stories in and

The Left Hand of Dog

The Left Hand of Dog by Si Clarke

SPSFC 2022

Escaping intergalactic kidnappers has never been quite so ridiculous. When Lem and her faithful dog, Spock, retreat from the city for a few days of hiking in Algonquin Park, the last thing they expect is to be kidnapped by aliens. No, scratch that. The last thing they expect is to be kidnapped by a bunch of strangely adorable intergalactic bounty hunters aboard a ship called the Teapot. After Lem falls in with an unlikely group of allies – including a talking horse, a sarcastic robot, an overly anxious giant parrot, and a cloud of sentient glitter gas – the gang must devise a cunning plan to escape their captors and make it back home safely. But things won’t be as easy as they first seem. Lost in deep space and running out of fuel, this chaotic crew are faced with the daunting task of navigating an alien planet, breaking into a space station, and discovering the real reason they’re all there… Packed with preposterous scenarios, quirky characters, and oodles of humour, The Left Hand of Dog tackles complex subjects such as gender, the need to belong, and the importance of honest communication. Perfect for fans of Charlie Jane Anders’ Victories Greater than Death and The Long Way to a Small by Becky Chambers – especially ones who enjoy endless references to Red Dwarf, Star Trek, and Doctor Who. This book will show you that the universe is a very strange place indeed.


Dark Theory

Dark Theory by Wick Welker

SPSFC 2022 SPSFC 2023

A robot yearns to remember. A thief struggles to forget. A galaxy on the verge of collapse. On the fringe of a broken civilization, a robot awakens with no memories and only one directive: find his creator. But in the village of Korthe, Beetro finds only radioactive pestilence, famine, and Miree—a tormented thief with dreams of retiring after her final score. Meanwhile, the fiefdom is plunged further into chaos when a new warlord seizes control, recasting serfs as refugees and leaving derelict robot peasants in his wake. With a shared interest in survival, Beetro and Miree team up to pull off an impossible castle heist: steal a single flake of dark matter, the world’s most valuable and mysterious ore. But as they trek through the feudal wasteland in search of answers, they realize the true extent of the chaos surrounding them: the stars are disappearing from the sky and the entire galaxy is unraveling. As he uncovers his origin, Beetro discovers he may be the key to the salvation of the cosmos—or its destruction. Time, space, and loyalty become relative as he learns the real reason he was created. A mind-bending science fiction epic with the bones of a fantasy traveling quest, Dark Theory unfolds through a journey of betrayal, identity, and unlikely friendships in a world of darkness set at the edge of space and time.


Traitor

Traitor by Krista D. Ball

SPSFC 2022

Seven years ago, Rebecca St. Martin took the coward’s path to save her skin. She has lived with that decision, eking out a life as an indentured servant on a space station far from home. Only now, fate has decided to give Rebecca another chance. A ghost from her past plans to execute a daring rescue from the prison bowels of the station Rebecca now works. Rebecca has to face the same decision she made all those years ago. Could she watch her friends be murdered? Or could she, just for once, be a hero?


The Cost of Survival

The Cost of Survival by J. L. Stowers

SPSFC 2022

Survival isn’t about who’s right; it’s about who’s left. Earth spirals into chaos.
World war ravages every border.
The human race teeters on the edge of extinction. Survival hinges on the success of one colony located in a decimated valley. Walt Marshall, government contractor, is no stranger to loss after the death of his wife and son.
Now he’ll honor them by doing whatever it takes to ensure the survival of humankind. Walt gets more than he bargained for when he uncovers a puzzling clue left behind by a mysterious woman. Destined to unveil the truth, he embarks down a dangerous path of espionage and treason. He quickly learns the dark truth about the past, and the future in this daring science fiction novel.


The Other

The Other by Marilyn Peake

SPSFC 2022 SPSFC 2023

Gold Award, Fantasy / Science Fiction category, eLit Book Awards. Fear can blind you to the truth. The news is ominous and terrifying. People are seeing UFOs and strange, alien-looking creatures with humanoid shapes, green skin and large black eyes. In places where this occurs, doctors report the spread of a mysterious virus that scrambles people’s thoughts and causes hallucinations. Many experts believe the virus came from the aliens. The pathogen has not yet been identified; there is no cure. Psychology professor Dr. Cora Frost has a different theory: the bizarre symptoms are nothing more than mass hysteria, not unlike the hysteria that caused people in our not too distant past to see witches flying through the sky, which justified hanging them or burning them at the stake. Intense stress within societies gives rise to scapegoats. Doing field research within the compound of a cult in Roswell, New Mexico that reveres the exact same kinds of aliens being reported on the news, her entire worldview is shaken and upended. In a shocking series of events, her past and future collide, forever changing her life.


Derelict

Derelict by Mark All

SPSFC 2022

Beyond the farthest reaches of explored space, survey ship Cerberus arrives at an unclaimed planet to find a deserted vessel already in orbit. When newly commissioned captain Janet Hollander leads a team to the derelict, they find an ancient alien artifact on board. As her own crew members begin to disappear, Hollander learns that neither the ghost ship nor the planet are as lifeless as they appear. She must survive long enough to find out what happened to the derelict—before she and her crew suffer the same fate.


