Speculate: A Collection of MicroLit - Excerpts and Giveaway
Source: qwillery.blogspot.com
TITLE | AUTHOR | SERIES |
Apex: World of Dinosaurs Anthology (e) | Alana Joli Abbott (Ed) | F/Anthology |
Lone Wolves | Dan Abnett | SF - Warhammer 40,000 |
Ivory's Story | Eugen Bacon | Th/F |
The Roach | Rhett C. Bruno | SF/Th |
The Cinematic Art of Overwatch | Matt Burns | SF/Art |
Helsreach | Aaron Dembski-Bowden | SF - Warhammer 40,000 |
D: A Tale of Two Worlds | Michel Faber | CF/MR/LF |
Peach Blossom Paradise | Ge Fei Canaan Morse (Tr) | Pol/Dys/Hist |
Crosshairs | Catherine Hernandez | Dys |
Sexton Blake's Allies | Mark Hodder (Ed) | Cr - The Sexton Blake Library 3 |
Now Before the Dark | Sam Hooker | F/HU - Terribly Serious Darkness |
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2020 Edition | Rich Horton (Ed) | SF/Anthology |
The Light of All That Falls (h2tp) | James Islington | F - Licanius Trilogy 3 |
Zed (h2tp) | Joanna Kavenna | Satire/LF/Dys |
The Stand | Stephen King | MTI/Sus/H/SF/AP/PA |
Orders of Battle | Marko Kloos | SF/SO/AC - Frontlines 7 |
Wizard of the Pigeons: The 35th Anniversary Illustrated Edition | Megan Lindholm Robin Hobb | F/UF/CF |
Betrayal in Time (h2tp) | Julie McElwain | M/TT - Kendra Donovan Mystery 4 |
Memoria | Kristyn Merbeth | SF/SO/AC/SE - Nova Vita Protocol 2 |
The Philosopher's War (h2tp) | Tom Miller | HistF - The Philosophers 2 |
Prophecy's End | Richard Phillips | F - Endarian Prophecy 6 |
The Seep (h2tp) | Chana Porter | LGBT/AB/SF/AP/PA |
Exo-Hunter | Jeremy Robinson | AC/SF |
Anyone (h2tp) | Charles Soule | SF |
Armor (ri) | John Steakley | SF/HSF |
When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain | Nghi Vo | F/HistF - The Singing Hills Cycle 2 |
Fleet Elements | Walter Jon Williams | SF - A Novel of the Praxis 2 |
Eugen Bacon’s work is deemed cheeky with a fierce intelligence in text that’s resplendent, delicious, dark and evocative. NPR called her novel Claiming T-Mo ‘a confounding mysterious tour de force’. The Road to Woop Woop and Other Stories imbues the same lushness in a writerly language that is Bacon’s own. This peculiar hybrid of the untraditional, the extraordinary within, without and along the borders of normalcy will hypnotise and absorb the reader with tales that refuse to be labelled. The stories in this collection are dirges that cross genres in astounding ways. Over 20 provocative tales, with seven original to this collection, by an award-winning African Australian author.
Black Moon is an illustrated collection of speculative flash fiction interspersed with prose poetry. It carries themes of love and war, life and the afterlife, hope and despair. It is a philosophical assortment that questions normalcy, embraces opposition, and takes a keen interest on peculiarity. It will appeal to curious lovers of literary dark fantasy and all places in between.
