SPSFC3 is here and the books are locked in! First you met the team, now let's meet the books that we have been allocated for round one of the competition!
First, the process
Let's take a quick look at the process we will use to select our semi-finalists. The team has six members, and was allocated 24 books.
First, I split the team into two groups of three and had everyone select a few books they wanted to read. 12 books are now assigned to each group, first by reader preference and then by length. We will read 20% and vote yes/no on reading the rest.... Or if someone can't stop reading and it's just the best book ever, they can mark their favorite as long as it's read in full.
Last year my team talked and everyone sent their favorite book forward to the semis. We will first see which books have the most enthusiasm and choose "quarterfinalists" around the end of November to read in full, then discuss to choose the ones with the best chance at going all the way.
I'm hoping to share an update every other week with everyone's thoughts on the slush books. We are reading in alphabetical order to make it as fair as possible so please don't hate us if you get cut first 
Alright without further ado, here are the books.
The Slush Pile!
The Babel Apocalypse by Vyvyan Evans
"They who control language control everything."
A genre-blending, dystopian Sci-Fi mystery-thriller that will make you think about language in a whole new way.
Language is no longer learned, but streamed to neural implants regulated by lang-laws. Those who can't afford language streaming services are feral, living on the fringes of society. Big tech corporations control language, the world's most valuable commodity.
Kenai by Dave Dobson
A planet steeped in mystery...
Jess Amiko is long past her days as a space marine, with all the glory of that time tarnished beyond repair by what came after. Trying to rebuild from the ashes, she's taken a job as a security guard on Kenai, a lonely world far from the Council systems. It's supposed to be easy duty - quiet and peaceful, on a docile world with no real threats, watching over an archeological dig at a site built by a race long vanished.
Betrayed and attacked by forces unknown, and finding that nothing on Kenai makes sense, Jess is plunged into a desperate fight for survival that leads her deep into the mysteries of Kenai's past, and deep into the hardship and paradox the planet imposes on all who call it home.
Felan's Rescue by Mark Raines
What if the video game Civilization was real?
Bestlethrone is attacked and doomed to fall. Now Prince Felan must flee, leaving his family behind in a desperate attempt to save his father's kingdom against known forces and the influence of the gods who may be moving against them. All his family built over centuries hangs in the balance, as Felan fights against invaders, betrayal and the 'gods' who are really humans, now a galaxy spanning civilization, interfering with Felan's species as a game
Blood Fortune by Brock Rivers
From a secret facility underneath the New Mexico desert, to the frozen moon of Enceladus in Saturn's rings, this historical science fiction thriller will entertain you from beginning to end.
A year before the Spanish set foot on the Yucatán shores, a handful of the strongest Aztec were selected for an important mission. Led by their greatest warrior, they raced to escape with the empire's gold. Over five hundred years later, the treasure they'd sworn to protect is found in a West Texas cave, putting anyone near it at great risk
Muriel MacDougall and the mad god by Celina Kiefer
"A beast free from any resemblance of a human mind"
This is the rattling story of Muriel MacDougall, a 16-year-old girl living in United Ireland in 2073.
After a mysterious bird attack in the woods, Muriel's peaceful life is thrown into chaos as she becomes entangled in a dangerous cult conspiracy.As the full moon draws near and her world falls apart more and more, she has to face the harvest moon and meet her inner (were)beast.
To everyone's detriment.
Can she at least save herself?
The Guy who accidentally started the apocalypse by David bushman
The morning that changed Cameron's life started out like any other. On his way back from Sal's Sandwiches, he came across the hobo that would change his life and the people of earth forever. Exchanging a free coupon for a wishing stone, Cameron inadvertently touched off an earth-changing event that would mean the death of billions.
sila's wings by Paul Windham
A Galactic Bounty Hunter has Gone Missing...Can his lover find him before it is too late?
Skylor Faulknor is pursuit of a notorious assassin. He has chased him across the galaxy but due to a ship malfunction he goes off course. He is now lost and adrift in the vastness of space.
Sila Sitcles won't rest until she finds her lover and uses every trick she knows to track him. With the help of friends, she embarks on a rescue mission that spans the galaxy.
Tailspin by dawn Chapman
Cybernetics, mounting debt and a flight for survival.
