Adventure / action fiction

Book SynopsisDomingos Fernandes Calabar started out as a military advisor for the Portuguese in Brazil. But to his superiors, he was still nothing more than a mameluco, a man of mixed blood. Until, that is, the Dutch arrived and he switched sides. Then the Portuguese had a new label for him: “traitorous dog.” But when Dutch admiral Maarten Tromp arrives, having barely survived the disastrous Battle of Dunkirk, Calabar’s job changes again. Now he has to help engineer a swift Dutch exodus to a safer place before word of Tromp’s defeat reaches Spanish ears. Partnered with the Sephardic pirate Moses Cohen Henriques, the two aid the battered Dutch fleet by striking at the Portuguese and Spanish, both on land and sea. Until, that is, Calabar learns that bitter personal enemies have grabbed his family, put them in chains, and sold them to a slaveship bound for the Spanish Main. Calabar must now choose: continue to help the Dutch, or save his wife and children? Tromp and other strong allies want to put an end to slavery, too, but their strategies and timetable are measured in months and years. Calabar doesn’t have that kind of time and can’t rely on their methods. The struggle to recover his family, and to free the millions more suffering in shackles, is one he must win in his own way and on his own terms. Because ultimately, this is not just Calabar’s fight. This is Calabar’s war. About 1635: A Parcel of Rogues: "The 20th volume in this popular, fast-paced alternative history series follows close on the heels of the events in The Baltic War, picking up with the protagonists in London, including sharpshooter Julie Sims. This time the 20th-century transplants are determined to prevent the rise of Oliver Cromwell and even have the support of King Charles."—Library Journal About 1634: The Galileo Affair: "A rich, complex alternate history with great characters and vivid action. A great read and an excellent book."—David Drake "Gripping . . . depicted with power!"—Publishers Weekly About Eric Flint's Ring of Fire series: “This alternate history series is . . . a landmark . . .”—Booklist “[Eric] Flint's 1632 universe seems to be inspiring a whole new crop of gifted alternate historians.”—Booklist “ . . . reads like a technothriller set in the age of the Medicis . . . ”—Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisTHE SORCERERS WHO RULE THE WORLD ARE GOING DOWN! If people who can work magic are so powerful, why don't they rule the world? Well, as it happens, they do. One man wants to change that. The Apkallu are masters of magic. They rule the world from the shadows, using mind control and deadly monsters to eliminate any threat to their power. Sam Arquero lost his family to a demon sent by an Apkallu. He knew that nobody would believe the truth, but now an old man offers Sam the chance to find out who is responsible and bring down the Apkallu forever. Under a new identity, Sam must learn the secrets of magic, infiltrate the Apkallu, and walk a razor’s edge of daring as he attempts to destroy the Apkallu leaders and avoid the supernatural detectives on his trail. But Sam’s greatest challenge perhaps lies within—to avoid becoming like the hated Apkallu himself! Praise for Arkad's World: “Far-flung adventure . . . Cambias offers up an entertaining coming-of-age novel filled with action and surprises. His aliens are suitably non-human in mannerisms, attitudes, and objectives, and his worldbuilding suggests a vast universe ready for further exploration. Readers . . . will find this hits the spot.”—Publishers Weekly “. . . a classic quest story, a well-paced series of encounters with different folk along the way, building momentum toward a final confrontation with Arkad's past. . . [with] a delicious twist to the end.”—ALA Booklist "Cambias has achieved a feat of world-building: an expansive, believable setting with fascinating aliens, compelling mysteries, and a rich sense of history."—Bookpage "Drop a teenage boy into a distant planet chock full of colorful aliens—with troubles all their own. Stir, flavor, apply heat. A tour de force in the field, and great, quick fun."—Gregory Benford Praise for the work of James L. Cambias: "Beautifully written, with a story that captures the imagination the way SF should."—Booklist, starred review “An engaging nail-biter that is exciting, fun and a satisfying read.”—The Qwillery ''An impressive debut by a gifted writer.''—Publishers Weekly, starred review ''An exceptionally thoughtful, searching and intriguing debut.''—Kirkus, starred review "James Cambias will be one of the century's major names in hard science fiction.''—Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award–winning author of Red Planet Blues "Fast-paced, pure quill hard science fiction. . . . Cambias delivers adroit plot pivots that keep the suspense coming.''—Gregory Benford, Nebula Award-winning author of Timescape

