World-building has really landed as the theme for this month of Spec. Fic. Society. So, I have picked three titles with rich unique worlds to present in our inaugural Book Blast! Let’s give these hard-working authors some love and celebrate these new sci fi and fantasy novels April 2025.
If you’d like your new sci fi and fantasy novels featured in the Spec. Fic. Society newsletter, apply here! We’d love to hear about it.
Moonrising, by Claire Barner: near-future sci-fi romance with multicultural and LGBTQ+ cast
Moonrising is an accessible, near-future sci-fi romance with a multicultural and LGBTQ+ cast about love and tomatoes on a lunar colony. With themes drawn from NASA’s own Artemis Program as well as private space ventures, Moonrising envisions space as the next frontier for human survival.
This is sci-fi grounded in real science. It explores what it might look like to have an established lunar colony, from the challenges of growing a sustainable food source to dealing with the long-term effects of low gravity on the human body. Moonrising will appeal to readers of Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel, and Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell.
About the author: Claire Barner
Claire Barner studied public policy and education at the University of Chicago and has spent her career in operations. She is an avid gardener, on a mission to maximize the number of tomatoes her small bungalow lot can produce. Claire loves to cook freshly harvested vegetables, mix strong cocktails, and host lively dinner parties. She and her husband are raising three children and love exploring Chicago’s garden walks, lakefront, museums, and forest preserves. For more info, visit clairebarner.com.
Content warnings for Moonrising, by Claire Barner
- Violence.
- Death.
- Homophobia.
Show some love! Support the author
- Buy Moonrising online here.
- Follow Claire Berner on Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, or check out her website.
- Sign up for Claire Berner’s newsletter here: “Come with my on my writing journey as a debut sci-fi romance author. I offer reflections and insight into the writing and publishing process.”
FrostByte, by N.S. Chaudhury: new adult Desi cyberpunk world with illegal resurrection
Frostbyte is NA, Desi cyberpunk about a murder victim who gets illegally resurrected in the wrong body, losing everything. Now, she must figure out the mystery surrounding her death – without getting caught or killed again. After being taken in by group of friends, out of ‘the goodness of their hearts,’ she discovers each of them has a deadly secret of their own. And they each have their own reasons for trying to solve the murder mystery…
FrostByte is a riches to rags story about the heiress to the world’s only legal resurrection company. Illegally resurrected in a distant city under a new identity, she must learn to survive. Not easy, without her name, her identity or the resources she had at her disposal in her old life. FrostByte blends together the futuristic, tech heavy setting of a typical cyberpunk story with the rich culture of South Asia. It’s a unique riches to rags story that will appeal to fans of Altered Carbon and Ready Player One.
About the author: N.S. Chaudhury
Nimmi Sheikh Chaudary lives in Islamabad with her husband, daughter, four fancy goldfish and her beloved plant collection. When she’s not working her day job breaking software for a living, she’s spending time with her family, or drinking chai and tormenting her characters. Sometimes, she’ll take a break from all the torment and do some art.
Content warnings for FrostByte, by N.S. Chaudhury
- Home break in resulting in on-page death by gunshot wounds, experienced by main character.
- On-page anxiety and panic attacks experienced by main character on page, multiple instances.
- Self-medication with fictional mood-altering substances, multiple instances experienced on-page.
- Use of fictional mood-altering substances in interrogation without the victim’s knowledge.
- Mental illness portrayed accurately but detailed on-page including anxiety, depression and instances of su!cidal ideation.
- Mention of past attempt to end own life, main character.
- Near death experiences, multiple instances including poisoning, near fall from a great height.
- Off-page multiple character deaths in targeted bombings, reported in news bulletins.
- Off-page instance of character being physically assaulted.
- Mildly graphic depictions of sci-fi medical procedures.
Show some love! Support the author
- Buy FrostByte online, here.
- Follow N.S. Chaudhury on Instagram and Threads.
Storm Captain, by E.L. Reeves: world-hopping, lightning-wielding leader of a misfit crew
A runaway slave. A woman with the power to summon storms. An assassin itching for adventure. And a mystery that could leave them all dead.
When Benjamin decides to escape slavery, he lets fate decide his course. He stows away on a random ship on a random day. Fate, however, has other plans. The ship Benjamin chooses is captained by a woman who can summon lightning and tear holes between worlds. Her crew is a misfit bunch from across the worlds. Benjamin finds himself on an unfamiliar world and discovers something he would never have expected. A family. A strange and unruly family, but a family nonetheless…
About the author: E.L. Reeves
E.L. Reeves has been a lover of all things fantasy and sci-fi her whole life, preferring a good book over anything else. She took up writing when she realised she couldn’t sail the seven seas or make friends with a dragon and had to make do with the next best thing.
Content warnings for Storm Captain, by E.L. Reeves
- Depictions of violence.
Show some love! Support the author
- Buy Storm Captain online, here.
- Follow E.L. Reeves on Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and check out her website here.
- Sign up for E.L. Reeves’ newsletter here. Get early access to cover reveals and publishing news and short stories set in the world of Storm Captain.
