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Fantasy and Science Fiction April 2021
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Quantum shadows
by L. E. Modesitt
On a world called Heaven, the ten major religions of mankind each have their own land, governed by a capital city and ruled by a hegemon. That hegemon may be a god, or a prophet of a god. 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 an unknown entity 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.
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| Escaping Exodus: Symbiosis by Nicky DraydenThis is a story of a young woman named Seske Kaleigh, heir to the command of a biological, city-size starship carved up from the insides of a spacefaring beast. Her clan has just now culled their latest ship and the workers are busy stripping down the bonework for building materials, rerouting the circulatory system for mass transit, and preparing the cavernous creature for the onslaught of the general populous still in stasis.
It’s all a part of the cycle her clan had instituted centuries ago - excavate the new beast, expand into its barely-living carcass, extinguish its resources over the course of a decade, then escape in a highly coordinated exodus back into stasis until they cull the next beast from the diminishing herd. And of course there wouldn’t be much of a story if things didn’t go terribly, terribly wrong.. |
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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.
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Interference
by Brad Parks
Quantum physicist Matt Bronik is suffering from strange, violent seizures that medical science seems powerless to explain-much to the consternation of his wife, Brigid. Matt doesn't think these fits could be related to his research, which he has always described as benign and esoteric. That, it turns out, is not quite true: Matt has been prodding the mysteries of the quantum universe, with terrible repercussions for his health. And perhaps even for humanity as a whole.
Then, in the midst of another seizure, Matt disappears. When foul play is feared, there is no shortage of suspects. Matt's research had gained the attention of Chinese competitors, an unscrupulous billionaire, and the Department of Defense, among others. With Matt's life in clear danger, Brigid sets out to find him. Will Matt be killed before she reaches him, or could the physics that endangered him actually be used to save his life?
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The Unconquered City
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. In her search for the source of the guul, the general exposes a catastrophic secret hidden on the outskirts of Ghadid.
To protect her city and the realm, Illi must travel to Hathage and confront her inner demons in order to defeat a greater one--but how much can she sacrifice to protect everything she knows from devastation?
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Scarlet Odyssey
by C. T. Rwizi
Although it is considered unmanly, Salo reads books and works in secret to awaken his latent magical powers, which allows him to defend his tribe when it is attacked by a cruel enchantress.
His queen gratefully accepts his desire to be a mystic, but cannot allow him to stay, so he is sent on a quest to gather more information about the threat the sorceress poses -- which will lead him eventually to join other outcasts and discover how exactly his fate is entwined with the enchantress.
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| FKA USA by Reed King It is 2085, and Truckee Wallace, a factory worker in Crunchtown 407 (formerly Little Rock, Arkansas, before the secessions), has no grand ambitions besides maybe, possibly, losing his virginity someday. But when Truckee is thrust unexpectedly into the spotlight he is tapped by the President for a sensitive political mission: to deliver a talking goat across the continent. The fate of the world depends upon it.
The problem is--Truckee's not sure it's worth it. Joined on the road by an android who wants to be human and a former convict lobotomized in Texas, Truckee will navigate an environmentally depleted and lawless continent with devastating--and hilarious--parallels to our own, dodging body pickers and Elvis-worshippers and logo girls, body subbers, and VR addicts. |
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Autonomous
by Annalee Newitz
Big Pharma is watching you. In a near-future society dominated by multinational corporations, drug pirate Jack Chen reverse-engineers expensive medications and distributes free copies to those who can't afford the real thing.
As a result, her activities have attracted the attention of the International Property Coalition, which sends military robot Paladin and Paladin's human partner, Eliasz, to apprehend Jack.
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| Severance by Ling MaWhat it is: a mixture of apocalyptic world-building (a plague has ravaged New York and the rest of the world), anti-capitalist satire, and...the coming-of-age of a millennial blogger?
What happens: When a strange virus turns people into routine-driven automatons, professionally unfulfilled Candace initially doesn't notice. However, once she's one of a handful of survivors, she joins an odd little band headed west.
Read if for: an engaging and entertaining story that illuminates the hypocrisy and flaws of capitalism. |
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| Docile by K.M. Szpara To be a Docile is to be kept, body and soul, for the uses of the owner of your contract. To be a Docile is to forget, to disappear, to hide inside your body from the horrors of your service. To be a Docile is to sell yourself to pay your parents' debts and buy your childrens' future.
Elisha Wilder's family has been ruined by debt, handed down to them from previous generations. His mother never recovered from the Dociline she took during her term as a Docile, so when Elisha decides to try and erase the family's debt himself, he swears he will never take the drug that took his mother from him.
Too bad his contract has been purchased by Alexander Bishop III, whose ultra-rich family is the brains (and money) behind Dociline and the entire Office of Debt Resolution. When Elisha refuses Dociline, Alex refuses to believe that his family's crowning achievement could have any negative side effects--and is determined to turn Elisha into the perfect Docile without it. |
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