Love Sci-Fi?

So do we!

The Cygnus Awards is one of the inaugural Book Award Divisions at Chanticleer, and we adore the worlds that they’ve created.

Science Fiction often asks the question: What Could Be? At Chanticleer, we seek to discover those strange new worlds, from Space Opera to Alternate History, and Cli-Fi to YA Sci-Fi. Wherever your book lands on the Speculative Fiction spectrum, there’s a good chance that it will fit in here with us!

**Beam your book to us by June 30, 2025**

Join us in celebrating these amazing Hall of Fame Grand Prize Cygnus Award Winners!

Ares
By Jayson Adams

Our Review for this book is forthcoming, in the meantime here is what Goodreads readers have to say about our newest Grand Prize Winner!

“I read this book in just a few days, finding it to be an amazing story that moved so fast, I just did not want to stop reading.”- Jim

“This is the best science fiction story I have read since The Martian by Andy Weir. The story never runs out of gas. The science is good and the characters plausible. There are so many twists and turns that just when you think the story will end, it takes you down another rabbit hole.” -Tom

“A trip to Mars murder, suspense, and a well-earned conclusion. I was hooked on this book from page one and recommend it to anyone who likes to wrap up a story in one book from time to time.” -Bob

The Shadow of War
By Timothy S. Johnston

In Timothy S. Johnston’s The Shadow of War, gripping personal, ecological, and political battles rage undersea for autonomy and power against the powerful surface nations. But even the ocean depths churn with betrayal, conflicting loyalties, and the ruthless ambitions of humanity.

This thriller opens on the dystopia of the year 2131, when rising sea levels have forced humanity to establish and inhabit underwater colonies. The fear of environmental collapse is heightened by the prospect of war as the colonies struggle to maintain their independence.

A simple scientific exploration of the Chagos trench by two geologist brothers takes a horrific turn, snapping the science fiction tension with the impact of gore horror. A slight touch by one brother on the hull of their Seacar causes his hand to suddenly dissolve into a strange mass, melting flesh away from bone. This opening foreshadows the enigmas and anomalies to be unravelled in a vast undersea mystery.

Continue Reading Here!

The Last Lumenian
By S. G. Blaise

Nineteen-year-old Lilla could have an idyllic life, but in The Last Lumenian by S.G. Blaise, she comes face to face with a rebellion and their just cause.

Lilla’s father leads the Pax Septum Coalition, a nineteen-planet confederation. As a princess in her own right, she should be enjoying the status and wealth that comes from living on Uhna, the richest planet in the coalition due to the diamond mines found by her pirate ancestors centuries ago. She most definitely shouldn’t be worried about the rebellion brewing right under her father’s nose. However, when Lilla meets rebels in a refugee camp, she thinks she has found her destiny, a true purpose.

Wanting to fight against the injustice and horrific treatment of the refugees, Lilla tries desperately to prove herself, especially after a disastrous first mission where she not only crashes her ship but also ends up in the hands of General Callum, leader of the Teryn Praelium.

Continue Reading here!

A War in Too Many Worlds
By Elizabeth Crowens

Musician-turned-time-traveler John Patrick Scott adds spy and saboteur to his resume while undercover in Germany in the final months of World War I, in A War in Too Many Worlds, the third installment of Elizabeth Crowen’s thrilling sci-fi series, The Time Traveler Professor.

Meanwhile, Scott’s once and future collaborator in psychic experiments, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is back in Britain sharing real time-travel adventures with the inventor of the fictional time machine, H.G. Wells.

Scott, after being wounded in the trenches, has finally been given an assignment in the Intelligence services. His extensive pre-war experience as a professor at the Conservancy of Music in Stuttgart, Germany, will do him good.

Continue Reading here!

Rhett C. Bruno & Jaime Castle for
The Luna Missile Crisis

Authors Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle come together to tell the tale of alien first contact gone awry in their epic science fiction release, The Luna Missile Crisis.

The year is 1961, and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is set to become the first man in space. But when Yuri, snug inside the Vostok 1, is launched from the cosmodrome and into the coming night, he’s met with a collision that changes the course of history. The Vostok 1 crashes into an oncoming alien starship. Assuming the collision was actually a missile fired from Russia’s space race opponent, the United States, the soviet nation quickly launches an arsenal of nuclear warheads in response. But those warheads never make it to their target. Instead, they detonate against the hidden starship, sending a wave of nuclear destruction over eastern Europe.

