The Book of the Unnamed Midwife


Meg Elison - 2014
    When she awoke, it was dead.In the wake of a fever that decimated the earth’s population—killing women and children and making childbirth deadly for the mother and infant—the midwife must pick her way through the bones of the world she once knew to find her place in this dangerous new one. Gone are the pillars of civilization. All that remains is power—and the strong who possess it.A few women like her survived, though they are scarce. Even fewer are safe from the clans of men, who, driven by fear, seek to control those remaining. To preserve her freedom, she dons men’s clothing, goes by false names, and avoids as many people as possible. But as the world continues to grapple with its terrible circumstances, she’ll discover a role greater than chasing a pale imitation of independence.After all, if humanity is to be reborn, someone must be its guide.

American Elsewhere


Robert Jackson Bennett - 2013
    Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map. In that town, there are quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that conceal the strangest things. After a couple years of hard traveling, ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-dead mother's home in Wink, New Mexico. And the closer Mona gets to her mother's past, the more she understands that the people of Wink are very, very different ...From one of our most talented and original new literary voices comes the next great American supernatural novel: a work that explores the dark dimensions of the hometowns and the neighbors we thought we knew.

Ready Player One


Ernest Cline - 2011
    The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Extreme Makeover


Dan Wells - 2016
    As more and more anomalies crop up in testing, Lyle realizes that the lotion's formula has somehow gone horribly wrong. It is actively overwriting the DNA of anyone who uses it, turning them into physical clones of someone else. Lyle wants to destroy the formula, but NewYew thinks it might be the greatest beauty product ever designed--and the world's governments think it's the greatest weapon.New York Times bestselling author Dan Wells brings us a gripping corporate satire about a health and beauty company that could destroy the world.

Wanderers


Chuck Wendig - 2019
    She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other "shepherds" who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.For as the sleepwalking phenomenon awakens terror and violence in America, the real danger may not be the epidemic but the fear of it. With society collapsing all around them--and an ultraviolent militia threatening to exterminate them--the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic. The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart--or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.

The Postmortal


Drew Magary - 2011
    Immortality, however, comes with its own unique problems-including evil green people, government euthanasia programs, a disturbing new religious cult, and other horrors.Witty, eerie, and full of humanity, The Postmortal is an unforgettable thriller that envisions a pre-apocalyptic world so real that it is completely terrifying.

Fatal Impulse


Lori L. Robinett - 2014
    He’s a successful pillar of the community. She is a beautiful young wife devoted to him. From the outside, their life appears perfect. But on the inside, she is constantly on edge, trying to keep him happy so she won’t suffer scathing words that hurt just as much as the occasional sharp blow from him. Then she snaps. In the blink of an eye, she becomes a widow and finds herself inextricably entwined in the web of lies he wove in the months before his death. When a blackmailer threatens to expose her as a murderer, she must piece together her husband’s life to find the key to her own freedom. Fatal Impulse is the first in an intriguing new series, where each widow faces challenges that threaten to destroy her just as she begins to find her strength.

Departure


A.G. Riddle - 2014
    The world's past and future rests in the hands of five unwitting strangers. En route to London from New York, Flight 305 suddenly loses power and crash-lands in the English countryside, plunging a group of strangers into a mysterious adventure that will have repercussions for all of humankind. Struggling to stay alive, the survivors soon realize that the world they've crashed in is very different from the one they left. But where are they? Why are they here? And how will they get back home? Five passengers seem to hold clues about what's really going on: writer Harper Lane, venture capitalist Nick Stone, German genetic researcher Sabrina Schröder, computer scientist Yul Tan, and Grayson Shaw, the son of a billionaire philanthropist.As more facts about the crash emerge, it becomes clear that some in this group know more than they're letting on, answers that will lead Harper and Nick to uncover a far-reaching conspiracy involving their own lives. As they begin to piece together the truth, they discover they have the power to change the future and the past-to save our world... or end it.

