Looking for some hot new releases to peruse this summer? We here at Upstream are eager to share the ones we know went live last month and which are coming up this month. After all, the only thing better than reading on the beach in the warm sun is reading a book hot off the presses!
Here are what we know is or will be available soon. Scan through and see what you like. You’ll be the talk of the vacation circuit with these titles for sure!
Till Death Do Us Part edited by Misha Burnett
Released: May 21
Eleven stories of married couples facing adversity and adventure together. Featuring stories by Misha Burnett, John C. Wright, Declan Finn, Jacob Calta, Blake Carpenter, John D. Martin, Z.M. Renick, and more!
Starquest: Outlaw of the Outer Stars by John C. Wright
Releasing June 24.
No cover image available yet. Sorry.
Lord Famine, most subtle of the Four Dark Overlords, lives again! What ominous meaning is here?
Nightshadow encounters an adept able to cloud his all-seeing astral sight! How can dark arts darker than his own be overcome? How can the source of the corruption of Septentrion be found?
Loyal Centurion Flint unearths the sinister secret of the Inquisition he serves! Starquest the Templar, nemesis of Empire, demands he seize his destiny! Is he Flint or Thret, Centurion or Squire? Ansteel cannot flee the final, fatal decision!
Where will the Merry Catburglar strike next?
Where is Arcadia?
DANGERS AND WONDERS AWAIT IN OUR NEXT EXCITING INSTALLMENT!
Cirsova Magazine of Thrilling Adventure and Daring Suspense Issue #23 / Summer 2025
Releasing June 18.
Black Sand
By JIM BREYFOGLE
A young man born in the arena lives only to fight! When a plot to overthrow the Emperor fails, the daughter of one of the traitors is hidden as a slave in his ludus!
Troll Fen
By KEN LIZZI
When a remote village on the frontier is beset by a troll, the wandering auxiliary Badulf the German takes up the call to slay the beast, but all is not as it seems!
And more!
Not that Kind of Good Guy by John Ringo
Released: May 6
Reviewed here.
Conspiracy Theories Meet Superhero Reality
ALL IT TAKES
It’s there for anyone to see: There are dark forces at work on the world, working to destroy civilization. All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing. We need a good guy.
NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES—BUT SOME DO
For a generation, individuals have arisen with super powers, able to change the course of history, or at least save a few lives. But these people have free will—and not all choose to work for the forces of good. We need someone with an unblotted escutcheon, a Galahad for the 21st Century, someone pure of ethics and morality.
NOT THAT KIND OF GOOD GUY
What we get is Michael: the product of a broken childhood, raised in the foster system of one of America’s most dangerous inner cities, his wisdom comes from drug addicts and whores. Maybe he’s not the hero we asked for, but he’s the hero we need. And he’s about to hit puberty.
Theophany by Caroline Furlong
Released: May 8
Ten years ago the Savients took over Niban, forcing the independent inhabitants into poverty and despair. Bass White saw the careless cruelty of the Savients kill his mother and his father. When a resistance cell is discovered in his city bloc, the Savients seek to make everyone pay.
With his wife Amie, Bass races into the caverns to escape the Savients’ brutal enforcers: the Atrasai. The couple barely make it to the limits of known territory outside their underground city, however, before the Atrasai catch up with them. It would take a miracle to save them…
...or a combat medic robot.
Join Bass and Amie in this sci-fi story of healing, hope, and wonder. After a decade of fear and pain, even a little light can bring out the best in man and machine. But will the best be enough to heal?
Rock and Roll Mercenaries: A Pulp Rock Anthology
Released: May 21
Fifteen rocking tales of adventure and mayhem that will set your bookshelf on fire!
Get ready for heroes on alien worlds, concerts gone terribly wrong, ghost towns brought back to life, eldritch abominations, and death machines!
Whether it is bands fighting evil, a tale inspired by a song, or an artist, roadie, vet, or dragon on a mad odyssey, Rock and Roll Mercenaries will keep you moving until the final beat.
Quest of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic Book 4) by Lindsay Buroker
Released: May 23
Luna is worried about Duncan, the new roguishly charming werewolf in her life. He’s gone missing, and she’s sure their enemies are behind it.
She’s determined to find and rescue Duncan, but her attention is split because her son is home for the holidays. Before long, her enemies are after him too. Why is all the trouble in her life spilling over onto those she cares about?
To fix her problems and help her loved ones, Luna will need all the power, potions, and chocolate (especially chocolate) that she can scrounge up. But against foes who know werewolves well, even that may not be enough.
