Swords and Spaceships for June 22

Elfreda is part of the Sisterhood of Aytrium; to go with her gruesome daily duties, another hangs over her–she’s to get pregnant and preserve the Sisterhood’s magical bloodline. Willing to do anything to escape that fate, she leaps at the chance to become a spy for a shadow faction. Her new job puts her into the highest reaches of the Sisterhood, filled with opulent parties, danger, and blood.

After helping the young emperor Maia solve the mystery of the bombings that killed his father and half-brothers, Thara Celehar chose to leave the court and go to Amalo, where he could serve the common people of that city. Still acting as a Witness for the Dead, one who can speak to the recently deceased, his skills lead him into a tangle of murder, injustice, and treachery that he must untangle as he seeks to stand with those in greatest need.

Gul and Cavas have had their victory; King Lohar is dead, and they had no small part in his demise. But the usurper queen that takes the throne after is just as bad, and she won’t stop until she sees them killed. Because Gul and Cavas have a connection that runs strong with magic, and they may well have the power to end her reign. When Cavas is captured, Gul must continue the fight alone, not only to defeat the queen and save Cavas, but to build a just world as well.

In a near-future London, Signy and Matthew are a couple staying together only for their six-year-old son and quietly miserable about it. Then one day, all the electricity and gas cuts off in the city. There’s no more running water. The pollination drones that have replaced the now-extinct honey bees are acting strangely. With soldiers in the streets and people going missing, the couple flees the city with their son, but they have no idea if things are worse outside…

Greatships are the lifeblood of human space, transporting incalculable volumes of goods in their massive, city-sized holds from station to station to world. Their ultimate destination is Tradepoint, where an unknowable alien species waits to exchange trade with them. Marca has just achieved her dream of joining the crew of the Greatship Athens and escaping her world and her upbringing. But leaving her old life and scandals behind won’t be so easy, and there’s a whole new set of perils waiting for her out in the black.