{"title":"ALL Signed Books","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"print-the-gordian-protocol-signed-hardback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Gordian Protocol (Hardback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Gordian Division series. Published by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED HARDBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by both David Weber and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-gordian-protocol.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNEW NOVEL FROM \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE HONOR HARRINGTON SERIES, DAVID WEBER\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Man of Two Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDr. Benjamin Schröder was far from a man of action. In fact, he was a history teacher—Chairman of the Castle Rock University history department—and if his life wasn't perfect, it was close. Until, that is the discussion of his star student Elzbietá Abramowski's dissertation on Operation Oz, the Pacific Allies' invasion of Vladivostok, staged through occupied Japan to meet their Imperial German allies, was brutally interrupted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe psychotic episode that turned his entire world upside down struck with absolutely no warning, and it was more terrifying than anything he should have been able to imagine, leaving him with a complete, incredibly detailed set of false, nightmare \"memories.\" Not just of his own life, but of an entire, ghastly world in which Operation Oz had never happened. In which millions of helpless civilians had been systematically slaughtered in \"extermination camps\" that were horrific beyond belief. In which there was still a Soviet Union. In which the Chinese Communists had succeeded, the Korean Peninsula had been permanently divided, thousands of nuclear warheads had spread their deadly threat across the entire Earth, and the Middle East was a festering sore of bloodshed, fanaticism, and terrorism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe knowledge that those false memories had come from somewhere inside his own psyche was terrible, but with the help of Commander Abramowski, a highly decorated Navy fighter pilot who’d been forced to deal with her own PTSD after crippling combat wounds invalided her out of service, he’s put his life back together. With Elzbietá's support, he's learned to deal with the nightmares, to recognize that they are \u003ci\u003eonly\u003c\/i\u003e nightmares that can't—and won't—be permitted to rule his life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUntil, that is, a lunatic named Raibert Kaminski knocks on his door one afternoon with an impossible and horrifying story about alternate realities, time travel, temporal knots, and more than a dozen doomed universes which must inevitably die if the temporal storm front rushing towards the distant future isn't stopped. He has to be lying, of course. Or completely insane. But what if he's not a madman after all? What if he's actually telling the \u003ci\u003etruth\u003c\/i\u003e?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat possibility is the most terrifying thing of all. Because if he is, the false memories aren't false after all, and that other world is just as real as the one Schröder has always known. And if that's true, Benjamin Schröder is about to become the greatest mass murderer in human history, because he has to \u003ci\u003echoose\u003c\/i\u003e. Whether he acts or refuses to act, Benjamin Schröder is the one man who will decide which universe lives and which dies, along with every star system, every galaxy—and every single human being—in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncluding the woman he's discovered he loves more than life itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Tom Clancy-esque exposition of technical details . . . absurd humor and bloody action. Echoes of Robert Heinlein . . . lots of exploding temporal spaceships and bodies . . . action-packed . . .” —\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] fun and thrilling standalone from Weber and Holo. . . . Time travel enthusiasts will enjoy the moral dilemmas, nonstop action, and crisp writing.”—\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium hardback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-gordian-protocol.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE GORDIAN PROTOCOL\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p3\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlexandria\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p3\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e30 BCE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p6\"\u003e“You, my friend, have had too much cheap wine,” Homeros the Baker said slowly and with great precision, bracing himself upright—as unobtrusively as possible—against the statue of some no doubt once-important noble.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p6\" name=\"p6\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No,” Asklepiades, who owned the pastry shop next to Homeros’ bakery, replied after careful consideration. “I have \u003ci\u003enot\u003c\/i\u003e had too much cheap wine. I would say”—he paused to belch noisily—“that I have, in fact, had almost exactly the right amount. And it wasn’t all \u003ci\u003ethat\u003c\/i\u003e cheap, now that I think about it,” he added owlishly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p7\" name=\"p7\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, it was better than the swill Lysippos normally gives us,” Homeros pointed out. “And a man doesn’t celebrate the birth of his third son every day.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p8\" name=\"p8\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And if you come home stinking of wine and”—Asklepiades paused to sniff loudly—“puke and piss, if I’m not mistaken, Kleopha is going to turn \u003ci\u003eher\u003c\/i\u003e third son into a fatherless waif. Probably with the dullest knife she can find.” He considered that for a moment, then nodded gravely. “And probably as slowly as possible.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p9\" name=\"p9\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not \u003ci\u003emy\u003c\/i\u003e puke!” Homeros protested. “It was that stupid Cypriot. I should have broken his head for him. A sailor who can’t hold his drink shouldn’t drink.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p10\" name=\"p10\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You didn’t break his head for him because he had six of his friends at the table with him. And do you really think Kleopha’s going to believe that?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p11\" name=\"p11\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I rule my house with a rod of iron!” Homeros’ grand pronouncement was rather undermined by the sway—one would not have cared to call it a stagger—as he waved his right hand in punctuation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p12\" name=\"p12\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAsklepiades snorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p13\" name=\"p13\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The only rod of iron in \u003ci\u003eyour\u003c\/i\u003e house is the rolling pin Kleopha’s about to apply to your skull. Repeatedly,” he informed his friend.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p14\" name=\"p14\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ah!” Homeros grinned at him and laid one finger aside his nose. “But only if she sees me like this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p15\" name=\"p15\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eSmells\u003c\/i\u003e you, you mean!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p16\" name=\"p16\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Same thing, same thing.” Homeros made a brushing away gesture. “And she won’t. I’m going to sneak in the back way and sleep in the shop tonight. The baby’ll keep me up all night if I don’t, anyway. Then, in the morning, I’ll make a quick trip to the baths.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p17\" name=\"p17\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And she’ll cut off your balls with a paring knife if you stay out all night.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p18\" name=\"p18\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nonsense.” Homeros chuckled. “I slept in the shop because \u003ci\u003eyou\u003c\/i\u003e kept me out so late I was certain she’d be sound asleep by the time I got home. And I know how little sleep the baby’s letting her get. So I didn’t want to disturb her. And,” he added triumphantly as Asklepiades looked at him skeptically, “I shall redeem myself by not only smelling fresh and clean but appearing armed with one of your meat pastries for her breakfast because I love her so.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p19\" name=\"p19\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ha! I’ll admit, that’s cleverer than you usually manage, especially when we’re both drunk. But it still won’t work, because—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p20\" name=\"p20\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e“Jupiter Optimus!”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p21\" name=\"p21\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAsklepiades jumped in astonishment, then whipped around to see what his friend was staring at. Whatever it was, it had turned Homeros pale as a ghost. Asklepiades had never seen Homeros look that way, but, as he spun about, he felt his own jaw drop in terror-tinged disbelief.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p22\" name=\"p22\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe brilliant…\u003ci\u003eshapes\u003c\/i\u003e sweeping in across the harbor of Alexandria blazed against the night sky like Zeus’ own lightning bolts. The lantern atop the mighty lighthouse was scarcely an ember in comparison, and they moved with terrifying speed across the long mole connecting the island of Pharos to the city. Their brilliance reflected in the glassy waters of the Great Harbor east of the mole, and he fell to his knees in shock as they sped silently overhead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p23\" name=\"p23\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis head turned, tracking their passage, and his eyes widened as they swooped past the Serapeum and headed directly toward the Great Library. They were slowing, altering course, spreading out like the petals of some enormous flower. And then, they weren’t moving \u003ci\u003eat all\u003c\/i\u003e. Six of them simply…\u003ci\u003efloated\u003c\/i\u003e there in midair, spaced equidistantly in a ring around the library campus. But four more of them—the largest of the lot—\u003ci\u003edidn’t\u003c\/i\u003e float in the air. They settled downward, landing on the campus. From their apparent size, they must be crushing statuary, ornamental trees and gardens, and gods only knew what else under them as they came down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p24\" name=\"p24\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlarms began to sound all across the sleeping city as it awakened to the celestial visitation, and Asklepiades felt his lips moving in silent prayer to every deity and demigod he could think of.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p25\" name=\"p25\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd that was when he heard the first screams, the first shattering bursts of sound, and saw the terrible flashes of light bursting across the city streets and the grounds of the Royal Palace.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p26\" name=\"p26\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSomehow, he doubted Kleopha would find the time to berate her wayward husband after all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p8\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p28\" name=\"p28\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How tall \u003ci\u003eis\u003c\/i\u003e that thing?” Kai-shwun McGuire asked, tipping back in his command chair and looking at the magnified image of the great three-tiered tower on the island in the harbor. The lowest section was square, the next was octagonal, and the uppermost was circular. A fire burned before the polished mirror at its apex, and it was visible at a surprising distance, given the primitive nature of the illumination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p29\" name=\"p29\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Really have to ask one of the docs if you want a hard number,” Lydia Robles, his copilot and weaponeer told him. “I’m sure one of them’ll be just delighted to give you all the details. From here”—she checked one of her displays—“looks like it’s close to a hundred and forty meters or so, give or take.” She shrugged. “It’s impressive looking, I suppose, under the circumstances. Hate to build the bastard without counter-grav, myself.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p30\" name=\"p30\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah.” McGuire nodded, then brought his chair back upright. “Got some movement. Looks like some kind of city guard headed toward the target.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p31\" name=\"p31\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“On it,” Robles replied, and her brown eyes had gone slightly unfocused as she communed with the TTV’s onboard systems through her wetware implants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p32\" name=\"p32\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnlike most of the Antiquities Rescue Trust’s security teams, neither she nor McGuire had acquired abstract companions. It wasn’t that she had anything against connectomes, whether they’d once been flesh and blood or were completely artificial constructs. She’d just never felt the need for one, and she was only fifty-six. There was plenty of time for her to find one among the abstract citizens she’d met…if she decided she needed one. At the moment, though, Kai-shwun made about as satisfying a companion as she could imagine. She’d tried the virtual sex route a couple of times, and they were right: it \u003ci\u003ewas\u003c\/i\u003e almost impossible to tell the difference. Except that she knew it was artificial even while her nerves were being convinced it wasn’t, and she supposed she was some kind of throwback, because she vastly preferred the real thing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p33\" name=\"p33\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe snorted, amused by the way her mind wandered—and to where—at moments like this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p34\" name=\"p34\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got any idea who sent them?” she murmured as the tracking systems came online and the TTV’s weapons slewed obediently to follow the armed and armored men marching purposefully, bravely, and incredibly stupidly toward the Library from the Royal Palace proper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p35\" name=\"p35\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“God only knows, and He ain’t talking.” McGuire shrugged. “Probably whoever’s in charge of the palace. Whoever the hell \u003ci\u003ethat\u003c\/i\u003e is!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p36\" name=\"p36\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, yeah,” Robles said a bit more loudly. “Damn, wish I’d paid more attention to the briefing. I can’t \u003ci\u003equite\u003c\/i\u003e remember . . .” She snapped her fingers suddenly. “Cleopatra! That’s who they said it was.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p37\" name=\"p37\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And who was Cleopatra?” McGuire demanded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p38\" name=\"p38\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damned if I know. I just hate forgetting names. Seems, I don’t know…unprofessional I guess.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p39\" name=\"p39\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well you better get your professional on,” he told her. “Those guys are going to cross the zone in about another five seconds.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p40\" name=\"p40\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No they aren’t,” she told him with a chuckle, and activated the fire command.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p41\" name=\"p41\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe revolving cannon was only one of the TTV’s weapons, and it was certainly the most conceptually ancient. It was also the \u003ci\u003enoisiest\u003c\/i\u003e, which was the main reason she’d selected it. Personally, she didn’t care how many indigenes got blown away on one of these missions, but some of the academics were a little more squeamish than she was. She didn’t understand why, exactly. She’d seen VRs which were a \u003ci\u003elot\u003c\/i\u003e bloodier than anything the academics ever saw. Well, out here on the perimeter, anyway. It could get…messy with the smash-and-grab teams closer in, she supposed. Still, that wasn’t her problem and she was perfectly willing to defer to the tender sensibilities of the hothouse flowers who paid the freight. From her perspective, dead was dead, but if they wanted deterrence rather than destruction, she’d give it to them, as long as her own rosy posterior wasn’t in the line of fire if she \u003ci\u003edidn’t\u003c\/i\u003e, and very few things in life had as much deterrence as the cannon. It made a \u003ci\u003elot\u003c\/i\u003e of noise when it fired, every tenth round was a tracer, and the kinetic impacts when four thousand rounds per minute hit the target were pretty impressive. Even the stupidest local figured out real quick that he didn’t want to tangle with that!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p42\" name=\"p42\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eOf course, before they can figure it out, you have to give them an illustration\u003c\/i\u003e, she reminded herself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p8\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p44\" name=\"p44\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePerikles Petrakis watched from the palace window as Captain Hermagoros led the royal guard detachment toward the Library. Hermagoros was a braver man than Perikles. More to the point, he had the duty tonight, thank all the gods! Although exactly what he and his men were going to accomplish—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p45\" name=\"p45\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA night already turned to chaos and terror by the glaring lights floating in Alexandria’s skies splintered suddenly into even greater terror as Jupiter Toton’s own lightnings erupted from the nearest light. It was a single, glaring, brilliant line, stretched down from the floating thing like a bar of fire, and where it touched, the earth itself exploded in threshed, shredded ruin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p46\" name=\"p46\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd so did Captain Hermagoros and his entire guard detachment. They simply…disintegrated into bits and pieces in a concentrated tornado of inconceivable violence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p8\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p48\" name=\"p48\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Think they got the message?” Robles asked, opening her eyes again to grin at her partner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p49\" name=\"p49\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Question is if anyone was watching,” McGuire replied a bit sourly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p50\" name=\"p50\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, they were watching!” she assured him. “Reason I like that gun so much. Can’t miss it the way you might a laser. More efficient in atmosphere, for that matter. And it sure is spectacular.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p51\" name=\"p51\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcGuire grunted. The tracers turned the cannon’s torrent of projectiles into what looked for all the world like the “death rays” he’d seen in some ancient entertainment vids. And she was right about how spectacular that was.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p52\" name=\"p52\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, at least we’re not one of the entry teams,” he told her. “That can get a little too up close and personal for my taste.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p53\" name=\"p53\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn betcha!” Robles agreed. “They can keep their hazardous-duty bonuses, for all I care. Give me a nice air-conditioned command couch a couple of hundred meters up any day. Last thing I want is for some hairy primitive to get lucky and stick a sword into my hide!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p54\" name=\"p54\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcGuire grunted again, but she had a point. The entry teams’ Esteem bonuses were all well and good, but every so often they lost someone, even with modern medicine. It didn’t happen often, but it did happen. And even if someone managed not to get killed, regenerating a new arm, or leg—or spleen—was no walk in the park. Of course, half of the entry team personnel were synthoids, with their personalities uploaded into synthetic bodies equipped with police-grade upgrades. Not as good as SysPol got, but pretty damned good. He’d considered putting in for upgrade himself, but he liked the body biology had given him just fine, so far at least.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p55\" name=\"p55\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd so did Lydia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p56\" name=\"p56\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBesides, he admitted to himself, the real reason he’d never applied for entry-team duty had very little to do with synthetic bodies or potential risk factors. Entry duty was so…messy, sometimes. He vastly preferred being up here with Lydia where the carnage was nice and antiseptic and he didn’t have to worry about wiping blood and splattered viscera off his helmet cameras.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p8\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p58\" name=\"p58\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn it, Johansson!” Doctor Teodorà Beckett snapped. “We want these documents \u003ci\u003eintact\u003c\/i\u003e, you idiot! That means not shredded by mag darts—and not soaked in blood, either, for that matter! Is that so hard to understand?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p59\" name=\"p59\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe archaeologist stood in the huge, colonnaded hall, surrounded by books and racked scrolls. Despite the lateness of the hour, oil lamps burned brightly and half a dozen scrolls had been unrolled for reading on the polished wooden tables down the hall’s center. It could have been an orderly scene of scholarship…if not for the bodies of at least a dozen of the library’s staff scattered about, leaking blood across the inlaid floors. It was hard to be certain of the exact number; hypervelocity mag darts had a tendency to shred their targets pretty badly. She didn’t mind \u003ci\u003ethat\u003c\/i\u003e so much, although she’d tossed her cookies on her first ART mission, but Johansson’s people had been dismayingly careless about their lines of fire. The torrent of darts one of his teams had unleashed before Beckett could get there to stop them had turned at least forty or fifty scrolls into shredded, blood-soaked mulch which was undoubtedly seasoned with bits and pieces of human flesh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p60\" name=\"p60\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Listen, Doctor Beckett”—the entry team leader made no great effort to hide his own exasperation—“if one of these yahoos gets close enough to stick a knife into you, you aren’t going to be real worried about the frigging \u003ci\u003ebooks\u003c\/i\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p61\" name=\"p61\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The ‘frigging books’ are the reason we’re here,” she pointed out tartly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p62\" name=\"p62\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So block them on the schematic.” Johansson pointed at them. “After we finish here, I’ll microjump back and collect just those racks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p63\" name=\"p63\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeckett glared at him, longing to rip his head off and stick it up his synthoid body’s anal orifice. Unfortunately for her sense of frustration, he was right. Once the retrieval team pulled out, temporal inertia would have its way and erase the fact that they’d ever been here. He could always jump back into a present in which the scrolls had never been damaged. Of course, the idiot would probably shoot up ninety percent of the \u003ci\u003erest\u003c\/i\u003e of the collection just because he was pissed about having to come back in the first place. But that wouldn’t matter, either, because Beckett’s teams would already have loaded an earlier iteration of them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p64\" name=\"p64\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just \u003ci\u003etry\u003c\/i\u003e not to make the floor any slipperier than you can help,” she growled, waving at the still-spreading pools of blood. “And don’t forget—it’s going to take us at least two or three days to load all of this, even with the conveyors and all the mechs. We have to catalog it all, remember? And it’s summer in ancient Alexandria. You think maybe all this blood isn’t going to start stinking in the heat, not to mention drawing clouds of flies, before we get out of here?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p65\" name=\"p65\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt least he had the grace to grimace this time, she thought. That was something.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p66\" name=\"p66\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe gave him one more dirty look, then picked her way between pools of blood to where her team was busily but carefully transferring the priceless books to the waiting counter-grav skids that would deliver them to the TTV conveyors. She’d never really believed the estimates that said there were a half million books in the Great Library, but there might actually be that many scrolls, she thought in awe. Of course, it could take a lot of scrolls to make a single book. As an archaeologist, Beckett was fully aware of that. But even though she’d worked with documents just like this for the better part of forty years, the sight of them always made her painfully aware of just how clumsy and mass- and volume-intensive hardcopy data storage truly was.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p67\" name=\"p67\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWell, once we get them home and properly digitalized, that won’t be a problem, will it?\u003c\/i\u003e she reminded herself. \u003ci\u003eAnd we’ll get the originals into the proper climate-controlled storage, too. That’s what this is all about—the reason the Antiquities Rescue Trust was funded in the first place—really. It may be a wasteful way to record information, but the people who spent all that time laboriously writing it down deserve to have their work preserved\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p68\" name=\"p68\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe ran her fingertips across one of the rolled scrolls reverently and glanced curiously at the body at her feet. Judging from the blood trail, the librarian had dragged himself at least ten or fifteen meters after one of Johansson’s people took him down, and he’d died with one hand reaching toward the rack before which Beckett stood. She wondered what had made this particular rack so important to him, but she put the temptation to look for the reason behind her. There’d be plenty of time for that once they got the entire collection back to the thirtieth century, where it belonged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p69\" name=\"p69\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Help me remember the lot number assigned to this part of the collection, Fran,” she said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p70\" name=\"p70\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Let me guess,” the voice of her abstract companion said in the back of her mind, linked from the TTV’s infosystem through her wetware. “You’re wondering if this poor fellow was trying to reach something specific when he died?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p71\" name=\"p71\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know me so well,” Beckett agreed with a crooked smile. “I like to solve puzzles. It’s the reason I became an archaeologist in the first place.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p72\" name=\"p72\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, that and the chance to do fieldwork and actually \u003ci\u003esee\u003c\/i\u003e the past,” Fran told her in a slightly martyred tone. “Thus dragging me into it, as well.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p73\" name=\"p73\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You could always stay in the TTV,” Beckett said sweetly, and Fran chuckled. Unlike quite a few ACs, Fran had been a biological human for sixty years before she transitioned to an abstract connectome, and the truth was that she was just as fascinated by the endless vista of the human race’s past as Beckett herself. That was the one of the reasons they found one another such comfortable fits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p74\" name=\"p74\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But you’re right, that’s exactly what I’m thinking,” the still-physical half of their relationship admitted, “and I intend to take personal charge of cataloguing the section. There should be at least some perks for the team leader, don’t you think?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p75\" name=\"p75\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eI’m\u003c\/i\u003e certainly not going to argue with you about it,” Fran told her primly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p76\" name=\"p76\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good! Now I guess we should go take a look at whatever the hell Kohlman’s found in Hall Three.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p77\" name=\"p77\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe headed out of the reading room, flanked by the pair of security types who accompanied every biological member of her team wherever they went on-site and headed toward the vast auditorium and lecture hall where Jebediah Kohlman seemed to think he’d just discovered the Holy Grail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p78\" name=\"p78\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eNow don’t be that way, Teodorà\u003c\/i\u003e, she scolded herself in a private corner of her mind. \u003ci\u003eEvery so often, someone\u003c\/i\u003e does \u003ci\u003efind the Grail, don’t they? Who’s to say\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eJeb didn’t pull it off this time?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p79\" name=\"p79\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe chuckled at the thought and headed back out into the hot summer night.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p8\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p81\" name=\"p81\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are they really gone?\u003ci\u003e Really \u003c\/i\u003egone?” Kleopha whispered, huddling against her husband’s side.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p82\" name=\"p82\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHomeros was a baker, not a soldier, and Kleopha knew—intellectually, at least—that no mere mortal could stand against the forces of darkness. Gods knew enough of Pharaoh Cleopatra’s guard had been casually slaughtered by the demons who’d descended upon the Library almost a week ago to prove that! But what her mind knew and what her heart needed were two very different things and the feel of that beloved arm, wrapped about her while her older boys and their sister clung to her skirts, was the most welcome thing she’d ever felt in her entire life. She hugged their newest child, giving him a nipple, feeling him suckle, and that, too, told her she and her family were still alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p83\" name=\"p83\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnlike virtually all of the Library’s scholars and librarians—and several hundred of Pharaoh’s soldiers—if the rumors were true.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p84\" name=\"p84\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So they say, love,” Homeros said, embracing her tightly and bending to press a kiss to the top of her head. “So they say.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p85\" name=\"p85\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Do…do you think they’ll come back?” she half whispered, and he laughed bitterly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p86\" name=\"p86\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who knows what demons may do?” he replied after a moment. “But so far as I can see, there’s nothing left for them to come back for! Gods only know why demons should steal \u003ci\u003ebooks\u003c\/i\u003e in the first place, but according to everybody I’ve talked to since they left last night, they got \u003ci\u003eall\u003c\/i\u003e of them.” He shrugged, still holding her close. “So unless there’s something \u003ci\u003eelse\u003c\/i\u003e they want to steal from us, I suppose they’re done.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p87\" name=\"p87\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd may Jupiter Victor protect us from them if they\u003c\/i\u003e do \u003ci\u003ecome back\u003c\/i\u003e, he told himself silently, where his wife couldn’t hear. \u003ci\u003eBecause no one else can\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46308401381667,"sku":"GORDIANSIGNED-HB","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TheGordianProtocolShopifySignedHardback.png?v=1693528402"},{"product_id":"print-the-gordian-protocol-signed-mass-market-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Gordian Protocol (Mass Market Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Gordian Division series. Published by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED MASS MARKET PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by both David Weber and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-gordian-protocol.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNEW NOVEL FROM \u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE HONOR HARRINGTON SERIES, DAVID WEBER\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Man of Two Worlds\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDr. Benjamin Schröder was far from a man of action. In fact, he was a history teacher—Chairman of the Castle Rock University history department—and if his life wasn't perfect, it was close. Until, that is the discussion of his star student Elzbietá Abramowski's dissertation on Operation Oz, the Pacific Allies' invasion of Vladivostok, staged through occupied Japan to meet their Imperial German allies, was brutally interrupted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe psychotic episode that turned his entire world upside down struck with absolutely no warning, and it was more terrifying than anything he should have been able to imagine, leaving him with a complete, incredibly detailed set of false, nightmare \"memories.\" Not just of his own life, but of an entire, ghastly world in which Operation Oz had never happened. In which millions of helpless civilians had been systematically slaughtered in \"extermination camps\" that were horrific beyond belief. In which there was still a Soviet Union. In which the Chinese Communists had succeeded, the Korean Peninsula had been permanently divided, thousands of nuclear warheads had spread their deadly threat across the entire Earth, and the Middle East was a festering sore of bloodshed, fanaticism, and terrorism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe knowledge that those false memories had come from somewhere inside his own psyche was terrible, but with the help of Commander Abramowski, a highly decorated Navy fighter pilot who’d been forced to deal with her own PTSD after crippling combat wounds invalided her out of service, he’s put his life back together. With Elzbietá's support, he's learned to deal with the nightmares, to recognize that they are \u003ci\u003eonly\u003c\/i\u003e nightmares that can't—and won't—be permitted to rule his life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUntil, that is, a lunatic named Raibert Kaminski knocks on his door one afternoon with an impossible and horrifying story about alternate realities, time travel, temporal knots, and more than a dozen doomed universes which must inevitably die if the temporal storm front rushing towards the distant future isn't stopped. He has to be lying, of course. Or completely insane. But what if he's not a madman after all? What if he's actually telling the \u003ci\u003etruth\u003c\/i\u003e?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat possibility is the most terrifying thing of all. Because if he is, the false memories aren't false after all, and that other world is just as real as the one Schröder has always known. And if that's true, Benjamin Schröder is about to become the greatest mass murderer in human history, because he has to \u003ci\u003echoose\u003c\/i\u003e. Whether he acts or refuses to act, Benjamin Schröder is the one man who will decide which universe lives and which dies, along with every star system, every galaxy—and every single human being—in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncluding the woman he's discovered he loves more than life itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Tom Clancy-esque exposition of technical details . . . absurd humor and bloody action. Echoes of Robert Heinlein . . . lots of exploding temporal spaceships and bodies . . . action-packed . . .” —\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] fun and thrilling standalone from Weber and Holo. . . . Time travel enthusiasts will enjoy the moral dilemmas, nonstop action, and crisp writing.”—\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium mass market paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-gordian-protocol.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE GORDIAN PROTOCOL\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p3\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlexandria\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p3\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e30 BCE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p6\"\u003e“You, my friend, have had too much cheap wine,” Homeros the Baker said slowly and with great precision, bracing himself upright—as unobtrusively as possible—against the statue of some no doubt once-important noble.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p6\" id=\"p6\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No,” Asklepiades, who owned the pastry shop next to Homeros’ bakery, replied after careful consideration. “I have \u003ci\u003enot\u003c\/i\u003e had too much cheap wine. I would say”—he paused to belch noisily—“that I have, in fact, had almost exactly the right amount. And it wasn’t all \u003ci\u003ethat\u003c\/i\u003e cheap, now that I think about it,” he added owlishly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p7\" id=\"p7\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, it was better than the swill Lysippos normally gives us,” Homeros pointed out. “And a man doesn’t celebrate the birth of his third son every day.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p8\" id=\"p8\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And if you come home stinking of wine and”—Asklepiades paused to sniff loudly—“puke and piss, if I’m not mistaken, Kleopha is going to turn \u003ci\u003eher\u003c\/i\u003e third son into a fatherless waif. Probably with the dullest knife she can find.” He considered that for a moment, then nodded gravely. “And probably as slowly as possible.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p9\" id=\"p9\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not \u003ci\u003emy\u003c\/i\u003e puke!” Homeros protested. “It was that stupid Cypriot. I should have broken his head for him. A sailor who can’t hold his drink shouldn’t drink.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p10\" id=\"p10\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You didn’t break his head for him because he had six of his friends at the table with him. And do you really think Kleopha’s going to believe that?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p11\" id=\"p11\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I rule my house with a rod of iron!” Homeros’ grand pronouncement was rather undermined by the sway—one would not have cared to call it a stagger—as he waved his right hand in punctuation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p12\" id=\"p12\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAsklepiades snorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p13\" id=\"p13\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The only rod of iron in \u003ci\u003eyour\u003c\/i\u003e house is the rolling pin Kleopha’s about to apply to your skull. Repeatedly,” he informed his friend.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p14\" id=\"p14\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ah!” Homeros grinned at him and laid one finger aside his nose. “But only if she sees me like this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p15\" id=\"p15\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eSmells\u003c\/i\u003e you, you mean!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p16\" id=\"p16\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Same thing, same thing.” Homeros made a brushing away gesture. “And she won’t. I’m going to sneak in the back way and sleep in the shop tonight. The baby’ll keep me up all night if I don’t, anyway. Then, in the morning, I’ll make a quick trip to the baths.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p17\" id=\"p17\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And she’ll cut off your balls with a paring knife if you stay out all night.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p18\" id=\"p18\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nonsense.” Homeros chuckled. “I slept in the shop because \u003ci\u003eyou\u003c\/i\u003e kept me out so late I was certain she’d be sound asleep by the time I got home. And I know how little sleep the baby’s letting her get. So I didn’t want to disturb her. And,” he added triumphantly as Asklepiades looked at him skeptically, “I shall redeem myself by not only smelling fresh and clean but appearing armed with one of your meat pastries for her breakfast because I love her so.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p19\" id=\"p19\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ha! I’ll admit, that’s cleverer than you usually manage, especially when we’re both drunk. But it still won’t work, because—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p20\" id=\"p20\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e“Jupiter Optimus!”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p21\" id=\"p21\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAsklepiades jumped in astonishment, then whipped around to see what his friend was staring at. Whatever it was, it had turned Homeros pale as a ghost. Asklepiades had never seen Homeros look that way, but, as he spun about, he felt his own jaw drop in terror-tinged disbelief.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p22\" id=\"p22\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe brilliant…\u003ci\u003eshapes\u003c\/i\u003e sweeping in across the harbor of Alexandria blazed against the night sky like Zeus’ own lightning bolts. The lantern atop the mighty lighthouse was scarcely an ember in comparison, and they moved with terrifying speed across the long mole connecting the island of Pharos to the city. Their brilliance reflected in the glassy waters of the Great Harbor east of the mole, and he fell to his knees in shock as they sped silently overhead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p23\" id=\"p23\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis head turned, tracking their passage, and his eyes widened as they swooped past the Serapeum and headed directly toward the Great Library. They were slowing, altering course, spreading out like the petals of some enormous flower. And then, they weren’t moving \u003ci\u003eat all\u003c\/i\u003e. Six of them simply…\u003ci\u003efloated\u003c\/i\u003e there in midair, spaced equidistantly in a ring around the library campus. But four more of them—the largest of the lot—\u003ci\u003edidn’t\u003c\/i\u003e float in the air. They settled downward, landing on the campus. From their apparent size, they must be crushing statuary, ornamental trees and gardens, and gods only knew what else under them as they came down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p24\" id=\"p24\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlarms began to sound all across the sleeping city as it awakened to the celestial visitation, and Asklepiades felt his lips moving in silent prayer to every deity and demigod he could think of.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p25\" id=\"p25\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd that was when he heard the first screams, the first shattering bursts of sound, and saw the terrible flashes of light bursting across the city streets and the grounds of the Royal Palace.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p26\" id=\"p26\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSomehow, he doubted Kleopha would find the time to berate her wayward husband after all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p8\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p28\" id=\"p28\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How tall \u003ci\u003eis\u003c\/i\u003e that thing?” Kai-shwun McGuire asked, tipping back in his command chair and looking at the magnified image of the great three-tiered tower on the island in the harbor. The lowest section was square, the next was octagonal, and the uppermost was circular. A fire burned before the polished mirror at its apex, and it was visible at a surprising distance, given the primitive nature of the illumination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p29\" id=\"p29\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Really have to ask one of the docs if you want a hard number,” Lydia Robles, his copilot and weaponeer told him. “I’m sure one of them’ll be just delighted to give you all the details. From here”—she checked one of her displays—“looks like it’s close to a hundred and forty meters or so, give or take.” She shrugged. “It’s impressive looking, I suppose, under the circumstances. Hate to build the bastard without counter-grav, myself.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p30\" id=\"p30\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah.” McGuire nodded, then brought his chair back upright. “Got some movement. Looks like some kind of city guard headed toward the target.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p31\" id=\"p31\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“On it,” Robles replied, and her brown eyes had gone slightly unfocused as she communed with the TTV’s onboard systems through her wetware implants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p32\" id=\"p32\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnlike most of the Antiquities Rescue Trust’s security teams, neither she nor McGuire had acquired abstract companions. It wasn’t that she had anything against connectomes, whether they’d once been flesh and blood or were completely artificial constructs. She’d just never felt the need for one, and she was only fifty-six. There was plenty of time for her to find one among the abstract citizens she’d met…if she decided she needed one. At the moment, though, Kai-shwun made about as satisfying a companion as she could imagine. She’d tried the virtual sex route a couple of times, and they were right: it \u003ci\u003ewas\u003c\/i\u003e almost impossible to tell the difference. Except that she knew it was artificial even while her nerves were being convinced it wasn’t, and she supposed she was some kind of throwback, because she vastly preferred the real thing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p33\" id=\"p33\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe snorted, amused by the way her mind wandered—and to where—at moments like this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p34\" id=\"p34\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got any idea who sent them?” she murmured as the tracking systems came online and the TTV’s weapons slewed obediently to follow the armed and armored men marching purposefully, bravely, and incredibly stupidly toward the Library from the Royal Palace proper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p35\" id=\"p35\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“God only knows, and He ain’t talking.” McGuire shrugged. “Probably whoever’s in charge of the palace. Whoever the hell \u003ci\u003ethat\u003c\/i\u003e is!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p36\" id=\"p36\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, yeah,” Robles said a bit more loudly. “Damn, wish I’d paid more attention to the briefing. I can’t \u003ci\u003equite\u003c\/i\u003e remember . . .” She snapped her fingers suddenly. “Cleopatra! That’s who they said it was.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p37\" id=\"p37\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And who was Cleopatra?” McGuire demanded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p38\" id=\"p38\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damned if I know. I just hate forgetting names. Seems, I don’t know…unprofessional I guess.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p39\" id=\"p39\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well you better get your professional on,” he told her. “Those guys are going to cross the zone in about another five seconds.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p40\" id=\"p40\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No they aren’t,” she told him with a chuckle, and activated the fire command.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p41\" id=\"p41\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe revolving cannon was only one of the TTV’s weapons, and it was certainly the most conceptually ancient. It was also the \u003ci\u003enoisiest\u003c\/i\u003e, which was the main reason she’d selected it. Personally, she didn’t care how many indigenes got blown away on one of these missions, but some of the academics were a little more squeamish than she was. She didn’t understand why, exactly. She’d seen VRs which were a \u003ci\u003elot\u003c\/i\u003e bloodier than anything the academics ever saw. Well, out here on the perimeter, anyway. It could get…messy with the smash-and-grab teams closer in, she supposed. Still, that wasn’t her problem and she was perfectly willing to defer to the tender sensibilities of the hothouse flowers who paid the freight. From her perspective, dead was dead, but if they wanted deterrence rather than destruction, she’d give it to them, as long as her own rosy posterior wasn’t in the line of fire if she \u003ci\u003edidn’t\u003c\/i\u003e, and very few things in life had as much deterrence as the cannon. It made a \u003ci\u003elot\u003c\/i\u003e of noise when it fired, every tenth round was a tracer, and the kinetic impacts when four thousand rounds per minute hit the target were pretty impressive. Even the stupidest local figured out real quick that he didn’t want to tangle with that!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p42\" id=\"p42\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eOf course, before they can figure it out, you have to give them an illustration\u003c\/i\u003e, she reminded herself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p8\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p44\" id=\"p44\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePerikles Petrakis watched from the palace window as Captain Hermagoros led the royal guard detachment toward the Library. Hermagoros was a braver man than Perikles. More to the point, he had the duty tonight, thank all the gods! Although exactly what he and his men were going to accomplish—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p45\" id=\"p45\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA night already turned to chaos and terror by the glaring lights floating in Alexandria’s skies splintered suddenly into even greater terror as Jupiter Toton’s own lightnings erupted from the nearest light. It was a single, glaring, brilliant line, stretched down from the floating thing like a bar of fire, and where it touched, the earth itself exploded in threshed, shredded ruin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p46\" id=\"p46\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd so did Captain Hermagoros and his entire guard detachment. They simply…disintegrated into bits and pieces in a concentrated tornado of inconceivable violence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p8\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p48\" id=\"p48\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Think they got the message?” Robles asked, opening her eyes again to grin at her partner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p49\" id=\"p49\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Question is if anyone was watching,” McGuire replied a bit sourly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p50\" id=\"p50\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, they were watching!” she assured him. “Reason I like that gun so much. Can’t miss it the way you might a laser. More efficient in atmosphere, for that matter. And it sure is spectacular.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p51\" id=\"p51\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcGuire grunted. The tracers turned the cannon’s torrent of projectiles into what looked for all the world like the “death rays” he’d seen in some ancient entertainment vids. And she was right about how spectacular that was.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p52\" id=\"p52\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, at least we’re not one of the entry teams,” he told her. “That can get a little too up close and personal for my taste.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p53\" id=\"p53\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn betcha!” Robles agreed. “They can keep their hazardous-duty bonuses, for all I care. Give me a nice air-conditioned command couch a couple of hundred meters up any day. Last thing I want is for some hairy primitive to get lucky and stick a sword into my hide!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p54\" id=\"p54\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMcGuire grunted again, but she had a point. The entry teams’ Esteem bonuses were all well and good, but every so often they lost someone, even with modern medicine. It didn’t happen often, but it did happen. And even if someone managed not to get killed, regenerating a new arm, or leg—or spleen—was no walk in the park. Of course, half of the entry team personnel were synthoids, with their personalities uploaded into synthetic bodies equipped with police-grade upgrades. Not as good as SysPol got, but pretty damned good. He’d considered putting in for upgrade himself, but he liked the body biology had given him just fine, so far at least.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p55\" id=\"p55\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd so did Lydia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p56\" id=\"p56\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBesides, he admitted to himself, the real reason he’d never applied for entry-team duty had very little to do with synthetic bodies or potential risk factors. Entry duty was so…messy, sometimes. He vastly preferred being up here with Lydia where the carnage was nice and antiseptic and he didn’t have to worry about wiping blood and splattered viscera off his helmet cameras.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p8\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p58\" id=\"p58\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn it, Johansson!” Doctor Teodorà Beckett snapped. “We want these documents \u003ci\u003eintact\u003c\/i\u003e, you idiot! That means not shredded by mag darts—and not soaked in blood, either, for that matter! Is that so hard to understand?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p59\" id=\"p59\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe archaeologist stood in the huge, colonnaded hall, surrounded by books and racked scrolls. Despite the lateness of the hour, oil lamps burned brightly and half a dozen scrolls had been unrolled for reading on the polished wooden tables down the hall’s center. It could have been an orderly scene of scholarship…if not for the bodies of at least a dozen of the library’s staff scattered about, leaking blood across the inlaid floors. It was hard to be certain of the exact number; hypervelocity mag darts had a tendency to shred their targets pretty badly. She didn’t mind \u003ci\u003ethat\u003c\/i\u003e so much, although she’d tossed her cookies on her first ART mission, but Johansson’s people had been dismayingly careless about their lines of fire. The torrent of darts one of his teams had unleashed before Beckett could get there to stop them had turned at least forty or fifty scrolls into shredded, blood-soaked mulch which was undoubtedly seasoned with bits and pieces of human flesh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p60\" id=\"p60\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Listen, Doctor Beckett”—the entry team leader made no great effort to hide his own exasperation—“if one of these yahoos gets close enough to stick a knife into you, you aren’t going to be real worried about the frigging \u003ci\u003ebooks\u003c\/i\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p61\" id=\"p61\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The ‘frigging books’ are the reason we’re here,” she pointed out tartly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p62\" id=\"p62\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So block them on the schematic.” Johansson pointed at them. “After we finish here, I’ll microjump back and collect just those racks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p63\" id=\"p63\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeckett glared at him, longing to rip his head off and stick it up his synthoid body’s anal orifice. Unfortunately for her sense of frustration, he was right. Once the retrieval team pulled out, temporal inertia would have its way and erase the fact that they’d ever been here. He could always jump back into a present in which the scrolls had never been damaged. Of course, the idiot would probably shoot up ninety percent of the \u003ci\u003erest\u003c\/i\u003e of the collection just because he was pissed about having to come back in the first place. But that wouldn’t matter, either, because Beckett’s teams would already have loaded an earlier iteration of them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p64\" id=\"p64\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just \u003ci\u003etry\u003c\/i\u003e not to make the floor any slipperier than you can help,” she growled, waving at the still-spreading pools of blood. “And don’t forget—it’s going to take us at least two or three days to load all of this, even with the conveyors and all the mechs. We have to catalog it all, remember? And it’s summer in ancient Alexandria. You think maybe all this blood isn’t going to start stinking in the heat, not to mention drawing clouds of flies, before we get out of here?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p65\" id=\"p65\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt least he had the grace to grimace this time, she thought. That was something.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p66\" id=\"p66\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe gave him one more dirty look, then picked her way between pools of blood to where her team was busily but carefully transferring the priceless books to the waiting counter-grav skids that would deliver them to the TTV conveyors. She’d never really believed the estimates that said there were a half million books in the Great Library, but there might actually be that many scrolls, she thought in awe. Of course, it could take a lot of scrolls to make a single book. As an archaeologist, Beckett was fully aware of that. But even though she’d worked with documents just like this for the better part of forty years, the sight of them always made her painfully aware of just how clumsy and mass- and volume-intensive hardcopy data storage truly was.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p67\" id=\"p67\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWell, once we get them home and properly digitalized, that won’t be a problem, will it?