Three exciting new series are coming your way in March!
We’re giving you a sneak peek of new series coming up in March!
Whether you’re looking for urban fantasy, litRPG or science fiction, we have three new series coming your way we think you are going to love!
And they’re coming out at various times during the month.
If you enjoy gamelit, litRPG…
The first series, Tomb of Malevolent Evil, is the first to release before the end of the first week of March, on March 4.
If you are familiar with pen and paper RPGs, this one will be right up your alley. In fact, it’s titled Roll for Initiative. At least for this series, you won’t need your pen, paper, dice and a good roll to get the adventure started. Just pick up your copy and join the intrepid adventurers as they take on evil in this adventure. Written by Kevin McLaughlin and Michael Anderle, you know you’re going to be unable to put it down until it’s finished!
No link for this one yet, but as soon as it’s on preorder I’ll update the article with a link!
If you enjoy urban fantasy…
Theophilus Monroe is launching his second series with us on March 25, 2022, with book 1 of the Chronicles of Zoey Grimm with book one, Family Squabbles. If you enjoy paranormal adventures and fast-paced urban fantasy with a slow-burn closed-door romance, this series will be perfect for you.
Meet Zoey Grimm. She thought she was going to take over the family business, but instead, it’s her brother. The sudden change has made her decide to leave the underworld for Earth. There’s just one small problem: she doesn’t know how she’s going to make money. And while she could be a really good vigilante, it just won’t pay the bills.
Join her as she leaves home, comes to Earth and tries to earn a living while finding out what she truly is! You know it’s going to be a rollicking adventure! AND the first three books are available for preorder! How cool is that?
If sci-fi is more up your alley…
The last series featured for March is the third in a promised trio of new ZOO series set in the far, far future. That series would be Interstellar Security and Extraction Services with book 1, Never Too Expensive, releasing on March 29, 2022.
Whether you need security, protection for legal travel, avoid an uprising or anything else in the distant future, Interstellar Security and Extraction Services can provide the services you need – for a price. Independently owned and operated, the transportation branch can handle any interstellar relocation. With an understanding Captain who values discretion and expediency, all your worries will disappear.
Discover their services and the adventures they encounter while on the job in March by preordering your copy!
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We hope you enjoy this sneak peek of the new series coming your way, along with all the other new releases, in March! We’ll be back in March to tell you about the four new series arriving in April which includes two new authors to LMBPN!
Happy President’s Day and Week in Review February 13 – 19, 2022
Celebrating our Presidents and new books!
Week in Review February 13 – 19, 2022
Celebrate with new books here: Week in Review
Magic Lineage:
Mix together cocktails, a rundown factory, and an acid-spitting flying rat and what do you get? The next adventure for the Evermores. The Darkness Between Dreams is hunting the Evermores – especially Fran. What’s a young witch to do when there’s a powerful witch and military contractors gunning for her? Dust off her wand and practice with her newly found magic. A battle is coming their way.
Mana Wave continues to grow. But the team needs to find a source other than Fran’s magic or The Source to power the batteries. The location of their new factory just might provide a surprising solution. More of the hidden prophecies are being discovered. Rumors are swirling that the Evermores will bring disaster to Mana Valley. First, Fran will have to contend with a knife in the dark, an underground bar, and a talking wall.
New Books Here
Wing and Fury:
Raven Alby’s first foreign diplomatic mission was a success with her familiar and dragon, Leander by her side.
But now that the WarMage is back, funny things are happening with the land she calls home. Lomberdoon is showing strange new signs of life. Just like her old warrior grandfather, Connor predicted.
It’s not just magical ore and deadly dragon diseases anymore. Now, the plant and wildlife are changing years after magic’s return. Including… giant killer rodents?
Maybe the sea serpents knew what they were talking about after all.
No More Options:
The future has amazing technology. Our alien allies have magic—and the Telorans are testing the boundaries of the Federation’s alliances. If the war doesn’t end the Federation, the Morgana’s defense spending might just bankrupt it…
There’s not enough of BURT to go around. A decision must be made—keep stretching himself, or take action to cover both the Virt World and Stephanie’s growing efforts with the matrix. Stephanie has her sights set on the next stage of her plan for Earth’s recovery. A radiation-soaked world may be the key to her energy questions…
The pirates are planning an attack on Dreth. First, they need to distract the navy. How will the Telorans react to a taste of human cunning?
New Books Here
Haven:
Not far from Ephren space station lies Corsera. Having taken a small habitat on the planet from pirates, Dante and the alliance consider making it a more permanent home. For a man who loves nothing more than flying through space at the helm of his own ship, the paperwork alone is a killer. There’s no better way to provide the justice and fairness lacking in the fringe than to become the boss. But becoming the man who makes the decisions comes at a cost. With the pirates out for revenge, Dante is stretched from all sides. Between the pirates bent on reclaiming what was once theirs and the complications of leadership, he must learn to lean on Kit and those like her who came to Corsera to build a home of their own. Kit does everything she can to help her new captain, but he’s not the easiest man to help, and she’s still got a lot to learn about flying her own ship. Flying riskier routes than ever before and against the clock, can she find a way to get her much-needed cargo home in time?
Rule of Righteousness:
Dragons were meant to rule the world. But one man disagrees.
Politics currently rules and Nevin Goosemen is using it to brainwash mortals. Soon everyone will fear dragons.
Desperate to take the Dragon Elite down, Goosemen abducts the king of the fae. King Rudolf Sweetwater may be many things, but a coward isn’t one of them.
Together the Dragon Elite and the king work to try and discredit Nevin Goosemen Will they be able to before the public are horrified of dragons—putting them in danger of extinction once again?
New Books Here
Enjoy New Books Here: Week in Review
For the Love of Books Give Card Giveaway
Leading Lady Fan Pricing Saturday February 19, 2022
Heroines lead in these weekend deals.
Fan Pricing Saturday, February 19, 2022
Note: We requested the price changes from Amazon on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, they don’t change all of the prices at one time. Please double-check the price before clicking “Buy”.
All of these new releases are 99c for one day only!
And they are also available for FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
Grab them today before the prices go up!
Magic Lineage
No More Options
Dragon Rescue
Second Contact
Magic City Chronicles Complete Boxed Set
Ethics Rule
Wing and Fury
For the love of books gift card giveaway
If you see this message after February 19th and want to be notified of future price promotions, please sign up for our email list at www.lmbpn.com/about/email.
Whirlwind Snippet for Realms of Power and Fury Book 1
Realms of Power and Fury Book 1: Discovering Power
They say you should always read the fine print. This was especially true for Eric but his need for cash in hand outweighed his common sense.
Realm of Power and Fury 01 snippet –
1 –
The coffee was terrible but when Eric Johnson was offered a second cup, he accepted eagerly. It was the first hot anything he’d had to eat or drink since his power had been shut off a week earlier.
“You want this one sweet and white too or did that last cup put some hairs on your chest?” the man seated across the desk from him asked with a sharp bark of laughter.
“Sugar and cream would be great, Mr. Marston. Thank you,” he replied and pushed the tiny Styrofoam cup eagerly across the table. The older man made no attempt to hide his disdain at touching the used cup.
“I’ll get you a fresh one, son. The world’s a different place than it was a few years ago.” Mr. Marston stood and walked toward a coffee maker that looked as if it had not been cleaned in months.
Although maybe “walked” wasn’t quite the right word. He didn’t so much walk as he marched casually. Everything about the man screamed ex-military, from his tightly cropped hair to his starched suit, sterile mustache, and the way he didn’t so much ask questions as demand answers.
A month before, Eric might have joked with Sarah that he looked like a cliché from a video game, but thinking about either her or video games hurt too much right now.
