Black Smoke Rising by Caroline Cuell

After generations of war, the world has settled into an uncomfortable peace, the foundations of which are built on the simple premise laid out in unwritten law — you keep to your own kind. For the fae of Viriador and the elves of Carpathia, this way of life has seen them flourish and thrive, content with their own ways, the stains of bloody wars nothing more than words on pages of old scripture. For the dragon-shifters of Predoran, however, the lust for bloodshed is proving hard to suppress. King Dracul was the one to force the fae and elves from his lands, driven by the need to be cleansed of his sworn enemies. Now though, the disappointments of peace see him craving violence. His decision to take the lands of those he despises threatens to destroy all that has been built — and in doing so will change the course of six lives forever.

Kit & Basie by Tess Carletta

Immortality is a dangerous affair when it isn’t done right. Basie Yeats knows he’s doing immortality all wrong, spending endless days in the same place, but he doesn’t see a reason to leave the home he loves in Long Lily, Pennsylvania. Once the impossible death of his mother leaves him the only immortal person he knows, Basie decides that the only thing he wants to do is get out of Long Lily and start doing immortality the right way—alone. Kit Elliot has wandered the world looking for the right place to call home, so when a church-turned-cottage suddenly goes up for sale in a quaint Pennsylvania town, it feels like it was meant to be. It takes only a few days at Wellhead Cottage for Kit to decide that the man who sold it to him is frustrating, awkward, and terribly handsome. He offers to help Basie find a new home away from Long Lily—but as days turn to months, Kit finds himself wishing he could make Basie stay.

No Love Lost by Rachel Bowdler

Six years ago, Taryn’s best friend moved to London without so much as a goodbye, and she hasn’t spoken to him since. Now, after a failed marriage and career, Will is back in St. Agnes, a Cornish coastal town rife with memories of their childhood together — and Taryn, stubborn and jilted, no longer wants anything to do with him. Desperate to get close to her again and give her the explanation she deserves, Will isn’t prepared to stay away from her, so after he manages to get his old job back at the St. Agnes Gazette, he chooses to report on the local environment — and in doing so, seeks help from the best conservationist he knows: Taryn. With their lives and loved ones still connected by past and present, they soon remember just how strong their friendship had once been, and Taryn finds herself unable to resist falling back into old habits with the man who broke her heart. However, finally confronted with the truth, she realises that there was more to Will’s abandonment than she ever knew: he was in love with her and still is. Afraid of complicating their once steadfast friendship and losing Taryn for good, he made the mistake of running away — a mistake that he ever refuses to repeat. Whether as friends or more, Will is desperate to rekindle a connection with the woman he loves, but with Taryn’s new relationship, a fiercely disapproving sister, and a job opportunity in Spain, will they ever find the right time to finally give into their feelings, or are they destined always to be separated by their careers and fears? This best friends to lovers romance tells the story of unbreakable lifelong connections and the unwavering hope of second chances.

Heroes & Harbingers by ARK Horton

Food fights. Detention. Dissecting fairies for science class. Just another day for teachers at a Magical Public School. Ms. Sirin’s fate as a death harbinger has ruined her life. She longs to be more than a herald of doom, aspiring to impact lives in her teaching career. But when a new student with bold dreams joins her class and is picked as this century's Chosen One, Ms. Sirin’s dark power senses a terrible sacrifice to come. Finn MacCool’s warrior past didn’t prepare him for a hundred years of teaching for his community service. Spending the last decade of his sentence at a new school, the immortal develops a crush on his tempting but aloof coworker. The Irish legend blows his chance when he butts heads with the Council of Pantheons’ latest brave heroine—who also happens to be Ms. Sirin’s favorite pupil. However, the Chosen One’s quest isn’t all it seems. Pavlina’s lethal prophecies come to pass, and her gift warns of more to come. Will this daring trio of heroes have what it takes to make the grade, or will they fail before they even make it to Summer Break? Set in an alternate reality of Jacksonville, Florida, this adult urban fantasy is the first book in the Secret of Pantheons series. If you enjoy a hearty helping of mythology, found family, and unbreakable bonds, this book is for you. Class is in session with Heroes & Harbingers—delve in now before the bell rings!

