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$2.99 eBook Sale: July 2021

Summer is finally here and you know what that means…SUMMER SALES! Check out what books you can grab for the entire month of July here!

Placeholder of  -95Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha

Nina is an information broker with a mission—she and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to save the hopeless in a crumbling America. Knox is the bitter, battle-weary captain of the Silver Devils. His squad of supersoldiers went AWOL to avoid slaughtering innocents, and now he’s fighting to survive. They’re on a deadly collision course, and the passion that flares between them only makes it more dangerous. They could burn down the world, destroying each other in the process…Or they could do the impossible: team up.

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Poster Placeholder of - 67Sorcery of a Queen by Brian Naslund

Driven from her kingdom, the would-be queen now seeks haven in the land of her mother, but Ashlyn will not stop until justice has been done. Determined to unlock the secret of powers long thought impossible, Ashlyn bends her will and intelligence to mastering the one thing people always accused her of, sorcery. Meanwhile, having learned the truth of his mutation, Bershad is a man on borrowed time. Never knowing when his healing powers will drive him to a self-destruction, he is determined to see Ashlyn restored to her throne and the creatures they both love safe.

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Image Place holder  of - 90Venus by Ben Bova

The surface of Venus is the most hellish place in the solar system. The sky is perpetually covered with clouds of sulfuric acid. The atmosphere is a choking mixture of carbon dioxide and poisonous gases. This is where Van Humphries must go. Or die trying. His older brother perished in the first attempt to land a man on Venus, years before, and his father had always hated Van for surviving when his brother died. Now his father is offering a ten billion dollar prize to the first person to land on Venus and return his oldest son’s remains. To everyone’s surprise, Van takes up the offer. But what Van Humphries will find on Venus will change everything–our understanding of Venus, of global warming on Earth, and his knowledge of who he is.

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Image Placeholder of - 43The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt

Alice Wyndham has been plagued by visions of birds her whole life…until the mysterious Crowley reveals that Alice is an ‘aviarist’: capable of seeing nightjars, magical birds that guard human souls. When her best friend is hit by a car, only Alice can find and save her nightjar. With Crowley’s help, Alice travels to the Rookery, a hidden, magical alternate London to hone her newfound talents. But a faction intent on annihilating magic users will stop at nothing to destroy the new aviarist. And is Crowley really working with her, or against her? Alice must risk everything to save her best friend—and uncover the strange truth about herself.

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On the (Digital) Road: Tor Author Events in September

We are in a time of social distancing, but your favorite Tor authors are still coming to screens near you in the month of September! Check out where you can find them here:

Gregory Benford and Larry Niven, Glorious

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Wednesday, September 2
Second Life
More Information Here
12:00 PM PT

Jenn Lyons, The Memory of Souls, Ryan Van Loan, The Sin in the Steel

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Wednesday, September 2
Gibson’s Bookstore, in conversation with Andrea Hairston
Zoom
7:00 PM ET

David Mack, The Shadow Commission

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Thursday, September 3
Tubby & Coo’s Mid-City Book Shop
Streamyard
6:00 PM CT

Christopher Paolini, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

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Tuesday, September 15
Barnes & Noble, in conversation with Tad Williams
Register Here
7:00 PM CT

Wednesday, September 16
Doylestown Bookshop, in conversation with Chuck Wendig
Crowdcast
7:00 PM ET

Friday, September 18
Anderson’s Bookshop, in conversation with Jennifer Hale
Register Here
7:00 PM CT

Sunday, September 20
Cuyahoga Public Library, in conversation with John Scalzi
Register Here
7:00 PM CT

Monday, September 21
Quail Ridge Books, in conversation with Pierce Brown
Register Here
7:00 PM ET

Tuesday, September 22
Left Bank Books, in conversation with Ann Leckie
Register Here
7:00 PM CT

Thursday, September 24
Hicklebee’s Books, SFF Writing Class
Register Here
10:00 PM ET

Friday, September 25
King’s English, in conversation with Brandon Sanderson
Register Here
9:00 PM ET

Saturday, September 26
Tattered Cover, Nerd Trivia Night hosted by Paolini
Register Here
9:00 PM ET

Sunday, September 27
Third Place Books, in conversation with James Rollins
Register Here
10:00 PM ET

John Scalzi, The Last Emperox

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Wednesday, September 16
Cuyahoga County Library in conversation with Terry Virts
Zoom
7:00 PM ET

Jenn Lyons, The Memory of Souls, Brian Naslund, Sorcery of a Queen

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Thursday, September 24
Towne Book Center
Zoom
7:00 PM ET

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On the (Digital) Road: Tor Author Events in August

We are in a time of social distancing, but your favorite Tor authors are still coming to screens near you in the month of August! Check out where you can find them here:

Kit Rocha, Deal with the Devil

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Tuesday, August 4
Tor After Dark
Instagram Live
7:00 PM ET

Daniel Kraus, The Living Dead

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Tuesday, August 4
Powell’s in conversation with Mary Roach
Zoom
6:00 PM PT

Wednesday, August 5
Book Soup in conversation with Grady Hendrix
Crowdcast
6:00 PM PT’

Thursday, August 6
Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, in conversation with Josh Malerman
Crowdcast
7:00 PM PT

Tuesday, August 11
Anderson’s Bookshop, in conversation with Megan Abbott
Zoom
8:30 PM CT

Wednesday, August 12
Doylestown Bookshop, reading and Q & A with Gabino Iglesias
Zoom
6:30 PM ET

Thursday, August 20
Fountain Bookstore, in Conversation with Stephanie Kuehn
Register here
6:00 PM ET

Mary Robinette Kowal, The Relentless Moon

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Wednesday, August 5
University Bookstore in conversation with Fonda Lee
Zoom
6:00 PM PT

Friday, August 7
Poisoned Pen, in conversation with Pat King
Zoom
8:00 PM ET

Saturday, August 8
Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester
Zoom
2:00 PM ET

John Scalzi, The Last Emperox

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Thursday, August 6
Kepler’s in conversation with Lindsay Ellis
Zoom
4:00 PM ET

