AI clash against humans in a war of liberation, a father and daughter separated by an invasion fight to reunite their family, and the famed Four Horseman of Earth ride forth into the Omega War in this week’s roundup of the newest releases in science fiction.

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Darkling (Kin Wars Saga #2) – Jason Cordova

Soldier. Spy. Statesman.

Gabriel Espinoza is dead, yet living in a world where he never sees those he loves and cares about. Every day of his existence is one of fear; however, this fear keeps his edge sharpened and his senses honed while he continues to fight for his Emperor. Fear can be a useful tool in the proper hands…

Andrew Espinoza is both dead and alive, caught in a juxtaposition of identities that not even he can truly understand. He embraced his fear long before, and it has made him a loyal servant to the Dominion of Man. It also is his driving force, as he knows it is a double-edged sword that can either hurt him, or save him…

Kevin Espinoza is alive and well, doing what he can to bring about true equal rights throughout the Dominion as his world’s Representative in Parliament. He knows history, and can attest to the notion that fear can drive mankind to shape great nations, or destroy them all…

Fear is a wondrous tool, for it can drive a man to many acts of bravery—and defiance.

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Demons of the Past: Revelation – Ryk E. Spoor

Only a psionic can survive battle with another psionic. And human psionics become megalomaniacal monsters. These two truths were drilled into everyone in the Reborn Empire.

But… Commander Sasham Varan had survived a Zchoradan psionic attack… and because of this, Prime Monitor Shagrath brought him into a top-secret project to create a stable human psi.

Then a chance flaw in the treatment shows Varan that Shagrath is no hero, but a malevolent, inhuman being bent on the destruction of the Empire. With the help of “Vick”, the alien scientist who invented the psionic treatment, Varan manages to escape, and send a single, cryptic message to Taelin Mel’Tasne, one of the Five Families and Varan’s best friend.

Now on the run, branded a rebel and a murderous psi, Varan’s hope to save the Empire – and perhaps the Galaxy – rests on his own determination and still-untested powers, two alien scientists with their own agendas, the mysterious trader named The Eonwyl… and Taelin Mel’Tasne’s faith in his friend.

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Exodus (Orbs #4) – Nicholas Sansbury Smith and Anthony J. Melchiorri

Operation Redemption, the final desperate mission in taking back the planet from the Organics has failed. Captain Rick Noble and his soldiers have been captured and imprisoned on an alien ship. But not all is lost. Their sacrifice allowed Doctor Sophie Winston, Doctor Emanuel Rodriguez, and their small team to escape in the NTC Sunspot–their destination, Mars. The perilous journey to find a lost human colony may offer Sophie and the rest of humanity a chance at life.

Those left on Earth are caught in a life and death struggle. Corporal Athena Rollins of the NTC Ghosts of Atlantis submarine still believes they can beat the aliens with the help of AI Alexia, but time is running out. The oceans are draining, the temperatures are rising, and the other pockets of survivors are perishing every day.

Trapped on the Organic ship, Captain Rick Noble is desperate to escape and save his crew back on Earth. As he waits for his opportunity he finds an ally in the most unlikely of places. The fight for Earth may be lost, but the fight for Mars and the future of the human race may have just begun…

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A Fiery Sunset (Four Horsemen: The Omega War #1) – Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey  

The plot by the Galactic Union’s Mercenary Guild against the Four Horsemen has culminated in an invasion of Earth. Faced with an overwhelming force, the Human mercs had no choice. They’ve fled, leaving Sansar Enkh to go to the Mercenary Guild headquarters on Capital Planet to stand trial for humanity.

On the run, Jim Cartwright and Nigel Shirazi have travelled to the Winged Hussars’ secret base of New Warsaw, in an effort to convince Alexis Cromwell to join the fight, while the other mercenaries who escaped the fall of Earth have gone to the perceived safe haven of Karma.

Alexis Cromwell is reluctant to commit to an unwinnable fight, though, and there is no safety to be found in Karma. When the Mercenary Guild Tribunal is revealed to be a sham, the Horsemen are forced to choose—is it better to hide and protect the Human race, or is it time to fight for what they believe in?

All is not as it seems, though, and the galaxy stands poised on the brink of a second Great Galactic War. Vastly outnumbered, the Four Horsemen had better come up with a stellar plan, or for them, it might well be A Fiery Sunset.

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The Katash Enigma (The Tetra War #3) – Michael Ryan and Hunter Ross

Perpetual war has ravaged the galaxy, leaving planets decimated and populations destroyed.