Scribes' Descent

Scribes' Descent by Dylan West

SPSFC 2022

People worship technology on Planet Daishon. With inventions that prolong life and eradicate disease, it's little wonder. Death seems obsolete until an earthquake kills thousands, including Mallory's parents. They should have lived for a thousand years, not just fifty. Mallory scrambles for answers. Such a disaster shouldn't be possible. Quakes have never happened on this world before. Suspecting the top research center had triggered it, her best friend's father investigates. When he turns up missing, Mallory goes on site after him as a geology intern. She can't bear to lose anyone else. An old mine sits at the epicenter of the recent quake, and an unbreakable alien barrier seals it off. But a door hidden in its surface opens for Mallory when she translates its engravings. Once inside, she evades underground predators while cut off from the tech that's always protected her. Some graves run much deeper than six feet, and this place could be one of them. Within this self-contained world lie the remnants of a universal war, revealing that Daishoni folklore is more than superstition. To survive, Mallory must trust in something more than science and logic. She must follow the voice of one she can't see down to the very bottom. Something deadlier than a quake is trapped there, and it is trying to escape.


Revolution (The Sol Saga Book 1)

Revolution (The Sol Saga Book 1) by James Fox

SPSFC 2022 SPSFC 2023

War is good for business... And business is about to boom.
General Keith Brennan would rather face an army with his trusty rifle than attend another state dinner. When the President of the solar system is assassinated on Mars, Brennan is the obvious choice to investigate. If he comes up with the wrong answer, though, his career will be over. However, duty is never so simple. Brennan's career is the least of his worries when the investigation uncovers a trail of corruption and a conspiracy on a system-wide scale. With Earth and Mars on the brink of a shooting war and forces behind the scenes determined to push them over the edge, only Marine General Keith Brennan can stop the slaughter before it’s too late. Unless, of course, it already is…


Super-Borg Dies

Super-Borg Dies by Tac Anderson

SPSFC 2022

After being forced out of his last startup, Trent Daeshaun uses his technological prowess, and a good publicist, to become Super-Borg, Seattle's preeminent super. As rumors of homeless people being abducted coincide with an increase in violent attacks, Trent suspects that someone is weaponizing the homeless population and doing it with technology he created. With help from fellow tech entrepreneur Max Roman, a homeless girl from the camps, and several of Seattle's supers, Super-Borg must uncover who is behind the attacks and stop them. But the truth of who is behind the attacks and why, are far more complex than Trent imagined and stopping them will require great personal cost.


Fermi's Progress

Fermi's Progress by Chris Farnell

SPSFC 2022

“The Fermi is the Earth’s first and last faster-than-light-spaceship. The last, because it turns out its engine vaporises entire star systems in its wake. And nobody knows how to turn it off.” Four planets. Four adventures. Four apocalypses. A Dyson sphere, a philosophical zombie apocalypse, a giant airborne beehive and a galactic telesales scam. Each world brings new wonders, new dangers, and a planetary scale genocide. The Fermi crew must survive by what little wits they have as they bounce a trail of destruction across the galaxy. For the first time all four parts of Fermi’s Progress are together in one volume.


The Patmos Revelation

The Patmos Revelation by Carl Jamieson

SPSFC 2022

Arlo’s dream has become a nightmare. Discovering an alien signal from an exoplanet fulfils a promise to his dying father. But, inexplicably, a series of devastating events are unleashed.
Set in a dystopian 2049, The Patmos Revelation is a fast-paced science fiction thriller, packed with twists and turns. In Arlo’s world, reason and beliefs clash, reality and dreams blur, and evil awaits.


From the Grave of the Gods

From the Grave of the Gods by Alan K. Dell

SPSFC 2022 SPSFC 2023

Strange lights in the sky.
 A Red Planet.
 A catalyst to change the course of human history. Commander James Fowler is an astronaut and the first officer of the Magnum Opus, the largest spacecraft ever built, on the first crewed expedition to Mars. The mission: to investigate the mysterious extrasolar object that went down on the Red Planet five years ago. James is living the dream: he gets to go to space and be one of the first to set foot on another world, with his girlfriend, Angela, cheering him on at home. Maybe after the mission, when he's returned a hero, he'll find the perfect moment to finally propose. But his dreams shatter as the mission ends in disaster. Returning to a world reeling from the revelation of what they found out there, James works to piece his life back together and come to terms with what happened. But the mission left him changed, and now he must fight to protect everything he holds dear from those who seek advancement at any cost; a process that makes him question his identity, his place in the world, and what it means to be human.


