Star Trek Discovery Boldly Goes Where None Has Gone Before in the Season 2 Finale

Posted on April 20, 2019 by Cora

This is the last weekly Star Trek Discovery review for the time being, since the season finale aired last night. For my takes on previous episodes, go here BTW.

Warning! Spoilers behind the cut! Continue reading →

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Ian McEwan is Clueless about Science Fiction

Posted on April 17, 2019 by Cora

I have to admit that I never liked Ian McEwan. He always struck me as the sort of white middle class dude novelist who believes that his white middle class dude stories are somehow of universal human relevance. I disliked Atonement intensely and didn’t feel much more charitable towards Saturday and On Chesil Beach, all of which came out when I was at university or – in the case of On Chesil Beach – shortly after I finished, at a time the writings of important and award-winning white dude novelists were something I was supposed to care about. Coincidentally, I just realised that McEwan has published four novels plus a fifth, which will be the subject of this post, since On Chesil Beach, all of which completely passed me by, which shows that once I finished university I stopped paying attention to writers whose work I don’t like. Or maybe McEwan’s cultural relevance is fading and his latter books got less attention than his earlier ones.

Besides, McEwan is the sort of writer who inevitably has to weigh in on every political issue and is usually on the wrong side. He made islamophobic remarks, was in favour of the Iraq War and criticised anti-war protesters (though he has since admitted that he was wrong and the protesters right – well, better late than never). Though amazingly, he is opposed to Brexit, so maybe he really has learned. And then there is the appalling treatment of his first wife, who apparently embarassed him in front of his cool friends, because she was into New Age stuff. His Wikipedia entry has the whole ugly story with links and sources.

So in short, I don’t like Ian McEwan and I don’t care for his work. And when I saw that he had a new book out called Machines Like Me, which was apparently about artificial intelligence, I groaned and thought, “Oh great, another white dude novelist who deigns to descend from literary heights and either believes he invented science fiction or that he doesn’t write it at all. And I bet the novel is totally unoriginal and tells a story that has been done to death.” Then I went about my day, cause I stopped caring about what Ian McEwan wrote when I finished university.

However, other folks still pay attention to what Ian McEwan says or does and so Tim Adams’ recent interview with Ian McEwan in The Guardian caught some attention among genre folks for the complete and utter cluelessness both interviewer and interviewee display about science fiction.

Here is a quote:

McEwan has an abiding faith that novels are the best place to examine such ethical dilemmas, though he has little time for conventional science fiction. “There could be an opening of a mental space for novelists to explore this future, not in terms of travelling at 10 times the speed of light in anti-gravity boots, but in actually looking at the human dilemmas of being close up to something that you know to be artificial but which thinks like you. If a machine seems like a human or you can’t tell the difference, then you’d jolly well better start thinking about whether it has responsibilities and rights and all the rest.”

I guess even at The Guardian (which actually does a pretty good job of covering genre fiction otherwise) you could hear the groans from science fiction folks, as they wonder how McEwan has managed to miss that science fiction has done all that and asked precisely those questions and has done it for decades. And indeed, D. Franklin asks exactly that question in this excellent Twitter thread, which is also full of suggestions for books and movies (There are responses like, “But surely he has seen 2001 or Blade Runner or Humans or Avengers: Age of Ultron or Ex Machina or Star Trek: The Next Generation?”) to fill Ian McEwan’s and Tim Adams’ knowledge gap. And finally, someone also asks, “But surely he has read at least Frankenstein?”

Well, apparently McEwan has read Frankenstein, he just didn’t get it, at any rate if this quote from the interview is any indication:

In this sense, you might say, he is coming at the AI question from the opposite angle to Mary Shelley in Frankenstein. “There the monster is a metaphor for science out of control, but it is ourselves out of control that I am interested in.”

ETA: It turns out that they really did hear the groans at The Guardian, for on April 18, they published a piece of Sarah Ditum about how the snobbery of Ian McEwan and other literary authors such as Vladimir Nabokov and yes, Margaret Atwood, is somewhat behind the times, especially since Margaret Atwood has embraced the science fiction label by now and Nabokov is too dead to comment. Sarah Ditum also tries to explain where the snobbery against science fiction came from and that it is usually based on outdated ideas about the genre. Finally, she also interviews authors who proudly write science fiction and who straddle the line between literary and science fiction. It’s a much better and more interesting article than the Ian McEwan interview that inspired it.

ETA 2: At Factor Daily, Gautham Shenoy also responds to Ian McEwan and declares that McEwan displays a remarkable amount of ignorance for a Booker Prize winner.

Of course, it’s possible that McEwan was misquoted or his words taken out of context, as some folks in the comments at File 770 wonder. After all, we’ve seen again and again when writers normally known for literary fiction suddenly decide to write science fiction that even if the writer in question isn’t clueless about science fiction, a lot of mainstream critics are and reviews and interviews tend to reflect that. One example is Frank Schätzing‘s 2009 novel Limit, a science fiction novel (though marketed as a thriller) wherein a space elevator plays a role. Now Schätzing himself definitely isn’t clueless about science fiction, but every single mainstream review of the novel focussed so totally on the space elevator and what an awesome innovative idea it was that they completely forgot to mention what the novel actually was about (aside from a space elevator, obviously) or whether it was any good. Interviews were just as bad, because Schätzing found himself having to explain what a space elevator is and how it works over and over again and wasn’t even asked a single question about the rest of the novel.

So in short, it’s quite possible that interviewer Tim Adams quoted McEwan out of context, especially since The Guardian article is not a direct interview transcript, but rather a profile with quotes. However in the comments at File 770, John S. linked to two more articles about McEwan’s newest novel, which seem to confirm that he really is as clueless as he comes across.

The first of this is an article by Matt Reynolds in Wired, a source no one would accuse of being clueless about science fiction, which literally starts out with the sentence, “Ian McEwan has no interest in science fiction.”

The second article, an interview conducted by Barry Didcock and published in the Scottish newspaper The Herald, is even more damning. Here is a quote:

“One of the reasons I’ve never been a fan of science fiction is that by setting a novel in the future it always has a vaguely predictive quality. The chances of it being right are minimal,” he says. “The other is the technological stuff. Although I’m fascinated by science in general, my toes curl when people are crossing the universe at a trillion times the speed of light because the empiricist in me is saying ‘Well if they’re exceeding the speed of light, then we have to have a whole new physics’.”

Oh dear, so McEwan is a mundane science fiction adherent, too, not that he has ever heard of the term. Not to mention that even if FTL breaks his suspension of disbelief, there are still plenty of science fiction novels for him to read without a whiff of FTL.

Let’s have another quote from The Herald interview:

He isn’t over-fond of other labels for it either, such as speculative fiction or alternative history. “I think it lies along the path of many of my earlier novels. I think of it as a literary novel.” But he does admit that besides allowing him to have Turing as a character, the alternate 1982 setting makes him “immune from any of the demands of the realistic novel, which I’ve been in flight from for these last few novels. I spent years writing novels which I patiently researched to get everything right and getting everything right is incredibly hard. You always get letters correcting you on this and that. Here, I’m beyond correction because everything is fake. It’s all smoke and mirrors.”

And here we have the classic, “I’m not writing science fiction or speculative fiction or alternate history [except that he totally is], I’m writing literary fiction.” Plus, he apparently opted to set his novel in an alternate 1982 with robots and a living Alan Turing, because he was too lazy to do his research, which is certainly something. Though I guess we should be grateful that McEwan didn’t decide to write about an alternate reality where the Nazis won WWII, cause that has totally never been done before.