Mr. Marston put the cup on the desk and nodded at him.
Eric looked up to thank him but caught the look of condescension on his face and the words died on his tongue. Not that he blamed the man. They were practically opposites and he couldn’t come out of any comparison without falling horribly short.
Marston’s shoulders were broad but his were knobby. The man’s starched suit was almost too tight across his broad chest and biceps, while his faded T-shirt was baggy, except around his gut. His host spoke with purpose but Eric felt like he had none.
Even the way they sat was different. Martson looked like he had a steel rod down the center of his spine, while he alternated between hunching his shoulders forward or slouching back in the uncomfortable folding metal chair.
“So you saw our advertisement and wanted to help America in the pursuit of maintaining our technological advantage? Admirable, Aaron. That’s admirable.”
“It’s Eric. Did I not fill out the paperwork correctly? My handwriting isn’t the best. Sorry.”
“Not a problem, son. Handwriting isn’t needed for what we’re doing today.”
“What are we doing?” he asked. “I’ll get paid today, right? The sign on the bus said cash.”
“That’s right, son—five hundred dollars cash in hand before you step through that door.” Marston nodded to the dirty glass door at the front of the strip mall. Eric had felt something like hope when he’d first walked through it but the dingy interior of this office space had begun to leech that from him.
Not knowing the details of the “clinical study” that had been advertised on the bus did not help his confidence in the situation.
“And what do I have to do?”
“Before I can tell you that, I need to confirm your eligibility for this offer. Not every Tom, Dick, or Susan who walks through that door has the qualities Quantum Fortune Research needs. Once we determine that you are the best of the best, we’ll sign some paperwork. All standard boilerplate stuff, of course—NDA, consent forms, release forms, next of kin. That kind of thing.”
“Next of kin?”
The older man waved the question away with a flick of his wrist that looked like it could have broken Eric’s collarbone if it had been too close. He pulled a tablet from inside his desk. It seemed almost flimsy in his hands as if he could snap it in half if he so wished.
“Number one!” Marston snapped eagerly like a grade-school teacher reading out questions for a pop spelling quiz. “What is your current employment status?”
“Un.” Eric sighed.
“You’re gonna have to speak up, son. And where I’m from, we say ‘sir’ when we’re finished speaking.”
As if that wasn’t obvious. He didn’t say that, of course. Not with five hundred bucks on the line. “I was on an esports team, but I wasn’t…uh, as competitive as Hans.”
“Esports, huh? That’s like online gambling?”
“More like competitive video games.”
The man shook his head and his lip wrinkled in disgust like Eric’s dad’s used to when he got tired before he’d finished mowing the lawn. “Is there much money in that?”
“I was getting by okay but right now, I’m unemployed, sir.” His skin crawled at calling the man sir but his stomach took precedence over his pride.
“Very good,” the interviewer replied as if being unemployed was the best of all possible answers. “How many hours a week would you say you pass time with your friends?”
“I’m sorry, how is that relevant?”
Martson checked his watch. “We need to keep moving if we’re gonna get that cash in your hand today, son.”
“But—”
“I don’t understand the details, son. I only ask the questions. I think it’s something to do with network effects and synapses—I don’t know, I’m not an egghead. Answer the question.”
“I haven’t seen any friends in a month, sir. Not since I left the team.”
“You got a girlfriend?”
“No. But Hans does.”
The man nodded and made a note on his tablet. Eric wondered if he was checking the box for “loser.”
“What about family?”
“I haven’t seen my family in years.” It was still a sore point so he didn’t add anything more.
Martson made a few more notes on his tablet while Eric waited for more questions but none came.
“All right, son. It looks like you’re eligible. Now the fun part—paperwork.” It was ostensibly a joke, he knew that, but the man had delivered it with such hamhanded gracelessness that all he could do was stare at the mound of paper that was shoved in front of him.
“I thought there would be medical questions.”
His query was waved away with another flick of his wrist. “The eggheads want participants in a variety of levels of physical fitness—all the way down. They’ll give you a once-over once we take you back there.”
“Sure,” he said, not wanting to dwell on how obvious it was that he was on the bottom end of the fitness scale.
“First up is a standard Non-Disclosure Agreement. You can’t tell anyone about what you do here today, nor can you post about it online, write about it, take photos, or anything else. If you do, you’ll face fees, jail time, and whatever our lawyers can get to stick.”
Martson seemed determined to talk so fast that Eric couldn’t read and listen at the same time.
Still, he’d signed NDAs before. They were all fairly standard—don’t talk about this or you will get in trouble. He signed it. No sooner had he finished the ‘n’ in his last name than the other man snatched the paper away. Eric hadn’t seen him move around the table but he now towered over him and pointed out where he would need to sign, date, and initial.
“Next up is a consent form. It simply declares that you’re in full control of your faculties and you willingly go through this process.”
“And what is the process?”
“You have to sign one of these to go to Six Flags, son. And you got to sign one today if you want to get paid. It’s only saying you agree to do this.”
He could smell the bad coffee on Marston’s breath. It encouraged him to sign and date the form.
“Great. The next one is a standard liability release. You can initial on each line where I highlighted.”
“Risk of injury?”
“This is medical research, son. You’d be surprised at how the general populace reacts to something as benign as the prick of a needle. Goddamn legion of lawyers. Of course, they wouldn’t have those kinds of complaints if they saw what yellow fever looked like in the unvaccinated. Did you ever see a man vomit himself to death? I have. It’s not pretty.”
Eric initialed, mainly to get him to stop before he began to elaborate on the details of what vomiting oneself to death looked like.
“Loss of wages due to missing work. I guess that’s not an issue,” he mumbled as he initialed that line.
“You don’t need to read every damn line, son, only initial.”
He completed the next couple without comment. It wasn’t like he could afford a lawyer to sue, nor was he concerned about “loss of privacy for the duration of the experiment.” He would be out of there soon, anyway. The next line gave him pause, however.
“Release indemnity from quantum disentanglement?” he read aloud. “Is that supposed to be a joke?”
“If it is, I’m not laughing. The company’s name is Quantum Fortune. We’re merely trying to cover our bases. You’d be shocked at what these liberal whackjobs will sue a small business over.”
“Can I skip this one?”
“Not if you want to participate, son. But that’s fine. You came here on the bus, right? I think one passed a couple of minutes ago but you’re welcome to leave now. The bus stop has a covering so you should stay mostly dry from the rain. But don’t come back for a few weeks, all right? We’re booked up with people who want this opportunity.”
“Are you sure?” Eric asked and looked around the empty office. Marston’s desk seemed to be the only piece of furniture in use besides the counter with the coffeemaker on it.
“We’re beating ’em off with a stick, son. Not everyone is as qualified as you are but if you want to throw away your chance at the bonus, that’s on you.”
“There’s a bonus?”
“Did I forget to mention that? Oh, wow…it’s been a day, you know what I mean?” He slapped the young man on the back so hard it almost knocked the wind out of him.
“There’s an additional three-hundred-dollar bonus if you agree to start the experiment the same day you come in. You would not believe the number of punks who come in here looking for a free ride. Some of ’em come back, of course. An opportunity like this doesn’t present itself every day, you understand. Would you be interested in the additional three hundred?”
“I mean…uh, yeah, of course. Er…yes, sir.”
“Then initial on the last few lines and we’ll get you to your checkup.”
Eric nodded. He recalled going tubing down the San Marcos River as a kid and his dad arguing with the staff at the tube rental company about the liability form. It had been so embarrassing for his young self to watch him yell at the proprietor of the shop over the details of a document that everyone else signed without even hesitating.
