The Big BasedCon Based Book Sale

Running Now Through Tuesday September 10

Sep 04, 2024

Bypass the cultural gatekeeping, support non-woke authors, and get yourself some great based books from both established and emerging talent for only $0.99 – many titles free – but only for one week! The sale starts today, and it runs through Tuesday September 10, 2024 to celebrate BasedCon, a gathering for authors and fans of science fiction and fantasy who are tired of woke propaganda.

What is a “based” book?

based [ beyst ] / beɪst / adjective
1. Well-grounded, resting upon a firm foundation.
2. Principled, devoted to fixed standards, especially in defiance of conventional wisdom.
3. Rejecting politically correct attitudes and celebrating nonconformity with woke opinion.
4. Committed to upholding and advancing the good, the beautiful, and the true.
antonyms: debased, cringe, woke

Update!

Use the new table of contents feature in the left sidebar to navigate the sections of this post.

Read on for some great values on based books, all $0.99 or free!

New Arrivals

New Arrivals in Science Fiction

Chronologues: Tales on the Theme of Time by Eric Nilles (Author), Chad Olson (Author), Debra Robic (Author), James Kenneth Rogers (Author), D.L. White (Author)

“Time marches on...”

But in what direction? Whoever said that never clarified whether time had to always go forward, or backward, or in a straight line. In this collection, we invite you to delve into five tales that explore the beautiful, bendable, breakable nature of time itself.

“The Camera” by D.L. White
A haunting portrait of a young man who is stuck in his grief over the sudden loss of one of his best friends. A story of frozen moments in time, it is a supernatural snapshot of what happens when past regrets turn into an obsession.

“The Ladies Three” by Chad Olson
Want safe passage for your ship and crew? You can have it. The price the Ladies Three require is but an hour of one sailor’s time. An hour, and perhaps something more. But what happens when the sailor selected has plans of his own?

“The Annuity Squad” by James Kenneth Rogers
Divorced and down-on-his-luck, Ralph receives an unexpected windfall, and the promise of even more money in seven years’ time. Should he sign on the dotted line, or is it all too good to be true?

“The Theatrica Mechanica” by Eric Nilles
Discover a world of wizards, kingdoms and unusual beasts during a time of great upheaval. The peaceful and the wicked are destined to clash, a peace-loving king will discover he has been granted little time to prepare, and only by enlisting the most cunning members of his court does his kingdom have a chance to endure.

“What If?” by Debra Robic
Sylvia and Alan have lived long enough to be involuntarily housed in the State old folks’ home. Dispossessed and disempowered, they find a strange book that suggests the path out of this dystopian future might lie in changing the past — if they are brave enough.

Titan (Mammon Book 1)
by Robert Kroese

A 2021 Prometheus Award nominee!

“Mammon will scratch your itch for cranky libertarian sci-fi. Looking forward to the next part!” – John Carmack, creator of Doom and founder of Armadillo Aerospace

“★★★★★ This is a compelling page turner and, once again, Kroese… not only gets the economics of hyperinflation absolutely correct, but, in the best tradition of science fiction, “shows, not tells” the psychology which grips those experiencing it and how rapidly the thin veneer of civilisation can erode when money dies.” – John Walker, Founder of Autodesk, Inc., co-author AutoCAD, author The Hacker’s Diet, operator of Fourmilab

“★★★★★ Kroese did his homework on financial bubbles, panics, mass psychosis, social collapse, cryptocurrency, and hyper-inflation…. [B]etter than Lucifer’s Hammer, and spookily realistic.” – Hans Schantz, physicist and author of The Hidden Truth

“★★★★★ You can see the foundation of the book’s apocalypse in today’s headlines, and that should scare the hell out of anyone. Cannot wait for book two.” – T. Cannon, Amazon reviewer

By the year 2032, the U.S. federal debt has surpassed $50 trillion. The American empire is on the verge of collapse.

An entrepreneur named Kade Kapur has an idea for rescuing the debt-ridden United States: the government will issue stock in a company with exclusive mining rights to an asteroid whose orbit will soon bring it near Earth. The asteroid, which contains $10 trillion in valuable minerals, is officially called 2015 RK 16 Maimonides, but it soon comes to be known by another name: Mammon.

Fortunes are made and America seems to have avoided an economic collapse. But when the plan to capture the asteroid goes awry, the sky will fall….

Codex Babylon: A secret history sci-fi adventure
by Robert Kroese

The first book of The Cross-Time Crusade, the Kickstarter sensation that raised over $27,000!

A secret cabal of demonic forces threatens to destroy civilization and plunge the world into a new Dark Age. Humanity's only chance is a shadowy organization called GRAIL--the modern day heirs to the Knights Templar--which has discovered the secret to time travel. The past cannot be changed, but if GRAIL can send an agent into the past to recover a lost book on demonology called the Codex Babylon, they may have a fighting chance to save humanity from utter destruction.

Spanning 900 years and four continents, The Cross-Time Crusade is an epic saga of the eternal struggle against evil!

"This is a compelling page-turner which also makes you think about how time travel might work and motivates you to learn more about the enigmatic Templars." - John Walker, founder of Autodesk

"...a whirlwind tale that jumps between the Middle Ages and 2023, with elements that reminded me of Connie Willis' time travel sagas, and Raiders of the Lost Ark." - Amazon reviewer

"Robert Kroese is one of the few writers still pursuing truly new ideas in science fiction. In this series, he looks at demonic influence in a new way... [T]he meat of the book is the desperate search for the Codex Babylon, an ancient tome with the secrets to fighting the demons and reclaiming our world. you find yourself rooting for all the characters both past and present, and reeling with the many surprising twists." - Amazon reviewer

"Fans of Kroese's Iron Dragon series will recall his combination of scrupulously researched historical detail, compelling characters, and gripping action - features on display again here." - Hans Schantz, author of The Hidden Truth

Storm Between the Stars: Book 1 in the Fall of the Censor
by Karl K. Gallagher

Finalist for the Prometheus Award for best Libertarian science fiction

Niko Landry and his crew thought a routine hyperspace survey would be easy money. But when the barrier separating their homeworld from the rest of the human race opens, they seize the chance to go exploring . . . finding an empire more dangerous than they imagined.

Tomorrow's Children: (Spirits of the Earth Book 2)
by Milo James Fowler

The future is in their hands.
The post-apocalyptic world is bigger than the remnant imagined. Across the ocean, the domed cities of Eurasia have survived the nuclear holocaust that ravaged the rest of the planet. But only the survivors from the North American Wastes can give the sterile Eurasians what they need most in order to continue existing as a society: children.

Sergeant James Bishop, United World Marine, leads his team across the desert wasteland in order to make first contact with survivors in Eden, who are rumored to have a lab full of viable embryos. Meanwhile Cain, a coastal warlord dedicated to repopulating the planet, follows the will of Gaia, a malicious spirit of the earth with no love for humankind. Margo, telepathic geneticist responsible for designing the next generation, struggles to balance the will of a selfish dictator with what's best for humanity. Tucker, an invisible man on a mission, carries precious cargo across the Wastes in an effort to rally a group of survivors into action against Eden.

As their lives intersect, agendas collide and tensions reach a breaking point. Twenty unborn children in incubation chambers hang in the balance—along with the fate of the world.

Grab the thrilling sequel to After the Sky! It's perfect for fans of Stephen King, Tom Abrahams, and The Walking Dead.

Check out the rest of the Spirits of the Earth series.
Book 1: After the Sky, is on sale for $0.99 as well!

The Mass-Exodus Reversal: A Funny Sci-fi Space Adventure (Captain Quasar Book 2) by Milo James Fowler

Captain Quasar is on a mission.
Centuries have passed since evil Emperor Zhan attacked Earth and sent humankind packing in a mass exodus. Now the human race is scattered throughout the galaxy, and United World Space Command is no more.

Captain Bartholomew Quasar and the crew of the Effervescent Magnitude have one purpose: to reunite the descendants of Earth's diaspora and save their planet from the monstrous machines Zhan left behind to ensure Earth's ultimate demise.

Quasar and his intrepid crew will have to brave dangerous aliens, killer robots, vicious space pirates, and a mysterious artificial intelligence in order to build the United Earth Fleet and return home, where all new perils await.

The Captain Quasar series continues with this hilarious romp through space.

Check out the rest of the Captain Quasar series. Book 1 is on sale for $0.99 as well!

AGROTHARN: The Blades & Blasters Show! (Chronicles of AGROTHARN Book 2)
by Milo James Fowler

"Good can conquer evil!"
Centuries from now, long after the days of recorded history, during the broken-down age of the Post-Apocalypse on a much older Earth, AGROTHARN roams the desert Wastes in search of…something? For some strange reason, he can't remember. And he's not the only one whose memories have become muddled by dark magic.

Could it have something to do with the arrival of Khrug, Warlock of the Wastes, and his thousand-strong army of desert warriors? Or the cancellation of the most spectacular stunt show the Post-Apocalypse has ever seen? Or too many enthralling side quests to count? AGROTHARN will have to keep his head on straight as he grapples with shocking truths about himself, his mighty broadsword, and his worst frenemy, culminating in an epic showdown between the most powerful forces of good and evil on the planet!

Check out the rest of the Chronicles of Agrotharn series.
Book 1: AGROTHARN the Interstellar Semi-Barbarian! is also on sale for $0.99.

Infidels & Insurgents (Dome City Investigations Book 2)
by Milo James Fowler

Somehow, everything is connected.

The case seems straightforward at first: a high-tech heist at a jewelry shop specializing in priceless items favored by the upper castes. Except the thieves make an impossible getaway, and they're caught on surveillance employing a powerful military-grade weapon Sera Chen is all-too familiar with.

If that's not weird enough, the Prometheus cult unexpectedly reemerges, threatening death to infidels refusing to believe in their venerable AI. Amid the ensuing mayhem, a mysterious government agent appears with a cryptic warning for Sera. And to top things off, there's a killer lurking in the maintenance tunnels under Dome 1's streets.

Sera and her partner Dunn make a good team. But everyone has a limit, and theirs will be tested when a high profile coup threatens to take over the Domes, revealing the interrelated nature of recent events.

Check out the rest of the Dome City Investigations series.
Book 1: Dust Freaks & Demigods, is also on sale.

Improvidence
by David Herod

The apocalypse has passed and new peoples rise from the ashes. Among them is a young engineer, newly enlisted in an army with plans to reclaim what has been lost. His mission: deep reconnaissance into the lost wilds of West Virginia.

But the world is twisted beyond recognition. To reclaim the abandoned fort necessary to impose order on this lawless frontier he must overcome both the scars of the old world and the savagery of the tribal men who now inhabit it.

Improvidence is a dark adventure into the horrific unknown. It is a story about greed, lust, and the creeping certainty of change—and the way our minds grapple with our own transformation.

"Equal parts Lewis & Clark and Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, Improvidence is a narrative of great ambition, adventure, and even subtle horror." — Capitalismo, host of The Side Bar Book Club

"Beautifully crafted, mantic, and dark." — & Magazine

“The future is the past. This is deindustrial fiction at its finest - a compelling story across a wild America that existed not so long ago and could exist not so far ahead.” — Arthur Powell, Editor in Chief of Atop The Cliffs

“A stark and engrossing tale of a man's journey to the edge of civilization, and what he lost along the way.” — Alan Schmidt, Passage Prize Recipient

"With Improvidence, David Herod stakes his claim to be one of the best writers on the dissident right today." — Raw Egg Nationalist, author of The Egg Benedict Option and Raw Egg Nationalism

"Echoes of Cormac McCarthy can be heard in Herod's exacting prose, as he brings to life an America long forgotten." — Dan Baltic, author of NUTCRANKR and co-host of New Write

"A work of unique voice and power, brimming with dark, detailed, and beautiful prose. Simply superb." — Miles MacNaughton, writer & editor of Tales of the Unreal

Dreams Within Dreams (Tales From the Dream Nebula Book 1)
by M. D. Boncher (Author)

Enter a world with no stars… no sun… no moon… no Earth. Only “the Dream”…

“An imaginative, action-packed tale that reads like a vision. If you like a bit of cyberthriller in your sci-fi... you’ll enjoy this one.”

- Kerry Nietz. Award winning author of “The Dark Trench Saga” & “Amish Vampires From Outer Space”

Winston Harper is a sky trucker down on his luck. Years of numbing his past trauma has whittled away his reputation. Blacklisted and back to the wall, Winston’s only hope of survival is a no-questions-asked contract offering pay high enough to make him forget his own name. What could possibly go wrong? When the client changes the deal and imperial security crashes the party, he’s on the run caught between the empire and a rebellion. Hauling ten containers of contraband cargo, and guided by a mysterious femme fatale who holds all the cards, death may be the better way out…

Set in a post-apocalyptic future where the lines between technology and biology have become blurred, humanity survives on the remains of the solar system scattered about in a sky of endless twilight, ruled by an alien entity. Follow Winston Harper as he becomes entangled in the struggle against the cosmic empire and potentially, the secrets of humanity's lost past… and perhaps its future?

"Dreams Within Dreams" is the first novel in a rollicking retro-futuristic Sci-Fi serial merging cyberpunk and old school pulp adventure with a touch of neo-noir intrigue. It's "Flash Gordon" meets "Smokey and the Bandit" meets "The Matrix" meets "Talespin".

Lucid Reality (Tales From the Dream Nebula Book 2)
by M. D. Boncher

"Lucid Reality" is the sequel to "Dreams Within Dreams", a wild retrofuturist pulp-punk that combines the excitement of "Flash Gordon" & "Smokey and the Bandit" with "The Matrix" and "Talespin". Winston Harper, a skytrucker now on the wrong side of imperial law when he takes a less than legal job to keep ahead of the bill collectors and is stuck between many rocks and even more hard cases.

Somedays… the right thing is the wrong thing to do.

Sky trucker Winston Harper thought he was in the clear. He evaded imperial forces to deliver his contraband cargo, escaped a black void event, and performed the heroic rescue of a medical facility. But, no good deed goes unpunished, because his act of mercy has landed him in a load of trouble.

Now he’s stuck dealing with a cargo load of crazy, including a noble woman trying to free her brother-in-law from false imprisonment, a stowaway that almost fried his brain and a corrupt administrator determined to lobotomize them all to keep the secrets of the Bonavitae Corporation hidden.

Add to that an epic storm, being stalked by pirates from behind and imperial security cutting them off, Winston and company are caught between rocks and hard cases, with options dwindling fast. It’s going to take a whole lot of skill and a ton of luck to get back control of his tug, the Sierra Madre, from those who hijacked it and fly out of this cheis-storm!

Groom of the Tyrannosaur Queen: a time-travel romance
by Daniel M. Bensen (Author)

Former soldier Andrea Herrera isn’t happy with where her life’s taken her. Specifically, Hell Creek, Montana, 65 million years before the present. As far as careers go, making sure the dinosaurs don’t eat her paleontologist clients comes in a pretty dismal second choice to serving her country. But when their time machine malfunctions, Andrea and her team are trapped in a timeline that shouldn’t exist with something a hell of a lot more dangerous than terrible lizards: other humans.

Kidnapped by the stone-age descendants of a lost time colony, Andrea finds herself stripped of her technological advantages and forced into a war against the implacable armies of the Slaver Empire. Even worse, the Slavers have captured the time machine and the mission's one surviving paleontologist, using his futuristic weapons for their own ends.

Andrea's only hope lies with the ferociously intelligent and violently insane tribal war-leader, Trals Scarback. Armed with his mystic sword, his trained velociraptor, and his herd of war-triceratops, this former slave has the resources and motivation to take on the empire. But can Andrea persuade him to see her as a partner rather than a tool for his ambitions? Only if she beats the barbarian at his own game and becomes the Tyrannosaur Queen.

The 365 Infantry Quarterly: Spring 2024
(365 Infantry: The Quarterly Book 1)
by Jacob Calta (Author), Kevin Jacob (Illustrator)

The 365 INFANTRY Quarterly: Spring 2024 - The daring Substack magazine starts playing like the pulps in special digest editions released in all four seasons of the year. The five stories released every three months will be treated to exclusive introductions and bonus content. This issue includes "Haven & The Wastelands: A Timeline," pulled from the pre-production files and detailing the history of the wolven world from Armageddon to the late 25th century! Our stories include:

THE WAR: The Metal Factor - Capt. “Grim” Herrera embarks on a mission to locate the Black Country base in the far east, while Lt. Gibson Blanc and his pack of bikers get to the bottom of a mass raid on scrap depots across the Wastelands.
THE HUNT: Obscurae Mentis Vitalis - Eric tries to cure the hunters of their irrational psychosis via experimental hypnotic therapy, taking the troubled wolves to the darkest corners of their mind!
THE URBAN AVENGER: The Professor's Lesson - When the dashing, antediluvian crimefighter Smith rolls in from the north at a crucial moment, the hippie-punk Lita decides to enlist the white wolf in her crusade against her maniacal state-sponsored pursuer!
THE SPEEDFREAK FILES: Drunk on Dust Devils - Officer Nic “Speedfreak” Ridgefield (after some sobering up by colleague and bandmate Rory “Madskins” Armstrong) relays a bizarre affair involving artificial tornadoes and the mad scientists behind them!
TALES FROM THE FRONT LINES: Spycraft, 2475 A.D. - Agent Roger Steele tells all about reconnaissance life during an undercover mission to infiltrate Haven’s Tower Network, and the twists and turns it takes when a tech-savvy hound offers a chance to get closer to A.C.E.S.

The 365 Infantry Quarterly: Summer 2024
(365 Infantry: The Quarterly Book 2)
by Jacob Calta (Author), Kevin Jacob (Illustrator)

The 365 INFANTRY Quarterly: Summer 2024 - The Bravest Hounds of the 25th Century are back and better than ever! Our latest digest edition of the promises SIX electrifying stories starring the high-octane freedom fighters you know and love in some of their most audacious adventures yet, including the 100TH SHORT STORY written in this prolific series! From the iron-clad 365th lead by the iron-handed General Knox to the warrior huntress Valentina, from the freewheeling hippie-punk Lita to the heavy metal heroics of Nic "Speedfreak" Ridgefield, there's something for everyone who digs wild pulp sci-fi and action like now other. Readers will also be treated to an exclusive article about the real-world war machines the Force faces in The War Machines of 365 Infantry, and the fresh comic-book punch of Kevin John Jacob's stellar art!

