Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for August 2015

It’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of speculative fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though some July books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Once again, we have new releases covering the whole broad spectrum of speculative fiction. We have science fiction, space opera, science fantasy, paranormal romance, fantasy romance, post-apocalyptic fiction, dystopian fiction, YA fantasy, epic fantasy, urban fantasy, Asian fantasy, grimdark fantasy, weird western, demons, djinns, witches, werewolves and other shifters, space pirates, exiled princesses, desert planets, Wild West mages, lots of LGBT characters and much more. We also have a whole lot of books by women this month.

As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.

And now on to the books without further ado:

Four Minute Warning by Cora Buhlert:

Two tales of love and loss and nuclear war.

Thirteen Minutes
Caught in a supermarket, when the alarm goes off, Michael and David admit some unspoken truths to each other before the bombs fall.

Four Minute Warning
Tracy and Jimmy know you can’t survive a nuclear war, even if civil defence leaflets and radio broadcasts claim otherwise.

Runespell by Sela Carsen:

In most fairy tales, the prince rescues the princess. It’s not often she gets to return the favor.

Mai Westenra is pulled into a centuries-old quest for vengeance and magic, never realizing that she’ll find love in the midst of danger.

Tyr Halvarsson has waited lifetimes to be rid of his curse. Resigned to his immortal half-life, one selfless act of humanity can redeem him. Or kill him.

Together, Mai and Tyr must work against time and magic to perform the runespell that will save their lives and give them a chance at love that lasts.

The Tale of Yin by Joyce Chng:

The duology of Oysters, Pearls & Magic and The Path of Kindness sees the stories of Mirra and her daughter, Kindness, as they struggle to find their identities and selves on the planet they have called home. A feminist YA novella, the Tale of Yin looks at magic, privilege, the landscape and compassion. 

Hunted by Shei and Annathesa Nikola Darksbane:

Dakota Shepherd is such a newb: newly Awakened, rookie werewolf, supernatural investigator in training. Her command of the wolf inside is shaky at best, and her grasp of the unstable magic she wields is worse. She sure has a lot to learn about her new life in the supernatural world. So why would anyone want to stalk her?

A trespasser in pack territory. Blood on the mountain. An urban legend, spoken only in whispers.
Can Dakota rise to the challenge of a deadly foe?

There’s no shame in being new: everyone starts out that way. But in a world of powerful supernatural threats, being a newb could get a girl killed. And if Dakota isn’t up to the job of protecting herself, how can she hope to protect her loved ones from the ancient supernatural killer that hunts them?

This is the sequel to Awakened.

Pierce: A Vampire Serial, Episode 1 by Jolie de Pré:

When vampire warning signs flog the city and people mysteriously disappear one by one, Alicia avoids the nightly hours like the black plague. This attractive, African-American lady spends her days waitressing all while struggling to make a living after a devastating breakup. Her city is already a danger zone, and the arrival of a Caucasian, blood-thirsty trio (Dagon, Vince, and Bess) only amplifies the dilemma. Dagon is a romantic treading between the lines of hopeless and hopeful, whereas Vince’s sexual compulsion doesn’t leave him with any room for true love. Bess is clearly attracted to the much-flaunted Dagon, but alas, her interest is unrequited. Could it be that someone else—of non-vampiric origin, has grabbed a tight hold on his non-beating heart? And with all these monstrosities running about, is Alicia truly safe in the comfort of her own home between sunset and sunrise?

Gods of Blood and Bone by Azalea Ellis:

My name is Eve Redding. I am the new god.

I never wanted to become a Player in the Game, never intended for any of this to happen. I was content with my ordinary, invisible existence among the millions of civilians crowding my city. But the monstrous creators of the Game forced me to Play, and I’m the type to cling to life by the tips of my bloody fingernails.

At first, I was enamored by the ability to augment everything about myself, to become smarter, stronger, prettier…better. But after my teleportation to that first Trial - a death tournament held on a beautiful, vicious alien world?I would have done anything to escape the Game.

I needed power to protect myself and those I cared about from the Game and its creators, so I took it. But every deadly choice I made along the way eroded not only what once made me weak, but what also made me human.

Riot of Storm and Smoke by Jennifer Ellision:

War draws closer, like a tide to the shore.

Bree and her friends have escaped the clutches of the Egrian King, but their troubles are far from over. Still reeling from the secrets that drew new breath when her father took his last, Bree sets off for the safety of Nereidium– the kingdom she’s just learned is hers.

But with the King’s ire at its peak and war a certainty, Nereidium is no longer safe. As Prince Caden rallies the Egrian people against his tyrant father, Bree, Princess Aleta, and Tregle race to the Nereid shore to warn them of the incoming danger—and to put the Nereid Princess on the throne.

The only trouble there: Bree can’t bring herself to reveal that the Princess is her.

It’s not a dilemma she can waste time pondering. With a new weapon in his arsenal, the King’s strikes are sure to be bolder than ever before. And Bree may not be ready to wear a crown… but she won’t let her kingdom down without a fight.

This is the sequel to Threats of Sky and Sea.

Taming the Wolf by Irma Geddon:

Jared is a young medical resident with a quick wit, a ripped body and a heart of gold. He has a terrible secret—one that has always stopped him from baring his heart to any girl.

Paige is a smart girl, but she’s hopelessly shy and awkward—that is, until Cupid stabs her with his golden arrow, and all she can think about is getting in the pants of perfect but secretive Jared.

Will Cupid’s decision to make Paige fall hopelessly in love with Jared spell trouble for them both?

To the Gap by Kyra Halland:

The secret of Lainie’s forbidden magical gifts has been exposed, and Silas wants to take her far away from the Wildings to a place where she can be safe. To earn money for the journey, Silas signs them up to work on the big annual cattle drive to the Gap.

Lainie dreams of making the Wildings into a place where she and Silas and other mages can live in peace. The cattle drive is the perfect opportunity for her and Silas to show the Plain settlers of the Wildings that not all mages are wicked, heartless monsters.

