Freebie | Divergent Fates Anthology

Hi all!

Just a quick announcement – the Divergent Fates anthology is free on #kindle for a few days. It contains a group of short stories set in the DF universe, featuring Kirsten from the Division Zero series, Althea from the Awakened series, and Nina from the Virtual Immortality series, along with many original works by other authors.


In Loose Ends, a false lead from an old case comes back to haunt Agent Kirsten Wren. In JS Hughes’ Last Flight, Raleigh, a shot-down pilot struggling to survive the Badlands encounters a strange child and a stranger reality. JP Sloan’s Snake Oil is a view into the harsh life of settlers who ask nothing more of the Badlands than continued existence, but even that is a prize hard won.

Wilbert Stanton’s Prophet’s Wake follows Cassie Black, a hardened escaped con chasing a hail-Mary payday into the Badlands. Betrayal leaves her at a crossroads between greed, revenge, and a change of heart.

In The Old City, young Althea ventures into the dangerous part of Querq to help some boys who broke the rules, and learns why the abandoned city is off limits to children.

Robert Defendi’s Stance-No-Stance is set in the neo-feudal world of 2418 Japan, where a master duelist faces a conflict of honor when he discovers a plot to exploit society’s most vulnerable for corporate profit.

In The Contractor by Mark W. Woodring, a retired merc can’t resist one last job. Alas, when something looks too good to be true, it usually is.

James Wymore’s Special Project tells the story of Min-gun, a mechanic who lives for hovercar racing in the Korean underground until gangsters get involved and threaten the life of the racer he loves.

In Field Test by Patrick Burdine, a Mexican-born commoner struggles to rise within the political ranks of the Allied Corporate Council. His assignment to infiltrate a resistance cell and destroy it from within offers a chance at recognition, if it doesn’t erase his psyche.

Nina Duchenne is adjusting to her new life with a doll body and a position with Division 9. In Maestro’s Requiem, amid one of the darkest cases she’s ever worked, she finds a surprising glimmer of light for her dreary soul.

Benjamin Sperduto’s Sins of the Father follows a man named Dmitri as his beloved daughter is taken away by the government for being psionic. His effort to save her costs him his citizenship and leaves him on the street, until a chance meeting with the resistance forces him to decide how far he’s willing to go for a lifetime of inaction.

 

Coming Soon | Divergent Fates Anthology

I’m pleased to announce the Divergent Fates anthology. It’s in the works and will be available on a (tentative) release date around mid-June.

(Cover by SA Hunt)

Loose Ends by Matthew S. Cox

With the mystery of the killer dolls behind her, Agent Kirsten Wren struggles with nightmares of what almost happened. She hopes for a few days to collect herself, but a false lead comes back to haunt her.

Last Flight by JS Hughes

Rahleigh, a shot-down reconnaissance pilot struggling to find water in the Badlands saves a feral boy from marauders. The child becomes Rahleigh’s mission, but something isn’t what it seems.

Snake Oil, A tale of the Badlands by JP Sloan

Life in the Badlands is cheap, if hard-earned. When a lone traveler visits the settlement of Jericho with fertilizer for their struggling crops, the town sheriff must decide if trusting a stranger (a misstep that cost him dearly in the past) is worth risking the town’s safety. Facing another starving winter, the choice seems clear… but risking the attention of vicious local warlords may spell doom for Jericho.

Prophet’s Wake by Wilbert Stanton

They left Cassie Black for dead, stranded in the middle of the desert with no hope of survival. After a chance encounter with the mysterious Prophet who heals her wounds, Cassie has one thing left to do, find her old crew and get revenge. Unfortunately, the Children of the Lost Cowboy and a being known as The Sentience have other plans in store for her. What’s a girl to do when all she wants is to stick a knife in her old boss’s neck, and fate insists on calling her a savior?

The Old City by Matthew S. Cox

Althea is determined to make Querq her home. She works to put aside her fears, clinging to the courage necessary to protect those she loves. The Old City lurks beyond the town’s walls, off-limits to children due to the dangers of creatures and ancient structures. When some local boys break the rules and get hurt while exploring, she doesn’t hesitate to help them―even if it means risking her life.

