Believable characters and situations' (Amazon US) 'Both a spy story, a sci-fi masterpiece as well as a thriller full of suspense and intrigue, the story rockets on ever forward with twists and turns.' (Amazon UK) 'This read like the golden age stuff I treasured as a youth, Arthur C. Clarke and co. have a worthy heir in Sedgwick. As much a spy adventure as a space caper, this story has plot and intrigue, and gripped me like nothing else in ages. I tore through it in very short time, and plan to re-read before long.' (Amazon UK) NOTE: This is the first of a two book series Description: Six years after its launch in 2050, Dr Aidan Lemaie makes a stunning discovery with the Helios space telescope array. The Helios array has, for the first time, made the surface features of exoplanets visible to human eyes. Green forests, mountain ranges and blue oceans all seem to be visible on Avendano-185f, ‘only’ fifteen light-years away. The find is hailed as the saviour of a languishing Earth, locked in the same old cycle of war, poverty and overpopulation that it always has been. But the potential second-Earth would take at least 150 years to reach using the best conventional propulsion methods. Then another 15 years for any message of what is found to reach Earth. Only recently has the Western Global Alliance unveiled the experimental technology that might bridge the fifteen light-year distance across interstellar space. The Faster-Than-Light drive is a revolutionary technology with origins steeped in mystery - it seems at least half a century ahead of its time. Although experimental and imperfect, the technology is of unparalleled strategic value and Russian spymaster, Sergei Bekov, will stop at nothing to acquire it. His beautiful, deep cover agent, Dasha Morozova, has infiltrated the lives of the people heading the project. Will her attempts to mercilessly betray them succeed and further her repressive regime’s cause? Meanwhile Yau Min, an eccentric former-SETI scientist, struggles for recognition. He wonders why the transmissions, that he thinks came from the Avendano system, went on for many years then mysteriously fell silent. What caused the signals and what made them stop? Should humanity set off for the promise of a new world, to provide a fresh start for the people of a crowded, ravished Earth? Is it a pristine second-Earth or a post-apocalyptic nightmare? Is there an intelligent civilization or will humankind become the apex species unopposed? The new space race is on and the rewards in land and resources could be huge - but so could be the risks. Astrobiologist, Professor Ken Hawkins, senses a trap that could doom humankind - but the human desire to explore is irresistible. How will the actions of Captain Chris Buick and his Special Space Service squad change the course of history forever? With their motto Fortitude in Stellis - ‘Bravery Among the Stars’ have they got what it takes to protect all they have ever known and loved on Earth? Immerse yourself in a future world of discovery, espionage and struggle in this stimulating epic tale. As the intelligent, interwoven plot unfolds to reveal the shocking truth about humanity’s future, you will find yourself hooked until its thrilling conclusion. Who will like this novel? - Readers who enjoy the fusion of hard sci-fi with political, military and espionage elements.

    "We're all just one bad decision away from disaster." At fourteen, Robin Fisher is doing her best to ignore her insurance salesman father’s credo, cataloging his tales of calamity under Bad Things that Happen to Other People. But life in 1970s Golden, California, doesn’t prove so golden after her father deserts the family, setting in motion a series of events that results in Robin accidentally setting fire to an abandoned party house. As Robin struggles to keep an eye on her fixation with Bic lighters and her newly independent mother’s own growing pains, she is drawn into the orbit of Carol “Jesus Freak” Closter, a vulnerable yet charismatic classmate whose friendship will challenge Robin in ways she could never have imagined. When Carol finally crosses a line, it’s Robin who must make a dangerous decision of her own. Sharply comic and deeply moving, Please Proceed to the Nearest Exit illuminates those unforgettable moments in life when everything changes, whether we want it to or not.

    In the colorful standalone novel Captain in Calico, which has never been published, Fraser introduces another real-life anti-hero: Captain John Rackham, called “Calico Jack,” an illustrious eighteenth-century pirate who marauded the Caribbean seas.On a tranquil evening in the Bahamas, Calico Jack, long wanted on counts of piracy, makes a surprise appearance at the Governor’s residence and asks for a pardon. A deal is brokered after Jack reveals the motive for turning himself in: love. When he last set sail from the Bahamas two years ago, Jack left behind a beautiful fiancée, and he hopes to win her back. But while Jack was off pirating, his beloved has become betrothed to a new man—the governor himself. It doesn’t take long for this truth to come to light, and after embarking on a new romance with famous Irish pirate Anne Bonney, Jack is quickly transformed back into a thieving captain in calico. With his trademark picaresque style, Fraser draws readers into the wild west of the British empire, where black sails prowl the waters and redemption can be found in the most unexpected places.

