Alasdair C. Shaw's Blog, page 5

October Roundup of Scifi Books

Well, the last month I've been doing a lot of work getting orienteering back on its feet. As the chairman of our county club, it's been heartening to see so many people continuing, and many new people joining. It is a sport that lends itself well of social distancing, unlike Parkrun which has sadly suffered badly this year.

And here are the books you want...

Celeste is the Grekk Empire's top Envoy, but she harbors a secret.
The Enigma War destroyed humanity. Now, an uneasy peace rules the galaxy headed by the Imperium Alliance with the Grekk Empire working behind the shadows to increase its influence.
On a routine first round of negotiations with the Zandrax, a new species, at the fringe of the galaxy, something is amiss. A storm is emerging with the Zandrax bent on challenging the galaxy's order.
In the midst of this crisis, Celeste encounters a mysterious being, who will challenge everything she knows about herself.
Will Celeste be able to hold onto her secret? Can the Zandrax incursion be neutralized? And, will the peace survive this incursion?

As mankind flees the ruins of Earth, everyone knows survival won't be easy. Major Nazario expects danger. His team expects hardships and hunger. What they don't expect is a dragon and horde full of angry orcs...
Nazario is stranded on board one of the last of Earth's ship, unable to process the pain of losing his home. In no time, he is charged with finding a new home for his people before they die on their failing colony ship.
What he finds is even better: a paradise full of magical alien life straight out of fantasy. But their salvation is threatened. War is coming to destroy their new home. And the people still stranded in space struggle to handle their impending doom.
Now Nazario must end an unfamiliar war in order to save the remnants of humanity before they tear themselves apart, trapped on board The Jericho...

Siouca is a member of the advanced Wanderer civilisation. What does Siouca want?
The quest to unlock the secrets of interstellar travel leads a Roranian crew on an epic journey across space. Saved by a dying machine-lect, stranded in a failing ship, faced with an ultimate choice. Were they too eager in their attempts to reach the stars?
The fractious Primals are the ancient, all-powerful rulers of the Creatites. Their origins are shrouded in mystery although Storytellers recite their legends. Tallic has recently been granted special abilities by the Barrier Primal that most other Creatites could only dream of, although he has an unexpected encounter with an intruder that changes everything.
What secrets have the Primals kept hidden since time began?
Nurilm resides within a decaying temple. One day, she chances upon forbidden knowledge about an enigmatic entity called the ‘Collector’, and an unthinkable battle waged long ago in which the Primals were united.
What does it all mean? And how is it all connected?
One thing is for certain. Siouca is coming.

Is it love, or is it alien abduction? Things keep getting weirder when young human Antaska travels in outer space with an alien and her psychic cat. Mischievous but evil part-reptile humanoids team up with Antaska’s nemesis, a genetically enhanced fitness instructor, to take revenge on her to the ends of the universe.

The United States is hit by an EMP from an unknown source and its citizens are asked to move to New York. Without basic survival skills and being in the middle of winter, it’s more of a journey to death for most. And then there is the increasing number of kidnap cases everywhere.
4 Unlikely Heroes... Xander, Aaliyah, Stephen, and Suzanne are individuals from worlds apart and with different conflicts. However, with suspicions of foul play in the country spreading, fate must bring them together to clear the air and set things right.

Blaine - A CEO searching for an elusive dream, bringing in a talented team, sets the wheels in motion for an impossible, far-reaching adventure.
Amy - An MI6 agent assigned to a mission wrapped in so much secrecy she doesn't even know what or who the target is, but is confronted with a life-changing decision.
Elliot - A brainiac researcher, who once believed that his PhD would lay the world at his feet, is learning about the reality of the frustratingly slow-moving wheels of university grant approvals and funding. Hungry to prove his controversial theories, he stumbles into an incredibly unreal opportunity that might give him exactly what he needs.

Struggling with newfound sentience and desperately trying to repair itself, The Indescribable Joy of Destruction is a ship trying to find a new home. In a galaxy torn apart by generations of civil war, that isn't an easy task. Tired of being used as a killing machine, it has a huge decision to make: hide and save itself, or help other artificial intelligences achieve freedom. Unable to make the decision alone, it revives the sole human aboard - the enemy officer who crippled it.
Commander Olivia Johnson wakes to find herself in the infirmary of a strange vessel. Her nightmares deepen when she discovers it is the ship that attacked her destroyer. Even as she recovers from her physical injuries, she can't get past her survivor's guilt. She might have failed to protect her crew, but she vows to take revenge on their killer.
When the ship uncovers a genocidal plot by the commander's own admirals, Johnson realises just what is at stake. Together, the AI ship and the human officer must recruit outsiders from both sides. Training the misfits in battle to prevent the atrocity may be an impossible task, but running and hiding is no longer an option.

Get the first three installments of the science fiction dystopian series Miles & Breaker now in one complete edition. For a limited time, grab the first box set for 85% off!

Her entrance exam just became a fight for survival.
Subria is going to be one of the few, a Rider dedicated to scouting the food and resources her people need to survive, but first she has to pass the entrance exam. Of course, it’s more than just an exam, it’s a chance to attain the one thing that a Rider needs above all others; a steed.
The bond between these genetically engineered companions and their riders is legendary, and Subria wants it almost as much as she wants to follow in her father’s footsteps as a Rider. Legends might be all she ever gets to know it as though, because as soon as the test starts, something goes terribly, terribly wrong.
Now, Subria’s no longer fighting for a dream, she’s in a battle for survival.

September Roundup of Scifi Books

There's some lovely autumn colour in my garden at the moment. Here are some highlights...
And here are the books you want...

Alice Valent, Noah "Carnie" Lucas and the crew of the Clever Dream are delving into the galactic underworld in search of resistance groups and Mary Reed, an elusive leader amongst the rebels. Will they find her? Will their efforts to arm resistance fighters once again result in disaster?
A new wave of Order of Eden forces are entering the fray while Haven tries to build its defences and fill the ranks. Dame and Easy, two pilots are behind enemy lines, watching their enemy take over, dig in and make their own efforts to lure people to their side. Will Dame and Easy be able to get away so they can report what they've seen, or will they end up in the clutches of Admiral Scanlon, the new Order of Eden leader tasked with the mission to destroy Haven Fleet.

I am at the end of my resources. The Alliance has confiscated everything of value and conscripted or mindwiped most of my crew. I am being taxed again. It is the third time this month. There is no way I can earn enough credits to satisfy the Alliance tax collectors, and they know it. They are watching my ship, making sure that what is left of my crew and I can't escape. The next time the Alliance boards my ship will be the last. I need to find a way to escape them, and cross the border into the Coalition of Free Worlds.
We will become exiles, never able to return home. It doesn't matter. I have no desire to return to the Alliance. It is up to me to restore my family’s wealth and get revenge against the government for what they are doing to my friends and family.
Nathaniel Roberts is unaware that the Alliance is breaking a century-old treaty in preparation for war. The Alliance isn't alone, they have formed a pact with the Crimson Tide—a pirate organization. Captain Roberts won't be facing one enemy, he will be facing at least two. He will have to fight both while trying to make a new home for his crew.

The stars are within mankind’s reach...
But what awaits in the void may end humanity...
Mars and the Moon have been colonized, piracy runs rampant in the asteroid belts, and a thriving society grows in the depths of space. Humanity prepares to embark upon its greatest journey—the colonization of Alpha Centauri.
Then everything changes...
A deep space reconnaissance probe discovers a new Earth-like planet twelve light-years from Earth’s sun. The probe also finds something unusual, something…unnerving. A new mission is created, a space fleet is formed, and humanity embarks on unraveling the greatest mystery of all—the origins of life itself.
Can the factions of Earth remain united, or will old rivalries and animosities destroy the fragile peace in the face of this terrifying existential threat?
Will exploration prove to be a fatal mistake?

The Confederation consists of the seven oldest races in known space. They control a vast section of the galaxy. All races in that part of the galaxy are subjects of the Confederation and forced to obey the Confederation’s laws.
The Human Empire is well aware of the Confederation and has been careful not to intrude upon Confederation space. However, now the Confederation has decided the Human Empire has grown too large and needs to be brought under control of the seven races.
Warfleets are dispatched, and soon massive space battles erupt throughout the Empire. Can the Humans survive or is the time of the Empire over?

On the trail of a fugitive, Commander Devren Tenebris thinks he has finally cornered the man who betrayed his oath to the Coalition, only to end up walking into a trap. Battered, betrayed, but refusing to return empty-handed, Dev sneaks aboard a starship filled with outlaws in hopes of picking up the trail.
But Dev has always been by-the-book, and he’ll have to engage in some questionable practices if he doesn’t want to blow his cover. His training never covered backstabbing and theft. Fitting in with the criminal element might not be as easy as he’d hoped.
Unfortunately, time is short. By the time Dev gets close, the stage is set for a conflict. To prevent an interstellar war, he may have no choice but show his true colors.
But what happens when the ship of criminals finds out there's a lawman in their midst?

The mission to the recently terraformed planet of Lisa should be nothing to worry about for the special unit of the Federation Galactic Military. But there are no straight forward missions that deep in the outer rims, and even the simplest of tasks can be fatal. And no matter how much they train and what their experiences might be, some things space marines can just not account for...

