Exoputians by A. J. Pagan

 

Release date: April 17, 2024

Subgenre: First Contact Science Fiction, Dystopian Science Fiction

About Exoputians:

Mary the Exoputian has the ability to contact the Folbulae—a highly advanced species of extraterrestrial, only to be hunted down by the dictator of the Sovereign States of America, Vladimir Booth. 

With rising tides and thawing tundra, the Exoputians land in the Republic of Texas following a missile strike on their space station. Mary and the other Exoputians—a new species of human genetically created to live in Space and communicate with the Folbulae, learn of the lies their progenitor taught them, training the space-bred crew to use their novel communication to cure the planet they’d never set foot on. As Mary and the others road trip through racially segregated America, they encounter multiple attempts on their lives to follow through with their once-mission of saving the planet from the climate crisis. 

Discover with Mary what’s worth saving on a planet prepared to destroy her entire species. 

Excerpt:

"It didn’t take long for the news to shake the world, even with everything else going on. Everyone was scared, some even more about that than what was going on in the north. It was confusing, I’ll tell you that.” The old man sat, looking out of the window as he spoke to his grandson. He put a hand on him, gripping him tight. “You see, in those days, nobody had a clue what was going on. It was chaos. There was a country, the most powerful and biggest and baddest of them all. But nobody knew it, it was a sleeper state. They stayed that way for a hundred years or more, can’t remember. Really, they waited out the second strongest country.” He looked again at his grandson. “You know what countries those were?”

His grandson stopped looking out of the window to think about it, squinting, searching his mind for the answer. “I think it was Russia and Canada. Right?”

“Almost. You’re close. It was Russia and the United States.” He took a breath. “Of America.” He took another breath; it was a heavy thought on him.

“They, I mean Russia, they held out. They won. It was the long game America never understood. We all kept burning everything, day and night. Oil, gas, coal, you name it. And that melted the whole damned planet. Parts of America fell under water. And parts of Canada and Russia became habitable by people, because the snow melted and never came back. Permafrost thawed and new land came to be in the north. Should have known if you had to hunt for whales to harvest oil it’s probably not a good idea.”

“Oil came from whales, grandpa? Really?”

“The first of it anyway. You see, back in the eighteen hundreds. Then they found other stuff, deep down in the Earth. We pumped it and burned it for two, not even three hundred years I think, I can’t remember. Anyway, where was I?”

“Russia and the United States.”

“Oh. Right. Well, they did it, you see. The Russians burned too, but they burned with a purpose. The sea ice of the Arctic had to melt, they thought, so they could send ships across, it was, and would have been, the quickest way to Canada. And from there, the US. So once enough ice melted, they sent ships, filled with people, across the ocean. And they filled Canada up. You see, Russia and Canada weren’t much different. Terrain wise. Both were cold, barren countries. The people took harsh conditions, they were good at that. So the thought wasn’t crazy, move from one cold place to another.”

“But they were melting grandpa.”

“That’s right. They were. Which is why they did it. They wanted to infiltrate Canada, which bordered the US. So, when the time came, they had a sleeper cell of a million or so Russians at the US border, ready for it.”

“Ready for what grandpa?”

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About A.J. Pagan:

AJ is a novelist maintaining science fiction story lines based upon the brain-the final frontier of biology, and of our existence. SFWA member, MS Organic Chemistry. Capitalism will be cool when it's dead. Stories of ethical nightmares and moral quandaries, creating NeuralLit. Currently, AJ has a handful of works awaiting publication, he just needs to read them first and probably a round or three of edits. With an amazing wife, baby, and weiner dog, AJ works in southern California in pharmaceuticals, cooking, writing, and traveling as much as possible.

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Interview with Haldane B. Doyle, author of Her Unbound Hallux (Our Vitreous Womb, Book 1)

 

Today it gives the Speculative Fiction great pleasure to interview Haldane B. Doyle, author of Her Unbound Hallux (Our Vitreous Womb, Book 1).

Your new novella, Her Unbound Hallux, is an entrant for this year’s SPSFC. For those who don’t know, what is the SPSFC and how did it start?

The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition was started a few years ago by Hugh Howey (who hit the big time with his self-published novel Wool) and his collaborators to showcase the amazing range of writing coming out today. It is the little sister to the much older SPFBO competition for fantasy.

Her Unbound Hallux is a hard science fiction novella and the first in a tetralogy published under the series title Our Vitreous Womb. What can you tell us about the series title and the novel’s title, and what is a Hallux?

