January is a season for resolutions. Not just the New Year’s attempts to chart courses, but also in conclusions. And in the indie world, many popular series are concluding, including the popular litRPG series, Viridian Gate Online. Since December 2016, nearly twenty books across a half dozen plotlines have woven a tale of three million souls caught up in the crises of a virtual world. In Empirical Endgame, a chance exists for these souls to win peace. But whether it is the peace in their time or the peace of the grave is yet to be determined.

“Grim” Jack Mitchel has come a long way on his second lease on life. He has survived the quite real and devastating impact of the asteroid Astraea by irrevocably uploading his mind into Viridian Gate Online, a full immersion MMO intended by its creator to act as a sort of ark for the consciousnesses of a fraction of humanity. Soon after, he finds a cheat item intended for a drug kingpin who paid VGO’s creator to establish his own empire within the game. Grim Jack soon finds himself as the leader of a faction of players in violent opposition to the criminals, mercenaries, and would-be kings enslaving the players and NPCs inside VGO. Even if it means fighting the man who created VGO’s systems, Osmark.

Grim Jack’s war again Osmark, however, destabilizes VGO to the point where the AI algorithms that control the game’s systems move against both men. Now forced into an uneasy alliance, Grim Jack and Osmark must defend all the players from armies that not just bring death, but permanent deletion from the sanctuary that VGO was intended to be. When a chance to reprogram the increasingly erratic AI of Death appears, Grim Jack and Osmark must lead a raid into the very core of Viridian Gate Online’s code before the other AIs delete the remnants of the human race.

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His name is Remo, and he is a new release, alongside the finales for the Viridian Gate: Online and Ember War series, and more.

Dragonskull: Shield of the Knight – Jonathan Moeller

Dark magic hunts a young knight.

Gareth Arban is now a knight of the Northerland, riding to escort his friend Prince Tywall to the High King’s seat of Tarlion.

But the spider priestesses who rule the Heptarchy have not forgotten their hatred towards Tywall and will stop at nothing to assassinate him.

It will take all of Gareth’s courage and skill to protect his friend.

But what Gareth hasn’t realized is that the dark power is coming for him…

Excess (Monster Punk Horizon #3) – H. P. Holo and Jacob Holo

Losing a trusty weapon is like losing a close friend, and Pix’s beloved capacitor blade is on its last legs.

Fortunately, she has a plan to craft a new, even better weapon. Unfortunately, her plan involves hunting down a vicious migrating monster that has more teeth than some hunters have brain cells. Even worse, this new creature has riled up the apex monster of Skull Harbor, and both of them are spoiling for a fight.

But Pix has one thing they don’t: a party foolhardy enough to take them both on.

She’ll need all the help she can get, because it’ll take all their combined luck, skill, and oversized weapons to put down these two monsters. But her friends have her back. After all, there’s awesome loot to be had!

If they manage to survive…

Legends Rise (Ember War: The Ibarra Crusade #5) -Richard Fox

The Ember War comes to its epic conclusion!

The Ibarra Nation launches a final assault to liberate Earth, but the Geist have laid a trap for Ely Hale and the Crusade. The Geist are on the cusp of releasing their dark god Malal onto the galaxy, ensuring doom for every soldier, Armor and sailor fighting for their very souls.

Ely Hale is the fulcrum on which the battle will turn. He is one soldier against a dark tide but he is not alone, for the Saint Lives.

Legends Rise is the finale to the long running military science fiction series, a must read for every fan of battling space fleets and heroic space Marines. Space opera at its finest! Read More

What is science fiction?

Perhaps no more loaded question about the genre exists. Everywhere from fanzines to forums, newspapers to Facebook, in 280-character tweets to long-form essays, no other topic in science fiction generates such fervent and fevered discussion.

What makes Star Trek science fiction while Star Wars is not, and vice versa? Why did French literature critics exclude Jules Verne from the genre, while other critics argue just as fiercely for his inclusion. Why is the Gothic novel Frankenstein so controversial in its inclusion in the genre? Why was C. S. Lewis so dismissive of conventional stories merely set in the future? Why did Edmond Hamilton say of Ray Bradbury, “What he was writing was not science fiction, but it was so damn good that it had to be included in science fiction.”?