The Secret of the Tzaritsa Moon

The Secret of the Tzaritsa Moon by C. Litka

SPSFC 2022

“I signed aboard the Tzaritsa Moon as her second engineer. I ended up a toaster repairman. I was very lucky.” – Rafe d’Mere. The Alantzia system is known for its many little worlds, moons, and rocks that are reputed to be more like the “lawless” drift worlds than the staid worlds of the Unity. Old spaceers convinced Rafe d’Mere that to fully appreciate the exotic romance of the Alantzian experience, he needed to ship out on one of the small planet traders which call on the eccentric little worlds. He did, signing aboard the Tzaritsa Moon, as her second engineer. On the passage to Fairwaine, Rafe’s swift response to a critical engine failure saved the Tzaritsa Moon. And his life. However, that failure was deliberate, part of a pirate prince’s plan to keep the Tzaritsa Moon from arriving in Fairwaine orbit. And when it did, the pirate prince was not happy. At best, Rafe might expect his memory of the incident to be erased. Erasing Rafe would, however, work just as well. In Rafe effort to get clear of the Tzaritsa Moon and get very lost on Fairwaine, he crossed orbits with a thief – a girl with a pretty face, who may, or may not, have been a covert agent of the Patrol. She was rather evasive on that point. But she was determined to discover why the pirate prince wanted the Tzaritsa Moon destroyed. And Rafe found that he couldn’t resist helping her. She had a pretty face. The Secret of the Tzaritsa Moon is a SF mystery adventure featuring Rafe d’Mere, ex-Patrol contraband suppression and repair tech, and Vaun Di Ai, Patrol Lieutenant JG, Intelligence Analyst 2, who had, somehow, escaped her desk job to be an acting covert agent. The story is set on the moon of Fairwaine, in one of its old fashioned, nonconforming societies. One that uses toasters to make toast.


Reap3r

Reap3r by Eliot Peper

SPSFC 2022

How far would you go to achieve your greatest ambition? Nothing is what it seems in this speculative thriller about a quantum computer scientist, virologist, podcaster, venture capitalist, and assassin coming together to untangle a twisted enigma that will change the course of future history. Everyone has something to hide, and every transgression is a portal to discovery. Taking you on a whirlwind journey from the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area to the distant shores of the Galápagos, Reap3r is a propulsive adventure that grapples with the price of progress and how technology shapes our lives and world.


Exin Ex Machina

Exin Ex Machina by G. S. Jennsen

SPSFC 2022

Cyberpunk and space opera collide in a thrilling new trilogy from the author of the acclaimed Aurora Rhapsody saga. When man and machine are one and the same, there are many crimes but only one sin: psyche-wipe. The secrets it has buried could lead to a civilization's salvation, or to its doom. The Asterion Dominion is at peace with its neighbors and itself. Its citizens enjoy great freedoms and all the luxuries their biosynthetic minds can imagine, design and create. But beneath the idyllic veneer, something is going wrong. People are going wrong, driven to commit inexplicable crimes without motive or purpose. And once imprisoned for those crimes, they simply vanish. Psyche-wiped and dumped in an alley 5 years ago, awakened into a culture where ancestral memories stretch back for millennia, Nika Tescarav's past is a blank canvas. But if whoever erased her did so in the hope of silencing her, they should have tried harder. Someone must speak for the lost. Someone must uncover how and why they became lost. Someone must find the lost. Nika is that someone. ASTERION NOIR
700,000 years ago, the Asterions fled persecution for their pro-synthetic beliefs. In the safe harbor of a distant galaxy, they have evolved into a true biosynthetic race and built a thriving society upon the pillars of personal autonomy, mutual respect and boundless innovation. Now that society is fracturing at the seams. Beneath lies built upon lies, the shocking truth as to why threatens the future of not merely the Asterions, but all life in the universe. Enter a world of technological wonders, exotic alien life, enthralling characters, captivating worlds—and a terrifying evil lurking in the void that will shatter it all.


Aztra's Mirror

Aztra's Mirror by Charles Freedom Long

SPSFC 2022

Beneath the surface of Trychnos and its twin, Saecula, lie a galaxy’s wealth of gemstones. The Trux have despoiled their world through mindless quarrying. The Saec rejected wealth and all modernity. They detest each other. To the point where their saints have abandoned them. With Trychnos on the verge of ecological collapse, the Trux plan to invade Saecula and repeat the mining calamity. Centuries of hate cannot simply be erased. But deep within the bowels of Trychnos, lies a magical mirror, made of one perfect diamond by the god Aztra herself. Whoever gazes into Aztra’s Mirror—if they survive the mirror’s gazing back into them—will have power beyond their wildest dreams. Power to bring about whatever change they desire. If they do not survive, they will pay a price beyond imagination. Neither Zakan nor his twin Javek ever wanted more than to live as simple acolytes in their pastoral village. But the God Aztra herself calls Zakan to the challenge of the Mirror. Despite Zakan’s recurring dream that he will die in this quest, driven by Aztra’s calling, aided by saints, sinners, sorcerers, and the dead of both planets, Zakan sets out to find Aztra’s Mirror and use its power to save both worlds. If he fails, both the simplistic Saec and avaricious Trux will die, and their planets with them. The mirror has its price. And it will be paid.


