The station is in a security lockdown and the sole apparent occupant, a Union captain, offers Kieran an entire ship if he can disable the lockdown. Kieran realizes that he’s probably dealing with a criminal, rather than an actual captain, but he’s just desperate enough to accept. He flies out to the nearest station and returns with a slicer and some dangerous-looking backup. As he’s making his approach to the station, Kieran hears a garbled cry for help over the comm. He hopes it’s just his imagination.But it’s not. Half the station’s crew is being held hostage, while the other half appear to be masquerading as Union officers. Kieran and his team disable the lockdown, and to Kieran’s amazement, they are given a ship as promised. As they are leaving the station, they see an entire fleet of Union cruisers pouring out of the newly-reactivated space gate. Kieran is confused. What are so many warships doing on the frontier? The Union isn’t at war.Kieran sets out to investigate, but along the way strange things start happening to him and his crew. At first there seem to be logical explanations, but before long the answers are not so clear. As time goes by, Kieran realizes the horrible truth:He wasn’t the only one trying to escape. . . .

     Martin L. Shoemaker, author of “Today I Am Paul”, presents stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary work. Planning, exploring, constructing… living and growing and dying… across the Solar System. Includes these award-winning stories: Scramble (second place, Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award, 2012) Unrefined (third place, Writers of the Future, 2014) Racing to Mars (first place, Analog Analytical Laboratory award, 2016) Plus seven more stories!

    Recently discharged from his service in the United Stated Navy and working as an engineer for the city of New Orleans, maintaining the pumps that kept the city dry. Tibby decides to spend some time at fishing hole in the swamp shown to him by his grandfather when he was a small boy, his trip turns out to be more than he expects when he discovers an ancient alien spaceship buried in the mud of the swamp. After entering the craft, Tibby accidentally engages an autopilot causing the ship to take off with him aboard navigating through space to its preset destination. What follows are adventures beyond Tibby’s wildest dreams as, the ship contains a cargo of the rarest and most valuable substance in the universe, Solbidyum. Tibby arrives in the Federation space and is greeted by a large Star Ship with thousands of people aboard. He soon discovers he is about to become the richest man in the universe, but not without considerable enemies trying to capture both him and the Solbidyum cargo. Tibby finds himself thrust into a role of hero and falls in love with a beautiful woman, but soon finds that some of his decisions result in the loss of thousands of lives. Thus begins the Solbidyum Wars Saga with Book 1 –Battle of the New Orleans.

    The beautiful and strong willed up-timer, as the people from the future are called, is mysteriously hired by a branch of the wealthiest family in the world. Mary finds herself far from her family, living in a beautiful castle in the Inn Valley of Tyrol. There she meets Counts, Countesses, the handsome and distant Count Johann Franz, and works hard as a teacher and consultant among the one-percenters of the day. But all is not what it seems in this gilded world, where religion, undercurrents of witchcraft, and vast sums of money create high-stakes contests, and where treachery and death await the unwary or the unprepared. Can a resolute and intelligent girl find love, happiness, and purpose in this world where she is the ultimate outsider, out of her time, alone, and in dangers she cannot comprehend? Using archetypes, occasional dialog, and story beats from Jane Austen, Up-time Pride and Down-time Prejudice tells the story of Mary Russo, Count Johann Franz Fugger, and Mary's journey of maturation, knowledge, and love in this 1632 adventure.

    Her mission: Rescue a downed pilot and spy from Aggar's badlands. But Aggar is not part of the Terran empire and before Aggar's Council will allow the journey, Diana must be bonded to a Shadowmate. That's when things get interesting. Shadows are exceptional guides, field companions and fighters. However, Elana is also something more -- she's gifted with the magic of the Blue Sight, a sixth sense that allows her to read and manipulate intentions through the shifting colors of an individual's amarin. She's also been gifted with dreams. Dreams of a certain Amazon. Aided by friends and flying eitteh, haunted by Changelings, madmen and laser guns, Diana and Elana cross the vast and varied lands that are Aggar. In their race against time to prevent an all-out intergalactic war, the two women become erotically entangled. But all too soon they discover that when the stakes are this high, nothing is ever easy and choices are never simple.

    It’s a hundred years after peak oil and the rich have risen above the Earth, inhabiting great Cloud Cities, while those left behind live a rural existence, off the grid. After suffering a vicious attack, Cole is transported to the Cloud City of Easton for emergency surgery. While recuperating and adrift in the unfamiliar social landscape of Easton, Cole begins a journey of discovery. When she meets Audrey, a beautiful doctor, the attraction they share is penetrating and possibly life altering. Explosions, staged by a ruthless underground movement, nearly bring Easton to the brink of collapse. The crisis that rocks the city forces Cole and Audrey to weigh what truly holds meaning and what each is willing to sacrifice for love.

    With its circulation dwindling, Genevieve is desperate for a good story. When she hears about a reclusive mountain woman, she realizes her chance.Graham Sheridan needs her seclusion for a multitude of reasons, none of which she wants to impart on the intrusive, tenacious reporter.Was it fate that bought them together or something otherworldly?