While Silas has reason to believe that the danger to Lainie is worse than he thought, Lainie can’t agree that leaving the Wildings is the answer. As they travel with the herd, Lainie and Silas must avoid being captured or killed by mage hunters and discovered by the mage-hating Plains, while protecting the herd from renegade mages looking for money and trouble. And they have to find a way to resolve the disagreement between them – do they seek refuge in a faraway land or stand and face the dangers of being outlaw mages in the Wildings? – before it tears them apart.

This is Book 4 of Daughter of the Wildings, western fantasy romance for adults and older teens.

Revolver by Michael Patrick Hicks:

Cara Stone is a broken woman: penniless, homeless, and hopeless. When given the chance to appear on television, she jumps at the opportunity to win a minimum of $5,000 for her family.

The state-run, crowdfunded series, Revolver, has been established by the nation’s moneyed elite to combat the increasing plight of class warfare.

There’s never been a Revolver contestant quite like Cara before. The corporate states of America are hungry for blood, and she promises to deliver.

The “stunning and harrowing” short story, originally published in the anthology No Way Home, is now available as a standalone release and features an all-new foreword written by award-winning science fiction author, Lucas Bale.

Old Ways by Paul Kleynhans:

Saul escaped the capital with the blood of the Emperor and Princes on his hands, but the recently crowned Empress seeks revenge. She will not rest until her father’s murder is avenged, and sends her Inquisitors, the Dark Legion, to bring him to justice. While hunted by the Inquisition, monsters of the deep, and pirates, Saul sets off to free his brother, the rightful King of Ubrain, from the arena in Qash—a city built on the backs of slaves.

This is the sequel to Dark Legion.

Legend of the Jinn – The Teapot Storm by Jennifer Liu:

And the Jinn break their lamps…
In the vast Arkazian Desert, stories of the magical wish-granting Jinn tantalize the sands. Awe-inspiring and life changing all hope to cross their path. All except Verity.
Verity has angered the Jinn and now their magic laces her blood in a poisonous race. Cursed, she must find the cure her grandfather has hidden in the sands. But before she can save herself, the Jinn demand she save another.
 
A girl for a girl, the trade must be completed
Liam and Hank are two villagers from the Smoke Stacks. Poor and ill-equipped they trick Verity into joining their rescue mission – a girl from their village has been taken. A girl they both seem to love.
As the three race across the sand, dark shadows trail close behind. The Kingdom’s greatest soldier has defected and, now with dark magic on his side, he is nearly unbeatable. And he has one mission – to stop Verity.
 
Time is running out
Chased from all sides, Verity is caught in a desperate struggle. The magic inside of her is addictive and seductive, but as it grows, her humanity diminishes. If she doesn’t find the cure, the Jinn will win and she will be forced to join their ranks as they stage a rebellion to overthrow the human world.

Oasis by Floyd Looney:

Oasis is a desert world, a backwater world ignored by the Star League for generations. The people have subdivided themselves into “tribes” over time. When space pirates and their unknown benefactors try to take over, a teenager named Jake tries to rally people to the defense of their world.



The Last of the Ageless by Traci Loudin:

Three centuries ago, humans and aliens fought for control of the Earth, ending in an apocalyptic disaster known as the Catastrophe…

Dalan is a shapeshifter
He hails from a tribe of mutants dedicated to preserving fading species by taking their forms. To become fully recognized as an adult, he must pass a trial in the wastelands far from home.

Nyr is a killer
When her lust for bounty yields an ancient artifact of mysterious origin, everything she knows is turned upside down. Once a hunter, now a pawn, she must learn to rely on others to survive what’s coming.

Korreth is a slave
Without any extra talents, he depends on nothing more than his strength and wits as he flees the army of mutants that enslaved him. He must return home to warn his people before the swelling ranks of monsters threaten his family.

…but in the shadows, a new threat rises—one that could end what little remains of civilization: The Last of the Ageless.

Casimir’s Journey by Lisa Manifold:

When Casimir looked up, the last thing he saw was Thea. He saw nothing after that and he didn’t expect to.
Until he saw bright, white light, and heard someone talking to him. This was nothing like he expected.
Follow Casimir as he works his way back to Thea – or will he? Catrin is determined that Thea is a waste of his time, talent, and certainly of his heart.

Who will prevail? A great power, or an even greater love?

Casimir’s Journey is Book Two in the Sisters Of The Curse series.

Witch’s Curse by Chrissy Moss:

Hunted since birth, now Okira must use the power she’s been hiding…or die trying.

Trained in secret, hidden from the rest of the Sea of Tears, Okira felt safe; until fate had other plans for her. When a playful sylph pulls Okira into the ocean it sets off a chain of events that lead her down a deadly path.
Danger lurks around every corner. To survive Okira must tap into the abilities she has only begun to understand, stretching her knowledge to the brink.

Now Okira must travel across the Sea of Tears with the shape shifter, Brother Hawk. Together they must find a way to stop the acolytes in their mad lust for power before the high priest unleashes the kraken and destroys everyone.

Witch’s Curse is the second book in the Witch’s Trilogy.

The Blood Moon by David Neth:

Brother witches Josh and Chris have sacrificed a great deal for their magical responsibilities. Their Aunt Kathy is the only family they have left, and together they must face their enemies to keep them from targeting any more victims. But when Kathy is put in the hospital after an attack, the boys are a witch short.
With the brothers at their weakest, they uncover a growing new power trying to organize the demonic hierarchy. Josh and Chris are left alone to battle an evil stronger than anything they’ve ever faced. An evil so strong it might cost them their lives.

The Melding by Claire Ryan:

THE MELDLING is a tale of epic fantasy, set in a world where humans have been driven underground by a war not of their making, and one woman must find the truth of her existence within her own heart.
She was rescued from a darkened dungeon; brought out into the light with no memory of her past. Her only certainty was her name: Suzanna.

Her flesh marks her as a daemon, one of a race of deadly warriors locked in a war with their mortal enemies, the daevas, that has scoured the surface of the world. Humans are irrelevant to them both. But it was Lukas, a human knight, who carried her from the dungeon, nursed her back to health, and protected her from harm. Her body may be daemonic, but her soul is not, and there is a far deeper connection between her and Lukas than either of them will say.