Nightmare Tenant by Richard Holliday

WHERE OCCUPANCY BECOMES POSSESSION… The chilling prologue left me hanging and I had no idea what was going on – so I just had to read on! I know the world, I spent most of my life driving past those flats, so I totally get the inspiration! Top notch horror with some brutal but satisfying scenes. Really enjoyed it, didn’t see some of the twists coming! Very effective! Loved the setting and reasons behind its hauntedness. I finished reading Nightmare Tenant in one sitting. That’s one block I wouldn’t want to live in! For years, Chivron Tower was abandoned and left to rot as the world turned. It loomed in the skyline a desolate, abhorred ruin; a forgotten relic of the past. That was how it should have stayed. But now, the Tower has been resurrected and shown a renewed lease of life, ready for a new generation of families to move in. Everyone in the community is celebrating this achievement. Councillors, developers, residents all applaud the regeneration of this unloved eyesore. Except for one member of the community. The one who still lives in Chivron Tower, unknown to all. The one who never left. The lone occupant’s way of life is under threat by these new invaders with their new ideas – sullying their idea of urban perfection cast in steel and concrete. Great hope for this restoration is soon to be extinguished. The mysterious tenant is angry, is without mercy and is hungry. It feeds on suffering, making things go bump in the night. It brings more victims to its lair. The warnings it gives turn to torment it revels in. Joel Barton and his family find they are trapped, with the last remaining residents, good and bad, as they realise escape means confronting a… NIGHTMARE TENANT

Of Darkness and Light by Ryan Cahill

The hotly anticipated second book in Ryan Cahill's break out debut series The Bound and The Broken. Heroes will rise. Nations will fall. Behind the towering walls of Belduar, Calen Bryer and his companions stand in defense of the city and its new king. In over a thousand years, Belduar has never fallen. It has stood as a bastion of hope. But the Lorian empire are at its walls once more, and the Dragonguard are coming. In the North, with Faenir by her side, Calen’s sister Ella arrives at the port of Antiquar. She holds no fear of the unknown. She will see this through, no matter what – or who – gets in her way. Meanwhile, at the embassy of the Circle of Magii in Al’Nasla, Rist Havel hones his newfound powers in preparation for the trials. Unbeknownst to Rist, he is being watched, measured, and judged. He was not taken into the Circle by chance. There is greatness in him. But great men can do terrible things. As Lorian forces land on southern shores and Aeson Virandr’s letters of rebellion find their way to the right hands, only the Knights of Achyron see the true danger. The danger that stirs in the darkness. The coming shadow will not stop. It will consume all in its path. It wants for nothing but blood and fire.

Caroline's Heart by Austin Chant

Caroline is dead, leaving her lover with nothing but the clockwork heart that once beat in her chest. But Cecily, a witch of unconventional reputation, is not one to be defeated by the laws of nature. After years of careful assembly, her resurrection spell is nearly complete and grows more powerful by the day. When Cecily meets Roy, a soft-spoken cowboy who shares a strange kinship with Caroline, Cecily thinks she's finally found the key to bringing her lover back-but when Roy is mortally wounded, she finds herself torn between finishing the resurrection spell and saving the life of a stranger. A queer Weird West romance by the author of Peter Darling in a new, expanded edition.

