A Shaper's Promise


Karen MacRae - 2018
    They might be Musicians or Artists, gifted with the Elements, like Stone, Light or Air, learn a language in minutes or have Speed, Strength or a million other possibilities. They’re not mutants. They’re not aliens. They’re just extraordinarily talented.One of the rarest gifts is Reading the auras that surround every living thing: understanding the patterns of light that reveal a person’s thoughts and feelings, their very being. The rarest gift of all, though, is the ability to not just Read an aura but manipulate it, control it or even destroy it… to Shape it. It’s no wonder ancient lawmakers decreed Aura Shapers be wiped out or that Shaping is still punishable by death.A Shaper’s Promise begins with Anna. She’s just eighteen and possibly the first Aura Shaper born in The Kingdom in centuries. Her Healer mother's always warned her to never let anyone know what she is, but she's determined to head to Ionantis to try to join the Quorum of Gifted. Fate seems to think she should follow a different path and she soon finds herself embroiled in events beyond her wildest dreams. For there is evil heading towards The Kingdom and Anna's gift might be the only weapon that can save them."An entertaining and exciting tale from a convincing and attractive fantasy world”“The finale is crashingly epic. I read it at the speed of sound. People! This is an excellent read!”“Absolutely loved this book. Cost me some sleepless nights cause I couldn’t drag myself away from it!""The whole concept of this magical world is enchanting. Would thoroughly recommend and can’t wait for the next instalment!!”“The first in a trilogy, that draws you in to a wonderful world of fantasy. Great characters, well thought through plot, page turning.”The Aura Shaper Series is dedicated to the author's friend, Ann Clark, who passed away much too early after a lifetime dedicated to healing others.Please note that Karen MacRae is a British author who writes in British English.

A Girl from Nowhere


James Maxwell - 2020
    No one knows it better than Taimin. Crippled, and with only his indomitable aunt to protect him, Taimin must learn to survive in a world scorched by two suns and frequented by raiders.But when Taimin discovers his homestead ransacked and his aunt killed, he sets off with one mission: to seek revenge against those who stole everything. With nowhere to call home, his hunt soon takes a turn when he meets a mystic, Selena, who convinces him to join her search for the fabled white city. Taimin and Selena both need refuge, and the white city is a place where Taimin may find someone to heal his childhood injury.As they avoid relentless danger, Taimin and Selena attempt to reach the one place that promises salvation. And they can only hope that the city is the haven they need it to be…

Broken Realms


D.W. Moneypenny - 2014
    That's about to change.After a jetliner plunges into the Columbia River near Portland, Oregon, everyone survives. So why do crash investigators have a hangar full of bodies, one for each passenger except Mara? Before the plane goes down, she glimpses a new reality, one with scales and snouts, fangs and gills. She sees a boy running down the aisle carrying a ball of blue light, chased by a girl who could be her clone. By trying to help, she unwittingly unleashes dozens of creatures on an unsuspecting world and sparks a series of events that threatens her life, her family and everything she believes. To save them, she has to embrace a power she cannot comprehend.

Beyond


Maureen A. Miller - 2012
    College beckons, as does her dream of becoming an engineer. On an early evening walk, her cocker spaniel charges into the woods on the other side of the pond. Aimee trails after him, and in the stillness of that forest the unthinkable happens. She becomes paralyzed and watches in horror as her hands vanish before her eyes. Waking to the sound of voices, Aimee realizes that she has been kidnapped. Little does she know how far away from home she is, though. In an attempt to flee her captors, she launches from their confines only to freeze at the view outside the window. The sky is black and filled with stars, and in the distance is a familiar blue globe. The planet Earth. A group of humans forced to flee their planet after an epidemic destroyed their civilization now travel the galaxies in search of an antidote. Retrieving samples of plant life from every solar system, on this occasion Aimee was accidentally seized instead. Aimee must learn to avoid the advances of an awkward young scientist who seems intent on dissecting her, as her own fascination turns to the exotic young warrior, Zak. Having fallen in love with Zak, she is now torn with the decision to return to Earth or live beyond the stars.