His dad had eventually signed it, of course—his mom had made it very clear that they would not drive back to Dallas without even floating the river—and unsurprisingly, nothing had happened. All the fuss over the form had amounted to time wasted and people offended for no good reason.
He initialed the rest of the lines on the form.
“Great job, son! I don’t say this every day but I see great potential in you. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s head to the back and do that medical checkup you were asking about.”
Mr. Marston opened a door that led directly into a medical office that was more impressive only because the stainless steel table the doctor directed him to sit on looked like it had just been wiped down.
“Name?” the doctor asked.
“Don’t you have that on your chart?”
“It’s only a formality, sir.”
“Eric Johnson.”
“Say ahhhh.”
He complied and the man responded with a cursory glance down his throat.
“Are we feeling in good health today?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m going to check your reflexes, all right?”
“Yeah, they’re fairly good, especially eye-hand because—”
Eric stopped talking when the doctor rapped on his knee with a tiny rubber hammer. “Looks fine. Any allergies?”
“Only mango skin. It’s weird. Regular mango doesn’t do anything but if I eat any of the skin, I have to go the bathroom like immedia—”
“That’s fine. This is only a tiny prick, all right?”
“That’s what she said,” he quipped as the doctor stepped behind him. He winced as a needle jabbed into his skin at the base of his head where his neck met his skull. “Ouch!”
“Any irritation should fade,” the man said in a not particularly reassuring monotone.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Why did you put it on the back of my neck? I thought vaccines were supposed to go in a big muscle like your arm or neck.”
“Are you sure your arms count as big, son?” Marston laughed at his own joke.
“It’s only a routine shot,” the other man said.
“So it is a vaccine?”
The doctor glanced at Marston, who cleared his throat. “We’re not supposed to know what it is or if it’s merely a placebo. Studies like these always need a control. You understand.”
“I’m not sure I understand—”
“All your questions will be answered. Now, if you’ll follow me, the doctor has a full plate.”
“He does? Because it looked like I was your last appointment of the day.”
“We respect our participants’ anonymity. It wouldn’t do for you to be swapping notes with the other participants.”
His hand was on Eric’s shoulder and he didn’t think he could resist even if he wanted to. He was led down a flight of stairs and a narrow hallway that ended at a heavy metal door.
“That NDA is about to kick in.”
“Does that mean I can describe this hallway on the Internet if I want to?” he joked.
“No, son. No, it doesn’t,” Martson replied clinically.
The man punched a series of numbers into a keypad and when the light at the top of the device flashed green, he held a badge out to be scanned. Almost instantly, the door unlocked with a heavy click and they stepped into a large room.
Two of the walls were lined with banks of seriously out-of-date computers, although the clickety-clack of the mechanicals’ keyboards was a sound most modern gamers had come to appreciate.
The third wall held a series of maps or maybe elevation diagrams on it. No, he decided as he scanned them. They were maps. Eric had played enough games to recognize that but they weren’t of Texas or the United States. Maybe some part of Canada? It looked like a series of islands speckled with snow.
He gave the fourth wall only a glance since it had a few crates stacked against it, plus brooms, a mop, and a couple of trash cans. The very center of the room, however, drew and held his attention. A metal ring about eight feet across stood elevated on a platform with a ramp leading to it.
In that moment, it felt like stepping onto the set of a cheesy sci-fi show or maybe into the mission control room in a less than spectacular video game where one could pick up missions, maybe improve their gear, or customize their character.
“All systems go, sir,” a woman in a lab coat and glasses said to Marsten.
“Acknowledged. Go ahead and fire ’er up.”
“Yes, sir.” She clicked some commands into her keyboard, leaned back, and turned her attention to the contraption. The central-most part of the metal circle began to spin. It was slow at first but it increased speed rapidly. Soon, the inner ring started to glow orange from the friction.
“What is this supposed to be?” Eric asked and suppressed a chuckle. He felt like a fool for having only now reached what appeared to be the only reasonable conclusion. When he looked around the room again, he wasn’t at all surprised that he couldn’t see any of the hidden cameras. There were so many places they could hide them. “All right, you guys got me.”
“Son?” Marston asked in evident bemusement.
“I mean…there are cameras here, right?” He didn’t want to belabor the obvious but some explanation seemed necessary.
“Of course there are cameras. We’ll need to go over the data we get from this medical scan. Step forward, son. Up the ramp. You step through that ring, I give you eight hundred dollars cash when you step out the other side.”
“Right.” He shrugged and walked up the ramp. When he’d reached about halfway, the spinning part flashed white before orange spread across the center. Sparks from the edge were tossed into the centrally spinning vortex. “Wow. These are amazing effects. I assumed you’d add this kind of stuff in post.”
“Shut up and keep moving, all right?” Marston responded, his tone grating.
Eric took another couple of steps until he stood directly in front of the disk. He could feel heat emanating from it and caught the smell of ozone. It seemed very elaborate for a special effect.
“Who do you work for again?” he asked. “Quantum…uh, Researchers? Do you guys mind if I Google you real quick?”
“Sir, we’re losing stability.”
“DARPA was clear, sir,” another tech said. “We need that data.”
“Wait—DARPA?” he asked. “Isn’t that, like, department of defense?”
“You’re damn straight, son. Your contribution today will help not only mankind but your country as well.”
At this point, he had significant doubts as he stared into the swirling orange disk. He took a step back. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure I want to do this. I thought this would be like a test for medications or something. I didn’t mean to waste your time.”
“No sweat, son. You didn’t waste no one’s time,” Marsten replied. “Off you get!” Without warning, he kicked Eric firmly on his butt.
He tumbled forward and stretched his hands out to catch himself as he fell into the disk.
The older man’s shout seemed to echo as he fell into nothing through a tunnel with flashing orange walls and nothing but blackness ahead of him.
Eric never stood a chance of getting out of this situation. What did he get pushed into? Is he going to come out the other side with superpowers or was he thrown into an entirely different realm? Find out when Realms of Power and Fury: Discovering Power is released on February 22. Head over to Amazon and pre-order it today.
Wilder Wednesday February 16, 2022
It’s wild how good these deals are!
Wild Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Each week we bring you a list of books from not only LMBPN authors, but also friends of ours, that are on sale! Here’s a fantastic opportunity to discover some new authors or some exciting books you may not have seen yet.
Most of these books are FREE in Kindle Unlimited, but all are on sale today.
Please remember to double-check the price before you one-click.
Magic City Chronicles Complete Boxed Set:
Magic City is full of hustlers, con men and magicals just out for a good time. The perfect mix of glamour and gangsters. It’s a magical version of Vegas and it’s a lot more than meets the eye. Something big is about to go down in Magic City and it’s nothing good. Can Ruby Achera, her friends and family put a stop to it before it explodes and sends chips flying everywhere?
From Book One: Ruby Achera just wanted a nice, quiet drink at her family’s casino in Magic City. The Mist Casino sits just above a kemana with an interior that would make a ghost feel right at home. Of course it does. After all, Magic City has to compete with nearby Vegas. A different kind of magic. Ruby is just back from University for the summer, catching up with an old friend when everything changes with a BANG!
Wild Deals Here
Warlord Born:
For two decades he served…and never questioned the orders. Would one act of mercy cost him?
Alistair believed in the work. He was the last line of defense against the rebels’ unending war to overthrow the Commonwealth. His legend preceded him – the greatest Titan the corps had ever produced. Alistair’s mission was simple: catch and kill two rebels. Then they said a few words that forever changed his life.
Alexander’s family had ruled the Commonwealth for ten generations. His 30-years as Emperor had been peaceful, but only because he didn’t tolerate dissent. Now, a Titan had betrayed him. Alistair must die. In a battle of Good vs. Evil, the stakes have never been higher. Can Alistair survive? Or will Earth’s greatest warrior fall to its greatest ruler?
The Curse of Cain:
Welcome to the Vilokan Asylum of the Magically and Mentally Deranged. I’m Doctor Cain. I’ll be supervising your treatment plan. Yes, before you ask, I am that Cain. I’ve come a long way since I became the world’s first murderer. I’m now a licensed psychiatrist. What is it you just asked? You heard that I was cursed? Yes, I’m also the world’s first werewolf… But don’t worry. I have it under control. It won’t interfere with your progress at Vilokan Asylum.
The Vilokan Asylum of the Magically and Mentally Deranged is a paranormal romp, diving into a world of voodoo, werewolves, vampires, and magic. Dr. Cain is a snarky werewolf, an Old Testament character brought to life in a modern day fantasy setting. Readers of Monroe’s Legacy of a Vampire Witch or The Legend of Nyx have met Dr. Cain before. Now, we get a deeper look into the world of magic and mayhem that is the Vilokan Asylum.
Wild Deals Here
Fallen King:
They say that the race of men took that which belonged to the dwarves. Turgon Highstone was taking it back. Claiming his family’s right to lost cities across a region once overran by orc hordes, he amassed many loyal dwarves to fight by his side… but the war turned against him. Suddenly finding himself locked in a dungeon, a stranger appears and provides a way out of captivity. Turgon wants revenge for his brothers and sisters-in-arms, but instead, he runs into an overbearing priest and a demonic specter haunting dwarven ruins.
The Fallen King is soon swept up in an even greater turmoil that may just make all the losses and failures actually mean something. But can he trust any of these new ‘friends’ when he is still a very much wanted dwarf?
His true destiny is about to be revealed.
Jeff Sturgeon’s Last Cities of Earth:
2091—The Year the Earth Changed
As Yellowstone erupts, sending humankind into an extinction level event, countries, cities, the elite, and the privileged race to the skies in order to survive the coming ice age. As some scientists focus on floating cities, undersea colonies, and space exploration, others delve into the darkness of genetic modification and new evolutions of humanity.
It is now YE 210 and over two centuries have passed since the day that changed the world and many global trade routes have resumed. More and more floating cities have become connected and many wait to be re-discovered by brave airship captains and crews. Dangers lurk in the skies as well as the ruins scattered around the world like half-forgotten memories of a time that has become myth.
Wild Deals Here
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Violent Snippet for Dead Evil Mercenary Corps Book 1
Dead Evil Mercenary Corps Book 1: New Rules for Firefights
They say violence is never the answer, but for Chill, it is the only answer she knows.
Dead Evil Mercenary snippet –
1 –
“Heads-up!”
Chill couldn’t tell if the warning was directed at her given the utter chaos of the brawl. The visit to the cantina had devolved into a no-holds-barred, exuberant exchange of violent mayhem that always had space for a few more combatants. Thankfully, the bar area itself was sealed off with shatterproof glass and if she had to guess, it was probably resistant to almost anything but a handheld coilgun.
It wasn’t like that kind of glass was expensive and as investments went—given the sheer number of fights that happened in and around the bar—saving the booze and keeping their employees safe was probably a no-brainer. Protect the booze and let the patrons fight it out until the local authorities came in and more than likely joined the fun.
The Jindahin—the dominant cultural group among the Dahin—didn’t like to do their own law enforcement. This interesting situation had brought her to Mugh-9 in the first place. The aquatic bastards didn’t mind working when they were underwater, but from what she’d learned about them, being out of the water was something of a strain on their system.
While living on land was something they had adapted to, it meant they weren’t particularly suited to heavy labor. Ironically, that particular challenge had led to some of their most powerful innovations to date, although they were only too happy to pay other species to do the out-of-water work for them. Better still, they didn’t much care that their mercenary police usually caused as many problems as they solved as long as the fighting didn’t reach the underwater cities.
Of course, that worked out well for Chill. She’d never liked having too much oversight and as long as she was alive and ready to head into the thick of it the next morning, a nice brawl was an enjoyable way to keep her reflexes sharp.
She ducked as a chair hurtled over her head and into a nearby wall, then retrieved her hair clip carefully and used it to secure her bright silver hair. Enough people were in the fight for her to have the time to gather herself. She’d hated her hair from the moment she realized how much attention it caught when she didn’t wear a helmet.
It wasn’t bad enough for her to want to shave it to the scalp, though. Instead, she kept it short enough that it could be comfortably restrained and it didn’t make her unnecessarily hot when she wore her helmet. While perhaps not the most popular style, it was a decent look for her and she liked having some hair on her head at least.
Ready for the next round, she pushed to her feet and stretched her neck to either side as two rollers approached her. She’d seen them before—half-human twins who were over seven feet tall, weighed in at about four hundred pounds each, and were usually loaded with enough firepower that they might as well have been born tanks with anti-grav generators.
The real question was exactly what the hell the other half was. They always insisted they were humans and she’d seen their paperwork. For some reason, however, the something-else she knew was in there hadn’t made the official record. Leaving the truth out meant the other half was something that would probably create issues with getting work so they simply called themselves half-human and half-unknown and shouted that they were human if they could get away with it.
Of course, it helped that they were big enough to discourage anyone from raising any doubts to their face. She still knew better than to even try to spread the news to the rest of the Bugzzappers—the mercs hired to fight the Bugz that infested the planet—in case it got back to them that she was snooping around.
Besides, she’d been hired to work planetside because of her fighting skills. People tended to look down on bumpers so she kept those particular skills on the down-low. It sure as fuck helped with negotiating her rate since she knew what all the other mercs were making.
Still, if they were involved in the fight, it was always better to back away slowly. She could probably win against them if she used her weapons, but the moment someone broke out a knife or a caster, everyone would and it would turn the whole damn bar into a bloodbath.
It was best to avoid that particular scenario.
The twins nodded when they noted her retreat and turned to where three other drunk Zappers surged into the melee. They were tackled almost immediately and more combatants flung themselves into the growing pile in the center of the room. It didn’t take great intelligence to see how that would go.
The best strategy was always to stick to the fringes of the fight. She’d learned that particular lesson the hard way, although she’d needed a few brawls to drive the point home.
“You!”
Chill ducked again and a fist swung mere inches over her head. She lashed out with her right foot, caught her attacker on the legs, and upended her with satisfying efficiency. The usual move to drop a Xi-Trang was to grasp the feathers jutting from the tops of their heads, but this one didn’t have any. It took away one of their biggest advantages as well as one of their largest weaknesses, and she had to reevaluate how to proceed against the Xo-Trang—so named to denote members of the species that had their feathers removed, either by choice or by punishment for crimes.
The kick wasn’t quite enough to knock the bitch out of the fight, but she was more than willing to follow up. When her adversary scrambled to her feet, she twisted and cracked her elbow across the Xo’s temple hard enough to make her fall again, stunned and more or less out of the brawl.
Under other circumstances, Chill wouldn’t have been above kicking her fallen opponent’s skull in to make sure that she wouldn’t join the fight again later, but certain rules should be followed in a bar fight.
“Look out!”
The same voice that had warned her about the chair being thrown made her spin hastily. A woman—taller than she was and with a full head of bright red hair—stepped forward to intercept one of the combatants before he could attack Chill with a broken chair leg while her back was turned.
Bad manners seemed to prevail all round but she had long since come to realize that she was the only one who followed the long-forgotten rules of bar brawling. She was content to fight folk who didn’t abide by them since that merely showed how they’d probably been raised in a barn. It also revealed how terrible they were at throwing their fists given that they had to break the rules and she didn’t.
