[A Beowulf Shaeffer Story] Itinerant space pilot and epic hero Beowulf Shaeffer finds himself in the midst of an interstellar scandal when an alien sculpture artist is kidnapped from his passenger starship.

    His pretense is a disguise. His very existence on Taloo Station is no accident. Martin Wheeler—AKA Jaxon Rasner, is hiding from his past. After nearly a decade of living in obscurity, a team of killers is sent to end his life. Making matters worse, his estranged daughter is brutally abducted. Marked for death, he must return to the life he left behind as he races for survival throughout the Outer Ring, where he has no choice but to embrace the killer within.

    The station is in a security lockdown and the sole apparent occupant, a Union captain, offers Kieran an entire ship if he can disable the lockdown. Kieran realizes that he’s probably dealing with a criminal, rather than an actual captain, but he’s just desperate enough to accept. He flies out to the nearest station and returns with a slicer and some dangerous-looking backup. As he’s making his approach to the station, Kieran hears a garbled cry for help over the comm. He hopes it’s just his imagination.But it’s not. Half the station’s crew is being held hostage, while the other half appear to be masquerading as Union officers. Kieran and his team disable the lockdown, and to Kieran’s amazement, they are given a ship as promised. As they are leaving the station, they see an entire fleet of Union cruisers pouring out of the newly-reactivated space gate. Kieran is confused. What are so many warships doing on the frontier? The Union isn’t at war.Kieran sets out to investigate, but along the way strange things start happening to him and his crew. At first there seem to be logical explanations, but before long the answers are not so clear. As time goes by, Kieran realizes the horrible truth:He wasn’t the only one trying to escape. . . .

    Fiction by Hugo and Nebula award winners and nominees as well as talented newcomers. Stories were selected by the Unidentified Funny Objects series curator Alex Shvartsman.

    

    Calidore alive on the Allan Corporation Voyager Manhattan. The spaceship was run like a pirate vessel, part of a multi-corporation fleet racing to claim an alien asteroid vessel that had just appeared beyond the moon. None of us knew the Chin Corporation Voyager had nuclear-tipped torpedoes and planned to murder the lot of us. Well, no one knew but Calidore, and the little genius decided to skip out on a shuttle and take over the alien asteroid for himself. He screwed up bad, so bad you wouldn’t believe me if I told you what happened. The point is, I have to fix the problem, me, Jason Bain the bodyguard, or the Earth can kiss its tush goodbye.

    Everything goes downhill from there as two Space Marines are arrested and accused of dealing China Mike—a highly addictive and illegal synthetic drug—and Fortis is forced to either get involved in the war against the cartel or abandon his Marines to the local legal system.However, as their involvement in the drug war deepens, Fortis suspects the platoon has been plunged into the middle of something much bigger. Rumors of a growing resistance movement against the colonial government abound, and it appears his men are being used to do the security force’s dirty work of putting it down.As Fortis navigates his way between the corrupt colonial government, a corporate espionage agent, intergalactic mercenaries, and his own chain of command, he has to find the truth of the situation and answer one important question—is there any way for Third Platoon to be successful when everyone else on the planet wants them to fail?

    

    This ebook includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.DeathworldDeathworld 2Planet of the DamnedArm of the LawThe K-FactorThe Misplaced BattleshipNavy DayThe RepairmanToy ShopThe Velvet Glove

    Everything was taken from him and he was pressed into military service as a fighter pilot. A few years later, Jace has gotten out of military service and worked on a corporate freighter. He has grown to love space and plans to never return to earth. Dissatisfied with the corporate life, Jace finds the necessary backing to go independent. Thus, he begins the life of an independent freight hauler. This story is inspired by Nathan Lowell's Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series, Firefly, and some anime.

    Her people have fled. And Mitch Ayers is having a real bad day. Fifty years ago, our home was dying. We identified worlds that might be able to support human life. We built Ark Ships: huge colonization vessels carrying thousands of crew. And we set out, not knowing if we could make it to the other side of the blackness, or whether there would be anything there if we did. Mitch wasn't supposed to have to care about any of this. He was supposed to be happily dreaming in stasis for another twenty years. That's until he wakes up on the Ark Ship Nansen, three light years off course, staring right up at the barrel of a gun. All around him, he hears the screams of the dying. Terrorists are wiping out the Nansen's crew while they sleep, and he's the only one who can do a damn thing about it. But ain't that always the way. Mitch knows the Nansen's crew might be the only humans left in the universe. The problem is, he quickly learns that humans aren't alone in the stars. Aliens aren't just out there, they're everywhere. And the first one he meets tries to sink its teeth into his neck... Mitch is a long way from home, and it's not just the aliens he's up against. It's the traitors within his own crew. Now humanity's fate rests on his shoulders. So he'll have to think fast...

     More than a decade after leaving home Dawn finds herself stuck in a dead-end job, in a rundown flat, while her sister has it all - the husband, children and prestigious job in sunny Australia. Their mum’s favouritism is palpable, and even as she has a terrible fall leaving Dawn to pick up the pieces, nothing Dawn does can live up to her perfect, absent sister. But still Dawn persists with taking care of her aging and fragile mum, until one day it begins to feel like the only thing standing between Dawn and her happiness is her mother's continued, pitiful existence...

    Taking a leap of faith, she moved to Brooks, Georgia and opened her own sweets shop. What she was not prepared for was bringing Tripp, her less than thrilled 14-year-old grandson, with her. This makes for an uncertain, and sometimes amusing, start to a new chapter of life. Soon after they arrive in Brooks, there’s a murder in town. And that’s where Mary meets easy on the eyes Officer Preston. From there, they discover they make quite the detective duo. Each book in this Cozy Mystery series has individual mysteries from this Sweet Southern town. From murders to bank robberies to family secrets that rocked the community, Mary and Officer Preston will give you the best in Cozy Mystery! AUTHOR’S NOTE: Thank you for your interest in my Sweets Shop Cozy Mysteries Series! If you like reading about murder mysteries, women who own sweets shops, cats named Sweet Feet, family life and a little clean romance on the side, you’ll likely enjoy this series. It also deals with middle-aged woes and teenage angst, so this story can be enjoyed across the ages. And it’s written with no swear words, minimal violence (aside from the murders, which aren’t described in detail) and no steamy romance scenes. Download and immerse yourself in this fun four-book series located in the small town of Brooks, Georgia…

    He never knew how soon he and his fellow Raiders would have to prove themselves on the field of battle. After the failed coup to oust the emperor, the Novacks do not fade quietly into the background. They continue a low-grade insurgency, but in doing so, they open the door to other players that bring the entire empire to the brink of destruction. Sergeant a’Hope Hollow must lead a ragtag group of fellow non-humans in an attempt to avert a catastrophe that can wipe out humans forever. Read DEVOTION now.

    Erik Cain, Augustus Garret, and the rest of the high command are grimly satisfied that humanity has been saved from the First Imperium menace. There is no joy, however…no elation at the “victory.” The losses this time were too heavy…too personal…to bear. They had done what was necessary to win the war. Now they had to find a way to live with the gut wrenching decisions that victory had required. Garret needed time. Time for repairs, to replace losses, to learn how to go on in the aftermath of what he’d done. But the fleet wasn’t heading for a well-deserved rest…they were moving into another firestorm. A new menace, one as deadly as the First Imperium, was waiting, and it threatened to shatter the fragile alliance of the Earth powers and throw all human space into another desperate war…one that might be the final confrontation. On world after world, mysterious forces are invading, taking control of the most vital colonies. The invaders are well-drilled powered infantry, veteran forces that quickly shattered the planetary militias and established brutal occupation regimes. The leaders of the Alliance’s forces must rally themselves once again to face this new threat…an unknown enemy that is as well trained, experienced, and equipped as the Marines. Indeed, on some colony worlds rumors are already spreading that the invaders are the Marines themselves, that they have come to conquer, to rule… Even Legends Die Gavin Stark, the ex-head of Alliance Intelligence, and the bitter foe of the Marine Corps, has made his bid for power. The clone soldiers of his Shadow Legions have seized control of dozens of colony worlds, imposing his brutal rule over millions. His plan is no less than to subjugate all mankind. On Earth, Stark’s manipulations have brought the Superpowers to the brink of war, threatening the Treaty of Paris and its prohibition against terrestrial warfare. For a century, man had restricted his wars to space, but now the Powers are sliding closer to the brink…the final battle that could kill billions, and turn Earth into a wasteland. On a few key colony worlds, Erik Cain, Elias Holm, and the remnants of the shattered Marine Corps struggle against Stark’s vast armies…the only hope of turning back the tide of destruction and despair that threatens to engulf all mankind. They are outnumbered and outgunned, but they will fight nevertheless, standing grimly in the breach, holding back Stark and his dark legions. The Marines will fight with the last of their strength and resolve. But this time the cost will be too high to bear, too personal. Even Marines need their heroes, their legends. But even legends die. The Fall The Epic Conclusion to the Crimson Worlds Series… Erik Cain has left the Corps, driven to near madness by an overwhelming need for vengeance. He has sworn to kill Gavin Stark, the madman responsible for his mentor’s death and, with a small band of dedicated followers, he is pursuing his prey across occupied space. Meanwhile, on a dozen colony worlds, Marines land to face the occupying forces of Stark’s Shadow Legions. They are supported by the Janissaries, their longtime enemies, now turned allies, but they are facing a vastly superior enemy entrenched and waiting. But they know what is at stake, and they are determined to prevail.