What if there were survivors â and how would Helen return to her own world? |
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The Disk Mirror Solution by Danielle Ste. Just Welcome to 2422, a galaxy of amazing implanted technology, exotic exoplanets, and the apex predator we ourselves created. Now two women from opposite ends of the galaxy threaten to expose the most dangerous predator the galaxy has spawned. Armintor Vess is days away from receiving her first cranial implant when a technology-fueled plague strikes her home planet. Fears of contagion condemn Armintor and the other survivors to a planet ruled by autocratic technophobes. She fights to survive in her new, pitiless, low-tech world. Seizing a better opportunity at first seems like the answer to her dreams. But her chance at a new life uncovers a danger that threatens the entire human race. Intel-broker Redcholate buys and sells information in virtual reality. When a mysterious client offers a fortune for a job that can only be completed in the real world, Redcholate agrees. But the job takes over her body and her life, and she learns more than she ever wanted to know. As their two stories collide, two women find themselves facing a foe they could never defeat alone. Both must find the truth before timeâand humanityâs existenceâruns out. The Disk Mirror Solution is an epic tale of humanityâs future, and its hubris. It takes place in opposite sides of the galaxy, one riding the crest of technology and the other drowning in its dregs. Itâs the story of two women who must overcome their past, and their fears, to survive the future. |
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The Correct Order by Trish Taylor THE CORRECT ORDER With women in control, life is better, but not for everyone. After the defeat of a repressive regime, women under the Correct Order enjoy safer and better lives. The AI entity BELLA dispenses harsh penalties to those breaking the rules. Men found guilty of crimes against women are sent to the Resort, where they undergo demasculationâa surgical penalty. Seventeen-year-old Emily, daughter of a high-ranking Order leader, is about to embark on her dream career as a surgeon. But doubts creep in as BELLAâs judgments hit close to home. As Emily learns the truth about the Resort, she questions her career choice and everything she believed about the Correct Order. |
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The Collective: Science is Stranger Than Fiction by J. F. Olazabal Science says the Collective is the perfect society, where every day is sunny, and no wind blows. Science says all the animals are gone. Science says the accident in the fields couldnât have happened⊠âŠbut Science is stranger than fiction. Iago is an accomplished young Operator, harvesting corn in the name of the Collective â a hi-tech orphanage thousands of miles from civilization. After a chance encounter with Javier and Kraken â a pair of wayward boys who have escaped a brutal prison known as the Village â Iago is beginning to question his reality. Now, he must survive the cruelties of the Protocol, and discover the terrible secrets of the Collective: a long-dead trillionaire with a grim warning, a super-mind that controls fate, and a plague that kills only men. |
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The City That Disappeared by Cheryl Peña For the past ten years, the city of Khonsu, built on the foreign planet Reiddo, has sent a daily transmission home to Earth. Then one day, the transmissions stopped coming. Rebecca Vance fears that something disastrous has happened to Khonsu. She and her friend Mark Wu, the nearest thing there is to an expert on Reiddo, convince the leadership at the AAIR (the American Agency for Interplanetary Relations) to investigate the cityâs strange disappearance, eventually making their way to the site of the lost city itself. From the beginning, the expedition is plagued by problems. The city isnât where itâs supposed to be. There are mysterious deaths among the team members. Rebecca has never trusted easily, but she must put aside her fears and doubts in a frantic attempt to find survivors before they are lost forever. The natives are friendly and seem anxious to help, but they arenât alone. A deadly secret puts her own life at risk and possibly the lives of the members of her team. It may even spell doom for the entire planet she calls home. |
