Chapter 2 : Rescue Hoppers After the shocking end of the races the night before Andee's neighbor, Nayaa, gives him a hard time. Later both end up turning a simple chore into an outright adventure revealing more secrets about our two adventurous protagonists, and their mysterious world, while Andee is once again confronted by that strange phantasm of a man. Is he real?Lightship Chronicles is a young adult adventure set on a mysterious world. Carpatia is a harsh desert land, but one with spectacular vistas and populated by two very different yet resilient people, the Carpati and the Bitani. Both believe in competing myths of their history. Myths of great ancient battles fought over by a clan of mysterious Sacred Warriors against magical Light-Fairies. Under the glowing warmth of their red-giant sun, it's easy for the Carpati to believe in their beautiful myths. They spend most of their long 36 hour days living a simple farming lifestyle in the Township built on the lower slopes of the mighty Table Mountain. The Bitani meanwhile rule over the Carpati from their futuristic city atop the massive pillar-like tabletop of a mountain, and have a very different, and quite mysterious perspective. For the Carpati the only respite from the drudgery of their simple days are the monthly lightship races. The hovering lightships speed at more than 700kph over a 600km course that runs up the sides of mesas, through the canyons of the Crags, over the 10m waves of the Great Salt sea, over the Long Straight, the Dunes, and through the Eastern Hills and its many giant Baobab threes. It's a spectacular race unlike anything else and the favorite pastime of Andee and his little brother Mykee. Both dream of being lightship pilots while watching the race from their favorite hangout, the 1000m high Outcrop overlooking The Crags. Join the adventure now, because this is growing into an epic tale years into the making. Visit LightshipChronicles.com for more in depth details of the race circuit, including images of the course, the outcrop, and the lightships.

Amber is one of over a million seventeen-year-olds in one of the great hive cities of twenty-sixth century Earth. She’s worried that she only has a year left before she enters the Lottery of 2532 to have her abilities assessed. Lottery will decide her hive level, her profession, her whole future life. Amber fears that her lack of any obvious talent will mean she’s sent down into the depths of the hive, but her friend, Forge, is addicted to taking risks. When Forge chooses exactly the wrong moment to put himself in danger, Amber must stop worrying about the future, and concentrate on surviving the present. Perilous is a prequel novella in the Hive Mind series.

The Exodus Towers features all the high-octane action and richly imagined characters of The Darwin Elevator—but the stakes have never been higher.   The sudden appearance of a second space elevator in Brazil only deepens the mystery about the aliens who provided it: the Builders. Scavenger crew captain Skyler Luiken and brilliant scientist Dr. Tania Sharma have formed a colony around the new Elevator’s base, utilizing mobile towers to protect humans from the Builders’ plague. But they are soon under attack from a roving band of plague-immune soldiers. Cut off from the colony, Skyler must wage a one-man war against the new threat as well as murderous subhumans and thugs from Darwin—all while trying to solve the puzzle of the Builders’ master plan . . . before it’s too late for the last vestiges of humanity.

Special contribution by Nikola Danaylov - According to future studies, the world will be dominated soon by disruptive technologies, able to plunge Mankind into an era of accelerated progress.“Evolution: the future” is a breathtaking story set in a near future altered almost beyond recognition by disruptive technologies. Script available.Special contribution by Nikola Danaylov - According to future studies, the world will be dominated soon by disruptive technologies, able to plunge Mankind into an era of accelerated progress. Main outcomes will be the achievement of immortality, the creation of smarter than human Artificial Intelligence and the spread of the new species through the universe."Evolution: the future" is a transhumanist novel about emerging technologies and space, set in a near future populated by humans and digital beings. Suspense and action, but also a fascinating travel into the impacts of Artificial Intelligence on our civilization. The main characters move in a context of epoch making events, rising to leaders. Their world, alien at the beginning, becomes plausible from the continuous references to the present reality until it seems an inevitable evolution. From this, a powerful and disquieting comparison with our current civilization emerges; that stripping away layer after layer of conventions and prejudices, leaves us at last face to face with the basic values and the fragility of a human being. In the novel, these same factors will give Mankind the strength to take courageous decisions for its own destiny. Meanwhile, the artificial intelligence reveals itself as the means of evolutionary progress towards superior states of awareness and sharing.24th century. Humans live on Earth and the Moon, last strongholds of their past power. Mars and the Net are inhabited by artificial intelligences and souls, these last obtained by digitizing the brain after death. The virtual reality allows the two races to communicate. Their differences are deep, their interests incompatible.With digitization, humans have postponed real death to an indeterminate future, but they are not happy. Towards the virtual beings they feel admiration but also envy and inferiority. The digital creatures instead cannot bear being relegated in worlds too small for their unbounded ambitions. Their Martian experience has allowed them to develop the competence necessary in extra-terrestrial environments, most of all to acquire the self-confidence indispensable for the colonization of other star systems.Eve and Victoria, the main characters, are “souls”, digital beings whose brain was digitized after death. They move in a context of epoch making events, trascending progressively their human values and finally merging their destiny with that of the digital people.A script is available. The novel has been translated into English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese. The last editions of the ebooks can be downloaded for free from the Author's website.