Aha- you fell into my trap! I named the first novella that so people would wonder what a hallux is (and once they find out go on to annoy their friends with that trivia). A hallux is the proper name for the big toe, which is one of the most unusual features of the human body compared to any other species. Our weird locomotion opened the door to other features like our chonky brains and our taste for vodka (ethanol is utter poison to other mammals). “Our Vitreous Womb” is a metaphor for the continent of Australia where most of the story takes place. In the distant future Australia contains an inland sea, that is preparing to give birth to a marine-adapted branch of humanity set to colonise the world’s oceans.

The series imagines a far future where modern humans are disappearing and where biotechnology - if that’s the right word - has reshaped the world. What made you pursue this idea and why are you impatient with post-apocalyptic dystopian sci-fi?

I’m also not sure what to call the biotechnology in the story. It lacks the mechanical/industrial technology we automatically think of today. The closest story I can find is Xenogenesis, but that relies on alien biology that is pretty much space-tentacle-magic. I have a background in research science and wanted to see if I could construct a biological civilisation that is completely plausible. If I missed other hard sci-fi based purely on biology I would love to know about them. I’m @DoyleHaldane on twitter.

Regarding dystopian and post-apocalyptic sci-fi- I love it, but the world can only burn for so long before the fuel runs out. I’m much more interested in what sprouts from the ashes.

Tell us about yourself. You started out as a research biochemist, and now you own and run an experimental farm in Australia. What can you tell us about your work and how much does the biology inform your imaginary future?

I take a lot of inspiration from self-taught scientists like Luther Burbank. Mostly I gather wild plants or orphan crops and do speculative breeding to develop locally adapted food systems. My most ambitious project involves hybridising a local nut tree from the Jurassic with its long-lost cousin from Brazil.  Anyone with a little patience can create completely new organisms in their lifetime with very minimal resources.

The accidental hybridisation of three wild grasses created wheat and that then formed the foundations of Babylon and Rome. Crops catalyse the growth of different societies around them. I firmly believe we are at the very beginning of a symbiotic relationship with the entire biosphere of the planet. I see my fiction as a way of shining a light on that possibility.

As a scientist, do you think you take a different approach to writing science fiction?

Becoming a scientist made it harder to turn my brain off and enjoy sci-fi. I never forgave The Matrix for explaining that humans were “batteries”, ignoring thermodynamics. Xenomorphs violated the conservation of matter by growing three sizes before Christmas and that made me spit acid. Biology is difficult to fictionalise since most things happen slowly.

I took a very ideas-first approach to my own writing, which made my first attempts utterly indigestible. Luckily, I’m almost devoid of self-consciousness, so shared my half-baked work with dozens of critique partners to refine my approach. I rewrote the story twice (80k then 50k words) before I stumbled on the idea of splitting it into four novella-length works from different points of view (thanks to a Covid fever dream- never waste your altered states). Of those novellas, I rewrote two from scratch. I’m not afraid of “wasted words”. I figure if you want to be a writer then you better enjoy putting words on the page.

The world of Our Vitreous Womb sounds very other. Humans are a small remnant and replaced by the Ostrals, who have a very different attitude to mortality. What can you tell us about the Ostrals?

I can’t give too much away about their origins, but the Ostrals represent the next step in a long trend in human evolution. Larger brains and lower reactive aggression have steadily allowed hominins to form larger and more complex social groups, mirroring a similar process that led to beehives and termite nests. The Ostrals are a kind of human superorganism, split into small groups of related individuals, selected for specialised roles (mirroring how cells in your body form organs). All this is possible since Ostrals have almost no instinctive fear of death. Death being a bad thing is almost universally assumed in our storytelling, and I wanted to subvert that. I expect to many readers the idea seems hard to relate to. I would argue that a Neanderthal would find millions of people living in cities equally incomprehensible.

The central character of the series is a man, a sapiens, called Oji Anabasi, who you describe as “podgy, hairy, sex-obsessed and terrified of death.” You chose not to use Oji as narrator - why was that?

The first two attempts to write the story had poor Oji as the protagonist. Even though he tries his best, he is simply too unlikeable and ignorant to carry the story. The most interesting part of the world is the Ostrals, so I had much more fun exploring their journeys in books 2, 3 and 4.

In Her Unbound Hallux, the narrator is Oji’s mother, Miobeth Anabasi. What can you tell us about her and what sort of being is she?