Long ago, a good man transgressed and was brutally punished, his physical form killed and his soul split asunder. Now, one half of his ancient soul seeks to reunite with its lost twin, a search that leaves murder in its wake…In the streets of modern day Sydney a killer stalks the night, slaughtering innocents, leaving bodies mutilated. The victims seem unconnected, yet Investigating Officer Ivory Tembo is convinced the killings are anything but random. The case soon leads Ivory into places she never imagined. In order to stop the killings and save the life of the man she loves, she must reach deep into her past, uncover secrets of her heritage, break a demon’s curse, and somehow unify two worlds.Ivory's Story deftly combines the contemporary thriller with darker, older traditions, and marks the arrival of an exciting new voice on the genre fiction scene.“Bacon masterfully blends myth, heritage, and self-discovery in this impressive, genre-defying work of speculative fiction... Writing with sharp, insightful prose, Bacon delivers a taut thriller that dives deep into its distinctive protagonist’s internal life and family history. Seasoned speculative fiction readers will be wowed by Bacon’s careful, layered worldbuilding, well-developed characters, and otherworldly atmosphere. This deserves a wide audience.” – Publisher’s Weekly [Starred Review]“Eugen Bacon’s latest novel has a lot going for it. A lot… if the reader is adventurous enough, Ivory’s Story will both startle and seduce.” – Locus“Not a word is wasted. This isn’t writing by rote, not a book surfing the expectancies of fantasy fiction, but one which brims with descriptive prose, where the movement of the words form the story, similar to the physical brushstrokes of a painting carrying the eye. Ivory’s Story is a fast-paced organic fantasy shone through a poet’s timbre and I loved it.” – Black Static“A new star is born in the emerald skies of Fantasy, and its name is Eugen Bacon.” – Nuzo Onoh, author of The Reluctant Dead“Bacon expertly weaves a speculative world with harsh and mundane realities to form a lush and magical tale about the importance of love and the courage needed to face the demons of this world and the next. Highly recommended.” – Nick Wood, author of Azanian Bridges“Transformation and identity are the themes connecting chapters that dance and shift in each other’s light. The book’s final third revels in imaginative potential, where Bacon shows us sumptuous glens and hidden courts. She also reminds that nature and time live within us, and are capable of healing anything.” – Andromeda Spaceways Magazine“If you're looking out for an epic tale that will certainly stand apart from your usual fare, that is written with great passion and feeling, this one may well hit the mark.” – Nerine Dorman Reviews“Ivory's Story speaks of places and moments that bind us. The myths and mysteries that draw us in. A powerful blend of African and Australian speculative fiction.” – Dominique Hecq, award-winning poet, novelist, short story writer“Eugen Bacon is a vital, vibrant voice.” – Lucy Sussex, author of The Scarlet Rider"Twin-lore, bewitching entities, psychic investigation and urban murder mystery, juxtaposed against wilderness visions. Ivory’s Story is a savoury bouquet of wilderness flavours flash-fried in an offworld skin. An aromatic sense-delight. – Nikhil Singh, author of Club Ded“A murder mystery, an adventure story and a spiritual journey all rolled up into one, which not only entertains but also leaves us pondering the deeper questions.” – Denise O'Hagan, author of The Beating HeartIvory's Story is available as a special edition hardback, signed by the author and limited to just 50 numbered copies, as well as in paperback and ebook editions.
The battle against the Lankies has been won. Earth seems safe. Peacetime military? Not on your life.It’s been four years since Earth threw its full military prowess against the Lanky incursion. Humanity has been yanked back from the abyss of extinction. The solar system is at peace. For now.The future for Major Andrew Grayson of the Commonwealth Defense Corps and his wife, Halley? Flying desk duty on the front. No more nightmares of monstrous things. No more traumas to the mind and body. But when an offer comes down from above, Andrew has to make a choice: continue pushing papers into retirement, or jump right back into the fight? What’s a podhead to do?The remaining Lankies may have retreated in fear, but the threat isn’t over. They need to be wiped out for good before they strike again. That’ll take a new offensive deployment. Aboard an Avenger warship, Andrew and the special tactics team under his command embark on the ultimate search-and-destroy mission. This time, it’ll be on Lanky turf.No big heroics. No unnecessary risks. Just a swift hit-and-run raid in the hostile Capella system. Blow the alien seed ships into oblivion and get the hell back to Earth. At least, that’s the objective. But when does anything in war go according to plan?
