John Schettler's Blog, page 4

Volume II of Innisfail Coming Soon!

 Volume 2 of Chronicles of Innisfail nears Completion!

 

Hey there fans of the Kirov Series Master John Schettler. If you made the jump to his latest offering, the Chronicles of Innisfail, Book 2 in that series The Coming of Shadows, has passed final review and is scheduled for publication in the next 7-10 days. Here’s a preview of the front cover:

Get ready to Rumble, cause here come the Dreadlords! After the dramatic battle against Sonderin’s Vile Host in Hallowfield, Llanishen, and the fields of Arnir, Duke Morgin Grenfell finds himself in a predicament after the is arrested by a thankless Emperor and accused of High Treason. Volume II in the series opens with Morgin trying to find a way out of that dilemma so that he can get back west to defend the Western Outlands against a new looming threat. The mysterious Dharman Legion is being led out by Sonderin's brother Luth, and marching to the Valley of Soregor where he plans to join his shadow host with that of the Witch Queen of the Underworld.

So all the dark forces rise in this volume to make a new attack, when all three Dreadlords lead their hosts against the Empire of Innisfail. This volume also presents a venture into the Underworld by a small company of 9 intrepid characters, Wilem, Sachi, Duke Morgin, and Sencha Windweaver among them. Their incursion is only possible because the Queen has taken her Army of the Dead aloft, leaving the Underworld largely empty… but not quite empty enough to suit those who dare to enter it in this volume.

A good Dungeon crawl ensues, and those who survive it return to learn the situation in the east is darker then ever, as the three Dreadlords now lay siege to Rammath-Innis, capital of the empire. The second great battle in the east is beginning, and it will need all the strength of free men, including the Dwarrowkin clans, to prevent the fall of the empire. This one is action packed, and introduces a new High Mage, Vortigern, after Wilem’s discovery in the Ice Hollows has some unforeseen consequences. Wilem has also taken a shine to Sachi, Kaspar's Chief Scout, and here's why:

Sachi

If you haven’t made the jump to this new series, now’s the time to do so. Come explore a new world that is as richly detailed as those offered by other masters in this genre, and here we get Volume II just 30 days after the series premier. This is going to make for some great summer reading! 

 

Other announcements include some price changes and new paperback editions:

 

Volume I of Innisfail now back at $4.99

Volume I Of Kirov series reduced to $3.99

Volume I of Dharman Sci-Fi Series reduced to $3.99

Volume I of Silk Road Series, Taklamakan reduced to $3.99

“1944” in Kirov Series now available in Trade Paperback

The thick 569 Page Battle book Vendetta now also available in Trade Paperback with all the zeppelin action and battles for Ilanskiy.

Below is a Bone Rider Scythe Leader, the skies above him clouded with Mereliki Dragon Bats, and ghostly spirits of the Herelinka rising bottom right.

 

A Bone Rider Scythe Leader from the Underworld

Morwenna, Witch Queen of the Underworld

Here come the bad guys! If Sonderin’s Vile Host wasn’t enough, Morwenna is sending out scores of her Bone Riders and Skeletals, the animated remains of all those who have died and were carried into the Underworld over the long centuries. It gets downright nasty on the fields of Innis, with a Mage War on top of all the other fighting as Sencha, Vortigern, Maelgrinn and Tal stand to oppose Sonderin, Luth and Morwenna. Come and see!

Launch Day for a new Series!

 Series Premier of John Schettler's
Chronicles of Innisfail Available Now!

BUY For KINDLE: $4.99Last Day at this Price!
Heads Up fans of Kirov Series Author John Schettler. The Train has left the station on his latest offering, a new epic fantasy Series, The Chronicles of Innisfail. 

It starts at a place called "Starfall" in the deserts of an ancient kingdom called Old Mindemoya. There, inside a vast crater from the object that gave the place its name nearly 300 years ago, a British soldier appears, bewildered to find he is no longer fighting for General Montgomery in Tunisia. William Doran, called "Wilem" by his mates, is soon found by an itinerant Caravaneer, one Kaspar Jakhad, and Wilem is astounded to hear him speak in a strange language, but yet still understand every word. So begins the Chronicles of Innisfail, and there's nothing like a new beginning with an author you already know, particularly one with the story telling and writing acumen of John Schettler.
The late Medieval world of Innisfail is a continental sized setting, drawn in loving detail in both John's prose as well as with his pen. A series of about 25 maps, drawn in the style of Tolkien's maps, are presented on the web site for the book in the Map Room, and keyed to each part of the story so as not to be a spoiler. You can download them as you need them.
Having no other option, Wilem joins Kaspar's caravan as a Train Guard, and the author uses this vehicle to lead us all into his world. We soon learn that Wilem may have escaped one war in 1943, only to find himself at the edge of another. 
Innisfail is the name of the empire that rose from the ashes when Old Mindemoya was crushed by the incident known as "Starfall," which ended the first 500 year age of this world. It is now 288 years after Starfall, and the new empire of Innisfail faces a looming challenge. From bickering between the Emperor and his Outlords, to the growing pressure of barbarian tribes on its frontiers, the crisis escalates quickly in this book when ancient Dreadlords arise again to throw their weight against the empire. Here there is no single  "Dark Lord" like Sauron--there are three of them! As these forces join the barbarian tide, the Emperor and his Outlords will need every knight, swordsman and spearman they can arm. 
One man, Wilem Doran, has strange new weapons that astound the strongest knights. His Lee-Enfield SMLE-3 rifle and a Bren Light Machine gun amaze when he uses them in defense of Kaspar's caravan. But can one man make a difference in this great emerging war? Wilem aims to try.
List price today on Launch day for the series will be at the price John held for the Kirov Series for ten long years: just $4.99.  Starting April 5th, however, the standard list price will be a couple bucks higher at $6.99 still a great value for the quality delivered. This book is 380 pages long, and Volume II is already more than half done, ready to keep the immersive action coming as John did so faithfully over ten years for his devoted readers. If you received this email, you were one of them. Here is a story John admits was heavily influenced by his own love of Tolkien, and one he had had tucked away in a file box for many years. It is finally coming to life. Let us hope it finds the readership it deserves, and help it on its way!
CHRONICLES OF INNISFAIL, VOL. I ~ The Kinstrife Available for Kindle today, April 4, 2022 at $4.99
Map Sample:

READ MORE ABOUT THE STORY HERE

Chronicles of Innisfail

 Now Available for Preorder on Amazon!

