Their father was murdered, leaving them sitting in their spaceship waiting for his return. They remember almost nothing from before that time, when two Calavari who were business associates of their father took them in and told them they could never be seen outside their full body armor. They've honored their father's dying wish, living and working on the Calavari's farm while exploring the barren wastelands looking for bits of technological salvage from the time before the great cataclysm. They don't know they're Human, just that they're different and they can't show their skin in pubic. The two siblings have lived almost their entire lives in their self-styled body armor and dream of leaving the farm and doing something that mattered...but there's nowhere to go. Nothing to do. Then one day that all changes and Esna is set forth on a rollercoaster ride of a life she could never have expected once the word 'Human' is once again spoken on the planet...only its a word of rage and fear, with the local aliens trying to kill whoever it is applied to, though they've never seen one before. Regardless, the word is tagged to her and she must run...with a little help. -------------- Excerpt from 'Lost Destiny': “Donovan!” he called out, running towards him with plodding footsteps as his nose picked up the scent of burnt flesh even before he saw the hole in the chest plate of the full body armor the man wore. Whatever race he was his blood flowed a sickly red, a fact that he’d prefer to not have known as he leaned over and gripped the man’s shoulders, prying him up into a sitting position. “What happened?” A shaking hand rose up to the neck of his armor, fumbling for the latch that Yammar finally helped him with. The helmet cracked opened with a hiss and the Calavari helped him pull it off, revealing the pale skin beneath that had alarmingly become even more so, now nearly white. “Gladers,” he said, wincing horribly as he half bent over. “Jumped me from behind. I got two of them, but the third…” “Where’s the latch for the chest piece?” Yammar asked, pulling back the cloak that covered most of the hard plates as he looked, but the man took a death grip on his lower arm and locked eyes with him. “My children. In the ship. You have to…please. I’m all they’ve got. They’re dead without you.” “Where’s the latch?” he repeated, searching around with his other three hands and finally finding something that looked promising. He pressed and turned the small button, being rewarded with another hiss as a crack formed along the side beneath the man’s left arm, but suddenly that arm went straight to Yammar’s giant head and gripped it tightly, forcing him to look into the dying man’s eyes. “Promise me. Promise me…” he said, wincing again. “I don’t know anything about your race,” Yammar said, feeling helpless. “Good…” the man spat in a cough but no blood came out of his mouth, though it was continuing to pour out of his chest and seep down over his waistband plates in spurts every time he jerked in pain. “Good. Don’t ask questions…just…make sure they wear armor…in public. Promise me.” “I promise.

    Gladiators, as they are better known, are genetically modified human champions who meet Klethos d’relle in the combat ring when the Klethos issue a challenge for a human world. Win, and the planet stays in human possession; lose, and not only do they lose their lives, but the world as well. With the Klethos much more advanced and militarily powerful, able to defeat humanity in an all-out war, the challenge ring is the only way to retain at least some of the worlds of man. While life as a gladiator is full of celebrity status and the gratitude of humanity, it comes with a heavy price. Not only is there the real risk of death in the ring, if a gladiator survives that, the “Brick,” or Boosted Regeneration Cancer, will claim her life within a few years. Lance Corporal Veal, who has found a home in the Marines, has to decide whether to accept the nomination. She would have to leave her brothers and sisters in the Corps, be assigned to the combined human gladiator course, and undergo extreme genetic modification that will leave her almost unrecognizable from the woman she was before. Becoming a gladiator will enable her to serve humanity to a far greater extent than anything else she could do as a Marine grunt, but at a tremendous personal cost. Author’s note: For those readers familiar with my other Marine-related books, this one is a little different in that there is far less combat action, particularly from a Marine unit standpoint. This novel, which is the first of three planned books that follow three different women serving as United Federation Marines or as a Navy corpsman, is more about duty, sacrifice, and what it means to serve in defense of others.