A missing scientist and deep pockets pull Colonel Carl Butler out of retirement, investigating another mystery that puts him and his team--and the future of relations with alien species--in danger in COLONYSIDE, the exciting follow-up to Planetside and Spaceside.A military hero is coming out of disgrace—straight into the line of fire…Carl Butler was once a decorated colonel. Now he’s a disgraced recluse, hoping to live out the rest of his life on a backwater planet where no one cares about his “crimes” and everyone leaves him alone.It’s never that easy.A CEO’s daughter has gone missing and he thinks Butler is the only one who can find her. The government is only too happy to appease him. Butler isn’t so sure, but he knows the pain of losing a daughter, so he reluctantly signs on. Soon he’s on a military ship heading for a newly-formed colony where the dangerous jungle lurks just outside the domes where settlers live.Paired with Mac, Ganos, and a government-assigned aide named Fader, Butler dives head-first into what should be an open and shut case. Then someone tries to blow him up. Faced with an incompetent local governor, a hamstrung military, and corporations playing fast and loose with the laws, Butler finds himself in familiar territory. He’s got nobody to trust but himself, but that’s where he works best. He’ll fight to get to the bottom of the mystery, but this time, he might not live to solve it.
Can a writer of short fiction productively apply a model of stories-within-a-story to build a novel; and if so, what techniques or experiences are transferable from one form to the other?In Claiming T-Mo I created purposeful adaptations, embedded vignettes layered, and amounting to a cohesive novel that is almost like a story circle. It flows smoothly from one point to another, each story part bearing a concealed self-sufficiency interlinked and layered into a composite. And I bet you won’t notice.
Does literary writing contribute to the quality of works in science fiction, fantasy or speculative fiction?
Q. Is there a sequel?
A. No. (I think the story is complete within itself.)
Q. How do you pronounce Myra?
A. My (as in ‘my name is…) Rah (as in ‘ra-ra-rasputin’)
T-Mo happened exactly one week after the puzzle-piece woman with fifty-cent eyes. —in Salem’s story
It started with a name. And ended in a swim. —in Myra’s story
In this lush interplanetary tale, Novic is an immortal Sayneth priest who flouts the conventions of a matriarchal society by choosing a name for his child. This act initiates chaos that splits the boy in two, unleashing a Jekyll-and-Hyde child upon the universe. Named T-Mo by his mother and Odysseus by his father, the story spans the boy’s lifetime — from his early years with his mother Silhouette on planet Grovea to his travels to Earth where he meets and marries Salem, and together they bear a hybrid named Myra. The story unfolds through the eyes of these three distinctive women: Silhouette, Salem and Myra. As they confront their fears and navigate the treacherous paths to love and accept T-Mo/Odysseus and themselves, the darkness in Odysseus urges them to unbearable choices that threaten their very existence.
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TITLE | AUTHOR | SERIES |
Claiming T-Mo (D) | Eugen Bacon | SF |
Rebel Born | Amy A. Bartol | Dys/SF/SFR - Secondborn 3 |
Rule of Capture | Christopher Brown | Dys |
The Antares Maelstrom | Greg Cox | SF - Star Trek: The Original |
The Echo Chamber | Rhett J. Evans | TechTh |
The Blue Salt Road | Joanne M Harris | FairyT/FolkT/LM/FR/LF |
Shrouded Loyalties | Reese Hogan | SF |
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday | Saad Z. Hossain | F/SF/SP/PA |
How Long 'til Black Future Month?: Stories (h2tp) | N. K. Jemisin | F/SF/UF/AC/SS |
The Mage-Fire War | L. E. Modesitt Jr. | F - Recluce 21 |
The Heart of the Circle (D) | Keren Landsman | CF/UF/P |
Knaves Over Queens | George R.R. Martin (Ed) | SF/SH/SF - Wild Cards 20 |
Savage City | Sophia McDougall | HistF/AH |
Knock Wood: A Memoir in Essays | Jennifer Militello | Memoir |
Inland | Téa Obreht | FL/Hist/W |
The Memory Police | Yoko Ogawa Stephen Snyder (Tr) | LF/SF/Dys |
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? (D) | Temi Oh | SF/HSF |
The Warning | James Patterson with Robison Wells | Sus/TechTh |
Before She Sleeps (h2tp) | Bina Shah | Dys |
The House of Sacrifice | Anna Smith Spark | F/HistF/DF - Empires of Dust 3 |
Dahlia Black | Keith Thomas | SF/AC |
Flights (h2tp) | Olga Tokarczuk Jennifer Croft (Tr) | LF/SS/MR |
Blood Truth | J. R. Ward | PNR - Black Dagger Legacy 4 |
Queen of All the Nightbirds (e) | Craig Wolf | SF/H/GH |