Lukas decides to bring her to Bastion, the hidden underground city of the humanva, to face the judgment of the Distant Nine. On the journey, the truth is revealed: Suzanna is a meldling, a rare fusion of daemonva and humanva. Meldlings are unstable, dangerous, and prone to total madness. Suzanna may be the first to keep her sanity, but if the Distant Nine decide that she is a threat, she will also be the last.

Suzanna must accept her past, and finally learn who or what she really is, underneath her daemonic skin. Drawn into events beyond her control, the meldling will become the key to ending the war – but will it be with the destruction or the salvation of the daemonva?

And are her feelings for one human knight real?

Final Sacrifice by S.M. Schmitz:
 
Lottie is determined to end the nightmare her resurrection has caused and the constant threat she and her friends face because she exists. She has organized a war against the leaders of the company that transports people from her home planet to Earth, and the time has come for her battle to begin.

In the final book of the Resurrected series, Lottie and her friends must attempt to destroy the business that has spent years trying to kill them, and now, there are thousands of people all over the world who are participating in Lottie’s insurrection. If she fails, she and her friends will lose their lives. But if she succeeds, she and her friends will finally have the freedom to live.

This is the sequel to Resurrected and Insurrected.

Bear and Fox by Hollis Shiloh:

Dane is a lonely bear shifter who doesn’t know if he’ll ever find a mate. Then one day he finds himself defending a fox from a brutal wolf attack. He’s found his mate—and the fox shifter is scared of him.

Will Dane ever earn the trust of his mate, a shy, handsome, suspicious man who’s had little reason to ever trust anyone?

Contains a honey-loving bear, a sweet, suspicious fox, gay uncles, a tiny bit of shifter politics, and enough food to shake a stick at.

Heat level: very low
~32,000 words

Shasharia En Garde by Sherwood Smith:

First published as two books — Once a Princess, and Twice a Prince — this romantic fantasy has been revised and published as one book, as first intended. It is set in the same world as Crown Duel, to which Sasha’s mother, Sun, was once swept away by a real prince.

But not to happily ever after. Her prince vanished, and a wicked king took the throne. Since then, Sasha and Sun have been hiding on Earth, both training in martial arts until Sasha is tricked into going back to Khanerenth.

She’s more than ready to kick some bad-guy butt, but is the stylish pirate Zathdar the bad guy? Or artistic, dreamy Prince Jehan, son of the wicked king?

Meanwhile Sun is determined to cross worlds to save her daughter. She might not have been a very good princess, but nobody messes with Mom!

Revelations by Ella Summers:

Five tales of magic, technology, and adventure plunge deeper into the fantasy world of Sorcery and Science.

Silas sees a young Prophet girl fight off a band of elite soldiers during Silas’s Vacation.

In Solstice Games Assassin, Silas alone can stop an assassination that could catapult two empires into war.

Fireworks tells the story of Marin’s explosive plan to revolutionize airship travel.

In Agent of SIN, Selpe spy Leonidas Chase and his partner find themselves neck-deep in an investigation that could pit them against their empire’s most powerful aristocrats.

When one of Elitia’s greatest researchers goes missing, Ariella and Davin track him to a renegade camp in Portal Keys.

Revelations is Book 3.5 in the Sorcery and Science series.

Noontide Sun by Jessie Thomas:

For seven long years, Sarah has heard nothing but her betrothed’s voice against a perpetual storm.
After incurring the wrath of a spiteful Redcoat officer capable of wielding magic, Sarah was separated across centuries from Gabriel, the young man she intended to marry. While Gabriel languishes in a prison where the years pass without aging him, Sarah is trapped in a present that isn’t her own with the key that can free him.
When the key starts to disintegrate, Sarah is forced into a race against time to rescue the young man she loves before they’re both lost to the depths of waning magic.

Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for August 28, 2015

And here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with rememberances of H.P. Lovecraft, Sasquan con reports as well as the 2015 Hugo results and analysis thereof.

Speculative fiction in general:

• S.H. Jucha talks about the connection between science fiction and science.
• John DeNardo shares his seven favourite works of hacker science fiction.
• Suzanne Johnson talks about the influence Hurricane Katrina had on fiction.
• The participants of the latest SF Signal Mind Meld share their favourite obscure books.
• Ainee Nizami recommends some science fiction novels by women writers to read.
• Tricia Sullivan explains why so many women writers seem to vanish from science fiction.
• Erin Kissane discusses why the casual sexism in many works of fiction and non-fiction is so painful for women readers.
• Ted Gioia profiles Alice B. Sheldon a.k.a. James Tiptree Jr.
• Olivia Weng profiles this year's Hugo winner Liu Cixin. 
• The Rapid City Journal profiles John Scalzi. 
• Adam Rowe shares six brilliant science fiction takes on Arthurian legend. 
• Landon Porter dissects comic relief characters and wonders why so few of them actually work.
• M.D. Jackson talks about weddings in science fiction and fantasy. 
• S. Liam Meilleur analyses the diversity of the fiction found in several science fiction magazines and reports his findings.
• Natalie Zutter discusses the importance of making race explicit in YA fantasy. 
• Philip Eil talks about the unlikely renaissance of H.P. Lovecraft.
• The Bowery Boys discuss H.P. Lovecraft's time in Brooklyn and his dislike for the borough and its residents.
• Ben Guarino explains who Hugo Gernsback still matters 131 years after he was born. 
• Laurence Cawley reports about a conference on werewolf lore in the UK.
• Doris Lessing was trailed by the MI5 for twenty years.
• A.L. Kennedy shares her appreciation for Doctor Who.
• Janet Stemwedel discusses the philosophy behind the Kobayashi Maru test of Star Trek fame. 
• Matthew Catania discusses 10 fictional heroes who are really bad at their jobs.
• Foz Meadows talks about the perfect hair problem involving women in visual media.
• James H. Burns shares his appreciation for the late Yvonne Craig.
  