\u003c\/i\u003e she reminded herself. \u003ci\u003eAnd we’ll get the originals into the proper climate-controlled storage, too. That’s what this is all about—the reason the Antiquities Rescue Trust was funded in the first place—really. It may be a wasteful way to record information, but the people who spent all that time laboriously writing it down deserve to have their work preserved\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p68\" id=\"p68\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe ran her fingertips across one of the rolled scrolls reverently and glanced curiously at the body at her feet. Judging from the blood trail, the librarian had dragged himself at least ten or fifteen meters after one of Johansson’s people took him down, and he’d died with one hand reaching toward the rack before which Beckett stood. She wondered what had made this particular rack so important to him, but she put the temptation to look for the reason behind her. There’d be plenty of time for that once they got the entire collection back to the thirtieth century, where it belonged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p69\" id=\"p69\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Help me remember the lot number assigned to this part of the collection, Fran,” she said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p70\" id=\"p70\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Let me guess,” the voice of her abstract companion said in the back of her mind, linked from the TTV’s infosystem through her wetware. “You’re wondering if this poor fellow was trying to reach something specific when he died?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p71\" id=\"p71\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know me so well,” Beckett agreed with a crooked smile. “I like to solve puzzles. It’s the reason I became an archaeologist in the first place.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p72\" id=\"p72\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, that and the chance to do fieldwork and actually \u003ci\u003esee\u003c\/i\u003e the past,” Fran told her in a slightly martyred tone. “Thus dragging me into it, as well.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p73\" id=\"p73\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You could always stay in the TTV,” Beckett said sweetly, and Fran chuckled. Unlike quite a few ACs, Fran had been a biological human for sixty years before she transitioned to an abstract connectome, and the truth was that she was just as fascinated by the endless vista of the human race’s past as Beckett herself. That was the one of the reasons they found one another such comfortable fits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p74\" id=\"p74\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But you’re right, that’s exactly what I’m thinking,” the still-physical half of their relationship admitted, “and I intend to take personal charge of cataloguing the section. There should be at least some perks for the team leader, don’t you think?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p75\" id=\"p75\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eI’m\u003c\/i\u003e certainly not going to argue with you about it,” Fran told her primly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p76\" id=\"p76\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good! Now I guess we should go take a look at whatever the hell Kohlman’s found in Hall Three.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p77\" id=\"p77\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe headed out of the reading room, flanked by the pair of security types who accompanied every biological member of her team wherever they went on-site and headed toward the vast auditorium and lecture hall where Jebediah Kohlman seemed to think he’d just discovered the Holy Grail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p78\" id=\"p78\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eNow don’t be that way, Teodorà\u003c\/i\u003e, she scolded herself in a private corner of her mind. \u003ci\u003eEvery so often, someone\u003c\/i\u003e does \u003ci\u003efind the Grail, don’t they? Who’s to say\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eJeb didn’t pull it off this time?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p79\" id=\"p79\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe chuckled at the thought and headed back out into the hot summer night.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p8\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p81\" id=\"p81\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are they really gone?\u003ci\u003e Really \u003c\/i\u003egone?” Kleopha whispered, huddling against her husband’s side.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p82\" id=\"p82\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHomeros was a baker, not a soldier, and Kleopha knew—intellectually, at least—that no mere mortal could stand against the forces of darkness. Gods knew enough of Pharaoh Cleopatra’s guard had been casually slaughtered by the demons who’d descended upon the Library almost a week ago to prove that! But what her mind knew and what her heart needed were two very different things and the feel of that beloved arm, wrapped about her while her older boys and their sister clung to her skirts, was the most welcome thing she’d ever felt in her entire life. She hugged their newest child, giving him a nipple, feeling him suckle, and that, too, told her she and her family were still alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p83\" id=\"p83\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnlike virtually all of the Library’s scholars and librarians—and several hundred of Pharaoh’s soldiers—if the rumors were true.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p84\" id=\"p84\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So they say, love,” Homeros said, embracing her tightly and bending to press a kiss to the top of her head. “So they say.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p85\" id=\"p85\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Do…do you think they’ll come back?” she half whispered, and he laughed bitterly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p86\" id=\"p86\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who knows what demons may do?” he replied after a moment. “But so far as I can see, there’s nothing left for them to come back for! Gods only know why demons should steal \u003ci\u003ebooks\u003c\/i\u003e in the first place, but according to everybody I’ve talked to since they left last night, they got \u003ci\u003eall\u003c\/i\u003e of them.” He shrugged, still holding her close. “So unless there’s something \u003ci\u003eelse\u003c\/i\u003e they want to steal from us, I suppose they’re done.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p87\" id=\"p87\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd may Jupiter Victor protect us from them if they\u003c\/i\u003e do \u003ci\u003ecome back\u003c\/i\u003e, he told himself silently, where his wife couldn’t hear. \u003ci\u003eBecause no one else can\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46309109104931,"sku":"GORDIANSIGNED-MM","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TheGordianProtocolShopifySignedHardback2.png?v=1693708790"},{"product_id":"print-the-valkyrie-protocol-signed-hardback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Valkyrie Protocol (Hardback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Two in the Gordian Division series. Published by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED HARDBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by both David Weber and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-valkyrie-protocol.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eUNTANGLE THE PAST TO SAVE THE FUTURE. A NEW NOVEL IN THE WORLD OF THE BEST-SELLING \u003ci\u003eTHE GORDIAN PROTOCOL\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTIME IS RUNNING OUT\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgent Raibert Kaminski and the crew of the Transtemporal Vehicle \u003ci\u003eKleio\u003c\/i\u003e have made a shocking discovery out in the unknown reaches of the multiverse. They've stumbled across a temporal implosion that has claimed two whole universes, and neither Raibert nor his crew can figure out what caused this calamity other than it had something to do with reckless time travel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eKleio\u003c\/i\u003e speeds back to their home universe of SysGov with this dire report, but an audacious plan is put into effect before they arrive. Old colleagues of Raibert's from the Antiquities Rescue Trust, together with a version of Samuel Pepys transplanted from the 17th century into the 30th, have proposed an expedition into the past. Their goal? To branch the timeline by preventing the Plague of Justinian, one of the worst pandemics in human history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMeanwhile, SysGov's multiverse neighbor, the xenophobic Admin, is stirring. While their ambassadors put on a friendly show, the Admin is amassing a fleet of advanced, heavily armed time machines with SysGov firmly in the crosshairs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTime is running out for Raibert and his team. But the crew of the \u003ci\u003eKleio\u003c\/i\u003e won't go down without a fight, no matter where—\u003ci\u003eor when\u003c\/i\u003e—the threat to their home comes from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout \u003cem\u003eThe Gordian Protocol\u003c\/em\u003e (Book 1):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Tom Clancy-esque exposition of technical details . . . absurd humor and bloody action. Echoes of Robert Heinlein . . . lots of exploding temporal spaceships and bodies . . . action-packed . . .” —\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] fun and thrilling standalone from Weber and Holo. . . . Time travel enthusiasts will enjoy the moral dilemmas, nonstop action, and crisp writing.”—\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium hardback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-valkyrie-protocol.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE VALKYRIE PROTOCOL\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSchloss von Schröder\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSysGov, 2980 CE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was a small chapel.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eIt was also warm, despite the snow the ice-fanged wind drove against the ancient rose window above its altar. It had been lovingly maintained for over fifteen hundred years, and it had been provided with proper heating and air conditioning six centuries before this cold and snowy night. Despite that, the sense of its age filled the participants’ nostrils with a subliminal scent of dust, of leather bindings and printer’s ink. Not because there \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e any\u003cbr\u003edust, but because there ought to have been. Because that many endless years were a palpable presence, peopled by all the other human beings who had passed through this chapel.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eA lot of those people had been named Schröder.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThe schloss’s current owner was \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e named Schröder, but the title of \u003cem\u003eGräfin\u003c\/em\u003e von Schröder had passed to her through a matrilineal cadet line when the last Schröder to hold it died without issue in 2653. The direct Schröder line had ceased to exist, but the current \u003cem\u003egräfin\u003c\/em\u003e had been only too willing to offer the chapel’s use tonight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKlaus-Wilhelm von Schröder stood just outside the sanctuary’s rail.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe looked a bit odd in the chapel’s setting, and not simply because it had been built so many centuries before. He was clad in the formal “white tie” of a thousand years in the past, which was enormously anachronistic in itself, but it seemed even more so in his case because no one in the thirtieth century had ever seen him in it. His normal—\u003cem\u003einvariable\u003c\/em\u003e, actually—attire was a perfectly tailored uniform in what had once been called \u003cem\u003efeldgrau\u003c\/em\u003e,\u003cbr\u003ewith the golden eye and bared-sword shoulder patch of SysPol’s Gordian Division and a vice-commissioner’s insignia.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eSeeing him in anything else was a bit like catching God in his bathrobe, Benjamin Schröder thought. On the other hand, he admitted, that . . . patriarchal simile might have occurred to\u003cbr\u003ehim because Klaus-Wilhelm von Schröder also happened to be his grandfather.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnd the other reason it’s occurring to you is because you’re\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eboth a hell of a long way from home and you’re just a teeny tiny\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ebit nervous,\u003c\/em\u003e he thought. \u003cem\u003eWhich is stupid, under the circumstances.\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThanks to his neural implants, Benjamin could check the time—again—without anyone else’s knowledge. That meant he could at least avoid looking like the proverbial nervous groom.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eYou and Elzbietá have been living together for months, and \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003enobody in the entire universe—hell, in the entire\u003c\/em\u003e multiverse—\u003cem\u003egives\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ea damn,\u003c\/em\u003e he reminded himself. \u003cem\u003eIn fact, the only people this wedding\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ereally matters to are the two of you. Well, and to Granddad, too, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eI suppose. He\u003c\/em\u003e has \u003cem\u003edropped that “living in sin” thing on you more\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ethan once. Surprising how straitlaced he can be sometimes, even\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eafter all this time. But it’s not like he drew a gun on you to get \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003ehere! And worrying about it now that you are here is—well, it’s a \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eperfect illustration of why no one who really knows you ever said\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eyou weren’t capable of being stupid. It’s not like being dissolved\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003einto goo by weaponized nanotech, after all!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe knew it wasn’t, because he’d tried that, too. Being dissolved into goo. Or at least one iteration of him had, and that other iteration’s entire memory—including the highly unpleasant one of how he had died—lived in the same brain, side by side with the remembered lifetime of the version of him that hadn’t been dissolved.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eIt was . . . complicated.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHe snorted softly at the thought, and the tall, broad-shouldered, blond-haired man at his shoulder glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Nothing, Raibert,” Benjamin reassured him. “Just a thought.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“So you \u003cem\u003eare\u003c\/em\u003e capable of rational thought at the moment, Doc?” Raibert Kaminski, who \u003cem\u003edid\u003c\/em\u003e wear Gordian Division’s uniform, grinned. “Thank God! After dragging your butt here this morning, I’d started to wonder.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I’m not \u003cem\u003ethat\u003c\/em\u003e bad.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“On the contrary,” Klaus-Wilhelm said. “You’re \u003cem\u003eworse\u003c\/em\u003e than that, Benjamin.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I am not!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Ah? Then you remembered the ring?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“That’s Raibert’s job. He’s the best man around here. Well, best synthoid, anyway.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“That is so twentieth-century bio-based prejudice,” Raibert observed. “Just because you and Elzbietá refuse to give up your meat suits is no reason for you to be casting aspersions upon my own superbly engineered self.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin made a rude sound, and his grandfather chuckled. Neither of them had ever met Raibert before his biological mind had been electronically stripped and his biological body had been rendered down for fertilizer, or whatever else the System Cooperative Administration’s reclamation systems had done with it. His current body had been hijacked from the Admin’s Department of Incarceration in Klaus-Wilhelm’s original universe after Csaba Shigeki, Director-General of the Department of Temporal Investigation, had decreed Raibert’s biological destruction. And after his connectome’s removal, the electronic recording of his personality and memories had been sentenced to life imprisonment in a virtual prison.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo be fair to Shigeki, which none of the men in that chapel were prepared to be unless they had to, he \u003cem\u003ehad\u003c\/em\u003e been fighting to prevent Raibert from destroying his entire universe. A reasonable person might concede that had given him at least \u003cem\u003esome \u003c\/em\u003ejustification. And he’d actually shown leniency, in many ways. The Admin’s laws about AIs and nanotech were draconian. Its entire government had come into existence in reaction to a grisly “accident” in which a rogue AI had left literally billions dead, and its law code was designed to prevent \u003cem\u003eanything\u003c\/em\u003e like that from ever happening again. In pursuit of that object, it was ruthless with violators, and Raibert, from an entirely different universe, had been in violation of dozens of its laws. That meant he \u003cem\u003ecould \u003c\/em\u003ehave been sentenced to a one-way domain—a virtual prison where prisoners became effectively immortal but there were no wardens, no guards. Nothing to protect the inmates from the most horrific atrocities their fellow inmates could visit upon them. It was, in fact, a place which was—literally—worse than death. Not that a prisoner couldn’t “die” there. They could, over and over and over again.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eOf course, Raibert wasn’t exactly prepared to give Shigeki the benefit of any doubts. Nor had he known that the director was being merciful—by his own lights, at least. All \u003cem\u003ehe’d\u003c\/em\u003e known was that both his and the Admin’s universe were going to die if someone didn’t fix it and that Shigeki was determined that no one would. And, of course, that he’d been subjected to the ultimate violation when his connectome was forcibly stripped in a process that automatically destroyed his biological mind forever. Nor had he known that there were worse prisons to which he might have been sent. The one he’d been in was quite bad enough, as far as he was concerned, and he’d expected to stay in it for the rest of his life . . . until his integrated companion, Philosophus, had rampaged through the Admin’s infostructure to break him out. In the process, Philo—who, unlike Raibert, had been “born” as an electronic being—had uploaded him to one of the Admin Peacekeepers’ synthoids. As a consequence, Raibert came equipped with quite a few military-style upgrades, and he’d decided to keep his present body once he’d managed to fight his way home to his own universe once more.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eOf course, he’d added a few additional upgrades to it, too. For one thing, the ridiculous firewalls the Admin—better known as “the fucking Admin” if Raibert was talking—insisted upon as part of its paranoia about artificial intelligences in general had been deleted when his software was updated to link with the Consolidated System Government’s infonets. In the process, Raibert and Philo had made damned sure no Admin backdoors had been left behind.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Look, I know you two are enjoying the chance to give me a hard time,” Benjamin said now, “but, really. Where the hell is Elzbietá?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“If the two of you had been willing to settle for a virtual wedding, like any sane, civilized beings, that wouldn’t be an issue,” Raibert pointed out. “But, \u003cem\u003eno\u003c\/em\u003e! Not you \u003cem\u003etwo\u003c\/em\u003e! Had to be ‘in the flesh,’ didn’t it? You could’ve been married in Notre Dame, or St. Peter’s Basilica. Hell, you could have been married in the Hagia Sophia—the \u003cem\u003eoriginal\u003c\/em\u003e Hagia Sophia—if you hadn’t insisted on this brick-and-mortar anachronism!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“And if we were both connectomes we would’ve done just that,” Benjamin shot back. “But in case you noticed, we aren’t.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Raibert grimaced, but he let it drop, as well. Probably, Benjamin thought, because he knew as well as Benjamin did that the real reason Benjamin and Elzbietá had chosen this venue was to honor Klaus-Wilhelm. God only knew how many Schröders had been married in this chapel over the endless, dusty years, but Klaus-Wilhelm was among them. He and his first wife had been married on this very stone floor.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eWell,\u003c\/em\u003e Benjamin reminded himself, \u003cem\u003enot on this stone floor, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eactually.\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThe chapel in which Klaus-Wilhelm had been married no longer existed. For that matter, his entire \u003cem\u003euniverse\u003c\/em\u003e no longer existed. He and Elzbietá Abramowski were, in fact, survivors of that dead universe, and Benjamin—or the version of him that had died there—had helped to murder it.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThere’d been no choice. That iteration of the Admin’s universe should never have existed. It had been created out of the chaos of the “Gordian Knot” which had twisted sixteen universes together into a lethal cluster—a seething mass of temporal energy which would have destroyed them all, if it had not been undone. And so they had unknotted them, and the price had been Klaus-Wilhelm and Elzbietá’s own universe.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eAnd the life of the Benjamin Schröder who had been born of it. Fifteen out of the sixteen universes entangled in the Knot survived because of that terrible sacrifice. A ninety-four percent survival rate was pretty damned good, Benjamin told himself again. He told himself that a lot, when the ghosts of that vanished universe invaded his dreams. And it was true. He \u003cem\u003eknew\u003c\/em\u003e it was true, but somehow that didn’t help on the bad nights.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eWhat helped on \u003cem\u003ethose\u003c\/em\u003e nights was Elzbietá.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eSpeaking of whom—\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I’m going to comm her,” he announced. “I’m starting to get genuinely worried. She’s the most compulsively—I’d almost say psychotically, except that she’d find out I had and hurt me—punctual person I know. It’s not like her to be running late, especially on a day like this.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Don’t you dare,” Raibert said, poking him in the chest with a large and very strong finger. Benjamin Schröder was a tall, broad-shouldered man himself, almost as tall and broad-shouldered as his grandfather, but that poke was enough to put him back on his heels. He rubbed his chest, glaring at Raibert, and the synthoid shook his head. “Doc, I know you’re a really smart guy. So I’m wondering why it hasn’t occurred to you that Elzbietá wouldn’t be running late by \u003cem\u003eaccident\u003c\/em\u003e? Or, rather, that she would have already commed \u003cem\u003eyou\u003c\/em\u003e if things weren’t going according to \u003cem\u003eplan\u003c\/em\u003e?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Plan?” Benjamin eyed Raibert narrowly. “\u003cem\u003ePlan\u003c\/em\u003e? Nobody told me about any ‘plan’ except coming here, getting married, leaving on our honeymoon. You know, what all of us have been talking about for, like, \u003cem\u003eweeks\u003c\/em\u003e?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“And this is one of your best analysts, sir.” Raibert looked at Klaus-Wilhelm and shook his head sadly.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“To be fair,” Klaus-Wilhelm replied, “Benjamin is one of my best \u003cem\u003eresearchers\u003c\/em\u003e. Calling him an ‘analyst’ is a bit of a stretch. He lacks a certain something for that role. A certain . . . skepticism, perhaps.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Are you sure that’s the best word for it?” Raibert asked. “‘Skepticism,’ I mean.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“You had another one in mind?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“As a matter of fact, I was thinking \u003cem\u003eparanoia\u003c\/em\u003e might be a better way to put it. Although, if pressed, I’d have to admit that ‘devious’ would run a close second.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Fair, fair.” Klaus-Wilhelm nodded with a magisterial air. “Be that as it may, however, you are sadly correct that Benjamin never saw it coming.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Saw \u003cem\u003ewhat\u003c\/em\u003e coming?” Benjamin demanded, looking back and forth between them.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Saw \u003cem\u003ethis\u003c\/em\u003e coming!” a hulking, red-haired Viking—who looked utterly bizarre and yet inevitable in a twenty-third century tuxedo and a horned helmet—crowed exultantly as he materialized out of the chapel’s thin air. Or, more precisely, out of the all-pervasive SysGov infonet and into everyone’s shared virtual vision. His helmet did indeed have horns on it, in a nod to inaccurate renditions of Vikings, but those horns protruded out of the headgear of a twenty-first-century fighter pilot. His flowing red beard, braided into a neat fork for the occasion, spread over the frilled lace of his shirtfront, and impossibly white teeth flashed in an improbably wide smile as he beamed at Benjamin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin glared at him, but Philosophus only smiled even more broadly, bowed like a helmeted maître d’, and waved one hand expressively at the chapel doors.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin turned to follow the gesture automatically, and froze as the doors swept open and revealed Elzbietá Abramowski, standing upon the threshold.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eShe wore a stunning wedding gown, and a beam of light from no visible source appeared as Philosophus’ avatar snapped its fingers. The incredible gown’s gemmed bodice and intricate embroidery flashed like fire when the light touched it, and its long cathedral train floated behind her, suspended by a pair of counter-grav remotes. A jeweled tiara crowned her dark, lustrous hair, its precious stones blazing with hearts of fire, and her gray eyes glowed more brilliantly still as they found him, standing with Raibert at the sanctuary’s rail.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHer beauty took him by the throat. That wasn’t the wedding gown she’d \u003cem\u003etold\u003c\/em\u003e him she’d picked, and it took him a moment to realize what it was, where he’d seen it before. It was identical to the one Yulia Obolenskaya von Schröder, \u003cem\u003eGräfin\u003c\/em\u003e von Schröder, Klaus-Wilhelm’s second bride, had worn in the Cathedral of the Dormition of Theotokos in Kiev when she had been given away by Kaiser Louis Ferdinand himself.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHis throat tightened as the sight of her ran through him, but from the corner of his eye he saw his grandfather’s expression soften, saw the raw memory—the \u003cem\u003eman\u003c\/em\u003e—behind those icy gray eyes, and in that instant he realized that gown wasn’t identical to the one Yulia had worn in the portrait hung in another Schloss von Schröder, long, long ago.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eIt \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e Yulia’s.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHis own eyes burned as that sank home. The Benjamin Schröder of SysGov’s universe had never known his grandfather’s second wife, but the Benjamin Schröder of the \u003cem\u003eAdmin’s\u003c\/em\u003e universe had known—and deeply loved—Yulia von Schröder, just as he’d loved his aunts, his father’s half-sisters. He’d loved her all his life, and he’d been a pallbearer at her funeral and fought back tears, fought to keep his voice level, as he delivered his own eulogy on the life of the most remarkable woman he had ever known.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eAnd in that other universe, Klaus-Wilhelm’s and Elzbietá’s universe, that other Benjamin Schröder had watched his grandmother die forty years before his own birth, as her husband held her seared and shattered body in his arms. Saw her die where she had stood her ground, fighting to her last breath to save her daughters . . . and failing.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eBoth of those memories were his. Both of those Benjamins were \u003cem\u003ehim\u003c\/em\u003e, and so he knew exactly who his grandfather was seeing once again, because \u003cem\u003ehe\u003c\/em\u003e was seeing her once again. Seeing her in another woman, just as remarkable as his grandmother, who looked back at him with her heart in \u003cem\u003eher\u003c\/em\u003e eyes.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHe started to open his mouth . . . and then froze again, eyes wider still, as she reached out her left hand. Yet another tall, dark-haired man stepped into sight beside her, took that hand and tucked it into his elbow, and they stepped across the threshold into the Schloss von Schröder chapel together.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003cem\u003eDavid\u003c\/em\u003e!” Benjamin gasped, and felt a hand squeeze his shoulder as David Schröder-O’Shane escorted Elzbietá through those doors. Benjamin started to say something else—he had no idea what—but then he stopped. Steven O’Shane-Schröder, his brother’s husband, came through the doors at their heels. . . with Joséphine Schröder on his arm.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHe stared at them, at every living member of his family, for a handful of heartbeats, and then his head turned automatically, and Raibert Kaminski smiled at him.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eFor once, there was no trace of the sardonic, often biting humor which had become so much a part of Raibert after his biological body’s death. There was only warmth and a gentle mischievousness.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Your grandfather got specific authorization from Chief Lamont before he gave Philo and me clearance to set this up,” the big synthoid said softly, as Elzbietá walked down the aisle\u003cbr\u003eon David’s arm. “Guess he didn’t want to just presume it would be okay when we suggested it. But under the circumstances—the chief said something about making an exception for someone who turned himself into goo to save the universe—SysPol signed off on the trip as a once-off wedding gift. So the Boss had Fritz Laynton and the Aion nip back to the 1960s and then cross over into the Admin to pick up the gown. That way he avoided causing all kinds of alarms by crossing in the True Present and getting detected and tracked on his way into the past.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eRaibert’s eyes gleamed as he considered the chaos that would have created. No one—not even he—wanted to add any more tension to SysGov’s relations with the Admin. That was a given. But in his own personal notebook, anything that gave the Admin headaches was worthwhile on general principles. But then he sighed and put away the blissful vision.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Of course, that meant Fritz got the easy part. I got to talk to your brother and your mom!” He shook his head wryly. “Wasn’t easy convincing the three of them I wasn’t insane. Seems to run in your family.” Even in his shock, Benjamin twitched a smile of his own, remembering his own first meeting with Raibert. “But I know how much your family means to you. And you must mean a lot to them, too, because all three of them agreed to accept neural inhibitions that will prevent them from ever discussing time travel or anything related to it with anyone except each other and you.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eA tear trickled down Benjamin’s cheek as Elzbietá and David reached him. He stared at his younger brother, unable to speak, then threw his arms wide. David’s arms were tight around him, and then Joséphine was there, worming her way into her sons’ embrace. Benjamin hugged both of them fiercely, kissed his mother’s cheek hard, and then freed his right hand, reaching past his brother, to grip his brother-in-law’s hand firmly.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Never told us you saved the universe, bro.” David’s voice was rough-edged in Benjamin’s ear, and his hug grew even tighter for a moment. “Never told us a lot of things, I guess.” He stood back, hands on his brother’s shoulders, and Schröder gray eyes met eyes of Schröder gray. “I am so proud to be your brother,” he said through tears of his own. “And so proud and so damned glad to have met my future sister-in-law. And Granddad.” He looked past Benjamin to Klaus-Wilhelm, whose own eyes were suspiciously bright. “You did the family proud, Benjamin. God, you did us all so \u003cem\u003eproud\u003c\/em\u003e!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“It wasn’t really—” Benjamin began, but David shook him.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Hush, Benjamin,” Joséphine Schröder commanded. She reached up to lay one hand gently on his cheek and smiled at him through a patina of tears. “Don’t interrupt your brother when he’s doing so well.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“But it wasn’t really \u003cem\u003eme\u003c\/em\u003e,” Benjamin protested stubbornly. “I mean—”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Yes it was, Ben,” David said fiercely. “Yes it \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e. I can’t imagine a universe in which \u003cem\u003emy\u003c\/em\u003e big brother wouldn’t have done exactly what both of you did.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin looked back at him, and then nodded slowly. Not in agreement, but in acceptance. He stepped back and looked at Elzbietá, then took both her hands in his, leaned forward, and kissed her with infinite gentleness.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“They didn’t tell \u003cem\u003eme\u003c\/em\u003e, either,” she said through tears of her own. “About the wedding gown, yes, but not the rest of it. Didn’t tell me a \u003cem\u003eword\u003c\/em\u003e. I guess”—she smiled—“they figure I’m a better fighter pilot than an actress.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Got us both, I guess.” Benjamin smiled, and the two of them turned to face Klaus-Wilhelm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I suppose that in some ways this is a shameless abuse of position,” his grandfather said. “But I will never regret it. We in this chapel, we know better than anyone else in the entire multiverse what it cost us to be here. And here, in the chapel built by our ancestors, I tell you all that I have never been prouder of our family—and of those who have \u003cem\u003ebecome\u003c\/em\u003e our family—than I am at this instant. Joséphine, I never knew you in my universe, and I thank God for, in His infinite mercy, giving me the privilege to know the mother who could have raised Benjamin to be the man he is in this one. And I am even prouder to be your grandfather, Benjamin and David, and to become your grandfather-in-law, Elzbietá and Steven. And to have been granted the honor of conducting this marriage ceremony. I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for being who you are and allowing me to be a part of all your lives. Perhaps Elzbietá and I have lost our own universe, yet here—in this chapel—we stand with the people, the \u003cem\u003efamily\u003c\/em\u003e, who have become the center of this new universe we all call home.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eSilence filled the ancient chapel for a long, still minute, while the snowy wind sang about its eaves, and then Klaus-Wilhelm von Schröder, \u003cem\u003eGraf\u003c\/em\u003e von Schröder, cleared his throat.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Dearly beloved,” he began, looking at his grandsons and his granddaughter-to-be, “we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this company—”\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46321654530339,"sku":"VALKYRIESIGNED-HB","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TheValkyrieProtocolShopifyGraphic.png?v=1693708336"},{"product_id":"print-the-valkyrie-protocol-signed-mass-market-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Valkyrie Protocol (Mass Market Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Two in the Gordian Division series. Published by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED MASS MARKET PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by both David Weber and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-valkyrie-protocol.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eUNTANGLE THE PAST TO SAVE THE FUTURE. A NEW NOVEL IN THE WORLD OF THE BEST-SELLING \u003ci\u003eTHE GORDIAN PROTOCOL\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTIME IS RUNNING OUT\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgent Raibert Kaminski and the crew of the Transtemporal Vehicle \u003ci\u003eKleio\u003c\/i\u003e have made a shocking discovery out in the unknown reaches of the multiverse. They've stumbled across a temporal implosion that has claimed two whole universes, and neither Raibert nor his crew can figure out what caused this calamity other than it had something to do with reckless time travel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ci\u003eKleio\u003c\/i\u003e speeds back to their home universe of SysGov with this dire report, but an audacious plan is put into effect before they arrive. Old colleagues of Raibert's from the Antiquities Rescue Trust, together with a version of Samuel Pepys transplanted from the 17th century into the 30th, have proposed an expedition into the past. Their goal? To branch the timeline by preventing the Plague of Justinian, one of the worst pandemics in human history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMeanwhile, SysGov's multiverse neighbor, the xenophobic Admin, is stirring. While their ambassadors put on a friendly show, the Admin is amassing a fleet of advanced, heavily armed time machines with SysGov firmly in the crosshairs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTime is running out for Raibert and his team. But the crew of the \u003ci\u003eKleio\u003c\/i\u003e won't go down without a fight, no matter where—\u003ci\u003eor when\u003c\/i\u003e—the threat to their home comes from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout \u003cem\u003eThe Gordian Protocol\u003c\/em\u003e (Book 1):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Tom Clancy-esque exposition of technical details . . . absurd humor and bloody action. Echoes of Robert Heinlein . . . lots of exploding temporal spaceships and bodies . . . action-packed . . .” —\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] fun and thrilling standalone from Weber and Holo. . . . Time travel enthusiasts will enjoy the moral dilemmas, nonstop action, and crisp writing.”—\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium mass market paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-valkyrie-protocol.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE VALKYRIE PROTOCOL\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSchloss von Schröder\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSysGov, 2980 CE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was a small chapel.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eIt was also warm, despite the snow the ice-fanged wind drove against the ancient rose window above its altar. It had been lovingly maintained for over fifteen hundred years, and it had been provided with proper heating and air conditioning six centuries before this cold and snowy night. Despite that, the sense of its age filled the participants’ nostrils with a subliminal scent of dust, of leather bindings and printer’s ink. Not because there \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e any\u003cbr\u003edust, but because there ought to have been. Because that many endless years were a palpable presence, peopled by all the other human beings who had passed through this chapel.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eA lot of those people had been named Schröder.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThe schloss’s current owner was \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e named Schröder, but the title of \u003cem\u003eGräfin\u003c\/em\u003e von Schröder had passed to her through a matrilineal cadet line when the last Schröder to hold it died without issue in 2653. The direct Schröder line had ceased to exist, but the current \u003cem\u003egräfin\u003c\/em\u003e had been only too willing to offer the chapel’s use tonight.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKlaus-Wilhelm von Schröder stood just outside the sanctuary’s rail.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe looked a bit odd in the chapel’s setting, and not simply because it had been built so many centuries before. He was clad in the formal “white tie” of a thousand years in the past, which was enormously anachronistic in itself, but it seemed even more so in his case because no one in the thirtieth century had ever seen him in it. His normal—\u003cem\u003einvariable\u003c\/em\u003e, actually—attire was a perfectly tailored uniform in what had once been called \u003cem\u003efeldgrau\u003c\/em\u003e,\u003cbr\u003ewith the golden eye and bared-sword shoulder patch of SysPol’s Gordian Division and a vice-commissioner’s insignia.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eSeeing him in anything else was a bit like catching God in his bathrobe, Benjamin Schröder thought. On the other hand, he admitted, that . . . patriarchal simile might have occurred to\u003cbr\u003ehim because Klaus-Wilhelm von Schröder also happened to be his grandfather.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnd the other reason it’s occurring to you is because you’re\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eboth a hell of a long way from home and you’re just a teeny tiny\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ebit nervous,\u003c\/em\u003e he thought. \u003cem\u003eWhich is stupid, under the circumstances.\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThanks to his neural implants, Benjamin could check the time—again—without anyone else’s knowledge. That meant he could at least avoid looking like the proverbial nervous groom.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eYou and Elzbietá have been living together for months, and \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003enobody in the entire universe—hell, in the entire\u003c\/em\u003e multiverse—\u003cem\u003egives\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ea damn,\u003c\/em\u003e he reminded himself. \u003cem\u003eIn fact, the only people this wedding\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ereally matters to are the two of you. Well, and to Granddad, too, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eI suppose. He\u003c\/em\u003e has \u003cem\u003edropped that “living in sin” thing on you more\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ethan once. Surprising how straitlaced he can be sometimes, even\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eafter all this time. But it’s not like he drew a gun on you to get \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003ehere! And worrying about it now that you are here is—well, it’s a \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eperfect illustration of why no one who really knows you ever said\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eyou weren’t capable of being stupid. It’s not like being dissolved\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003einto goo by weaponized nanotech, after all!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe knew it wasn’t, because he’d tried that, too. Being dissolved into goo. Or at least one iteration of him had, and that other iteration’s entire memory—including the highly unpleasant one of how he had died—lived in the same brain, side by side with the remembered lifetime of the version of him that hadn’t been dissolved.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eIt was . . . complicated.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHe snorted softly at the thought, and the tall, broad-shouldered, blond-haired man at his shoulder glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Nothing, Raibert,” Benjamin reassured him. “Just a thought.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“So you \u003cem\u003eare\u003c\/em\u003e capable of rational thought at the moment, Doc?” Raibert Kaminski, who \u003cem\u003edid\u003c\/em\u003e wear Gordian Division’s uniform, grinned. “Thank God! After dragging your butt here this morning, I’d started to wonder.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I’m not \u003cem\u003ethat\u003c\/em\u003e bad.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“On the contrary,” Klaus-Wilhelm said. “You’re \u003cem\u003eworse\u003c\/em\u003e than that, Benjamin.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I am not!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Ah? Then you remembered the ring?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“That’s Raibert’s job. He’s the best man around here. Well, best synthoid, anyway.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“That is so twentieth-century bio-based prejudice,” Raibert observed. “Just because you and Elzbietá refuse to give up your meat suits is no reason for you to be casting aspersions upon my own superbly engineered self.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin made a rude sound, and his grandfather chuckled. Neither of them had ever met Raibert before his biological mind had been electronically stripped and his biological body had been rendered down for fertilizer, or whatever else the System Cooperative Administration’s reclamation systems had done with it. His current body had been hijacked from the Admin’s Department of Incarceration in Klaus-Wilhelm’s original universe after Csaba Shigeki, Director-General of the Department of Temporal Investigation, had decreed Raibert’s biological destruction. And after his connectome’s removal, the electronic recording of his personality and memories had been sentenced to life imprisonment in a virtual prison.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo be fair to Shigeki, which none of the men in that chapel were prepared to be unless they had to, he \u003cem\u003ehad\u003c\/em\u003e been fighting to prevent Raibert from destroying his entire universe. A reasonable person might concede that had given him at least \u003cem\u003esome \u003c\/em\u003ejustification. And he’d actually shown leniency, in many ways. The Admin’s laws about AIs and nanotech were draconian. Its entire government had come into existence in reaction to a grisly “accident” in which a rogue AI had left literally billions dead, and its law code was designed to prevent \u003cem\u003eanything\u003c\/em\u003e like that from ever happening again. In pursuit of that object, it was ruthless with violators, and Raibert, from an entirely different universe, had been in violation of dozens of its laws. That meant he \u003cem\u003ecould \u003c\/em\u003ehave been sentenced to a one-way domain—a virtual prison where prisoners became effectively immortal but there were no wardens, no guards. Nothing to protect the inmates from the most horrific atrocities their fellow inmates could visit upon them. It was, in fact, a place which was—literally—worse than death. Not that a prisoner couldn’t “die” there. They could, over and over and over again.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eOf course, Raibert wasn’t exactly prepared to give Shigeki the benefit of any doubts. Nor had he known that the director was being merciful—by his own lights, at least. All \u003cem\u003ehe’d\u003c\/em\u003e known was that both his and the Admin’s universe were going to die if someone didn’t fix it and that Shigeki was determined that no one would. And, of course, that he’d been subjected to the ultimate violation when his connectome was forcibly stripped in a process that automatically destroyed his biological mind forever. Nor had he known that there were worse prisons to which he might have been sent. The one he’d been in was quite bad enough, as far as he was concerned, and he’d expected to stay in it for the rest of his life . . . until his integrated companion, Philosophus, had rampaged through the Admin’s infostructure to break him out. In the process, Philo—who, unlike Raibert, had been “born” as an electronic being—had uploaded him to one of the Admin Peacekeepers’ synthoids. As a consequence, Raibert came equipped with quite a few military-style upgrades, and he’d decided to keep his present body once he’d managed to fight his way home to his own universe once more.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eOf course, he’d added a few additional upgrades to it, too. For one thing, the ridiculous firewalls the Admin—better known as “the fucking Admin” if Raibert was talking—insisted upon as part of its paranoia about artificial intelligences in general had been deleted when his software was updated to link with the Consolidated System Government’s infonets. In the process, Raibert and Philo had made damned sure no Admin backdoors had been left behind.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Look, I know you two are enjoying the chance to give me a hard time,” Benjamin said now, “but, really. Where the hell is Elzbietá?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“If the two of you had been willing to settle for a virtual wedding, like any sane, civilized beings, that wouldn’t be an issue,” Raibert pointed out. “But, \u003cem\u003eno\u003c\/em\u003e! Not you \u003cem\u003etwo\u003c\/em\u003e! Had to be ‘in the flesh,’ didn’t it? You could’ve been married in Notre Dame, or St. Peter’s Basilica. Hell, you could have been married in the Hagia Sophia—the \u003cem\u003eoriginal\u003c\/em\u003e Hagia Sophia—if you hadn’t insisted on this brick-and-mortar anachronism!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“And if we were both connectomes we would’ve done just that,” Benjamin shot back. “But in case you noticed, we aren’t.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Raibert grimaced, but he let it drop, as well. Probably, Benjamin thought, because he knew as well as Benjamin did that the real reason Benjamin and Elzbietá had chosen this venue was to honor Klaus-Wilhelm. God only knew how many Schröders had been married in this chapel over the endless, dusty years, but Klaus-Wilhelm was among them. He and his first wife had been married on this very stone floor.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eWell,\u003c\/em\u003e Benjamin reminded himself, \u003cem\u003enot on this stone floor, \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eactually.\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThe chapel in which Klaus-Wilhelm had been married no longer existed. For that matter, his entire \u003cem\u003euniverse\u003c\/em\u003e no longer existed. He and Elzbietá Abramowski were, in fact, survivors of that dead universe, and Benjamin—or the version of him that had died there—had helped to murder it.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThere’d been no choice. That iteration of the Admin’s universe should never have existed. It had been created out of the chaos of the “Gordian Knot” which had twisted sixteen universes together into a lethal cluster—a seething mass of temporal energy which would have destroyed them all, if it had not been undone. And so they had unknotted them, and the price had been Klaus-Wilhelm and Elzbietá’s own universe.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eAnd the life of the Benjamin Schröder who had been born of it. Fifteen out of the sixteen universes entangled in the Knot survived because of that terrible sacrifice. A ninety-four percent survival rate was pretty damned good, Benjamin told himself again. He told himself that a lot, when the ghosts of that vanished universe invaded his dreams. And it was true. He \u003cem\u003eknew\u003c\/em\u003e it was true, but somehow that didn’t help on the bad nights.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eWhat helped on \u003cem\u003ethose\u003c\/em\u003e nights was Elzbietá.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eSpeaking of whom—\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I’m going to comm her,” he announced. “I’m starting to get genuinely worried. She’s the most compulsively—I’d almost say psychotically, except that she’d find out I had and hurt me—punctual person I know. It’s not like her to be running late, especially on a day like this.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Don’t you dare,” Raibert said, poking him in the chest with a large and very strong finger. Benjamin Schröder was a tall, broad-shouldered man himself, almost as tall and broad-shouldered as his grandfather, but that poke was enough to put him back on his heels. He rubbed his chest, glaring at Raibert, and the synthoid shook his head. “Doc, I know you’re a really smart guy. So I’m wondering why it hasn’t occurred to you that Elzbietá wouldn’t be running late by \u003cem\u003eaccident\u003c\/em\u003e? Or, rather, that she would have already commed \u003cem\u003eyou\u003c\/em\u003e if things weren’t going according to \u003cem\u003eplan\u003c\/em\u003e?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Plan?” Benjamin eyed Raibert narrowly. “\u003cem\u003ePlan\u003c\/em\u003e? Nobody told me about any ‘plan’ except coming here, getting married, leaving on our honeymoon. You know, what all of us have been talking about for, like, \u003cem\u003eweeks\u003c\/em\u003e?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“And this is one of your best analysts, sir.” Raibert looked at Klaus-Wilhelm and shook his head sadly.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“To be fair,” Klaus-Wilhelm replied, “Benjamin is one of my best \u003cem\u003eresearchers\u003c\/em\u003e. Calling him an ‘analyst’ is a bit of a stretch. He lacks a certain something for that role. A certain . . . skepticism, perhaps.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Are you sure that’s the best word for it?” Raibert asked. “‘Skepticism,’ I mean.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“You had another one in mind?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“As a matter of fact, I was thinking \u003cem\u003eparanoia\u003c\/em\u003e might be a better way to put it. Although, if pressed, I’d have to admit that ‘devious’ would run a close second.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Fair, fair.” Klaus-Wilhelm nodded with a magisterial air. “Be that as it may, however, you are sadly correct that Benjamin never saw it coming.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Saw \u003cem\u003ewhat\u003c\/em\u003e coming?” Benjamin demanded, looking back and forth between them.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Saw \u003cem\u003ethis\u003c\/em\u003e coming!” a hulking, red-haired Viking—who looked utterly bizarre and yet inevitable in a twenty-third century tuxedo and a horned helmet—crowed exultantly as he materialized out of the chapel’s thin air. Or, more precisely, out of the all-pervasive SysGov infonet and into everyone’s shared virtual vision. His helmet did indeed have horns on it, in a nod to inaccurate renditions of Vikings, but those horns protruded out of the headgear of a twenty-first-century fighter pilot. His flowing red beard, braided into a neat fork for the occasion, spread over the frilled lace of his shirtfront, and impossibly white teeth flashed in an improbably wide smile as he beamed at Benjamin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin glared at him, but Philosophus only smiled even more broadly, bowed like a helmeted maître d’, and waved one hand expressively at the chapel doors.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin turned to follow the gesture automatically, and froze as the doors swept open and revealed Elzbietá Abramowski, standing upon the threshold.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eShe wore a stunning wedding gown, and a beam of light from no visible source appeared as Philosophus’ avatar snapped its fingers. The incredible gown’s gemmed bodice and intricate embroidery flashed like fire when the light touched it, and its long cathedral train floated behind her, suspended by a pair of counter-grav remotes. A jeweled tiara crowned her dark, lustrous hair, its precious stones blazing with hearts of fire, and her gray eyes glowed more brilliantly still as they found him, standing with Raibert at the sanctuary’s rail.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHer beauty took him by the throat. That wasn’t the wedding gown she’d \u003cem\u003etold\u003c\/em\u003e him she’d picked, and it took him a moment to realize what it was, where he’d seen it before. It was identical to the one Yulia Obolenskaya von Schröder, \u003cem\u003eGräfin\u003c\/em\u003e von Schröder, Klaus-Wilhelm’s second bride, had worn in the Cathedral of the Dormition of Theotokos in Kiev when she had been given away by Kaiser Louis Ferdinand himself.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHis throat tightened as the sight of her ran through him, but from the corner of his eye he saw his grandfather’s expression soften, saw the raw memory—the \u003cem\u003eman\u003c\/em\u003e—behind those icy gray eyes, and in that instant he realized that gown wasn’t identical to the one Yulia had worn in the portrait hung in another Schloss von Schröder, long, long ago.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eIt \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e Yulia’s.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHis own eyes burned as that sank home. The Benjamin Schröder of SysGov’s universe had never known his grandfather’s second wife, but the Benjamin Schröder of the \u003cem\u003eAdmin’s\u003c\/em\u003e universe had known—and deeply loved—Yulia von Schröder, just as he’d loved his aunts, his father’s half-sisters. He’d loved her all his life, and he’d been a pallbearer at her funeral and fought back tears, fought to keep his voice level, as he delivered his own eulogy on the life of the most remarkable woman he had ever known.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eAnd in that other universe, Klaus-Wilhelm’s and Elzbietá’s universe, that other Benjamin Schröder had watched his grandmother die forty years before his own birth, as her husband held her seared and shattered body in his arms. Saw her die where she had stood her ground, fighting to her last breath to save her daughters . . . and failing.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eBoth of those memories were his. Both of those Benjamins were \u003cem\u003ehim\u003c\/em\u003e, and so he knew exactly who his grandfather was seeing once again, because \u003cem\u003ehe\u003c\/em\u003e was seeing her once again. Seeing her in another woman, just as remarkable as his grandmother, who looked back at him with her heart in \u003cem\u003eher\u003c\/em\u003e eyes.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHe started to open his mouth . . . and then froze again, eyes wider still, as she reached out her left hand. Yet another tall, dark-haired man stepped into sight beside her, took that hand and tucked it into his elbow, and they stepped across the threshold into the Schloss von Schröder chapel together.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003cem\u003eDavid\u003c\/em\u003e!” Benjamin gasped, and felt a hand squeeze his shoulder as David Schröder-O’Shane escorted Elzbietá through those doors. Benjamin started to say something else—he had no idea what—but then he stopped. Steven O’Shane-Schröder, his brother’s husband, came through the doors at their heels. . . with Joséphine Schröder on his arm.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHe stared at them, at every living member of his family, for a handful of heartbeats, and then his head turned automatically, and Raibert Kaminski smiled at him.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eFor once, there was no trace of the sardonic, often biting humor which had become so much a part of Raibert after his biological body’s death. There was only warmth and a gentle mischievousness.