Fireseed One


Catherine Stine - 2010
    Varik Teitur inherits a vast sea farm after the mysterious drowning of his marine biologist father. When Marisa Baron, a beautiful and shrewd terrorist, who knows way too much about Varik's father's work, tries to steal seed disks from the world's food bank, Varik is forced to put his dreams of becoming a doctor on hold and venture with her, into a hot zone teeming with treacherous nomads and a Fireseed cult who worships his dead father, in order to search for Fireseed, a seemingly magical hybrid plant that may not even exist. Fans of Divergent will likely enjoy this as well as those who like romance with their page-turners. ***Indie Reader notable, YA finalist in sci-fi & YA in USA News International Book Awards and Amazon bestseller. Includes discussion questions for book club or classroom.

Sentinel


Jamie Foley - 2013
    Now Darien’s car is wrecked, his sister is bleeding out, and the only medical aid is at the reclusive Serran Academy.Some say the Serrans have blood-bonds with angels. Some say they have surreal mental abilities. Some say the gods grant them elemental powers.But when the Academy is targeted for harvesting, its secrets—and the collapse of modern civilization—are the least of Darien’s worries.

Born to Magic


David Wind - 2015
    Long ago, the violence and radiation of the terrorist wars killed America. Those left dwell in a world of ritual and magic where ten dominions struggle for supremacy and a dark power rises to claim all. Areenna, the only daughter of the King of Freemorn, is barely eighteen, yet her psychic ability is strong. She is summoned to ‘The Island’ and learns that the fate of her world is in her hands. She must undertake a perilous journey to save Nevaeh from destruction. But she will not travel alone. Mikaal, the son of the High King of Nevaeh, has as much at stake as Areenna. Their quest takes them through haunted wastelands filled with mutants while an evil force does everything in its power to stop Areenna and Mikaal—for it wants Nevaeh as its own.

The Pearl Savage


Tamara Rose Blodgett - 2011
    alternate cover edition of ASIN B00563HRPMSeventeen-year old princess, Clara Williamson, lives an old-fashioned existence in a biosphere of the future.When her sadistic mother, Queen Ada, betroths her to an abusive prince of a neighboring sphere, Clara determines to escape Outside, where savages roam free.Clara escapes tyranny only to discover the savages are not the only people who survived the cataclysmic events of one hundred forty years prior.Once Outside, Clara finds herself trapped, unable to return to the abusive life of the sphere while facing certain danger Outside.Can Clara find love and freedom with the peril that threatens to consume her?Cover art by Phatpuppyart.com

Alignment


H.G. Suren - 2015
    A sunless and moonless sky is covered with an enormous barrier that prevents any view of the heavens.And silence, pervasive and absolute, reigns. Nothing stirs. The air is oppressive and there is no wind, not even the softest breeze.As far as the five friends can tell, there isn’t another living thing on earth other than them, neither animal nor plant. What happened to life on Earth while they slept? Are they all that's left, these five closest of friends? Is humanity really gone? Are they really still on Earth or have they been transported elsewhere -- another planet, heaven, hell, pawns in a sophisticated computer game? Is it all just their imagination?Aram believes they aren't dead. He believes if there is a way into the Silent World, then there must be a way out. He must convince his friends to stay focused and put up a worthy fight to find their way back to the reality they once knew. He can't give up, because somewhere out there, beyond their frightening new world, is a new-born son waiting for his Daddy's return.The debut novel from H.G. Suren, Alignment: The Silent City, is a novel comparable to The Mist by Stephan King and Pines by Blake Crouch.

The Last Girl


Joe Hart - 2016
    Medical science and governments around the world scramble in an effort to solve the problem, but twenty-five years later there is no cure, and an entire generation grows up with a population of fewer than a thousand women.Zoey and some of the surviving young women are housed in a scientific research compound dedicated to determining the cause. For two decades, she’s been isolated from her family, treated as a test subject, and locked away—told only that the virus has wiped out the rest of the world’s population.Captivity is the only life Zoey has ever known, and escaping her heavily armed captors is no easy task, but she’s determined to leave before she is subjected to the next round of tests…a program that no other woman has ever returned from. Even if she’s successful, Zoey has no idea what she’ll encounter in the strange new world beyond the facility’s walls. Winning her freedom will take brutality she never imagined she possessed, as well as all her strength and cunning—but Zoey is ready for war.