Awards and Hugo debate:

• After months of controversy, the 2015 Hugo Awards have been awarded to the shedding of canine tears.
• The winners of the Big Heart and First Fandom Awards have also been honoured during the Hugo ceremony.
• Following the Hugo ceremony, George R.R. Martin handed out the Alfie Awards to those who'd been kept off the Hugo ballot due to slate nominations. 
• The winners of the 2015 Chesley Awards have been announced as well. 
• Finally, the winners of the Golden Duck Awards have also been announced.
• The full Hugo nomination and voting data may be found here.
• Chaos Horizon and Nicholas Whyte offer a preliminary analysis of the Hugo results. 
• Aaron Pound also offers a detailed analysis of the Hugo results.
• Andrew Liptak and Natalie Luhrs show what the 2015 Hugo ballot might have looked like without canine interference. 
• Tegan Moore shares her experiences at the Hugo ceremony.
• Craig Engler also shares his experiences at the Hugo ceremony. 
• George R.R. Martin also shares his experiences at the Hugo ceremony.
• Jennifer Brozek discusses the Hugos from the POV of an unwitting slate nominee. 
• Ann Leckie shows what a gracious Hugo loser looks like.
• Colin Dwyer weighs in on the Hugos. 
• Abigail Nussbaum shares her thoughts on the 2015 Hugo Awards.
• Chris Meadows offers an extensive postmortem of the Hugos
• Alison Herman offers a summary of the Hugo controversy.
• Amy Wallace offers a lengthy summary of the 2015 Hugo controversy and explains why it matters.
• Rose Fox responds to Amy Wallace. 
• Eric Flint responds to Amy Wallace as well. 
• C. Joshua Villines shares his thoughts about the Hugo results.
• Damien Walter points out that the 2015 Hugo results are a win for diversity. 
• Aliette de Bodard points out that the 2015 Hugo results are also a step forward for Non-Anglophone SFF.
• Foz Meadows tackles the puppy accusation that the Hugos are more concerned with diversity than quality.
• Andrew Wheeler compares the backlash to increasing diversity in SFF to the reactions to increasing diversity in comics. 
• Adam-Troy Castro explains what the puppy loss means and does not mean. 
• Tasha Robinson wonders whether the puppies really lost as decisively as it seems, considering they forced all of fandom to deal with them. 
• Peter Suderman points out that science fiction fans have always been fighting and splitting into fractions.
• Jack Graham attempts to analyse the puppy mindset.
• Matthew Foster points out that the Hugo results show that fandom decided to tell the puppies they were being dicks.
• John Scalzi points out that being a jerk about the Hugos wasn't really an effective strategy for the puppies.  
• Chuck Wendig also points out that the reason the puppies did so badly was that they behaved like jerks.
• Camestros Felapton offers a comprehensive timeline of the Hugo Awards uproar. 
• The international edition of the German zine Zauberspiegel offers a special edition with articles from various POV on the Hugo debate.
• Jennings Brown points out that the Hugos are really, really white. 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Chuck Wendig shares his writing process.
• Elena Linville talks about tackling the writer's worst enemy, self-doubt. 
• David B. Coe talks about creating a nemesis for your protagonist.
• Edward M. Erdelac talks about using empathy in fiction.
• James Gurney talks about giving your world a lived-on look. Mainly aimed at artists, but useful for writers as well. 
• Leah Schnelbach explains why Ray Bradbury was the best writing teacher anybody could wish for.
• Joshua Palmatier explains how to create an anthology.
• Warren Ellis explains why he chose to self-publish.
• David Neth talks about using photos to promote your book.
• John Doppler discusses the threat of Kindle counterfeiting.
• eBooks are Forever shares a primer on library perceptions for indie authors.

Interviews:

• Uncanny Magazine interviews Alyssa Wong.
• Victoria Law interviews Zen Cho. 
• Cecilia D'Anastasio interviews Samuel R. Delany.
• Liz Bourke interviews Melanie Rawn. 
• Stephen H. Segal interviews Fran Wilde. 
• Pavarti K. Tyler interviews Susan Kaye Quinn.
• M.J. Franklin interviews Andy Weir. 
• Sharon Stogner interviews Kim Harrison. 
• The G. interviews Aliette de Bodard. 

Reviews:

• Aaron Pound reviews The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin.
• Andrew Liptak reviews Updraft by Fran Wilde. 
• Elena Linville reviews Linesman by S.K. Dunstall.
• Red Star Reviews reviews Avarice by Annie Bellet.
• Judy Goodwin reviews Hounded by Kevin Hearne.  
• Nick Sharps reviews Randoms by David Liss.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews Zer0es by Chuck Wendig. 
• Tommy Muncie reviews Revolver by Michael Patrick Hicks.

Crowdfunding:

• John Scalzi is running a charity drive for Con or Bust. If the goal is reached, he will create an audio version of the parody e-book John Scalzi Is Not A Very Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular by Theophilus Pratt.
• Calamityware dinner plates, a set of traditional Delft-style plates featuring images like Cthulhu or UFO attacks, is looking for funding.
• Purge: Past Unspoken, a graphic novel by Roosevelt Pitts Jr., is looking for funding. 
• Metal Made Flesh 2, a graphic novel by Simeon Ashton and Jeremy Briggs, is looking for funding.  

Con reports:

• Mike Glyer reports from Sasquan, the 2015 Worldcon, in Spokane, Washington.
• Patrick Hester also reports from Sasquan. 
• Howard Tayler shares his impressions of Sasquan. 
• Nick Mamatas shares his experiences at Sasquan.
• Rachel Acks liveblogs the Worldcon business meeting. 
• George R.R. Martin talks about the Hugo Losers Party he hosted at Sasquan and also talks about the history of the party.
• David Gerrold shares his Guest of Honour speech held at Sasquan.
• Kate Elliott discusses her experience at Sasquan and shares her thoughts on diversity panels.
• Tobias Buckell shares his thoughts and experiences regarding diversity panels. 
• Nigel Bird shares his experiences at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
• Watch videos of several panels at NecronomiCon 2015 in Providence, RI. 

Science and technology:

• The tumultous heart of our galaxy. 
• An astronomer wants to find alien life by detecting radiation from light sails.
• Stephen Hawking has a new theory about black holes. 
• Check out these vintage versions of various modern technologies.
  

Free online fiction:

• "The Rainbow Flame" by Shveta Thakrar at Uncanny Magazine.
• "Ghosts of Home" by Sam J. Miller at Lightspeed.
• "That Seriously Obnoxious Time I Was Stuck at Witch Rimelda's One Hundredth Birthday Party" by Tina Connolly at Tor.com.
• Part 6 of Oasis by Floyd Looney.
• Chapter 4 of "Tome of Battle", part 88 of The Descendants by Landon Porter.
  

