Books Tagged With where - general - underground

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Summary: An underground city, built centuries ago to ride out the devastating heat. A society under attack. And a young solar engineer whose skills may be the key to saving her city…if she doesn’t get herself killed first. When Jossey was ten, the creatures of the aboveground took her brother and left her for dead, with horrible scars. Now, years later, she’s a successful solar engineer, working to keep her underground city’s power running, but she’s never really recovered. After she saves dozens of people during a second attack, she is offered a top-secret assignment as a field Engineer with Patrol, but fear prevents her from taking it…until Patrol finds bones near where her brother disappeared. She signs on and finds herself catapulted into a world that is far more dangerous, and requires far more of her, than she ever imagined. The creatures and the burning heat aboveground are not the only threats facing the City, and what she learns during her assignment could cost her her life: one of the greatest threats to the City may in fact lie within. With thousands of lives at stake, can she act in time? Aestus is an adult dystopian science-fiction series set centuries after climate change has ravaged much of Earth. An epic story of vengeance, power, shifting loyalties, and survival that looks at just how far people will go to protect what they love, brought to you by science writer S.Z. Attwell, Aestus paints a picture of a world in which far too little has changed. 

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Summary: The world of Avern has moved on. It has been almost a thousand years since the day the entire pantheon disappeared. Since the Abandonment, the mortals have learned to live without gods and goddesses. The world became mundane with little magic, and even less hope. Tyrants have risen, and those able to wield what is left of magic are powerful. Forces surge in the darkness that threaten to topple the already fragile world. The plight of the world of Avern is not unknown, however, and those that watch from a distance have decided to intervene. The mortals are sleeping, however, unknowing that two great powers will soon by vying for control.Then something happens that changes things. A young princess makes a bid for power by murdering her father. She then attempts to murder her sister, the crown princess of Lineria, Keiara. Despite a true strike, aided by dark powers, Keiara doesn’t die. Instead, the strike pierces the barrier between her human soul and the soul sleeping within her, the soul of the Dark Phoenix. More than a goddess, the Dark Phoenix is the legendary mother of the gods. She is a part of the Eternal Phoenix that brought life to their world eons ago, one of the primal forces of the cosmos.

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Summary: They told him he was chosen, but everything they told him was a lie. Sookahr believes he’s destined to change the world. With his rodent companion and a motley crew of fellow serpents, he journeys to the farthest outpost of Serpentia, determined to prove himself. The quest leads him to the very edge of the jungle, where Sookahr encounters, not only sabotage, but a dark secret that could shake the foundation of his civilization. Betrayed and abandoned, Sookarh must discover his own power, harness the magic inside his dreams, and decide who he really wants to be. Because if he can’t rise to the challenge, expose his enemy, and uncover the truth, he won\'t just lose his way. He’ll lose his friends, his place in society… and his life. In a world ruled by reptiles, one snake must fulfil his destiny to overthrow corruption, expose a dark secret, and save his people… from themselves. 2020 Leo Literary Award Winner

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Summary: “Ye never ken what beasties lurk in the water…” The white and red dragons have been spiritual soulmates for as long as anyone can remember. Finally, their human vessels Stewart and Michael are together once more—except one of them has a hard time remembering or believing that he’s a dragon. As his mysterious family’s past starts revealing itself, Stewart Rygby has been made aware of his responsibility to manage and protect vast estate holdings that are in his care—which includes the local fairy village. There is also the impending problem of a lake resort planned to be built dangerously close to the dragons’ ancient lair. While Father Aron has the power to prevent this egregious trespass, it may take some angelic intervention to convince him to accept such a crusade on faith. Join us as our dragons come together for another lifetime in Green Hills and Dragon Tales—the momentous second book in the Green Hills Series by Celyn Kendrick!