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Your grandfather got specific authorization from Chief Lamont before he gave Philo and me clearance to set this up,” the big synthoid said softly, as Elzbietá walked down the aisle\u003cbr\u003eon David’s arm. “Guess he didn’t want to just presume it would be okay when we suggested it. But under the circumstances—the chief said something about making an exception for someone who turned himself into goo to save the universe—SysPol signed off on the trip as a once-off wedding gift. So the Boss had Fritz Laynton and the Aion nip back to the 1960s and then cross over into the Admin to pick up the gown. That way he avoided causing all kinds of alarms by crossing in the True Present and getting detected and tracked on his way into the past.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eRaibert’s eyes gleamed as he considered the chaos that would have created. No one—not even he—wanted to add any more tension to SysGov’s relations with the Admin. That was a given. But in his own personal notebook, anything that gave the Admin headaches was worthwhile on general principles. But then he sighed and put away the blissful vision.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Of course, that meant Fritz got the easy part. I got to talk to your brother and your mom!” He shook his head wryly. “Wasn’t easy convincing the three of them I wasn’t insane. Seems to run in your family.” Even in his shock, Benjamin twitched a smile of his own, remembering his own first meeting with Raibert. “But I know how much your family means to you. And you must mean a lot to them, too, because all three of them agreed to accept neural inhibitions that will prevent them from ever discussing time travel or anything related to it with anyone except each other and you.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eA tear trickled down Benjamin’s cheek as Elzbietá and David reached him. He stared at his younger brother, unable to speak, then threw his arms wide. David’s arms were tight around him, and then Joséphine was there, worming her way into her sons’ embrace. Benjamin hugged both of them fiercely, kissed his mother’s cheek hard, and then freed his right hand, reaching past his brother, to grip his brother-in-law’s hand firmly.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Never told us you saved the universe, bro.” David’s voice was rough-edged in Benjamin’s ear, and his hug grew even tighter for a moment. “Never told us a lot of things, I guess.” He stood back, hands on his brother’s shoulders, and Schröder gray eyes met eyes of Schröder gray. “I am so proud to be your brother,” he said through tears of his own. “And so proud and so damned glad to have met my future sister-in-law. And Granddad.” He looked past Benjamin to Klaus-Wilhelm, whose own eyes were suspiciously bright. “You did the family proud, Benjamin. God, you did us all so \u003cem\u003eproud\u003c\/em\u003e!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“It wasn’t really—” Benjamin began, but David shook him.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Hush, Benjamin,” Joséphine Schröder commanded. She reached up to lay one hand gently on his cheek and smiled at him through a patina of tears. “Don’t interrupt your brother when he’s doing so well.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“But it wasn’t really \u003cem\u003eme\u003c\/em\u003e,” Benjamin protested stubbornly. “I mean—”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Yes it was, Ben,” David said fiercely. “Yes it \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e. I can’t imagine a universe in which \u003cem\u003emy\u003c\/em\u003e big brother wouldn’t have done exactly what both of you did.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBenjamin looked back at him, and then nodded slowly. Not in agreement, but in acceptance. He stepped back and looked at Elzbietá, then took both her hands in his, leaned forward, and kissed her with infinite gentleness.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“They didn’t tell \u003cem\u003eme\u003c\/em\u003e, either,” she said through tears of her own. “About the wedding gown, yes, but not the rest of it. Didn’t tell me a \u003cem\u003eword\u003c\/em\u003e. I guess”—she smiled—“they figure I’m a better fighter pilot than an actress.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Got us both, I guess.” Benjamin smiled, and the two of them turned to face Klaus-Wilhelm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I suppose that in some ways this is a shameless abuse of position,” his grandfather said. “But I will never regret it. We in this chapel, we know better than anyone else in the entire multiverse what it cost us to be here. And here, in the chapel built by our ancestors, I tell you all that I have never been prouder of our family—and of those who have \u003cem\u003ebecome\u003c\/em\u003e our family—than I am at this instant. Joséphine, I never knew you in my universe, and I thank God for, in His infinite mercy, giving me the privilege to know the mother who could have raised Benjamin to be the man he is in this one. And I am even prouder to be your grandfather, Benjamin and David, and to become your grandfather-in-law, Elzbietá and Steven. And to have been granted the honor of conducting this marriage ceremony. I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for being who you are and allowing me to be a part of all your lives. Perhaps Elzbietá and I have lost our own universe, yet here—in this chapel—we stand with the people, the \u003cem\u003efamily\u003c\/em\u003e, who have become the center of this new universe we all call home.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eSilence filled the ancient chapel for a long, still minute, while the snowy wind sang about its eaves, and then Klaus-Wilhelm von Schröder, \u003cem\u003eGraf\u003c\/em\u003e von Schröder, cleared his throat.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Dearly beloved,” he began, looking at his grandsons and his granddaughter-to-be, “we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this company—”\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46323700597027,"sku":"VALKYRIESIGNED-MM","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TheValkyrieProtocolShopifyGraphic2.png?v=1693709506"},{"product_id":"copy-of-print-the-janus-file-signed-hardback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Janus File (Hardback) - LIMITED STOCK","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Three in the Gordian Division series. Published by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED HARDBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by both David Weber and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-janus-file.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTHE FATES OF UNIVERSES AREN’T THE ONLY THINGS TIME TRAVEL CAN IMPACT\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was supposed to be a routine trip for the members of the Gordian Division, both human and AI: fly out to Saturn, inspect the construction of their latest time machines, then fly back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut when the division’s top scientist and chief engineer are killed in the same freak accident, suspicions of foul play run deep. Detective Isaac Cho is sent in to investigate, but he has more on his mind than just a new case. His superiors have saddled him with an exchange officer from the neighboring Admin—Special Agent Susan Cantrell—whose notion of proper “law enforcement” involves blowing up criminals first and skipping questions entirely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDespite his objections, Cho is stuck with an untested partner on a case that increasingly reeks of murder and conspiracy. The unlikely pair must work together to unravel this mystery, and soon they discover their unique combination of skills might just provide the edge they need.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut nothing is ever simple where the Gordian Division is involved.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot even time itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e  \u003cstrong\u003e“. . .moments of humor amid the expected culture clashes, and the exploration of the authors’ well-realized far-future world. . .It’s pure entertainment.” —Publishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium hardback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-janus-file.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE JANUS FILE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"chapter\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBACKGROUND OF EXOTIC PLACES\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p6\"\u003eSaturn is the most beautiful planet in the whole solar system, or so those who live on it claim. Certainly, the ornate majesty of its many splendid rings bejewels the gas giant in ways no other planet can match, and its plethora of richly varied moons provide suitable dance partners to such a lavishly decorated debutante.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p5\" name=\"p5\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut beauty alone did not bring humanity to Saturn. Matter and energy did, and by those measures, Saturn and its flock of moons bask in decadent wealth. Fortune seekers cannot claim that wealth as easily as the riches within the comfortable and familiar gravity well of Earth, but countless treasure troves exist for those with the will to seek them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p6\" name=\"p6\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd seek them humanity has.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p7\" name=\"p7\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we approach the fourth millennium, humanity’s fingerprints have spread across the solar system, and even beyond. The terraforming of Earth’s only moon has already been completed, and ambitious terraforming projects toil within the atmospheres of Venus and Mars, gradually transforming those worlds, as well. Great machines loom over the planet Mercury, ready to transform the airless rock into a solar-collecting swarm around the Sun…if the legal hurdles are ever fully cleared. Artificial habitats and great vessels dot the solar system from one end to the other, and the light and data of a thriving society fill the vacuum between worlds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p8\" name=\"p8\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy comparison, Saturn and its moons appear much as they have since ancient times. Naturally, given the extent of humanity’s expansion, a wide variety of technological constructs orbit the gas giant, and cities and facilities of varying sizes are sprinkled across its moons. The largest of them is the dome of Promise City, situated at the heart of a cluster of gargantuan machines on the cold, shrouded moon of Titan, where the nitrogen-rich atmosphere and lakes of liquid methane have barely been touched by local terraforming efforts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p9\" name=\"p9\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese and many others might be expected, but a closer examination of Saturn’s environs reveal more striking changes. For one, the co-orbital moons of Janus and Epimetheus, once famous for swapping orbits every four years, are gone, replaced by a wide shoal zone interspersed with massive industrial printers and mobile factories maneuvering around the skeletons of active construction projects. The resources of the Atlas Shoal are a pittance compared to the original mass of the two devoured moons, but to see the results of that grand labor, one must travel into the atmosphere of Saturn itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p10\" name=\"p10\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpecifically, to the cloud band at plus forty latitude, which enjoys relatively calm weather on a planet known for its fierce winds. There one may spy a speck of white floating amongst the clouds. Travel a little closer, and the immense scale of the object quickly becomes apparent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p11\" name=\"p11\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocals call it the “Shark Fin,” for the megastructure does indeed resemble the downturned fin of a colossal aquatic monster. The official designation is Janus-Epimetheus, named in honor of the two moons sacrificed to its construction, and often shortened to simply “Janus.” Its outer surface is a pristine white, and its rounded bow cuts through tan clouds of ammonia ice near the top, and reddish-orange thunderheads of ammonium hydrosulfide near the bottom. In total, Janus measures one hundred kilometers in height and two hundred kilometers across the widest point of its flattened, oval crown. Natural gravity is a pleasant 1.065 times Earth’s, and external pressure near the top is roughly one atmosphere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p12\" name=\"p12\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJanus does not travel through this sea of golden and rust-colored clouds alone, but it stands above the rest for being the largest and most ambitious habitat by far. Over a billion physical and abstract citizens call Janus their home, for this is the thriving heart of the Saturn State, as well as its seat of governance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p13\" name=\"p13\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shining towers of Ballast Heights, capital city of the Saturn State, sprawl atop the Shark Fin’s crown, close to and a little behind the prow. Almost every building’s cross section takes the form of an elongated teardrop when viewed from above, allowing the city to weather the windy seasons with minimal fuss.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p14\" name=\"p14\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree towers stretch skyward above the rest, their upper levels coated in dozens of giant dishes and precision lasers shielded behind glass domes to protect the equipment from gusts of wind. All of the dishes and lasers point toward the heavens, and data packets and abstract citizens alike come and go through these transceiver towers in a continuous ballet of photons and electrons. Each tower’s infostructure buffers thousands of connectomes at a time, the digital minds of these citizens paused for a short interval as they await transmission off-world, while separate infostructures accept the new arrivals by placing them in a run-state before staff welcome them cordially to Janus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p15\" name=\"p15\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll of this is routine on the worlds of the Consolidated System Government. Boring even. But only because we at LifeBeam turn the extraordinary into the everyday.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p16\" name=\"p16\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA virtual banner flutters behind the pinnacle of one of these three towers, declaring our company’s name in bold, electric blue letters while our slogan of TRAVEL LIGHT! hovers below.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p17\" name=\"p17\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe physical mechanisms of our infostructure stretch from the top of the tower all the way down to the lowest subbasement in a solid column of robust computational engineering. Redundant systems work in trios, constantly checking and rechecking not only their own work, but that of their neighbors, and emergency backups stand ready to activate within moments in the event of a catastrophic failure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p18\" name=\"p18\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tower’s systems are drastically—one might say \u003ci\u003eobsessively\u003c\/i\u003e—overengineered against any conceivable failure. They have to be, for their cargo is life itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p10\"\u003e—\u003ci\u003eA LifeBeam Travel Guide to Saturn\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"chapter\"\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"chapter\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p6\"\u003eEighty-three light-minutes from Saturn, a construct far smaller than Janus but still impressive orbited the planet Earth. The dark blue hull of Argus Station took the form of a fat cylinder, and over nine million officers of the Consolidated System Police worked on or from there, including the heads of the six specialized divisions that supplemented the rank and file.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p24\" name=\"p24\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGordian Division was the newest addition, having been formed less than eight months ago after a calamity known as the Gordian Knot had almost destroyed sixteen universes, including the one the citizens of SysGov called home. The division, charged with enforcing time travel and transdimensional laws, might have been small compared to the more established elements of SysPol, but the monumental challenges before them—and a clear understanding of the countermeasures those challenges required—had led to the division’s rapid growth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p25\" name=\"p25\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeveral levels near Argus Station’s south pole had been allocated to the Gordian Division, having stood empty for several decades, and much of the space had already been filled with offices, labs, engineering bays, and hangars for time machines called TTVs or transtemporal vehicles. This influx of personnel brought with it the side effect of attracting clusters of civilian businesses eager to support the new division—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p26\" name=\"p26\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e—and make a little Esteem in the process.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p27\" name=\"p27\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLifeBeam was one such business, and a newly constructed transceiver tower descended from Argus Station’s south pole for the exclusive use of Gordian Division abstract and synthetic personnel. The company had constructed an expansive waiting lounge at the tower’s base, far larger than was required for current traffic levels, but perhaps this was an investment in what many saw as Gordian Division’s inevitable rise in the future.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p28\" name=\"p28\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo men sat on a couch near the outer wall with a virtual image displaying the blue globe of Earth beneath their feet. These two men, the chief scientist and lead engineer of Gordian Division, were the only occupants of the lounge, and both were oblivious to the crime that was about to happen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p29\" name=\"p29\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Time.” Doctor Andover-Chen said the single word with a grand gesture of his arms as faint mathematical equations danced under the glassy skin of his synthoid body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p30\" name=\"p30\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJoachim Delacroix looked over with a perplexed face. His own synthoid was externally accurate to his original human body, complete with freckled face and unruly reddish-blond hair. Both men wore the gray-green uniforms of Gordian Division with golden eye and sword flashes at the shoulder.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p31\" name=\"p31\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What about it?” Delacroix asked finally, not sure what to expect from the eccentric scientist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p32\" name=\"p32\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Where does the arrow of time come from? What force drives it forward?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p33\" name=\"p33\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are you asking me?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p34\" name=\"p34\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s more a question to myself, but if you’d like to take a stab at it, I wouldn’t mind.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p35\" name=\"p35\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What brought this on?” Delacroix dodged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p36\" name=\"p36\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I find myself with time to think,” Andover-Chen explained. “And so I wonder, \u003ci\u003ewhy\u003c\/i\u003e do I have time to think?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p37\" name=\"p37\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are you really that bored?” Delacroix checked a timer in his virtual vision. “We’ve only been here twelve minutes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p38\" name=\"p38\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Twelve minutes. And what are those, really? Why does the universe even need time? Why not exist simply as a collection of spatial dimensions?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p39\" name=\"p39\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t know, but it’d be pretty boring without it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p40\" name=\"p40\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Or perhaps two dimensions of time?” Andover-Chen mused. “Why can’t time be structurally like a sheet instead of a line? And why only one direction?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p41\" name=\"p41\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry, but you’re outside my specialty. I just do impellers.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p42\" name=\"p42\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And that’s exactly my point.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p43\" name=\"p43\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It is?” Delacroix raised an eyebrow, not sure where his colleague was going with this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p44\" name=\"p44\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why, yes.” The scientist turned to him. “We travel through time. We bend the chronotons around us to our will. But do we really \u003ci\u003eunderstand\u003c\/i\u003e the fundamental nature of time?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p45\" name=\"p45\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, if \u003ci\u003eyou\u003c\/i\u003e don’t, then none of us do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p46\" name=\"p46\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And so”—Andover-Chen spread his arms once more—“I find myself wondering about time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p47\" name=\"p47\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I think I have a pretty good grasp on what twelve minutes is.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p48\" name=\"p48\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“As do I.” Andover-Chen’s expression turned sour, and he crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch. “Are they ready for us yet?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p49\" name=\"p49\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I think they’re still waiting for the last transit confirmation.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p50\" name=\"p50\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I wish they wouldn’t call us in here until they’re ready. If there’s one thing about time I’m sure about, it’s that I loathe wasting it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p51\" name=\"p51\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That makes two of us,” Delacroix agreed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p52\" name=\"p52\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“By the way”—Andover-Chen knuckled him in the shoulder—“is it just me, or have you been in a better mood lately?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p53\" name=\"p53\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You think so?” Delacroix asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p54\" name=\"p54\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes. I started noticing it after we returned from Saturn the last time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p55\" name=\"p55\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh.” He thought on this for a moment. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p56\" name=\"p56\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Any particular reason?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p57\" name=\"p57\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDelacroix hesitated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p58\" name=\"p58\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry,” Andover-Chen said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p59\" name=\"p59\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, it’s all right.” He sighed. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind recently. Been going around feeling like my head isn’t screwed on straight, you know?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p60\" name=\"p60\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I know how that can be sometimes.” Andover-Chen flashed an encouraging smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p61\" name=\"p61\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I guess it’s just…” Delacroix hesitated again, then nodded. “It’s just that I’ve experienced a lot of trouble coming to terms with Selene’s death.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p62\" name=\"p62\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Of course, you have. That’s only natural.” The scientist nodded knowingly. “Ah, Selene. I wish I’d known her better. She must have been a remarkable woman, given what you’ve told me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p63\" name=\"p63\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“She was,” Delacroix agreed. “Better than I deserved. And as painful as it’s been waking up without her every morning, I think I’m finally coming to terms with life without her.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p64\" name=\"p64\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good for you.” Andover-Chen clapped him on the shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p65\" name=\"p65\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m not done healing. Not by a long shot. But I do feel like I’ve made the first significant step forward in months. In a way, this is the first time I’ve felt even close to normal since she was killed.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p66\" name=\"p66\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, you look the part, take it from me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p67\" name=\"p67\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks.” Delacroix gave him a half smile. “You want to know the trick I came up with?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p68\" name=\"p68\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure. Let’s hear it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p69\" name=\"p69\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I asked myself if Selene would be proud of the way I’ve been acting recently, and the answer was no.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p70\" name=\"p70\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That seems rather harsh.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p71\" name=\"p71\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But it’s the truth. I’ve been yearning for something I can’t ever have again.” Delacroix shook his head. “And that’s no way to live. I have to heal, and the only way to do that is to first \u003ci\u003eaccept\u003c\/i\u003e my new reality.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p72\" name=\"p72\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Too true.” Andover-Chen sighed. “Still, the healing process is a long one.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p73\" name=\"p73\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But I’m confident that \u003ci\u003etime\u003c\/i\u003e”—Delacroix’s eyes twinkled with mischief—“will heal my wounds.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p74\" name=\"p74\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAndover-Chen laughed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p75\" name=\"p75\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA three-note chime played across their virtual hearing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p76\" name=\"p76\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Will Doctor Andover-Chen and Chief Engineer Delacroix please head to Outbound Transmission? The last of your relay confirmations just came in.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p77\" name=\"p77\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s time to go.” Delacroix stood up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p78\" name=\"p78\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And so it is.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p79\" name=\"p79\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two men headed through the open arch marked OUTBOUND where LifeBeam technicians guided each of them into separate caskets. Delacroix clicked through the virtual prompts to authorize the suspension and transmission of his connectome, then eased down flat and closed his eyes. The top sealed him in, and he willingly placed his connectome into a paused state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p80\" name=\"p80\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe casket’s infostructure interfaced with his synthetic body, extracted the connectome, and moved it to a data buffer awaiting outbound transmission along with Andover-Chen’s. A crane retrieved their caskets, now with dataless synthoids, and stored them in a secure holding area for when the two would eventually transmit back to Argus Station.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p81\" name=\"p81\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe outbound transmission laser locked onto a target reception dish on a LifeBeam relay station two light-seconds away. Both sides had confirmed the transmission timing and coordinates. A clock ticked down to zero, and a precision laser fired the two connectomes to the relay station.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p82\" name=\"p82\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two Gordian connectomes passed through eight more relay stations before arriving at Kronos Station, the SysPol headquarters orbiting Saturn. There, the same process played out between the LifeBeam tower on Kronos and the one rising above Ballast Heights.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p83\" name=\"p83\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth sides confirmed the timing and coordinates, a timer reached zero, and a final laser fired the photons of Andover-Chen and Joachim Delacroix down to the Janus megastructure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p84\" name=\"p84\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut an unexpected maintenance routine activated in the reception dish, forcing a shutdown of the primary infostructure as well as the two secondary support infostructures. Backup systems detected the fault within nanoseconds and immediately initiated recovery procedures, but the shutdown process refused all commands to abort.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p85\" name=\"p85\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith all three systems in control of the dish unresponsive to external commands, backup systems initiated an emergency purge of the infostructure and restored all code to default. This process would take three whole seconds, after which the dish would be restarted and normal operations could resume.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p86\" name=\"p86\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut it was already too late.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p87\" name=\"p87\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAndover-Chen and Delacroix arrived less than a second after the dish shut down, and the photons of their minds rebounded off the inert collection dish and scattered into the clouds of Saturn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46430543282467,"sku":"JANUS-HB","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TheJanusFileShopify.png?v=1694889372"},{"product_id":"print-the-janus-file-signed-mass-market-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Janus File (Mass Market Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Three in the Gordian Division series. Published by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED MASS MARKET PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by both David Weber and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-janus-file.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTHE FATES OF UNIVERSES AREN’T THE ONLY THINGS TIME TRAVEL CAN IMPACT\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was supposed to be a routine trip for the members of the Gordian Division, both human and AI: fly out to Saturn, inspect the construction of their latest time machines, then fly back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut when the division’s top scientist and chief engineer are killed in the same freak accident, suspicions of foul play run deep. Detective Isaac Cho is sent in to investigate, but he has more on his mind than just a new case. His superiors have saddled him with an exchange officer from the neighboring Admin—Special Agent Susan Cantrell—whose notion of proper “law enforcement” involves blowing up criminals first and skipping questions entirely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDespite his objections, Cho is stuck with an untested partner on a case that increasingly reeks of murder and conspiracy. The unlikely pair must work together to unravel this mystery, and soon they discover their unique combination of skills might just provide the edge they need.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut nothing is ever simple where the Gordian Division is involved.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot even time itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e  \u003cstrong\u003e“. . .moments of humor amid the expected culture clashes, and the exploration of the authors’ well-realized far-future world. . .It’s pure entertainment.” —Publishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium mass market paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-janus-file.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE JANUS FILE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"chapter\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBACKGROUND OF EXOTIC PLACES\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p6\"\u003eSaturn is the most beautiful planet in the whole solar system, or so those who live on it claim. Certainly, the ornate majesty of its many splendid rings bejewels the gas giant in ways no other planet can match, and its plethora of richly varied moons provide suitable dance partners to such a lavishly decorated debutante.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p5\" name=\"p5\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut beauty alone did not bring humanity to Saturn. Matter and energy did, and by those measures, Saturn and its flock of moons bask in decadent wealth. Fortune seekers cannot claim that wealth as easily as the riches within the comfortable and familiar gravity well of Earth, but countless treasure troves exist for those with the will to seek them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p6\" name=\"p6\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd seek them humanity has.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p7\" name=\"p7\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we approach the fourth millennium, humanity’s fingerprints have spread across the solar system, and even beyond. The terraforming of Earth’s only moon has already been completed, and ambitious terraforming projects toil within the atmospheres of Venus and Mars, gradually transforming those worlds, as well. Great machines loom over the planet Mercury, ready to transform the airless rock into a solar-collecting swarm around the Sun…if the legal hurdles are ever fully cleared. Artificial habitats and great vessels dot the solar system from one end to the other, and the light and data of a thriving society fill the vacuum between worlds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p8\" name=\"p8\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy comparison, Saturn and its moons appear much as they have since ancient times. Naturally, given the extent of humanity’s expansion, a wide variety of technological constructs orbit the gas giant, and cities and facilities of varying sizes are sprinkled across its moons. The largest of them is the dome of Promise City, situated at the heart of a cluster of gargantuan machines on the cold, shrouded moon of Titan, where the nitrogen-rich atmosphere and lakes of liquid methane have barely been touched by local terraforming efforts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p9\" name=\"p9\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese and many others might be expected, but a closer examination of Saturn’s environs reveal more striking changes. For one, the co-orbital moons of Janus and Epimetheus, once famous for swapping orbits every four years, are gone, replaced by a wide shoal zone interspersed with massive industrial printers and mobile factories maneuvering around the skeletons of active construction projects. The resources of the Atlas Shoal are a pittance compared to the original mass of the two devoured moons, but to see the results of that grand labor, one must travel into the atmosphere of Saturn itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p10\" name=\"p10\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpecifically, to the cloud band at plus forty latitude, which enjoys relatively calm weather on a planet known for its fierce winds. There one may spy a speck of white floating amongst the clouds. Travel a little closer, and the immense scale of the object quickly becomes apparent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p11\" name=\"p11\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocals call it the “Shark Fin,” for the megastructure does indeed resemble the downturned fin of a colossal aquatic monster. The official designation is Janus-Epimetheus, named in honor of the two moons sacrificed to its construction, and often shortened to simply “Janus.” Its outer surface is a pristine white, and its rounded bow cuts through tan clouds of ammonia ice near the top, and reddish-orange thunderheads of ammonium hydrosulfide near the bottom. In total, Janus measures one hundred kilometers in height and two hundred kilometers across the widest point of its flattened, oval crown. Natural gravity is a pleasant 1.065 times Earth’s, and external pressure near the top is roughly one atmosphere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p12\" name=\"p12\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJanus does not travel through this sea of golden and rust-colored clouds alone, but it stands above the rest for being the largest and most ambitious habitat by far. Over a billion physical and abstract citizens call Janus their home, for this is the thriving heart of the Saturn State, as well as its seat of governance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p13\" name=\"p13\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shining towers of Ballast Heights, capital city of the Saturn State, sprawl atop the Shark Fin’s crown, close to and a little behind the prow. Almost every building’s cross section takes the form of an elongated teardrop when viewed from above, allowing the city to weather the windy seasons with minimal fuss.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p14\" name=\"p14\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree towers stretch skyward above the rest, their upper levels coated in dozens of giant dishes and precision lasers shielded behind glass domes to protect the equipment from gusts of wind. All of the dishes and lasers point toward the heavens, and data packets and abstract citizens alike come and go through these transceiver towers in a continuous ballet of photons and electrons. Each tower’s infostructure buffers thousands of connectomes at a time, the digital minds of these citizens paused for a short interval as they await transmission off-world, while separate infostructures accept the new arrivals by placing them in a run-state before staff welcome them cordially to Janus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p15\" name=\"p15\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll of this is routine on the worlds of the Consolidated System Government. Boring even. But only because we at LifeBeam turn the extraordinary into the everyday.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p16\" name=\"p16\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA virtual banner flutters behind the pinnacle of one of these three towers, declaring our company’s name in bold, electric blue letters while our slogan of TRAVEL LIGHT! hovers below.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p17\" name=\"p17\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe physical mechanisms of our infostructure stretch from the top of the tower all the way down to the lowest subbasement in a solid column of robust computational engineering. Redundant systems work in trios, constantly checking and rechecking not only their own work, but that of their neighbors, and emergency backups stand ready to activate within moments in the event of a catastrophic failure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p18\" name=\"p18\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tower’s systems are drastically—one might say \u003ci\u003eobsessively\u003c\/i\u003e—overengineered against any conceivable failure. They have to be, for their cargo is life itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p10\"\u003e—\u003ci\u003eA LifeBeam Travel Guide to Saturn\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"chapter\"\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"chapter\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p6\"\u003eEighty-three light-minutes from Saturn, a construct far smaller than Janus but still impressive orbited the planet Earth. The dark blue hull of Argus Station took the form of a fat cylinder, and over nine million officers of the Consolidated System Police worked on or from there, including the heads of the six specialized divisions that supplemented the rank and file.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p24\" name=\"p24\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGordian Division was the newest addition, having been formed less than eight months ago after a calamity known as the Gordian Knot had almost destroyed sixteen universes, including the one the citizens of SysGov called home. The division, charged with enforcing time travel and transdimensional laws, might have been small compared to the more established elements of SysPol, but the monumental challenges before them—and a clear understanding of the countermeasures those challenges required—had led to the division’s rapid growth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p25\" name=\"p25\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeveral levels near Argus Station’s south pole had been allocated to the Gordian Division, having stood empty for several decades, and much of the space had already been filled with offices, labs, engineering bays, and hangars for time machines called TTVs or transtemporal vehicles. This influx of personnel brought with it the side effect of attracting clusters of civilian businesses eager to support the new division—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p26\" name=\"p26\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e—and make a little Esteem in the process.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p27\" name=\"p27\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLifeBeam was one such business, and a newly constructed transceiver tower descended from Argus Station’s south pole for the exclusive use of Gordian Division abstract and synthetic personnel. The company had constructed an expansive waiting lounge at the tower’s base, far larger than was required for current traffic levels, but perhaps this was an investment in what many saw as Gordian Division’s inevitable rise in the future.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p28\" name=\"p28\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo men sat on a couch near the outer wall with a virtual image displaying the blue globe of Earth beneath their feet. These two men, the chief scientist and lead engineer of Gordian Division, were the only occupants of the lounge, and both were oblivious to the crime that was about to happen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p29\" name=\"p29\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Time.” Doctor Andover-Chen said the single word with a grand gesture of his arms as faint mathematical equations danced under the glassy skin of his synthoid body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p30\" name=\"p30\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJoachim Delacroix looked over with a perplexed face. His own synthoid was externally accurate to his original human body, complete with freckled face and unruly reddish-blond hair. Both men wore the gray-green uniforms of Gordian Division with golden eye and sword flashes at the shoulder.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p31\" name=\"p31\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What about it?” Delacroix asked finally, not sure what to expect from the eccentric scientist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p32\" name=\"p32\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Where does the arrow of time come from? What force drives it forward?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p33\" name=\"p33\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are you asking me?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p34\" name=\"p34\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s more a question to myself, but if you’d like to take a stab at it, I wouldn’t mind.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p35\" name=\"p35\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What brought this on?” Delacroix dodged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p36\" name=\"p36\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I find myself with time to think,” Andover-Chen explained. “And so I wonder, \u003ci\u003ewhy\u003c\/i\u003e do I have time to think?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p37\" name=\"p37\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are you really that bored?” Delacroix checked a timer in his virtual vision. “We’ve only been here twelve minutes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p38\" name=\"p38\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Twelve minutes. And what are those, really? Why does the universe even need time? Why not exist simply as a collection of spatial dimensions?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p39\" name=\"p39\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t know, but it’d be pretty boring without it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p40\" name=\"p40\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Or perhaps two dimensions of time?” Andover-Chen mused. “Why can’t time be structurally like a sheet instead of a line? And why only one direction?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p41\" name=\"p41\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry, but you’re outside my specialty. I just do impellers.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p42\" name=\"p42\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And that’s exactly my point.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p43\" name=\"p43\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It is?” Delacroix raised an eyebrow, not sure where his colleague was going with this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p44\" name=\"p44\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why, yes.” The scientist turned to him. “We travel through time. We bend the chronotons around us to our will. But do we really \u003ci\u003eunderstand\u003c\/i\u003e the fundamental nature of time?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p45\" name=\"p45\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, if \u003ci\u003eyou\u003c\/i\u003e don’t, then none of us do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p46\" name=\"p46\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And so”—Andover-Chen spread his arms once more—“I find myself wondering about time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p47\" name=\"p47\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I think I have a pretty good grasp on what twelve minutes is.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p48\" name=\"p48\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“As do I.” Andover-Chen’s expression turned sour, and he crossed his arms and leaned back on the couch. “Are they ready for us yet?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p49\" name=\"p49\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I think they’re still waiting for the last transit confirmation.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p50\" name=\"p50\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I wish they wouldn’t call us in here until they’re ready. If there’s one thing about time I’m sure about, it’s that I loathe wasting it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p51\" name=\"p51\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That makes two of us,” Delacroix agreed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p52\" name=\"p52\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“By the way”—Andover-Chen knuckled him in the shoulder—“is it just me, or have you been in a better mood lately?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p53\" name=\"p53\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You think so?” Delacroix asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p54\" name=\"p54\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes. I started noticing it after we returned from Saturn the last time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p55\" name=\"p55\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh.” He thought on this for a moment. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p56\" name=\"p56\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Any particular reason?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p57\" name=\"p57\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDelacroix hesitated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p58\" name=\"p58\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry,” Andover-Chen said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p59\" name=\"p59\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, it’s all right.” He sighed. “I’ve just had a lot on my mind recently. Been going around feeling like my head isn’t screwed on straight, you know?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p60\" name=\"p60\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I know how that can be sometimes.” Andover-Chen flashed an encouraging smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p61\" name=\"p61\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I guess it’s just…” Delacroix hesitated again, then nodded. “It’s just that I’ve experienced a lot of trouble coming to terms with Selene’s death.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p62\" name=\"p62\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Of course, you have. That’s only natural.” The scientist nodded knowingly. “Ah, Selene. I wish I’d known her better. She must have been a remarkable woman, given what you’ve told me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p63\" name=\"p63\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“She was,” Delacroix agreed. “Better than I deserved. And as painful as it’s been waking up without her every morning, I think I’m finally coming to terms with life without her.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p64\" name=\"p64\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good for you.” Andover-Chen clapped him on the shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p65\" name=\"p65\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m not done healing. Not by a long shot. But I do feel like I’ve made the first significant step forward in months. In a way, this is the first time I’ve felt even close to normal since she was killed.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p66\" name=\"p66\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, you look the part, take it from me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p67\" name=\"p67\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks.” Delacroix gave him a half smile. “You want to know the trick I came up with?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p68\" name=\"p68\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure. Let’s hear it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p69\" name=\"p69\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I asked myself if Selene would be proud of the way I’ve been acting recently, and the answer was no.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p70\" name=\"p70\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That seems rather harsh.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p71\" name=\"p71\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But it’s the truth. I’ve been yearning for something I can’t ever have again.” Delacroix shook his head. “And that’s no way to live. I have to heal, and the only way to do that is to first \u003ci\u003eaccept\u003c\/i\u003e my new reality.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p72\" name=\"p72\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Too true.” Andover-Chen sighed. “Still, the healing process is a long one.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p73\" name=\"p73\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But I’m confident that \u003ci\u003etime\u003c\/i\u003e”—Delacroix’s eyes twinkled with mischief—“will heal my wounds.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p74\" name=\"p74\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAndover-Chen laughed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p75\" name=\"p75\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA three-note chime played across their virtual hearing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p76\" name=\"p76\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Will Doctor Andover-Chen and Chief Engineer Delacroix please head to Outbound Transmission? The last of your relay confirmations just came in.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p77\" name=\"p77\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s time to go.” Delacroix stood up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p78\" name=\"p78\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And so it is.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p79\" name=\"p79\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two men headed through the open arch marked OUTBOUND where LifeBeam technicians guided each of them into separate caskets. Delacroix clicked through the virtual prompts to authorize the suspension and transmission of his connectome, then eased down flat and closed his eyes. The top sealed him in, and he willingly placed his connectome into a paused state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p80\" name=\"p80\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe casket’s infostructure interfaced with his synthetic body, extracted the connectome, and moved it to a data buffer awaiting outbound transmission along with Andover-Chen’s. A crane retrieved their caskets, now with dataless synthoids, and stored them in a secure holding area for when the two would eventually transmit back to Argus Station.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p81\" name=\"p81\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe outbound transmission laser locked onto a target reception dish on a LifeBeam relay station two light-seconds away. Both sides had confirmed the transmission timing and coordinates. A clock ticked down to zero, and a precision laser fired the two connectomes to the relay station.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p82\" name=\"p82\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two Gordian connectomes passed through eight more relay stations before arriving at Kronos Station, the SysPol headquarters orbiting Saturn. There, the same process played out between the LifeBeam tower on Kronos and the one rising above Ballast Heights.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p83\" name=\"p83\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth sides confirmed the timing and coordinates, a timer reached zero, and a final laser fired the photons of Andover-Chen and Joachim Delacroix down to the Janus megastructure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p84\" name=\"p84\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut an unexpected maintenance routine activated in the reception dish, forcing a shutdown of the primary infostructure as well as the two secondary support infostructures. Backup systems detected the fault within nanoseconds and immediately initiated recovery procedures, but the shutdown process refused all commands to abort.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p85\" name=\"p85\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith all three systems in control of the dish unresponsive to external commands, backup systems initiated an emergency purge of the infostructure and restored all code to default. This process would take three whole seconds, after which the dish would be restarted and normal operations could resume.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p86\" name=\"p86\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut it was already too late.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p87\" name=\"p87\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAndover-Chen and Delacroix arrived less than a second after the dish shut down, and the photons of their minds rebounded off the inert collection dish and scattered into the clouds of Saturn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46430642995491,"sku":"JANUS-MMP","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TheJanusFileShopify2.png?v=1694889606"},{"product_id":"print-the-weltall-file-signed-hardback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Weltall File (Hardback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Four in the Gordian Division series. Published by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED HARDBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by both David Weber and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-weltall-file.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCOME FOR THE GAMES. STAY FOR THE MURDER.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA mystery in the Gordian Division universe.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Weltall Tournament’s professional VR games were supposed to be a symbol of cooperation between SysGov and its militaristic neighbor, the Admin. But that was before star Admin player Elly Sako received a death threat, written in blood next to a copy of her own severed head. The Admin’s Department of Temporal Investigation swiftly seizes control of the crime scene, and the tournament transforms into a flashpoint of charged politics and conflicting jurisdictions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSysPol Detective Isaac Cho and DTI Special Agent Susan Cantrell—partners in the officer exchange program—are sent in to take charge of the investigation and bring the situation under control. But solving this mystery won’t be easy, and the pair struggles to determine who is telling the truth. A jilted relationship between players soon explodes into signs of a far-reaching conspiracy, and the two detectives find themselves racing against time before the tournament ends.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause the killer will be the only one who wins, should they fail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“. . .moments of humor amid the expected culture clashes, and the exploration of the authors’ well-realized far-future world. . .It’s pure entertainment.” —Publishers Weekly on \u003cem\u003eThe Janus File\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium hardback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-weltall-file.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE WELTALL FILE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"chapter\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p11first\"\u003e“You dumped me for a fucking tin man?!” Grafton Lacan spat from just outside the open hotel suite door.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p41\" name=\"p41\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eElly Sako crossed her arms underneath her breasts, shook her head at him like a disapproving parent, then sighed wearily and even gave the idiot a roll of her eyes for good measure. She stood at the threshold, weight centered over her back leg, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt while water dripped from her short, black hair. She tried to avoid public appearances while looking this frumpy, but the hotel hallway was private enough, and Lacan had arrived—\u003ci\u003euninvited\u003c\/i\u003e—at her door moments after she’d finished her shower, so it wasn’t like she had much of a choice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p42\" name=\"p42\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExcept for ignoring him. Which, in hindsight, might have been the better option.