The series premier of John Schettler's new epic fantasy is now available for preorder on Amazon. Preorders will be at a discounted price of $4.99, while orders after release will be priced at $6.99. So save a couple bucks and also help support the launch of the new series with your preorder!

Preorders will be automatically shipped to all customers on the release date for the Kindle format book, making preorder customers the first to get their hands on a copy.

Structured just like the Kirov Series Novels, the book has 12 parts with three chapters each, though many of the chapters are somewhat longer, and there is a epilogue the length of a typical chapter at the end to set up Volume II, pushing the page count for this volume to 380 as opposed to 320 for the average Kirov series book.

About the book:

   It has been said that everything that is powerful will one day come under siege. In the year 788, as the Emperor in Innisfail makes a power grab for taxes in his outland provinces, the Outlords, led by the Duke Morgin Grenfell, convene a secret and illegal meeting to form a coalition—the White Company. But the squabble between the Empire and its outlands is soon overshadowed by a much graver threat when the Khazars begin a second great migration and invasion that overruns all the desolate south and soon sweeps all the way to the frontiers of Innisfail the Only.
    For the first time in over two centuries, barbarians, march against the empire. They are soon joined by a horrid host led by the legendary Black Prince Sonderin, with a menagerie of vile creatures unseen by men for long ages. To survive, the Outlords must end their simmering feud with the Emperor and ride east into battle.

Now, from the author of the long running Kirov Series, comes an epic Fantasy series as broad and detailed as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and as gritty and real as George Martin’s Game of Thrones. This is mythic military fiction at its best.

 

Kirov Saga:

The Chronicles of Innisfail
Volume I, The Kinstrife

By

John Schettler

Part I - Wilem
Part II – Lyndra
Part III – The Falconbridge
Part IV – The White Company
Part V – Delling
Part VI – Towers of Stone, Men of Sand
Part VII – Tides of War
Part VIII –Khazars
Part IX – Imperial Designs
Part X– Song of Sonderin
Part XI – The Vile Host
Part XII – The Raedwall
Epilogue - Treachery

 

There are at least 20 maps available on the web site for this book here:

https://writingshop.ws/html/map_room.html 
 

Sneak Preview: The Chronicles of Innisfail

 Take a peek at the opening chapter of John's new Fantasy series: The Chronicles of Innisfail

Part I

 

Wilem

 

“But, instead of what our imagination makes us suppose and which we worthless try to discover, life gives us something that we could hardly imagine.”

 

— Marcel Proust

 

Chapter 1

Young William Doran was a long way from home, but he didn’t yet know how far. His name, Doran, from the Gaelic, had long heralded that he would be a wanderer. He was a fair-haired lad, with eyes as blue as a morning sky, yet he never thought he would find himself in this strange wild land of North Africa, though he was thrilled and embraced a sense of adventure when he received the news that his unit would join the great General Montgomery for the final push into Tunisia against Rommel. He was with the celebrated King’s Dragoon Guards attached to 2nd New Zealand Corps, and with the mission to go out on a wide envelopment of Rommel’s Mareth Line position in southern Tunisia. They had been chasing the wily German fox all the way across North Africa, from El Alamein in Egypt to Mareth in Tunisia, where Rommel had thought to make a stand to delay the British advance. But he couldn’t delay long, because the Americans were already behind him, coming all the way from Casablanca in the west. Now Monty was launching his “Left Hook,” hoping to break the stalemate.

On the night of 19/20 March 1943, The 1st Battalion, King’s Dragoons was to lead the New Zealand Corps on a wide envelopment eventually reaching Tebaga Gap before turning off the road and heading east into the desert towards the coastal port of Gabes. They would spend some days assembling the force, which consisted of 2nd New Zealand Division, 8th Armored Brigade, Leclerc Force, and his own 1st King’s Dragoon Guards, a recon battalion.

The operation would not be easy, fighting the difficult terrain as much as the veteran Germans Panzertroops of 21st and 15th Panzer Divisions, which had sent Kampfgruppes to oppose the flanking maneuver.

William, or Wilem as he was called by his mates, marveled at the arid terrain all around them, more rugged and wild than anything he had seen thus far. The land rose to form flinty ridges and serrated terraces, crowned with the remains of ancient fortifications, with flagstone walkways behind low stone walls braced by stolid square towers. Many had been there for over a thousand years, silent sentinels over empty land, and Wilem knew that his was only one of many armies that had made this march over the centuries.

They eventually pushed out, his Bren carrier bouncing along the rough ground, up towards Ksar Rhilane and heading for Bir Soltane. Once they got beyond that, they would find another road and fight their way towards El Hamma, which was well behind the German Front line defenses on the coast to the southeast. It was March of 1943, the endgame in North Africa finally underway. Wilem was thrilled to be a part of it until the artillery fire began falling—sizable rounds forcing their way through the intense blue sky and then crashing down around them, kicking up the sandy soil. He never knew whether it was better to keep moving under such an attack, or to stop and hold his position along with his breath, hoping that no round would chance to find the spot where he stood.