Forge and Steel: Three Plague Wars Novelettes (Alien Invasion #6) (Plague Wars Series Book 11)


David VanDyke - 2016
     Steel's First Temper: Jill "Reaper" Repeth must complete a tough rescue mission on a Meme asteroid base while beginning to train a new protégé, Joseph "Bull" ben Tauros. A Hotter Forge: Bull and Reaper are assigned to capture one of the Pure Race, but a Blend throws a monkey wrench into their plan, forcing them into a no-win battle. What Price Humanity? Vincent "Vango" Markis awakes to find himself blind and helpless. Soon it become apparent that he and his fellow pilots are trapped in a situation with no choices and only one way out. A slightly shorter version was previously published in Jerry Pournelle's anthology There Will Be War X. Plague Wars: Decade One - The Eden Plague - Reaper's Run - Skull's Shadows - Eden's Exodus - Apocalypse Austin - Nearest Night Plague Wars: Alien Invasion - The Demon Plagues - The Reaper Plague - The Orion Plague - Cyborg Strike - Comes the Destroyer - Forge and Steel Plague Wars: Stellar Conquest - First Conquest - Desolator - Tactics of Conquest - Conquest of Earth - Conquest and Empire

Lock In


John Scalzi - 2014
    Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.A quarter of a century later, in a world shaped by what's now known as "Haden's syndrome," rookie FBI agent Chris Shane is paired with veteran agent Leslie Vann. The two of them are assigned what appears to be a Haden-related murder at the Watergate Hotel, with a suspect who is an "integrator" - someone who can let the locked in borrow their bodies for a time. If the Integrator was carrying a Haden client, then naming the suspect for the murder becomes that much more complicated.But "complicated" doesn't begin to describe it. As Shane and Vann began to unravel the threads of the murder, it becomes clear that the real mystery - and the real crime - is bigger than anyone could have imagined. The world of the locked in is changing, and with the change comes opportunities that the ambitious will seize at any cost. The investigation that began as a murder case takes Shane and Vann from the halls of corporate power to the virtual spaces of the locked in, and to the very heart of an emerging, surprising new human culture. It's nothing you could have expected.

Good Morning, Midnight


Lily Brooks-Dalton - 2016
    For years he has lived in remote outposts, studying the sky for evidence of how the universe began. At his latest posting, in a research center in the Arctic, rumors of war arrive. The scientists are forced to evacuate, but Augustine stubbornly refuses to abandon his work. Shortly after the others have gone, Augustine discovers a mysterious child, Iris, and realizes the airwaves have gone silent. They are alone. At the same time, Mission Specialist Sullivan is aboard the Aether on its return flight from Jupiter. The astronauts are the first human beings to delve this deep into space, and Sully has made peace with the sacrifices required of her: a daughter left behind, a marriage ended. So far the journey has been a success, but when Mission Control falls inexplicably silent, Sully and her crew mates are forced to wonder if they will ever get home. As Augustine and Sully each face an uncertain future against forbidding yet beautiful landscapes, their stories gradually intertwine in a profound and unexpected conclusion. In crystalline prose, Good Morning, Midnight poses the most important questions: What endures at the end of the world? How do we make sense of our lives?

The Dog Stars


Peter Heller - 2012
    Now his wife is gone, his friends are dead, and he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, Jasper, and a mercurial, gun-toting misanthrope named Bangley. But when a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life exists outside their tightly controlled perimeter. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return and follows its static-broken trail, only to find something that is both better and worse than anything he could ever hope for.