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p43\" name=\"p43\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA glistening lock fell over her eyes, and she combed it back with her fingers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p44\" name=\"p44\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLacan stared at her with his reddened, teary, uncomposed, and utterly \u003ci\u003eunattractive\u003c\/i\u003e eyes. Moist trails rain down his cheeks, and his lower lip quivered. He seemed like a different person now, no longer the cocky young man with the gorgeous blonde braid, the mischievous baby blues, and those wonderfully adventurous hands of his. Those physical traits remained, of course, but they no longer added up to the same total anymore. Somewhere along the way, the vibrant young man she’d bedded during the Admin’s universal qualifier had been replaced with this sniveling, emotional wreck standing before her, a wreck that \u003ci\u003einsisted\u003c\/i\u003e on having a pointless heart-to-heart when all she wanted to do was go to take a nap!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p45\" name=\"p45\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eUhh!\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p46\" name=\"p46\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLacan sniffled. Not in a subtle way either, but loud enough for her to hear suction moving viscous snot further back up his nasal cavity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p47\" name=\"p47\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Seriously?” Sako raised an eyebrow at him. “Of all the things you could say to me, \u003ci\u003ethat’s\u003c\/i\u003e what you picked?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p48\" name=\"p48\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“He’s not even flesh and blood!” Lacan whined.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p49\" name=\"p49\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, please,” she scolded, her patience growing thin. “His mommy carried him in her womb, same as our moms did. He just transitioned into a synthoid, is all, and not that long ago either. Besides, I didn’t ‘dump’ you. That’s what I’ve been trying to drill through your thick skull! There was never anything to dump. It was a harmless diversion. Nothing more.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p50\" name=\"p50\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A \u003ci\u003ediversion\u003c\/i\u003e?” He sucked in some more snot. “Is that all I mean to you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p51\" name=\"p51\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, yeah.” She shrugged her shoulders. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p52\" name=\"p52\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But I love you!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p53\" name=\"p53\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe sighed, put a delicate hand to her forehead, and rubbed her brow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p54\" name=\"p54\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFuck. Me.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p55\" name=\"p55\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’d used the L-word. Why in Yanluo’s burning hells did he have to toss \u003ci\u003ethat \u003c\/i\u003eloaded word into the conversation?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p56\" name=\"p56\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou really should have seen this coming,\u003c\/i\u003e she thought to herself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p57\" name=\"p57\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d known Lacan wouldn’t take this news well, and to a certain degree, the blame for that fell on her. After all, he’d used the L-word once or twice or…five times before? She wasn’t sure, but she also had failed to make her own feelings clear at the time. In her defense, she’d been too busy saying things like \u003ci\u003e“Yes! Harder! Like that!” \u003c\/i\u003eto really concentrate on the long-term consequence of her nonexistent reply.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p58\" name=\"p58\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd so here we are. Fuck.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p59\" name=\"p59\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d known he’d take the news poorly—it was one of the reasons why she wanted to be done with him—but she never suspected he’d handle it \u003ci\u003ethis \u003c\/i\u003epoorly, good grief! Honestly, she would have preferred not to say anything, instead letting him shuffle around blindly until he stumbled into the truth on his own. But he could be so \u003ci\u003edense\u003c\/i\u003e, and then he’d wanted to try out sex in zero gravity on the way over, and so she’d made the nature of their relationship—or, more specifically, their \u003ci\u003elack \u003c\/i\u003eof a relationship—crystal clear to him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p60\" name=\"p60\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBut now we’re having this blasted heart-to-heart, or whatever he wants to call it.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p61\" name=\"p61\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Do you actually love him?” he blubbered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p62\" name=\"p62\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, grow up.” Sako sighed heavily, frustration welling up within her. “How much clearer do you want me to make this?” She cupped her mouth and leaned toward him. “It’s none of your business!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p63\" name=\"p63\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It is my business! I love you!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p64\" name=\"p64\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I don’t love you!” She shrugged her arms. “Sorry, but not sorry. What the hell do you want me to do about it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p65\" name=\"p65\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is this all I mean to you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p66\" name=\"p66\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, please!” she scoffed. “You’re acting like we were married or something. You were a quick fling, Lacan, nothing more! It was fun while it lasted, but you know what? It’s over now! Move on, already! I certainly have!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p67\" name=\"p67\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“He’s behind this, isn’t he!” He pointed an unsteady finger at her. “He’s trying to drive a wedge between us!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p68\" name=\"p68\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, he’s not!” she snapped, her frustration boiling over into anger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p69\" name=\"p69\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And how would you know that?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p70\" name=\"p70\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because I’d choose him over you any day of the week, you fucking idiot!” she snapped, and immediately regretted her words. She’d wanted to end this stupid and pointless shouting match, but instead the sniveling wreck he’d become morphed before her eyes into a font of indignant rage. His back straightened, eyes ablaze with an inner fire, and he took a step toward her and poked her collar bone with a finger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p71\" name=\"p71\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then why don’t you do him already!” he bellowed in her face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p72\" name=\"p72\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No fucking need!” She flashed a condescending smirk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p73\" name=\"p73\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And why’s that?” he shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p74\" name=\"p74\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because I already did!” She glared at him with fierce, unflinching eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p75\" name=\"p75\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fuck you!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p76\" name=\"p76\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Been there, done that,” she countered. “And you know what? He’s a better lover than you’ll ever be!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p77\" name=\"p77\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then you’d better enjoy it while it lasts! Because next time I see him, I’m going to rip off his metal dick! And \u003ci\u003ethen\u003c\/i\u003e, I’m going to find you and use it to beat the living shit out of y—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p78\" name=\"p78\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Excuse me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p79\" name=\"p79\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe newcomer’s voice was not particularly loud or forceful. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was almost a whisper, though it had the immediate effect of silencing both Lacan and Sako. Not because of his soft voice or simple words, but because of the body those words originated from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p80\" name=\"p80\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNeither of them had noticed Agent Miguel Pérez’s quiet arrival. The hotel hallway bent in a gentle curve, and Pérez stood just far enough around it that Lacan had to back up and turn to face him while Sako had to peek her head out past the threshold. Pérez’s synthoid body was tall and broad shouldered with gray skin and yellow eyes, harkening from a time when closed-minded fools like Lacan were far more common throughout the Admin and the public had demanded these artificial supersoldiers be distinct from flesh-and-blood humans. He wore the blue uniform of an Admin Peacekeeper, peaked cap fitted neatly on his head, and a heavy sidearm at his hip.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p81\" name=\"p81\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is something wrong?” Pérez asked, as if he were unaware of their hormone-fueled shouting match. “If so, may I be of assistance?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p82\" name=\"p82\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSako hadn’t heard him approach. Granted, she’d been preoccupied, but Pérez moved \u003ci\u003equietly\u003c\/i\u003e for such a big man, synthetic or not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p83\" name=\"p83\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Umm. I, uhh…” Lacan sputtered, backing off, the fury gone from his eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p84\" name=\"p84\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes,” Sako answered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p85\" name=\"p85\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePérez nodded to her. “What seems to be the problem, Miss Sako?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p86\" name=\"p86\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Lacan and I were engaged in what you might call a…” She smiled suddenly. “A scholarly debate.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p87\" name=\"p87\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A debate, is it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p88\" name=\"p88\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes. Perhaps you could help us sort it all out.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p89\" name=\"p89\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I’ll certainly try. What’s the subject?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p90\" name=\"p90\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe flashed a toothy grin. “Synthoid genitalia.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p91\" name=\"p91\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I see,” he replied in a tone more appropriate to discussing the weather than his own synthetic anatomy. “I suppose, of the three of us, I can rightfully claim to be the expert on that front.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p92\" name=\"p92\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wonderful!” She clapped her hands together. “You see, Lacan seems to believe male synthoids in SysGov have metal dicks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p93\" name=\"p93\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ah. Well, that’s a bit different, then. I can’t claim any direct experience with \u003ci\u003eSysGov\u003c\/i\u003e synthoids, though I can certainly share what I’ve heard.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p94\" name=\"p94\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, do tell,” she said brightly. “I’d \u003ci\u003elove \u003c\/i\u003eto hear your take on this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p95\" name=\"p95\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLacan glared at her use of the word “love.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p96\" name=\"p96\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Perhaps we could have that discussion some other time,” Pérez said. “Agent Arlot?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p97\" name=\"p97\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sir!” A second gray-skinned synthoid stepped forward. She hadn’t heard \u003ci\u003ethis\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eone\u003c\/i\u003e either. She stuck her head out further and glanced down the hallway, wondering if Pérez had a whole squad of synthoids waiting nearby, but the rest of the hallway was empty as far back as she could see.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p98\" name=\"p98\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I believe Mister Lacan would like an escort back to his suite.” Pérez faced the young man. “Isn’t that right, sir?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p99\" name=\"p99\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I…” Lacan’s face twisted in a snarl, as if he were about to lash out at her again, but instead he let out a sharp exhale and looked away. “Fine. I’m done here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p100\" name=\"p100\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Very good, sir,” Pérez said. “Arlot?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p101\" name=\"p101\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This way, sir.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p102\" name=\"p102\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArlot stepped up behind Lacan and gestured down the hall with an open palm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p103\" name=\"p103\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLacan glanced over to Sako one last time, grief and rage swirling in his eyes like a tempest. His lips cracked open, as if he wanted to get in one last word, but then he shook his head and stomped off with Arlot close behind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p104\" name=\"p104\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSako waited for him to disappear beyond the hallway’s curve, and then she let out a long, tired sigh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p105\" name=\"p105\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks, Pérez.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p106\" name=\"p106\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My pleasure. Now, before I head out—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p107\" name=\"p107\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh no!” Her eyes twinkled at him. “You’re not getting off that easily!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p108\" name=\"p108\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Excuse me?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p109\" name=\"p109\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You still owe me an answer.” She leaned her shoulder against the doorjamb. “What exactly \u003ci\u003ehave\u003c\/i\u003e you heard about SysGov synthoids?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p110\" name=\"p110\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Seriously?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p111\" name=\"p111\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come on. This is important cultural information.” She spread her arms. “Lay the truth on me, baby!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p112\" name=\"p112\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s more along the lines of secondhand testimony than truth.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p113\" name=\"p113\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, yeah.” She made a shooing gesture. “Just get to the good stuff.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p114\" name=\"p114\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well,” he said with a brief, resigned exhale. “If you must know, it’s my understanding that the cosmetics on SysGov synthoids, genitals included, are comparable to our own newer models. I doubt most people could tell the difference between a synthoid and an organic body, even under”—he smiled ever so slightly—“close, personal inspection.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p115\" name=\"p115\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, that sounds about right.” She nodded, but then tilted her head. “Wait a second. You said ‘most.’”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p116\" name=\"p116\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just something I’ve heard while working with the people over here,” Pérez continued.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p117\" name=\"p117\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Anything juicy?” she pressed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p118\" name=\"p118\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I suppose a little. Truth be told, I haven’t witnessed one myself, but I hear the people from this universe’s Oort cloud are quite…adventurous in the kinds of bodies they inhabit.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p119\" name=\"p119\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Adventurous how?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p120\" name=\"p120\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m afraid that’s the limit of my knowledge. You’ll have to ask someone else if you’re still curious.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p121\" name=\"p121\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I just might do that.” She stepped away from the door and was about to palm it shut when Pérez placed his hand in the way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p122\" name=\"p122\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Actually, that’s not what I was about to say.” His eyes flicked past her. “I need to check your room.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p123\" name=\"p123\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What? \u003ci\u003eAgain?\u003c\/i\u003e”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p124\" name=\"p124\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p125\" name=\"p125\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What the hell for? One of your minions checked it like, I don’t know, half an hour ago.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p126\" name=\"p126\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“True, but the perimeter has been compromised.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p127\" name=\"p127\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come again?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p128\" name=\"p128\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You opened the door.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p129\" name=\"p129\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, good grief!” She rubbed her forehead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p130\" name=\"p130\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m sorry, but these are the rules. You opened the door, so now I need to sweep your room again.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p131\" name=\"p131\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But I was standing at the door the whole time!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p132\" name=\"p132\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There are plenty of miniaturized drones that could have escaped your notice, just to name one possibility.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p133\" name=\"p133\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Do you really think our hosts would be that nefarious?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p134\" name=\"p134\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Doesn’t matter what I think. These are the rules. I just follow them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p135\" name=\"p135\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Can’t this wait?” She yawned into her fist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p136\" name=\"p136\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Isn’t it a little early in the day to be yawning?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p137\" name=\"p137\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, well, I was up partying all night before the flight over to Luna.” She paused, and then grimaced. “I mean the flight over to \u003ci\u003ethis\u003c\/i\u003e Luna. Which was a flight from \u003ci\u003eour\u003c\/i\u003e Luna.” She crossed her arms. “You know what I mean?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p138\" name=\"p138\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes, I know exactly what you mean.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p139\" name=\"p139\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe nodded at the remark. The Admin’s Department of Temporal Investigation was handling all their transportation and security needs, which meant Pérez and his minions were all veterans of the DTI’s counterterrorism ops. Never mind that the “temporal” part of their name was something of a misnomer nowadays, since the DTI had expanded its role to regulate both temporal and \u003ci\u003etransdimensional\u003c\/i\u003e travel to and from the Admin’s True Present, as well as taken the lead on foreign relations with SysGov.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p140\" name=\"p140\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Okay, fine.” She stepped back and waved him in. “Just hurry up and secure my perimeter again, or whatever you want to call it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p141\" name=\"p141\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thank you. This won’t take long.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p142\" name=\"p142\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePérez took a device off his belt shaped like a stubby baton then walked past her and closed the door. He began a slow circuit of the room, holding the baton in front of him, occasionally raising or lowering it. It took longer than she’d have liked because this wasn’t the only room in her suite, which sprawled over \u003ci\u003ethree\u003c\/i\u003e floors and included four bedrooms, its own \u003ci\u003egravity lift\u003c\/i\u003e to get between floors, a three-story waterfall along the back, and a private pool shaped like a giant leaf on top! She wasn’t sure what their hosts thought she needed so much space and luxury for, but she wasn’t about to complain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p143\" name=\"p143\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe rested her back against the wall and yawned again, her thoughts wandering as she waited for Pérez to finish his sweep.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p144\" name=\"p144\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAm I doing the right thing?\u003c\/i\u003e she asked herself, and not for the first time, though her thoughts always led her back to the same answer, the same firm resolve to see where it all would lead. She didn’t know what the future held, but Opportunity or Fate or Good Fortune or Whatever-You-Wanted-To-Call-It had knocked at her door, and she’d answered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p145\" name=\"p145\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe risks, though. And the reactions people would have…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p146\" name=\"p146\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhat would my parents say?\u003c\/i\u003e she wondered. \u003ci\u003eHell, what would \u003c\/i\u003eeveryone\u003ci\u003e in both universes think of what I’m about to do?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p147\" name=\"p147\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe wasn’t on an Admin planet or moon, where even the strange possessed a certain comfortable familiarity. She was in a different \u003ci\u003euniverse\u003c\/i\u003e, with laws and culture all its own! The scope and wonder and alienness of this place boggled her mind. This Luna had open air \u003ci\u003ebeaches\u003c\/i\u003e, for crying out loud!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p148\" name=\"p148\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeaches!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p149\" name=\"p149\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Earth’s moon!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p150\" name=\"p150\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd that was hardly the most amazing spectacle over here. For one, her first experience with something as fantastical as artificial gravity had been when the grav tube had whisked her away to her \u003ci\u003ehotel suite!\u003c\/i\u003e What other marvels lurked around the corners of this society? And, more importantly, what treacherous pitfalls lay ahead, ready to snare her?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p151\" name=\"p151\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause, after all, she was in a realm of powers and authority she had no true concept of.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p152\" name=\"p152\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd yet she was about to—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p153\" name=\"p153\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All done,” Pérez said, walking over. “Thank you for your patience.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p154\" name=\"p154\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe looked up at him wordlessly, and the two stood in silence for long seconds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p155\" name=\"p155\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Miss Sako?” he asked at last.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p156\" name=\"p156\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry.” She blinked and shook her head. “Lost in my own head.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p157\" name=\"p157\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Perhaps a nap might help refresh you. You don’t want to be drowsy for the finals tomorrow.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p158\" name=\"p158\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I was about to take a nap, but Lacan showed up and then \u003ci\u003eyou\u003c\/i\u003e had to secure the perimeter, and well…”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p159\" name=\"p159\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes, yes. I’ll be going now.” Pérez opened the door, stepped through, then gave her a curt nod. “Have a pleasant day.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p160\" name=\"p160\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You, too.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p161\" name=\"p161\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe door closed, and her exaggerated fatigue melted away. She walked purposefully over to the kitchen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p162\" name=\"p162\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was another thing about this place. The suite had a \u003ci\u003ekitchen\u003c\/i\u003e, of all things, but the hotel had also installed a high-end food printer, so why would anyone bother \u003ci\u003emanually\u003c\/i\u003e preparing their meals?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p163\" name=\"p163\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe picked her infosystem wearable off the counter and slipped the band around her wrist. Secure protocols in the wearable interfaced with her Personal Implant Network and translated the surrounding SysGov infostructure for her virtual senses. Artwork appeared over blank white walls, showing picturesque views from across the terraformed Luna, and a menu materialized beside the food printer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p164\" name=\"p164\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe loaded the prepared order on her wearable, confirmed it, then leaned against the island counter in the middle of the kitchen. The timer ticked down, and she connected to the surrounding infostructure while she waited, sending a query for any news on the Weltall Tournament.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p165\" name=\"p165\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA segment from a news stream called the \u003ci\u003eNectaris Daily\u003c\/i\u003e pulsed at the top of her search list, and she selected it and let the virtual presentation unfold around her. She smiled thinly as she watched an abstraction of herself taking her first steps in SysGov.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p166\" name=\"p166\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe DTI chronoport filled her virtual vision like a giant, looming manta ray with weapon pods slung under its delta wing and a ramp extending down from its armored belly. The virtual image of herself led the party down the ramp, waving and smiling at the press and tournament officials assembled in the hangar. The other five players formed a loose gaggle behind her with Pérez and another synthoid pulling up the rear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p167\" name=\"p167\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWong Fei and the other two SysGov finalists were returning from a two-week sight-seeing tour around Earth in the Admin, which she and the Admin players had accompanied them on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p168\" name=\"p168\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe was a tall, handsome man with a dignified but not arrogant air about him and a pleasant, barely-there smile. His cool, dark eyes swept his surroundings studiously. He kept his dark hair short, which made him stand out from Admin men with their long braids or ponytails or hair spilling over their shoulders, but she kind of liked it. That and all the other ways he was different.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p169\" name=\"p169\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was…refreshing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p170\" name=\"p170\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEspecially after Lacan’s blithering lack of self-control.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p171\" name=\"p171\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe thought drew her eyes to Lacan near the back of the players. Everyone else was waving and smiling, even the normally dour Shingo Masuda from the Admin’s Earth. But not Lacan. Instead, he glared at his perceived rival’s back. If his eyes had been lasers, they would have burned a hole through the back of Wong Fei’s head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p172\" name=\"p172\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Love,” she scoffed. “Ha!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p173\" name=\"p173\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer time together with Wong Fei had been short—barely a month since she first saw him at the universal qualifier—but it had also been \u003ci\u003edense\u003c\/i\u003e, and once again a nervous flutter within her chest made her question if she was doing the right thing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p174\" name=\"p174\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe pushed her doubts down, locking them away in her heart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p175\" name=\"p175\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe food printer beeped, and she closed the news abstraction and pushed off the counter to walk over. Mechanisms built into the wall shifted her order up to the delivery port, the circular panel irised open, and a tray extended out—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p176\" name=\"p176\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut instead of food, the tray held a severed head atop a white plate. The head was her own, down to the very last detail, even though it couldn’t be. Her own eyes were rolled back into their sockets, and her own tongue lolled out of a loose, lifeless jaw. Words written in blood formed an arch before the severed head, and it took her wearable a moment to translate the SysGov version of English into her own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p177\" name=\"p177\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe gory message read: LEAVE OR DIE.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46716631941411,"sku":null,"price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TheWeltallFileSIGNEDHardback.png?v=1696620092"},{"product_id":"print-titan-mage-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Titan Mage (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Titan Mage series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMagic powers? His own mech? A whole airship of gorgeous women desperate for his genes? Yes, please!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParalyzed by a drunk driver, let go from his job, and stuck in a sad, stagnant town in the middle of nowhere, Joseph Locke was having the worst day of his life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then he \u003cem\u003edied\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut considering that he wakes up with a brand new body, in the cockpit of a badass steampunk robot, on an airship of nothing but hot babes, his next life may not be all that bad. Especially when he learns that he’s a void mage—the rarest and most powerful of all mages on the world of Haven. And his shipmates want to help him make \u003cem\u003emore\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs if that weren’t enough, they offer Locke a job piloting one of their mechs, which they call Titans. In the meantime, Locke has to learn his way around this exciting world, all while coming to grips with his new—and \u003cem\u003edangerous\u003c\/em\u003e—occupation. Will he be able to master his Titan? How can he best upgrade the machine to become as badass as possible? Why’s a strange parasitic sludge falling from the sky? And what’s up with the ghost of a space witch living in his Titan—and inside his head?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eWARNING\u003c\/em\u003e: \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun fantasy adventure containing steam both punk and smutty: raunchy sausage-obsessed mechanics, lusty airship captains, prurient mech pilots, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Edie Skye has somehow managed to mix together LitRPG, magical mecha, and a spicy harem romance into a story that is fun and great entertainment. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one night, but here we are.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a teenager, I drooled over the mechs of Robotech and Macross, and nothing since then has captured my love of those massive robots as the titans of Titan Mage.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from TITAN MAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How many are there?” Locke asked, his body cocooned safely within the massive bulk of Titan Chimera. The war machine towered over two stories tall, a humanoid frame of crimson armor plates over black joints and artificial muscles. Gold filigree—faded from wear and tear from who-knew-how-many battles—highlighted a few edges, accentuating its sturdy, powerful build.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke walked the titan up to the square opening in the floor, where diffused light from the sunrise spilled into the airship’s long central hangar bay. He clenched a gargantuan fist around a support rafter running the length of the ceiling and peered down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMorning mist shrouded the base of Mount Driver, and thick pine forests climbed its craggy slopes, thinning out into bare rock and snow near the mountain’s peak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExcept for a glint of blue and silver moving along the forest’s edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA \u003cem\u003elarge\u003c\/em\u003e glint. Moving fast for something so big.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ember?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hold it,” she radioed from Titan Long Shot. “I’m not in position yet. Almost there.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Take your time,” he sighed. Or he’d intended to, but his voice cracked at the end. Jitters ate at his nerves, and butterflies fluttered in the pit of his stomach. Fighting monsters in a titan was one thing, but this? This was on a whole different scale of crazy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhy did I agree to this? \u003c\/em\u003eLocke thought. \u003cem\u003eWhy did I \u003c\/em\u003esuggest \u003cem\u003ethis\u003c\/em\u003e?!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In position,” Ember reported. The glint settled atop an outthrust of stone on the mountain, almost like a ship’s bow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And?” Locke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I see them. Right where we thought they’d be.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How many?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“One titan, which we expected … plus two heavy weapon quads. Big ones, too. Maybe thirty tons each.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And how many titties?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe radio fell silent for long, agonized seconds. He could almost feel Ember rolling her eyes at him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For the last time, Locke, the ‘small titans’ are \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e titties! They’re called rigs!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I know that,” he countered, gazing once more at the drop. “But consider the world from my perspective, just for a moment. I’m \u003cem\u003enervous\u003c\/em\u003e, and I’ve been nervous since I agreed to this plan.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s \u003cem\u003eyour\u003c\/em\u003e plan!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s beside the point. What \u003cem\u003eis\u003c\/em\u003e the point is I made a lame little joke back then in an attempt to make myself feel better. And you know the response I got? \u003cem\u003eNone\u003c\/em\u003e of you laughed at my joke. So guess what? I’m calling them titties until I start feeling better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, good grief.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Remember, I’m about to leap from this airship in a seventeen-ton coffin, and the only thing preventing me from going crunch at the end is an upgrade we’ve never tested!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re not that high up,” Ember jabbed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, you think so? Alyssa, how high up are we?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just a hair under six thousand feet,” she radioed from the airship’s bridge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Right. Over a mile up, then. And not only that, but I’m dropping in next to some bad people who want us dead.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Try not to land right on top of them, would you?” Ember warned. “You’ll block my shots.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll \u003cem\u003etry\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Ember,” Alyssa cut in. “Back to Locke’s question, before he went off on this weird tangent. How many rigs do you see?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ten to fifteen. Hard to be exact. Some of them are obscured by the trees, and the quads will probably have some extra rigs I can’t see from here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s a whole lot of titties,” Alyssa quipped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uhh,” Ember groaned. “Not you, too.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That make you feel any better, Locke?” Alyssa asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Marginally.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, shake it out of your system. You’re a titan mage now. You charge in where others fear to tread. Don’t ever forget that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know. And I won’t let you down. I promise.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’ve got this. I know you do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now brace yourself. Here comes the turn.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe airship banked to the left, and Locke shifted one of Titan Chimera’s feet outward for better balance. He raised an arm, and through the titan’s eyes he studied the catalyst built into the underside of its forearm. The crystalline rod ran from the machine’s wrist down to its elbow, appearing clear in its inert state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke channeled a simple matter-based spell through the catalyst. Titan Chimera’s void furnace roared alive, burning a steady stream of liquefied void condensate and releasing the powerful essence sealed within. Hot air and black smoke belched out of two louvers, one at each of the titan’s shoulders, and the crystalline catalyst darkened to the same hue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSilvery swiftmetal poured out of a port below the wrist and spun itself into the wireframe of a great shield, while one of the many gauges in his console wiggled downward. More swiftmetal spooled outward, filling in the shield until it formed a solid, reassuring wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke let the base of the shield thump down against the deck. The magical construct was as solid as wrought iron.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e “I’m getting better at this,” he declared privately with a smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re almost on top of them,” Alyssa radioed in. “You ready to jump?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“As ready as I’ll ever be.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Watch it,” Ember warned. “That unexpected turn must have grabbed their attention. Those two quads are swinging their guns your way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Time to go!” Locke let go of the rafter, took one heavy step forward, and let the titan’s bulk tilt over the side. His stomach slammed up into his throat, and Titan Chimera plummeted toward the forest below, wind howling past him, armor plates rattling in the turbulence. Seventeen tons may have granted the machine a degree of stubborn inertia, but a brick still flew like a brick.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Warm morning sunlight kissed the titan’s armor as Locke channeled a gravity-based spell into the catalysts in each leg. Crystalline rods built into the titan’s calves glowed a faint purple, and smoke of the same color plumed out of the titan’s louvers in long, pale streamers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis descent slowed and stabilized.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whew!” Locke exclaimed. “That’s one less worry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe twin gravity catalysts weren’t powerful enough for true flight, but he could use them to fall in a controlled manner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhich was all he needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good luck!” Alyssa called out. High above, the long, glinting shape of the airship banked away from the battle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Luck?” Locke scoffed. “Who needs luck when you can use mag—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA beam of blinding yellow light shot up from the ground and blared past him with an aura of crackling magical lightning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Never mind!” He raised his shield, but the act obstructed his view of the oncoming ground. “Damn. Didn’t think this through, did I?” he mumbled to himself and channeled a matter spell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSwiftmetal parted to form a narrow viewing slit near the top of the shield.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There. That’s bet—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA second beam speared into the shield. Silvery metal turned cherry red around the impact, and the force sent the titan spinning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yikes!” He channeled bursts of gravity thrust, righted the titan, and stabilized the shield with both hands. “Ember, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m being shot at!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is this a surprise?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Isn’t this the part where \u003cem\u003eyou\u003c\/em\u003e start shooting at them?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hold it. I don’t want to waste my opening shot.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother beam scythed past him, its nimbus crackling against the edge of his shield.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Would you fire sooner if I said pretty please?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No need. Aaaand … gotcha!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Long Shot channeled its own magic into a red lance of lethal energy. The beam pierced through the superstructure atop one of the enemy quads, rupturing its furnace. Superheated void essence screamed through the widening cracks like enraged, escaping steam, and lightning forked through the air. Mages and engineers in black livery scurried away from the four-legged weapon platform moments before its furnace blew in a cataclysm of unfocused energy magic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe blast ripped the entire superstructure off its turret mooring and flung it three stories into the air before it fell back down and crumpled against the ground next to the quad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s one!” Ember called out triumphantly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second quad swiveled its cannon toward Titan Long Shot and fired, but the crew clearly didn’t have a fix on her position, and the beam bored a ragged line across the stony mountainside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA scattering of shots from void rifles \u003cem\u003etinked\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eplinked\u003c\/em\u003e against Locke’s shield, and he channeled one final burst of gravity magic before Titan Chimera stomped feetfirst into a narrow clearing. He stumbled forward, grabbed the thick trunk of an ancient pine, and planted his feet. The titan’s forward movement plowed two grooves through the damp soil and nearly uprooted the tree before it came to a stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Made it!” Locke said, then chuckled with the joy of still being alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Three rigs heading toward you,” Ember reported. “North by northwest.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I see them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke faced the approaching weapons he thought of as “little titans.” These black-armored rigs stood twelve feet tall, less than half the height of his own Titan Chimera. They were too small to come with furnaces of their own, and instead received power from tanks of compressed void essence attached to their backs, which made them resemble deep sea divers to his eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke channeled through his matter catalyst, and the shield reformed into a massive hammer with a long, sturdy shaft. He gripped the weapon with both hands and charged the trio of rigs with long, thunderous strides.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rigs opened fire, and bolts of energy chipped at Locke’s armor. He closed the distance and swung the hammer in a wide overhand arc. The hammer slammed into the lead rig’s head, flattened it, then imploded the top half of its torso. It teetered forward, arms outstretched, groping the air before Locke kicked it over. The rig \u003cem\u003ethunked\u003c\/em\u003e to the ground on its back, its legs and arms thrashing in vain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other two rigs paused, perhaps now regretting their bold charge against this titan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who’s next?” Locke asked with a wide grin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46806746464547,"sku":"TITANMAGE-SIGNED","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TitanMageShopify.png?v=1697639128"},{"product_id":"print-monster-punk-horizon-omnibus-books-1-3-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Monster Punk Horizon Omnibus: Books 1-3 (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eContains the first three books in the Monster Punk Horizon series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSigned by H.P. Holo and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/monster-punk-horizon-box-set-books-1-3\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWANTED: Monster hunters. Practical armor optional.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePix and Jaz are two girls who just want to hunt monsters, craft armor, and pay off their college loans\u003c\/strong\u003e—but when a colossal new monster falls through the portals in the Dazzling Skies, it’ll take all their skills to survive it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir skill levels? Slightly above noob. \u003cspan\u003eBut when a colossal new monster falls through the portals in the Dazzling Skies, they’ll have to raise their game.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eWill Pix and Jaz defeat The Screecher, or will it be Game Over for the Monstrous Continent?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAbout the Series:\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonster Punk Horizon\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e is an exciting new fantasy comedy for fans of the \u003cem\u003eMonster Hunter\u003c\/em\u003e games and kick-butt ladies fighting monsters for fun and profit! GameLit readers will enjoy the focus on action over stats.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eOmnibus includes the following eBooks:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eMonster Punk Horizon\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eIsekai Skies\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eExcess\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"This book made me want to game in this world. The author has an incredible gift for smart, witty names and vivid description. The characters are appealing and carry you through this light, fun adventure with tremendous energy.\"\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e – Jane Lindskold, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e bestselling author \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Plays with planetary ecology as much as \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eDune \u003c\/span\u003eever did … Anyone who enjoys the monster hunter genre of video games should enjoy this.” – \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eUpstream Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/monster-punk-horizon-box-set-books-1-3\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from MONSTER PUNK HORIZON OMNIBUS: BOOKS 1-3\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix was the sort to over-prepare, and today she was glad she had.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe was already in her best armor, a combination of sturdy bone, fireproof Ignifex hide, and random metal pieces she’d found at the thrift shop, all obscured under a blue tabard because otherwise it looked mismatched and stupid. She hadn’t expected to need such armor today, but she’d only just carved the materials necessary to craft the Ignifex bits and wanted to break it in, and easy survey missions were perfect for that. Even so, she’d still brought two full flasks of Darla’s green bitterale and a selection of nut breads meant to counteract various adverse conditions, along with doubles of other standard kit components like jerky and bandaging for small injuries. She’d sharpened her grappler, recalibrated her podlauncher, outfitted her cloak with camouflaging Mantis Gems, and filled several pockets with charges for the centerpiece of her ensemble—her capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was about half the size of Jaz’s greatsword, but its primary difference was the cylinder at the base of its blade, loaded with a circuit of mysteric capacitors that would unleash a massive shock of whatever glitter magic she’d loaded. Though it wasn’t as impressive as Jaz’s weapon, it was still made of quality glistiron, and it was the best capacitor blade she could possibly build at this point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor someone of her experience, it was not a bad kit, but it was still lacking one thing …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know, we really should consider hiring some Khatoyants if you’re going to go barreling off after colossal undocumented monsters,” Pix said as she and Jaz traipsed through the jungle. “At the very least for the extra eyes. Also, take off your dragon head. We don’t need to be attracting random Nutpidges with a new monster running about.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz raspberried and yanked at the mask. Her goofy dragon sock pulled away to reveal a head of dark, sporty shoulder-length hair and skin that was much better suited to the high sun of the jungle than Pix’s pasty mayonnaise tone—but then that was why Pix equipped gems cut to deflect sunlight. Jaz, meanwhile, roamed the jungle in what amounted to monsterskin hot pants and whatever other starter pieces looked interesting at the thrift shop, which put her in a mess of bones, leather, and fur that while equally as ridiculous as Pix’s armor, at least had the good fortune to occur in matching shades of red.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ve got too many college loans to be thinking about Khatoyants,” Jaz retorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If we had Khatoyants looking out for us, we’d bring in \u003cem\u003emore loot\u003c\/em\u003e that would help us \u003cem\u003epay off our loans faster\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix continued. “Not to mention we’d be less likely to die.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If I die, my college loan problem is solved.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Does your dragon line regenerate?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNearly every native under the Dazzling Skies had dragon blood somewhere in their ancestry, a consequence of the Elder Dragons being one of the first races to fall from the sky when it had opened. They fell asleep soon afterward, but not before fear of their own extinction led them to reproduce with the other original skybornes (after taking the proper form, of course. Back then, the Elder Dragons frequently spent time in simpler forms for the quaint amusement of it).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dragon line had still nearly died out, as most of the other races had been genetically incompatible, but fortunately for the dragons, there had been one race that wasn’t. Humans, it turned out, were not only genetically compatible with most other skybornes, but would copulate with literally \u003cem\u003eanything\u003c\/em\u003e if they were bored or curious enough, as long as it talked and had bulges in interesting places. There hadn’t been many humans in the early days, but that hadn’t stopped them from contributing their bipedal build, general resilience—and, some claimed, their species’ innate luck—to the vast majority of the now-native population. Between magical dragon blood and lucky human blood, most natives were well-equipped for the extreme situations under the Dazzling Skies, but different lines bestowed different benefits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncluding the ability to \u003cem\u003eliterally not die\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz looked up in rare thought, as if she’d never pondered her dragon line before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come to think of it … I \u003cem\u003edon’t\u003c\/em\u003e know,” she said. “Does yours regenerate?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No. My dragon ancestry is so diluted by this point that the only thing I get out of it is pointy ears.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz felt the tips of her ears as if she hadn’t been living with them her entire life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn. My ears are \u003cem\u003eway\u003c\/em\u003e pointier than yours.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eMy point is\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix continued, “you should figure out whether you’re going to come back before you start making escape plans that end with dying. Besides, if you actually die, your family’s going to come after \u003cem\u003eme\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You say that as if we’re not likely to die together.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The point is to not die \u003cem\u003eat all\u003c\/em\u003e.” Pix rolled her eyes for the fifth time in as many minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReally, it was astonishing they’d been partners this long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey’d met on the mainland at Mysteric University, where an abysmally inaccurate roommate pairing algorithm had placed the level-headed, academically-minded Pix with … well, all that was Jaz.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix had A Plan. She was going to study Monstrous Ecology with the express intent of researching the monsters and biomes across the Dazzling Seas. Simple.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz had No Plan. She majored in something random because her interests changed every semester anyway, and when she found out Pix was heading to the Monstrous Continent, she figured she’d come too because why not?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz was from an elite family on the mainland who didn’t think well of her becoming a monster hunter when they’d planned for her to join her sisters in the family business. Monsters on the mainland had evolved differently than those of the Monstrous Continent. The fauna here had been roaming without significant civilized influence for centuries. “Monsters” on the mainland, if one could even call them that, had developed alongside advancing society, and these days the two existed in a close, symbiotic relationship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere the Monstrous Continent was largely wild and unsettled, the Wondrous Continent had few unexplored corners. Over the centuries, people and their companion monsters had sewn an eclectic blanket of civilization over the land, from the garden of parks and pastel cottages that made up Indigo Town, to the blue-green sprawl of roots, treehouses, and seafront that was Mangrove Beach, to the glowing metropolis of jewel-toned skyscapers that made up Opal City—at the heart of which beat Mysteric University, the headquarters of all monster-related research. The natives and skybornes had worked together to conceive it, of course, but it was all facilitated by the unique powers of the monsters themselves, such that they were inseparable from its success.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose mainland monsters still needed ways to expend their excess mysteric energy, though, and over the years Jaz’s family had built a sporting empire out of that basic need. Team Red was one of several champion franchises, and Jaz was supposed to be one of her family's monster-training champions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProblem was, Jaz was absolute dung at anything that involved strategy. Her family had sent her to college hoping she’d develop some skills that would be useful on the sidelines, but she was dung at anything that involved structure, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe wore her family name like a straitjacket. And when Pix told her about her plans for the Monstrous Continent, that straitjacket broke.