Pale Kings | Micah Yongo | F/DF |
TITLE | AUTHOR | SERIES |
A Shadow Within: Evil in Fantasy and Science Fiction | Francesca T. Barbini | HC/LC |
TITLE | AUTHOR | SERIES |
Killer Lake | David Benton W.D. Gagliani | H |
In this lush interplanetary tale, Novic is an immortal Sayneth priest who flouts the conventions of a matriarchal society by choosing a name for his child. This act initiates chaos that splits the boy in two, unleashing a Jekyll-and-Hyde child upon the universe. Named T-Mo by his mother and Odysseus by his father, the story spans the boy’s lifetime — from his early years with his mother Silhouette on planet Grovea to his travels to Earth where he meets and marries Salem, and together they bear a hybrid named Myra. The story unfolds through the eyes of these three distinctive women: Silhouette, Salem and Myra. As they confront their fears and navigate the treacherous paths to love and accept T-Mo/Odysseus and themselves, the darkness in Odysseus urges them to unbearable choices that threaten their very existence.
In this compelling fantasy from a debut author, two young people must unite two warring cultures to banish the gods who destroyed their homeland.
The Fallen Gods’ War drove the remnants of a victorious army across the ocean in search of a new homeland. A thousand years later, the lifeless continent of Draegora is largely forgotten, a symbol for the regiments that remain. Demons to some. Protectors to others. The power of their god-touched blades has forged a nation, though many resent their absolute control.
Riam and Nola are unknowing descendants of the old world. When it’s discovered they carry enough Draegoran blood to serve in the regiments, they are dragged away from their families to begin training. If they survive, they will be expected to enforce the laws of the covenant, to fight the Esharii tribesmen who raid along the border, and to be judge, jury, and executioners for those accused of crimes.
For Riam, who welcomes his escape from an abusive father, the power to protect those who cannot defend themselves is alluring. For Nola, who wishes to return home, it is a betrayal by all she holds dear.
Neither is given a choice…and neither may ever get the chance to serve.
Lies of Descent begins an epic trilogy of fallen gods, betrayal, and magic—where dark motives often dwell within the true and just, and where the things most feared sometimes lead to salvation.
One pet crow fights to save humanity from an apocalypse in this uniquely hilarious debut from a genre-bending literary author.
S.T., a domesticated crow, is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his owner Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle’s wild crows (those idiots), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos ®.
Then Big Jim’s eyeball falls out of his head, and S.T. starts to feel like something isn’t quite right. His most tried-and-true remedies–from beak-delivered beer to the slobbering affection of Big Jim’s loyal but dim-witted dog, Dennis–fail to cure Big Jim’s debilitating malady. S.T. is left with no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a wild and frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis, where he discovers that the neighbors are devouring each other and the local wildlife is abuzz with rumors of dangerous new predators roaming Seattle. Humanity’s extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a foul-mouthed crow whose knowledge of the world around him comes from his TV-watching education.
Hollow Kingdom is a humorous, big-hearted, and boundlessly beautiful romp through the apocalypse and the world that comes after, where even a cowardly crow can become a hero.
“Combines the spare poetry of The Road with the dizzying pace of 28 Days Later.” —Jennie Melamed, author Gather the Daughters
“A riveting novel.” —Eowyn Ivey, bestselling author of The Snow Child
Remember your just-in-cases. Beware tall buildings. Always have your knives.
Raised in isolation by her mother and Maeve on a small island off the coast of a post-apocalyptic Ireland, Orpen’s life has revolved around training to fight a threat she’s never seen. More and more she feels the call of the mainland, and the prospect of finding other survivors.
But that is where danger lies, too, in the form of the flesh-eating menace known as the skrake.
Then disaster strikes. Alone, pushing an unconscious Maeve in a wheelbarrow, Orpen decides her last hope is abandoning the safety of the island and journeying across the country to reach the legendary banshees, the rumored all-female fighting force that battles the skrake.