She took a moment to sip her drink while the redhead ducked under another drunken swing, hammered her fist into the man’s gut, and tripped him as he stumbled forward.
“Appreciate it,” Chill commented and put her glass down.
The redhead turned and grinned. A bright purple bruise already showed on her right cheek.
“No problem. It always makes me angry when dumbasses think they can introduce weapons into the fight because they happen to be losing.”
A thin silver line across the woman’s cheek suggested that she’d probably had some bad injuries that resulted in implants in the area to hold her skull in one piece.
It was interesting that she hadn’t bothered to get the surgery to graft extra skin over the trace of implant that was visible. Most people wouldn’t like a battle scar to show but she thought it complemented the overall fiery look the woman espoused.
“I’m Daria,” the redhead told her off-handedly before she grinned with almost feral humor. “Although some people call me Dollface—but not for long.” She raised her stout in greeting and took a large sip to cool off.
“I’ll bet they do.” Chill took a step back when another brawler stepped between them. She swayed as the man’s fist careened past her face and clipped her shoulder instead.
Before he could recover, she lunged toward him and jerked her head forward into his nose. While it didn’t quite carry the power she would have liked and didn’t break anything, it brought the opportunity to drive her knee up between his legs.
That was enough to quiet him for a while, at least. The timing had been good as well since officers began to force their way in and fired crackers to get everyone’s attention and stop the fight.
“They call me Chill,” she responded finally and wiped some blood from her forehead.
Daria tilted her head and studied her curiously. “Because of your hair or your overall temperament?”
That was a good question and she laughed. “It must be the hair. I don’t think anyone could accuse me of being a calm, collected person.”
“You seem comfortable with our current circumstances.”
“Well, yeah.” She shrugged. “These circumstances are the kind that calm me.”
“Fair enough.” The redhead looked around when the brawl appeared to grind to a halt as the officers began to arrest the worst of the offenders.
The roller twins were among them, although they would probably be released the following morning once they had sobered. No officer would want to get in the way of a full complement of Zappers come morning.
“Are you with us?” Chill asked and swallowed the rest of her drink.
“Us?”
“Bugzzappers. This is the bar we usually come to after a real fight to spend our earnings.”
“Oh. No, I have my team waiting for me.”
Chill glanced to where she pointed at a group of various humans and non-humans who looked like they hadn’t been involved in the fracas at all. “Oh. That’s too bad.”
“Why’s that?” the redhead asked.
“It’s always nice to have people on my side who know the proper rules in a fight like this.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you.” Daria winked with the eye that wasn’t swelling—Dollface didn’t seem appropriate given the bruising. “Speaking of my team, I should probably join them. Good to meet you, Chill.”
“Likewise.”
She took a moment to study the woman as she sauntered confidently to her group. While she wouldn’t have said she was partial to females as a rule, something about a head full of bright red hair was appealing to most people.
Or maybe she was merely an aberration. It wouldn’t be the first time she had come to that conclusion.
A soft groan from the floor caught her attention and she glanced at the man she’d upended, who now began to move. She extended a hand to help him to his feet.
“What the hell…did you…knee my reproductives for?” he asked, still recovering with a hand over the area she’d treated so rudely.
“Sorry,” she answered with an apologetic smile. “It’s not usual for me to drop a man like that but you chose to charge at someone who was out of the fight. I couldn’t have that.”
He glared at her—although she had to admit that he wasn’t a particularly bad looker. Light blond hair, pale greenish-blue eyes, and a stout look about him offset the fact that he was about an inch taller than she was.
“All right. Fair enough.” He dropped into a seat, closed his eyes, and gave himself a second to gather his composure. “Still, there are better ways to do it.”
Chill sat across from him and nodded. “Probably. What say you I buy your next drink and we call it even?”
He shrugged. “I can pick up the round after that.”
This was how people settled bar fights the right way. The rules were always a little murky in the thick of it but buying drinks to soften the blows thrown was the right way to finish it.
Can’t wait to see what adventures this bar-fighting silver-haired warrior is about to go on? Well, don’t worry because New Rules for Firefights: Dead Evil Mercenary Corps Book 1 comes out February 21, 2022. Available for pre-order now.
Love is in The Air Week in Review February 6 – 12, 2022
Nothing Say True Love Like New Releases
Week in Review February 6 – 12, 2022
Fall in Love With New Books Here: Week in Review
Titan’s Judgement:
Everything has led to this…But only one warrior will win.
The three forces converge on Earth: de Finita, The AllSeer, and Prometheus. Behind them lay the wreckage of millions of lives and planets burned to ashes. In front of each? The greatest empire known to mankind. Destiny.
In the final book of this epic saga, who will achieve victory? Can Prometheus deliver an empire to the AllMother? Or does fate have him marked for death? Find out now.
New Books Here
Torn Asunder:
Katie Maddison never wanted to learn how to kick a demon’s ass, all she was doing was helping a fellow university student with his Chem homework. She just trusted people too much. Now, she will be the new weapon in a war she had no idea existed with warriors wielding both weapons and supernatural abilities. Demon Hunters, Demon Fighters … Known as The Damned. People possessed by Demons, but still remaining in control of their bodies. One of the most powerful Demon’s in Hell can’t defeat his sister, so he sets her up to be sacrificed and killed. The only problem? The human she possesses retained her sanity and together they might be a catalyst to change the future of the war. If they can stay alive and learn how to share one body, that is.
Dire Wolf Stakes:
Maine’s troubles are only just beginning. The Mantle is still catnip to assassins. News of her victory is out and another liqudator of the living is after her. That would be enough trouble, if her ex wasn’t also in town, proclaiming his undying love for her. Where was this adoration when they were dating?
To make things worse, her pint-sized best friend has visitors. Noff’s pack is being terrorized by a ruthless hunter with supernatural strength, speed, and senses. Running with the wolves is tough… especially when you’re the size of a chihuahua.
Will Maine be able to outwit her assassin, take down the super-hunter and turn away her love-sick ex-boyfriend? Dire-wolves and trolls and exes, oh my.
New Books Here
Ethics Rule:
Evil is in the eye of the beholder. Nothing in this world is black and white. S. Beaufont is about to learn firsthand that good doesn’t exist without evil. Crushing evil only makes it expand.
That’s why the Dragon Elite are trying to protect the demon dragons. But fighting the politics surrounding them isn’t easy. And when mortals fear that evil dragons will take over the world they become an irrational force. Sophia has to do what she does best and employ strategy to overcome perceptions. And if that doesn’t work then she’s going to kick some serious butt to protect her dragons. Can she save the dragon population and therefore protect the world before it’s too late?
Dragon Rescue:
Kristen Hall is all that stands between peace and utter destruction. The young policewoman is requested to investigate a case of two more dead dragons by Investigator Windlock. What looks like a tragic dragon duel reveals itself at second glance to be another problem for the increasingly fragile peace between dragons and humans. Working with investigator Windlock and his mage Brockton, the investigation leads Kristen to Canada, the adopted homeland of the dwarves. Originally created by mages to fight dragons, this race of humans had broken away from the mages to live in peace. What they still have in common with humans is that they do not particularly like dragons. They are not susceptible to their dragon fire, nor are they afraid to kick a dragon’s butt.