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Summary: Staging a musical in Purgatory can be absolute hell. Lonnie Coleridge last saw the sun in 1968. Since then, he’s been consigned to Limbo, still wearing the same tie-dyed T-shirt and bell-bottomed jeans he had on when he left his life behind. He and others like him have one chance each year at redemption: produce a show for the Greek pantheon. Whoever pleases this very specific—and temperamental—fan group could earn the right to move on. But after a literal act of god (*cough* Hermes *cough*) destroys their sets, lights, and costumes, the company needs emergency help to rebuild. Without it, all of them could poof out of existence forever. Out-of-work theater technician TD Baylor has precisely three things on his cosmic wish list: a job, a place to stay, and a boyfriend who isn’t a total tool. He thinks he’s got the first two nailed when he gets a line on a two-week gig that includes room and board. So what if the job tip came from a guy who was leaning way too hard into the LOTR cosplay at a sketchy Halloween pop-up? At this point, TD doesn’t have anything more to lose, so he figures…what the hell. He didn’t realize hell was the operative word. When Lonnie greets him at the theater door, though...whoa. TD fantasizes that item number three could be within his reach. But then Lonnie gives him the bad news: This is Purgatory Playhouse, aka Theater of the Darned. In two weeks—if they’re lucky and can successfully mount a musical version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream—the company will return to Limbo after the curtain falls. If they’re not lucky? Remember that part about hell? Purgatory Playhouse is part of the multi-author Magic Emporium Series. Each book stands alone, but each one features an appearance by Marden’s Magic Emporium, a shop that can appear anywhere, but only once and only when someone’s in dire need. This book contains a theater techie who’s one couch surf away from homeless, a production assistant who’s sort of, um, not alive, Greek gods behaving very badly indeed, and a guaranteed HEA.

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Summary: RISE (noun / verb) Eight definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) An upward slope or movement 2) A beginning or origin 3) An increase in amount or number 4) An angry reaction 5) To take up arms 6) To return from death 7) To become heartened or elated 8) To exert oneself to meet a challenge Rise features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

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Summary: 133 years. Time is up. Lead Engineer Tara and her partner Sasha face the coming end of the facility generator. For generations It has served thousands of people who have been hiding underground from the ravages of the war, and the lingering Enemy above. Up and down the Grand Elevator, though the entire facility, every resident's life will be shaken when the generator sparks its last amp. The Great Actual, the anarchistic Citizens, and all of the regressed sub-societies in between will have to face the unknowns of the surface. Old fears will pale against new circumstances beyond their imagination, and new attention brings judgment upon all.

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Summary: Following the dramatic events in The Starchild Compact, the starship Starchild departs on a 185-year interstellar journey. Meanwhile, the Iapetus Federation in cooperation with the Founders, descendants of the people who originally constructed Iapetus, expands to include the Mirs Complex at L-4, the Lunar Complex, a new habitat being constructed at L-5, the growing Mars settlements, and several asteroids including Daphne and Ceres. On Earth, America turns away from its world leadership position to focus on internal matters and the idea of an all-inclusive, multicultural society. Saeed Esmail, the stowaway Jihadist who played a significant role in The Starchild Compact, becomes the guiding prophet of a new form of Islam that quickly dominates the vanquished Persian Caliphate territories, and threatens the rest of the planet. Aided by Founder Asshur, the besieged Israelis reluctantly forge a new homeland on Mars, while the United States balkanizes into a half-dozen smaller units dominated by the Lone Star Conservancy under the leadership of Texan Sam Houston, who had earlier established the Lone Star Settlement on Mars. Science does not stand still. Founder researchers develop a longevity treatment that has the potential to extend human life indefinitely. The Starchild Institute, headed by former U.S. President Marc Bowles, develops advanced spacecraft, and a new form of transportation based on artificial wormholes. As the global Jihad on Earth heats up, most of the planet falls under the domination of Saeed Esmail, with only the Lone Star Conservancy, Columbia Freehold, Australia, and New Zealand left as independent territories. The Institute opens evacuation portals between Earth and Iapetus to rescue as many people as possible. While Earth sinks into medieval barbarism, the focus of human activity shifts from Earth to the Iapetus Federation as humans settle virtually every potentially habitable spot in the Solar System and begin planning for expansion into the rest of the Galaxy.

