C Gockel Writes

Featured Science Fiction: Kaine’s Sanction (Shattered Empire Book 1) by D.M. Pruden

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Featured Science Fiction: Kaine's Sanction (Shattered Empire Book 1) by D.M. Pruden

FREE as of April 16, 2023
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Undisturbed for aeons, something has been awakened…

When the UEF Scimitar is dispatched to retrieve an archaeologist from an isolated and abandoned Terran colony, young officer Hayden Kaine thinks it is a routine mission. But when a mysterious accident traps the ship in the quarantined star system, survival soon becomes everyone’s only concern.

Attacked by an unknown alien species, the ship is damaged and half of the crew is killed or injured, including the captain. The only surviving bridge officer, Kaine is thrust into the command seat; a role for which he is neither experienced nor prepared, and which most of the surviving crew do not easily accept.

While the enemy amasses an overwhelming invasion fleet capable of overwhelming the unsuspecting confederation, Kaine must stave off a mutiny long enough to find a way to warn Earth of the danger. If he fails, the empire which has survived for five hundred years will fall and humanity will be doomed to extinction by a foe whose existence seems to defy the laws of physics.

If you love the science fiction works of Heinlein, Clarke or Asimov, try D.M. Pruden’s rousing military space opera adventure, Kaine’s Sanction, the first book in the Shattered Empire series.

Book Reviews: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

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Book Reviews: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

$1.99 as of April 16, 2023 in United States
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(Also available in Canada, Australia, United Kingdom)

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Editor’s Note: This is one of my favorite books of all time. Sometimes darkly humorous, always heartfelt and engaging.

“A tour de force.”—The New York Times Book Review

Connie Willis draws upon her understanding of the universalities of human nature to explore the ageless issues of evil, suffering, and the indomitable will of the human spirit.

For Kivrin, preparing an on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity’s history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone. For her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be received.

But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in a bygone age as her fellows try desperately to rescue her. In a time of superstition and fear, Kivrin—barely of age herself—finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history’s darkest hours.

Featured Science Fiction: Descendants of War the Complete Series by G J Ogden

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Featured Science Fiction: Descendants of War the Complete Series by G J Ogden

99¢ as of April 12, 2023
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The complete space opera series for fans of Babylon 5, Deep Space 9 and kickass action sci-fi.

Commander Dalton Reeves is a maverick officer with exceptional genetic strength and a dark family history – a history that will come back to haunt him.

Punished for exceeding orders one time too many, he’s packed off to the “The Abyss” – the most dangerous space station in the galaxy. But a posting that should have led to five years in obscurity will propel Reeves into the centre of an interstellar war against a long-forgotten alien adversary with a bitter grudge.

With the six realms on the brink of all-out war, Reeves must face his demons and be prepared to go to any lengths to become the warrior and the leader the galaxy desperately needs him to be.

Dive into this epic space opera science fiction series, set in a vivid, multi-species universe. It’s filled with danger, intrigue and drama played out against the tense backdrop of a looming war versus an ancient and bitter alien enemy.

Featured Sci-fi: Recon (Drop Trooper: Recon Book 1) by Rick Paltrow

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Featured Sci-fi: Recon (Drop Trooper: Recon Book 1) by Rick Paltrow

99¢ as of April 10, 2023
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Tyler Callas had a life most people would kill for… He killed to escape it.

Tyler is the pampered heir of a high-level Corporate Council executive, groomed from birth to take a seat beside her as a member of the ruling class of the Commonwealth society.

But the bloody war with the alien Tahni has hit close to home and Tyler wants to join the military, something his powerful mother won’t allow.

Desperate to escape her control, Tyler changes his identity to Randall Munroe, a product of the poverty-stricken Underground, and enlists in the Marines.

There he flourishes, becoming a member of an elite Force Recon unit and striking deep behind enemy lines.

But when his platoon is assigned to take back the colony on Demeter from the Tahni, the mission falls apart, most of his comrades are killed and Munroe is wounded, separated from his unit and left for dead on an enemy occupied world.

With no other choice, he organizes the civilian colonists into a resistance movement and begins fighting against the occupation with limited supplies and no support.

As the situation becomes more and more desperate, what began as a high-tech, interstellar conflict will become a war to the knife…

Featured Sci-fi: Space Murder (Captain Liz Laika Mysteries Book 1) by Nikki Haverstock

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Featured Sci-fi: Space Murder (Captain Liz Laika Mysteries Book 1) by Nikki Haverstock

FREE as of April 8, 2023
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For everything there is a season…

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Once the star student of her training class, Captain Liz Laika is now an outcast, a casualty of family scandal.

Now stuck in the worst post in the Fleet, she should keep her head down. But when a Cerulean passenger is found decapitated, and Liz is framed for the murder, she has no choice but to fight for her life. No easy feat when she’s facing kidnapping, ship-eating whales, horse-sized spiders and corrupt fleet officers with personal vendettas.

And in the middle of the intergalactic murder drama, her ex-fiancé reappears.

Captain Liz needs to clear her name–and fast.

Featured Science Fiction: The Impossible Future by Frank Kennedy

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Featured Science Fiction: The Impossible Future by Frank Kennedy

99¢ as of April 8, 2023
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($3.99 in Canada, Germany, Australia)

“The darkness will drown them all.”

One night in a small town will change two universes in this relentless, action-packed saga.

The clock is running out on Jamie Sheridan, who carries a genetically-engineered time bomb inside him. In eight hours, he will become a god, a monster, or he will die. He fights to survive against all hope, with his best friends Michael Cooper and Samantha Huggins at his side.

Their desperate quest will take them into another universe, where a galactic empire stands on the brink, and the balance of forty worlds is about to be shattered.

Destinies will be formed, friends and lovers will face betrayal, the fire of war will grow, and an ancient force will rise.

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