The fire intensified ahead of him. For infantry, it was shrapnel that did most of the killing and maiming, not direct hits from the shells. His Sergeant raised an arm to call the halt. The Bren carriers were open topped vehicles and the danger of getting clipped by shrapnel was too great. Time to halt, take cover beneath the carrier, and hug the barren ground for dear life. Wilem leapt out, rifle in hand, and as he did so a round fell close—and exploded. Both Wilem, and the Bren carrier reeled. Blown off his feet onto the ground, he fell into darkness. Before it enclosed him he saw a green light that surrounded him with a scintillating aura. Then all was black as the desert night.

*  *  *

The next thing he remembered was waking up, his cheek resting on the hot sand and broken stone of the desert. He felt a hand on his shoulder pulling him over. He opened his unfocussed eyes and perceived the brown sun-drenched face of an older man, his head wrapped in a white turban cloth, his eyes in shadow under heavy brows. The man was speaking in another language, but Wilem understood everything that was being said to him.

“Ho there lad, are you alright? What in the world are you doing out here?” The older man hastily examined him, noting that there was no bleeding, and that limbs, neck, and head were uninjured. The round had lifted and overturned the Bren carrier, interposing it between his body and the blast. The vehicle had taken the brunt of the force, shielding him from serious injury, yet there was no sign of it now. He was bruised from the violent fall onto the rock-strewn ground, but he would not notice that until later that night. The man gestured to several men who then lifted Wilem from the field and gently placed him in the back of a wagon.

It took some time before his senses came to him, but eventually he came to full consciousness and gathered his wits. He eased himself up on one elbow, getting a brief glimpse of the column he was in, but there was no sign of the battalion or his mates—not a Bren carrier or truck anywhere to be seen. Instead he saw a line of well-laden wagons, men on horseback, and a long string of camels loaded with bales of cloth and bundles. Those must be local tribesmen, he thought. They often followed the army, nibbling at its flanks in the hopes of trading for something desirable or selling some of their goods to the soldiers. Other times they were scavengers, preying on the fallen like jackals, and some were thought to be spies for the Germans. The battalion officers had nothing to do with them, shooing them off at gunpoint if necessary.

Wilem was glad they had found him. But what had become of his battalion? Surely that artillery barrage, as intense as it was, could not have done in the entire unit. Where were they? Why would they allow these local tribesmen to just carry him off? These were likely Tittawin locals, indigenous to southern Tunisia, itinerate traders and nomads, just one of the many branches on the Berber tribal tree.

The sun was low, and now he saw that the point of this laboring column had turned, describing a slow circle in the lee of a high grey escarpment. The rock there was broken and burned from some great trauma. The column was using its own wagons as a laager and it all soon came to a halt. Men leapt from the wagons as the heavy-set man in the white turban issued commands. The men, some porters, others train guards, heeded his commands as if he were a Colonel in the Dragoons, and the whole column established itself with military efficiency.

The leader, which Wilem now took to be the Chieftain or Train Master of this caravan, looked his way and approached the wagon. Wilem was laying on burlap bags that smelled like sorghum, taking in its earthy sweet aroma, and it began to make him hungry. He noticed a leather flask of water beside him, and he took it up and quenched his thirst. He was sore in a few places, but no bones were broken. He had taken no shrapnel, and felt lucky to have survived.

“There you are,” said the Train Master. “Feeling better I hope?” Once again the speech Wilem heard was unfamiliar, but the meaning of the words was completely clear and understandable in his mind.

“Where is my unit?” he said and was taken aback. He heard himself speaking foreign words, but he knew exactly what they meant. How was he able to speak this man’s tribal dialect? The King’s English was all he had ever known, yet he could communicate with no difficulty in a language he had never learned.

“Unit? What is that? We found you alone, just lying there, face down in the desert. This is no place for a man alone—dangerous and cruel, this land. Are you saying you were with others?”

“Yes—the British Army. Kings Dragoon Guards!”

The man cocked his head to one side. “An Army? What? Dragon guards?” He could see this man had the look of a soldier about him. With plain khaki colored clothing, an odd-looking helm and some kind of strangely fashioned spear.

“No dragons here, lad, and for that you can count yourself lucky. But this is Starfall, the heart of the old desert in Mindemoya, and these are bad times, so how do you come to be here? Ah, excuse me sir, I have forgotten my manners. I am Kaspar Jakhad, Train Master here, a trader out of Salonketh. We should be on the road up to Elcanar City, but not now, no, not with the Khazars on the move. Bloody Khazars would have a grand feast if they came on my train, and we’d be lucky to live out the rest of our days as slaves. So I took to the open desert, and seeing as though I have only come here once before, I wanted to see the center of it all again, and look for Starseed.

“The center?”

“This is Starfall, the place where it came down—the rock that felled Old Mindemoya, kings, princes and high lords all, save one or two that were not in country. See that dark ridge yonder?” The man pointed, his arm moving in a wide circle around them.

 “See how it commands the horizon on every quarter? That’s the edge of the big hole in the ground the cursed thing made when it fell, and when it did, this place was so hot we’d be burned to hell if we were here then. Look around you. See how the ground glitters with the sunlight? It melted sand and stone when it fell, and then, over the long decades, the wind had its way with what was left, and polished it as fine as the best gems you’ll ever set eyes on. Starseed they call it, and you’ll be lucky if you ever set eyes on the like again. To be frank, the only way I could convince my men to come this way was the lure of Starseed.”

Kaspar stooped and grasped a fist full of sand, letting it sift through his fingers to leave a few larger stones.  “Most of this surface stone is small—just pebbles, but dig in the right place and you can find it the size of an egg—not made like the smaller stones, but from the heart of the thing that fell here—very rare. Tonight the men will have free rein here to go and find all they can carry, and by the Gods, they’ll be rich men for it, well paid for their long labors, as I promised them. Even the pebbles are worth as much as gold. If you’re feeling up to it, you might wander about yourself—but not too far. Stay close to the laager. There’s still plenty on the ground, even after men have had more than two centuries to pilfer it all. It’s still here, as you can plainly see. Dig a bit and you’ll find the larger seeds.”