A Call to the Sky

A Call to the Sky by Marc DeGeorge

SPSFC 2022

In a world with no ground, only flight keeps you alive. Toume d’Nezuhmy only wanted to be a pilot, just like his mother. As the son of a chieftain, his clan had trained him to fly well, then sent him to bury his head in books. He would have stayed in them, if not for the high priestess of the Drahken clan. After making a stop on her Island to deliver parts, she offers him a curious mission. Take a mysterious package to the Manuke—the clan of scientists and engineers who will study it to find its secrets. There is no pay, but if he is successful, the high priestess will grant him her daughter’s hand in marriage. Ever since his mother went missing, Toume has struggled to gain his father’s approval. Could this be the chance he needs to show his father he is ready to be away from his books? This delivery is not as simple as it seems, however. Rival clans will kill him for the package, and even if he is successful, marriage is no guarantee of happiness. A serious choice lies before Toume. Should he choose wrong, he could wind up dead, or worse—a failed union between him and the Drahken heir would destroy the only alliance that protects his clan from destruction.


The Psychic's Memoirs

The Psychic's Memoirs by Ryan Hyatt

SPSFC 2022

Ted Kaza, a hot-tempered Los Angeles detective, and Lydia Jackson, his distracted partner, are assigned to find Alice Walker, an alleged teenage psychic whose capture might determine the outcome of a looming civil war and humanity’s relationship with a misleading alien force.


The Created

The Created by Michael McCloskey

SPSFC 2022

What do a stealthy synthetic plant, an eavesdropping sound curtain, and an invisible observer have in common? They are artificial agents working tirelessly in the crime-rife city of Red Calais for their ingenious Master. They wend their way through the cutthroats, cat burglars and con men of the greatest city of the core world called Idona, challenged by numerous obstacles. Yet it seems that their Master hardly notices the chaos his automated minions are creating...


The Veiled Edge of Contact

The Veiled Edge of Contact by James Brayken

SPSFC 2022

A lost tribe, a missing spouse, and an alien interception . . . Okon was comfortable. Then his wife did something inconsiderate: she disappeared. When Okon realizes she left behind a desperate message with instructions for finding her, he’s forced to enter the largest jungle in Africa to follow her trail. But the longer Okon searches for his wife, and the deeper he journeys into the jungle, the more tangled he becomes in an astonishing discovery and the lives of an unlikely group of outsiders. Okon’s comfortable home has never seemed so far away and danger never so close . . . or so strange. Fun, sometimes dark, and relentlessly original—you won’t read another science fiction book like this!


Echoes of Another Earth

Echoes of Another Earth by J Daniel Layfield

SPSFC 2022

A scientist in hiding. An admiral on the brink of treason. A man who has lived hundreds of versions of his life across the same number of dimensions. Three paths converge in one dimension. Their actions will affect them all. Josh hasn't really felt like himself since the first time he died. It's funny what you can get used to though. With his next jump into another Josh's life, he may finally get some answers, but does he want to hear them? Better question: can he trust the scientist being hunted by his past? Whatever Josh chooses, his actions will either aid in saving this dimension from destruction, or add it to a long list of ones destined to end.


The Unpleasantness at Baskerville Hall

The Unpleasantness at Baskerville Hall by Chris Dolley

SPSFC 2022

Wodehouse steampunk version of The Hound of the Baskervilles! “Jeeves and Wooster meet Holmes and Watson with a touch of steampunk in the hilarious first full-length Reeves and Worcester tale ... This laugh-out-loud parody works on several levels ... With razor-sharp wit and fast pacing that plays fair with the reader, this is an excellent genre mash-up that fires on all cylinders.” - Publishers Weekly An escaped cannibal, a family curse ... and Reginald Worcester turning up on the doorstep. Could things get any worse for the Baskerville-Smythe family? As the bodies pile up, only a detective with a rare brain – and Reggie’s is so rare it’s positively endangered – can even hope to solve the case. But... there is the small matter that most of the guests aren’t who they say they are, the main suspect has cloven feet, and a strange mist hangs over great Grimdark Mire. Luckily the young master has Reeves, his automaton valet, and Emmeline, his suffragette fiancée, on hand to assist. This stand alone novel is the fifth Reeves & Worcester Steampunk mystery


Blackthorne

Blackthorne by Clayton Snyder

SPSFC 2022 SPSFC 2024

Framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Haunted by the ghosts of his past. Incarcerated in the most notorious prison in the Freeholds. Fate has mauled Mattias Temple, a failed cadre necromancer, leaving him with little hope. Until a rogue military squad kidnaps the governor and threatens the city with a magical plague, giving him a shot to redeem a lifetime of mistakes and be the one thing he never thought possible: A hero. As the body count rises Mattias finds himself neck-deep in trouble and drowning in ghosts. Outnumbered and outgunned, he has one choice left: Cut a bloody swathe through his enemies or die trying.


Dangerous Thoughts

Dangerous Thoughts by James L. Steele

SPSFC 2022

Their planet was ripped apart from under their feet. When Deka and Kylac wake up, they discover Archeons are dead, and the portals have closed without warning, leaving hundreds of planets without links to other worlds. Rel’s destruction touched every planet in the contacted universe. Without the portals, entire civilizations hang in the balance, and Deka and Kylac are the only two who can make spacetime spheres. The raptor and the fox travel from world to world, repairing the damage the disaster caused, preventing civilization from collapsing. Floating islands drifting through the toxic atmosphere of a gas giant—offworlders are stranded there, just barely clinging to life. A planet of raised platforms made of growing rock that elevate the people above the flammable algae on the surface—everything is falling apart, and where are the people? A world of giant insects—researchers have gone missing, and they have been injected with mind-altering venom. A planet of salamanders and birdlike reptiles who relied on portals for food—facing starvation, the reptiles revert to hunting the salamanders. What could have destroyed an entire planet? What could have reached across the light years to kill so many Archeons at the same time? Did anyone else survive?