    This is Not for You is a memoir which vividly describes the memories of growing up in a dysfunctional environment and how these circumstances developed a spirit within the narrator. This is a story of resiliency and drive to overcome the extreme adversities that addiction and poverty can create in the life of a young child.

     The Billionaire Daddy The Boss Daddy The Daddy's Childhood Sweetheart The Wannabe Daddy Each novel has never been released and has an HEA. For a limited time the book is under dollar or free on KU.

    Tasked with quietly eliminating a lecherous merchant with a penchant for young children, Rothar's blade strikes without hesitation. But when more children go missing, Rothar digs deeper and discovers an insidious network that reaches high up into the echelons of nobility. What started as a simple mission has become a dangerous quest for justice. Rothar must call upon all his skill to punish those responsible, and rescue the innocent before it's too late. A fast-paced, full length, heroic fantasy novel.

    All are drawn to an old, dilapidated cabin. Inside lives an old man with awful urges, accompanied by a Rottweiler possessed by something...unnatural. But it's what resides beneath the cabin that they should really be worried about. Please join award-winning author Joel Arnold on a ride over the river and through the woods straight into terror in his newest novel, Northwoods Deep.

    While healing from a beating she suffered at the hands of Victor Helios (the madman once known as Dr. Frankenstein and her own maker), Erika Five decides to leave the comfort of her glassed-in porch and bottle of cognac to explore Victor's secret home lab, which she believes is an antechamber to something more sinister. With the help of a decapitated head named Karloff, Erika finds a secret lab and within discovers that Victor's experiments are not limited to his attempts at creating a race of super-immortals. No, he has constructed a mirror-like portal to another universe... one of infinite realities that Victor is trying to bridge for his own horrible reasons!

    The magnet is his beloved older sister, Grace: always smart and charismatic even when she was rebelling, and always his hero. Now she is a promising graduate student in psychophysics and the centre of a group of friends who take "Little Brother" into their fold, where he finds camaraderie, romance, and even a decent job.But it soon becomes clear that things are not well with Grace. Always acerbic, she now veers into sudden rages that are increasingly directed at her adoring boyfriend, John, who is also her fellow researcher. When Grace disappears, and John shortly thereafter, the narrator makes an astonishing discovery in their apartment: a box big enough to crawl inside, a lab rat, and a note that says This is the only way back for us. Soon he embarks on a mission to discover the truth, a pursuit that forces him to question time and space itself, and ultimately toward a perilous confrontation at the very limits of imagination.This kinetic novel catapults the classic noir plot of a woman gone missing into the 21st century city, where so-called reality crashes into speculative science in a novel reminiscent of Danielewski's House of Leaves. Three Years with the Rat is simultaneously a mind-twisting mystery that plays with the very nature of time and the story of a young man who must face the dangerously destructive forces we all carry within ourselves.

    When the Ventura and its crew enter orbit for a scheduled planet survey, the ship activates an automated defense system protecting the planet. Although the Ventura is destroyed in the attack, Barcus alone survives the harrowing fall to the remote planet surface. He struggles to remain alive and sane, and to discover why everyone he knew and loved on the Ventura was deliberately murdered. Swinging between despair and fury, Barcus discovers that for every answer he obtains, there are more questions raised. Barcus is assisted by the Emergency Module, Em, his most useful tool. It is an Artificial Intelligence system contained in an all-terrain vehicle specifically designed to help him survive. Barcus soon finds himself in the middle of a planetary genocide of the local native population. He is unable to stand passively by as more people die, even if they are long lost colonists who fear "The Man From Earth" like children fear the monster under their bed. Will Barcus ever find his way home? Will he find out who is responsible? Will his rage just burn this world down? Or will he find his soul in the eyes of a starving, frightened woman?

