fantasy

Word Count: Click here to reveal50000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: An act of desperation by young magician Brandon accidentally snatches Scott Hathaway from our world. Struggling to adapt to his new life, Scott becomes ensnared in dark local politics. He realizes he can use the knowledge he brought from his world to save his new friends, but at what cost? The first in a series. A story about an engineer who gets accidentally transported to a medieval type world where magic is real. But all is not as it seems!

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: William was a soldier until an IED severely wounded and scarred his body. Now he lives a quiet life in a small village in the Black Forest and is the caretaker of the church and caregiver to the local priest. He’s grown fond of the two stone gargoyles on the bell tower and often speaks to them, reminding himself of Quasimodo. But on his thirty-seventh birthday he learns a stunning secret—the gargoyles aren’t what they seem.

Word Count: Click here to reveal117000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: She plunged her blade into his chest, feeling it grind along his ribs... Outcast swordfighter, Kyer Halidan, was abandoned in a cornfield at age three. Now, twenty years on, shes searching for answers: Who left her there? And why? Kyer doesnt suffer fools, and when she kills a man in a duel, it changes her life forever. The duel catches the eye of Valrayker, a legendary hero, who pulls her into his company for a high-stakes mission to save a village. While on the mission, Kyer is stalked and captured by powerful allies of the man she killed, who are determined to learn what she knowsand will stop at nothing to find out. Shes rescued by an inexplicable magic that raises suspicions among her friendsand fuels her enemies wrath even further. And worsetheir fear. As trust crumbles around her and danger closes in, Kyer must defy orders and challenge the very people she swore to follow. As for her true identity, Valrayker harbours his own suspicions. But hes keeping those secrets to himself for now. Gatekeeper's Key is an adventure riddled with danger, intrigue, mysterious magic, scheming villains, humour, sword-wielding badassery, and dark consequences.   "Gatekeeper's Key is a dark and luscious truffle everyone will want to savor and beg for more when it's done." ~ Diana Pharaoh Francis - USA Today Bestselling Author of the Path trilogy and the Crosspointe Chronicles. Gatekeeper's Key is a thrilling start to a fantasy series full of danger, intrigue and attitude. Reviews: "I just finished reading Book 1, and it was SO GOOD. Absolutely sank into this one." ~J. Reeser - author "I love this series. I just finished book three at two in the morning last night. For reference, I go to bed around nine. I just kept thinking just one more page. Just one more..." ~Theresa Miller - author of Mushrooms, Magic and Murder "WARNING: Start reading on a weekend or clear your schedule for the next few days because you will not be able to put this down!" ~Ruby Seah - Goodreads reviewer "This book is a love letter to classic fantasy: swords and sorcery, wizards and elves, struggles between good and evil - plus a spunky heroine who kicks ass and doesn't take anyone's sh*t." ~Celia T - Goodreads reviewer

Word Count: Click here to reveal115000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: A group of strangers meets at Ragazzi, an Italian restaurant, for a cooking lesson that will change them all. They quickly become intertwined in each other's lives, and a bit of magic touches each of them. Meet Dave, the consultant who lost his partner; Matteo and Diego, the couple who run the restaurant; recently-widowed Carmelina; Marcos, a web designer getting too old for hook-ups; Ben, a trans author writing the Great American Novel; teenager Marissa, kicked out for being bi; and Sam and Brad, a May-September couple who would never have gotten together without a little magic of their own. Everyone in the River City has a secret, and sooner or later secrets always come out. Narrated by Michael Lysan.

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Once upon a time, it was a tough world for a young princess. What happens to the world when the princess decides to get even? Aeryn Stonebreaker is the Princess of Shadows, second in line to the throne of the Light, Shadows, and Dark. The singsong her nursemaids give her is, “Gimlé is wide and bleak, Aeryn is small and weak.” It’s a hard life on Gimlé, a strange world with a red sun that does not move in the sky. Generations before, Aeryn’s warrior-king ancestor, Arthur the Hammer, unified the land and established a detailed Code of governance and behavior. But while Aeryn is a child, obedience to Arthur’s Code is fraying and the kingdom is ripped apart by rebellion and war. She grows up amid the ebb and flow of fighting and the losses it causes. What is the fate of a young girl in a patriarchal world where a princess is nothing more than a token on the game boards of powerful men? However, this is a princess who stops playing by the rules and picks up her own weapons. What happens then?

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: When an airship is hijacked by pirates, a young man with a secret loses his mentor ... and his future. After twice thwarting the pirates' plans, he must finally come to terms with the pirate captain and decide whether to ally himself with him ... or to confront a hostile future alone.