    Even though she believes true love will never find her, Jenna vows to help other women find their own true loves by opening a dating service. If she can’t find love for herself, she’s determined to find love for her hopelessly inept clients. Through messy mash-ups and zany adventures, Jenna and her best friend and business partner, Dale, help a Turret’s juggler lose her balls, an Elizabeth Taylor impersonator drop her White Diamonds, and a woman with multiple personalities find a girlfriend that adores all of her. Along the way, Jenna discovers that just because she’s given up on love, that doesn’t mean love has given up on her.

    Joining forces, they struggle to escape the ruins, only to lose touch after their dramatic rescue. In a chance meeting several months later, Anna Kaklis reconnects with her partner in survival, Lilian Stewart. Now on a journey of discovery, they forge a friendship that grows into the strongest bond either has ever known. Armed with the lessons of their underground ordeal, Anna and Lily unearth what is really important in their lives. Ultimately, Shaken is a story of challenge and courage, loss and triumph, love and family.

    Abigail Eaton stumbles into a massacre, but once someone tries to kill her it seems like no accident. While hunting for the perpetrators of a sex trafficking empire, Agent Riley Abbott saves Abigail from a professional hit and discovers the young mother might be the key to more than just her case. Riley takes Abigail and her family to what she thinks is safer ground, and runs right into the arms of reputed mob boss Cain Casey. Hell Fire was previously published in Girls With Guns: Three Novellas (Bold Strokes Books, 2016).

    Jill is trapped in an abusive marriage, while raising two young girls. Her husband has isolated her from the world and filled her days with fear. The last thing on her mind is love, but she sure could use a friend.Alex McCoy is enjoying a comfortable life, with great friends and a prosperous business. She has given up on love, after picking the wrong woman one too many times. Little does she know, a simple act of kindness might change her life forever.When Alex lends a helping hand to Jill at the local grocery store, they are surprised by their immediate connection and an unlikely friendship develops. As their friendship deepens, so too do their fears. In order to protect herself and the girls, Jill can’t let her husband know about her friendship with Alex, and Alex can’t discover what goes on behind closed doors. What would Alex do if she finds out the truth? At the same time, Alex must fight her attraction and be the friend she suspects Jill needs. Besides, Alex knows what every lesbian knows – don’t fall for a straight woman, especially one that’s married…but will her heart listen?

    The greatest villain Starlight City has ever known. The greatest supervillain the world has ever seen. She rules her city with an iron fist, and there are no new worlds to conquer. Needless to say life is pretty damn boring. All that changes when she decides to shake things up by robbing a bank the old fashioned way and runs into the city's newest hero: Fialux. Flying Fialux. Invulnerable Fialux. Super strong Fialux. Beautiful Fialux? Night Terror has a new archenemy who might just be able to defeat her, but even more terrifying are the confusing feelings this upstart heroine has ignited. She doesn't like heroes like that. She definitely doesn't like girls like that. Right? Only she can't deny the flutter she feels whenever she thinks of Starlight City's newest heroine! The line between hate and love is a razor's edge that the world's greatest villainess will have to walk if she wants to hold onto that title! Villains Don't Date Heroes! is a lesbian scifi romance novel that explores the world of villains, antiheroes, and heroes in a whole new way! This novel was previously published as Villainess Love. It's been completely rewritten with about 50% new content and is the first in a planned series following the misadventures of Night Terror and Fialux!

    She loves her anonymity and the peace it affords her high up in the mountains of West Virginia.Danica’s utopia comes to a screeching halt when she rescues a car accident victim named Heather Jansen who suffers from retro grade amnesia in one of the worst blizzard storms in West Virginia history while on her journey into the mountains to confront her cheating lover.Can Danica put her fears aside to pursue a love that has always eluded her and will Heather’s worst nightmares result in the ultimate love she has always longed for? Only time has the answers to all of these unanswered questions.

    The job market is grim, adult responsibility looms, and when her job writing for the school paper sends her to interview the magnetic Morgan, she even begins questioning her sexuality. Morgan Park, a few years older and more worldly than Leah, seems to have it all – or at least she did, until her girlfriend started showing signs of bipolar disorder just as they decided to start a family together. Now her life is unraveling before her eyes and she just needs something – or someone – to hold onto. Life in a small town has been weaving Leah and Morgan slowly together, but their worlds collide in one intense meeting that leaves them each with a decision to make – follow their hearts to each other, or go their separate ways and keep sleepwalking through life. This 15,000-word novella is the prequel to Cara Malone’s debut novel, Awakened (April 2017).

    She has three simple rules for life after the plague: Keep moving. Keep to yourself. Don’t get involved. The plague took a particular joy in killing the women of the world, making it that much harder for the few who survived. The only thing that matters since she escaped from a small farm outside of Pittsburgh is the truth waiting at the end of her journey home. The rest of the world, or what’s left of it, can go straight to Hell as far as she’s concerned.When a group of survivors offers her food and shelter, she is more than happy to spend a few days, take what she needs, and get out, like she always does. But in a place called Burninghead Farm, despite all her rules and plans, Taylor finds a group of people who have more to offer than the basics of survival. Most of all, there is Kate, a woman who makes Taylor realize love is still alive and makes her dream of a future she thought was no longer possible. If only Taylor can find the courage to fight for it.It turns out that the end of the world isn’t about the end of the world at all, but about what happens after.