The nice thing about 2016 is that it’s a leap year. That means you have one extra day to do whatever you want if you don’t have to work or take care of children or do anything that requires you to be a responsible adult.
Okay, so that extra day isn’t all that great but you can probably squeeze in a few minutes of extra reading that day, or any other day this week, so you can read the SFF Book Releases This Week!
If you are an indie or small press author and would like your book included in this list, email us at adventuresinscifipublishing [at] gmail [dot] com. If you love free books, reviews, chimichangas, and podcasts, sign up to our AISFP Wormhole newsletter.
The Anthrax Protocols
by James Thompson
It Kills Slowly…
In an excavation site in Mexico, a team of archeologists uncovers the lost tomb of Montezuma–and a deadly strain of anthrax as ancient as the Biblical plagues. One by one, the team falls violently ill, bleeding from their eyes and ears before succumbing to a slow, painful death. Whatever was buried with the Aztec chief is still active, infectious–and now airborne…
It Spreads Quickly…
In Austin, a young archeologist listens to the dying words of her mentor in Mexico–a warning to quarantine the site before all hell breaks loose. In Atlanta, the CDC’s Dr. Mason Williams leads an emergency squad on a life-or-death mission–into the hot zone. At Fort Detrick, an army officer sends a trained team to secure the anthrax–as a biological weapon. But time is running out. The disease is spreading rapidly across the border, into the airports, and across the globe, killing thousands. With no cure, no vaccine, and no way to contain it, there will be no hope for humanity–to survive…
Absconded Ambassador
by Michael R. Underwood
Fiction is more important than you think. When stories go wrong, the Genrenauts step in to prevent the consequences from rippling into our so-called real world.
When a breach is discovered in Science Fiction World, rookie genrenaut Leah Tang gets her first taste of space flight.
The Dowry Blade
by Cherry Potts
February 25
Trust anyone, even an enemy… …Trust no one, not even a friend. A fantasy epic of the strength and limitations of love and loyalty: between friends, lovers, kin, strangers- and enemies.Nine years after the loss of her sister, and near obliteration of her clan in an ill conceived raid, Brede, a plains’ nomad, is living unwillingly in the marshes. The sudden ending of a decade long drought, brings with it many changes; rumour has it that the rain was bought at the price of a King’s head, and the sword needed for such a sacrifice is missing. Change comes for Brede in the arrival of Tegan, a wounded mercenary. Brede’s discovery, first of the Dowry Blade and a stolen horse, and then of Tegan’s history, sets in train a journey to the capital in search of her missing sister and leads to an unexpected role in the Queen’s household, and a powerful lover.
Divine Nature: A Fairytale for Grown Ups
by J.D. Atkin
February 25 – UK Import
There’s something very odd about Meris.The fish in the glass canals know it. The scientists who created her know it. And the hordes of atheist extremists who want her dead know it.Lost in the shell of a once great cathedral of science, Meris finds herself thrust into the final days of a decades long war. The powers of science and reason are failing, violence and madness are encroaching and deep in the watery depths something dark and horrible is about to be awoken. Join Meris as she fights for her freedom and searches for bees while encountering warrior fish, murderous hooligans and several well meaning robots. It’ll be a miracle if she makes it out alive.
Flight or Fight
by Scott Bartlett
February 28
Carl Intoever works for SafeTalk, a firm that destroys anyone who embarrasses its corporate customers. He does this because he hates his life, and like almost everyone else living in Dodge, he wants desperately to escape it. People in Dodge don’t save for retirement-they save for a one-way plane ticket to the western continent called the New World. When SafeTalk targets the person Carl respects most, he must choose: will he risk his dreams of escape to save his friend?
Freaks Anon
by Matt Darst
February 29
Collection notices. Disapproving looks. Sleeping in a van. Life’s hard for a wannabe superhero. Things get harder still when Centurion’s sidekick, Henry, dies.
The police say Henry’s death was an accident. Centurion knows better. Henry’s death is part of a larger pattern. Someone’s murdering children—kids with extraordinary psychic and physical abilities—across the South and Midwest.
He needs to find the killer fast. In Chicago, his prime suspect has already set her sights on friends Astrid and Kim. But these teens aren’t like anything he’s ever seen. They’re special. Like Henry.