Odds and ends: 

• Watch new footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
• Watch a trailer for season 2 of Gotham.
• Watch a trailer for Ash versus the Evil Dead.
• Watch a trailer for The Final Girls. 
• Watch a trailer for Scouts Guide to the Apocalypse.
• Watch a spoof trailer for Star Wars as directed by Ken Loach.

Legend of the Jinn - The Teapot Storm by Jennifer Liu

Release date: August 14, 2015

Subgenre: Young Adult Fantasy

About Legend of the Jinn - The Teapot Storm:

 

And the Jinn break their lamps...
In the vast Arkazian Desert, stories of the magical wish-granting Jinn tantalize the sands. Awe-inspiring and life changing all hope to cross their path. All except Verity.
Verity has angered the Jinn and now their magic laces her blood in a poisonous race. Cursed, she must find the cure her grandfather has hidden in the sands. But before she can save herself, the Jinn demand she save another.
A girl for a girl, the trade must be completed
Liam and Hank are two villagers from the Smoke Stacks. Poor and ill-equipped they trick Verity into joining their rescue mission - a girl from their village has been taken. A girl they both seem to love.
As the three race across the sand, dark shadows trail close behind. The Kingdom’s greatest soldier has defected and, now with dark magic on his side, he is nearly unbeatable. And he has one mission – to stop Verity.
Time is running out
Chased from all sides, Verity is caught in a desperate struggle. The magic inside of her is addictive and seductive, but as it grows, her humanity diminishes. If she doesn’t find the cure, the Jinn will win and she will be forced to join their ranks as they stage a rebellion to overthrow the human world. 

Excerpt:

 

“Do you believe in the Jinn?” Liam asked.

Verity stilled at the abrupt change in topic. She felt her throat tighten, she hated that question. It always felt like a trick to her, one she could never answer properly. Regardless of where you were from, whether you were one of the poor from the Smoke Stacks or the rich from the Arkatress, everyone agreed on one thing. The Jinn. They were creatures of legend and magic and beloved by all. Verity, on the other hand, had been raised with very different beliefs. “Everyone knows the Jinn,” she finally answered. “They’re,” she swallowed hard, “delightful stories. Magical.” She strove for the most diplomatic answer.

Quince, who had raised her, was a very intelligent man, an academic. And like most academics, he tended to have somewhat controversial beliefs. Ones that had been taught to her before she’d learned what was socially acceptable. It wouldn’t do her any good to go against the popular opinions. And considering they were from the Smoke Stacks, well she’d rather stray on the cautious side and not offend their superstitious beliefs. They didn’t need to know how she really felt about the Jinn.

“Three wishes and a magical lamp,” she continued, nearly choking on the words as she started to babble. “Who hasn’t grown up with those stories?”

“They’re not just stories,” Hank said, turning to look at her, a serious expression on his face.

Verity swallowed hard again. Fanatics. They were Jinn chasers, obsessed with the myths. The thought turned her stomach. It made sense now, why they’d be in Dovetail. Citizens of the Arkazian Desert viewed the Jinn as the magic of the land. They were your salvation when times were tough. Magical creatures who could make any wish come true if you happen to be lucky enough to stumble upon one. 

Now Verity had been brought up knowing otherwise. She’d been raised to never chase fairy tales but she’d also long learned that her upbringing hadn’t been normal. Her beliefs weren’t the norm, so she had quickly learned to keep her mouth shut.

While most of the people who lived in the desert only dreamed of the Jinn. Of adventuring through the sands and finding the magical lamps. There were some, who took it too far, whose dreams seeped into reality. Those were the ones she’d been warned against.

And now she was trapped in the sand with two of them.

“We need to find a Jinn,” Hank was saying.

Verity fixed a smile to her face and tried to nod understandingly. All the while, slowly inched her fingers to her waist.

“A friend of ours has gotten herself into a bit of trouble and we’re looking for her.” Liam was saying as Verity’s fingers wrapped around the dagger she kept hidden by her waist.

Amazon

About Jennifer Liu:

If you asked my mother what my favorite toys were growing up, she would tell you that they were books. I've always loved reading and have an overactive imagination. Storytelling was my form of entertainment and I invented wild tales of magic and adventure whenever I had trouble sleeping.

Then, as they have an unfortunate tendency to, the fairy tales and stories faded into the background as I stumbled through an accounting degree and into a career in finance. And as I sat surrounded by dull cubicle walls, tapping number after number into a monster excel sheet, it hit me how much I missed creativity and story telling.

And so I tapped into my sleeping imagination and stretched my cramped fingers and started typing and out came The Teapot Storm.

I'm thrilled to be embarking on this journey and just want to say thank you for taking a chance on me.

Website

Final Sacrifice (Resurrected, Book 3) by S.M. Schmitz

Release date: August 9, 2015

Subgenre:  Science fiction romance, paranormal romance

About Final Sacrifice: 

 

Lottie is determined to end the nightmare her resurrection has caused and the constant threat she and her friends face because she exists. She has organized a war against the leaders of the company that transports people from her home planet to Earth, and the time has come for her battle to begin.

In the final book of the Resurrected series, Lottie and her friends must attempt to destroy the business that has spent years trying to kill them, and now, there are thousands of people all over the world who are participating in Lottie’s insurrection. If she fails, she and her friends will lose their lives. But if she succeeds, she and her friends will finally have the freedom to live. 

Excerpt:

 

We had the chip with us and it had been glowing as they always did when they were around a working portal; we would know if we successfully broke this one because the chip’s lights would go out. Dietrich nodded but added, “It may be easy to repair though if we don’t take the whole thing.”

We both looked under the desk to try to figure out how to move part of it away from the wall when the chip suddenly lit up brighter beside us. I had placed it on the floor between us, and as we knelt on the floor by the portal trying to figure out how to destroy it, we were sure the chip was definitely glowing more intensely.

Dietrich peeked at me but didn’t want to look away from the chip for too long. “What do you think it means?”