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: The Fantastical Romances You’ve Been Craving Hugo Finalist Janice L. Newman presents a touching trio of romances in a speculative vein. From the edge of space, to the shadows of the paranormal, to the marvels of the mystic: At First Contact: A germaphobe and an android are assigned a mission to survey a planet together. Will they discover new life or a new love? Ghosted: Leo is searching for the soul that used to haunt his grandmother’s house. Did Will ghost him? A Touch of Magic: What if love could alter the fabric of existence? A fraught romance between two teachers just might be helped along by a touch of magic.

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Bad things happen for a reason. Adam Neive’s expiration date is closer than he would like, and it’s only a matter of time before he loses his position as a Ganymede counter-boy. When a friend helps him secure a part-time job at a whiskey bar, his only thought is to escape the looming shadow of the brothels. He never expected another run-in with the witch Sebastian. Fourteen months after being booted from his coven, Sebastian has become convinced his brother’s death is connected to the wolves of The Whiskey Den. He just needs Adam’s help to discover how. But things are not always as they seem, and justice is more elusive than expected. When an announcement from the House of Witches changes everything, Adam will need to choose between life within the safety of the king's Monastery and the uncertainty of the city. While Sebastian will have to decide if his family's honor and the life he thought he had lost forever is worth more than the life he's only begun to realize he wants.

Word Count: Click here to reveal110000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Courage. Honor. Loyalty. All fine things, but they’ve led John Ringo to kill a man. He was raised right and he knows he’s not a murderer, but otherwise he’s a mystery even to himself. Doc Holliday claims to have some insights, but Doc is too devoted to Wyatt Earp to spare much attention for the man who’s already lost his soul. Which leaves Johnny Ringo prey to the distractions of a demon. Imaginary or not, if this creature abandons him, too, then surely his sanity is forfeit – and what will his life be worth then? This Queer Weird West novel follows these three along the complex trails that lead into and out of Tombstone, Arizona in 1881.

Word Count: Click here to reveal37000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: He'll get by with a little help from his mate. When Paul's long-buried past reaches out for him, having Simon at his back should make all the difference. The shy, studious teen who ditched his hometown is now a grown man with a good life, an honorable profession, and a werewolf boyfriend. So why is still so hard to go home? A new 37,000 word novella in the same time frame as book 6 in the Hidden Wolves series brings challenges, pain, love, and their HEA for our favorite guys. Content warning for assisted suicide.

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Charlie’s life force is fading. His only hope is an aged martial arts master in the remote reaches of China who, as far as Cappa can tell, doesn’t like him very much. While Charlie and Cappa are away from Z-Tech, William has been raising an empire of his own — one determined to crush any who interfere with his plans for world domination. Worse, he’s sided with the only other organization who had almost succeeded in erasing Z-Tech from the global market, pitting Anne and her friends in a desperate struggle for survival. The enemy has the advantage of numbers, but Z-Tech has Zima — a one-person army in her own right. Only time will tell if she’s enough to offset the overwhelming forces set against Z-Tech, and if San Francisco will survive their battle.

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Does the need for knowledge balance its burden? Donovan would prefer to die in his bed, but circumstances might force him to do otherwise. When Donovan is tasked with Retrieving a young child thought to be a magus — the most powerful magic user in any generation — he is thrown headfirst into a world of intrigue and deception where any move he makes could be the one that shifts his people into a position of bloodshed and failure. There is a war brewing, centuries old. The Hunters, blood mages and child-snatchers fight the born mages, people of the Order, the school of magic and scholarly pursuit. Donovan must learn who and what to trust and how to endure suffering as he finds more and more about the nature of this endless war and what he can do to stop it.

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Summoned by an aunt he didn’t know he had, Edison Jones heads to a small Welsh village. He’s met by Gavril, the local blacksmith, and the men quickly become good friends. Gavril takes him to Mam Eira. Their kinship is real; she only asks for his presence and help. Encouraged to work in the local copper mine, Edison meets Bleddyn, the man of his dreams. However, it isn’t long before he’s drawn into a web of mystery and magic where people are not always what they seem. Bleddyn is The Guardian of the mine, set there to watch over an ancient, and deadly, adversary. When evil is unleashed, Bleddyn is taken prisoner and Edison must face an age-old evil and rescue the man he loves.