In the coming weeks after contact day, military troops from both sides of the cold war are sent into the ruins of eastern Europe – into an area now called the Dead Curtain – to search for useful alien technology. During a skirmish between the Russians, the Americans, and the Vulbathi (the toad-like alien race aboard the damaged starship), a combat medic name Kyle McCoy stumbles into the chaos and sparks a ceasefire. His actions create a domino effect, bringing about relative peace between all three parties. Three years pass, and in exchange for aid in repairing their damaged ship, the Vulbathi agree to offer some of their exceptional technology to mankind. And Kyle McCoy, once foot soldier turned head of the Department of Alien Relations, is given a desk job with a title that suits his place in history.

Continue Reading here!

Remember to add these books to your StoryGraph or Goodreads account!

These Hall of Fame winners prove that great science fiction comes from bold authors willing to share their visions with the world. Will your story be next to join this prestigious constellation of talent?

The Cygnus Awards don’t just recognize excellence—they create lasting legacies. From Long List to Grand Prize Winner, each advancement means more visibility, more readers, and more opportunities for your work to shine across the galaxy of science fiction. Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000, but more importantly, you’ll join a community of forward-thinking authors whose work shapes the future of the genre.

Don’t let your manuscript remain in undiscovered country—submit by June 30, 2025!

The Cygnus Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction.

The Grand Prize Winner, Jayson Adams’s book, Ares will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Cygnus contest page year round!

The best part about being a Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winner is the love and attention you get all year ‘round!

The 2024 Cygnus Winners were announced at the 2025 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2024 First Place Cygnus Book Award Winners!

Timothy S. Johnston – A Blanket of Steel

Truman McClusky has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled.

It’s Mac’s final test and to win the war he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented. If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors. But the assassin could be anyone …

From Chanticleer: 

2024’s Global Thriller Grand Prize Winner! The review for this book is forthcoming. In the meantime, you can find our review for the previous book in the series The Shadow of War, the 2023 Cygnus Grand Prize Winner, here:

In Timothy S. Johnston’s The Shadow of War, gripping personal, ecological, and political battles rage undersea for autonomy and power against the powerful surface nations. But even the ocean depths churn with betrayal, conflicting loyalties, and the ruthless ambitions of humanity.

This thriller opens on the dystopia of the year 2131, when rising sea levels have forced humanity to establish and inhabit underwater colonies. The fear of environmental collapse is heightened by the prospect of war as the colonies struggle to maintain their independence.

A simple scientific exploration of the Chagos trench by two geologist brothers takes a horrific turn, snapping the science fiction tension with the impact of gore horror. A slight touch by one brother on the hull of their Seacar causes his hand to suddenly dissolve into a strange mass, melting flesh away from bone. This opening foreshadows the enigmas and anomalies to be unravelled in a vast undersea mystery.

Read More Here

Find it Locally or on Amazon!

Peter Dingus – Deep Time

In the year 2240 AD, the human race has migrated to the far reaches of the solar system, but that hasn’t ended conflicts among the many human outposts separated by vast stretches of space. Earth, devastated by climate change, has become a corporate state where governments are a mere proxy for corporate interests. The Saturn Commonwealth, a billion miles from the corporate centers of power, is the only remaining free human society in the solar system.

Serena Roe, once an indentured corporate super-soldier, now a disgraced corporate contract laborer, finds herself encased in a block of methane ice two kilometers below the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. She becomes the victim of sabotage on Commonweath territory by unknown forces. A dark figure hovering above her destroys her communications system and leaves her to die. So starts Serena’s journey to try and discover who’s trying to kill her, which leads to the discovery of a god-like power from deep-time, and the murderous plans of Adonus, a high corporate officer.

What follows is a lethal chess match between a lone, highly advanced Commonwealth cruiser, the Vindicator, which is equipped with sentient intelligence, and Adonus’s on-site forces, supported by a powerful corporate fleet carrying anti-matter weapons. Adonus is determined to use the super technology of the alien artifact to destroy the nascent but powerful Commonwealth. Adonus discovers they cannot move the artifact off Titan, which ignites an all-out war on Titan, in Saturn space, and aboard the corporate assault ship, Athena. While all this is happening, Serena is having disturbing dreams, which compel her to sneak back to the site of the accident that trapped her in the ice. She uses a route under a methane sea adjacent to the site in an attempt to discover the secret of Adonus’s discovery and the key to the survival of the Commonwealth.