New Books Here
Second Contact:
Humanity is wounded and reeling. The elite pillars of society launched a brutal betrayal that almost doomed billions. As humanity struggles to recover, the paranoid central government has risen and adopted policies that plunge the species into more risk than ever. All hope is not lost—yet. When the discovery of the ancient artifact is interrupted with surprising violence, the government becomes convinced the finding could unlock the long-lost knowledge of a powerful and ancient extinct alien race. It’s up to tough xenoarchaeologist Cyrus and newly-minted spy and ex-soldier Kat to save humanity. One is obsessed with science and the other with duty. The team must learn to work together with the help of an AI ally who isn’t fond of intelligences limited by such quaint restraints as flesh and blood. But they’re not the only ones interested in the discovery.
Lovely New Books Here: Week in Review
For the Love of Books Give Card Giveaway
Comfort, Warmth, and Fan Pricing Saturday February 12, 2022
This weekend calls for comfort food, warmth, and deals.
Fan Pricing Saturday, February 12, 2022
Note: We requested the price changes from Amazon on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, they don’t change all of the prices at one time. Please double-check the price before clicking “Buy”.
All of these new releases are 99c for one day only!
And they are also available for FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
Grab them today before the prices go up!
Attack From the Dark
Dwarf Bounty Hunter Books 1-6
Justice is Not Blind
Titan’s Judgement
Warfare Neutralized
Dire Wolf Stakes
Torn Asunder
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Book Magic Wild Wednesday February 9, 2022
The magic of books made even better with a good deal.
Wild Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Each week we bring you a list of books from not only LMBPN authors, but also friends of ours, that are on sale! Here’s a fantastic opportunity to discover some new authors or some exciting books you may not have seen yet.
Most of these books are FREE in Kindle Unlimited, but all are on sale today.
Please remember to double-check the price before you one-click.
Dwarf Bounty Hunter Boxed Set Book 1-6:
Johnny Walker was a good bounty hunter in his day. James Brownstone good. But everybody has a line, including Johnny, and he retreated from the world to lick his wounds. But now the bad guys are back and he’s not going to let another young woman be murdered.
Get the first six books in the bestselling Dwarf Bounty Hunter series to start his adventures today!
Included in this boxed set: Go Dwarf Yourself, Don’t Give A Dwarf, All Dwarf’ed Up, Zero Dwarfs Given, What The Dwarf, Dwarf It All.
Magical Deals Here
Extreme Medical Services:
Tops in his Paramedic Academy training…didn’t prepare him for Station U. What was more dangerous, the supernaturals or his boss? Dean needed to learn street medicine fast. He’d trained to help humans, but he wasn’t prepared for injured fairies and monsters. Still, he was smart, willing to learn, and more than anything, incredibly curious to learn about this whole new world he didn’t know existed. Would it get him killed? She’d been at this job a while and was less than enthused to be given a new probie. There was always a lot going on, but Brynne has something on her mind. What happened to her old partner?
In the dark of night…a society few humans know, thrives. And someone wants to bring them down.
People Raged:
A terrorist plotting an attack on Washington DC, staying one step ahead by hiding in plain sight, always there, but never seen.
In the classic government way, a tiger team is built to look into the intelligence surrounding a terror threat. They didn’t count on Rick Banik to break down walls and get the job done, no matter what. He takes it personal. Rick Banik – the right patriot for a new age. A race against time. A fight against bureaucracy. A maze of red tape and dots that don’t want to be connected. How many people must die for the plot to be uncovered? How many will die if it isn’t?
Magical Deals Here
Angels and Imperfections:
JOHN WESLEY TUCKER IS NEITHER AN ORDINARY DETECTIVE NOR AN ORDINARY MAN. Private Investigator John Wesley Tucker is hired to do a routine background check for a wealthy oil man, an aspiring politician. His investigation is complicated by his involvement in other cases and events which may be tied to a person associated with his client.
His partner, Christine, finds herself struggling to come to grips with her own ideals and beliefs. She and John are being followed by members of an unknown agency. When they learn there is a connection between the agency and Christine’s former boss, all the disparate threads are woven together into a tapestry of death. John and those around him will be led into a trap from which few will walk away.
Fear and Longing in Los Angeles:
If New York is the city that never sleeps, then L.A. is the city where you have to sleep with one eye open. Michael Andrews learns quickly that it’s not just the cut-throat world of Hollywood you need to fear. There’s something deeper, darker, and far more disturbing lurking just beneath the shadows of the city, waiting for any moment of vulnerability to grab you by the throat.
An extended trip to Los Angeles to be on set for the movie adaptation of his latest novel leads Michael into a twisted and macabre underworld where he becomes entangled with an intriguing, sexy, and mysterious woman. At times she seems just what he needs in order to finally get over the unrequited love of his ex-girlfriend; but at other times, she appears to be the gateway to a Pandora’s box of B-movie nightmares. Can he trust her? Can he trust himself with her?
Rebel:
Michiko MacCailín is a member of the First Families, more concerned with her privileged lifestyle of ballet, spending time with friends, and planning her wedding than of the injustices suffered by the indentured workers of the all-powerful Propitious Interstellar Fabrication, Inc., the charter holder of the planet. When her activist fiancé is murdered at a protest rally, she blames the company and embarks on a personal mission of vengeance.
Michi has some initial, if minor success, but when the company requests that the Federation send in the Marine Corps to quell the unrest, the stakes immediately get higher. Undeterred, Michi is not going to let the Marines keep her from extracting her revenge.
The Penetrator Series Boxed Set Books 11-20:
10 full length, action packed novels from the hard boiled pulp series The Penetrator.
Mark Hardin is known to his enemies as The Penetrator. He’s part Cheyenne and he’s never forgotten his past. In quest of his heritage, Mark Hardin has learned Indian skills: to track a man, but not to leave tracks; to speak his native language, in ancient dialects and sign language. His years of army service in Vietnam taught him other things. He’s a sharpshooter with almost any weapon a man can hold; an expert with hand grenades, explosives, booby traps, and line mines; a black belt in karate and aikido. He knows how to kill; he tries to stay alive.
As a child he bounced from orphanages to foster homes. He grew up with foster parents as diverse as Mafia Dons, Irish policemen, and college professors. He’s seen all angles of life. He knows it is too often evil, and it has become his mission to eradicate evil any way he can.
Empty Graves:
The undead walk. Vicious, relentless, and never tiring. Hungry. And the dead have their stories.
Bram Stoker Award winner Jonathan Maberry is a master of the zombie tale. Empty Graves: Tales of the Living Dead is emotionally charged and disturbing. These stories range across the genres of horror, science fiction, and biological thriller without ever straying from the fascinating humanity at the core.
Together in a single action-packed collection, these 15 gritty tales of the living dead span Maberry’s career, including an exclusive never-before-published short story. Read them now. If you dare.
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Ancient Secrets Revealed in this Snippet for Opus X: Fleet of One Book 1
Opus X: Fleet of One Book 1: Second Contact
They say history repeats itself but in this case that could be the worst thing for humanity.
Opus X: Fleet of One snippet –
1 –
April 5, 2233, Gliese 357, Astarte, Ruin Survey Site Alpha Two-Four
A million years was a long time for something to be buried. Human civilization covered the barest blink of that time. Even the other alien civilizations couldn’t claim such deep roots. That million years was now represented by a dusty, empty hallway.
A normal man might not find that beautiful, but Cyrus Sandoval wasn’t a normal man. His breather unit kept his huge grin hidden from the rest of the team as he moved his hand back and forth, lighting the lined and grooved black walls with his wrist flashlight.
“Keep your eyes and ears open,” Cyrus announced, his excitement making him raise his voice despite it being transmitted to the team over the comm. While staring at the wall, he’d forgotten for a second that he was in a pressure suit. “Manually check your suit integrity every once in a while. Never assume it will auto-seal, and just because this place isn’t covered with snow and ice doesn’t mean it’s not as cold as the surface.”