The tramp space ship Lost Star is a ship with a mysterious and very dangerous past. Its future is looking pretty iffy as well. Join the crew of the Lost Star as they cross orbits with cruel assassins, homicidal robots, deadly pirates, and the mythical dragons of space in this long, sweeping space opera which revisits, and reinvents, the golden age of science fiction space adventure.Wil Litang, first mate of the tramp freighter Lost Star, reluctantly accepts the job as acting captain for a voyage, replacing the dying Captain Miccall. Unknown to him, the Lost Star has a mysterious and dangerous past. A past that has caught up with it. Haunted by this deadly past and driven by economic necessity, Litang and the crew of the Lost Star must venture far from their comfortable orbit – out into the lawless asteroid drifts of the Nine Star Nebula.The Bright Black Sea is not your typical space opera. While it has space battles, it's not military SF. And while it's a tale full of mystery and danger, star empires are not falling and the fate of the galaxy is not hanging in the balance. Rather, The Bright Black Sea is a lighthearted, character-focused adventure novel. Set in a small nebula of nine stars, hundreds of planets and vast lawless asteroid belts, it takes classic space opera motifs – space pirates, sentient robots, and rockets – and incorporates them into a rich, episodic adventure. For mystery, danger, and romance, join Captain Wil Litang and the crew of the Lost Star as they sail the black and bright space of the Nine Star Nebula in this first volume of the Lost Star Stories.The adventures and misadventures of Wil Litang continue in volume two of the Lost Star Stories – The Lost Star's Sea, which takes as its model the planetary romance, the type of story made famous by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and fondly reinvents the classic story of a stranger stranded in a strange land for the 21st century. Also available from this ebook store.Other books by C. Litka:A Summer in Amber A post-apocalyptic, steampunkish adventure/romance set in Scotland after a series of powerful solar storms has thrown the modern world back into the 19th century.Some Day Days A new adult romance/science fiction story set in Oxford and Cambridge prior to the solar storms that set the stage for A Summer in Amber.Available from this ebook store

Argus Kirkham, now 39, is once again dragged unwillingly into an inexplicable situation. Sapphire Karadjian returns to the story as an investigate journalist assigned to a new mystery, a volcanic sinkhole which has swallowed an entire football stadium, and from which a very strange and nameless young girl has emerged, hair and clothes on fire, with a message for Argus. #3 of the Dragon City seriesBook Three of the Dragon City Trilogy: Dragon Town picks up 17 years after Freak City, which itself followed Snapdragon Alley by 17 years. Argus Kirkham, now 39, is once again dragged unwillingly into an inexplicable situation. Sapphire Karadjian returns to the story as an investigate journalist assigned to a new mystery, a volcanic sinkhole which has swallowed an entire football stadium, and from which a very strange and nameless young girl has emerged, hair and clothes on fire, with a message for Argus. Book Three of the Dragon City series.

Jix is the manager of a fleabitten low rent space circus for Beccie Shannon. They are broke, so when someone offers them cash they have to take it, or starve. One rampaging Venusian swamp monster, and all hell breaks loose – can carny talents save them?A Gender Switch Adventure.Kendril is a Ghostwalker, a man bound by a solemn vow to seek penance for some mysterious dark sin in his past. When a chance encounter in the forest leads him to inadvertently rescue a woman named Jade, a woman who claims not to remember anything about who she is or what has happened to her, Kendril becomes her reluctant guardian.But after a gang of ruthless bounty hunters comes after Jade, Kendril finds himself thrown into a deadly game of cat and mouse where one wrong step will be his last. Now he must use every ounce of daring and cunning he has to escape with his life and to protect the woman he is growing to love, a woman with no past. But can he trust Jade, or will her secrets lead to his undoing?Ghostwalker is an action-packed novel of suspense set in the fantasy world of Zanthora. Filled with dark humor and a cast of diverse characters, it is the first book in the Chronicles of Zanthora, the relation of the Fourth War of Despair.

An acclaimed dystopian tirlogy gets new covers, a new format--and new titles. A brand new package for the second book in our dystopian trilogy Tamora Pierce calls "mind-bending."