Now I really wish the endless literary vs. genre fiction debate would die already and I’m not a fan of the blanket dismissals of literary fiction you find in some corners of SFF either. I’ve repeatedly defended Margaret Atwood, who still gets dinged for something dismissive about science fiction (“Science fiction is about giant squids”) she said in an interview more than ten years ago. Never mind that we still don’t know the full context of the “giant squid” remark and likely never will, unless the BBC releases the full radio interview during which said remark was made. And never mind that Margaret Atwood has repeatedly clarified what she meant and has actually outed herself as a fan of sorts (she read superhero comics and Weird Tales as a kid) since. Large parts of the SFF community still hate her for the “giant squid” remark and wouldn’t even nominate The Handmaid’s Tale TV series for a Hugo two years in a row (while nominating two episodes each of the execrable Good Place in 2018 and 2019), because the TV show which won every award imaginable in 2017/2018 isn’t good enough for the Hugos, cause some people hate the author of the novel the series is based upon.

Not to mention that there is a lot of very good SFF published outside the genre, e.g. Zone One and Underground Railroad (which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Clarke Award) by Colson Whitehead, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (as well as Gentlemen of the Road and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which are at least genre-adjacent) by Michael Chabon, The Power by Naomi Alderman, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, Vox by Christina Dalcher, Red Clocks by Leni Zumas and yes, The Handmaid’s Tale as well as The Heart Goes Last and the MaddAdam trilogy by Margaret Atwood.

But whenever it seems that we can finally lay the old genre vs. literary fiction debate to rest for good, some white dude literary writer, usually of the critically acclaimed sort, comes along and writes the world’s most cliched science fiction novel, only that he of course would never lower himself to write SF, oh no. And based on the interviews and articles linked above, Machines Like Me does sound like the world’s most cliched science fiction novel. I mean, the robot models are named Adam and Eve. There is a love triangle involving a sexbot (actually, if those robots have any other purpose than sex, it’s not discernible from the articles). There is the question whether robots can distinguish between justice and mercy, a debate that Elijah Bailey and Daneel R. Olivaw already has in The Caves of Steel sixty-six years ago. And based on this excerpt from the Times Literary Supplement, the novel is just as bad as it sounds. The infodump in the second excerpt is particularly groan-worthy. Though at least we learn that the robots aren’t good only for sex, but also give cooking advice and vet potential dates for you.

ETA: According to this largely positive review by Marcel Theroux from The Guardian (though he does criticise the infodumps), McEwan also explains the technical details of how his robot Adam is able to able to achieve erections, for those who really care about the tech specs of sexbots. This book really seems to be veering off into Alfred and Bertha territory.

ETA 2: Here is another review of Machines Like Me. This one is by Julian Lucas in The New Yorker. Once more, the review is largely positive, though Julian Lucas is less clueless about science fiction than Ian McEwan.

Honestly, when I read about Machines Like Me, I kept thinking: This has to be an elaborate parody. Not even Ian McEwan could be so clueless. After all, he’s friends with Martin Amis, as every article unfailingly notes (well, they’re both the same kind of unpleasant white dude novelists). McEwan must have known Kingsley Amis or at least met him. And Kingsley Amis could have told him how very cliched his “not really SF” novel was.

But alas, it seems that McEwan is one hundred percent serious and truly has no idea how silly and cliched the plot of Machines Like Me sounds. So I’d like to close with this great 2011 article, also from The Guardian, by the late Iain M. Banks, which Gareth L. Powell mentioned on Twitter. Banks couldn’t possibly have known about Ian McEwan’s totally original, never done before “not science fiction” novel, though the hypothetical example of a clueless literary writer pitching the world’s most cliched mystery novel certainly sounds like he was taking aim at McEwan (though there are so many other examples).

So let’s have a quote from Iain M. Banks:

The point is that science fiction is a dialogue, a process. All writing is, in a sense; a writer will read something – perhaps something quite famous, even a classic – and think “But what if it had been done this way instead…?” And, standing on the shoulders of that particular giant, write something initially similar but developmentally different, so that the field evolves and further twists and turns are added to how stories are told as well as to the expectations and the knowledge of pre-existing literary patterns readers bring to those stories. Science fiction has its own history, its own legacy of what’s been done, what’s been superseded, what’s so much part of the furniture it’s practically part of the fabric now, what’s become no more than a joke… and so on. It’s just plain foolish, as well as comically arrogant, to ignore all this, to fail to do the most basic research. In a literature so concerned with social as well as technical innovation, with the effects of change – incremental as well as abrupt – on individual humans and humanity as whole, this is a grievous, fundamentally hubristic mistake to commit.

And here is the moneyshot:

In the end, writing about what you know – that hoary and potentially limiting, even stultifying piece of advice – might be best seen as applying to the type of story you’re thinking of writing rather than to the details of what happens within it and perhaps, with that in mind, a better precept might be to write about what you love, rather than what you have a degree of contempt for but will deign to lower yourself to, just to show the rest of us how it’s done.

This last bit of advice applies not just to literary writers dabbling in SFF, by the way, but indeed to all writers, including indie writers who write romance, because they think it’s easy money, though they have no real knowledge of and respect for the genre and would rather write something else.

So write what you love. And have some knowledge of the genre you’re planning to write.

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Star Trek Discovery jerks the old tear ducts again in the aptly named “Such Sweet Sorrow”

Posted on April 13, 2019 by Cora

Welcome back to our regularly scheduled Star Trek Discovery episode by episode review. Yesterday’s episode “Such Sweet Sorrow” was the penultimate episode of the second season and I for one am pretty glad that season 2 will soon be over, probably because I was ill for at least half the season and doing these reviews became unexpectedly exhausting. For my take on previous episodes, go here.

Warning: Spoilers under the cut! Continue reading →

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Star Trek Discovery passes “Through the Valley of Shadows”

Posted on April 6, 2019 by Cora

I’m still not fully recovered from the flu from hell, but here is your regularly scheduled Star Trek Discovery review. For my take on previous episodes, go here.

Warning! Spoilers under the cut! Continue reading →

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Some Thoughts on the Hugo Award Finalists, Part II: The 2019 Hugo Awards

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Cora

And here is part II of my overview of the 2019 Hugo Award and 1944 Retro Hugo Award finalists, this time with the 2019 Hugo Award finalists. Part I with my take on the 1944 Retro Hugo finalists is here.

If you want to check out the 2019 Hugo Award finalists and don’t want to wait for the voter packet (or are not a WorldCon 77 member), JJ has compiled a list where to find them for free online at File 770.

Now I was largely happy with the 1944 Retro Hugo finalists. A lot of great works recognised, only one lackluster category and one finalist I flat out hate. My feelings on the 2019 Hugo Award finalists are a lot more mixed. There is a lot here I like and also a lot I don’t particularly care for.

So let’s take a look at the individual categories: Continue reading →

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Some Thoughts on the Hugo Award Finalists, Part I: The 1944 Retro Hugo Awards

Posted on April 2, 2019 by Cora

So the finalists for the 2019 Hugo Awards and the 1944 Retro Hugo Awards were announced today. This time, the announcement manages not to coincide with any major holidays of any world religion, though personally I really prefer it, when they announce on a weekend rather than a weekday. It’s also kind of annoying that the announcement for both sets of awards is made in the same post, which means that you have to scroll down past the current year Hugos to get to the Retro Hugos.