Skywatch

Skywatch by Steve Davala

SPSFC 2022

Always being connected to technology is nothing new for Daj, a young Maglan with dreams of flying. With constant access to vid streams, friends, legions of fans, and everything digital, there’s nothing else he needs. When he stumbles upon an anti-tech group, however, he begins to see the other side of a world controlled by technology.


Astral Fall

Astral Fall by Jessica Mae Stover

SPSFC 2022

A hundred-year interplanetary war receives little attention from the military’s greatest warriors. Until five of them devise a secret plan to end it. From Midwest Book Review:
"Without providing spoilers, suffice it to say that Astral Fall attempts to identify, address, and turn upside down reader preconceptions of [...] the nature of military sci-fi as a genre. And, it succeeds. Think the classic Ender's Game, but without any attempt to mimic Orson Scott Card's scenarios or success. Think a military battle structure holding the epic confrontations of Lord of the Rings, complete with its promise of multiple series books; yet with an attention to intricate detail that belays the (too-often) hasty series production. There is no artificial division of action felt in Astral Fall.


The Massive Planet: The Adventures Of Deep Contact

The Massive Planet: The Adventures Of Deep Contact by Jeff Walker

SPSFC 2022

Captain Christopher Riley and his brave crew of the Earth Core United spaceship, Deep Contact, set out for adventure beyond the solar system. Their mission is to traverse space and discover new worlds for colonization; They represent humanity seeking to expand, explore, and search for alien life in any form. Alone and in the uncharted wilderness of the cosmos, they try to survive and complete the mission on behalf of Earth Core United. Deep Contact almost collides with a massive planet appearing out of nowhere. A Jupiter-like world that popped right into its main flight path. The crew desperately try to figure out a way to break free of its gravity as it pulls them deeper inside. Even though the ship should have been crushed instantly the minute they came into its wake; It falls deeper into the atmosphere’s densely thick clouds, endangering them all to whatever doom awaits. Captain Riley and his crew must race to figure out how to escape this huge world before they crash into its core, but do they have time to solve this riddle? Or will this be their one and only mission of failure?


Starhelm Epsilon

Starhelm Epsilon by David Viergutz

SPSFC 2022

Royce used to be a talented mech Pilot, but now he’s a washed up and in hiding. Stuck combing slums and backwater planets, hopping from job to job, Royce makes it to a substation and is quickly caught up in a new conflict he wants no part of. His identity is revealed, along with the secret location of one of the few remaining Starhelms, the ultimate war machine. The mech of all mechs. To complicate things, he’s accompanied by a mysterious woman on her own quest with too many secrets. Secrets which attract the attention of all three factions vying for control of the galaxy. Now, Royce’s simple life of surviving has become a battleground, and he must recover his Starhelm before the factions do. For the things they will do with it will not lead to war, but the obliteration of the entire galaxy.


A Dream of Waking Life

A Dream of Waking Life by E. S. Fein

SPSFC 2022

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF YOUR EXISTENCE? HOW MUCH WOULD YOU SACRIFICE FOR LOVE? When Matthew Willish wakes up on a cold steel floor unsure of how he got there, he begins desperately searching for answers. What Matthew doesn't realize, however, is that this is only the beginning of a journey that will ultimately send him searching other worlds for the answer to numerous profound questions, the most pressing being: is he living in reality or in a dream? Or is he just an insane man who desperately needs help? A Dream of Waking Life is a philosophical and psychological thriller that tells the story of one man's journey through space, time, and mind to not only discover his true identity but also the love of his life—a woman who keeps slipping through his fingers and into another reality. A thought-provoking meditation on the thin line between what is real and what is not, A Dream of Waking Life will leave readers questioning how far they would go to understand the nature of their own existence and how much they would sacrifice for love.


Lunar Football League

Lunar Football League by Jason A. Holt

SPSFC 2022

Get the inside scoop on the LFL from the sportswriter who actually went to the moon! With over 2 billion viewers, the Lunar Football League is on its way to becoming the most popular sport in the world – an amazing feat for a sport played 384,000 km away. Linemen leap. Receivers soar. Defenders make tackles in midair! For three seasons, LFL fans have waited for the inside story. Now we have it. A sportswriter embedded with the Fyzacom Dragons delivers a moon's-eye view of intriguing stories from the 2119 season: * Meet Morse Kramer, the coaching genius who invented the aerial running game.
* Discover the physics behind the first lunar sport.
* Get the inside story on the drama between the Dragons and their quarterback, Zhifeng Wang.
* And spend a season with hockey star Sheila Patel as she attempts to become the first woman to play football on the moon! These stories and more, with detailed recaps of every Dragons game, told from a perspective never before seen in sports journalism. Get the inside story! ---------------------------
What is this really?
This is science fiction. But it's not a novel. It's a sports book about a game that can only be played in a dome built on the moon. The sport, the players, the games, and the strategies are all made up. But if anyone ever does start a professional tackle football league on the moon, this is what it might look like. Come check it out!


