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THE FIRST THOUSAND TREES by Premee Mohamed

Sep 302025
 

After making a grievous mistake that ended in death, Henryk Mandrusiak feels increasingly ostracized within his own community, and after the passing on of his parents and the departure of his best friend, Reid, there is little left to tie him to the place he calls home. Henryk does something he never expected: he sets out into the harsh wilds alone, in search of far-flung family. He finds his uncle’s village, but making a life for himself in this unfriendly new place — rougher and more impoverished than the campus where he grew up — isn’t easy. Henryk strives to carve out a place of his own but learns that some corners of his broken world are darker than he could have imagined.

This stunning novella concludes the story Mohamed started in The Annual Migration of Clouds and continued in We Speak Through the Mountain, bleaker than ever but still in search of a spark of hope in the climate apocalypse.

DAEDALUS IS DEAD by Seamus Sullivan

Sep 302025
 

Daedalus of Crete is many things: The greatest architect in the world. The constructor of the Labyrinth that imprisoned the Minotaur. And the grieving father of Icarus, who plunged into the sea as father and son flew from the grasp of the tyrannical King Minos.

Now, Daedalus seeks to reunite with Icarus in the Underworld, even as he revisits his own memories of Crete, hoping to understand what went so terribly wrong at the end of his son’s life. Daedalus will confront any terror to see Icarus again―whether it’s the cruel punishments of Tartarus, the cunning Queen Persephone, or the insatiable ghost of the Minotaur.

But the truth, stalking Daedalus in the labyrinth of his own heart, might be too monstrous for him to bear.

KALIVAS! OR, ANOTHER TEMPEST by Nick Mamatas

Sep 232025
 

In this science-fiction revision of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Kalivas lives in solitude on the Farallon Islands, off the San Francisco Bay, until the Master and his daughter M colonize his lonely realm.

Kalivas, the last free-range human, is pressed into completing dangerous and menial tasks on the Master’s behalf. The new regime is disrupted when a great storm brings more cyborg mainlanders to the island shores. Can Kalivas finally break free and reclaim his islands, or will his affection for M keep him tied to the Master forever?

Kalivas! Or, Another Tempest reframes the drama as an anticolonial fantasia through futuristic gizmos, a broken continent, and a one-act play invoking the theater of the absurd. Told by the Bard’s least civilized and most human creation, Nick Mamatas crafts a micro-epic for the modern era.

THE HEARTBREAK HOTEL by Ellen O’Clover

Sep 232025
 

Louisa Walsh emerged from a tumultuous childhood with a degree in counseling, a wealthy boyfriend, and her sunny outlook on life mostly intact. But that optimism is tested when she’s dumped and left unable to afford rent on their gorgeous house in the mountains of Colorado. Even with her life in disarray, Lou knows losing the one stable place she’s ever called home is not an option.

Her plan: ask her reclusive landlord, Henry Rhodes, to let her stay for free in exchange for renting out the house’s many rooms as a bed-and-breakfast. She’s shocked when he agrees to her terms, and even more surprised to discover Henry is a handsome thirtysomething veterinarian with silver at his temples and sadness in his eyes. One who does not take it well when Lou starts marketing her B and B as a retreat for the recently heartbroken.

But as the Comeback Inn opens its doors to its weary, hopeful guests, Lou and Henry find themselves dancing around both their undeniable connection and the closely held secrets that threaten to topple this fragile new start. A chance at love, here, could be too close to home…or it could be exactly where their hearts finally heal.

HE KNOWS WHEN YOU’RE AWAKE by Alta Hensley

Sep 162025
 

This Christmas, it’s all about getting what you really want in this dark billionaire stalker romance sequel to He Sees You When You’re Sleeping.

Stalking in a winter wonderland…

Jewelry designer Sloane dreams of launching her own custom line—but she needs a Christmas miracle to pull it off. With traditional banks turning her down left and right, she can’t resist when a mysterious stranger offers her a lifeline.

I see what she creates in those stolen moments when she thinks no one’s watching. I see everything. There’s a darkness at her core and I will unravel her until I find it.

Reclusive billionaire Cole Asher offers to fly Sloane out to an ultra-luxurious Swiss resort for a meeting. Reluctantly, she agrees—only to realize she’s met him once before in a New York bar.

She is crucial to my plans, and I need her close. She insists that we keep things professional, and I comply. But soon she will realize that every line is blurred when it comes to her and me.

Cole offers to back her company—but there’s a cost. To secure his investment, Sloane must move into his Manhattan penthouse, where she’ll complete her first round of designs for him to review before Christmas.