“Starseed,” said Wilem, not fully understanding the bizarre description Kaspar had voiced.

“Aye, comes in every color of the rainbow, one of the rarest gems in the all the Alderenh, except here, right in the center of Starfall crater, the one place it can be found—the only place it can ever be found, unless you buy it, or steal it, from someone who first found it here. Is that why you were out here? Doing a little prospecting, were you?”

“Prospecting? Not at all. I tell you I’m with the King’s Dragoon Guards, British Army, and we were out after Rommel. Don’t tell me you never heard of him.”

“Rommel? Dragon Guards? British? No lad, I’ve never heard of any of that. None of that in Salonketh either, just bloody barbaric Khazars and we were lucky to slip away before their war bands cam e off the ships for the march. They’ve come again—another great migration they say, all in their black-sailed ships. That’s the only army in these parts, and it’s on the move, heading north and east, which is why we’re not on the roads—too dangerous. Just the same, I couldn’t come this way without stopping here. Dangerous as it may be, this is the one place the Khazars won’t come tonight. For them it’s haunted ground, the land of the Jinn, and those savages won’t come near it. We should be safe here tonight. Tomorrow I’ll head east to the city of Golocha, and then we’ll take the road from the Elcanar crossing up the Eldarhorn and on into Glynwood or perhaps east into Lyndra. Green lands there, well-watered, and lovely people too, unless the Khazars get to them. Once we get there, I can sell off at Lyngecel. Marvelous city there. Have you ever seen it?”

“Glynwood? Lyndra? No, can’t say as I’ve ever seen them. Are they back in Algeria?”

“Where’s that?”

“Why, it’s the only thing east of here that I know—Algeria, then Libya, then Egypt. Those I’ve seen. Came all the way from El Alamein with Monty.” Wilem smiled with pride, grateful to be a member of Montgomery’s army.

“Libeeah? Eee-jipped? Never heard of them. This is Old Mindemoya, the ancient empire homeland of the Mindemoyan Kings—until Starfall. That put an end to them with one big bang. Knocked down cities, walls, temples, shrines, and fortresses alike, and buried the rest under hundreds of feet of red-hot sand and ash. It’s taken centuries for the winds to expose the ruins again, the old stone forts along the king’s road to the Elcanar River. No Algeereerah in these parts, and no Libeeah or anything else you mentioned. North lies more desert, until it finds Salonketh, the grand city-port where I formed this caravan. South is Elminad, and Radnor on the river. East across the Elcanar you come to North Ashedon, the better part of Ashedon I might add. The rest is as bad as all this. Then comes the inland Sea. Don’t you even know where you are lad? Where did you start from to come here?”

“I told you, I was at El Alamein in Egypt with Monty for the big fight there. Then we damn well chased Rommel a thousand miles here to Tunisia.”

“Tune-eze-ia? Never heard of that. This is Mindemoya, how many times must I say it? Are you sure you haven’t taken a knock on the head? And who is Rommel? Who’s Monty?”

Wilem gave the man a frustrated look. In spite of the fact that all the words passing between them were unlike anything he had ever heard, Wilem knew they were speaking a common language, though how he knew it he could not fathom. But common tongue or not, they were speaking past one another. Wilem had never heard of Old Mindemoya, or any of those other locations. He knew nothing of Khazars, unless it was just another Berber tribe out raiding. And this man said he had never heard of Rommel or Montgomery!

“Look here,” he said, exasperated. “I don’t know what’s going on now, or anything at all about this Starfall, or any of the places you mention. I’m Corporal William Doran, King’s Dragoon Guards, and how many times must I say that? Have you seen any more of my battalion? I was with several hundred men out here!”

“No kings here now, lad. They’re all long gone, and no dragons here for guarding either. So you look up at the stars tonight and just be thankful for that. We’ll have dinner up in an hour, and I’ll get you some of my best teas to clear your head. Then get your rest and a good night’s sleep. We’ll have a long march tomorrow to Golocha. Now if you’ll excuse me. I must set the camp. I’ll send my train boy, young Ari, to check in on you. If you need anything, he can fetch it for you.” The man proffered a slight bow, and was on his way, soon shouting at the cameleers as they unloaded their beasts and set the cargos down on the glittering ground. Starfall, thought Wilem. Starseed. Where in bloody hell was he?

As disoriented as he was, Wilem was at least thankful he had not been injured, with no cuts, broken bones or bad bruises. It was the impossibility of his present situation that upset his rational mind. To ground himself, he studied the landscape around him, seeing the dark rise of the high rim of the crater in all directions. To the southeast, there was a cleft in the rim, as if a giant had cut through the rock with a mighty axe. He reasoned the crevice was the exit from the crater, and he would see that borne out the following day when the caravan mounted to continue its journey in that direction.

Excerpt from The Chronicles of Innisfail, by John Schettler

COMING SOON ON AMAZON

The Journey's End has Come at Last

 The longest story ever written has finally reached its end. :(

Get Journey's end for Kindle or Trade Paperback
Ahoy Kirov Series fans. You've got one last book in the series as the long saga comes to a fitting end.

We asked John about the torment of ending a series of such exceptional length. His response: "It wasn't easy. I knew I had a final battle to be fought against Admiral Kita, but Karpov didn't like his odds in that situation. As I thought about how to end this I realized that I had given the very first book a good ending, never really intending to do a series. Then, I just couldn't stop writing, so I did Cauldron of Fire and Pacific Storm, thinking to make this a "Trilogy." The response from readers was so positive that, even though I thought I had ended the story after volume three, I went ahead and wrote Men of War. It was Karpov that then took hold of things, particularly after the eruption of the Demon Volcano. I just knew what he would do when he finally fell through to 1908, and I just knew that Fedorov would come up with some scheme to go back after him. That led to all the books in the "9 Days Falling" segment, and then I thought I was ending the series with Armageddon, another big climax similar to Karpov's first mutiny aboard Kirov. But series fans just wouldn't let it go. I threw out six new book proposals and asked them where I should go next, and the vote was heavily in support of more Kirov series books. So I launched what became "Season 2--Altered States."