Sakura: Intellectual Property


Zachary Hill - 2019
    It’s the best possible memorial for Zachary Hill and everything he thought was awesome. Tracy and Genesse did a fantastic job finishing this excellent book filled with samurai robots, evil megacorporations, jetpacks, espionage, hacker battles, anime fights, cyber nukes, bullet bikes—all with a badass, headbanging, horn-throwing, stage-diving soundtrack, blessed by the goddess of heavy metal herself. I loved it.”—Larry Correia, NYT bestselling author of HOUSE OF ASSASSINS “A hard-rocking literary mosh pit about a heavy-metal android who becomes both the hero and villain of a brutal cyberpunk thriller. Sakura is loaded with more computers, guns, music, and hard-edged futurism than any five other books working together, and it gives you both barrels straight to the face. STOP HOGGING ALL THE AWESOME, SAKURA; LET THE REST OF US HAVE SOME.”—Dan Wells, NYT bestselling author of BLUESCREEN “Sakura: Intellectual Property lands like a power chord from a world-class rock opera. From the first chapter, we are card-carrying members of the Sakura fan club. The story is tighter than a lead guitarist’s E string and twice as resonant. Any fan of outstanding science fiction will be rocked. Just press ‘play’ on Sakura.”—Michael Darling, #1 Amazon Bestselling Author of GOT LUCK“ Sakura is a myth-tinted, hard-rock Japanese cyberpunk thriller that starts with a bang and gets louder. Full of mystery, mayhem, guitars, and swagger, recommended for readers who like THINGS THAT ARE AWESOME.”—D.J. Butler, author of WITCHY EYE “Heavy metal with hints of Ghost in the Shell, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and the Illuminati. It’s a super fun ride.”—Joe Monson, coeditor of TRACE THE STARS “A cybernetic tour de force starring a plucky heavy-metal heroine—in which we find out if music really can save us all.”—Julie Frost, award-winning author of the PACK DYNAMICS series "A stunning book, and not only because of its fast-paced, action-driven story, thrilling plot twists, gorgeous illustrations, and meticulously crafted playlists that engage the readers’ senses in ways other books never could. What makes this volume so exceptional is its capacity to make the readers interrogate both their own humanity and the personhood of others, to delve deep into the different and surprising aspects of being human and experience the wide spectrum of ways in which we show up in the world: imperfect, flawed, and broken, yes, but also brave, glorious, and alive in more ways than one. This work teaches us that the soul is never lost but may be hiding in the most unexpected of places, patiently waiting to be rediscovered and recognized for what it is: a “spiritual electricity,” as Rilke describes it. This is a book not to be missed.——Dr. Masha Shukovich, multiple award winning author “A high-octane story, fueled by rocket-grade heavy metal. Sakura: Intellectual Property tells a high-tech tale of intrigue, action, and rock and roll. The main character, an android/rock star/Manchurian candidate, is written in vivid 3-D. This book is a page-turner from beginning to end. It reads like a full-stack Marshall amplifier. If I could, I would plug my guitar right into this book and shake down the rafters.” —Craig Nybo, author, musician, and creator of CHOPS: THE OFFICIAL GUIDEBOOK TO AN ALTERNATE ROCK AND ROLL UNIVERSE SAKURA is the most famous android rock star of all time.

Femlandia


Christina Dalcher - 2021
    But that was before the country sank into total economic collapse and her husband walked out in the harshest, most permanent way, leaving her and her sixteen-year-old daughter with nothing. The streets are full of looting, robbing, and killing, and Miranda and Emma no longer have much choice—either starve and risk getting murdered, or find safety. And so they set off to Femlandia, the women-only colony Miranda's mother, Win Somers, established decades ago.Although Win is no longer in the spotlight, her protégé Jen Jones has taken Femlandia to new heights: The off-grid colonies are secluded, self-sufficient, and thriving—and Emma is instantly enchanted by this idea of a safe haven. But something is not right. There are no men allowed in the colony, but babies are being born—and they're all girls. Miranda discovers just how the all-women community is capable of enduring, and it leads her to question how far her mother went to create this perfect, thriving, horrifying society.

Not on Fire, but Burning


Greg Hrbek - 2015
    Like everyone, she ran, but she couldn't outrun the radiation, with her last thoughts being of her beloved baby brother, Dorian, safe in her distant family home. Flash forward to a post-incident America, where the country has been broken up into territories and Muslims have been herded onto the old Indian reservations in the west, even though no one has determined who set off the explosion that destroyed San Francisco. Twelve-year old Dorian dreams about killing Muslims and about his sister—even though Dorian's parents insist Skyler never existed. Are they still shell-shocked, trying to put the past behind them . . . or is something more sinister going on?Meanwhile, across the street, Dorian's neighbor adopts a Muslim orphan from the territories. It will set off a series of increasingly terrifying incidents that will lead to either tragedy or redemption for Dorian, as he struggles to prove that his sister existed—and was killed by a terrorist attack.Not on Fire, but Burning is unlike anything you're read before—not exactly a thriller, not exactly sci-fi, not exactly speculative fiction, but rather a brilliant and absorbing adventure into the dark heart of an America that seems ripped from the headlines. But just as powerfully, it presents a captivating hero: A young boy driven by love to seek the truth, even if it means his deepest beliefs are wrong.