But the skrake are not the only threat…
Sarah Davis-Goff's Last Ones Left Alive is a brilliantly original imagining of a young woman's journey to discover her true identity.
In this fast-paced, international thriller, chaos erupts after a shadowy figure with ties to an elite and ancient society posts incantations on the dark web that allow people to perform real magic.
When an enigmatic message uploaded to the dark web turns out to contain an ancient secret giving regular people the power to do impossible things, like levitate cars or make themselves invisible, American government officials panic. They know the demo videos on YouTube and instructions for incantations could turn from fantastical amusement to dangerous weapon at the drop of the hat, and they scramble to keep the information out of the wrong hands.
They tap Ben Zolstra, an ex-CIA field operative whose history with the Agency is conflicted at best, to lead the team that’s racing to contain the dangerous knowledge—and track down the mysterious figure behind the leak who threatens that even more dangerous spells will be released one by one until the world as we know it no longer exists.
This sweeping, globe-spanning thriller explores the dark consequences of a question mankind has been asking for centuries: What if magic were real?
Sorcerers fight for the right to exist and fall in love, in this extraordinary alternate world fantasy thriller by award-winning Israeli author Keren Landsman.
Throughout human history there have always been sorcerers, once idolised and now exploited for their powers. In Israel, the Sons of Simeon, a group of religious extremists, persecute sorcerers while the government turns a blind eye. After a march for equal rights ends in brutal murder, empath, moodifier and reluctant waiter Reed becomes the next target. While his sorcerous and normie friends seek out his future killers, Reed complicates everything by falling hopelessly in love. As the battle for survival grows ever more personal, can Reed protect himself and his friends as the Sons of Simeon close in around them?
File Under: Fantasy [ Love Squared | Stuck in the Margins | Emotional Injection | Fight the Power ]
First in the Dragons of Terra series, Brian Naslund's Blood of an Exile is a fast-paced adventure perfect for comic readers and fans of heroic fantasy
Bershad was supposed to die...
When he was caught trying to assassinate a fellow noble, Flawless Bershad was given a death sentence. Fight monsters so that he would die serving the kingdom. But Bershad can’t die.
He’s never lost a fight, the most successful dragon slayer in history but marked as a doomed man, Bershad stands apart from the world. But that is about to change.
The man who sentenced Bershad to his fate has just given him an out. Kill a king and walk free forever. But Bershad could not care less about the fates of kings and kingdoms, until, that is, he discovers he is the only person able to save an innocent child and, possibly, the life of every creature in Terra.
When an Earth-like planet is discovered, a team of six teens, along with three veteran astronauts, embark on a twenty-year trip to set up a planet for human colonization—but find that space is more deadly than they ever could have imagined.
Have you ever hoped you could leave everything behind?
Have you ever dreamt of a better world?
Can a dream sustain a lifetime?
A century ago, an astronomer discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting a nearby star. She predicted that one day humans would travel there to build a utopia. Today, ten astronauts are leaving everything behind to find it. Four are veterans of the twentieth century’s space-race.
And six are teenagers who’ve trained for this mission most of their lives.
It will take the team twenty-three years to reach Terra-Two. Twenty-three years locked in close quarters. Twenty-three years with no one to rely on but each other. Twenty-three years with no rescue possible, should something go wrong.
And something always goes wrong.
Epic tale of giant-robot battles, built around a personal story of redemption and healing.
FLY HARD
Rook is a jockey, a soldier trained and modified to fly ‘shells,’ huge robots that fight for the outer regions of settled space. When her shell is destroyed and her squad killed, Rook is imprisoned, left stranded, scarred and broken. Hollow and helpless without her steel frame, she’s ready to call it quits.
When her cohort of prisoners are sold into indenture to NorCol, a vast frontier corporation, Rook’s given another shell – a near-decrepit Juno, as broken as she is and decades older – and sent to a rusting bucket of a ship on the end of known space to patrol something called “the Eye,” a strange, unnerving permanent storm in space.
Where something is stirring...
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