Was it hard to end this?

"Damn hard, and sad too. You have these people in your head for ten years, you dream about them; think about them all day. It's like losing close friends. Though I suppose I could boot up another book involving them any time I wanted, the series itself was long in the tooth. The readership was diminishing, as it was asking a lot for people to stay the course through 64 books, and new readers looking at that journey were easily intimidated. So I decided it was time to do something new. I had squeezed all the wine I could out of that bottle, Kirov, and I wanted to take my muse, and word processor, somewhere else."

Why did you decide to end it with these character based retrospectives?

"I wanted to revisit some of the great moments in the series, and thought that showing how each character stood up in those moments was a nice way to say goodbye to them. Throughout those retrospectives, I continued to weave in the tale of what was happening on Baikal, and on Kirov in 1943 now when Admiral Kita arrives. That became the final task for the ship, and it was a daunting one. So I asked myself, who's going to win this one? Is Kirov going to be sunk here? Are these people all going to die in Part XII? I won't answer those three questions here but it's all in Part XII, I hope readers feel as I did, which is expressed in the ending I chose."

Do we get the remaining mysteries solved? The Seven Keys, the Grand Finality?

"Yes, the mystery of the keys, who made them, and the Kamenski Device are pretty much known by the time they sign on Sir Roger Ames. At the end, the problem of the Grand Finality is revealed too. Along with the fate of the ship and characters. It was something Kirov discovered in Book one, though Fedorov is shocked to learn how that happened. So I had a hard time at the end, like Karpov. I was never one for an easy goodbye. The story ends like things really end in life, not through some contrived plot invention, or stirring climax. Karpov and Fedorov had a job to do in these final missions, and they did it well. Unfortunately, there were some unexpected consequences when Sir Roger asked if he could shift to his time for a look around. I set all that up much earlier in Queen's Gambit.

Are you excited about your new project?

"Of course, but this is a difficult time for me, caught between two worlds, 'one dead, the other powerless to be born.' I'm hoping to build a good readership for my Chronicles of Innisfail, and it has a decided military Fiction bent, just without the tanks and missiles. I call it "Mythic Military Fiction," and I hope some of the series readers take a look with volume one, and help me launch it. .I owe so much to the readers, but I gave a lot too. Producing a book every 60 days was quite a task. But I'll be equally prolific with Innisfail, though I'm not expecting it to be another marathon like the Kirov Series. I've finished book I for that, and just put up the web site pages, with links to all the maps of my new world. Come and see!

Get Journey's end for Kindle or Trade Paperback

Kirov sails for the Final Sortie

 

Buy for Kindle: $4.99

Fans of the long running Kirov Series may have a lump in their throats as Karpov (the younger) takes the ship into the Pacific for what will be the ship's final sortie. His prey? The Imperial Japanese Navy in 1941. Arriving after Pearl Harbor, Fedorov sets the course to intercept the Kido Butai as it returns to Japan. 

Get ready for action, because Karpov is going to lay into the Japanese Navy like Clint Eastwood with a good piece of hickory. The action builds and builds to a climax at the end of Chapter 15, until a problem presents itself.

   Series readers will remember that the Modern Japanese Destroyer Takami emerges from the ash covered Java Sea after Krakatoa erupts, Captain Harada begins interacting with Japanese Generals and Admirals, until he works his way up to a meeting with the legendary Isoroku Yamamoto himself—and some of this interesting interaction is revised here. The remainder of this volume is then every bit as riveting as the first 15 chapters, loaded with naval combat, much of it devoted a long series of engagements between Kirov and Takami as they stalk each other like a pair of Gladiators. Takami has some surprising new capabilities to even things out, but remember, Karpov is in the big Chair aboard Kirov, and can never be underestimated.

The Long Goodbye...

At the conclusion of Volume 6, Sea Lions, Fedorov sustained an injury that would take his life, but Karpov is not willing to let the author write his co-conspirator in Time out of the story just yet. As he has done twice before, he immediately rushes to the Kamenski Device in an effort to get to safe time in the past where Fedorov is whole, healthy and well… But something goes wrong. The Deus es Machina in a box fails to perform as anticipated. Enter Sir Roger Ames for a look under the hood of the Kamenski Device to see if he can identify the problem, which then launches Karpov on a mission to find the one thing they need to get it to work properly again.  This will soon take Baikal back to the lake it is named for.

Season 8 has been a roller coaster ride with a number of twists from the more familiar military fiction into the realms of both horror and pure science fiction. When Karpov’s excursion in search of Kolchak’s Gold led him to a strange hidden railway tunnel near the source of the Angara River we were all transported to what the author calls “Strange far places,” a phrase he quotes from H.P. Lovecraft. Then we got some riveting scenes where a platoon of rangers on patrol along the Stony Tunguska face some of the very same creatures that both Karpov and Fedorov stumbled upon while on opposite ends of Siberia. Fedorov calls the creatures “Raptors” and what can only be called the “Raptor War” begins, reaching its height at the mid-point of the season, in Coming Through. Biology has a good deal to do with the outcome of that conflict, as Baikalmoves from one suspected entry point to another, finding and demolishing hidden temporal rifts where the Raptors are coming through to modern years and wreaking considerable havoc. On two occasions, Karpov resorts to heavy handed blows against the Hordes of flying intruders.