Word Count: Information not available

Summary: You’ll tell me the truth in this trial of blood. After suffering a horrific loss, Midnight Fury is looking to settle the score, and she’s determined to do it alone. A vendetta against vampires doesn’t mix with music or touring, but Midnight’s never been afraid of a challenge. The Furies are fragmented and Midnight’s bond with Lottie is tenuous at best. Erebus is her clean slate, the perfect distraction from the broken pieces she’s left behind. But Midnight isn’t the only one with a secret. Danger is closing in. The past is threatening to catch up to them. When a member of her new band is targeted by a vampire, Midnight has no choice but to confront everything she’s been running from. It’s time to go on the offensive. Will Midnight measure up to her own expectations? Or will she lose part of herself to vengeance?

Word Count: Click here to reveal93765 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Home, a place where we belong and are safe and loved. Home, the house in which we grew up, a neighborhood, a culture, even a country. Home is a state of mind, it is a place of the heart, and in the heart. Finding home, coming home, and bringing home the one we love is a journey, a journey that can be a dangerous adventure. For the lovers in these stories, adventures can include quests and fighting dragons and demons, past and present, physical as well as mental and emotional. Rocket launchers need to be dodged, the Wild Hunt needs to be outrun. For some of the lovers here, home has been lost, or they have been forced to leave, as is too common for LGBT+ youth. In this collection queer positive speculative fiction stories, explore the idea of what and where home is in the lives of these lovers. Will they survive their quests, defeat their monsters? Will they find a place to call home?  

Word Count: Click here to reveal4576 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Sometimes, we get second chances -- at love, to make things right, to say good-bye the way it should have been said. Darian promised his dying husband Randy he would go through with the plan to teach summer school in Bath, England. Randy insisted; it was always Darian’s dream to live in England, go, do it. But once there, in Tintagel, on a street in Coverack, a small Cornish seaside village, Darian sees Randy. Grief can make us see things, right? So Darian tells himself, until the man whom he buried, whose ashes he carried with him to England, sits down beside him on a bench in front of Bath Abbey, with screaming seagulls nearby. It seems the dead can come back. But why and how? Has Randy come to take Darian with him? Or is something else going?

Word Count: Click here to reveal50000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Werewolves, vampires, and King Arthur converge in the Lavender Valley.  Living safely in a valley set aside for them and protected by magic under a peace negotiated by King Arthur, the blood song and Lunae have left the past behind, seemingly. A prophecy has promised that a girl will be born of a certain family line and that she will give incredible power to her mate. Stella is of the right line, but she carries the blood of both sides, half vampire, half werewolf.  She's half outcast with the wolves that raised her.  She's been told all her life that she can't be the girl of prophecy, that she'll never be good enough to be the luna of the clan. Aurelius is the silver haired alpha. Raised in Camelot, Arthur expects the boy he raised to bring the wolves and the blood song into the civilized world. The only thing Aurelius has from his father is a letter telling him to marry Onyx. Stella and Aurelius have a forbidden love that is about to wreck the civilized world. Only on the NovelStar app, first six chapters free! Come read a world where chivalry meets wild instinct!

Word Count: Click here to reveal36000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: INK (NOUN) Five definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) A colored fluid used for writing 2) The action of signing a deal 3) A black liquid ejected by squid 4) Publicity in the written media 5) A slang word for tattoos Ink features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

Word Count: Click here to reveal132,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Rules were made to be broken. From terraformed outposts to magical realms, journey to worlds where deadly plants, rampant biodiversity, or failed colonies have created irresistible opportunities for those brave enough to seize them. New worlds, found family, mystical secrets, and deadly science weave together in this lesbian-centric anthology focusing on a very different kind of first time—a first encounter with a world, or being, entirely unlike our own. If you like diverse stories with lesbian heroines practicing science, magic, and seduction, buy Distant Gardens today!

Word Count: Click here to reveal136227 (Click here to hide)

Summary: An Element to surpass all others. The one with the power to wield it. Can he overcome his fears in time to save the world from imminent doom? The Pattern Juggler has inherited a formidable power. It can create, and just as easily destroy. He has the lore book of his father, but key parts of it remain impenetrable. On the day of the new Water Wizard’s inauguration ceremony, an injured stranger interrupts proceedings. He babbles an incoherent story about impending doom. Can it be true? How does the young man know what is to come? And if the Elementals can confirm his story, will the Juggler be able to confront his darkest fear? Can he unlock the last mysteries of his lore and overcome the deadliest challenge of all? Juggler is the final volume in John Beresford’s Science Fiction / Fantasy crossover trilogy The Berikatanyan Chronicles, where colonists from Earth join forces with the indigenous population to battle with nameless terrors from the Void.