    Trained to fight. Sent to die. James Maddox is a colony rat. A tuber: born in a vat to live, work, and die on Genesis-526. The only way off a toxic dustball like Genesis is to enlist. But with a 7% three-year survival rate, the Federation's Ground Corps doesn't look too appealing... Still, the recruiters are always looking for fresh meat. And they don't take no for an answer. So when a Federation dropship descends from the sky, Maddox isn't given a chance to run. Hell, the damn thing nearly kills him. And that's before he's picked up, strapped to a rocket and fired at a training carrier in orbit. Ready to become cannon fodder on some alien battlefield. Until he's offered a lifeline - the Mech Corps. They're the elite. The first in and last out of every fight, piloting twenty foot tall steel beasts of war. But no tuber has ever made it into the Corps, and they want to keep it that way. The instructors want him out, the other recruits want him gone, and they'll stop at nothing to make sure it happens. But they've never met a tuber quite like James Maddox. Compared to working to death on Genesis, training is a piece of cake. And it's definitely better than getting shot at. After all, boot camp is a long way from the front line. But when your ship is capable of interstellar travel, it's closer than you might think...

    I never thought I’d actually become one. As a sci-fi author with a hit TV show, I have a few ideas about what alien invaders are supposed to look like. In my stories, they’re technologically advanced monsters, with tentacles, and no faces. Turns out I was right about the technology. And about how angry they’d be. But the way they look…that’s more terrifying than even I could have imagined. They look exactly like us. Because they are us.

    Tasked with performing covert missions, its kill teams are filled with the best warriors from within the ranks of the Legion.Kel Turner is one of the youngest legionnaires ever to be selected to its ranks. After many battles and trials, he is faced with the greatest challenge of his life - operating by himself on a remote planet at the galaxy’s edge, a foot soldier for the policies of the duplicitous House of Reason, tasked with solving a crisis that would take ten kill teams to resolve.Diplomats, spies, shadowy terrorist groups, and an enigmatic general work with and against Kel as he fights to save a society from itself. What can one operator do alone, separated from his kill team, fighting a war that has no name?This lone operator doesn’t know what it will take to win. He only knows he’s not going to lose.

    

    Fortunately, that suit is one of the most powerful weapons ever created.A military sci-fi adventure from Amazon All-Star author James David VictorDane Williams barely survived the Exin attack and is faced with a life of pain and torment. With the help of experimental drugs and a robotic suit, he has a chance for a semi-normal life. And as a new Marine in the Mechanized Infantry Division, he has a chance to strike back at the enemy that has caused so much pain and destruction. Can Dane and his fellow Marines fight back and save humanity or is Earth heading for an extinction level event?Mech Warrior: Born of Steel is the first book in the Mechanized Infantry Division series. If you like fast-paced space adventures with engaging characters and exciting battles, you will definitely want to see how the Mech Warriors save mankind, or if they can.

    Valhalla awaits the worthy. On the battlefield of the future, armored mechs can turn the tide of any battle. With a nation under threat, a single small force of Armor joins the fight to hold the line against a merciless horde bent on total domination. Chief Amos Roy—a young soldier haunted by the loss of his brother to the enemy—is thrust into the fight before he’s ready. War is a harsh teacher, and his fellow Armor are just as wary of him as they are the foe. When the enemy unleashes a mobile battle station with the power to annihilate cities, Roy must prove himself to veteran Armor that he’s worthy to fight beside them. Can battle forge a team that will stop the enemy’s super weapon? For here the Armor will find the Iron in their hearts and the spirit to win any war. Even if nothing but embers of defiance remains. Til Valhalla is a military science fiction novel written by the Dragon Award winning and Nebula Nominated Richard Fox. Read it now! Q&A This is part of the Ember War universe? Til Valhalla is a prequel to the first series, and if you’ve not read an Ember War book yet, you’re in luck! You can start here with no worries. Will this book have characters we know from the main series? Yes, but only in cameos. The story follows all new heroes in their fight to save Australia.

    Scion of a wealthy family on New London, he can have almost anything he wants. But what he wants more than anything is the freedom to make his own way and build his own legacy to pass down to his children. Together with his wife, Lynelle, he sells everything to buy shares in colonial company and settle the newly discovered world of Dalthus IV.Planetfall is a prequel to the Alexis Carew series, which starts with Into the Dark. If you’re new to the series, I suggest starting with Into the Dark, rather than Planetfall, as this story was written more for someone who’s already a fan of the series and is interested in more background on some of the characters and customs.Also, Planetfall is available free to subscribers to my mailing list … so there’s that. J.A. Sutherland

