A Different Light


Elizabeth A. Lynn - 1978
    Jimson Alleca can live another 20 years with drugs and a peaceful lifestyle -- if he stays in space-normal. But he's willing to risk it all to make the jump into the Hype, the shimmering "not space" for one year among the stars.

One Good Hand


Rowan McBride - 2006
    The gutter, the penthouse—they've both been home at one point or another. Right now he's on top, he's a winner, and sharks from all over the world are lining up to take him down.Life is...good.Then, Ace wins Spade in a high stakes poker game. The enigmatic man calls him 'master' and refuses to be set free. He slips past carefully constructed walls, becoming more perfect, more erotic, with every second. Ace knows he's in over his head. Cards can give and cards can take.And one good hand is about to change his life forever.Publisher's Note: "One Good Hand" is a revised, reedited version of a previous release by the same name.

A Companion to Wolves


Sarah Monette - 2007
    Isolfr is deeply drawn to the wolves, and though as his father's heir he can refuse the call, he chooses to go. The people of this wintry land depend on the wolfcarls to protect them from the threat of trolls and wyverns, though the supernatural creatures have not come in force for many years. Men are growing too confident. The wolfhealls are small, and the lords give them less respect than in former years.  But the winter of Isolfr's bonding, the trolls come down from the north in far greater numbers than before, and the holding's complaisance gives way to terror in the dark. Isolfr, now bonded to a queen wolf, Viradechtis, must learn where his honor lies, and discover the lengths to which he will to go when it, and love for his wolf, drive him.

Bone Rider


J. Fally - 2013
    Misha Tokarev, the love of his life, turned out to be an assassin for the Russian mob, and when it comes to character flaws, Riley draws the line at premeditated murder. Alien armor system McClane is also on the run, for reasons that include accidentally crashing a space ship into Earth and evading U.S. military custody. A failed prototype, McClane was scheduled for destruction. Sabotaging the ship put an end to that, but McClane is dubbed a bone rider for good reason—he can’t live without a host body. That’s why he first stows away in Riley's truck and then in Riley himself. Their reluctant partnership soon evolves into something much more powerful—and personal—than either of them could have imagined.Together, they embark on a road trip from hell, made all the more exciting by the government troops and mob enforcers hot on their trail. Misha is determined to win Riley back and willing to do whatever it takes to keep him safe. When hitman and alien join forces, they discover their impressive combined potential for death and destruction. It will take everything Riley has to steer them through the mess they create.

The Gumshoe, the Witch, and the Virtual Corpse


Keith Hartman - 1999
    During your stay, depending on your tastes, you can cruise gay midtown (I hear that the Inquisition Health Club has introduced manacles and chains to the aerobics class) or check out the Reverend-Senator Stonewall's headquarters at Freedom Plaza (watch out for the Christian Militia guarding it, though) or attend a sky-clad Wiccan sabbat (by invitation only). Avoid the courthouse, where the Cherokee have turned out in full war-paint to renegotiate a nineteenth-century land deal. Also stay away from all cemeteries, at least until the police find out why someone is disinterring and crucifying corpses. As you can tell, this is a lively novel, full of intricate plotting and engaging off-beat characters. Among the latter are a gay detective, a Wiccan family, an ambitious televangelist with an eye on the White House, an artist whose medium is flesh and blood, a Cherokee drag queen--and then there's poor Benji, who would just like to make it to his fifteenth birthday, assuming the MIBS don't get him first or his Baptist parents don't ground him for life because his new girlfriend is a witch.

Dreamer


Steven Harper - 2001
    It is a plane of mental existence where people are able to communicate with one another by their thoughts alone — over distances of thousands of light-years. To ensure that future generations will have this ability, human genetic engineering produces newborns capable of finding and navigating the Dream.They became known as the Silent.Rust is just one planet among many in the Empire of Human Unity. It’s nothing special, nothing unusual . . . except for the fact that it is home to an unknown boy who may be the most powerful Silent ever born — a Silent with the ability to possess the bodies of others against their will. This mysterious child may be causing tremors within the Dream itself.For now, only the Children of Irfan know about him. A monastic-like order of the Silent, the Children protect their members even as they barter their services with the governments and corporations that control known space. But power like that cannot be hidden, and soon every Silent in the universe will know about the boy — and every government will be willing to go to war to control him.And if the Children of Irfan cannot find him first, the Dream itself may be shattered ...

Incursion


Aleksandr Voinov - 2012
     When the local authorities ask Kyle Juenger to hunt a shape-shifting Glyrinny spy, he can’t refuse. After all, he can use the reward to replace his paralyzed legs with cyberware, and maybe even to return to his home planet. Besides, he hates the morphs—those invasive, brain-eating monstrosities whose weapons cost him his legs. Kyle’s best lead is the Scorpion, a mercenary ship armed to the teeth. Grimm, the Scorpion’s pilot and captain, fascinates Kyle. He’s everything Kyle lost with his legs, and he’s from the same home world. He’s also of the warrior caste—half priest, half savior. But Grimm’s been twisted by life as a merc, and Kyle’s stuck undercover as a criminal on the run. That doesn’t stop Grimm from coming on to Kyle, or from insisting he’s more than the sum of his past and his useless legs. But Kyle has other concerns—like tracking a dangerous morph who could be wearing anyone’s face. And as if things weren’t complicated enough, Kyle can’t tell if Grimm is part of the solution . . . or part of the problem.