THE WAR: Captain “Grim” Herrera & Adventurer Jack T. Wellman discover a bizarre military site while Gibson and Evelyn "Teddy" Blanc lead the Force in a battle against unruly raiders and their perplexing machines in "WORLDS UNDER FIRE!"
THE HUNT: It appears as though Valentina and Her Hunters are at peace, having survived their peculiar therapy with Eric. This rejuvenation is put to the test when the pack has to stop a gang war in "NERO’S BASTARDS!"
THE URBAN AVENGER: The time has come for “Hazel” to be revealed! The Urban Avenger Lita and the caped crusader Professor Smith hunt the hound down through an alien corner of Haven in "UNDERGROUND HOUNDS!"
THE SPEEDFREAK FILES: Metröpolis is becoming a twin-axe attack! When Nic, Harry and Rory find Navajo blueshound Brett Tsé, they have to shake a cannibalistic loan shark off his tail in "TWO TO TANGO, FOUR TO SHRED!"
TALES FROM THE FRONT LINES: In PART 1 of a three-part serial, relive "THE DAY KNOX DIED!" Before leading the 365th into battle, discover the dark gray’s dark past as a Haven cop who learns the deadly truth about his beloved city.
STORY 100:It'san all-hands-on-deck escapade to stop a runaway tank, a mission that may finally kill the indominable Lieutenant Gibson Blanc! Throw in a a Metröpolis reunion concert, and special appearances from our wide cast of hellraising heroes, and it all adds up to"THE 10-TON RUNAWAY!"

Accidental Conscript
by John Walker

Sam Levine knows what it means to struggle. After several missed opportunities, he’s been forced to turn his talents to freelance work, picking up whatever dirty job he can find only to make ends meet.

But there’s an end in sight. An opportunity to change everything. And when a dangerous, high profile job comes his way, he sees light at the end of the tunnel. Hope has been in rare supply, but even with the dangers inherent in his decision, he puts his life on the line for a chance to elevate his situation.

Minutegirls
by George Phillies (Author), Cedar Sanderson (Illustrator)

Massive space battles! Desperate hand-to-hand combat! Politics! Hot babes with guns!

Minutegirls... Nice young women who just want some good clean fun with power armor, plenty of high explosives, and a few cute Minuteboys.

It is 2174. From the hills of American Manchuria to the depths of Outer Space. America's Girl Militia battles Franco-German treachery to shield the American Stellar Republic.

Second edition with author's revisions.

The One World
by George Phillies (Author), Jeremy Taylor (Illustrator)

Amazon warriors against musketeer hordes!

The Holy Musketeers have found another continent to loot. The opposition? The primitive natives have no muskets and no cannon. Their cowardly men send their women to fight.

The people of The One World face invaders with incomprehensible weapons and inscrutable objectives. Spears? Swords? City walls? Nothing stops the invaders from beyond.

Between the Musketeers and the One World stands a single woman. Evaine is an amazon warrior and a wily strategist. Can even she defeat the Musketeers, or is civilization doomed?

Veritas Morte: A Science Fiction Novella (Qorathi Empire)
by Michael Kingswood

Lucien Bandemyr, Crown Prince of the Qorathi Empite, looked forward to adventure, excitement, and glory from his first campaign outside of the Empire's star systems.

Instead he found frustration, and a betrayal that could bring the Empire to its knees.

52 Stories In 2023: Volume One
by Michael Kingswood

Welcome to a grand adventure: a quest to create fifty-two stories in a year, one for each week, and collect them into five collections.

This is the first collection in that quest, filled with ten stories ranging from military science fiction to sweet romance.

If you enjoy engrossing tales that immerse you in imaginative new worlds, you'll love this first stop in the adventure of the year.

Mech Bunny
by J. M. Anjewierden

Humans won the war against the Blues, thanks in large part to the neural link they stole from the aliens. Few people can use it properly, though, and anyone with the right kind of brain gets conscripted immediately -- even ordinary high school kids.
All Sophie wanted to do was be a dancer. She definitely hadn't planned on piloting a sixty-foot ANGEL mech with only a cranky rabbit mechanic to talk to, or fighting the genetically engineered foxes and wolves that had turned on the humans once the aliens were gone.

She’s lost count of the battlefields she’s seen, but this next one is the worst yet. Ordered to defend a crucial forward operating base on a volcanic planet, forces are stretched thin, so she’ll have only infantry and artillery support, no other ANGELs.
One girl, one rabbit, and one giant robot up against creatures designed to be relentless soldiers.

Creatures who have mechs of their own.

Great.

Confronting Fate (Paradox Book 6)
by Henry Brown

Ike Jaeger has quarterbacked his team to a world championship, and now it's time to party like it's 1969.

Then he gets a call from Coach Grant. In all the euphoria, he forgot that they would have one more game to play--against the champions from that other league. That other league with the big money, the big, fast players, the mysterious formations and the sophisticated playbooks.

Bad omens begin stacking up as they arrive in New Orleans for the showdown. Even Mother Nature is seemingly stacked against them. And to make matters worse, the coaching office has ordered game film of the wrong team!

If only Ike's problems were solely on the football field.

A secret war wages across the space-time continuum, with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance. Uncle Si and the Tajna Savet finally launch their "storm" against the pan-continuum cabal that has been stalking Ike since they erased his biological family, but the distinction between "black hats" and "white hats" is blurred as Ike is caught in the crossfire. Mysteries plaguing him since boyhood will finally be solved, but not before Ike is tested to the very limits of his sanity.

In the midst of all this, Ike begins to realize he should probably settle down with the one woman in his life who has remained incorruptible. That decision is made just in time for her to give up on waiting for him and explore her romantic options. She's worth fighting for, but, ironically for a time traveler, he may have finally run out of time.

Henry Brown’s entire 6-volume Paradox series is on sale for $0.99 each. Get them all!

Going Gone
by Abraham Lopez

What is a single life worth? In our modern world, where wars are on the cusp of igniting at a moment’s notice, new diseases ravage entire populations, and hidden atrocities erase the lives of thousands, what can the death of a single person mean?

It can mean the tenuous line between peace and destruction.

Kurt Ramis knows this, as he watches the aftermath of an assassination on his television set. His years in the CIA have prepared him for such a dreadful day.

“Rasul” knows this, as he follows his young guide down the streets of New York City, with a gift for his adopted country.

The soldiers and sentries of Camelot’s Corridor, deep under the sands of Texas know this, as they prepare the secret bunker for the President’s arrival.

New Arrivals in Fantasy

Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy & Other Stories (Arts of Dark and Light)
by Vox Day

In a medieval fantasy world in which the realm of man is dominated by a rich and powerful Church, the Most Sanctified Charity IV decides the time is ripe to make a conclusive inquiry into the matter. If, in his infallible wisdom, he determines that elves do have immortal souls, then the Church will be obliged to bring the Holy Word of the Immaculate to them. But if he decides they do not, there will be holy war. Powerful factions line up on both sides of the debate. War-hungry magnates cast greedy eyes at the ancient wealth of the elven kingdoms and pray for a declaration that elves are little more than animals. And there are men who are willing to do more than merely pray.

The delegation sent to the High King of the Elves is led by two great theologians, brilliant philosophers who champion opposite sides of the great debate. And in the Sanctiff’s own stead, he sends the young nobleman, Marcus Valerius. Marcus Valerius is a rising scholar in the Church, talented, fearless, and devout. But he is inexperienced in the ways of the world. Nothing in his life has prepared him for the beauty of the elves―or the monumental betrayal into which he rides.

"One of the most fascinating fantasy worlds I’ve ever visited.”

“Day has put forth a masterpiece with this book.”

“It would not surprise me at all if this is one day regarded as a classic of the fantasy genre.”

A Throne of Bones (Arts of Dark and Light Book 1)
by Vox Day

In Selenoth, the race of Man is on the ascendant. The ancient dragons sleep. The ghastly Witchkings are no more; their evil power destroyed by the courage of Men and the fearsome magic of the Elves. The Dwarves have retreated to the kingdoms of the Underdeep, the trolls hide in their mountains, and even the savage orc tribes have learned to dread the iron discipline of Amorr’s mighty legions.

But after four hundred years of mutual suspicion, the rivalry between two of the Houses Martial that rule the Amorran Senate threatens to turn violent, and unrest sparks rebellion throughout the imperial provinces. In the north, the barbarian reavers who have long plagued the coasts of the White Sea unexpectedly plead for the royal protection of the King of Savondir, as they flee a vicious race of wolf-demons who have invaded their islands. And in the distant east, the war drums echo throughout the mountains as orcs and goblins gather in vast numbers, summoned by their bestial gods.

Epic fantasy at its deepest and most gripping. Military fiction at its most fantastic. A Throne of Bones is Book I in the ARTS OF DARK AND LIGHT series.

"Fantastic book. My new favorite fantasy series."

"The perfect balance of every element of an epic fantasy. Breadth and depth of characters, creatures, and magic went well with realistic dialogue and pace."

"God was this a totally amazing book, the world building, setting and unique cataclysmic set up of events had me turning pages non-stop"

"At least the match of the earlier books of GRR Martin's series. Certainly superior to the latter books."

A Sea of Skulls (Arts of Dark and Light Book 2)
by Vox Day

In Selenoth, the war drums are beating throughout the land. The savage orcs of Hagahorn and Zoth Ommog are on the move, imperiling Man, Dwarf, and Elf alike. The Houses Martial of Amorr have gone to war with each other, pitting legion against legion, and family against family, as civil war wracks the disintegrating Empire. In the north, inhuman wolf-demons besiege the last redoubt of Man in the White Sea, while in Savondir, the royal house of de Mirid desperately prepares to defend the kingdom against an invading army that is larger than any it has ever faced before. And in the underground realm of the King of Iron Mountain, a strange new enemy has been attacking dwarf villages throughout the Underdeep.

Beneath the widespread violence that has seized all Selenoth in its grasp, a select few are beginning to recognize the appearance of a historic pattern of almost unimaginable proportions. Are all these conflicts involving Orc, Elf, Man, and Dwarf the natural result of inevitable rivalries, or are they little more than battlegrounds in an ancient war that began long before the dawn of time?

Epic fantasy at its deepest and most intense. A SEA OF SKULLS is Book II in the ARTS OF DARK AND LIGHT series that began with A THRONE OF BONES.

"If you're into epic fantasy, I can't recommend Arts of Dark and Light highly enough."

"Easily the best epic fantasy series out today. Many reviewers are comparing to LOTR and while I cannot go that far, I believe this series is better than GOT."

"The story keeps getting more exciting. The characters are well-defined. Unlike A Song of Ice and Fire and The Wheel of Time, there is no filler here."

The First Fear (The Empowered Ones Book 1)
by M.S. Olney

Praise for M.S. Olney’s ‘The Empowered Ones Series’

‘A thrilling, action packed Fantasy adventure’ – Damien Larkin
‘Fans of Sanderson will love this one’ – The Bookwrym speaks

In this world Emotions grant incredible powers.

Under the tyrannical grip of the Supreme, the vast Imperium cowers, its citizens shackled by fear and repression. Dreams of liberty have withered for most, buried under the weight of despotism, while potential dissenters lurk silently in the shadows. On the fringes of this oppressive domain, Elian, a young man of unassuming origins, stumbles upon a power within himself that could shift the balance of control.

A dangerous revelation thrusts Elian into the path of the Supreme's most lethal enforcer, compelling him to flee for his life. During his desperate escape, he encounters a band of rebels led by a magnetic leader convinced that the secrets entombed in the ruins of the once-glorious Kingdom of Aeranyth hold the key to their salvation. As Elian joins their perilous quest to unearth these mysteries, he must navigate a maze of challenges. Will he live to ignite the spark of revolution, or will his flame be extinguished in the struggle?

--- Praise for The First Fear---
“This was such a great book! LOVED it!!! Highly recommend!” - Amazon reviewer
"Really good ideas and a fun read!" - Amazon reviewer "Amazing world building" - Amazon reviewer
"Wow I wasn't expecting this book to be so good!" - Good Reads reviewer
"The First Fear is a gripping, action packed tale" - Good Reads reviewer
"Loved how the magic worked, loved our hero, Elian, can't wait to read more!" - Good Reads reviewer

Prospero Lost (Prospero's Children Book 1)
by L. Jagi Lamplighter (Author)

Shakespeare got one thing wrong. The Dread Magician Prospero never drowned his books.
More than four hundred years later, Miranda heads the family business. Prospero Inc secretly uses magic for the good of mankind. Only, now, Prospero has gone missing!
To save her father, Miranda must reunite with her estranged siblings, each of whom holds a staff of power and secrets about Miranda's sometimes-foggy past. Her journeys, both past and present, take her to Chicago, the Caribbean, Milan, Washington, D.C., and the North Pole.
With her is her trusty company gumshoes, Mab, an aerie spirit stuck in a body that looks like Humphrey Bogart. Together, they must survive the mysterious Shadowed Ones if they hope to find Prospero and set all to right again.
Humor, mystery, wonder.

“Intelligent and eminently enjoyable, this series opener by a first-time author is a first-rate choice for fans of mythic urban fantasy.” – Library Journal (starred review)

Cobalt Agonistes
by Frederick Key

Gary’s best friend is about to marry the woman Gary loves. And someone is trying to kill Cobalt, five years after he gave up being a superhero and became an ordinary man. Gary’s father is dying. All of Cobalt’s fellow superheroes are dead or wounded. Gary’s job stinks and his landlord hates him. Why would someone be trying to kill an ex-hero? Gary is a young man in a terrible bind. Cobalt is the superhero Gary created in childhood. Each is in the fight of his life—one against a horde of supervillains, the other against overwhelming heartbreak. Can either find the will to see his way through? Or will he ultimately succumb to betrayal, lies, loss—and his own weaknesses? Cobalt Agonistes is Frederick Key’s novel of facing personal disaster, of finding the will to fight, and of facing the flaws in the man—and finding the hero within.

Solist At Large: The Last Solist #1
by Jonathan Souza

Adelaide Taylor is the newest Solist to have gained her powers. A magical warrior of the ancient and lost Dawn Empire, she moved from California to New Jersey in secret. Enrolled in a very Catholic high school, she has to find her Companions-five teenagers that will help her to defeat magical threats to the human race. But, in the process of becoming a Solist, Adelaide has to hide the truth of her past from everyone else. Including the five people that she needs to trust the most. And, there are secrets that Adelaide still has to discover about herself and the world she has become a part of… And, who she truly is.

New Arrivals in Drama & Literature

Doors: An Onteora County Romance
by Francis Porretto

Paul Larsen’s B&B in Ogunquit, Maine is running him off his feet. Desperate for someone to share the load, he hires pretty, appealing Carol Holm as his assistant manager. Carol is desperate to be gone from Onteora County, New York, where she’s made some dangerous enemies. As time passes she becomes Paul’s lover, and later his wife.

But things are changing in Ogunquit, and not for the better. Some of Maine’s fauna are becoming more dangerous than the bears, the moose, and the enemies Carol was desperate to escape. Some of them wear badges. Though it alarms Carol, Paul elects to face them down. The consequences are life-changing for them both.

Van Ripplewink: You Can't Go Home Again
by Paul Clayton

KIRKUS REVIEWS: Clayton… updates the story of Rip Van Winkle in this social novel. In 2015, a backhoe at a construction site in Philadelphia unearths a coffin containing the long-slumbering Van Ripplewink, who went into the ground at age 17… Van attempts to make sense of the new world in which he finds himself. The only problem is that it doesn’t make that much sense to anyone else: in post-Ferguson America, racial tensions are high… Clayton uses the character of Van, with his outsider naiveté, to look into the complex issues surrounding race and justice in America… A serious novel with an amusing premise.

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEWS: Van Ripplewink is a book of complex characters… a fascinating look into what the world has become in less than fifty years. The story is good; the view of the world from its perspective is stark and disturbing reality. 5-Stars

48 years dead, seventeen year old Van Ripplewink wakes in a dark, muddy field... His confusion turns to alarm; everything has changed -- the cars, the buildings, and the people. He heads home and finds his parents gone and strangers living in his house. Attacked by a violent Philly street gang, Van is rescued by Charles Davis, a kindly black man. Charles finds Van’s story bizarre, but trusts him and puts him up for the night. It is there that Van meets the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen, Mignon, Charles’s bi-racial niece. Charles tries to help Van, but he has his own problem, namely his girlfriend, Valerie. Charles longs to marry her, but Valerie is already wedded to the welfare system and will not move in with him for fear of losing her benefits.

Van winds up living in a homeless camp where he meets Honest John, a violent, but brilliant, alcoholic computer programmer. Alternating between the tutelage of Charles Davis and Honest John on the mores and unrest of 21st Century America, Van goes to college and finds racial turmoil and revolution in the air.

Finding his bliss writing for the school newspaper, Van spends time with Mignon and her crowd. They’re fun and attractive, but strange, not seeming to have any moral center. He longs to be a part of the group, but that would mean jettisoning the values of his upbringing and time? Can he do it?

Mainstream/literary fiction (with a hint of fantasy) in the style of Bonfire of the Vanities.

Larry and the Mascots
by Frederick Key

When Larry gets thrown from the roof of his dormitory, little does he realize that his troubles are just beginning. Surviving this encounter due to the help of an advertising character—Whitewall, a pitchman for tires who is actually made of tires—Larry discovers that a group of advertising mascots have come to life. There’s Mitts, a flying oven mitt; Captain Freshy, a homicidal pirate who sells canned tuna; Sweety the Sugar Fairy, who glazes children’s cereal; Mushy MacClown, a sad clown on packages of marshmallows; and others—some of whom are up to something sinister. Who are they? What do they want? And why did one of them steal his crummy laptop? What Larry discovers is a conspiracy that springs from the actions of one of the school’s greatest patrons—one that ultimately threatens the lives of the students on campus, and perhaps even the entire nation. Larry and the Mascots is an intriguing adventure, full of action, heart, interesting characters, and cartoon characters, and is part of a complete breakfast.

