***2019 Watty Award Winner - Science Fiction*** Charlie has always been the one left behind. It isn't because there's something special about him; in fact, there is nothing special about him at all. As one of the few unlucky members of Terran society to be born without powers, Charlie's luck has never looked worse. After a visit to his brother's school ends in an international disaster, Charlie finds himself stranded on an alien planet with no idea where he is, how he got there, or why he is even awake. Why did his captors let him go? How will Charlie get home? And more importantly, what in the world is Trial 017? [Book One of the Scion series]

A young archeologist is launched on the adventure of her life when she joins a mixed crew of humans and aliens on a mission to atone for the failings of Earth. *** The Terra Prospect Mission offered humanity a chance at space travel, technological advancement, and enlightenment courtesy of its alien benefactors who made first contact thirty years ago. Daran Chree brought that mission to a fiery end when he crashed the Terra Prospect spaceship into Gate Delta Eleven. Now, it's humanity's second and final chance to prove they're ready to journey into the stars. Nineteen-year-old studying archeologist Sofeta Prenares finds herself not only drawn to the mission, but on a collision course with the fate of the galaxy. 2019 Watty Awards Winner For Sci-Fi! Content warning: This story contains reference to self harm and intense combat scenes.

A secret program in the United States seeks to replace human militaries with artificial intelligence-driven machines, but the machines aren't so willing to play along. *** Picture a world where humans no longer fight wars. No more families missing loved ones. No more veterans with lifelong mental and physical scars. No more conscription. For the super-secret End of War Project inside the United States government, such a reality is already here. The project models out how artificial intelligence can overcome dangerous and morally sensitive war scenarios with algorithms and automation. The centerpieces are "autonomous combat machines," or ACMs, that look like humans but function like supercomputers. After a string of brilliant successes in the field of combat, the End of War Project is preparing to reveal itself to the public, but something unusual stands in the way. Against their programming, the ACMs start exhibiting all-too-human signs of apprehension, guilt and compassion as they're pushed to perform ever more extreme tasks. The human leaders of the End of War Project race to find who "hacked" the ACMs, but what they find is even more startling--and revealing--than they could ever imagine. ***2019 Watty Award Winner - Science Fiction***

❈ Watty's 2019 Fantasy Winner ❈ 'I'll take pride over power and guts over greed'. The five nations of Schamaria have been in conflict for many years now. With a war breaking out and the continent being divided into two sides, irreversible damage and stigmas on the earth and the people are inevitable. But when a royal heirloom -- which happens to contain the secret to gaining magical and elemental abilities -- is stolen from the Seyali Palace, the raging flame of the battle is only fueled. A gang leader, a thief, a magic manipulator, a spy, a traitor to the crown; they know nothing about each other, yet they must come together to find the Kingfisher before everyone else. When dark secrets and unseen connections are revealed, when greed lays its golden claws on the adventurers' hearts, and when it all becomes a game of power and deception, will they be able to reach their goal? Five strangers. Five motives. One target. ⸻ Long chapters ahead! Word count ⇢ 117,363

After Li Meixing is executed by her lover alongside her family, she wakes up four years earlier and searches for a way to survive the coming conflict. ***** Li Meixing is living the perfect life. Her father is a powerful politician in the Qi Kingdom, and she is engaged to the charismatic new Emperor, Huang Siming. But at the Emperor's coronation, Li and her family are framed as traitors by and ruthlessly executed. When Meixing wakes up, she finds that she has returned to the day when she first met Huang Siming. Now no longer naive and knowing what is to come, Meixing must dive into the world of politics that she has always avoided in order to save her family from their terrible fate. If she fails, she won't have a third chance.

Magic caused the war. Magic is forbidden. Magic will save us. The Relic Guild is the award nominated first book in The Relic Guild trilogy. It was said the Labyrinth had once been the great meeting place, a sprawling city at the heart of an endless maze where a million humans hosted the Houses of the Aelfir. But when the Thaumaturgists, overlords of human and Aelfir alike, went to war, everything was ruined and the Labyrinth became an abandoned prison. The surviving humans were trapped behind boundary walls a hundred feet high, and all magic was forbidden. And now the war is returning. The Relic Guild are all that stand against the end of the city. But they are old, scattered and weak, and the enemy is growing in strength... Here in THE RELIC GUILD (and other stories) please enjoy a large chunk of The Relic Guild Trilogy (published with kind permission of my publisher Gollancz), complete short stories, the odd poem, one or two blog posts, and samples chapters from my other novels.

Labrys Town, home to a million humans cut off from the rest of the universe, has been invaded. Those who protected it have been deposed. The Relic Guild are scattered across the worlds of the Aelfir. Many of them are dead or dying. The Genii control everything. The war is almost over. Clara, a young woman barely able to control her werewolf side, has seen her friends and mentors killed in front of her. She is the last hope for Labrys Town. But someone else is watching...

All things are known in the end. A SAMPLE of The Cathedral of Known Things (book 2 of The Relic Guild trilogy) Divided, hunted and short on resources, the surviving members of the Relic Guild are in real trouble. Their old enemy, the Genii, and their resurrected master have infiltrated Labrys Town and taken over the police force. So the Relic Guild must flee their home, and set off on a dangerous journey across the worlds of the Aelfir. One that will lead them to a weapon which might destroy the Genii. Or the whole universe... And forty years before all this, the war which led to the fall of the Genii continues. And what happens to the Relic Guild during that conflict will change the course of their desperate flight.

"Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not." - Isaac Asimov This piece is intended as a bit of a Help guide, a point of reference and hopefully something people will enjoy, as ultimately all of you will have different experiences reading and writing science fiction, and writing in general. If nothing else, I hope it inspires you to try your hand at writing Science Fiction if you haven't already.

Reza Gard is back! He and Eustus Camden, fresh out of Marine Corps training at Quantico, find themselves assigned to a small Red Legion Marine detachment aboard the corvette CSS Leander. While the detachment commander is a young female lieutenant who wants to do her duty, but lives in terror of Stalin, the detachment's sadistic senior NCO, a convicted murderer who was given the chance for a pardon if he could survive a year in the Legion. And the other men and women of the detachment are little better: they are the dregs scraped from Confederation prisons, rapists, thieves, and malcontents. But somehow they must find a way to unite if they want to have the slimmest hope of surviving against the warriors of the Kreelan Empire. Author's Note: This story takes place during the six years between chapters 10 and 11 of CONFEDERATION (IN HER NAME, Book 5). Enjoy!