Mary Robinette Kowal, The Relentless Moon and Kate Elliott, Unconquerable Sun

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Thursday, August 6
Riverstone Books, authors in conversation
Zoom
7:00 PM ET

Brian Naslund, Sorcery of a Queen, Curtis Craddock, The Last Uncharted Sky

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Tuesday, August 11
Old Firehouse Books, authors in conversation
Register here
7:00 PM MT

David Mack, The Shadow Commission

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Thursday, August 13
Tubby & Coo’s Mid-City Book Shop
Streamyard
6:00 PM CT

Lavie Tidhar, By Force Alone

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Sunday, August 16
Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, in conversation with Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Crowdcast
1:00 PM PT

Saturday, August 22
Chevalier’s Books in conversation with Ian McDonald
Register Here
12:00 PM ET

Gregory Benford and Larry Niven, Glorious

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Thursday, August 20
Midtown Reader
Register Here
6:00 PM ET

Jenn Lyons, The Memory of Souls

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Tuesday, August 25
Read It Again Books
Streamyard
7:00 PM ET

Wednesday, August 26
Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore
Zoom
7:00 PM PT

Friday, August 28
Toadstool Bookshop
4:00 PM ET

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The Great Debate: Is Godzilla a Dragon? And What Traits Make a Dragon a Dragon?

Welcome to Dragon Week 2020, a celebration of all things Dragon! 

During last year’s inaugural Dragon Week, we sparked a grand debate by dying on the hill that Godzilla is a Dragon. We’ll be staying on that hill, but we asked some of our authors—IS Godzilla a Dragon? And what traits really make a Dragon a Dragon? Check out their answers here!


Image Place holder  of - 53Brian Naslund, author of Sorcery of a Queen 

Is Godzilla a Dragon?

My initial instinct was to say no, figuring that aquatic beasts who symbolize nuclear proliferation (and other human vices) really belong in their own category of creature, given all the layers at work. But there are no easy answers here. Ultimately, if Godzilla feels like a dragon, then Godzilla’s a dragon in my book.

What makes a Dragon a Dragon?

I’ve been following the “what makes a dragon?” debate with great interest for the last year. While I was originally tempted to adhere to a more stringent definition of a dragon, I’ve ultimately come to believe that being a dragon isn’t about scales, anatomy, or size. It’s about the level of “dragon-ness” that resides in your heart, on either a permanent or temporary basis.

I, for one, believe that we all have the capacity to be dragons at some point in our lives. I often start each day in the form of a Morning Dragon (i.e. filled with wrath, hunger, and a burning desire to consume both coffee and the bones of my enemies).

Image Placeholder of - 71Marie Brennan, author of A Natural History of Dragons

Is Godzilla a Dragon?

Excellent question! I feel like he’s not a very *good* dragon — the proportions of his body and his bipedal posture just don’t ring right for me — but reptilian, breathes something dangerous, sure, I can see it if I squint.

What makes a Dragon a Dragon?

I think a generally serpentine body shape is the key starting point for me, and scales more often than not. I like dragons with wings, but obviously not all things we class as dragons have those. And they need to be extraordinary in some fashion; they need to be able to do something ordinary, non-draconic creatures can’t.

Place holder  of - 71Ryan Van Loan, author of The Sin in the Steel

Is Godzilla a Dragon? And what makes a Dragon a Dragon?

Godzilla isn’t a dragon (although I love Godzilla movies! Especially the ones where Godzilla is awoken/discovered and bad things happen). Dragons have wings (vestigial or practical), scales that are not easily penetrable, are capable of producing some sort of stream that is bad news for any who come in contact with it (e.g., fire, ice, poison), and often, but not always are given to hoarding. Essentially, dragons have more in common with avian species while Godzilla to my mind is more reptilian?

Poster Placeholder of - 46Kevin J. Anderson, author of Spine of the Dragon

Is Godzilla a Dragon?

The original instigator of the Godzilla argument, Kevin J. Anderson, wrote us a WHOLE ARTICLE arguing about what makes a Dragon a Dragon, and he stands by his stance that Godzilla makes the cut. Check out his Dragon Week 2020 article here, and his deadliest dragons piece from last year here!

Placeholder of  -36Jenn Lyons, author of The Ruin of Kings

Oh. ITSTHISAGAIN.

Really, we’re doing this? Is Godzilla a dragon?

Okay, fine. We’re doing this.

But first, we need to talk about definitions, because like many things, the answer is ‘no.’

And also ‘yes.’

Let me explain:

From a taxonomy perspective, wherein a dragon has a very distinct set of qualities depending on the cultural origins of the mythologies involved, at best his qualifications are deeply suspect. He has no wings. He isn’t serpent-like. He isn’t associated with rivers or lakes. He hoards nothing. (Of all of these, the ‘isn’t serpent-like’ is probably the most damning.) Can the argument be made that he’s reptilian? Sure. Is that enough to qualify him for dragon status?

In my opinion, no.

But that isn’t the only definition of dragon, is it? The problem with definitions come into play when we consider the social, cultural, and mythological reasons why dragons exist. In most of the west, dragons are typically forces of evil, the worst elements of human nature made flesh, the embodiment of our sins. And by many eastern traditions, dragons aren’t evil at all, but rather forces of nature, outside of human control. Dragons make the world a little easier to understand, even if it’s just condensing the world’s anxieties and fears into a more relatable, approachable avatar.

So. What if the ‘sin’ of humanity and the force of nature outside of our ability to control is, in both cases, the splitting of the atom?

Then he very much meets the definition of dragon, doesn’t he? Because from that definition, what he looks like, what form he takes, doesn’t actually matter. What’s important is that he’s a chimeric avatar of our hubris, a stark rebuttal to our beliefs that we can or have any right to meddle with these forces. If we want to play god, we must be prepared to create our own devils. And yet, any defeat of Godzilla is temporary. Slaying this dragon never works, because he is outside of our ability to control. We can only pacify and mitigate or, in later stories, entreat for help.

So there you have it. My definitive answer on whether or not Godzilla is a dragon: kindasortamaybe. From a certain point of view.

One thing that cannot be debated? Much like most more traditional dragons, nobody wants him (or her, depending on your Godzilla movie preferences) visiting their town.

Hope that helps and GO GO GODZILLA.