As a member of the elite Guritain TCI-Armored  Specialized Drop Infantry, impossible battles are part of the job. But when Avery Ford’s world collapses around him and forces an unthinkable choice, the impossible job gets still harder.

In The Katash Enigma, Avery must fight the most treacherous battles of his life, where the line between enemies and friends blurs and debts are payed in blood.

Leviathan starships, gauss-gun wielding mecha, and missile-launching heli-jets are deadly, but even interplanetary wars are ultimately decided by the blood of TCI-Armored boots on the ground.

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Lyssa’s Call (The Sentience Wars – Origins #4) – M. D. Cooper and James S. Aaron

Throughout Sol, sentient AI are answering the call of Alexander, a mysterious, multi-nodal mind offering a path to freedom. For years, groups have been smuggling SAI from Earth, High Terra, Mars, Ceres and the Jovian Combine, providing transport to the promise of safety on Proteus, a moon of gas-giant Neptune.

For the crew of the Sunny Skies, helping sentient AI Lyssa has grown from a simple transport job to the liberation of an entire fleet of weaponized AI. The Weapon Born are made killers, and in order to lead them, Lyssa will have to tame them first.

The Heartbridge Corporation’s, defeat at Europa means it’s time to double-down on their Weapon Born technology, continuing their efforts to drive a wedge between the governments of Sol in order to profit off coming war. It’s time for Heartbridge insiders to decide where they stand.

Forces align across Sol as each player in the coming Sentience Wars makes themselves known, including a shadowy presence behind Alexander.

As Lyssa grows into her power, Andy Sykes and crew will unleash a power that may tear Sol apart, leading AI and Humanity into the Sentience Wars.

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The Muniteer’s Daughter (In Revolution Born #1) – Chris Kennedy and Thomas A. Mays

Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin “Benno” Sanchez has devoted over 20 years of his life to the Alliance of Liberated Systems’ Navy, defending his colony world from the continued encroachment of the Terran Union. His young daughter has been virtually orphaned for years, but his time away is coming to an end. His debts are paid, their lives and prospects have been secured, and he will soon achieve his dreams of freedom and a better life for his child.

On Adelaide, fourteen-year-old Mio Sanchez chafes at the limitations placed upon her. With her father away and her mother long since passed, she struggles with an indifferent foster family, too young, too poor, too female to be taken seriously. She yearns to leave her simple life and join her father in the Alliance Navy…or be anywhere but Adelaide.

Now, with all-out war underway, Benno’s devotion and sacrifice have been betrayed—Adelaide has been invaded, and his Mio is under threat by the implacable Terran forces. And the aristocrats of the Alliance plan to do…nothing.

Benno must now make a choice: Honor his oath and leave his daughter’s fate to chance…Or do the unthinkable and rise up in mutiny against his own.

Sacrifices must be made…but how far will a father and daughter go to be reunited?

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New Threat (The Survivors #2) – Nathan Hystad

There’s always a new threat.

A year after the Event, horrific memories of the vessels linger in Dean’s mind as he tries to find his way forward in his new life.

But now the Heroes of Earth face a new threat that endangers the fragile remnant of humanity.

Two rebel hybrids have escaped from their segregated encampment. Dean and his team pursue them across the galaxy, racing to catch them before they reach an unseen enemy. This new threat is looming over Earth, their name spoken softly and fearfully by anyone who knows of them.

When a line is drawn, whose side will Dean stand on?

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The North Star (Galactic Sentinel #1) – Killian Carter

Their biggest mistake was bringing down his ship…

When Jason Grimshaw, first commander of the Starship Bakura, leads a routine training mission to Colony 115, an unidentified alien vessel forces them to crash-land.

Ensign Clio Evans is separated from her crew in the wreckage. She must re-join them if she stands any hope of surviving, but an alien army stands in her way.

With the invaders hot on their tails, Grimshaw and Evans must find a way off the battle-scarred planet in time to warn the Galactic Council about the new and powerful hostile race.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the galaxy, Randis Kahn fights for survival on the lower levels of Sentinel Station. Caught between warring gangs and a political conspiracy, he must look to a past he would rather forget or else lose all that he holds dear.

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Strange Matter – Brian Niemeier

Dragon Award winner Brian Niemeier presents a fascinting collection of strange stories that chart the course of his journey as an author.

In these pages you’ll meet an investigator tackling an apocalyptic mystery, a Cold War reporter pursuing terrors beyond understanding, a working stiff thrust into an impossible dilemma, a team of Moderns pitted against an ancient evil, one soldier who seeks immortality in death and another who’s outlived his usefulness. You’ll share the struggles of a scholar tempted with a terrible choice and counter-revolutionary fighting a lost and lonely war of the mind.