The Passing of the Age by Holly Chism
Released: May 14
Once, gods and Titans went to war because humanity existed and the Titans...didn’t like that. Will, the blacksmith’s apprentice, was born long after the war’s bitter, destructive, last gasp. It left the land scarred, leaving behind the Wastes, a massive pit in the landscape, dug by poisoned magic. The old world was lost in the ashes, and survivors were left with so little that any who didn’t pull their weight (or had something someone powerful wanted) were exiled to starve in the Wastes.
Just. Like. Will.
Cast out to the Wastes because his father remarried and his stepmother had wanted her children to inherit, he turned to his master, the smith. The smith, who had held Will back to keep using his labor for free, refused to go against the rest of the village, angry though he was to lose Will’s labor. In lieu of the honestly-earned status of journeyman that would have protected Will from exile, his master gave him a bag of grave goods: a hammer (but not a good one), tongs (that were rusting to pieces), and a file (more than half worn out). And two small coins to pay the ferryman when he reached the river dividing life from death.
Will entered the wastes with the clothes on his back, inadequate grave goods, and determination to live through it, in spite of his village. And a mission given him by the Land, and by the god of the wild places, to take the knife he made with his grave goods to the very center of the Wastes. There, he will find his destiny.
The Complete Tales of the Mongoose and Meerkat by Jim Breyfogle
Released: May 19
He's a brash young bravo, eager to prove his worth with a blade. She's a mysterious rogue with a head for history and razor cunning. Together, they are the Mongoose and Meerkat!
Whether they're looting haunted dungeons, fighting demons and necromancers, or just settling labor disputes, this swashbuckling duo is ready for anything! Mangos would love nothing more than to earn a name for himself and keep himself comfortably in coin. Kat, however, has more far-reaching plans for her wealth.
The City State of Alness has fallen to a band of mercenaries and brigands who have ravaged the north lands. Amidst the rumors that an Alnessi royal may have survived, the Mongoose and Meerkat must navigate all manner of intrigue and betrayal to win the fame and fortune necessary to restore the once-mighty city.
Originally serialized in 18 installments from 2017 through 2023 in Cirsova Magazine, Jim Breyfogle's Mongoose and Meerkat became one of the iconic Sword & Sorcery teams of the Pulp Revolution. Now, you can have all of their adventures in a single gorgeous volume!
Plus, this collection includes an all-new side-story, Chasing the Cat Sword, featuring the mercenary sisters Daini and Kairi and has world-shaking implications for the Mongoose and Meerkat lore!
Monsieur Moule's Subterranean Casino (The Interdimensionals Book 2)
Releasing: June 3rd
Anthony Reynolds and Sephora Ashton escaped from Madame Antic's sky city, and now they must navigate a new life in the dangerous ruins of London. Nothing is as it was in the technologically advanced Victorian city with no name. Here tribes of survivors hunt and gather in the dark of night, keeping vigilant watch during daylight hours. Mutant animals with poisonous fangs roam the outskirts, and, according to legend, mole people live underground. But if they exist and have managed to hide from Antic all these years, then they might hold the answers Anthony seeks.
No one can tell him where he came from, or who he was before Madame Antic kidnapped him to play a role in her elaborate stage play. No one even knows what year it is. But when Anthony and Sephora are driven underground by gunmen wearing gruesome masks, they find themselves in a surreal subterranean refuge complete with its own lavish hotel and casino. There they meet the man responsible for it all, a man who claims to have answers, a man with a penchant for gambling with human lives: the enigmatic Monsieur Moule.
Caveat Emptor (The Phoenix Initiative Book 17) by Jon R. Osbourne and Mark Wandrey
Released: May 13
“Owning your own planet – a status symbol most mercenary companies could only dream of. Sure, it’s a fixer-upper, but nothing some elbow grease and a paint job can’t fix. It has miles of beaches and its own starport. But don’t wait, or someone else will snap up this red diamond in the rough.”
When a mercenary commander seizes what he thinks is the opportunity of a lifetime, he soon discovers this fixer-upper doesn’t quite live up to the brochure. The beaches ring a polluted crater and the city is in ruins. Worse, the lease has a few wrinkles.
And if the bum deal wasn’t bad enough, the world hides a secret—a secret someone is not only willing to kill for, but to hire a whole company of killers to acquire. All the merc commander wanted was a feather in his cap, some beachfront property for his troops, and a place to call home. Instead, he may have purchased a death sentence.
There you have it, readers. Grab a cold drink, kick off your sandals, and crack open one of these hot titles. Let’s enjoy SUMMER!