Cutting edge electronic warfare, far-future transhuman empires, Roman legionnaires, and the Empress of Dreams adorn this week’s list of new releases.

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Allegiance (Jackson Quick #1) – Tom Abrahams

A conspiracy so big, it takes a microscope to see it.

Beer, redheads, and politics… Jackson Quick should have known better. First, he trusted a Texas politician. Then he fell for a leggy woman. Worst of all, he drank a beer that tasted funny.

Now, he’s running for his life and trying to save the world.

When Quick is kidnapped and interrogated about the encrypted tech he’s been charged by his powerful boss to deliver, he has no idea it’s connected to a missing research scientist on the verge of an earth-shaking breakthrough. Nor is he aware of its proximity to the attempted assassination of a political candidate.

In order to stop the unthinkable from becoming a reality, he’ll have to piece the mystery together.

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CyberWar (World War C #3) – Matthew Mather

International borders slammed shut. Communications wrecked.

GPS signals non-existent. Worldwide power blackouts.

The planet balances on the edge of chaos.

Chechen separatists destroyed thousands of satellites in orbit, the effects crippling the world’s militaries. Power and communications failures sweep the planet, while emergency services are hobbled as fires and powerful storms rip across America.

Still recovering from his injuries, Mike Mitchell returns to his family at Senator Seymour’s residence in Virginia, the place a fortress secured by dozens of Secret Service agents. The CIA has tracked down the terrorists that launched the attacks and offers a front-row seat to watch events unfold as a SEAL team closes in–but the video feed goes dead.

Outside the senator’s house, thudding detonations as an attack begins.

Scrambling to stay alive, Mike realizes the onslaught isn’t only against the Seymour residence in Virginia, but that a furious blitz has begun all over the country. As the full weight of America’s military presses on stopping these terrorists, how are the attacks possible? Is it an invasion? Or something more sinister?

With their lives and the fate of the nation hanging in the balance, the bigger question becomes–who is the real enemy?

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The Dark Lord Bert 2 – Chris Fox

How Does a 1 Hit Point Dark Lord Save the Real World?

Kit and her friends are gamers, but not the ordinary kind. It seems that Track Jick was right, and that people who play roleplaying games really are wizards and witches. Kit’s game master uses a magical die to transport them to an alternate world where they can really become their characters, and forget all about the real world.

Unfortunately, during a power scuffle the d20 gets knocked into the game world. If they can’t get it out then the game world will explode, and everything in it will die. Worse, to Kit’s mind, their parents will be disbarred, and they’ll never be able to play again.

Enter one tiny goblin with just a single hit point, but a heart large enough to save a fake world…if he can reach the d20 before the Dark Lord White 2.0. Along the way Bert will meet his fellow dark lords, and finally learn magic. Plus Boberton gets very large indeed.

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The Empress of Dreams – Tanith Lee

“Tanith Lee: Princess Royal of Heroic Fantasy” –Village Voice

“Tanith Lee truly has become the Scheherazade of our time.” –Arkham House

“From the day that her novel The Birthgrave was first published Tanith Lee has been a blazing gem in the crown of fantasy literature… ‘Princess Royal’… perhaps better the Empress of Dreams.” –Donald A. Wollheim

Throughout her forty-year career, Tanith Lee proved herself adept at numerous genres, including high fantasy, horror, science fiction, and combinations thereof. One of her specialties was the variety of heroic fantasy known as sword-and-sorcery. Novels such as The Birthgrave, Night’s Master, and The Storm Lord are highly regarded by both fans and critics, but she has a wealth of short stories to her credit as well. Sixteen of Tanith’s tales of swords and sorcery appear in this collection. When you read them, you will discover why she deserves such exalted titles as “Princess Royal of Heroic Fantasy” and The Empress of Dreams.

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Gun Runner – Larry Correia and John D. Brown

The Heart of a Warrior

Once, Jackson Rook was a war hero. Raised from boyhood to pilot an exosuit mech, he’d fought gallantly for the rebellion against the Collectivists. But that was a long time ago, on a world very far away.

Now, Jackson Rook is a criminal, a smuggler on board the Multipurpose Supply Vehicle Tar Heel. His latest mission: steal a top-of-the-line mech called the Citadel and deliver it to the far-flung planet Swindle, a world so hostile even the air will kill you. The client: a man known only as the Warlord. Rook has been in the smuggling business long enough to know that it’s best to take the money and not ask questions. But Rook cannot stand by and watch as the Warlord runs roughshod over the citizens of Swindle, the way the Collectivists did on his homeworld. For all his mercenary ways, Rook is not a pirate. And deep within the smuggler, the heart of a warrior still beats.

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Heaven’s River (Bobiverse #4) – Dennis E. Taylor

More than a hundred years ago, Bender set out for the stars and was never heard from again. There has been no trace of him despite numerous searches by his clone-mates. Now Bob is determined to organize an expedition to learn Bender’s fate—whatever the cost.

But nothing is ever simple in the Bobiverse. Bob’s descendants are out to the 24th generation now, and replicative drift has produced individuals who can barely be considered Bobs anymore. Some of them oppose Bob’s plan; others have plans of their own. The out-of-control moots are the least of the Bobiverse’s problems.

Undaunted, Bob and his allies follow Bender’s trail. But what they discover out in deep space is so unexpected and so complex that it could either save the universe—or pose an existential threat the likes of which the Bobiverse has never faced.

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The Lost Tech (Lost Starship Series #13) – Vaughn Heppner

In the stillness of space, several asteroids disappear in the 82 G. Eridani System. Time passes and space wavers, and the missing asteroids reappear. They’re traveling at near-light-speed for the single populated planet. Nuclear-tipped missiles from the lone battleship fail to stop the asteroids, which crash against the planet, turning it into rubble and killing the 650 million inhabitants.

Someone has found and now tested the perfect planet killer, an ancient device that turns asteroids and icy planetesimals into world-destroying projectiles. Earth is a mere twenty light-years away. But who’s to say the hidden weapon will head there next? It can go anywhere in the Commonwealth and destroy any world.

Star Watch is desperate, employing every ship, every scientist and everyone, including the crew of Victory, to defend the planets.

Captain Maddox, Professor Ludendorff and others must put aside every difference and concentrate on finding a weakness in the ultimate weapon, one they can exploit. Otherwise—the alternative is too stark to contemplate. It is time to pull together and think and fight like never before.

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The Tiger’s Imperium (Chronicles of An Imperial Legionary Officer #6) – Marc Alan Edelheit

Ben Stiger, Legate of the Lost Thirteenth Legion, a nobleman from an infamous family, and born fighter, has defeated the enemy army before Lorium and raised the siege of the city. Mortally wounded and dying, the emperor has made Stiger his heir, but in name only. The senate and the church must confirm and anoint him. Will they want a Stiger on the throne? Or will they choose someone else?

Hundreds of miles away, the Cyphan Confederacy’s armies are marching along the coast, moving inexorably toward the capital, leaving a swath of destruction in their wake. To save the empire, Stiger must leave his army behind, travel to the capital, and confront his father, who is in command of the legions defending Mal’Zeel. Stiger must secure his throne, for it is his destiny and burden to bear. Another must not be allowed to claim the crown of wreaths and the curule chair. For should that come to pass, everything Stiger has worked toward will be lost, and darkness, like a shadowy veil, will forever fall over the world of Istros.

Stiger has finally accepted the mantle of Champion for his god, the High Father. He has come to accept being made emperor, a job he never wanted, and being seen by his men as gods blessed. But has he truly been blessed? Or has Stiger been cursed to a terrible destiny?

The final battle to save the empire and the world has begun!