Space marines, mercenaries, giant robots, and even an Evangelion or two feature in this week’s newest science fiction releases.

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Dawn of Empire (The Messenger #5) – J. N. Chaney and Terry Maggert

The Messenger and his people continue their long fight against the Golden, but the war has just begun.

When they discover reports of a missing colony ship, their search will uncover a crime so terrible that the battle lines will be drawn in blood.

Following clues across the stars, Dash will bring the forces of his new navy to a cause that will only end in one of two ways:

Total victory…or complete destruction.

There’s only room for one winner in this ever-expanding galaxy.

And Dash aims for it to be him.

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Devil Calls the Tune – Chris Maddox

Welcome to the Choirboys!

Niko Devlin was a street kid. When his father was called to duty and his mother made an invalid by a plague, Niko learned to survive by his wits. He stole what he needed to stay alive and fought to keep what he stole. Until he got arrested.

On the eve of his majority birthday, Niko got laid off from his job and found out the son of the local crime lord had been selling his mom drugs and forcing her to “entertain” his friends.

Facing jail time—and almost certain death—for beating the crime lord’s son nearly to death, Niko is forced to join the military to get off world. The terms of his enlistment are such that he can’t quit, so he hopes to fly under the radar and serve his time in a do-nothing job. That’s his plan, anyway.

But plans have a way of getting disrupted, and when the Devil is calling the tune, sometimes all you can do is sing along.

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Earthling’s War (Soldiers of Earthrise #3) – Daniel Arenson

War rages.

Two planets fight. Neither will back down. Earth, the center of a galactic empire. Bahay, a rebellious world. Heroes and villains fight on both sides.

And die on both sides.

Maria, a young Bahayan, was once a humble rice farmer. Now the fate of Bahay rests on her shoulders. With her beauty and charm, she must seduce Earth’s top general. It’s the only way to save her planet.

Jon, an Earthling, fights in the jungles of Bahay. The blood flows. The bombs fall. As he kills, as he watches friends die, Jon fears for his sanity. He faces a terrible choice. Dare he help Maria? To end this war, would he betray his own people?

There are terrible dilemmas in war. There are sacrifices that break the heart. That shatter the soul. Jon and Maria can change the flow of history. They can save millions of lives. But the cost might be too great to bear.

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Endless Night (The Guild Wars #3) – Tim C. Taylor

In the aftermath of the Great Galactic War, the Veetanho assumed control of the Mercenary Guild’s Inner Council, and with it, power over the guild’s affairs. The Goltar were marginalized, and the Veetanho did everything they could to make the galaxy forget the Goltar had ever existed.

The Goltar went quietly, pretending to sulk and accept their fate…but they never did. They worked in the shadows, amassing power and resources, always looking for the right time—and right opportunity—where they could re-emerge and strip the hated Veetanho of everything they owned.

In the depths of the Spine Nebula—a fly-over region known only for the bad luck of its inhabitants and the dangers that lurks in its fringes—the Goltar have a secret weapon. Known only as the “Infinite Flow,” it’s the source of their riches, and the crux on which their plans rest.

But when a shadowy group learns of its existence and comes to wrest control of it from the Goltar, the crew of the Midnight Sun is thrown into its defense, and they find out that they may not have known their employers quite as well as they thought they did.

As the guild wars heat up, the battle for ultimate power may well be fought in the Spine Nebula…with the Midnight Sun Free Company in the middle of it!

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Galaxy’s Edge: Takeover – Jason Anspach and Nick Cole, narrated by Ray Porter

Every disaster brings an opportunity.

Goth Sullus and his empire have fallen.  

With the Legion and the rest of the galaxy watching from the still-smoldering galactic core, Carter, a former legionnaire turned private contractor, and Jack Bowie, a Navy spy with nowhere left to turn, sign up to work for an enterprising private contractor looking to make a statement on the planet Kublar.

Plans are in motion dating back to the Savage Wars, and as the galaxy rushes to fill in the vacuum created by the fall of the Imperial Republic, the bodies are hitting the floor.  

But every plan has a reckoning…

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The Luna Missile Crisis – Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle

The year is 1961. The Cold War is in full swing and the space race is on. Russia aims to send humanity to space. But what if space comes to humanity instead? Yuri Gagarin’s epic flight into space is disrupted when an alien Mothership jumps into orbit, causing a cosmic car crash that defies all odds. 

Everything changes. The US and USSR must quickly put aside their differences. In exchange for the Earth’s help in the rebuilding of their Mothership, the mysterious aliens, the Vulbathi, offer promises of technology beyond humanity’s wildest dreams. All the while, the world asks whether the Vulbathi are saviors or conquerors. 

When an alien tech counterfeiter’s mistake sets off a chain reaction, the fragile peace is threatened. Connor McCoy didn’t mean to upset Earth’s new intergalactic neighbors. He only wanted to make some cash.

Now, Connor is the only person who can stop the doomsday clock from striking midnight. That is if his estranged brother, an agent in the new Department of Alien Relations, doesn’t stop him first.

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Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA #2 – Ikuto Yamashita

THE SHADOW IN THE SKY

Tensions run high as the black giant Armaros looms threateningly over planet Earth, armed with the mighty Spear of Longinus. The pilots race to avert disaster, but Rei Quatre throws a wrench in their plans by kidnapping Misato!

Meanwhile, Shinji is confronted by a strange white Evangelion that looks just like Eva-02, piloted by a familiar face.

Can Shinji and his comrades save the world yet again, or are the forces arrayed against them just too strong this time?

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Star Exiles (Ascension Gate #4) – Justin Sloan

The Exiles time has come. They will reopen the portals, bringing a new era of chaos to the universe.

Not if our team of heroes can stop them. Shrina with her dragon powers, Trent with his light, and Espinoza with his bloodbag companions. As their paths bring them together, it’s up to them to keep the rest of the universe from becoming enslaved by the Exiles.

Our Marines might have found new friends in strange places, but can they be trusted? Will rebel factions win in their refusal to accept help from Earth?