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome people were not meant to live in organized societies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaspartina Red was one of those people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe thrived on the unpredictable energy of chaos, and that made her perfectly suited to this world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf course, it also meant she regularly brought chaos with her, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Extreme circumstances often led to extreme discoveries, after all, and though Jaz was unbridled, she wasn’t careless. Not \u003cem\u003ecompletely\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was what kept Pix with her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor though Jaz brought her own breed of trouble, she was the kind of person who would merrily go to the Hellpits and back for her friends and somehow bring some demonfey home for drinks afterward so they had drinking buddies for the next time they ended up in said Hellpits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd a person who could turn demonfey into friends was a truly useful one indeed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix was fairly certain Jaz was after this new monster specifically so she could befriend it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut even that wasn’t entirely inconvenient.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs they walked, Pix opened her logbook to a clean page in the back and marked it for future use. The pattern bellowed on the harbor’s Skull Organ was clear: observation only, unless the need for a hunt became obvious. After all, in cases like this, there was always a chance that the monster was not innately aggressive, but rather just scared and alarmed at suddenly being in a strange new world. They could decide whether it was truly dangerous after they knew a bit more about it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz, in front, crouched to examine a set of indentations in the soil: four digits radiated out from the central metacarpal pad like sunbeams cresting the horizon, ending in sharp, deep claw marks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ignifex on the field,” she reported. “The print’s still sharp around the edges, so it’s pretty fresh.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ugh, we \u003cem\u003eso\u003c\/em\u003e don’t need to deal with an Ignifex today,” Pix sighed, as Jaz put her face to the track and sniffed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Smells like he’s amped up his mucus production, too,” she continued. “He’s agitated.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We need an agitated Ignifex even less,” Pix groaned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Or we could be lucky this new thing wandered into Ignifex territory,” Jaz replied. “Maybe it’s weak to fire and general whompings.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“When have we ever been that lucky—oh, dung!” Pix exclaimed, for just as she said the operative word, a warbling belch of a roar split the air, and a massive, sinuous shape reared from the shadows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr rather, plopped from the shadows. But with an Ignifex, even a plop was the stuff of nightmares and a sudden need for fresh pants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex was most simply described as a salamander, if a salamander was fifteen feet long with muscular, tensile legs that could launch it an equal length; a ripped, red chunky body that could slam nearly any creature into submission with a single blow; and a goofy, goggle-eyed face with a swollen neck-pouch that made one question whether this monster had put on the right head when it left to go to prowl that morning. As if that wasn’t enough, its entire body shone with a thick reddish mucus—and the source of many of the rainforest’s woes. For when the Ignifex felt truly threatened, it clicked a hard plate at the front of its mouth ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t let it click!” Pix screeched, and with one fluid, instinctive motion, both hunters snatched their weapons from their holsters—Jaz her beloved greatsword, and Pix her nearly-as-beloved capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnfortunately, caught off guard and within a foot of the monster’s death plop, they were in no position to stop it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster clacked its bony beak. A tiny spark spat from its mouth—and then flashed across its entire body in an enormous \u003cem\u003ewhoomph!\u003c\/em\u003e of flame.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz and Pix threw their blades up as shields, but that didn’t stop odd flecks of flaming mucus from splattering off the creature and onto their armor. Pix didn’t worry; her Ignifex hide pieces were naturally resistant to the mucus flame. Jaz was not so lucky. She still wore her novice leathers because they were comfy and broken in, and only that—but then Jaz had once cooked a corn dog with her bare hand on a dare and came away with exactly one blister, so fire didn't matter to her dragon line as much as it did to Pix’s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth leapt to keep their distance as the Ignifex lunged and rolled, scattering its mucus flames around the underbrush and igniting everything it touched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut less and less as the minutes passed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn Ignifex never burned for more than a few minutes. Usually that was all the time it needed to scare off a threat—as long as that threat wasn’t a hunter hoping to cull the population. Ignifex was considered the apex predator of the area closest to Skull Harbor. Thus far lacking a natural predator and prone to setting the forest on fire, it was one of the few monsters actively culled as a genuine threat to the ecosystem—not to mention a source of useful resources and a fair test of a young hunter’s skill.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt took a fairly experienced hunter to bring one down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix and Jaz were \u003cem\u003ejust barely experienced enough\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith another irritated warble-roar, the Ignifex rolled off the last of its defensive mucus, and Pix saw her moment. She queued up a glitterblue capacitor—Ignifex hated the chills that water magic unleashed on the body—while Jaz just wound up to chop the heck out of whatever part her blade hit. Her opal would do the rest of the work for her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey both watched for the Ignifex’s tells—a grunt, a roll, a bumbling crouch. They weren’t fast monsters. In fact, they were rather clumsy, but very often that clumsiness caused them to bumble into a single good hit—and with its fearsome girth, one hit was all an Ignifex needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere came the crouch!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster sprang for Pix. She jumped out of the way, just in time for Jaz to swing her sword into the creature’s head in a spray of magical blue sparkles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSo the opal chose water magic, too,\u003c\/em\u003e Pix observed. It didn’t kill the creature—Ignifex skulls were dense, and made fantastic shoulder pauldrons, for that matter—but the heavy impact \u003cem\u003edid\u003c\/em\u003e addle the beast enough for Pix to leap onto its back and plunge her blade into the red gems that grew along its spine. She squeezed the first trigger branching over her hilt, and at once the cylinder glowed with a great, blinding crack. When the charge was at its brightest, she squeezed the second trigger. The central chamber of her blade radiated pure, glittering blue; a cloud of sparkling magic particles blasted out from the wound, and the Ignifex screeched as if it had just gotten brain freeze all over its body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pix, look out!” Jaz shouted, but Pix knew what she was yelling for. Before she could pull out the blade, the Ignifex rolled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEveryone knew to look out for that sort of move. The Ignifex liked to lure enemies close with the promise of an easy blow, only to turn their proximity against them with a lazy, vicious belly flop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut knowing it was coming and successfully avoiding it were two completely separate things. Especially when one's foot was planted on a weakened piece of gem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex lurched, and the crumbling gem on its back shattered under Pix’s heel. But she was Pix, and as such, she was prepared for this, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe twisted midair, jammed the point of her capacitor blade into the ground, and then pulled her final, special trigger. Her blade split down the middle, revealing a glowing spellglass rod, and with another flick of her second trigger, it unleashed a blinding beam of blue light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe combo wasted one of her charges, but it also blew her backward, out of the Ignifex’s reach, and she landed and slid to a solid, practiced stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d discovered that move completely by accident in her first week of hunting, then practiced it over months at the training grounds, and as excessive as it was, it had come in handy more than once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex paused at the end of its roll, confused that it hadn’t felt a satisfying, crunchy squish, and now its goggled eyes looked in Pix’s general direction as if reconsidering the life choices that led it to attack this clever creature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCan we get it to run?\u003c\/em\u003e Pix wondered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr \u003cem\u003ewould\u003c\/em\u003e have wondered, if she hadn’t been interrupted by a brain-shattering screech.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProtected by their Earworms, she and Jaz didn’t hear its full terror, but the Ignifex did, and it yowled as if the sound had reached straight into its little walnut brain and pureed it into a nice, smooth spread that would go well on some toasted brown bread.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix rolled out of the Ignifex’s path and rejoined Jaz, just as another shadow descended over the trees—and sent a sharp, barbed whip of an arm straight through the Ignifex’s skull.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex didn’t even cry out. It crumpled like a sad pile of rejected sausage meat, the apex predator of the Skull Harbor Jungle reduced to nothing with a single \u003cem\u003esnik!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Told you it wasn’t a vegetarian,” Jaz whispered through her Earworms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All the more reason to hide!” Pix spat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt that, the two hunters scrambled for cover. Even someone as freewheeling as Jaz knew, scared or not, a creature that could take out an Ignifex with one blow was serious business.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth snatched their cloaks from their kits and flung them over their heads as they waited for it to land, better to obscure themselves for observation and to increase their likelihood of not joining the new monster’s kebab.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix had mostly equipped Mantis Gems because she had \u003cem\u003ea ton\u003c\/em\u003e of them and didn’t own any of the really good defensive gems yet, but of all the things she was glad to have packed today, she was particularly glad for these. Most cloaks were at least minimally good for hiding, but once she fastened the two gems in her neck clasp together, her entire image wavered until the details of her form were obscured, as if in a heat haze. No lapidary had yet found a cut that could render full camouflage from a Mantis Gem, but this was good enough to fool most monster eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow safely hidden, Pix nestled behind a large fern and opened her book to her marked page, ready to record once the monster landed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut it didn’t.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact the next time they heard it screech, it was deeper into the jungle and far enough away that it must have forgotten its kill nearly as soon as it was made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not killing for food,” Pix said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And that was no accident,” Jaz echoed, separating the gems on her own neck clasp. “You can’t spear an Ignifex brain by accident.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix nodded, and then pulled a little flare gun from her kit and fired three red bursts into the air. Soon after, the resonant notes of the Harbor’s Skull Organ blared out over the jungle, the new tune relaying new orders: \u003cem\u003eThis monster is dangerous. Initiate hunt.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We need to research it before we even have a chance of bringing it down,” Pix said, standing and returning her items to her kit. “Wait—what are you doing?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Getting my pauldron,” Jaz replied. She’d brought out her carving knife and had begun to slice through the monster’s skin with a practiced hand that had done so many times before. “No point in letting this big boy go to waste. Plus I’m sure we’ll be able to find a fire station that’ll buy the fireproof leather off us. Not to mention all the stuff we can use the fat for.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We don’t have time!” Pix objected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You want to leave him for the Waspas?” Jaz retorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know, if we had Khatoyants, they could do the carving for us while we continued the hunt.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother screech went up in the distance. Likely another meaningless kill.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fine,” Jaz huffed, then put away her carving knife and unrolled a little red flag from her pack, sewn with the insignia of the Dragon Pig Pirates. She tied it around one of the dead monster’s horns, then rigged a small trap of stink bombs so that anyone who moved it would get a malodorous surprise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrap set, she stood back to admire her work with a smug smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix rolled her eyes, and the two set off.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe screeching creature never landed, but despite the lack of tracks, it wasn’t hard to follow. Persistent screeches aside, it left a trail of punctured corpses, mostly Ignifex, all dead by no effort at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe latest hung from a mess of thick vines as if caught there mid-leap and showed no signs of struggle, just a single bloody jab through the skull and a more-goggled-than-usual face frozen dead, mid-confusion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s only killing apex predators,” Pix said. “Could be asserting dominance.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ugh. What’s it going to do when it figures out \u003cem\u003ewe’re\u003c\/em\u003e the actual apex predators?” Jaz groaned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix didn’t want to think about that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All the more reason to pursue it,” she said. She tried to sound bold, but the truth was, she didn’t want to think about what would happen when they caught up with it, either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere were already dangerous monsters in this world, of course—and she and Jaz hadn’t even faced most of them yet—but inevitably \u003cem\u003esomeone\u003c\/em\u003e had, and there were always veteran hunters who had hunted native monsters so frequently they found even the mysterious eldritch variants predictable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut skyborne monsters like this one, with no connection to this natural world ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot even a legendary hunter like the Madmiral would know where to start.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47039383339299,"sku":"MPH-OMNI-SIGNED","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/MonsterPunkHorizonOmnibusSignedShopify.png?v=1700006407"},{"product_id":"print-monster-punk-horizon-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Monster Punk Horizon (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Monster Punk Horizon series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by H.P. Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/monster-punk-horizon-book-one-of-monster-punk-horizon\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWANTED: Monster hunters. Practical armor optional.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePix and Jaz are two girls who just want to hunt monsters, craft armor, and pay off their college loans\u003c\/strong\u003e—but when a colossal new monster falls through the portals in the Dazzling Skies, it’ll take all their skills to survive it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir skill levels? Slightly above noob.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, they have their oversized swords, a lot of sass…and one giant monster friend who might help them out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a price…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Series:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonster Punk Horizon\u003c\/em\u003e is an exciting new fantasy comedy for fans of the \u003cem\u003eMonster Hunter\u003c\/em\u003e games and kick-butt ladies fighting monsters for fun and profit! GameLit readers will enjoy the focus on action over stats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"This book made me want to game in this world. The author has an incredible gift for smart, witty names and vivid description. The characters are appealing and carry you through this light, fun adventure with tremendous energy.\"\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e – Jane Lindskold, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e bestselling author \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Plays with planetary ecology as much as \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eDune \u003c\/span\u003eever did … Anyone who enjoys the monster hunter genre of video games should enjoy this.” – \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eUpstream Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/monster-punk-horizon-book-one-of-monster-punk-horizon\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from MONSTER PUNK HORIZON\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix was the sort to over-prepare, and today she was glad she had.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe was already in her best armor, a combination of sturdy bone, fireproof Ignifex hide, and random metal pieces she’d found at the thrift shop, all obscured under a blue tabard because otherwise it looked mismatched and stupid. She hadn’t expected to need such armor today, but she’d only just carved the materials necessary to craft the Ignifex bits and wanted to break it in, and easy survey missions were perfect for that. Even so, she’d still brought two full flasks of Darla’s green bitterale and a selection of nut breads meant to counteract various adverse conditions, along with doubles of other standard kit components like jerky and bandaging for small injuries. She’d sharpened her grappler, recalibrated her podlauncher, outfitted her cloak with camouflaging Mantis Gems, and filled several pockets with charges for the centerpiece of her ensemble—her capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was about half the size of Jaz’s greatsword, but its primary difference was the cylinder at the base of its blade, loaded with a circuit of mysteric capacitors that would unleash a massive shock of whatever glitter magic she’d loaded. Though it wasn’t as impressive as Jaz’s weapon, it was still made of quality glistiron, and it was the best capacitor blade she could possibly build at this point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor someone of her experience, it was not a bad kit, but it was still lacking one thing …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know, we really should consider hiring some Khatoyants if you’re going to go barreling off after colossal undocumented monsters,” Pix said as she and Jaz traipsed through the jungle. “At the very least for the extra eyes. Also, take off your dragon head. We don’t need to be attracting random Nutpidges with a new monster running about.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz raspberried and yanked at the mask. Her goofy dragon sock pulled away to reveal a head of dark, sporty shoulder-length hair and skin that was much better suited to the high sun of the jungle than Pix’s pasty mayonnaise tone—but then that was why Pix equipped gems cut to deflect sunlight. Jaz, meanwhile, roamed the jungle in what amounted to monsterskin hot pants and whatever other starter pieces looked interesting at the thrift shop, which put her in a mess of bones, leather, and fur that while equally as ridiculous as Pix’s armor, at least had the good fortune to occur in matching shades of red.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ve got too many college loans to be thinking about Khatoyants,” Jaz retorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If we had Khatoyants looking out for us, we’d bring in \u003cem\u003emore loot\u003c\/em\u003e that would help us \u003cem\u003epay off our loans faster\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix continued. “Not to mention we’d be less likely to die.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If I die, my college loan problem is solved.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Does your dragon line regenerate?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNearly every native under the Dazzling Skies had dragon blood somewhere in their ancestry, a consequence of the Elder Dragons being one of the first races to fall from the sky when it had opened. They fell asleep soon afterward, but not before fear of their own extinction led them to reproduce with the other original skybornes (after taking the proper form, of course. Back then, the Elder Dragons frequently spent time in simpler forms for the quaint amusement of it).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dragon line had still nearly died out, as most of the other races had been genetically incompatible, but fortunately for the dragons, there had been one race that wasn’t. Humans, it turned out, were not only genetically compatible with most other skybornes, but would copulate with literally \u003cem\u003eanything\u003c\/em\u003e if they were bored or curious enough, as long as it talked and had bulges in interesting places. There hadn’t been many humans in the early days, but that hadn’t stopped them from contributing their bipedal build, general resilience—and, some claimed, their species’ innate luck—to the vast majority of the now-native population. Between magical dragon blood and lucky human blood, most natives were well-equipped for the extreme situations under the Dazzling Skies, but different lines bestowed different benefits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncluding the ability to \u003cem\u003eliterally not die\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz looked up in rare thought, as if she’d never pondered her dragon line before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come to think of it … I \u003cem\u003edon’t\u003c\/em\u003e know,” she said. “Does yours regenerate?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No. My dragon ancestry is so diluted by this point that the only thing I get out of it is pointy ears.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz felt the tips of her ears as if she hadn’t been living with them her entire life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn. My ears are \u003cem\u003eway\u003c\/em\u003e pointier than yours.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eMy point is\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix continued, “you should figure out whether you’re going to come back before you start making escape plans that end with dying. Besides, if you actually die, your family’s going to come after \u003cem\u003eme\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You say that as if we’re not likely to die together.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The point is to not die \u003cem\u003eat all\u003c\/em\u003e.” Pix rolled her eyes for the fifth time in as many minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReally, it was astonishing they’d been partners this long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey’d met on the mainland at Mysteric University, where an abysmally inaccurate roommate pairing algorithm had placed the level-headed, academically-minded Pix with … well, all that was Jaz.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix had A Plan. She was going to study Monstrous Ecology with the express intent of researching the monsters and biomes across the Dazzling Seas. Simple.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz had No Plan. She majored in something random because her interests changed every semester anyway, and when she found out Pix was heading to the Monstrous Continent, she figured she’d come too because why not?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz was from an elite family on the mainland who didn’t think well of her becoming a monster hunter when they’d planned for her to join her sisters in the family business. Monsters on the mainland had evolved differently than those of the Monstrous Continent. The fauna here had been roaming without significant civilized influence for centuries. “Monsters” on the mainland, if one could even call them that, had developed alongside advancing society, and these days the two existed in a close, symbiotic relationship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere the Monstrous Continent was largely wild and unsettled, the Wondrous Continent had few unexplored corners. Over the centuries, people and their companion monsters had sewn an eclectic blanket of civilization over the land, from the garden of parks and pastel cottages that made up Indigo Town, to the blue-green sprawl of roots, treehouses, and seafront that was Mangrove Beach, to the glowing metropolis of jewel-toned skyscapers that made up Opal City—at the heart of which beat Mysteric University, the headquarters of all monster-related research. The natives and skybornes had worked together to conceive it, of course, but it was all facilitated by the unique powers of the monsters themselves, such that they were inseparable from its success.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose mainland monsters still needed ways to expend their excess mysteric energy, though, and over the years Jaz’s family had built a sporting empire out of that basic need. Team Red was one of several champion franchises, and Jaz was supposed to be one of her family's monster-training champions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProblem was, Jaz was absolute dung at anything that involved strategy. Her family had sent her to college hoping she’d develop some skills that would be useful on the sidelines, but she was dung at anything that involved structure, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe wore her family name like a straitjacket. And when Pix told her about her plans for the Monstrous Continent, that straitjacket broke.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome people were not meant to live in organized societies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaspartina Red was one of those people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe thrived on the unpredictable energy of chaos, and that made her perfectly suited to this world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf course, it also meant she regularly brought chaos with her, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Extreme circumstances often led to extreme discoveries, after all, and though Jaz was unbridled, she wasn’t careless. Not \u003cem\u003ecompletely\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was what kept Pix with her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor though Jaz brought her own breed of trouble, she was the kind of person who would merrily go to the Hellpits and back for her friends and somehow bring some demonfey home for drinks afterward so they had drinking buddies for the next time they ended up in said Hellpits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd a person who could turn demonfey into friends was a truly useful one indeed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix was fairly certain Jaz was after this new monster specifically so she could befriend it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut even that wasn’t entirely inconvenient.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs they walked, Pix opened her logbook to a clean page in the back and marked it for future use. The pattern bellowed on the harbor’s Skull Organ was clear: observation only, unless the need for a hunt became obvious. After all, in cases like this, there was always a chance that the monster was not innately aggressive, but rather just scared and alarmed at suddenly being in a strange new world. They could decide whether it was truly dangerous after they knew a bit more about it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz, in front, crouched to examine a set of indentations in the soil: four digits radiated out from the central metacarpal pad like sunbeams cresting the horizon, ending in sharp, deep claw marks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ignifex on the field,” she reported. “The print’s still sharp around the edges, so it’s pretty fresh.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ugh, we \u003cem\u003eso\u003c\/em\u003e don’t need to deal with an Ignifex today,” Pix sighed, as Jaz put her face to the track and sniffed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Smells like he’s amped up his mucus production, too,” she continued. “He’s agitated.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We need an agitated Ignifex even less,” Pix groaned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Or we could be lucky this new thing wandered into Ignifex territory,” Jaz replied. “Maybe it’s weak to fire and general whompings.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“When have we ever been that lucky—oh, dung!” Pix exclaimed, for just as she said the operative word, a warbling belch of a roar split the air, and a massive, sinuous shape reared from the shadows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr rather, plopped from the shadows. But with an Ignifex, even a plop was the stuff of nightmares and a sudden need for fresh pants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex was most simply described as a salamander, if a salamander was fifteen feet long with muscular, tensile legs that could launch it an equal length; a ripped, red chunky body that could slam nearly any creature into submission with a single blow; and a goofy, goggle-eyed face with a swollen neck-pouch that made one question whether this monster had put on the right head when it left to go to prowl that morning. As if that wasn’t enough, its entire body shone with a thick reddish mucus—and the source of many of the rainforest’s woes. For when the Ignifex felt truly threatened, it clicked a hard plate at the front of its mouth ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t let it click!” Pix screeched, and with one fluid, instinctive motion, both hunters snatched their weapons from their holsters—Jaz her beloved greatsword, and Pix her nearly-as-beloved capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnfortunately, caught off guard and within a foot of the monster’s death plop, they were in no position to stop it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster clacked its bony beak. A tiny spark spat from its mouth—and then flashed across its entire body in an enormous \u003cem\u003ewhoomph!\u003c\/em\u003e of flame.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz and Pix threw their blades up as shields, but that didn’t stop odd flecks of flaming mucus from splattering off the creature and onto their armor. Pix didn’t worry; her Ignifex hide pieces were naturally resistant to the mucus flame. Jaz was not so lucky. She still wore her novice leathers because they were comfy and broken in, and only that—but then Jaz had once cooked a corn dog with her bare hand on a dare and came away with exactly one blister, so fire didn't matter to her dragon line as much as it did to Pix’s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth leapt to keep their distance as the Ignifex lunged and rolled, scattering its mucus flames around the underbrush and igniting everything it touched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut less and less as the minutes passed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn Ignifex never burned for more than a few minutes. Usually that was all the time it needed to scare off a threat—as long as that threat wasn’t a hunter hoping to cull the population. Ignifex was considered the apex predator of the area closest to Skull Harbor. Thus far lacking a natural predator and prone to setting the forest on fire, it was one of the few monsters actively culled as a genuine threat to the ecosystem—not to mention a source of useful resources and a fair test of a young hunter’s skill.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt took a fairly experienced hunter to bring one down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix and Jaz were \u003cem\u003ejust barely experienced enough\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith another irritated warble-roar, the Ignifex rolled off the last of its defensive mucus, and Pix saw her moment. She queued up a glitterblue capacitor—Ignifex hated the chills that water magic unleashed on the body—while Jaz just wound up to chop the heck out of whatever part her blade hit. Her opal would do the rest of the work for her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey both watched for the Ignifex’s tells—a grunt, a roll, a bumbling crouch. They weren’t fast monsters. In fact, they were rather clumsy, but very often that clumsiness caused them to bumble into a single good hit—and with its fearsome girth, one hit was all an Ignifex needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere came the crouch!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster sprang for Pix. She jumped out of the way, just in time for Jaz to swing her sword into the creature’s head in a spray of magical blue sparkles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSo the opal chose water magic, too,\u003c\/em\u003e Pix observed. It didn’t kill the creature—Ignifex skulls were dense, and made fantastic shoulder pauldrons, for that matter—but the heavy impact \u003cem\u003edid\u003c\/em\u003e addle the beast enough for Pix to leap onto its back and plunge her blade into the red gems that grew along its spine. She squeezed the first trigger branching over her hilt, and at once the cylinder glowed with a great, blinding crack. When the charge was at its brightest, she squeezed the second trigger. The central chamber of her blade radiated pure, glittering blue; a cloud of sparkling magic particles blasted out from the wound, and the Ignifex screeched as if it had just gotten brain freeze all over its body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pix, look out!” Jaz shouted, but Pix knew what she was yelling for. Before she could pull out the blade, the Ignifex rolled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEveryone knew to look out for that sort of move. The Ignifex liked to lure enemies close with the promise of an easy blow, only to turn their proximity against them with a lazy, vicious belly flop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut knowing it was coming and successfully avoiding it were two completely separate things. Especially when one's foot was planted on a weakened piece of gem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex lurched, and the crumbling gem on its back shattered under Pix’s heel. But she was Pix, and as such, she was prepared for this, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe twisted midair, jammed the point of her capacitor blade into the ground, and then pulled her final, special trigger. Her blade split down the middle, revealing a glowing spellglass rod, and with another flick of her second trigger, it unleashed a blinding beam of blue light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe combo wasted one of her charges, but it also blew her backward, out of the Ignifex’s reach, and she landed and slid to a solid, practiced stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d discovered that move completely by accident in her first week of hunting, then practiced it over months at the training grounds, and as excessive as it was, it had come in handy more than once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex paused at the end of its roll, confused that it hadn’t felt a satisfying, crunchy squish, and now its goggled eyes looked in Pix’s general direction as if reconsidering the life choices that led it to attack this clever creature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCan we get it to run?\u003c\/em\u003e Pix wondered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr \u003cem\u003ewould\u003c\/em\u003e have wondered, if she hadn’t been interrupted by a brain-shattering screech.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProtected by their Earworms, she and Jaz didn’t hear its full terror, but the Ignifex did, and it yowled as if the sound had reached straight into its little walnut brain and pureed it into a nice, smooth spread that would go well on some toasted brown bread.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix rolled out of the Ignifex’s path and rejoined Jaz, just as another shadow descended over the trees—and sent a sharp, barbed whip of an arm straight through the Ignifex’s skull.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex didn’t even cry out. It crumpled like a sad pile of rejected sausage meat, the apex predator of the Skull Harbor Jungle reduced to nothing with a single \u003cem\u003esnik!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Told you it wasn’t a vegetarian,” Jaz whispered through her Earworms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All the more reason to hide!” Pix spat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt that, the two hunters scrambled for cover. Even someone as freewheeling as Jaz knew, scared or not, a creature that could take out an Ignifex with one blow was serious business.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth snatched their cloaks from their kits and flung them over their heads as they waited for it to land, better to obscure themselves for observation and to increase their likelihood of not joining the new monster’s kebab.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix had mostly equipped Mantis Gems because she had \u003cem\u003ea ton\u003c\/em\u003e of them and didn’t own any of the really good defensive gems yet, but of all the things she was glad to have packed today, she was particularly glad for these. Most cloaks were at least minimally good for hiding, but once she fastened the two gems in her neck clasp together, her entire image wavered until the details of her form were obscured, as if in a heat haze. No lapidary had yet found a cut that could render full camouflage from a Mantis Gem, but this was good enough to fool most monster eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow safely hidden, Pix nestled behind a large fern and opened her book to her marked page, ready to record once the monster landed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut it didn’t.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact the next time they heard it screech, it was deeper into the jungle and far enough away that it must have forgotten its kill nearly as soon as it was made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not killing for food,” Pix said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And that was no accident,” Jaz echoed, separating the gems on her own neck clasp. “You can’t spear an Ignifex brain by accident.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix nodded, and then pulled a little flare gun from her kit and fired three red bursts into the air. Soon after, the resonant notes of the Harbor’s Skull Organ blared out over the jungle, the new tune relaying new orders: \u003cem\u003eThis monster is dangerous. Initiate hunt.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We need to research it before we even have a chance of bringing it down,” Pix said, standing and returning her items to her kit. “Wait—what are you doing?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Getting my pauldron,” Jaz replied. She’d brought out her carving knife and had begun to slice through the monster’s skin with a practiced hand that had done so many times before. “No point in letting this big boy go to waste. Plus I’m sure we’ll be able to find a fire station that’ll buy the fireproof leather off us. Not to mention all the stuff we can use the fat for.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We don’t have time!” Pix objected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You want to leave him for the Waspas?” Jaz retorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know, if we had Khatoyants, they could do the carving for us while we continued the hunt.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother screech went up in the distance. Likely another meaningless kill.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fine,” Jaz huffed, then put away her carving knife and unrolled a little red flag from her pack, sewn with the insignia of the Dragon Pig Pirates. She tied it around one of the dead monster’s horns, then rigged a small trap of stink bombs so that anyone who moved it would get a malodorous surprise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrap set, she stood back to admire her work with a smug smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix rolled her eyes, and the two set off.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe screeching creature never landed, but despite the lack of tracks, it wasn’t hard to follow. Persistent screeches aside, it left a trail of punctured corpses, mostly Ignifex, all dead by no effort at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe latest hung from a mess of thick vines as if caught there mid-leap and showed no signs of struggle, just a single bloody jab through the skull and a more-goggled-than-usual face frozen dead, mid-confusion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s only killing apex predators,” Pix said. “Could be asserting dominance.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ugh. What’s it going to do when it figures out \u003cem\u003ewe’re\u003c\/em\u003e the actual apex predators?” Jaz groaned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix didn’t want to think about that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All the more reason to pursue it,” she said. She tried to sound bold, but the truth was, she didn’t want to think about what would happen when they caught up with it, either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere were already dangerous monsters in this world, of course—and she and Jaz hadn’t even faced most of them yet—but inevitably \u003cem\u003esomeone\u003c\/em\u003e had, and there were always veteran hunters who had hunted native monsters so frequently they found even the mysterious eldritch variants predictable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut skyborne monsters like this one, with no connection to this natural world ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot even a legendary hunter like the Madmiral would know where to start.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47046351749411,"sku":"MPH-SIGNED","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/MonsterPunkHorizonBook1SignedShopifyGraphic.png?v=1700063965"},{"product_id":"print-isekai-skies-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Isekai Skies (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Two in the Monster Punk Horizon series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew to the Monster Punk Horizon series?\u003c\/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/holowriting.myshopify.com\/products\/monster-punk-horizon-ebook\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003eStart here!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by H.P. Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/isekai-skies-monster-punk-horizon-book-two\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI Got Engaged and Ended Up in Another World!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn epic convention. An epic cosplay. An epic engagement. It was the best night of Kaito’s life—until the ground opened up beneath him.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, technically, a portal did. Either way, it sucked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow, trapped in another world with rampaging monsters, he’ll have to learn to survive. Fortunately, this world is conveniently similar to his favorite video game. And he’s got monster hunting experts (?) Pix and Jaz to show him the ropes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith their help, he \u003cem\u003emight\u003c\/em\u003e last long enough to find a way home.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut if not, at least he’ll have fun hunting monsters before he dies!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn action-packed GameLit adventure for fans of monster hunting and portal fantasy!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Series:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonster Punk Horizon\u003c\/em\u003e is an exciting new fantasy comedy for fans of the \u003cem\u003eMonster Hunter\u003c\/em\u003e games and kick-butt ladies fighting monsters for fun and profit! GameLit readers will enjoy the focus on action over stats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"This book made me want to game in this world. The author has an incredible gift for smart, witty names and vivid description. The characters are appealing and carry you through this light, fun adventure with tremendous energy.\"\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e – Jane Lindskold, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e bestselling author \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Plays with planetary ecology as much as \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eDune \u003c\/span\u003eever did … Anyone who enjoys the monster hunter genre of video games should enjoy this.” – \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eUpstream Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/isekai-skies-monster-punk-horizon-book-two\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from ISEKAI SKIES\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll the neon and body odor assaulting Kaito’s senses suggested he’d been trapped inside a cyberpunk dystopia. Really, it was just the Saturday night masquerade at Wyvern Con.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe event had done a solid job of capturing its theme. The convention odors only added to the simulated realism. Elaborate holographic displays around the room projected energetic, glowing, futuristic dancers to make up for the crowd of nerds who were too awkward or else too drunk to dance coherently. Bright strips of searingly colored lights wove in technological patterns around the dark walls, and snack vendors wandered around with hovering, ramshackle-looking food carts while a small army of server robots puttered around to make sure everyone was staying hydrated. Occasionally one of them would go rogue and malfunction, in keeping with the theme, and to complete the atmosphere, an even larger army of drones buzzed behind the throbbing industrial-electronic music, red eyes sweeping down in oppressive gazes as if on the lookout for whatever wrongthink threatened the power of this dystopia’s dictator. Really they were just taking pictures for the con’s social media feeds, but if modern history had taught him anything, it was that people were willing to overlook dystopian behaviors as long as they were fun in the moment, so he figured he might as well work that into the theme.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe drones were his work, as were the non-malfunctioning hydration bots. (He’d seen too many engineering jokes go horribly wrong to ever want to \u003cem\u003efake\u003c\/em\u003e a malfunction.) They were a small part of the overall operation, but he was pleased with the work, especially since everything was running smoothly, and especially since Frankie was there to see it, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe stood next to him in their operations kiosk, flipping through several data screens to monitor the status of the night’s operation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, you may want to check the feed from Drone 2,” she said. “I think someone just had an X-rated cosplay malfunction in that area.” She flicked to another screen. “Drone 5’s looking a little drunk, too. I think the one buster sword that bumped it might have jarred its environmental sensors.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got it,” Kaito said, and ordered Drone 5 to come in as he deleted the unfortunate snapshot from Drone 2 before it could post. “We may want to think about changing out the sensors next upgrade,” he added. “If they can’t take a bump from a cosplay sword, they’re not worth very much.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Already on it,” Frankie replied. “They’re not as consistent as I’d like anyway, so I started researching other options a few weeks ago. Once we have a few more events under our belts, I figured I’d go ahead and upgrade them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Works for me,” Kaito smiled, glad for another small thing to like about Frankie.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey’d met on their first day of class in their first year of college, when both had shown up early to claim the best seat by the holo-professor’s projector. People weren’t required to show up in person for class anymore, professors included, not since the fourth Beer Plague had remade society into the socially distant utopia of every introvert’s dreams—but Kaito liked the intellectual exchanges of a group setting better than the dull distance of a virtual classroom. Especially since most of the students in those virtual classrooms were actually looping videos the real students had set in the gallery to make it \u003cem\u003elook\u003c\/em\u003e like they were present. The people who made the effort to come in person, in contrast, were more likely to put in effort on everything else, and someone who made that effort \u003cem\u003eearly\u003c\/em\u003e, well …  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was the third thing Kaito liked about Frankie.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first two were that she was 1) a cute girl, and 2) a cute girl in Electrical Engineering 101, which had basically been his only standards at that point. But then she’d recognized the stars and monsters of the Fifth Fleet crest on the keychain hanging from his lanyard, and then shown him the Fifth Fleet gene tattoo growing in the pigmentation on her arm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito didn’t believe in signs so much as lucky coincidences, but really, in a century where nearly all video games were virtual immersions, what were the odds of finding another person who both enjoyed vintage console emulators, \u003cem\u003eand\u003c\/em\u003e enjoyed the same centuries-old classic game enough to have one of its icons genetically modified onto her body?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was truly the luckiest of coincidences, and now, four years later, it was coming to its first peak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe had the code for the rings queued up in his internal dataframe. At the right moment, he’d open his palms, and the digital infrastructure coursing through the nanites in his veins would project the images above his hands. One ring would show the sigil of an iconic blue leonine dragon—not her favorite monster, but one of them, and anyway the meaning would become clear with the second ring, and second monster—the red companion to the blue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe half that completed the pair.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf she accepted, he’d pass the code into her dataframe and her own nanites would project the ring around her traditional ring finger. There would be some to-do afterward as they arranged how much of their dataframes they’d share and whether their post-college expenses could support a full physical wedding or a mere virtual one. (Tradition dictated that significant rites of passage required physical presence, but then, tradition had never had to pay college loans.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTonight, though, was the fun night, and they’d chosen to spend it in the most appropriate way they could imagine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dancers were Frankie’s. Frankie did not dance. Not well, at least. But she watched a lot of K-Pop music videos, so she knew what good dancing looked like, and she’d analyzed the rhythms of modern dance music to design an animation cycle that could go with nearly any song that would be played at an event like this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNext to him, she bobbed her head to the music as she monitored the datafeed on her glasspad, keeping eyes on all of her holographic dancers. It wouldn’t have been a romantic evening to anyone else, but to them, working together on a mutual project, showing off their work to each other was one of the most romantic ways to pass the time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven more so because it involved cosplay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrankie stood next to him in a costume she’d been perfecting for months before she finally ran it off their hotel’s textile printer the night they’d arrived at the con. The costume looked like a medieval adventurer’s regalia, if that regalia was designed by a 31st century high schooler who loved medieval costume but whose knowledge of said costume was only informed by medieval fantasy anime and assumed that medieval clothiers had access to fashion design resources like AutoCAD and 3D printers capable of infinitesimal detail. There were so many embellishments on her jacket lapels alone that Kaito could never see that coat being practical for an actual adventurer, much less the oversized scythe she’d hooked to her back. But then, he supposed he shouldn’t expect historical accuracy from a show titled\u003cem\u003e Oh Shit! I Killed the Grim Reaper! Now I’m the Grim Reaper!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStrangely, it was one of the better offerings in the re-emerging genre of isekai anime. That particular genre had originated centuries ago, and ever since, every other generation of light novel writers and animation studios had rediscovered it and put a new spin on it, such that it had become as time-honored a genre as mecha, magical girl, or fanservice anime. The original, classic iteration had seen its protagonists transported to other worlds, usually fantasy worlds with video game trappings like measurable stats, skills, and power leveled through experience points. Usually there was also a goddess or equivalent cute female involved in getting the hero’s adventure off to its start.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe modern iteration still saw its heroes transported to video game-like fantasy worlds, but the current trend often featured overpowered heroes accidentally killing gods or similar figures and then having to take their place, which led to series like \u003cem\u003eReborn as Zeus! How Will I Find Time To Sleep With All These Babes?\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMy Little Sister Can’t Be Loki, Can She?\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eFuck You, I’m Satan Now!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito had never really enjoyed the genre because he didn’t buy the trope of a regular guy suddenly becoming OP enough to \u003cem\u003eaccidentally kill a god\u003c\/em\u003e, of all things, but Frankie was all for their general absurdity, and occasionally she’d stumble upon one that handled its absurdities with unexpected panache. \u003cem\u003eOh Shit! I Killed the Grim Reaper!\u003c\/em\u003e was one of those and had become one of their shared favorites, so it was only natural that they chose to cosplay its two leads for their engagement con.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrankie was Persefonii von Totenkopf, granddaughter of the titular Grim Reaper, who’d been next in line for the position until granddad went to reap protagonist Kuro from the site of his murder—and discovered that a sinister force had set \u003cem\u003ehim \u003c\/em\u003eup to be reaped instead. According to the rules of this world, anyone who managed to kill a Grim Reaper had to take that Reaper’s place, so the sinister forces granted Kuro the power to do that, for reasons the show still had yet to clarify. (It was complicated. There were lots of weird anime politics involved.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito had naturally elected to be Kuro and lucked out in that the character was so adamant about not being a Grim Reaper that he refused to wear the complicated reaper’s uniform. Instead, he wandered the obvious fantasy world of the setting in the same white shirt and dark pants of every other generic anime hero, distinguishable from the others only by the cute, stylized skull mask that magically perched on the side of his head. It was the source of his reaper power and had a sentience of its own that refused to let him break it or take it off, except to move it to his face and thus access his reaper abilities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact, the mask was the most complicated part of his outfit, both canonically and technically, for when he moved it to his face, it would trigger a program that projected Kuro’s truly badass reaper form onto the dataframes of nearby viewers. Nearly everyone at these cons left their dataframes open to receive cosplay information, especially since so many costumes now had virtual components. He was saving that for the next morning, however, when half the con would be hungover on overpriced, 3D-printed spirits, and the hotel floors would be clear enough to accommodate the visual space the projection took up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy now the alcohol was well into taking effect.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito could see it in the way the already awkward dancers were becoming sluggish and stumbling out of the masquerade room to find a bathroom or else the next late night—well, early morning panel, by this point. Soon the DJ announced the last song, the hydration bots shifted to host mode to shoo the remaining hangers-on out, and Kaito and Frankie made to break their equipment down into its nanobot components for reassembling at their next event, whenever that was booked. If they were lucky, word would spread about their work this night and their ambient robotics business would get off to a solid start. It \u003cem\u003ehad \u003c\/em\u003ebeen an excellent night so far.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow only one thing remained to make the weekend perfect.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito traipsed out of the masquerade ballroom, his chest suddenly tight with simultaneous nerves and excitement. As if by instinct, he reached into his pocket, produced a little tin, and popped one of the hard candies inside into his mouth. There wasn’t anything special about the candy, except perhaps its taste—a weird combination of spicy sugar and bacon that shouldn’t have worked together but did. Nonetheless it had somehow become the comfort food that he gravitated toward when nervous. He eased the tin back into his pocket like a talisman.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What are you nervous for?” Frankie prodded, eyeballing the tin with a grin. “Everything’s going the way we planned.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito just shrugged. He didn’t know why he was nervous. He knew she’d say yes. Heck, she knew the proposal was coming. They’d planned it, because they were engineers, and that was what engineers did, and he’d specifically planned it for tomorrow, once they’d rested and could fully appreciate the moment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I don’t know,” he said. “Habit?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust then, somewhere, a crowd of cosplayers struck up the iconic song from the Season 7 climax of \u003cem\u003eOh Shit! I Killed the Grim Reaper!