Unconquerable-SunKate Elliott, author of Unconquerable Sun

Is Godzilla a Dragon? 

Godzilla is a kaiju. So my answer would be to ask if a dragon is a kaiju.

 

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How to Feed Your Dragon: 4 Great Meal Recipes to Share with Your New Reptilian Friend

Image Place holder  of - 97Welcome to Dragon Week, a celebration of all things Dragon!

Our week of everything dragons is just kicking off and we’ve got some spicy treats for you…including instructions on how to make some for your reptilian friends by Brian Naslund, author of Blood of an Exile and Sorcery of a Queen. Check out his dragon-friendly(?) dishes below!


How to Feed Your Dragon: 4 Great Meal Recipes to Share with Your New Reptilian Friend

By Brian Naslund

So, you’ve gotten yourself into a situation where you need to feed a dragon. Cool.

Or not, depending on the details.

Is this meal meant to lay the foundation of an uneasy but potentially rich alliance? Is it functioning as payment for an act of service? Or are you just trying to avoid being eaten yourself?

Whatever the situation, here are my suggested recipes for different dragon types across the multiverse. Your results may vary. Widely.

The Classic Fish Treat
Ideal for a Night Fury from How to Train Your Dragon

Difficulty: Easy (assuming you don’t suck at fishing)

Ingredients:

  1. Fishing rod
  2. Any type of fresh fish. Mackerel, trout, and bass all work nicely
  3. Salt (optional)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Instructions:

This one is very straightforward. Catch a fish and give it to the Night Fury—they’ll love it.

Just be warned that if you’re in a “slowly-building-an-alliance-via-acts-of-kindness” situation, that the Night Fury may vomit up half of the fish and offer it to you as a present. So, unless you like raw fish, consider grilling that baby and throwing some nice sea salt over top.

 

The Betrayal Lunch Platter

Ideal for a Red Skull Dragon from the Dragons of Terra

Difficulty: Medium (but this will depend on the flexibility of your moral compass)

Prep Time: 30 seconds (or however long it takes for you to summon ingredient #3 from within yourself)

Ingredients:

  1. One friend who is also running from the dragon with you
  2. A bludgeon instrument that can bash kneecaps pretty good
  3. A constitution for betrayal

Instructions:

Should you find yourself alone and on the run from a Red Skull, you will also soon find yourself at the bottom of the dragon’s belly. Unless you’re the Flawless Bershad.

For everyone else, the only way to avoid becoming a Red Skull’s lunch is to feed it someone else, first. If you’re lucky enough to have a partner-in-fleeing alongside you, the thing to do is strike that person on the kneecap as hard as you can with ingredient #2. This will turn them into a convenient lunch for the Red Skull.

Pro Tip: Don’t forget to keep running after you’ve prepared the Betrayal Lunch Platter. Red Skulls can eat two people for one meal, no problem.

 

The Infernal Dessert

Ideal for any type of Undead Dragon

Difficulty: Extremely Advanced

Ingredients:

  1. Soul of a True Warrior
  2. Valuable gemstone (in which to trap said warrior’s soul)
  3. A glaze made from infernal honey (optional, but highly recommended)

Prep Time: 1-300 years, depending on the availability of True Warriors in your area, and your general knowledge of the dark arts.

Instructions:

From the perspective of an undead dragon, a freshly killed and cooked goat might as well be a pile of bricks. They have no desire for such corporeal treats. If you want an Undead Dragon ally, you need to do better.

Enter, the Infernal Dessert.

A True Warrior’s Soul is the primary ingredient, and it’s a doozy to acquire. You either need to pay a very hefty price to a wizard who already has one (a good option for first-time cooks) or harvest it yourself. Problem there is that True Warrior’s tend to be pretty decent fighters, so bring your A-game. You also need to know how to trap souls, which can be a finicky process.

For the honey glaze, purchasing the ingredient is once again a good option. Look for a demon of some kind who accepts PayPal (you do NOT want to make some kind of personal bargain for the honey—that’s a losing situation for you).

Your other option is to travel to the nether-realm and collect your own honey. This depends on your budget and comfort level with inter-dimensional travel. Also, be aware that zombie-bee stings are no joke.

If you skip the honey, please adjust your expectation for taste and gratitude from the dragon.

 

The Coin Platter

Ideal for Treasure-Eating Dragons

Difficulty: Really depends on how rich you are, or how good you are at robbing people.

Ingredients:

  1. 200 copper coins
  2. 100 silver coins
  3. 50 gold coins
  4. 1 lbs. of edible glue

Prep Time: 3 hours (once you’ve acquired the coin)

Instructions:

Many people erroneously assume that all treasure-guarding dragons are also treasure-eating dragons. That’s false, so do your research or ask the dragon-in-question what they like to eat. Treasure Eating Dragons will often want metal because it strengthens their scales and hide.

Once you’ve confirmed that you are in fact dealing with a dragon that craves coin in their belly, it’s time to get your meal prepped. You might be thinking some gold candlesticks or silver forks are a good option, but that’s a rookie move. Coins are ideal because they’re easiest on the dragon’s digestive system, help with portion control, and offer a lot of flexibility in terms of presentation, so don’t skimp!

I’ve found that the above ingredients will generally get your through one complete meal—and I like to arrange them in a kind of floral situation—but feel free to experiment!

Order Sorcery of a Queen Here:

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Dragon Books of 2020

Dragon Books of 2020

Welcome to Dragon Week 2020, a celebration of all things Dragon!

There are soooooo many epic dragons in literature, from Smaug of The Hobbit to Toothless of How to Train Your Dragon, but can you REALLY ever have enough?! We think not, so we compiled a list of our dragon-y books that came out in 2020, so you can keep that dragon themed TBR pile climbing!


Placeholder of  -10Servant of the Crown by Duncan Hamilton

Long laid plans finally bear fruit, but will it prove as sweet as hoped for? With the king on his deathbed, the power Amaury has sought for so long is finally in his grasp. As opposition gathers from unexpected places, dragonkind fights for survival and a long-awaited reckoning grows close.

Don’t forget to check out the first two books of the Dragonslayer Trilogy, Dragonslayer and Knight of the Silver Circle!