Yes, I am corpo. Yes, most people hate me. Am I a dick? I'll let you decide.My father taught me the corps was everything, but after he died my mom taught me the truth.After an accident, now broken, with my family on their knees. I sign M-Corps contract. Their promise to fix me up and teach me to fly came with a life of debt, and a threat. I do what I'm tasked, or my family dies
Lume by tm ghant
The capital city of Lume is on the brink of chaos. A newly formed underground city begins a rebellion, threatening Lume's complacent king.
A Prince, content with a warm bed and a full glass, must choose between his family and his honor. A Girl, buried beneath her past, must decide whether to risk everything she has for her dreams. A Lawless, forged to be a leader among the rebels, must find a way to remain in control.
They never wanted to be heroes.
Replacement by jordan rivet
Jane is a leftover clone. Created for an unknown purpose, then abandoned at a rundown facility outside Grid City, she has a knack for trouble and a burning desire to find out why she was made.
When a powerful tycoon hires her to replace his son Isaac's best friend, a girl from the same clone batch as her, Jane jumps at the chance to finally get some answers. All she has to do is convince the charming Isaac that his friend is still alive, without getting too close to him. Stepping into someone else's life isn't easy, though, even when you have the same genes.
As Jane struggles to survive at Isaac's elite private school, she discovers the other clone's death was no accident—and she might be next. She must solve her batchmate's murder and unravel the mystery of their origins before the killer comes for her too.
red rock by Kate kelly
The ice caps have melted but as 14-year-old Danni discovers – this isn't the first time. Danni's life is turned upside down when her Aunt is assassinated. With her dying breath she entrusts Danni with a strange, small rock, and warns Danni not to tell a soul. But what is the rock for and to what lengths must Danni go to keep it safe? Danni soon discovers that friends are not always what they seem, and a rock is not always just a rock.
Mission of the Ro'arck by Ericka evren
Archaria has stood for millennia. But nothing lasts forever.
The Archarian Alliance is under attack. A merciless enemy has emerged with technology and weapons that rival their own. Their vendetta is clear: destroy the Alliance.
The Archarian council selects Kaytrix to command their best starship, the Ro'arck, to defend the Alliance, but there's another reason they chose him.
During the rising chaos, Kaytrix uncovers a deadly secret, one that could destroy Archaria and the Alliance before the enemy has a chance to.
Kaytrix is eager to prove his worth, but can he sacrifice his morality for his dream?
angel from the rust by Jason link
They say Earth was a place of wonders, where towers pierced the clouds, cities lit up the night, and flying machines streaked across the sky. It was magic. But the magic conjured the End War. Fire fell from the sky, and metal beasts leveled the cities.That was six hundred years ago. Now the ruins of the Ancient world are buried or overgrown. And the technology of the past is feared as magic.
The prism effect by j wint
Just beyond Earth's atmosphere, orbiting like a shining beacon of hope, is the celebrated Skylight University and only the brightest students are accepted into its hallowed halls.
Not surprisingly, Jet Stroud can hardly believe it when he receives his acceptance letter. Afterall, who would want a kid with glowing eyes and a deadly disease called 'The Youthful Death' on their campus? Thanks to his rare condition known as ephebus mortem, Jet has always been avoided and feared because of his eyes. When he learns the legend claims he will die before his twenty-fourth birthday, his excitement at being accepted into Skylight University is suddenly crushed
hot ash and the oasis defect by Philip Wyeth
"Robots and exowombs and hemp, oh my!"
Welcome to 2045. Automation has freed humanity from the drudgery and limitations of blue-collar labor. For twenty years, a remarkable group of female bureaucrats has overseen an ambitious construction program that is spreading equity, prosperity, and peace worldwide.
But Detective Ashley Westgard of the Jacksonville Police Corps senses that beneath all the glimmer and shine, a new malaise has taken root in society. From brazen acts of criminality and rampant party pill abuse, to her own insatiable desires... All is not well on the road to paradise
Synthesis: Weave by Rexx deane
A tsunami on a space station. An explosion with no trace of the bomber.
Cyber-security expert Sebastian knows evidence doesn't magically disappear, yet when he and his colleague Aryx, a disabled ex-marine, travel the galaxy to find the cause, there seems to be no other explanation.
Can they unravel the mystery before his family, home, and an entire race succumbs to an ancient foe?
duck by Pamela zero
Pulled hundreds of thousands of years into the future, a young girl fights for her freedom as she builds a new life.