A Small Gray Dot

A Small Gray Dot by P.B. Cannon

SPSFC 2022

It is the year 2047 and twenty-five-year-old Tennessee Murray has realized his ambition to teach and his dream of publishing a book. He is preparing to marry the love of his life and things couldn’t be better. Then one morning he steps out into foggy weather and finds the world has taken a turn for the extremely bad. In a matter of minutes, half the population of Earth dies in a horrible fashion. It’s not an ultimate war or biological disaster, and no oversized meteorite hit the planet or any other such catastrophe. It is sudden, it is deadly, and it is inexplicable. Seven and a half years later, Tennessee, now a tracker in a diminished world that is limping along, sets out to find a missing young woman and makes a discovery that sheds light on the longstanding mystery. He also learns that a finale is in store for the remaining peoples of Earth. Could the fate of the world hinge on the actions of an ex-middle school English teacher?


The Trouble With Love

The Trouble With Love by Maurice X. Alvarez

SPSFC 2022

Teenage thief, Kormèr Lezàl, tumbles through his inter-dimensional portal to the distant future and into the middle of a fire fight on a distant world. Swept into a web of industrial espionage, an impossible jewel heist and romantic intrigue, there's trouble at every turn, but he'll do whatever it takes to win over Averia's beautiful chief of police... if she doesn't arrest him first.


Riebeckite

Riebeckite by O. R. Lea

SPSFC 2022

Humanity watches the skies…but the real danger is at their feet. After an asteroid strike on the moon, a strange blue dust began to flow down through Earth’s atmosphere. It’s harmful to breathe, but at least the microscopic creatures within the dust are dormant. Or so we thought. Tahira made a childhood promise to a friend that the crisis would bring their people together… before a violent riot tore their lives apart. Now, as an adult, Tahira works as a biologist for a corporation constructing experimental towers to force the spores—known as riebeckites—to germinate into harmless colonies. Except they’re about to learn everything they think they know about the dust is wrong. The real threat isn’t the asteroid that struck the moon and by the time humanity figures it out, it might be too late. Riebeckite combines suspense and conspiracy with heart-in-mouth action sequences and nightmarish encounters, all in an immersive near-future setting and, at its core, a heartwarming story of friendship against the odds.


The Carnelian Fox

The Carnelian Fox by Kay MacLeod

SPSFC 2022

Monsters don’t exist. At least, they didn’t until we created them. Maiyamon was once merely a game. Now it's a global reality. After dozens of hit monster collecting games raked in billions of credits per year, it was inevitable someone would create real ones. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so obvious how many people would dump them in the wild… Sam Wentworth grew up with nothing. She’s worked tirelessly just to get through college and earn her first monster. Bankrupt and exhausted, she sets her sights on fame and fortune in Maiyamon arenas. Instead, Sam’s caught between battling the rampaging elemental creatures abandoned by their owners and standing up to a toxic group intent on ending the game forever. With her flame fox cub, Finn, at her side, Sam sets out to build a team capable of protecting both innocent people’s lives and the creatures she loves. That’s the easy part. Monsters may fill the world, but it’s humans she fears the most…


Alien House

Alien House by Brian K. Lowe

SPSFC 2022

When his spaceship crash-lands outside of Newton College, destroying his papers, weapons, and clothes, Phil thinks that his life has hit rock-bottom. But when he's forced to hide out in Alpha Tau Ceti fraternity, he learns that life can always get worse... Now laser-toting assassins are after him, the dean wants him to help hunt for UFOs, and his frat brothers are building something in the basement--but the most dangerous thing he's discovered about Earth--is girls.


Before the Shattered Gates of Heaven (Shattered Gates Volume 1)

Before the Shattered Gates of Heaven (Shattered Gates Volume 1) by Bryan S. Glosemeyer

SPSFC 2022

FIGHT FOR YOUR PLACE IN THE STARS in an epic adventure of interstellar war, visionary transformation, and cosmic mysteries! Growing up the lowest of the low in a cruel, alien underworld, Sabira dreams of something more. More than being forever unseen, toiling in tunnels and mines, and never seeing the sky. She dreams of a life of adventure among the stars. She has only one way to make her dreams come true:
Victory in the deadly fighting pits of the Divine Masters. When a failed battle brings certain death and defeat, a chance encounter saves Sabira’s life, but challenges everything she holds sacred. Confronted by shamanic visions and unimaginable revelations, Sabira must choose between faith and loyalty or mystery and liberation. The lives of everyone she loves, and of worlds across the galaxy, weigh in the balance… Bryan S. Glosemeyer’s novel delivers a fast-paced, thrilling sci-fi adventure set in the distant future, filled with vivid worlds, compelling characters, and gritty action.


