First and foremost, thanks are due—as always—to my wife Robin, who is not only my beta reader and brainstorming partner, but who also keeps the daily distractions away from me and makes sure the household functions while I am in my office with my noise-canceling headphones on my head and space kablooie on my mind.
Thank you to the team at 47North, who works hard to make sure the novel you have in your hands comes to be after I type THE END and send everything off to my editor Adrienne, and to Luke Daniels, who turns the Audible versions of my books into something special.
Thank you to my agent Evan Gregory, who is in no small part responsible for the fact that money shows up in my account on a regular basis. He’s also solely responsible for the existence of local translations of the Frontlines books in German, Polish, Japanese, Czech, Hungarian, Russian, and Thai.
Thank you to all my writer friends and colleagues, who give me input and feedback and make me feel like I’m part of a community instead of a solitary middle-aged dude sitting in an office and talking to himself in his head all day: Melissa Olson, Amber Lynn Natusch, Joseph Brassey, Ellie Ann Lang, John Scalzi, Elizabeth Bear and Scott Lynch, Steve Gould, Laura Mixon, Chuck Wendig, Delilah S. Dawson, Ann Leckie, Fran Wilde, and a few dozen others I’m forgetting to list right now but who are completely entitled to make me pay for drinks the next time I see them at a convention.
Thank you to the Viable Paradise/Daydrinker posse, who has been very supportive and happy for my success (and not murdered me in a dark alley): Claire Humphrey, Katrina Archer, Julie Day, Jeff Macfee, Chang Terhune, Steve Kopka, and all the other members of the VP tribe.
As I am writing this, I have learned that convention bookseller Larry Smith has passed away. He was a kind and friendly fellow, and he gave me the thrill of seeing my books on a dealer table for the first time. Thank you, Larry—I will miss seeing you around.
And thank you to all my readers—for buying my work and spreading the word, for your emails and Facebook messages, and for enabling me to have my dream job and live my best possible life. It’s humbling and awesome, and I want to keep doing this for as long as you keep reading these books.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2016 by Rob Strong
Marko Kloos was born and raised in Germany, in and around the city of Münster. In the past, he has been a soldier, bookseller, freight dockworker, and corporate IT administrator before he decided that he wasn’t cut out for anything other than making stuff up for a living.
Marko writes primarily science fiction and fantasy, his first genre love ever since his youth, when he spent his allowance mostly on SF pulp serials. He’s the author of the bestselling Frontlines series of military science fiction and is a member of George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards writer consortium.
Marko resides at Castle Frostbite in New Hampshire with his wife, two children, and a roving pack of vicious dachshunds. His official website is at www.markokloos.com. He can be reached at frontlines@markokloos.com and found on Twitter (where he spends way too much time) @markokloos.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 RUN, INTERRUPTED
CHAPTER 2 JOINT BASE THULE
CHAPTER 3 HUNTING A BEAR IN WINTER
CHAPTER 4 UNDER THE ICE
CHAPTER 5 UNFRIENDLY TRAFFIC
CHAPTER 6 BANGED UP
CHAPTER 8 FINAL DAYS
CHAPTER 9 GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER
CHAPTER 10 FLEET ASSEMBLY POINT ECHO
CHAPTER 11 PHASE ONE
CHAPTER 12 KICKING THE DOOR OFF THE HINGES
CHAPTER 13 PODS AWAY
CHAPTER 14 RED BEACH
CHAPTER 15 RODS FROM THE GODS
CHAPTER 16 TUTTLE 250
CHAPTER 17 DANGEROUS GROUND
CHAPTER 18 RED HAT EXPRESS
CHAPTER 19 47 NORTHING
CHAPTER 20 NO SUCH THING AS OVERKILL
CHAPTER 21 GETTING OFF THE BEACH AT HIGH TIDE
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR