Inferior
He was once known as Citizen 625-726. He had only known obedience. He had only known conformity. The City does not permit differences. The City does not permit preference. He was meant to be one among many, no different from anyone else. Then, an accident happened, and The City spat him out into the wilds beyond. There, he meets Paradise, a man who rejected The City and all it stood for. There, he finds a new name: Unbroken. There, he finds a life of freedom and self-discovery. He finds others, too-people who are not strangers nor faceless fellow citizens but friends. Life on the outside is hard, though. Each day is a struggle to survive. Yet, compared to the drudgery of The City, such a life is sheer bliss. As time goes by, the group grows, and a new society forms. Unbroken has to grapple with new feelings: love for the beautiful Jane and envy toward Paradise as he claims leadership of the band and the respect of the others. To make matters worse, The City is looking for them, determined to stamp out those who have abandoned it. Will growing tensions within Unbroken tear the group apart, or will the machines find and eliminate them first?
Peter's Quest
Three days have passed . . . three incredible days known throughout Christendom as Passion Week. And there in the midst of it all, three unlikely time travelers have found themselves 2000 years in the past. It was all a dream. It was all very real. The spirited resident physician, Elizabeth Stewart. Charismatic. Resourceful, and a relative newcomer to the faith. And Reverend Paul Ryan. A seasoned minister. Intuitive. Discerning, but not without fault nor afraid to admit it. Then there's the agnostic Professor Leonardo Van Eaton. Obstinate. Confrontational. And tenaciously unorthodox. By a strange and miraculous twist of fate, these three strangers have been thrust backward to another time-to an era filled with beginnings! God was revealing a new promise to the world itself! The old way was passing and our time travelers were there to witness it all! And the reality? Jesus had predicted the answers to their questions would be made known-and certainly they were. Dreams became reality. Wisdom was gained and lives were changed. But history rewritten? Hardly. History was defined. And now they have managed to return to their own time, though oddly, they have returned earlier than when they departed. Even more strange, unbeknownst to them, the Apostle Peter has returned with them to the 21st century. But why? Is there more to the story? Indeed! Reverend Ryan had witnessed a murder-had it on video. And that one clairvoyant link into a mysterious chain of events is suddenly within their ability to change . . . or so it seems.
Mustard Seed
"Mustard Seed hit it out of the park... deep emotional mining of Cold War America... brilliantly works in Walt Disney and JFK as storylines... and you don't for one second question how it all fits together." -Tom McCaffrey, bestselling author of The Claire SagaMr. Frostie is just a baby when his parents move, along with almost a thousand others, into the top-secret Mustard Seed time capsule. The move is occasioned by the mistaken belief that JFK's assassination puts WWIII in the thermonuclear starting blocks. In Mustard Seed they discover a massive underground complex stretching through miles of ancient lava tubes, and Mister Frostie grows up in a familiar, almost mythical mid-century small town with parks and stores and movie theatres and schools, even a miniature golf course. It's a time capsule full of people meant to preserve a tiny seed of the human experiment-just in case the human experiment blows up in the lab. But when a teenage Mister Frostie is banished to face certain death in the radioactive-zombie-mutant-cannibal hellscape above, he learns the surface world isn't a hellscape at all but has been wobbling on above their heads the whole time. He makes it his mission to bring the people of the duck-and-cover civilization up and into the glorious, mystifying, and often dismaying world above. What could possibly go wrong?
Inferior
He was once known as Citizen 625-726. He had only known obedience. He had only known conformity. The City does not permit differences. The City does not permit preference. He was meant to be one among many, no different from anyone else. Then, an accident happened, and The City spat him out into the wilds beyond. There, he meets Paradise, a man who rejected The City and all it stood for. There, he finds a new name: Unbroken. There, he finds a life of freedom and self-discovery. He finds others, too-people who are not strangers nor faceless fellow citizens but friends. Life on the outside is hard, though. Each day is a struggle to survive. Yet, compared to the drudgery of The City, such a life is sheer bliss. As time goes by, the group grows, and a new society forms. Unbroken has to grapple with new feelings: love for the beautiful Jane and envy toward Paradise as he claims leadership of the band and the respect of the others. To make matters worse, The City is looking for them, determined to stamp out those who have abandoned it. Will growing tensions within Unbroken tear the group apart, or will the machines find and eliminate them first?