Beneath the Indigo Sky by Rayne Hawthorne

Namid I may not know where I come from, or who I am, but I’ve done my best to build a life for myself. I know a handful of people in town, I have a nice place to live, and I enjoy my job. I look just like everyone else. But I don’t feel like everyone else, because I feel…everything. The emotions of others get tangled with my own as they race through my heart and sink into my soul. They set my nerves on fire and rearrange my cells and spread across my skin until they consume me. Jayce I don’t know how to explain what it’s like to lose half of your soul, to fall into grief so dark and relentless that you lose yourself. That’s what it feels like I’ve lost. Half of my soul. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to try to fill in the gaps. I don’t want to walk into rooms that are populated by memories. I don’t want to hear the voice of a ghost echoing in my head. When the eccentric, introverted man who was found on the side of the road without any memories a decade ago takes pity on me and offers his help, for some reason, I find myself unable to say no. Even though I don't know him, when he's standing by my side, for one brief moment, I forget to hurt. Beneath the Indigo Sky is a 75000 word, MM, slow burn, contemporary romance filled with angst, grief, found family, longing, forests, road trips, stargazing, sweet dates, and of course a HEA. There are also minor paranormal elements that are left deliberately open to reader interpretation

Transference by Ian Patterson

SPSFC 2024

Nicholas Fiveboroughs is a Sicko, someone that takes on others' illnesses. In a city where diseases can be transferred, the rich buy longer lives without pain, and the poor get a short life of constant sickness. Maybe it was fate, or maybe someone is looking out for him, but after Nicholas barely survives his latest affliction, he gets the chance to try and change things. To finally stop the whole disease transfer network. Tensions escalate as Nicholas infiltrates a higher society he doesn’t understand, and starts to fall for the very person he needs to manipulate to be successful. And between run-ins with a talking animal and genetically modified humans, the world around him just keeps getting stranger. Can Nicholas tear down the disease transfer architecture? And can he do it without losing his own humanity along the way?

The Syren Stories: Meraki & Kairos by Naomi Kelly

MERAKI and KAIROS come together to form THE SYREN STORIES in a never-before-seen duology collection. In Meraki, seventeen-year-old Wren believes she has just swum away from the greatest threat in the sea. That's until she finds herself being hauled upon a warlord's boat. With her life at the mercy of a young, temperamental King, Wren must decide who is her ultimate enemy, and figure out what the Hel do the gods have planned? Syrens are bound to tell the truth, but that doesn’t mean their lives cannot be riddled with lies. And in Kairos her adventure continues. Having survived the battle against Kestrel, and with spring arriving, everything appears to be going swimmingly for Wren- that is until an arrow knocks her out of the sky. When the mortals she defeated last winter come seeking retribution, Wren learns that although these mere men are not immortal, they have no problem biding their time. Revenge, after all, is a dish best served cold. And forgiveness is a gift which can swiftly be retracted.

How to Flaunt Your Chains and Surrender a Vein by D. N. Bryn

‘What else is this shed for, if not torturing unsuspecting vampires?’ Rahil Zaman has good reason to keep his distance from the world—and his fangs are only part of that. He hides in his crumbling home, acquiring blood through the risky one-night stands he finds on hunter-infested hookup apps. After one such fling turns sour, Rahil ends up trapped in the work shed of the one match he wishes would respond to his flirtations. Finding the hot twink he’d been ghosting inside his work shed was not on Mercer Bloncourt’s agenda. Between his work as a craftsman and his tumultuous relationship with his chronically-ill daughter, he doesn’t have the time or heart for a relationship. But Rahil is not the only intruding presence in Mercer’s life. A hostile hunter and a manipulative research scientist both insist—on threat of his daughter’s life—that he recreate versions of his ‘holy silver’: a vampire-killing metal forged in the wake of his wife’s murder, bound up in all the grief and destruction he’s striven for years to overcome. To complicate matters, Rahil is the rare vampire who’s immune to the deadly silver, providing Mercer the perfect lab rat to test a kinder vampire-affecting metal. As Rahil and Mercer rush to the forge, they must face their past wrongs once more, and in time, discover that no mistake is worth the sentence of eternal loneliness.