The Stark Divide


J. Scott Coatsworth - 2017
     The Earth is in a state of collapse, with wars breaking out over resources and an environment pushed to the edge by human greed. Three living generation ships have been built with a combination of genetic mastery, artificial intelligence, technology, and raw materials harvested from the asteroid belt. This is the story of one of them—43 Ariadne, or Forever, as her inhabitants call her—a living world that carries the remaining hopes of humanity, and the three generations of scientists, engineers, and explorers working to colonize her. From her humble beginnings as a seedling saved from disaster to the start of her journey across the void of space toward a new home for the human race, The Stark Divide tells the tales of the world, the people who made her, and the few who will become something altogether beyond human. Humankind has just taken its first step toward the stars.

The Sorcerer's Betrayal


Tricia Owens - 2012
    But Hadrian is a mystery: shy and secretive, hailing from an island supposedly inhabited by sorcerers; he has come to Caledon's city to recruit the mercenaries for a well-paying job offered by Hadrian's father... but it is a lie. Hadrian is far more dangerous than his gentle disposition would suggest, and what he wants with Caledon and the mercenaries of Rhiad will change the land of Juxtan forever and set in motion a prophecy that will bind two men together in love and hatred until death.

Zenith


Arshad Ahsanuddin - 2014
    Despite his misgivings, the chance to get back in the pilot’s seat is too much to pass up, and he convinces his best friend and crewmate, Charles Davenport, to leave the military temporarily and join him as part of the crew of the Zenith, humanity’s first starship.Edward Harlen is a brilliant young engineer, and a key player in the construction of the Zenith to take advantage of the untested technology of foldspace drive. But Edward has his own agenda in joining the project, and a bitterly personal score to settle with his boss, Trevor Sutton, a vendetta of which Trevor is entirely ignorant. When Edward’s sister Stella enters the picture and manages to secure a position on the project, all of Edward’s careful plotting is upset, and she might spell the downfall not only of his plans for revenge, but of the entire Zenith mission.The spark of attraction between Edward and Martin is a complication that Edward can’t afford, but of which he can’t let go. For Edward knows the secret at the heart of the Interscission Project, the hidden potential of the technology that in the wrong hands could become the ultimate assassin’s weapon: the ability to rewrite history, not just once, but many times. As an unseen enemy moves to destroy them, and the body count multiplies in their wake, Martin and Edward must choose whether they will allow the possibility of love to challenge their destinies, or will they instead take up arms in a war to control the most ancient and terrible power in the universe.Time, itself.

The Ivory Prison


Myka Ramos - 2012
    Born in a mysterious facility, he knows he's not human, but an experiment with a purpose that no one is willing to reveal. His life is a routine and an hourglass of when he will disappear. He has no hopes, no dreams, until one day someone new interrupts that routine. Someone like him, someone free, and it changes everything.

The Merro Tree


Katie Waitman - 1997
    His sublime, ethereal performances were unforgettable, drawing on the most treasured traditions of every culture, every people, throughout inhabited space. His crowning achievement, and his obsession: the Somalite song dance, an art form that transcends both song and movement to become something greater and more spectacular . . . almost divine.When tragic events caused performance of the song dance to be proscribed, Mikk was devastated . . . until his strong sense of justice forced him to defy the ban. His trial will be the most sensational in the recent history of the galaxy; the sentence he faces is death. Now the greatest performance master must hope to become the greatest escape artist. Somehow Mikk must break the stranglehold of censorship and change the law . . . or die trying!

On Wings of Song


Anne Barwell - 2014
     Six years after meeting British soldier Aiden Foster during the Christmas Truce of 1914, Jochen Weber still finds himself thinking about Aiden, their shared conversation about literature, and Aiden’s beautiful singing voice. A visit to London gives Jochen the opportunity to search for Aiden, but he’s shocked at what he finds. The uniform button Jochen gave him is the only thing Aiden has left of the past he’s lost. The war and its aftermath ripped everything away from him, including his family and his music. When Jochen reappears in his life, Aiden enjoys their growing friendship but knows he has nothing to offer. Not anymore. Author’s note: This story was originally published in 2014 by another publisher. This edition has some added content, and uses UK spelling to reflect its setting.

Lover & Commander


Jez Morrow - 2008
    So he cannot understand how he ended up under the command of barbarian Earthbreed Liam Grey.Ace fighter pilot Liam is the sort of untamed brute that Kuryeen females pretend to have no interest in — but they always look.Talon finds Liam's so-called boyish charm childish. Liam is brash, brazen, shameless — qualities not valued by the Kuryeen. To the warrior, pride is everything and Talon would choose death before shame. Talon is afraid of Liam and cannot say why. Friendly, cheerful Liam is no one his wingman should fear. So why does Talon's guard go up the first moment Liam brushes near him? Talon only knows that his commander presents a threat to him beyond his ability to resist.

The Degan Incident


Rob Colton - 2012
    Just as they begin to fall in love, Bastian disappears without a trace.When Devin's encounter with Bastian triggers a startling change in his body, he is taken captive and held in a top-secret research facility.Will Bastian find Devin before it's too late?