My novelette, An Illicit Mercy, is part of a new promotion in August and September: Thoughtful Science Fiction.Nearly 35 science fiction and fantasy books, available at no cost.Get your exclusive copy of the short story When Traitors Fall by Abby J. Reed.250 years before a ship crashed onto a blood soaked planet . . .After the Solterans invaded his galaxy, Emil Lopez is one of the last remaining cadets in the Avonley Defense Academy. All he wants is to make a name for himself and prove to the world he is no traitor. Unlike his parents.When the Solterans attack the ADA, Humanity's final stronghold, Emil is paired with the famous Captain Young for the epic battle. Emil's chance to make a difference, and a name for himself, skyrockets. Until he must choose between the loyalty he's always prized and the legacy he's always longed for, at a steeper cost than he ever dreamed.Interstellar empires, despite their scientific implausibility, are perennial favorites in science fiction, and this year’s Hugo Awards are no exception. Novels featuring this fan-favorite trope won in two literary award categories. A third honors an author who has imagined an empire which may be more earthbound, but is just as fantastic.Thanks for reading The Cosmic Codex! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Best NovelSome Desperate Glory, by Emily TeshWorld Fantasy and Astounding award-winner Emily Tesh grew up in London and currently teaches classics in the UK.The Macmillan website describes Some Desperate Glory in this way:While we live, the enemy shall fear us.Since she was born, Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the murder of planet Earth. Raised in the bowels of Gaea Station alongside the last scraps of humanity, she readies herself to face the Wisdom, the powerful, reality-shaping weapon that gave the majoda their victory over humanity.They are what’s left. They are what must survive. Kyr is one of the best warriors of her generation, the sword of a dead planet. When Command assigns her brother to certain death and relegates her to Nursery to bear sons until she dies trying, she knows she must take humanity's revenge into her own hands.Alongside her brother’s brilliant but seditious friend and a lonely, captive alien, Kyr escapes from everything she’s known into a universe far more complicated than she was taught and far more wondrous than she could have imagined.Thanks for reading The Cosmic Codex! This post is public so feel free to share it.Best SeriesThe Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann LeckieHugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke award-winner Ann Leckie has created a complex universe of sentient warships, “zombie” crews, and an absolute ruler difficult to kill because they inhabit multiple bodies at the same time.The Hachette website describes Ancillary Justice, the first book in the series.On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.Breq is both more than she seems and less than she was. Years ago, she was the Justice of Toren — a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of corpse soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.An act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with only one fragile human body. And only one purpose — to revenge herself on Anaander Mianaai, many-bodied, near-immortal Lord of the Radch.Astounding Award for Best New AuthorXiran Jay ZhaoBSFA Award winner Xiran Jay Zhao was born in China and immigrated to Canada as a young child. They began writing at 15 and published their first novel, Iron Widow, in 2021.Zhao’s win this year is especially significant. In 2023, they were inexcusably blocked from contention for the Astounding Award at the 81st World Science Fiction Convention in Chengdu, China. The Hugo Award administrators made this unjust decision to avoid offending Chinese censors.The Penguin Random House website includes the following summary for Iron Widow:The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall of China. It doesn’t matter that the girls die from the mental strain.When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But when she gets her vengeance, it becomes clear that she is an Iron Widow, a rare kind of female pilot who can sacrifice males to power up Chrysalises instead.To tame her frightening yet valuable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest male pilot in Huaxia, yet feared and ostracized for killing his father and brothers. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will take over instead, then leverage their combined strength to force her society to stop failing its women and girls. Or die trying.Club Codex is reading and discussing The Hieros Gamos of Sam and An Smith...