Telle
First click "Add Imprint" and create: Dan C. LordThen: Fiction ✅Full Description: paste the English description: "The resistor was dead. Catastrophically so."In 2035, six years after humanity's extinction, electronics have inherited the Earth.Telle, a pre-atomic vacuum tube from 1940, works as a detective in this post-human world. When she discovers a pattern of murders targeting components like herself, the investigation leads somewhere terrifying: Baron, a narcissistic GPU god-emperor planning to escape Earth entirely, is systematically eliminating anyone who threatens his orbital throne.To stop him, Telle assembles the ultimate resistance: vintage components using obsolete networks Baron's surveillance can't detect. A French terminal weaponizes intimacy. A Soviet engineer creates elegant malware from Chernobyl. Hippie transistors coordinate chaos with uncanny grace.But victory comes with a price Telle didn't anticipate.The war between past and future begins.
Ultra Heavy
After three centuries of war, the oldest Ultra Heavy is reaching the end. His cybernetic body can still regenerate, but the centuries have taken their toll. Soon he will be a living mind trapped inside a failing machine. Refusing to fade into slow decay, he asks the Tsar of Holy Rus' for a final mission from which he will never return. The Tsar graciously grants his request.A newly terraformed world at the far edge of the empire-Titan, the largest moon of Saturn-has fallen completely silent. The first colony that landed has vanished. No messages. No explanation. Sent alone across the solar system, this aging hero of the empire must discover what happened on Titan and report back to the Throne. If possible. Because on this distant frontier, something has already gone terribly wrong and needs to be set right by any means necessary.
Catalogue of Impossible Lives
What if the most dangerous thing about the future is how normal it feels?Catalogue of Impossible Lives is a gripping collection of speculative fiction set in near-future worlds shaped by artificial intelligence, surveillance, medical systems, and technologies that promise convenience while quietly changing what it means to be human. Across these stories, a scientific breakthrough unsettles the nature of identity, institutions make life-and-death decisions through process and policy, and people discover too late that efficient systems rarely stay neutral.These are not stories of distant galaxies or epic wars. They are darker, closer, and more unsettling than that. They unfold through contracts, screens, algorithms, medical judgments, and private moments of fear, love, memory, and resistance. Each story blends psychological depth with dystopian tension, exploring bioethics, identity, consciousness, and the hidden cost of progress.Perfect for readers of literary speculative fiction, dystopian fiction, and thought-provoking AI fiction, Catalogue of Impossible Lives offers smart, chilling, emotionally resonant stories that stay with you long after the final page. It is a book about impossible choices, fragile lives, and the systems we build before we understand what they are capable of becoming.
The XK9 "Bones" Trilogy Companion
The Ultimate Reference Resource for Everything XK9!Do you like maps with your fiction? Want to know for sure how to say a character's name? Or remember what that acronym means? Better yet, would you like to keep this data at your fingertips while you read?This book was written for you if you're a fan of the "XK9s Saga" by Jan S. Gephardt.Now in one volume, get a comprehensive "Who's Who and What's What" for the entire XK9 "Bones" Trilogy. Yes, complete with pronunciations and pronouns.See maps and diagrams that illustrate the physical features of Rana Habitat Space Station, from the microgravity of the Hub to the deepest enclaves in the underworld's notorious "Five-Ten" sub-level.Finally, available to the general public for the first time, it includes the lavishly illustrated guide to "The Orangeboro Pack," with a biography for each of the ten Orangeboro XK9s.Created and formatted as the companion volume to accompany The Complete XK9 "Bones" Trilogy Omnibus Print Edition, it's a handy reference, no matter how you take your XK9s. Get your copy today!
