"Happily Ever After" wasn't supposed to come with a do-over option. But when my husband of 20 years packs up and heads for greener pastures, and my son heads away to college, that's exactly what my midlife becomes. A do-over. This time, though, I plan to do things differently. Age is just a number, after all, and at 40 I'm ready to carve my own path. Eager for a fresh start, I make a somewhat unorthodox decision and move to a tiny town in the Sierra foothills.

Get ready to experience two more origin stories in the Backyard Starship universe.

Firstborns rule society. Secondborns are the property of the government. Thirdborns are not tolerated. Long live the Fates Republic. On Transition Day, the second child in every family is taken by the government and forced into servitude. Roselle St. Sismode's eighteenth birthday arrives with harsh realizations: she's to become a soldier for the Fate of Swords military arm of the Republic during the bloodiest rebellion in history, and her elite firstborn mother is happy to see her go.

It began with a hallucination. A time loss. A mistake. A strange man reaching out to her. All part of a tourist trap, Maggie is sure, and she's lucky it wasn't worse. Yet something about her life changed that day, and she can't put her finger on what. She forces herself to move on but can never shake the inexplicable emptiness she feels.

Jesse Sampson and her two younger sisters have lived a hard life on the streets of Seattle, Washington, for the past several years. Four years before, the Earth received its first visitors from space, causing mass fear. Alone in a world gone mad with just her sisters, Jesse has learned to use the darkness and the remains of the city to survive and keep what was left of her family alive. She has seen the savage side of human nature and finds they are not much different from the aliens who conquered the Earth.

Lt. Commander Joshua Manson's focus on his career has taken him to many places, just not the one he has always dreamed of going: space. His sometimes controversial methods during missions have given him the reputation of being a soldier who doesn't always play by the rules. A challenging mission leaves Josh questioning if he'll have a career at all, so he is surprised when he is offered the chance to command a mission in space to investigate an unknown object. The more he learns, the more determined he is to lead it.

Communications specialist Ravyn Verdier is on a mission to test the habitability of Jarved Nine when her team is mysteriously killed. Sent to rescue her, commander Damon Brody becomes stranded on the planet with her. Trapped on a world harboring an unimaginable evil, Ravyn and Damon must depend on one another - and they discover love is the only force strong enough to battle their unseen enemy.

The aliens are savage animals. Zandra wants nothing to do with them. She has plans for her life. But when she gets kidnapped by TerraMates, she doesn't have a choice. Suddenly, Earth is far away, and she's expected to be a wife and a mother. Her husband? He's bloodthirsty and ruthless. He's the feral leader of the tribe. And now, Zandra belongs to him.

Kricket Hollowell never wished upon stars. She was too busy hiding in plain sight, eluding Chicago's foster care system. As her eighteenth birthday approaches, she now eagerly anticipates the day she'll stop running and finally find her place in the world. That day comes when she meets a young Etharian soldier named Trey Allairis, who has been charged with coming to Earth to find Kricket and transport her to her true home.

Torkel Alonson has had enough of being ignored and looked over by females on his adopted home world of Enotia. His pride has suffered and he must accept the painful truth. Females will never choose a male with his evil lineage despite his honorable service to his government's military.

Lacey Adams lives in the small town of Magic, New Mexico, where she devotes herself to the animals at her Touch of Magic Animal Shelter. The strange assortment of animals helps heal the pain and loneliness inside her since the death of her husband three years before. Frost is a Star Ranger. He travels the star systems, bringing intergalactic fugitives to justice. When a maximum-security fugitive escapes from the mining prison, he is sent after him. Only this time, the fugitive has violated a major law…

A vrisha arrives in Grace's underwater city. He takes over one of the substations, forcing the workers out. At the whim of her job, Grace is unwillingly chosen to go below, maintain the station, and stay with the horned, devilish alien. That is how she comes to encounter Xora. An alien born from a race of dominant fighters and fierce hunters. He is as terrifying as he is mysterious. While also commanding, stubborn, unrelenting...and oddly mesmerizing. As her fear slips away, other emotions begin to take hold. And Grace finds she wants to know more.

Psychic empath and space pirate Evan Cormier is obsessed with decoding an ominous premonition about his future. When a fellow crewman angered a spirit, the vengeful Zhang An took her wrath out on everyone in the vicinity. Evan happened to be one of them. He’s now facing a future in which he’ll be forever alone.

There is no escaping a Reaper. I am an elite assassin, part of a brotherhood that answers only to Death. And when Death says your time is up, I am coming for you.... My whole existence is based on taking what Death wants. Born to eliminate Fae guilty of unforgivable crimes, my reckless, wild nature makes me the perfect assassin to carry out Death's bidding. I've seen more sinister and violent dealings than anyone could ever imagine. But it was the sight of her face that stopped me cold.

As captain of the merchant ship Marada, Sebastian has only one goal: keep his family and his crew safe while they deliver a curious parcel to the ruthless pirate Ethanule. But when a bewitching woman mysteriously appears on his ship, he finds it impossible to focus on the job and to keep his hands off her. Could she be his long-awaited mate? Analia has known only one life: servitude and enslavement. In a bid for freedom, she escapes onto a craft led by a fearsome demon captain. If she is to maintain her freedom, she must gain Sebastian's trust while concealing her true nature.