PNW Affliction 7: Empty Armada
by Chance Paladin

Pre-collapse fuel is either gone or expired. Suddenly the city-states have a new source of fuel that threatens peace and balance in the Pacific Northwest.

Pacific Northwest Affliction 7: Empty Armada
PNW Affliction book #7: Empty Armada

New Arrival in Mystery

The Mousetrap Murders
by Abraham Lopez

A man wakes up in his car, unaware of how he got there...

Shaken by his loss of memory, he drives home, not knowing that in twenty-four hours he will be in jail, arrested for the kidnapping and murder of a missing college student. Though a mountain of evidence points to his guilt, this man, Julian Gutierrez, maintains his innocence. He is sentenced to Death Row, set to be executed for a crime he knows he did not commit, yet having no way of escaping his deadly and unjust fate.

That is, until the day a postcard arrives.

It claims to be from a witness that knows he is innocent. It is now up to Julian's sister and her husband to find out the truth before his time runs out. What they uncover is a mystery bigger than any of them could possibly imagine.

And in the shadows is a foe, calling himself The Fulcrum, waiting for the day that someone comes knocking, knocking at the door of the mousetrap he has constructed.

New Arrivals in Nonfiction

American Stasi: The Domestic Surveillance Targeting You and Your Children
by Michael Trust

You and your children are targeted, your lives limited by someone who works for the American Secret Police. Modeled after the East German Stasi, their operation assigned them to live in a house in your neighborhood, pretend to be just another resident, and use elite surveillance technologies to listen in everyone's houses, from backdoors in Alexas and smart TVs, to elite thru-wall microwave eavesdropping and imagery technology. They're assigned a block of citizens in the neighborhood to watch in their homes, from bathroom trips, to private conversations, to intimate moments between spouses.

This is the American Stasi. Created by global elites and modeled on the East German Stasi, it makes sure you and your children are controlled, and can't succeed wildly, run for office, become elite yourself, or see the corruption and crimilaity up there, where their corrupt actors are looting our government.

The elites cannot possibly allow regular Americans to ever see that. The American Stasi makes sure they don't. We don't explain the entire conspiracy. We show one part - the massive surveillance machine watching everyone. Once you see that with your own eyes, you'll realize the rest must exist. We use photography from Google Streetview to teach you surveillance detection. We begin in Russia, where you'll watch Russian domestic surveillance follow the Google car, in the Google car's own Streetview photos. We then go to Bulgaria and show you real Bulgarian surveillance, explaining why they do everything they do. Once you're trained in surveillance detection, we return to America, where you'll see more surveillance following the Google car than in Russia or Bulgaria. With that training you will soon see your own surveillance watching your community - and you.

Then, NSA's head of technology, Bill Binney describes the microwave radiation he detected which this operation is pouring through all neighborhoods - and how the cancer which killed his wife likely came from that. You'll see the website he and other whistleblowers created warning of these radiations, BiggerThanSnowden.com, which the government forcibly shut down. You're helpless, being thwarted, and exposed to cancer-causing radiation you can't see. This book will change that.

Equal parts Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Ian Fleming's James Bond, and the Pentagon Papers, this book uses simple observation and deductive reasoning with open-source, independent data to reveal incontrovertible evidence of the biggest scandal the world will ever see - the massive global Secrete Police created by Western elites in the shadows, using supposedly fellow citizens all around us, to make sure no citizen like yourself can ever challenge them for power.

WHAT READERS SAY:

"Who knows your every secret? Who follows you around without your knowledge? Who is targeting your kids so they can identify potential high fliers to derail them? Who is the enemy within? Find out in American Stasi. Prepare to have your world shaken." - A reader from Britain

"American Stasi is a groundbreaking investigation into the cancerous growth infesting western nations: the domestic surveillance networks that operate above the law. This book will be read 100 years from now." - A reader from Findland

"Surveillance is everywhere! Watching and manipulating your actions. This book helps you understand who, where, and why." - A reader from Midwest America

"A monumental expose. Global and granular in scope. American Stasi contains the most crucial information patriots need to make sense of the omnipresent surveillance in their own personal lives." - A reader from Suburban America

"Everything you have been taught is a lie. Do you want the truth? Can you handle the truth? Read American Stasi and find out." - A reader from Asia

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged)
by Edward Gibbon

The first volume of Decline and Fall was published in 1776, and by the time the final volume appeared in 1787, Gibbon had produced an exhaustive, million-and-a-half-word account of a 'revolution which shall ever be remembered and is still felt by the nations of the earth'.

This panoramic work, covering 13 centuries from 180 A.D. to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, has been described as 'a bridge that carries one from the ancient world to the modern'.

Here, this masterpiece of the Enlightenment has been cut down to a manageable size, but still covers in detail the tyranny, cowardice and decadence that led to the fall of Rome. Gibbon described history as 'little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind', and this book serves as a dazzling, perceptive guide to every civilization before and since.

Fan Favorites

Fan Favorites in Science Fiction

The Sakura Element
by S.C. Vincent

When tradition means damnation, and the future is the past…

Alia Academia - 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 Oka’s 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 family’s wealth and good name.

Little do the two know how much their struggles intertwine when Allen’s friend begins to vie for Oka’s affections, and Allen finds himself blackmailed about his family’s 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.

The Hidden Truth
by Hans G. Schantz

The Hidden Truth: A Science Fiction Techno-Thriller by [Hans G. Schantz]

Change the past. Control the present. Rule the future.

They’ll do anything to hide the truth.
When high school student Peter Burdell uncovers a subtle clue in a dusty book buried deep in a forgotten Appalachian library, he realizes someone altered history. Who’s been lying, and why?

His discovery lands Peter in the cross hairs of the deadly Cabal whose Deep State agents changed the past to control the present, so they can rule the future. Aided by family and friends, Peter races against the odds to expose the conspiracy and uncover the answer to the most important question of his life:

What is The Hidden Truth?

Reviews: “Umberto Eco wishes that he had written these books.”

Hans G. Schantz’ THE HIDDEN TRUTH is most highly recommended.
It is a gem of a book, a rare find, combining a charming coming of age story, diamond-hard science fiction speculation, a conspiracy thriller, a touch of trenchant political commentary, and, uniquely, a challenge written into a science fiction book of the reigning scientific orthodoxy of the day….
This trilogy works on several levels. In style, theme, in social commentary, in genre, in plot-weaving and world-building, the craftsmanship is top-notch.
Stylistically, it is written in the same journalistic prose as a Heinlein juvenile, but, frankly, is better. Not only are some of Heinlein’s more dubious moral lessons absent, the work attempts something more ambitious: introducing a real theory of physics in the midst of a fictional adventure yarn.
Thematically, it is a bracing and inspiring coming-of-age story telling young readers and reminding older readers what it means to be a man, a man of integrity, in a world where no one is there to dig you out of a mess.
It works as social commentary. As in a Heinlein juvenile, there are memorable quips and trenchant observations about political realities peppered throughout the dialog, which have as much application in our world as theirs.
Review by John C. Wright

Grey Cat Blues
by J.D. Cowan

Siege on the Shadow Planet!

Ex-punk Two Tone is left for dead and his friend is taken. His assailants: men of mud from some place darker than Hell!

The inscrutable Sarpedon has slithered from the depths to rule a planet that has long abandoned hope for a better tomorrow. With no one to stop his spree of violence, it is only a matter of time before Two Tone’s world is overrun.

Old friends and a mysterious beauty gather by his side, but are they enough? Is it too late for this dying world? If all cats are grey in the dark, will anyone see the panther stalking its prey? Two Tone will find the answers the best way he knows how—through his fists!

Grey Cat Blues tells the tale of a distant planet at humanity’s end. In this place, a man must choose between love and hate. And where his choice leads him might not be where he expects . . .

Deuces Wild: Beginners’ Luck
by L.S. King

All Slap ever wanted was his ranch and family.
The gangster Lyssel destroyed all that, leaving only charred remains.

Tristan wanted nothing—
He had no expectations from life and trusted no one, surviving by his wits, his sole amusement taunting his enemies—like Lyssel.

When the bereaved cowboy and space rogue meet, they discover they are hunted by this common enemy. Forced to work with each other against the gangster and his mob, the duo must try to escape the planet.

But can two total opposites put their differences aside long enough to stay alive?

Get it now!

AGROTHARN the Interstellar Semi-Barbarian!
(Chronicles of AGROTHARN Book 1)
by Milo James Fowler

“I will bring your demise!”

Long ago, before the days of recorded history, during the Hyperbolean Age of a much younger Earth, AGROTHARN the Interstellar Semi-Barbarian roamed the ancient volcanic lands in search of fame and fortune. These are his somewhat heroic tales, sure to enthrall the most adventurous of readers!

When AGROTHARN learns that his long-lost witch-mother is still alive, he sets off on a perilous journey with his loyal triceratops to find her. Along the way, they meet a conniving trickster, a vengeful T-Rex, and a bunch of bloodthirsty aliens from a distant planet. Nonstop adventures take AGROTHARN deep into space and back through time as he unravels new truths about the reality he’s always taken for granted. What he discovers will forever change his life, setting him on a new path to rewrite the past and forge a glorious future for one and all!

After the Sky:
(Spirits of the Earth Book 1)
by Milo James Fowler

The meek have not inherited the earth.

The world isn’t how they left it.

When the bunker airlocks release them after twenty years in hibernation, the survivors find a silent, barren world outside.

But they are not alone.

There is a presence here, alive in the dust—spirits of the earth, benevolent and malicious as they interact with the human remnant.

Dust Freaks & Demigods (Dome City Investigations Book 1)
by Milo James Fowler

Rookie investigator Sera Chen is having a rough week.

Her partner is a clone of the man she killed. His ghost still haunts her nightmares. Her boss seems to be going out of his way to block her investigation. And not only has a dangerous criminal escaped from custody, but a bizarre cult may be involved in a rash of deaths across the Ten Domes of Eurasia.

Life has always been precious, but it's even more so now with the last remnants of humankind living in ten interconnected biospheres along the Mediterranean Sea. When dust addicts threaten to disrupt the delicate equilibrium of the Domes, it will take a demigod to balance the scales. But even with her special abilities, Sera must first overcome her personal demons before she can stop a powerful emergent threat intent on total domination.

The Space-Time Conundrum:
A Funny Sci-fi Space Adventure
(Captain Quasar Book 1)
by Milo James Fowler

Captain Quasar is out of time.

Pursued by vengeful Goobalob toll collectors, savage Arachnoid bounty hunters, and formidable Amazonians, Captain Bartholomew Quasar must do whatever he can to keep the crew of the Effervescent Magnitude out of harm’s way.

All in a day’s work—except time is not on his side.

Torn from the present to relive his past, he vows to keep mistakes from occurring the second time around. But is he doomed to repeat history? Or can he erase his regrets?

Villains will be vanquished. Lives will be lost. Bonds will be betrayed. Heroes will be heroic. Join the crew of the Effervescent Magnitude for a hilarious time-travel space adventure the likes of which you’ve never seen!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide meets Star Trek in this series for fans of Galaxy Quest, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Star Wars Legends.

Talk to a Real, Live Girl: And Other Stories
by Paul Clayton

2021 !WINNER! in Science Fiction — Los Angeles Book Festival! Readers’ Favorite 5 Star review: Talk to a Real, Live Girl And Other Stories by Paul Clayton is a short collection of light sci-fi tales. The flagship story is Talk to a Real, Live Girl. Disillusioned with the extreme societal and political changes on Earth and a ruined relationship, Alex leaves home to work at a mine on Kratos, a distant planet. Kratos also offers some free time diversions, one being particularly appealing to men far from home; robot females who are perfect and always willing. Alex has no real interest in them, despite his loneliness. Then, one day he meets Traci, a “real, live” girl. Do Alex and Traci have any real hope of a future together? In the next story, The Lawn, Bob Hanlon struggles mightily to come to terms with his forced retirement and the strange presence that seems to have taken up residence in his overgrown yard. In the third story, Happy Acres, a couple finds their new life on Mars less perfect than what they had been promised. Finally, the first two chapters of a novel-in-progress about the fabled Lost Colony of Roanoke complete this collection of stories. In Talk to a Real, Live Girl And Other Stories by Paul Clayton, readers find entertaining stories that almost read like episodes of beloved classic sci-fi TV series. The main story, a poignant tale of loss, new possibilities, and adventure, makes some subtle, near humorous observations about contemporary American society and what the future could hold. The other two stories, while lighter fare and shorter, are no less interesting. These stories are a quick, enjoyable read, and Paul Clayton has a talent for immersing readers almost immediately in their narrative, including the bonus chapters at the end. Any message the author is trying to convey does not get in the way of the basic flow of the stories, which is a desirable feature. He also draws attention to other stories he has written, and readers will find themselves willing to invest time in reading these. Alex has fled a broken marriage and a society on Earth grown hostile toward men. Landing on the mining planet, Kratos, known to its male work force as “Boyz Wurld,” he hopes to lose himself in hard work, drinking, and the illusion of female companionship provided by robots. Will that be enough? In time, Alex finds himself longing to Talk to a Real, Live Girl. Predictably, there aren’t many on Kratos. Then he finds Traci, as well as the dream of a new beginning back on Earth—a normal life—if only the forces controlling Kratos will permit it.A genuine love story, Talk to a Real, Live Girl explores consequences of a #MeToo movement run amok, and of adaptations brave individuals may be forced to make.

The Blue World: Anunnaki Advent; a Short Story
by Paul Clayton

The best laid plans of gods and men go awry on… the Blue World.

Loosely based on Zecharia Sitchin’s Earth Chronicles, The Blue World follows the efforts of the Sumerian gods, the Anunnaki, as they land on earth to mine the gold there in order to repair the damaged atmosphere of their home planet, Nibiru.

The Anunnaki miners find gold mining laborious and dangerous, so they genetically engineer a hybrid race to do it for them.

Mixing Anunnaki DNA with simian, they create The Human, “those who work.”

Paul Clayton is the author of a three-book historical series on the Spanish Conquest of the Floridas– Calling Crow, Flight of the Crow, and Calling Crow Nation (Putnam/Berkley), and a novel, Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam (St. Martin’s Press), based on his own experiences in that war.

Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam was a finalist at the 2001 Frankfurt eBook Awards, along with works by Joyce Carol Oates (Faithless), David McCullough (John Adams), and Alan Furst (The Kingdom of Shadows).

Clayton’s historical novel — White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke — explores the mystery of the vanished English colonists on Roanoke Island. His realistic contemporary novel, In the Shape of a Man, explores the dark side of the go-go lifestyle of turn-of-the-century Silicon Valley workers.

Clayton’s collection of traditional sci-fi and fantasy stories, Strange Worlds, pays homage to the sci-fi greats. Clayton’s novel, Van Ripplewink: You Can’t Go Home Again, is a modern twist on the classic Rip Van Winkle story, that wades into America’s current socio-racial dysfunction. Clayton’s novella, Crossing Over, tells the story of the 2nd American civil war. His latest sci-fi collection, Talk to a Real, Live Girl, tells of a future world where the MeToo movement and the sophistication of robotic companions… collide with unforeseen and astounding consequences.

Strange Worlds
by Paul Clayton

In the future, the love of a young man’s life is dying. He would do almost anything to keep her alive…except that! In Dog Man, it turns out that Oscar the tomcat was just misunderstood — with deadly consequences… A love sick young man attempts to tap the power of an ancient religion to secure the affections of a girl on their class trip to Christland… The dead come briefly back to life every year when the astral dimensions align in Day, or Two, of The Dead. A cynical young ‘player’, adrift in the modern, amoral age meets God on a mountain top and his life is changed forever — but not in the way he’d ever imagined. Traditional sci-fi/fantasy and satire from the author of Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam. Clayton channels the spirits of Huxley, Orwell and Philip K. Dick in these and ten other intelligent, provocative and highly entertaining stories. WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING “Thank you for writing this. This is the sort of book I was hoping would begin to spring from the Indie world. No way would NYC Corporate Publishing ever allow something with this world view through.” “… I expected Strange Worlds to be about dystopias, supernatural monsters, zombies, and futuristic technologies, but now after reading this collection, I realize that the stories are about us.” “Clayton leads the modern reader through dark and dangerous territory, but the gems they will find there are worth the risk. Very few Indies would have had the courage to put their names to something like this.” “… while you are being taken away to a place and time which is… strange and… disturbing… the humanity of (most of) his characters will make you feel right at home; of course, you’ll want to leave a light on.”

Escape From the Future and Other Stories
by Paul Clayton

What if you had access to a time machine and could go back to visit a deceased love… one more time. Would you?

In 1962, Bobby Newman’s Grandpa, a basement inventor, loses his wife to cancer, then begins to lose his mind to grief. While tuning up his not-yet-perfected time machine for one last visit with his wife, he ends up going the wrong way… into the dystopian future of 2025. Inexplicably, he sends the machine back.

Fourteen-year-old Bobby uses it to lead Mom and Dad on a mission to find Grandpa and bring him back.

But Grandpa has other ideas…

This volume brings together five of Paul Clayton’s most ambitious stories to date, stories that juxtapose a familiar America of the very recent past with ominous new versions of the country now coming into focus.

Clayton’s concern is with ordinary people—their innate wisdom and persistent foolishness, their capacity to do good or harm, and their resiliency—with what happens when time travelers from the 1960s arrive in a city dominated by criminal gangs and corrupt politicians, or when a woman opts for a new procedure to avoid losing her cancer-ridden husband, or when a soldier in Vietnam is granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give his elevator speech, or when a man, illegally alive, attempts to stay that way…

Clayton shows how people make choices that, collectively, point civilization in new directions, be it toward forcible reclamation of vast tracts of land as primeval wilderness or elimination of those deemed to be nonproductive ‘useless eaters.’

This is a first-rate collection of stories by a serious writer.—Stephen Gallup, author of What About the Boy?

Rattan
by T.J. Marquis

Rattan was born to build.