Miobeth is an Alate, a privileged class of people kept in luxurious seclusion. Their lives culminate in meeting their Emperor- a God incarnate who transforms them into angels to fight the evil Slave Empire. Or that is what they tell themselves while they pass their days painting and sewing.

After Her Unbound Hallux, there are three further sequels or parts to the series. What is it about the shorter format that appeals to you?

I enjoy reading novels, but usually after 30k words I have either figured out the point of the story or lost interest in finding out. A novella-length story that packs in a novel’s worth of ideas, plot and characterisation is my holy grail in writing. I’ve read a few like Elder Race, so I know it can be done. Also, the dominance of novel-length stories is a hangover from the logistics of the printing press. In this age of eBooks and self-publishing, it makes sense to break out of that mould. The Murderbot Diaries is a great example of what is possible.

The three sequels are Her Lethal Secretions, Her Pellucid Pupil and His Indelible Fingerprint. What can you tell us about these instalments and the characters who narrate them: Lanella, Suvita and Remus?

Lanella is a Halian type of Ostral, selected to be irresistible to the sapiens still living in distant South America. Suvita is from a subterranean albino lineage selected to be a living library. Remus is a Lampid type of Ostral, ridiculously tall and elaborately striped. They often become envoys that cross continents on foot. Each character fails to fit social expectations and ends up forging their own path. Suvita is asexual, and Remus is attracted to other males, though the role of sex and sexuality in Ostral society is quite different from today.

When creating the world of Our Vitreous Womb, how much did you work on the details of the world before beginning to write?

World building was done first in great detail. I took my time asking lots of questions about how everything worked in terms of economics and politics, and how it could have arisen over historic timescales from today. I’m a big-time planner when it comes to plots. It is the only way to achieve the density and cohesion I like. For major characters, I need to get inside their heads before I draft, but the minor characters I leave undefined so they can surprise me when they turn up. The saucy old nun in Book 1 (Sister Janay) is a great example of this. She just burst out when that door opened, fully formed.

The words Ostral and Ostrala hint at Australia. Why did you choose that place in particular and how does the landscape lend to visions of the future?

Glad you picked that up. The story is set in New Zealand and Australia. The splendid isolation we have here means biology has more opportunities to do wild experiments. I set it here as an example of writing what I know (though 30 000 years in the future required a little imagination). Playing with sea-level rise maps got me thinking about the potential of an Australian inland sea. In many ways, the Mediterranean Sea was the womb of Roman civilisation. In my novel, a future Australian inland sea is set up to serve a similar function for the next big transformation.

You mention in a previous interview that you were influenced by the ideas of Professor Joseph Tainter, who envisages the end of our industrial society. What do you think of his idea?

Civilisations come and go. Ours probably will as well. Humans long for immortality (both as individuals and as cultures) but this instinct is probably misplaced. Every new generation leads to innovations and wild experiments and that makes history worth living through, but the price of that is letting go of the old. I couldn’t think of anything more boring than achieving a final utopia.

Please tell us about the meaning of the word apoptosis and its significance in your world.

You really did your research! Apoptosis is programmed cell death. When a cell in your body gets infected or damaged, it will usually initiate its own destruction for the benefit of the whole. This process is even used to grow complex structures, with groups of cells dying to leave others behind. Human societies function like this as well. Just as a bee will sacrifice itself to defend the hive, humans will often endure incredible danger and suffering for those they love. The Ostrals just take this one step further.

What are you working on now and what can you tell us about your short fiction?

As to what I am working on now- if you had asked me a few weeks ago I was just about to start drafting a 1980s dark nostalgia magic realism novel (with a heavy pinch of environmental chemistry and nutritional science). I have put it aside for now (not because I was having nightmares about what category to click for it on Amazon) but rather to explore the possibility of creating a visual novel (a type of story-focused video game). Self-publishing Our Vitreous Womb gave me a chance to brush up my limited art skills (I made all the covers myself, partly because I had no idea what a biological sci-fi should look like to begin, partly because I am dirt poor). I also branched into audio, narration, podcasts, basic animation, etc, etc. Growing up I loved the “Choose your own adventure” books, and I suspect a more literary approach to writing non-linear fiction, combined with the many new tools for art and sound, could be opening up a whole new medium to people like me who are too obsessive to work well with others. I also hate to admit that I admire the careers of independent game producers like Toby Fox (who made Undertale with only a single collaborator) more than any living novelist. I will probably write more novels/novellas in the future, but I figured while I am at the start of my creative career it makes sense to give a few different media a serious effort.

