Janell Strube’s Adélaïde: Painter of the Revolution is set in eighteenth-century Paris. Adélaïde Labille dreams of becoming a professional painter despite laws and artistic institutions that reserve this arena for men. Encouraged by her father while facing relentless pressure from her mother to secure a...

In Ken Breniman's A Three Body Solution, during a period of political collapse, Tâm, Chip, and TaDoo become internationally famous after presenting their committed thruple as a public alternative to fear-driven leadership and social isolation. Their rise begins with the MMMurphyBed, a futuristic invention that...

In A Savage Nation by Leon Harris, a brutal alternate history inverts the transatlantic slave trade into a horrifying mirror. It is a world where African empires are advanced, and Europe has reverted to a world of primitivity. The story introduces the “Great Harvest,” which...

Jeff Nesbit’s Autocrat is satirical, grotesque, and timely; it follows a narcissistic reality TV host named Rex Vanner who launches and wins the 2015 presidential campaign. But his leverage is a network contract, and what he succeeds in summoning is the darkest impulse in the...

In Lesha Fite’s Alexandra, after surviving a devastating car accident, Alexandra Carter begins recovering memories that threaten the carefully managed life she presents to everyone around her. While her identical twin sister, Cassie, believes she is finally healing, Alexandra quietly revisits hidden secrets tied to...

Augmented Reality by A.R. Milton describes a dystopian world of BioCyber warfare. Headed by twin brothers, an organization had taken over society by means of an AI-driven web, becoming The Eternal Intelligence Entity (E.I.E). Designed to rule the world, it played on human desires, persuading...

“There’s no such thing as a whole, functional, fuck-up-free human. We all have our problems and things that prevent us from being perfect.” True, and that may include Nicholas Bruechle, author of the novel All Writers Are Liars. At the very least, his characters certainly...

Thomas R. Boniello’s A Symphony of Spies is an espionage thriller that bridges international intelligence and the rarefied world of classical music. Drew Reid is an intelligent subatomic physicist working on a classified project; he also suffers from limerence, a condition that makes him overshare...

A Light Within by Ann Nolder Heinz begins in 1850s California, with Cora Fielding, a young woman determined to study medicine. Her father is a doctor, and her twin brother, Carl, is set to follow in his footsteps despite not wanting to. Although Cora is...

In Allen Rebot's At Death’s Door, Kayla wakes up alone in a snow-covered forest after a car crash with no memory of how she arrived there. With no phone and little protection from the cold, she moves through the silent woods until she reaches a...