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Cold War #0

The Needle

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The Needle is an action-packed first contact story that shares the battle for Earth through two soldiers' eyes.

Josef is having nightmares about the alien tower that dominates the snowy landscape of Antarctica. The alien construct is turning Earth into an icy wasteland, day by day. His world unravels further when the alien tower opens to reveal its occupants.

Keenan is the right guy in the wrong place. He will lead his pack of Union Wolves on the world's first mission to combat the aliens and find out if humanity has the strength to repel the invasion.

The Ringhead aliens have arrived, and they are xenoforming the Earth, sending mankind towards a new Ice Age.

Read this first contact story that kicks off the Cold War.

Other Books in the Cold War series:

COLD WAR: Alien Incursion COLD WAR: Alien Siege COLD WAR: Alien Strike COLD WAR: Exile (Coming Soon!)

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 29, 2017

115 people are currently reading
103 people want to read

About the author

Ken Bebelle

21 books68 followers
Ken Bebelle has been an avid reader of fantasy, science fiction, and comic books his entire life. His first foray into writing was in the eighth grade with a sword and sorcery fantasy story stored on a 5.25” floppy disk.

Ken and his co-author, Julia Vee, recently finished Ebony Gate, an Asian-inspired contemporary fantasy set in the Pacific Rim. Ebony Gate was acquired by Claire Eddy at TOR and will debut in summer 2023 as the first in a trilogy. Ken and Julia have also self-published another series, Seattle Slayers, an urban fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic Seattle. In his spare time, Ken is married, has two grown children, ponders the cyberpunk novel that he has yet to write, and tries to grow tomatoes in his meager backyard.

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5 stars
26 (27%)
4 stars
32 (33%)
3 stars
29 (30%)
2 stars
7 (7%)
1 star
1 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Tawallah.
1,155 reviews63 followers
August 1, 2020
An alien contact story

Set in a frigid Antarctica, scientists attempt to learn more about an alien artifact called The Needle. All attempts to discover its components or the intent of the alien race yields nothing except energy drain. A new attempt results in dire consequences.

There is nothing new in this alien contact. It is too short to speak of intent other than to give backstory for certain characters. This one was too graphic for me. Unlikely to continue this series.
Profile Image for Travis.
2,917 reviews49 followers
November 15, 2019
The authors say that these books can be enjoyed in any order, and it isn't necessary to have read previous books in the series in order to enjoy the story. That may be true, but I find that after reading the first one, the second book is a bit more meaningful now. Some of the background for the story is filled in, and the book clearly is improved by having read the first one in the series. This book (by necessity) is mostly world building, and doesn't do a whole lot to advance the storyline, but that's mostly expected for a first book in a series. Combined with the second book however, (the one I read first), these two books make for some excellent storytelling, and make me eager to read more in this series.
Profile Image for Teresa.
Author 3 books63 followers
October 7, 2019
It definitely held my attention. This book is short. The pacing is fast. The writing is great--the suspense if unending. There were a lot of characters introduced and they each got their own taste of terror at the Needle. I will read more of these books to see what happens to the characters left hanging in a bad place.
434 reviews7 followers
September 10, 2018
I'm really not into this type of story. I read it and if your into this I guess its o.k.
Profile Image for Bill.
2,446 reviews18 followers
February 3, 2019
Excellent start to the Cold War series.
12 reviews
September 29, 2019
Love Syfy..aliens.

I chose this book because it's an alien Syfy conflict. This one is being fought on Earth rather than in space which is a nice change ... although I do enjoy a great space encounter.
Profile Image for Debra H. Wruble.
419 reviews8 followers
August 31, 2019
Short and sweet

Great intro to the rest of the series which I now have to read! Well written and imaginative story with great characters.
Profile Image for Jason Brock.
175 reviews1 follower
July 23, 2020
SO HOOKED!!

This is one of the best scifi I've read I awhile...i so want to read alien storm...hopefully one of these days I will maybe catch it for free..if I had money I would definatly be reading this...maybe someone kind will gift it to me...want to see how the hell the ringheads have managed to expand into the warm zone
5 reviews
January 13, 2022
Extremely Intriguing

First off, this book is pretty awesome haha its sad its pretty short. But i guess a little prequel mouth waters your interest huh.

Its set in a semi modern to yet reality modern era i suppose. Nothing too op or over powering from humanities side. The Aliens tho are pretty well Over the top. Kind of reminds me of the movie “Battleship” just no navy battles etc. but the idea seems near in comparison that i love it.

I like how politics is emphasizes as a human normal and downfall because you would think humanity would stop measuring dicks and actually unit. Well they got a huge wake up call.

I like how everything is subtle and no crazy over powered characters. And even the military types seem almost human. I think though the supposed special ops team or recon group should have been a bit more elite. Im not soldier but i did feel they seemed partly half assed.

Over all i say 5/5 cuz it makes me crave for more. It has loads of potential for a long progression story. Hell of a series if the authors keep up the momentum.
It would have been nice for a pre-first contact but this works.
40 reviews1 follower
September 4, 2019
This is a 400 page book just trying to escape from a 60 page short story, and sadly all the interesting stuff is on those other 340 pages. Lots of gory action, near zero character development even though some potentially interesting characters. Magically appearing weapons despite otherwise current period technology, lack of logic in the aliens' actions ... it just doesn't hang together as a coherent story, it is more like scenes from a video game committed to words.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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