Death is never more than an airlock away for the denizens of Hell, the last deck before the Void on the last station in human space.
It’s a place where justice is for sale and slavers hawk their human merchandise to the highest bidder. But to Rick, a scarred, bitter Lupan warrior, it’s home – or at least the one place in the known universe where he can ignore all the death warrants on him throughout the rest of the Commonwealth. It’s also the place where a few drops of the most precious liquid in all of human space can buy him a berth on the last ship back to his birth world. Until a mysterious, vaguely familiar woman walks into the dive Rick runs. And brings his deadly, ugly past in with her.
Somehow Rick must unlock the secrets she carries. Because if he fails, he will lose far more than just his life.

One after another, the Kingdom’s star bases have fallen before the Neo Hegemony and their coalition. Only one remains in the strategically vital Talos Rift.
Valestra.
Low on supplies, low on fuel and low on food - The base’s only hope is a desperate resupply mission. The Kingdom fleet assembles the largest convoy yet, protected by dozens of warships and hundreds of fighters.
Even with all the firepower the Kingdom can bring to bear, if only a single freighter manages to run the enemy’s relentless gauntlet, then the relief operation will be deemed a success.
Lieutenant Jason 'Rick' Richards knows he’s the best Tempest pilot in the Kingdom. But there’s an enemy out there who is his equal. Someone only he can defeat. Someone he must defeat.
Hegemony pilot, Major Gan Corla’s hatred for Rick burns strong. He has given himself body and soul to the Neo cause, but his hunger to take down his nemesis could overwhelm even that fanatical loyalty.
Both will risk all to kill the other. Even the mission. Even the war, if need be.
And while fighters and warships collide in ferocious combat, hidden in the dark, a new kind of warrior rises. Lieutenant Commander Nisha Draper and her stealth ship, the KSS Ghost, may be all that stands between the convoy, and the massive fleet of enemy reinforcements headed their way.

What would you do if you found a spaceship? Would you call the government, would you pretend you never saw it, or would you keep it a secret? What would you do with it? Use it to gallivant around the galaxy, conquer Earth, get filthy rich, or try to improve life on Earth? Read along and find out how Marc McCormack handles his discovery of a starship. How strives to convert Earth into a spacefaring world capable of defending itself before it meets the other civilizations in the galaxy. His dream, a united Earth at the forefront of an interstellar civilization. He and his brother start planning their next steps, but the one they don’t know how to prepare for is the arrival of Marc’s twelve-year-old daughter. She comes to spend the summer with her father. She’s very smart and extremely curious.
Marc and his crew need to accomplish all this without tipping off the U.S. Government and before the Paraxeans come looking for their spaceship. But they have help, the ship’s AI is on their side, and she’s smart.

Beyond the edge of the galaxy lies the Unknown Regions: chaotic, uncharted, and near impassable, with hidden secrets and dangers in equal measure. And nestled within its swirling chaos is the Ascendancy, home to the enigmatic Chiss and the Nine Ruling Families that lead them.
The peace of the Ascendancy, a beacon of calm and stability, is shattered after a daring attack on the Chiss capital that leaves no trace of the enemy. Baffled, the Ascendancy dispatches one of its brightest young military officers to root out the unseen assailants. A recruit born of no title, but adopted into the powerful family of the Mitth and given the name Thrawn.
With the might of the Expansionary Fleet at his back, and the aid of his comrade Admiral Ar'alani, answers begin to fall into place. But as Thrawn’s first command probes deeper into the vast stretch of space his people call the Chaos, he realizes that the mission he has been given is not what it seems. And the threat to the Ascendancy is only just beginning.

Aru must choose... use his powers to protect his family... or give up his life to save millions of strangers.
Aru and Nemi together summoned Trikaal, an ancient time traveler, who agreed to be their Guru. Nemi chose to master time travel, and Aru to read the future. But their lives took a sharp turn when paranoid Nemi imprisoned Aru and his pregnant wife. Aru, who considered Nemi his brother, never saw it coming and now languishes in a tiny jail cell. While Nemi travels back and forth in time, wreaking death and destruction.
Traveling to the distant future, Nemi aims to decimate the last survivors of humanity. Aru reads this future and has a plan to end it all. But the price of doing the right thing is too high.
Will Aru escape and save his family or stay and save the world?

A secret buried in the Antarctic.
A puzzle unsolved for thousands of years.
And a Brooklyn-born Master Gunnery Sergeant who's royally pissed that he has to babysit the researchers sent to figure it all out.
Patrick "Wic" Finnegan's last op as a Marine Raider before retirement sends him to the frozen Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands. The only reason he's here?
He owes a favor for an old friend—but that doesn't mean he has to like it.
When Wic finally sees what the team has uncovered, he can't believe his eyes, nor is he prepared for the violence to come.
Soon, the portal opens and unleashes a storm of unbridled fury upon humanity.
From the Antarctic tundra to the streets of Manhattan, Wic and his team will be pushed to their limits as they fight to hold back Earth's ultimate threat.
The odds are against them. Governments are toppling. And the Earth is falling into ruin.

August Round-up of Scifi Books

Just a quick list this month, and a cool image.

And here are the books you want...

Can Earth save the Human Empire?
The Confederation consists of the seven oldest races in known space. They control a vast section of the galaxy. All races in that part of the galaxy are subjects of the Confederation and forced to obey the Confederation’s laws.
The Human Empire is well aware of the Confederation and has been careful not to intrude upon Confederation space. However, now the Confederation has decided the Human Empire has grown too large and needs to be brought under control of the seven races.
Warfleets are dispatched, and soon massive space battles erupt throughout the Empire. Can the Humans survive or is the time of the Empire over?

The surprise attack within the Auriga Star System was worse than brutal, it was heinous—leaving the US-Navy's 3rd Fleet decimated. Thousands of crew are reported dead, including the ship’s Captain. Reluctantly, the young XO, Galvin Quintos, will be taking command of the fleet's crippled dreadnaught, the USS Hamilton, while doing his best to bring fleet survivors back to Earth. Going from bad to worse, there’s a murderer running loose onboard the ship. Add to that fuel levels are critically low, and the Grish are back and in fast pursuit—ready to finish what they’d started. Only by sheer luck, along with a good measure of cagey smarts, will Quintos be able to rise the challenge.

With an alien invasion threatening the survival of the human race, service in the Marines was no longer simply about honor and duty, it was a matter of life and death.
This was especially true for Quinn, a Marine sergeant who was hell-bent on ensuring that her young daughter had a world to grow up in. But one thing separates Quinn from the others:She’s a certifiable badass.
And as the aliens will learn, it’s tough to keep a good woman down.

Her entrance exam just became a fight for survival. Subria is going to be one of the few, a Rider dedicated to scouting the food and resources her people need to survive, but first she has to pass the entrance exam. Of course, it’s more than just an exam, it’s a chance to attain the one thing that a Rider needs above all others; a steed.
The bond between these genetically engineered companions and their riders is legendary, and Subria wants it almost as much as she wants to follow in her father’s footsteps as a Rider. Legends might be all she ever gets to know it as though, because as soon as the test starts, something goes terribly, terribly wrong.
Now, Subria’s no longer fighting for a dream, she’s in a battle for survival.

This is Nathaniel's and Persephone's first official assignment from Bob, the Lord of Creation for this universe. They can't afford to screw it up. The job sounds simple enough. Travel to the Rekar'ree star system, find the source of evil and stop it from spreading to the other neighboring star systems. The only problem is that Rekar'ree is on the other side of the galaxy.
Bob provided them with a solution. He has devised a stargate, of sorts, for them to use. All Nathaniel and Persephone have to do is pilot their ship to the Antares star system, and fly through the black hole. It sounds easy enough, but nothing escapes a black hole, and Persephone's explanation about what is going to happen to them doesn't help; neither does the AI's carelessness.
When they get to Rekar'ree. It is evident that Bob made a mistake. There is no way that the planet can sustain life. All Nathaniel has to do is make a quick orbit, and run a few sensor scans to prove that no one is there.
High above the surface of the second planet are dirigibles, the size of cities, floating in the atmosphere. Their job just got a little bit more complicated. When they met Tempek'kee, it will get a lot worse. He and his acolytes are evil and must be dealt, permanently.
Dealing with the s.o.b. and his goons isn't the end. It is the beginning. Tempek'kee's employer, Hyperion Corporation also has to be dealt with too.
Persephone's half-sister, Aphrodite, let Nathaniel know that she is interested in him, and she did it right in front of Persephone. Nathaniel wants her too. What man wouldn't want to lay with the Goddess of Love? Can he resist her charms? Does he have too? Is there a way to have her and stay faithful to Persephone?

‘Reverb: Live, Die, Rave, Repeat’ tells the epic story of six young and adventurous students who get to relive the first day of their, no holds barred, holiday to the hedonistic party haven of Magaluf over and over and over again.

Jensen Miller has a new daughter, a beautiful wife and a relatively stable life in unstable New Eden. The fallen government and increasing number of data addicts have the city crumbling. When a group of terrorists sets off a series of explosions at the docks, the population comes together to rebuild. But a rising power, Roma Corp, uses the distraction as an opportunity to strengthen its ever-tightening grip on society.
Relying on Miller, the company's top security agent, Roma starts hunting down those it fears may be working against the company. For Miller, that hunt starts in Digi City, the place most of New Eden's data addicts go to get their fix.
What Miller finds there will change how he sees Roma, these data addicts, and even himself.