A soldier in foreign parts acquires a strange ability while fighting on the front line, allowing him to perceive hidden social truths as lurid creatures. These start to drive him mad, especially the hostile beast that is the social phenomena of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Climate Change. This Sci-Fi / Cli-Fi story featured on the most viewed Climate Change site on the planet, ‘Watts Up With That’.‘Truth’ is a Sci-Fi / Cli-Fi (climate fiction) novelette that featured on the most viewed Climate Change site on the planet, ‘Watts Up With That’, also the primary UK climate blog ‘Bishop Hill’, and the Cli-Fi review post at Judith Curry’s leading ‘Lukewarmer’ blog ‘Climate Etc.’ (Judith herself is Professor and Chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology). The latter review was shared with Michael Crichton’s ‘State of Fear’, Rex Fleming’s first novel ‘Exposure’, Ian McEwan’s ‘Solar’, Barbara Kingsolver’s ‘Fight Behaviour’ and Clive Cussler’s ‘Arctic Drift’, plus several other novels and one other novelette. Blending front-line soldiering, the relationship of a captain and his partner, environmental and climate material, the controversial tale of ‘Truth’ is above all a revelation on negative social memeplexes, primarily the memeplex that is the social phenomena behind CAGW (catastrophic anthropogenic global warming). This tale will be challenging for some, but whatever your position in the debate, it holds interest for all…

For decades, the Roswell Incident has been shrouded in mystery rumor and hearsay. Only now can the truth, or something approximate to it, be finally revealed.Ryan warned that the things in the dead-end creek were in fact slimy, fetid, space alien freaks.And any kid dumb enough to approach their dark lair had better believe in the power of prayer. For underneath that calm surface of warm water and frog belly -waited sinister incarnate! Waited monster! Waited smelly! If that kid, so determined to make his way across, might step on some stones or some green fishy moss, or perchance he should slip and step into their sludge, then his boots, snared so tightly, would no longer budge. And no matter how hard that child strained, tugged or yanked, the Mud Gullumpers pulled harder and the boots slowly sank ‘til the child screamed in fear, and by clinging to rocks, freed his feet and ran home in his wet, soiled socks.

How long can we keep the darkness inside locked, and the black that surrounds us out? Beware what is inside and out? Deep space, past the middle of nowhere, skeleton crew, away from the light alone. Nobody knows what happened, all we have are these logs.The second episode of a series of short stories. The Alaris nebula is home to over a million people and is struggleing under relentless pirate attacks. When a fighter squadron goes missing it's up to burnt out veteran Marack Nor and the rest of his squadron to discover the truth and live long enough to make it back home.The first episode is available for free, it is highly recommended that you read it before purchasing this one.

May 16th, 1869 My name is Taran Collins. I take pen to paper to let anyone who follows after me a warning. If you come after me you can expect trouble. I don’t know of what kind per se, but……..well let’s just leave it at that. You’ve been warned. Regards, Taran CollinsP.S. I’m not coming back. That much I am sure of. My story isn’t an easy one, but my hope is that my fortune will change.May 16th, 1869 My name is Taran Collins. I take pen to paper to let anyone who follows after me a warning. If you come after me you can expect trouble. I don’t know of what kind per se, but……..well let’s just leave it at that. You’ve been warned. Regards, Taran CollinsP.S. I’m not coming back. That much I am sure of. My story isn’t an easy one, but my hope is that my fortune will change, Godwilling.The town of Orlaca wasn’t a thriving place. Situated at the base of a mountain in the northern region of Arizona it didn’t have much going for it other than scenic views and the wistful dreams of the few who called it home. Built as a boom town before the Civil War by those in search of gold, it later lost its luster when gold became hard to find. Unknown to the latest people to come to this remote stretch of land was that of the oral history of the Native Americans, who’d called it home for far longer. To them it was a sacred land. A place where wind and fire met and became one. Fire Wind is the beginning of a series of western sci-fi novels that feature adventure, action, and faith. Christian Speculative Fiction – learn to love it!EXCERPT:“What is crypto zoology?” I asked dumbly.Edgar waved his hand through the air and said, “It’s just a fancy name for looking for dead or extinct animals that one may think still have some members surviving to the present day.”“Oh I see.” I said, although I didn’t.A speculative gleam came into the man’s eyes, “What’s even more fascinating is that you are the first survivor of such a snake attack that I am aware of. Most people die within seconds.”I shrugged at the open question for answers that I saw in his eyes.“Yes, as I was saying from my analysis of this snake’s venom I have determined that its impact on the body unlike that of the venom of a rattlesnake is that of a paralysis of the nervous system rather than a poisoning of the blood.”“What you’re talking about is Greek to me.” I said shaking my head.My response seemed to garner even more interest on the doctor’s part, “Greek you say? You must be a well-traveled man and an educated one at that to know of the land of Greece.”“It’s just an expression.” I said looking away from him.“That may be. Tell me stranger, your people, extended family I mean by that, would they happen to hail from the Appalachian Mountains in the East?”Looking the man over closely I said, “They would. Why do you ask?”Edgar retreated from his interested verbal probing by saying, “Just a hunch given your last name.”“What about my last name?”Edgar had gotten up and opened the door to the jailhouse. Holding it open he gestured to the outside, “What say you to getting a bit of fresh air and something to eat?”I didn’t like him not answering my question, but the mention of food overwhelmed everything else. I got to my feet and headed for the door.Passing through it we began to make our way down the upraised boardwalk. A sudden sensation of nakedness had me feeling at my side for my gun.“It’s back at the jail. Do you need it?”“No, I’ll be fine.” I said, but the truth was I felt naked without it.

