Space Opera Fans discussion

This thread is for nominations for INDIE category for August 2019.

INDIE books are newer, edgier books where the author has to do it all. Books that have been published by a micropress that helps you upload the thing, but YOU otherwise do the work and marketing are okay, or if you got your backlist back, still qualify. They need to be currently in print on at least one platform. It’s okay if they are only available as Kindle ebooks, although it’s better if there are other places to buy too. They must be Space Opera, which means a spaceship has to be involved in the story somewhere. If it is part of a series, it needs to be suitable to being read without having read other books in the series.

RULES:
* you may nominate one book on this thread.
* you may second as many nominations as you like on this thread.
* it is okay to nominate the same book on more than one nomination thread, as long as it meets the criteria
* don't nominate a book we already have on our bookshelf
* If a book you nominate or second is selected, you are expected to post at least one comment about it on the thread about the book.
* In about two weeks I will draw a book randomly, with each second being one raffle ticket for the book. That is, a book with three seconds (so four of us want it) will get three chances in the pool.

It is likely helpful if you know something about a book that has been nominated if you mention it in this thread, whether it is for or against the book.

I’m going to nominate the first book of the Cambridge Annex series: The Cambridge Annex: The Beginning by Peter Damon. It’s only available for Kindle, but is in Kindle Unlimited if you have that. It’s a real page turner. Grad students stumble on a chemical that changes the gravitational field. The main characters try to protect the secret and the grad students from corporations and governments, and decide that they would be safer off planet, so they use the chemical to launch various vehicles: satellites, buses, a container ship....

I am going to nominate The Crimson Deathbringer. The book is available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited and it has more than 60 five-star reviews across Goodreads and Amazon.

This is the book blurb:

The Akakies, a peaceful, technologically advanced alien species known as “the galaxy's pranksters,” are under attack by the Xortaags, a vicious military race bent on conquering the universe. The Xortaags are deadly, but Tarq, the Akakies’ chief strategist and legendary shadow master, has a plan.
Meanwhile on Earth, Jim, a wise-cracking, movie-quoting, OCD-suffering fighter pilot, is about to propose to his girlfriend Liz when his childhood friend Kurt shows up at his house, injured and covered in blood. Kurt is a freedom fighter/super- assassin hunted by a brutal military dictatorship’s security forces. Soon after, Jim, Liz and Kurt’s lives are set to crash with a galactic war that threatens the very existence of the human race.
Can our heroes save humanity from the wrath of an overwhelming enemy?
The Crimson Deathbringer seamlessly blends breathtaking action sequences with mischievous humor. If you are a science fiction/space opera fan, this book, with its memorable characters, formidable antagonist and Game of Thrones style shocking moments, is written especially for you.

Incidentally, the book is on 0.99 promotion on June 15/16.

Summary so far
The Cambridge Annex: The Beginning by Peter Damon. Nominated by Teresa. Awaiting seconds.
The Crimson Deathbringer by Sean Robins. Nominated by Sean. Awaiting seconds.

Nominations and seconds for July will close tomorrow. We have no seconds. If there aren’t any seconds tomorrow I’ll convert this thread to an August nomination thread.

Since no book was seconded, this is now a thread for August nominations.

I'll second The Crimson Deathbringer.

I’m retracting my nomination of Cambridge Annex: The Beginning.

I’m nominating Longshot Hypothesis by Blaze Ward. I just finished reading it and it’s quite fun. I caught a lot of references to Star Wars that were clearly inserted as Easter eggs or homages. The main character is similar to a young Han Solo for that matter. This is the first book of a new series.

It appears to only be available as ebook so far. Published June 12th.

Summary so far
The Crimson Deathbringer by Sean Robins. Nominated by Sean. Seconded by Emma.
Longshot Hypothesis by Blaze Ward. Nominated by Teresa. Awaiting seconds.

Detonation EventFirst book of my Mars Wars trilogy. I have six free ebook copies to giveaway. Would need to arrange something with Kensington Books for more.

Detonation Event (Mars Wars #1) by John Andrew Karr

Battle-hardened Captain Ry Devans and his crew of the Mars Orbiting Station-1 are part of a bold plan: resurrect the active molten cores of the Red Planet with synchronized thermonuclear explosions, and terraform the hell out of that iron-oxide rock for future generations. It’ll change history. So will the strands of carbon-based Martian cells that have hitched a ride on the ship.

Dr. Karen Wagner knows the microbes’ resistance to virus is incredible. It’s the unknowable that’s dicey. Her orders: blow them into space. But orders can be undermined. Two vials have been stolen and sent hurtling toward the biosphere. For Devans and Wagner, ferreting out the saboteurs on board is only the beginning. Because there are more of them back on Earth—an army of radical eco-terrorists anxious to create a New World Order with a catastrophic gift from Mars.

Now, one-hundred-and-forty-million miles away from home, Devans is feeling expendable, betrayed, a little adrift, and a lot wild-eyed. But space madness could be his salvation—and Earth’s. He has a plan. And he’ll have to be crazy to make it work.

One more day until nominations close. If there are no more seconds, our Indie Pick will be Crimson Deathbringer.

Many thanks to Emma:) If this happens I will brag about it on social media for at least a week:)

Nominations are now closed. Our Indie Pick is Crimson Deathbringer.