Well, the sun is out and I've been spending time sorting out the garden. It's still sub-zero in the mornings, but rising to a lovely 12C in the afternoon sun. Perfect for family walks and the occasional run. Here's Cothelstone Hill, a beautiful stroll not that far from where I live.
This photo of Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is courtesy of TripAdvisor
I did my first urban orienteering event last week. It was a night event using GPS controls (a bit like high-speed geocaching or Pokemon Go). I won my age class and came something like 7th overall - they are still fine-tuning the handicap system.
Anyway, enough about me. Here are the books you want...

Commander Scott McNabb, of the science vessel Hermes, is three years into a five-year-long survey of the asteroid belt. It’s an excruciatingly dull mission, yet it keeps him far away from the agencies that are chasing him down. However, his fortunes change, along with the other four crew, when they discover a derelict spaceship in orbit around a binary asteroid. Scott’s share of the salvage would be enough to clear his name and start a new life.
But the ship contains an experimental quantum device, lost while en route to Europa, and ownership of this technology could fundamentally change the balance of power within the solar system. Now that word is out of its discovery, the Hermes finds itself being hunted down by the very people Scott has spent so much time and effort hiding from.
If Scott wants any hope of a new life, then he’s going to have to fight for it. Yet, after a lifetime of running and hiding, he’s not sure if he has what it takes—maybe he really is just one of life's losers. Then again, there is a deep river of rage welling up inside him, born out of a lifetime of countless accumulated injustices, each one inching him ever closer to the edge—and this could be the one that finally makes him snap.

The last thing Ben Shepherd wanted was another war. But sometimes the universe won’t take no for an answer.
His body and spirit mangled by a lifetime of combat, Shepherd, a retired Navy SEAL, has retreated to the desolate desert of New Mexico to heal his wounds and dodge his demons. All he wants now is peace and quiet.
Both are shattered one starry night, when an alien ship crashes nearby. Out of the ship crawls the last, dying member of a conquered civilization. It’s been shot down by an extraterrestrial enemy, the vanguard of a ravenous force hunting for a new homeland. With its last gasp, the wounded alien injects Shepherd with a high-tech serum that gives him near superhuman powers.
Now, with a new body but a soul as fractured as ever, Shepherd becomes the reluctant leader of the human resistance against the coming invasion. With enemies on all sides, the man who couldn’t bear the guilt of seeing one more friend die in battle now finds himself charged with protecting the entire planet.

The last of the three original colonies settled by mankind thousands of years in the past has been destroyed. Britannia, America, and Melbourne have all been attacked and destroyed by two aggressive, advanced alien civilizations. But the humans on Melbourne managed to escape and settle other colonies before Melbourne was found and destroyed. Now the colonies are hiding in the outer spiral arm of the Milky Way building up their defenses against the day when they can take on their attackers.
Sixteen years have passed, and New Britannia and the colonies have continued to build up their forces without being discovered by their enemies. But one day, the time would come to confront their attackers. The challenge will be difficult; their enemies still far outnumber them and the only thing keeping them safe is remaining hidden. But sometimes, events can force one out of hiding. Fighting to save Humanity is one such event.

The former warship Trouble Dog and her crew of misfits is called upon by the House of Reclamation to investigate a distress call from the human starship the Lucy's Ghost. Her crew abandon their crippled ship and seek refuge abroad an abandoned, slower-than-light generation ship launched ten thousand years before by an alien race. However, the enormous ship contains deadly secrets of its own.
Recovered war criminal, Ona Sudak, faces a firing squad for her actions in the Archipelago War. But, at the last moment, she is smuggled out of her high-security prison. The Marble Armada has called for her to accompany its ships as observer and liaison, as it spreads itself across the human Generality, enforcing the peace at all costs. The alien ships will not tolerate resistance, and all dissenters are met with overwhelming and implacable force. Then her vessel intercepts messages from the House of Reclamation and decides the Trouble Dog has a capacity for violence which cannot be allowed to endure.
As the Trouble Dog and her crew fight to save the crew of the Lucy's Ghost, the ship finds herself caught between chaotic alien monsters on one side, and on the other, destruction at the hands of the Marble Armada.

At the edge of controlled space, a disaster unfolds inside a top secret military research facility. Dealing with the consequences of failure, the loss of friends and a battle to unlock the mystery of project NightStorm, an elite team takes on an adventure that will rock them to their foundations.

Hayden Kaine, a brash young cadet, thinks his family's influence has guaranteed his destiny as a future leader of the Earth Confederation. But falling on the wrong side of an Admiral is never a good idea, and he soon finds himself posted to an outdated military starship at the farthest reaches of the galaxy.
What at first appears to be a routine mission turns south when an unforseen disaster traps Kaine and the crew of the Scimitar at the edge of charted space, with no means to return home.
Little do they appreciate the dangers that lurk in the dead system, and soon they find themselves fighting an unknown alien species, not only for their survival, but for the future of the empire itself.

