First up, Sarah Hoyt with her first novel in a new series Chronicles of Lost Elly up, No Man’s Land Volume 1
As always, click on the cover for the Amazon link!
The blurb-
Sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic.
On a lost colony world, mad geneticists thought they could eliminate inequality by making everyone hermaphrodite. They were wrong. Catastrophically wrong.
Now technology indistinguishable from magic courses through the veins of the inhabitants, making their barbaric civilization survivable—and Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Kayel Hayden, Viscount Webson, Envoy of the Star Empire—Skip to his friends— has just crash-landed through a time-space rift into the middle of it all.
Dodging assassins and plummeting from high windows was just the beginning. With a desperate king and an archmagician as his only allies, Scipio must outrun death itself while battling beasts, traitors, and infiltrators bent on finishing what the founders started: total destruction.
Two worlds. One chance. No time to lose.
Volume 1
The Ambassador Corps has rules: you cannot know everything, don’t get horizontal with the natives, don’t make promises you can’t keep.
They’re a lot harder to follow when assassins are hunting you, your barbarian allies could kill you for the wrong word, and death lurks around every corner.
The unwritten rule? Never identify with the natives.
Skip’s already broken that one.
Now he’s racing against time to save his new friends from slavery—or worse—while dodging energy blasts and political intrigue. One crash-landed diplomat. A world of deadly secrets. And absolutely no backup.
Next is another Raconteur Press anthology, The Best of 2024
The blurb-
Short stories contain an idea. Ask a question, then begin to answer it. In a short story, you can contain a perfect narrative, it may be short in the time it will take you to read, but not in the time it will linger with you provoking you to thought. These are those stories.
Have you ever wanted to try out the very best stories published by Raconteur Press? Well, after their author peers nominated, Ben Yalow himself chose the top ten stories for this very special collection. Truly the cream of the crop, and a perfect selection to sample the wares of the Press, or to introduce a friend into reading Indie SFF.
I am proud to say my story, Geisha, was selected as one of the 11 stories in this one!!!
Next up is another Raconteur Press anthology, Blades and Black Magic
The blurb-
Sword & Sorcery means several things to many people. To me it means Attitude and Freedom.
The Attitude to live life to the fullest—no matter what may come.
The Freedom to take that option—no matter what it may cost.
Sword & Sorcery tales are undeniably songs of deeds. So tell me tales of heroes who stand in the gap at the moment of need, who take the battle to the diabolical foes, who turn their back upon the easy life and seek a greater challenge. Any greater challenge. Every greater challenge.
This is what I asked of all those answering Raconteur Press’ first open call for Sword & Sorcery tales. As you’ll discover over the ensuing pages—they answered with roars of joy and eager smiles. With drawn blades and sly grins, with keen eyes and quick hearts, they stormed the abandoned ruined castles and dungeons filled with the stench of evil, the lairs of chaos, the horrors of the grave, and shared their tales. I smile even as I type this, recalling the stories of sheer passionate thirst for living lives that dare Death to come for them and just try to take them that lie ahead of you,
And last, but certainly not least, our friend Fred Hughes has his first novel in a new series Humanities Janissaries up, Reluctant Emissary
The blurb-
We are not alone!
On a small rock in the Kuiper Belt, 1st Lieutenant Tammy Escobar, Sol Space Marines, walks into a war being fought by two alien races.
Waking up from what she was certain was a mortal wound, Tammy finds herself aboard an alien ship. The Fylak, the little gray men of UFO legends, had rescued her… but there was a problem. The Fylak couldn’t fix her critically wounded body, so they’d transferred her mind into a synthetic body.
Alone and on her way to an alien base in the Alpha Centauri System, Tammy discovers the only way to save mankind is to help the Fylaks fight the spider-like Drizzt. Leaning on her prior training, Tammy teaches her new body to fight like a Marine, while simultaneously hoping she can convince her new friends that Earth is worth saving.
With her allies vastly overwhelmed, though, will her skills make enough of a difference?
Reluctant Emissary is a Mil Scifi LitRPG story that will take Earth to the stars… whether we’re ready or not!
I’ve read them all and enjoyed them! Highly recommended!!!