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe remaining people in the hall crowded over to watch the spectacle—and truly it was a spectacle. A chorus line of thirteen Reaper Maids—well, men dressed as the Reaper Maids—kicked up a performance that could only have been the result of intense practice. Somewhere a companion set of Reaper Maids—actual maids this time—joined in, and the odd glance began to pass Kaito and Frankie’s ways, perhaps wondering if they’d join in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen Kaito realized Frankie was not only wearing Persefonii’s costume from that season, but from \u003cem\u003ethat exact scene\u003c\/em\u003e, and he remembered what happened after that scene.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe floor around them was clear. There was room. Heck, they were even standing on this particular hotel’s iconic, obnoxious carpet—which Frankie \u003cem\u003ealso\u003c\/em\u003e had tattooed on her in the shape of Wyvern Con’s logo. It was one of those magical moments that just \u003cem\u003ehappened \u003c\/em\u003eat cons, and nothing he’d planned for tomorrow could compare to the absolute serendipity of this moment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I have an idea,” Kaito said, heart suddenly pounding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey stood in the center of the carpet, and Kaito pulled his mask down over his face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe final form of his Reaper—Reaper God Kuro—blossomed over the dataframes of every onlooker. The stylized skull mask transformed into a truly fearsome death’s head; dark smoke poured from its edges and wrapped around his body to form the hood and length of his quintessential reaper robe and then spread over the floor in a roiling sea of black that crackled with red energy. One errant coil of smoke coalesced into his elaborate and wildly impractical but nonetheless hella badass scythe, and when he tapped it to the floor, a massive blast of bright red lighting cracked over him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrankie looked on with eyes wide and manic with excitement—and confusion. She hadn’t seen this costume yet, but she’d seen the show, and she knew what was coming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This is ahead of schedule!” she exclaimed, with a voice that hated surprise schedule changes—and yet was exploring the possibility of being totally cool with this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito abandoned his ring plan for later. Instead he did a quick dataframe search for Kuro’s monologue from that scene and recited it, verbatim, his voice booming with newfound acceptance of his authority as the Grim Reaper. He declared the creation of the Kingdom of the Undead and asked Persefonii to join him as his Reaper Queen, all while the Reaper Maids’ song came to a crescendo in the background. (Season 7 had been a weird one.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe manic glint in Frankie’s eyes brightened as she realized the ridiculous truth of the situation. She promptly queued up Persefonii’s reply, as if they’d planned this all along—and then jumped to kiss Kaito—er, Kuro—on his skeletal cheek.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat hadn’t been part of the original scene, but fortunately Kaito had enough brain left in that moment to trigger Reaper God Kuro’s embarrassed emote, which looked intentionally hilarious on his otherwise imposing form, and elicited cheers and squeals of delight from people who recognized the scene and what was happening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito felt glasspads and camera drones on them as onlookers recorded the spectacle for their social feeds, and perhaps Kaito would have been self-conscious, but right now Frankie hugged him like Persefonii did Kuro in the cuter moments of she show, and in this pure, perfect, ridiculous moment, this was all he wanted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was when the world tore open, right beneath his feet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe didn’t know what had happened at first.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust that the world was there, and then suddenly not. Then he heard a great, thunderous crack, and he was falling end over end above an ocean that sparkled like a pool of liquid sapphires.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe must have lost consciousness because when he opened his eyes again, it was to the sight of a crowd of cosplayers gathered in what looked like an open-air, jungle-inspired eatery themed, strangely, after the franchise he and Frankie had bonded over. But Frankie was nowhere to be seen. He didn't remember a place like this advertised in any of the thirty Wyvern Con hotels. And he \u003cem\u003ewould\u003c\/em\u003e have known about a place like this. It would have been one of their must-sees.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWas his dataframe glitching, then? Had he overloaded it with his cosplay program?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat wouldn’t be unusual for the cheap student-priced nanites he had running through his veins. Sometimes when their processes got confused, they’d default to opening his last Immersive Video Game file and immersing his senses in whatever IVG he’d been playing, but that was easily handled through a reboot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe sent the mental command for all the nanites to shut down and waited for the dampening of senses that accompanied a reboot. After all, the nanites enhanced and modified every aspect of his experience of the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing happened.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was weird, but also not uncommon. He triggered the back-door command he’d programmed in for instances like this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgain, nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow the other cosplayers were beginning to notice him, as if they somehow hadn’t noticed him before, and he realized he was lying prone on a coarse wooden tabletop ... with a little winged pig glaring down from its place on his chest. Suddenly, too, he realized he could feel the discomfort of the little pig’s weight. It wasn’t altered or dampened by his sensory nanites. In fact, he could feel the pressing heat of what felt like a very real sun—no, suns \u003cem\u003eplural\u003c\/em\u003e?—and smell the uncovered stink of bodies that had been laboring in those suns all day, combined with the absurdly appealing aroma of a gourmet kitchen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then, the horrible realization hit him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis had all the hallmarks of an IVG virus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’d heard of the perception-altering viruses that spread at cons, usually as pranks. In fact, now that he thought of it, he’d heard of one appropriately-named virus in particular that would plop its victims into what they perceived as other worlds, only to wear off after an hour or two or, for the more complicated ones, once the victim had followed the right interaction tree. Usually it was the tree that suggested you knew you were in a virus—and were thus less fun to watch in the real world. After all, the only reason these viruses existed was for the cruel entertainment to be had watching a victim’s realspace reactions to his dataspace environment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGiven the complexity of the crowd around him, this was definitely one of the complicated ones. Most viral coders didn’t bother coding and animating more than a few virtual assets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe groaned. All the effort he’d put into securing his dataframe, and a stupid prank virus had managed to get through at the happiest moment of his life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, the faster he could trigger the tree, the faster he could get out, so he sighed and said,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh my god. Am I in an isekai?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47049576546595,"sku":"IS-PB-SIGNED","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/IsekaiSkiesSignedShopifyGraphic.png?v=1700092193"},{"product_id":"print-excess-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Monster Punk Horizon 3 - Excess (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Three in the Monster Punk Horizon series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew to the Monster Punk Horizon series?\u003c\/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/holowriting.myshopify.com\/products\/monster-punk-horizon-ebook\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003eStart here!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by H.P. Holo and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/excess-monster-punk-horizon-book-3\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLoot Like Your Life Depends On It!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLosing a trusty weapon is like losing a close friend, and Pix’s beloved capacitor blade is on its last legs.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, she has a plan to craft a new, even better weapon. \u003cem\u003eUnfortunately\u003c\/em\u003e, her plan involves hunting down a vicious migrating monster that has more teeth than some hunters have brain cells. Even worse, this new creature has riled up the apex monster of Skull Harbor, and both of them are spoiling for a fight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut Pix has one thing they don’t: a party foolhardy enough to take them \u003cem\u003eboth\u003c\/em\u003e on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’ll need all the help she can get, because it’ll take all their combined luck, skill, and oversized weapons to put down these two monsters. But her friends have her back. After all, there’s awesome loot to be had!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf they manage to survive…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Series:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonster Punk Horizon\u003c\/em\u003e is an exciting new fantasy comedy for fans of the \u003cem\u003eMonster Hunter\u003c\/em\u003e games and kick-butt ladies fighting monsters for fun and profit! GameLit readers will enjoy the focus on action over stats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"This book made me want to game in this world. The author has an incredible gift for smart, witty names and vivid description. The characters are appealing and carry you through this light, fun adventure with tremendous energy.\"\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e – Jane Lindskold, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e bestselling author \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Plays with planetary ecology as much as \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eDune \u003c\/span\u003eever did … Anyone who enjoys the monster hunter genre of video games should enjoy this.” – \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eUpstream Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/excess-monster-punk-horizon-book-3\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from EXCESS\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why would anything need this many teeth?” Pix muttered to herself as she studied the sketches and diagrams laid out on the long wooden table before her. A gust of wind from the ocean fluttered her tent’s tarp, but her mind focused on the creature’s silhouette, sketched roughly in black ink on a much-abused and much-observed piece of paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo many teeth. Was this really a good idea?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDocuments and equipment cluttered every inch of the table’s surface: detailed maps of the jungle surrounding Skull Harbor, vague reports of mysterious monster sightings, researcher notes on changes in the indigenous monsters’ behavior, and the disassembled pieces of her capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer weapon of choice took up plenty of room, but not because it was big. It wasn’t especially large, at least not when fully assembled. But it was a \u003cem\u003ecomplex\u003c\/em\u003e weapon, a long double-edged blade bisected by a milky spellglass rod, with a hilt comprised of both mechanical and mysteric parts. These interlocked to allow the blade to open and the magic contained within its revolving cylinder to fire. She’d laid out every piece on an unfurled roll of canvas, carefully and meticulously cleaned each one, and set them down in a neat, orthogonal manner. She’d scrubbed and oiled them until the gears, rods, and springs glowed in the lantern light, then sharpened both halves of the blade to a supremely lethal edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery mechanical component was as good, if not better, than when she’d commissioned the weapon …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut there was nothing she could do for the spellglass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t know about its teeth, Miss Pix,” a bright, youthful voice said from her side. “Would you like me to check my gram’s book? Maybe she’ll have written something down from her adventures!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix grimaced and glanced down at her Khatoyant assistant. Nova’s wide, soulful eyes glistened up at her, their vertical pupils eager for an opportunity to aid her contracted hunter. The young cat person stood only two feet tall, her fur a patchwork of black and white, most of it wrapped in a gleaming blue set of Radiant Scintilion armor crafted to look like a princess’ dress. She may have been short for her kind, but her enthusiasm more than compensated for her size.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nova,” Pix said dully.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes, Miss Pix?” Nova’s ears perked up and swiveled forward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’ve talked about this before, haven’t we?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m not sure.” Her ears drooped. “What do you mean, Miss Pix?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This ‘Miss Pix’ thing. I’ve told you not to call me that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Buuut!” Nova clutched her grandmother’s hunting journal to her chest and wiggled as if suddenly uncomfortable. “But my gram caught me not using it, and \u003cem\u003eshe\u003c\/em\u003e said I was being disrespectful! I never meant to be disrespectful to you, Miss Pix!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uhh.” Pix put a hand to her forehead. “Please stop. ‘Miss Pix’ sounds silly, and ‘Pix’ isn’t even my real name. It’s just something Jaz started calling me back in college.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, okay.” Nova took on a thoughtful look. “\u003cem\u003eOh!\u003c\/em\u003e Should I call you Miss Weaver, then?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix narrowed her eyes and glowered down at Nova in a firm, nonverbal “NO.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Maybe not …” Nova hugged her book tighter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSuddenly, someone from outside flung the tent flap open and barreled in with all the majesty and elegance of a drunken debutante who’d never worn high heels in her entire life but had decided there was no time like the present.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What’s up, minions!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Speak of the devil,” Pix muttered under her breath.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hello, Miss Jaz!” Nova said brightly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Nova!” Jaz plopped onto the corner of the table and crossed her arms and legs. “Pix?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes?” Pix replied without looking up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’ve been cooped up in here all weekend.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know.” This time she did look up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz and Pix may have been partners and roommates, but that didn’t mean they were anything alike. Jaz wore her raven black mane in an unruly, curling wave down to her shoulders, framing a dark complexion. Pix kept her blazing red hair neat and trim—and out of her eyes during the frantic moments of a hunt—while her pasty, cream-colored skin refused to tan in the Harbor’s sun. Her ears, too, were only subtly pointed due to her dilute ancestral dragon blood, whereas the more pronounced points of Jaz’s ears attested to the rich dragon lineage in her family’s bloodline. Most ancestral natives under the Dazzling Skies had Elder Dragon somewhere in their blood, but Pix and Jaz were on opposite ends of that genetic heritage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir attire was equally disparate. Pix had traded her old, mismatched, tabard-obscured leathers for a long gambeson made from some of the Pirazhka hides they’d carved last month. The thickness of the padded coat made it naturally good for fending off slashes and puncture attacks—which was how her intended target would deal most of its damage—but the tough, tightly-interlocked scales covering its outermost surface provided an additional layer of defense. The froglike, piranha toothed Pirazhkas might have been low-level monsters, but the way their scales compressed and tightened under direct thrusts meant armor made from their hide would be useful for many levels beyond its origin’s. For additional defense, she’d covered it in segments of Ignifex hide that granted a high degree of both mobility and fire protection (very useful in the Ignifex-dominated regions near Skull Harbor).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy contrast, Jaz’s figure strained against her monsterskin hot pants and bikini top, leaving little to the imagination. Those two pieces of clothing may have \u003cem\u003ealso\u003c\/em\u003e been crafted from Ignifex hide, but they only served to make her butt and boobs fireproof.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot that this advantage mattered to her; Jaz had only chosen the material because she had a lot of it and red was Her Color.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You should come join us at the canteen.” Jaz patted her on the arm. “It’s Waffle Day.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry,” Pix continued, “but I still have a ton of work to do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But \u003cem\u003eit’s Waffle Day\u003c\/em\u003e!” Jaz spluttered, as if Pix had just said she didn’t plan to observe Hallowmas this year. (Hallowmas was a weird quasi-religious holiday that had evolved over the centuries. No one remembered what its original purpose was, but everyone still celebrated it because it was one of those holidays when it was socially acceptable to eat exorbitant amounts of candy and rich holiday foods while romping around in sexy costumes and generally being ridiculous. Not that the hunters here \u003cem\u003eneeded\u003c\/em\u003e a holiday to do so, but they weren’t going to turn down the excuse.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t understand everyone’s obsession with waffles,” Pix dismissed. “They’re just overcomplicated pancakes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“When has a pancake ever been considerate enough to hold extra toppings for you in convenient, specialized pockets?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Jaz,” Pix huffed. “\u003cem\u003eI’m trying to work\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, about that.” Jaz scooched closer and draped an arm over Pix’s shoulders. “You see, the thing about life. The \u003cem\u003ereally important\u003c\/em\u003e thing about life is you’ve got to \u003cem\u003elive\u003c\/em\u003e it. You can’t live it when you hide in a tent all weekend looking at papers and stuff.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Such inspirational words!” Nova exclaimed. “Thank you for sharing them!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“See? Nova appreciates my immense profundity.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I \u003cem\u003eam\u003c\/em\u003e living.” Pix took hold of Jaz’s wrist and removed the unwanted arm from her shoulders. “And I want to \u003cem\u003econtinue \u003c\/em\u003eliving. Why do you think I’ve been ‘cooped up’ in here?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because you’re a stick-in-the-mud who doesn’t like to have any fun?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, because of this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix held up the spellglass rod from her disassembled weapon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hmm.” Jaz squinted at the clouded rod, slightly darker on the end that connected to the hilt mechanisms. “What do we have here?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A crack in the base. And mysteric degradation.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh,” Jaz uttered. All the joy and sass leaked from her face as the revelation sobered her up. A hunter’s relationship with their weapon was a deeply personal one. It started with the initial selection and training, continued through the daily maintenance rituals and hard-earned upgrades, and sometimes ended in bloody life-or-death moments in the field.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA hunter’s weapon was a dear, invaluable friend. A trusted, unflinching colleague through any trial the Monstrous Continent could throw at that hunter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd Pix had just told Jaz her friend was dying.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah. ‘Oh.’” Pix frowned. “I’m guessing it’s got two, maybe three shots left before the rod burns out.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I suppose we haven’t been kind to our equipment recently, what with the Screecher and all the other dung we’ve had to deal with these past few months.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know. And that’s probably why it’s in such bad shape right now.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Can you replace the rod?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Can’t afford it. I’m still paying off loans for \u003cem\u003ethis\u003c\/em\u003e one.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn. Yeah, that sucks. I’d help you out, but …” Jaz made an emptying-pockets gesture, which would have been more appropriate if she’d actually had pockets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know,” Pix said. “And I wouldn’t ask for a favor like that even if you could. I appreciate the thought, though.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So, what are you going to do about it?” Jaz asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Miss Pix has a plan!” Nova inserted brightly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Of course she does,” Jaz agreed, unsurprised. Pix could be relied upon for many things, and one of them was to Always Have a Plan. “Now what’s this super awesome plan you’ve been working on?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s still a work in progress,” Pix stressed cautiously.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, clearly.” Jaz picked up a random piece of paper from the table. “What’s this?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My shopping list.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You don’t say.” Jaz cleared her throat, then began to read. “Six Ex—Ex-iss—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eZess-ee-on\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix corrected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s not a Z!” Jaz exclaimed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s how it’s pronounced,” Pix replied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fine,” Jaz shrugged, then continued. “‘Six Xession spinal gems, black, large. Twelve Xession teeth, mouth.’” She looked up from the sheet. “Did you really need to specify that last bit?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’d be surprised.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Seems a little redundant to me. ‘Two Xession claws, front legs. Two Xession claws, back legs. Ten square feet of hide, back or top of head. Three Xession teeth, tail.’” Jaz set the sheet down. “Tail teeth?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah. Tail teeth,” Pix repeated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So … you’re looking to hunt a Xession?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s right.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Quite a grocery list you’ve got here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The gems are the most important items. I can’t afford a new rod, but I \u003cem\u003ecan \u003c\/em\u003ehunt for the parts I need to commission a replacement, which’ll be much cheaper.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sounds like a great plan so far.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, there are a few hang ups. The biggest problem is only certain types of gems can be melted down and formed into spellglass, and the monsters native to the Harbor area aren’t exactly replete with this trait.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Which is why you need to go after a Xession?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Precisely.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A Xession, you say. Good old Xessions.” Jaz nodded knowingly, her face serious. “Yes, that’ll be quite a challenge.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You have no idea what a Xession is, do you?” Pix said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I …” Jaz shrugged. “Yeah, you got me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s not surprising,” Pix replied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eHey!\u003c\/em\u003e” Jaz objected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, I mean, because it’s not in the Hunter’s Handbook yet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Society for the Exploration of the Monstrous Continent had known about the Xession for some time, but researchers had to gather a certain threshold of information about it before it would receive an official entry in the encyclopedia of known monsters, and the society was picky about the quality of information that was released in its publications. There was lots of peer review involved, which meant there had to be lots of hunts to gather information in the first place, and people generally didn’t hunt Xessions unless they had a specific reason to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There’s a decent amount of research in the Society library, though,” Pix continued, gesturing across the table to indicate the notes she’d spread there. She then grabbed one particular page and smoothed it out so Jaz could see it. The drawing that dominated the page was marked in Pix’s real initials—TW, for Tailer Weaver—and though she was still developing as a naturalistic artist, she’d managed to capture the pants-wetting, terror-inducing presence of the beast. It wasn’t incredibly detailed, just a big black silhouette: long, muscular, and low to the ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut it had teeth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLots and lots of teeth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yikes.” Jaz cringed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah,” Pix said, not bothering to look. “That’s how most people react.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You want to hunt \u003cem\u003ethat\u003c\/em\u003e thing?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That I do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You sure this is a good idea?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nope.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wait a second.” Jaz’s face scrunched up in confusion. “How’d something this mean manage to roam around without me hearing about it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because Xessions aren’t native to the Harbor, Miss Jaz,” Nova chimed. “After they fell from the Dazzling Skies, they nested in the Hellpits and stayed there. They seem to like it hot.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, we’re going to \u003cem\u003ethe Hellpits\u003c\/em\u003e?” Jaz beamed. “You know we’re gonna have to visit the demonfey when we go. They’re drama queens, but they throw the best—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e going to the Hellpits,” Pix responded. They’d been to that harsh volcanic region once before—when they’d gotten overconfident in their early hunting skills—and they’d only survived because a passing party of demonfey hunters recognized Jaz from the Team Red fan magazines that occasionally made their way over from the Wondrous Continent. It turned out the demonfey were rabid fans of the monster battling tournaments back home, especially the ones fought by Team Red, and given that Jaz’s full name was Jaspartina Red, they’d joined in the hunt purely for the novelty of helping out a very minor celebrity. (Jaz didn’t have the skills or desire necessary to be a professional monster trainer back on the mainland, but there was still some small fame to be garnered from being one of the daughters of Spinella Red.) In fact, Jaz and Pix now had a standing invitation to come to the Hellpits whenever they pleased, but it wasn’t something they’d ever taken the demonfey up on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eI\u003c\/em\u003e want to go to the Hellpits one day,” Nova said wistfully, and the tone of her voice was so ill-matched to the danger of that fiery wasteland that Pix had to ask:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My oldest brother and sister say they have lots of rare monster cards there. I want to go see them in person!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh!” Pix remarked. “That makes more sense.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe demonfey were also rabid collectors, and that included the Monster Punk Arena trading card game imported from the Wondrous Continent. Demonfey merchants made special voyages from their shores solely to bring the game’s updates to the Monstrous Continent. In fact, much of the drama that occurred in the Hellpits coincided with the releases of new expansion packs and limited edition collector’s cases, and while it mostly stayed in the Hellpits, word of the 25\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e Anniversary Special Promo War had reached as far as Skull Harbor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Still a bit dangerous for someone of your skill level, though,” Pix stated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I know!” Nova beamed. “That’s one of the reasons why I want to be a good Khatoyant. Oscar and Ariel said they’ll take me to a release when they think I can hold my own in a crowd fight.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wait,” Pix said. “So … part of the reason why you’re hunting \u003cem\u003ereal monsters\u003c\/em\u003e is to train yourself to fight so you can survive crowds battling to buy \u003cem\u003emonster cards\u003c\/em\u003e?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Mm-hmm!” Nova said, as if this was reasonable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Makes sense to me,” Jaz added. “If you can beat up a monster, you can definitely beat up another nerd.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix couldn’t even find the motivation to roll her eyes at that. Or rather, she \u003cem\u003ecould\u003c\/em\u003e, but she also knew it would be such a dramatic roll that she’d probably pull one of her vital eye muscles and then be at a disadvantage in the next hunt. So with great effort, she abstained.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I’m glad I can help you achieve your goal.” Pix patted the long, fluffy wig on Nova’s head, and Nova beamed back, happy to help and be helped by Pix. “Anyway,” she continued, then indicated some of the field reports on the table. “You know how the Ignifex population hasn’t been causing as much trouble recently?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I …” Jaz blinked. “Yes?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just take my word for it,” Pix sighed. “The number of Ignifex assignments being posted is down. \u003cem\u003eWay\u003c\/em\u003e down. Like over fifty percent down.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh! Which means something else could be hunting them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Right. There are a few other indicators, such as reports of unusual injuries on some of the monsters or atypical movement patterns, but the bottom line is I think a Xession has migrated to Skull Harbor. A ‘Wandering Xession’ if you will, and that monster is subsisting on a diet of Ignifex meat. Apparently, he likes his food spicy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“‘He?’ You sure it’s a male?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Probably,” Pix said. “I haven’t found any reports of female Xessions straying too far from the pack Tyrant, but I suppose there’s a first for everything. I’m guessing competition between the males forced this one to migrate.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And then it settled down once it found the Ignifex buffet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Exactly.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You could be right.” Jaz nodded, then stood up. “So, when do we leave?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t you have waffles to eat?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pfft! Those can wait. My friend needs some new gems.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks, Jaz.” Pix smiled warmly. “I appreciate that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t mention it.” Jaz gestured to the map. “So, where do we start?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Simple.” Pix’s eyes twinkled. “Follow the buffet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47049695002915,"sku":"EXCESS-PB-SIGNED","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/IsekaiSkiesSignedShopifyGraphic2.png?v=1700092761"},{"product_id":"print-bane-of-the-dead-limited-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Bane of the Dead (Paperback - LIMITED OLD COVER EDITION)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Seraphim Revival series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium LIMITED SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eThese are the last copies bearing the original cover of Bane of the Dead. Once they're gone, only the new cover will be available. - hp\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/bane-of-the-dead-seraphim-revival-book-one\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFueled by the Soul. Commanded by the Dead.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn an empire ruled by the honored dead, seraphs are the ultimate weapons. Fueled by the pilot’s very soul, these colossal humanoid mecha are unstoppable in battle.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack Donolon is the most powerful pilot in existence, a hero of Earth with a mind fractured by his seraph. On the far side of the galaxy, he uncovers a terrible truth about the seraphs and their pilots. Now he must return on a mission no one will understand, to face and kill the people who once called him friend and comrade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut the death he will bring is insignificant next to the destruction that will follow, should he fail…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom national bestselling author Jacob Holo comes an action-packed read for fans of Gundam, Evangelion, Pacific Rim, and anyone who’s ever wanted to pilot a giant robot!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Do you like Star Wars? Did you think it needed more giant robots? Well if you did, this is the book for you!”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“If you are a fan of Gundam, Robotech, giant mecha you will enjoy this book.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Great and entirely welcome mecha novel!”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“If you're look to scratch that mecha itch (like I was), look no further.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Feels like a love letter to the mecha space genre.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/bane-of-the-dead-seraphim-revival-book-one\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from BANE OF THE DEAD\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe voices in his head were right.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt may have taken fifteen years to find, but here on the far edge of the galaxy was the terrible truth he sought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnly one obstacle remained.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re alone out here,” Jack said, slipping into his uniform jacket. “No hope of support. No chance of rescue. You with me, buddy?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph said nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s the spirit. Let’s do this!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack clasped his storm-gray uniform jacket at the neck. White six-winged hawks adorned the cuffs and the sides of the collar, marking him as a seraph pilot of Aktenzek. His bright blue armband bore the Earth Nation seal: the moon and Earth within a halo of sixteen stars, a testament to his origins.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack rubbed the itchy stubble on his chin. He ran his fingers through an unruly mop of brown hair and jogged towards the \u003cem\u003eScion of Aktenzek\u003c\/em\u003e’s seraph hangar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pressure door slid open, and he watched it part from both sides. With each step, his connection to the seraph strengthened. He entered the hangar and looked up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bay was just large enough to contain the mighty girth of the seraph. Soft white lights illuminated its form. Spindly mechanical arms moved above and around the seraph, transporting its armaments down out of the ceiling and affixing them via conformal pods. When finished, the arms retracted upward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph was truly gargantuan. It stood in the manner of a man, towering high above Jack, who wasn’t as tall as its smallest finger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack slowed to a walk. This part of the hangar came level with the seraph’s chest. A slender gangplank extended from the ledge to the cockpit. The seraph’s head swiveled down and watched him approach. Six blade-like wings extended from its back, retracted into tight clusters of three. The armor was a seamless, immaculate white. Designers had given this seraph a smooth set of muscular curves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStrings of black runic characters adorned the forearms, legs, and wings. They spelled out the Litany of the Mission, a simple ten-verse invocation held sacred by the Aktenai:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWho are we?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWe are those forsaken by our kind.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat is our purpose?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eTo repent for our greatest sin.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat was our sin?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe creation of the Bane.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eHow must we repent our sin?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWe must kill the Bane.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWho will judge our worthiness?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Keepers of the Gate.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack knew it by heart. The words filled him with dread.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, this might be it,” he said. “We could turn back, you know.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph did not speak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I thought you’d say that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack hurried across the gangplank and entered the spherical cockpit in the chest. He turned and slid into the man-shaped alcove. The seraph’s skin sealed him inside, leaving no evidence of an opening. The walls closed in, contracting around his body, entombing him in darkness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack shut his eyes and took a deep breath. The mundane senses of his body faded. The multi-spectral “eyes” and “ears” of the seraph filled his mind. He clenched the giant hands of the seraph and shuffled from one foot to the other, restricted by the cramped confines of the hangar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack didn’t pilot the seraph. He \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e the seraph.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe let a trickle of power flow out from his frail, almost forgotten, human body. Raw, chaotic fury surged through his arterial network, energizing his limbs and wings. The black script of the Litany ignited with blinding blue light. His internal systems came online one after another, sipping at an endless reservoir of extra-dimensional energy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeneath his feet, the first of three doors flinched open. Clamps descended on rails and affixed to his shoulders and wings. With a surge of motion, the launch catapult thrust him down. He passed through doors that snapped open and shut in the span of an eye blink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe catapult flung Jack into the dark of space. He floated free of the \u003cem\u003eScion of Aktenzek\u003c\/em\u003e: a white, armored figure falling from the vast cylindrical vessel. He spread his wings and redirected power to them. Edges along each blade-wing flared with light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack flew ahead of the carrier.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, don’t keep me waiting,” he said. “You know where I am and where I’m going. Time to finish this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe didn’t wait long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first Disciple frigate folded space several hundred kilometers away. The sleek, silver-skinned enemy craft materialized within an expanding ring of distorted light, then turned its nose to face the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e. Once aligned, it fired the centerline fusion cannon that took up the bulk of its interior.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA beam of white light smashed into the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e, carving a ragged blister across its hull. Almost immediately, mnemonic armor flowed over the glowing wound, remembering and restoring its original shape. The fully automated carrier had impressive self-repair capabilities, but it was also his only way home. If it fell, so did he.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Here we go, buddy!” Jack shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe rocketed towards the enemy craft. The frigate fired again, but this time Jack swung into the beam’s path.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFocused atomic energy met his chaos barrier in a brilliant flash of competing forces. White ribbons splashed off him like water, leaving his armor untouched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack aimed the fusion cannon housed in a conformal pod along his left arm. The weapon drank in a portion of his barrier, energized the barrel, and focused the nuclear charge into a tight plasma lance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe beam hit with all the force of a capital ship’s main gun, emitted from a weapon one-fiftieth the size. Plasma cleaved the Disciple vessel in half. Secondary explosions snapped across its length and obliterated the rest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo more Disciple frigates folded space, both larger than the first and positioned further out. They fired their main guns and unleashed a steady stream of fusion torpedoes from twin launchers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack turned and sped towards them. He shot the lead ship. His beam hit from the side and punched clean through, blowing the nose off the craft. His second shot stabbed through the center. Two ruined halves tumbled away, shedding life pods like a rain of silver droplets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree more frigates entered the system even further away and commenced their attack runs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eScion \u003c\/em\u003etook hit after hit. Beams seared its armor, and torpedoes exploded against its hull. Damage indicators opened in Jack’s mind. A nuclear inferno breached the outer hull, and radiation flooded two of the aft compartments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good thing that’s not where I sleep.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack closed the alert and fired again. He raked the beam across the closest ship, cleaving it at a diagonal. Explosions brewed up within the wreck, shrouding it in fire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFusion beams slashed across space. The \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e spun its hull, spreading the hits across its surface. More damage warnings flashed in his mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack twisted around and rocketed towards the new trio of frigates.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“They’re trying to split me off from the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph did not speak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I can’t help it! Their cannons have better range!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack flew across their formation and unloaded shot after shot. Beams carved red-hot holes through the Disciple ships. Superheated alloys cracked the first frigate apart, then the second.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe last frigate unleashed a swarm of forty torpedoes from its external racks. Jack blasted the ship apart and swung past its spreading wreckage. He deployed a wave of tactical seekers from the weapon pods attached to his legs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tiny guided projectiles ignited their overloaded drive blades and sped after the torpedoes, intercepting over half of them. The rest slammed into the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e in one infernal detonation after another. The hull heated and bulked. Damage alerts opened faster than he could read them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut when the translucent gauze of plasma dissipated, the \u003cem\u003eScion \u003c\/em\u003eremained.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whew! That was close.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs if to prove him wrong, a Disciple dreadnought folded space almost on top of the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e. Its reflective armor gleamed in the starlight. Three whole frigates could have fit within its long, flattened hull.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Where the hell did you come from?” Jack shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dreadnought oriented its three cannons on the \u003cem\u003eScion \u003c\/em\u003eand fired. A trio of plasma jets scorched the carrier, opening another breach. One of the two engine compartments vaporized. Radiation polluted half the interior.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack dumped power into his wings and raced in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dreadnought opened fire again. Armor scattered from the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e’s hull in molten globules.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The substructure is exposed!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack aimed his arm cannon and fired. The fusion beam struck the dreadnought amidships. Fierce plasma scarred the armor with a livid orange slash, but it failed to penetrate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I can’t punch through that hull in time!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo one responded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh yeah? Watch this!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack closed with the dreadnought, diving in perpendicular to its path. He didn’t slow down. Instead, he crashed feet first into the ship, forming a crater. The impact forced the mammoth warship off course. Its shots flew wide, arcs of plasma fading into the depths of space.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrive blades along the dreadnought’s rear powered up, reorienting the bow onto its target. Fusion torpedoes deployed from six launch tubes, adding to the incoming fire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack grabbed the leading edge of the ship and flipped himself inside one of its fusion cannons. The long tube ran almost the entire length of the craft, lined with gravitic focusing rings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the far end of the dark barrel, the next ignition spark appeared.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, this is going to hurt.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack raised a forearm and shielded his face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cannon discharged. Blinding light filled everything. Plasma sleeted over his barrier, cooking him. He grunted in pain, but his barrier did not waver.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cannon finished firing, and Jack ran down the barrel, keeping his arm up. More damage registered on the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e. Its launch catapults were gone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA faint glow brightened ahead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, no you don’t!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack sprinted in. The shunts along his left forearm glowed brighter. Blue energy extended from above his wrist, forming a blade as long as he was tall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack stabbed the chaos sword into the ignition mechanism. The spark vanished. Machinery melted and floated away. He cleaved through the back of the cannon, then let the sword fade into a dusting of winking motes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack jammed his hands into the breach and forced the armor apart, exposing over a dozen of the dreadnought’s crewed decks stacked one on top of the other. Startled men and women in dark red pressure suits stared at him. The interior must have already been depressurized for combat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Surprise!” Jack swung a leg through the breach and stepped in, his shin crashing through three decks at the same time. Disciple warriors scattered out of his way as he smashed through the ship’s interior, crumpling the walls and floors of a dozen decks with each stride as if they were made of paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen he reached the bridge, Jack clawed the reinforced exterior aside. The Disciple captain stood in the center of a circular room ringed with tactical displays. Red messages flashed urgently on most, but the captain glared defiantly at the seraph, unwilling to retreat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack pointed his arm cannon at the man.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Heh. Nothing personal.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe triggered the weapon. A fusion beam vaporized the whole bridge and everything behind it. Jack emptied his cannon with shot after shot, turning the dreadnought’s interior into a white-hot inferno. He spread his wings and flew out through the giant barrel. Behind him, the dreadnought drifted away, its armor bulging out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack arced towards the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e. The carrier was lacerated with glowing crisscrossed patches of superheated alloy, at least where it still had armor. Several molten holes laid its copper-hued internal systems bare to the vacuum. He opened the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e’s internal diagnostics and took a long, thoughtful look.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe sighed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good. Half the seraph bays are intact, two fold engines are still working, and my room is in one piece.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph said nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No need to be mean. It worked, didn’t it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e sent him a navigational request. Its fold engines were finally charged for the next jump. His internal fold engines were also ready.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Let’s see if all this was worth it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack and the \u003cem\u003eScion of Aktenzek\u003c\/em\u003e vanished.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47049920119075,"sku":"BANE-OLD","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/BaneandSunburnShopify.png?v=1700174863"},{"product_id":"copy-of-print-monster-punk-horizon-signed-paperback-limited-sunburn-edition","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Monster Punk Horizon (Paperback - LIMITED SUNBURN EDITION)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Monster Punk Horizon series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this LIMITED SUNBURN EDITION SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e*One of our Monster Punk Horizon runs experienced a misprint wherein Pix and Jaz looked REALLY SUNBURNED on the cover. For some reason, some of y'all still wanted to buy these \"special editions\" \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e🤣\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e, so here's your chance. (The interior is good; the cover's just wack.) - hp\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by H.P. Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/monster-punk-horizon-book-one-of-monster-punk-horizon\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWANTED: Monster hunters. Practical armor optional.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePix and Jaz are two girls who just want to hunt monsters, craft armor, and pay off their college loans\u003c\/strong\u003e—but when a colossal new monster falls through the portals in the Dazzling Skies, it’ll take all their skills to survive it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir skill levels? Slightly above noob.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, they have their oversized swords, a lot of sass…and one giant monster friend who might help them out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a price…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Series:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonster Punk Horizon\u003c\/em\u003e is an exciting new fantasy comedy for fans of the \u003cem\u003eMonster Hunter\u003c\/em\u003e games and kick-butt ladies fighting monsters for fun and profit! GameLit readers will enjoy the focus on action over stats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"This book made me want to game in this world. The author has an incredible gift for smart, witty names and vivid description. The characters are appealing and carry you through this light, fun adventure with tremendous energy.\"\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e – Jane Lindskold, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e bestselling author \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Plays with planetary ecology as much as \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eDune \u003c\/span\u003eever did … Anyone who enjoys the monster hunter genre of video games should enjoy this.” – \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eUpstream Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a LIMITED SUNBURN EDITION SIGNED PAPERBACK \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/monster-punk-horizon-book-one-of-monster-punk-horizon\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from MONSTER PUNK HORIZON\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix was the sort to over-prepare, and today she was glad she had.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe was already in her best armor, a combination of sturdy bone, fireproof Ignifex hide, and random metal pieces she’d found at the thrift shop, all obscured under a blue tabard because otherwise it looked mismatched and stupid. She hadn’t expected to need such armor today, but she’d only just carved the materials necessary to craft the Ignifex bits and wanted to break it in, and easy survey missions were perfect for that. Even so, she’d still brought two full flasks of Darla’s green bitterale and a selection of nut breads meant to counteract various adverse conditions, along with doubles of other standard kit components like jerky and bandaging for small injuries. She’d sharpened her grappler, recalibrated her podlauncher, outfitted her cloak with camouflaging Mantis Gems, and filled several pockets with charges for the centerpiece of her ensemble—her capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was about half the size of Jaz’s greatsword, but its primary difference was the cylinder at the base of its blade, loaded with a circuit of mysteric capacitors that would unleash a massive shock of whatever glitter magic she’d loaded. Though it wasn’t as impressive as Jaz’s weapon, it was still made of quality glistiron, and it was the best capacitor blade she could possibly build at this point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor someone of her experience, it was not a bad kit, but it was still lacking one thing …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know, we really should consider hiring some Khatoyants if you’re going to go barreling off after colossal undocumented monsters,” Pix said as she and Jaz traipsed through the jungle. “At the very least for the extra eyes. Also, take off your dragon head. We don’t need to be attracting random Nutpidges with a new monster running about.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz raspberried and yanked at the mask. Her goofy dragon sock pulled away to reveal a head of dark, sporty shoulder-length hair and skin that was much better suited to the high sun of the jungle than Pix’s pasty mayonnaise tone—but then that was why Pix equipped gems cut to deflect sunlight. Jaz, meanwhile, roamed the jungle in what amounted to monsterskin hot pants and whatever other starter pieces looked interesting at the thrift shop, which put her in a mess of bones, leather, and fur that while equally as ridiculous as Pix’s armor, at least had the good fortune to occur in matching shades of red.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ve got too many college loans to be thinking about Khatoyants,” Jaz retorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If we had Khatoyants looking out for us, we’d bring in \u003cem\u003emore loot\u003c\/em\u003e that would help us \u003cem\u003epay off our loans faster\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix continued. “Not to mention we’d be less likely to die.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If I die, my college loan problem is solved.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Does your dragon line regenerate?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNearly every native under the Dazzling Skies had dragon blood somewhere in their ancestry, a consequence of the Elder Dragons being one of the first races to fall from the sky when it had opened. They fell asleep soon afterward, but not before fear of their own extinction led them to reproduce with the other original skybornes (after taking the proper form, of course. Back then, the Elder Dragons frequently spent time in simpler forms for the quaint amusement of it).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dragon line had still nearly died out, as most of the other races had been genetically incompatible, but fortunately for the dragons, there had been one race that wasn’t. Humans, it turned out, were not only genetically compatible with most other skybornes, but would copulate with literally \u003cem\u003eanything\u003c\/em\u003e if they were bored or curious enough, as long as it talked and had bulges in interesting places. There hadn’t been many humans in the early days, but that hadn’t stopped them from contributing their bipedal build, general resilience—and, some claimed, their species’ innate luck—to the vast majority of the now-native population. Between magical dragon blood and lucky human blood, most natives were well-equipped for the extreme situations under the Dazzling Skies, but different lines bestowed different benefits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncluding the ability to \u003cem\u003eliterally not die\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz looked up in rare thought, as if she’d never pondered her dragon line before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come to think of it … I \u003cem\u003edon’t\u003c\/em\u003e know,” she said. “Does yours regenerate?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No. My dragon ancestry is so diluted by this point that the only thing I get out of it is pointy ears.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz felt the tips of her ears as if she hadn’t been living with them her entire life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn. My ears are \u003cem\u003eway\u003c\/em\u003e pointier than yours.