Centurion will face spies, monsters, and the ultimate evil: the Chicago auto pound. If he doesn’t watch out, he just might find he’s the one in need of saving.
A Gathering of Shadows (A Darker Shade of Magic 2)
by Victoria Schwab
Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift, and into Black London.
In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games-an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries-a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again-and so to keep magic’s balance, another London must fall.
Good Girls (Motherless Children Trilogy 2)
by Glen Hirshberg
Reeling from the violent death of her daughter and a confrontation with the Whistler–the monster who wrecked her life–Jess has fled the South for a tiny college town in New Hampshire. There she huddles in a fire-blackened house with her crippled lover, her infant grandson, and the creature that was once her daughter’s best friend and may or may not be a threat.
Rebecca, a college student orphaned in childhood, cares for Jess’s grandson, and finds in Jess’s house the promise of a family she has never known, but also a terrifying secret.
Meanwhile, unhinged and unmoored, the Whistler watches from the rooftops and awaits his moment.
And deep in the Mississippi Delta, the evil that spawned him stirs…
A Hold on Me (Dark Heart 1)
by Pat Esden
Annie Freemont grew up on the road, immersed in the romance of rare things, cultivating an eye for artifacts and a spirit for bargaining. It’s a freewheeling life she loves and plans to continue–until her dad is diagnosed with dementia. His illness forces them to return to Moonhill, their ancestral home on the coast of Maine–and to the family they left behind fifteen years ago, after Annie’s mother died in a suspicious accident.
Once at Moonhill, Annie is shocked when her aunt separates her from her father. The next time Annie sees him, he’s a bizarre, violent shadow of his former self. Confused, she turns to an unlikely ally for support–Chase, the dangerously seductive young groundskeeper. With his dark good looks and powerful presence, Chase has an air of mystery that Annie is irresistibly drawn to. But she also senses that behind his penetrating eyes are secrets she can’t even begin to imagine. Secrets that hold the key to the past, to Annie’s own longings–and to all of their futures. Now, to unlock them, she’ll have to face her greatest fears and embrace her legacy.
Jani and the Great Pursuit (Jani 2)
by Eric Brown
Jani and her stalwart companions Lieutenant Alfie Littlebody and Anand Doshi find themselves chased from India, via Greece, to London by the British authorities, Russian spies and a Hindu priest – who all want what Jani carries, the ventha-di: the key that will open the door to other worlds.
In London she attempts to rescue the imprisoned alien Mahran – the only person who might help her save the Earth from the invasion of the merciless Zhell, the self-styled Masters of the Cosmos.
But will she escape London and reach Tibet before the forces of evil capture her – and before she is betrayed by someone she considers loyal to her cause?
The Latter Fire (Star Trek: The Original Series)
by James Swallow
The five-year mission of the Starship Enterprise has brought the vessel and her crew to the forefront of an important first contact situation. Under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, the ship is heading to the planet Syhaar Prime in the Beta Quadrant—the home world of an alien civilization preparing to take its first steps on to the galactic stage. One year earlier, the Enterprise came across a badly damaged Syhaari explorer vessel drifting in deep space. In collaboration with the explorer’s captain, Kirk and his crew were able to restore the ship to full function and send it on its way. And now, as the Syhaari display rapid technological advances made over the past year, hard questions must be asked. Did the Enterprise crew leak advanced technology or information to the Syhaari during their first encounter, in total violation of the Prime Directive?
Runaway Vampire (Argeneau Vampire 23)
by Lynsay Sands
Dante Notte has heard it said that love hurts. He just wasn’t expecting it to run him over in an RV. Still, a punctured lung and broken ribs are nothing compared to the full-body shock he feels whenever he’s near the vehicle’s driver, Mary Winslow. He needs to keep her safe from their pursuers while he rescues his brother. Most challenging of all, he needs to claim this smart, stubborn woman as his life mate.
The naked, injured, insanely gorgeous younger man who clambered into her RV insists they belong together. If Mary wasn’t feeling their incredible connection in every inch of her being, she wouldn’t believe it. But now that the men who took Dante’s twin are after her too, trusting her gut means risking her life for an immortal who’s the very definition of a perfect stranger.