Guns & Scones by Darcia G. Laucerica

In a city ruled by magic wielding families, Arawn Stant is thrust into power when his father´s abilities run dry. Taking care of his neighbours and their businesses is challenge enough. But his main concern is the school´s upcoming bake sale. He promised his niece he would bring something homemade. The problem is... Arawn could burn water. He must learn to bake before the weekend arrives. It´s a good thing a little bakery just opened in his territory. And that the owner, Alejandra, is terribly cute.

Foundations by Richard Holliday

HOW DID STREETS IN THE SKY BECOME THE TOWER OF TERROR FEARED FOR DECADES? Foundations is yet another page turner that I simply couldn't put down. It brilliantly explored the origins of the world in which Nightmare Tenant is set, and the author has excelled at giving the reader another wonderful story. Foundations is a thrilling period tale setting up the origin story to the creepy psychological thriller, answering questions and leaving some lingering in the mind! An exciting and engaging precursor. If you enjoyed Nightmare Tenant, Foundations lays the groundwork in another exhilarating adventure! And if you've not yet read Nightmare Tenant, then Foundations is just the start of a thrilling and creepy story in an unusual and effective setting Stephen Norris is a young man in a new job with an almost-famous architect at the turn of the 1970s. Quickly immersed in the murky world of town planning, he finds the transition from drawings and blueprints to brick and mortar is night and day. A discovery of ruins on the site of a state-of-the-art new tower block brings him into conflict with the construction workers, in particular the foreman, Peterson. Lurking inside the ruins is an ancient power are lost spirits. They channel through Norris, imbuing him with power to do the right thing and save their legacy. Within the modern world of the 1970s, complexities of life cloud Norris’ judgment. Those closest to him – friends, family, even the girl he loves – are dragged with him into a whirlpool of mistrust, deceit, danger and lies. All seems lost when the forces of darkness – money and progress – appear to triumph and obliterate the past. Instead, the darkness unleashes the lost spirits who turn vengeful at this defilement of their mortal remains. Norris must battle these forces and save the woman he loves from being a prisoner of Chivron Tower’s new nightmare tenant… Foundations is the precursor to the novella Nightmare Tenantby Richard Holliday. Length: 20,000 words

The Hunter by K. Aagard

SPFBO10

Strider is content to die...After 50 years, his revenge is complete and his purpose fulfilled. When a teenager steals the Hunter's sword, his wolf companion Greer sees a way to help them in convincing Strider to escort the girl home safely, there's hope his friend might find the will to keep on living - to keep on fighting.But this is no ordinary job. His young employer is deeply entangled in a dark plot that threatens her and her fiefdom. Strider must employ his magic and battle training to ensure their survival against soldiers and mercenaries out to claim their bounty.Can these unlikely allies find a way to survive, or will their differences and secrets destroy them all?

The Towers of Nine by Alyssa Loutitt

The Towers of Nine School of Magic Study and Practice is an institution rich with ancient traditions and secrets. Serafina Stewart has grown up on stories of this place, passed to her by her witch mother. Now Serafina is finally old enough to attend. But getting in is the easy part. And Mother's stories never included ghosts or deadly spiders.

The Tickle Monster by David Washburn

There is comfort in the wholesomeness of family. Pure joy to be cherished in the innocence of a child. …But what happens when a looming sense of dread has a death-grip on a child’s mind? Teddy is ‘only a boy’ but there is a rebellious fire in his belly that urges him to forge his own path as a man. With much to learn, his father does his best to teach him about being a man and respecting family traditions while appreciating the mundane. After Teddy’s father tells him not to go into the woods, in what was meant to be a teachable moment, Teddy is soon faced with a choice that sees him in the very place where he shouldn’t be. Teddy encounters something that he cannot make sense of that will haunt him in the coming days. This tale of colonial era horror proves that a child’s imagination isn’t always a safe place.