So let’s take a look at the nominees. Retro Hugos first, than the current year Hugos in part II, which may be found here:

The most remarkable thing about the 1944 Retro Hugos is that there is no Heinlein. Not a single Heinlein story was nominated for the Retro Hugos this year, not because fandom has suddenly lost its taste for Heinlein, but because Heinlein was too busy in 1943 testing military equipment at the Navy Yard* to write science fiction. Also notable by his absence (except for one fairly obscure story) is Isaac Asimov, who was also too busy testing military equipment at the Navy Yard to write, though unlike Heinlein, Asimov didn’t have a choice, because he was at danger of being drafted and expected (not without justification) that he’d be killed if he were ever taken prisoner, as Alec Nevala-Lee describes in his (excellent) chronicle of the Golden Age and what followed Astounding.

World War II also took other Golden Age stalwarts such as Lester Del Rey (also busily doing something at the Navy Yard) and L. Ron Hubbard (busily shooting at phantom subs off the Mexican coast) out of the game, leaving the field open for other voices and the 1944 Retro Hugo finalists certainly reflect that. This is a good thing, because it means that writers who are not normally recognised by the Retro Hugo Awards (though some of them have been recognised by the regular Hugos) finally get their dues.

So let’s take a look at the individual categories: Continue reading →

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First Monday Free Fiction: Egg Hunt

Posted on April 1, 2019 by Cora

April 1 is a Monday this year, therefore it’s time for the second edition of First Monday Free Fiction. To recap, inspired by Kristine Kathryn Rusch who posts a free short story every week on her blog, I’ll post a free story on every first Monday of the month. It will remain free to read on this blog for exactly one month, then I’ll take it down and post another story.

Egg Hunt by Cora BuhlertAnd since Easter is later this month, what story could be more fitting than Egg Hunt, an Easter mystery from my Helen Shepherd Mysteries series? This one is technically a novelette, since it’s just over the 7500 word mark.

So follow Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd and her team as they tackle the mysterious case of a priceless Fabergé egg that has gone missing from the London home of a Russian oligarch.

 

 

Egg Hunt

Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd manoeuvred her car into a parking space in a quiet side street in Belgravia, the dark green Rover looking distinctly shabby among all the BMWs, Mercedeses and Porsches parked along the curb. She even spotted a Bentley and — holy ghost, was that a Ferrari?

The street was peaceful, the blooming forsythias and Japanese cherries giving it a springtime flair. Number 34 was one of the familiar cream white stucco houses that lined the street. In many ways, the place looked like and probably had served as the set for Upstairs, Downstairs. However, instead of the English upper class and their army of servants, number 34 now served as the London residence of a Russian oligarch named Yevgeny Ivanov and his wife.

Police Constable Martin Jackson and another uniform were flanking the entrance, looking more like decorative security guards than police officers.

“Good morning, ma’am,” PC Jackson said, tipping his cap.

In his hand, there was a little box of what upon closer examination turned out to be chocolates. “Belgian chocolate Easter eggs,” he said by way of explanation, “Would you like one, ma’am?”

Now Helen actually had a bar of Marks & Spencer Swiss dark chocolate in her coat pocket to be enjoyed as an after-lunch snack later. Nonetheless, she’d never been one to pass up free chocolate, so she said, “Thank you, Constable. That’s very kind of you.”

PC Jackson handed Helen an egg of marbled dark and white chocolate. “Here you are, ma’am. Enjoy!”

Helen popped the egg into her mouth and indeed enjoyed it. Meanwhile, PC Jackson lifted the police tape for her. “Just go right through. DC Walker and the forensics people have already started.”

Inside, the house looked even more like the set of Upstairs, Downstairs — the Upstairs part at any rate. The furniture was classic, the paintings tasteful, the flower arrangements artful, the carpets thick and elegant. Nothing was out of place, nothing was jarring, nothing was less than absolutely perfect. All in all, the place looked more like a photo spread from Ideal Home rather than a house that was actually inhabited by living breathing human beings.

Helen suppressed a shudder. This house gave her the creeps and not just because something appalling had happened here.

She found Detective Constable Kevin Walker and Scene of the Crime Officer Charlotte Wong at the back of the house in the living room. At any rate, Helen assumed it was supposed to be the living room, since the place looked more like a showroom than like any living room she’d ever been in.

At least there was neither a body nor blood. Helen supposed she should be glad about that.

“Morning, boss,” DC Walker greeted her, while Charlotte Wong continued dusting every available surface for fingerprints, disturbing the sanctified perfection of the room in the process.

“All right, Constable. What happened here?”

“See that?” DC Walker pointed at an upright glass case, one of several scattered around the room. “Until approximately an hour ago, that case used to contain a priceless Fabergé egg.”

***

This story was available for free on this blog for one month only, but you can still read it in Egg Hunt. And if you click on the First Monday Free Fiction tag, you can read this month’s free story.

 

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Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for March 2019

Posted on March 31, 2019 by Cora

Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month
It’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of speculative fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though some February books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Once again, we have new releases covering the whole broad spectrum of speculative fiction. This month, we have epic fantasy, urban fantasy, historical fantasy, sword and sorcery, paranormal romance, paranormal mystery, space opera, military science fiction, hard science fiction, dark science fiction, dystopian fiction, steampunk, cyberpunk, witches, ghosts, werewolves, dragons, galactic empires, space smugglers, asteroid miners, slaves, dying worlds, dead girls, last minute rescues and much more.

Don’t forget that Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month is also crossposted to the Speculative Fiction Showcase, a group blog run by Jessica Rydill and myself, which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things speculative fiction several times per week.

As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.

And now on to the books without further ado:

Holly Cottage by Shelley AdinaHolly Cottage by Shelley Adina:

Buying a cottage is not as easy as you’d think. Especially if you’re a man with a past … in love with a woman with a future.

Maggie Polgarth astonishes everyone at Carrick House when, in a bid for independence, she buys a plot of land and a cottage near Vauxhall Gardens. From one decision, change ripples outward in the flock. Maggie transfers her scientific studies from Munich to London, leaving Lizzie behind. Two of the street sparrows leave the Malverns’ protection to go with her to her new home. And most significant of all, she meets a man who is not only well educated but also kind and handsome.

But the south bank gangs have not forgotten the Lady of Devices. If they cannot touch her, it’s only a matter of time before they take their revenge on someone closer to hand. Jake Fletcher McTavish will risk his own life before he allows anyone to harm a hair on Maggie’s head. He’s not afraid of the gangs and he’s a dab hand in a fight. But how can he show Maggie that his feelings run deeper than those of a brother? And how can he protect her when she seems to prefer the company of her new suitor—a man who is everything Jake is not?

If you like old-fashioned adventure, brave women, clever children, and strong-willed chickens, you’ll love this short story set in the Magnificent Devices steampunk world. Fangs for the Fantasy says, “The backbone of this great series is and has always been the characters. Their issues, their layers, their complexity, their solid relationships and their loyalties all elevate a good book to a really great one.”

The Forest of the Hanged by Richard Blakemore and Cora BuhlertThe Forest of the Hanged by Richard Blakemore and Cora Buhlert

According to the laws of the Rhadur, whenever one of their own is killed in one of the cities they have conquered, twelve citizens chosen at random must die in turn. Now the Rhadur governor of Greyvault has been murdered and in retaliation, his successor plans to hang twelve innocent maidens.

One of the women to be hanged is Lysha, the childhood sweetheart of Meldom, thief, cutpurse and occasional assassin. When Meldom learns of Lysha’s fate, he immediately sets out to rescue her, accompanied by his friends Thurvok, the sellsword, and the sorceress Sharenna…

This is a short story of 6500 words or 24 print pages in the Thurvok sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.

Monshine & Murder by Kathleen BrooksMoonshine & Murder by Kathleen Brooks:

Zoey Mathers had everything going for her until one night she lost her biggest client, her job, and her reputation. Leaving her life up to fate, Zoey closed her eyes and pointed. She would serve out her career exile in the small mountain town of Moonshine Hollow where moonshine flowed as freely as a mountain stream.

