Roy Olfetrie planned to be an officer in the Republic of Cinnabar Navy, but when his father is unmasked as a white-collar criminal, Roy has to take whatever he can get and take it fast. Which turns out to be an assignment to accompany Captain Daniel Leary and Lady Adele Mundy as they go off to start a war that will put Roy at the sharp end. Olfetrie doesn’t know it yet, but he’s actually been given the chance of a lifetime serving under the best of the best. It’s a chance to prove himself—not for what he has, but for who he is.

The action doesn't slow—nor can Roy. For Captain Leary has given Roy a chance, and Roy is determined to make the most of it—though hell should bar the way!

Get Though Hell Should Bar the Way eARC here.

In an alternate America, where magic works, Sarah Calhoun has paid a hard price for her entry onto the stage of the Empire’s politics. But she has survived. Now she rides north into the Ohio and her father’s kingdom, Cahokia. To win the Serpent Throne, she’ll have to defeat seven other candidates, win over the kingdom’s regent, and learn the will of a hidden goddess—all while mastering her people’s inscrutable ways and watching her own back.

Get Witchy Winter eARC here.

When someone starts killing his fellow bounty hunters in the port of Fairhaven, Drago Appleroot is happy to help his contacts in the City Watch with their investigation—for a reasonable fee, of course. Pitched into a maelstrom of treachery and lethal politics, Drago is forced into a long and dangerous journey to the heart of the Sylvan Marches, where one determined gnome might just decide the destiny of a kingdom.

Get A Fistful of Elven Gold eARC here.

The war with the ruthless alien Chiata rages on. Deanna Moore, known by the callsign “Phoenix,” fights for triumph of humanity over the Chiata—but for very personal reasons. She and her mecha-suited team of Marines are bringing the fight to the aliens. Doing so will cause Deanna considerable pain. Good thing for her—and a very bad thing for the Chiata—to Deanna Moore pain is the fuel, in this all-new story by Travis S. Taylor, set in his Tau Ceti Agenda series, with latest entry Bringers of Hell.

Read “Pain is the Fuel” here.

Science has always tackled the Big Questions, with frustrating, confounding—and immensely satisfying results. So too has science fiction wrested with these same questions. Since the dawn of space travel (and before), we’ve asked ourselves things like: Is it possible to travel to other star systems? Are we alone in the universe? And if we aren’t, where are the aliens? We are closer than ever to discovering the answers to these—and many more—big questions, as space scientist and science fiction novelist Les Johnson reports in this month’s free nonfiction essay. Along the way, Johnson discusses the background to his new novel Mission to Methone.

Read “Catching the Gravitational Lens Express: The Scientific Backstory to Mission to Methone” by Les Johnson here.

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