An old Shirt and A New Name by Brad McMullen

" Stitched Tales " is an exciting series that weaves together true stories that have been greatly embellished over time. Join Buttons, Patch, and Sora as they pounce into action, unravel secrets, and embark on crazy adventures. A heartwarming tale unfolds in "An Old Shirt and A New Name." intertwining love, curiosity, mischief, and how lost things can be re-discovered in the most unexpected ways. Watch how one small kitten's adoption stitches a tapestry of countless tales.

Yours Celestially by Al Hess

Kraken Collective SPSFC 2024

After divorce, death, and having his reformatted soul uploaded into a new body, Sasha expected resurrection to be a fresh start. His time spent in digital Limbo with the program’s cheeky AI guardian angel, Metatron, was cathartic, but what good is a second life when he only sees his daughter on the weekends, he has all the same problems he had before he died, and he can’t seem to shake the ache for the married life he lost? If that weren’t frustrating enough, a glitch in the program has given Sasha the ability to sense Metatron even outside of Limbo. And Metatron is in love. The angel’s sickly-sweet yearning for one of the souls still in Limbo has turned Sasha’s stomach into caramelized lead. It’s hard enough to move on without someone else’s feelings making the emptiness in his own life even more acute. He didn’t have playing wingman to an actual winged being on his bingo card, but he’s determined to help Metatron make a move on their crush so he can get love off of his mind. Sasha takes a job with the resurrection company in order to covertly contact Metatron. Except Sasha’s new coworker, Mr. C, keeps showing up at the worst moments. The man is annoying, he’s pushy… and he’s incredibly hot. Sasha can’t decide whether Mr. C wants to blackmail him or be his new BFF, but he seems to know things about Metatron and the resurrection program that Sasha doesn’t. Getting close to him might be the key to solving Sasha’s problem, but if he isn’t careful, he’s going to end up catching feelings of his own.

I Love You S’more by Wendy Dalrymple

Freshly divorced and worn out from years of single-handedly running her marketing company, Samantha Slater couldn't be more excited to drag her moody teenage son to a parent-and-kid weekend at Palmetto Pines Campground. The camp is a little more run-down than it had been twenty years ago, when she spent those happy summers between college as a camp counselor, but it still brings back memories of the best time in her life. And it's about to bring back a whole lot more than memories, she realizes when she finds that one of the parents attending is none other than her former camp flame, Julian Wells. Julian has spent the last two decades on the road as a wilderness survival expert, never settling in one place for long. But seeing Samantha again makes him wonder if he's been searching for something all along — for the intense connection they had together. With his own moody teenage son in tow, Julian is actually here for a fresh start. He might be ready to settle down near his son, and near the only place that ever really felt like home: Palmetto Pines. But his abrupt departure all those years ago weighs heavily on both of them. Can he convince her that this time, summer camp doesn't have to end?

Splinter: A Diverse Sleepy Hollow Retelling by Jasper Hyde

This Is The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow Reborn… In a small town hidden behind the hills of New York, things are far from ordinary. As Sleepy Hollow’s youngest Medical Examiner, the pressure intensifies for Dr. Drusilla Van Tassel when the headless bodies of her sister Katrina’s friends start surfacing. Meanwhile, Drusilla’s ex-lover Ichabod Crane returns to town, dredging up feelings better left buried. Things take a turn for the worst when Drusilla comes face-to-face with the Headless Horseman, who is back to settle old scores – and she and her sister are the perfect targets. Drusilla can repel the horseman with an unknown power, but her sister isn’t so lucky, and she goes missing. However, when Drusilla discovers Ichabod is a monster hunter, she has no other choice but to turn to him for help. Even if that means working with a man she feels an inexplicable attraction to. Will they find Katrina and banish the headless horseman once and for all?