Samantha Watkins: Chronicles of an Extraordinary Ordinary Life (Samantha Watkins Series)
by Aurélie Venem, translated by S.E. Battis
Young librarian Samantha Watkins has always been perfectly content with her humdrum existence. Never easily fitting in with anyone anywhere, she feels most at ease in silence, among stacks of books. Sam believes in leaving fantasy and drama to the characters in her beloved novels. But one night when she leaves work late, she finds herself center stage in a tale of vengeance and terror.
Samantha is rescued from a gang of vampires by Phoenix, a mysterious and otherworldly man. Suddenly her paranormal adventures take a far more extraordinary turn than any story she’s ever read. Phoenix, her savior, is actually a vampire as well, tasked with stopping his peers from killing. With no possibility of returning to her former life, Sam becomes his assistant. Together they investigate a series of mysterious disappearances and attempt to save the human race from a horrible fate. Battling vampires thrills and empowers Sam, but where does she stand with supernatural Phoenix? Could Phoenix, through their work together, become a different man?
Sinking
by Sarah Armstrong-Garner
Jocelyn washes up on the shore of eighteenth century Ireland, alone, naked, and missing all of her memories. Taken in by a lonely old woman full of plots and schemes for the lovely yet enigmatic creature, Jocelyn knows only one thing. She longs for the sea with every ounce of her being. Yet it tried to kill her.
Aidan Boyd loves two things. His ship and the sea. When Jocelyn is thrust upon his vessel in the midst of his superstitious crew, he finds himself intoxicated by her—willing to give up everything for her. He soon finds he cannot live without her.
But something holds Jocelyn back. The whisper of another’s love. The embrace of water. Does she belong to this world? Or could Jocelyn possibly be from the sea?
Soulless
by Gail Carriger
Alexia Tarabotti is a proper English miss—so long as you don’t count her spinsterhood, half-Italian heritage, or weaponized parasol against her. Oh, and there’s that little matter of her lacking a soul. But, honestly, isn’t being soulless and thus able to nullify the powers of vampires and werewolves and other supernatural beings a good thing in a London chockful of them?
Her soulless state seems particularly handy when Alexia is accosted alone in a library by a vampire intent on her neck. She dispatches him with the help of her preternatural powers…and handy parasol. But not only has the fanged ruffian ruined her treacle tart, his untimely demise brings to the scene Lord Conall Maccon, werewolf Alpha and investigator for the Bureau of Unnatural Registry (and as handsome as he is vexing). The incident is followed by a veritable plague of unexplained new vampires and old ones suddenly disappearing across London society. And, unfortunately, Alexia herself becomes the chief suspect.
Star Mist (Seeders 5)
by Dean Wesley Smith
A dead alien ship appears close to human space. But in millions of years, no alien race managed to leave its own galaxy. The alien ship originated in a galaxy over two hundred thousand years of travel away. But the Seeders need to know about the alien race, in case they are a threat. Star Mist takes on the vast scale of the Seeders Universe and expands it even more. Galaxy-spanning science fiction at its very best.
Version Control
by Dexter Palmer
Rebecca Wright has reclaimed her life, finding her way out of her grief and depression following a personal tragedy years ago. She spends her days working in customer support for the internet dating site where she first met her husband. But she has a strange, persistent sense that everything around her is somewhat off-kilter: she constantly feels as if she has walked into a room and forgotten what she intended to do there; on TV, the President seems to be the wrong person in the wrong place; her dreams are full of disquiet. Meanwhile, her husband’s decade-long dedication to his invention, the causality violation device (which he would greatly prefer you not call a “time machine”) has effectively stalled his career and made him a laughingstock in the physics community. But he may be closer to success than either of them knows or can possibly imagine.
Wasteland Gods
by Jonathan Woodrow
February 29
After the brutal murder of his son is broadcast over the internet, Billy Kingston becomes consumed with alcoholism and thoughts of revenge. But his outlook changes when a divine being named Dr. Verity offers Billy the chance to not only find the man responsible for his pain but to remove him from this world before he can commit the murder. When the deal with Verity takes a wrong turn, Billy moves to the small, remote town of Benton Lake and the chance of a new life. Only Dr. Verity isn’t through with him yet. Not by a long shot.
Byron Dunn is an AISFP Contributor and a friend to werewolves, but he likes other monsters as well so long as they don’t try to kill him. No biting either. He’s not on the menu.
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