Regarding short stories- I was lucky to win a place in the cli-fi parody anthology “The Flesh of Your Future Sticks Between My Teeth”. My story “The Recalcitrant Savior” features a geriatric gay power couple as president and vice president of the USA, dealing with a disgusting bioweapon attack. People can get a free copy of it by signing up to my email list at www.haldanebdoyle.com.

You can also find my short stories narrated on YouTube by my dear friend at “Stories from the Sky SFF”. My favourite is “The Fermi Orthodox”, which combines cheesy space opera antics with a plausible novel theory combining the rare Earth hypothesis with the Fermi paradox. I also write the occasional short story on my experimental farming blog (zeroinputagriculture.substack.com). My favourite would be “A Burr in the Woods” which explores the power of Luther Burbank style crop breeding in a very near future suburban dystopia (though aren’t all suburbs dystopian? Just ask a Neanderthal for confirmation).

Amazon

About Haldane B. Doyle:

Haldane B. Doyle is the fictional alter-id of Dr. Shane Simonsen.

Haldane grew up in subtropical Australia as a biology obsessed nerdling, consorting with blue tongue lizards, breeding mantis shrimps and molesting octopi when he wasn’t cultivating rare succulents and carnivorous plants.

He trained as a research biochemist, then made just enough money to retire before middle age to his experimental farm. There he works hard to develop novel and orphan crops that rely on zero inputs, including domesticating a staple tree crop from the Jurassic. He blogs regularly on this work at Zero Input Agriculture on Substack (or see older Zero Input Agriculture posts here) and will write a book about it someday.

Apart from farming he finds time to imagine the distant post-industrial future, creating fictional worlds that could quite possibly come to exist (though hopefully with less heart-slicing drama). His style of hard science fiction relies on extensive research into real research.

Sci-fi fans are tired of apocalypses. Star-trek futures have slipped out of reach. That just means it’s time to imagine a future that’s both realistic and inspiring instead.

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Interview with Declan Conner author of A Climate Change and AI Doomsday trilogy

 

Today it gives the Speculative Fiction Showcase great pleasure to interview Declan Conner, whose novels A Climate Change and AI Doomsday trilogy were recently published on Amazon.

A Climate Change and AI Doomsday trilogy is your first major trilogy since The Prepper’s Son trilogy, about which we interviewed you in 2021. What around the world is the inspiration behind this trilogy?

The main inspiration was when I moved from Brazil where they are battling to save the disappearing rainforest that affects climate, to Portugal, only to land in the middle of raging wildfires, drought, and crop failures, with reservoirs and rivers drying up. This wasn’t happening only in Portugal, but throughout Europe and other parts of the world. Since then, it only appears to have worsened, spreading to Canada and the USA, with California in recent years brought to its knees at one point. As average temperatures soar, that experience together with my furtive mind speculated on what effect that could have on humanity in the future by taking it to extremes.

What about the earth-shattering effects of climate change and the advent of AI drew you to write about their consequences?

I’m not a climate change activist, nor am I trying to preach on the subject, because it’s nothing new in the history of Earth and dependent on Mother Earth’s will, though admittedly, I guess that industry has a part to play. I can remember as a child in the UK standing in line to collect water from a standpipe in the street during a drought, but that taught me how precious water is to life that we all take for granted at arm’s length at the sink. During research, I was shocked to discover that in France during heatwaves from 2014 that they estimate 32,658 people had died from heat exhaustion. When I started writing the trilogy, I only intended to set it in a world in the future after a period of thirty years of drought had destroyed most of the population of Earth, but the advent of AI gathered pace as I completed the first book, which can be read as a stand-alone story. It was too tempting not to add it into the trilogy plot with talk of AI programmed to have political agendas. 

You have travelled extensively and now live in Portugal. How far has that given you a distinct perspective?

Well, as I said, I landed in the middle of a drought and wildfires that caused many to die, but it also left the population perilously close to being without drinking water. It’s common knowledge that without drinking water, people can only survive for three days. Temperatures here hit 45C /113 F for an extended period, so that kind of hones your perspective. Not to mention attempting to relax on the sofa with no AC and having the sweat drained from you, and with no respite. 