These arguments around the nature of science fiction focus on excluding what is not science fiction rather than answering the question on everyone’s mind. If any compromise is found, it is around the unconvincing statement that we “know science fiction when we see it”.

The decades of chatter about the subject refute this. Read More

Twenty-two months after the fall of Alness, the Mongoose and Meerkat have been hired to lay claim to the salvage of a wrecked ship.

In “Wreck of the Cassada”, Jim Breyfogle continues the Mongoose and Meerkat’s grand tour of exotic locations, this time under water, as the duo is hired to claim the shipwrecked hulk of the Cassada for a local baron. It’s a simple job, or so it seems, as all they need to do is retrieve the keel plate from the wreck and attest that the ship was truly abandoned. But rivals seek to claim the myriad treasures stranded in the sea, so the Mongoose and the Meerkat will have to forcibly ensure the wreck is deserted–even if it means feeding the sharks swirling around it.

Mangos is the Mongoose, a skilled, boastful, and hotheaded swordsman, while Kat is the Meerkat, a beautiful yet mysterious woman who favors the oblique approach to her well-chosen blade. Together, they’ll take on any job to keep their purses full and their cups overflowing.

Mangos often serves as the perspective character for the series, as Kat still has too many secrets to be shared. As such, he is often placed in situations are better suited to Kat’s subtlety than a swordsman’s bravado. Over the course of the tales, his impulsiveness has been tempered by how Kat’s knowledge has given the pair more options in their various jobs than just hack and slash. As a result, Mangos often becomes a secondary character in the stories while we wait for Kat’s cleverness to carry the day.

This is not one of those stories. Read More

Ring in the new year with daring daylight raids, ancient hidden temples, and a touch of sidearms and sorcery.

Awaken Online: Happy – Travis Bagwell

Pain. Chaos. Happiness?

Elf Hard – Daniel J. Davis

When the terrorists took over Santa’s Village, they never counted on the misfit human.

Orphaned, alone, and raised by elves, Rocco never had it easy. It made him tough.

He was perfectly content with a quiet life of making toys at the North Pole.

Then the terrorists came.

Now alone, outnumbered, and outgunned, Rocco is determined to save Christmas.

No matter how many terrorist scumbags he has to bury first.

John Sinclair: Demon Hunter #5 – Jason Dark

1977 is a strange year. Things beyond human understanding have begun to surface, threatening the peace and leaving behind an endless trail of blood. When such incidents arise, it is down to Scotland Yard’s Special Division and their Demon Hunter in residence, John Sinclair, to set things right. But Sinclair is haunted by demons of his own, ones which rival the dark forces attacking innocents around him. Can he conquer one to vanquish the other?

Demon hunting might be dangerous work, but it comes with travel benefits! John Sinclair and Suko travel to Greece in pursuit of a mysterious magician and the secrets of Atlantis! But even the Mediterranean depths are full of threats… Bound by a promise, the gang return to Britain to slay a vampire coven, before taking flight for New York! But with the meter running on a cursed taxi, will Sinclair make it to Romania in time to prevent Dracula’s descendants from rising again – or will a certain Impaler beat him to it?

Light Unto Another World #5 – Yakov Merkin

While the Kingdom of Valtenar and its demi-human allies have won a decisive victory over the numerically superior forces of the Kingdom of Fulnar, the war has only just begun.

This fact is one that Uriel Makkis will not let himself forget.

With no real way to match the enemy in numbers, the elven and demi-human armies must rely on clever tactics and technological advances to even the odds.

For Uriel, that means drawing on more technology from back home.

However, even as this work continues, and smaller-scale battles are being fought, there are signs that the war is taking on a new dimension, a religious one.

As if Uriel needed another reminder of things back home.

And just like back home, Uriel, knowing he is on the right side, and doing the work of the One True God, will do everything in his power to defeat any new foe that arises.

But not alone, of course; with his team forging itself into an ever more effective fighting unit, it would take something powerful indeed to stand in their way. Read More

Executioners, cultivators, and mercenaries fill this week’s new releases.

Age of Bronze (Rise of Mankind #2) – Jez Cajiao

A world gone mad. Creatures of nightmare walk the streets, but worse are those we once knew…

Matt survived the Dungeon’s founding, and managed to gather a small, but dedicated team to him, but when he finds his is not the only Dungeon in the area, he has a choice to make.

