I’m happy to show off the series trailer for the Shadow Space Chronicles.
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The Star Engine Snippet 1
Here is the first snippet of The Star Engine, coming July 12, 2024. Be sure to preorder from Amazon. https://amzn.to/3V9blRc
Prologue
October 22, 2410
Golgotha
Unclaimed Space
Admiral Collae opened his dark eyes and activated the door to his quarters. The communications rating outside the door froze, one hand still raised to rap on the hatch. “Yes?” Admiral Collae asked.
To the rating’s credit, she straightened and reported sharply, “Sir, we’re picking up a group of unidentified vessels approaching from outside the system’s plane.” Approaching off the axis of a star system’s plane of rotation was a standard tactic for those attempting to escape notice.
He didn’t rise from his chair, not yet. If these ships were within weapon’s range, his ships would have already been going to battle-stations. He had time, and it wouldn’t do for his people to think he was nervous. “Any matches for ship classes?”
“No, sir, though they are similar to the emissions signatures of the reported alien craft that we encountered at Kapteyn’s Star,” Her response was crisp and professional, her voice level. Admiral Collae approved, especially since he knew that this rating had lost her older brother at that engagement. Dispassionate and intelligent, I will have to ensure she continues her advancement.
“Very well,” Admiral Collae said. “Inform the Captain that I will be on the bridge in a moment.”
She snapped out a crisp salute and Admiral Collae toggled the switch to close his hatch. He looked over at his guest, “So it begins.”
Spencer Penwaithe gave him a nod, his expression sour, “It was bound to happen sooner or later. Marius wasted too much time with his idiot daughter. You can hold, I assume?”
“Of course,” Admiral Collae stood. He moved a chess piece into place.
Spencer gave a snort of amusement and took it. “That’s check… and mate, I believe.”
“Indeed,” Admiral Collae nodded, his expression stony. Spencer Penwaithe always won their games, but chess never had been Admiral Collae’s game, anyway. “If you’ll excuse, me, sir?”
“Yes, of course,” Spencer rose as well. The tall black man adjusted his suit jacket and tie, “Do let me know when this unpleasantness is over. I’ll be in my quarters.” The career manipulator seemed dismissive of the battle. Then again, Spencer Penwaithe’s fights had always been ones fought in the shadows, where as often as not he’d eliminated his foes with daggers to the back while proclaiming his friendship to them. All well and good, Admiral Collae thought to himself, but not much use in a space battle. He was glad that his superior would not be joining him on the bridge.
It would have been awkward if he had to order him removed. Admiral Collae didn’t need an amateur joggling his elbow.
***
“Ship count is seventeen, sir,” Captain Thompson reported as Admiral Collae stepped onto the bridge. “They’re coming in emission silent, systems in standby mode. We might not have picked them up without the facility’s sensors.”
“Yes, of course,” Admiral Collae took a seat in his command chair. He listened to the rest of the briefing with half an ear as he contemplated the geometry of the approaching battle. The standard question in this circumstance was to see if the enemy would come into weapons range with their systems still on standby mode. If they would, then in theory they would be easy prey.
Admiral Collae didn’t bother with that approach. It would be one thing if this were some pirate scum. It was quite something else when he knew he faced an enemy that had not faced a significant defeat in over a million years. This was nothing more than a skirmish to them, at this scale, and Admiral Collae would have to be a fool to let them get within range.
“Orders to Carrier Force Harpy, launch all fighters,” Admiral Collae growled. “All Screen Force Bravo elements, fall back and link up with our main force. Screen Force Alpha, move to our rear quarter.” He paused as he considered the alignment of vessels. “Force Manticore, withdraw to Point Golf Three.” Force Manticore were three huge freighter vessels in orbit over the Star Engine. Sending them to Point Golf Three put them below the facility, opposite the approach of the enemy force.