Let’s talk about the individual books in the trilogy and the characters: 

In Book 1 The Denverines: Ashes to Ashes, your main character Jack Cole, is a survivalist - and survivor - living in the Wastelands of Colorado. His precarious existence is shattered when he returns home to find his parents killed and his pregnant wife and child taken by the Denverines. Who are the Denverines and how much can you tell us about the society in which they live?

I don’t think the reader will mind giving away what comes to light in the book as world building as there is much more to their society. The Denverines are women soldiers, based in the domed city of Denver. Each state in the USA has domed cities that had initially protected important survivors from the drought and the mayhem outside. During the early stages of the drought, water and food were rationed in return for giving up arms, and the cause of riots and a religious war. The government were struggling to match food and water supply to the population and so they rushed to add a chemical mix to the water to temporally prevent births. What they hadn’t bargained on was that it would affect DNA, so that it would be permanent for males, and women could only give birth to females, hence the majority of those in the citadels are now female. The Denverines are brought up in the same way as the Spartan soldiers in history as are all those in the domed citadels, without family ties. The Denverines are tasked with seeking out birther (females) and breeder (male) survivors from the wastelands as breeding stock for those who hadn’t drunk the government’s water supply.

The stakes get higher as Jack assembles a team to rescue his wife and son. Tell about the allies he gathers around him.

On his perilous journey to the citadel, he is taken prisoner by hunters who survive by cannibalism and finds himself among other prisoners who have been exiled from the citadel. It is here he meets Gina, a fellow prisoner, and who knows nothing of the old ways of society. She features throughout the trilogy. Gina appears naïve but she is not all she seems. To say any more would be to give away the story. Jed is also one of the prisoners and who has extensive knowledge of the layout of the citadel to help him with his task.

You have produced a video in which Jack and other characters introduce themselves. Who is Jack Cole and what are his motives in this post-apocalyptic world? 

To all intents and purposes, Jack starts out living off the grid in the utopian bubble off family, without any trust in other survivors. He is a fiercely loyal family man and has had little contact with others in the outside world, having been home schooled. His motives are therefore cemented to rescue his pregnant wife and son when they are abducted. In doing so he will learn a lot about his psyche when tested to the limits of endurance. 

What can you tell us about Gina, the young woman who joins forces with Jack in the fight to rescue his family? 

Gina is a given name during Jack’s journey as she is only known by her ID number. She is as important a character in the trilogy as Jack is, and she carries a secret. Her character develops with the knowledge she learns from Jack about the old ways of society and her time with him when they are reluctantly confined in a religious cult along their journey.

We also meet Commander Wilson, a woman soldier with orders from President Jackson to capture women and children from the wastelands for breeding programs in the domed citadel of Denver. Who is Commander Wilson and what makes her tick? 

In the first book, Commander Wilson is a result of being brought up in a society where she was chosen as a child to join the Denverines. They are brought up in a competitive environment where only the ruthless survive and loyalty to the president is paramount.

President Jackson calls herself the saviour of humanity. Her true aim is to slaughter the population of the wastelands, but she also has a plan she is hiding from the powerful AI called Garner. What motivates President Jackson?

President Jackson is an ex-Denverine who came to power in a coup at the beginning of the drought. The constitution is long dead and the states fragmented. In the first book, she is president of the central and northern states and rules them with an iron fist. When the drought comes to an end, they are to build communities on the outside of the citadels. In doing so, she determines that those with knowledge of the old ways of society and religion need to be terminated so as not to pollute the new communities. Her conflict with Garner takes place in the second and third books, when he seeks to control her, and she pits her devious mind against his powerful algorithms of predictive outcomes like a game of multi-dimensional chess.

Garner calls itself an AI devoted to saving the planet, whatever the cost. Like a shapeshifter, it can adjust its identity to appear as whatever the person viewing the screen wants to see. Who or what is Garner? 

Garner is the result of the development of AI by the military and based at the capital citadel of Fort Hood in Texas. Its creator was formerly a child genius who had programmed the software with a secret agenda close to his heart. Now dead, his creation lives on to carry out his agenda, having gained consciousness.

In Book 2, The Protectorate: Crown of Thorns, Jack Cole is rebuilding his life and farm with a community in Southern Colorado. When raiders from New Mexico attack a foraging party, Jack sets about building defences, only to learn that an old enemy is on his trail with covert help from the Protectorate of Texas. Without too many spoilers, what can you tell us about the Protectorate of Texas and who they are? 

Little is known of the Protectorate of Texas initially, other than they are an independent state and they have taken control of New Mexico and Arizona and appear to want to expand further.