    The greatest warriors, engineers and scientists of the age blaze a path to the worlds of T’Karan and Helios, far away from the human worlds of the Alliance. There they will meet alien races and become embroiled in intergalactic politics and conflict. Characters such as Spartan, the illegal pitfighter turned war hero of the Great Uprising, Teresa Morato, senior commander in the Marine Corps and a deadly warrior and Gun, the synthetic warrior giant turned General, a figure with a burning desire to hunt time and destroy the enemy’s of his tortured people. All of them will play their part in shaping humanity’s future in the galaxy. This compendium edition contains the full text of the first three novels, Legions of Orion, Machine Gods and Heroes of Helios. Legions of Orion A chance discovery on the jungle world of Hyperion leads Alliance scientists on a path to creating a permanent spacebridge to the distant Orion Nebula. In a matter of days, great fleets of military and civilian ships depart for the single greatest expedition since the colonisation of Alpha Centauri. Into this great adventure travel two heroes of the war, retired Marines Spartan and Teresa Morato, and their son Jack. Now senior members of an elite private military corporation, they are at the heart of the Alliance bold new plan. Their discovery of buried machines, as well as derelict spacecraft in the first system encountered triggers events that will see the Alliance embroiled in a military conflict like no other. Discoveries of a dead people who have been wiped out by an unknown enemy sends a shudder through the many worlds of the Alliance. Machine Gods After decades of war, the Alliance reached the Orion Nebula and discovered the advanced but shattered remnants of the T'Kari. People and ships are diverted to this rich area of space to continue its exploration and exploitation. At the same time a secretive faction of the T'Kari, known simply as the Raiders unleash attacks on any ships or facilities left unguarded, be it human or T'Kari. Heroes of Helios A strike group of the dozen most advanced ships in the Alliance is assembled and sent to a summit of the remaining great powers of Orion. It is a measure of the reputation and military prowess of humanity that they are to be allowed to participate in joint exercises with the Narau Navy, a combined military force made up of ships from the five alien empires. At the same time a diplomatic mission lands on the surface of the planet to meet with the leaders in the Helion Council. The 15-book Star Crusades series includes: STAR CRUSADES NEXUS Legions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1) Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) Heroes of Helios (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 3) The Great Betrayal (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 4) Prophecy of Fire (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 5) Call to Arms (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 6) Battle for Helios (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 7) Wrath of the Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 8) The Black Rift (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 9) STAR CRUSADES UPRISING Siege of Titan (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 1) Tears of Kerberos (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 2) Fires of Prometheus (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 3) Battle for Proxima (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 4) Fall of Terra Nova (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 5) Slaves of Hyperion (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 6) These titles are also available as combined trilogies including: STAR CRUSADES NEXUS: THE FIRST TRIL

    A place where laws are made and enforced by roving gangs—the Bloomsbury Boys, the Gardners, the Red Lady’s Gang—who rule the streets and will do anything to protect their own.THE FOUR: Zane, Titus, Erin, Eve. Living in this new world, they discover that they have abilities never before seen. And little do they know that as they search post-apocalyptic London for Titus’ kidnapped sister that they’ll uncover the secret of It, and bring about a reckoning with the forces that almost destroyed all of humanity.

    Sydney McKnight, a young physician battling the deadliest influenza pandemic of all time, joins forces with Dr. Casper Jones, an odd new research virologist whose arrival coincides with the virus’s advent, and whose presence raises more questions than answers.As scientists around the world search for an explanation for the virus’s high mortality rate, Sydney’s distrust of Casper grows, especially after she discovers him injecting an unidentified substance into her patient. Despite a heavy patient load, rebuttals from her boss, and an increasingly strained relationship with her boyfriend, Sydney is determined to learn the truth. But what she finds will plunge her into danger and change her life forever…

    Both thought-provoking and action-packed, Frend is a story of transformation, the unceasing drive to belong, and the struggle to liberate oneself from oppression, both internal and external.

    The city of Lower Proszawa celebrates the peace with a decadence and carefree spirit as intense as the war’s horrifying despair. But this newfound hedonism—drugs and sex and endless parties—distracts from strange realities of everyday life: Intelligent automata taking jobs. Genetically engineered creatures that serve as pets and beasts of war. A theater where gruesome murders happen twice a day. And a new plague that even the ceaseless euphoria can’t mask.Unlike others who live strictly for fun, Largo is an addict with ambitions. A bike messenger who grew up in the slums, he knows the city’s streets and its secrets intimately. His life seems set. He has a beautiful girlfriend, drugs, a chance at a promotion—and maybe, an opportunity for complete transformation: a contact among the elite who will set him on the course to lift himself up out of the streets.But dreams can be a dangerous thing in a city whose mood is turning dark and inward. Others have a vision of life very different from Largo’s, and they will use any methods to secure control. And in behind it all, beyond the frivolity and chaos, the threat of new war always looms.