Aldrea, the feisty daughter of a Quenterian scientist, agrees to accompany her parents on a routine mission with mixed emotions. It was better than another resort vacation, but lacks the adventure and excitement she craves. So when her father is taken prisoner by a deranged Radical agent on a deserted planet, Aldrea doesn't think twice - she goes after them.
But time is running out. With the greatest discovery in Quenterian history in the balance, Aldrea must rescue herself first before the prize they seek kills them all.

Spell-slinger. Vampire-slayer. Magical albino ferret-rescuer.
Meet Jacqueline Denna Knight, the best wizard detective in the city.
Jax turns vampires to ash and pain into magic. She also has a knack for finding things. So when a distraught—and obscenely wealthy—elf calls Jax at midnight to hire her for an intriguing job, she grabs the opportunity with both hands...
But what Jax doesn’t know is that this case is going to unravel her life. She’ll get tangled up with a host of intriguing characters, most of whom are not who they appear to be.
As Jax speeds down a path toward the most powerful vampire clan in the country, she’ll have to put everything on the line.
Will she be able to use her unique brand of magic to save the Realm?

There are only two ways to kill Unbounded, and fire isn’t one of them—as law school dropout Erin Radkey learns the hard way. By fluke of a recessive gene, she has become Unbounded, a nearly immortal being with paranormal abilities.
Erin’s Change separates her from her loved ones and alters everything she believes to be true. A week earlier she was considering a marriage proposal; now she contemplates the best way to stay alive. Caught in a battle between two Unbounded groups, the Emporium and the Renegades, she is also hunted by a secret mortal society sworn to eradicate the Unbounded gene.
As Erin plunges into this dangerous new life, she must carve out her own place in the madness, protect her mortal family, and decide which group she should join. Her unique ability is vital to both groups in the race to secure an identification software that spells death for all Unbounded—or enslavement for the entire mortal world. Some will stop at nothing to use Erin as one more pawn in a battle that has spanned centuries. Erin’s undeniable attraction to Ritter Langton, whose family was massacred by opposing Unbounded two hundred and forty years ago, complicates her choices. There are no second chances. Death, life, or love—Unbounded always play for keeps.

The public can't know they exist. It could start a panic. The average citizen is perfectly fine with superheroes saving the day or causing mayhem in movies and comic books. But if those suprahumans actually walked among us, what would happen then?
In a crumbling post-war city of the future, private eye Charlie Madison stands in the gap. The last of his kind, a champion of lost causes, he confronts corrupt cops, violent bratva and yakuza, doing whatever he can for the average citizen in need of help. A war veteran with plenty of hardship in his past, he's not afraid to go toe-to-toe with the powers that be, whether they're in the criminal underworld or the federal government.
Madison has encountered more than his share of unusual suspects over the years. But this time he's up against something he's never seen before, on or off the battlefield: people with unnatural abilities. Suprahumans. Gifted ones. Their powers are too incredible to believe, too dangerous in this unstable world. Their existence is a secret guarded by government agents who mindwipe anyone encountering them.
For Charlie Madison, the Suprahuman Secret emerges when a little girl goes missing and no ransom demand is made. He takes the case, but time isn't on his side. After 48 hours in this town, it's unlikely an abducted child will be found in one piece. As the mystery unfolds, Madison uncovers a bizarre truth about the girl that seems impossible. But it could explain why she was kidnapped - and why she might still be alive.

From a dark future metropolis to a two man mission to Mercury; an astronomer’s search for immortality, the invention of Mecha droids and the battle of Grewalda. A stranger who hears UFOs and a young girl agreeing to become a test subject for nanobots – tales of human spirit, inevitable fate and loss that will take you to the extremes of space and time, yet are grounded firmly in the grit of true experience.

Guardians are defenders, carers and guides. Some look after individual people, others whole planets or universes, but all share a strong belief in their responsibility to protect their charges.
The Guardian is an anthology of eleven science fiction short stories by writers from across the globe. It is part of the Newcomer series of scifi anthologies.

Edited by the mysterious Rey Bertran, the Science Fiction Archive #1 features some of the greatest science fiction writing of all time.

Jonathan Strahan, the award-winning and much lauded editor of many of genre’s best known anthologies is back with his 11th volume in this fascinating series, featuring the best science fiction and fantasy. With established names and new talent this diverse and ground-breaking collection will take the reader to the outer-reaches of space and the inner realms of humanity with stories of fantastical worlds and worlds that may still come to pass.