The Mongoose and the Meerkat, the mercenaries of Strange Company, and the Black Harrier’s sidekick grace this week’s new releases.

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Cirsova Magazine of Thrilling Adventure and Daring Suspense Spring 2021 – edited by P. Alexander

“The Artomique Paradigm” – Michael Tierney

Earth is now in contact with their intergalactic cousins! But during recent conflicts with aliens and pirates, the Artomiques, fascist refugees from an alternate timeline, have become Terra’s dominant faction using stolen Wild Stars technology!

“The Grain Merchant of Alomar” – Jim Breyfogle

The Mongoose & Meerkat have set up in the city of Alomar—in spare rooms of a wealthy merchant who has no idea they’re living there, even after he’s hired them!

“The Book of Dark Sighs” – Robert Zoltan

Dareon and Blue, the Rogues of Merth, find themselves in the crosshairs of an old foe! They must find for him a powerful tome, or Blue’s love will perish at his hand!

….and more!

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Empire Reborn (Taran Empire Saga #1) – A. K. DuBoff

Jason Sietinen lives in the shadow of greatness. He’s worked hard to become a TSS officer in his own right, but having war heroes for parents is hard to top.

When Jason is assigned to investigate a mysterious attack, he finds evidence of powerful transdimensional beings never before seen. Or so he thought.

Jason soon learns that critical information was lost through the millennia: Tarans had an ancient treaty with the aliens. Unfortunately, rogue actions by a shadow faction within the Empire just broke the peace.

With the future of the Empire hanging in the balance, Jason must find a way to unite the Taran worlds, including the lost colony of Earth, against the mounting threat. There’s just one problem: how do you fight an enemy you can’t see or touch?

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Lifeboat (Earth’s Last Gambit #2) – Felix R. Savage

Bearing Earth’s hopes for deliverance from the alien threat, Jack Kildare and his fellow astronauts successfully complete the long journey to Jupiter. But someone on board is trying to sabotage the mission. As they approach the mysterious alien spaceship orbiting Europa, the crew fractures into rival factions.

Without warning, a long-range attack cripples the human ship.

Now the broken crew is the least of Jack’s worries.

The alien spaceship isn’t a wreck, after all.

And whoever is on board wants the humans dead.

As the mission unravels into a desperate fight for survival, Jack struggles to decode the enemy plot. If he fails, the astronauts will all perish… and so will Earth.

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The Lost Dragon (Cycle of Dragons #3) – Dan Michaelson and D. K. Holmberg 

The cycle of dragons has changed Ashan. Now he must use it to save the kingdom.

After stopping two attacks on the kingdom, Ashan yearns to master his connection to the dragons and finally serve as a dragon mage. He has connected to a cycle of dragons, but he’s still only a student and doesn’t understand what it truly means to be a dragon mage.

When word spreads about Vard movement near his homeland, Ashan learns a terrifying truth about the Vard and the devastating steps the king will take to stop them. Worse, he’s the only one who believes that more than the Vard are involved. He needs to find proof, but this time his cycle of dragons might not be enough.

If he can’t stop the attack, not only will his family and friends suffer, but he’ll lose the dragons and the kingdom will be destroyed.

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Memories of Prophecies (Instrument of Omens #2) – David Ashura

Cinder Shade and his fellow cadets have survived a brutal mission in the vast wilds of the Dagger Mountains. Laying to rest many of their brother warriors, they return to the Third Directorate, battered, bruised, and weary of soul.

But the world turns, and new challenges press. Cinder must set aside his grief, especially when granted a task by Anya Aruyen, the elven princess with whom he shares an inexplicable bond. She urges him to further master his skills as a warrior and become worthy of fighting at her side.

Others have also taken note of Cinder. His name is spoken in the high halls of elven palaces. The empress watches him, wondering at his unmatched abilities. So, too, do the dwarves. They fear Cinder, worrying that he is the embodiment of their darkest prophecies.

And in the distant north, shadows gather. They whisper of their fallen god, Shet, dead three thousand years now. Whispering of his rebirth.

But when the prophecies speak conflicting portents and none can decipher the truth, what path can even a consummate warrior take?

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Sidekick (Raptors #1) – Jaime Castle and C. J. Valin

My name is Sawyer William Vincent—I know, it sounds like three first names—but most people know me as the Red Raptor.

Well, technically no one knows I’m the Red Raptor, he’s just a bit more popular.

Wow. Enough about my name. Let me start over. I’m a superhero—the legendary Black Harrier’s partner. Not sidekick. I don’t care if I’m still in high school. We work together to bring down the city’s most dangerous villains.

When the Black Harrier gets a mysterious note, then goes missing in New York City, things are pretty much left up to me.

But don’t worry… I’ve got this. Piece of cake.

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Strange Company – Nick Cole

“If you can survive Reaper Platoon in the Strange, then Ghost or Dog Platoons will get you for their own. Best to steer clear of the freaks in Voodoo, kid.”

Surrounded and outgunned, a group of private military contractors known as “Strange Company” find themselves on a remote planet at the edge of known space, and on the losing end of a bad contract. Orbital D-beam strikes, dropships bristling with auto-guns, missiles, and troops – even Monarch space marines in state-of-the-art advanced battle rattle – will try to prevent the company from reaching the exfil LZ and getting off-world.

For Strange, that means it’s time to hang tough and get it on with as much hyper-kinetic violence as they can muster to get clear of the whole mess. And what the Strange can’t get done by violent assault and crazy firefights, they’ll get done by the freaks of Voodoo Platoon – operators who have been changed by the Dark Labs into powerful and unnervingly unnatural asymmetrical weapons.

This is the Strange Company. Because in the Strange, it’s always really Strange. Join them – and get ready for full auto combat at the furthest limits of human exploration.

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Survivors (SSG Vanhorn #1) – Toby Neighbors

Staff Sergeant Eli Vanhorn isn’t the man he used to be.  Once a proud member of the Fleet Marine Corps’ elite Terrestrial Advance Combat teams, the battle on colony planet Luyten C left him broken and scarred.  But after a year of surgeries and physical therapy, he’s ready to complete his enlistment as Master of Arms on the exploration vessel Rihla.  It should be a simple, stress free assignment – but things rarely work out as they should.

For decades humanity’s efforts to spread across the galaxy have been hampered by the violent Orrkasi, an intelligent, space faring race of which little is known.  But Staff Sergeant Vanhorn is no stranger to the Orrkasi.  He’s a veteran with eight combat engagements, a harden warrior, a man who knows how to improvise, adapt, and overcome.  But he’s facing challenges he never expected before.  His body is crippled and scarred, the TAC Team brotherhood he once thrived in see him as a pariah, and he’s haunted by the horrors of combat.  Just getting through his first cruise after returning to active duty won’t be easy.

When the explorer ship Rihla reaches the Leonis system after almost a month in hyperspace, they find a habitable planet with a rich atmosphere, liquid water, and the ideal climate.  It’s a perfect world for human colonization, but they aren’t the first to arrive and the Orrkasi have a surprise waiting for them.