“Order Commodore Caras to Point Zulu One and Captain Vestillius to Point Zulu Two,” Admiral Collae said after a moment. That put the renegade Centauri Confederation ships and Marius Giovanni’s forces out of the main axis of the fight, but he didn’t entirely trust them anyway.
“Yes, sir,” Captain Thompson replied. As the orders went out, Admiral Collae ran a hand down his craggy features. Now, he thought, let us see how intelligent a foe we face.
***
Kal’s June 2024 Update
Hey everyone! It’s June already, which means 2024 is pretty much halfway over. I’d set a goal for myself of publishing a book a month this year, so I’m a little behind, I need to write more.
June will have me working on two books to try and get caught up. I’m working on the sequels to Dead Train, which I’ll be working with Cannon Publishing to get ready and released.
This month I’ll also be at Liberty Con in Chattanooga. It’s got to be one of my favorite conventions, so I’m really looking forward to it. I always come away excited and inspired.
For other stuff, I’m getting The Star Engine ready for release, with a last round of editing and all the marketing stuff, to include book trailers. I’ll have snippet posts here starting soon, so you all can look forward to that.
Out on the horizon, I’ll start work on the 8th book of the Shadow Space Chronicles hopefully in July, I’ll have some crafting/painting YouTube videos out soon, and I’ll be looking at fall conventions that I can fit into my schedule.
That’s all for now, thanks for reading!
Now available for Preorder: The Star Engine
The Star Engine, the long-awaited seventh book of the Shadow Space Chronicles, is now available for pre-order. Coming July 12th, the Star Engine continues the story begun with The Fallen Race.
There is a gun pointed at all of human space and it is in the hands of a madman.
The ancient Star Engine, a colossal construct of unknown power, is in the hands of a manipulating schemer. He has already used it once to strike at his enemies, wiping out two entire fleets without giving them the opportunity to fight back.
To make matters worse, he has hundreds of thousands of thousands of hostages: men and women he has kidnapped, so that he can mentally program them to do his bidding.
The United Colonies Fleet has to stop him. Emperor Lucius Giovanni has a plan. He has an ally, too. His sister, Lieutenant Alanis Giovanni, is on the surface of the Star Engine, and she plans to take the construct and free the prisoners. If she can do that, then Lucius might have a chance in seizing the system without losing entire fleets.
First, though, Lucius has to deal with the treacherous Centauri Confederation, which seems bent upon destroying the new nation he has built, deal with unknown aliens who kill without explanation or remorse, and protect the worlds of the United Colonies.
The fate of human space and possibly far more rests upon who controls the Star Engine.
Kal’s May 2024 Update
Hey everyone, it’s May already!
I’m happy to announce that The Star Engine, book 7 of the Shadow Space Chronicles will be going live for pre-order very soon. I’m aiming for a July release.
I’m hard at work at a number of projects right now. Unfortunately the release of another book, which I’d planned for this month, is under a delay with the publisher, so I’m going to miss having a new book out this month.
I’m outlining and starting work on the 8th Shadow Space book, which I’ll follow with the 9th. It feels great to be working on this series again and, for those of you who have been reading my stuff since the start, you know this is the series that started my writing career, all the way back with The Fallen Race, the first full-length novel I released.
I’ll have a series trailer and a book trailer coming soon, and with the longer publishing timeline, I’ll start posting snippets for The Star Engine in June.
That’s all for now, thanks for reading!
New Release: Maligned Valor
Now available, the 7th book of the Forsaken Valor series, Maligned Valor:
In my life, I have been kidnapped, attacked, beaten, and tortured. Now, they are accusing me of being everything that I hate.
My name is William Alexander Armstrong, I am serving as an Initiate in the Drakkus Imperial Space Korps. I serve there for my friends, for the girl I love, and in the hopes that I can make things better. For once, we’re on a mission of peace, trying to make allies, trying to build trust.