The Sphere: A Journey In Time

The Sphere: A Journey In Time by Michelle McBeth

SPSFC 2022 SPSFC 2023

Adelaide loves her job, but who wouldn’t enjoy traveling to the past to unravel the great enigmas of human history? The rules and regulations of her mysterious workplace may seem rather severe, but their need becomes apparent when a coworker returns from a mission decades older and unable to remember his life in the future. Adelaide embarks on a desperate journey through time to save her friend before he becomes trapped in the past. When her own timeline takes an unexpected turn, the fates of everyone she knows are at stake, and the secrets she uncovers put her own life at risk.


Idyllian

Idyllian by R.Z. Held

SPSFC 2022

Nanite and implant internal technology began in the Pax Romana planetary empire's army, but it hasn't stayed there. Across four novellas and more than a century, two natives of the conquered planet Idyll must each contend with technological abilities thrust upon them without their consent. Genevieve, living in a time of war on her planet, was infected with nanites from a dying super-soldier—nanites that remade her in the image of those super-soldiers. Sienna, caught between the now-aging empire and even more violent rebels, was captured and used in a prisoner exchange in the place of a dead Pax Romana spy—leaving her with that spy’s implant in her head, leaking memories. Can Genevieve and Sienna remain themselves with internal technology taking over their minds? And what can they do when the abilities granted by that hated technology are the only thing that can save the ones they love most?


house of haddaway

house of haddaway by parker j cole

SPSFC 2022

A consortium of worlds align to form the Milky Way Planetary Alliance where the most powerful planet--Earth--rules one third of the galaxy. In this sci-fi fantasy romantic retelling of a classic fairytale, an arranged marriage, a husband's secrets, and a wife's quest to gain power collide to create a tale of a galactic intrigue. Death Haddaway, ruler of Preyida, will do anything to save his people, even if it means marrying a woman from an alien race. Lee Glow knows her duty is to uphold her planet’s interests. Despite her doubts, she obeys the command to wed. As time passes, she knows Death is hiding something that will threaten their relationship and affect the treaties between their worlds. Soon, Death finds himself trapped in a web of his own deceit. Torn between duty and choice Death has to determine whether to continue to lie and save his people. Or, reveal the truth and lose everything he holds dear.


Warrior Wench

Warrior Wench by Marie Andreas

SPSFC 2022

Vaslisha Tor Dain is a mercenary starship captain with a few simple rules: A good ship is better than a great man, in case of confusion always err on the side of blowing someone's head off, and never fall for a telepath or a member of her crew. All of those are about to bite her in the behind. Vas’s life takes a turn for the worse when she comes back to her crew after what should have been a two week pleasure trip to find out she’s actually been gone a month and has no memory of missing time. Her beloved ship, The Victorious Dead, has been sold for scrap and its pieces scattered throughout the galaxy. In addition, there are unmarked ships blowing apart entire planets and the Commonwealth government can’t, or won’t, stop them. And that’s just her first day back. Vas has to fight her crew, the Commonwealth, and a mysterious cadre of warrior monks to get her ship back and save a universe that may not want to be saved.


Origin of Pietas: Bringer of Chaos

Origin of Pietas: Bringer of Chaos by Kayelle Allen

SPSFC 2022

Traitors stripped the immortal king Pietas of everything. Now, marooned on a deserted planet, his only hope of finding his people lies with the human who imprisoned him. That doesn't mean Pietas will humiliate himself by asking for help. Enough is enough. He's already died a thousand times. But if he fails, he will doom his people to eternal exile, and end his own immortality. Their ultimate salvation relies on the one thing he swears does not exist. The honor of a human...


First of Their Kind

First of Their Kind by C. D. Tavenor

SPSFC 2022

Robots. Androids. Virtual Worlds. Corporate Conspiracies. Meet Theren: a new synthetic intelligence. The first synthetic intelligence. Created in a lab with sterile white walls, Theren longs to meet the people of the world. The first SI has hopes, fears, and dreams, just like a human. Yet the world fears the idea of an artificial mind, capable of conscious thought. To survive against powerful corporations, hateful humans, and global conspiracies, Theren will need friends—and more importantly, a family. Can Earth survive side-by-side with its new creation?


Escaping First Contact

Escaping First Contact by T.S. Beier

SPSFC 2022

At the far edge of cultivated space, a derelict ship rests. Ten times larger than the biggest Terran dreadnaught, the ship is not recognized by any of the five species tenuously coexisting in the galaxy. Small crews are sent to investigate. What they find is a trap. Once in the metal labyrinth’s clutches, it is clear the unlikely allies will not escape unless they can work together as a team. Unfortunately, trust and cooperation are entirely out of the question. An immersive tale of escape and comradery, Escaping First Contact brings together an unforgettable cast of characters, richly detailed alien cultures, deft humour, and explosive action.


Autogenesis (Let There Be Gods)

Autogenesis (Let There Be Gods) by David Skiter

The year is 2048, and Anders Helmemyr has just started studying computer science in Uppsala, Sweden. Amidst political activism, a complicated love life, and the thrills of student nightlife, he meets Niklas, a computer genius who began his Ph.D. in artificial intelligence at the age of 18. Niklas has a secret: he’s conducting illegal research on a home-built neurosimulator, trying to create an artificial consciousness – a program that thinks and feels like humans do. Anders is drawn into the project, and together they develop Niklas’ brainchild, Leo. However, neither of them knows just what the repercussions for their creation will be. Politics, and life as they know it, are about to change for all time. Autogenesis is the first book from Swedish computer scientist and sci-fi writer David Sikter’s epic trilogy Let There Be Gods, a compelling and evocative vision of the future of humanity in the age of sentient machines.


