The last man on earth struggles to make sense of an alien invasion, a beheaded astrophysicist explores the landscapes of the soul, a shoe-string British space navy defends a colony from alien assault, and more in this week’s roundup of the newest releases in science fiction.

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Bender of Worlds (Star Warrior #2) – Isaac Hooke

One man. A secret power that could change the galaxy. Two entire universes in pursuit.

Tane crosses the galaxy in a race against time to unlock the hidden powers inside himself before his enemies can capture him. With his companions, he moves between this universe and the next, pursued by the governments of aliens and humans alike. To fail means capture and mindless servitude, as those governments would turn him into a tool for their wars. To succeed means his freedom, and perhaps something more.

Hunted and attacked at every turn, eventually Tane finds himself backed into a corner, with no hope of escape.

But those who pursue him do not understand that Tane has only scratched the surface of the awesome power inside himself. And if his enemies press too hard, poke too deep, they might not like what rears its ugly head back at them.

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Dark World (Undying Mercenaries #9) – B. V. Larson

Two expanding interstellar powers are about to meet in battle.

After the collapse of the Cephalopod Kingdom, Humanity claimed the three hundred rebellious worlds they left behind. But many light years away on the far side of disputed region, a rival power has begun to move. They’re stealing our planets, one at a time.

Earth Command decides to invade the center of the frontier to set up an advanced base. The mission to DARK WORLD is highly classified and deadly. Legion Varus spearhead’s the effort, and James McGill journeys to the stars again.

How many ships do they have? How advanced is their tech? No one knows, but the campaign takes an unexpected turn immediately. What was supposed to be a snatch-and-grab turns into a bloodbath. McGill dies over and over again, but some battles must be won, even if it means perma-death.

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Darkspace Calamity (Relic Knights #1) – Christopher Bodan

The Calamity is coming.

Darkspace spreads across the sky as esper—powerful magic that gives everything form and life—is consumed. One by one, the galaxies have vanished. Only a single galaxy remains, and its inhabitants know the Calamity could strike at any moment.

Princess Malya never wanted much to do with the fate of the galaxy. She’d be happy just to travel around the galaxy participating in the most risky and exhilarating sport in existence. But then a pirate captain tells her that she’s key to his plan that just might stop the Calamity.

It’s a vague plan, and honestly a complete long shot. Even if Malya believes the cryptic prophecy of an insane space witch, the plan requires noble paladins and bloodthirsty corsairs to actually cooperate. With such impossible odds, Malya almost wants to keep running and leave saving the universe to anyone else.

But even Malya cannot outrun the Calamity. To protect the people she loves and maybe even the galaxy itself, she must pull off her craziest stunt yet.

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The Event (The Survivors #1) – Nathan Hystad

Dean’s wife is dead. Her last words: When the ships come…wear the necklace.

Then the ships arrived.

Cities all around the world reported strange alien vessels descending. Some saw them as the heralds of a new age; others fired everything they had at them. All were taken as the beams lashed down and drew them into the sky.

Dean was left behind, seemingly the last man on Earth.

A trail of clues left by his dead wife guide Dean on a perilous journey across America and beyond, to learn the truth behind the mysterious ships and save humanity from its doom.

But not everything is as it seems.

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A Fist Full of Pews! (Pew! Pew! #5) – presented by The Wooden Pen Press

Eight outrageous space opera tales that will be sure to have you firing phasers on full!  Includes:

Cryonite Caper by Felix R. Savage
Independent freighter captain Mike Starrunner has seen it all, but when someone freezes his weapons officer into a six-foot cube of cryonite, even Mike is stumped. Who would have done this and why? And what happened to good old carbonite? On skanky, sweltering hub world Ponce de Leon, there’s no shortage of suspects, but when Mike’s investigation leads him to notorious smuggler Buzzz Parsec and his gang of criminal bear shifters, things get hardcore.

Making Trouble by Amy DuBoff
Jack Tressler and the crew of the Little Princess II decide to try a new black market venture: covertly transporting passengers. However, they inadvertently get mixed up in an established human trafficking ring with a dangerous pirate gang known as the Blue Rabbits. Jack and his friends might just, for once, do the right thing and try to help the innocents–so long as there’s still a good payday.

…and more.

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Honor the Threat (Four Horsemen Cycle #12) – Kevin Ikenberry

Peacemakers. The Galactic Union’s most capable enforcers and resolute negotiators, their name alone elicits fear and awe among the Union’s citizenry.

Except for Jessica Francis. Not only is she the newest Peacemaker, Jessica is also the first Human Peacemaker, and she commands the respect of few, both inside and outside the Peacemaker’s Guild. No one believes humanity is ready to take on the mantle of being a Peacemaker, and Jessica is stuck flying a desk. That is, until a species-induction mission comes along, and she is in the right time and place to get assigned to it.

With mercenaries sent to kill everyone on the planet, a negotiated solution may be impossible, despite Jessica’s best intentions. Outnumbered and outgunned, there’s only one thing Jessica knows; she’s got them right where she wants them.

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Invincible (Ark Royal #12) – Christopher Nuttal

All is not well in the Human Sphere. The alliance between the Great Powers is starting to fall apart, the human economy cannot keep up with the urgent need for newer and better starships and politicians are demanding an end to military spending. For the Royal Navy, desperately trying to do too many tasks with too few ships, it is the worst possible time for a new threat to appear.