Stance-No-Stance by Robert J Defendi

Dachi is a samurai, a professional duelist, and a pacifist, guarding one of the most powerful men in Japan. But when he discovers that the someone is experimenting on the lowest caste members of society, how will he navigate conflicts of honor, duty, justice, and morality? And what does justice even mean when society grants the high the right to commit heinous acts on the low, and even questioning your superiors can be a capital offense?

The Contractor by Mark W. Woodring

Retirement was great, but an unexpected job offer was too much to pass up. Unfortunately, Patton forgot that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. He should have stayed retired.

Special Project by James Wymore

Min-gun lives for hovercar racing in the Korean underground until gangsters get involved and threaten the life of the racer he loves.

Field Test by Patrick Burdine

Few Mexican-born commoners manage to rise far in the Allied Corporate Council, but Manuel has spent years playing by all the rules, covering up his heritage, and even adopting the Euro name Manfred. An assignment to infiltrate a resistance cell and destroy it from within offers a chance at recognition, if it doesn’t erase his psyche.

Maestro’s Requiem by Matthew S. Cox

Nina Duchenne is adjusting to her new life with a doll body and a position with Division 9. Amid one of the darkest cases she’s ever worked, she finds a surprising glimmer of light for her dreary soul.

Sins of the Father by Benjamin Sperduto

Dmitri was a loyal citizen of the Allied Corporate Council, a modest man of modest means who knew how to keep his head down and his mouth shut. But everything changed when a routine Citizen Management sweep led to his beloved daughter’s arrest. Stripped of citizenship and cast out of his home, Dmitri struggles to survive on the broken streets of post-industrial Russia. When a chance encounter brings him into contact with a burgeoning resistance moment, he must decide just how far he’s willing to go to atone for a lifetime of inaction.

Cover Reveal | CQ Darkscapes Anthology

darkscapes

Greetings everyone!

I’m thrilled to finally be able to show off Eugene Teplitsky’s cover artwork for the upcoming Curiosity Quills anthology: Darkscapes!

Check out the antho page here for the full list of authors and stories: https://curiosityquills.com/books/curiosity-quills-darkscapes/


OOS_Graphic

In my story, Out of Sight, Sima Nuvari, an unwanted sixteen-year-old runaway wakes up in an escape pod after years in stasis. Soon after she starts exploring, she finds some younger kids, also shipped off Earth against their will. Sima’s AI bracelet is their only chance to make sense of a wild uncharted planet, and avoid the deadly Night Scratch.


It is an honor to have my writing in an anthology with so many other wonderful authors, including Piers Anthony, J.R. Rain, Richard Roberts, Robert J Defendi, Randy Attwood, Katie Young, Ann M. Noser, Nathan Croft, Tegan Wren, James Wymore, Andrew Buckley, Darin Kennedy, J.E. Anckorn, B.C. Johnson, S.E. Bennet and Mark Woodring.

Charity Anthology | When Disasters Strike

Disaster

Some months ago, Stephanie Lunsford approached me and asked if I could contribute a short story to an anthology she was putting together to benefit a critically ill little girl (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1601289636786971) and help out with her medical expenses.

She’d read Division Zero, and asked me to go back in Kirsten (the main character’s) past a bit for a peek into her earlier life. I wound up writing Into the Beneath, which happens twelve years prior to the events of Division Zero 1 (when Kirsten is only ten years old).

Curiosity Quills was gracious enough to let me send this over, and so I am one of thirteen authors in this collection of disaster, survival, and horror stories. (Truth be told, cyberpunk with ghosts struck me as a little out of the theme – but they wanted it… so, anyway.)

If you’re a fan of horror stories, post apocalyptic tales, and tales of people dealing with harrowing situations (and you don’t mind helping out a child in need), check out this anthology, now available on Amazon (http://amzn.com/B015TT5BH8). All proceeds from the sale of this anthology are going to benefit Emily.

 

Happy reading!