Swords and Spaceships for November 10

If you need something done, you hire Cloke because they’re the best: a lab-created mage who is also a cyborg hacker with a big gun. Then they get hired to destroy other copies of themself—but the down payment of a new magical skill is not something they can turn down.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the release of The Empire Strikes Back, a diverse array of 40 authors have come together to take on iconic moments from the film—but from the point of view of the minor and often nameless characters.

Tsiora was ousted as the Queen of the Omehi, and her sister put in her place. She must team up with the battered and vengeance-obsessed warrior Tau in order to delay the strike of the indigenous people of Xidda against the capital… so Tsiora can attack, herself. If Tsiora can reclaim her place as queen and reunite her people, they might just survive the onslaught that comes next. This is the sequel to the excellent The Rage of Dragons!

Deep space exploration is run through virtual reality, with pilots maneuvering their ships extremely remotely thanks to a combination of neural integration and quantum entanglement. Helen Vectorvich pilots a ship involved in the construction of a wormhole gate—only to discover the corporate technology is being eaten by microscopic alien lifeforms, which may or may not be driven by an intelligence.

After Haidee and Odessa have had their lives shattered and rebuilt by being brought together and discovering they are twins, they are determined to leave the Great Abyss and set the world to rights. But while the world might be turning again, the creatures of the abyss have no intention of letting them go without the sacrifice of another goddess. If the sisters wish to survive and break this cycle together, their answers lie in the Cruel Kingdom of the underworld.

After leaving military service, all genetically engineered and technologically-enhanced former soldier Halvor Cullen is interested in is chasing the adrenaline rush he was created to crave. He’s not supposed to live long, anyway. His best friend convinces him to sign on to a salvage crew, and things seem to be looking up… until they find a strange sphere out in the black that downloads an alien presence into their ship. Suddenly, they’re in the sights of the military Hal left behind, and he will have to choose sides in a political struggle he never even realized was brewing.