It’s release week and we’re thrilled to share First Comes Death with you all! Read on for more details!
First Comes Death
Publication Date: April 15, 2024
Genre: Sci-Fi/Superhero Fantasy/LGBTQ+
A power for every death…
When a black hole anomaly rewrites the rules of life and death, Dina resurrects from a fatal crash into the Chesapeake with an uncontrollable tie to water. Trapped in a cycle of vanishing and reappearing across the world at the water’s whim, all Dina wants is to rid herself of this connection and have control of her life again. But with every new resurfacing, it becomes clear she has a worse crisis on her hands: she’s being followed by a monster.
Drowning may not be a natural cause of death, but neither is murder. And when Ivy resurrects with the ability to produce bone daggers from her own body, she’s hungry for revenge. But between her distrust of her new, supposed allies, puzzling encounters with a woman with powers of her own, and the soul devouring creature on their tail, attaining vengeance is looking a lot more difficult than dying in the first place.
As Dina and Ivy’s inexplicable bond pulls them together time and again, they find something neither expected in their afterlife: someone worth living for. But they’ll have to find a way to annihilate the monster at their heels before time runs out on their second lives. Because without another anomaly to bring them back, this time death will have its due.
Happy release day to author Jude Berman! This one sounds like a good read! Good and also a bit chilling! There’s also a chance to win 1 of 5 paperback copies. Be sure to enter below!
The Die: A Novel
Publication Date: April 2, 2024
Genre: Techno-Thriller
Darah, a tech writer living in the democratic nation of California, is dismayed to see the game she’s helping develop for a Silicon Valley tech company has been tampered with. When her hacker friend Jedd investigates, he uncovers a conspiracy that could change the nation—and the world.
With a circle of close friends, Jedd digs deeper and deeper into the darknet and exposes the unthinkable: an app is being developed that uses quantum computing and neuroscience to alter people’s brains, totally unbeknownst to them. As the friends realize the devastating impact of this technology, they’re presented with a dilemma: stay quiet and stay safe, or risk their lives to stand up to the international authoritarian force behind this plot?
Combining activist, techno-thriller, and metaphysical fiction elements and scaffolded on three realities—the ancient wisdom of the Mahabharata, our current sociopolitical reality, and the near future—The Die is a fast-paced story about friendship, courage, and democracy.
Jude Berman grew up amid floor-to-ceiling shelves of books in many languages. In addition to a love of literature, her refugee parents instilled in her a deep appreciation for cultural diversity and social justice. Jude has a BA in art from Smith College and an EdD in cross-cultural communication from UMass Amherst. After a career in academic research, she built a freelance writing and editing business and ran two small independent presses. In her free time, she volunteers for progressive causes, paints with acrylic watercolors, gardens, meditates, and blogs at https://judeberman.org. Jude lives in Berkeley, California, where she continues to work with authors and write fiction.
From Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky comes a far-future epic that confirms his place as a modern master of science fiction, in which a political prisoner must unlock the secrets of a strange and dangerous planet.
The planet of Kiln is where the tyrannical Mandate keeps its prison colony, and for inmates, the journey there is always a one-way trip. One such prisoner is Professor Arton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident. Soon after arrival, he discovers that Kiln has a secret. Humanity is not the first intelligent life to set foot there.
In the midst of a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem are the ruins of a civilization, but who were the vanished builders and where did they go? If he can survive both the harsh rule of the camp commandant and the alien horrors of the world around him, then Arton has a chance at making a discovery that might just transform not only Kiln, but distant Earth as well.
Adrian Tchaikovsky was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, and headed off to university in Reading to study psychology and zoology. For reasons unclear even to himself, he subsequently ended up in law. Adrian has since worked as a legal executive in both Reading and Leeds and now writes full time. He also lives in Leeds, with his wife and son. Adrian is a keen live role-player and occasional amateur actor. He has also trained in stage-fighting and keeps no exotic or dangerous pets of any kind—possibly excepting his son.
My thoughts: sent to an off world prison camp on a planet 30 years from Earth, Professor Arton Daghdev and his fellow prisoners work in the dangerous wildness of Kiln – a planet with similar atmospheric conditions to Earth but with very different lifeforms.
The prisoners are assisting in an attempt to understand the science, but as Kiln doesn’t fit into the Mandate’s orthodoxy, and the “builders” of Kiln don’t resemble humans in any way, shape or form.