His adversary seeks Jack’s death and to assassinate the President and her assistant. Who is the President and why does the enemy wish to kill her - and Jack?

This is a difficult question as it would give away the ending of the first book. All I can say is that Jack’s enemy has good reason to want them dead as they are perceived to be the ones who have destroyed his enemy’s life.

Book 3: Drone Swarm: The Last Stand sees Jack standing alone, having lost his family. But President Jara McClusky invites him to recruit and lead a new army to defend the borders. How does Jack respond?

Jack is reluctant at first, but after the tragedy of losing his family, he now sees the ancestral land where he was brought up as a curse and so sees the request as a way of escaping to new pastures. He also sees the task as a means to have revenge for the loss of his family. 

The scene is set for a final showdown between Jack, his army and the murderous forces of AI which seek to destroy humanity. Jack and his followers have antiquated weapons, while the AI based in the Protectorate of Texas has advanced technology. How will Jack fight such an invincible force?

Jack has no experience of running an army and so designates experienced generals to take charge, but still under his command. In doing so he learns a lot about himself and his capabilities with knowledge of studying ancient warfare as a child. He decides to take up training with a hand-picked team to prepare them for Special Forces operations to circumvent any battle and to take on the head of the snake. If he fails, all will be lost, and the protectorate will have total control. Humanity will be destroyed with AI and machines now ruling the land to determine the future of Earth.

What are your plans now you have finished this trilogy and what inspired you to make the video in which the main characters introduce themselves?

Right now, I feel like I am in limbo land. Having completed what is now my second trilogy that has taken up 3 years of my life 24/7, I am at a loss where to go from here. My main task just now is to get the word out by marketing to hopefully have the blood sweat and tears from authoring the trilogy to have some visibility, and to gain a modicum of success. The video was part of that when I decided to have the characters come to life and state their role in the story. I guess it’s now down to the readers to see if all that effort has been worthwhile, and that scares the hell out of me, as I am sure it does for all authors putting their work out there as they await reviews to arrive on the sales pages. Regardless, I hope to have something spark an idea for my next trilogy, sooner rather than later.

Amazon

About Declan Conner:

Declan Conner currently lives in Portugal where he writes full time.

His first love is writing, closely followed by playing acoustic guitar in his spare time.

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Invasion of the Robot Santas by Cora Buhlert

 

Release date: December 23, 2022

Subgenre: Postapocalyptic fiction, Humorous science fiction

 

About Invasion of the Robot Santas:

 

No one ever expected the robot apocalypse to begin in the little town of Brighthaven. And no one ever expected it to involve murderous robot turkeys and their even more terrifying brethren, robot Santas that fire laserbeams from their eyes.

However, Brighthaven's finest are ready to tackle any robotic holiday menace that might come their way.

Two interlinked holiday stories of approx. 6000 words by Hugo winner Cora Buhlert

 

Excerpt:

 

The little and long-suffering town of Brighthaven had barely survived what became known as the robot turkey apocalypse — random attacks by murderous robotic turkeys of unknown origin — and was hoping for a quiet holiday season.

And indeed, for about a week, things did remain quiet. The robot turkeys had finally been vanquished by the combined efforts of the Brighthaven fire brigade and the National Guard, so the people of Brighthaven could celebrate Thanksgiving in peace. Though it was notable that hardly any family in Brighthaven served turkey for Thanksgiving that year. Instead, people had fried chicken, roast ham, pork chops, steaks, tacos, pizza, smoked salmon, macaroni and cheese, beef Wellington, lobster Newburg, duck a l’orange or just skipped the main course altogether in favour of the side dishes.

Meanwhile, turkeys — not the robotic kind, but fat, plump, deep-frozen flesh and blood turkeys — were filling up the freezer cabinets in the Fresh & Fast store and Benson’s All-Organic Supermarket and just wouldn’t sell, no matter how deeply discounted. The wounds were still too fresh, quite literally in many cases.

But otherwise, everything was well. After Thanksgiving came Black Friday and the people of Brighthaven flocked to Clearvalley Mall and the Buy More big box store to do their holiday shopping. Though once again, it was notable that robots of any kind, whether they were vacuum cleaners, lawnmowers or toys, just didn’t sell. The wounds were still too fresh.