Duck, a young girl, is pulled forward hundreds of thousands of years into a terrifying prison lab. Duck finds a new family, but some things are strange now. The micro-thin bodysuit that she can't take off, the growlers that keep chasing them for experiments that make no sense. And once she gets out into the world with her family they are still hunted, this time by the Service, a galaxy-wide mercantile organization. The Service swears that one of the Visitors, as the people pulled forward are called, will fulfill a prophecy and renew the Service's source of power. Struggling to figure out new, time related skills, Duck and her family must avoid the Service while trying to build new lives.
pallas lost by jake morrison
When Ensign Vasyli Nikonov's ship happened upon a drifting derelict, he had no idea how drastically his life was about to change. Not only had the crew been killed in an impossible manner, the Captain of the ship left a reference to the child's tale of the lost colony of Pallas.
Elsewhere in the Fifteen Systems, scholar Eliot Charter gamely starts his own fool's quest to prove that Pallas is real. Armed with nothing but naivety and knowledge, he hires mercenary Captain Skadi Ulfsdöttir to help him on his journey.
Things quickly spiral out of hand, leaving them all wondering if Pallas was truly Lost...
The dying breed: Hunters by tj lombardi
It is the year 896 during the Age of Magic and young Liam found himself searching for his purpose. His world forever changed when his family all tragically died within months of one another.
As the world around him grew cold, the only warmth he found was in remembering the stories of the legendary warrior his father fought alongside.
As a child, young Liam dreamt of fighting next to such warriors, and with nothing left to lose, he departed his home on a quest to become just that. The only thing he did not realize was just how much carnage awaited him.
to flail against infinity by j.p. valentine
Infinite power, infinite danger.
Growing up mortal, I only knew a few things about cultivators. They like their hierarchies, they hate disrespect, and if you leave one out in deep space long enough, they'll go homicidally insane.
It turns out, there's a reason for that. Away from all the gravity wells and biospheres that generate natural energy, things get just quiet enough to notice the infinite ocean of qi entirely incompatible with our own.
final hope by Joshua piedra
Final Hope centers around Mikomi Saigo, who inherits Onyx Technology Ventures from his father. Mikomi succeeds in completing his father's work, but the day before he announces the completion of an advanced A.I., he is shot and killed in the parking lot of the company. He wakes up 10 years in the past with all of his memories intact where he meets Sebastian, a custodian of time. Mikomi has been given a second chance and decides that he wants to do more than just find his killer... he wants to change some of the more unpleasant events of his life, but the more he changes, the more the world responds
after Moses by Michael F. Kane
His gruff exterior hides a man who wants to do the right thing. But running from trouble won't work when the planets need a hero.
Arizona Colony, Mars. Matthew Cole doesn't want anyone else aboard his ship. But the notorious solo freelancer is persuaded against his better judgment to guard a dangerous prison transport along with an exo-suit-clad former rival. Outmaneuvered when the crook's cronies spring the inmate with heavy firepower, the poncho-wearing captain vows to scour the solar system to restore his rep and claim his paycheck
minimum safe distance by x. Ho yen
First contact was nothing like we imagined. Can the aliens save Earth? Should they?
With the Earth teetering on recovery from humanity's 21st century mistakes, two highly advanced aliens observing from the Moon are suddenly on opposite sides of an ethical battle over a dire cosmic threat.
As governments seek to destroy them, the aliens wrestle and scheme, entangling all of humanity as they influence and empower specific humans to achieve their contrary objectives.
Among them are a brilliant AI expert who has channeled her autism in the service of science, and a violent, anti-secular zealot who hates everything she stands for.
reality check by Dave mccreery
They won't stop. They won't communicate. Can this hotshot space pilot and his comrades step up to be Earth's last line of defense?
Ryan Fall's recklessness is his own worst enemy. Pushing the limits in every Cyber Cycle race, his risky manoeuvres bring the authorities down on him for underage racing. His only option is to join the advanced mech program – and learn to fight for what really matters.
Under the command of a distant captain, Ryan joins a special-purpose squad and he's shocked to discover what they're being trained for. A huge alien armada is bearing down on Earth, and it'll take every pilot they've got to have a chance of survival
There you have it! Which books look interesting to you? Stay tuned for updates as we start to read the pile!
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