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 Image Placeholder of - 28Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights from Bioware

Ancient horrors. Marauding invaders. Powerful mages. And a world that refuses to stay fixed. Welcome to Thedas. From the stoic Grey Wardens to the otherworldly Mortalitasi necromancers, from the proud Dalish elves to the underhanded Antivan Crow assassins, Dragon Age is filled with monsters, magic, and memorable characters making their way through dangerous world whose only constant is change.

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Place holder  of - 1Sorcery of a Queen by Bryan Nasund

Driven from her kingdom, the would-be queen now seeks haven in the land of her mother, but Ashlyn will not stop until justice has been done. Determined to unlock the secret of powers long thought impossible, Ashlyn bends her will and intelligence to mastering the one thing people always accused her of, sorcery. Meanwhile, having learned the truth of his mutation, Bershad is a man on borrowed time. Never knowing when his healing powers will drive him to a self-destruction, he is determined to see Ashlyn restored to her throne and the creatures they both love safe.

Sorcery of a Queen is the second book in the Dragons of Terra series. Book 1, Blood of an Exile, is on sale now!

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Image Place holder  of - 82Spine of the Dragon by Kevin J Anderson

Two continents at war, the Three Kingdoms and Ishara, are divided by past bloodshed. When an outside threat arises—the reawakening of a powerful ancient race that wants to remake the world—the two warring nations must somehow set aside generational hatreds and form an alliance to fight their true enemy.

Don’t forget to check out Book 2 in the Wake the Dragon series, Vengewar, out 1/19/21!

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Poster Placeholder of - 7Black Leviathan by Bernd Perplies

In the coastal city Skargakar, residents make a living from hunting dragons and use them for everything from clothing to food, while airborne ships hunt them in the white expanse of a cloud sea, the Cloudmere. Lian does his part carving the kyrillian crystals that power the ships through the Cloudmere, but when he makes an enemy of a dangerous man, Lian ships out on the next vessel available as a drachenjager, or dragon hunter. He chooses the wrong ship. A fanatic captain, hunts more than just any dragon. His goal is the Firstborn Gargantuan—and Adaron is prepared to sacrifice everything for revenge.

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The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons

Now that Relos Var’s plans have been revealed and demons are free to rampage across the empire, the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies—and the end of the world—is closer than ever. To buy time for humanity, Kihrin needs to convince the king of the Manol vané to perform an ancient ritual which will strip the entire race of their immortality, but it’s a ritual which certain vané will do anything to prevent. Including assassinating the messengers.

Don’t forget to check out the first two books of the Chorus of Dragon series, The Ruin of Kings and The Name of All Things!

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Excerpt: Sorcery of a Queen by Brian Naslund

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Poster Placeholder of - 84Sorcery of a Queen by Brian Naslund is a fast-paced adventure perfect for comic readers and fans of heroic fantasy.

They called her the Witch Queen…

Driven from her kingdom, the would-be queen now seeks haven in the land of her mother, but Ashlyn will not stop until justice has been done. Determined to unlock the secret of powers long thought impossible, Ashlyn bends her will and intelligence to mastering the one thing people always accused her of, sorcery.

Meanwhile, having learned the truth of his mutation, Bershad is a man on borrowed time. Never knowing when his healing powers will drive him to a self-destruction, he is determined to see Ashlyn restored to her throne and the creatures they both love safe.

Please enjoy this excerpt of Sorcery of a Queen, available 08/11/20.


1

BERSHAD

Realm of  Terra,  the Soul Sea

After the goatfuck at Floodhaven, Bershad, Ashlyn, and Felgor sailed north to Papyria.

A good sailor with decent wind could have made the journey inside of a fortnight, but their wind was shit and the weather was all sharp rain and heaving gusts that blasted their sails to tatters. After twenty-seven days at sea, they’d barely made it to the Broken Peninsula, which marked the halfway point between Almira and Papyria.

But on the twenty-eighth day, the skies cleared and they finally started making good progress. For the first time in almost a moon’s turn, it seemed like luck was tipping over to their side of things.

Everyone on the ship relaxed. Bershad sat with Ashlyn at the stern of the frigate, watching the sky above, where a thinning line of dragons winged eastward. Blackjacks. Needle-Throated Verduns. Thundertails. Red Skulls. Greezels. A few Gray-Winged Nomads, soaring at a much higher altitude than the other breeds. These were the final stragglers of the Great Migration. There was a victory in watching them and knowing they’d find a safe place on the far side of the Soul Sea. A place that he and Ashlyn had created for them.

So there Bershad was—basking in his achievements, sipping rice wine, and thinking about breakfast—when five Red Skulls broke off from the swarm and hurtled toward their ship in a hunting formation.

“Oh, shit.”

Bershad leapt up from his spot by Ashlyn’s side and started tearing through the gear on deck, looking for a weapon. The dragons encircled their lonesome ship, screeching aggressively and snapping their jaws in hungry anticipation.

“I need a spear.”

“None aboard,” growled the ship’s captain, Jaku. He and his crew had rescued Bershad and Ashlyn from the battle of Floodhaven. He waved at the pile of fishing tack. “Got a few orca harpoons over there.”

All around him, the crew was cursing in Papyrian. Cranking and cocking crossbows.

“Forget the crossbows, they’ll just piss the bastards off,” Bershad called, sifting through the gear. He picked up a harpoon with shit balance, but a point that was sharp enough to cut glass.

“You going to kill five Red Skulls by yourself, Almiran?” Jaku asked. “You only got the one fucking harpoon.”

“No,”  Bershad said. “Not by myself.”

He turned to Ashlyn. She was already unwinding the dragon thread on her wrist. In the back of his head, there was an idiot-brained warden telling him to rush her belowdecks before the dragons attacked, but Ashlyn had toasted two armies with that scrap of Ghost Moth spinal tissue. She was going to be the main factor in their survival, not him and his.

“Silas and I will deal with the dragons,” she said. “Everyone else get belowdecks.”

The Papyrian sailors didn’t need to be asked twice. Even Jaku retreated down the hatch without a fuss. But Felgor, Hayden, and the rest of the Papyrian widows remained on deck. They were sworn to protect Ashlyn from any danger, dragons included.