ARC Shoutouts: Opportunities to review advance copies of new sci fi and fantasy novels April 2025
We have three ARC opportunities to share with you for your reading enjoyment! If you have new sci fi and fantasy novels April 2025 or later, and you’d like to see them promoted in the Spec. Fic. Society newsletter, apply here! I’d love to help you get it in front of more eyes.
Son of Osivirius, by Cathryn deVries: if you love Avatar, The Last Samuri and Fern Gully, you’ll love this
When Jayden crash lands in rebel territory, his only thought is of escape and the reward his intel will get him. But all that changes when he mind-links with a Masu, the giant flying felines indigenous to the planet Osivirius. Now the unwanted attraction he’s felt for both the simple life of the rebels and his rescuer’s sister Nettle make him question which side he should be fighting for. This novella is a genuine enemies-to-lovers science fantasy that fans of Avatar, The Last Samurai, and Fern Gully will love.
- Apply to be an ARC reader here.
- Release date: 19 September 2025
- Reviews due: Goodreads, 1 week before. Amazon, within three days of release.
About the author: Cathryn deVries
Cathryn deVries lives in the Gold Coast hinterland of Australia, where she home-schools her children. Together with her neurodiverse daughter, she has formed a writing team that focuses on emotive speculative fiction with a dose of clean romance. She won the Stuart and Hadow Short Story Prize 2023 for a romantasy piece, and the QWC monthly writing competition for something more tongue-in-cheek. Her short stories appear in the ‘My Story, My Voice’ and ‘Ritardando’ anthologies.
Content warnings for Son of Osivirius by Cathryn deVries
- Son of Osivirius is a science fantasy novella suitable for young adult readers. Estimated rating: PG. It contains non-graphic descriptions of violence, animal and human death, and light kissing. The characters also drink a mushroom infusion to make a mind-link channel easier. It’s not supposed to be like ‘magic’ mushrooms or endorse drug use. The effects are more akin to meditation or essential oil use.
Show some love!
- Follow Cathryn deVries on Instagram, Facebook, and check out her website, here.
- Join Cathryn’s newsletter here. “Join the Slow Readers Society and receive insightful articles to satisfy your book-savouring heart plus other exclusives. I’ll also send you ‘Lightning Hunter’, a short story set in our WIP world, and ‘When A Slave Falls’, my award-winning romantasy short story.”
Cloaking Fate, by N.A. Walker: Not your average shifters!
Cloaking Fate is an epic romantic fantasy highlighting the value of personal freedom and one woman torn between duty and desire. Expect slow-burn romance, divine machinations, destiny, fated mates, and the power of friendship.
- Apply to be an ARC reader here.
- Release date: 29 May 2025
- Reviews due: on release day
About the author: N.A. Walker
N. A. Walker is an author of adult romantic fantasy. She holds a BA in psychology from Arizona State University and a BS in nursing from Northern Arizona University. She funds her passion for writing by working full-time as a surgical nurse, is a voracious bookworm, and prefers to hibernate during the unforgivable southwest summers. With her husband, she lives in Arizona with their children.
Content warnings for Cloaking Fate by N.A. Walker
- Explicit language, sexual scenes, sexual assault, prostitution.
- Estimated R18+ rating for adult content.
Show some love!
- Follow N.A. Walker on Instagram, TikTok, and visit her website here.
- Join N.A.’s newsletter here. N. A. Walker’s newsletter offers monthly insight on current writing projects, exclusive content, and fun sneak peeks. Plus, you’ll gain access to a free download of her novelette, High Tide.
Elite Memories, by David J. Gibson: As society collapses, is transferring human minds into animal bodies our only hope?
Part biological thriller, part revolution, this gripping dystopian sci-fi novel explores the thin line between humanity and survival when the powerful are challenged from the most unexpected places. Elite Memories will appeal to fans of Animal Farm by George Orwell, Fluke by James Hurbert, and Memory Dog by Kathleen Ann Goonan.
- Apply to be an ARC reader here.
- Release date: 1 June 2025.
- Reviews due: 1 week before.
About the author: David J. Gibson
David J. Gibson (he/him) is a writer, retired academic, botanist, plant ecologist, and UK Ex-pat. Author of four non-fiction books and numerous journal articles, he’s now turning to fiction. He is passionate about prairies, the environment, and most things British. Former amateur footballer, sometime runner and swimmer. Living in southern Illinois with his wife, he has two grown children and two grandchildren. He travels to the UK as often as possible.
David J. Gibson is also the author of:
- Planting Clues: How Plants Solve Crimes. OUP 2002 (translations available in Italian and Polish).
- Grasslands and Climate Change. David J. Gibson & Jonathan A. Newman (Editors), CUP 2019.
- Grasses and Grasslands. OUP. 2009 (translation available in Chinese).
- Methods in Comparative Plant Population Ecology. OUP 2002, 2015.
Content warnings for Elite Memories by David J. Gibson
- Human-animal conflict.
- Estimated at M rating because of fight scenes.
Show some love!
Get your novel featured like these new sci fi and fantasy novels April 2025
Would you like to share your novel with Spec. Fic. Society readers? Apply here! We’d love to hear about your book. It’s open to newsletter subscribers and Instagram followers. Hit any of the Sign Up buttons around here to subscribe to the newsletter, and follow on Instagram here.