The July Round-up of Scifi Books

Wow, what a summer this is proving to be. Lots of relaxing in the garden and walking and SUPping. The meadow part of the garden is really working now, providing a home to many invertebrates and also froglets. The number of grasshoppers and crickets is amazing.

Of course, the highlight of the month was the release of Fraternity. Whilst the denoument with the Red Fleet marks the end of the Two Democracies: Revolution series, there'll be another series...

It begins in the realm of the Real, where matter still matters.
Lededje Y'breq is one of the Intagliated, her marked body bearing witness to a family shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release, when it comes, is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.
It begins in the realm of the Real. It begins with a murder.
And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself.

In the year 2570, a sleeper will wake...
In the mid-21st century, the Kernel, a strange object on a five-hundred-year-orbit, is detected coming from high above the plane of the solar system. Could it be an alien artefact? In the middle of climate-change crises, there is no mood for space-exploration stunts - but Reid Malenfant, elderly, once a shuttle pilot and frustrated would-be asteroid miner, decides to go take a look anyway. Nothing more is heard of him. But his ex-wife, Emma Stoney, sets up a trust fund to search for him the next time the Kernel returns...
By 2570 Earth is transformed. A mere billion people are supported by advanced technology on a world that is almost indistinguishable from the natural, with recovered forests, oceans, ice caps. It is not an age for expansion; there are only small science bases beyond the Earth. But this is a world you would want to live in: a Star Trek without the stars.
After 500 years the Kernel returns, and a descendant of Stoney, who Malenfant will call Emma II, mounts a mission to see what became of Malenfant. She finds him still alive, cryo-preserved... His culture-shock encounter with a conservative future is entertaining... But the Kernel itself turns out to be attached to a kind of wormhole, through which Malenfant and Emma II, exploring further, plummet back in time, across five billion years...

The Roberts family has interfered with the plans of the Alliance and its desire for conquest one too many times. The Alliance leaders don't want Captain Roberts captured any longer. They want him dead. They put a bounty on his head that few can resist and that is before they realize that he has robbed them of the treasure they need to help pay for their expansion into the Collation star systems. Once they learn of his treachery, there will be no stopping their hunt for Nathaniel until he is dead.
Life for Nathaniel and his friends was pretty good on San Paulos' space station until he, his wife, and his companion became stars on a popular holovid show called "Busted." Now everyone who once thought of him as a hero hates him for attempting to steal the hard-earned credits that the Lucy's girls worked for.
If that isn't bad enough, the system governor has signed a treaty with the Alliance representative. Part of that agreement includes turning Nathaniel over to the Alliance military for execution. He and his friends are forced to make their escape earlier than planned. Now he has to flee the Alliance. Along the way, he has to search for stragglers that were sent prior to his departure to a rendezvous point. Once Nathaniel rendezvouses with the rest of the fleet it will be up to him to lead them someplace safe where the Alliance can't reach them.

The mission to the recently terraformed planet of Lisa should be nothing to worry about for the special unit of the Federation Galactic Military. But there are no straight forward missions that deep in the outer rims, and even the simplest of tasks can be fatal. And no matter how much they train and what their experiences might be, some things space marines can just not account for...

When a star blows up, someone's going to pay.
Humanity has been fighting the alien threat for decades, and the war just ratcheted up a notch. Sent to aid a dreadnaught under siege, Dani Devereaux and the crew of Alaska's Vengeance find themselves caught in a trap.
A trap that brings a new ultimate weapon to the battlefield, destroying an entire star system.
Narrowly escaping, she returns home to find victory parades turned into lines of questioning reporters all wanting to learn the details of her failure.
But endings can create new beginnings, and when Dani hits rock bottom, she finds a way to regain her pride—and though not her honor, at least she'll have her vengeance.

Siouca is a member of the advanced Wanderer civilisation. What does Siouca want?
The quest to unlock the secrets of interstellar travel leads a Roranian crew on an epic journey across space. Saved by a dying machine-lect, stranded in a failing ship, faced with an ultimate choice. Were they too eager in their attempts to reach the stars?
The fractious Primals are the ancient, all-powerful rulers of the Creatites. Their origins are shrouded in mystery although Storytellers recite their legends. Tallic has recently been granted special abilities by the Barrier Primal that most other Creatites could only dream of, although he has an unexpected encounter with an intruder that changes everything.
What secrets have the Primals kept hidden since time began?
Nurilm resides within a decaying temple. One day, she chances upon forbidden knowledge about an enigmatic entity called the ‘Collector’, and an unthinkable battle waged long ago in which the Primals were united.
What does it all mean? And how is it all connected?
One thing is for certain. Siouca is coming.

A starship’s sirens scream into the void. Can a highly trained protector fight for peace on an unfamiliar world? It’s elite soldier Laure’s duty to protect the last of humanity. Four hundred years after Earth fell to alien invaders, she’s only known life on a colonization ship searching through space. But when the vessel is forced to crash land for emergency repairs, Laure comes face to face with a new breed of enemy.
Struggling both to battle aliens and rescue her colonists, Laure never expects to find her other half on the strange planet. As her telepathic and physical bond with the alien grows, she’s horrified to discover the people she’s sworn to protect turn on her and consider her inhuman.
Torn between two species, can Laure defend humankind from extinction?

The galaxy lies in ruins.
Hundreds of planets crushed to nothing more than dust. The Winter Tiger's diabolic plan has been executed and not a single species lifted a finger to stop him. He was born to rule and with the help of the Elder Three and the might of Tigris behind him no one can stand in his way but that doesn't mean those within his own ranks might turn on him...
Star Wolf and the Band of Breeds have formed an alliance that has drawn upon the forces of the Scarlett Fox, the Night Badger and the infamous Leopard Shadowfang but will their combined strength be enough to topple the growing Tiger empire?
Every decision the Winter Tiger makes is born from methodical planning and careful manipulation of the Tiger forces. A wrong move could see him incur the wrath of the Tiger planet's rulers, the loathsome Elder Three. A foul trio too preoccupied with dark arts and rituals designed to prolong their already extensive lifespans.
The Winter Tiger must continue to fight a war on two fronts, head-on against Star Wolf and his newly formed army and internally, amongst the shadows against the ever-growing politics back on Tigris...

Two sisters ran away from home to join the crew of a spaceship. They took on pirates, faced down monsters and survived massacres... and now they're in charge. Captaining a fearsome ship of their own, adventures are theirs for the taking - and there's hoards to loot and treasures to find in the darkest reaches of space. But the rules are also more relaxed out on the fringes, as they're about to discover...

The Realm Online needs a hero. He'll have to grow up first.
Billy's a friendless teen and child of divorce, but when he's playing The Realm Online? He's a legend. Not just a legend, but a god amongst men.
Some say he's a no-skill hack, that he's nothing without the mysterious artifact weapon known across the lands as Banhammer. With a unique fighting style perfected over the course of beating the endgame content (twice), Bronan is above needing friends—or a guild, for that matter.
Lily of House Hathur is another matter. She isn't merely a conniving you-know-what out to get him killed...IRL she's also his sister. When their parents split, so did she, and now he won't stop trying to ruin her reputation.
Can Billy ever forgive his sister for abandoning him—or will his single-minded rage drive her to the brink?

Shawnie is the most sought after criminal in the known universe. Jerod is the law and he's coming for her. It's not to arrest her, but they want her help. When it's all said and done, can she do what they want and remain alive? If he gets a chance to spend a night with her, will he still be the same? Can love overcome lies and alibis?

The June Roundup of Scifi Books

Well the big news is that Fraternity will be released on 18 July. It is already available to preorder at several retailers, with more coming online as they process the files. Click on the cover to reserve your copy...

And now, to celebrate, a bumper edition of the round-up...

The Bad Company is the only force capable of unlocking destiny.
Terry and Char take the Bad Company beyond the frontier, back to Benitus Seven. What they find shocks them to the very core of their beings
Marcie and Kae develop a new force, a land army to win the peace and keep it. They are sent to Kor’nar, a planet populated by insect people. Their challenges start buzzing the second they land with a force ten thousand strong.
When two worlds clash, there can only be one winner.
Terry. Char. The last chapter. Read it now.

As the war between the Human Planetary Alliance and the Daklan intensifies, Captain Carl Recker experiences a sudden change in fortune.
With battle-hardened officers in short supply, he’s given command of a modified, shipyard-fresh destroyer and a mission to go with it. As part of a task force under the command of an officer Recker is unfortunately all-too-familiar with, the plan is to recover weapons and technology from an uncharted world on the edge of known space.
Easy.
Little does Recker know it, but the outcome of this mission may well determine the future of both humanity and the Daklan. The distant planet Pinvos will be the scene of conflict and destruction on a cataclysmic scale and even success will be tempered by the uncertainty of what he discovers.
With each passing day, a faraway war fought on a colossal scale comes ever nearer and humanity has no defence against the weapons created to fight it.
No defence except perhaps one thing. The alien warship Vengeance has survived countless engagements and still it endures, scarred by the brutality of its past.
And Recker is the only man with the key to unlock its secrets.

