"A young girl apprentices herself to an aging soldier to learn the skills she needs to take revenge against those who killed her family …
Home is where the heart is, and for Sasha Martin that was a burned farm and dead parents. The Great War was over before she was born— there were treaties and agreements, they were supposed to be safe. But what the Imperium wanted it took, and with it, all that Sasha had known. Now, a decade later, having survived on charity and boiling hatred, she sees a chance to strike back at her enemies. There's an old man that lives outside of town … some call him a war hero.
Gerard Appleby has been a man of war, a man of honor, and now a man alone for twenty years. But when a stubborn girl bent on vengeance shows up at his door demanding that he teach her the sword, he realizes that his days of warm beer and quiet guilt are over ... and there is a chance to tie up one loose end, one last battle that he should have fought twenty years ago."
"The spotlight is on Rio County's first female Sheriff, and everyone wants answers ...
Newly elected West Texas Sheriff Mare Carlson prepares for her hometown's 140th anniversary. There are decorations on the light poles, Rosemary is selling her famous burritos at triple-price, and a parade marches from the elementary school to the courthouse ... and there's a murder.
It's happened before, but not often, and the man killed was a harmless drunk who was crippled thirty years ago. It's a case with no context, an execution without reason. But Mare is former United States Marine Corps Military Police, and she's starting to see some horrifying coincidences from her time in Afghanistan.
The unlikely named town of Big Tree is small, but Mare's few suspects are spread out over hundreds of miles of Chihuahuan Desert, and one of them is a trained killer."
"Alone on an abandoned space station … or not!
It was a typical job– big stellar research company drops everything and abandons their fancy space station when their contract ends, and then the shareholders back home get loud because millions in equipment was left behind to float in the black.
And then they hire Spaulding Recovery to go get it …
Bea's done this song and dance enough times to know what to expect. It'll be a boring walk through empty passageways with a flashlight, looking for said expensive equipment.
But this time, those dark corridors may not be as empty as she thinks. There's something in the shadows, and when the station is suddenly threatened by a solar storm, that something wants to leave as bad as she does. There's just one problem … the only way of escape is the Brin, and it's a race to see who can get there first."
"Vacation Among the Stars!
With her boss on an extended vacation to see his nephew on Unitorium, Spaulding Recovery is officially on hiatus, and Bea's indomitable mother decides this is the perfect opportunity for some mother-daughter bonding— and they're going to do it in style!
The wealthy and artistic from across the Republic have gathered aboard the five star luxury liner Astral Angel, not just for the art shows and expensive champagne, but for the lure of adventure.
That's right! The tourist agency has promised to take its affluent and famous guests to where no one has gone before ... and with alien hunting all the rage, they get to do it from a stateroom in their hot tubs.
But this may turn out to be more than a simple advertising ploy, and Bea thinks she's being taken advantage of, either by the people that made the brochure, or the universe. She doesn't know which, but now it's up to her to pull their Hors D'oeuvres out of the fire, save the day, and get everyone home in one piece!"
"Have Spaceship–Will Travel
In the wake of the Modronovich Incident a new era of industry and interstellar exploration has begun. Everyone wants to find 'them' ... the aliens ... even if the cosmic trail is two-hundred and fifty years old, and finding them might be a bad idea.
After the initial whirlwind of movie offers and government interviews, Bea has settled down to the quieter life as Spaulding Recovery Service's simple starship pilot, enjoying her time between the sandy beaches of the Pearls, and long trips into the long dark hauling cargo or tracking down derelict ships for almighty insurance companies. That is until she gets a call from Algernon, the Asimov Institute's synthetic consciousness. It seems the famed Institute has lost a ship, and since everyone else is hunting aliens, Bea's the woman for the job.
It's good money, and her toff boss says do it ... but something's not right. Why does the Institute seem more concerned with a star outside of the Republic's borders than they do about the lost ship and her crew? And why does the staff they send with her act like soldiers out of uniform?"
"There are inheritances people want. Then there are those legacies no one wishes to bear ...
The Modronovich, a cargo ship testing a prototype Newtonian drive, loses contact on its shakedown cruise, overdue and far off course, and then never heard from again.
Two-hundred and fifty years later, Penelope Middleton walks into Spaulding Recovery Services with a copy of a garbled transmission recorded by her grandfather, a communications technician serving aboard Capella Station during the Modronovich's voyage. Haunted by childhood memories of him as a paranoid, broken man that spent the last century of his life in depression, and the enigmatic partial transmission, she hires Spaulding's pilot and wreck diver, Beatrice, to unravel the mystery of the Modronovich and answer the questions surrounding her grandfather's breakdown.
Chronicled in Bea's diary it is the story of a cover-up decades in the making. What she finds leads to the disturbing details that caused two generations of PTSD and depression, the divorce of Penelope's parents, and the truth about what happened to the ship and her crew."
Join our community for the latest bookish news, reading recommendations, exclusive opening extracts, author events and competitions. It\'s all free. And enter a monthly draw to win a £50 Gift Card. See past winners here
