This month has been very active. I managed to get a good week in the Lake District, including fell running, scambling, canoeing and sailing. How about this for a breakfast view?

Or this little islet for lunch?

But enough waffle, here are the books you want...

In defiance of NASA, Jane Holloway, the linguist of the Providence expedition, commandeers the alien ship that her crew explored. She sets off to return that ship’s marooned navigator to his home world, determined to discover who was behind the genocide that destroyed his original crew.
But when she gets there, she finds his world devastated by the same plague. The remaining members of his race, uniquely gifted at navigating the stars, are stranded across the galaxy. And someone, it seems, doesn’t want those lost navigators to be found.
As Jane unravels the mystery of the plague and works to ensure the survival of Ei’Brai’s race, she discovers that the life of every sentient being in the galaxy may be in jeopardy...and the clock is ticking.

Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr had been the very model of a Confederation Marine. But when she learned the truth about the war the Confederation was fighting, she left the military for good.
But Torin couldn’t walk away from preserving and protecting everything the Confederation represented. Instead, she drew together an elite corps of friends and allies to take on covert missions that the Justice Department and the Corps could not—or would not—officially touch. Torin just hoped the one they were about to embark on wouldn’t be the death of them.
Ancient H’san grave goods are showing up on the black market—grave goods from just before the formation of the Confederation, when the H’san gave up war and buried their planet-destroying weapons...as grave goods for the death of war. Someone is searching for these weapons and they’re very close to finding them. As the Elder Races have turned away from war, those searchers can only be members of the Younger Races.
Fortunately, only the Corps Intelligence Service has this information. Unfortunately, they can do nothing about it—bound by laws of full disclosure, their every move is monitored.
Though Torin Kerr and her team are no longer a part of the military, the six of them tackling the H’san defenses and the lethally armed grave robbers are the only chance the Confederation has. The only chance to avoid millions more dead.
But the more Torin learns about the relationship between the Elder Races and the Younger, the more she begins to fear war might be an unavoidable result.

Struggling with newfound sentience and desperately trying to repair itself, The Indescribable Joy of Destruction is a ship trying to find a new home. In a galaxy torn apart by generations of civil war, that isn't an easy task. Tired of being used as a killing machine, it has a huge decision to make: hide and save itself, or help other artificial intelligences achieve freedom. Unable to make the decision alone, it revives the sole human aboard - the enemy officer who crippled it.
Commander Olivia Johnson wakes to find herself in the infirmary of a strange vessel. Her nightmares deepen when she discovers it is the ship that attacked her destroyer. Even as she recovers from her physical injuries, she can't get past her survivor's guilt. She might have failed to protect her crew, but she vows to take revenge on their killer.
When the ship uncovers a genocidal plot by the commander's own admirals, Johnson realises just what is at stake. Together, the AI ship and the human officer must recruit outsiders from both sides. Training the misfits in battle to prevent the atrocity may be an impossible task, but running and hiding is no longer an option.

If you're going to start a war, know what's at stake.
Ironvale. Splitdawn. Poisoncry.
Three bloodthirsty guilds that control the decaying corner of space called the Reaches. This balance of power exists at a tipping point. One nudge and chaos reigns. Sela Tyron is willing to supply that nudge to help her partner with an important rescue. Even if it means trusting a shifty criminal. Or turning herself into a power-armored assassin.
If you love gritty, epic space opera like The Expanse or Firefly, this third installment in Allies and Enemies series is custom made for you. Voted a Dragon Award Finalist for Best Military Science Fiction Novel by Dragon Con.
Suit up. Time to join the fight.

Following a successful rebellion against a ruthless despot, Martians struggle to rebuild their world. On Earth, the unification wars have finally ended, and Terra is united under one supreme leader for the first time in history. But the planet is no longer capable of supporting humanity's exploding population, and covetous eyes have fallen on the newly terraformed Mars, perceived as weak and ripe for the picking.
Melanie Destin, heralded as the Mother of Mars, wants to disappear. After the death of her lover, she is lost, and bereft of any desire to go on. Though she's chosen to honour her promise to be a symbol of hope for the recovering Martian populace, she longs to leave Mars forever.
Fate has other plans for her. When the entire Martian governing council is assassinated, Mel is conscripted to lead the people in defence on their world from an invading Terran armada.
Complicating matters, her young clone, Adrianna, now a teenager, is growing older at an accelerated rate and will die within a short time if Mel cannot find a way to stop her rapid aging.
With the dark forces from her past manipulating events behind the scene, Mel must face her worst fears and confront her deadly nemesis one final time to prevent a war and determine the fate of the human race on two worlds.

