I've been taking a break from writing novels during the house remodel, but have five out as e-books (available from Amazon). I would describe them generally as science-fiction political thrillers—all character driven. Only $4.99 each.
A Wall Street Journal analysis concluded the last administration's "Moon, Mars, and Beyond" space exploration initiative was motivated not so much to send man to the planets as to send new business to the U.S. aerospace industry. In a bit of prescience, Dreams presents one harrowing answer to the question: What would be the reaction if U.S. dollars were supporting an international space program, and the consortium awarded the most lucrative contract to a foreign competitor?
Charles Xavier Fulton, the U.S. space program manager, is living a thankless existence under the thumb of Vice-President Savage (U.S. space policy czar). For Fulton, the question is: What if all your dreams came true, and then turned into the biggest nightmare of your life?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004TH08KC
Night Frost is set in the recent past.
What if the U.S. unwittingly gave Iran title to the breakthrough technology of the century? What if the only man who can get it back is convinced the transfer was a legitimate business transaction?
Heavy-handed spy-chief Drago sets up brilliant CIA scientist Olcovich in Finland to tempt the Iranians with a bogus room-temperature superconductor, ostensibly to con them out of $billions for its "development." But Olcovich resents his treatment and pursues his own ambitions, leaving Drago in a two-truth clandestine fog. Is the technology real?
Washington lawyer Roger Piersig thinks it is. Recruited by Olcovich to promote the technology, he soon finds himself in the middle of a deadly conflict, pressured by the CIA to betray his new boss. Complicating Piersig's dilemma is the beautiful but headstrong Finnish intelligence agent Lotta Svärd, with her incendiary personal agenda.
Anti-hero Piersig struggles to remain his own man, even as the operatives around him play out their inevitable fates. But when Olcovich finally prepares to move the priceless technology to Iran, even Piersig is compelled to choose sides.
"turned out to be as good as the some of the best-sellers I've read . . . well worthwhile! I look forward to reading more by this author."
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004KAAYWK
The Samsara series is based on the dreams subplot in Dreams of the Iklax, a sci-fi/political thriller set in an alternative near-future.
Two-hundred years in the future, a partially deciphered message from an alien race is revealed by Earth's ruling Committee, then ignored. Maverick war hero Fulton, shocked and suspicious, demands a first-contact mission.
Shift five years later: Fulton and three others set out in a small, untested spacecraft, miraculously capable of traversing space-time. Fulton soon discovers they're heading into a galactic war, and realizes they've all been betrayed. They are lost, and the vagaries of space-time have moved them far into the future. There's no going home.
His secretive Diplomatic Corps second-in-command--Rachael, appearing mere minutes before their departure, then reveals the device found planted aboard is some kind of weapon, built to the aliens' specifications. They would know how to use it to save the galaxy from a powerful adversary.
Pressing ahead with their mission amid distrust and shocking revelations, the crew barely survives baffling attacks, then starts to wonder--just who is the real enemy?
"The surprise was the haunting, parallel plot . . . that left me wanting more. . . . sprinkled with bits of humor . . . made me smile every time. Highly recommended!"
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004KSQWX2
Two hundred years in the future, multi-national corporations have grown enough in power and reach to see national governments as obsolete, creating political instability, burdensome rules and uneven tariffs, without any apparent benefit. Even most public services have been contracted out to global monopolies. This includes the World Vids, the source for all news and information. With technology now able to easily generate any virtual reality for the screen, the acceptance of "created" content has become universal. But recently, some of the more perceptive politicians have noticed a disturbing trend in incidents undermining their authority, and it's making them nervous.
Privileged political apprentice Toby Fitzgerald -"Kenshi"- is largely oblivious to all of this. But when he survives a dramatic terrorist attack on the Senate leadership, his investigation to find those responsible makes him a persona non grata with the corporate power elite, and soon plunges him into a world of nightmarish political upheaval.
Kenshi's World is the second novel in the Samsara sci-fi series, taking place almost three decades before Samsara. It spans the eighteen months of escalating terror preceding the global War that took the lives of six billion people.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GFEZ6Z4
Two-hundred years in the future, with their War to bring all governments into the World Union well underway, a confederation of global monopolies begins to suspect the rumored Resistance might in fact be real.
Fearing their leadership may be threatened, the Committee targets a suspected Resistance expert on sentient artificial-intelligence, Havana-based Margaret Ripley. If she steals the dangled bait--an A.I. uniquely able to exploit her revolutionary software--the Committee thinks it can expose the whole Resistance. Ripley seems willing to risk almost anything to realize her dream of creating a synthetic human. The Committee's operatives are counting on that, having imbued the A.I. trojan horse with insidious spyware and stubborn loyalty.
But when she discovers the ruse, Ripley is determined to turn the A.I. against the Committee by giving her a human physical and emotional consciousness, if only she can keep Johnnie isolated long enough for her humanizing modifications to take hold. That turns out to be easier said than done, even with the help of familiar Resistance veterans.
Ripley's World is the third novel in the Samsara series, picking up a year after Kenshi's World ends, and predating Samsara by about 27 years.
In the pipeline:
A sci-fi murder mystery, Daughtry's World will be the fourth novel in the Samsara series. Its protagonist is Kevin Daughtry, a detective introduced in Kenshi's World, and a character just too interesting to let go. I'm excited about this one, and am now putting together the scene outline (after filling 100 single-spaced pages with plot elements and character development).
Two hundred years in the future, in the unsettled aftermath of a brutal, global political upheaval, commoner Kevin Daughtry is mysteriously pulled from his Criminal Investigative Service unit to find out who is behind the murders of three apparently ordinary people. It soon becomes clear to Daughtry that someone at the very top of the ruling elite knows secrets about the victims, and does not want that knowledge revealed, even to the corporate bluebloods.
Daughtry soon finds and deciphers a hidden "hit list" that had been in the possession of one of the assassins. Five names. The three who had been murdered, and the fourth: Alfred Donnerly, the head of Burning Rock Interplanetary Development, headquartered in the Helios colony, on Mars. The fifth name was Donnerly's daughter Melissa. She was 41, three years younger than Daughtry, and living in Shanghai.
It isn't clear why either of the two are being targeted, but Daughtry and Melissa very quickly develop a relationship, both emotional and professional. The bond grows after they barely survive an assassination attempt; she becomes his de facto partner in the investigation. What is clear to Daughtry, however, is that if he does not identify those behind the murders, both he and Melissa will be the next victims.
When he decides the answers to the mystery can only be found on Mars, Daughtry reluctantly heads for that planet. It is there that his greatest challenges are waiting for him.
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