He didn’t want to insult them, but neither of his two assistants had worked an actual site exploration before. Mistakes happened in dangerous environments. He’d seen that more than once during his xenoarchaeology career.
The dust and frost had smoothed out the floor and walls over the years, including the line decorations, but they hadn’t left any doubt about the artificial nature of their current passage. They were in ruins that hadn’t been touched for eons, yet they looked like someone had forgotten to send in the cleaning bots for a few months.
His heart raced, as it did with all new discoveries. They’d dated the ruin entrance via ice core samples to approximately a million years ago. That didn’t speak to the true age of the facility, but it did guarantee it had been buried around then.
Cyrus would have loved to have challenged his xenoarchaeology and xenobiology knowledge by exploring the structures of one of the living intelligent species. Given that humanity had established the most basic of diplomatic contact with the reptilian Zitarks only a couple of years ago and the other Local Neighborhood races were content for humans to stay in their own territory, he doubted he’d get a chance anytime soon.
It didn’t matter. Cyrus was only in his thirties, meaning he still had a long life ahead before he needed to worry even about rejuvenation treatments. A modern human might not be able to live forever, but they could get to a hundred and twenty-five without much trouble. He was sure he’d live long enough to team up with an alien archaeologist and jointly explore an ancient site.
For today, the age of the ice assured him it wasn’t a lost structure of one of the younger races. The design and material suggested as much. The ruins had to belong to the most ancient of races, the long-dead Navigators.
Even though it had been a hundred and seventy-five years since the first discovery of the extinct race’s ancient artifacts on Mars, humans still knew little about them. Navigator technology had allowed humanity to build the hyperspace transfer points and push out into the galaxy, among other wonders, but no living soul could claim with authority what a Navigator looked or sounded like.
The questions swirled in his mind. What language did they use, if any? Were they so advanced they relied on technological telepathy? More importantly, what had happened to them?
Cyrus theorized that a vast galaxy-spanning catastrophe had wiped out the Navigators, but there wasn’t any evidence of that other than their remaining structures all being dated to roughly the same time. Admittedly, the evidence might have disappeared due to the relentless power of time.
He’d also hoped the tumultuous recent years might lead to the revelation of concealed Navigator-related information. He thought it might have been concealed by the people who’d almost brought down the United Terran Confederation in the Great Betrayal two years prior.
The government had admitted the conspiracy had access to unusual technology and previously unknown artifacts, but there’d been nothing to suggest they had any special insight into history. Maybe after everything settled down, previously hidden truths would emerge that would advance xenoarchaeology.
Cyrus tapped a small silver card attached to the belt of his pressure suit—his Personal Network Interface Unit or PNIU, his primary access point and means of communication both in and out of the ruins. An updated status message popped up on his smart lens, his augmented reality interface with the world.
A whir and a hum sounded behind him. Four tiny orb-shaped drones floated into the area. He wanted every last centimeter of the area recorded by a variety of sensors. A team of two assistants trailed him, their PNIUs also recording.
“Dr. Sandoval,” called Jesan, Cyrus’ most recent hire. “Gravity remains at one-point-one gee.”
The gravity in the ruins was consistent with the rest of the planet other than the colony, where gravity field emitters kept things to the more comfortable Earth norm.
Fatigue had built in his muscles. His pressure suit protected him from the environment, but it didn’t take care of any extra weight. He’d wanted to do a preliminary survey before bringing in heavy equipment that risked damaging the ruins.
Cyrus patted the heavy pack behind him. He wasn’t totally relying on his muscles. The carryaid’s internal mechanisms let a normal man carry more weight without relying on an exoskeleton.
“I’m glad we brought these packs, then.” Cyrus grinned. “Trust me. Are you both doing okay? A little extra gravity will tire you out.”
Jesan glared at him. “I’m not worried about carrying things around. I was hoping it’d be a lower-gravity environment for other reasons. I don’t want this whole trip to be a waste. It’s not insane to think a facility this intact might have working grav field emitters.”
“No team has ever found a Navigator facility with working emitters,” Cyrus noted. “Maybe the aliens have found one, but if they did, they’re not saying. I’m guessing they had to experience their first true gravity field manipulation the same way we did, through a lot of reverse-engineering and experimentation. You’re right. You never know what you might find when you enter a ruin. I don’t think anyone thought those initial artifacts and ruins on Mars would lead to FTL travel.”
Cyrus understood Jesan’s frustration. The junior researcher had joined the team, hoping to explore a theory that the Navigators had evolved in an extremely low-gee environment.
Cyrus was intrigued but doubtful. No researcher had ever run across evidence to suggest that.
The junior researcher’s case was based on indirect data suggesting the extinct race was much larger than humans and the other Local Neighborhood races and that a low-gee environment was the best evolutionary exploration. That was a thin thread on which to hang a new line of research.
Cyrus wasn’t going to complain about a man going off on research tangents. That was how humanity advanced its knowledge.
He moved closer to a wall. A smattering of small indentations appeared in various places, distinct from the grooves and lines. It wasn’t anything he’d seen or read about being associated with Navigator ruins before. The depth of the holes varied, with deeper holes near the centers of the clusters.
“Interesting.” Cyrus leaned forward. “Very interesting.”
“Does it always feel this good?” asked Kella, the other new assistant. She cleared her throat. “I mean, finding new things. This is the third set of Navigator ruins you’ve explored, right, Dr. Sandoval? I never thought I’d be one of the first into a new ruin so early in my career.”
“Yes,” Cyrus replied. “It does always feel this good.” He pulled a small sensor probe off his utility belt and ran over it over a nearby wall. “This is my third field site. I’ve helped analyze artifacts from a lot more sites than that, but I’ve led expeditions for two sites, and when I was finishing my doctorates, I was on the team for my first.”
Something was bothering him about the odd holes. He didn’t want to touch too much at this point in the examination. Part of him felt like he should know what they were.
“Doctorates,” grumbled Jesan under his breath, forgetting to kill his PNIU transmission. “Xenoarchaeology and xenobiology. Overkill.”
“You never know what we might find in a site like this,” Cyrus told him with a laugh. “It doesn’t hurt to have more knowledge when exploring ancient mysteries.”
Jesan stiffened and turned away. He slapped his PNIU to kill his open line.
“No,” Cyrus barked. “Keep your transmission line open. People die when they’re fiddling with their PNIU trying to reestablish comm after damage to their pressure suit. We discussed this during your briefing.”
Things like that could become a habit. Bad habits got people killed in the field.
“Sorry, Dr. Sandoval.”
This was what came with working with rookie graduate students. Cyrus didn’t like working with a new team, but the quick turnaround on the site forced him to call on whomever he could gather together on short notice.
Getting anyone from Earth would have taken over half a year, given their distance from Astarte, so he had to pick people closer to the colony. It was only luck that he’d been so close when a wildlife survey stumbled on the ruins and the local government put out a call for experienced xenoarchaeology researchers.
“I was going to be the team lead on another expedition before this,” Cyrus explained, “but that was being planned right when the Great Betrayal happened.” He let out a rueful chuckle. “It wasn’t so bad at first, but a year afterward, it became a pain in the ass. The government was acting like every ship was full of conspirators.”
The United Terran Confederation, the UTC, had been rocked by a massive wave of terrorism that culminated in a coup attempt in 2231, then a near-galactic war. Government reports revealed that the instigators of the conspiracy were some of the most important people and companies in the UTC. Heroic military and law enforcement action, as well as the efforts of the now-famous pair of Erik Blackwell and Jia Lin in exposing the conspiracy, had saved the UTC, but not without great cost in lives and damage to the economy.