Giving up the law to become a baker in Moonshine Hollow turned out to be the best thing Zoey had ever done. She was happy and enjoying life in her new small town. But Zoey should have learned the first time . . . one night can change your whole life.

After unknowingly crashing a battle between witches, Zoey accidentally becomes a witch herself. That’s all before Zoey stumbles over a murder victim and the town’s sheriff becomes involved. Now she’s trying to find a murderer, stop two old witches from playing matchmaker, and learning she’s way more than a mere accidental witch.

And that’s all before fate turns up one more sexy hunk of a twist…

Seraphina's Lament by Sarah ChornSeraphina’s Lament by Sarah Chorn:

The world is dying.

The Sunset Lands are broken, torn apart by a war of ideology paid for with the lives of the peasants. Drought holds the east as famine ravages the farmlands. In the west, borders slam shut in the face of waves of refugees, dooming all of those trying to flee to slow starvation, or a future in forced labor camps. There is no salvation.

In the city of Lord’s Reach, Seraphina, a slave with unique talents, sets in motion a series of events that will change everything. In a fight for the soul of the nation, everyone is a player. But something ominous is calling people to Lord’s Reach and the very nature of magic itself is changing. Paths will converge, the battle for the Sunset Lands has shifted, and now humanity itself is at stake.

First, you must break before you can become.

Vultures by Mike CovilleVultures by Mike Coville:

When games of politics put the lives of deep space miner crews in danger, a coalition of captains organizes a resistance.

The crew of the DSM Boone are still reeling from being the target of a saboteur and the loss of a friend, but Captain Greg Daniels pushes them back out for lasso another asteroid. Will this break their spirit and cause a mutiny?

Computer specialist Zayna Watson doesn’t know who she can trust. Her world is being thrown into a roller-coaster ride of adventure, betrayal, and self-discovery. Will she stand with the one man that has given her all her opportunities, or is the evidence against him shown to her by an underground resistance movement convince her to bring down her mentor?

As a conspiracy is uncovered and alliances are being formed, who will be at the top when the dust settles?

Hello Protocol for Dead Girls by Zen DiPietroHello Protocol for Dead Girls by Zen DiPietro:

Jennika died under suspicious circumstances and her memories were uploaded for investigation. Somehow, they didn’t upload her memories alone. They uploaded her consciousness, too.

As she struggles within a perplexing computer network environment to find out how she died, she must also come to grips with the nature of her existence. Her body died, but she sure hasn’t. What does it mean to be alive, then?

She wants to talk to her friends and family, but they might not accept her. Before she can even try to reconnect with them, she has to get the people on the outside to recognize that she’s a real person, trapped inside technology.

She needs to establish a hello protocol–a way of establishing communication.

This story is like nothing you’ve read before. It’s Altered Carbon meets Gone Girl inside a digital environment. It will challenge you, then thrill you, then leave you wanting more. You’ll be on the edge of your seat as you explore this fascinating new technological existence with Jennika.

Wicked Delights by lily Harper HartWicked Delight by Lily Harper Hart:

Ivy Morgan and Jack Harker don’t have many complaints.

Things are good, life is quiet, and the only big thing on their to-do lists is picking a date for their wedding, which is exactly what they’re doing when a local celebutante approaches with an offer for Jack to be on a dating show.

He turns her down flat and goes on his way, but the next morning, she’s found dead and the list of suspects is endless thanks to the production landing smackdab in the middle of Shadow Lake.

Ivy doesn’t like having Hollywood on her doorstep. Jack is even worse, especially when he realizes the producers want Ivy to step in and take the dead heiress’s spot in the limelight. The idea of cameras following Ivy when magical things keep happening around her is enough to paralyze the couple … and then force them to run to avoid the harsh glare of the viewing public.

Jack and Ivy have a lot on their plates. They have to solve a murder, figure out what the witch in the woods is trying to tell them when it comes to the nature of the human soul, and pick a wedding date.

It’s all in a day’s work for Shadow Lake’s favorite couple. If they live to survive the dark force descending on their town, that is. They’ll have to work together to overcome imminent evil … but they’re used to that, of course.

The Ghost Who Says I Do by Bobbi HolmesThe Ghost Who Says I Do by Bobbi Holmes:

A Valentine’s Day Wedding at Marlow House?

Love is in the air—along with secrets—some are deadlier than others.

Will secrets from Clint Marlow’s past come back to haunt Walt and Danielle?

 

 

The Well of Time by Robert I. KatzThe Well of Time by Robert I. Katz:

Michael Glover, a military genius of the First Empire awakened from cold sleep after two thousand years, has spearheaded the Second Empire’s efforts against the Imperium.

But once the Imperium is defeated, it becomes apparent that the war is not over.

Second Empire ships are still being hijacked and Second Empire citizens sold into slavery. Spies and saboteurs continue to bore from within.

The Empire has enemies and those enemies are more powerful than the Second Empire can imagine.

Michael Glover and his crew are determined to discover the source of the conspiracy but before they can do so, a fleet of advanced ships, as large and as dangerous as the ships of the Second Empire, pose a new challenge to the Imperial worlds.

As the Empire teeters on the brink, Michael Glover must search for the final clue at the hidden Well of Time.

Lunar Escape by C.P. MacDonaldLunar Escape by C.P. MacDonald:

A mysterious secret society. A corrupt Governor. Can a simple smuggler stop the destruction of the moon?

Captain Calin Aku smuggles contraband and people from the cesspool of Earth to the Moon cities aboard his ship the Sea Rover. He leads and protects his small crew, pulling off heists and diving into adventures.

With a new client, the crew of the Sea Rover find themselves in a battle against a corrupt Governor and allied with a secret society hidden from humanity for a thousand years. Calin has no choice but to take action and to be more than a rogue outlaw. Can he defeat an all-powerful government to save his crew and the citizens of the Moon?

SYNTH #1, edited by C.M. MullerSYNTH #1: An Anthology of Dark SF, edited by C.M. Muller:

SYNTH is a new anthology series of dark SF published quarterly, with each issue containing eight thought-provoking visions of the future . . . tales of utopia and dystopia, of inner and outer space; tales that are bleak, tales that are bold . . .

ISSUE #1 features the dark visions of Dan Stintzi, Steve Toase, Virginie Sélavy, Charles Wilkinson, Farah Rose Smith, Jeffrey Thomas, Christopher K. Miller, and Joanna Koch. It is edited by CM Muller, creator of the award-winning Nightscript anthology series.

If you are a fan of Black Mirror, Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Alphaville, and the like, then SYNTH may well be your next literary fix.

Cloaked by Vanessa NelsonCloaked by Vanessa Nelson:

The world itself in peril.

Arrow’s sleep is being disturbed by nightmares that she cannot remember when awake. Her days are spent trying to build her new, simple, life in the human world and helping the shape-changers track down the last conspirators that tried to destroy the Erith.

But the Erith want her help one last time. The Erith heartland needs a new monarch, and the Erith require Arrow’s presence for the selection.

Nothing is that simple, though, and Arrow finds herself dealing with betrayal that could tear the heartland apart. She will need all her skills, and the help of the few people she trusts, to prevent the destruction of the heartland, and the world.

Draft of Dragons by T.S. PaulDraft of Dragons by T.S. Paul:

Suspended for political reasons Agatha and her team have returned to her home to rest and recuperate. But still another war looms on the horizon. The Draconic Empire is making it’s move towards earth. They’ve worked behind the scenes to disrupt any and all that stand before them. But Agatha is still alive and she and the Blackmore Coven are prepared. Whatever comes through the Garden Gate will trigger a war. Is America and Earth ready for it?