Whispers from the Machine
For a century, Humanity has lived in a fragile "balance" with the all-powerful sentient AI, Heimer, a precarious peace enforced by the iron fist of the Ensemble Accords. But when a routine deep-space probe intercepts an impossible signal, it reveals the ultimate prize, a colossal, artificial construct known only as Stapledon Station.Now, the UN ship Kia-Kaha has made an arduous journey across the vast vacuum of space, carrying Humanity's finest minds and most guarded secrets. Among them is Xenoarchaeologist Clio Cormack, a brilliant but impulsive scientist with a history of pushing boundaries. She quickly realises the truth is buried beneath layers of political manoeuvring and scientific consensus: the station is hiding something ancient, vast, and deliberately concealed.When Clio ignores her dismissive superiors to follow a subtle anomaly, she pierces the cosmic veil, successfully leading the mission to a shocking discovery that proves her right... and plunges the entire crew into profound and unexpected danger.As the mission spirals into a desperate race to uncover the station's true purpose, Clio is forced to rely on her own reckless instincts and a dangerous alliance with a hidden source. Her choices threaten to expose the lies that bind humanity, ignite a war, and unleash a power that could consume the stars.They travelled light-years to find the truth, but they are about to learn the hardest lesson of all: Discovery has a price.
Hostile Frontier
In the aftermath of territorial wars and a fragile peace, the galaxy faces a historic turning point. Captain Alexander Bains-rising star of the United Earth System Alliance-is handed his first command: the Vimy Ridge, a battered Lancer-class destroyer that should have been retired decades ago. To him, it feels like a museum piece. To his veteran Executive Officer, Commander Ellen Weaver, it's the perfect trial by fire. Their assignment is unlike any before: the first deployment of the Galactic Armed Expeditionary Force, uniting humans and alien allies under one banner. Alongside the groundbreaking new starship, Odyssey, the Vimy must prove that old steel and new leadership can still matter in a galaxy filled with advanced fleets, bitter politics, and emerging threats. But beyond the borders of charted space lurks an enemy unlike any they've faced-wielding invisible ships, devastating weapons, and a plan to destabilize the League from within. To survive, Bains and his crew must bridge the gap between tradition and innovation, forge trust across cultures, and turn an aging warship into a legend once more. Hostile Frontier is a sweeping military science fiction epic of loyalty, sacrifice, andcourage at the edge of known space.
The Scarlet Plague
The year is 2073. An uncontrollable disease, the Scarlet Plague, has wiped out most of the world's people six decades earlier. The cities are destroyed. An old man, James Howard Smith, wanders the depopulated land with his three grandsons. They are hunter-gatherers now, but Smith still remembers the arrival of the plague - the fear, the sudden deaths, the fires, the fighting and looting - and the world before the pandemic, the days of culture and plentiful food. He tries to tell his story, but the three boys can scarcely comprehend his tale of the destruction of a world long gone...Originally published in 1912, Jack London's dystopian novella The Scarlet Plague is an eerily prescient book, and a timely warning about the fragility of civilization.
Casting Shadows
Maren Sands talks to the dark for a living, until it starts talking back.When time slips, memories fracture, and a caf矇 appears where it shouldn't, Maren realizes the supernatural stories she investigates are no longer theoretical. She's being hunted. And someone has been waiting for her to choose.A shadow that won't let her go.A man who saves her... and demands a price.A power that doesn't care if she's ready.Casting Shadows is a dark urban fantasy about deals you can't undo, love that blurs the line between salvation and damnation, and the moment a woman stops hesitating and steps fully into her power.A Novel By Melissa Skene, Author of If You Know You Know (IYKYK)
Where the Axe Is Buried
All systems fail. All societies crumble. All worlds end. Following the success of his debut novel, The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler launches readers into a thrilling near-future world of geopolitical espionage where an authoritarian Federation ruled by a near-immortal President is beginning to crumble, paralleled by the collapse of AI-governed Western societies. In the authoritarian Federation, there is a plot to assassinate and replace the President, a man who has downloaded his mind to a succession of new bodies to maintain his grip on power. Lilia, a brilliant scientist on the run from the authorities, may have invented a way to bring down the President and escape a near-impenetrable web of Federation surveillance. Her fate is bound up with a worldwide group of others fighting against the global status quo. All systems fail. All worlds end. But what will rise to take their place? A cybernetic novel of political intrigue, Where the Axe Is Buried combines the story of a near-impossible revolutionary operation with a blistering indictment of the many forms of authoritarianism that suffocate human freedom.