Attempt friendly co-existence, but lose the element of surprise, or attack, and risk it all?

Matt has learned the consequences of being too trusting when the world collapses around you, but is the path of grim dictator any better?

Can he trust those around him? When those he left behind seem to be abusing his gift?

Ally (Four Horsemen: Guild Wars #16) – Kacey Ezell and Marisa Wolf

“It’s better to die free than to live a slave.”

When the Mercenary Guild tried to bend the galaxy’s deadliest assassins to their will, the Depik shocked the galaxy by choosing mass suicide to enslavement.

Only those Depik not present on their home planet of Khatash survived to retreat to the shadows, to plan, to form alliances, to rebuild and look forward to the day when they could retake their home from the Veetanho invaders and exact revenge.

That day has finally come. And this time, the Depik do not stand alone.

Fomori Invasion (Shattered Gods #2) – Chris Fox

The Morrigan Hunts the Prince of Demons

I am the reincarnation of a dark god. I cannot escape that now. The prince of demons come again. And I am hunted. The Fomori have a prophecy about my return, and have been so kind as to dispatch the Morrigan herself to slay me. She’s even forging a special divine sword.

Their armies of beastmen and giants march upon Hasra, and the ailing empire is in no shape to hold. They need new troops. They need us. My friends and I are being sent off to the other Catalysts we control to gain more magic so that we can resist the Fomori advance.

First we’ll journey to Calmora, to gain air from the Breath of Shu. Then we will fly to Enestius to gain dream from the Hoard of Lakshmi. If we survive, then we’ll move on to the strongest Catalyst on the continent, the legendary Hammer of Reevanthara.

Once we have secured our powers we’ll return to the war, and break the Fomori…or die trying. I will find a way to drive them from our lands, for my family. For my people. For the darkness living inside me. Read More

The Christmas season is a time of gift giving and celebration, precisely because of the gifts of repentance and redemption given to all by a condemned Man who died on a hill. Let’s take a look at a similar tale of repentance and redemption, penned at a time when science fiction and fantasy were still serious enough to address such themes.

“Only thing is,” the mouth-harp man went on, “folks say the train runs on that track. Or it did. A black train runs some nights at midnight, they say, and when it runs a sinner dies.”

While out on a walk, John the Balladeer is pulled into an outdoor party and asked to play. It’s a strange celebration, for it marks the last day of a curse on Donie Carawan, a women tending towards her forties who inherited a small fortune. The reason for the curse is as follows:

“Donie Carawan was to marry Trevis Jones,” the mouth-harp man told me. “He owned the High Fork Railroad to freight the timber from this valley. He’d a lavish of money, is how he got to marry her. But,” and he swallowed hard, “another young fellow loved her. Cobb Richardson, who ran Trevis Jones’s train on the High Fork Railroad. And he killed Trevis Jones.” 

“For love?” I asked.

“Folks reckoned that Donie Carawan decided against Trevis and love-talked Cobb into the killing; for Trevis had made a will and heired her all his money and property— the railroad and all. But Cobb made confession. Said Donie had no part in it. The law let her go, and killed Cobb in the electric chair, down at the state capital.”

“I declare to never,” I said.

“Fact. And Cobb’s mother— Mrs. Amanda Richardson— spoke the curse.”

“Oh,” I said, “is she the witch that—”

“She was no witch,” he broke me off, “but she cursed Donie Carawan, that the train that Cobb had engine-drove, and Trevis had heired to her, would be her death and destruction. Donie laughed. You’ve heard her laugh. And folks started the song, the black train song.”

In contempt of the curse, Donie teaches the black train song to John. But, later, when John sings it, they both can hear a train coming an see ghostly tracks. Then, at midnight, the train comes…

This is not the first of Wellman’s stories to lean heavily on music for the plot. In “Nine Yards of Other Cloth” and “Can These Bones Live?”, John relies on the folk magic in folk music to carry him through his harrowing experiences. And “Vandy, Vandy” incorporates lyrics that Wellman himself wrote, a particular favorite of his that he would perform for friends. These rely on lyrical cleverness and a bit of Pennsylvania-Dutch folk magic. “The Little Black Train” adds pitch and rhythm to that well established formula to call on its curse. Read More