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Book SynopsisA DROID AND HIS BOY, ON A SEARCH FOR A LEGENDARY WEAPON Daslakh is an AI with a problem. Its favorite human, a young man named Zee, is in love with a woman who never existed — and he will scour the Solar System to find her. But in the Tenth Millennium a billion worlds circle the Sun—everything from terraformed planets to artificial habitats, home to a quadrillion beings. Daslakh's nicely settled life gets more complicated when Zee helps a woman named Adya escape a gang of crooks. This gets the pair caught up in the hunt for the Godel Trigger, a legendary weapon left over from an ancient war between humans and machines—which could spell the end of civilization. In their search, they face a criminal cat and her henchmen, a paranoid supermind with a giant laser, the greatest thief in history, and a woman who might actually be Zee's lost love. It's up to Daslakh to save civilization, keep Zee's love life on the right track—and make sure that nobody discovers the real secret of the Godel Trigger. Praise for Arkad's World: “Far-flung adventure . . . Cambias offers up an entertaining coming-of-age novel filled with action and surprises. His aliens are suitably non-human in mannerisms, attitudes, and objectives, and his worldbuilding suggests a vast universe ready for further exploration. Readers . . . will find this hits the spot.”—Publishers Weekly “. . . a classic quest story, a well-paced series of encounters with different folk along the way, building momentum toward a final confrontation with Arkad's past . . . [with] a delicious twist to the end.”—ALA Booklist “Cambias has achieved a feat of world-building: an expansive, believable setting with fascinating aliens, compelling mysteries, and a rich sense of history.”—Bookpage “Drop a teenage boy into a distant planet chock full of colorful aliens—with troubles all their own. Stir, flavor, apply heat. A tour de force in the field, and great, quick fun.”—Gregory Benford Praise for the work of James L. Cambias: “Beautifully written, with a story that captures the imagination the way SF should.”—Booklist, starred review “An engaging nail-biter that is exciting, fun and a satisfying read.”—The Qwillery '“An impressive debut by a gifted writer.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review “An exceptionally thoughtful, searching and intriguing debut.”—Kirkus, starred review “James Cambias will be one of the century's major names in hard science fiction.”—Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award–winning author of Red Planet Blues “Fast-paced, pure quill hard science fiction. . . . Cambias delivers adroit plot pivots that keep the suspense coming.”—Gregory Benford, Nebula Award-winning author of Timescape

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Book SynopsisThe Scope of Justice Within a military that prides teamwork, strength in numbers, and camaraderie, the sniper is the outlier. The loner. The specialist whose talent can mean the difference between mission success and disaster. And often between life and death. Kyle Monroe is one of this exclusive fraternity. Recovering from a mission gone disastrously wrong, Monroe is paired with new partner Wade Curtis and dispatched to Pakistan, where he’s been instructed to take out a prominent member of al Qaeda. But the local tribe to which he’s assigned wants to use his deadly skills to settle a private war with a neighboring tribe. If Monroe and his partner want to get out of Pakistan alive, they will have to rely on their skills, their experience—and the unrelenting drive of those who are called to be the best of the best in a lethal occupation. Targets of Opportunity Master snipers Kyle Monroe and Wade Curtis got more than they bargained for on assignment to Pakistan to take out a powerful terrorist chieftain. Now they find themselves in Romania, in a densely packed urban environment, and in hidden tunnels beneath a legendary castle. Here they stalk a terror cell that is smuggling explosives across the Black Sea into Europe. Romania may have a legacy of horror, but Vlad the Impaler has nothing on these terrorist murderers. Fortunately, there are a couple of expert shooters on the side of the angels, and their names are Monroe and Curtis! Confirmed Kill Army Rangers Kyle Monroe and Wade Curtis are the best at what they do: eliminating their nation’s enemies from a distance with one well-placed bullet to the head. When intelligence catches wind of a terrorist plot unfolding in the jungles of Indonesia, Monroe and Curtis are the snipers assigned to take the killers out. Failure is not an option, since al Qaeda-linked fanatics plan to blow an oil-rich province sky high, taking hundreds of innocent lives, many of them American. But the military brass is saddling their operatives with unnecessary and potentially lethal baggage—an overweight, under-trained colonel whose ineptitude could prove disastrous. And when their mission goes all to hell, two crack snipers are suddenly transformed into targets caught out in the open—facing an army of terrorist murderers pouring out of the trees and with nowhere to run. About Michael Z. Williamson: “A fast-paced, compulsive read . . . will appeal to fans of John Ringo, David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, and David Weber.”—Kliatt “Williamson's military expertise is impressive.”—SFReviews

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Book SynopsisADVENTURE BEYOND THE STARS David Artan is a dock rat on a poor fringe world where he takes every job he can and prize-fights to earn enough money to get off world. When he’s hired to guide a boat crewed by an interstellar mafia, he comes face to face with an ancient power—the Veil—that was pivotal to a civil war that ended decades ago. David is "Attuned" to this power and was almost killed by agents of the dead and defeated Tyrant who nearly enslaved the galaxy. He’s rescued by an Adept of the Paragon order, warrior scholars that study the power and seek to keep any from upsetting the balance that keeps all life in order. David is given the chance to journey beyond the Veil and into another dimension where he can claim a stone of immense power and return it to base reality and wield it as a weapon against the Tyrant. The world beyond the Veil is nothing like what David knows, and he’ll be opposed by insidious evil, self-doubt, and sabotage from the very people who are supposed to help him. While beyond the Veil, David learns that a Conjunction is nigh, an event that could sunder the galaxy if evil forces succeed. David must claim a Veil stone deep in the other dimension before the Tyrant’s agents can beat him to the prize.

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Book SynopsisIcarus Job

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