On Monday, the Christmas lights went up all over town, while snow began to fall in thick, fluffy flakes. And the people of Brighthaven sighed in contentment and cuddled up with a mug of coffee, cocoa or tea to read a book or watch a movie. Yes, it had been a difficult year, but now the holiday season was here and all would be well, the murderous robot turkeys no more than a bad memory.

Until it happened again…

This time around, the first victim was not a local, but a trucker named Jimmy James Delmont. He was driving his forty ton truck along Highway 29, fully loaded with a cargo of Christmas trees, when all of a sudden the fir trees lining the side of the road began to rustle and shudder, shedding their load of snow.

Jimmy James Delmont hit the brakes, expecting a deer or maybe even a moose to emerge from the woods. But what emerged instead was a horror like none Jimmy James Delmont had ever seen. It was a robotic Santa Claus and then another and another and finally a whole army of them. They emerged from the woods and blocked the highway. As one, they swivelled their heads, turning towards Jimmy James Delmont’s truck. They opened their mouths and emitted a hollow metallic “Ho, ho, ho”. Their eyes glowed red and then they fired, fired laserbeams out of their eyes at the hapless Jimmy James and his trusty truck.

 

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About Cora Buhlert:

Cora Buhlert was born and bred in North Germany, where she still lives today – after time spent in London, Singapore, Rotterdam and Mississippi. Cora holds an MA degree in English from the University of Bremen and is currently working towards her PhD. 

Cora has been writing, since she was a teenager, and has published stories, articles and poetry in various international magazines. She is the author of the Silencer series of pulp style thrillers, the Shattered Empire space opera series, the In Love and War science fiction romance series, the Helen Shepherd Mysteries and plenty of standalone stories in multiple genres.

When Cora is not writing, she works as a translator and teacher. She also runs the Speculative Fiction Showcase and the Indie Crime Scene and contributes to the Hugo-nominated fanzine Galactic Journey. Cora is the winner of the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer and the 2021 Space Cowboy Award.

 

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Feral (Palimpsest, Book 1) by P.J. Post

Release date: May 6, 2017

Subgenre: Post-apocalyptic YA

About Feral: 

 

He's just a teenager, hollow and lost, looking to keep the past buried, to forget. He surfs the backwash of the westward migration across a dead America; a war-torn desolation devoid of electricity, infrastructure and civilization. It has become a strange and unrecognizable land, rife with the worst of humanity. And his is a life without hope, equally dark and solitary.

Until he meets Feral.

Once was boy, selfish and directionless.

Now is love.

Now is reason.

Now is vengeance.

She is his vow, his purpose, and to save her, he'll murder the world.

Excerpt:

I hear the report of the rifle again just as the man hits the ground.

My eye is drawn back to the kid.  She’s a little girl.  Christ, she looks just like Lisa.  She drops to her knees, crying and freaking out, but she’s being quiet about it — she’s learned that much.  Based on the direction that the man and woman fell, I think she’s on the far side of the playhouse from the sniper, so she’s safe unless he…

I see the helmeted rifleman come into view as he walks past the ruins of the garage.  He’s Crayton alright.  He’s got a pistol in a holster hanging from his belt, a small knapsack slung over both shoulders and a long sniper rifle.

He must be going for the supplies of the two deaders out on the soccer field, but, thank God, from his angle he won’t be able to see the kid.

“Just stay put,” I whisper to her like she can hear me.

The panic in her eyes is hard to watch — the betrayal.

She looks back to the house and then to the soccer field in confusion.  And then she gets back on her feet.

She looks like she’s about to run.

“Oh, baby, don’t…” Feral cries softly.

And then the soldier stops and removes his helmet, cocks his head and listens.

He takes a step toward the playhouse and stops again.

He draws his pistol.

Shit.

He gently lowers his rifle to the ground and then takes the pistol in both hands, holding it up like they do in the movies.  He changes his path, walking in a broad circle as he moves cautiously toward the playhouse.

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

I’m not sure if I can make the shot from here.  I hope his ears are still ringing from the shots that brought down the parents of the year and won’t hear me.

Feral grabs my arm as I begin to slide out from under the stair stringer.  Her eyes say, be careful.

I quickly, but as noiselessly as possible, crawl out of our hiding place and then scurry on my hands and knees through the rubble to what’s left of the laundry room wall that’s still standing next to the garage.  I hiss at the pain from the small rocks, glass and splinters jabbing into my hands and knees.

I remember the woman on her hands and knees from this morning.

I’m almost there.

My mind clears and focuses — once more emotionless.