Arena One: Slaverunners


Morgan Rice - 2012
    2120. American has been decimated, wiped out from the second Civil War. In this post-apocalyptic world, survivors are far and few between. And most of those who do survive are members of the violent gangs, predators who live in the big cities. They patrol the countryside looking for slaves, for fresh victims to bring back into the city for their favorite death sport: Arena One. The death stadium where opponents are made to fight to the death, in the most barbaric of ways. There is only one rule to the arena: no one survives. Ever. Deep in the wilderness, high up in the Catskill Mountains, 17 year old Brooke Moore manages to survive, hiding out with her younger sister, Bree. They are careful to avoid the gangs of slaverunners who patrol the countryside. But one day, Brooke is not as careful as she can be, and Bree is captured. The slaverunners take her away, heading to the city, and to what will be a certain death. Brooke, a Marine’s daughter, was raised to be tough, to never back down from a fight. When her sister is taken, Brooke mobilizes, uses everything at her disposal to chase down the slaverunners and get her sister back. Along the way she runs into Ben, 17, another survivor like her, whose brother was taken. Together, they team up on their rescue mission. What follows is a post-apocalyptic, action-packed thriller, as the two of them pursue the slaverunners on the most dangerous ride of their lives, following them deep into the heart of New York. Along the way, if they are to survive, they will have to make some of the hardest choices and sacrifices of their lives, encountering obstacles neither of them had expected—including their unexpected feelings for each other. Will they rescue their siblings? Will they make it back? And will they, themselves, have to fight in the arena?

Division of the Marked


March McCarron - 2013
    She’s all fire. He’s all heart. But the same ancient symbol brands their skin, marking them as members of the Chisanta—a superhuman society of scholars and warriors. Together, they travel far to undergo a brutal initiation trial, and form a bond that neither can forget.As young adults, they clash.Years later these friends-turned-rivals reunite, and fond memories won’t stop them from crossing swords. She doesn’t trust him. He doesn’t understand her. But if they don’t learn to work together, a troubling string of deaths will remain unsolved. And the fate of their kind could hang in the balance.

The Narrowing Path


David J. Normoyle - 2013
    In Arcandis, those who want to live must claim the limited places in the Refuge, a series of underground caverns cooled by the sea.The teenage boys of noble birth are sent out into the city to demonstrate their wits and strength. Some prove themselves in combat, others display their empire building skills, still others attempt to kill off their rivals. Out of over a hundred, only six will be selected by the leaders of the great families and allowed a place in the Refuge. The rest will perish, one way or another.Not only is thirteen-year-old Bowe younger and weaker than most of the other boys, he has no family to support him. He is expected to die on the very first day of the narrowing path. Instead he begins a journey no one could have anticipated.

The Game


Terry Schott - 2012
    The best players are celebrities, adored and worshiped by countless fans. Zack is a superstar among players.His final play may change the world, forever...

Halfskin


Tony Bertauski - 2012
    No more kidney failure, no severed spines or blood disease. No cancer. Pharmaceuticals become obsolete. With each dose of biomites, we become stronger, we become smarter and prettier. We become better.At what point are we no longer human?Nix Richards nearly died in a car accident when he was young. Biomites saved his life. Ten years later, he’s not so lucky. The Halfskin Laws decree a human composed of 50% biomites is no longer human. Halfskins have no legal rights and will have their biomites shutdown. It’s not called murder, merely deactivation. Cali Richards has been Nix’s legal guardian since their parents died. She has lost far too many people in her life to let the government take Nix. She is a nanobiometric engineer and will discover how to hide him. But even brilliance can succumb to the pressure of suffering. And technology can’t cure insanity.Cali and Nix keep a slippery grip on reality as they elude a maniacal federal agent dedicated to saving humanity from what he calls 'The Biomite Plague'.