A vigilante is killing current and former members of Black Sun. Some are saying he should continue. The Jedi have another sense of justice. Luke Skywalker investigates with the help of Mara Jade and Corran Horn. What they find is unexpected.What happens when humanity’s hidden masters tire of their slaves? They start over.Financial markets are crashing, crops are failing, Cage’s disease is a pandemic, and sabers are being rattled around the globe. It’s not the world that Ben Mitchell, an expert on ancient and esoteric writings, envisioned when he left the battlefields of Afghanistan a decade ago.The world looks a little brighter when he is offered a small fortune by the attractive but mysterious Lilian Stratton to research some puzzling inscriptions found on set of stone tablets discovered in Tiwanaku, Bolivia. But to do that he must join a secret society known as the Delphic Order of the Nisirtu and travel to Steepleguard, the remote fortress-like home of an elderly eccentric named Ridley.The researcher soon finds that his client has lured him into a conspiracy of epic proportions. The rumored New World Order is, in fact, very ancient. The world is truly a stage and the scripts that have preserved mankind for millennia are being systematically destroyed by the invisible kingdoms that authored them. Within days the final script will run its course and the planet’s scattered survivors will be thrust into a new Dark Age.Lilian’s powerful opponents are now Ben’s, and even his client’s supposed allies seem to have hidden and sinister agendas. The man finds himself in a shadowy world of insane kings, power-hungry dukes, psychopathic assassins, rebel knights, and an exiled princess who will stop at nothing to regain her world throne.As civilization rapidly disintegrates and clandestine armies converge on Steepleguard, humanity’s future hinges on the researcher’s ability to navigate the labyrinths of the Nisirtu and unlock the secrets of the Tiwanaku tablets.

The second novel in the Classic series "Canopus in Argos: Archives". A tale of love and the anicent battle between men and woman.

When mankind reaches far out into the universe to find other life forms it may first find machines. Calvin, an exploratory rover coupled with, Nutshell, his landing ship, are sent to discover what all these machines are still doing–now that they’ve been abandoned by their alien owners. First contact comes not by hand of man, but by metal of machine.When mankind reaches far out into the universe to find other life forms it may first find machines. A string of planets on the outer edges of the Milky Way contain the mechanical workers of an ancient alien civilization. Calvin, an exploratory rover coupled with, Nutshell, his landing ship, are sent to discover what all these machines are still doing–now that they’ve been abandoned by their alien owners. First contact comes not by hand of man, but by metal of machine.Series Overview: This is the first installment in a robot-themed series which tells the story exclusively through the eyes of machines. The works are interconnected but can stand on their own.

Was it a bomb or magic? Sector 9 is levelled, hundreds dead, thousands injured and in dire need. While the Alliance of Courts decides how best to curtail costs, Representative Castlegar of Whitegraft charges ex-cop Aaran Coates and android associate Buddy Namiki to prevent another attack.The Alliance, re-organized after post-apocalyptic war that transformed Home into a radioactive wasteland save three shield-protected cities and Talon, a space colony turned tourist trap. Twenty years of peace is interrupted by an attack that nearly kills the inhabitants of Whitegraft City. Buddy Namiki and Aaran Coates, working for its Representative, Reggie Castlegar, are charged with preventing a disaster that could lead to the destruction of the dregs of society. Can an inexperienced robot and cyborg ex-cop discover the culprit and restore order?

Three humanoids living aboard a lunar mining station engage in an explosive investigation of lies, deceit, and treachery that could cost the lives of billions.A Sci Fi Short Story: Approx 8000 words.Amadeus of Alpha Centauri governs Artemis Mining Station. He is charged with overseeing the traumatized populations of Earth and Mars who are sentenced to slave in the mines. He does so with a devilish charm and an iron fist.Trinity of Earth is a member of an insurgency, who are launching a desperate, explosive ploy to evict their sworn enemies out of the Core forever.Jonas of Proxima heads an investigation when a bomb is detonated on the station. If he follows the evidence to its logical conclusion, he will lead all three of them to a tragic endgame.Yet, if the truth is exposed, the waiting will be over, and billions of lives will be lost.