Fedorov wants to investigate a strong magnetic anomaly in the Taklamakan desert, which leads to an amazing discovery. Then, trying to clean up loose ends and problems, they decide to hunt down the German raider Kaiser Wilhelm, flying to the deep south Atlantic to stop that ship’s meddling before it can return to Germany with its great nuclear prize in hand. Once again, it is Fedorov’s curiosity that then pulls the mission team further south into Antarctica. The author confesses he has a strange fascination for stories set in polar climes, possibly because he spent three years teaching Eskimos up near the arctic circle in Alaska. This side trip was first presented as a visit to Operation Highjump, which itself is wreathed in its own set of legends and lore. Then the team makes another macabre discovery in a strange far place, and one that will have some rather dire consequences.

The Author has revealed that Sir Roger Ames is a man from the future, and then uses him to make other revelations about the thing Fedorov’s team finds in the ice caverns of Antarctica. It is certainly not to be mistaken for anything that evolved on this earth, like the Raptors. This time the story goes full on X-Files and Sir Roger, using his knowledge from the future, explains that if earth is visited by alien species some might be benign, others not so benign. Using a metaphor, he characterizes the specimen Fedorov has discovered in Antarctica as the “Murder Hornets” where Alien species are concerned. And the team soon learns that their discovery could be quite dangerous, not only to the mission crew, but to the planet as a whole.

Their decision to return to Antarctica and settle the matter seems to tamp things down, but the author has told us that plot line is not yet tied off. Now we move on to the seventh book in this season, The Final Sortie, where the author largely stays with the ship and crew as Karpov stalks the Imperial Japanese Navy in the early days of the Pacific War in 1941-42, and raises hell. The action builds and builds to a climax at the end of Chapter 15, until  the arrival of the modern Japanese Destroyer Takami, which then sets off another series of battles against that ship.

At the end, Fedorov confronts another mystery that haunts him from the days of the endless fog the ship was once marooned in—something that effects the fate lines of Volsky, Orlov and others. The cliff hanger here is the coming of Admiral Kita, arriving early at Enewetok through the rift created by the US post-war Ivy Mike detonation. That rift extended deep into the past, and delivers a powerful modern day Japanese task force to the scene, one even stronger than what we saw earlier in the series. Is this the nemesis the author will use to seal Kirov’s fate?  We’ll just have to wait for that last volume coming the first quarter of 2022. Brothers, after ten years with this story, it will be a sad day when it ends with the Series Finale in the final book, appropriately entitled Journey's End. That said, the author has included an announcement at the end of this book for a new series he is launching in 2022, something altogether different that I’m now really looking forward to. The first Volume of that new tale is already complete, and John is working on the web site while he finishes Journey's end. Its in an entirely different genre.

For now, hop aboard Kirov for the Final Sortie. This one builds up at the end to what will likely be the last missiles to be fired by the ship and crew. The Series Finale, Journey's End is going to focus heavily on all the main characters, as each one's fate line is tied off, one by one. If you were there at the beginning, you'll definitely want to be there for the ending in these last two volumes. So join our 'Wanderers in eternity' and walk that missile deck once again, but be ready when the claxon sounds!

 

Kirov Saga #63

The Final Sortie  

By

John Schettler

 

Part I – Catch-22

Part II – Wading In

Part III – Karpov’s War

Part IV – Hara’s Dilemma

Part V – Moskit#10

Part VI – Bloodhounds

Part VII – Shadow Thread

Part VIII– Strange Bedfellows

Part IX – Gladiators

Part X – Devil in the Banda Sea

Part XI – The Marathon

Part XII – Homeward Bound

Coming Through

 The invasion is Coming Through!

Available Aug 15, 2021Kindle ebook: $4.99Trade Paperback: $19.99

About:

The Final season reached its midpoint by the end of this volume, as the series takes us to some dark corners and unplumbed depths of the world in search of temporal rifts being used by the Raptors, which have been coming through into modern eras and posing a real challenge.  Fedorov and Karpov have already been frustrated with their inability to close the so called “Sky Rift” over the epicenter of the Tunguska Event, but that is but one of many undiscovered rifts, and the Raptors have a sixth sense that allows them to find them. 

Many have been located in deep underground cave networks, possibly because the Raptors fled underground in their own world when Chicxulub fell. Fedorov finds a wealth of information at the Krasnoyarsk Speleo Club that gives him good maps of the caves. Their mission is to find points in the tunnel systems to set demolition charges and prevent any breakout, just as they did at Lake Lama and Rail tunnel # 39 in earlier volumes. 

For readers dropping in on these volumes and hearing talk of Raptors, these are not the small but vicious predators that were featured in Jurassic Park, but a creature unknown to modern science that was missed in the paleontological records. It is highly evolved, with a mix of physical features akin to birds, bats, and reptiles, but bipedal and very intelligent. It’s ability to fly or drift on atmospheric thermals has proven very daunting. Fedorov’s theory, particularly after a reconnaissance to the deep past, is that these creatures have seen what devastation will be caused by the Chicxulub asteroid impact, and that they have homed in on magnetic anomalies associated with temporal rifts to migrate to a safer time in the future. As it happens, the modern worlds they end up invading already have one well established apex predator—humans, and there is no tolerance for the arrival of another, particularly one that has been treating humans as a prey animal. What results is an inter-species war, where both sides end up using some fairly terrible weapons.

While the Raptors, as Fedorov has chosen to call them, have not shown much in the way of tool use or any advanced technology, they do present a most unexpected and deadly new kind of attack in this volume, and a simple school Janitor, a man named Boris, is one of the first to find out just how deadly it can be.

As it served them well in the past, Fedorov and Karpov make good use of the incredible power of the Kamenski Device, which allows them to make very precise temporal shifts. With it they can go back and correct their mishaps until they get a desired outcome. Karpov decides that taking a brief jaunt forward to modern times allows them a dual opportunity to bring back more modern weapons for his Siberian army, which must now fight the Raptors in addition to Volkov’s Orenburg Host. At the same time, they can harvest information to update their portable Wiki files, and Nikolin has been busy researching to find out when and where the Raptors might make their next big attacks.