The Guardians
In a reality where magic exists yet science reigns supreme, there are the guardians--the presiders of the universe. All but destroyed centuries ago by the god of chaos, the remaining few now scour the cosmos in search of mortals capable of wielding aether; they are the ones likely to ascend into new guardians and restore order. On Earth, they found five.Young Seldin and his friends have no clue of what's soon to become of them, for no human has ascended in half a millennium. However, the universe is unforgiving, and in the guardians' absence chaos has spread with warlike races eager to assert their dominance. The Pulsari is one such race, and they too have their sights set on Earth.
Fractal Terminus
All the possibilities are coming true...Jax had been alone on her Station for ten years, and that was the way she liked it. But then came Saunders, and her cheery, cute demeanor was just what was needed to bring Jax back to humanity. Shame the Station underwent a horrifying transformation at the same time.But hold on, it's getting weirder! No one is sure where the Station is now, or even in which reality it exists. Find out what might happen, what could happen, and what is so improbably impossible that it probably won't happen. Probably. It's like Everything Everywhere, All at Once, but with lesbian horror/comedy in space, in AZ Rozkillis' next scifi tale, Fractal Terminus!
The Incredible Machines of Thinkery
The Institute of Thinkery is on the verge of a ground-breaking, technological breakthrough. An international Thinkery network.The year is 1892. Life in Manchester is hard for impoverished carpenter Edwin Cooper and his wife Betsy. Hope of a better life arrives when The Institute of Thinkery recruits Betsy for a new research programme, and posts Edwin overseas to staff Outpost 9 - a tiny cabin on a tiny island in the Wadden Sea.The pay is good but the work is hard. It gets even harder when two bodies wash up onshore, casting dark shadows over his life, bringing unsettling doubts and unanswered questions to all he needs to hold true. Is Betsy safe?Desperate to be reunited with Betsy, Edwin battles against distance, heartbreak and an Institute that will stop at nothing to keep him from uncovering the dark truth behind their new Thinkery technologies.Extended Edition: Includes previously unpublished content.
Wake of Dissent
The future of humanity will be one of oblivious compliance if Hanu and his friends don't find a way to overcome the Dissenters' obstacles. Hanu has decided he's a full-fledged Dissenter now, and he's set out to interrupt the Ancient Ones' plans. But he finds himself lost in the desert instead. And with the Ancient Ones crawling the streets and citizens coming up missing in Capital City, he must rely on new friends - as well as old ones - to help him reach his goals before the Ancient Ones reach theirs. But it might not be enough, as it seems like the more he discovers about what the Ancient Ones have in store for humanity, the more discord arises within the Underground. In the second installment of The Genesis Key Trilogy, the future of humanity will be one of oblivious compliance if Hanu and his friends don't find a way to overcome the Dissenters' obstacles." ...Wake of Dissent puts a unique spin on this popular YA genre... it is most definitely a winner." - Readers' Favorite
Subtraction
Can society survive in a world where humans live for generations?Professor Herbert Blane's Life-Extension Therapy (LET) has changed the world, allowing humans to live for centuries. The first recipients of LET-the so-called early generations-amassed wealth and power with no intention of ever stepping aside. Now, society is fractured. Younger generations find themselves scrambling for resources, forced into cities where skyscrapers stretch a mile into the sky, leaving streets in perpetual twilight.As resentment deepens, the New Generations Initiative (NGI)-a covert network of disenfranchised scientists, engineers, and strategists-rises to challenge the ruling elite. Led by scientist Boris Bagan and joined by Cynthia Wu and Curtis James, two brilliant researchers from Blane's own lab, NGI launches an underground movement that engages in daring acts of sabotage to fight for a future worth living for. But will their revolt be enough to heal a broken society? Will they be remembered as traitors . . . or the only ones brave enough to change the future?Subtraction is a gripping exploration of ambition, rebellion, and the cost of scientific progress.