For three years, he’s fought the marauding alien Tahni on one God-forsaken planet after another, leading a squad of armored Drop Troopers.
But the war is about to change.
Cam is an officer now, fresh out of OCS and taking charge of his old platoon, and things have reached a tipping point. Instead of fighting a desperate holding action against the enemy, the Commonwealth is finally ready to take back the human colonies the Tahni seized early in the war. To free the people the enemy have kept as human shields.
However, victory comes at a price. Both for the hostage colonists and the Marines who fight to free them. When innocent lives are at stake, every shot fired is danger close…

It was a nice simple war. Just the Earth Federation and the League of Sovereign Systems fighting for the third time over who would be the supreme power in settled space, and who would have to exist in the victor’s shadow. Then the Ascendency showed up and ruined everything.One moment, Flight Lieutenant Mason Grey was a fighter pilot of the Federal Space Forces about to strike a League base located on a dwarf planet in an uninhabited system. The next, unknown starships showed up, blew his carrier to hell, killed his squadron, shot down his fighter, and left him stranded amid the ruins of the very base he had come to attack.With nothing but a space suit and a dwindling life support system, Mason was in way, way over his head. And that was just the start of his problems.

For centuries, the Daegon waited. They plotted. And now they are ready to strike.
The core worlds of settled space enjoy a tenuous peace, unaware and ill prepared for the threat building beyond the furthest reaches of humanity. The star kingdom of Albion stands as a shining light of justice and mercy in a harsh galaxy, and they will be the first to suffer the Daegon's fury.
Defying his low born status, and despite his self-doubt, Commodore Thomas Gage has risen through the ranks by sheer grit and determination, defending Albion from brutal pirate clans.
And when the onslaught comes, Gage and his fleet may be Albion's last hope for freedom.

Alex has discovered new abilities tied to his Implanted Neural Controller, but the galaxy is growing more dangerous by the day, and Ace always seems to find himself in the center of it.
As Cronus team heads to Arcadia for a well-earned victory lap and some much-needed rest, secret forces are at work to destabilize the galaxy. No one is safe—especially people like Ace Evans, whose integrity and morals make him a target. But as the dangers grow, so does the need for the valiant warriors in their mechanized battle armor. The action is just heating up, and nothing can stop the clash of forces that are charging toward one another at breakneck speed.

Defeated in battle, the fractious alliance of Goltar, Spine Patriots, and the Midnight Sun Free Company are chased across the Spine Nebula by the Endless Night and their sea monster allies, the Tyzhounes.
Abandoning the nebula is not an option. For the free trader skipper, Lenworth Jenkins, the people of its fifteen tormented worlds are the cause he’s been searching for all his life.
The Midnight sisters, Sun and Blue, can’t abandon their people trapped in the nebula or its fabulous prospects of wealth and opportunity.
On a water world behind enemy lines, Branco, the former Binnig spy is dying. Can he make a difference one last time?
As Endless Night stretches across the nebula, those who still resist must dig deep and believe that however dire the situation, this is the dark before the light.

Special forces vet, Samantha Jones, is a lowly bodyguard for Ethan Anderson, the biotech billionaire who revolutionized life extension. But at least she’s got a job, unlike most, and won’t have to sell her organs to support her family. Sure, they’re poor, but she’s got death insurance and a roof over her head. Life is livable...
But then Sam’s daughter is kidnapped and sold for parts. Overnight, her life (and belief in the system) shatters. When the rich bastards get off scot-free, Sam’s weak husband commits suicide, and the ex-assassin snaps. Someone is going to pay.
The question: how to kill the heartless elites that use the poor like livestock and whose security rivals the president. And then there’s the senator fighting to abolish life extension, the trillion-dollar corporate standoff, and bloody protests in the streets as conditions deteriorate. Things are about to get ugly.

Two centuries after humanity colonized the stars, new dangers emerge. The peaceful inhabitants of the Conclave are threatened by expanding alien powers. Invaders threaten the star cluster, attacking our fringe settlements.
Captain Bill Gorman has mysteriously disappeared. His clone, set aside for a dark day like this, awakens and begins to put together the pieces. What’s gone wrong out on the frontier? Why are our colonies being attacked by aliens while the Conclave worlds dream of better days? And what happened to the original Captain Gorman?

Fifteen years into a twenty-year voyage, war veteran Captain Throttle Reyne is looking forward to taking a break from dealing with malfunctions, glitches, and the hassles of monitoring a thousand colonists in cryo-sleep.
But when her colony ship breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Throttle and her crew must leave the colonists behind to search for help. They find a ship that's not only missing a crew… it's clearly not from their star system.
It's the discovery of a lifetime. All they need to do is tow the mysterious vessel back to their colony ship for further study and Throttle won't ever have to work again. One problem. While they're away, the colony ship is stolen—with the colonists still on board.
Throttle gives chase to a lawless star system on the outer rim. To get their colonists back, they must take on the pirates and ganglords who will do anything—and sell anyone—to make a buck.
They play dirty. But Throttle and her crew play dirtier.

There is a personal price to pay for having aligned with the wrong side in a reckless war. For Aden Jansen it’s the need to adopt a new identity while keeping his past hidden. Now he’s integrated himself aboard the Zephyr, a merchant ship smuggling critical goods through dangerous space. But danger is imminent on planet Gretia, as well. Under occupation, torn between postwar reformers and loyalists, it’s a polestar for civil unrest.
Meanwhile an occupation forces officer is pulled right back into the fray when the battle alarm is raised, an ambitious heiress is entangled in a subversive political conspiracy, and an Allied captain is about to meet the enemy head-on.
As Aden discovers, the insurgents on Gretia—and in space—are connected, organized, and ready to break into full-scale rebellion. History is threatening to repeat itself. It’s time that Aden rediscovers who he is, whom he can trust, and what he must fight for now.

Tyler Barron and his associates are divided, split between two courses of action. Barron doesn't believe in the desperate plan to eradicate the Highborn, the strange virus that has been created for that purpose, but may or may not be the exact formula used by the empire three hundred years ago. There are too many possible problems... a small difference in the virus, a cure created by the enemy... for him to accept the plan. Barron commits instead to a traditional defense, even though he knows the chances of ultimate success are almost zero.
Many of Barron’s cohorts are on his side, but not all. The leader of the other party is none other than Andi Lafarge, Barron’s wife. If the odds were any less gruesome, either one would have given in to the other. But Andi wants nothing less than the extinction of the Highborn, and she believes the virus will work. She will do anything to see it used. Anything.
The two work together, somewhat at least, and apart as well, striving to end the conflict in any way possible, with millions of spacers fighting…and facing probable doom either way. It is the last stand of free humans on the Rim, the final chance to evade slavery... or worse.

Karin Makos lives a lie. Genetically engineered from birth and raised in a scientific compound to gain unnatural powers, she has since escaped and built another life, hidden from those who created her. For her, the chance to pilot a small-time scrounging vessel to remote corners of space is the dream. After years on the run with her sister and enduring the constant paranoia of living planet-side, going off-radar gives her exactly what she wants: freedom.
That dream is shattered.
A system-wide attack decimates humanity and leaves the survivors scraping for clues. And Karin might know where to look.
But digging into her past comes with a whole new set of secrets and consequences, none of which she wants to face. Plagued by strange dreams of her sister and a sense of growing danger, Karin and the crew of the Nemina must race desperately across space to find their loved ones—and answers.

There’s no rest for the weary. The sun has set on General David Cohen’s galactic military service after twenty-two years in the Coalition Defense Force. Stripped of command of the CSV Lion of Judah by the new administration after his candid assessment of their tactics, David faces ending his illustrious career not as a war hero but a desk jockey.
But the League of Sol isn’t about to head off into the sunset to lick its wounds. Though its shipyards lie in ruins and its leaders talk peace, the League still has their reserve home defense fleet – and a seething determination to use it to claim victory over the Terran Coalition once and for all.
As well as an old adversary ready to take General Cohen down. Word reaches CIS that the enemy is secretly amassing forces. In a last-ditch effort, David joins old allies to commandeer a ship for a daring recon mission. With arrest warrants hanging over them but their suspicions confirmed, they risk their freedom to confront the Terran Coalition’s leadership with the newly discovered intelligence.
When the dust settles, David is tasked with a desperate mission: defend Canaan at all costs. And like his father before him, this mission may prove to be his last in this epic series conclusion.

The Kenmiri Empire has fallen, broken against the might of the Vesheron rebels and the United Planets Space Force. The alliance between the Vesheron and the UPSF has collapsed in turn, leaving the former empire as worlds without governance or leaders.
Amidst the chaos, the UPSF has launched a valiant effort to reach out to the weak and protect the defenseless. As part of the Peacekeeper Initiative, Colonel Henry Wong leads the battlecruiser Raven deep into once-hostile territory.
There, an old ally has begun to forge a new empire from the old slave worlds. As starvation forces worlds to surrender, Henry prepares a desperate plan to bring food to the hungry—and defeat to those who conquer!