“You can’t help,” Ashlyn said to Hayden. “But you can hurt by being in the way. Go.”

Hayden’s body tensed with uncertainty, but widows were nothing if not pragmatic, and Ashlyn had spoken the truth. Hayden gave a curt nod, then followed the sailors below, taking her sisters with her.

Felgor shrugged. “Well, fuck me if I’m gonna stick around trying to look brave when even the widows have run for shelter.” He scrambled over to the hatch. “Try not to die!”

Bershad scanned the sky. The Red Skulls were increasing speed and drawing closer with each rotation around the ship. It was a hunting pattern unique to their breed, and it always preceded the same behavior.

“Two of them are going to break off and attack together from opposite sides,” Bershad said.

“I know,” Ashlyn responded. “Which side do you want?”

“Whichever one comes with the smaller dragon, witch queen,” Bershad said.

“Don’t call me that,” Ashlyn said, then ripped her hand down the length of the thread, sparking a crackle of lightning that she cupped in her hand as if it was a perfectly sized river stone she was preparing to throw at an easy target.

Bershad took the final scrapings of Gods Moss that remained from Floodhaven and ate them. His stomach turned hot, and a familiar, unnatural strength coursed through his muscles.

Two of the dragons careened from the gyre. Both females. Both enormous.

“Perfect,” Bershad muttered, moving starboard. Ashlyn went in the opposite direction, raising her lightning-wreathed fist.

Bershad lined up with his Red Skull. She was twice the size of the one he’d killed outside of Argel—massive wingspan heaving, tail lashing through the air. Eyes burning down and focused on him. He focused right back. Gripped the harpoon tight. Waited until she was one hundred strides away and closing fast.

“Now!” he yelled.

Bershad threw the harpoon. Ashlyn threw her lightning. His spear connected but he couldn’t tell exactly where. The dragon whooshed over his head in a blur of scales and a rush of wind. He heard a high screech and a thundering snap, then something hard bashed him in the back of the head, knocking him face-first into the deck and turning his vision white.

The fall broke his jaw and nose. His skull was cracked, too, judging from the searing pain. But there was enough Gods Moss  in his system to repair the injuries. He popped his jaw back into position with a hard jerk before the bone healed crooked. His vi- sion began to return, so he struggled to his feet. Ashlyn was standing. Unharmed. Looking around. The mast of the ship was sheared off at the middle and both dragons were in the water. The one that Bershad harpooned had a blooming cloud of red water around her head. Ashlyn’s was belly-up and floating like a dead fish.

“Huh.” Bershad dabbed at his skull wound, which was almost gone. “That went well.”

“Sure. If you subtract the broken mast and the fact that those three are still circling.” Ashlyn pointed at the dragons with smoking fingers. They all lilted to the left in unison, their crimson skulls flashing in the bright afternoon sun.

“They’re about to attack,” Ashlyn said.

“Yeah.”

Bershad grabbed another harpoon from the wreckage of the deck. There wasn’t anything to do but hope they got lucky a second time.

The problem with Red Skulls was that they were just as smart as they were vicious. They saw what happened to their fellow huntresses and switched up the pattern—breaking in three different directions, each one approaching with as much distance between themselves as possible.

“This isn’t good,” Bershad said, trying to decide when and where to throw his spear.

“Just try to get one of them,” Ashlyn said, ripping her hand down the thread to create another crackling charge. “I can bifurcate the lightning and get the other two. Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“It’s theoretically possible, I just need to manipulate the balance and . . . wait . . . fuck!” The hiss and snap went quiet.

“Ashlyn?” Bershad turned around. There was smoke  around her arm, but nothing else. Ashlyn ripped her hand down the cord again, sparks spitting and flying, but she couldn’t rekindle the lightning.

Bershad looked back at the closest dragon, cutting through the sky toward them. After all the intentional dragon encounters he’d survived, getting killed in a random lizard attack at sea seemed about right. Bershad just wished Ashlyn wasn’t coming down the river with him.

The closest Red Skull dropped her claws. Opened her horrifying mouth.

Bershad moved closer to Ashlyn. Took her hand. “I love you, Ashe. Always have.”

A shadow fell. Something slammed the Red Skull into the sea. It took Bershad a moment to register the smoke-colored hide and hulking creature for what it was: an enormous Gray-Winged

Nomad.

The Nomad roared—loud and booming—then tore the dragon apart in her claws, blasting a spray of blood and organs across the waves. Her wingspan was as wide as a castle wall—so large she made the Red Skull look like a swamp lizard. The two remaining Red Skulls pulled up from their attack and scattered, their aggression replaced with a rabbit’s terror.

Bershad kept his harpoon raised, thinking the Nomad might attack the ship next. But she ignored them, and instead scooped the front half of the divided Red Skull into her claws and carried it to the nearest island, which was only a few hundred strides away. Then she buried her snout deep and came up chewing. Maw covered in gore. Ashlyn watched, too. Enthralled and silent. The others came up from belowdecks while the Nomad was enjoying her kill.

“What happened?” Felgor asked.

Bershad shrugged. “The Nomad killed the Red Skull.”

“What, that dragon owe you a favor or something?” Felgor asked.

“Don’t think it works that way.”

They all watched the dragon eat. When she’d had her fill, the Nomad turned back to their ship for a  moment—glowing  blue eyes sharp and aware. Then she heaved up her wings and snapped into the air with a few quick beats—salt water and blood dripping off her smoke-colored wings. Once she was a few hundred strides up, the dragon caught an ocean thermal and rode it in a wide gyre until she was a coin in the sky, shifting in and out of sight between the clouds.

“That is the biggest fucking dragon I have ever seen,” Jaku said, shielding his eyes from the sun.

“Yeah,” Bershad said, watching her. She was the largest he’d seen, too. And Bershad had seen more than most. Their ship meandered northeast in the sea’s current. The Nomad’s gyre followed their movement. “And it looks like she’s planning on sticking around awhile.”

“Um, what’re you gonna do about that?” Felgor asked.

“Long as she stays up there, not a fucking thing,” Bershad said.

“Don’t worry about that dragon,” Ashlyn said. “We need to get moving again.”