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Summary: Nightmares bleed into the waking world. A city of shadows lurks underground. Restless ghosts, eerie dolls, and spiteful stepmothers. Haunting stories of love, madness, and small disasters. Featuring a full-length novel and eleven stand-alone short stories, this collection blends fairy tales, horror, and science fiction. The Underlighters is a dystopian horror coming-of-age adventure that follows the life of Janelle Cohen from insignificance to bitter-sweet triumph. Footsteps in the Snow is a Lovecraftian nightmare set in a Canadian winter. A Shot of Vodka, a darkly realistic exploration of life after trauma, rounds out the collection. More and stranger stories fill in the gaps. Gender and sexual mores are rewritten, primal fears take physical form, and dreams and reality merge. Prepare yourself: nothing is safe.

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Summary: Are we the children of starchildren? The Starchild Compact is an adventure of heroic proportions, commencing on a planet 500 lightyears distant, arriving here just a few years from now, and ending up in the far distant expanses of the Universe. Is Saturn’s moon Iapetus an artifact? To find out, Jon Stock takes his international exploration team on a 1.4 billion km journey to Saturn, but will Jihadist stowaway Saeed Ismail succeed in sabotaging the mission? On Iapetus, Jon Stock and his team meet the Founders. Where are they from? How did they get here? How will they impact Earth and the Solar System? Will the Founder’s presence signal the end of humanity, or will it pave the way for a joint push to the distant reaches of the Galaxy?  The Starchild Compact is hard SciFi reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke or James P. Hogan, with a geopolitical twist worthy of Tom Clancy or Clive Cussler.

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Summary: This is a Kindle book and Audible book of all three volumes in the set.      The Starchild Trilogy begins with building a Space Launch Loop enabling massive movement off Earth and subsequent settlement of Cislunar-Space, Mars, and beyond.      Slingshot is the story of the struggle behind constructing the largest machine ever built stretching between Baker and Jarvis Islands in the Equatorial Pacific, and how the men and women behind Slingshot overcome the project's physical, economic, and human obstacles.      In The Starchild Compact, a team exploring Saturn's moon Iapetus discovers it to be a derelict starship, and meets the Founders, remnants of an ancient, advanced race, the Ectarians, that arrived in the Solar System 150,000 years ago. Together, they create the Starchild Institute governed by a document they call the Starchild Compact to further develop and introduce Ectarian technology to the Solar System. Using Ectarian technology, they develop near lightspeed spacecraft, artificial wormholes, FTL starships, and human longevity.      As human colonies expand into the Solar System, they form a governing coalition: The Iapetus Federation. While a united Islam pursues a global Jihad that rages across the planet putting millions to the sword, the Federation enables an exodus from Earth using artificial wormholes. From hand-to-hand combat in the oceans, to battles on Earth's surface, to the challenge of living off-Earth and reaching for the stars, our heroes fight to survive and to expand humankind to the far reaches of the universe.

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Summary: THE WELLER IS BACK! Still healing from his battle with the distillers in Iowa City, legendary weller Matt Freeborn crosses into Missouri, where foes both old and new await him. Finding himself dangerously low on precious ammunition for the Well Digger, the desperate weller accepts a perilous job on the mighty Mississippi. Armed with only his wits and experience, Freeborn must descend into places no sane man would dare go and face unknown terrors that hunger and hunt in absolute darkness. From the author of Vengeance for My Valentine and War of the Worlds: Goliath!

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Summary: The Scathlan elf Kieran journeys through mortal lands in search of new songs and tales to renew his people’s dying culture. His most cherished, most impossible hope is to rediscover the powers of bards from legend in order to wake the queen, in a stupor since the end of the war between his own people and the Leas elves. Kieran accidentally wanders into Leas lands, and a fall from his horse leaves him injured and at the mercy of his enemies. He discovers that the Leas are not entirely as he believed them to be. He develops a friendship with the Leas healer-prince, and the two work together to recreate an ancient technique for melding bardic and healing magic, a technique he secretly hopes will wake his queen. As friendship deepens into love, will they find a way to heal the rift between Leas and Scathlan, or will the old enmity destroy them? The author's debut novel, The Stolen Luck, won a silver medal in the Global Ebook Awards in the category of Other World Fantasy and an Eppie in the category of Fantasy Romance. The first book of her Ravensblood series won a gold medal in the Global Ebook Awards in the category of Contemporary Fantasy.