Find it Locally or on Amazon!

A.R. Black- No Man’s Land

This world we’ve inherited is a cruel, cold thing—a graveyard of civilization’s broken dreams, and a constant reminder of humanity’s grand decline.

I bet it’ll make for a good story in a hundred years—presuming someone is still around to read it.
But I won’t make the cut for that tragic history when it’s told… I’m not the inheritor to the throne of a falling empire—not a scientist on a race to save our species… I’m a thug-for-hire, a killer with a fancy title, a thief in the night taking advantage of a world that’s perpetually dark.

In short—I’m a symptom of the problem, not a savior with a solution to it.
But the girl I’ve come to No Man’s Land to save… she’s a good cause to die for, I reckon. Vivian is a spark of hope in this cruel world we’ve made, and if I don’t do the hard things, make the tough choices… she won’t even remember her own name, soon enough.

And Vivian is no longer the only thing at stake. Nona is something new to me—a naive, innocent girl who I owe nothing to… Yet I know the world has precious few people like her left—and this world is all the poorer for it.

My name is Rowan, and here, in this relentless wilderness, I struggle to discard the sorry fragments of the boy I once was.
This is my confession, my humble contribution to a chronicle of lost causes in a world full of little else. I’d like redemption, I’d like to become a better man and set right the things I’ve broken. Failing that, I’ll settle for becoming the storm that consumes everything in its path… So long as the eye of my storm shelters the girl who gave me my name and pulled me out of the dark, all those years ago.

Find it on Amazon!

Thomas R. Weaver- Artificial Wisdom

In this propulsive near-future thriller, a journalist uncovers a plot that will upend the order of our world, involving a mysterious murder, a global political battle between a human politician and an AI, and the fight for survival in a climate-ravaged landscape.

In 2050, investigative journalist Marcus Tully is still grieving the loss of his wife and unborn child in the deadly heatwave that struck the Persian Gulf ten years ago.

Now, the world is both burning and drowning, and the decision has been taken to elect a global leader to steer humanity through the worsening climate apocalypse. The final two candidates are ex-US president Lockwood, and Solomon, an Artificial Intelligence.

As election day races closer, Tully begins to unravel a conspiracy that goes to the highest level. Then Solomon’s creator is murdered, and Tully is pulled in to find the culprit.

As the two investigations intertwine in ways he could never have imagined and the world hurtles ever closer to the brink, Tully must find the truth, convince the world to face it and make impossible choices to secure the future of the species.

But will humanity ultimately choose salvation over freedom, whatever the cost?

Find it Locally and on Amazon

Shami Stovall – The Half Life Empire

Hacker Kita Yamasaki would do anything to escape the post-apocalyptic landscape that was the result of the Forever Winter. But for a normal person, the only options are the war-hungry nation-state of Ex Cathedra or the isolationist United California. Fortunately, Kita is anything but normal.

When she finds a faded brochure for the BC Oasis—an underground greenhouse capable of sheltering a quarter million people—she jumps at the opportunity, even going so far as to steal a fission battery the oasis requires to operate at full capacity. There’s just one problem . . . The battery belongs to the ruthless judges of Ex Cathedra.

Now Kita finds herself the target of a deadly chase. In her race to safety, she picks up three fellow travelers: Dallas; his mute daughter, Crouton; and Bishop, a junk hunter. But will they betray her and take the battery for themselves? Is one of them a member of the cultist Iron-Blooded who worship the few remaining alien invaders scattered across Earth’s wasteland?

Faced with certain death if they’re caught by the judges’ power-armored soldiers, Kita must put aside her suspicions and make a headlong dash for sanctuary—and the promise of a new life.

Find it Locally and on Amazon!

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2024 Cygnus First Place Book Award Winners for Science Fiction!

Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the Cygnus Book Awards!

Got a great SciFi Book? The 2025 Cygnus Book Awards are open through the end of June!