Marc Gregorio wakes up paralyzed. He can’t feel his own body. Accident? Stroke? Did someone slip him an overdose of Botox? The answer, he discovers, is much, much worse. He’s only a copy of Marc, a digital brain without a body, burdened with all Marc’s human memories, but without access to human sensual pleasures. Now he has to find a reason to keep on, um, “living.” Adam the Mindclone meets the real Marc Gregorio--and his new girlfriend Molly Schaeffer. Adam loves her, too. But how does a digital entity experience love? He can’t even experience pizza. His one compensation: a powerful digital brain. At Molly’s urging, he applies it to unearthing terrorist plots, aborting schoolyard mayhem, exposing congressional malfeasance and Wall Street chicanery. However, his good deeds gain the attention of a power-mad military contractor who will stop at nothing—theft, kidnapping and worse—to control the technology for his own ends. Without a body, how will Adam save himself – and the world – from a terrible fate?

Descend into the Twilight, a world of illegal street races and genetically engineered animal companions, where the only thing more dangerous than the competition is the girl in its midst.
Hero Regan wants her freedom, but first she has an AI to hack and a race to win. Between the traps and the other racers, winning a Twilight race isn’t as easy as it sounds, and now with the police on her tail and something funky happening with her telepathy, the finish line may be out of reach.

Agent Tracker wishes his worst problem was not being able to buy toilet paper. But with a pandemic hitting the St. Louis area, and the entire country hard, and his goverment still allied with the Beng'azi aliens, he fears they'll use the virus to solidify their hold over the American people.
An alien species arrives, offering salvation and destruction. Agent Tracker's alien allies have no answers; they fear the government's choice as much as Dick does. He has no choice but to turn to the Qarshilk, a revolutionary group within the Beng'azis who once held him captive. Will they be the allies Dick needs to save his country? Or will the desire for toilet paper damn them all to planetary destruction?

The Federation will make you pay for your crimes, even the fake ones.
Tony, a spy from a rival star system who is the scion of a galactic crime family. Quinn, falsely accused former military betrayed by her husband. A conspiracy that intertwines their lives.
Where did the government go wrong? When they separated Quinn from her kids. She vowed to do whatever it would take to find them and rescue them.
They should have let her. Instead, they made her fight. Now Quinn and Tony will make the Federation wish it had taken the easy option.
Quinn’s escape starts today. Tomorrow will have to take care of itself.

The May Roundup of Scifi Books

Today's big news is that I'm expecting to get the cover designs for Fraternity this week. Editing of the text is going well and I'm aiming for a late June / early July release.

OK, wrong time of year, but it's a funny picture! And here are the books you want...

Can Earth save the Human Empire?
The Confederation consists of the seven oldest races in known space. They control a vast section of the galaxy. All races in that part of the galaxy are subjects of the Confederation and forced to obey the Confederation’s laws.
The Human Empire is well aware of the Confederation and has been careful not to intrude upon Confederation space. However, now the Confederation has decided the Human Empire has grown too large and needs to be brought under control of the seven races.
Warfleets are dispatched, and soon massive space battles erupt throughout the Empire. Can the Humans survive or is the time of the Empire over?

Enemy activity had fallen into an eerie calm, but everyone felt the coming storm--a terrible storm, poised to unleash its fury upon the galaxy. It seemed as though the entire universe was holding its breath. Waiting. Whether waiting for the salvation of mankind or its demise was yet unclear. -Prophecy of Isa

His code name is Nostradamus, and he’s an ancient alien super-intelligence awakened by pesky humans crawling upon his planet. He decides to use these low-grade morons, testing some, making the special ones his agents and sending them into Star Watch to make the military organization his own.
It’s an insidious assault from within, run by a creature with fantastic predictive powers against what he considers an infantile species.
Captain Maddox and the crew of Victory catch a glimpse of the secret menace in the Tau Ceti System. They race back to Earth to report. But Nostradamus’s web is already closing in. It may already be too late.
Except.. Maddox, Galyan, Valerie and Professor Ludendorff refuse to give up on those they love. The secret war against humanity has a new set of champions, hardened veterans willing to challenge an alien that can predict their every move.

As humans colonize their first planets, some children are born evolved and changed. A school is established to protect and train the adapted kids.
And there's no way Knox will ever go there.

War hero and daughter to two Houses, Kira is just beginning to learn how deep the rabbit hole goes.
Agreeing to accompany her father’s people back to their homeworld, Kira Forrest prepares for the fight of her life. She’s agreed to undertake the Trial of the Broken, a rite of passage every member of her father’s House must pass. It offers a path to independence and freedom that is too tempting to deny.
Not everyone welcomes this lost daughter of Roake. There are those who fear what her presence might bring to light. Betrayal stalks the halls of Kira’s birthplace—its roots embedded deep in the events that claimed her parent’s lives and set her on her current path.
Walking the wire’s edge between truth and deception will test the person Kira has become as she separates ally from betrayer. An old enemy has put into motion a plan that could topple the balance of power in the universe. Letting them succeed spells doom—but the price might be more than Kira is willing to pay.

At the heart of a mystery unfolding in space, the opposing forces make a treacherous journey between Earth and Mars.
In space, mutiny means death—that’s why Inspector General Park Yerim is taking her investigation so seriously. The alleged mutineer is Captain Nicolau Aames, whose command of the massive Earth-Mars vessel Aldrin has come under fire. The vast System Initiative says he disobeyed orders, but his crew swears he's in the right.
En route to Mars, Park gathers testimony from the Aldrin’s diverse crew, painting a complex picture of Aames’s character: his heroism, his failures, even his personal passions. As the investigation unfolds, Park finds herself in the thrall of powerful interests, each pushing and pulling her in a fiery cosmic dance.
Corruption, conflicting loyalties, and clashing accounts make it nearly impossible to see the truth in fifty million miles of darkness, and Park faces danger from every direction. All eyes are on her: one way or another, her findings will have astronomical implications for the Aldrin and the future of space travel.

A synthetic intelligence down on his luck, Raith loves to race. When given the chance to participate in a hyper-experimental faster-than-light space race, he welcomes the opportunity with open arms. He may have received more than he bargained for, though, as corporations and shadowy collectives fight over the technology making the race possible.
If Raith is to survive—to win—he'll need the help of his new crew... and new friends. Together, can they defeat the hundreds of other racers all vying to be crowned champion of the first Five-Hundred Light-Year Classic?

Would you sell your life to save another?
Special forces vet, Samantha Jones, is a lowly bodyguard for Ethan Anderson, the biotech billionaire who revolutionized life extension. But at least she’s got a job, unlike most, and won’t have to sell her organs to support her family. Sure, they’re poor, but she’s got death insurance and a roof over her head. Life is livable...
But then Sam’s daughter is kidnapped and sold for parts. Overnight, her life (and belief in the system) shatters. When the rich bastards get off scot-free, Sam’s weak husband commits suicide, and the ex-assassin snaps. Someone is going to pay.

IN SPACE EVERYONE CAN HEAR YOU SING
A century ago, the Sentience Wars tore the galaxy apart and nearly ended the entire concept of intelligent space-faring life. In the aftermath, a curious tradition was invented-something to cheer up everyone who was left and bring the shattered worlds together in the spirit of peace, unity, and understanding.
Once every cycle, the civilizations gather for Galactivision - part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past. Instead of competing in orbital combat, the powerful species that survived face off in a competition of song, dance, or whatever can be physically performed in an intergalactic talent show. The stakes are high for this new game, and everyone is forced to compete.
This year, though, humankind has discovered the enormous universe. And while they expected to discover a grand drama of diplomacy, gunships, wormholes, and stoic councils of aliens, they have instead found glitter, lipstick and electric guitars. Mankind will not get to fight for its destiny - they must sing.
A one-hit-wonder band of human musicians, dancers and roadies from London - Decibel Jones and the Absolute Zeroes - have been chosen to represent Earth on the greatest stage in the galaxy. And the fate of their species lies in their ability to rock.

An unknown creature is destroying planets across the galaxy. The fragile peace after the savage Apex Wars between Lion and Tiger is in danger of being broken.
Star Wolf cuts a frustrated figure as his father, ruler of the Wolf planet Lupus, sits by and allows the Council to be taken in by the elaborate schemes of the Tiger's general.v The Winter Tiger, a legendary warrior, regarded by many to be the most skilled fighter since the Universal Beacon bestowed its gifts upon the galaxy tens of millennia ago. How can Star Wolf be the only creature across the galaxy to see the Winter Tiger for what he truly is?
The Tigers have behaved and adhered to the Council of Worlds rules for twenty years without reproach and yet Star Wolf does not trust the Winter Tiger. His vague childhood memories of the Apex Wars were of a ferocious race, driven to crush and rule the galaxy.
Star Wolf will stop at nothing to uncover the truth behind the mystery planet killer, no matter the cost...

The April Roundup of Scifi Books

Well, I'm as busy as ever. Still teaching my full timetable, albeit via video conference. Still keeping on top of the garden. And still working on Fraternity.
But in a light-hearted moment, I decided to put together this short spoof mountaineering documentary.

But enough about me. Here are the books you want...

Struggling with newfound sentience and desperately trying to repair itself, The Indescribable Joy of Destruction is a ship trying to find a new home. In a galaxy torn apart by generations of civil war, that isn't an easy task. Tired of being used as a killing machine, it has a huge decision to make: hide and save itself, or help other artificial intelligences achieve freedom. Unable to make the decision alone, it revives the sole human aboard - the enemy officer who crippled it.
Commander Olivia Johnson wakes to find herself in the infirmary of a strange vessel. Her nightmares deepen when she discovers it is the ship that attacked her destroyer. Even as she recovers from her physical injuries, she can't get past her survivor's guilt. She might have failed to protect her crew, but she vows to take revenge on their killer.
When the ship uncovers a genocidal plot by the commander's own admirals, Johnson realises just what is at stake. Together, the AI ship and the human officer must recruit outsiders from both sides. Training the misfits in battle to prevent the atrocity may be an impossible task, but running and hiding is no longer an option.