I get it: I’d come from this planet … sort of … but why the hell should I know what it was doing? This was all just as new to me as it was to him. I shook my head and kept watching it. It grew brighter and brighter until I had to squint to keep looking directly at it.

“Dietrich …” but I didn’t really know what to say. The whole thing was just making me nervous, and he apparently felt the same way, because he reached over to me and pulled me away from it. I looked up at him in surprise but he’d placed himself between the chip and me. I couldn’t see it or his face anymore.

I grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and held my breath. It was vibrating against the tiled floor. “Lottie,” he started, but he was going to tell me to leave so I stopped him.

“No, I’m staying with you.” I peered around him. It was glowing so brightly now it was like trying to stare into an open flame. And it was vibrating harder, rocking back and forth on the hospital floor. My mouth felt dry and the room swirled around me as I rocked back on my heels and fell over. Dietrich turned around and put an arm around me but it wasn’t affecting me physically. I’d had a flashback, a brief memory, so fleeting and seemingly unimportant at the time, but suddenly, it was there, shining as brightly in the forefront of my mind as the device lying on the floor in front of us.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, “Oh my God, Dietrich … I think someone’s crossing over.”

 

Amazon

 

About S.M. Schmitz:

S. M. Schmitz has an M.A. in modern European history and enjoys teaching world history as well as writing. An avid reader, she delves into a variety of genres such as paranormal, urban fantasy, science fiction, dystopian, and young adult. Her novels are infused with the same humorous sarcasm that she employs frequently in the classroom. As a native of Louisiana, she sets many of her scenes here, and like Dietrich in Resurrected, she is also convinced Louisiana has been cursed with mosquitoes much like Biblical Egypt with its locusts.

Website

Revolver by Michael Patrick Hicks

Release date: August 21, 2015

Subgenre: Dystopian

About Revolver:

 

Cara Stone is a broken woman: penniless, homeless, and hopeless. When given the chance to appear on television, she jumps at the opportunity to win a minimum of $5,000 for her family.

The state-run, crowdfunded series, Revolver, has been established by the nation's moneyed elite to combat the increasing plight of class warfare.

There's never been a Revolver contestant quite like Cara before. The corporate states of America are hungry for blood, and she promises to deliver.

The "stunning and harrowing" short story, originally published in the anthology No Way Home, is now available as a standalone release and features an all-new foreword written by award-winning science fiction author, Lucas Bale.

Excerpt:

 

The price tag on my head was $5,000. Easy money.
    I followed the bald man down a long corridor lined with closed doors and framed black-and-white studio portraits of the station’s newscasters. I turned away from their glossy-print gazes, focusing on the producer’s back. He wore a long-sleeved blue button-down and black khakis that had sharp creases on either side of his legs. Sweat beaded his forehead from the brief moment he’d spent outside to allow me access to the building. The overhead lighting made his shoulder-holstered gun gleam.
    He deliberately kept a few paces ahead of me, and I caught the downdraft of his cologne. He smelled nice. I didn’t. Too much time in the heat, dressed in too many layers, wearing most of the few clothes I had to my name all at once. I didn’t want them to get stolen and find myself fucked over by the winter.
    Not that I was going to live that long.
    “We’re through here, Ms. Stone,” the producer said. I forgot his name. Stevens or Stephenson. Whatever.
    He held the door open for me and tilted his head back, nose up, holding his breath as I walked past. I imagined he worked with a lot of the desperate filth, and wondered how he hadn’t gotten used to it yet. Fuck him. Let him enjoy his false sense of security. Truth was, he was living on the edge between prosperity and desolation, a good two weeks’ notice away from losing everything. Eventually it would happen, and he’d be blindsided by it, same as everyone else.
    “Should I leave you my coat?” I asked.
    His lips curled in a funny, sour sort of twist and he primly shook his head. “You can hang it over there,” he said, pointing to an overly elaborate coat hanger.
    I shook myself free of the carpenter’s coat, and then peeled off two oversized sweaters, down to a dirty, sweat-stained and once-white tank top. I thought about taking off my boots to fuck with him, smirking at the idea of smacking him across the face with a toe-jam-soiled sock. Smug prick.
    Stevens – if that was his name – stood at an end table, next to a fancy bar stool with a thick leather seat. A large wooden box the color of dark walnut was opened on the table. The revolver sat enshrined in plush velvet and he motioned me toward it with an artificial air of ceremony.
    “This is a Remington New Model Army Revolver, first produced in 1858,” he said with a reverential tone. “Fully loaded, six shots, with .44 caliber rounds.”
    I nodded, admiring the gleaming gun metal and polished wooden grip. I sidled up close to Stevens to deliberately invade his personal space. His distaste was apparent, but I’ll give him credit for not moving away. Instead, he breathed shallowly through his mouth, lips slightly parted.
    “It’s a nice gun,” I said. “Why six bullets, though? I’ll only need one.”

 

Amazon

About Michael Patrick Hicks:

Michael Patrick Hicks is the author of the science fiction novel Convergence, an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 Quarter-Finalist. He is also the author of the short horror story, Consumption, and his work appears in the science fiction anthology, No Way Home. He lives in Michigan and is hard at work on his next story.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Newsletter

 

 

Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for August 21, 2015

And here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with commentary on The Man from U.N.C.L.E movie, tributes to Yvonne Craig, a lot of posts about women writing science fiction as well as the latest twists of the endless Hugo debate.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Gail Carriger shares her ten favourite space operas. 
• Kate Elliott recommends five SFF stories with intact family relationships. 
• Joyce Chng shares her thoughts about the much maligned genre of urban fantasy. 
• R.S. Belcher discusses the darker side of urban fantasy.
• Liz Lutgendorff attempts to read NPR's 100 'best" science fiction and fantasy novels and is appalled by the casual sexism and racism found in many of those novels. 
• Judith Tarr responds to the frequent claim that there are no women writing science fiction.
• Andrew Liptak remembers early female science fiction author Leslie F. Stone.
• Leah Schnelbach shares her appreciation for Diana Wynne-Jones. 
• Ashley Mullins shares her appreciation for the fiction of Charlie Jane Anders.
• Tansy Rayner Roberts shares her appreciation for The Screwfly Solution by Raccoona Sheldon a.k.a. James Tiptree Jr. a.k.a. Alice B. Sheldon. 
• Linda Stupart and Tom Dillon take a look at some feminist SF utopias.
• Nicola Griffith offers a gender breakdown of the authors and protagonists of Hugo Award winning novels. 
• Mark Soderstrom points out that speculative fiction is an increasingly vocal critic of neoliberalism.
• Greg Hickey wonders about the popularity of dystopias.
• Michael Berry points out that the ecological lessons of Dune were far ahead of their time.
• The G. shares his appreciation for The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi.
• Steve Davidson remembers Eric Frank Russell.
• David Roberts shares his appreciation for the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. 
• Dotar Sojat discusses the importance of romance in the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
• Gaie Sebold talks about food in fantasy fiction. 
• Laura Liddell Nolen explains why Superman remains relevant in the postmodern era.
• James H. Burns shares his appreciation for actress Julie Newmar. 
• Actress Yvonne Craig, best known for playing Batgirl in the 1960s Batman TV series, has died aged 78. 
• Gail Simone remembers Yvonne Craig. 
• Peter Watts does not like the TV show Humans.

Remarks on The Man from U.N.C.L.E.:

• Derek Austin Johnson reviews The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
• Zohar Lazar explains why he prefers quirky period spy films like The Man from U.N.C.L.E to modern action espionage films like the Jason Bourne series or the Daniel Craig James Bond films.
• Katherine Trendacosta explains why the original Man from U.N.C.L.E TV show is still indispensable viewing.
  

Awards and Hugo debate:

• The winners of the 2015 eFestival of Words Best of the Independent eBook Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2015 Sidewise Awards have been announced.
• The winner of the 2015 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award has been announced. 
• The finalists for the 2015 Parsec Awards have been announced.  
• The nominees for the 2015 Ignatz Awards have been announced.
• The nominees for the 2015 Munsey Awards have been announced.
• Miles Schneiderman offers a summary of the Hugo conflict. 
• Carrie Sessarego explains why she cares about the Sad Puppy Hugo mess. 
• Charlie Jane Anders explains how the Hugo Award saboteurs disproved their own main argument. 
• Kelly Robson claims that the cause of the Hugo controversy is competing narratives.
• Shaun Duke responds to Brad Torgersen's latest outburst.
• Rachael Acks also responds to Brad Torgersen in somewhat stronger words.
• DisappearinJon also responds to Brad Torgersen.
• Brad Torgersen responds to the responses.
• Paul Weimer points out that all fiction is message fiction.
• George R.R. Martin points out that the results for the Campbell Award, traditionally announced first in the evening, may function as a compass regarding which way Hugo voting is likely to go. 
• George R.R. Martin also handicaps the Hugos in a two part post.
• Jess Nevins continues his exploration of a potential Victorian Hugo Award with 1894. 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Nancy Kress discusses inspiration and where stories come from. 
• Kate Elliott talks about her inspirations and influences.
• Delilah S. Dawson talks about ideas and what to write next.
• Kelly Robson advises writers not to take the safe route. 
• Amal El-Mohtar offers some advice for writers attempting to represent marginalised people in their works.  
• Tom Doyle talks about the problems of writing a virgin hero.
• Mobi Wan Kenobi attempts to distill a formula for fantasy novels by dissecting The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.
• A.G. Wyatt shares some tips for writing good dialogue.
• Charlie Jane Anders explains what to do about placeholders, which somehow manage to become permanent.
• Zen Cho talks about revision.
• Barbara Baig explains why adverbs have their place.
  

Interviews:

• Hank Garner interviews Hugh Howey.
• Kristi Charish interviews Carrie Vaughn.
• Mihir Wachoo interviews Rachel Aaron.
• Charles Payseur interviews Ian Sales. 
• Anthony Vicino interviews Michael Patrick Hicks.
• Rachel DiMaggio interviews Joyce Chng. 
• John de Nardo interviews Andy Weir. 

Reviews:

• Aaron Pound reviews The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison and Skin Game by Jim Butcher.
• Elizabeth Hand reviews Sisters of the Revolution, edited by Jeff and Ann Vandermeer.
• Paul Weimer reviews Court of Fives by Kate Elliott. 
• Paul Weimer also reviews Zero World by Jason M. Hough. 
• Paul Weimer also reviews The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard.
• Michael Patrick Hicks reviews The Dover Demon by Hunter Shea. 

Crowdfunding:

• The 2016 Young Explorers Adventure Guide, a science fiction anthology for middle grade readers, is looking for funding.
• A bunch of people planning to build a full-scale functioning replica of Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings are looking for funding.
• The comic book series The Immortal by Daryl Knickrehm is looking for backers.
  

Con reports:

• James Heflin shares his experiences at Readercon in Burlington, Massachusetts.
• James Bacon compares his experiences at Readercon and San Diego Comic-Con. 
• Madeline Ashby shares her Guest of Honor speech held at Swecon 2015 in Linköping, Sweden.
• Chris M. Barkley shares a Sasquan pre-convention report.
• Rachel Acks liveblogs the first Sasquan business meeting. 
• Tiny Tickle remembers the very first science fiction convention which took place in Leeds in the UK in 1937.

Science and technology:

• A Canadian company has filed a patent for a space elevator.
• War in space may be closer than ever.
• NASA is planning to use inflatable doughnut-shaped spacecraft to land big payloads on Mars.
• You can vote to name exo-planets.
  

Free online fiction:

• "Catcall" by Delilah S. Dawson in Uncanny Magazine.
• "Given the Advantage of the Blade" by Genevieve Valentine in Lightspeed.
• "Adult Children of Alien Beings" by Dennis Danvers at Tor.com.
• "Saltwater Railroad, Part 1" by Andrea Hairston in Lightspeed.
• Part 5 of Oasis by Floyd Looney. 
• Chapter 3 of "Tome of Battle", part 88 of The Descendants by Landon Porter.

Odds and ends: 

• Watch a trailer for the new season of Doctor Who. 
• Watch a trailer for Victor Frankenstein.
• Watch a trailer for Quentin Tarantino's new film The Hateful Eight.
• Watch a trailer for The Martian.
  

