Wattys 2021 Short List. Shipwrecked on a criminal-infested mining colony, military telepath Reid Kaplan needs answers about the attack on his ship and the unusual alien activity on the planet he's stranded on. Unfortunately, some of those answers might lie in a mind as unique as it is dangerously flawed. Customs inspector Jinsin Koel is used to having guns pointed at her head - but not ones attached to weapon-heavy cyborg insects who consider her lower on the food chain. The Xykeree, past enemies of humanity, should never have been allowed to dock at her home port. And they're just the start of her problems. Throw in a hereditary neurological illness and a secret society of soldiers genetically tailored for psionic combat and she has herself a whole new level of trouble ... the kind that could destroy her personal foundations and imperil billions of lives. Complete novel (word count approx. 115,600; no cliffhanger ending) Action adventure, space opera Reader advisory: strong language, violence/horror, sexual content UK spelling

Three women. Three tangled lives orbiting Mars aboard the Phobos Transit Space Station. Val loses her station operation engineer job under false pretenses, Exo-biologist Cassy is blackballed for doing the right thing, and ex-marine Kate suffers a broken heart. Fortunately, Mavis, the owner of the Starlight Tavern and rescuer of lost souls, is there to help, recruiting the women into her Quilters Guild. But when hostile forces invade the station, the stakes become far greater, and the Guild finds themselves embroiled in a multi-world conspiracy. And they are not about to just stand by and let it happen. Redemption comes stitch by stitch. *** Open Novella Contest Round Two Ambassador Pick *** *** Open Novella Contest Winner - Third Place ***

In the late 21st century, the Earth has been ravaged by climate change. With the help of a bioengineered virus, the billionaires of the early 2000s have become immortal, divided the last habitable biospheres on the planet into their personal shares, and moved to Mars. The rest of humanity subsists on bug proteins and printed foods. Ian Gateman, one of Earth's last bureaucrats, soldiers on with the settlement of ecological refugees while he, his wife, Anne, and their son, Alex, look forward to life on Mars. When Anne becomes terminally ill, she decides to upload her consciousness and live forever in Lotus: a corporate owned virtual reality. To keep up with the monthly payments of Anne's residency and stop Lotus from deleting her consciousness, Ian takes on a new assignment. He must travel to the estate of Ernest Trimalchio and petition visiting Shareholders to buy a fledgling colony of ecological refugees. As Ian tries to flog the colony to a brooding class of bored immortal men and women, it becomes clear that the Shareholders have their own plans for the future of humanity.

It is a time of great unrest in the M'Verse. Warring factions are spread throughout the galaxies. Planets crumble after a series of seemingly random mass invasions from universes abroad. The dark science threatens to poison the minds of all who dare to seek it out. But yet there is hope. Hope lies in the hands of a ragtag crew of explorers, and their trusty generation ship, the Ooorah Mothership. Hope lies with the Mothertrooper...

[Animal Crossing Fan Fiction] After many accomplished degrees, Blathers makes his way through his final semester ending his academic career, ready to graduate with a doctorate in archeology. Before he can receive his PhD, however, he needs to hit the books , pass his courses, and win the big games! Although not directly connected to The Good Old Days, this story is a spiritual spin off as it can take place during or even before the events of that story.

Alien resurrections, rogue spies, prophetic brain worms -- a sample pack of snack-size sci-fi and speculative fiction. Included stories: Junkyard Doll, The Future of Goobishen Prime, Final Facet, Outer Prospects, Return to Eden, Alien Requiem, the RiST linked short story series (Big oops, The Saviour, Red Pill, Beyond Liberty, Any Other Tuesday, Chasing Dawn), Blackcoat (Buffy/Firefly fanfic), Cherry Celery (humor/romance), and Cluckular (humor/horror), along with some other 'odds and ends' mini tales. Reader advisory: Some stories have mature content and bad language.

As the sun rises over the Wild Lands, some life-forms stir awake while others hunker down to sleep after a night of hunting and foraging. This is a world rich in flora and fauna. And yet it is not natural. Each of the animals roaming these forests and grasslands has been enhanced through technology. That leopard can change the pattern of its spots. That giraffe has reinforced legs. That elephant has opposable thumbs and a trunk that blasts Nicki Minaj's latest tunes like an old boombox. This is their ecosystem. This is Animal SF! Ooorah!

**** Top Pick, 2023 Amby Awards **** **** HighFantasy Book of the Month, June 2023 **** To save the world, Mage Aria sacrificed herself, becoming trapped with the personification of Darkness within an impenetrable tomb of rock and magic. But she had not realized how much of a hell that would be. Dreams of deep despair haunted Tomas, a blacksmith with no apparent magic, where a wounded soul cried out from her torment, begging for mercy. Heartbroken for the dreamer, he sets out on an uncertain quest to free her. But there were those in power who did not want the dreamer freed, lest it also released the Darkness. Further, the link between Tomas and the dreamer was a kind of Darkness itself, one that would make him a fugitive in his own land.

Thirty days. The countdown has started, North America shivers under the shadow of a massive alien spacecraft, and humanity is hurtling toward an unknown future that lurks at the end of the timer. Somewhere, somehow, the heroes are making their plans to fight the extraterrestrials. But this isn't about them. From the team at WritersConnX comes a new anthology about the rest of us - the average, the ordinary, the unassuming - and the many paths we run when our time is cut short. And no damn aliens! Written by: WCX Writers & Creators Rodney V. Smith, M.B. Dalto, Jane Peden, A.B. Channing, Eliza Solares, Jinn Tiole, Crystal Scherer, Cayleigh Kennedy, C.C. Starfield, Nova Nicalynn, Leigh W. Stuart, Franklin Barnes, Mags Lorang, Evelyn Hail, Lorraine Tramain, Fiora Voss, Wren Arrior, J.A. Jumphol, Bethany Swafford, Jamie Lemon, Mittu Ravi. Julia Esposito, Cardin Watts, Mikaela Bender, Jovi R, Sam Camp, Mhavel Naveda, Brittannie Charmintine, Van Carley, Henry Scott, Melody Grace Hicks, David J. Thirteen, C. S. Solarys, Hannah J Nelson, Vee Lozada, Eli Gregory, Kristin Jacques, Ben Sobieck, Bianca Di Cocco Compiled by: Rodney V. Smith, Van Carley, Eliza Solares, Ina Ramos

AN-E wakes to the sound of a drill against her shoulder strut. After eight months shut down, corroding in a junkyard, she has a choice to make: resume her deadly duties for the One Empire or resign herself to reality -- she's abandoned scrap. Reader advisory: bad language, mature themes