She’s even bolted together her own custom robot.

There’s nothing she’d rather spend her days on…

But she’s happy to to report to academy for her nation’s military draft of all second-born children.

After all, isn’t a model citizen eager to serve her elites?

She dives into the harsh tutelage of Master Koscha, willing to give her all to comrades and country.

But when her best friend is murdered, Rattan is set on a path that she may not return from.

Rattan is a science fantasy survival story for teens and up, with a melancholy vibe but no shortage of heart.

Originally published on Kindle Vella.

Stellar Stories Vol. 1: Science Fiction & Wonder
by David Skinner

Eight stories of rockets and robots, monsters and Martians, fistfights and beauties, wonders and awe…

A young man’s blind date is kidnapped by Martians and he is drawn into her secrets.

A brotherhood outside of time seeks to mend a Solar System devastated by lunatic machines.

Men from a Plutonian research base confront metaphysical weirdness on Charon.

Two runaway sisters resolve to rescue the implanted helper-sentience of a deceased warrior. And more!

Stellar Stories Vol. 2: Science Fiction & Wonder
by David Skinner

Nine stories of rockets and robots, monsters and Martians, fistfights and beauties, wonders and awe...

A daredevil from Jopitar plans an impossible act and seeks the aid of a girl who cannot burn. A young man sets his heart on the intimate companion of the artificial Man in the Moon. Outlaws in the Martian desert point Hamlin Becker and the sisters Day to a revelation. A girl who communes with the planet Pluto hires a boy who can spray-paint with his mind. And more!

Somewhither: The Unwithering Realm — Omnibus Version
by John C. Wright

Ilya, as he has secretly dreamed, is called upon to save the mad scientist’s beautiful daughter.

With his squirrel gun, his grandfather’s sword, and his father’s crucifix, Ilya races to save the girl, and, incidentally, the world.

So it is, Ilya Muromets is a big, ugly, motherless boy who does not look like anyone else in his Oregon town.

His father is often absent on mysterious Church missionary work that involves silver bullets, sacred lances, and black helicopters.

One night, Professor Dreadful sends a warning to Ilya that his Many Worlds theory correct, but that his experiments have opened a door that should have remained closed, and his beautiful daughter, Penny, is in trouble.

The 2016 Dragon Award-winner for Best Science Fiction Novel, Somewhither is the first part of A Tale of the Unwithering Realm, a new science-fantasy series from science-fiction master John C. Wright.

It is an adventure, it is a romance, and it is a coming-of-age story of a young man who is not a man, in a world that is only one among many.

It is a tale of a greater and darker evil with longer reach than anything he could imagine, of pain beyond measure, and of the faith required to surmount all three.

It is a story of inexorable destiny written in the stars and the stubborn courage that is required to defy it.

Get it now!

Escaping Fate (Paradox Book 1)
by Henry Brown

Pete Bedauern began his life as a latchkey kid in a run-down trailer park with a single mom, living on stale hot dog buns and bleak prospects. Those were the cards Fate had dealt him, and Pete was on his way to becoming an angry young man. Then Pete’s estranged uncle burst on the scene to punch Fate in the mouth.

Uncle Si is scarred inside and out; he’s a hard drinker; painfully blunt; a little mysterious and maybe even scary, but takes an interest in his nephew that Pete’s father never took. Most of Uncle Si’s life is a secret, but through the part of it he shares, Pete undergoes a master course on life, love, and full-contact sports.

As it turns out, Uncle Si not only has tons of money, multiple businesses, and a fleet of fast cars, he also owns a time machine.

Paradox is one good-hearted-but-alienated boy’s odyssey into manhood, and Escaping Fate is the opening leg of that journey. Before it’s complete, Pete will learn the guarded secrets of history, take on a pan-continuum conspiracy, contend for a world championship, crack the code for success with women…and even save the world.

Well, one world, maybe…

Rebooting Fate (Paradox Book 2)
by Henry Brown

An Amazon Bestseller and Top New Release! (December 2023)

Pete was rescued from the dimension-hopping death squad that "erased" his biological family. Now he's in a makeshift cross-continuum witness protection program. Uncle Si gives him a new home in a peaceful neighborhood, a new life in the blissful postwar era, a new, affluent family that cares about him, and a new identity: Ike Jaeger, on an alternate path to a future that was impossible from Pete Bedauern's native time period and circumstances.

But even at these idyllic time-space coordinates, there are challenges. Acquiring a girlfriend is a lot easier than keeping a girlfriend, for instance. A strong arm for throwing footballs is not as important as the leadership required to be a great quarterback. No matter how pleasant the environment, there will always be bullies. You have to lose some fights while learning to be a winner. And one little coding error in a warp interface's software can transport you to a future even worse than the leftist hellhole you escaped from.

Paradox is much more than a time-traveling rags-to-riches adventure--it's an odyssey into manhood for a hard-luck boy who is reborn with the chance to re-write his own destiny. In Rebooting Fate, that boy becomes a young man blazing a trail toward ambitions he never dared entertain before.

Defying Fate (Paradox Book 3)
by Henry Brown

An Amazon Bestseller! (February 2024)

Ike Jaeger is off to college, earning a degree he may put to use colonizing Planet Valhalla, or designing a warp generator that will revolutionize time-space jumps. But he's not going to let classes, studying, or homework distract him from what's most important: football, hot rods, and girls.

Handpicked by Coach Stauchel, Ike steps into the limelight as the starting quarterback for the Yosemite Pumas. With the weight of the team's aspirations on his shoulders, leading them to victory outweighs maintaining a low profile.

Scholarly pursuits may fail to interfere with gridiron glory, but unforeseen misadventures just might: a wrong turn into a postapocalyptic future, an ill-fated obsession with fighting in World War Two, and encounters with an array of vivacious vixens. Will the clairvoyant African prophetess in 1960 Sierra Leone capture his heart? What about the glamorous Hollywood hopeful in 1942, or the vampish Marxist professor teaching his political science class at Yosemite Polytechnic?

Ike escaped his own dystopian destiny, but Fate is a vindictive mistress, hell-bent on dragging him back into her cruel clutches. Will she gain revenge with a blind-side cheap shot by a hulking defensive lineman, by using communist occupational forces to blow his antique fighter plane out of the sky, or by exposing Ike as a time-traveling fugitive from an alternate reality to cross-continuum assassins?

Paradox is much more than a time-traveling rags-to-riches adventure. It's the epic adventure of a boy who perhaps was never supposed to be presented a chance to strive for greatness...but was anyway. In Defying Fate, that boy is now an adult--but the journey to manhood is far from over.

Provoking Fate (Paradox Book 4)
by Henry Brown

Ike Jaeger blazes through his senior year surrounded with opportunities. With two Bowl championships under his belt, he's earned the interest of a professional football team. The US involvement in Vietnam is escalating, opening up a commission and even fighter pilot slots. His talent for engineering is earning him respect among the scientists on Planet Valhalla and elsewhere. There's no shortage of beautiful wife material, either.

He can't quite get over the JFK assassination, though. The official narrative is ludicrous, and he won't accept it. Finding the truth behind the murder plot draws him down a rabbit hole that leads him through a whirlwind tour of history that exposes it as just one part of an international conspiracy that might turn out to be timeless.

In Provoking Fate, the Paradox series becomes a roller coaster ride fraught with epiphany, danger, and personal tragedy, flinging Ike toward a secret war that transcends multiple realities and the dimensions in between.

Resisting Fate (Paradox Book 5)
by Henry Brown

An Amazon Bestseller! (June 2024)

Ike Jaeger has finally arrived. After a coaching shakeup, he emerges atop the new player roster to see if he has what it takes to make his mark in professional football. It's going to take more than a strong arm and a keen mind to quarterback a penalty-plagued expansion team into the elite of the league--especially with all the detours from that unlikely ascension.

Navigating the psychedelic Summer of Love is just one of the challenges he must face. Ex-girlfriends catch up to him in the strangest places, suspicious that he's not just moving through time in a linear fashion like everyone else. He undertakes a foolhardy attempt to single-handedly rescue best buddy Brock "Bull" Dozier from the Vietcong, as well as a skip-tracing mission into a parallel timestream to locate a high-value intelligence asset. All this while romancing Vivian, the mysterious and beautiful temporal spy who has been shadowing him ever since the JFK assassination. Oh yeah--let's not forget the no-holds-barred street brawl with a time traveling death squad in 1914 Sarajevo.

While Ike is cracking the code to football greatness, he discovers an internecine cold war between pan-continuum international conspiracies that will determine whether mankind can ever be free, or forever ruled by an ancient bloodthirsty cabal. And he wants to be right on the front lines when that cold war flares hot.

Inquisitor's Promise
by Michael P. Marpaung

Young Inquisitor Aeneas Aquilanus made two promises: one to his dying father, the other to his beloved Galatea.

To his father, Aeneas promised to finish his last mission to unify the Holy League and rally them against the apocalyptic threat of the Grey Globe. To Galatea, he promised the aspiring lady knight to become her lord and Inquisitor.

But politics in the 74th century can be violent and complicated. The Five Factions of the Holy League had long seen each other with suspicion. Can they put aside their differences to save Earth?

Even his promise to Galatea is not without problems for Aeneas as he has four additional girls who are in love with him. Each of these five girls are faction princesses, women who have close connections to each of the Five Faction’s leaders.

Love and politics are an explosive combination, but the Inquisitor shall remain true to his pledged word.

After Moses
by Michael F. Kane

His gruff exterior hides a man who wants to do the right thing. But running from trouble won’t work when the planets need a hero.

Arizona Colony, Mars. Matthew Cole doesn’t want anyone else aboard his ship. But the notorious solo freelancer is persuaded against his better judgment to guard a dangerous prison transport along with an exo-suit-clad former rival. Outmaneuvered when the crook’s cronies spring the inmate with heavy firepower, the poncho-wearing captain vows to scour the solar system to restore his rep and claim his paycheck

Reluctantly banding together with his seven-foot partner in her powered armor, Matthew has his hands full leading an unwanted ragtag crew. But the headache of dealing with people again is nothing next to the prickling between his shoulders as he continues to run afoul of greedy politicians and criminal syndicates.

Is this space cowboy’s moral compass sending him to a fatal crash landing?

I’m probably going to take some heat for this, but I’ll say it anyway: After Moses is better than Firefly, better than Star Trek, and if you question if that’s even possible, this is for you.
Trevor Denning, Upstream Reviews

The Powers of the Earth (Aristillus Book 1)
by Travis J. I. Corcoran (Author)

PROMETHEUS AWARD WINNER “BEST NOVEL” 2018

Earth in 2064 is politically corrupt and in economic decline. The Long Depression has dragged on for 56 years, and the Bureau of Sustainable Research is hard at work making sure that no new technologies disrupt the planned economy. Ten years ago a band of malcontents, dreamers, and libertarian radicals bolted privately-developed anti-gravity drives onto rusty sea-going cargo ships, loaded them to the gills with 20th-century tunnel-boring machines and earthmoving equipment, and set sail – for the Moon.

There, they built their retreat. A lunar underground border-town, fit to rival Ayn Rand’s ‘Galt’s Gulch’, with American capitalists, Mexican hydroponic farmers, and Vietnamese space-suit mechanics – this is the city of Aristillus.

There’s a problem, though: the economic decline of Earth under a command-and-control economy is causing trouble for the political powers-that-be in Washington DC and elsewhere. To shore up their positions they need slap down the lunar expats and seize the gold they’ve been mining. The conflicts start small, but rapidly escalate.

There are zero-gravity gun fights in rusted ocean going ships flying through space, containers full of bulldozers hurtling through the vacuum, nuclear explosions, armies of tele-operated combat UAVs, guerrilla fighting in urban environments, and an astoundingly visual climax.

The Powers of the Earth is the first book in The Aristillus series – a pair of science fiction novels about anarchocapitalism, economics, open source software, corporate finance, social media, antigravity, lunar colonization, genetically modified dogs, strong AI…and really, really big guns.

Causes of Separation (Aristillus Book 2)
by Travis J. I. Corcoran

PROMETHEUS AWARD WINNER "BEST NOVEL" 2019.
By the author of The Powers of the Earth, PROMETHEUS AWARD WINNER "BEST NOVEL" 2018.

The first US / UN invasion of the renegade lunar colony of Aristillus has failed - but the powers-that-be in Washington and elsewhere can't give up. Their political careers - and an escape from the economic decline of Earth under a command-and-control economy - depend on conquering the lunar expats.

A second - and final - invasion is planned. The lunar settlers prepare to repel the onslaught, but what can a small population of 1 million do against the combined might of billions on Earth - especially now that the PKs have the secret of the antigravity drive, and sleeper cells embedded inside the very heart of Aristillus? Open source software, markets, big guns, combat robots and uplifted dogs let the rebels punch far above their weight - but is it enough to even the odds?

Find out what happens to the free city of Aristillus in the nail-biting conclusion to the Aristillus series.

The Team (Aristillus)
by Travis J I Corcoran (Author)

In 2055, nine years before the events of The Powers of the Earth, US Special Forces soldier John Hayes discovers a secret research project that’s being shut down by the Bureau of Sustainable Research. Are the reports of uplifted dogs – creatures genetically engineered to have human intelligence – true? Can John sit by while bureaucrats end the project – and incinerate all the inconvenient evidence?

Staking A Claim (Aristillus)
by Travis J I Corcoran

In the early days of the Aristillus moon colony a lone geologist uses a small inheritance to do what the universities and government won’t – fund basic research. Alone on the north face of the central peak in the Aristillus crater, equipped with just a small rover, a Quonset hut, and a small research lab, he finds pyrite – fool’s gold. Except – perhaps it’s not what he assumes after all. Of what use money to someone who cares about science, not lucre? In an anarcho-capitalist border town on the moon with no police and no courts, who enforces property rights? Will Mike ever stop Darcy from whimsical purchases? From the two time PROMETHEUS AWARD WINNER Travis Corcoran (Best Novel 2018, Best Novel 2019), a prequel story set in the Aristillus universe.

Caterpillar
by Travis J I Corcoran

A zombie apocalypse is bad enough if you’re far out in the country – but what happens when you’re trapped in a two story brick building in the dense suburbs of Boston, and the streets around you are a sea of biters?

Most people would give up and accept their fate…but Chris, Todd, Stacy and David aren’t most people. They’ve got unique skills … but also unique handicaps.

Todd is the building’s maintenance guy who can weld, cut, and build … but he’s also fighting a losing battle with the bottle.

Chris is a hacker, who can scrape data from the web before the internet crashes for the last time … but he’s also a lot heavier than he should be, and he knows more about cosplay than the real world.

Stacy is a secretary who can run fast, but she’s finding it hard to accept the new reality.

David, the CPA, is fit enough to fight zombies, but he’s a coward.

Given their flaws, it’s doubtful they can survive.

…but there’s one more part to the puzzle. In the first floor garage, there’s a 30 year old, rusted, poorly maintained bulldozer.

The brick walls may keep the zombies out – for now – but the sky overhead is turning orange, and there’s smoke in the air. Watertown is burning, and the wind is blowing this way.

Can Todd, Chris, Stacy, and come together to MacGyver a solution, even though they’re got no armor plate, are short on fuel, and are almost out of MIG welding wire?

They’d better hope so, because they’re about to be forced to leave their cocoon.

Note: This story was originally published in the collection ‘Places Beyond the Wild: A Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Anthology’, and was set in the world created by Daniel Humphreys. It is republished here outside of that world, in a distinct setting.

Glomar Extractor
by Travis J.I. Corcoran

It was weird how the apocalypse snuck up on you. In the movies, there was always the one big event - the nuclear war, the virus infected monkey that bites the animal rights protester, whatever - and then everything goes to shit in the next 15 minutes.

Reality wasn't like that, though. In the real world, things went to shit step by step by step, so slowly that you barely noticed, but then every now and then you look up and see it with fresh eyes, and wonder how the hell it got to be like this.

At first the chance of the asteroid Mammon hitting was 1 in 1,000.

Then 1 in 100.

Then 1 in 10.

For deep sea saturation divers and old oil rig buddies Tom, Alejandro, and Rob the end of the world is here, and they missed their chance to escape the city to a bug out ranch inland ... but then the call comes. If they're willing to do a mission, of the most dangerous sort, in the worst conditions possible, they - and their families - just might make it through.

...if everything goes just right.

...and if no one double crosses them.

Firefly Season 2 (Time Traders Book 1)
by Travis J. I. Corcoran (Author), Clark Bianco (Author)

When you're a time trader - someone with a ship that can hop sideways across the millions of alternate timelines - the big money isn't in technology or science, it's in entertainment. There are some universes where George Lucas didn't die on the set of American Graffiti but instead went on to make a space fantasy classic. In other universes there's a movie called "Dune" by Jodorowsky. And in some there's a guy named Tolkien who wrote a sequel to "The Hobbit".

Ask any timetrader and he'll tell you: put three things together - buyer, seller, and product - and that's where the magic happens.

And by magic, timetraders mean "profit".

Now the crew of the Sturnus-class timeship al-Din (kaiser Huck, riverman Oive, artificer Johann-stepson-twice-Friedrich, and galfreitag Ginny Mae) have all three of these things lined up, because they finally secured a copy of a certain TV show.

There's just one problem, and his name is Friedrick Richter.

...or maybe there's more than one problem, depending on how you look at the situation, because things can get pretty complicated when timelines cross.

So get yourself a stein of mead and a bowl of spiced yam sticks - or pretzels, if that's all you've got in this timeline - pull up a chair, and lend an ear to see how it all turns out.

365 Infantry: The 2022 Collection
by Jacob Calta (Author, Editor), Kevin Jacob (Illustrator), Alexander Hellene (Editor)

"Between battling androids, hunting down serial killers, and surviving in the wastes, there’s a fresh sense of adventure that makes this series difficult not to love." - The Lord Otter, Downstream Pulp

For the brave wolven warriors of the 365th Infantry, the fight against the strange creations of the sentient computer A.C.E.S. is a nonstop war for the freedom of the Wastelands and those in the heart of the distorted metropolis Haven. A war of nerves, a war of force, and a war waged in denim, leather, & chrome.