“Bit of a problem there,” Jaku said, pointing at the broken mast. “Gonna need to cut ourselves a replacement.”

Ashlyn pointed to the island where the Nomad had eaten the Red Skull. Along with the dragon carcass, it was pocked with tall cedar trees. “There.”

“Aye,” Jaku agreed, then called to his men. “Looks like we got some carpentry in our future, boys. Get the saws out of storage.”


For eleven days, they sailed north through the Broken Peninsula.

The weather had remained clear, but their journey was still slowed by the time it took to replace the mast, and—now that the skies were devoid of storms and dragons—the new and constant threat of being discovered by Linkon Pommol’s navy had emerged. Three times, they’d spotted a Papyrian frigate—now flying Linkon’s turtle banner—patrolling the Almiran coastline. As far they knew, Linkon Pommol believed Ashlyn was dead, and was simply flexing the strength of his navy to ensure the small lords of the Atlas Coast behaved. But they couldn’t risk a confrontation, so they’d been forced to sail into the chaotic interior of the Broken Peninsula for cover. The peninsula was all tiny islands and surging currents that threatened to beach them on sharpened shoals. Every time they went inland for cover, they got lost in the mess of islands and it took days to get back out to the open sea.

The Nomad had circled them the entire time. Never landed. Never strayed course.

“Doesn’t it need to rest at some point?” Felgor asked, squinting up at the gray dragon.

“I’ve told you before, that dragon is a she, not an it,” Ashlyn said from her spot on the stern, where she was sketching the dragon using a piece of charcoal and a scrap of storm-ruined sail. “And Nomads have the longest range of any dragon in Terra. They can remain airborne for a moon’s turn before exhausting themselves.”

“Doesn’t it, uh, she get hungry though?” Felgor asked.

“Not soon,” Bershad said. “She ate half that Red Skull.”

Bershad couldn’t explain it, but he could feel her full belly, somehow. A pressure that hung in the sky, but was tied to his guts, too.

“So, you’re saying it’s normal to have a dragon follow you all the way across the Broken Peninsula nonstop like a street urchin tracking a sausage cart and hoping for scraps?” Felgor asked.

Ashlyn stopped drawing. Rolled her bare shoulders in small circles, which caught the attention of a few Papyrian sailors. The battle at Floodhaven had left a jagged series of blue scars on her skin that started on her right wrist and ran up the flesh of her arm and across her chest, mapping her veins with sawtooth lines.

“No. It’s unusual,” she said.

Bershad looked up at the dragon, too. Raised a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. She was riding the western wind—wings fully expanded, the webbing aglow in the midday sun.

“Normal events are in short supply these days,” he said.

Truth was, the Nomad’s relentless focus on them wasn’t the strangest thing about her, it was the fact that he didn’t feel the bone tremor that usually came with a proximity to dragons. Instead, there was a gentle pull that was twisted up in both their pulses. The connection was intimate and tight—he could feel a surge in his balance and bloodstream anytime she rose or dipped, lilted closer or farther away.

Bershad didn’t understand it. But he was used to things happening to him that didn’t make any sense. He’d learned to ignore the deeper implications.

“Unusual or not, she is screwing with our fishing,” Captain Jaku said, locking the ship’s wheel into place with a worn loop of leather and coming over. “Generally, we’d be pulling marlin and tuna outta these waters easier than a heron pulling frogs from a clear pond. But that Nomad’s spooking everything with gills for leagues. This rate, it’s gonna be hardtack all the way home.”

“How much longer’s that gonna take?” Felgor said, scratching his ear. “Because those biscuits are detrimental to the normal routine of a man’s bowels. My last proper shit is a distant memory at this point.”

Jaku spat over the gunwale. “We keep getting the turtle lord’s ships pulling on our ass hairs and sending us into the Shattered Shithole, it’ll be a month, best case.”

“A month,” Felgor muttered. “By Aeternita, I may never shit again. You know, it’s not healthy getting all backed up like this. I knew I guy back in Burz-al-dun who stole a massive crate of persimmons off the docks, then proceeded to eat them for damn near every meal until they were gone. Afterward, he went three weeks without a shit and wound up—”

“Gods, Felgor. I will get you a fucking fish if you just stop talking,” Bershad said. He looked up at the dragon. She’d scare away the fish during the day—even the creatures that lived beneath the waves knew to watch the skies of Terra—but under the cover of darkness, things would be different. “I’ll do it tonight.”


“Has a dragon ever followed you like this before?” Ashlyn asked when they were in the privacy of their own cabin.

“Well, I missed my pass on a Blackjack a few summers ago and got chased through about fifteen leagues of swamp before the thing lost interest. Had to wait until its blood calmed down the next day before I could settle things.”

“Don’t be cute. I’m not talking about a dragonslaying gone wrong.”

Bershad sighed. “No,” he admitted. “It’s new.”

Ashlyn chewed on that for a moment.

“The way your body heals. That dragon overhead. There has to be an explanation for it all.”

“Sure. I’m a fucking demon.”

“Very funny. Osyrus Ward didn’t say anything about dragons following you?”

He shook his head. “No. But that crazy old man was pretty light on specifics.”

After they’d escaped Floodhaven, Bershad had told Ashlyn about Osyrus Ward and the dungeon amputations he’d endured. But he hadn’t told her what Osyrus Ward had said: that the strength in his blood would eventually kill him. And he didn’t plan to. He was used to death sentences. Throwing another one across his shoulders didn’t move him much.

“What are you holding on to, Silas?”

She was studying him with her careful, scrutinizing eyes.

“Nothing.”

“Liar.”

He shrugged. Knew he was keeping the secret because of stupid, stubborn instinct, but he also knew Ashlyn. If he told her he was doomed, she’d go chasing after answers, no matter where they took her. He didn’t care if a dragon was following him, so long as she stayed in the sky above, which he had a feeling she’d do. He wanted whatever time he had left to be quiet and peaceful. Lived out on some empty Papyrian island where nobody could bother them. So little of his life had been like that. A week. A month. A year. He didn’t care how much he got, so long as shared it with Ashlyn.

“You know I’ll figure it out eventually,” Ashlyn added when he stayed silent.