Karpov refuses to look at information on how he conducts his battles in the field against Volkov, but he has no scruples about gaining this kind of intelligence on the Raptors so he can beef up his defenses ahead of time and give them a real surprise when they attack. But the Raptors fight back with a few surprises of their own in an eerie twist on this inter-species warfare.

In the midst of all of this, Fedorov and Karpov also find time to get back on mission and resolve the fate of Josef Stalin. Ivan Volkov is at his wits end against Karpov’s resurgent Siberian Army and decides he must go underground and disappear from the history to drop off of Karpov’s radar screen.

All in all, there’s a lot going on here in this volume, with action on many scales, near death danger to major characters, and some most unexpected twists and turns along the way. The Raptors were a most refreshing change of pace for the series, but as this volume ends, Fedorov is confronted with the possibility that all they have done may be in vain, and that the world they fought to preserve, in two world wars, may still be doomed. 

Kirov Saga:

Coming Through                                                    

By

John Schettler

Part I – Trollswarren

Part II – A Stich In Time

Part III – Jonah

Part IV – Second Chances

Part V – In Case of Armageddon

Part VI – The Missing Tooth

Part VII – Stalin

Part VIII– Consolidation

Part IX – Boris

Part X – The Delta Thread

Part XI – Pyrrhic Victories

Part XII – Taklamakan

Enter "The Space Between"

 Kirov Series Ventures Into Strange Far Places

BUY FOR KINDLE: $4.99

Get ready to enter the Space Between.

The next installment in the Kirov Series, #59, takes its title from that given to Part I of No Man’s Land. Here, The Space Between begins with some haunting quotes from HP Lovecraft that allude to the strange entities discovered earlier as an old intelligent race. Karpov and Fedorov sees how the Raptors retreat into the Sky Rift over Tunguska, and of course, he wonders where it takes them, since 1908 had been the normal destination point for things entering that rift any time in the future.  Fedorov is grateful to be there after Karpov’s use of the Kamenski device to go and retrieve an earlier version of the man after he vanished, and to avoid the circumstances that may have contributed to his temporal instability. Now, wanting to know more about the “Raptors,” Fedorov suggests a reconnaissance to the deep past to have a look, and we’re off to the races. The book takes you by the throat like a Raptor claw, and doesn’t let up as Karpov goes to war on this emerging threat. 

In No Man’s Land we saw how the Raptors began infiltrating into modern times during WWI during the Battle of Cambrai. Baikal and crew have become a kind of antibody reaction to these incursions, led by Fedorov’s insatiable curiosity, and his effort to prevent what he sees as real trouble should a larger host of the entities come forward into modern times. 

If you liked the oddly different but strangely satisfying run ins with these creatures in the tunnels and trenches of WWI, then this one will take that story thread to a higher gear. Karpov soon learns that there is a lost battalion of his army that is already out hunting the Raptors in the Tunguska region, and actions there soon lead the mission to times and places where they never thought they could go. We will get a gripping battle at Vanavara, where Zykov finally gets his fervent wish to bring down something really big. 

In the meantime, what’s been happening with the ship and crew we all spent so many hours on? Admiral Volsky has decided that Kirov can not sit idle in Vladivostok, particularly since the port is being hit by Chinese rockets in the still simmering Sino-Siberian war. This soon leads us to a long segment aboard Kirov, where the ship, of course, slips in time again and gets caught up in another reality. It’s the author’s way of showing us what ends up happening to the future Volkov has created and runs from Part V through Part X of this volume. Kirov makes a number of unplanned excursions, and the author is using these segments to tie off plot lines in those times. The fate of Volkov’s future, where Imperial Japan still reigns in the Western Pacific, is particularly chilling, because the big natural events that ended the last volume. Between the skyfall of Bennu, and the reawakening of the Demon, Kirov is now sailing in some very dangerous and unstable waters, from a temporal standpoint as well as a military one.

Along the way, we learn more of how the war in 2021 ended, at least in the Pacific Theater where it began. Then, for the ending, we return to events involving the Raptors. One is a major incursion in 2026, the other a sortie to try and seal off other similar rifts. 

So this volume is loaded, from tense small unit actions against the Raptor threat to a nuclear exchange in the Pacific. It has naval action, missile duels, ground action, and oh yes, Dinosaurs. 

Kirov Saga:

The Space Between

July 1, 2021

By

John Schettler

Part I – Between two worlds

Part II – The Lost Battalion

Part III – Voyaging Far

Part IV – A Gun for Dinosaur

Part V – The Last Sortie

Part VI – Mizuchi

Part VII – The Fog

Part VIII– The Japanese

Part IX – Out of the Frying Pan

Part X – Homeward Bound

Part XI – Into the Void

Part XII – Bernardo

BUY FOR KINDLE: $4.99

No Man's Land

 Season 8 gets into gear!

The startling developments in the season opener, The Mission, now begin to get traction as Fedorov and Karpov find more trouble ahead from "the Raptors."

NOTE: If you haven't read "The Mission" yet, spoilers dead ahead!