 

 

Malarat by Jessica RydillMalarat by Jessica Rydill:

The Duc de Malarat wants to conquer the Kingdom of Lefranu. In his army ride the ruthless and fanatical Domini Canes, warrior monks of the Inquisition who have forged a secret weapon to cripple the power of the shamans.

But when Malarat’s eldest son challenges a stranger to a duel, he sets in motion a terrifying train of events. For the stranger is Malchik Vasilyevich, now a man; and his sister Annat stands with her allies and the Railway People as a fully-trained shaman, prepared to defend the city of Yonar from Malarat’s army.

But Malchik and Annat will face foes much worse than the Duc de Malarat, even as the struggle that began in Lefranu spreads to the spirit world and beyond.

Wolf at the Door by Hollis ShilohWolf at the Door by Hollis Shiloh:

Devin has a lot to prove.

Rickey is just here for the free food.

Devin’s here to get a wolf shifter as a partner. The short, loud redhead intends to be the best cop in his class and doesn’t care if he gets on everyone’s nerves in the process. He loves fancy sports cars and has a competitive nature.

Rickey likes the van life and living by his own terms. But times have been tight for the wolf shifter lately, and signing up for this course seems like an easy way to keep the wolf from the door. All the free food he can eat, if he sits through some classes. What could go wrong?

The two guys have chemistry, despite being so different. They could be friends at least, maybe partners. But there’s an underlying sexual chemistry that’s getting harder and harder to ignore…

Trapped on Vkani by Aurora SpringerTrapped on Vkani by Aurora Springer:

Marooned on a desolate planet, joining forces with the enemy is their only hope.

Maya Pandita spent years preparing for an expedition to the Deadlands. But her dreams of unearthing ancient artifacts are shattered when her shuttle is buried by a violent sandstorm, and her team is abducted by the scaled inhabitants of the planet. Maya and her companions must try to outwit their blue captor and call for help before they die in the toxic atmosphere.

Sa Vittaran has a problem in his claws. Along with treasures from the ruins, he has retrieved three smooth-skinned foreigners. He cannot leave them to die in the desert. Yet the puny creatures have little value as workers, except perhaps for the impudent woman who claims to be their leader. Her knowledge of the ancient script will be an asset if she can survive the long trek to his house.

An attack by marauders forces Maya and the Blue leader into a wary alliance. They must work together to thwart the bandits and reunite their company. Can Maya convince Sa Vittaran to help her team? If she fails, they are doomed to a short unpleasant life on the desolate, war-torn planet.

Shield of Terra by Glynn StewartShield of Terra by Glynn Stewart:

The mother, ruler of an entire world
Sent to the heart of an old enemy to build a new peace
The daughter, officer of a deadly warship
Sent to the darkness to find the new enemy hunting them all

A dozen inhabited worlds of the Kanzi Theocracy and the A!Tol Imperium are ash. Millions of sentients of a dozen species are dead, including humans from the brand-new colonies built under the Imperium’s watch. Despite the losses, the strange Taljzi fanatics have been defeated—but everything suggests that more will be coming.

The Empress of the A!Tol has resolved that the cold war between A!Tol and Kanzi must end. She sends Duchess Annette Bond to the heart of the Kanzi Theocracy to negotiate a new alliance.

Elsewhere, Bond’s stepdaughter Morgan Casimir and the battleship Bellerophon are sent into the darkness beyond known space to see what they can learn about the Taljzi.

As they uncover old secrets of new enemies and new secrets of old enemies the fate of humanity and five dozen other races hangs on the actions of mother and daughter alike!

Smuggler by J.A. SutherlandSmuggler by J.A. Sutherland:

There are ‘nice’ jobs that come my way, and there are profitable jobs that come my way. Now, these things do, on occasion, come along inside each other’s orbits – but it’s more of a cometary sort of thing, if you take my meaning.

Avrel Dansby is troubled.

He knew, going in, that the life of a smuggler would be filled with disreputable sorts – still, he’d like to imagine there are some jobs out there he can stomach without the desire nuke his client from orbit.

Rules of Redemption by T.A. WhiteRules of Redemption by T.A. White:

The war everyone thought was over is just beginning.

Kira Forrest is a survivor. She’s risen above the pain of her beginnings to become a war hero only to leave it all behind in the pursuit of a simple life. Now a salvager, she makes a living sifting through the wreckage of dead alien ships from a war that nearly brought humanity to its knees.

After her ship takes damage, she’s forced to re-route to a space station where her past and present collide with dangerous consequences.

Kira’s existence holds the key to a faltering peace treaty with the Tuann—a technologically advanced alien race who dislikes and distrusts all humans. Winning her freedom should be easy, but a powerful and relentless Tuann warrior stands in her way. Deceiving him seems impossible, especially when he strays dangerously close to secrets she struggles to hide.

Can Kira reconcile the pain of her past with the possibilities of her future? The fate of two races depends on her success.

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Two New Thurvok Stories and a New Silencer Story

Posted on March 30, 2019 by Cora

This is a triple new release announcement, partly because I was ill and partly because certain retailers are really dragging their feet in getting the books up. Still, better late than never.

While I was ill, Richard Blakemore has certainly been busy, because we published two more stories in the newly launched Thurvok series as well as a new Silencer adventure.

For those who don’t know or remember, Richard Blakemore is the protagonist of my Silencer series, a pulp fiction writer in 1930s New York who moonlights (quite literally) as the masked crimefighter known only as the Silencer. As for how Richard Blakemore, who’s fictional after all, can write books – well, he can’t. I’m writing them for him.

The full story of how the Thurvok stories came to be may be found here (my version) and here (Richard’s version). The short version is that during the 2018 July short story challenge, I found myself writing several sword and sorcery stories about a wandering sellsword named Thurvok and his growing number of travel companions. Those stories were a lot of fun to write and since I know that Richard Blakemore was an avid reader of Weird Tales and a fan of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories and C.L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry, the idea to pass off the Thurvok stories as Richard Blakemore’s lost sword and sorcery series from the 1930s with myself as the editor who rediscovered them was born.

In his first two adventures, Thurvok quickly found a friend and companion in Meldom – thief, cutpurse and occasional assassin. In the two stories that follow, our dynamic duo becomes a quartet, as both Thurvok and Meldom find partners.

Even though the beginnings of the sword and sorcery genre birthed several warrior heroines (Jirel of Joiry, most notably, but also Robert E. Howard’s various heroines such as Red Sonya of Rogatino, Dark Agnes de Chastillon or Bêlit) and one of the originators of the genre was a woman, the genre’s record with regard to women isn’t all that great, particularly in the first forty years or so. Sword and sorcery heroes are loners and wanderers by nature and romantically, they tend to be the “love ’em and leave ’em” type or rather the “rescue ’em, love ’em and leave ’em” type. Sword and sorcery heroes do tend have a romantic streak and occasionally, they fall in love deeply and truly. In those cases, the woman (and it always is a woman for the first few decades – the homoerotic implications of the genre wouldn’t be acknowledged until much, much later) will either die (Fafhrd and Gray Mouser’s first loves, who die tragically on the night the two heroes first meet, and Conan’s Bêlit) or otherwise turn out to be completely unsuitable. My favourite twist on this is, “I love her deeply and truly, but unfortunately she is an evil rat hybrid princess who is the wrong size for me and has also tried to kill me repeatedly and wants to take over the world, too”, which happened to Fritz Leiber‘s Gray Mouser in the latter Lankhmar stories. There are longterm stable romantic relationships in sword and sorcery such as Simon R. Green’s Hawk and Fisher (and even the notoriously unlucky in love Fafhrd and Gray Mouser eventually wind up in stable relationships, though not with the evil rat princess), but that’s not what the genre is normally known for.