When a generation starship is detected approaching a British colony world, HMS Invincible is dispatched to intercept the aliens before they can make landfall. But the newcomers bring with them tidings of a new and deadly threat, an expansionist alien race far too close to the Human Sphere for comfort …

… And a sinister horror beyond human understanding.

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Mage-Provocateur (Starship’s Mage: Red Falcon #2) – Glynn Stewart

Captain David Rice and Mage Maria Soprano have made their choice, signing up with the Martian Interstellar Security Agency and converting Red Falcon into a covert operations ship for the Protectorate.

Their new duties drag them back into the very underworld they once strove to escape, intentionally provoking the Azure Legacy into a renewed conflict. They find unexpected allies with secret agents from Legatus’s rebellion against Mars as they seek to stop Mikhail Azure’s Blue Star Syndicate from being reborn.

The Azure Legacy wants revenge. Legatus wants blood. David and Maria are bound by the overriding duty of all officers of the Mage-King’s Protectorate:

Protect the innocent.

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Messinants (Pyreans #2) – S. H. Jucha

Pyre is a volatile planet. Its surface belches heat and noxious gases, forcing downsiders to inhabit domes. But Pyre’s instability isn’t limited to its geology. The colonists, who were marooned in the system hundreds of years ago, have endured a tumultuous history.

Exploring Triton, Pyre’s third moon, spacers inadvertently activate an alien dome. When nothing came of it, they combined their mining ships with the “Honora Belle,” the aging colony vessel, to sling slush, frozen gases, at Emperion, Pyre’s second moon.

Nearly a year later, the “Belle’s” bridge crew, who monitors the alien site, is alarmed, when they witness a bright blue light shoot from the dome’s platform and merge with the shield. The alien site isn’t an entertainment stage, as Captain Jessie Cinders had facetiously mused. It’s a gate, and aliens have arrived.

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Neptune’s War (The Earth Dawning #3) – Nick Webb

Humanity is on the brink. And, as always, the greatest threat comes from within….

A rogue element within the military has stolen half the Exile Fleet and taken it to Neptune to protect the rich and powerful, drawing critical resources away from Admiral Walker on the front lines.

The leader of the alien Telestines has recovered ancient devastating technologies to finally exterminate the human race. And a fanatical Telestine death cult is out for blood–both Human and their own. For them, all must die for all to ascend.

Against them all stands Admiral Walker and the surviving officers of the Exile Fleet. The fragile colonies of the solar system desperately need their protection, and humanity yearns for its lost home on Earth. But Walker’s plan for total victory is so horrific that even her closest friends work against her.

The end is in sight. The sun is on the horizon. And only the girl known as The Dawning can answer the question: is it rising or setting on humanity?

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Outre-Blanc – Oksana and Gil Prou

The landscapes of the soul are more wonderful than the landscapes of the starry sky. Not only are their Milky Ways thousands of stars, but their shadowy abysses are a life multiplied by a thousand…

In the Venezuelan jungle, a team of scientists led by Karin Stockhausen — the daughter of a wealthy American – are kidnapped by a criminal organization that offers to free them in exchange for a large  ransom, or else… The astrophysicist Phil Caldwell is then beheaded by the kidnappers. With his awareness now trapped inside his brain, Phil gradually discovers different facets of his personality.

Outre-Blanc is a vertiginous and endless odyssey beyond the boundaries of space, time and consciousness…

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The Reckoning (War of the Ancients #3) – Alex Kings

It is the end of all things. Ancient ships sweep across the galaxy, conquering worlds with ease. No one can stop them. It seems to be only a matter of time before Pierce and his allies control everything.

Meanwhile, the Oracle, Pierce’s mysterious advisor, has plans of its own. His own closest friend is questioning his motives.

With Earth under occupation, Hanson searches for allies. With a secret at the heart of a million-year-old dead alien and a far-fetched plan, the galaxy might just have a thin ray of hope. But the great powers have their own problems. Old allies are ready to betray one another. Revolutions are brewing.

One thing slowly becomes clear: If they can’t put aside their differences and concentrate on the true threat, extinction awaits all.

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The Tortuous Path (Fall of the Terran Empire #2) – G. P. Hudson

How hard would you fight for freedom?

A crumbling Empire
A struggling fight for freedom
A powerful new faction bent on ruling the galaxy
Entire star systems laid waste by the ravages of war

The Empire may be in its death throes, but it still has plenty of fight left. Danny and his free clone army remain in a desperate fight for survival against the evil Zeta Corp, and its legions of enslaved combat clones. Can they prevail against the overwhelming odds pitted against them? Or will their cause perish in infancy, a mere footnote in the long history of the Terran Empire?

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Planetary: Mars – presented by Superversive Press

Planetary Fiction explores the themes associated with these heavenly bodies as well as their astronomical, mythological, and in some cases even alchemical significance.

Mars, the red planet and our closest neighbor. It has haunted our imaginations for centuries, inspiring tales of heroic deeds and courage. . Mars is also the god of war and the father of fear and panic. Here are 18 tales of war and adventure set in and around the red planet.