The CYGNUS Book Awards

Celebrating excellence in Science Fiction 

A division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards

The Cygnus Awards are one of our first and more prestigious divisions of the Chanticleer International Book Awards, celebrating bold voices in science fiction. From interstellar adventures to dystopian warnings, the Cygnus Awards recognize visionary authors who transport readers beyond the known universe.

Categories that include our galaxy and beyond. 

• Alternate History
• Apocalyptic/Dystopian
• Hard Science Fiction
• Space Opera
• Soft Sci-Fi/Young Adult
• Speculative Fiction
• Cli-Fi (Climate Fiction)

Celebrating Our 2024 Grand Prize Winner!

After months of reviewing hundreds of entries, we are delighted to announce that Jayson Adams claimed the 2024 Cygnus Grand Prize with his exceptional novel Ares! Throughout this year’s Cygnus Book Awards, we’ve had the pleasure of promoting nearly 40 books as they advanced through our competition tiers.

Congratulations again to Jayson Adams for his book Ares, the 2024 Cygnus Grand Prize winner!

See the Official 2024 Winners post here! 

A masterfully crafted Mars mission thriller that grabs you from page one and never lets go. Adams creates a relatable protagonist in Commander Kate Holman while delivering a perfect blend of space exploration, conspiracy, and edge-of-your-seat suspense. — Chanticleer

Adams’ compelling narrative and visionary worldbuilding in the Hard Science Fiction category exemplify the innovative storytelling we seek to recognize. In addition to all the featured posts that have already gone out for the Cygnus Awards, Ares will be regularly promoted throughout the year and for the next five years in our upcoming Hall of Fame post. Adams will also be invited to participate in a Chanticleer 10-Question Interview, and Ares will receive a coveted Chanticleer Editorial Review.

Hard Science Fiction: Where Science Meets Imagination

Hard Science Fiction, the category that produced this year’s winner, stands as one of the most technically challenging yet intellectually rewarding subgenres in speculative fiction. These stories ground themselves in scientific accuracy and plausibility while still taking readers on incredible journeys.

Great Science Fiction We’ve Recently Reviewed

THE ZYGAN EMPRISE TRILOGY
By Y.S. Pascal

In Y.S. Pascal’s The Zygan Emprise Trilogy, Shiloh Rush and her partner William “Spud” Escot act as our guides on a wild rocket ride through the universe.

Shiloh and Spud share a secret. By day, they’re actors in the sci-fi TV series “Bulwark.” By night, on weekends, and whenever they get the call from their ‘real’ boss, they return to their true work as secret agents for the galaxy-spanning Zygan Federation.

Their job is to keep the peace, fight terrorists and rebels, and protect the universal timeline from nefarious villains who would do anything to rewrite history in their favor. Earth is, of course, a key to the future of the galaxy beyond the imagination of even the most Earth-centric Terran.

Read more here!

CLIMATE DRAGON: Treachery, Pestilence & Weirding Weather
By S.W. Lawrence

Climate Dragon by S.W. Lawrence offers a unique blend of climate fiction, thriller, and real scientific inquiry, setting the stage for an intriguing trilogy centered on dual crises—an impending climate catastrophe and the outbreak of a mysterious disease.

Jake Harper, a newly minted engineering professor, and his romantic partner Abbey London, an infectious disease specialist, balance their burgeoning careers with their bustling inn outside Washington, D.C. But the demands of their lives are disrupted as the two crises draw in Jake and Abbey—the only people prepared to face them.

Jake’s suspicions of a cyberattack on the North American power grid grow after attending a lecture at George Washington University. Meanwhile, Abbey discovers an alarming new bleeding disorder spreading among the drug-injecting population, raising the stakes for both her career and personal safety as she navigates the risks to her pregnancy.

Read more here!

THE SHADOW Of WAR: The Rise of Oceania Book 5
By Timothy S. Johnston

In Timothy S. Johnston’s The Shadow of War, gripping personal, ecological, and political battles rage undersea for autonomy and power against the powerful surface nations. But even the ocean depths churn with betrayal, conflicting loyalties, and the ruthless ambitions of humanity.

This thriller opens on the dystopia of the year 2131, when rising sea levels have forced humanity to establish and inhabit underwater colonies. The fear of environmental collapse is heightened by the prospect of war as the colonies struggle to maintain their independence.