One of the main problems of the July short story challenge is coming up with inspiration for 31 different stories in 31 days, so I occasionally use shortcuts like various writing prompts, inspirational images, etc… And during last year’s challenge, one of the things I did was draw a Tarot card and use that as a writing prompt. I drew the Eight of Swords, but rather than use the meaning of the card as a prompt (though that did filter into the story eventually), I instead used the image as a prompt and asked myself: Who is the woman? Why is she tied up? What is happening here?

Once I had those answers, I realised that this looked like another adventure for Thurvok and Meldom, one where they get to rescue a damsel in distress, though this particular damsel proves to be remarkably useful. If you want to know more, read…

The Road of Skeletons
The Road of Skeletons by Richard Blakemore and Cora BuhlertOn their way to the northern city of Khon Orzad, Thurvok, the sellsword, and his friend Meldom, thief, cutpurse and occasional assassin, travel along a road lined with the skeletons of executed heretics.

It’s a grim path that becomes even grimmer when Thurvok and Meldom come upon a blindfolded woman who is still very much alive tied to a stake by the side of the road.

Should they continue their journey or rescue the woman and risk the wrath of the priest kings of Khon Orzad…

This is a short story of 5500 words or 20 print pages in the Thurvok sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.

More information.
Length: 5500 words
List price: 0.99 USD, EUR or GBP
Buy it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Netherlands, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, Google Play, Scribd, Smashwords, Inktera, Playster, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, e-Sentral, 24symbols and XinXii.

Since Thurvok had taken a liking to Sharenna, the damsel in question, and she had nowhere else to go anyway, I simply sent her travelling with Thurvok and Meldom, who was still single for the time being. That changed a few days later, when – still during the July short story challenge – I looked through abandoned story starts to see if anything struck a spark. And so I came across a page or so of what was supposed to be a historical adventure romance loosely based on the legend of the burghers of Calais, only that the burghers were young women. I had abandoned the story, because I couldn’t figure out how to make it work, because either I’d have to rely on terrible people suddenly deciding not to be quite so terrible after all (which is what happened with the burghers of Calais according to the legend) or I’d somehow have to make an all-out suicidal assault on a superior force work or I could maybe rescue one young women and hang the rest. None of those options really worked, so I shelved the story. But when I dug it up again, I realised that magic could make the story work – I’d only have to turn it into a fantasy story. And then I thought, “Hey, I have just the right team to solve this problem.”

Of course, Thurvok and his friends needed to reason to intervene and so I upped the stakes by making one of the young women to be hanged Meldom’s childhood sweetheart. The story pretty much wrote itself after that. So if you want to know how I resolved the dilemma of saving the female burghers of Calais – pardon, Greyvault – read…

The Forest of the Hanged
The Forest of the Hanged by Richard Blakemore and Cora BuhlertAccording to the laws of the Rhadur, whenever one of their own is killed in one of the cities they have conquered, twelve citizens chosen at random must die in turn. Now the Rhadur governor of Greyvault has been murdered and in retaliation, his successor plans to hang twelve innocent maidens.

One of the women to be hanged is Lysha, the childhood sweetheart of Meldom, thief, cutpurse and occasional assassin. When Meldom learns of Lysha’s fate, he immediately sets out to rescue her, accompanied by his friends Thurvok, the sellsword, and the sorceress Sharenna…

This is a short story of 6500 words or 24 print pages in the Thurvok sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.

More information.
Length: 6500 words
List price: 0.99 USD, EUR or GBP
Buy it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Netherlands, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, Google Play, Scribd, Smashwords, Inktera, Playster, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, e-Sentral, 24symbols and XinXii.

And for the record, I am aware that three of four Thurvok stories so far feature walking undead bodies of some kind. I have no idea how this theme came to be, especially since I don’t particularly care for zombies or other variations of the undead. But then the beauty of the July short story challenge is that sometimes, certain themes just show up out of the blue. And this time around, walking undead corpses betn on revenge was one of them.

But Richard Blakemore hasn’t just been busy writing sword and sorcery stories. He still has a crimefighting career going on as well. And since Richard was very much on my mind due to writing his author bio, setting up a blog and a Twitter account for him and even filling out a Smashwords interview in his persona, it was no big surprise that I also found myself with an idea for a new Silencer story.

And since I was also setting up the round-ups of Valentine’s Day themed speculative fiction and mysteries and crime fiction at the time, I suddenly thought, “You know what would be fun? A Valentine’s  Day Silencer story.”

Of course, the problem was that this thought occurred to me literally five days before Valentine’s Day. And so the question was, Would I be able to finish the story in time?

In the end, I made it – though barely – but because of the slowness of certain retailers that shall not be named, I had to delay the official announcement. And then I got sick.

So, somewhat belatedly, see the Silencer save a young man’s marriage proprosal and enjoy a Valentine’s Day dinner with Richard and Constance:

A Valentine for the Silencer
A Valentine for the Silencer by Cora BuhlertValentine’s Day 1938: All Richard Blakemore a.k.a. the masked crimefighter known only as the Silencer wants is to have a romantic dinner with his beautiful fiancée Constance Allen.

But on his way to his date, Richard happens upon a mugging in progress. Can he save the victim and make sure that young Thomas Walden has the chance to propose to his girlfriend? And will he make it to dinner with Constance on time?

This is a short Valentine’s Day story of 5500 words or approx. 20 print pages in the Silencer series, but may be read as a standalone.

More information.
Length: 7200 words
List price: 0.99 USD, EUR or GBP
Buy it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Netherlands, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, Google Play, Scribd, Smashwords, Inktera, Playster, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, e-Sentral, 24symbols and XinXii.

Posted in Books, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for March 2019

Posted on March 30, 2019 by Cora

Welcome to the latest edition of “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of speculative fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though some February books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Our new releases cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have plenty of cozy mysteries, small town mysteries, culinary mysteries, traditional mysteries, historical mysteries, Victorian mysteries, Jazz Age mysteries, paranormal mysteries, crime thrillers, psychological thrillers, science fiction thrillers, police procedurals, romantic suspense, private investigators, amateur sleuths, serial killers, assassins, reporters, gamblers, missing children, crime-busting witches, crime-busting ghosts, crime-busting actresses, crime-busting bakers, crime-busting watchmakers, murderous mommy bloggers, sinister going-ons in suburbia, murder in the Cotswolds, London, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Knoxville, Tennessee, and much more.

Don’t forget that Indie Crime Fiction of the Month is also crossposted to the Indie Crime Scene, a group blog which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things crime fiction several times per week.

As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.

And now on to the books without further ado:

The Cheater's Game by C.J. ArcherThe Cheater’s Game by C.J. Archer:

The arrival of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in London brings trouble. When the sharpshooter who beats Willie at poker is murdered, Matt and India investigate. Willie is convinced the victim cheated, but no one knows how until India discovers his secret – he was a paper magician.

When their list of suspects grows to include a member of the mysterious magic Collector’s Club, they uncover a spy. But who is he working for? And what does his employer want?

As danger circles, secrets are revealed, and India struggles to keep her own secret hidden from Matt. But when her grandfather introduces her to a man who can change her life, India must decide if she wants her life to change at all.

An Invitation to Murder by A.G. BarnettAn Invitation to Murder by A.G. Barnett:

Mary Blake had it all.

Actress, icon and darling of the nation, she was the queen of TV crime drama.

Then she turned fifty.

When replaced on the show by a younger woman, she thinks her days in the limelight are over when an invitation to a murder mystery party from an old friend throws her back into the public eye. This time as a murder suspect.