Only, things have gone horribly wrong. Elements of the Drakkus Empire have been doing terrible things and they got caught. That’s spiked the peace talks and now we’re on the verge of war. That would be bad enough, except the people we’ve been helping are now accusing me of piracy and worse.
I should just walk away, I should give up. The thing is, there’s something rotten in the star system and I seem to be a magnet for that sort of trouble. There’s a plot afoot, one designed to throw the entire Periphery into a state of war, and maligned or not, if I don’t have the valor to stop it, no one will.
Kal’s April Update
Hey everyone! I’ve waited a few days to update for April since I don’t want anyone thinking I’m posting some sort of April Fools joke…
I’m releasing the latest Forsaken Valor book, Maligned Valor, next week, 12 April 2024. Maligned Valor is the 7th book of the series and it was an incredibly fun book to write. Several of my beta readers have said it’s one of the most enjoyable books I’ve ever written, which I took as pretty high praise!
In other news, I’m back to work on the Shadow Space Chronicles. Yes, it’s been a long while, which meant I reread the whole series to get myself back int he universe in preparation (I’ve also done editing for the whole series in the process, so if you own it on Kindle, you may notice an updated Table of Contents and the like).
The Shadow Space Chronicles is a special series to me, it being my first published series and I love the setting and story. My goal is to write the next three books of the series, closing out the current story arc and setting the stage for the next books. There’s a lot of story to tell, with the Balor, Shadow Lords, and various warlords and pirates to deal with, along with other threats that have yet to manifest. If all goes well, I’ll have the long awaited 7th book out within the next couple of months.
I’ve got some other books coming out later this year, so keep checking back here for more updates. One is the continuation of a series I’ve already released and the other is the start of a collaboration in another setting.
In other news, I’ve started a new position with the Army, which keeps me extremely busy. It’s definitely going to impact my available free time, so my blog posts are likely to drop off a bit as I focus first on the day job, second on family, and third on writing. Everything else after that is going to be more or less as I get time.
That’s all for now, thanks for reading!
New Release: Valor’s Exodus
Valor’s Exodus, the 9th book of the Children of Valor series is now available! https://amzn.to/3T1spGF
“You are put in a corner and you have to get out. I have to believe that you can always get out.” –Etgar Keret
The Centurions are going home.
For Jiden Armstrong and the others who have fought to assemble a fleet capable of liberating their planet and rescuing their refugees, this has been a tremendous effort. It has cost the lives of hundreds and Jiden has tackled one impossible task after the next, so that her people, her family, can return to the world of her birth.
Except, this is only the beginning. In defying the Guard, the Centurions have made themselves the target for the most powerful forces in human space. The UN Star Guard will throw spies, saboteurs, and even entire fleets at them if it means stopping them. Because if a group of mercenaries from one tiny planet can thumb their noses at the Guard, then anyone can and that could spell the beginning of the end for them.
The Guard are willing to fire on the civilian refugee ships if that’s what it takes. Valor will have to safeguard the exodus of Jiden’s people, all the way back to their homeworld.
Valor’s Exodus Book Trailer
Coming soon: Valor’s Exodus
Coming March 1, 2024: Valor’s Exodus!
The Centurions are going home.
For Jiden Armstrong and the others who have fought to assemble a fleet capable of liberating their planet and rescuing their refugees, this has been a tremendous effort. It has cost the lives of hundreds and Jiden has tackled one impossible task after the next, so that her people, her family, can return to the world of her birth.
Except, this is only the beginning. In defying the Guard, the Centurions have made themselves the target for the most powerful forces in human space. The UN Star Guard will throw spies, saboteurs, and even entire fleets at them if it means stopping them. Because if a group of mercenaries from one tiny planet can thumb their noses at the Guard, then anyone can and that could spell the beginning of the end for them.
The Guard are willing to fire on the civilian refugee ships if that’s what it takes. Valor will have to safeguard the exodus of Jiden’s people, all the way back to their homeworld.
Kal Spriggs 