Valencia always knew that she'd captain her own ship one day.
She just needs experience. The only problem? No one is looking to hire an inexperienced runaway errand girl from Ranchero Station. Destiny waits for no one, so with a bag full of clothes and old books Valencia stows away on Captain Deuce DeLonghi's ship, the Aristocrat.
Their mission? Running illegal guns to the alien planet of Endigo.
Thrust right into the fire Valencia must show the captain and grouchy sergeant that she not only belongs with the crew but that she can be the captain of her own crew some day.

Rookie archaeological agent Jonathan Jarl is on his first mission to retrieve a stolen, priceless artifact but a megalomaniac corporate leader does everything in his power to stop him. At the same time, something alien is found in space and it is heading for Earth.
In orbit around the moon, a discovery is made that has potential implications for the entire human race. In a lab within Tabula Rasa, a mega-complex inhabited by over a million people, an idealistic scientist decides to share the discovery with the world. She takes a fateful decision that puts her life on the line.
Jonathan is pushed to the edge in this first contact science fiction adventure thriller about Jonathan Jarl and the Amber group.

In the deepest goldmine in Africa, Thato stumbles upon something unique, an entity more extraordinary than golden ore buried in layers of the earth so deep that no light penetrates the darkness. Wrenching it from the rock, he inadvertently unleashes something monstrous into the world. From a township in South Africa, a microscopic virulence sweeps across the globe, finding its way into the US, where one doctor comes face-to-face with the reality of a pandemic in small-town America.

Death is just the beginning.
Earl Anderson takes a wrong turn and is shot dead in a mugging gone bad. The next thing he knows he is on a foreign world and has been conscripted into an intergalactic army.
He fears for his wife and baby son back on earth. He will do anything to find them, even go along with his captors as he awaits an opportunity to escape. Events outpace him as he tries to figure out what happened and how to escape.
He courts death at every turn as he fights his way forward in a situation that makes no sense.
Unable to discern truth from fiction, Earl works to subvert his captors in a struggle for his life, not knowing how things hang in the balance for humanity or even if his family still lives. If you like space opera and military science fiction, this book is for you. Pick up your copy today!

The past is gone. The future is invasion. One rogue captain battles for the fate of humanity...
Thomas Halloran barely endured the loss of his wife and child. But the nuclear submarine Captain’s world explodes with rage when he and his crew somehow plunge headlong into Earth’s distant future. Far beyond the 21st Century, Halloran must navigate his seething hate and a frenzied alien ambush.
Forced to hide aboard an enemy transport, Halloran and his refugees hurtle through space toward an uncertain destiny. In a world with shifting alliances and technology they don’t comprehend, the Captain and his crew must quickly learn to adapt their strategies from the past or risk extinction.
Fighting his own fury, will Halloran’s obsession with revenge turn this alien battle into their last?

Earth, 50,000 years ago before the magic vanished. Invaded by aliens posing as gods, advanced civilisations crumbled. Now, these powerful off-worlders war for control of the planet, and the people who remain no longer remember what they once were. Seduced then enslaved, humanity has fallen.
Beneath the destroyed remains of an ancient temple, Thaya discovers a relic and a scroll written by the last of an advanced civilisation. The scroll contains a message and a vision of a forgotten world. The relic unlocks a memory about her own past that she should not have forgotten. The truth sets her free but it comes at a great cost, and now she must flee.
In the ashes of her ancestors, Thaya fights to stay alive, but hers is not the only race beleaguered, and her survival is inextricably tied to the fate of an other-worldly being. In a journey that takes her to different times, alien worlds and across dimensions, Thaya must lose everything to find her own salvation.

It's 2096, sixty years after ninety percent died from a man-made Bioplague. Humanity has splintered into four unequal subspecies: immortals, cyborgs, enhancers, and subservient half-human, half-animal hybrids.
The world is anything but equal. Hybrids everywhere are suffering, but sixteen-year-old Raek Mekorian, a wolfish with a nose for trouble, doesn’t see an alternative. Except the Resistance, who don’t stand a chance against the world government. His mom always said, "Keep your head down."
And he does, until his sister is murdered by a pair of cyborgs. Overnight, his simple life is shattered, fracturing the rigid governmental caste as he is thrust into the dangerous world of superhuman hit squads, Resistance uprisings, and secrets better left unsaid.
With only built-in blasters and the advice of a mysterious professor, Raek must navigate crushing betrayal, self-doubt, and a limitless enemy whose evil knows no bounds.
Can Raek unify his people and free them from tyranny? The fate of mankind may rest in his hands.

Captain Patrick Knox, war hero and a man who has seen too many dead soldiers, is on his final journey. His task? To take an aging ship full of colonists to a backwater farm planet, with a short stop at a prison planet to offload a cargo of serial killers.
After that, he’s done. He’ll sit with the ghosts of his dead and drink himself to oblivion.
Then an act of sabotage causes the colony ship to crash onto an unmapped and eerie alien planet, the majority of their supplies lost and their tech destroyed. There is little chance of rescue. Somehow, Knox must find his ragged band of survivors safe harbor on a primeval planet where murderers roam free, even the plants are carnivorous…and the only surviving doctor is a convicted serial killer...

When a stable wormhole opens in Sol-controlled space, Vengeance and her crew wake from stasis to deal with the new threat.
Admiral Stansfield needs a team to investigate. The SBS has plenty of skilled operatives, but only Marine X is old enough to use the antiquated equipment they’ll need to complete the mission.
Redeployed from half a galaxy away, Ten just wants to get back to fighting the Deathless. He has unfinished business.
Stansfield is no fan of penal Marines, and Ten is pretty sure he’s hiding the truth about their mission. His teammates Conway, Kearney, Mason and Davies are still smarting over the loss of a comrade and aren’t welcoming either.
Can this ragtag squad unite to complete the mission at hand and save Earth from a conflict that could make the Deathless War look like a minor skirmish?

Fifty-three years after it vanished, Earth's only Super-Devastator warship, the ESS Crimson sends out a distress signal...
Humanity is fighting against an implacable foe. The Ghasts – a ruthless alien race - seem hell-bent on wiping out mankind. They have a vast warfleet and their technology is advancing at a terrible rate.
Captain John Nathan Duggan and his crew are given a mission – find the missing ESS Crimson and bring it home. Little does Duggan realise, this is no ordinary mission. As he struggles against enemies both within and without, he desperately tries to unlock the mystery surrounding the Crimson’s disappearance and the unknown weapons it carries. He soon discovers the missing warship might be the only hope for salvation that mankind has left.
When everything is veiled in secrecy nothing is easy, as Duggan is about to find out.

A powerful battlecruiser adrift in space. Can a bold pirate steal it from under everyone’s nose?
Indy Jackson longs to blast her father’s killer to ashes. But when her latest shady interplanetary deal goes bad, the plucky pirate is forced to go on the run, framed for an alien massacre. And to clear her name, her brutal blackmailer demands she enter dangerous territory to salvage a fabled warship.
Desperate to return to her black market trades and hunt down her father’s murderer, Indy finds herself burdened with a ragtag crew of mercenaries. But the determined woman soon discovers finding the wreck no one has returned from could be an impossible task, with a galactic sector on the edge of anarchy and factions vying for power.
Can Indy successfully play the sector’s fragile combat politics before she’s vaporized in a hail of laserfire?

Stranded on an alien planet and left for dead. They've never felt so alive.
The attempt to colonize a system on the other side of a gateway to the stars led to serious problems. Massive storms, sandworms, and strange beings that threaten to end any chance our team has for survival.
Espinoza and his fellow Marines struggle to reconnect with Earth while battling the environment and those who attacked their ship on the way through the gateway. Shrina searches for her sister and answers to where the strange beings on Earth came from. Trent forms new bonds as he learns about powers beyond our comprehension.

Humanity is within months of losing an interstellar war to a species of aliens known as Fangrin. Giving up isn’t an option. Victory doesn’t seem like an option either.
When assault craft pilot Commander Jake Griffin is sent out with the Eternity carrier group to hunt down and destroy enemy facilities, he has no idea what’s coming to him. The planet Graxol-4 out in the middle of nowhere hides a critical enemy base with vital resources just waiting to be stolen.
The only problem is, it’s guarded by a war fleet and surface troops, while the planet itself is toxic and gripped by constant storms.
The coming fight will be relentless. It will test Griffin’s combat skills to the limit against a vastly superior foe. In a way, he’s got it easy – the troops on the ground will have to beat the Fangrin in the most challenging circumstances imaginable.
That job falls to Lieutenant Tanner Conway, a man who just wants to go home to his family.
Victory on Graxol-4 may not win the war, but it will buy time for humanity to regroup, toughen up and come back harder.
However, a third - unknown - player has an interest in this game and their involvement will turn everything on its head.