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The Artificial Structure Formerly Known as the Moon by I. K. Stokbaek The Order of the Demolition has one objective â destroy the broken world. And Darlan dreams of joining them. His zeal and willingness to do anything takes him far from the abandoned school that has sheltered him throughout his young life. In a world where AI has enhanced some people and replaced others, the Indigents have no purpose and nothing to look forward to. Marianne accepts her fate. She is in all ways the last person one would expect to lead a revolution â until the Order of the Demolition involves an innocent in its schemes, and beliefs come tumbling down. Sabineâs uncle runs the Space Ladder Project. Her father is a prominent politician fitted with a brain chip. Her only friend is the governing AI â the Order of the Demolitionâs main target. |
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Itâs the year 4818 and throughout the Milky Way Galaxy discord is threatening the peace, and worse, the commerce, of Earth and its mega-companies. The solution? Finding âŠthe Areisa. Trouble is, sheâs a teenage girl whoâs pretty sure theyâre all bonkers. And the meddling of long dead Areisas isnât helping much either! |
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The Flow of Power by David Aumelas A flywheel stores energy in a spinning cylinder. After eight years of grad school, Margo is ready to give up on making a better one. Maybe sheâs not smart enough. Maybe her aging advisor is stuck on his own failures and has tasked her with an unsolvable problem. She doesnât really care, until she solves it. The revolutionary Crywheel brings fame and wealth, topples global energy challenges, and drags her into scandal when it starts causing blackouts and car accidents. But, surely, cutting all dependence on fossil fuels must be worth a few dead commuters. |
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The Ghost Gun kills what it hits, its ghost bullets ensnaring the victimâs soul to their killer. Except nothing is that simple. Certainly not an apparently simple theft that leads detectives into a war between secret societies over artifacts which have been around for millennia, their origin unknown, their abilities inexplicable. Demoted to Vice due to departmental politics, Detective Cassie Kinsala sees an opportunity to restore her career path. But what looks like it might offer a decent arrest soon turns into a quagmire the law might not cover, and might not protect her from. Jimmy Bancroft used to be a cop. Working for the other side lets him avoid paperwork. Investigating rumours of a competitor moving in on his employerâs interests, he becomes entangled in a war between criminals and a secret society. And someone might be trying to set him up. |
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The McMurdo Rift by Bradley Lejeune One ex-wife. Her missing husband. A mysterious alien race. In the not-so-distant future, Earth stood tall with its sprawling empire, ruling with an iron fist. But the subjugated colonies had other ideas and rose up in rebellion. The war that ensued should have been a simple victory for Earth, but the tide turned when an alien race, the Koru, unexpectedly joined forces with the breakaway factions. The planetâs fate hung in the balance as a colossal Koru battleship nearly annihilated the homeworld, until the valiant efforts of Mark Franklin saved the day. But the cost of victory was too steep, leaving him a broken man. Fast forward ten years, and Franklin has left behind his past life, seeking solace in running a bar aboard a creaky starliner that drifts in the far reaches of space. But when his ex-wife appears, pleading for his help in finding her missing husband, Franklinâs fragile peace is shattered. As he sets off on a treacherous journey to unravel the mystery, Franklin realizes that the Koru have returned, and they have set their sights on something hidden deep within The McMurdo Rift. The fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance, and Franklin is the only one who can save it. Will he risk everything to defeat the Koru and save the galaxy once again? |
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The Martian Incident by Ryan M. Patrick A crashed UAV on Mars. A top-secret recovery mission. Danger at every corner. When a mysterious aerial drone is shot down on Mars near the American colony of Columbia, NASA accident investigator John Cameron joins a joint DOD team to recover it. But, as a sandstorm moves in to blanket the area, the Americans are attacked by an overwhelming enemy force of EU soldiers in a surprise attack. Forced into a deep cave system beneath the Martian surface, Cameron and the team uncover a breathtaking discovery, left untouched for millennia. But what will happen when its original owners come back for it? Will Cameron survive and be able to return to Earth? Find out in The Martian Incident, a standalone sci-fi thriller with military elements, perfect for fans of Michael Crichton, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, and Andy Weir. |