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eMy point is\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix continued, “you should figure out whether you’re going to come back before you start making escape plans that end with dying. Besides, if you actually die, your family’s going to come after \u003cem\u003eme\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You say that as if we’re not likely to die together.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The point is to not die \u003cem\u003eat all\u003c\/em\u003e.” Pix rolled her eyes for the fifth time in as many minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReally, it was astonishing they’d been partners this long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey’d met on the mainland at Mysteric University, where an abysmally inaccurate roommate pairing algorithm had placed the level-headed, academically-minded Pix with … well, all that was Jaz.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix had A Plan. She was going to study Monstrous Ecology with the express intent of researching the monsters and biomes across the Dazzling Seas. Simple.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz had No Plan. She majored in something random because her interests changed every semester anyway, and when she found out Pix was heading to the Monstrous Continent, she figured she’d come too because why not?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz was from an elite family on the mainland who didn’t think well of her becoming a monster hunter when they’d planned for her to join her sisters in the family business. Monsters on the mainland had evolved differently than those of the Monstrous Continent. The fauna here had been roaming without significant civilized influence for centuries. “Monsters” on the mainland, if one could even call them that, had developed alongside advancing society, and these days the two existed in a close, symbiotic relationship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere the Monstrous Continent was largely wild and unsettled, the Wondrous Continent had few unexplored corners. Over the centuries, people and their companion monsters had sewn an eclectic blanket of civilization over the land, from the garden of parks and pastel cottages that made up Indigo Town, to the blue-green sprawl of roots, treehouses, and seafront that was Mangrove Beach, to the glowing metropolis of jewel-toned skyscapers that made up Opal City—at the heart of which beat Mysteric University, the headquarters of all monster-related research. The natives and skybornes had worked together to conceive it, of course, but it was all facilitated by the unique powers of the monsters themselves, such that they were inseparable from its success.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose mainland monsters still needed ways to expend their excess mysteric energy, though, and over the years Jaz’s family had built a sporting empire out of that basic need. Team Red was one of several champion franchises, and Jaz was supposed to be one of her family's monster-training champions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProblem was, Jaz was absolute dung at anything that involved strategy. Her family had sent her to college hoping she’d develop some skills that would be useful on the sidelines, but she was dung at anything that involved structure, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe wore her family name like a straitjacket. And when Pix told her about her plans for the Monstrous Continent, that straitjacket broke.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome people were not meant to live in organized societies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaspartina Red was one of those people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe thrived on the unpredictable energy of chaos, and that made her perfectly suited to this world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf course, it also meant she regularly brought chaos with her, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Extreme circumstances often led to extreme discoveries, after all, and though Jaz was unbridled, she wasn’t careless. Not \u003cem\u003ecompletely\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was what kept Pix with her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor though Jaz brought her own breed of trouble, she was the kind of person who would merrily go to the Hellpits and back for her friends and somehow bring some demonfey home for drinks afterward so they had drinking buddies for the next time they ended up in said Hellpits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd a person who could turn demonfey into friends was a truly useful one indeed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix was fairly certain Jaz was after this new monster specifically so she could befriend it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut even that wasn’t entirely inconvenient.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs they walked, Pix opened her logbook to a clean page in the back and marked it for future use. The pattern bellowed on the harbor’s Skull Organ was clear: observation only, unless the need for a hunt became obvious. After all, in cases like this, there was always a chance that the monster was not innately aggressive, but rather just scared and alarmed at suddenly being in a strange new world. They could decide whether it was truly dangerous after they knew a bit more about it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz, in front, crouched to examine a set of indentations in the soil: four digits radiated out from the central metacarpal pad like sunbeams cresting the horizon, ending in sharp, deep claw marks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ignifex on the field,” she reported. “The print’s still sharp around the edges, so it’s pretty fresh.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ugh, we \u003cem\u003eso\u003c\/em\u003e don’t need to deal with an Ignifex today,” Pix sighed, as Jaz put her face to the track and sniffed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Smells like he’s amped up his mucus production, too,” she continued. “He’s agitated.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We need an agitated Ignifex even less,” Pix groaned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Or we could be lucky this new thing wandered into Ignifex territory,” Jaz replied. “Maybe it’s weak to fire and general whompings.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“When have we ever been that lucky—oh, dung!” Pix exclaimed, for just as she said the operative word, a warbling belch of a roar split the air, and a massive, sinuous shape reared from the shadows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr rather, plopped from the shadows. But with an Ignifex, even a plop was the stuff of nightmares and a sudden need for fresh pants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex was most simply described as a salamander, if a salamander was fifteen feet long with muscular, tensile legs that could launch it an equal length; a ripped, red chunky body that could slam nearly any creature into submission with a single blow; and a goofy, goggle-eyed face with a swollen neck-pouch that made one question whether this monster had put on the right head when it left to go to prowl that morning. As if that wasn’t enough, its entire body shone with a thick reddish mucus—and the source of many of the rainforest’s woes. For when the Ignifex felt truly threatened, it clicked a hard plate at the front of its mouth ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t let it click!” Pix screeched, and with one fluid, instinctive motion, both hunters snatched their weapons from their holsters—Jaz her beloved greatsword, and Pix her nearly-as-beloved capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnfortunately, caught off guard and within a foot of the monster’s death plop, they were in no position to stop it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster clacked its bony beak. A tiny spark spat from its mouth—and then flashed across its entire body in an enormous \u003cem\u003ewhoomph!\u003c\/em\u003e of flame.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz and Pix threw their blades up as shields, but that didn’t stop odd flecks of flaming mucus from splattering off the creature and onto their armor. Pix didn’t worry; her Ignifex hide pieces were naturally resistant to the mucus flame. Jaz was not so lucky. She still wore her novice leathers because they were comfy and broken in, and only that—but then Jaz had once cooked a corn dog with her bare hand on a dare and came away with exactly one blister, so fire didn't matter to her dragon line as much as it did to Pix’s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth leapt to keep their distance as the Ignifex lunged and rolled, scattering its mucus flames around the underbrush and igniting everything it touched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut less and less as the minutes passed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn Ignifex never burned for more than a few minutes. Usually that was all the time it needed to scare off a threat—as long as that threat wasn’t a hunter hoping to cull the population. Ignifex was considered the apex predator of the area closest to Skull Harbor. Thus far lacking a natural predator and prone to setting the forest on fire, it was one of the few monsters actively culled as a genuine threat to the ecosystem—not to mention a source of useful resources and a fair test of a young hunter’s skill.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt took a fairly experienced hunter to bring one down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix and Jaz were \u003cem\u003ejust barely experienced enough\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith another irritated warble-roar, the Ignifex rolled off the last of its defensive mucus, and Pix saw her moment. She queued up a glitterblue capacitor—Ignifex hated the chills that water magic unleashed on the body—while Jaz just wound up to chop the heck out of whatever part her blade hit. Her opal would do the rest of the work for her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey both watched for the Ignifex’s tells—a grunt, a roll, a bumbling crouch. They weren’t fast monsters. In fact, they were rather clumsy, but very often that clumsiness caused them to bumble into a single good hit—and with its fearsome girth, one hit was all an Ignifex needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere came the crouch!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster sprang for Pix. She jumped out of the way, just in time for Jaz to swing her sword into the creature’s head in a spray of magical blue sparkles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSo the opal chose water magic, too,\u003c\/em\u003e Pix observed. It didn’t kill the creature—Ignifex skulls were dense, and made fantastic shoulder pauldrons, for that matter—but the heavy impact \u003cem\u003edid\u003c\/em\u003e addle the beast enough for Pix to leap onto its back and plunge her blade into the red gems that grew along its spine. She squeezed the first trigger branching over her hilt, and at once the cylinder glowed with a great, blinding crack. When the charge was at its brightest, she squeezed the second trigger. The central chamber of her blade radiated pure, glittering blue; a cloud of sparkling magic particles blasted out from the wound, and the Ignifex screeched as if it had just gotten brain freeze all over its body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pix, look out!” Jaz shouted, but Pix knew what she was yelling for. Before she could pull out the blade, the Ignifex rolled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEveryone knew to look out for that sort of move. The Ignifex liked to lure enemies close with the promise of an easy blow, only to turn their proximity against them with a lazy, vicious belly flop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut knowing it was coming and successfully avoiding it were two completely separate things. Especially when one's foot was planted on a weakened piece of gem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex lurched, and the crumbling gem on its back shattered under Pix’s heel. But she was Pix, and as such, she was prepared for this, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe twisted midair, jammed the point of her capacitor blade into the ground, and then pulled her final, special trigger. Her blade split down the middle, revealing a glowing spellglass rod, and with another flick of her second trigger, it unleashed a blinding beam of blue light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe combo wasted one of her charges, but it also blew her backward, out of the Ignifex’s reach, and she landed and slid to a solid, practiced stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d discovered that move completely by accident in her first week of hunting, then practiced it over months at the training grounds, and as excessive as it was, it had come in handy more than once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex paused at the end of its roll, confused that it hadn’t felt a satisfying, crunchy squish, and now its goggled eyes looked in Pix’s general direction as if reconsidering the life choices that led it to attack this clever creature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCan we get it to run?\u003c\/em\u003e Pix wondered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr \u003cem\u003ewould\u003c\/em\u003e have wondered, if she hadn’t been interrupted by a brain-shattering screech.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProtected by their Earworms, she and Jaz didn’t hear its full terror, but the Ignifex did, and it yowled as if the sound had reached straight into its little walnut brain and pureed it into a nice, smooth spread that would go well on some toasted brown bread.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix rolled out of the Ignifex’s path and rejoined Jaz, just as another shadow descended over the trees—and sent a sharp, barbed whip of an arm straight through the Ignifex’s skull.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex didn’t even cry out. It crumpled like a sad pile of rejected sausage meat, the apex predator of the Skull Harbor Jungle reduced to nothing with a single \u003cem\u003esnik!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Told you it wasn’t a vegetarian,” Jaz whispered through her Earworms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All the more reason to hide!” Pix spat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt that, the two hunters scrambled for cover. Even someone as freewheeling as Jaz knew, scared or not, a creature that could take out an Ignifex with one blow was serious business.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth snatched their cloaks from their kits and flung them over their heads as they waited for it to land, better to obscure themselves for observation and to increase their likelihood of not joining the new monster’s kebab.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix had mostly equipped Mantis Gems because she had \u003cem\u003ea ton\u003c\/em\u003e of them and didn’t own any of the really good defensive gems yet, but of all the things she was glad to have packed today, she was particularly glad for these. Most cloaks were at least minimally good for hiding, but once she fastened the two gems in her neck clasp together, her entire image wavered until the details of her form were obscured, as if in a heat haze. No lapidary had yet found a cut that could render full camouflage from a Mantis Gem, but this was good enough to fool most monster eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow safely hidden, Pix nestled behind a large fern and opened her book to her marked page, ready to record once the monster landed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut it didn’t.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact the next time they heard it screech, it was deeper into the jungle and far enough away that it must have forgotten its kill nearly as soon as it was made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not killing for food,” Pix said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And that was no accident,” Jaz echoed, separating the gems on her own neck clasp. “You can’t spear an Ignifex brain by accident.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix nodded, and then pulled a little flare gun from her kit and fired three red bursts into the air. Soon after, the resonant notes of the Harbor’s Skull Organ blared out over the jungle, the new tune relaying new orders: \u003cem\u003eThis monster is dangerous. Initiate hunt.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We need to research it before we even have a chance of bringing it down,” Pix said, standing and returning her items to her kit. “Wait—what are you doing?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Getting my pauldron,” Jaz replied. She’d brought out her carving knife and had begun to slice through the monster’s skin with a practiced hand that had done so many times before. “No point in letting this big boy go to waste. Plus I’m sure we’ll be able to find a fire station that’ll buy the fireproof leather off us. Not to mention all the stuff we can use the fat for.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We don’t have time!” Pix objected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You want to leave him for the Waspas?” Jaz retorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know, if we had Khatoyants, they could do the carving for us while we continued the hunt.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother screech went up in the distance. Likely another meaningless kill.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fine,” Jaz huffed, then put away her carving knife and unrolled a little red flag from her pack, sewn with the insignia of the Dragon Pig Pirates. She tied it around one of the dead monster’s horns, then rigged a small trap of stink bombs so that anyone who moved it would get a malodorous surprise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrap set, she stood back to admire her work with a smug smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix rolled her eyes, and the two set off.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe screeching creature never landed, but despite the lack of tracks, it wasn’t hard to follow. Persistent screeches aside, it left a trail of punctured corpses, mostly Ignifex, all dead by no effort at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe latest hung from a mess of thick vines as if caught there mid-leap and showed no signs of struggle, just a single bloody jab through the skull and a more-goggled-than-usual face frozen dead, mid-confusion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s only killing apex predators,” Pix said. “Could be asserting dominance.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ugh. What’s it going to do when it figures out \u003cem\u003ewe’re\u003c\/em\u003e the actual apex predators?” Jaz groaned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix didn’t want to think about that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All the more reason to pursue it,” she said. She tried to sound bold, but the truth was, she didn’t want to think about what would happen when they caught up with it, either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere were already dangerous monsters in this world, of course—and she and Jaz hadn’t even faced most of them yet—but inevitably \u003cem\u003esomeone\u003c\/em\u003e had, and there were always veteran hunters who had hunted native monsters so frequently they found even the mysterious eldritch variants predictable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut skyborne monsters like this one, with no connection to this natural world ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot even a legendary hunter like the Madmiral would know where to start.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47056844488995,"sku":"MPH-SIGNED-SUN","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/BaneandSunburnShopify2.png?v=1700174665"},{"product_id":"print-the-dyson-file-signed-trade-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Dyson File (Trade Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Five in the Gordian Division series. Published by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED TRADE PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-dyson-file.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW GORDIAN DIVISION NOVEL:\u003c\/i\u003e When a top engineer on Saturn commits suicide, Detective Isaac Cho and Special Agent Susan Cantrell are called in to review the case. But what seems like an open-and-shut case spirals into the strange. And if Cho and Cantrell don't solve the mystery soon, they may be the next ones to wind up dead.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Atlas Corporation was all set to tear apart the planet Mercury—converting its resources into a swarm of solar-collecting megastructures—when Esteban Velasco, lead Atlas engineer, is found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDetective Isaac Cho and Special Agent Susan Cantrell, both eager to return to active duty despite close calls on their last case, are sent in to assess the situation. Their superiors expect a simple declaration of suicide, but Velasco’s death proves anything but typical.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe detectives soon find themselves embroiled in a mystery far more complex—and strange—than anyone expected, leading them to a church for Mercury-loving weirdos, a “nudist” colony open to Saturn’s unbreathable atmosphere, an exclusive park for hunting dinosaurs, and a ghost town where forgotten machines wage war over condo floorplans.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat was meant to be an easy return to duty for the detectives takes a sudden dark turn when ruthless mind-hackers ambush and nearly kill them, making one fact crystal clear:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf they don’t solve this case soon, it’ll be \u003ci\u003etheir\u003c\/i\u003e corpses that turn up next.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"\u003cem\u003eThe Dyson File\u003c\/em\u003e rocks.\" —David Weber, NYT best-selling author of the Honor Harrington and Safehold series\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"In \u003cem\u003eThe Dyson File\u003c\/em\u003e, the far-future SF elements are (thank goodness) far more than window-dressing. Instead, they permeate the investigation on every level, creating an increasingly complex and very satisfying police procedural.\" —Jane Lindskold, NYT best-selling author of the Firekeeper Saga\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"\u003cem\u003eThe Dyson File\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun and engaging science fiction mystery, but it was the wild moments of the main characters' highly relatable lives that made me laugh out loud so many times while reading this delightful book!\" —Joelle Presby, best-selling coauthor of \u003cem\u003eThe Road to Hell\u003c\/em\u003e and author of \u003cem\u003eThe Dabare Snake Launcher\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Legwork, interrogations, shady corporate interests, gangsters, and raids gone bad, \u003cem\u003eThe Dyson File\u003c\/em\u003e is as real as it gets.” —Griffin Barber, 20 year veteran of the SFPD and author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium trade paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-dyson-file.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE DYSON FILE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"chapter\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p6\"\u003e“A dark and stormy night,” the man uttered with a deep frown. “How appropriate.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p11\" id=\"p11\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe gazed through outward-slanted windows to the black, roiling thunderheads. Ferocious streaks of lightning revealed the caramel hues of ammonia ice clouds, and a dusting of ammonia snow melted off the window’s vacuum-insulated outer layer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p12\" id=\"p12\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTechnically, it wasn’t night at all. Not according to his wetware’s internal clock, but that was because Saturn’s ten-hour-and-forty-two-minute days were ill-suited to the biorhythms of organic citizens, leading most places in and around the gas giant to follow an Earth-centric calendar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p13\" id=\"p13\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe man harrumphed, took a sip from his wine glass, and continued to gaze out the window with heavily lidded eyes. The skin of his round face was pale and slightly moist, his salt-and-pepper hair oily and uncombed. He wore a dark green suit—mostly because he had to for the party—though the garment’s precise tailoring seemed to hang off his slouched shoulders in a slovenly manner, as if both he \u003ci\u003eand\u003c\/i\u003e the suit didn’t want to be there.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p14\" id=\"p14\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis dynamic scarf hung around his neck like a thick piece of limp linguini, its surface animated with a looping pattern of abstract shapes in muted colors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p15\" id=\"p15\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe raised the wine glass to his lips once more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p16\" id=\"p16\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis name was Esteban Velasco, Senior Macrotech Engineer for the Atlas Corporation, and though he stood on the cusp of his greatest achievement, his brooding demeanor and unkempt appearance hinted at the dark thoughts within his mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p17\" id=\"p17\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA distant bluish light drew his eyes, partially obscured by the ammonia clouds. The source of the light was a tall floating megastructure called Janus-Epimetheus, named in honor of the two moons demolished during its construction. The locals called it the “Shark Fin,” for it did indeed resemble a brilliantly white downturned fin, though one that measured over one hundred kilometers tall and flared at the top into an expansive oval plateau two hundred kilometers across and fifty wide.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p18\" id=\"p18\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco couldn’t make out much beyond a distant silhouette haloed by a faint aura created by the lights from external buildings and short-ranged craft, all obscured behind the churning storm clouds. The powerful glow from its banks of nine massive engines—aligned in compact triplets vertically along the megastructure’s trailing edge—grew brighter as it made what was probably a minor course correction through the \u003ci\u003ecomparatively\u003c\/i\u003e gentle winds of Saturn’s fortieth northern parallel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p19\" id=\"p19\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe senior engineer stood on the bottom floor of the Atlas mobile headquarters as it floated through the storm, trailing Janus-Epimetheus on its endless journey around Saturn. The building resembled a miniscule silver top drifting behind the giant, downturned fin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p20\" id=\"p20\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco raised the wine glass to his lips once more, but then paused and stared into the golden, bubbly fluid. His wetware interfaced with the glass, and an infographic for the beverage appeared in his virtual vision beside it. He skimmed over the summary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p21\" id=\"p21\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was an expensive wine. Not synthesized within the miniaturized chemical factory of a food printer, but produced the old-fashioned way, starting with grapes grown in a vineyard. A \u003ci\u003eSaturnite\u003c\/i\u003e vineyard, in this case. The infographic said the drink had been imported from Old Frontier, a large agricultural city located about two-thirds of the way down the Shark Fin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p22\" id=\"p22\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Boaz broke out the good stuff tonight,” Velasco muttered to himself. “A shame.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p23\" id=\"p23\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe relaxed his hand, and the glass slipped from his fingers. At this altitude, Saturn’s mass produced a natural 1.065 gravities, and the glass fell to the floor much as it would have if he’d let go on Earth. It bounced once and rolled until it stopped against the outward slant of the window, leaving an expensive streak on the self-cleaning carpet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p24\" id=\"p24\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What the hell, butterfingers?” sniggered a man behind Velasco. “Can’t handle a few drinks?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p25\" id=\"p25\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco let out a weary sigh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p26\" id=\"p26\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This is all I need right now,” he grumbled under his breath.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p27\" id=\"p27\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You say something? I’m sorry, but I’m having trouble understanding you over your booze slur.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p28\" id=\"p28\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco turned around—slowly and with great lack of enthusiasm—to face Leon Traczyk, another macrotech engineer, though not as senior as himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p29\" id=\"p29\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two formed a stark contrast. Traczyk stood half a head taller than Velasco, with impeccable posture, chin held high as he looked down his nose at the other man. His tawny mane was slicked back, without a hair out of place, and his beard was neatly trimmed and combed. He wore a crimson business suit with a diamond pattern alternating between lighter and darker shades, accentuated by a large ruby at his throat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p30\" id=\"p30\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe suit didn’t look very fashionable to Velasco, but knowing Traczyk, the pattern was probably based on some new Lunarian or Jovian fashion trend. Behind him, the party was in full swing. Around seventy people from Atlas’ senior staff mingled in the wide half-moon space at the bottom of the mobile headquarters. Catering drones weaved through the crowd, offering drinks and hors d’oeuvres, while their boss, Julian Boaz, climbed up onto a raised dais at the back, perhaps in preparation for a speech.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p31\" id=\"p31\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Leon,” Velasco grunted to his coworker.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p32\" id=\"p32\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Esteban,” Traczyk replied with a smirk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p33\" id=\"p33\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t you have anyone else to pester?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p34\" id=\"p34\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“‘Pester’? Don’t be absurd. Can’t I stop by simply to say hello?” He raised his wine with a twinkle in his eyes. “I’d offer you another glass, but it seems you’ve already had enough.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p35\" id=\"p35\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco didn’t say anything. He simply stared at the other man, his face sullen and his eyes dark with secret intent. Traczyk, while annoying and overly ambitious in a boardroom-backstabbing sort of way, had been reduced to the equivalent of white noise in his frayed mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p36\" id=\"p36\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTraczyk snapped his fingers in front of Velasco’s face. The senior engineer wasn’t sure how much time had passed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p37\" id=\"p37\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Something wrong with you?” Traczyk asked, then smiled. “Perhaps you should seriously consider retirement. Or at least a sabbatical.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p38\" id=\"p38\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco locked eyes with the younger man. “Why don’t you say what’s really on your mind?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p39\" id=\"p39\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Where’s this coming from?” Traczyk shifted uneasily from one foot to the other, perhaps taken aback by his colleague’s sudden directness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p40\" id=\"p40\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Go on and say it,” Velasco taunted. “Unless you’re afraid to.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p41\" id=\"p41\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Afraid?” Traczyk’s face reddened and his voice grew softer, yet more forceful at the same time. “Listen here.” He jabbed Velasco’s chest with a finger. “Everyone here might think we won the contract because of you, but I know the truth. I was in the trenches each night trying to hold your sorry excuse for a design together. The boss is about to get up on that stage, and I’m sure he’s going to shower you with praise. Praise everyone else thinks you’ve earned, but the truth is you didn’t earn shit. You know it, and I know it. I carried your worthless, deadbeat carcass across the finish line. \u003ci\u003eI\u003c\/i\u003e did! That should be \u003ci\u003eme\u003c\/i\u003e he’s about to recognize. Not a has-been like you!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p42\" id=\"p42\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco let Traczyk’s scorn pour off him like the pointless bleating it was.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p43\" id=\"p43\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I wouldn’t worry too much,” he replied evenly. “I have a feeling you’re about to get exactly what you’ve wanted all this time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p44\" id=\"p44\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p45\" id=\"p45\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’ll see.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p46\" id=\"p46\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTraczyk frowned as Velasco slid past him. He weaved through the crowd, heading in the general direction of the room’s center.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p47\" id=\"p47\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJulian Boaz, Atlas CEO, stood on the dais and surveyed the crowd. He was a big, bald, broad-shouldered man that exuded an air of approachability despite his physical stature and position within the company. He surveyed the crowd with warm eyes and an affable smile, though Velasco knew those features masked his real personality. Boaz could put on whatever friendly airs he wanted, but he knew—and had been on the receiving end—of the man’s ruthless nature. All Boaz wanted was to see Atlas on top, and he didn’t care who got caught in the grinding treads of their progress, be it their competitors or the company’s own engineers, programmers, and physicists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p48\" id=\"p48\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ladies and gentlemen!” Boaz began. “Your attention please!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p49\" id=\"p49\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe room grew quiet, and all eyes focused on the CEO.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p50\" id=\"p50\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoaz held out a cupped hand, and an abstract document materialized over it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p51\" id=\"p51\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I have here the letter from the Senate’s Megastructure Subcommittee. I won’t bore you by reading through all the legalese, but suffice it to say, Atlas has been awarded the Dyson Realization Project. We did it, people! We’re the ones who’ll go down in history as the builders of the very first Dyson swarm!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p52\" id=\"p52\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA cheer rose from the crowd.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p53\" id=\"p53\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know this project has had its ups and downs. I was so proud of all of you when our bid was selected as one of the two finalists”—he paused for dramatic effect—“alongside SourceCode.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p54\" id=\"p54\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSomeone in the crowd booed, and Boaz chuckled on stage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p55\" id=\"p55\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now, now. Let’s all keep it classy. Our competitors have had a \u003ci\u003every\u003c\/i\u003e bad day.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p56\" id=\"p56\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe crowd laughed in agreement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p57\" id=\"p57\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And, in a way, what they’re going through now isn’t all that different from what we faced earlier this year. I know I shared everyone’s shock and disappointment when our first major replication trial was sabotaged.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p58\" id=\"p58\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSure, you did, \u003c\/i\u003eVelasco thought. \u003ci\u003eWhich was why you called me to your office afterward and screamed in my face for an hour straight. I still remember the flecks of spittle hitting my eyes.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p59\" id=\"p59\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But all of that is behind us now,” Boaz continued. “Our design—and design \u003ci\u003eteam\u003c\/i\u003e—came out on top. In fact”—he wore a sly grin and held up a finger—“I’ve got something of a treat for everyone. A . . . friend, shall we say, on the subcommittee passed us a video from SourceCode’s botched trial. Who’d like to see it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p60\" id=\"p60\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe crowd cheered and laughed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p61\" id=\"p61\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco felt a hand on his shoulder.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p62\" id=\"p62\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Esteban?” asked a soft, concerned voice, the sound cutting through the cheers by using his virtual hearing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p63\" id=\"p63\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco turned to find Horace Pangu, a senior consultant on the project, standing next to him. The slender man possessed a narrow face with sunken cheeks and sharp, dark eyes that nonetheless exuded a sense of warmth and genuine concern. He wore a subdued dark blue suit with a slowly changing starscape on his scarf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p64\" id=\"p64\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You okay?” Pangu asked, giving Velasco’s shoulder a friendly squeeze.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p65\" id=\"p65\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m fine,” Velasco lied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p66\" id=\"p66\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You sure? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p67\" id=\"p67\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco winced at the word “ghost” before he could catch himself. He tried to pass the gesture off as a shrug.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p68\" id=\"p68\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Something wrong?” Pangu asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p69\" id=\"p69\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s nothing. Just a lot on my mind.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p70\" id=\"p70\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Want to talk about it? We can slip away while Boaz isn’t looking.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p71\" id=\"p71\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, thanks. Maybe later.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p72\" id=\"p72\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Okay, but you know my door is always open.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p73\" id=\"p73\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks, Wiz.” Velasco gave the man a thin smile. “I know it is.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p74\" id=\"p74\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Get a load of what happens next!” Boaz crowed as the video played at high speed in a virtual window behind the dais.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p75\" id=\"p75\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco had missed the start of the video, but he knew how the trial would play out. SourceCode’s design utilized microbot swarms to reassemble raw material into components for the Dyson project. One of their swarm seeds had been fired at a test asteroid from a SourceCode construction cruiser, which also played host to the megastructure subcommittee and members of the press.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p76\" id=\"p76\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe initial deconstruction and replication phase had gone well enough, with the swarm reaching ten times its initial size before the first errors occurred. It \u003ci\u003eshould\u003c\/i\u003e have stopped at that population level and switched from replication to construction, but instead the swarm continued to self-replicate. SourceCode engineers had attempted to halt the rampant replication, but unidentified errors prevented the shutdown command from being accepted, and the swarm continued expanding at an exponential rate until the entire asteroid had been converted into self-replicating microbots.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p77\" id=\"p77\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then the situation grew worse. The swarm began ejecting spores at nearby objects, which included the SourceCode cruiser and the government guests inside. Microbots began to eat through the ship’s outer hull, forcing the subcommittee to call for aid. It had taken a concerted effort from six Consolidated System Police cruisers to rescue the crew and contain the outbreak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p78\" id=\"p78\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo one had been hurt in the accident, but in the following days the subcommittee passed a motion to disqualify SourceCode, resulting in the contract being awarded to Atlas by default, despite their own mishap earlier that year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p79\" id=\"p79\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco watched the video play out almost absently, as if he were experiencing events from outside his own body. It didn’t seem real to him, and yet paradoxically it felt more real than his own flesh and blood. His mind didn’t second-guess what the video showed, didn’t question how SourceCode had failed so spectacularly. Instead, it accepted the images as the pure, unfiltered truth they were.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p80\" id=\"p80\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause he knew the swarm had done \u003ci\u003eexactly\u003c\/i\u003e what it had been configured to do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p81\" id=\"p81\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wow!” Boaz put a splayed hand to his chest. “What a disaster! I thought \u003ci\u003ereplication\u003c\/i\u003e was in SourceCode’s wheelhouse, but this makes it look like they’re experts at replicating \u003ci\u003efailure\u003c\/i\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p82\" id=\"p82\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe CEO’s captive audience laughed at his lame joke with the enthusiasm of people who looked forward to continued employment and who enjoyed receiving large Esteem bonuses.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p83\" id=\"p83\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good one, sir!” Traczyk shouted above the crowd.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p84\" id=\"p84\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVelasco would have rolled his eyes if he’d cared enough.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p85\" id=\"p85\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut he didn’t.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p86\" id=\"p86\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNone of this mattered anymore. Not the project. And certainly not the inane office politics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p87\" id=\"p87\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe turned away from the dais and weaved through the crowd until he found himself on the edge of the room near the windows. He followed a path along the windows, which took him out of the half-moon hall and down a curved corridor with windows on one side. The executive floor of the mobile headquarters was split into two sections: the open half-moon hall and an equally large area split into about a dozen executive offices, including his own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p88\" id=\"p88\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe palmed the door lock. Programmable-steel split open and he stepped inside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p89\" id=\"p89\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis desk was a mess. Plates, eating utensils, and empty food wrappers littered the surface, stacked precariously high and shoved to either side in a vain attempt to form enough empty space in the center to work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p90\" id=\"p90\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbstract technical sheets were pinned in the air over his desk, and more hovered against the back wall, covering it from end to end in macrotech diagrams, programming language, simulations, and other documents of his trade. It must have looked like a chaotic mess to any outsider, but he knew where to find every file, even with his eyes closed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p91\" id=\"p91\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA potted plant sat next to his desk as a reminder of one of the company’s “Personal Wellness Measures.” It was brown and dead. A few dry leaves lay on the floor, though most had been removed by the self-cleaning carpet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p92\" id=\"p92\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe rounded his desk and collapsed into the programmable-foam of his chair. The foam morphed to support his body for maximum comfort, but it brought him no relief today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p93\" id=\"p93\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe dismissed the abstract diagrams and stared blankly across his desk at the door he’d walked through. The door and the wall appeared as a thin crosshatch over an abstract view of the windows. The virtual imagery let everyone know that, yes, there was indeed a wall there, but here, have a nice view of the outside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p94\" id=\"p94\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe storm had picked up, whipping flakes of snow against the pane while distant lightning forked from cloud to cloud. The blinking lights of a quadcopter flew past on its way to Janus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p95\" id=\"p95\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Enough,” he said after a long pause.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p96\" id=\"p96\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe set his jaw and unlocked the bottom drawer of his desk. He pulled it back and gazed down at the pistol. It was a Popular Arsenals PA7 “Judicator” heavy pistol, loaded with explosive-tipped rounds. There weren’t many civilian threats the weapon couldn’t handle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p97\" id=\"p97\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe took it out and placed it in the center of his desk, adjusted it so the barrel aimed to the side. He wasn’t supposed to keep a weapon like this in the office. But then, there were a lot of \u003ci\u003eother \u003c\/i\u003ethings he shouldn’t have done.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p98\" id=\"p98\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’d spoken to no one about what he planned to do next. That, in a way, had been the easiest part. He’d become skilled at keeping secrets, given the company he’d kept recently and the truths they’d shared. This was but one last omission, one he felt no urge to share, lest people try to persuade him otherwise, to urge him back from the precipice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p99\" id=\"p99\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDeep down, he knew he was running away. Someone stronger would face this problem head on, but not him. There was no fight left in him. Only weary resignation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p100\" id=\"p100\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe only way through . . . \u003c\/i\u003ehe thought to himself, \u003ci\u003eis out.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p101\" id=\"p101\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe picked up the gun and sent the keycode that unlocked its safeties.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p102\" id=\"p102\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe weapon was armed now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p103\" id=\"p103\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis heartbeat quickened.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p104\" id=\"p104\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe licked his suddenly dry lips, turned the gun inward, and opened his mouth. He stuck the barrel down his throat, gagged a little, tried to take a calming breath through his nose, but gagged again and withdrew the weapon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p105\" id=\"p105\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe stared at the gun once more, heart pounding in his chest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p106\" id=\"p106\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I just want out,” he said mournfully.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p107\" id=\"p107\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe placed the barrel back into his mouth, closed his eyes, took one last deep breath—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca name=\"p108\" id=\"p108\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e—then pulled the trigger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068241527075,"sku":"DYSON-PPR","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TheDysonFileSignedShopify.png?v=1700411878"},{"product_id":"print-the-dragons-of-jupiter-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Dragons of Jupiter (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA standalone military sci-fi novel from national bestselling author Jacob Holo.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/the-dragons-of-jupiter\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTwo worlds at war. Two brothers at war.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith advanced weaponry and impenetrable armor, the Crusaders smash aside anything that stands in their way. Led by Kaneda Kusanagi, they have only one mission: to destroy Matriarch, the last thinking machine, and free the people of Jupiter from her tyranny.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhether they like it or not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStanding in their way are the Dragons, led by Kaneda’s estranged brother Ryu. With super-human reflexes and invisible battle suits, the Dragons are masters of infiltration and sabotage. Loyal only to Matriarch, they will stop at nothing to protect their way of life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two brothers are set to collide in a battle that will shake the great powers of the solar system and force both men to question what they believe in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom national bestselling author Jacob Holo comes a world of space ninjas, power armor, artificial intelligence, and lots of explosions for fans of \u003cem\u003eStarship Troopers\u003c\/em\u003e (Robert Heinlein) and \u003cem\u003eArmor\u003c\/em\u003e (John Steakley).\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys sci-fi, AI, military action and a good time.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“If you're a fan of the military science fiction genre, look no further.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“One of the best military sci-fi I have read.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“A non-stop thrill ride with a dash of philosophy.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Original thinking and a well-constructed story. A pleasure to read.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/5_240x240.png?v=1675804405\" alt=\"\" style=\"float: none;\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/the-dragons-of-jupiter\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE DRAGONS OF JUPITER\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf the seven thousand coalition soldiers attacking Bunker Zero, only two penetrated the upper defenses. Kaneda and Ryu Kusanagi sprinted down the narrow steel corridor. Sonic cancellers in their boots turned booming metallic footfalls into whispers. Form-fitting smartskin shrouded their bodies in active camouflage. Not even shadows marked their passing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eKaneda glanced at the utility trench underneath the grated floor. He followed three thick liquid nitrogen lines and a cluster of purple ultrahigh voltage cables. Whatever they fed took a lot of juice and needed constant cooling. It had to be their target.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“There’s a four way junction ahead!” Ryu said over his comm-collar. Low-power laser receptors and emitters lined both their necks, allowing secure tight-beam communication as long as they shared line-of-sight contact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“The lines go to the right,” Kaneda said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“They’re gaining on us!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“I know. Stay focused.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eKaneda planted his feet in the junction and turned sharply. His suit’s smartskin struggled to keep up, revealing him with a brief, slender outline. He dashed down the right hand corridor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eRyu crouched as soon as he rounded the corner. He pulled a grenade out of his bandolier, armed its micromind for proximity detonation, and forced it through the floor’s grating. It landed on top of the liquid nitrogen lines. The grenade’s smartskin activated, obscuring it from view. Ryu stood and ran after Kaneda.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Security door,” Kaneda said, stopping a hundred meters after the junction. He placed his hand on the door. Passive contact scanners in his glove evaluated the obstacle. “Reinforced diamoplast half a meter thick.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eRyu stopped next to him. “There’s the security terminal. I’ve got this one!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Covering.” Kaneda turned, snapped up his JD-50 assault rifle and dropped to a crouch. He mentally keyed the rifle to full auto.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eRyu placed his hand on the security terminal. Microscopic filaments extruded from his hacking glove and penetrated the terminal’s casing. The filaments uncoiled into the terminal, expanding and exploring at Ryu’s command, looking for ways to bypass its protocols through direct intervention.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eA distant clicking noise echoed down the corridor, exactly the kind of sound a hundred narrow metal legs would make.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eKaneda placed a hand against the cold steel wall. He felt the subsonic vibrations of explosive ordnance, maybe fifty levels above them. \u003cem\u003eHelp isn’t close,\u003c\/em\u003e he thought. \u003cem\u003eWe’re all alone down here.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eThe rapid clicking grew louder.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“They’re close,” Kaneda said, gripping his rifle with both hands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Just a few more seconds!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eThe rapid clicking thundered in his ears.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Almost there!” Ryu said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“We don’t have much time,” Kaneda said, speaking softly despite the on-edge pounding in his chest. A quick glance at his biometrics showed a heart rate of 312 pulses per minute, and that was without a fresh shot of adrenalmax.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eThe proximity grenade at the junction detonated in a flash of light and shrapnel. Two nitrogen lines ruptured, spewing jets of cryogenic fluid into the corridor. The liquid nitrogen expanded into gas with explosive force.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eA concussion wave shot down the corridor. The wave threw Kaneda and Ryu into the security door. Kaneda slammed his head against the door, but the thin layer of impact gel in his helmet absorbed most of the shock.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Damn it!” Ryu shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eStars danced across Kaneda’s vision. He shook his head and brought his rifle back up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“You okay?” Ryu asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Just get the door open.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Right. Almost there.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eKaneda toggled through his visor’s tracking modes, overlaying thermal atop the visual spectrum. The corridor was a black, billowing cloud.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Almost!” Ryu said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eTwo six-legged outlines came into view, one on the wall, the other on the ceiling. They stood half as tall as a man with internal power plants glowing rusty red despite the rapid cooling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eGun-spiders.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eKaneda fired. Forty diamond-tipped shatterbacks spewed out of his rifle in two seconds. The synthetic, shatterproof diamonds tore through gun-spider armor like paper. Once inside, the explosive shatterbacks blew them apart. Shots that missed tore chunks out of the walls and ceiling. Lights in the corridor flickered and died. Detonations ripped steel panels off. A secondary blast boomed from an unseen enemy in the junction, splattering the walls and floor with what his visor identified as napalm. The thick gel burned and fought the leaking jets of nitrogen in a swirling thermal dance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eKaneda ejected the spent clip and slapped in a fresh one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Got it!” Ryu said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eThe security door slid open. Ryu rushed through and placed his hacking glove against the terminal on the far side.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eKaneda backpedaled through the door in a low crouch. He mentally keyed two grenades in his JD-50’s underslung launcher for timed detonations and fired both into the corridor. The security door slid shut after he cleared it. Two more explosions echoed through the bunker.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Now,” Kaneda said, standing and turning. “Where are we?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eThe wide room stood two stories tall. Harsh overhead lighting washed out most color. The white tiled walls and floors added a sense of sterility. Pods filled the room in neat rows like an artificial forest, each with a man or woman lying inside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“This doesn’t look like it,” Ryu said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“The lines lead here,” Kaneda said. “How long will the door hold?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Ten to fifteen minutes. More if we’re lucky. I fried the controls pretty good. They’ll have to burn their way through.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eKaneda walked to the closest pod and looked at the woman inside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Careful,” Ryu said. “These people could be implanted with chest-devils.