Wow, what a summer this is proving to be. Lots of relaxing in the garden and walking and SUPping. The meadow part of the garden is really working now, providing a home to many invertebrates and also froglets. The number of grasshoppers and crickets is amazing.

Of course, the highlight of the month was the release of Fraternity. Whilst the denoument with the Red Fleet marks the end of the Two Democracies: Revolution series, there'll be another series...

It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.
Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.
It begins in the realm of the Real. It begins with a murder.
And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.

In the year 2570, a sleeper will wake...
In the mid-21st century, the Kernel, a strange object on a five-hundred-year-orbit, is detected coming from high above the plane of the solar system. Could it be an alien artefact? In the middle of climate-change crises, there is no mood for space-exploration stunts - but Reid Malenfant, elderly, once a shuttle pilot and frustrated would-be asteroid miner, decides to go take a look anyway. Nothing more is heard of him. But his ex-wife, Emma Stoney, sets up a trust fund to search for him the next time the Kernel returns...
By 2570 Earth is transformed. A mere billion people are supported by advanced technology on a world that is almost indistinguishable from the natural, with recovered forests, oceans, ice caps. It is not an age for expansion; there are only small science bases beyond the Earth. But this is a world you would want to live in: a Star Trek without the stars.
After 500 years the Kernel returns, and a descendant of Stoney, who Malenfant will call Emma II, mounts a mission to see what became of Malenfant. She finds him still alive, cryo-preserved... His culture-shock encounter with a conservative future is entertaining... But the Kernel itself turns out to be attached to a kind of wormhole, through which Malenfant and Emma II, exploring further, plummet back in time, across five billion years...

The Roberts family has interfered with the plans of the Alliance and its desire for conquest one too many times. The Alliance leaders don't want Captain Roberts captured any longer. They want him dead. They put a bounty on his head that few can resist and that is before they realize that he has robbed them of the treasure they need to help pay for their expansion into the Collation star systems. Once they learn of his treachery, there will be no stopping their hunt for Nathaniel until he is dead.
Life for Nathaniel and his friends was pretty good on San Paulos' space station until he, his wife, and his companion became stars on a popular holovid show called "Busted." Now everyone who once thought of him as a hero hates him for attempting to steal the hard-earned credits that the Lucy's girls worked for.
If that isn't bad enough, the system governor has signed a treaty with the Alliance representative. Part of that agreement includes turning Nathaniel over to the Alliance military for execution. He and his friends are forced to make their escape earlier than planned. Now he has to flee the Alliance. Along the way, he has to search for stragglers that were sent prior to his departure to a rendezvous point. Once Nathaniel rendezvouses with the rest of the fleet it will be up to him to lead them someplace safe where the Alliance can't reach them.

The mission to the recently terraformed planet of Lisa should be nothing to worry about for the special unit of the Federation Galactic Military. But there are no straight forward missions that deep in the outer rims, and even the simplest of tasks can be fatal. And no matter how much they train and what their experiences might be, some things space marines can just not account for...

When a star blows up, someone's going to pay.
Humanity has been fighting the alien threat for decades, and the war just ratcheted up a notch. Sent to aid a dreadnaught under siege, Dani Devereaux and the crew of Alaska's Vengeance find themselves caught in a trap.
A trap that brings a new ultimate weapon to the battlefield, destroying an entire star system.
Narrowly escaping, she returns home to find victory parades turned into lines of questioning reporters all wanting to learn the details of her failure.
But endings can create new beginnings, and when Dani hits rock bottom, she finds a way to regain her pride—and though not her honor, at least she'll have her vengeance.

Siouca is a member of the advanced Wanderer civilisation. What does Siouca want?
The quest to unlock the secrets of interstellar travel leads a Roranian crew on an epic journey across space. Saved by a dying machine-lect, stranded in a failing ship, faced with an ultimate choice. Were they too eager in their attempts to reach the stars?
The fractious Primals are the ancient, all-powerful rulers of the Creatites. Their origins are shrouded in mystery although Storytellers recite their legends. Tallic has recently been granted special abilities by the Barrier Primal that most other Creatites could only dream of, although he has an unexpected encounter with an intruder that changes everything.
What secrets have the Primals kept hidden since time began?
Nurilm resides within a decaying temple. One day, she chances upon forbidden knowledge about an enigmatic entity called the ‘Collector’, and an unthinkable battle waged long ago in which the Primals were united.
What does it all mean? And how is it all connected?
One thing is for certain. Siouca is coming.

A starship’s sirens scream into the void. Can a highly trained protector fight for peace on an unfamiliar world? It’s elite soldier Laure’s duty to protect the last of humanity. Four hundred years after Earth fell to alien invaders, she’s only known life on a colonization ship searching through space. But when the vessel is forced to crash land for emergency repairs, Laure comes face to face with a new breed of enemy.
Struggling both to battle aliens and rescue her colonists, Laure never expects to find her other half on the strange planet. As her telepathic and physical bond with the alien grows, she’s horrified to discover the people she’s sworn to protect turn on her and consider her inhuman.
Torn between two species, can Laure defend humankind from extinction?

The galaxy lies in ruins.
Hundreds of planets crushed to nothing more than dust. The Winter Tiger's diabolic plan has been executed and not a single species lifted a finger to stop him. He was born to rule and with the help of the Elder Three and the might of Tigris behind him no one can stand in his way but that doesn't mean those within his own ranks might turn on him...
Star Wolf and the Band of Breeds have formed an alliance that has drawn upon the forces of the Scarlett Fox, the Night Badger and the infamous Leopard Shadowfang but will their combined strength be enough to topple the growing Tiger empire?
Every decision the Winter Tiger makes is born from methodical planning and careful manipulation of the Tiger forces. A wrong move could see him incur the wrath of the Tiger planet's rulers, the loathsome Elder Three. A foul trio too preoccupied with dark arts and rituals designed to prolong their already extensive lifespans.
The Winter Tiger must continue to fight a war on two fronts, head-on against Star Wolf and his newly formed army and internally, amongst the shadows against the ever-growing politics back on Tigris...

Two sisters ran away from home to join the crew of a spaceship. They took on pirates, faced down monsters and survived massacres... and now they're in charge. Captaining a fearsome ship of their own, adventures are theirs for the taking - and there's hoards to loot and treasures to find in the darkest reaches of space. But the rules are also more relaxed out on the fringes, as they're about to discover...

The Realm Online needs a hero. He'll have to grow up first.
Billy's a friendless teen and child of divorce, but when he's playing The Realm Online? He's a legend. Not just a legend, but a god amongst men.
Some say he's a no-skill hack, that he's nothing without the mysterious artifact weapon known across the lands as Banhammer. With a unique fighting style perfected over the course of beating the endgame content (twice), Bronan is above needing friends—or a guild, for that matter.
Lily of House Hathur is another matter. She isn't merely a conniving you-know-what out to get him killed...IRL she's also his sister. When their parents split, so did she, and now he won't stop trying to ruin her reputation.
Can Billy ever forgive his sister for abandoning him—or will his single-minded rage drive her to the brink?

Shawnie is the most sought after criminal in the known universe. Jerod is the law and he's coming for her. It's not to arrest her, but they want her help. When it's all said and done, can she do what they want and remain alive? If he gets a chance to spend a night with her, will he still be the same? Can love overcome lies and alibis?