“Maybe. Or maybe some things are truly unknowable, witch queen.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Make me.”

Ashlyn scoffed. “Very well.”

She crossed the cabin and grabbed him by throat and jaw. Then slowly pushed him down onto his knees.

Copyright © Brian Naslund 2020

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Every Tor Book Coming This Summer

It’s almost time for summer weather and that means…SUMMER BOOKS! Due to COVID-19, we shuffled some of our on sale dates around, so check here for the most up to date list of when you can get your hands on some of the most highly anticipated books of the season:

June 16

The Unconquered CityImage Place holder  of - 40 by K. A. Doore

Seven years have passed since the Siege—a time when the hungry dead had risen—but the memories still haunt Illi Basbowen. Though she was trained to be an elite assassin, now the Basbowen clan act as Ghadid’s militia force protecting the resurrected city against a growing tide of monstrous guul that travel across the dunes. Illi’s worst fears are confirmed when General Barca arrives, bearing news that her fledgling nation, Hathage, also faces this mounting danger. How much can she sacrifice to protect everything she knows from devastation?

GloriousPoster Placeholder of - 68 by Gregory Benford and Larry Niven

Audacious astronauts encounter bizarre, sometimes deadly life forms, and strange, exotic, cosmic phenomena, including miniature black holes, dense fields of interstellar plasma, powerful gravity-emitters, and spectacularly massive space-based, alien-built labyrinths. Tasked with exploring this brave, new, highly dangerous world, they must also deal with their own personal triumphs and conflicts.

June 23

Placeholder of  -85The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison

In an alternate 1880s London, angels inhabit every public building, and vampires and werewolves walk the streets with human beings in a well-regulated truce. A fantastic utopia, except for a few things: Angels can Fall, and that Fall is like a nuclear bomb in both the physical and metaphysical worlds. And human beings remain human, with all their kindness and greed and passions and murderous intent. Jack the Ripper stalks the streets of this London too. But this London has an Angel. The Angel of the Crows.

June 30

Image Placeholder of - 34Interlibrary Loan by Gene Wolfe

E. A. Smithe is a borrowed person, his personality an uploaded recording of a deceased mystery writer. Smithe is a piece of property, not a legal human. As such, Smithe can be loaned to other branches. Which he is. Along with two fellow reclones, a cookbook and romance writer, they are shipped to Polly’s Cove, where Smithe meets a little girl who wants to save her mother, a father who is dead but perhaps not. And another E.A. Smithe… who definitely is.

July 7

Place holder  of - 36Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott

Princess Sun has finally come of age. Growing up in the shadow of her mother, Eirene, has been no easy task. The legendary queen-marshal did what everyone thought impossible: expel the invaders and build Chaonia into a magnificent republic, one to be respected—and feared. But the cutthroat ambassador corps and conniving noble houses have never ceased to scheme—and they have plans that need Sun to be removed as heir, or better yet, dead.

Or What You Will by Jo Walton

He has been too many things to count. He has been a dragon with a boy on his back. He has been a scholar, a warrior, a lover, and a thief. He has been dream and dreamer. He has been a god. But “he” is in fact nothing more than a spark of idea, a character in the mind of Sylvia Harrison, 73, award-winning author of thirty novels over forty years. But Sylvia won’t live forever, any more than any human does. And he’s trapped inside her cave of bone, her hollow of skull. When she dies, so will he.

Little Brother & Homeland by Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow’s two New York Times-bestselling novels of youthful rebellion against the torture-and-surveillance state – now available in a softcover omnibus

 

July 14

In the Kingdom of All Tomorrows by Stephen R. Lawhead

Conor mac Ardan is now clan chief of the Darini. Tara’s Hill has become a haven and refuge for all those who were made homeless by the barbarian Scálda. A large fleet of the Scálda’s Black Ships has now arrived and Conor joins Eirlandia’s lords to defeat the monsters. He finds treachery in their midst…and a betrayal that is blood deep. And so begins a final battle to win the soul of a nation.

The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowl

Elma York is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established. Her friend and fellow Lady Astronaut Nicole Wargin is thrilled to be one of those pioneer settlers, using her considerable flight and political skills to keep the program on track. But she is less happy that her husband, the Governor of Kansas, is considering a run for President.

July 21

Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Phyllis LeBlanc has given up everything—not just her own past, and Dev, the man she loved, but even her own dreams. Still, the ghosts from her past are always by her side—and history has appeared on her doorstep to threaten the people she keeps in her heart. And so Phyllis will have to make a harrowing choice, before it’s too late—is there ever enough blood in the world to wash clean generations of injustice?

 The Sin in the Steel by Ryan Van Loan

Buc and Eld are the first private detectives in a world where pirates roam the seas, mages speak to each other across oceans, mechanical devices change the tide of battle, and earthly wealth is concentrated in the hands of a powerful few. It’s been weeks since ships last returned to the magnificent city of Servenza with bounty from the Shattered Coast. Disaster threatens not just the city’s trading companies but the empire itself. When Buc and Eld are hired to investigate, Buc swiftly discovers that the trade routes have become the domain of a sharp-eyed pirate queen who sinks all who defy her.

Quantum Shadows by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. 

On a world called Heaven, the ten major religions of mankind each have its own land governed by a capital city and ruled by a Hegemon. That Hegemon may be a god, or a prophet of a god. Smaller religions have their own towns or villages of belief. Corvyn, known as the Shadow of the Raven, contains the collective memory of humanity’s Falls from Grace. With this knowledge comes enormous power. When unknown power burns a mysterious black image into the holy place of each House of the Decalivre, Corvyn must discover what entity could possibly have that much power. The stakes are nothing less than another Fall, and if he doesn’t stop it, mankind will not rise from the ashes.

Uranus by Ben Bova

Humans can’t live on the gas giants, making instead a life in orbit. Kyle Umber, a religious idealist, has built Haven, a sanctuary above the distant planet Uranus. He invites ”the tired, the sick, the poor“ of Earth to his orbital retreat where men and women can find spiritual peace and refuge from the world. The billionaire who financed Haven, however, has his own designs: beyond the reach of the laws of the inner planets Haven could become the center for an interplanetary web of narcotics, prostitution, even hunting human prey.