Cyrus suspected there was a lot more behind the adventures of the so-called Obsidian Detective and Lady Justice, but he didn’t care. His interest was in the far past, not recent history. He only cared how things affected his research.
He shook his head. “One of the annoying things was that the companies that were controlled by the conspiracy were some of the biggest contributors to scientific funding. The government is obsessed with spending more on building up the Fleet to beat someone they already defeated. Now, we’ve got a trashed economy and a lot less funding for science for the foreseeable future.” He advanced down the hallway. “Which is why this place is that much more of a miracle.”
“What about traps?” Jesan asked. “They always say there can’t be any traps because of how old the tech is, but how can they be sure?”
“I’ve never run into traps.” Cyrus laughed. “But I’d love to.”
“You want to run into traps?” Jesan gave him a puzzled look.
“Working trap tech could be better examined. I love a good puzzle, and I’d also love to know more about the Navigators. Anything of theirs we find will help with that.” Cyrus took a deep breath. “What if their idea of traps is different from what we can imagine? We know the most basic things about their technology, but we have no insight into their psychology. Some people suggest they purposely left ruins for future races to discover. Does that mean they knew they were going to die off? Why did that happen? There are so many unanswered questions.”
“I can’t believe I’m stuck on this frontier ice cube,” Jesan complained, giving no hint that he was moved by Cyrus’ passion. “I knew I’d need to leave Earth at some point, but this place? Doesn’t it bother you, Dr. Sandoval? Wouldn’t you rather be on Earth? I mean, does it matter who finds the site if everybody studies the artifacts anyway? The UTC claims ownership of everything in the end.”
“Earth’s overrated.” Cyrus paused for a moment to tap more commands into his recording drones and made a mental note to watch Jesan. That was not a proper attitude for a xenoarchaeology student who would spend most of his time on “frontier ice cubes.” “I wasn’t born on Earth. I was born on New Samarkand.”
Jesan grimaced. “No wonder you ran away. That was a shitty place even before everything that happened.”
“I liked growing up on the colony,” Cyrus countered, keeping his tone pleasant. “Things weren’t that bad when I lived there, and things are a lot better now. If you think about it, what happened there was a test run for the Great Betrayal, and if New Samarkand’s crappy because of the insurrection, what does that say about Earth and the moon? Or Alpha Centauri? There have been no major assassination attempts of top-level UTC officials on my home colony.”
Jesan groaned. “Sorry, Dr. Sandoval. I knew you weren’t born on Earth. I just forgot.”
Kella scoffed. “You think they’re going to suddenly find new Navigator ruins on Earth? You picked the wrong field to go into if you wanted to stay home.”
“Just saying.” Jesan moved closer to a wall to inspect it. “The stuff was on Mars all that time. Like I said, it’s about analysis, not who finds it.”
“Being the scientist who finds it is half the fun.” Kella smiled.
“True,” Cyrus agreed, “but why couldn’t we find artifacts on Earth? Despite all our technology, it’s not like we’ve mapped every nook and cranny. Maybe there are Navigator ruins buried under the ice in Antarctica or a remote mountain. Just because everything we found from the Navigators dates to a million years ago doesn’t mean they weren’t active far earlier. It might just be a matter of digging deep enough.” He ran his gloved hand over a wall. “The truth is, there is far more we don’t know about the Navigators than we’ve confirmed. That’s what makes this so much fun.”
An alert popped up. He tapped his PNIU to expand it until the floating words appeared in front of him via his smart lens.
“Unusual vibrations detected,” Cyrus announced. “Everyone be careful.”
“Huh?” Jesan turned toward him. “You’re saying there are traps?”
“Nope, but traps aren’t the only thing dangerous on digs. The geo survey suggested this area was stable right now but noted it wasn’t stable in the past. There are other possibilities.”
Kella gasped. “Smugglers?”
“Yeah, they can be a problem.” Cyrus patted his holstered stun pistol. “That’s why it’s good to have a weapon when you’re far from a colony.”
“Will that be enough?” Jesan asked, sounding annoyed.
“Maybe,” Cyrus replied. He pulled a dark knife from its sheath. “This helps, too.” He flipped the knife in the air before shoving it back into its sheath. “The militia’s keeping an eye on this place, too. That should cut down on smugglers.”
“Is that why you have those scars?” Kella asked quietly. “Smuggler attacks? I mean, you can’t see the scars now given your pressure suit, but it was kind of hard not to notice when we first met. No offense, Dr. Sandoval, but I’ve never seen anyone with scars who wasn’t…well, you know.”
“A criminal?” Cyrus asked.
“Yeah.” Kella sighed. “Why haven’t you received dermal regeneration? I mean, when I first saw you with those scars and the red hair and your size?” She let out a nervous chuckle. “You reminded me of an ancient Viking. You just need the beard.”
“Why didn’t I get rid of the scars?” Cyrus reached up to touch his face, but his helmet blocked the gesture. “Because sometimes it’s good to have a reminder about messing up. That’s the problem with it being so easy to fix people these days, which is why we need to be careful.” He narrowed his eyes. “This isn’t seismic activity. I don’t think we’re alone.”
“It’s probably just overly sensitive instruments,” Jesan suggested. “We verified that no one else had broken through the front when we entered these ruins. If the militia’s got their eyes on this place and it’s not smugglers, who could it be?”
Cyrus entered more commands. The drones spread out and scanned the area for density and thermal differentials.
“That is the problem with a lot of Earthers.” Cyrus clucked his tongue. “You take too many things for granted. You’ve only been out on the frontier for a few months, right, Jesan?”
The young man nodded. “Not counting all the time on the damned ships, yeah. What about it? Am I supposed to fall in love with living under domes?”
Cyrus didn’t answer. He focused on a slight thermal difference in the wall detected by one of the drones.
“Don’t you remember how these ruins were discovered?” he finally asked.
“Odd readings during a local wildlife survey,” Jesan recalled with a snort. “If you can call the trash on this planet wildlife.”
“Most planets don’t have any life,” Kella noted. “Every new non-terrestrial species we find is a big deal. How can you not care about that sort of thing?”
Jesan shrugged. “I’m here for the Navigator biology, not the local wildlife. Sorry.”
Cyrus drew his pistol. “These ruins have been here for a million years, but they’re not impervious to damage.” He pointed at a dark spot on a wall. “Tunnels were dug. Smooth, like they were burned through. I think we’ve got local pests nearby.”
“So what?” Jesan laughed. “You’ve got a gun, and we’ve got drones. Some stupid animal isn’t going to—”
A harsh screech echoed around them. Something long and pale wriggled out of a hole in the roof ahead of them. The eyeless wormlike creature dropped to the ground and twisted toward Jesan, glowing a soft yellow.
“That’s disgusting,” Jesan admitted, “but it doesn’t look dangerous.”
The worm opened its mouth and spat a stream of green acid. Cyrus tackled Jesan to the ground. The acid splattered on the nearby wall, sizzling and creating a shallow hole. One mystery solved.
“What the hell?” Jesan yelled as he scrambled to his feet. “It spits acid? You didn’t tell me that!”
The worm whipped its head back and forth, screeched again, and slithered backward. More alerts from the drones popped up. At this point, Cyrus didn’t need the sensors to warn him. The pressure suit picked up the sounds of bodies slithering their way.
Cyrus drew his stun pistol. “Next time, read the briefing I sent you. These things live in colonies. Here comes the fun part!”
The fun part? I’m glad Cyrus thinks so. Stay tuned because these ancient creatures’ significance will be revealed later this week on February 11th when Opus X Fleet of One Book one: Second Contact is released. If you have been waiting for the next installment of Opus X then head over to Amazon and pre-order it today.