Creator Jacob Calta takes readers on a fantastic journey into a savage world, a post-apocalyptic circus that is as much a celebration of classic science fiction as it is a salute to hot rods, chopped hogs, and heavy metal, all with a unique and stylish vision from the multi-talented author, composer, and filmmaker. Enjoy 25 exciting tales across multiple series within the setting, including a brand-new spy thriller novelette, "Lions Among the Lambs," starring Infantry recon agent Roger Steele! Hop in and hang on for the most savage hounds this side of the Bomb!

365 Infantry: The 2023 Collection
by Jacob Calta (Author, Editor), Kevin Jacob (Illustrator)

"This is a man who has a vision...to bring fun back into your life by any means. Trust me, this is someone you'll be seeing a lot of in the years to come!" - J.D. Cowan, author of The Last Fanatics and The Pulp Mindset

Back behind the wheel are the 25th century's most daring and courageous hounds! With the looming threat of the mad electric machine A.C.E.S., the scum and villainy of the Wastelands, and a mysterious new faction in the ongoing fight for freedom, the 365th Infantry and their many friends and allies are in it up to their necks. But all is not lost, not when these wolves are on the scene!

Writer Jacob Calta returns with another white-knuckled trip through a metalhead power fantasy future, armed with brisk storytelling, stylish prose, an enveloping world, the dynamic art of Kevin John Jacob, and a breathtaking cover illustration by the talented Temiree. Join the daring soldier Gibson, the sage General Knox, the tormented huntress Valentina, the mad-cap vigilante Lita, the wild-eyed lawman Nic, and the scores of colorful canine characters that populate the world of Haven and the Wastelands in 22 electrifying new stories of action, suspense, crime, romance and more.

365 Infantry: The Electric Anthology Volume I
by Jacob Calta

Looking to get lost in the age of sprawling dystopias and wild wolven frontiers? Then this is the book for YOU!

365 Infantry: The Electric Anthology is an annual collection of every pint-sized tale released between issues of the quarterly sci-fi Substack magazine, from weekly flash-fiction series Red Light Bytes to special collections to the monthly madhouse of Solar Joint Stories.

Volume Icontains38 UNIQUE TALES from series writer Jacob Calta, providing a special window into Haven and Wasteland life thru a wide array of eyes, from familiar stars of the magazine’s ongoing adventures to average hounds experiencing the small joys, great pains, and madcap escapades the future has in store!

Highlights include the working-wolf comedy “We Are the Road Crew,” the father-and-son adventure of “Pop Was a Rock-Climber,” the solemn soul-baring of “Confessions of a White Coat,” the bizarre gin-joint ramblings like “The Tale of the Blood-Red Biker,” and the special Independence Day collection 4th in the 25th alongside scores more!

From the depths of the wolven mind to the edge of its dangerous world, The Electric Anthology Vol. I delivers all the thrills, chills, and surreal entertainment of the trail-blazing series in bite-sized chunks of pulp excitement, madcap humor, and thoughtful speculative fiction. For fans wanting more, this is your ticket to ride the cutting edge!

The Short Circuit Revolution (The Roger Steele Adventures Book 1)
by Jacob Calta

FROM THE WORLD OF 365 INFANTRY: A NIGHT THAT WILL SHAKE HAVEN TO ITS CORE!

His name is Roger Steele, Recon Agent for the 365th Infantry. His goal: locate the base of operations for the city of Haven’s sentient, all-powerful computer network.

The gray wolf returns to find a city engulfed in revolution, with activist organization Haven Reformation leading the way. Tensions and suspicions rise when Infantry contact Ralph DeVol, having joined the Reformation undercover, is executed by state authorities. What begins as an investigation into a leading protest group and an agent’s death turns into a white-knuckled night of mystery, where nothing is as it seems, and more than those guided by fiery activist Lucille Devenreux are in jeopardy.

It is the night Agent Steele, the activist Devenreux, and the URBAN AVENGER Lita, and Haven itself will never soon forget! Learn how to short-circuit a revolution in this exciting new novella from the wild, wolven future of 365 INFANTRY!

On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington Book 1)
by David Weber

INTRODUCING HONOR HARRINGTON
Having made him look a fool, she's been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin by a superior who hates her.

Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station.

The aborigines of the system's only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens.

Parliament isn't sure it wants to keep the place; the major local industry is smuggling; the merchant cartels want her head; the star-conquering, so-called "Republic" of Haven is Up To Something; and Honor Harrington has a single, over-age light cruiser with an armament that doesn't work to police the entire star system.

But the people out to get her have made one mistake. They've made her mad.

At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (DRM Rights Management).

Singularity Sunrise 1: Edenet: A Cyberpunk Espionage Thriller
by Kit Sun Cheah

The Singularity is Coming!

The 22nd century brings an era of technological wonders—and horrors.

Cybernetics and genetic engineering. Mass surveillance and social credit. Full body cyborgs and nanoscale engineering. And the pinnacle of human achievement: machine intelligence.

Edenet is the next generation of the Internet. Designed by Anatol Corporation, it will bring the power of a supercomputer to the fingertips of every user, anywhere in the world. At the heart of Edenet lies a cutting-edge artificial intelligence that regulates all traffic on the network.

And one of its lead scientists has disappeared.

Fearing the worst, Anatol hires psychic contractor James Morgan to track her down. Accompanying him is Eligia Ogrod, the mysterious assistant to Anatol’s CEO. Their investigation takes them through the militarized streets of Warsaw, a corporate fortress in Shenzhen, and the human hives of Hong Kong.

Morgan is no stranger to intrigue. Yet the deeper he digs, the more questions emerge. Who is Eligia Ogrod? What does Anatol want?

And what is the truth behind Edenet?

The Compleat Martian Invasion: Earth’s Defense Awakens
by John Taloni

With Earth left in shambles by the Martian invasion, Queen Victoria’s daughter Louise must lead the world through a dire emergency: The Martians are coming back. First she must rescue Cavor from his prison on the Moon in order to build a defense fleet. Even with Cavor their efforts would be for nothing without the genius of Nikola Tesla leading the way. And on Mars, unexpected allies fight a rearguard action to help Earth. Meanwhile the Time Traveler repeatedly appears, but is he friend or foe?

Review: A number of years have elapsed since the Martian Invasion chronicled by H.G. Wells in The War of the Worlds . The damage inflicted on the Earth was severe, and the protracted process of recovery, begun in the British Empire in the last years of Queen Victoria’s reign, now continues under Queen Louise, Victoria’s sixth child and eldest surviving heir after the catastrophe of the invasion. Just as Earth is beginning to return to normalcy, another crisis has emerged. John Bedford, who had retreated into an opium haze after the horrors of his last expedition, is summoned to Windsor Castle where Queen Louise shows him a photograph. “Those are puffs of gas on the Martian surface. The Martians are coming again, Mr. Bedford. And in far greater numbers.” Defeated the last time only due to their vulnerability to Earth’s microbes, there is every reason to expect that this time the Martians will have taken precautions against that threat to their plans for conquest.

Earth’s only hope to thwart the invasion before it reaches the surface and unleashes further devastation on its inhabitants is deploying weapons on platforms employing the anti-gravity material Cavorite, but the secret of manufacturing it rests with its creator, Cavor, who has been taken prisoner by the ant-like Selenites in the expedition from which Mr Bedford narrowly escaped, as chronicled in Mr Wells’s The First Men in the Moon . Now, Bedford must embark on a perilous attempt to recover the Cavorite sphere lost at the end of his last adventure and then join an expedition to the Moon to rescue Cavor from the caves of the Selenites.

Meanwhile, on Barsoom (Mars), John Carter and Deja Thoris find their beloved city of Helium threatened by the Khondanes, whose deadly tripods wreaked so much havoc on Earth not long ago and are now turning their envious eyes back to the plunder that eluded them on the last attempt.

Queen Louise must assemble an international alliance, calling on all of her crowned relatives: Czar Nicholas, Kaiser Wilhelm, and even those troublesome republican Americans, plus all the resources they can summon—the inventions of the Serbian, Tesla , the research of Maria Skłowdowska and her young Swiss assistant Albert, discovered toiling away in the patent office, the secrets recovered from Captain Nemo’s island, and the mysterious interventions of the Time Traveller , who flickers in and out of existence at various moments, pursuing his own inscrutable agenda. As the conflict approaches and battle is joined, an interplanetary effort is required to save Earth from calamity.

As you might expect from this description, this is a rollicking good romp replete with references and tips of the hat to the classics of science fiction and their characters. What seems like a straightforward tale of battle and heroism takes a turn at the very end into the inspiring, with a glimpse of how different human history might have been.

Trouble in Twi-Town: Travis & Trouble Book 1
by Henry Vogel

In a solar system that never was, in a future that never will be, trouble always finds Travis Barrett.

If Barrett turned away every troublesome person who darkened his office door, he wouldn't have any clients. And Tina Tate, the Asteroid Belt's very own glamour girl, has trouble written all over her. Taking her case means a trip to Mercury and incurring the wrath of the richest man in the Belt – Tina's father.

Who would be foolish enough to take Tina's case?

Travis Barrett, that's who.

Trouble on Mars: Travis & Trouble Book 2
by Henry Vogel

I always keep my word. That’s why I’m headed back to Mars for a case. That’s also why the Spiffies - Space Patrol Intelligence Force - came sniffing around my office. I told them to get lost. They told me my case had connections to their search for the Bloodsword, the pirate ship that destroyed my first command and cost me my career in Space Patrol

But my case has roots far older than my six-year quest for vengeance against the Bloodsword. Roots that stretch back to the dawn of Martian civilization.

And Trouble, my partner and lover, is right smack in the middle of it all.

Fortune's Fool (The Fortune Chronicles Book 1)
by Henry Vogel

He digs through the past to unearth his future. But will rocketing into the expanse blast him into deadly trouble?

Xenoarchaeologist Mark Fortune just needs one big find to be set for life. Roaming the post-apocalyptic galaxy in search of riches, the pragmatic loner believes he’s finally made the breakthrough of his career when he activates an ancient portal. But when he’s catapulted onto an unknown planet, he’s followed by a revenge-driven skybiker out for his blood.

For the sake of survival, Mark and the motorhead form an uneasy alliance until they can escape the strange and unforgiving world. But the only path back home pits them against a ruthless warlord in a flying space fortress armed with pre-holocaust tech and a horde of killer robots…

Can Mark tear down a dictator before his newest discovery is otherworldly death?

Fortune's Fool is the first book in the edgy Fortune Chronicles science fiction adventure series. If you like throwback futurism, gritty action, and expansive worlds, then you’ll love Henry Vogel’s interstellar doorway.

Buy Fortune's Fool to open the door to uncharted planets today!

The Scales of Sin & Sorrow (The Fortune Chronicles Book 2)
by Henry Vogel

He holds the keys to the galaxy. But what horrors lurk beyond the portal?

Xenoarchaeologist Mark Fortune defeated Earth’s would-be warlord and claimed his reward—codes for a pre-collapse galactic portal network. Mark and his new friend Tusk enter the portal and cross untold lightyears in a single step. They emerge into a gothic cathedral during an incomprehensible ritual.

Swept into the middle of a simmering religious conflict where events dictate enemies and allies, Mark and Tusk side with a masked vigilante and a posh madam against a demagog bishop. Trapped in a city teetering on the brink of civil war, Mark must make a deal with a vicious mob boss and overthrow a religious inquisition. If he fails, he and Tusk will never see Earth again.

Will Mark face judgment or redemption?

The Scales of Sin & Sorrow is the second book in the Fortune Chronicles science fiction adventure series. If you like gritty action and dark themes, you’ll love this installment of Henry Vogel’s homage to the pulps of yesteryear.

Buy The Scales of Sin & Sorrow and open the portal to adventure!

The Devil’s Dictum
Frederick Gero Heimbach

In a topsy-turvy United States founded by pirates, the personal assassin to the chief justice receives a terrifying order: round up and kill all men who look like himself.

Why does the chief justice want these men dead?

What threat could they possibly pose?

And can the assassin save them—or will he become the final victim?

Spooky, sly and satirical, The Devil’s Dictum recasts J. Edgar Hoover as a Satanic high priest, Calvin Coolidge as a private eye, and Richard Nixon as the pilot of a giant armored robot. Readers hungering for original and mind-blowing alternate history need look no further.

Ronald Reagan’s Brilliant Bullet: A Cold Warriors Novel
Frederick Gero Heimbach

It’s Ronald Reagan in a jet pack! The author of The Devil’s Dictum returns with another novel that shreds the history books.

The setting is the Cold War and Ronald Reagan has a shiny new toy to play with: a rocket powered suit. He’ll need it to battle the terrifying monstrosity Leonid Brezhnev is building on a secret base in Siberia.

Standing with Reagan are Margaret Thatcher and Billy Graham, each wielding super powers. (If Thatcher in an eye patch won’t turn you on, nothing will.)

Reagan insists on piloting the rocket himself—but the hardware is experimental and just might kill him.

Threats are everywhere: a treacherous Congressman, a wide-eyed nun from the Tudor era, an enigmatic boy genius called R2, talking heads on Mount Rushmore, punks in back alleys and missiles in the skies.

All while signs of a literal Armageddon unfold before Reagan’s steely eyes.

Death Planet (Dinosaur Warfare Book 1)
by N.R. LaPoint

The Vidarian scourge has swept through many star systems,
killing and enslaving in an endless invasion.

When his home world is targeted, Ambrose Weaver flees with a crew of exiles.
Hunted down and forced to crash land on the mysterious planet Typhon,
they soon find their escape from sure death
has only led them to new troubles and prehistoric dangers.

The dinosaurs are only the beginning.

Can Ambrose and his crew brave primeval jungles
and survive a planet filled with horror?

Anomie (Phoenix Rising Online Book 1)
by Shinichi Haku

Come for the triggered NPCs; stay for the interesting in-game world characters!

Earth is on the brink of destruction and will go out with a whimper and not a bang. Intelligent and self-respecting men want out, but when they are given a way out, what will they do with it? When offered a chance in a new world, what will they do with it? How much of the dysfunction is nature, and how much is nurture? Earth cannot be saved, but can this new world be preserved? Or will it suffer the same fate?

Jeffery Anderson has had enough. While life on Earth offers copious amounts of bread and circuses, it does not provide anything more than that. On top of the general feeling of malaise and lack of any real purpose, the entire world is on a snowball's trajectory of self-destruction. All this changed with the announcement of Phoenix Rising Online. While another game would hardly help matters, a conversation with a suspiciously well-informed individual makes him believe the world is far more than just a game. Finally given a worthy goal, he sacrifices everything but himself for it and makes the swap over, choosing to live within this new world instead of Earth permanently. But the world of PRO, while lacking the dishonest problems of Earth, has plenty of honest problems instead and is far from a safe or friendly place despite being generally healthy. Can he answer both the offers and demands it makes of him? Now that he has something worth fighting for and protecting, will he, and how will he? What can change the nature of a man? And will these changes be for the better or for the worse?

Phoenix Rising Online is rated 18+ because it is written for mature audiences. Immature audiences will be triggered by Kitsune waifus, touching fluffy tails, and thot patrolling as well as facts not caring about your feelings.

A Presidents Day Carol (Presidents of the Uncanny States of America)
by Eric M. Hamilton

Decency was dead to begin with.

Newly elected and self-proclaimed “Greatest President” Donald Trump is haunted by the ghosts of former Presidents in the tradition of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. As Trump is taken through the past, present, and future, he tweets his innermost thoughts about these loser Presidents to the entire world. It's a tough task, but can these Presidents from the past convince Donald Trump to change his ways? YOU DECIDE!

That's right! Whether you love or hate Donald Trump (and let's be honest, those are the only two possibilities), you get to decide his fate. Everybody wins! Everyone is happy! This book will usher in a new era of peace and prosperity for the United States of America, and it all starts with a choice: Yours.

A Presidents Day Carol takes a new spin on a literary classic, and provides a humorous look at American politics past and present. No political party or politician is safe, everyone gets poked fun at. Plus, a super secret chapter awaits to be discovered, delving into the histories of former Presidents few know about or remember.

One reader had this to say about A Presidents Day Carol: “I'm usually very cynical about politics and political humor... [but] this book lets us sit back and enjoy how ridiculous politics (of the last few years in particular) actually are.”

If you need a break from the drama of current-day politics, and few good laughs at the ridiculousness of it all, then buy A Presidents Day Carol today!

An Inconvenient Presidency
by Eric M. Hamilton

“It’s almost too funny!”

On January 20, 2001, Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. became the 43rd President of the United States for the second time…

Newly elected President Al Gore is given a mysterious device that allows his mind to travel back in time and relive his presidency. He needs it, too! There is always some disaster forcing him to start over. Soon, the time-traveling President begins to suspect there’s more going on with this device than he first suspected.

Read the hilarious story of the President that never was, and discover why history turned out different.

“I started reading and couldn’t stop! What a clever story!”

Franklin Pierce in Death of a Vice President
by Eric M. Hamilton

Madness, murder, and mystery permeates throughout this Edgar Allan Poe-inspired thriller!

It is early April 1853.

Franklin Pierce, the newly elected President of the United States, has suffered the greatest personal tragedy of his life, plunging him into a depression fueled madness.

The Vice President, William King, unexpectedly appears at the White House in the middle of the night having overheard details of an international assassination conspiracy that threatens both King and Pierce. Unfortunately, Vice President King is killed without any clue as to who could have done it.

Can President Franklin Pierce overcome his personal demons and discover who killed the Vice President before they kill him too?

Franklin Pierce in Death of a Vice President is a thrilling psychological horror, starring the president from the 1850’s you forgot in 4th Grade. It’s an exciting read, and you don’t have to be familiar with Franklin Pierce at all to enjoy the story (in fact, it may be a better story if you go in knowing almost nothing). This is perfect for the American history-buff and “normal people” alike!

Fan Favorites in Fantasy

The Tales of Susan Barthwaite
by Ron Nielsen

With the end of the world fast approaching, Susan and Paul are forced to confront the uncomfortable truths that lurk beneath Manada’s veneer of polite society.