A simple scientific exploration of the Chagos trench by two geologist brothers takes a horrific turn, snapping the science fiction tension with the impact of gore horror. A slight touch by one brother on the hull of their Seacar causes his hand to suddenly dissolve into a strange mass, melting flesh away from bone. This opening foreshadows the enigmas and anomalies to be unravelled in a vast undersea mystery.

Read more here!

EXOSTAR: The Lost Space Treasure Series, Book 1
By Rae Knightly

It has been said that “the Golden Age of Science Fiction is twelve.” Rae Knightly’s Sci-Fi adventure, Exostar, embodies this childlike sense of wonder that the best of the genre evokes in its readers.

Twelve-year-old child-robot Trinket takes off on a rocketing spaceship straight towards danger and excitement, with the mostly able assistance of the blue-furred spy and saboteur Woolver Talandrin. Trinket is searching for identity—as all the best young science fiction protagonists do. Woolver is trying to bring down an evil empire—as all the other best science fiction protagonists do.

Together they’ve been thrust into the kind of epic tale that is guaranteed to keep young readers on the edge of their seats—including the twelve-year-old that lurks inside every science fiction fan.

Read more here! 

See the Chanticleer Difference for yourself! 

We’re so excited about all the great books we receive every year for both the CIBAs and for our Editorial Reviews. The Chanticleer International Book Awards offers an incredible $30,000 in cash, prizes, and promotion across all divisions!

Just passing feedback along that we really enjoy your staggered categories, your passion for promotion, and your helpful sub-categories for each of your main contests. You folks give authors (who work hard on the quality of what they write) a chance to shine.

Our many many thanks Team Chanticleer.  Have a great week ahead knowing there are only great things ahead for you all.

Best,

Susan Rogers and John Roosen

Launch Date is Coming Soon!

Don’t let your book be left behind in undiscovered country! The Cygnus Awards are your ticket to increased visibility, professional recognition, and joining a community of forward-thinking authors.

This is the journey from beginning to end for the CIBAs! Every list you make means more promotion for you and your work as each advancement tier is posted right here on our website, on our social media, and also out in our newsletter! Your book deserves to be discovered.

Submit to the Cygnus Awards today!

The Cygnus Book Awards recognize emerging new talent and outstanding works in the genre of Science Fiction, Steampunk, Alternative History, and Speculative Fiction. The Grand Prize Winner, Timothy S. Johnston’s book, The Shadow of War will be promoted for years to come in our annual Hall of Fame article, as well as be featured on the Cygnus contest page year round!

The best part about being a Chanticleer Int’l Book Award Winner is the love and attention you get all year ‘round!

The 2023 Cygnus Winners were announced at the 2024 Chanticleer Authors Conference in April, and you can see the official winners post here!

Join us in celebrating the 2023 First Place Cygnus Winners!

Alexandra Almeida – Unanimity

Unanimity is a literary, sci-fi novel for the fans of Becky Chambers’s A Closed and Common Orbit, Alex Garland’s DEVS and Ex Machina, and Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror. Weaving near-future sci-fi elements with social commentary and queer romantic suspense, the Spiral Worlds series explores the nature of consciousness and how it’s connected to a not-so-secret ingredient-story. As AI consumes the world, intelligence is nothing but the appetizer; the human heart is the main course.

From Chanticleer:

Alexandra Almeida probes the philosophical and ethical depths of wealth, technology, pop culture, and religion in a world ravaged by global warming through her sci-fi adventure, Unanimity: Spiral Worlds #1.

Readers will delight in the gradual reveal of both the technology within the story and the dramatic history between many of those involved with the creation and evolution of that technology.

Tom, a screenwriter, works with Harry, the genius inventor of the world’s most popular AI (artificial intelligence) app, to create a simulation that will nudge people toward acting morally.

Read the full review here!

Find it Locally or on Amazon!

Book 2, Parity is out now!

N. John Williams – In the Shadow of Humanity: A Novel

What if A.I. had a soul? Could it find redemption?

In a near-future where entire worlds spring from thought, minds struggle to define reality—and claim it. Human colonization of the Metaverse brings us face-to-face with a new class of artificial being, made in our image and yet utterly unknown.

What is a person? Our answer will reshape the universe.