In election year 2048, candidates are media celebs. Campaigns are game shows. TV networks have merged with political parties to run "quality" candidates. A Government agency assures everybody plays by the rules using an advanced neural network and robots as enforcers. A Nobel physicist discovers technology-driven fraud that even the media parties don't suspect—and ends up on a neural-net hit list.The Media Candidate is a rigorous, high-tech, action-thriller novel studying the merger of politics and the media, set in the presidential election year 2048.Politics in the mid twenty-first century has evolved to political game shows they call elections and to multimedia hype, sex, and trivia that sustains and embodies society. These are the icons of the reawakening of the American spirit of political participation. But behind this facade lurks an age old establishment sired by opportunities that aggressive humans have seized in every generation and in every fold of the social fabric.This social revolution mirrored a dazzling technology upheaval, an eruption which engendered a new player in the Government’s bureaucracy: an advanced neural-network computer. Trained to serve, to be a neurocrat, it transmuted into a clandestine monarch. This super computer contrived its own Boolean paranoia and a ruthless strategy that served it well against humans. Only a pair of humans struggled to understand it—its creator and a hacker. But neither had the insight to fear it.The computer lives at COPE, the Committee for Political Equality, a powerful Government agency formed by the first US President from one of the new “media parties.” COPE’s function is to maintain “a level playing field” for the political process, thus tightly controlling the political arena. Sherwood is a sinister and brilliant engineer turned spy and behavioral scholar. He teams with another nerd, the same hapless hacker who is on a collision course with the neural network, to tackle one of the most sensitive jobs at COPE—debugging COPE’s most efficient enforcer of the new century’s “disciplined democracy”: a cunning spider robot.The insightful neural network discovers the benefit of commanding such arachnids. COPE may control the masses, but the real master of this media republic controls COPE, and does it with such finesse that no one even suspects it … at least no one who lives.The tragic hero, Dr. Elliott T. Townsend, enters this strange world after a career buried in the depths of a high-energy physics lab. He encounters Guinda Burns, a beautiful, young, and naive worker for the CBS Republican Party, and they find themselves opposed by COPE and its enforcers and confronted by Sherwood. But Sherwood stuns Elliott with his insight that human nature is immutable, and that society has evolved very little despite harsh cosmetic changes.Elliott overcomes robotic spies and spider assassins, but he is not a leader, he is just a fossil of a bygone era, just as Guinda is a loyal daughter of her century. The ultimate question Elliott confronts is—does anyone care?

Mankind can only guess how long the alien water baskets have stood upon the planet of Sutherland. No clues have been found of the alien race who constructed such delicate mechanisms so long ago to harvest water from the arid planet's atmosphere. Those of the United Systems simply recognize the water's value, and so they refuse to allow the settlers of Zeb to jeopardize such ancient artifacts.The actions of those settlers who call Zeb Griffin their teacher, mentor and prophet once again mortify Operative Sheridan, sent to the barren and rocky planet named Sutherland in order to protect the ancient water baskets that harvest moisture from a dry sky. Some settler of Zeb has broken an ancient water basket. Some settler of Zeb has failed to appreciate the water baskets' value and splendor. The baskets represent the first traces of another intelligence other than mankind's amid the stars. The water baskets harvest water, mankind's most precious resource in the colonization of the stars. Yet those who claim to follow the long-dead philosopher named Zeb Griffin still damage the mechanisms their clumsy hands cannot work, whose design their closed minds cannot understand. Operative Sheridan holds the pieces of a water basket destroyed by a careless settler of Zeb, and his crafty mind hatches a plan to secure those incredible devices from the settlers' folly. He will fire no shot, nor request a single soldier. Yet in the end, those who call Zeb their mentor will serve as puppets to Operative Sheridan's designs.

Over a hundred years in the future, Ted Anderson, a 42-year-old information specialist from the American States, gets drawn into a dangerous interstellar conflict to liberate Earth from a hostile alien invasion.Over a hundred years in the future, Earth has fallen under the invasion of a hostile alien race—the Drevi. Half the population has been captured as specimens, while the rest are fighting for their lives in a resistance movement that has achieved more defeats than victories.Ted Anderson, a 42-year-old information specialist from the American States, thought nothing could save him from his new life. In spite of being an aide to a leading Drevi scientist who treats him well, he is reminded every day what he truly is. A specimen. An Inferior with no future.Then two strange new aliens arrive as representatives of their government, wanting to free humanity from the invading force. And all of Ted’s dreams come true. He’s on a starship, shooting through space at speeds he had never before imagined. And most of all, he is free again.Now Ted is drawn into a dangerous conflict to save all he knows and loves. But the fate of more than just humanity might rest on his shoulders.In this stunning new science fiction epic, author Karen Lofgren weaves a tale of the human condition, and how even in the darkest of times, it can shine through into the future.Cover image courtesy of NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI AURA)-ESA Hubble Collaboration. This publication is in no way endorsed by NASA.