A tale of two souls set during the rise of the New Republic, their lives soon become intertwined by fate and then unravel before necessity compels natural enemies to become allies.

Will they survive the late stages of a silly society and build a new future, or will billionaire philanthropist and would-be Global King Jerome Absberg realize his ambition to rule the world?

The Transdroid Cornucopia: Part 1
by Ron Nielsen

In a place where strange is normal, ordinary incredible and the unbelievable believed, the heroic deeds of an average Joe would become legend. In a time when evil tyrants ruled over a land of make-believe without mercy or reason and criminals waged war against the innocent, the citizens of AR 59 struggled to defeat their own minds.

When Jane arrives in a virtual world turned upon its head and made to walk backward on its hands - a fantastic realm where mental gymnastics are a regular exercise in survival and delusion the only defence against insanity - he quickly learns that what you see is what you get. The Guardians, sworn protectors of justice, are about to find out what happens when one young man really decides to follow his dreams.

Hollow Kingdom (The Hollow Realms)
by Jordan Allen

In the wake of the cataclysmic collapse of the grand city of Altburg, heart of the Kingdom of Lochmeria, demons roam free in the desecrated streets. They hunt those unfortunate enough to remain trapped within the city walls, as well as those fool enough to dare plunder the vast riches left behind.

Prince Gresten Lochmeria returns to his fallen home after twenty years, searching for the truth. He embarks on a bloody journey to find the answers to his most burning questions. What was the fate of his brother, Prince Germund, and his father, King Gerath?

All that the young prince can be certain of is that in this haunted city, death awaits those who do not tread carefully.

Jordan Allen returns with his second book, Hollow Kingdom, following his first full-length novel, the post-apocalyptic sci-fi Mutagenesis: The New World. Hollow Kingdom is a dark fantasy action story inspired by classic sword and sorcery.

Ashes of the Necropolis (The Hollow Realms)
by Jordan Allen

The city of Furcht, a city rumoured to hold the secret to eternal life, calls to those who seek its greatest prize. The fools who heed the call soon find themselves drawn into the Necropolis that lies at the edge of the city. Only evil awaits those who enter, and the good that enters does not last long.

Erde of Olfen, a renowned mercenary, awakens from a coma with only a letter telling him where the rest of his band has disappeared to. He sets off on a journey to Furcht in search of his companions, but finds that he must brave the undead army of the wicked lich, Xantem the Black, if he is to have any hope of finding them.

The mercenary soon realises that, in this cursed city, bravery will only get you so far.

Jordan Allen returns with his third book and the second in the Hollow Realms series, Ashes of the Necropolis. Returning to the dark fantasy world of its predecessor, Ashes of the Necropolis is even more action-packed than Hollow Kingdom.

Moonlit Soul (The Hollow Realms)
by Jordan Allen

The assassins of the Blood Moon must hunt for the souls the Moonlight Queen demands. There is no reason or excuse that justifies not pursuing a target, which is just fine for the eager Tarn who serves his queen with ruthless dedication. When he's tasked with hunting the paladin, Sir Chaville, he embarks on a journey with many trials in pursuit of his target.

Sir Chaville, on the other hand, has a mission of his own. He seeks the demon-infested town of Autun and must liberate the desecrated temple that towers over the town from the infernal clutches of its new inhabitants. The two men make their way to the same destination, one hunting the other and the other oblivious to the stalker who seeks to deprive him of his very soul.

Jordan Allen returns with his fourth book and the third in the Hollow Realms series, Moonlit Soul. The dark fantasy world is as troubled as ever as demon attacks are on the rise and evil lurks around every corner.

Hollow Empire (The Hollow Realms)
by Jordan Allen

The infernal seeds of discord are sprouting, bringing chaos to the mighty Empire of Warth, all right under the noses of its three ruling gods. One of the most powerful nations in the realms could not be on the brink of total pandemonium, could it?

Prince Gresten Lochmeria embarks on a journey into the grand empire and is dragged into deepest darkness as he searches for a powerful artefact that rests in the clutches of a lost god. Armed with his trusty sword, the stalwart prince must fight all manner of monsters and mayhem as he explores this new land and tries to restore order to Warth.

Jordan Allen returns with the fourth book in his Hollow Realms series of dark fantasy tales. Hollow Empire is the first direct sequel in the series and continues the tale of Prince Gresten.

Sword’s Edge (Sword’s Edge Chronicles Book 1)
by L.S. King (Author)

Ripped from her home—
—thrust into danger.

Fifteen year old Tam finds herself in the midst of conspiracies to murder her family.
Can she uncover the treason before it’s too late?

Tragedy strikes—
Tam’s world crumbles.

Amidst grief, she must undertake a dangerous rescue mission, aided by a mysterious alien relic. Can this young lass succeed or will the assassins at her heels cost her all?

You’ll love this Epic Fantasy, because it’s science fiction with a twist.

Get it now.

Uncommoner: A Grimfarce
by Milo James Fowler

Unlikely heroes unite!
When the eccentric Baron Rauxtund is kidnapped from Havenwaye Manor by a cabal of traitorous knights, it will be up to a handful of peasants to save the day. But what can a young serf, an old village priest, and a few loyal yet quarrelsome subjects do against such overwhelming odds? And who is this masked Strange One who rises to the occasion while kicking below the belt?

WARNING: This is not your cute fairy godmother's adventure story. It is a tale of uncommon heroes and horrid villains, of virtues and vices, of courage against powerful evil schemes. Gird up your funny bone, for intense giggles, groans, and gasps in equal measure await!

RawJack: A Superheroes v. Sorcerers Future Fantasy Action Novel (Hero Planet Book 1) FREE
by T.J. Marquis

It’s been a generation since the first superhero arose to disrupt a society dominated by sorcery. Since then, their population has grown and they have built their own cities all across the magical planet Ellio.

Now, the magical 1% have discovered how to get rid of the thorns in their side, and no one with innate abilities is safe.

An impossible murder and an epidemic of sudden power loss lead our hero Jack to investigate, and his plucky wizard friend joins the fight. They want to go pro, and this could be their big break.

As they fall in with Durables, Speedsters, Hammers, Healers, and Empaths, they discover how deep and twisted the sorcerous elite’s plan really is.

But no one can be assured of victory when an agent of Chaos slinks onto the scene, prowling between the extremes of Justice and Domination.

Dive into this colorful magipunk world full of strange enchantments, true heroes, big surprises, and maybe a little romance.Our Heroes:

Jack – an ultra-Durable hero with a food-based healing factor and a strange relationship with pain.

Dugen – a light mage loaded with enchanted gadgets and goodies.

The Slip – a talented rogue, she can slip through the cracks of space to get places other people can’t.

Riotman – the passionate hero. His emotional feedback affects others, empowering himself and his group.

Overdog – the canid-man, his specialty is hunting sorcerous Hunters.

And more!

Bloodbane: Quest of Lance: A Pulp-Lite RPG Novel
by T.J. Marquis

What a horrible night to be invaded by psychos from the 65th Dimension.

Lance Cutfield just wants to get home to his wife and daughter.
But in his way stands a legion of Once-men, blood sorcerers, and countless foul creatures infesting the wilderness.

Lance must use his working man’s strength, and every tool at his disposal, to bring the fight to his foes.
Little do these ‘Baneborn’ know, they’ve chosen a predator for their prey…

Quest of Lance is a pulpy gamelit adventure with very lite RPG elements.

Elements in this book:

Classic NES game story start with a fast pace.
Not-so-subtle nods to the Castlevania series, but with lots of variation.
Surprising alliances…
A simple, gear-based progression system.
Lots of combat.
Light crafting.
Subtle notes of Resident Evil and Metroid.
Light sequence-breaking.
A masculine hero.
Orbs.

Citadel of Seven Swords (Skarde: The Wandering Sword Book 1)
by Erik Waag (Author), Krzysztof Jr. Porchowski (Illustrator), Daniel P. Riley (Editor)

Sword Swinging Thrills!

Skarde desires only to be free, yet his mighty sword arm, quick thinking, and daring seem only to keep him one step ahead… of the grave!

Trapped on a savage volcanic island, Skarde clashes with an antediluvian wizard, an army of warrior-cultists, and a hidden monstrosity just to live another day. Along the way he finds unexpected friends, mysteries, a curse, and enemies both bold and shadowy.

Skarde, brash mercenary from the far North, travels the boundless world to sate his wanderlust and his desire for coin. Discover the unknown, the dangerous and the wondrous in this first volume of Skarde’s adventures.

Weird of the Skull Totem (Skarde: The Wandering Sword Book 2)
by Erik Waag (Author), Krzysztof Jr. Porchowski (Illustrator), Daniel P. Riley (Editor)

Skarde – wandering sword, pirate, and killer of giants – falls prey to his own triumphs. Shipwrecked on a haunted shore, he and his crew face a nightmarish foe that wields enigmatic powers, distorting reality with malevolent sorcery. Under darkling boughs death and horror stalk, hungry for living flesh.

The feared Og-Riz, master of savage tribes and a shaman of dreadful power, beckons a sanity-bending evil from the plutonic depths of time. Skarde has only mortal courage and strength to battle against an unfathomable menace veiled by eerie mists.

Skarde’s desperate fight to save himself and his men endangers his very soul. Will his wit and vigor prevail against this primeval malice, or will darkness claim him eternally?

That Axe Anciently Was Mine: Sword and Seventies: Vol. 1 (Sword & Seventies) ( * FREE * )
Erik Waag

What if the hero of a savage and ancient land returned from the deep mists of time?

Samuel Rider is a man out of time and place. A man with a destiny undreamed of.
Necromancers and demons, werewolves and the undead. The villains and monsters of legend lurk still in the night, unseen by most.

Samuel battles the strange, the deadly, and the unholy with a band of on-again-off-again allies in the Ancient Order of Chandlers.

Sword & Seventies – High adventure in the age of the birth of Heavy Metal!

Fangs of the Moon Opal: Sword & Seventies: Vol. 2
by Erik Waag (* FREE *)

When Samuel Rider first gripped the haft of That Ancient Axe, premonitions of primeval power and glory struck him like a bolt from the Gods. He is a man with a destiny undreamed of.

Now, Samuel takes his first step – or leap – into a strange world hidden just under the surface of everyday life. A world where mystery, majesty, and danger lurk behind every corner. Always has.

Villains, too, have seen through the veil and employ sinister magics to plot evil. Cursed and alone, save for the witch Cassandra, Samuel fights a desperate battle for his very soul.

Swan Knight's Son (Moth and Cobweb Book 1)
by John C. Wright

Gilberic Parzival Moth is a strange and lonely boy who has grown up without a father, raised by a single mother who moves from town to town in fear of something she will not name. His only friends are animals, with whom he has always been able to speak. But when he awakens one night at the Thirteenth Hour, and sees for the first time the cruel reality of the secret rule of Elf over Man, he begins to learn about his true heritage, the heritage of Twilight.

And when his mother finally tells him the terrible truth of her past, he must choose whether to continue running with her in fear, or learning how to fight against ancient powers that are ageless, soulless, and ultimately damned. SWAN KNIGHT'S SON is the first book of THE GREEN KNIGHT'S SQUIRE, the first volume of MOTH & COBWEB, an astonishing new series about magical worlds of Day, Night, and Twilight by John C. Wright.

John C. Wright is one of the living grandmasters of science fiction and the author of THE GOLDEN AGE, AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND, and IRON CHAMBER OF MEMORY, to name just three of his exceptional books. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award, for the Hugo Award, and his novel SOMEWHITHER won the 2016 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel at Dragoncon.

Fairy Door
by V. A. Boston

It only took one word: Deal.

After years of neglect from her father, Eibhlin has had enough.

But when a purse of infinite gold, a fairy, and a trade shatter what little relationship she has with her father, she resolves to set things right.

Aided by a magic compass and a talking instrument, she now seeks three magic keys and their magic doors to find the fairy once again and recover what was lost.

She broke their relationship.

Now, she’ll brave the Fae to fix it. If she can get there.

From the fantasy tradition of The Chronicles of Prydain and The Hobbit comes a tale of love and redemption perfect for fans of all ages.

Dawn of Chaos: (Sanctum of the Archmage, Volume One)
by Tony Andarian

It wasn’t the demons that truly frightened her. It was the woman she would have to become to fight them.

Dawn of Chaos: Full Trilogy Edition (Includes Prologue to Chaos, Hell Gate, and Aftermath)

A new constitution prepares Carlissa for an era of enlightenment. The old order fades, and a promise of freedom stirs the air. In the space of one terrifying day, that promise is shattered in a bloodbath of fire and magic.

Thousands of years ago, an epic battle was fought between good and evil. The demon lords had opened a door to the realms of hell itself, and their horde threatened to overrun the earth. But the Kalarans, led by the hero Calindra, destroyed their hellgate and drove them from the world.

The Great War has long since been lost to myth and legend. The Church struggles for relevance as the people forget their covenant with the gods. A renaissance of freedom and learning stirs the air in the modern age of Carlissa, led by the royal family, and the wisdom of the Archmage.

All that comes to an end when a dome of shimmering magic appears in the capital city. The people fight desperately to survive in the chaos that follows, and wonder bitterly why the gods seem to have abandoned them. Their only hope lies with the magic of the Archmage — and his, with a free-spirited princess who never wanted to rule. She must find the strength to set aside her bard’s calling and take up a battle against impossible odds, or surrender her land and people to the Black Magus and his demons.

Dawn of Chaos finally brings the award-winning Sanctum of the Archmage role-playing games to the world of fantasy fiction. Get it today and don't miss this exciting first volume in the series!

Note to Readers. This is an omnibus volume that collects previously published books in the Dawn of Chaos series.

Gods & Proxies
by M.R. Kayser

WHEN THE GODS GO TO WAR, YOU HAD BETTER BE SURE THE ONE YOU SERVE WILL PREVAIL…

The invisible god, El Elyon, has promised the young nation of Yacov their own homeland. Trouble is, the land is full of giants, backed up by a pantheon of gods who would rather see Yacov slaughtered to a man.

And they are just men. The Yacovites are desert nomads without even enough swords for all their militia.

Salmon and Othniel are two of the young soldiers who must face the gigantic warriors in battle, starting at the fortress city of Bet-Yariq, with formidable walls that only giants empowered by gods could build.

Brave men’s hearts melt with fear. The very planet reels to and fro as if ready to tear itself apart. But though El Elyon is outnumbered by the enemy gods, and his warriors are far outclassed, he has assured them that he himself will lead them into war, and together they will beat all the odds.

Saga of the Swordbreaker
by Kit Sun Cheah

#1 Best Seller in Teen & Young Adult Other Religious Fiction!
#1 Teen & Young Adult Buddhism Books!
#1 New Release in Taoism!
#1 New Release in Buddhism!
#1 New Release in Chinese Literature
#1 New Release in Teen & Young Adult Myths & Legends eBooks!

Li Ming is a small-town boy with big dreams.

In the era of the Five States and Ten Corporations, the immortals of the jianghu stand head and shoulders above the masses. Li Ming aspires to join their ranks.

But the world of the rivers and lakes is fraught with peril. Deception and danger lurk in the shadows. Bloodthirsty beasts roam the wilds. Martial cultivators constantly battle for wealth, glory and status.

Armed with his ancestral swordbreaker, Li Ming enters the jianghu as a biaohang, eager to deliver justice with steel and magic—and to chase the dream of immortality.

But first, he must prove himself worthy.

Author’s Note: This series is not a power fantasy. There are no LitRPG / GameLit elements, no unconventional relationships, and no sexual content. It is, quite simply, a cultivation story—in the actual sense of the term.

Diary of A Bomoh
by Kit Sun Cheah

In a quiet neighbourhood in Singapore, a body is found inside a locked apartment.

Tasked with identifying the deceased, Inspector Ibrahim has his work cut out for him.

With no identity documents at the scene, and no neighbours who remember the resident, his only clue is a set of diaries written in English, Malay and Arabic.

Partnering with Station Inspector Jafri, Ibrahim translates the diaries. They discover the story of a bomoh, a traditional Malay shaman.

It is a story of sorcery and occultism, vice and sin, madness and damnation.

But the diaries won’t give up their secrets so easily.

A terrible evil lurks within their pages.

And now, it is awake.

Rebirths: A Tale of Azuran
by Frank B. Luke

Enraged at the Almighty after losing everything, Derke turns to black magic in hopes of restoring his old life. But the evil one demands a terrible price. Derke, once blessed, stands at the edge of a cliff, ready to lose himself to darkness.

Amazon Customer Review:
I really liked this story. Derke is a priest (miracle-man) whose faith is crushed when he loses his family to a plague. A hope of regaining them is extended by a woman who tempts him to abandon his faith and follow her. Derke does. He leaves all of his former life behind and delves deep into the dark magical arts of necromancy to try and recover his wife and children.
But his faith calls him back. He struggles and fights against what he knows is right in his heart.
The matters of faith in this story are derived straight from the Christian viewpoint. There is more than simple allusion to the Christian faith, it is a Fantasy story steeped in a Christian world.

Glimmer Vale
(Glimmer Vale Chronicles Book 1)
by Michael Kingswood

On the run from their past, swordsmen Raedrick Baletier and Julian Hinderbrook search for a place of refuge where they can start over.

That search sends them through a remote mountain valley called Glimmer Vale, where unbeknownst to them, dark forces threaten the population’s lives and fortunes.

With their hopes of quiet passage through the Vale dashed, and facing a deadly conflict against overwhelming odds, Raedrick and Julian will need all of their wit, courage, and skill just to survive, let alone prevail.

Fans of sword and sorcery will enjoy this fast-paced tale of redemption set in a world of valor and magic.

The Thing in the Woods: A Small Town Creature Feature
(The Long War Book 1)
by Matthew W. Quinn

Seventeen-year-old James Daly thought moving from Atlanta to small-town Edington senior year would kill him, but he didn’t mean it literally.

But his father bought a bigger house to go with a promotion at his law firm, only to lose his job when the housing bubble popped. Now James has to work at the Edington Best Buy to help pay the mortgage they’re underwater on. He can’t wait until he turns eighteen and can leave Edington behind forever.

