Sci fi stories that involve individuals using and being affected by the use of do-it-youeself renewable resources, recycling and repurposing.. Return to general Sci Fi
Note: these books are currently sorted by release date, with newest first.
Word Count: 11000
Summary: Any landing you can crawl away from is a good one. A data privateer crash-lands on a barely habitable moon where he's rescued by a research scientist who refuses to show his face. Though suspicious and paranoid by necessity, Rhodi finds himself drawn to the soft-spoken man behind the mask. Professor Covington prefers being isolated with his research. He has good reason to limit human contact, but he can’t abandon anyone to the ravages of a fickle and dangerous environment. He knows Rhodi’s hiding things. It’s none of his business and his mysterious guest will leave once a nasty native virus has run its course. Strange how the thought makes him less happy by the hour.
Word Count: 103000
Summary: First I was a sorcerer. Then I was a hermit. For so long—for years that seemed to go on forever—I couldn't bear to be touched. I put up not just walls but whole stone bunkers to keep everyone out, emotionally, and physically as well. I was protected from people, from ghosts, from specters real and imagined. Sure, I was alone. But I felt safe. Only, after a while, I wasn't sure any longer whether a totally "safe" empty life was really worth living. Then Tobin came along. Out of the blue, out of my past, with a summons from the king that he wouldn't let me ignore. I tried to cling to my isolation, but he wouldn't give up on me. Tobin never believed in walls. This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love Has No Boundaries" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story. 103,000 words
Word Count: 43000
Summary: Lieutenant Jack Alexander has wasted years, waiting for his best friend, Marc Duran, to return his affections. Perhaps it is time to finally move on and find someone new. However, when Major Ethan Pattisson is sent to the planet Mayia to investigate the theft of hundreds of illegal weapons, Marc comes under suspicion, and Jack can’t help stepping in to save him. When Jack finds himself caught in the middle between Ethan and Marc, he discovers that unrequited love might soon be the least of his problems.
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Summary: Yard Dog is a famously quirky publisher, they\'ve been at this for a long time and continue to bring out great stories.
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Summary: Part of the four-volume \"Bubbas of the Apocalypse\" series. Can\'t get much weirder than this.
Word Count: 24500
Summary: Heir to a wealthy shipping family, Adam S Hayes has his life carefully mapped out. Career, marriage, family. After establishing himself successfully as Captain of the Patrol Ship Revel, it is time for the next step. Marriage to Fiona Becker, daughter of the Capella space station manager, might not be the biggest romance of the year but there are strategic advantages in the alliance, and no-one is surprised when Fiona accepts his proposal. Everything is going according to plan ... until he meets Danyel King. Tall, dark and handsome and as open about himself as he is about his homosexuality, King throws all his plans into total confusion. Trapped underground together after an explosion, Hayes seizes the opportunity to try something he’s only dreamed of, but finds he is totally unprepared for the consequences - and the passion that flares between them. King knows exactly what he wants, and it isn’t to be someone’s secret lover! Troubled and confused, Hayes risks losing his chance for love as he finds himself torn between his heart and his head. Revised edition released 31st March 2016
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Summary: Sierra Court Blues transports the reader on a mind-bending adventure as its main character, Bo Kineally, a young husband and father, burns the candle at both ends to make his rock-n-roll dreams come true. Can he strike a balance between his dreams and responsibilities? Sierra Court Blues leaves nothing to the imagination with gripping characters, dysfunctional band members and heart wrenching drama. It is a roller coaster of desire, lust and betrayal as Bo is torn between these two worlds.
Word Count: 10360
Summary: While the cell is sparse and cold, at least this one has a bed. The figure resting there is too thin; too still, the prominent bones the result of long starvation, the stillness the product of too much anguish and abuse. He watches, though. An anxious, intelligent mind still occupies this frail and failing body, one that watches and wonders about the new guard occupying his cell each night.