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The Man Who Sold the World by Iain Benson James London is having a weird week. One minute, heâs dodging London traffic like a caffeinated squirrel, and the next, heâs knee-deep in Istanbulâs rubble, where a rogue chemistry experiment has gone disastrously right, turning the city into a tourist-free zone. Not that this is a first for himâsaving the world is just another bullet point on his CV. Enter D&D aficionado, Zee, a teenager (maybe) with a knack for shortcuts and a dad who thinks Ambrosia is more than just custard. Together, theyâre on a mission to stop a Turkish mobster in a gold lamĂ© tracksuit from turning copper into gold and the global economy into a grim joke. Oh, and thereâs the small matter of immortality on the line, because why not? Meanwhile, Detective Louise Sargant wants to solve a straightforward case of a shattered mirror on the Southbank. Instead, sheâs stuck dealing with colleagues who think her last name is the punchline to every joke, and she suspects beloved chef Nigella Lawson might be in danger. Packed with more twists than a politicianâs promises and enough irreverent humour to make you snort your coffee, âThe Man Who Sold the Worldâ is James Londonâs third outing and a wild ride through secret shortcuts, interdimensional mayhem, and one detectiveâs quest to avoid going completely bonkers. Perfect for fans of madcap adventures, this novel will have you questioning everything you thought you knew about alchemy, ancient myths, and the Turkish mafia. |
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The Long Home of the Soul by J. Carl Denton In the year 2095, when one of the most powerful men in the world is brutally murdered, Coleman Hawkins, a burned out Atlanta MetroPol detective struggling with PTSD, is tasked with finding the killer. His investigation leads him face to face with the endgame of global economic disparity, and to a secret too terrible to be believed, too horrible to be ignored. |
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The Lonely Ship from the Accord 1: Near Traverse by Ewan Stone The Galactic Accordâs first journey to the distant Forge galaxy goes awry, leaving the crew adrift in an ancient, alien starship powered by intimacy⊠Now, the crew of the Rune Carrier must travel across the new frontier, forging new connections and facing off against new enemies. They must uncover the legacy left behind by the galaxyâs lost masters. And all the while, the living ship must learn for herself who she is and what she wants. Or who she wants. The Lonely Ship from the Accord is a horny harem space opera adventure about sex and self-identity. Itâs told in three parts, with this being the first part. |
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The Lazarus Men by Christian Warren Freed You know the story. Wrong place at the wrong time. Gerald LaPlant has spent his life with his head down, struggling to make in a menial job on a dying planet. Nothing ever went his way. In fact, if not for his boss, he doubted anyone would even know he existed. At least until he witnesses a murder in broad daylight. Fleeing from the scene in shock and horror, Gerald discovers an alien artefact in his jacket pocket. It is the key to a forgotten treasure and everyone wants it. Gerald is forced to leave earth behind to escape. In doing so, he finds himself at the mercy of the shadowy Lazarus Men, ruthless agents who will stop at nothing to get their way. Gerald must use all his cunning and resourcefulness to stay alive and outsmart his enemies. But with half the galaxy after him, the odds are stacked against him. |
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The Lazarus Key by Rachel Aukes Extinction was just the beginning. In this pulse-pounding adventure, a Wyoming game warden encounters something she never thought possible: a real-life saber-tooth tiger. For two decades, Sam Brodie has never let a poacher get away or come across an animal print she couldnât identify⊠until she tracks a vicious predator that went extinct in the Ice Age. But when Sam reaches the tiger, she finds herself in the crosshairs of ruthless hunters intent on having no witnesses. With killers on her tail, she uncovers a chilling plot to clone extinct predators for a barbaric âextremeâ hunting experience for the wealthy elite. But these creatures are not simply clones; theyâre bigger, meaner, and pose an unparalleled danger to the worldâs ecological balance. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Sam and her team must race to stop the mastermind before he unleashes his ultimate creation. Can Sam stop him, or will humanity face its own extinction? Join the hunt and find out! Fans of Michael Crichton will love this epic monster story meets police procedural. |