    Best to steer clear of the freaks in Voodoo, kid.”Surrounded and outgunned, a group of private military contractors known as “Strange Company” find themselves on a remote planet at the edge of known space, and on the losing end of a bad contract. Orbital D-beam strikes, dropships bristling with auto-guns, missiles, and troops - even Monarch space marines in state-of-the-art advanced battle rattle - will try to prevent the company from reaching the exfil LZ and getting off-world.For Strange, that means it’s time to hang tough and get it on with as much hyper-kinetic violence as they can muster to get clear of the whole mess. And what the Strange can’t get done by violent assault and crazy firefights, they’ll get done by the freaks of Voodoo Platoon - operators who have been changed by the Dark Labs into powerful and unnervingly unnatural asymmetrical weapons.This is the Strange Company. Because in the Strange, it’s always really Strange. Join them - and get ready for full auto combat at the furthest limits of human exploration.

    A worn-out ship. A crew of green cadets. And they're Earth's only hope. The Alexander is the last true warship, a relic from the days of interstellar war. She's destined for the scrapyard, and her captain, Richard Hammett, is about to retire. Their last mission is a training run with a ship full of cadets. It's supposed to be a routine hop through a wormhole Gate. But Gates have been going offline, one after another, and Hammett knows in his bones it means trouble. The kind of trouble only a real warship can handle. Defying orders, he takes the Alexander through another Gate, and puts the ship smack dab in the path of an alien invasion. Now a captain at the end of his career will have to take dozens of terrified cadets and forge them into a crew of warriors, because the Alexander is all that stands between the Earth and the swarming ships of the Hive.

    A flu-like plague that infected thousands and killed roughly ten percent of its victims. Those who died awoke once again, but they were no longer among the living--they came back as soulless carnivorous corpses who desired only one thing: to feed on living human flesh. As the infection spread, across Europe and the rest of the globe, cities were overwhelmed. Nations fell. Humanity flickered like a candle flame in the wind. In the United States: the nation's great cities are becoming hunting grounds. New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles...all are falling victim to hordes of shambling dead who want only one thing: to devour the living. Single Tree, California is a small resort town in Inyo County. Between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, it's easy to overlook. And that's exactly what the citizens of Single Tree want, for the stenches and those fleeing them to ignore the town long enough for it to be transformed into a desert fortress at the foot of Mount Whitney. But time is not on their side. Not only do they have to worry about the dead... they have to fear the living.

    Worse yet, he’s relegated to his grandfather’s old house and rambling scrapyard. To complicate things, the women in his life are pulling from every direction. But It’s through a bizarre turn of events that Jason is led to a dried up subterranean aquifer hundreds of feet below ground. Here he discovers an advanced alien spacecraft, one that will propel his life in a new direction. The adventure begins… and with it new troubles for Jason: The Craing, an unstoppable interstellar threat, is headed right for Earth. A desperate situation goes from bad to worse as the Alliance crumbles.Fortunately, Jason’s unorthodox and impetuous nature seems to work in his favor as he moves up to the captain’s chair. First order of business is to reconnect with his SEAL team compatriots and face this enemy head on. What's at stake? The very survival of the human race.This is a full-length 70,000-word novel, first in the science fiction adventure series for Scrapyard Ship.

    Their aim, nothing less than the total destruction of humanity. All that stands in their way, five officers, a handful of ships… and the human need to survive!

    A new commander. His ship catapults uncontrolled through space. Now the aliens want him and his ship dead. Anderson Cross and Kate Flynn are in the crosshairs of the alien invasion. Their ship bears the hatred of an entire species.  It will take all they can give to survive. It will take even more to win. The enemy has more ships and better technology.It’s life or death for them.For their ship and crew.For all of humanity.It’s the human fleet vs. the aliens in run-and-gun battles for survival. Can Cross and Flynn rise above his mistake and slow the alien advance? There’s only one way to find out. Get it now. If you loved Old Man’s War and the Honor Harrington series, you’ll love the five-book Chaos Shift Cycle. It is a powerful new addition to the military sci-fi adventure tradition of David Weber, John Scalzi, and Robert Heinlein. It is perfect for fans of Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, and Battlestar Galactica. The Chaos Shift Cycle:Book 1: TrespassersBook 2: DefendersBook 3: ProtectorsBook 4: Deliverers Book 5: Victors (coming March 2018)