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Summary: A 2014 Locus Awards Finalist Strange Matings: Science Fiction, Feminism, African American Voices, and Octavia E. Butler celebrates the work and explores the influence and legacy of the brilliant Octavia E. Butler. Author Nisi Shawl and scholar Rebecca J. Holden have joined forces to bring together a mix of scholars and writers, each of whom values Butler's work in their own particular ways. As the editors write in their introduction: Strange Matings seeks to continue Butler's uncomfortable insights about humanity, and also to instigate new conversations about Butler and her work — conversations that encourage academic voices to “talk” to the private voices, the poetic voices to answer the analytic…. How did her work affect conceptions of what science fiction is and could be? How did her portrayals of African Americans challenge accepted assumptions and affect others writing in the field? In what ways did her commitment to issues of race and gender express itself? How did this dual commitment affect the emerging field of overtly feminist science fiction? How did it affect the perception of her work? In what ways did Butler inspire other writers and change the “face” of science fiction? How did she “queer” science fiction? In what ways did she inspire us and motivate us take up difficult subjects and tasks? In other words, what is her legacy? This noteworthy anthology—published by a feminist small press in memory of Butler, an African-American science-fiction author—consists of a wide-ranging selection of sometimes-dense scholarly essays, highly readable reminiscences and personal essays, poems, correspondence, photographs, and interviews. Though she wasn't prolific, Butler (1947–2006) produced several important novels (Kindred, Lilith's Brood, Parable of the Sower) and short stories (“Blood Child,” “Speech Sounds”) that changed the genre of science fiction and helped empower many new SF writers of color. Highlights of this anthology include “Gambling Against History,” Susan Knabe and Wendy Gay Pearson’s queer reading of Kindred, Butler’s seemingly heterosexual time-travel/slave narrative; “The Spirit in the Seed,” writer, performer, and Ifa/Orisha priestess Luisah Teish’s heartfelt recollection of her discovery of Butler’s early novel Wild Seed; reminiscences by genre writers Steven Barnes, Tananarive Due, editor Shawl, and Nnedi Okorafor about what Butler and her work meant for their careers; and scholar Shari Evans’s “From ‘Hierarchical Behavior’ to Strategic Amnesia,” undoubtedly the most perceptive essay yet written on Fledgling, Butler’s final novel. Readers unfamiliar with the author’s fiction should start with her novels, but her many devoted fans will find this volume highly satisfying. —Publishers Weekly, May 27, 2013 The book's bittersweet mix of joy and tears has the necessary and wonderfully cathartic quality of an Irish funeral. The book creates a space where fans of Butler's work can grieve together with those who knew her well and with those who only wish they did.... This jagged charge of shared, collective grief makes Strange Matings unlike any other scholarly book I can think of. Even the more academic essays frequently find themselves slipping into the rhetoric of personal witnessing.... The book, only half-academic, becomes another kind of strange mating that speaks to the difficulty of really caring about something, and someone, in a discursive field that pretends to an ideal objectivity and emotional detachment from one's research material—where "love" is at best an embarrassment to be left unspoken and at worse a cause for suspicion or alarm. —Science Fiction Studies (2014)
Word Count: 16500
Summary: Spaceship Captain Luke Matthews has kept his sexuality a secret. What happens when the crew finds out? Is Lieutenant Kent as straight as he always believed? Will he hit him or kiss him, or both?
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Summary: Lenna Faircloth thought she was content enough to be junior librarian at one of the grandest libraries on the Continent, so long as at the end of the day she can enjoy a glass (or two) of wine and some decent shut-eye. Reticent and unconcerned with trivial matters, Lenna is almost laughably nonplussed the day her childhood friend, Gilbert, appears at her door, asking her to help smuggle stolen goods across national borders. Librarian is the first part of a young woman's long journey set in an alternate, sparsely-populated world. When unfortunate circumstances leave a bizarre, out-of-place artifact of immense power in the sole custody of Lenna, she is forced to question her own wants, the source of her withdrawal from others, and the curious nature of the Continent's magic -- all the while being the target of numerous political factions longing to possess the strange item bound to her by a child's promise.
Word Count: 34000
Summary: Do strangers want to join Aaron's pack, or wipe it from the face of the earth? Aaron, Alpha of Minneapolis West, is tired of other werewolves threatening his pack for harboring a gay wolf and his mate. Werewolves have more important things to worry about, with humans closing in on discovering them. But the arrival of two strange wolves on his doorstep, asking for sanctuary, pits compassion against safety. Can he let these two in and still keep his pack and his mate Zach safe? Or is that a risk he can't afford to take? (34,000 words; This is a lightly edited re-release of the 2013 novella 2.5, renumbered to 3)
Word Count: 96000
Summary: Three women, two planets, and a whale. For Marianne Woolsey, linguist and tutor, being empathically bonded to the leader of the Tolari turns out to be a bed of roses – complete with thorns. Especially thorns. With diplomatic relations severed and humans kicked out of Tolari space, the Earth Fleet ship Alexander is gone … for now … but Earth Central Command hasn’t given up trying to get Marianne back. As she struggles with surprises, nightmares, and a bond-partner who can’t be tamed, she just wants to figure out where she fits in a society that isn’t quite human. Laura Howard, the Admiral’s widow, only desires to be left in peace to gather the fragments of a shattered heart, but Central Command has plans for her, too. Meanwhile, the Sural’s apothecary is a serene and gifted healer who knows what – and who – she wants. Circumstances have conspired to deny her the man she’s always loved, but in the pursuit of his heart, she has an unexpected ally – in the depths of Tolar’s oceans. Daughters of Suralia is a sweet scifi romance.