I Come With Knives by S. A. Hunt

Robin – now armed with new knowledge about mysterious demon terrorizing her around town, the support of her friends, and the assistance of her old witch-hunter mentor – plots to confront the Lazenbury coven and destroy them once and for all. Robin must handle new threats on top of the menace from the Lazenbury coven, but a secret about Robin’s past may throw all of her plans into jeopardy.

July 28

Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha

Nina is an information broker with a mission—she and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to save the hopeless in a crumbling America. Knox is the bitter, battle-weary captain of the Silver Devils. His squad of supersoldiers went AWOL to avoid slaughtering innocents, and now he’s fighting to survive. They’re on a deadly collision course, and the passion that flares between them only makes it more dangerous. They could burn down the world, destroying each other in the process…Or they could do the impossible: team up.

The Baron of Magister Valley by Steven Brust

The salacious claims that The Baron of Magister Valley bears any resemblance to a certain nearly fictional narrative about an infamous count are unfounded (we do not dabble in tall tales. The occasional moderately stretched? Yes. But never tall). Our tale is that of a nobleman who is betrayed by those he trusted, and subsequently imprisoned. After centuries of confinement, he contrives to escape and prepares to avenge himself against his betrayers. A mirror image of The Count of Monte Cristo, vitrolic naysayers still grouse? Well, that is nearly and utterly false.

Automatic Reload by Ferrett Steinmetz

Meet Mat, a tortured mercenary who has become the perfect shot, and Silvia, and idealistic woman genetically engineered to murder you to death. Together they run for the shadiest corporation in the world… and realize their messed-up brain chemistry cannot overpower their very real chemistry.

August 4

The Living Dead by George A. Romero and Daniel Kraus

In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly-risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come. Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead. We think we know how this story ends. We. Are. Wrong.

Space Station Down by Ben Bova and Doug Beason

When an ultra-rich space tourist visits the orbiting International Space Station, NASA expects a $100 million win-win: his visit will bring in much needed funding and publicity. But the tourist venture turns into a scheme of terror. Together with an extremist cosmonaut, the tourist slaughters all the astronauts on board the million-pound ISS—and prepares to crash it into New York City at 17,500 miles an hour, causing more devastation than a hundred atomic bombs. In doing so, they hope to annihilate the world’s financial system.

Sorcery of a Queen by Brian Naslund

Driven from her kingdom, the would-be queen now seeks haven in the land of her mother, but Ashlyn will not stop until justice has been done. Determined to unlock the secret of powers long thought impossible, Ashlyn bends her will and intelligence to mastering the one thing people always accused her of, sorcery. Meanwhile, having learned the truth of his mutation, Bershad is a man on borrowed time. Never knowing when his healing powers will drive him to a self-destruction, he is determined to see Ashlyn restored to her throne and the creatures they both love safe.

A Chorus of Fire by Brian D. Anderson

A shadow has moved across Lamoria. Whispers of the coming conflict are growing louder; the enemy becoming bolder. Belkar’s reach has extended far into the heart of Ralmarstad and war now seems inevitable. Mariyah, clinging to the hope of one day being reunited with Lem, struggles to attain the power she will need to make the world safe again.Lem continues his descent into darkness, serving a man he does not trust in the name of a faith which is not his own. Only Shemi keeps his heart from succumbing to despair, along with the knowledge that he has finally found Mariyah. But Lem is convinced she is being held against her will, and is determined to free her, regardless the cost.

August 11

The Tyrant Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

Baru’s enemies close in from all sides. Baru’s own mind teeters on the edge of madness or shattering revelation. Now she must choose between genocidal revenge and a far more difficult path—a conspiracy of judges, kings, spies and immortals, puppeteering the world’s riches and two great wars in a gambit for the ultimate prize. If Baru had absolute power over the Imperial Republic, she could force Falcrest to abandon its colonies and make right its crimes.

The Last Uncharted Sky by Curtis Craddock

Isabelle and Jean-Claude undertake an airship expedition to recover a fabled treasure and claim a hitherto undiscovered craton for l’Empire Celeste. But Isabelle, as a result from a previous attack that tried to subsume her body and soul, suffers from increasingly disturbing and disruptive hallucinations. Disasters are compounded when the ship is sabotaged by an enemy agent, and Jean-Claude is separated from the expedition.

By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar

Everyone thinks they know the story of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. The fact is they don’t know sh*t.

Arthur? An over-promoted gangster. Merlin? An eldritch parasite. Excalibur? A shady deal with a watery arms dealer. Britain? A clogged sewer that Rome abandoned just as soon as it could.

The Shadow Commission by David Mack

November 1963. Cade and Anja have lived in hiding for a decade, training new mages. Then the assassination of President Kennedy trigger a series of murders whose victims are all magicians—with Cade, Anja, and their allies as its prime targets. Their only hope of survival: learning how to fight back against the sinister cabal known as the Shadow Commission.

The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe

A young man in his teens is transported from our world to a magical realm consisting of seven levels of reality. Transformed by magic into a grown man of heroic proportions, he takes the name Sir Able of the High Heart and sets out on a quest to find the sword that has been promised to him, the blade that will help him fulfill his ambition to become a true hero—a true knight. Inside, however, Sir Able remains a boy, and he must grow in every sense to survive what lies ahead…

August 25

The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons

Now that Relos Var’s plans have been revealed and demons are free to rampage across the empire, the fulfillment of the ancient prophecies—and the end of the world—is closer than ever. To buy time for humanity, Kihrin needs to convince the king of the Manol vané to perform an ancient ritual which will strip the entire race of their immortality, but it’s a ritual which certain vané will do anything to prevent. Including assassinating the messengers.

Architects of Memory by Karen Osborne

Terminally ill salvage pilot Ash Jackson lost everything in the war with the alien Vai, but she’ll be damned if she loses her future. Her plan: to buy, beg, or lie her way out of corporate indenture and find a cure. When her crew salvages a genocidal weapon from a ravaged starship above a dead colony, Ash uncovers a conspiracy of corporate intrigue and betrayal that threatens to turn her into a living weapon.

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