But when a local boy challenges him to an ATV race near a tree farm most people avoid, things get much worse. James’ rival is slaughtered by a tentacled horror emerging from a nearby pond.The monstrosity has been worshiped by a secretive coven since before the Civil War, and its devotees don’t take kindly to their secrets being threatened.Now with the aid of Amber Webb, a local girl he doesn’t like liking, and a renegade cult member, James must fight to avoid ending up bound to a picnic table and offered up to a monster. He must do battle with both the local cultists and their predatory master, THE THING IN THE WOODS.

★★★★★ Quinn writes effectively and convincingly in recreating a new take on H.P. Lovecraft and the genre. I am not much of a fan of horror, but this work kept the right mix of tempo, detail, suspense, interesting characters, and plot development to keep me engaged. The creepiest horror stories are the ones that take place in setting just like where you live… – John Allred

★★★★★ This is Not Mayberry – This tale of a Lovecraftian cult in the backwoods of a rural Georgia town is both suspenseful and frightening. The creature being worshiped by the cult is an ancient, multi-tentacled monster that lives in a lake in the middle of an isolated tree farm. When high school student James Daly stumbles upon the cult and watches the monster devour a rival classmate, things go downhill fast. Matthew W. Quinn blends together small-town politics, Civil War legends, and more profanity than Lovecraft himself would be comfortable with. This is not Mayberry. Highly recommended for fans of eldritch horror in a realistic, modern-day setting. – Darrell Grizzle

★★★★★ Good Read – A fast-paced horror novel with a likeable hero, a monster with a backstory, and a hidden commentary on social issues in southern small towns. – Alex S.

Grab your copy today! Free with Kindle Unlimited. Although this book stands alone as a creature feature, it begins The Long War series. The next book is THE ATLANTA INCURSION. Fans of STRANGER THINGS and IT will love this tale of small-town terror.

Check out Matthew W. Quinn’s new Kickstarter:

The Last Ancestor: The Swordbringer Book 1
by Alexander Hellene

They killed his father, oppress his people, and threaten them with extinction . . . and one of them is his best friend.

The Growlers rule their corner of the planet Yxakh with an iron fist, intent on driving the human refugees from their land. They almost did eight years ago, killing Garrett’s father in the process. Only their guns, and lots of them, keep the Growlers at bay. Now a young man, Garrett burns for revenge, but finds it hard to reconcile this hatred given that his best friend is a Growler youth named Ghryxa.

Desperate to cleanse his land of the invaders, the Growlers’ High Lord dispatches his trusted heir on a mission to acquire the humans’ superior weaponry. The Earthlings barely won the last war . . . but this time the High Lord will leave nothing up to chance.

Garrett and Ghryxa run headlong into the High Lord’s conspiracy and find themselves the only thing standing between their two peoples and all-out war. Now Garrett must participate in an ancient rite with the fate of humanity on his shoulders. It’s a chance to be a hero like his father . . . but only if he makes it out of the Growlers’ forbidden city alive.

The Second Sojourn: The Swordbringer Book 2
by Alexander Hellene, Manuel Guzman (Illustrator), Emily Red (Editor)

Terror strikes the heart of Pysh!

The Global Union has tracked the Canaanites across the galaxy, hellbent on finishing the job of extermination.

But first they need to recover a secret, one that will explain everything.

A distress signal from the East brings Garrett, Ghryxa, and their friends closer to the answers about what happened on Earth.

The lost ship survives! But to find it they must cross the Waran Steppes, and an endless swamp filled with ancient, deadly creatures.

Pursued by assassins, Garrett must make the hard choices and be a hero like his late father.

Escaping the High Lord was just the beginning.

The Final Home (The Swordbringer Book 3)
by Alexander Hellene, Manuel Guzman (Illustrator), Emily Red (Editor)

The Reaper has landed! His mission: find the secret of immortality and destroy any who stand in his way.

With the Global Union closing in and Pysh in shambles, a bitter enemy may be humanity’s only hope.

Garrett and Ghryxa lead an envoy to Kharvalar with a proposal for the High Lord: join forces to fight the Global Union or Yxakh will be doomed.

But Kharvalar, besieged by lizardmen, giant serpents, and ancient foes from beyond the western wastes, has troubles of its own.

Old enmities, prophecies fulfilled, and interstellar war collide in the explosive conclusion to The Swordbringer, with the fates of two planets hanging in the balance!

A Traitor to Dreams
by Alexander Hellene

Shadowy horrors prowl the depths of her dreams, and she just broke their shackles.

The Idiomatic Corporation promised it could free Elpida of her unwanted desires and dreams with their device, the Dream Trashcan.

They never told her those desires would be given flesh and hunt her down.

She could’ve stayed out of trouble if she just left the Dream Trashcan alone.

But she had to know what was inside.

She had to open it.

Now a winged swordsman and a talking bird are her only companions as she travels across the dangerous landscape of her own dreams . . . and all Elpida brought was a screwdriver.

Pulp Rock: An Anthology of Musically Inspired Tales
by Alexander Hellene (Author), Patrick Walts (Author), JD Cowan (Author), Ryan Williamson (Author), & 6 more

ADVENTURE ROCKS

Space pirates and superspies, ghostly singers and half-orc bards, lost cities and deals with the devil . . . all this awaits and more in Pulp Rock: Twelve musically inspired tales of adventure, excitement, and horror by some of the most exciting voices in science-fiction and fantasy. Come explore the nexus between music and the written word, and get ready to rock.

Altered Egos by Patrick WaltsGlam-metal juggernauts Slamurai were past their prime, until a surprise new album and tour thrust them back into center stage . . . but is the band who it claims to be?

Mad Wind by JD CowanOn a distant colony world, a young student sets out to discover the secret of ancient ruins none have returned from . . . and music may be his only weapon against the Mad Wind.

Doom Chord by Ryan WilliamsonA half-orc bard and his gnome companion seek knowledge of the legendary chord required to play a song so epic even denizens of the netherworld long to hear it.

Keep It Burning Bright by Alexander HelleneAn aging explorer with nothing to live for embarks on one final expedition to a frozen city to discover the one song said to be the source of all life . . . if he can make it past the city’s deadly guardians.

The Devil’s Harp by David J. WestHer performance was magical . . . diabolically magical. Now a big-city reporter and a rough-and-ready lawman must track down the secrets of an occult instrument to save a woman’s soul from eternal damnation.

Farewell to Once and Future Kings by David V. StewartThey’re a band on tour in the far reaches of interstellar civilization with a secret mission: find the mole that threatens to upend the delicate balance of powers . . . even if it risks true love.

The Crying Girlby Alexander NaderShe’s done it! She’s created a drug that allows its users to see and feel music. But even she doesn’t understand its side-effects during a powerful metal show for the ages.

Entomocronicity by Alexandru ConstantinIn the deserts of Afghanistan, a Marine hears a ghostly recording from the forgotten past that sets him on an obsessive, destructive quest to find the singer . . . and the malevolent intelligence behind her song.

Master of Puppets by Jon Del ArrozAll he wanted was for his puppet show to be given respect it deserves! And when a blood ritual brings his marionettes to life, he will have his revenge.

Princess of the Night by Paul McKesleyOn an interstellar cruise, an undercover bandleader plots to recover his birthright from rival nobles . . . if scheming aliens out for revenge don’t steal it first!

A Song for Melienope by Alexandru ConstantinA traveling bard gets more than refuge from a storm when his wanderings bring him to the doorstep of an ancient forest spirit. Now he must play the song of his life or forfeit his immortal soul.

Kentucky Mothers by Alexander HelleneWhat is the connection between oa country music superstar and a spate of dead journalists? One imprisoned music reporter knows the secret . . .but will anyone believe him?

Fade
**by Daniel Humphreys (* Free! Starting Friday 9/6 *)**

Harry Dresden’s sorcery goes on a Supernatural-style road trip. Cool car sold separately.

Paxton Locke is the son of a Witch.

Family drama is bad enough without adding human sacrifice to the mix. Ten years ago, his mother killed his father in a grisly ritual that Paxton interrupted. Now he criss-crosses the countryside in his RV working as a paranormal investigator while Mother languishes in jail. She’ll never forgive him for interfering…or for stealing her spellbook.

It started as a normal job for Paxton. At least as normal as speaking to ghosts ever was. But then the terrified shade of a murdered boy warns him of a dangerous, newly-freed entity, and suddenly he has to talk to Mother again to save the day.

In a battle for his very soul, will he be able to endure – or simply fade away?

Dragon Award nominee Daniel Humphreys’ urban fantasy debut brings all the best elements of Supernatural and the Dresden Files, written with his typical engaging style and evocative prose. Avid fans of the genre will be satisfied with the sarcasm, quips, and pop culture jokes found in Fade. Not to mention the spells, action and family drama.

Buy it now!

Tales Yet Unsung: Short Stories in the Avatar Wizard World
by Denton Salle

Return to the world of the Avatar Wizard with this collection of short stories. See how Jeremy’s mother first met Arianna, how Arianna convinces Master Anthony to marry her, and other tales not revealed in the main story of Jeremy’s path to mastery of the Volkh arts.

Come along as Jeremy rides with the Weather bringer’s Hunt, climb with Harald as he seeks the forge of the Sun, and read how Helena’s mischief almost catches up with her. See the changes that come to the Keep as Arianna has her kits and both of Anthony’s sisters are courted. Go home with Danil as he and Harald venture south to the rich wheatlands to repair the great canal. Visit low dives as Jeremy and Gerasim steal a bard.

In addition, a glossary of people, places, and words has been added at readers’ requests. Please note a few of these stories were published in anthologies in shortened form. This is the ‘canonical’ version.

For Steam And Country – A Steampunk Fantasy
(The Adventures of Baron Von Monocle Book 1)
by Jon del Arroz

The world’s only airship is hers to command!

Can she save her kingdom from destruction?

Zaira Von Monocle is called upon to take command of the legendary airship, Liliana, to help stave off the evil Wyranth Empire’s recent advances. The Wyranth’s army creeps ever closer, ravaging towns and villages along Rislandia’s border. To make matters worse, the enemy invaders have tapped into supernatural forces with incredible destructive power.

But Zaira is a simple farm girl, raised away from the excitement of her adventurer father’s life of airships and gadgets. Before he disappeared, he tried to shelter her from the dangers of the world, and their family’s ties to the worst of tyrants, the Iron Emperor of the Wyranth.

Zaira must grow up quickly and learn to become a leader before she loses the life her father tried to build for her.

Readers who love a swashbuckling airship adventure with high-stakes action will love the first book in this #1 Bestselling YA Steampunk series.

Buy For Steam And Country today!

Through the Lichgate
by Kyle Adams

Thana Ayers is a part-time necromancer, the undefeated defender of Green Grove Cemetery.

She commands small armies of the dead to repel worse abominations, and still manages club meetings, homework assignments, and church services.

It’s a balancing act, but hey, the dead don’t raise themselves. Right?

Thana’s act is turned on its head when a new breed of monster shows up.

He’s got necromantic powers and secrets she’s never seen before, but he’s not after the power of the gate.

He knows Thana’s name, and he’s coming for her.

Fan Favorites in Mystery

The Unusual Clients (Suprahuman Secret)
by Milo James Fowler

Collects the novellas Doppelgänger’s Curse, Up in Smoke, and Death Duel:

A woman stalked by her double. A detective in over his head.

In a city where the cops are on a mobster’s payroll, private investigator Charlie Madison stands in the gap. When a wealthy young socialite asks him to help her catch a threatening stalker, he takes the case. But things aren’t what they seem, and Madison has to act fast before he’s framed for murder.

A life ended in flames. A detective sorting through the ashes.

Private eye Charlie Madison saw plenty of bloodshed during the war, but he’s never seen a billionaire burst into flames in his office. Until now. Searching for answers, Madison uncovers more than he bargained for: a bizarre mystery of human combustion that’s smoking with jealousy, revenge, and murder. Add a pair of cops on his tail who are more interested in putting him out of business than seeking justice. It’s just another action-packed day for the Charlie Madison Detective Agency. Now accepting…unusual clients.

An honest cop impaled through the chest. A detective fighting his way to the truth.

Private eye Charlie Madison saw his share of murder and mayhem during the war. But he’s never seen anything like this on home soil. The culprit can’t be human. A mandroid, then? Cyborg? Madison’s investigation takes him deep into the underground world of extreme fighting—duels to the death, showcased beneath the city’s biggest casino. Along the way, he discovers a new steroid quietly coming out of Little Tokyo. If rumors are true, it can turn a man into a killing machine.

Before vengeful police can find and execute the murderer, another officer is found slain. With rogue yakuza, the Russian mob, and Federal agents in the mix, Madison must put the pieces of this violent mystery together before the city loses another good cop. Problem is, the killer may be one of his own clients.

Murders at the Manor (Inspector Broekstein Mysteries Book 1)
by Milo James Fowler

Murders Most Foul

"What would you say if I were to tell you I believed...that in the heart of every man and woman alive, there lies the potential for ultimate evil?"

So begins a mystery of murder, jealousy, and revenge, as old friendships are tested and new alliances form.

When a wealthy heir invites half a dozen people to his recently inherited estate, all hell breaks loose, and it will be up to the quirky, lovelorn Inspector Willem Broekstein to find out whodunnit. But of course all is not as it seems, and Broekstein will need his wits about him if he's to keep from losing his head—or his heart—along the way.

Murders at the Manor was originally serialized on Kindle Vella.

Fan Favorites in Literature, Drama, Westerns

Lost Causes
by Richard Nichols

IF YOU LIKE JAMES BOND, JASON BOURNE OR JACK BAUER, THEN YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE JOHN BUCHAN!

John Buchan is a relic from a bygone age, a man constantly at odds with the modern world; a man who finds sanctuary in the only role that brings him peace of mind – as an assassin for a top-secret British government agency called the Mill. Specializing in what they call ‘ungentlemanly warfare’, its operatives are instructed to kill their targets wherever they find them, irrespective of boundaries, laws, jurisdictions or circumstances. Day-to-day, Buchan lives a simple, anonymous life in the Belgian countryside, restlessly roaming the battlefields of the Western Front in an attempt to kill time. All the while he waits patiently for the message that will signal the start of his next mission. It’s a message that will arrive, the way it always does, hidden within the solutions of the Daily Telegraph’s cryptic crossword puzzle. And when it does arrive, it’s like he’s been reborn, because in Buchan’s world being on a mission is the only time when things really make sense; the only time he feels truly alive. He barely remembers the time before he was recruited by the Mill.

His name wasn’t John Buchan then. In those days he was known as Charlie Hook, a happy-go-lucky, rugby-playing, ex-Rhodesian Light Infantry trooper turned Gurkha officer with an eye for the girls. But Charlie Hook is long dead, and so too are his memories of the events that led to him becoming a professional killing machine. Buchan is getting older now. Retirement beckons, but the man he calls Control has one last mission for him. It involves a ruthless army of some of the world’s worst terrorists, an equally ruthless drug lord, an enormous hurricane and seemingly unsurmountable odds. But it also offers Buchan a last, desperate chance to take revenge on those that took his young life – and love – away from him all those years ago, and he plans to go out with a bang.

Set against a backdrop of unprecedented worldwide socio-political upheaval, Lost Causes is an old-style thriller that moves from the modern-day Ypres Salient and London to the badlands of Northern Ireland and the exotic but deadly jungles of southern Mexico. Mixing the kind of plot found in an Ian Fleming novel with the unashamed masculinity of an Alistair Maclean or Wilbur Smith hero and the tough, muscular prose of Mickey Spillane, Lost Causes is a startlingly intelligent and original work that interweaves dramatic action, sudden violence, stunning plot twists and subtle humour to entertain and inform in equal measure. It will especially appeal to anyone bored by the stale unambitious writing, and inane, politically-correct sensitivities of so many modern novels; as well as anyone looking to understand the sinister and dangerous forces that have plagued our lives for decades and which now threaten to destroy our civilization altogether.

Richard Nichols studied philosophy and psychology at Edinburgh University. He was a businessman for several years before turning his hand to writing. He enjoys watching rugby and visiting battlefields. He hates crossword puzzles.

Hell and Gone (The Retreads Book 1)
by Henry Brown

An Amazon Bestseller!

This rag-tag gang of has-beens has never worked together before, but Dwight “Rocco” Cavarra has less than a week to train them and lead them on the hairiest operation of their lives.

It’s not bad enough that they have to plow through an African civil war, infiltrate a fortified terrorist encampment and steal a black market tactical nuke from a mob of fanatic sociopaths – there are Israeli wild cards in play: two death-dealing Mossad agents who don’t necessarily share Cavarra’s agenda.

When the mission is compromised before it has even started, Rocco and his Retreads are caught between bloodthirsty local warlords and the genocidal government in a fight to the death. And this battle might be just the first in the next world war.

Hell and Gone is a character-driven pulp action thriller that will take you on a wild ride.

Tier Zero (The Retreads Book 2)
by Henry Brown

When a party of American college girls are sold into slavery by human traffickers, a rescue mission is too dirty, too dangerous, and too difficult for any government to touch. That’s where The Retreads come in.

The pirates thought they found the perfect target: a private yacht foolishly sailing through the Malacca Straits, which could discretely and easily be sold on the black market.

The human traffickers thought the boat was hauling the perfect cargo: young, attractive women who would generate income in brothels around the region.

What made the caper not so perfect was that one of the girls had an uncle who took it personally.

Another Amazon Bestseller from Henry Brown…”One helluva adventure writer.” – Jim Morris (author of War Story, The Devil’s Secret Name)

You can take a man out of Special Operations, but you can’t take SpecOps out of the man. Tommy Scarred Wolf calls on his old friend Rocco Cavarra, who still has contacts in the intelligence business. Other survivors of the Sudan mission also rally behind Tommy, signing on for the kind of favor that can never be repaid.

Armed with all the firepower and force multipliers they can scrounge, shadowed by a team of secret assassins, the Retreads ride again, bringing smoke and taking names. Tier Zero is old-school military adventure you haven’t enjoyed since the full-auto glory days of Able Team and Phoenix Force.