After playing a detective for years, Mary must now become one as she tries to prove her innocence with the help of her puppy-like brother and her surprisingly useful friend and assistant, Dot.

Monshine & Murder by Kathleen BrooksMoonshine & Murder by Kathleen Brooks:

Zoey Mathers had everything going for her until one night she lost her biggest client, her job, and her reputation. Leaving her life up to fate, Zoey closed her eyes and pointed. She would serve out her career exile in the small mountain town of Moonshine Hollow where moonshine flowed as freely as a mountain stream.

Giving up the law to become a baker in Moonshine Hollow turned out to be the best thing Zoey had ever done. She was happy and enjoying life in her new small town. But Zoey should have learned the first time . . . one night can change your whole life.

After unknowingly crashing a battle between witches, Zoey accidentally becomes a witch herself. That’s all before Zoey stumbles over a murder victim and the town’s sheriff becomes involved. Now she’s trying to find a murderer, stop two old witches from playing matchmaker, and learning she’s way more than a mere accidental witch.

And that’s all before fate turns up one more sexy hunk of a twist…

Tainted Love by Stacy ClaflinTainted Love by Stacy Claflin:

A mommy blogger gone bad…

Jess McAdams dotes on her four children and gives advice and suggestions to parents all around the world. No one would ever question her love and devotion to her children, let alone suspect her of murdering one.

But Alex Mercer does.

Alex has plenty of experience investigating crimes involving missing kids. So when he senses something is wrong, he trusts his instincts. The only problem is, he’s a newly deputized officer of the law. If he’s wrong about Jess, he’ll destroy his career before it gets off the ground.

He receives a tip that Jess has suddenly stopped posting about one of her children. It’s almost as if he never existed, except her old blog posts show otherwise. The deeper Alex digs, the more twisted and sinister things look. His precinct’s resources would be invaluable to his investigation, but his commanding officer isn’t convinced the case is local and turns him down. And Alex doesn’t have the evidence to sway his captain—yet.

His only chance at finding the proof he needs is by using the resources he’s been denied. But Alex will stop at nothing until he finds the mommy blogger and saves the children he knows are in danger—even at the risk of losing his dream job—because he knows he’s right. And with young lives on the line, there’s a lot more at stake than his career.

The Perfect Neighbourhood by Jo CrowThe Perfect Neighbourhood by Jo Crow:

The perfect neighborhood, the perfect neighbors, the perfect trap…

New mother Holly has always dreamed of raising a family away from the city—and now that dream is a reality as she moves into an idyllic suburb with her husband Mike and their baby daughter Clare. The quiet, peaceful neighborhood couldn’t be more perfect.

But as the family settles into their new home, Holly can’t shrug off the feeling she’s being watched and followed on her morning walks with Clare. At first, she dismisses this as new parent jitters. But soon the unusual—and dangerous—occurrences on Holly’s tree-lined block become impossible to ignore.

As her days and nights grow more isolated and filled with paranoia, Holly struggles to convince her husband that the threat isn’t just in her imagination—and that the secrets lurking in their perfect neighborhood could ruin them all.

The Dragon and the Ghost by Mark DawsonThe Dragon and the Ghost by Mark Dawson:

Beatrix Rose has been betrayed. Her husband has been murdered and her daughter, Isabella, has been abducted.

Those who wronged her will pay, because Beatrix is the most dangerous woman you’ve ever met. She was an assassin for Group Fifteen, the beyond top secret agency that did the dirty work for the British Secret Services.

And you know what they say about payback…

Beatrix finds work in the Hong Kong underworld. But when she has a difference of opinion with her employer, the ruthless Mr. Ying, she finds herself in a fight for justice against a man with no scruples.

Alliances are formed and broken. Friends become enemies. Enemies become friends. And nothing is what it seems.

Can Beatrix save herself and her loved ones in the face of insurmountable odds?

Hello Protocol for Dead Girls by Zen DiPietroHello Protocol for Dead Girls by Zen DiPietro:

Jennika died under suspicious circumstances and her memories were uploaded for investigation. Somehow, they didn’t upload her memories alone. They uploaded her consciousness, too.

As she struggles within a perplexing computer network environment to find out how she died, she must also come to grips with the nature of her existence. Her body died, but she sure hasn’t. What does it mean to be alive, then?

She wants to talk to her friends and family, but they might not accept her. Before she can even try to reconnect with them, she has to get the people on the outside to recognize that she’s a real person, trapped inside technology.

She needs to establish a hello protocol–a way of establishing communication.

This story is like nothing you’ve read before. It’s Altered Carbon meets Gone Girl inside a digital environment. It will challenge you, then thrill you, then leave you wanting more. You’ll be on the edge of your seat as you explore this fascinating new technological existence with Jennika.

Wicked Delights by lily Harper HartWicked Delight by Lily Harper Hart:

Ivy Morgan and Jack Harker don’t have many complaints.

Things are good, life is quiet, and the only big thing on their to-do lists is picking a date for their wedding, which is exactly what they’re doing when a local celebutante approaches with an offer for Jack to be on a dating show.

He turns her down flat and goes on his way, but the next morning, she’s found dead and the list of suspects is endless thanks to the production landing smackdab in the middle of Shadow Lake.

Ivy doesn’t like having Hollywood on her doorstep. Jack is even worse, especially when he realizes the producers want Ivy to step in and take the dead heiress’s spot in the limelight. The idea of cameras following Ivy when magical things keep happening around her is enough to paralyze the couple … and then force them to run to avoid the harsh glare of the viewing public.

Jack and Ivy have a lot on their plates. They have to solve a murder, figure out what the witch in the woods is trying to tell them when it comes to the nature of the human soul, and pick a wedding date.

It’s all in a day’s work for Shadow Lake’s favorite couple. If they live to survive the dark force descending on their town, that is. They’ll have to work together to overcome imminent evil … but they’re used to that, of course.

The Ghost Who Says I Do by Bobbi HolmesThe Ghost Who Says I Do by Bobbi Holmes:

A Valentine’s Day Wedding at Marlow House?

Love is in the air—along with secrets—some are deadlier than others.

Will secrets from Clint Marlow’s past come back to haunt Walt and Danielle?

 

 

Nothing But Her Name by Cynthia E. HurstNothing But Her Name by Cynthia E. Hurst:

Clock repairer Jacob Silver usually prefers to stand on the sidelines of life, but he gets more action than expected when he agrees to replace a missing player at a village fete ‘Aunt Sally’ competition. Play comes to an unexpected end when a body is discovered and the promised prize money is snatched away. Blackmail, bribery and an old secret all play their part as Jacob and his wife Sarah help find out who in their Cotswold town is determined to win at all costs – and what the ultimate prize might be.

‘Nothing but her Name’ is the ninth book in the Silver and Simm Victorian Mysteries series.

The Last Amen by C.C. JamesonThe Last Amen by C.C. Jameson:

When he acts in the name of God, his victims’ faith could be their demise.

When a young woman is found dead on her bed, dressed in an old-fashioned nightgown with her hands clasped in a prayer position, Detective Kate Murphy is called to investigate her murder.

But before Kate and her colleagues can find the killer, another woman is found dead in the same position. Other than having blonde hair and living in Boston, the women have very little in common. But one thing is clear: the serial killer has some twisted religious beliefs.

What is his motive? Who is he? And, most importantly, can Kate stop the murderer before he strikes again?

Last Chance by libby KirschLast Chance by Libby Kirsch

A missing girl, a sleuth in training, and family secrets with deadly consequences.

Janet Black, the feisty bar owner and apprentice PI in Knoxville, Tennessee, is back, and she’s taken a job her mentor told her to run from: finding a missing teenage girl.

