Invasion: Book One of the Secret World Chronicle by Mercedes Lackey, Steve Libby, Dennis Lee and Cody Martin

An alternative history where superheroes (meta humans) have become common place since the second world war and an organisation called Echo strives to harness their powers for good. Things begin to go awry when  echo bases all over the world are invaded by power armoured super soldiers bearing the swastika logo. This book has a surprising number of authors and yet it all hangs together well. It is a thumping good read and I am keen to continue with the rest of the saga.

EDIT: I just found out that the Secret World Chronicles were originally released as a series of podcasts available from here:  http://secretworldchronicle.com/
This is both interesting and perplexing. I am torn as to whether I should continue the series by listening to the podcasts or by reading the book version.

Nimbus: A Steampunk novel by B.J. Keeton and Austin King

What a terrific new world these authors have created. A world where humans have been forced to live on islands in the sky in order to escape a deadly cloud of corrosive gas that covers the surface of the Earth. Trade is done via airship and precious water needs to be harvested from storm clouds. There is a pretty exciting adventure story in here too. The novel also features strong characterisation, easily overlooked in steam punk / fantasy novels but so important for hooking you into the story and the world. A word of advice though - I didn't really like the prologue, I felt it was weak and out of character with the rest of the book. Just keep reading it gets much better as you go on.