False Flag (The Retreads Book 3)
by Henry Brown

“Thanks, Hank, for the authenticity. Semper Fi!”

A perfect storm is bearing down on the United States of America, combining nationwide financial devastation, conventional and nuclear terror, and Civil War II. High-placed traitors in the Deep State want to make it worse–not better. The Retreads have overcome some long odds in the Sudan and Indonesia, but nothing like this end game on the home front.

“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.” – Samuel Adams

Diverse Americans are living their lives the best they can during twilight’s last gleaming–most of them never suspecting the turmoil about to come crashing down all around them. Others see the storm approaching, but don’t know what, if anything, can be done to avoid it.

Joshua Rennenkampf loves his country, but prepares for an economic collapse he believes inevitable. Dwight Cavarra is horrified by what looks like an impending race war, but speaking reason into the pressure cooker of irrational hatred might as well be punching at the wind. Tommy Scarred Wolf pushes back against the fundamental transformation from Rule of Law to a Strong Man police state, but can only accomplish so much by himself.

Rennenkampf discovers evidence of what might be a false flag attack in the making. Cavarra is tipped off about a secret hit list of “potential domestic terrorists,” through which he and his friends are targeted. Scarred Wolf has already lost his brother for the sin of poking his nose into government Black Ops; and now must decide whether a little more temporary tranquility for his family is worth the shock and awe to be wrought on the entire country if he fails to take action.

With harbingers of national cataclysm all around, there will be no averting disaster if the false flag conspiracy turns out to be true. These men, who have put their lives on the line for their country so many times already, now have little choice but to treat the threat as real. And in the tumultuous political climate, their lives, fortunes and sacred honor will all be at risk. Where they go one, they go all.

The bestselling Retreads Series turns the corner from military thriller to apocalyptic fiction. False Flag blazes a fiery trail where other political books fear to tread.

Westward, Tally Ho!
by Milo James Fowler

How are your survival skills?
It's the late 19th century, and you're a young English aristocrat lost in the American Southwest. A lynch mob is after you for horse theft. Irritable natives are on your trail. And the woman with you is not the type you'd bring home to your mother. Would you survive long enough to find safety? Or would you curl into a fetal position and cry?

This is where Clarence Oliver Edwards finds himself in Westward, Tally Ho! Bored with his privileged life in England and weary of the relatives who share his family estate, Clarence follows his recently dismissed butler, Guthrie, on a non-stop adventure from the busy streets of Boston to the dusty trails of Santa Fe. What begins as Guthrie's search for his long-lost daughter becomes a shocking introduction to the American West for Clarence. His idea of proper etiquette is stretched to the limit as he's bombarded with characters of all types: tough gunslingers, seductive saloon girls, crafty frontier traders, an eccentric Zuni Indian chief, and a wild hermit.

Through it all, Clarence realizes the value of loyalty and the cost of redemption. But most importantly, he discovers a degree of inner strength he never knew he possessed. Will Guthrie find his daughter? Will Clarence survive unscathed? Take a wild ride through the Old West and find out!

The Curly Wolf
by M.R. Kayser

The settlers in the Redbud Valley are peaceable, God-fearing folk who try to follow the golden rule, but they’ve been pushed too far by the mayor of Blue Stone, who wants their land and seemingly has the law on his side.

Just as the nesters are banding together to resist the land grab, Blue Stone’s newest deputy rides through their valley.

Before they realize the sleepy-eyed youngster called Arizona is a veteran gunfighter hired to bulldoze them off their claims, he has already broken bread with them, danced with their daughters…and stolen the heart of one.

Young Theresa Gutierrez believes Arizona is more than a curly wolf with quick trigger fingers and a stone-cold heart, but her parents and neighbors have good reason to believe otherwise.

What everyone agrees upon is that, in the brewing range war, the Arizona Kid is liable to be right smack in the midst of the killing.

Stay Safe
by Michael Lacoy

STAY SAFE is Michael Lacoy’s best work yet, a scathing dark comedy about two very different Americas.

Cole Perrot—a frustrated college administrator who spends most of his time on social media—ferociously loathes his next-door neighbor, Tyce Creamer, an internet celebrity and the very embodiment of “toxic masculinity.” Unfortunately for Cole, his wife Oona feels differently about Tyce, as do Cole’s teenage son and young daughter. Sensing a threat to his progressive values, not to mention his hold over his family, Cole secretly declares war on his “redneck” neighbor. What follows is a series of events that are by turns shocking, hilarious, absurd, and perfectly of our present moment.

Set amid a global flu pandemic, the novel chronicles the unraveling of both a man and a country in a time of heightened fear and deep social division. Mixing comedy, tragedy, and blistering satire, Stay Safe amuses and terrifies in equal measure.

The Mystical Adventures of Stavros Papadakis
by Michael Lacoy

"Dying was the best thing that ever happened to him."

An exciting literary debut, The Mystical Adventures of Stavros Papadakis is the story of one man’s quest for meaning and redemption following a near-death experience. Stavros Papadakis, a successful yet epically dysfunctional Boston defense attorney, returns to his former home on Christmas day to visit his son. There, the unimaginable happens: heart attack, coma, and a trip to heaven and hell—or so Stavros claims. Back on earth, as he comes to understand that he was a terrible husband and an even worse father, Stavros determines to change his life and make amends. But there’s a problem: neither his ex-wife nor his son want anything to do with him. Meanwhile, Stavros’s charismatic law partner, the country’s most celebrated trial lawyer, demands that Stavros tell no one about his afterlife journey—it would be bad for business.

Set during the run-up to the 2016 election, and loosely structured around a sensational date-rape trial, the novel explores the contentiousness of contemporary life and the persistence of age-old themes: love, family, friendship, and the mystery of existential truth. By turns funny and poignant, quirky and hard-hitting, The Mystical Adventures of Stavros Papadakis is a powerful, provocative tale for our times.

Buckingham Runner
by Frederick Gero Heimbach

I’m sixteen and I’m living in a prison. It’s called Buckingham Palace. I’m Alfred, Prince of Wales.

My parents are dead. My grandma–the Queen–has lost her mind. My only friend is an alcoholic corgi named Wormwood. I’m being raised by bureaucrats. Who hate me.

The tabloids call me ROYAL BRAT. That’s for getting kicked out of Eton. For setting fire to the chapel. And stabbing the headmaster in the foot with a syringe.

I’m doing a runner. Someone’s got to help me!

Maybe those kids can. Yeah, them. In the Westminster School uniforms. The clever clogs, raising their hands, answering the teacher’s questions. The athlete, the genius, the girlboss, the babe. Each with a brilliant future. At Oxford. Or Cambridge.

Would they throw that away for my sake? Would they risk getting sacked from London’s top school to help a poor tosser like me? When guards are watching my every move, listening in on every conversation? Me, with a bloody GPS tracker in my hip?

I’m a hot mess. They’ve got it all together. I’m a prisoner. They can go anywhere. I’ll never escape–unless they take pity on me.

They better. I’m this close to striking the match that burns Buckingham Palace to the ground.

The Spark
By Dale F. Saran

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is its natural manure."

It is 2025 and the Progressive States of America has replaced the United States of America after another hotly disputed election. El Unico - an insurgent group - arises in the aftermath - and it takes Thomas Jefferson seriously.
A nameless veteran of the Afghan wars begins his diatribes on the Dark Web, where hackers and revolutionaries are a dime a dozen and three-letter agencies watch for enemies at the behest of corrupt politicians.
An unknown sacrifices her and her family's lives trying to create an algorithm that reveals corruption at the highest levels of government, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens to forever alter the form of the Republic.

What You Meant for Evil by Theodore D. C. Cox (Author), Alex Reimer (Editor)

A sister sold, a father betrayed and a son who can never forgive

No betrayal cuts deeper than family. The favored daughter of wealthy silk-magnate, Yacoob Masoud, Samira lives a life of privilege and dreams of taking over her father’s business. Elder brother, Mahmoud, struggles to earn their father’s love while living under the shadow of a hidden family shame. As they stab and wrestle with one another for Yacoob’s favor, will they go too far and do the unforgivable?

The popular uprising against Syrian dictator Bashir Assad becomes a civil war. Samira and Mahmoud find themselves casualties of their own pride. Is there anyway to recover for their family? And who is the strange prophet haunting Samira's dreams?

"[Mahmoud's] heartbreaking story is gripping, like a train wreck I can't stop reading about."
-- Jesse Simmons

Fan Favorites in Horror

A Hot Dose Of Hell
by Steve Stark

A deadly new drug has hit the streets of Scarmouth, one which turns users into bloodthirsty maniacs with superhuman tolerance for pain. Through insidious design a large quantity has fallen into the hands of squatters occupying the derelict Victoria hotel.

It’s a bad place for a group of woke, virtue-signalling social media influencers to promote their new homeless charity, but they’ve got a PR story in the making. One of their party is searching for a long-lost sister and if they can find her they believe the stunt could bring them international attention.

They’re not the only ones looking for something. Hired muscle, Fred and Pinkie have been tasked to recover that lost drug shipment. These men know what it’s doing to people. What they don’t know is just how many have been affected already, but within the bowels of that derelict hotel breeds a mindless, homicidal legion.

Scarmouth is known as the coastal town they forgot to burn down. It’ll only take a few hot doses to finally set it alight.

Violent Ends
by Steve Stark

From Steve Stark, author of A Hot Dose of Hell, now comes a Thrillogy of Stark Terrors, three grisly, splatter-filled tales of serial killers, sadistic home invaders, vicious thugs and a whole nightclub full of hedonistic revellers in scenes of mortal peril and supernatural horror...

Stark will take you on a Terrorific tour of his brutal, bizarre world, from the seedy streets of Scarmouth town to the harsh rural landscape of Lynchton, with all routes set to terminate in some very Violent Ends.

Buckle up, and keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times.
This one's a Hell of a ride!

"The Master of the action scene"
Richard Nichols, The Red-Pilled Fiction Factory

The Thing From HR: a Cthulhu, Amalgamated novel
by Roy M. Griffis

Amusing…inventive…clever. Fans of H.P. will enjoy The Thing From HR
—Paul Guay, co-writer Liar, Liar, The Little Rascals, Heartbreakers

What’s a nice Shoggoth like him doing in a dump like this?

Narg was content working as a Damnation Services-10 in HR. Sure, he was related to one of the Elder Gods, but a little nepotism never hurt any Thing.

His life was just wailing and gibbering, right up until his Uncle needed a small favor from his nephew.

All Narg had to do was go down among the humans…and pretend to be one of them.

These are not your Grandfather’s tales of Eldritch Horror: this is the untold story of the ghastly, unappreciated (and entirely expendable) minor monstrosities that support the Inscrutable Plans Of Dark Gods And Elder Things Beyond The Knowledge Of Men.

The Cthulhu, Amalgamated series is a comic romp full of action and mystery, including, of course, Sanity-Shattering Horror––and that’s just the paperwork.

Even H.P. could not conceive of the Corporate Terrors that await The Thing from HR.

Fan Favorites in Non-Fiction

The Lament of Prometheus: An Examination of David Lindsay’s A Voyage to Arcturus
by John C. Wright

Lament of Prometheus in a nonfiction work in which award-winning science fiction grandmaster John C. Wright sets out to explain the inexplicable: A Voyage to Arcturus written in 1920 by Scottish author David Lindsay, is a fascinating, blasphemous, and magnificent failure.

Wright sets out to explore the weird, wild, wonderful world depicted in Lindsay’s forgotten masterpiece, to plumb its depths, decode its symbols, discover its secrets, praise its breathtaking literary achievement, and to name rightly what David Lindsay hid under onion layers of riddles: a striking yet morbid message.

The Last Straw: A Critical Autopsy of a Galaxy Far, Far Away
by John C. Wright

Come quibble about a galaxy far far away!

Once, in a theater long ago and far, far away, young audiences thrilled to the nostalgic space epic of yesteryear, known then only as STAR WARS, and were duly enthralled. So much goodwill, so much affection, so much love has rarely been lavished on any franchise. So much money from so many eager fans was never so readily available.

And yet, with one potent Deathstar-like blast of mind-breakingly awful film making, the Disney Corporation has managed to alienate that goodwill, spurn that affection, and lose that money. Why? What makes THE LAST JEDI so appallingly bad? What made the film maker think he could win over his audience by insulting his audience?

Science Fiction Grandmaster John C Wright laments, analyzes, and autopsies the horrific story-telling of a film that, for so many of us, was the last hope for STAR WARS, the last dime we will ever spend on this once-beloved franchise, and the last straw that broke our patience.

From Barsoom to Malacandra: Musings on Things Past and Things to Come
by John C. Wright

Peek into the heart of Science Fiction!

From John Carter’s Mars to that of C. S. Lewis, Science Fiction astounds us with wonder.

Science Fiction Grandmaster John C Wright here presents essays on topics both deep and trivial surrounding the strange and wonderful worlds of science fiction and fantasy. Thoughtful, humorous, deep, or absurd, Wright travels the width of the cosmos and plumbs the deeps of eternity through the lens of simple space adventure stories to say what these flights of fancy say about life on earth, and the secrets hidden in the human heart.

Escape the City volume 1 (Escape the City: A How-To Homesteading Guide)
Travis J.I. Corcoran

Escape the City is the perfect guide for people who live in the city or suburbs and want to move to the country.

This is the “missing manual” that tells you absolutely everything you need to know on thousands of topics that you never even realized existed.

Whether you’re interested in shopping for a used tractor, starting garden seeds in a grow tent, logging your own trees, planting a berry patch, breeding sheep, arranging for firewood delivery, making ten gallons of hearty soup from a pig skeleton, installing solar electric power, or fighting invasive species, Escape the City has the information you need.

There are endless books on gardening, farming, and homesteading. Why this book?

* Other books don’t have sufficient breadth. EtC covers absolutely everything related to living in the country.

* Other books have blind spots about the basic stuff. EtC explains the “obvious” stuff: the difference between straw and hay, and between discing plowing and rototilling.

* Other books don’t spell out the details. EtC has checklists, choices for different budgets, and step by step instructions. Escape the City explains all of the basics – everything from buying a tractor to fertilizing gardens – and concludes with dozens of recipes for farm-to-table dishes like Apple Pie with lard crust, Maple Creme Brulee, Pork Stock, Duck Leg Confit, Pork and Pumpkin Soup, Lamb Chops, and even a Whole Pig Roast.

Normally $9.99, now only $0.99!

Erik Waag

The Wandering Wonderer

Sep 4Liked by Hans G. Schantz

Awesome! Thanks Hans.

A note and an apology - That Axe Anciently Was Mine: Sword and Seventies: Vol. 1 and Fangs of the Moon Opal: Sword & Seventies: Vol. 2 are free from Sept. 5th to 9th. Amazon's terms and 5 day free book limit got in the way. I may handle the sale differently next year.

Expand full comment

Shinichi Haku

The Last Bastions

Sep 7Liked by Hans G. Schantz

Seems there's some censorship going on.

https://www.amazon.com/Staking-Claim-Aristillus-Travis-Corcoran-ebook/dp/B081MW4W4Z?

I'm pretty sure this one was available when I bookmarked it and now it says it isn't available in my economic zone.

4 more comments...

Based Book Sale

The Big BasedCon Based Book Sale

Running Now Through Tuesday September 10

Update!

New Arrivals

New Arrivals in Science Fiction

Chronologues: Tales on the Theme of Time by Eric Nilles (Author), Chad Olson (Author), Debra Robic (Author), James Kenneth Rogers (Author), D.L. White (Author)

Titan (Mammon Book 1)by Robert Kroese

Codex Babylon: A secret history sci-fi adventureby Robert Kroese

Storm Between the Stars: Book 1 in the Fall of the Censorby Karl K. Gallagher

Tomorrow's Children: (Spirits of the Earth Book 2) by Milo James Fowler

The Mass-Exodus Reversal: A Funny Sci-fi Space Adventure (Captain Quasar Book 2) by Milo James Fowler

AGROTHARN: The Blades & Blasters Show! (Chronicles of AGROTHARN Book 2) by Milo James Fowler

Infidels & Insurgents (Dome City Investigations Book 2) by Milo James Fowler

Improvidenceby David Herod

Dreams Within Dreams (Tales From the Dream Nebula Book 1)by M. D. Boncher (Author)

Lucid Reality (Tales From the Dream Nebula Book 2)by M. D. Boncher

Groom of the Tyrannosaur Queen: a time-travel romanceby Daniel M. Bensen (Author)

The 365 Infantry Quarterly: Spring 2024(365 Infantry: The Quarterly Book 1)by Jacob Calta (Author), Kevin Jacob (Illustrator)

The 365 Infantry Quarterly: Summer 2024 (365 Infantry: The Quarterly Book 2)by Jacob Calta (Author), Kevin Jacob (Illustrator)

Accidental Conscriptby John Walker

Minutegirls by George Phillies (Author), Cedar Sanderson (Illustrator)

The One Worldby George Phillies (Author), Jeremy Taylor (Illustrator)

Veritas Morte: A Science Fiction Novella (Qorathi Empire) by Michael Kingswood

52 Stories In 2023: Volume Oneby Michael Kingswood

Mech Bunnyby J. M. Anjewierden

Confronting Fate (Paradox Book 6) by Henry Brown

Going Goneby Abraham Lopez

New Arrivals in Fantasy

Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy & Other Stories (Arts of Dark and Light)by Vox Day

A Throne of Bones (Arts of Dark and Light Book 1) by Vox Day

A Sea of Skulls (Arts of Dark and Light Book 2) by Vox Day

The First Fear (The Empowered Ones Book 1) by M.S. Olney

Prospero Lost (Prospero's Children Book 1) by L. Jagi Lamplighter (Author)

Cobalt Agonistes by Frederick Key

Solist At Large: The Last Solist #1 by Jonathan Souza

New Arrivals in Drama & Literature

Doors: An Onteora County Romanceby Francis Porretto

Van Ripplewink: You Can't Go Home Again by Paul Clayton

Larry and the Mascots by Frederick Key

PNW Affliction 7: Empty Armadaby Chance Paladin