All her life Cariad had one dream: to participate in humanity’s colonization of deep space. After topping her field as a geneticist, and then spending 184 years in cryonic suspension, she’s achieved her goal.
But the new planet is not the paradise the scientists predicted. Alien predators come out at night, ready to feast on the new arrivals. What’s more, saboteurs have stowed away aboard the ship and are determined to destroy the new colony.
To defeat the settlers’ enemies, Cariad must enlist the help of the disgruntled Gens, last in the line of generational colonists who lived and died on the long journey to the stars, and who hate the Woken scientists.
Infighting and strife plague Cariad’s efforts. If the colony’s factions don’t pull together, the flame of hope for humanity will be snuffed out.

A Resource as Precious as Life
Ether. It revolutionized human technology. Made faster than light travel possible. With this new form of energy, people expanded beyond Earth to distant stars in other galaxies across the cosmos. After years of conflicts, a rebellion, and countless skirmishes, the Human Confederacy is a thriving government, a beacon of civilization. Until an ether facility is destroyed out of the blue with no one taking credit for the destruction.
Enter the Morrigan, a state of the art ship with a brilliant but inexperienced crew. Their captain Noah Markel is no stranger to battle and he believes this may not be as simple as an act of terrorism but rather an incursion. Their first contact with an alien race. One bent on crippling human space travel in preparation for something far worse than a border dispute.

The Marines of Ghost Squadron are humanity’s foremost black ops specialists who strike without warning and vanish without a trace. They will do whatever is necessary to protect humanity anywhere in the known galaxy. With the Commonwealth increasingly unstable thanks to venal politicians, greedy financiers, and power-hungry revolutionaries, they don’t lack for missions.
When an undercover Constabulary officer vanishes after uncovering a massive cartel-run human trafficking operation, the Commonwealth’s interstellar police force calls for help from Naval Intelligence. Because the cartel’s operations could upend the delicate political balance between the older core worlds and the more recently colonized outer star systems, Ghost Squadron gets the job. Its mission: find the missing Constabulary officer and choke off the growing slave trade bedeviling humanity’s perilous galactic frontier.
Ghost Squadron’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Thomas Decker, spent the last ten years as a Naval Intelligence agent. His job was thwarting plots and terminating the Commonwealth’s internal enemies alongside his partner, a trained assassin. Now, with several hundred of the deadliest Marines ever fielded at his back, Zack Decker will change the course of history and usher in a new era.

Security Lieutenant Dave is looking forward to some simple cases and patching things up with his wife. His handling of a terrorist attack has gained him acclaim and some new friends in high places, but he is still closely involved with Arancha Station's mob boss.
When the space station manager is killed in a new and worrying way, Dave realises that he's got possibly the biggest case of his career. Unfortunately, as soon as his new boss arrives with reinforcements, he is relegated to monitoring data and assigned a rookie partner to babysit. Dave needs to find something that will crack the case open before the killer can strike again.

An Interview with G J Ogden

Before my (virtual) interview today, I want to mention something a bit different. During this time of lockdowns and social distancing, my daughter is writing a blog about nature to try to provide some cheer. You can see it on Facebook and Tumblr. She'd welcome likes and shares from around ther world to show we're all in this together.
Right, now I am talking to G J Ogden, author of the Contingency War and Planetsider series.

Can you tell us a little about The Contingency?
Of course. The Contingency is the first of the four-part Contingency War Series (space opera). It follows a small crew scouting the edges of the galaxy for any remnants of an alien adversary that attacked Earth, but were defeated. As they soon find out, that war is far from over... I personally love sci-fi that revolves around small, tight-knit crews, like Firefly and Battlestar Galactica (okay, it's a big ship, but the Viper Squadrons and command crew are all tight-knit groups), so my writing focuses very much on characters. The Contingency War is an adventure about fighting for what you love, in the face of overwhelming odds, and never losing hope. Hope is a strong theme in all my novels.

Give us an insight into your main character. What does he do that is so special?
The main character is Captain Taylor Ray. He's selfless and brave, but can also be socially awkward (like the rest of us!). Why is he special? Well, it's a bit of a cop-out, but genuinely you'd need to read the book to find out. All I'll say is that he's very special, but not entirely unique.

Have any of your characters ever disobeyed you?
I'm not sure if disobeyed is the right word, but when writing The Planetsider Trilogy (post-apocalyptic crossed with military Sci-Fi), I was surprised by how much one character started to take over the narrative from the original MC. Maria Salus was always core to the story, but as I got into book two and eventually book three, it was clear that it was as much Maria's story I was writing as it was Ethan's (the actual MC).
Oh, yes. Some characters really do force their way to the front! A completely background character is about to thrust his way onto the main stage in my WIP.
What is your favourite film and why?
It changes, depending on my mood! I love The Fifth Element - it's quirky and daft, but also extremely heartfelt. And it's about hope and love, and I'm a sucker for stories about hope and love (which is why I write them!). But if I had to choose one, it would probably be The Princess Bride, because it's pretty much perfect.
Two superb choices! I can't not watch The Fifth Element to the end if I ever get started. And The Princess Bride is full of so many great lines. I used to have it on VHS when I was little and watched it over and over again.
What are you working on at the moment?
I'm plotting / outlining my next space opera series, which will be another four-book series in a new world with a bit of an old-school adventuring angle to it.
Sounds like it'll be exciting! Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.

G J Ogden studied Physics at UMIST, but spent more time writing for and later editing the University magazine, GRIP, which kick-started a love of writing. A proud nerd and sci-fi geek, he is the author of the post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller series, The Planetsider Trilogy, and the space opera epic, The Contingency War Series.


And finally, here are a couple more books to keep you going...

The March Roundup of Scifi Books

OK, I'm sure you've seen countless versions of this meme, but that's kind of the idea!

I am so glad that I live in the countryside in a house with a decent garden. I really feel for those stuck in city flats, unable to go out. My eldest daughter wanted to do her bit, so has started a nature blog to keep people in touch with what is going on in the world around them. You can see it at https://wellynature.tumblr.com.
So, with more people needing things to keep them occupied, time to panic-buy ebooks!

For nearly twenty years Earth's space exploration had exploded outward, thanks to a series of mysterious, artificial wormholes. No one knows who created these interstellar passages, yet they have brought the far reaches of space immediately close. For Starplex Director Keith Lansing, too close.
Discovery is superseding understanding. And when an unknown vessel — with no windows, no seams, and no visible means of propulsion — arrives through a new wormhole, an already battle-scarred Starplex could be the starting point of a new interstellar war...

The galaxy’s not big enough
Commander Joe Pikeman has his share of demons. But after a long deployment, he just wants to enjoy some home leave with his daughter.
The galaxy has other plans.
His last assignment takes him to Earth, humanity’s deserted homeworld. There, he finds Earth’s last settlement littered with the bodies of the people who lived there.
As he hunts down those responsible, he runs head-first into some galaxy-shaking questions.
Why did humanity really abandon the galaxy for a computer simulation?
Who would want to start killing off the last real humans left?
There’s one thing Joe knows for sure. If they’re going after his neighbors…his family…his daughter...
They’ll need to go through him first.

Aliens have invaded the Milky Way.
Captain Martin and his fleet at the opposite end of our galaxy is all that stands between the emerging ancient aliens and certain destruction of humanity. Even with the help of powerful magic, the alien menace may be too much to overcome.
Elsewhere, Agent Hague chases down rumors of a secret cult after an assassination attempt on the president of the Federation's life.
With the emergence of the long-foretold aliens, the Federation stands on the brink of destruction. Can Captain Martin and his allies hold the line? Can Agent Hague uncover a plot within the Federation?

Captain Habraum Nwosu is haunted daily by the loss of his combat unit. Determined to be a role model for his motherless son while on sabbatical, he resists the embattled Star Brigade’s pleas for him to return. Conflicted by the impossible choice, a vicious attack puts his dwindling family in the cross-hairs...
Driven to restore order amidst terrorism, Nwosu fears his new handpicked Star Brigade will suffer the same fate as his previous crew. Can he resurrect his team and protect his son or will his fear of failure fulfill a lethal prophecy?

Struggling with newfound sentience and desperately trying to repair itself, The Indescribable Joy of Destruction is a ship trying to find a new home. In a galaxy torn apart by generations of civil war, that isn't an easy task. Tired of being used as a killing machine, it has a huge decision to make: hide and save itself, or help other artificial intelligences achieve freedom. Unable to make the decision alone, it revives the sole human aboard - the enemy officer who crippled it.
Commander Olivia Johnson wakes to find herself in the infirmary of a strange vessel. Her nightmares deepen when she discovers it is the ship that attacked her destroyer. Even as she recovers from her physical injuries, she can't get past her survivor's guilt. She might have failed to protect her crew, but she vows to take revenge on their killer.
When the ship uncovers a genocidal plot by the commander's own admirals, Johnson realises just what is at stake. Together, the AI ship and the human officer must recruit outsiders from both sides. Training the misfits in battle to prevent the atrocity may be an impossible task, but running and hiding is no longer an option.

Alya has anxiety issues. Well, so do a lot of people. But not everyone explodes their enemies when they lose control. Alya is a Geep, a mutant. Her genes were contaminated by an accident on the moon. This gives her extraordinary powers, but it also makes her a threat. Determined to discover the secret of the contamination, Alya takes a position in the Lunar University. Unfortunately, the Continuum controls the moon, and it doesn’t like Geeps. There’s nothing the organisation would like better than to wipe out Alya’s people completely. But Alya is not about to let that happen.

