Your Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Bargains for January 21, 2025

Who wouldn’t want to pilot giant robots for a living? The Overdrive Corporation has announced another Selection, the exclusive tryout process for aspiring Fortress Masters. Designing maps for the Mech battling virtual reality RPG is Julian’s dream come true, but a brutal defeat against superstar sniper called Dynamic has destroyed his confidence. Hoping to find a stronger machine, Julian enters an immensely challenging map that promises ultra-rare Mech frames. During the ill-fated mission, he finally learns what it takes to get better. It’s not the strength of the machine that matters most, it’s the skill of the pilot. Julian rebuilds his gameplay from the ground up, seeking out the strongest opponents and the most challenging dungeons. He explores the countless aspects of Overdrive that he’s inadvertently ignored.

Ninienne Lightcaster thinks her career as a magical creature healer is safe from the new artificially intelligent android technology, but her apprenticeship to a senile Master Wizard on a backwater moon changes that. A hilarious and heartfelt genre-bending adventure.

Other Retailers
Apple Books | Nook | Smashwords | Kobo

Category: Science Fiction – Space Opera

Greg Healy isn’t fooled—this hunting trip is designed to get Greg and his father to end their feud. Not even Greg’s teenage daughter or his father’s hunting buddies along for the ride will be enough of a buffer to heal the rift of long-standing resentments.

They’ve barely been dropped off in the remote Canadian wilderness when they discover their new equipment is dead with no explanation. Now they’ll have to rely on each other and resort to Old West ingenuity to find their way home—before the hunter becomes the hunted.

For seventeen-year-old Darryl Healy, things aren’t much easier on his grandparents’ cattle ranch. When the lights go out after a nationwide cyberattack, frightening responsibilities fall squarely on Darryl’s unproven shoulders as a power-hungry politician is determined to confiscate the ranch’s resources—by any means necessary.

Other Retailers
Apple Books | Nook | Smashwords | Kobo

Category: Science Fiction – Post-Apocalyptic

Toume d’Nezuhmy only wanted to be a pilot, but when the high priestess of the Drakhen clan offers him a curious mission, he must make a serious choice. Should he choose wrong, he could wind up dead, or worse. Failure could destroy the only alliance that protects his clan from destruction.

Other Retailers
Apple Books | Nook | Kobo

Category: Fantasy – Coming of Age

Maxi’s first week in a groundbreaking gamified workplace is disrupted by a snarling, drooling printer with large, pointy teeth and a murderous disposition.

After nearly becoming the red toner liquid refill during a killer inkjet’s afternoon snack, Maxi investigates the mysterious company that’s more associated with slimes, zombies, and dragons than office work.

Luckily, she is equipped with an interface that is similar to her favorite RPG-style video games. For once, being a gamer will be good for more than just getting a couple bucks during her live streams.

Maxi normally enjoys LitRPG Urban Fantasy adventures, just not the dying part. Hopefully she can max her levels before the end is nigh and the beasties devour humanity.

Other Retailers
Apple Books | Nook | Smashwords | Kobo

Category: Fantasy – TV, Movie, Video Game Adaptations

The empire has declared war on assassins. It’s a good thing that Carmen, newly-graduated assassin, has a dragon on her side. Together they have a chance. But his snarkiness might kill her first.

Category: Fantasy – Coming of Age

The stories in Fae bridge traditional and modern styles, from the familiar feeling of a good old-fashioned fairy tale to urban fantasy and horror with a fae twist. Explore lush settings with beautiful prose, complex characters, and interesting takes on the fair folk from castles to computer technologies, from the Old World to Indianapolis.

Other Retailers
Apple Books | Nook | Kobo

Category: Fantasy – Fairy Tales

In Alos, a world divided between the magic-free North and the untamed South, Layten Grayread dreams of becoming a Scholar to protect his homeland. But after discovering a forbidden library with his friends, Layten’s journey takes a dangerous turn, forcing him to question everything he knows about magic, knowledge, and destiny.

Category: Fantasy – Coming of Age

When everyone else dies trying… they call her.

An exciting sci-fi assassin and mystery thriller set thousands of years in the future, in a time when humanity has spread through the stars.

Heather Kilgore is the deadliest assassin in the Fringe. Young, focused, and coldly efficient, the star nation of Prometheus sends her in to finish the job where others have failed. But when a man she once loved turns up dead on a contested planet, she must unravel the mystery or risk plunging the entire sector into war.

Partnered with an old mentor turned rival, relentlessly pursued by a local detective, and fighting unseen foes at every turn, can Heather find the real enemy before they strike?

Readers looking for a hard-hitting technothriller with heart will love Rogue Agent.

Category: Science Fiction – Galactic Empire