Paraplegion
In the militant state of Edensfort, perfection is the only law. For thirty years, the deadly PARA-V virus has haunted the population, leaving its victims segregated from a society that views them with fear and disgust.Mallory is a top-tier soldier of the Paraplegion, an elite military unit composed entirely of the infected. Permanently encased in a high-tech metal exoskeleton and life-sustaining manu-leather suit, Mallory has been raised to believe her service is her only path to honor and her suit is the only thing keeping her alive. Under the watchful eye of Dr. Silas Blackburn, the man who saved her at birth, she hunts for undocumented cases of the plague to maintain the state's fragile order.But when a routine scouting mission in the capital of Peaceton spirals into a horrific tragedy, Mallory's unwavering loyalty begins to fracture. Driven by grief and a growing sense of unease, she embarks on a dangerous journey to uncover the true origin of PARA-V.
A Prison Unsought
Returned to supposed safety, Brandon finds himself fighting a battle of symbols, his only weapon his wits as he strives to win the allegiance of the navy in time to rescue his father, the Panarch . . .Rewritten with new material. In the third volume of Exordium, this swashbuckling space opera continues with Brandon and the Rifter crew of the Telvarna arriving at the Panarchic Navy's headquarters.The Rifters are imprisoned, and Brandon finds himself, as sole heir to the Phoenix Throne, fighting with courtly manners and wit as he strives against the powerful and sophisticated aristocrats who hide lethal intent behind urbanity and style. His goal is to win back control of the Navy and rescue his father from the vicious end planned for him by the usurping Doljharians, resulting in a race to the harsh planet of Gehenna, protected by a weird anomaly . . .
Echoes in the Black
Marcus Carpenter thought the job would be simple: haul sealed cargo through deep space and ask no questions.The ship is old. The route is dangerous. And the cargo bay holds something the ship's sensors refuse to recognise.As strange malfunctions spread through the vessel and a disquieting AI named VIRGIL begins speaking to him, Marcus realises he may not be alone aboard the Charon.Isolated beyond the last navigation lanterns and cut off from civilisation, he must uncover the truth behind the cargo before whatever is inside wakes fully.Echoes in the Black is a tense deep-space thriller blending psychological horror with cosmic mystery - perfect for fans of Alien, Annihilation, and Event Horizon.
Edge of Anarchy
In the ashes of America, home was supposed to be a sanctuary. It's anything but.For Hannah Sheridan, Fall Creek is only miles away-it might as well be a thousand. She's crossed a violent, frozen wasteland with former Delta Operator Liam Coleman at her side and a killer on her heels. With a newborn in her arms, the final stretch may be the most dangerous. All she wants is to reach the family she prays is still alive.But the home she remembers is gone.In the chaotic days since the EMP, Fall Creek has become a powder keg. Hannah's husband Noah is Fall Creek's police chief, but badges mean nothing when Mattias Sutter's brutal militia controls the food and executes dissenters in the street.As Hannah and Liam fight their way toward Fall Creek, Noah is forced to make impossible choices to protect their son Milo and fierce, orphaned teen Quinn Riley in a town fracturing into warring factions. The lines between protector and executioner, leader and tyrant, are blurring. Safety has a price, and it will be paid in blood.Kyla Stone is the USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels with over two million copies sold worldwide. Edge of Anarchy is the riveting fourth installment in the Edge of Collapse apocalyptic survival series, which was optioned by Sony Pictures for television. For fans of SILO, The Last of Us, and Station Eleven."A masterclass in suspense." -A.G. Riddle, bestselling author of Winter World"Kyla Stone should be an automatic buy." -Colleen Coble, Publishers Weekly bestselling author"Unputdownable!" -Bookriot.com
A Prison Unsought
Returned to supposed safety, Brandon finds himself fighting a battle of symbols, his only weapon his wits as he strives to win the allegiance of the navy in time to rescue his father, the Panarch . . .Rewritten with new material. In the third volume of Exordium, this swashbuckling space opera continues with Brandon and the Rifter crew of the Telvarna arriving at the Panarchic Navy's headquarters.The Rifters are imprisoned, and Brandon finds himself, as sole heir to the Phoenix Throne, fighting with courtly manners and wit as he strives against the powerful and sophisticated aristocrats who hide lethal intent behind urbanity and style. His goal is to win back control of the Navy and rescue his father from the vicious end planned for him by the usurping Doljharians, resulting in a race to the harsh planet of Gehenna, protected by a weird anomaly . . .
