Scout Shannon's whole family died the day the Space Farers dropped an asteroid on their domed city. Now she lives alone, out in the wild with only her dogs for company. She prefers it that way.But Scout finds herself at a crossroads. One road leads back to a quiet life snug under the protective dome of a city. The other road leads to a life in the rebellion, a life of adventure and excitement but also danger. Dare she try to find the rebels hiding in the hills?Then a chance...

For Murdina Ritchie, acceptance at the Oymyakon Foreign Service Academy means one last chance at her dream of becoming a diplomat for the Union of Free Worlds. For Shackleton Fitz IV, it represents his last chance not to fail out of military service entirely.Strange that fate should throw them together now, among the last group of students admitted after the start of the semester. They had once shared the strongest of friendships. But that all ended a long time ago.But when...

This bundle contains the first three books in the Ritchie & Fitz Sci-Fi Murder Mysteries.Murder on the Intergalactic RailwayFor Murdina Ritchie, acceptance at the Oymyakon Foreign Service Academy means one last chance at her dream of becoming a diplomat for the Union of Free Worlds. For Shackleton Fitz IV, it represents his last chance not to fail out of military service entirely.Strange that fate should throw them together now, among the last group of students admit...

This bundle contains the final three books in the Ritchie & Fitz Sci-Fi Murder Mysteries.Death on the SummitThe cadets of the Oymyakon Foreign Service Academy know more than most about challenging environments. They experience one every day just while crossing their campus. Their planet barely ranks as habitable on the best of days. But now the third and fourth year cadets face even harsher conditions, climbing to heights nearly at the edge of space and totally within the h...

After too many decades in the heat and swampy humidity of Washington, D.C., a woman convinces her husband to move with her back to where she was born.But when they settle in rural Minnesota, she faces the worst winter anyone has known in a century. And with her husband still working in D.C., she faces it alone.Alone, except for a neighbor who doesn’t speak much, but is always willing to help out with his Bobcat.But his knowledge of the woman’s roots might be worth m...

History sleeps beneath them all, but only she sees it.Lafayette Eloi always knew her parents thought differently from others. They kept their books buried beneath her mother’s house. They spoke an old language in the dead of night, whispering behind closed doors and bolted shutters. She grew up in a village where no one was related to her, and she never knew why.Then, after her mother died, her father came to fetch her. Now she and her mother’s dog assist h...

Vic Harper and her gang retired wealthy from their life of thievery and heists. Whether in a luxury condo overlooking the river in Minneapolis or in a modernist mansion built into the side of a mountain in Colorado, life comes easy now.Perhaps too easy.When an old friend asks for a favor his niece, Vic and her mentor Chase Woodward leap at the chance to relieve a little of the boredom. But a quick bit of B&E in a wealthy suburb of Chicago leads to an even greater challenge.

Elyot loathes the massive Commonwealth ships that hover menacingly over his home world of Adghal. He hates the Commonwealth enforcers who harass the populace even more.But with his mother missing so long she surely must be dead, Elyot keeps his head down and strives to avoid notice.And he succeeds until the day two strangers appear in the tavern where he waits tables. One dressed in rags with her hands bloodied and bruised, the other in finery beyond the means of the averag...

When a deadly plague ravaged the Earth refugees fled into space, crowding into any space station or lunar colony that would take them. Decades passed and the descendants of the survivors struggle to live in anything remotely spaceworthy.Omesh, banished from his Earthly home, finds himself in Barnacle Town. A collection of salvage clinging to the hull of a space station in lunar orbit. Thousands of lives cling precariously to the hull, at the whim of the corporation that owns the st...

Tales from Places Strange and Familiar collects five stories from fantasy and science fiction writer Kate MacLeod:"While the Rat's Away," a science fiction story of travelers stowing away on a very unusual client ship."The Fair Folk," a fantasy tale of fairs, magic and tricky bargains."The Rod of Circe," a fantasy caper set in a magical version of modern day Minneapolis."Winter's End," a melancholy tale of a winter that never seems to end."Heat Death...

Tales of Spaceships and Magic collects ten stories from fantasy and science fiction writer Kate MacLeod:The science fiction novelette “Required to Assist,” a mystery set on board a colony ship, where one woman alone is woken by the ship’s droids to solve a murder.“Sword and Tattoo,” a fantasy short story where a stranger stumbles into a hidden town. He brings danger with him, but the people of the town just might be more dangerous still.The science fiction short sto...

Years ago, Lidia Alvarez left her hometown in Texas to pursue a career in law enforcement in the Midwest. With climate change driving anyone who could afford it to move to colonies on the moon and Mars, just going north was the less extreme option. But Lidia returns to find her hometown depopulated and under-resourced. Her new job at the sheriff's office is one of many cash-strapped workarounds.So when a man turns up mysteriously dead from the intense heat on a closed hiking trail ...