Showing results by publisher "--Tyson Hanks" in Science Fiction

Sure, my life isn’t going exactly according to plan - I have a degree that led nowhere, a crappy job as a closing-shift barista, and an ex who has everything I want and got it by dumping myself - but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to give up on living yet! And, holy crap, when I’m plucked off the sidewalk of my rural Colorado town on the very night of my ex’s wedding, I’m pretty damn sure I’m about to lose my life and a whole lot more. If you’ve never tried flying, I do not recommend the first time be when you’re drunk and alone at two in the morning.

I’ve always loved space. Since I was a kid, all I’ve wanted is to explore the great beyond, to boldly go and all that jazz. And with my feet firmly stuck on Earth, the way I reach for the stars is through developing video games. The biggest issue there? Well, I can’t keep a job beyond one project. But all that staring at the night sky finally gets me somewhere when a tractor beam drops down from the sky in the Appalachian mountains and drags me up into an incredible spaceship full of big, scary, delicious-looking alien warriors.

After Captain Caleb Shepperd escapes from prison, all he wants to do is keep his head down and earn a living smuggling guns and drugs through the nine systems. But, when a synth known as #1001 stows away on the captain's ship, bringing with her a ton of problems - including guilt-ridden secrets he thought he'd left behind - he'd prefer to toss her out the airlock. The problem is, she's priceless tech and he's fresh out of credit.

When Quinn Bennett’s exploration ship is attacked, the security chief finds herself abducted by alien slavers. Unable to save her crew, she is taken across the galaxy and sold to a desert scavenger on the lawless planet of Carthago. Driven by her guilt and failure, she’ll do anything to escape and save the other abductees from her ship. Chained and forced into servitude, she’s waiting for her chance to strike, when across a dusty trading post, she comes face-to-face with a big, cyborg gladiator.

Five years ago, an alien saved me from a cruel master. He rescued me and I fell in love instantly, only for him to turn around and dump me on Risda III. I both love and hate him for that choice. I've moved on and created a life for myself on this strange alien planet amongst the other refugee humans. I create things for them out of scrap, things from home, things that humans want, and aliens don't understand. I'm happy enough. But then the alien I can't forget . . . returns.

'I am with you always, even unto the end of the world . . .' Peter Leigh is a missionary called to go on the journey of a lifetime. Leaving behind his beloved wife, Bea, he boards a flight for a remote and unfamiliar land, a place where the locals are hungry for the teachings of the Bible - his 'book of strange new things'. It is a quest that will challenge Peter's beliefs, his understanding of the limits of the human body and, most of all, his love for Bea.

I never expected to spend my days as a dancing girl...but it beats the alternative. In the window of a filthy space station cantina, I gyrate my hips and hope for better days. When I'm bought by the most intimidating alien on Three Nebulas Station, those better days are on their way. Zakoar of the Broken Back is a cyborg who deals in black market prosthetics. He's terrifying to look at, with a metal jaw and a fearsome demeanor. He intimidates everyone in the galaxy...except me.

Lydia Colburn is a young physician dedicated to serving her village in the Land. When injured fighter pilot Connor Bradshaw's parachute carries him from the war engulfing the 2025 world to her hidden land, his presence threatens her plans, her family, and the survival of her preindustrial society.

This collection includes four novellas: Vektal & Georgie, Raahosh & Liz, Aehako & Kira, and Rukh & Harlow.

Liam loves his life as a linguist and trader on the Rownt homeworld, but he has ignored his heart and sexual needs for years. After escaping the horrors of war, he wants a boring life. He won't risk letting anyone come too close because he won't risk letting anyone see his deeply submissive nature. For him, submission comes with pain. Life burned that lesson into his soul from a young age. This fear keeps him from noticing that the Rownt trader Ondry cares for him. Ondry may not understand humans, but he recognizes a wounded soul.

A decade ago Katy Chavos was a proud misfit who had her heart broken, crushed by a man who drew her close with one breath and pulled away the next. He left a mark she’s done everything in her power to erase. But when Katy’s job brings her back to the hometown she couldn’t wait to escape, seeing Dane again awakens something inside her that won’t be tamed.

The rundown human worldship is a bleak place, but it's my home, and it's where all the people I care about live. My mother, my sister, my students, and my sweet fiancé, Nathan. I never imagined I'd be forced to leave...forced to become the mate of a barbaric Darrvason admiral.

After fleeing his hometown to avoid going to prison for defending his little sister, twenty-one year old Carter Reed lives a lonely life making subs for college kids. Yet when Allison stumbles into his shop while fleeing men in black, he helps her escape... and meets the girl of his dreams. Yet Allison isn’t just Carter’s perfect woman. She’s also a fugitive from another planet, and other aliens are hunting her. Despite the danger, Carter can’t bear to let her run alone, and soon learns Allison is as eager to be with him as he is to be with her. He is, in her words, her ideal partner.

Skye Chantrell has just escaped a war zone. She’s carrying the stolen antidote to a deadly bioweapon. When her damaged shuttle crashes on a remote lunar outpost, she’s captured by the leader of a rogue group of alien vigilantes. Now her people’s survival - not to mention her own - rests in the hands of the Seven Systems’ most feared and hated fugitives. Hunter Tarthasian and his ragtag band of revolutionaries have every reason to hate the corrupt Ilarian Regime. Branded as criminals, hunted like animals, they’ve holed up in an abandoned outpost to plan their next move.

With the Alliance Kingdoms and the Empire of Mongavaria now at war, half-elf Fieran Laesornysh has been sent to the naval base of Dar Goranth with one mission: protect the strategically important base from attack. But when he arrives, he discovers there are no aeroplanes for his men, they have been assigned to a squadron of elves, and the elven commander resents Fieran for his lineage. Defending Dar Goranth will be a little difficult if he can't even get off the ground.

It wasn't easy escaping from the prison I'd been locked in. And an escape plan that includes a one-way ticket to an alien planet might not have been my smartest idea. But coming to Tavikh has been the best thing to ever happen to me. If I don't count the vicious aliens who keep trying to kill me.

The blue alien warrior pacing in his cage terrifies me. His long dark hair is wild and his scarred body looks made for murder. I deliver food to him every day, and I'm sure by the way he stares at me that he'd rather eat me. Yet there's something about him that captivates me, and I can't stop watching him.

As if being abducted by space slavers wasn’t bad enough, I’m sold to a species of aliens in need of extras for their immersive entertainment moons, where their privileged citizens can hunt or battle or bed us at their leisure. When I’m separated from my crew and dropped into a lush alien jungle, I have no idea which fantasy moon I’m on—until the first arrow nearly impales me.

A grumpy-sexy alien and his (mostly) human sunshiny mate find the road to happily ever after is paved with challenges, including a troublesome ex, alien refugees in need of help, unexpected mating instincts, and someone trying to expose alien existence on Earth. Tentacles and tarnation! Will they be able to handle everything in their way and finally get engaged?

When OPM Discoveries puts out an ad seeking participants for The Life Experiment, a study that claims it can predict when people will die, two strangers searching for meaning apply. Layla, a corporate lawyer, has foregone all relationships for her career, stuck in an endless cycle of late nights, impossible deadlines and the London rat race. Growing up on the poverty line, Layla has fought tirelessly to better her circumstances. But with work grinding her down, she wonders if happiness can be found behind a desk after all.