The Living Waters by Dan Fitzgerald

SFFOasis SPFBO9

Wonder swirls beneath murky water. When two painted-faced nobles take a guided raft trip on a muddy river, they expect to rough it for a few weeks before returning to their life of sheltered ease. But when mysterious swirls start appearing in the water, even their seasoned guides get rattled. The mystery of the swirls lures them on to the mythical wetlands known as the Living Waters. They discover a world beyond their imagining, but stranger still are the worlds they find inside their own minds as they are drawn deep into the troubles of this hidden place. The Living Waters is a sword-free fantasy novel featuring an ethereal love story, meditation magic, and an ancient book with cryptic marginalia. It is the first book in the Weirdwater Confluence duology; the second book, The Isle of a Thousand Worlds, comes out January 15 2022.

The Warm Machine by Aimee Cozza

When a robot built for construction work first sees an angular, sleek prototype military robot slink onto the base he’s working outside of, he immediately falls in love. The problem is, only anomalous bots understand the concept of love, and the lowly laborbot has not deviated from his default programming once. So he thinks, anyway. When the laborbot is scheduled for decommission, the military bot cannot possibly live without him, and the two bots set out on a path to find the fabled anomalous robot utopia Root.

Thief of Souls by Emma L. Adams

I'm Liv Cartwright, mage, thief, and unapologetic nerd. Magically talented people like me have two choices: use our powers at the beck and call of the Order of the Elements or be exiled to the realm of monsters. Sounds like an easy choice, right? Not so much. Since my mentor dabbled in forbidden spirit magic and left me to take the fall, I have to pay off his debts without using my magic. I'd rather spend my free time gaming than retrieving valuable objects for the Order, but my latest retrieval job goes from mundane to deadly when I end up on the wrong side of the terrifying King of the Dead. Turns out he doesn’t like thieves, and he likes the Order even less. To make things worse, I run into my ex-boyfriend, a fire mage who's carrying as many secrets as I am, and find my simple thieving job has landed me in the middle of a conspiracy. A second elemental war is brewing, and the key to stopping it lies in my long-buried memories of my mentor's lessons. The catch? If the Order finds out, they'll show me no mercy this time -- and everyone knows there's a good reason spirit magic was banned. People who use it tend to end up dead.

Glitterland by Alexis Hall

Once the golden boy of the English literary scene, now a clinically depressed writer of pulp crime fiction, Ash Winters has given up on hope, happiness, and—most of all—himself. He lives his life between the cycles of his illness, haunted by the ghosts of other people’s expectations. Then a chance encounter throws him into the path of Essex-born Darian Taylor. By his own admission, Darian isn’t the crispest lettuce in the fridge, but he makes Ash laugh, reminding him of what it’s like to step beyond the boundaries of anxiety. But Ash has been living in his own shadow for so long that he can’t see past the glitter to the light. Can a man who doesn’t trust himself ever trust in happiness? And how can a man who doesn’t believe in happiness ever fight for his own?

Boyfriends For Now by Imogen Markwell-Tweed

Anthony Astor’s no nonsense attitude serves him well as CEO of his tech company, but it withers his love life. So when a miscommunication has his mother tearfully ecstatic about Anthony bringing someone home, he has no choice but to go along with the ruse. The solution comes in the form of the kind, clumsy intern, Ben McRobbie. Ben isn’t sure the CEO is for real when he asks him to be his “fake boyfriend for Christmas,” especially after Ben spilled coffee all over him. Nevertheless, Ben is sure that the gorgeous Anthony is serious about giving him a full-time job if he can politely sit through a dinner with the Astors. But as Ben grows closer to his rich, handsome boss, he struggles to remain professional behind the scenes of their fake relationship. Imogen Markwell-Tweed’s Boyfriends for Now is a charming and endearing romance about embracing love, wherever you find it.

Wistful Ascending by JCM Berne

SPFBO8 SPSFC 2022 SPSFC 2023

A superhero space opera for grownups. For fans of Invincible and Marvel Cinematic Universe films who like a little hard science fiction in their superheroes.
If Thor and Harry Dresden combined in a transporter accident.