Time traveling dead men, alien misfits, intergalactic spies, and mecha mercs feature in this week’s roundup of the newest releases in science fiction.
Andromeda Rising (Blood on the Stars: The Andromeda Chronicles #1) – Jay Allan
Among the millions born into misery, poverty, and despair under the dark and smoky haze that covers the planet, Andromeda Lafarge is unique. One lost soul among billions, she is tough, relentless, determined to get out, to escape, to blaze her own trail, and to make a name for herself across the stars.
Andi will break the chains binding her to a life of destitution, leave the Gut and Parsephon behind forever, and plunge into the dark and deadly worlds of the lost empire, prospecting for imperial artifacts, the bits and pieces of old tech that can make her rich. She will find new friends—and enemies—on the frontier, and she will blaze a trail from the filthy, polluted Iron Belt world of her birth to the dead and haunted imperial planets of the Badlands.
She will fight, endure hardships unimaginable, save comrades…and lose some, too. She will struggle to amass wealth, to do whatever is necessary to ensure she will never again be helpless, and she will bring back the technology of the ancients, scraps of mankind’s lost legacy, to do it.
She will create a name for herself among the rough and tumble adventurers who ply the rogue trade in ancient tech. For some, she will become one to emulate, to follow. To others, her name will become the foulest of curses. She will make her way, blade and pistol in hand, from one dead and ancient world to another.
She will become the scourge of the Badlands.
The Bayern Agenda (Galactic Cold War #1) – Dan Moren
A new Cold War threatens the galaxy, in this fast-paced and wisecracking thriller of spies and subterfuge.
Simon Kovalic, top intelligence operative for the Commonwealth of Independent Systems, is on the frontline of the burgeoning Cold War with the aggressive Illyrican Empire. He barely escapes his latest mission with a broken arm, and vital intel which points to the Empire cozying up to the Bayern Corporation: a planet-sized bank. There’s no time to waste, but with Kovalic out of action, his undercover team is handed over to his ex-wife, Lt Commander Natalie Taylor.
When Kovalic’s boss is tipped off that the Imperium are ready and waiting, it’s up to the wounded spy to rescue his team and complete the mission before they’re all caught and executed.
Hope is Not a Strategy (Four Horsemen Tales #8) – edited by Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey
Fifteen of the best Indie authors. Fifteen extraordinary stories. One bestselling universe.
It’s the Twenty-Second Century. The galaxy has opened up to humanity as a hyperactive beehive of stargates and new technologies, and we suddenly find ourselves in a vast playground of different races, environments, and cultures. There’s just one catch: we are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain, and there’s only one way for humanity to move up—by becoming mercenaries.
In every mercenary’s life, though, there comes a time when things go wrong and even the best laid plans go awry. When they do, though, the best mercs fall back and work out new plans, and you can bet on one thing—hope is not their strategy. Whether you’re a kid looking to get off your planet, or an unarmed merc facing an overwhelming force, or even the sole survivor of a pirate attack, there’s always an edge—and it’s up to the merc to find and exploit it!
Edited by bestselling authors and universe creators Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey, “Hope is Not a Strategy” includes all-new stories in the Four Horsemen universe by some of the bestselling Indie authors currently in the business. These authors take on various aspects of the universe, giving you additional insight into a galaxy that isn’t at war…but definitely isn’t at peace. There’s only one thing for sure in the 4HU—anything’s possible…for a fistful of credits!
Invincible (Legends of Legacy Fleet: First Swarm War #1) – David Bruns and Nick Webb
The aliens took her ship. Commander Halsey wants it back.
For decades they were among us, silently infiltrating the power structures of society. Now the Swarm stands on Earth’s doorstep. As humanity launches a desperate counter-attack, the alien victory seems inevitable.
For Halsey, this is personal. While the Fleet executes their battle plan, she leads a do-or-die suicide strike at the heart of the alien force: her own Invincible, turned into a weapon against mankind. With time running out Halsey fights to take back her command and save the human race–or die trying.
She is a proud warrior. She is humanity’s last hope.
She is Invincible.
Also available: Avenger, by Chris Pourteau and Nick Webb
Iron Wolves (Galaxy’s Edge: Order of the Centurion #2) – Jonathan Yanez, Jason Anspach, and Nick Cole
There can be no victory without sacrifice.
The Iron Wolves are a company of legionnaires whose legendary exploits date back to the Savage Wars. When they are invited to be guests of honor at a ceremony on a small, backwater planet, they look forward to some precious time away from the constant conflicts of galaxy’s edge.
But when a neighboring country invades, disrupting the ceremony and killing innocents, the Wolves are forced to make an impossible decision. Aid a people pleading for their protection… or obey the cynical orders of their Senate to stand down and see how the dust settles.
Taking their careers and lives into their hands, the Iron Wolves and local militia form a brotherhood determined to fight for what they believe in. War is on the wind, the battle is at hand, and the Legion is on the move once more.
Strap on your bucket, grab your blaster, and start reading today. The Iron Wolves call and death is on the hunt.
Quantum Time (Quantum Series #3) – Douglas Phillips
Everyone knew time travel was impossible. Then reality intruded.
A dying man stumbles into a police station and collapses. In his fist is a mysterious coin with strange markings. He tells the police he’s from the future, and when they uncover the coin’s hidden message they’re inclined to believe him.
Daniel Rice never asked for fame but his key role in Earth’s first contact with an alien civilization thrust him into a social arena where any crackpot might take aim. When the FBI arrives at his door and predictions of the future start coming true, Daniel is dragged into a mission to save the world from nuclear holocaust. To succeed, he’ll need to exploit cobbled-together alien technology to peer into a world thirty years beyond his own.
Space Team: The Hunt for Reduk Topa – Barry J. Hutchison
Sick of the stress, aggravation, and multiple genocides they’ve had to put up with lately, accidental space hero Cal Carver and his crew set off to start a new life in a distant corner of the galaxy.
Six tedious days of warp-speed and board games later, they arrive in a sector filled with new hope, new opportunities, and new adventures. Too broke to take advantage of any of these things, they are forced to accept a series of increasingly demeaning jobs just to make ends meet.
When one such job leads them to the offices of a sector-wide TV network, Cal signs-up to star in smash-hit gameshow, The Hunt, confident of winning the big cash prize.
What he fails to realize is that the show’s premise involves him being chased and killed for the amusement of the viewing public and so Cal must run, fight, and occasionally beg for his life as he attempts to win the game, the money, and his freedom.
But in the entire history of the show, no competitor has ever survived The Hunt, and the network will stop at nothing to keep that record intact…
Titan’s Son (Children of Titan #2) – Rhett C. Bruno
Titan’s revolution is coming. All it needs is one final spark.
Kale Drayton knows his place. As a Ringer born on Titan, he’s used to keeping his head down and his mouth shut – no matter how much the Earthers abuse him or his own kind berate him. So, when he’s caught stealing from a wealthy merchant, he’s lucky to be sentenced to low-paying maintenance work on a gas-harvesting ship instead of life in a cell… or worse.
But when his mother is quarantined, Kale finds himself backed into a corner. To pay for her medicine, he needs money – the kind of money he’ll never make sweeping floors and cleaning ships. When he receives a mysterious offer asking him to do a simple job in exchange for his mother’s treatment, Kale takes a chance once more. All he must do is upload a program onto his employer’s ship and all of his problems will disappear.
What starts as a straightforward smuggling gig soon reveals its shattering repercussions. The people who hired Kale are more dangerous than he suspected – and he’s more important to them than he ever could have imagined.
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