Find it Locally or on Amazon!

Gareth Worthington – Dark Dweller

Captain Kara Psomas was pronounced dead when her research vessel slammed into Jupiter.

More than a century later, the crew of the Paralus, a helium mining freighter, find a pristine escape pod with a healthy young girl nestled inside. A girl who claims to be Kara—and she brings a message of doom.

She says she has been waiting in the dark for that exact moment. To be found by that particular crew. Because an ancient cosmic being has tasked her with a sacred responsibility. She claims she must alter the Fulcrum, a lever in time—no matter the cost to the people aboard—or condemn the rest of civilization to a very painful and drawn-out demise.

She sounds convincing. She appears brave. She might well be insane.

Find it Locally or on Amazon!

Dylan McFadyen – Oblivion’s Cloak

First Lieutenant Shaara was dead this morning.

Her captain is furious at her. She wasted company resources getting herself killed, and it’s coming out of her paycheck. Now, she’s sitting across from the first other human being she’s seen in six years. His name is Adnan. He claims to come from Earth-but that’s impossible. Earth died a long time ago. If Adnan’s telling the truth, he and the decaying ship the captain pulled him off are nearly a thousand years old.

Wherever he’s from, he’s Shaara’s responsibility now. Which is the last thing she needs. But it’s either that, or the captain sells Adnan into slavery. Shaara knows what that would mean. Most humans do. And something inside her won’t let her abandon Adnan to it: revenant memories, stabbed awake by the look in his eyes.

Find it Locally or on Amazon!

Sarena Straus – ReInception

ReInception will change your mind…whether you want it or not

A hundred years in the future, ReInception is used to modify the brain and eliminate unwanted behaviors, everything from overeating to the worst criminal impulses. Unmodified 20-year-old Leandrea Justus feels ordinary compared to her perfect friends, who like living in a ReInception regulated world.

ReInception is a fiction debut, the first in a new, action-filled sci-fi trilogy with surprising twists, and a story that may be closer to reality than we think.

Find it Locally or on Amazon!

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2023 Cygnus First Place Winners!

You can see our Spotlight on the Cygnus Grand Prize Winners, including Timothy S. Johnston’s incredible book The Shadow of War here.

Your book can join the Tiers of Achievement, but only if you submit to the Cygnus Awards!

Got a great SciFi Book? The 2024 Cygnus Book Awards are open through the end of June!

Love Sci-Fi?

So do we!

The Cygnus Awards is one of the inaugural Book Award Divisions at Chanticleer, and we adore the worlds that they’ve created.

Science Fiction often asks the question: What Could Be? At Chanticleer, we seek to discover those strange new worlds, from Space Opera to Alternate History, and Cli-Fi to YA Sci-Fi. Wherever your book lands on the Speculative Fiction spectrum, there’s a good chance that it will fit in here with us!

**Beam your book to us by June 30, 2024**

Join us in celebrating these amazing Hall of Fame Grand Prize Cygnus Award Winners!

The Shadow of War
By Timothy S. Johnston

The Chanticleer Editorial Review for The Shadow of War, book 5 in the Oceania Series is to come, but here’s what initial readers are saying:

A tightly plotted action-packed thriller about an undersea war. Beautiful and heartbreaking character development, best for those who want The Expanse but underwater. — Chanticleer

And on Goodreads readers say

As always, Johnston has written a thriller with hot-off-the-presses technology, edge-of-your-seat moments, separated into heart-pounding seconds, and characters who don’t always do what they’re supposed to. — Kelly

Timothy S. Johnston delivers another page turner that keeps the pace moving. — Ian

You can find The Shadow of War locally on Bookshop or from Amazon today!

The Last Lumenian
By S. G. Blaise

Nineteen-year-old Lilla could have an idyllic life, but in The Last Lumenian by S.G. Blaise, she comes face to face with a rebellion and their just cause.

Lilla’s father leads the Pax Septum Coalition, a nineteen-planet confederation. As a princess in her own right, she should be enjoying the status and wealth that comes from living on Uhna, the richest planet in the coalition due to the diamond mines found by her pirate ancestors centuries ago. She most definitely shouldn’t be worried about the rebellion brewing right under her father’s nose. However, when Lilla meets rebels in a refugee camp, she thinks she has found her destiny, a true purpose.

Wanting to fight against the injustice and horrific treatment of the refugees, Lilla tries desperately to prove herself, especially after a disastrous first mission where she not only crashes her ship but also ends up in the hands of General Callum, leader of the Teryn Praelium.

Continue Reading here!

A War in Too Many Worlds
By Elizabeth Crowens

Musician-turned-time-traveler John Patrick Scott adds spy and saboteur to his resume while undercover in Germany in the final months of World War I, in A War in Too Many Worlds, the third installment of Elizabeth Crowen’s thrilling sci-fi series, The Time Traveler Professor.

Meanwhile, Scott’s once and future collaborator in psychic experiments, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is back in Britain sharing real time-travel adventures with the inventor of the fictional time machine, H.G. Wells.

Scott, after being wounded in the trenches, has finally been given an assignment in the Intelligence services. His extensive pre-war experience as a professor at the Conservancy of Music in Stuttgart, Germany, will do him good.

Continue Reading here!

Rhett C. Bruno & Jaime Castle for
The Luna Missile Crisis

Authors Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle come together to tell the tale of alien first contact gone awry in their epic science fiction release, The Luna Missile Crisis.

The year is 1961, and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is set to become the first man in space. But when Yuri, snug inside the Vostok 1, is launched from the cosmodrome and into the coming night, he’s met with a collision that changes the course of history. The Vostok 1 crashes into an oncoming alien starship. Assuming the collision was actually a missile fired from Russia’s space race opponent, the United States, the soviet nation quickly launches an arsenal of nuclear warheads in response. But those warheads never make it to their target. Instead, they detonate against the hidden starship, sending a wave of nuclear destruction over eastern Europe.

In the coming weeks after contact day, military troops from both sides of the cold war are sent into the ruins of eastern Europe – into an area now called the Dead Curtain – to search for useful alien technology. During a skirmish between the Russians, the Americans, and the Vulbathi (the toad-like alien race aboard the damaged starship), a combat medic name Kyle McCoy stumbles into the chaos and sparks a ceasefire. His actions create a domino effect, bringing about relative peace between all three parties. Three years pass, and in exchange for aid in repairing their damaged ship, the Vulbathi agree to offer some of their exceptional technology to mankind. And Kyle McCoy, once foot soldier turned head of the Department of Alien Relations, is given a desk job with a title that suits his place in history.

Continue Reading here!

Insynnium
By Tim Cole

The dramatic premise explored in a new novel, Insynnium, is a wild, immersive leap into a world-changing (but fictional) drug. In other hands, what could be a dystopian thriller goes one step further in author Tim Cole’s capable hands. He focuses on the humans who first discover and use the drug and weaves his story with a devilish charm.

This is somewhat Bill Murray/“Groundhog Day” territory, a film exploring one man’s reliving a day in his life over and over until he learned new behaviors, new skills, and came out of it a better man. Unlike “Groundhog,” Max McVista takes multiple doses of the drug against all advice, then somehow expands time itself in what he calls an “AUE” or “Alternative Universe Experience,” enabling him to spend months and sometimes years becoming or experiencing whatever he wishes. When returning to real-time, he’s only missed a day or two. (For E=MC squared fans, it’s basically reverse engineering of Einsteinian physics.)

From a man with few basic skills, a drunk who all but abandons his wife and sons, he returns to his family with outsized skills as a musician, entrepreneur, carpenter, medical savant, and pilot. Skills he could not have learned in any traditional manner. He lies about how he learned everything, tracing it back to an accident, choosing to bury his drug-induced years of time-traveling across the world, spending concentrated periods exploring whatever he fancies with no time “penalty” in the real world.

Continue Reading here!

Remember to add your next reads to your StoryGraph or Goodreads account! Now that you’re set on your next five reads, what are you waiting for? The only way to join this amazing list of Cygnus Winners is to submit today! 

Will your science fiction story be next to join this stellar lineup? Those who submit and advance will have the chance to win the Overall Grand Prize of the CIBAs and $1000, but more importantly, you’ll join a community of visionary authors whose work shapes the future of the genre.

These celebrated works represent the best in contemporary science fiction—and your story could be next!

Enter the Cygnus Awards by June 30, 2025, and join this prestigious Hall of Fame!