#!scifi

Title: After the Storm

Author: H Birchwood, Key Dyson & Raymond Roach

Format: Text  (with art!)

Published/Free: Both

Length: 194,299 words

Status: Complete

Rating: Mature

Warnings: past sexual assault, trauma, abuse, alcohol use, food insecurity, violence, consent issues

Link:

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/213099434-after-the-storm

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1003186

Summary: After four years of hell on a ship with a deadly crew, all Rich wants is a second chance. Get some sun, relax, maybe hook up with a cute guy. But old scars, bad habits, and an insane AI aren’t going to make it easy…  Rich Merrill, gene-tweaked supersoldier by birth and AI support technician by vocation, is done fighting. Finally reassigned after four hellish years aboard the Sympatico, a dysfunctional ship with a deadly crew, all he wants is to make the most of his second chance. The survival skills that got him through his last posting aren’t going to help him on the Reliant, though. In among a kinder, gentler crew, Rich’s old scars and bad habits are just as much of a problem as vengeful ex-crewmates, or the Sympatico’s corrupted AI, which wants him back. Rich wants to be a better person. He wants to make some friends, finally. He’d especially like to be friends–or more–with Basil Wright, a brilliant teen rival who’s grown up captivatingly handsome; or Liam Beaker, a beautiful, mercurial botanist and fellow tweak. Rich wants to reconnect with what’s left of his family, pick up some hobbies, get some sun, learn to relax. But if he can’t learn how to leave his old life behind, his new life won’t be worth living.

Review: This story is sweet and comforting. The characters distinct and endearing. The world building is interesting and feels alive.

Title: The Outlands Pentalogy (3/5): A Promise of Return Author: Rebecca Crunden Format: Novel, part of a series Published/Free: Published Length: 90K words, 244 pages Status: This is the third book in a series of five and the first with a central m/m pairing. Each book switches POV’s so it is possible to start from this book and not be totally lost. All the books in the series are finished and the last two will be published within the next few months.  Rating: Mature Warnings: This book is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the main character is sold to a gladiator type fighting arena and is forced to kill. So, huge warnings for gore and blood. Plus past mentions of abuse. Scenes of torture. Link: Amazon (Available on all Amazon sites in paperback and Kindle), Goodreads Summary: When Thom Anteros is arrested after breaking into the Building of Historical Records, he demands to be taken before the King. A laughable demand for anyone else, Thom’s request is granted and the King spares his life. Yet what’s to become of him is left in the hands of the one person Thom truly fears – Mickey Taenia, the King’s Hangman.

Infuriated by Thom’s refusal to reveal the whereabouts of Nate and Catherine, the Hangman sends Thom to one of the worst places in the Kingdom – the slave markets of Muntenia. It is there that Thom is bought for the Red Arena: a barbaric, gladiator-type competition where the children of convicts and other unlucky souls are forced to fight to the death.

Twenty wins is release. One loss is death.

With the help of Charles Thoreau, a fellow captive, Thom begins not only to survive, but to thrive. A master of words becomes a master of death, and Thom’s prowess in the arena frightens even him.

But death isn’t the only thing haunting Thom. As the days go by, he dreams of his brother, and the promise he cannot forget.

Title: The Course of Honour Author: Avoliot Format: Novel Published/Free: Free Length: 110k (chapters being proofread, posted 2x a week) Status: WIP Rating: Mature Warnings: Past abusive relationship is a major theme Link:  http://archiveofourown.org/works/9720611?view_full_work=true Summary: Arranged marriage, abuse recovery and space politics.

When Jainan arrived on Iskat to represent his home planet in a diplomatic marriage to Imperial Prince Taam, he was naïve enough to hope the match would work. Taam knew better. Five years later, his confidence shattered, Jainan is released when Taam dies in an accident, only to be faced with another marriage to help salvage his treaty. Jainan understands how the real world works now; but Prince Kiem - the cheerful, scandal-prone darling of the Iskat celebrity magazines - keeps breaking all the rules he’s learned.

Title: Exiles Author: Wordsmith1994 Format: Novel Published/Free: Free Length: Currently has 30,000+ (ongoing, updates frequently) Rating: Mature, might be more in future chapters Warnings: Violence, mature rated stuff like sex, mention of drug use and minor drinking Link: FictionPress Summary: In a post first-contact world, 17 year old Wilf and his father struggle to survive. Fleeing NYC in search of work, Wilf falls in love with a beautiful half alien girl. He soon becomes entangled in her powerful and dominating alien father’s web of control over a small northern town. As he is increasingly involved in the violence of this new world, he is forced to chose sides. Summary by me: Aliens invaded Earth around when Wilf was born. His mother joined the resistance that struggled against the invasion, while his father remained at home and raised Wilf up in a world that was constantly changing.  Now that they moved to a new town when aliens and humans live closely together, Wilf tries to find his place among the hierarchy of the town. Archer, the town’s ‘leader’ and the father of Wilf’s girlfriend seems to… be very fond of Wilf.