But with her computer-expert boyfriend, and an ear fine-tuned for gossip from her years as a bartender, she figures she’s just the right person to make a difference.

As she dives into the case, though, she finds that the mother’s not telling the whole story, setting Janet up for a dangerous discovery. And trouble never comes alone. Her bar is flagged for liquor-code violations, a construction project gets out of hand, and she uncovers weird, possibly criminal, obsessions in her new chef.

Janet refuses to acknowledge she’s out of her depth—and thinks she just needs more time to put the puzzle pieces together and find the girl. But when a dead body surfaces, her world view is shaken. Suddenly, finding the missing girl is more than just an altruistic act. Her very life depends on it. As the sinister plot twists ever closer to her own life, Janet is faced with a dilemma. When it comes to the ones you love, how many chances are too many?

Predator by Linsey LanierPredator by Linsey Lanier:

What’s wrong with Mackenzie?

PI Miranda Steele knows something has been eating away at her teenage daughter for months now. Does Mackenzie know her real father was a psychotic serial killer?

Miranda’s afraid to ask and this time, Parker has no answers.

But when her precious daughter goes missing, Miranda spirals into a tailspin. Now she’s forced to ask the most painful question of all.

Has Mackenzie’s emotional state caused her to fall victim to a sexual predator?

Above the Fold and Below the Belt by Amanda M. LeeAbove the Fold and Below the Belt by Amanda M. Lee:

Avery Shaw has taken on her fair share of jerks.

Often, she’s considered the jerk when she takes them down … a role she gladly relishes.

Now, though, she’s taking on a whole faction of jerks.

It seems a battle of the sexes is brewing in Macomb County. A local shock jock, a man who believes women should be home tending children and keeping the house clean while men bring home the bacon, is on trial for sexually harassing his underlings.

His followers believe he’s innocent. Every female empowerment group in the state – and ultimately the nation – believes he’s guilty. That means it’s a media circus, and there’s nothing Avery likes more than a circus.

She has her hands full with this one, though. She very clearly agrees with one side but there seems to be something wrong with the underlying story. When one of the radio personality’s followers is shot in the middle of a rally, ensuring he’s a martyr for the cause, Avery realizes there’s a path to follow … and it’s long and winding.

Avery knows who she wants to win. She also knows someone isn’t telling the truth. It’s her job to find out which side is lying.

It’s all hands on deck for another zany adventure, and everyone is along for the ride. Who’s left standing at the end is anyone’s guess, but Avery smells blood in the water … and she’s going to find the truth no matter who goes down in the process.

Scholarly Pursuits by M. Louisa LockeScholarly Pursuits by M. Louisa Locke:

“Something is rotten in the state of Berkeley”
–1881 Blue and Gold Yearbook, University of California: Berkeley

In Scholarly Pursuits, the sixth full-length novel in the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco mystery series, Locke explores life on the University of California: Berkeley campus in 1881, where Laura and her friends face the remarkably modern problems of fraternity hazings, fraught romantic relationships, and fractious faculty politics.

While Annie and Nate Dawson and friends and family in the O’Farrell Street boardinghouse await a blessed event, Laura Dawson finds herself investigating why a young Berkeley student dropped out of school in the fall of 1880.

No one, including her friend Seth Timmons, thinks this is a good idea, since she is juggling a full course load with a part-time job, but she can’t let the question of what happened to her friend go unanswered. Not when it means that other young women might be in danger.

Murder on Lot B by London LovettsMurder on Lot B by London Lovett:

Los Angeles, 1923. The land of movie stars and perpetual sunshine has a stylish new force to be reckoned with—Poppy Starfire, Private Investigator.

Poppy recently moved out on her own and is eager for a taste of independence and to prove to her retired Uncle Sherman that she is capable of running the Starfire Detective Agency. Her brother Jasper has also joined the agency. Poppy prides herself on being a skilled investigator but so far the cases have been scarce and to say the least uninspiring. But that all changes when Anna Colton walks through the door. Anna’s brother Roger, a famous stuntman for the local movie studio has died in a well publicized accidental fall. Only Anna’s not convinced it was an accident. It’s up to Poppy and Jasper to peel away the layers and uncover the truth. Who killed Roger ‘Rowdy’ James?

Fear by John W. MeffordFear by John W. Mefford:

His heart beats. Barely.

Each thump pounds his mind deeper into oblivion.

And he wonders — How did I get here?

A father goes missing. Not just any father. But a person once worshipped for his world-class talent.

Enter the most unconventional team around: Willow Ball and Cooper Chain.

As a nurse at the community clinic, Willow has seen the painful effects of heroin addiction. But now she’s compelled to help a grieving wife and mother.

Dodging the mob at every turn, Cooper has a plan to bring them down while getting traction on his upstart career. Is he marching into a trap?

With their relationship bordering the “friends with benefits” stage, Willow and Cooper team up to find the missing person. But it’s not that simple. Nothing with them is ever simple.

The hunt corkscrews into an impossible maze of events — their lives threatened by a swarm of twisted deviants and social misfits.

Emotions run rampant, stoking one savage response after another. A spark ignites the hate, but what is the real fuel for this wave of brutal crimes?

Ultimately, can Willow and Cooper save a family from the torment before it’s too late?

Only if they can overcome their own…fear.

The Girl in Red by John NichollThe Girl in Red by John Nicholl:

She has two choices. Escape or Die…

Kathy thought she’d met her soulmate. But Police Inspector Michael Conner’s behaviour changes on the day of their wedding.

Showing his true colours for the first time, Conner becomes increasingly manipulative, controlling and cruel as the months’ pass.

When Kathy tries to escape, Conner does his best to convince everyone that she is mentally ill. But Anna, Kathy’s identical twin sister, doesn’t believe it.

After a tragic event, Kathy decides enough is enough and elicits Anna’s help to rid herself of Conner for good.

But will Conner simply let Kathy walk away or have the sisters bitten off more than they can chew?

It Ends Here by Willow RoseIt Ends Here by Willow Rose:

Every Parent’s Worst Fear!

She thought it would be okay.

She thought her son would be fine if she left him in the car.

It was after all just for a few minutes while she went to grab something at the store. It was no big deal. But when Mrs. Cunningham came back out from the store, the car was empty, and her 5-year-old boy was gone.

In a town filled with dark secrets, who will you dare to believe?

Reporter Rebekka Franck is traveling to central Florida to interview a famous author when the body of a young boy turns up inside an abandoned house.

The death of the boy leaves the small town of Webster horror-stricken.

Forty years ago, another little boy was found killed in that exact same house.

Now they are all asking themselves: Will it end here?

As Rebekka Franck digs deep into the story, she realizes this town is harboring a lot of secrets that some people will go to extremes to keep hidden.

Poison at the Bake Sale by Hollis ShilohPoison at the Bake Sale by Hollis Shiloh:

Abe has an awful premonition that something will go wrong during a local baking contest. Of course it’s his silly imagination; he’s just jumpy these days, after that murder last year. But when the day of the competition means running into his abusive ex, who later turns up dead, Abe wishes that he’d paid more attention to his anxieties, not less.

Now it’s up to Abe and Gregory to figure out who could have done in the awful man. Because the authorities are looking awfully close to home, and there’s only so much strain that even the best relationship can take.

Murder and Mockery by K.P. StaffordMurder and Mockery by K.P. Stafford:

Once again, Lexi is up to her eyeballs in murder mystery while trying to plan her wedding to Jake.
A descendent of the original town settlers is found murdered in a most heinous manner. Her death starts to uncover secrets from the past, mysteries their ancestors tried to cover up long ago.

Will the people of Cryptic Cove be able to deal with the past and what they discover?

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