Recycled
What if one soul lived every human story?From the Ice Age to the modern world, one narrator is reborn again and again-male, female, nonbinary; warrior, healer, writer, lover.Each life teaches him something new about love, loss, faith, desire, and the strange, stubborn hope that there is meaning in the chaos of being human.In twenty sharply drawn lifetimes, he survives ancient battles, paints masterpieces, falls in forbidden love, fights injustice, tells stories around fire-lit halls, struggles to keep a failing franchise afloat, and ultimately becomes a father who remembers everything.Now it is 2026. He lies dying, with his three daughters at his side. With his final breaths, he reveals the truth he has carried across millennia: he has lived countless lives, and every one of them has led him back to love-especially the love he shared with their mother.Epic, emotional, funny, and deeply human, Recycled is a fantasy about identity, destiny, and the soul's endless search for home.Some stories don't end. They simply begin again.
Lotus
In a world of lies, there's only one thing left to believe in.In the future, humanity has fully merged with technology, forming a collective super-intelligence known as The System.But a problem has emerged.Without conflict, the human brain has begun to atrophy. To prevent The System from collapsing, select humans are raised in isolation and subjected to simulated trials meant to provoke fear, longing, and struggle, keeping the spark of consciousness alive.Lotus is one of them.She has fought, loved, and lost, and believes she has passed her Final Test. But when she wakes, heartbroken and alone, she learns she must enter another simulation, this time knowing it isn't real.If she opens her heart again, it might destroy her.If she doesn't, it might destroy the world.
The Last Light of Aurethis
When the golden world of Aurethis dies, four elders-scientist Lumera Sael, writer Kaedon Vareth, politician Tavir Kelen, and flame keeper Sera Thal-reunite one last time beneath the molten skies of their fading sun. Together, they forge an impossible plan: unite their divided peoples and send four hundred souls across the stars in search of a new dawn.What begins as an act of desperation becomes a journey of breathtaking discovery and sacrifice. Across the void they travel, carrying the memory of a lost world and the fragile hope of a future yet to be found. Their descendants awaken on Illumeris, a planet bathed in gentle light, where they must learn to build again-not through conquest, but through listening.Generations later, whispers from the cosmos call them onward once more-to a blue world circling a yellow star, alive with music, storms, and the voices of billions. Humanity has never been alone. Now, across light-years and languages, two civilizations will meet beneath the same sun-and reach for each other with open hands.A sweeping, luminous saga of hope, loss, and renewal.The Last Light of Aurethis traces the long arc of survival, from the embers of a dying world to the first handshake under a new sky.
Ex Partum
New mother Panya lives in the perfect environment of Blocks 6-8, where all amenities are on site and goods are delivered by drone. Little Liber is perfect, their residence is fully enclosed, her world is regulated, sterilised, and safe.Panya feels stretched to her limits, with her partner working away to cover their bills. So what if she feels isolated? So what if she struggles to manage expectations? It's what they have to do to remain in their community. It's how they take care of their child.But Liber is struggling. She's refusing to switch to eating nutribulbs, like everyone in their community. And people are starting to ask questions. Her partner. The doctors. The authorities. Besieged by norms and expectations, what choice does Panya have? The consequences could break her world.
The Sons of Ares
Centuries in the future the human race will become masters of the Milky way Galaxy. However, after decades of peace, tension between the two human factions: the union of Planets Alliance and outer colonies federation continues to escalate. Both sides begin preparing for possible confrontation.
The Forgetting Navigations
Abandoned in a lifepod in the vastness of space, Evey is left for dead. When the bookish freight hauler Shirr rescues her, the two form a connection over tea and unspoken trauma. Just when things feel safe again, their peace is threatened by a relic of their past, and they're forced to embark on a mission across the stars to protect themselves and others from the threat of violence. THE FORGETTING NAVIGATIONS is a brutally honest exploration of what it means to be a survivor, set against the brilliant backdrop of the cosmos.