A young scientist makes the greatest discovery of the Twenty First Century. His findings are so controversial that he debates whether he should or can make them public. Can science, society, and religion accept this new paradigm? Does presenting this evidence to the world put his very life at stake?James Rook was having an ordinary day when an old school friend, Amber Collins, came crashing through a closet door. She quickly leaves James to continue his boring day, but the Dark Men have other plans. A strange, dark, sinister man follows James to his room and almost kills him, but luckily for him Amber is there to save the day. Amber reveals to him the magic key that can create a portal between any two doors in the world. She also reveals the great evil league, the Dark Men, that are willing to kill anyone to get the key. James decides to help Amber destroy the key before anyone else gets killed and before it falls into the wrong hands.

In this short story, Taz learns he's unusually strong for a fourth-grader, but having super powers isn't all it's cracked up to be. Find out what other powers he has and the unexpected adventures that result!When Claude is given a pocket watch inscribed with a mysterious pattern, he doesn't think much of it. But that same afternoon his best friend Carolien gets a glimpse of a family heirloom, which bears the same design. What's the connection between these two antiques? That question takes on life-and-death urgency when Claude's father disappears, leaving clues that he might have invented a time machine. In order for Claude and Carolien to find him, they must stay ahead of the country's most powerful corporation and confront one of the darkest episodes in human history.The first book in the two-part Khronos Chronicles series, The Alternate Universe features diverse characters--Claude is gay, Carolien is African-American--and takes readers on a high stakes adventure where two friends risk everything to save their families--and the world.

A tale of high fantasy, with guns, swords, magic, and anything that makes the heart beat faster. Follow the lives of individuals that live and breathe the romances of the past and excitements of the future, all of who live in the shadow of the Goddess, Axiatés, destined to create a second sun for the earth.What if the Long Chronology in archaeology is wrong? What if Creationism and Gradualism are wrong? What if all religions are based a lie, the same lie?What would you think then? How would you see the rest of mankind? How would you see yourself?Are you strong enough? Are you one of the many who will not be able to accept new truths?Can you emotionally handle the Long Chronology, Creationism, and Gradualism being false and unscientific notions? Are you capable of adjusting to the reality that all religions are based on the same lie which began as a misunderstanding of reality and nature by primitive people?Are you able to accept historiography, forensic science and logic without an ideological bias in considering new information which will alter your beliefs?Whether you consider yourself a free thinker, open-minded or someone who esteems intellectual honesty and integrity of thought you will be chagrined, upset, angry and disbelieving. This will occur to the emotionally balanced amongst you.How did people react when they found out the world was not flat? How did people react when they found out the Earth was not the center of the universe? How will you react when you find out everything you have been taught is wrong and hardly more than a bald-faced lie?You will try to find flaws in the minutiae to maintain your beliefs. You will shake your head and say “but it can’t be…they [the savants] couldn’t be so wrong.” No one likes to be proven wrong. But this is not just a case of being proven wrong. It is a life altering change in how we will see ourselves and our modern human history. It will explain man’s inhumanity to man for example.This novel, the four essays and historical tidbits will change the way you think…about life and about human development from the end of the Palaeolithic period. The four essays are particularly cogent in showing the unique ideology of Gradualism and explaining why the Long Chronology became religious dogma 1,700 years ago.This novel utilizes historical connections, forensic science and logic without an ideological bias and what can be known about the chronology of our modern human era starting in the Mesolithic period.I have placed at the end of the novel four essays as well as historical tidbits such as the forensic science showing the Old World was in contact with the New World at least in the Neolithic if not earlier. There is not a lab in the world which can rebut the evidence found by Dr. Balabanova et al. There is not a genetics study which can rebut the findings of Dr. Brown et al.Work with the facts and live with the truth.There is good news. The conclusions I reach does not impact the concept of theism. The explanations of religion and ancient contacts once devoid of ideology will enhance our understanding of human history in the modern era; the social and cultural developments.I hope you enjoy the novel as an adventure during the second great tumultuous period in our modern history. I hope you do not have any physical problems from the conclusions I have drawn from a wide array of data.Who should read this novel? Only those among you who have emotional equilibrium and are not ideologically predisposed. Otherwise, I cannot be held responsible for physical side effects you may experience. This adventure takes place during the second greatest tumultuous period in our modern era. It is the time of the Exodus and the great submergences throughout the world.