Dragon riders, mecha mercenaries, and Larry Correia’s Black Heart appear in this week’s new releases.

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Ascendant (Songs of Chaos #1) – Michael R. Miller

Holt Cook was never meant to be a dragon rider. He has always served the Order Hall of the Crag dutifully, keeping their kitchen pots clean.

But then he discovers a dark secret: dragons do not tolerate weakness among their kin, killing the young they deem flawed. Moved by pity, Holt defies the Order, rescues a doomed egg and vows to protect the blind dragon within.

But the Scourge is rising. Undead hordes roam the land, spreading the blight and leaving destruction in their wake. The dragon riders are being slaughtered and betrayal lurks in the shadows.

Holt has one chance to survive. He must cultivate the mysterious power of his dragon’s magical core. A unique energy which may tip the balance in the battles to come, and prove to the world that a servant is worthy after all.

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Dream Stream Reality – Derrick Burke

The only time you can’t game is when you’re sleeping… until now.

Mild-mannered security guards by night. Powerful, magic-wielding heroes by day. Donald and his friends have been chosen to beta test the new version of Dream Stream Reality—a massive multiplayer game world which is played while you sleep.

Who wouldn’t want to design their own adventures while napping? It’s literally, well, the dream.

Donald must balance an increasingly volatile personal life while exploring the new release and actively hunting for glitches and bugs within technology so advanced it feels like reality. What could possibly go wrong?

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Destroyer of Worlds (Saga of the Forgotten Warrior #3) – Larry Correia

The Great Extermination has begun.

In the Capitol, Grand Inquisitor Omand Vokkan hatches a plot to kill every member of the untouchable caste in all of Lok, down to the last man, woman, and child. As a member of the Order of Inquisition, Vokkan has no official say in the creation of Law, but he has powerful allies willing to do his bidding. Through them, he has convinced the Judges that the genocide will be swift, complete, and without complication. Nothing is farther from the truth.

Lord Protector Devedas has sworn to uphold the Law. Once, he and the traitor Ashok Vadal had been like brothers. Now, he hunts Vadal and the Sons of the Black Sword, heretics and rebels who seek to live outside the rule of the Law. All Devedas must do is find and kill his best friend and order will be restored to Lok.

The rebels seek the secret kingdom spoken of by the Prophet Thera, a paradise where water is pure and food plentiful, where there are no castes, where the people rule themselves, and are not slaves to the Capitol. Ashok Vadal is not sure he believes in such a Paradise, but he—along with his allies—does seek refuge in the rebellion’s hideout in Akershan. But Vadal, a former High Protector who has turned his back on the corrupt Law, will not merely wait meekly, hoping that fleeing to Akershan will spare the rebellion from the clutches of the Great Extermination. No, if it’s a war the Capitol wants, Vadal, who has faced down gods and demons, will be all too willing to give it to them.

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Endure (Forgotten Starship #4) – M. R. Forbes

The ship is in dire straits, deep behind enemy lines and on the verge of capture. While Tyson fights to prepare a defense, other forces work to ensure his ultimate failure as they seek to claim one of Pioneer’s few remaining secrets.

Meanwhile, Keesha and the Marines may have captured the enemy Forge, but they have no idea how to bring it under control. Searching for answers, strange echoes from within the station lead Keesha to make a dangerous decision that could cost her everything.

The fight for survival is coming to a head, and it will take all of the strength Tyson, Keesha, John, Tsi, and the passengers and crew of Pioneer can muster to endure the coming storm.

Otherwise, it won’t just mean the end of the colony…

…it will be the end of us all.

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One Minute to Midnight (Four Horsemen: Guild Wars #8) – Tim C. Taylor and Chris Kennedy

Having destroyed the starkiller located at Aneb-4, the alliance of Goltar, Spine Patriots, and the Midnight Sun Free Company have gained a bit of breathing space from the criminal organization known as the Endless Night.

But the Endless Night isn’t done. They have two more starkillers in their possession, and they are ready to use them against a civilization that no one—especially the Mercenary Guild—is going to miss. Their target: Sol.

Although victorious on Aneb-4, the alliance only has the façade of combat power; they need time to re-equip and rearm…time they don’t have. They need help.

When the Speaker of the Mercenary Guild offers the job to Nigel Shirazi, he is already busy and mentions it to the one person who knows something awful is coming—Sansar Enkh, who has had a vision of the Sun blowing up. In the aftermath of the Omega War, though, the Golden Horde isn’t ready to take the field, either, and Sansar will have to recruit anyone who’s available, and somehow find a way to put together a working team if they are to be successful.

But time—as Gray Wolf operative Beowulf knows—is rapidly running out. The Endless Night are readying the weapons, and it is only a matter of time until they fire them. Can the forces arrayed against the Endless Night get there in time, or will the clock strike midnight for Earth?

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The Place of Knowing (The Volatar Saga #5) – D. K. Holmberg

The Volatar started one war. Now he must end another.

Hevith has found a city of Jahor, though none want to fight. While they might be content to hide in the north, he wants to push the attack and reclaim what was lost. Others are willing to fight alongside him, but the price of war might be more than he can stomach.

Heading into the southern forest revealed a truth about the Volatar. He may have stopped one war, but at what cost? Now another war threatens to bring about even greater destruction than what they’ve ever faced, but first he needs to understand the truths hidden within lands ravaged by war for decades. How can he find those truths when so much has been lost?

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Small Unit Tactics #1 – Alexander Romanov

A strange, foreign world. Mysterious judges with capricious rules. Thousands of gamers find themselves split into factions and pitted against each other at the whim of an unknown higher power, with no idea how they got there or why they were chosen. Dying in this world hurts, but it’s not the end: dead players always respawn to fight again.

Echo, with his extensive knowledge of fighting, armor, and weapons, has all the makings of a great leader. The ragtag recruits fighting for him under the less-than-threatening name “Society of Pinprick Enthusiasts” become the bane of the opposing factions, sowing terror in their wake. But this game won’t be won in straightforward skirmishes. The squad will have to forge pacts with their own faction, the judges, and even their enemies. Each day brings new twists, new rules, and new ways to play, and a step that seemed to be in the right direction might suddenly become a fatal mistake.

Brute force and bravado won’t be enough for Echo to carve his way to the top and stay there. He will have to lead his squad through mistakes, good fortune, victory, and defeat in his quest to secure his position.

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