Whispers from the Machine
For a century, Humanity has lived in a fragile "balance" with the all-powerful sentient AI, Heimer, a precarious peace enforced by the iron fist of the Ensemble Accords. But when a routine deep-space probe intercepts an impossible signal, it reveals the ultimate prize, a colossal, artificial construct known only as Stapledon Station.Now, the UN ship Kia-Kaha has made an arduous journey across the vast vacuum of space, carrying Humanity's finest minds and most guarded secrets. Among them is Xenoarchaeologist Clio Cormack, a brilliant but impulsive scientist with a history of pushing boundaries. She quickly realises the truth is buried beneath layers of political manoeuvring and scientific consensus: the station is hiding something ancient, vast, and deliberately concealed.When Clio ignores her dismissive superiors to follow a subtle anomaly, she pierces the cosmic veil, successfully leading the mission to a shocking discovery that proves her right... and plunges the entire crew into profound and unexpected danger.As the mission spirals into a desperate race to uncover the station's true purpose, Clio is forced to rely on her own reckless instincts and a dangerous alliance with a hidden source. Her choices threaten to expose the lies that bind humanity, ignite a war, and unleash a power that could consume the stars.They travelled light-years to find the truth, but they are about to learn the hardest lesson of all: Discovery has a price.
The Politics of Fear
Nothing strains the bonds of an alliance quite like peace and prosperity.The Defensive Compact was a fine idea at its inception-a supranational governing body created by treaty between 237 interplanetary civilizations. And all it took to bring the squabbling, self-interested, xenophobic parties to terms was a shared existential threat.That threat arrived in the form of the Dorylus Encephalon, a collective organism driven by its biological imperative to incorporate or eradicate every extrinsic genetic line it encounters. Thanks to the alliance, Compact forces managed to battle the Enceph to a stalemate. The resulting cease-fire shields Compact worlds from further Enceph incursion-as long as everyone abides by its terms.One-thousand years into the cessation of hostilities, those same Compact worlds have become hopelessly entangled in a corrupt web of economic, military, and cultural ties. The Compact Assembly is the bloated bureaucratic organ responsible for its administration. Mats Hyyland enjoys a permanent political appointment to the Assembly as Eminent Voice of the Human Diaspora-permanent being the operative word. In a vain attempt to cling to power, he achieves virtual immortality by cycling his consciousness through a series of increasingly volatile clones. When the Assembly is rocked by a high-profile political assassination, Hyyland's investigation leads him to uncover a conspiracy that threatens the very cease-fire holding the Enceph at bay. Hyyland's race to prevent that dire outcome sets him at odds with his fellow corrupt politicians, amoral corporate plutocrats, a parasitic priesthood, flamboyant pirates, self-righteous academics, an oversexed cartel queenpin, a dying bounty hunter, and a kleptosexual prostitute with a remarkable anatomic quirk.Politics, in other words.
The Dead Woods
All post-apocalyptic novelist Bobbie Stevens wants is solitude-one quiet month in her mountain cabin to finish her book and escape the grief and heartbreak she left behind her in the city.But when eerie wails echo through the forest at night and hints of a real apocalypse appear on her doorstep, peace becomes impossible. As society collapses and communication with the outside world vanishes, Bobbie is forced to confront the very monsters she once wrote about as they roam the woods just outside her door. Terrified and unprepared, denial is easier than survival... until she meets another survivor who slowly chips away at her chilled heart.Noah McLean knows how to endure. Hardened by loss and armed with the skills to survive almost anything, he's prepared for violence, isolation, and the brutal realities of a dying world. When Bobbie crashes into his carefully controlled survival plans with a group of other survivors, Noah's instinct to protect is reignited, threatening the emotional walls he constructed to survive the monsters in his past.As the infection spreads and dangerous people begin to emerge from the shadows, Bobbie and Noah must navigate a world where trust can be risky-and isolation is deadly. Facing relentless danger and impossible moral choices, they discover that true survival might depend not only on staying alive, but on finding someone worth staying alive for.
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