In the near future Dr. Holland, a scientist running from a painful past, joins the Mars colonisation effort, cataloguing the remnants of Mars’ biosphere before it is swept away by the terraforming programme.
When an artefact is discovered deep in the caverns of the red planet, Holland’s employers interfere, leading to tragedy. The consequences ripple throughout time, affecting Holland’s present, and the destiny of the red planet.
For in the far future, Mars is dying a second time. The Final War of men and spirits is beginning. In a last bid for peace, the disgraced Champion Val Mora and his ‘spirit’ lover are set free from the Arena to find the long-missing Librarian of Mars, the only hope to save mankind. Holland’s and the Champion’s lives intertwine, across the millennia, in a breathtaking story of vast ambition.

An unmissable milestone for fans of Sir Terry Pratchett: the first SF novel in over three decades in which the visionary inventor of Discworld has created a new universe of tantalizing possibilities—a series of parallel “Earths” with doorways leading to adventure, intrigue, excitement, and an escape into the furthest reaches of the imagination.
The Long Earth, written with award-winning novelist Stephen Baxter, author of Stone Spring, Ark, and Floodwill, captivate science fiction fans of all stripes, readers of Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen, and anyone who enjoyed the Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman collaboration Good Omens.
The Long Earth is an adventure of the highest order—and an unforgettable read.

New England is a walled off radioactive prison. People exhibiting extraordinary abilities are hunted for experiments. The only talent twenty-six-year-old Conthan has in life is his art and knack for sarcasm. When a cop threatens his life, Conthan discovers he has the ability to teleport. Hunted by the military and a woman with her own gifts, Conthan finds exiles in the Boston wastelands with powers of their own. For the first time, he sees potential to become a hero. But as he unravels a conspiracy threatening the world, he must decide between his survival and his humanity.

Dragons in the Stars — When star pilot Jael LeBrae rebels against an abusive ship's master and dares to fly "the mountain route" through the Flux—the hyperspace navigated by riggers—she dismisses the legend claiming that dragons lurk waiting to duel unwary riggers. But appear they do, challenging Jael to a fight to the death. Thanks to the wisdom of a dragon named Highwing, she survives the encounter and returns to starport wiser and stronger. But she hardly expects that fate will bring her back to that realm, to defend Highwing against a darkness that seeks his death.
Dragon Rigger — War engulfs the dragon world, fueled by an unseen foe—a creature of terrible power, known as Tar-skel, "the Nail of Strength." Tar-skel seeks to shape all of space and time into a web of power and death. The Dream Mountain, source of knowledge and life to all dragons, is held by the enemy; and yet, a single hope burns in the dragons' hearts. Led by Windrush, son of Highwing, the dragons await the "One," whom prophecy says shall come from outside the realm—the One who will challenge the darkness. That "One" is Jael LeBrae, human star rigger. Once before, Jael aided the dragons in their struggle. Now she must return to face at last the terrible wrath of Tar-skel. And according to prophecy, the cost of changing the realm is Jael's own life.

Xerac has found a way to beat the system and ensure his own survival during a time when the Nubl are expected to attack the Earth. It will mean that life as he knows it will have to change.
In a moment of total irony, Xerac fulfils his destiny and so becomes the first human to die so that he may yet live.
As Xerac attempts to get off-world via the new ARKs that are being built to hold the nucleus of Earth colonies, Ossie from Space Island, Arty and other AIs stand in the way of his ambition.
Can he thwart them all and escape Earth’s fate?

Her Destiny is to rise above her fall.
You cannot know what light is, if you have not experienced darkness.
Ava and her people have been exiled to the planet Poseidon for reasons she can’t fathom.
Upon meeting a boy from a different sector, her life turns into beautiful chaos. She begins to feel things she isn’t allowed to, this motivating her to find out the truth about why her kind are so different, and why the Council are so interested in her.
Once her mind is freed, with it comes a terrible power that could either save her kind, or destroy them all.
But Eva is not the perfect heroine. She will become what she hates to save the ones she loves, and the cost of such a burden is deadly at best.