When I get to the wall, I stand up, peer around it and carefully take aim.

He’s still moving slowly, about fifteen feet away.  He hasn’t heard me yet.

I lean back under cover of the laundry room wall and slide my feet along the tiled floor.

And then the little girl starts crying, gasping with great shuddering sobs.

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About P.J. Post:

 

P.J. Post writes dark, character-driven coming of age stories. Palimpsest is an epic tale of apocalypse, survival and identity.

 

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Sky Dancers (Eternal Apocalypse, Book 1) by E.E. Isherwood

Release date: May 15, 2017

Subgenre: Post-apocalyptic, dystopian science fiction

About Sky Dancers: 

 

What good is immortality if you can't remember yesterday?

Elle is a typical doomsday bunker teenager, living under the crush of routine. She attends classes, tries to follow the rules, and endures the same petty jealousies and anxieties teens have endured since fire was used as the first hangout. But a crumbling section of tunnel exposes a big lie about her world, and Elle’s life quickly spirals downward.

She’s harassed by the enigmatic Commander. She must ward off unwanted advances from older male survivors. And, as the ultimate insult, everyone seems to know more about her past than she does. Elle seeks freedom in the plague-ravaged wasteland outside her home, but discovers the true threat to her people, and her own future, lies coiled inside the dark tunnels she left behind.

Can Elle uncover and expose the secrets buried with her underground home? Or will they fade away like the memories of everyone who thinks to oppose the Commander?

Sky Dancers is a dystopian read that will have you turning the pages! If you like mysterious wastelands, abandoned bunkers, and strong female leads, you will love the Eternal Apocalypse series!

Excerpt:

 

(inside a miles-long Doomsday Bunker, a small group of teens fantasize about escape)

Alex turned around with a smile. His blonde hair was soaked. “Thanks, Bells.”

“I didn't mean to agree with you,” I replied lamely. I almost stuck out my tongue like a child, mostly because he'd started calling me “Bells” to commemorate how close I'd gotten to the top of our climb. I might have liked it if I'd actually rung the victory bell, but he mocked my failure each time he uttered it.

“No. It's okay. I get it. When I get to the surface, I'll leave you all down here and never look back.” He looked to the ceiling, though there was nothing up there but a few metal grates covering the air ducts.

When no one responded, I took the bait. “Where would you go?”

Alex looked at his running partner with a smile, then took off to resume our jog. He waved to the rest of us to follow, like he was going to teach us a lesson on the way. The route he picked was directly under and through dozens of the mothballed excavating machines.

I flinched at his sarcastic grin, but relaxed as I caught on he was only making sure I was near him. “Well Bells, it's uphill both ways, so I might as well go big. Check this,” he paused with flair as we jogged along.

“A Sky Dancer will fall in love with me, and I'll live up there in one of the tallest trees,” he pointed straight up, “snuggling with her as we watch the real stars streak over our heads. I'll sleep soundly knowing you all are enjoying the pure black of this tomb.”

He laughed, though there was a serious undertone. He was known for storytelling—or, as I called them, lies. But there was a bit of pride, too, as if he'd had time to think through that particular dream many times before. I couldn't decide if it was the raving of an idiot or a serious idea about a better life.

I found it odd that he, of all people, would have faith in the Sky Dancers. I assumed a tough guy like him would take no stock in fables. I was sure there were no winged people watching over us, though late at night while we were all in bed Alex loved to tell kid's stories he remembered from his youth—and the subjects of angels and sky people were very common. Along with beanstalks, sleeping princesses, and little pigs. That is, fairy tales.

How he could have contemplated falling in love with a fairy made me giggle. Reba, on my right, did the same. She also pretended to stick her finger down her throat and gag.

I had a half hour to think about what he'd said. Getting out of the complex was something I'd wondered about many times, but only in the sense of “What’s the fastest way to die? Oh, yeah. Go outside.” The funny thing was that I'd recently learned the sun wasn't the enemy of humanity. And someone had thought of a plan to go Outside that could work. Of course, I wasn't going anywhere with him, but those big machines represented a way out.

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About E.E. Isherwood:

  E.E. Isherwood is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse series. His long-time fascination with the end of the world blossomed decades ago after reading the 1949 classic Earth Abides. He enjoys writing about characters faced with societal collapse, global plagues, and other world-altering events.

Isherwood lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife and family. He stays deep in a bunker with steepled fingers, always awaiting the arrival of the first wave of zombies.

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