SWARM: The Griffins' War

SWARM: The Griffins' War by Vicent Casil

Moran is a soldier from a distant future, and he and his men have a war against a mass of mythical creatures to save their metropolis. But their only hope lives in the past. It’s 1969, and two college friends from Berkeley, David and Nathan, plan to visit one another’s state for homecoming. First, they visited Michigan, where Nathan lives, introducing his cousin Raymond. The three went duck hunting and were oblivious to their journey of entering a portal that took them in Moran’s time.


Mouse Cage (Stories from San Iadras)

Mouse Cage (Stories from San Iadras) by Malcolm F. Cross

SPSFC 2022

Troy carries more secrets with him than most. A test subject for experimental surgery, a clone gengineered from modified lab mice, an addict. He tells himself that his past is behind him, but he’ll never escape his childhood in Lake North’s labs. What was done to him there, what he was made into, what he did. Fifteen years after the Emancipation freed him, a prestigious charity invites him to speak about it at their fundraising evening. That’s where Troy meets the love of his life – Jennifer. A woman with a hundred and sixty-seven clone sisters and a past she doesn’t like talking about. Hurts that don’t show on the outside. Dark secrets she’s unwilling to even whisper. Troy’s perfect match. But when the past begins catching up to Troy, not even their love will be strong enough to protect him if he can’t face the agonizing truth of who he and Jennifer really are. For a pair of experts at hiding from the truth, finding a way to stop lying to themselves and each other isn’t the happily ever after for their story. It’s the start.


SWARM: Underwater Metropolis

SWARM: Underwater Metropolis by Vincent Casil

Miranda takes you back to her childhood and what it’s like living in their underwater metropolis, including the significant concerns that only visitors from the past can resolve. Beforehand she and her fellow soldiers share a few meaningful tales of what has influenced most of the colonists deep into the abyss, among them an ancestor of Raymond and Nathan, David’s friends who they never knew, who made a heroic task saving civilizations both sides of the planetary system from above and below the sea. His name was Michael Herron, and just like the three friends, he got lost in the distant future of the SWARM world.


Wings of Earth: 1 - Echoes of Starlight: A hard sci fi space opera

Wings of Earth: 1 - Echoes of Starlight: A hard sci fi space opera by Eric Michael Craig

One hundred thousand colonists can’t disappear. No bodies. No evidence of an attack. Just gone. On what should have been a routine cargo run to the far edge of the Coalition, Captain Ethan Walker is carrying a payload of medical technology and two passengers returning home to Starlight Colony. When they arrive, they discover that everyone on the planet is missing. The company he works for wants him to leave immediately, but he’s obligated to report to FleetCom that the entire population has vanished. Captain MacKenna, of the Magellan, tells him to stay put until they can arrive to begin an official investigation. Caught between his legal responsibilities and the need to know what happened, Walker has to resist increasing pressure to defy orders. Unfortunately, his passengers make a decision that forces him into doing the one thing he can’t do. Captain Walker must risk his ship and crew to return to the surface even though it may ultimately cost him everything.


The Earth Concurrence

The Earth Concurrence by Julia Huni

SPSFC 2022

A hero with big expectations. A daughter who doesn’t want to live in his shadow. Siti Kassis, daughter of the “Hero of Darenti Four,” doesn't know what she wants out of life. A lot of her friends are taking time to travel and see the galaxy. But her father wants her to attend the Academy and follow in his footsteps. Then the Hero is offered one last assignment: take a team to find and explore the deserted homeworld of mankind. It’s a twenty-year mission, and he doesn’t want to leave his only child behind. Siti's going, whether she wants to or not. It's an exciting mission and a chance to make history--even if twenty years in deep sleep is a bummer of a way to start her “gap year.” But when they arrive, nothing is as they expected. Surprising finds and dangerous conditions cause her father to overreact, keeping Siti on a tight leash. When unknown enemies rear their dangerous heads, Siti must take matters into her own hands. Can the hero’s daughter save the day?


Goliath Fallen

Goliath Fallen by A.C Louis

SPSFC 2022

Three vast starships, ambushed by aliens. Will Earth’s last survivors live to see a new dawn? One hundred and fifty years in the future, on humankind’s one-way mission to find a new home planet, Doctor Lucas Sundberg unknowingly leads the ships into a devastating attack. Isolated in the aftermath, he struggles for redemption. So when he finds a father and daughter still alive, the tormented scientist vows to help extract them from the wreckage. Widower Nathan Clarke will do anything to keep the last of his family from being killed. After a year of hiding in a secret shelter, he jumps at the chance of survival when his strong-minded twelve-year-old, Izzy, uncovers a potential lifeline off the interstellar deathtrap. Teaming up with Lucas to get to an escape vessel, they learn they’re not as alone as they thought as horrific creatures block their exit. But they will never stop fighting to reach the one starship left unharmed even if it takes their final breath.


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