My name is Rachel. I died and rose again.
I was an ordinary high school girl when a viral plague spread across my planet. Those that died rose again as mindless zombies. Fortunately, science came to the rescue and gave me back my mind. As a conscious zombie, I gained exceptional powers – speed, strength and more. That, plus a secret heritage, changed my life forever.
The outside world didn't accept my kind, however, and soon I decided to join the military. I trained to become an Army Ranger.
Now, as an elite undead killing machine, I must make a choice. Allegiance to my kind or to the Federation. Choose wrong and I could die... for good.

At least they're primates.
That was Commander Riniana Tiana's first thought when she saw the primitive - but sentient - humans of Earth.
She should be able to fit in.
After all, her own species is primatal too.
And she'd only come here to save them from invasion...
But humans don't have tails.
And she finds most of them seem extremely jealous of hers!
Using the curious custom of clothing, Tiana hides her tail, passes for human and pursues the alien invaders in a desperate struggle to save an ungrateful planet.

The meek have not inherited the earth.
The world isn't how they left it. When the bunker airlocks release them after twenty years in hibernation, the survivors find a silent, barren world outside. But they are not alone. There is a presence here, alive in the dust—spirits of the earth, benevolent and malicious as they interact with the human remnant.
Milton is haunted by a violent past he's unable to escape, despite the superhuman speed the spirits give him.
Not interested in bearing the next generation, Daiyna is determined to destroy the flesh-eating mutants lurking in the dark, pierced by her night-vision.
Luther is a man of conviction who believes the Creator has offered humankind a second chance, yet he's uncertain they deserve it—and he's perplexed by the talons that flex out of his fingers.
Willard is a brilliant engineer-turned-soldier who refuses to leave his bunker, afraid of becoming infected and willing to destroy any obstacle in his way.
As their lives collide, the mysteries of this strange new world start unraveling, culminating in the ultimate life-or-death decision one survivor will make for them all.

The following books are all free in exchange for signing up to the author's newsletter...

When an unidentified vessel appears beyond Jupiter, both Earth and Mars begin a frantic race to claim it, aware that whichever planet succeeds might in so doing achieve advantage over the other. But who should they send?
Joe Falcon would never consider himself the ‘right’ person. Drifting around the Asteroid Belt in a converted freighter, working as a surveyor and miner with a crew of oddballs and misfits who, like himself, are running away each from his or her own private demons, he cannot think of a single good reason why he should be the chosen one. But how could he not go?
When the surveyor Butterball rendezvous with the Visitor, Joe discovers a ship so immense, exploring its thousands of square kilometers of decks is unrealistic. As the alien vessel responds to his presence in wondrous yet frightening ways, not a trace of its inhabitants can be found. Virtually everything Joe and his team sees defies explanation, and little is what it appears to be. Joe soon realizes he and his crew are expendable and cannot take anything or anyone at face value, including the alien ship’s owners. And all the time, the crew is being watched and studied. Then humanity learns that this wondrous spacecraft is not their real problem.
Never would Joe have imagined it would fall to him to make the decision that would alter the destiny of two worlds, launching humankind onto the path to a glorious future, or to extinction.

Technology has boomed in the years since Texas became independent. Antigravity's cheap. Weapons shoot all manner of energy. Human modification has become as common as football on a Friday night.
Yet, not everyone embraces technology.
When a rancher is murdered, Sheriff J.D. Crow calls upon his old-fashioned tracking skills to find the killer. When the trail leads him to a complex conspiracy, J.D. is forced to confront the very core of his beliefs. Doing the right thing has always been straightforward, but now things don't seem so simple.
What does it mean to hold hard the line of Justice in an Age of Metal and Men?

YuFu fishes diamonds from a gas giant and wants to retire peacefully with his wife and children.
But when his vessel gets hijacked by space pirates, all his dreams evaporate.
Desperate to protect his employer’s secret, he wipes his memory and believes fake recollections of a criminal named YuFang.
He winds up, held against his will by a mafia on another planet. After discovering cyberweaponry built into his body, he commits atrocities under the false belief that he’s a villain and killer.
A mysterious red-haired woman rescues him from certain death and reveals a secret method of astral projection, shape-shifting, and instantaneous space travel.
Will he use it for his selfish ends? Or will he remember who he once was and repay for his wrongdoings?

The February Round-up of Scifi Books

Today's round-up has a focus on new authors just starting to look for a break. I've also included a lot of sites listing book bargains at the end, again full of new and newish writiers you might like. Obviously, there will also be some you don't, but I think they all deserve a chance for some exposure.

So on to the books...

The quest to unlock the secrets of interstellar travel leads a Roranian crew on an epic journey across space. Saved by a dying machine-lect, stranded in a failing ship, faced with an ultimate choice. Were they too eager in their attempts to reach the stars?
The fractious Primals are the ancient, all-powerful rulers of the Creatites. Their origins are shrouded in mystery although Storytellers recite their legends. Tallic has recently been granted special abilities by the Barrier Primal that most other Creatites could only dream of, although he has an unexpected encounter with an intruder that changes everything. What secrets have the Primals kept hidden since time began?
Nurilm resides within a decaying temple. One day, she chances upon forbidden knowledge about an enigmatic entity called the ‘Collector’, and an unthinkable battle waged long ago in which the Primals were united.
What does it all mean? And how is it all connected?

Within the derelict Flightship Janus rested the most remarkable treasure ever to be found; irrefutable evidence of a superior alien intelligence that inhabited this galaxy nearly a millennia ago.
The dark peril is real, and their return will be as merciless as it is destructive… Already we are on the backfoot. From the feudal Wilderness to the core planets, terrifying reports reveal of planets, waystations and entire fleets, decimated by an indomitable alien armada of tremendous power. Few have survived their wrath. Now a stagnant human civilisation must break its reckless complacency, overcome centuries of intractable rivalries and stretch out into the void once more to bridge the technological gap. Our very existence depends on it.
Yet, in a universe of assassins, thieves, pirates and bounty hunters, civilisation is hardly a shiny beacon of harmony. Corruption is everywhere; so embedded in society that few look to change it. And now the hallowed Janus Object is on the move and all eyes are watching.
At the doorstep of the first major galactic expansion in centuries, the WesCon could not be left behind. Positioned at the relocated Starlab 16 is the most advanced human vessel ever made: the Flightship Alabaster. At its helm stands the deadly Captain Vela, an elite soldier whose past is steeped in mystery and uncertainty… a past that is starting to reveal itself. The dark frontier holds untold dangers, but not all dangers lie beyond our borders. Captain Vela and his team must act quickly or all will be consumed. A reckoning is coming, one we may not survive.

Pirating in a nebula might have been a good way to make a living... until it isn't. An old pirate feels his luck is running out and is looking for one more mission to secure his existence.
After surviving their last mission, the secretive military elite unit have to face an enemy within. Their star cruiser might be fast and equipped with the best high tech that money can buy. But to stand against the fully armed battleship would be equal to suicide. Dragon's Elite has to do one more mission before it's banned.

It took Tom more than two years to built a starship that should have been safe for his family to use as they run away from the deadly claws of corrupted and oppressive government.
Yet, their first firing engagement in deep space against aggressive force might just be their last.
Free in exchange for newsletter sign-up

Located on a top-secret base on the dark side of the moon, the SC Titan has just been completed. A star cruiser unlike anything the world has ever seen, the Titan can carry 40 star fighters called Comets, and with them, an elite roster of pilots and crewmen—the best of the best.
When first contact is made with a highly advanced alien race, the Titan and her crew are dispatched on a journey across the galaxy. A journey that will have far reaching consequences for all of humanity.
Free in exchange for newsletter sign-up

Master Sergeant Gant Maker was a highly-decorated and well-respected Marine - until his last mission left him as the sole survivor of an encounter with a vicious race called the Vacra. Served up as a scapegoat and drummed out of the military, he has since lived a life of seclusion with only an adopted alien as a companion.
Now the Vacra have returned. As the only person to have ever faced them and survived, Maker is reinstated in the Corps and given the onerous task of finding this enemy on a world located at the edge of known space. Assisting him is an unlikely band of military rejects, including a blind sharpshooter, an unstable psychic, and a genetically-engineered killing machine who refuses to fight.
Given that the Vacra have superior weapons and technology, Maker recognizes that his team is at a distinct disadvantage. But Marines are nothing if not resourceful, and Maker has an audacious plan that just may level the playing field – if it doesn’t get them all killed.

Go big or go home. For privateer Captain Magdalene Landon, it's all about going big. For Kay Ellis, it's about getting home. Together, they're about to architect the most daring heist in the galaxy.
Kay knows too much. She knows it’s a matter of time before a Conglomerate hitman finds her. She’s desperate for safe passage back to Union space. Then Magdalene shows up, promising a way home in exchange for that information. It’s a risky bet, but Kay is out of options. So she strikes a deal: the heist of the century for her freedom.
Kay is playing a dangerous game, and she knows it. She’s made herself Enemy Number One of the Conglomerate. She’s relying on privateers for her safety. It’s a fool’s game. But the worst part is, her fool’s heart is starting to warm to the enigmatic captain. And that’s a risk for which she hadn’t planned.
[image error]