Resurrected Books 1 and 2: Resurrected and Insurrection by S. M. Schmitz

Release date:June 15, 2015

Subgenre: Science Fiction Romance, Paranormal

About Resurrected:

When Dietrich buried his fiancée, he descended into his own personal Hell … until he ran into her in a café in Houston two years later. Except this couldn't be her. Not after two years. She spoke the same, shared the same memories, yet something was different.

Determined to unravel this mystery, Dietrich attempts to find out how her resurrection is possible, only to find that the men who are responsible for her new life want her dead because something went wrong. As he becomes locked in this deadly struggle with those who want to destroy her, he will discover just how much he’s willing to sacrifice for the woman he once loved.

Resurrected is the first book in the Resurrected series, and begins the incredible journey of a group of friends who are struggling to survive against those who want them dead to protect their secrets.

Excerpt:

I hadn't woken up this morning planning on chasing ghosts through the crowded sidewalks and streets of the Houston medical district. I still expected at some point to awaken, to discover this was one of those dreams that seemed too real and blurred the lines of what was life and what was imagination. Or maybe I would catch up to her and this time, when she turned around to face me, I would discover I had been chasing a complete stranger and I was about to get arrested for harassing and assaulting some poor woman who was just trying to get away from some lunatic who may or may not even be speaking English. Normally, she wouldn't have even gotten past me in the coffeehouse. People didn't get past me. But when my dead fiancée is crying, apologizing for something – what the hell is she apologizing for? Dying? – apparently, my reflexes are slower than normal. She got a pretty good lead on me.

       By the time I followed her out onto the busy, noisy sidewalk, the sun was fully risen, bright and blinding, and it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. Unlike Lottie, I was not short, and I spotted her light brown bun, falling out now in long, loose waves, hurrying away from the coffeehouse, away from me. We were sandwiched between a parking garage and a hospital, so we were like two salmon swimming upstream as we fought against the swarm of bodies trying to move toward the hospital. Either visiting hours were about to start or it was a shift change. Or maybe both. Or maybe it was always like this. I had never tried chasing anyone down a Houston sidewalk before. 

She came to a cross walk, an orange hand forbidding her to cross and indecision played across her face; I stopped breathing. I dared to look away from her to watch the traffic, which had seconds ago been annoying background noise, and now seemed so threatening. Deadly. Could ghosts die? My heart was pounding in my ears, my temples. She looked to her right – construction crews had torn up the sidewalk and yellow tape marked it off. There was a narrow pathway right next to the building, just wide enough for one or two people to walk. She wanted to keep going. Her body language told me she was ready to run, those cars still buzzing past her in the intersection. But she had stopped. And I remembered to breathe.

Amazon

Release date:July 20, 2015

Subgenre: Science Fiction Romance, Paranormal

About Insurrection:

Eric thought he and his friends were safe from the people who wanted Lottie dead. But he was wrong. When they all join him in Houston to ring in a New Year, they discover these men are getting increasingly desperate to eradicate anyone who knows about Lottie’s existence – which means they are all targets now.

To make his life even more complicated, Eric finally meets the woman of his dreams while he’s trying to unravel this new mystery of who wants his friends and him dead now. And he will have to decide between his love for the woman he’s been waiting for and the friends who are depending on him to survive.

Insurrection is the second book in the Resurrected series and continues the story of Lottie’s resurrection and the dangers she and her friends face because she exists.

Excerpt:

Dietrich sat on the arm of my sofa and looked up at me, still studying me carefully. “What do you think happened with this portal here? How could someone disappear like that?”

    I shrugged; he could probably guess how it all worked better than I could. “You said you thought these wormholes were theoretically possible, and they were somehow manipulating space, making huge distances smaller. What if it got stuck? Like Lottie’s paper analogy – you know how you’re supposed to travel through all those holes? What if somehow it started unfolding while he was in there?”

    Dietrich tilted his head and narrowed his eyes; he was considering this, weighing its possibilities against his far better understanding of astrophysics than mine. “But they’re not really traveling anywhere. Theoretically, wormholes either shorten distances or even create negative directions so that a person could travel back in time. But Lottie and Lydia said they enter one room on one planet, exit a different room on a different planet. The room doesn't move. They have to be manipulating space somehow but for someone to get lost like that, they must be traveling through some sort of space. It’s not instantaneous the way Lottie and Lydia have described it. Even the interior of the room looks exactly the same here and there.”

    “Whoa,” I said, I hadn't heard that detail before, “how can that be possible? They must have hundreds of different rooms then?”

    Dietrich just shook his head. “I don’t know. They were only brought into one room, so they never saw any others. I've been thinking, though, that maybe it’s an illusion on their end. Maybe they can change the appearance over there. But why?”

    I stifled a yawn. “These are questions we should ask those guys in Sugar Land. Larry, maybe. Alex is a prick. You don’t want to have to deal with him. And he’s a pisser.” That’s what we called the guys who pissed themselves instead of using those buckets. After a few days, that was one smell you could not forget.

    Dietrich exhaled slowly and stood up. “I was talking to Lottie about it. It doesn't make any sense to her either, how someone can just disappear like that. I want to see one of these rooms.”

    “Why? They said it would just look like any other room to us. They can only travel in their … original bodies. There’s something unique about them that let’s this happen or something.”

    “They developed this technology to transport people in one form, not another. That’s why I think it only works to get them here. And they don’t want anyone going back. But there must be something in these rooms that’s different,” Dietrich persisted.

    “And nobody’s ever noticed. For hundreds of years. Dietrich …”

    But Dietrich stopped me. “Because maybe we can’t see it. We've been assuming there were some sort of visible machines but what if they've figured out quantum communication? Maybe even how to travel with a similar principle of quantum physics?”

Amazon

About S.M. Schmitz:

S. M. Schmitz has an M.A. in modern European history and enjoys teaching world history as well as writing. An avid reader, she delves into a variety of genres such as paranormal, urban fantasy, science fiction, dystopian, and young adult. Her novels are infused with the same humorous sarcasm that she employs frequently in the classroom. As a native of Louisiana, she sets many of her scenes here, and like Dietrich in Resurrected, she is also convinced Louisiana has been cursed with mosquitoes much like Biblical Egypt with its locusts.

Website