After their flyer is destroyed and they are attacked by one of the creatures of Kiln, Arton and his team must make the dangerous trek back to the camp. But during the long walk they begin to understand the truth of Kiln and its life.
At first I struggled to get into this book, but once I began to understand what was going on in the camp and what Arton and the others were up against in the form of the commandant and his war on Kiln’s wildlife, and how its many organisms worked together, I really began to get into the story. Especially after the Excursions team find themselves fighting for survival on the planet’s surface.
I found it an interesting warning against orthodoxy, political oppression and believing that everything must be as it is here on Earth, rather than accepting that some things are beyond our understanding if we don’t open our minds.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own
They’re called the Lost Ships … but sometimes they come back.
And when they do the crews are missing, while the ships have been strangely altered, rumoured to be full of horrors. Opal Imbiana has been seeking something her whole life. It’s a secret so precious she’s willing to risk her life recovering it from a recently discovered Lost Ship, in a lonely nebula far from colonised space. She’s just one woman, entering an alien and lethal environment. But with the aid of an amazing AI companion and experimental armoured suit, Opal might just stand a chance.
This blast of a book kickstarted the much-loved Lost Solace series, about an unlikely friendship between two women who keep hope alive in the darkest of times.
Karl Drinkwater is an author with a silly name and a thousand-mile stare. He writes dystopian space opera, dark suspense and diverse social fiction. If you want compelling stories and characters worth caring about, then you’re in the right place. Welcome!
Karl lives in Scotland and owns two kilts. He has degrees in librarianship, literature and classics, but also studied astronomy and philosophy. Dolly the cat helps him finish books by sleeping on his lap so he can’t leave the desk. When he isn’t writing he loves music, nature, games and vegan cake. Go to karldrinkwater.uk to view all his books grouped by genre. As well as crafting his own fictional worlds, Karl has supported other writers for years with his creative writing workshops, editorial services, articles on writing and publishing, and mentoring of new authors. He’s also judged writing competitions such as the international Bram Stoker Awards, which act as a snapshot of quality contemporary fiction.
DON’T MISS OUT! Enter your email at karldrinkwater.substack.com to be notified about his new books. Fans mean a lot to him, and replies to the newsletter go straight to his inbox, where every email is read. There is also an option for paid subscribers to support his work: in exchange you receive additional posts and complimentary books.
My thoughts: I am a big fan of this series and if you’ve been following me for a while now, you’ll know I’ve written about the whole series as well as reviewed several of the books. Karl is also very approachable and friendly, so do follow him online and subscribe to his Substack if you’re interested.
Lost Solace is the first book and introduces us to our protagonist Opal and her mission. She’s hunting for the mysterious Lost Ships, following rumours and every lead she can. She’s stolen the ship she’s in for that reason and the AI she names Clarissa is helping her to hunt down the ships. It’s a dangerous quest but she’s determined, somewhere out there is her little sister.
This book got me hooked and every sequel builds on Opal’s story and her quest, as well as the back story of the Lost Ships and the organisation hunting Opal.
It’s an absolutely cracking Sci-fi adventure, quest, detective series and you should definitely dive in. There’s also some lovely art work to enjoy too (see below).
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Six months since the earth-shattering events of The Space Between Us, the revelatory hope of the aliens’ visit has turned to dust and the creatures have disappeared into waters off Scotland’s west coast. Teenager Lennox and grieving mother Heather are being held in New Broom, a makeshift US military base, the subject of experiments, alongside the Enceladons who have been captured by the authorities. Ava, who has given birth, is awaiting the jury verdict at her trial for the murder of her husband. And MI7 agent Oscar Fellowes, who has been sidelined by the US military, is beginning to think he might be on the wrong side of history. When alien Sandy makes contact, Lennox and Heather make a plan to escape with Ava. All three of them are heading for a profound confrontation between the worst of humanity and a possible brighter future, as the stakes get higher for the alien Enceladons and the entire human race…
Doug Johnstone is the author of 16 previous novels, most recently The Opposite of Lonely (2023) and The Space Between Us (2023). The Big Chill (2020) was longlisted for Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, Black Hearts was shortlisted for the same award. Three of his books, A Dark Matter (2020), Breakers (2019) and The Jump (2015), have been shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions over the last decade, and has been an arts journalist for over twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with six albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers. He’s also co-founder of the Scotland Writers Football Club, and has a PhD in nuclear physics.