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The Last Knight by Spencer Russell Smith Her husband was murdered, her rebellion left in shambles, and the factions have begun to turn on one another in the chaos. Only one thing is certain: their world is dying and their only chance of survival is together. Sometimes, the darkest circumstances force individuals to greatness. Sometimes, they leave them broken. And so, hiding beneath their worldâs eternal sun, hunted by the God Kingâs undead supersoldiers, the Remnant of those who fought for the goddess that destroyed the world, work to forge the shattered factions of their rebellion into a unified force that can escape their doomed world. Estingai, last of the legendary Knights Reborn must somehow convince the bickering leaders to work together, steal resources from the God Kingâs empire so they might live another day, and uncover the spy that betrayed them so she can avenge her husband. Can Estingai overcome her grief and be the woman the rebellion needs her to be? Can she become the Last Knight? |
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The Halley Traveler by Mike Mollman Earth has fallen into chaos and Mars is a collection of bickering city states. Chris Halley, an introverted teen, is left bereft of family in an uncaring world. He must navigate through the murky world of Martian smugglers while seeking vengeance for his fatherâs murder. Both are deadly propositions. Children of Mars, Book One |
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The Great Ooflan From Corplop by Charlie D. Weisman Charlando is sent to Earth as a baby to escape the clutches of a secret society of cannibalistic Ooflan on his home planet of Corplop. During his long years of isolation with nothing but his spaceship to talk to, he develops a fascination with love and romance. His belief that his soulmate awaits him on Earth is all that keeps him sane. He arrives on a war-torn Earth to find Janet, a newly homeless alcoholic, blacked out on a park bench. Believing this to be his long-awaited soulmate, he pledges his undying devotion to her. Janet, too drunk to understand the profound opportunity with which she has been presented, asks Charlando for a sandwich. The pair depart from one another and embark on their own perilous adventures: Charlando on a mission to reunite with his beloved Janet, and Janet on a quest for inner peace in a world that is crumbling all around her. |
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The Anubis War by David R. Packer At the end of human space, a warrior faces his final battle. Coming out of retirement once more, Vasco Alcazar al Madina del Goya joins another multi-year unification mission on the far flung edges of human expansion. The planet Rumi will join the New Ottoman Empire, whether it wants to or not. To ensure this, the Empire has sent its largest, most powerful battleship, the Tatar-class Alexi, armed with kinetic energy and bioweapons. The native Sumi, regressed from their spacefaring days donât stand a chance. Or at least, thatâs what everyone thinks. All Vasco wants is one last chance to prove himself to be the warrior he always knew he could be, one last shot at glory. The Anubis War and his fate, awaits. |
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Drowning Earth by Sean Willson Her sub can break the underwater speed of sound. But can she outpace the threat of nuclear winter? In 2055, with global tensions nearing the breaking point, humanity teeters on the brink of annihilation. Their only hope lies with Captain Kel Williams and her loyal team, crewing what some call the deadliest submarine ever built. Kel races to stake a claim to valuable undersea biomassâa lifeline that could prolong humanityâs demise. But deadly Russo-Chinese factions lurk in the lightless depths, determined to stop her at every turn. Besieged by threats within and without, Kel finds herself walking a razorâs edge to maintain control. Surrounded on all sides, she relies on her crewâs dedication and her Bull Nuke Oscar Allen to maintain order and avert disaster. Yet unbeknownst to all, salvation may lie in secrets lurking deep beneath the waves. Hidden truths once dismissed as myth. Whispers of impossible doorways and gods long forgotten. With danger at every turn, will anyone escape the deadly snare, or do ancient myths hold the key to humanityâs survival? Drowning Earth is the pulse-pounding first book in the Portalverse Elemental Origins science fiction techno-thriller series. If you like bold characters, dystopian conflicts, and wild surprises, then youâll love Sean Willsonâs plunge beneath the waves. |