Word Count: 11000
Summary: *This story is included in the new 2021 edition of Unacceptable Risk but kept available for those who have the old edition A free short-story epilogue that contains spoilers for Unacceptable Risk - Hidden Wolves book 1 Paul Hunter just spent two days as a captive to werewolves, his life hanging in the balance, a witness to crimes and craziness. Now he's back in his regular life, and living with Simon, the man he's been falling for. And he's part of a werewolf pack. He needs his brain to somehow catch up with all of that. Simon thought saving his human mate from his own pack would be the hardest thing he'd face with Paul, but he's beginning to realize that was just the beginning. He has to figure out how their future will work, and convince his skittish lover that staying with the pack is better than leaving it, while hints of threats to Paul's safety keep him awake at night. Fortunately Simon is up for the challenge.
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Summary: In Book 2 of The Fairville Woods series - the sequel to "From The Ashes" - the ghost of a little girl begins to haunt Lundy, in a stark reminder that Karel's curse has not been completely broken. Harlan is now a happy fixture in her life, unbeknownst to her parents, but the school year begins and she finds herself dealing with mean girls, popular guys, and troubled friends, as well as her developing physical relationship with Harlan. But even with Karel's coven gone, all is not right in Fairville - children are missing from the elementary school, and Harlan and Dr. Weinhelm sense an alarming presence in the town. Lundy begins to have dreams about a mad woman who has lost her children, while the little girl ghost leaves her clues she doesn’t understand. The vampires from the Smoky Mountains reluctantly arrive to help defeat a creature from ancient, frightening legends - one whose existence yields an unlikely clue to the new nature of Lundy's curse.
Word Count: 7718
Summary: Michael Sarver hates Valentine's Day. Between the flowers, the tacky decorations and his sleazy boss, he's certain he's about to experience the worst costumed office party in history. But Cupid's minions and a certain Hawaiian god have other ideas. Let the mayhem begin.
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Summary: Brute leads a lonely life in a world where magic is commonplace. He is seven and a half feet of ugly, and of disreputable descent. No one, including Brute, expects him to be more than a laborer. But heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and when he is maimed while rescuing a prince, Brute’s life changes abruptly. He is summoned to serve at the palace in Tellomer as a guard for a single prisoner. It sounds easy but turns out to be the challenge of his life. Rumors say the prisoner, Gray Leynham, is a witch and a traitor. What is certain is that he has spent years in misery: blind, chained, and rendered nearly mute by an extreme stutter. And he dreams of people’s deaths—dreams that come true. As Brute becomes accustomed to palace life and gets to know Gray, he discovers his own worth, first as a friend and a man and then as a lover. But Brute also learns heroes sometimes face difficult choices and that doing what is right can bring danger of its own.
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Summary: Imagine that every sixteen years, you died and started over, with no memory of the past. Could true love ever find you? Only if it were immortal. In 1915, a coven of vampires attacked the town of Fairville, MA, the disappearances making headlines. Sixteen-year-old Lundy Guillory and the boy who loved her, Harlan Wallace, discovered the culprits, so the vampires devised a cruel punishment: Lundy was cursed to die and be reborn every sixteen years, each time retaining no memory of her past lives. Harlan was turned into a vampire, so that, immortal, he would be tortured with the task of finding her again in every new life, and telling her their story. Over ninety years later, Lundy Lawson and her parents move into Fairville, one month before her sixteenth birthday, with desperate hopes that the doctors there will be able to help Lundy, whose health has been diminishing steadily. But Lundy begins to have strange dreams. First there seems to be a ghost in the library, trying to reach her; then a stranger shows up at her window at night - Harlan, unearthly, impossibly pale and sharp-teethed, and madly in love with her. It's Lundy's first lifetime back in the town where it all began, and this time she and Harlan have their chance to break the vampire's curse.
Word Count: 24000
Summary: 1915. Teddy Roosevelt is building an empire. Only Pancho Villa stands in his way. The American Expeditionary Force under the command of General "Black Jack" Pershing has invaded Northern Mexico. Pancho Villa leads his revolutionary army in a desperate raid against the American force only to be outflanked. Just as Pershing's airships prepare to deliver the death blow, Pancho Villa is transported to a parallel Earth where he finds an unexpected ally and the technology that might just turn defeat into victory. Revolution of Air and Rust is a stand-alone novella set in the Empires of Steam and Rust world created by Robert E. Vardeman and Stephen D. Sullivan. A story filled with military action, espionage and gadgetry that's sure to satisfy fans of steampunk and alternate history.
Word Count: 35000
Summary: Rollo is the overworked, stressed-out Head Elf at the North Pole. As he prepares for Christmas Eve, he has to deal with toys that look like they're having sex, terrorist reindeer, and worst of all, the sudden death of Santa Claus. Rollo has to save Christmas after he finds out that Santa is not just dead -- he is undead. 'Twas the Night is a novella of approximately 35,000 words. It is a satire and contains adult language and themes.