Latome’s universe is stagnant and without direction. When peer pressure forces Latome to intervene in his universe, the results are not as expected.Short Story5,100 words +/-A post-apoc short/novelette, from "Envisioning". A young angel finds her place in a broken land with broken dreams. Sometimes, the truth hurts more than it enlightens.

NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid team is tracking an asteroid when, without explanation, it changes direction and heads for earth. When they inspect the impact sites, they discover that the meteorite fragments are not what they expect.NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid team is tracking asteroid 2027 UX25 when, without explanation, it changes direction and heads for earth. When they inspect the impact sites, they discover that the meteorite fragments are not what they expect.The press has nick-named the asteroid ‘Hachiman,’ after the Shinto god of war and patron god of the samurai, an omen of things to come.Hachiman does not behave like an asteroid should. It fragments and impacts across the globe. The global environments changes: diseased plankton in the Atlantic Ocean, silicon-based killer organisms in northern Russia, and green-house gasses spike globally. ---------This short story is an Avar-Tek Event, an event that develops the technology or characters in the Angel Series. The first Angel Series book is due to be published in 2013.

A descendant of Ceres, goddess of the harvest, was dumped a year ago by her fiance. Bad idea, be careful around a goddess! Now he wants to reconcile but nothing is simple where goddesses are concerned. Or is it?This short story was the inspiration for the novel Earth Legend. In it, a descendant of Ceres, goddess of the harvest, was dumped by her fiance. Not a good idea if your fiancee is a goddess! Now, a year later, he wants to reconcile but nothing is simple where goddesses are concerned. Or is it?

Follow the journey of Dee-Kam, a member of the xenophobic but deeply spiritual Kersh race, on his quest to find his path in the universe. Seeking guidance from the planet's elders, he finds that learning always comes at a price. This science fiction novella provides a unique point of view of the action and will keep the reader engaged from start to finish to become The Master of All Paths.The Nosgardian Empire had just emerged from a civil war and continues to fight on the last remnants of the rebels, supporters of the toppled Gallecian Council. During their struggle, Naa'tas, a notorious rebel identified to be the root of the resistance, escaped to the uncharted lands of Utyirth. Ganis, a disciple of the Hero of Nosgard, has been sent on a mission to join a group of imperial soldiers to capture Naa'tas, dead or alive. The Nosgardians face the challenges of pursuing their foe while surviving in the harsh and unfamiliar lands of Utyirth. The currents of war favored the Empire once, but will it continue to do so after the dust had settled?

The most important fight you'll ever undertake is that for survival, for your very existence.When you are called to fight on your own field of battle, how will you fare?Live or die?The choice is yours.Welcome to the strange city of Odnnol, a muddled, mysterious metropolis that mirrors our own reality, but in a bygone age that possibly never happened. Or did it? Perhaps our age never happened and this one did? Who can really say in the world of imagination and multiple realities? Queen Vitriolica sits on the throne, spitting bile and bitter expletives at her errant subjects, while the Tribish Empire rules the waves, and a considerable portion of the land as well. Keen author Philbert Chicory takes you on a wild escapade meeting a zombi (as it was spelt back then) detective and his sidekick, whom you may or may not recognise, along with the leading character, Mopsy, a small, yet tenacious pug dog. These intrepid adventurers embark on an investigation to find the culprit of the disgusting custard murders, the elusive Rick the Japer, and get involved in one of the greatest capers of the century. The trio face fearsome foes and adversity as they get closer to the truth, in a ripping, rollicking, rivetting tale of high excitement and steampunk fun. Do fear the Japer! Who knows where he might strike next?!

James Patterson's high-octane sci-fi adventure series comes to a white-knuckle conclusion in the final battle that Daniel X has been waiting for his entire life. In this sixth and final instalment of the Daniel X series, the alien-hunting hero is finally ready to take on the biggest threat in the galaxy: The Prayer - the same beast that brutally murdered his parents long ago. But even with his incredible ability to create almost anything, Daniel will have to push his powers beyond the brink in order to bring down a monster that has the powers of a god. This epic showdown of good versus evil is a thrilling finale to this No. 1 New York Times bestselling series.

From the creator of the Land of Elyon comes a riveting adventure set in an extraordinary satellite world?created as a refuge from a dying Earth?that begins to collapse and forever change the lives of its inhabitants. Edgar, a gifted climber, is a lonely boy scaling the perilous cliffs that separate the three realms of Atherton: a humble fig grove; a mysterious highland world of untold beauty and sinister secrets; and a vast wasteland where he must confront an unspeakable danger that could destroy the people of Atherton. When Edgar discovers a book which contains the history of Atherton's origins and ultimate apocalypse, his world?quite literally?begins to turn inside out.