   What to say about the latest evolutions of the Kirov Series? One reader wrote to say this: “I’ve just finished “The Mission” and was utterly and totally gripped by it. The introduction of time rifts leading back 30,000 years to the Pleistocene is an unexpected and welcome twist to Karpov and Fedorov’s mission to deal with the Volkov “brothers.” I found the entry of the Raptors quite terrifying and the possibility that they are also time travelers trying to mold events to their preferred outcomes. The description you give of their appearance made me think that they could be highly evolved descendants of Oviraptors, themselves highly evolved dinosaurs? Anyway, I can’t wait until “No Man’s Land” comes out to see how things develop!”
    Well, with this prolific writer you never have to wait too long. Get ready to step into No Man’s Land, if you dare, as Karpov and Fedorov take us to one of the most significant battle of WWI in 1917—Cambrai. It was a battle that was conceived to try and prove the viability of the latest weapon on the field, tanks, as the British launch them in waves, almost 400 fighting tanks in all. Unlike the sodden, muddy fields of Passchendaele which bogged down the tanks rendering many immobile, the ground around Cambrai was, mostly good hard chalk, and not heavily cratered by heavy fighting.
    Now the British introduce a new concept of operations—“Combined Arms,” where new methods of artillery fire, massed tanks and close cooperation by infantry become the key elements of a spectacular advance by WWI standards, and against some of the strongest fieldworks the German Army ever built in the war, the Siegfried and Hindenburg Lines. The Bells were ringing all over London but “all glory is fleeting” and the Germans soon plan a major counterattack, the largest ever mounted against the British Army in that war, and they have new tactics as well.
    In the midst of all this, we fall in with the “Kickers” the men who put their backs to one trench wall, fixed their spade into the opposite wall and gave it a good hard kick to begin some new digging operation. While this battle was not one where extensive “undermining” operations occurred, the author had added one in the south of the opening British position, near the Village of Gonnelieu. We will be led into the secret underground tunnels by the Kickers, Diggers and Baggers, only we soon find that they are not the only ones digging beneath the ghastly spaces of No Man’s Land above. Soon both the British and German armies must contend with frightening visitors in their underground tunnels and trenches.
    This opening segment of the book is a welcome visit to WWI, but no tour of that great conflict would be complete without a peek at the naval action too. Of course our heroes soon find a good reason to backshift a year to drop in on the famous Battle of Jutland, and we get a brisk look at that duel between Beatty, Jellicoe, Hipper and Scheer. A pity Kirov could not be in attendance, (though Karpov is there with Baikal), but another ship that has been shifting about in time is involved, and we are returned to Captain Dieter Jung and his crew aboard the Kaiser Wilhelm, an alternate ship build from WWII. This is a subplot of the book that had to be tied off, and the author uses this segment for that purpose, and to give us a nice alternate history of the Battle of Jutland.
    Following this, we get an unexpected twist when Fedorov learns of more trouble beneath the old Citadel of Cambrai, in the  so called “Souterrains” there. His away team makes yet another incredible find, but the mission is one that lays heavily on Fedorov, sending Karpov into a near panic. All this time, Mironov has quietly receded into the background, because the Kamenski Device demonstrates some remarkable new capabilities, and Fedorov and Karpov decide they can get to Josef Stalin in due course. In the meantime, Karpov is rallying the Siberian Army against Volkov’s Orenburg Host, first at Omsk and then pursuing him west to Orsk. As they advance, our heroes wonder what effect their campaigns might have of the overall outcome of things, for this is a struggle to destroy the future Volkov built and preserve that arising from the alternate history of WWII that makes up the bulk of the series.
    All in all, we have a great mix of ground action, small unit engagements, raids, sea battles, and some downright horror in the tunnels and trenches here, making No Man’s Land a solid entry as season 8 gets into gear. We even get to drop in on the  mighty Kirov for the ending, to see what Volsky and the crew are up to. The Admiral has more than enough to deal with when his leisurely voyage to Petropavlovsk is interrupted by a most unexpected visitor, and an old nemesis Fedorov had warned him about before he departed. That sets the table for the next book, where it looks like we will again spend a good long while walking the decks of Kirov. After all, the ship itself has a fate, like any of the characters. Will it meet that on this last dangerous voyage?
    We will soon see. This volume has it all, the tanks, dreadnaughts, armored trains, Zeppelins and more, coming in May to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Kirov Series!

Coming May 1: http://writingshop.ws/html/no_man-s_land.html

Whirlwind

 Season Seven ends the war in 2026 in Whirlwind, and then gives us the root and stem of the next book the final season premier: The Mission. Both books are out now on Amazon!

About Whirlwind, by John Schettler

The war that began in 2025 now reaches its conclusion in the Pacific as the US deploys a startling new weapon that will hunt down the Last Dragons. In a stunning preview of things to come, it now threatens to rewrite the book on Naval Warfare and ironically, it may also end the long reign of the big deck carriers. Now Sun Wei, Zheng Bao and Wu Jinlong fight their final battles as Admiral Cook leads his carriers into the East China Sea. Includes a full assessment of the weapons and tactics that decided the outcome, and losses sustained by both sides.

Then, Fedorov and Karpov plan and launch their dangerous mission to 1908 to try and save Sergei Kirov and eliminate the daunting influence of Ivan Volkov. As Admiral Volsky takes command of Kirov, Fedorov tries the back stairway at Ilanskiy, while Karpov leads the bulk of the mission force to Tunguska on the airship Baikal. Soon both ends of the mission meet unexpected difficulties and complications, as Volkov maneuvers to eliminate his enemies and secure his timeline as the only future that could possibly arise from these events. More details at www.writingshop.ws

About The Mission by John Schettler 

   The long planned mission to save the future they fought for in so many wars is now underway, but Fedorov’s team at Ilanskiy must fend for itself when Karpov and the airship Baikal only reach the year 1919. As Fedorov struggles to find and secure Mironov while  avoiding Paradox, Karpov cannot resist the lure of war, and decides to involve himself in the Russian Civil War. He wants to replace the Siberian leader Kolchak, and also find the valuable Gold train he has hidden. To do so he must deal with the legendary Czech Legion as they push towards the port of Vladivostok. His quest will soon discover far more than he anticipated as he launches a mission to explore abandoned railway tunnels near Lake Baikal, in search of Kolchak’s Gold.

   Meanwhile Fedorov looks for a way to safely hide until their planned attempt to locate Josef Stalin, but he and his Marines also make an astonishing discovery that shakes him to the core. It seems that the Tunguska Event has done far more damage to Spacetime than he first believed.

Both books are out now for Kindle and Paperbacks should be available soon. 

More details at www.writingshop.ws