My thoughts: Sandy and his friends, human and alien are back, but things are not good. The Americans have swept in, built a base and the UK government have just let them. They’re conducting experiments on Lennox, Heather and the Enceladons they’ve managed to capture in the Scottish waters.
After Ava’s trial, she and baby Chloe are brought to this base too, and the experiments intensify, Chloe at the heart of them in some of the most disturbing scenes in the book.
The Enceladons came here as refugees and this is like the government’s moronic “hostile environment” policy on steroids. They are torturing the alien creatures, referring to them as “illegals”, refusing to believe that they’re gentle, friendly creatures who don’t even understand violence.
Obviously the humans who have connected to Sandy, Xander and the other Enceladons are determined to escape and take their tentacled friends with them. They’ve also made some new human friends locally, who will do anything to help, even storm the compound and fight the armed soldiers inside.
There’s lots of quite shocking moments, and it’s a lot darker than The Space Between Us, though there is still hope there, a chance for humanity and the Enceladons to live in harmony, it’s just more complicated and harder.
I don’t know how Doug Johnstone does it, has me howling with laughter at the misadventures of the Skelfs in their books and then has me whispering “no!” at the terrible things that happened here.
Sandy and his kin have such big hearts and are full of love and then there’s us, not trusting and unwilling to believe that anyone, even beings from another world, could be that good and have no ulterior motive.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
We’re pleased to share the cover of First Comes Death by Avrah C. Baren. Coming this spring!
First Comes Death
Expected Publication Date: April 15, 2024
Genre: Sci-Fi/Superhero Fantasy/LGBTQ+
A power for every death…
When a black hole anomaly rewrites the rules of life and death, Dina resurrects from a fatal crash into the Chesapeake with an uncontrollable tie to water. Trapped in a cycle of vanishing and reappearing across the world at the water’s whim, all Dina wants is to rid herself of this connection and have control of her life again. But with every new resurfacing, it becomes clear she has a worse crisis on her hands: she’s being followed by a monster.
Drowning may not be a natural cause of death, but neither is murder. And when Ivy resurrects with the ability to produce bone daggers from her own body, she’s hungry for revenge. But between her distrust of her new, supposed allies, puzzling encounters with a woman with powers of her own, and the soul devouring creature on their tail, attaining vengeance is looking a lot more difficult than dying in the first place.
As Dina and Ivy’s inexplicable bond pulls them together time and again, they find something neither expected in their afterlife: someone worth living for. But they’ll have to find a way to annihilate the monster at their heels before time runs out on their second lives. Because without another anomaly to bring them back, this time death will have its due.
We’re thrilled to present the cover of Amber Toro’s spring release, Umbra: Sentient Stars!
Umbra: Sentient Stars
Expected Publication Date: April 24, 2024
Genre: Sci-Fi Fantasy/ Space Opera
✨Enemies-to-Lovers
✨Found Family
✨Multiple POVs
✨Intergalactic Adventure
✨Slow Burn
✨Militaristic Society
✨Fully Sentient Starships
Earth That Was has faded into myth. After millenia spent wandering, humans are no longer nomads. Twelve tribes stand allied under the United Tribal Axis; but there is a signal in the darkness that threatens to destroy everything.
All Skyla wanted after leaving the Navy was to be left alone. Just her ship, the stars, and a new adventure. But when a strange virus disables her ship, she is thrown into the middle of a conflict she doesn’t understand, forcing her to take on responsibilities she swore she never would again.
Hinata always followed the rules, honor above all else. He always won, until he didn’t. Sentenced to exile for his failures, he is determined to prove himself, until a mysterious woman arrives on his station and chaos threatens to break already fragile alliances.
Freyja was always angry, an outcast, playing the part of admiral and black ops operative. But she is tired of being a pawn in the Empress’ games and when she’s stranded on the wrong side of enemy lines after a vengeful battle, she’s forced to ally with her adversaries to clear her name.
A Rogue.
A Commander.
And an Admiral.
Brought together by circumstance, held together by duty.
Can they find a way to work together to save humanity?
Amber Toro is the director of data science at a machine learning startup working to make the world a better place with AI. She is a big believer in using tech for good.
Always dreaming Amber writes epic sci-fi and fantasy.