Sloane throws herself into her work, yet soon the attraction between her and Cole becomes undeniable. As the city sparkles with Christmas splendor from her penthouse view, Sloane wonders if she has stepped into a fairy tale—until Cole’s powerful enemies close in. They will stop at nothing to destroy him, including going after the woman he loves.

I will burn down the world to get her back…and it will be in time for Christmas.

ESCAPE FROM THE USS INDIANAPOLIS by Andy Marino

Sep 162025
 

July, 1945

The end of World War II is finally in sight. The Nazis have been defeated in Europe, and Albie hopes that means he and his brother, Joe, can get back to normal life. Or as normal as life can be following the death of their parents. But the war against Imperial Japan still rages, and when Joe’s given a new assignment on the USS Indianapolis, Albie refuses to be left behind. Even if that means sneaking aboard and heading out to sea with the crew.

The voyage is cramped and hot, and Joe’s furious when he discovers Albie. But then torpedoes slam through the hull, and suddenly the brothers have much bigger problems: The Indianapolis is sinking.

As the chaos and horror unfold, Joe and Albie manage to get off the ship before it goes under. Then the real nightmare begins. There’s not enough food or water or supplies, and the days are long with the sun beating down on them, and the nights are longer, with no escape from the cold. All Albie, Joe, and the others can do is float―and hope that help gets to them before the Japanese navy returns to finish them off.

But another enemy is coming, drawn by the blood in the water: sharks. And with their arrival, every moment becomes a relentless battle to survive.

THE EVER QUEEN by LJ Andrews

Sep 162025
 

With his queen missing, the king’s wrath knows no boundaries.

Captive. Challenger. Queen.

Enemies took her from the man who holds her heart. They might see her as weak, as a pawn in wicked games, but they’re no match for the first Ever Queen.

Let them think they’ve won. Her heart belongs to a beautiful monster, and she will never stop fighting until she’s back in his arms.

Captor. Villain. King.

They’ll die for touching her.

His heart belongs to a stunning little bird. He will never stop searching for her light across the skies. Not until the blood of his enemies spills at her feet, and his queen wears their bones around her neck.

THE BURIAL TIDE by Neil Sharpson

Sep 092025
 

Drawing on the creatures and horrors of Irish folklore, The Burial Tide unearths our darkest truths: how far we’d go to win our freedom, and how quickly our desires can become monstrous.

A woman who can’t remember her death.
On an eerily quiet island off the coast of Ireland, a woman with no memory claws her way out of her grave and back to life. But not everyone welcomes the return of Mara Fitch.

An island with a terrible secret.
Inishbannock. Where strange misshapen figures watch from the trees and the roads are covered in teeth. Where two brothers gamble for nothing, the doctor only treats one patient, and the pub owner speaks in riddles. Where a poet loses and finds his soul. And a man without a heart claims he’s the key to unlocking Mara’s secrets.

A past that refuses to stay buried.
As Mara returns to her life on this upside-down island, her memories begin to leech their way back to the surface. The more she remembers, the more the village will do anything to stop her . . .

But the sea remembers it all.

ANGEL MAKER by Elizabeth Bear

Sep 022025
 

cover of angel maker by elizabeth bear - showing a young white woman with dark hair riding a buckskin horse and holding a long gunEvery cowboy story needs a horse no man can ride.

No man—but Miss Karen Memery is all woman. When she and her beloved Priya sign on to do stunts for a motion picture about a rogue Mechanical named Cowboy and a Wild West show, she finds the horse of her dreams: Angel Maker.

Her plans to rescue him from a deadly stunt are ambitious enough, but she’s soon beset by even greater threats when two men are murdered brutally. Cowboy and Priya are arrested for the crime, and Karen must prove them innocent—and save the life of the wild stallion too!

THE SUN AND THE MOON by Rebekah Faubion

Aug 122025
 

Cadence Connolly grew up in the cosmic shadow of her mother, the renowned psychic Madame Moira. Now, as a park ranger in Maine, she’s carved out her own life far away from her mother’s many premonitions and tarot cards . . . until she receives an invitation to Moira’s engagement party. Cadence doesn’t know what led to the thawing of her mother’s heart, but she’ll have to return home to discover the truth.

Sydney Sinclair’s schedule as a pilot makes long-term relationships difficult, but at least she can fly anywhere in the world for free with only her emotional baggage as a carry-on. After her mom passed, it’s always been Sydney and her dad against the world, so it’s no wonder she doesn’t trust the enigmatic Madame Moira—his newly minted fiancée.

When Cadence meets Sydney, they realize they share similar suspicions about their parents’ impending nuptials. As they begin scheming to break up their parents’ engagement—they can’t possibly be in love after such a short time together—Sydney and Cadence discover an irresistible chemistry with each other instead. Despite not believing in fate, Cadence might just have found her soulmate in Sydney.

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