Amber grew up in Seattle with a great love of the outdoors. She now calls Utah her home and when she is not writing or coding you can find her biking, hiking, and camping in the mountains with her amazing partner and two tiny humans, or curled up with a good sci-fi/fantasy book.
Imagine you knew exactly when you were going to die…
Robin Edmund Blake is halfway through his life.
Born in 1986, when Halley’s Comet crossed the sky, he is destined to go out with it, when it returns in 2061. Until that day, he can’t die. He has proof.
With his future mapped out in minute detail, a lucrative but increasingly dull job in the City of London, and Gemma to share his life with, Robin has a plan to be remembered forever.
But when Robin’s sick father has one accident too many, the plan starts to unravel. Robin must return home to the tiny seaside town of Eastgate, learn to care for the man who never really cared for him, and face the childhood ghosts he fled decades ago.
Desperate to get his life back on schedule, he connects with fellow outsider Astrid. Brutally direct, sharp-witted and a professor at a nearby university, she’s unlike anyone he’s ever met. But Astrid is hiding something and someone from Robin and he’s hiding even more from her.
A warmly funny, poignant and exquisite novel about coming home and letting go, Happy Is the One asks what is truly important in a chaotic, unpredictable world…
The Babel Apocalypse by Vyvyan Evans is now available in audio format! Read on for more details!
The Babel Apocalypse (Songs of the Sage #1)
Publication Date: January 9, 2024
Genre: Sci-Fi/ Cyberpunk/ Dystopian
Publisher: Nephilim Publishing
“They who control language control everything.” A dystopian, cyberpunk, sci-fi odyssey that will make you think about language in a whole new way.
Language is no longer learned, but streamed to neural implants regulated by lang-laws. Those who can’t afford language streaming services are feral, living on the fringes of society. Big tech corporations control language, the world’s most valuable commodity.
But when a massive cyberattack causes a global language outage, catastrophe looms.
Europol detective Emyr Morgan is assigned to the case. His prime suspect is Professor Ebba Black, the last native speaker of language in the automated world, and leader of the Babel cyberterrorist organization. But Emyr soon learns that in a world of corporate power, where those who control language control everything, all is not as it seems.
As he and Ebba collide, Emyr faces an existential dilemma between loyalty and betrayal, when everything he once believed in is called into question. To prevent the imminent collapse of civilization and a global war between the great federations, he must figure out friend from foe—his life depends on it. And with the odds stacked against him, he must find a way to stop the Babel Apocalypse.
“A perfect fusion of SF, thriller, and mystery—smart speculative fiction at its very best.” – Kirkus
Dr. Vyvyan Evans is a native of Chester, England. He holds a PhD in linguistics from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., and is a Professor of Linguistics. He has published numerous acclaimed popular science and technical books on language and linguistics. His popular science essays and articles have appeared in numerous venues including ‘The Guardian’, ‘Psychology Today’, ‘New York Post’, ‘New Scientist’, ‘Newsweek’ and ‘The New Republic’. His award-winning writing focuses, in one way or another, on the nature of language and mind, the impact of technology on language, and the future of communication. His science fiction work explores the status of language and digital communication technology as potential weapons of mass destruction.
At the very moment when Daniel Littlewood decides to end his worthless life, he’s not himself any more.He’s the suave and deadly hero of a Hollywood dream filled with fast cars, beautiful women and jetsetting intrigue.As fantasy and reality begin to collide and a global conspiracy threatens the fate of the world, the only question is,𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙗𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙮 𝘿𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙡 𝙇𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙬𝙨 𝙪𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚…
The Beggar and The Ghost is Part One in the stunning high concept thriller Eidolan Trilogy. Part Two coming Summer 2024.
Vincent lives in Leeds with his wife and an assortment of plush hippos. As a child he was constantly disappointed that his wardrobe didn’t open into Narnia, but eventually realised writing about excitement and adventure is a lot less stressful than living it. He works for a major metropolitan university doing the kind of IT that doesn’t involve telling people to switch it off and on again.
My thoughts: this was quite interesting, Daniel’s life is falling apart, it can’t get much worse but now he’s having strange blackouts and waking up in someone else’s body, someone else’s life. In which he seems to be a kickass assassin or something. If only he could work out what’s going on.
As he flips back and forth between his two lives – the rubbish old one and the exciting but terrifying alternate one, he’s spiralling and the two lives are slowly scaring him. Especially as his dream one is edging into reality, and reality is bad enough.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 