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Nothing is showing up on my tracker,” Kaneda said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eHe looked inside the pod. The woman’s head was recently shaven, leaving a brunette fringe. Kaneda could make out tight circular scars along her scalp. Her chest rose and fell with slow breaths. Bones stood out at her neck and joints, and her cheeks were horribly sunken.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eA tremor ran through her body. She opened her eyes and looked around the room with a vacuous gaze. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Saliva trickled from the edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“What is Caesar doing with these people?” Ryu asked. “Is this where he makes his thralls?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“We should keep moving,” Kaneda said. “This isn’t it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“All right, but where do we go from here?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eKaneda looked around. “The power lines are probably routed deeper. There, to the left. That looks like a power distribution panel. Most of the cables coming out of it go down.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Okay. So?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“We’ll head down. There’s a flight of stairs on the far side.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eKaneda detected a heat spike from a holographic emitter on the ceiling. A pillar of light coalesced into a tall, fit man with a buzz of white hair. He straightened his crisp black suit and adjusted a blood red tie before walking towards them. The man stood a head shorter than Ryu and Kaneda, the simulation of his former body compressed by Earth’s heavy gravity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Caesar,” Kaneda breathed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Well, isn’t this the absolute opposite of a surprise,” Caesar said. “Kaneda and Ryu Kusanagi. It would have to be you two freaks that breached my defenses. I certainly never expected the regular Federacy fodder to make it this far.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“He can’t see us, can he?” Ryu asked. “I mean, he’s walking right towards us.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Keep moving,” Kaneda said. “He’s trying to distract us. Head for the next level.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003eCaesar walked past them and stopped at the security door. “Now I know you gentlemen just arrived, but I have to break some bad news to you. My quantum core is not here. You took a wrong turn. The power lines you were following are for a little experiment I’ve been playing with. So sorry, but it just has to be said.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Kaneda?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Don’t let him get to you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“But—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e“Don’t listen to him,” Kaneda said. “We have a job to do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In fact, it’s even worse than that,” Caesar said. “There’s only one way out of these sublevels. Back the way you came. You both expended a lot of ammo getting here. Right now, I have over fifty robots amassing on the other side. I’ve even arranged for a few prototypes to join them. It’ll be fun to see how long you last.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47103540101411,"sku":"DOJ-SIGNED","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TheDragonsofJupiterShopifySignedPaperback.png?v=1701039187"},{"product_id":"print-time-reavers-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Time Reavers (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn action-packed YA urban fantasy novel from national bestselling author Jacob Holo.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/time-reavers\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe universe is a hamburger.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat’s what sixteen-year-old Nicole Taylor learns when a mysterious time-bending stranger saves her from a rampaging cyborg centipede.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSee, the top bun?\u003c\/strong\u003e That’s our dimension. \u003cstrong\u003eThe bottom bun?\u003c\/strong\u003e That’s the monster’s dimension. \u003cstrong\u003eAnd the patty?\u003c\/strong\u003e That’s a dimension where the two worlds meet – and the Reavers can attack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Reavers are horrific cybernetic killing machines, and their plans for the top bun? Well, they’re as terrifying as you’d expect.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut Nicole isn’t helpless. She has a rare gift. She can bend time around her and even stop it completely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlagued with nightmares and ambushed by monsters at every turn, Nicole has one chance to stop the Reavers’ genocidal invasion. With help from a chain-smoking pyromaniac, a neurotic sword-wielding assassin, and an icy goth chick with a crossbow, she’ll make a stand against the evil bugs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBecause if the universe is a hamburger, the Reavers want a bite.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom national bestselling author Jacob Holo comes a world of super powered teens, time manipulating cyborgs, and nonstop high-stakes action for fans of \u003cem\u003eRenegades\u003c\/em\u003e (Marissa Meyer), \u003cem\u003eSteelheart\u003c\/em\u003e (Brandon Sanderson), and \u003cem\u003eZeroes\u003c\/em\u003e (Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, Deborah Biancotti).\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"After the fast opening, chapters rarely pass without a big, life-or-death battle, which leaves the novel in an early continuous intense state, which can be a bit overwhelming, though Holo's clear descriptions prevent any confusion.\" \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e- Kirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A hell of a fun ride!\" \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e-\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Dab of Darkness Audiobook Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Packed with action in nearly every chapter. If you enjoy fast-paced sci-fi\/fantasy novels, you will really enjoy Time Reavers.\" \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e-\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Macarons and Paperbacks\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Action-packed, with characters that are interesting and a plot that kept me wanting to know more! I'm picky about science fiction, but this one sounded interesting, and I'm glad I gave it a try!\" \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e-\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Adventures Thru Wonderland\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I thoroughly enjoyed this band of tau guards as they fought to save the world, all with a snarky sense of humor.\" \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003e-\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Buried Under Books\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/time-reavers\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from TIME REAVERS\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEverything stopped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr rather, everything stopped \u003cem\u003ebut her\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole stared at the subway station in wide-eyed terror. The train rumbling into the stop had frozen in front of her. The people hurrying up along the platform stood like statues, some of them suspended in mid-stride. Some of them \u003cem\u003enot touching the ground\u003c\/em\u003e as they ran to catch the train.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole looked around, heart pounding in her chest. She tried to find Mrs. Woytowich or someone from her class, but no one was there. She was alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA middle-aged man in a peaked cap caught her eye. He wore a black sweater over his white shirt and tie. The sweater had a crest on the sleeve that looked a lot like an American police shield. Maybe he was a policeman. It wasn’t her teacher or a classmate, but he was better than nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole weaved her way through the crowd of motionless Russians, trying her best not to touch any of them. When she did, they felt like solid rock. The sensation sent chills down her spine. All of this was so wrong!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole ducked under an elderly man’s pointing arm, and walked over. The policeman was looking down and smiling at a little girl in an obnoxious pink dress. He wore a fake look of concern, as if humoring the girl and her equally pink mother.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut they weren’t moving. No one was moving!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Excuse me, sir?” Nicole asked. Her voice echoed in the station, the only sound besides the squeaks of her shoes on the polished floor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole grabbed hold of the policeman and tried shaking him, but he wouldn’t budge. She backed away and brushed against the girl in pink. Her hair was a rigid as steel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing moved. Nothing made a sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo, wait ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole stood perfectly still and listened. She heard something else, a distant but recognizable sound. It was a man’s voice. Someone else was here and he wasn’t frozen! She wasn’t alone!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTentative relief welled up within Nicole. Someone else was down here with her! She listened hard, barely breathing. The man’s voice sounded close, but with an oddly hollow, almost metallic echo for the cavernous Saint Petersburg subway station. Slowly Nicole walked towards the source, slipping through unmoving pedestrians and rounding a tall column to the subway’s central thoroughfare.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eColumns twice as tall as the trains rose up in two rows on either side, supporting a lavishly ornate marble ceiling. Huge wrought-iron chandeliers hung from the roof. It was easily the fanciest subway station she’d ever seen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eExcept for this mess, \u003c\/em\u003eshe thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole could hardly believe how quickly her mood had changed. She’d been so close to outright panic, but now she was filled with a giddy sense of relief. She wasn’t alone! No matter what kind of strange mess she was in, she didn’t have to face it alone!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLooking around, Nicole again tried to find Amy, her classmates, or Mrs. Woytowich. Amy had clearly said they weren’t leaving until everyone was out of the restrooms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut now that she thought about it, no one else from class had been in the restroom with her. She hadn’t heard Mrs. Woytowich mention anything about waiting at this stop. It had all been Amy …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole grimaced. She chewed on the inside of her lip.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgain. Amy had tricked her again. The one school trip to a foreign country this year, and Amy was playing her stupid games. Normally, Nicole would be furious, but she just shook her head and kept moving.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe walked down the thoroughfare and maneuvered through the frozen throngs of Russian pedestrians. The man’s voice became louder and more distinct. Whoever he was, he was mumbling under his breath, but most importantly, he was mumbling in English.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole stepped around a column, squeezed sideways through the press of people, and finally caught sight of him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe man looked a few years older than her, probably just starting college. He wore a beat-up black trench coat, thick oval glasses and had a crop of black, untidy hair. He stared intensely at his open notepad with a pencil stuck behind an ear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe man grabbed the pencil, and jotted down a few notes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey!” Nicole shouted, smiling and waving her arms. She ran towards him. “Hey!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe man looked up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole stopped in front of him with a huge smile. She couldn’t help it. She was so relieved to find someone else.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, this is a pleasant surprise,” he said. “I was starting to get worried. There’s got to be at least one reaver in here with us. I certainly didn’t trigger the tau freeze. It’s probably a big one too. Maybe up to class six if my math is right. Umm, are you okay?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole stared blankly. He lowered the notepad and Nicole got a good look at it. His scribbles reminded her of algebra class, only a lot more complicated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I’m sorry!” He flipped his notepad closed and placed it in his trench coat. Nicole caught a glimpse of the coat’s interior. It was all pockets and pouches, some holding what looked like knives. She took a step back. Her chest tightened with renewed anxiety.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe man reached into another pocket and retrieved a small dog-eared paperback, its cover creased from storage in the coat. Dozens of pages had little colored sticky tabs attached with tiny notes scribbled in pencil. The title read: \u003cem\u003eBasic Russian Phrases for Idiots\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe man flipped the book open to the front and cleared his throat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eIzvinite\u003c\/em\u003e. \u003cem\u003eMenja zovut \u003c\/em\u003eDaniel. Umm, let me see here ... \u003cem\u003eKak vas zovut\u003c\/em\u003e?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe looked up expectantly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole shook her head. She wanted to say something, but the words caught in her throat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Huh ... I’m pretty sure I’m pronouncing it right.” He flipped to the back of the book and cleared his throat again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eOpasnost\u003c\/em\u003e! Reaver \u003cem\u003eblizko\u003c\/em\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe looked up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What the hell are you saying?” Nicole asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, you speak English!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, wonderful!” he said, putting the phrase book away. “A fellow American by the sound of your accent.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m sorry about that,” the man said, extending a hand that Nicole shook limply. “I wasn’t expecting another tau guard, and certainly not another American. My name’s Daniel, by the way. Daniel Cadinsky.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nicole.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nice to meet you, Nicole,” Daniel said. “I certainly wasn’t expecting anyone else in this part of the city. None of Viktor’s tau guards are covering this area, and I just happened to be here when the freeze hit. Lousy luck, having to deal with a freeze in a foreign country. I’d rather be back in New York.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Umm, Daniel?” Nicole asked, tugging on his sleeve.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Could you please tell me what’s going on?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel stared at her for a few seconds. He tilted his head to one side.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You mean you don’t ...”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe shook her head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’ve never ...”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe shook her head again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So this is the first time that you’ve ...”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe nodded emphatically.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wow! You mean, you’ve never had any training and—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003ePlease-just-tell-me-what’s-going-on!\u003c\/em\u003e”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Umm, sure. Oh gee, where to start?” Daniel said, scratching the back of his head. “Well, we’re in the middle of a tau freeze.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A what?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Err ... tau, you know? Tau being the symbol for time? It’s just a fancy way of saying time has stopped.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes, I noticed that part!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What we’re stuck in right now is called tau prime,” Daniel said. “It’s tau, but it’s got a little apostrophe next to it. Are you sure you’ve never had any training?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Very sure!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Never been to Chronopolis?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Where?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not even once?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Or the Pandemonium College?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t go to college yet, but I want to be a veterinarian someday.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Umm, that’s nice.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Can you please tell me how to get out of this?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, you can start by not shouting at me,” Daniel said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh ... s-sorry ...”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole backed away from him, suddenly embarrassed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Look, just take a few deep breaths and calm down, okay?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Okay. Sorry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t mention it. Everyone gets freaked out their first time. I was personally hysterical for weeks afterwards. I couldn’t look at a clock without having a panic attack. Compared to me, you’re doing great.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Th-thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and for some reason, that made her feel a lot better. No matter what kind of mess she was in or how incomprehensible the situation was, she’d found someone who knew what he was doing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, you hungry?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Freezes can last a while,” Daniel said, looking around. “It’s easy to lose track of how long, so eat whenever you’re hungry, you know? Ah! Here we are!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole followed Daniel through the unmoving crowd queuing for the next train.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So, how long do freezes last?” she asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, it varies. I’m not really sure most of the time. I could never get my watch to work during a freeze, you know? Most sparkies can get simple stuff like a watch to work, but what’s the point when you have reavers to worry about?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Personally, the longest freeze I was stuck in lasted about five days, give or take a day. I spent the whole freeze over the Atlantic in a plane, and man, it was horrible! The reaver was actually hiding in one of the engines and I had to climb out onto the wing to get it! Second worst experience of my life.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What are you talking about?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ah! Lunch!” Daniel said, stopping next to a fat, bald man with a greasy McDonald’s bag. Daniel struggled to peel the man’s finger’s back and open the bag. It took a lot of effort. His face reddened with exertion, and he triumphantly said: “Yes! A Big Mac.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re going to take this man’s food?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There’s a cherry pie in here too. You want it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Your loss,” Daniel said. He reached in and pulled out the Big Mac. The bag snapped shut as soon as he let go, almost catching his fingers. He smiled, opened the carton, and took a hungry bite out of the Big Mac, which was weird because it wasn’t stone hard anymore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s theft,” Nicole said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel frowned at her as he chewed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You stole his Big Mac,” she said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe swallowed. “Umm ... it’s better if you think of it as a tax. For performing a public service.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Which is?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Killing reavers, of course.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What’s a reaver?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Which reminds me,” Daniel said, pulling his notepad out and flipping it open one-handed. “Yeah, it’s a big one. Five point eight on the Novikov scale, you see?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole shook her head. The scribbles on the notepad were just so much gibberish. Even if she had known what the symbols meant, his handwriting was barely legible.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“At least, I think I figured it out right,” Daniel said. “Wish I could use a calculator during a tau freeze, but oh well. Say, do you have a watch?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is it still working?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole pulled back her jacket sleeve. “Umm, no.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hmm. You’re probably not a sparky then,” Daniel said. “Hey, here’s an idea.” He switched the Big Mac and pad to one hand, and held the burger carton up in the other.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Try setting this on fire,” he said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But I don’t smoke,” Nicole said. For emphasis, she patted her pockets for the absent lighter. Amy would probably have one, trying to seem cooler than she really was.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, not like that,” Daniel said. “With your mind.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are you serious?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Absolutely.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And how am I supposed to do that?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not sure really. I’m not a pyro. I think a lot of them can’t control it at first and end up setting themselves on fire. It can get messy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I haven’t set myself on fire yet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, good point,” Daniel said, dropping the carton. It stopped a foot off the ground, shuddered in mid air, and launched itself across the train station like a guided missile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Did it just ...?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Go back into the man’s carryout bag? Yeah. Temporal reset.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But isn’t he going to think it’s weird that his Big Mac isn’t there?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nah. He’ll just think they botched his order.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If you say so.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So you’re not a sparky and you’re probably not a pyro,” Daniel said, walking down the station’s main thoroughfare.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole spotted a young woman in black waiting on the platform. She had conspicuously dyed black hair, black makeup and numerous ear, eyebrow, and nose piercings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Daniel?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This freeze thing. It’s not dangerous, is it? My friends will be okay, right?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Friends? Where?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I was expecting our class to be waiting by the platform.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel spun so fast he blurred. His trench coat whipped around him. Nicole wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“They’re not there,” Nicole said. “I already looked.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What do they look like?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t know. Like a mob of thirty teenagers following a woman around who dresses ten years younger than she is and tries really hard to be our friend.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is she cute?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Your teacher. Is she cute?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What does that have to do with anything?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel shrugged. “I don’t know. It might be important.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I have no idea. Some of the boys in class seem to think so, but they’re a bunch of idiots.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hmm. No, I can’t say I’ve seen her.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole pointed at the Russian goth. “What about her? My …” Nicole sighed. “Friend is dressed like this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel walked over to the goth. He looked her up and down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This is what your friend looks like?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sort of.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel did a double-take of the Russian goth and Nicole. “How did you end up friends with someone like this?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What’s that supposed to mean?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nothing. Nothing. I just thought ... We are talking about the same person, right?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole sighed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn truth, she was used to the reaction given the contrast between Amy and her. Compared to Amy’s aggressively gothic styles, Nicole wore her black \u003cem\u003eMass Effect \u003c\/em\u003ehoodie, a well-worn Aperture Science tank top, blue jeans, and her favorite pair of running shoes. She kept her brunette hair short, almost boyish, and wouldn’t be caught dead wearing make-up or jewelry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“She’s not even my friend, really,” Nicole said. “She’s my sister. Sort of.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, well that does make a little more sense,” Daniel said. “You can’t choose your family. What did you mean by ‘sort of’?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“None of your business.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel shrugged. He looked like he didn’t care about the answer at all, which somehow annoyed Nicole more than if he’d pressed for an answer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So my classmates are okay, right?” Nicole asked. She hesitated before adding: “And my sister?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, yeah. They’re fine. In fact they’re safer than us right now. You can slap them or punch them or hit them in the head with a crowbar and they won’t feel a thing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why would I want to do that?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t know. You did say they were your classmates.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes, I did say that. So let me ask you again, why the hell would I want to hit them with a crowbar? Just what kind of school did you attend?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel snapped his fingers. He turned around, smiling at her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What?” Nicole asked. “What’s wrong?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I bet you’re an acrobat!” he said, putting the half-eaten Big Mac and his notepad into separate coat pockets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A what?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s what I am,” Daniel said, puffing out his chest. “My strength and reflexes improve when I’m in a tau freeze. Here, watch.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe leaped into the air, back-flipped, and landed on the Russian goth’s head, balancing easily on one leg.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And that doesn’t hurt her?” Nicole asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“She can’t feel a thing,” Daniel said. He jumped from head to head, hands in his pockets, making it look so easy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So, why don’t you try it?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole followed him, forcing her way through the crowd like a normal pedestrian. She had no desire to start hopping up and down while making a fool of herself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You sure you don’t feel especially nimble today?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I’m sure.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why don’t you try jumping? Just see if you’ve got some extra lift today.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, thank you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole tried following Daniel, but got caught in between a throng of six elderly women with canes and had to back track.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel danced from head to head around her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come on. Give it a try.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now listen here, mister!” she said. “Would you please stop that? All I want is out, okay? I don’t want to set things on fire or hunt reavers or jump around like an idiot! I just want out of this mess!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel landed in front of her. He looked like a whipped puppy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Err ... I mean ...” Nicole muttered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Mister?” Daniel said. He made it sound like a vile curse word. “I mean ... yeah I’m a little older than you, but I’m not \u003cem\u003ethat\u003c\/em\u003e old.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I didn’t mean ...”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Look, no premature grays, see?” Daniel ran fingers through his uncombed hair. “And in my line of work, that’s saying something. Plus it’s not like I have a gut or anything. I keep myself in good shape and exercise regularly.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Umm ...”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I mean, ‘mister’? Really,” Daniel said. He turned and walked away. “I’ve barely started college and people are already calling me ‘mister’.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s like ...”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel turned to the platform. He cupped an ear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What is it?” Nicole asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel held a single finger to his mouth. They were close to where Nicole had been when time stopped, next to the frozen subway train just emerging from the tunnel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole hardly breathed. She strained her ears. Every little sound they made was like thunder in the silence, but on the very edge of hearing ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a most peculiar sound. Like someone furiously typing on an old-fashioned typewriter: distant, but heavy and metallic. The sound grew louder and seemed to come from the closest train tunnel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole looked at Daniel, who was suddenly all business.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Reaver,” he whispered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What’s a reaver?” she whispered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’ll see. Don’t worry. I’m a professional.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For some reason, I’m still worried,” she whispered, following him closer to the subway car.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel reached into his trench coat. There was a brief metallic whisper, and suddenly he had a long, elegantly-curved sword in his hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How did you ever get on a plane?” she whispered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I have my ways,” Daniel said, watching the dark patch of tunnel just above the subway car.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rapid metallic clicking grew louder. Daniel had to speak up so she’d hear him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Stand back,” he said, grasping his sword two-handed and lowering his stance. “No need to panic. I know exactly what I’m doing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole shuffled back from the subway car, but bumped into a frozen pedestrian and almost tripped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sound continued to crescendo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is it supposed to be this loud?” she shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Must be a big one!” Daniel shouted back. Nicole thought she heard an uneasy waver in his voice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe metallic chattering grew louder and louder as the reaver came closer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How big do they get?” Nicole shouted, putting hands over her ears.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut Daniel didn’t respond. He lowered his sword slightly and turned around. What Nicole saw then scared her more than anything so far. Deathly fear covered every inch of his face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA sound pierced the air like a cross between a lion’s roar and a jet engine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBRAAAUGH!!!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What the hell is that?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel watched the dark tunnel, every muscle in his body tense, sword held high and ready. Its razor edge gleamed in the chandelier light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reaver emerged, clambering over the subway car and almost as large. Nicole’s first thought was it looked like a giant metal centipede. Her second was to scream.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts body was flattened and long, disappearing into the depths of the subway tunnel. Its skin gleamed like polished silver and its hundreds of long spindly legs ended in bladed points. A horrible, many-eyed face turned towards them, its dozens of mandibles twittering hungrily. Eight glowing, ruby-like eyes swiveled independently, some locking onto Daniel, others onto Nicole.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reaver flung its mandibles wide and roared, revealing a fathomless white-hot furnace within its metal body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBRAAAAAAAAUGH!!!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIntense heat washed over Nicole, scorching the exposed skin on her face and hands. She clenched her watering eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Run!” Daniel shouted, holding his ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reaver reared up, surprisingly nimble for such a huge creature. With a sudden burst of speed, it stabbed down with its blade-tipped legs. Daniel rolled deftly out of the way. Three legs barely missed him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA reaver leg pierced through the little girl in pink standing near the policeman. She exploded into gory shrapnel. Nicole screamed again. Daniel rose to his feet and sprinted towards Nicole.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t worry about them!” he shouted. “Run for it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs soon as the reaver removed its leg, the horrible fragments drifted inward like a crimson jigsaw puzzle. The pieces accelerated, and the little girl snapped together, whole once again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Head for the escalator!” Daniel shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole sprinted towards the escalator, but Daniel caught up quickly. He grabbed her wrist and urged her on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reaver climbed off the subway car and smashed through two stone columns. Nicole glanced over her shoulder, still running, and watched the reaver’s head turn towards them. Its long body twisted back into the subway tunnel, and its hundreds of legs pierced elaborate stonework and unmoving people with ease. The reaver charged after them, shattering the chandeliers into thousands of tinkling fragments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come on!” Daniel shouted. “Move!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey passed through an archway, turned right, and began racing up the escalator. The Saint Petersburg subway was so deep they couldn’t see the escalator’s top. They raced up steps with dozens of frozen people blocking their path. Daniel jumped onto the escalator’s railing and ran up it, but Nicole struggled through one human impediment after another.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come on!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStonework exploded behind them. The reaver clambered through and turned, fiery eyes catching sight of its prey. It spread its mandibles and roared.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBRAAAUGH!!!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTerrible heat scorched the back of Nicole’s neck, even though she was two stories up the escalator.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You need to move faster!” Daniel shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole squeezed desperately between a mother and two little girls.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m trying!” she shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Try harder!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole heard dozens of stabbing clicks. She turned around, blood pounding in her ears. The reaver sank its legs into the escalator and rushed towards her, seconds away.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ah, damn it!” Daniel shouted. He leaped over her and charged down the escalator. The reaver turned all eight eyes to him. It rose up, dozens of sword-legs spread wide.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reaver struck with speed that would make a cobra jealous, but Daniel dodged swiftly to his right. A single reaver leg caught the ratty edge of his trench coat, tearing it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel hit the ground, rolled, and came up with his sword ready. The reaver stabbed two legs towards him, but with quick strokes of his sword, he cut both of them off at the first joint. Thick yellow fluid burst out of them as if under pressure. The reaver growled angrily.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe yellow fluid and chunky bits of goo drained out of its injured legs. It was like something from a burst pustule. An eye-watering mixture of sewage stench and sulfurous fumes hit Nicole.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Keep running!” Daniel shouted. He hopped from pedestrian head to railing to head, dodging constant reaver attacks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNicole ran as best she could, but she kept turning back, watching Daniel fight the reaver. He’d severed five of its legs, but the creature had hundreds, and could crush him with its body if it had to. There was no way he could win. It was insane for him to keep fighting!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFinally, after all his skillful dodges and rolls and leaps, Daniel made a mistake. The reaver feigned an attack to Daniel’s right, only to strike from his left when he dodged that way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel swung his sword in a silver arc. Two more bladed limbs went flying, but this was a small sacrifice for the reaver. It lunged at him with its head, dozens of mandibles reaching for his sword arm. Daniel pulled his arm away just in time, but the reaver bit down on the sword.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe reaver crushed the sword with its jaws, shattering it into metal splinters. Daniel was left holding a hilt and a few inches of jagged blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUndaunted, Daniel charged screaming at the reaver’s lowered head. He thrust the broken sword into one of its jewel-like eyes. The eye burst and darkened. The reaver reared back, bellowing—\u003c\/p\u003e\nEverything went dark. \u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47103575621923,"sku":"TR-SIGNED","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TimeReaversShopifySignedPaperback.png?v=1701039601"},{"product_id":"print-the-wizards-way-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Wizard's Way (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA smart steampunk fantasy from H.P. Holo \u0026amp; Jacob Holo.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by H.P. \u0026amp; Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/the-wizards-way\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonsters. Murder. Swashbuckling pug butlers.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJ. Chaucey Thatcher has a monster inside him, but this is the least of his worries.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA murderer prowls the Iron City, slaying inventors. An angry mob storms close behind, blaming wizards. Any they find, they burn alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey is an inventor. He is also secretly a wizard, and the only person who can help with this secret was just murdered before his very eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut when it comes to investigating, Chaucey is as dogged as his best friend is dog. With the help of his loyal pug butler, his sparky (almost? maybe?) girlfriend, and a sleuth of rambunctious bears, he has vowed to unravel the mystery of these murders and save the city from the grips of terror.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut the monster inside him burns for escape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWill he save the Iron City? Or will the monster destroy it first?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA smart steampunk adventure for fans of the Parasol Protectorate (Gail Carriger), and the Cinder Spires (Jim Butcher) series!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Wizard's Way\u003c\/span\u003e is a lively and engaging novel. It's so much fun that's it's easy to overlook how much thought and detail has gone into the underlying world and its complex politics. I'd definitely read more by these authors.\" -\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Jane Lindskold, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e bestselling author\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Masterfully written, edited, designed, and crafted well... A veritable love letter to steampunk fans. Not only does it beautifully present its story and genre, it does so with enough panache and humor to temper the non-stop action into a story that is difficult to put down. In sort, if you love worlds and stories such as Foglio's Girl Genius, then you're going to love this. Highly recommended.\" \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e- anonymous, Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Marvelous mind candy.\" \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e- Rose, Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"H.P. Holo's debut novel (co-written by husband and sci-fi author Jacob Holo) is well-written and captivating. The Wizard's Way is definitely worth your time.\" -\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e austriana, Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The Wizard's Way is a fun, exciting read that takes you to a place where bears run a library and a pug can fence.\" -\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e Erin Harrison, Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This book is BRILLIANTLY written! The Holos created a whole world with incredible finesse. I absolutely cannot wait for the next one!\" \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e- Elizabeth Thomas, Goodreads Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Those who love action, awkward relationships, and magic and of course a bit of destruction, this book is for you... My favorite book of the year.\"\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e - Ethan Kollat, Goodreads Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Can't help but love this book just for the pug.\" \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e- Justin Griffin, Goodreads Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Quirky, fun, not a cookie cutter book.\" \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e- Nekko, Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/the-wizards-way\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE WIZARD'S WAY\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was a man hanging by his neck, and it had nothing to do with the festival.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe dangled from an Iron Wand in the center of the city park, a black sack covering his head, painted with haunting white eyes and a jagged grin. From his neck, in equally jagged script, hung a sign reading:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e “WIZARD”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Chaucey could see it plainly from his workshop roof. He saw people in the park pass by, look up, but then continue on with their morning constitutionals. They were in no hurry to take it down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’d brought an apple and some cheese up for breakfast with a view, but not \u003cem\u003ethat\u003c\/em\u003e view, and certainly not this week.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJ. Chaucey Thatcher would turn eighteen in seven days.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe thought rose upon him like the sun on an execution morning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was not hyperbole. It was fear—deep, cold-bellied fear that in one week he’d receive a letter from The Queen that was tantamount to this wizard’s fate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSomething clawed inside him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was why, as he bolted out of his workshop, his singular thought was this:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What the hell. I’m going to fight a bear, and then I’m going to jump.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e ***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvolution had first intended the bear’s claws to swat holes in its prey, but at the moment they were occupied by the pages of a book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBehind the bearman loomed a great iron gate wrought into leafy curls and barky branches in imitation of the surrounding greenery. The way he positioned himself before the gate—feet planted wide, chest puffed and bold, shoulders back—suggested that he was meant to be guarding it. However, the measured relish with which he absorbed the pages suggested that he sensed few threats against which to guard.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat is until his nostrils twitched and the scent that carried through them drew him to quick attention.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs a bearman, he prided himself on the acuteness of his sense of smell. He could pick a wily Grimhawk dame from a flock of corseted Iron City ladies miles below in Arling Park simply by the scent of sea salt and citrus in her hair. He could identify and trail a cutpurse on the distinct tang of his fright alone. In fact, he could distinguish the nervous fear of a burglar from the exhilarated fear of a schoolboy about to swipe a candy on a dare. All humans carried particular scents to which their own noses were oblivious.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe tested the air again: the crisp evergreen, open mountain air, distant coal-fueled choke of industry, and, ooo! Candied nuts! The festival dealers had opened!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut mingled with these scents of the Iron City, he detected one very particular smell:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAged wood absorbed from a Sixth Aurice building, no doubt. Mechanical grease. The cool nip of iron. Sweat. A musky cologne applied to cover the scent of sweat. The earthy, mineral smell of underground. And not a single nip of fear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’d encountered this scent before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf course, his nose being incredibly acute, he could not yet see the person to whom it belonged, so he returned to his book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFifteen minutes later, he tried to look surprised when two human feet stomped up to his own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I demand entrance to the Crystal Heights,” the feet said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bear clapped his book shut as if startled from a trance, then peered down over his half-moon spectacles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBefore him stood a boy as thin as kindling, face firm in a scowl that was clearly unaware of his own size or the bear’s or the relation between the two—or simply didn’t care. The boy locked his dark eyebrows in a practiced glare and planted one foot on top of the wooden box he’d wheeled along with him. This gave him the look of having conquered something, but his physique interfered with his intentions, for he had very much yet to grow into himself. His bare forearms crossed his chest like two toothpicks over a half-eaten sandwich. A very impudent sandwich, and one that was plainly searching for trouble.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bear guard put on his widest, toothiest grin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“James Chaucey Thatcher!” he exclaimed. “Why, it’s been months! You know, it’s been so quiet since you were put away that I’ve almost caught up with the \u003cem\u003eTales of Ambrist\u003c\/em\u003e!” He gestured toward his book.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ve no time to banter with you today, Banderlin,” the boy stated. “I must enter the Heights as soon as possible. It’s urgent.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Did you say ‘banter’?” Banderlin said. “You’re using smart words today. You must be up to some mischief.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What?” the boy snapped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The only time you ever put your vocabulary to use is when you’re trying to pick fights with people. Otherwise, you’d just say, ‘I don’t have time to talk, Banderlin. I’m late for tea.’”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsually Banderlin’s voice came in a deep, alveolar grumble, not because he was actually grumbling but because that was how bear mouths handled words invented for human mouths. When he attempted Chaucey’s voice, it became a high, reedy thing, like it might have come from a talking squirrel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I do \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e sound like that,” Chaucey objected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhich was true, Banderlin admitted. The boy’s unruly puff of hair and burgeoning sideburns gave him the look of a small lion that hadn’t grown into his mane yet. That was what he sounded like—a mewling cub that hadn’t aged into his roar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And I am \u003cem\u003enever\u003c\/em\u003e late for tea,” Chaucey clipped. “However, I do have urgent business to attend to that needs to be handled \u003cem\u003esoon\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanderlin crossed his arms over his chest. “When a scruffy thing like you says he’s up to ‘urgent business,’ I’m inclined to think he’s up to no good. Especially when he’s got an odd-looking box with him, and \u003cem\u003eespecially\u003c\/em\u003e when his wrists are still raw from The Queen’s shackles.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe boy shrank at that. He twitched to hide his reddened wrists but decided against it, and instead he planted his arms firmly akimbo where the wrists were clear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Really, boy, it surprises me that Inspector Ashdon hasn’t made you your own custom pair by this point. You’re such a regular in the tunnels.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My record has nothing to do with today’s task,” Chaucey groused. “And how can you call me scruffy? You’re a bear!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A bear who knows how to dress properly for the High Districts,” Banderlin countered, gesturing along his attire with a dainty flourish. “You will observe my finely tailored Wosth \u0026amp; Fandy waistcoat, neatly pressed dress shirt, and staunchly starched collar, complete with silk cravat with a lovely floral design, to match my gate. I thought of that last touch myself, by the way. You, on the other hand, look like you were just belched out of The Caldron and smell like a pile of wet dogmen’s underwear. In fact, take a mint, boy.” Banderlin reached into his waistcoat pocket. “I’m not sure what you’re on about with that smell of yours, but it could stand to be a bit more pleasant.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not that bad,” Chaucey countered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eBûrgl\u003c\/em\u003e! Not to a \u003cem\u003ehuman\u003c\/em\u003e,” Banderlin replied as he opened a paw-sized tin. “To a bearman, your scent is a distraction. Here.” With two claws, he plucked a white mint from the tin and placed it in Chaucey’s begrudging palm, which fell under the weight. For a bear mouth, the mint was perfectly sized. For a human, it was the size of a large biscuit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This won’t even fit in my mouth,” Chaucey stated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then at least rub it on your clothes, or in your armpits or somewhere,” Banderlin responded. “Anyway, it’s all further reason not to admit you into the Heights. You’ve made so many bad fashion choices today that I’m not sure I can trust you to choose wisely on any more complex decisions you might have to make.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I wore a cravat!” Chaucey defended, puffing out his neck cloth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A cravat alone does not a gentleman make,” Banderlin argued, “especially when he doesn’t even have the decency to wear a clean suit with it. You’re not even wearing a jacket, boy. You may as well be naked by human standards! That’s even more reason not to let you into the Heights unpermitted.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Unpermitted?” Chaucey puffed up his chest. “My employer should have secured permission through Arthur Maberley.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ve received nothing from Lord Maberley today. Or Charles Farwude, for that matter.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Check your envelopes!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I already checked them this morning.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then check again! Farwude should have sent a message.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Charles Farwude should do lots of things that he doesn’t,” Banderlin grumped. But then he rolled his eyes and brought a stack of envelopes from a pocket. He made a show of examining each letter, taking it gingerly between two long claws, drawing it to his spectacles for closer examination, then raising it into a nearby sunbeam for further scrutiny, as if it held a message only discernible by sunlight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Eat your mint, boy. That’s a Bernia mint,” he said as he reviewed each letter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey broke off a chip, as commanded, and kept his eyes on Banderlin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere wouldn’t be a Farwude letter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was \u003cem\u003esupposed\u003c\/em\u003e to be a Farwude letter. There were always supposed to be Farwude letters, but if Farwude could be relied on for anything, it was to make life difficult for his apprentice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis was why Chaucey and Banderlin knew each other so well that Banderlin would give him expensive Bernia mints, and why Chaucey knew that, despite their familiarity, Banderlin would soon tire of the distraction he provided.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was why he knew several alternate routes into the Heights, all of them impossible today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis in turn was why he recognized that the gate he wanted to pass was only a bit taller than the bear blocking it, why he knew the bear’s shoulder would make an excellent step if he could reach it, and why he’d brought this particular box in the first place.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was not the cleverest of his plans, but it was quick, or would be if he timed everything correctly. And, he now noted, very possible if he could just get Banderlin to back up another foot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey popped the mint chip into his mouth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“None,” Banderlin confirmed, returning the letters to his pocket.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey slumped into a sigh as if he’d heard the most depressing news of his life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Could I bribe you, then?” He reached into his trouser pockets and inched the box forward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Bribe?” laughed Banderlin. “That’s uncharacteristic of you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I could bring you a fish from Arling Park Lake,” Chaucey offered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ah! Do they stock salmon lightly dusted with dill and lemon now?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInch. Inch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No. They stock fish. The wet kind. Still wriggling.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInch. Inch. Inch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanderlin’s eyes widened as if scandalized. “Surely you don’t mean to imply that I’m heathen enough to eat my fish \u003cem\u003elive\u003c\/em\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe box tapped against his clawed toe, and instinctively the bearman stepped back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ve seen the other bearmen do it,” Chaucey said as he hopped onto his box. Yes, with the assistance of Banderlin’s forearms, he could make the leap from here.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes, but they’re not as civilized as I—” Banderlin didn’t finish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey pulled one hand from his pocket and bashed it straight into the bearman’s nose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe launched from the box, leapt to the bear’s shoulders, and cleared the gate—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlmost.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs he passed Banderlin’s head, a great, fleshy paw whomped into his face and thwapped him down to the boards with a sickening \u003cem\u003ecrack!\u003c\/em\u003e The impact rang like a thunderclap in his head, dark spots flickered across his vision, and a pervasive screeching whine rose in his ears. Still, through the addled ringing, he could hear the bearman bellow:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eWhat is this devilish concoction\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e?\u003c\/em\u003e”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt would have struck terror into Chaucey’s heart had he not been looking for this reaction in the first place.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanderlin’s arms flailed like furious windmill blades. His face squinched to such a pointed grimace around his nose that his gums were visible in an unintentional but no less comical snarl. This all centered upon a shiny, purplish splat that soaked his snout and part of his waistcoat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe sneezed. A bubble blooped out of his nostrils.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was hard to be afraid of a sight like that, even in bear-struck addlement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s emulsified soap…and…olive oil,” Chaucey slurred. He tried to stand, but his legs were as wobbly as his tongue, and he collapsed face-first onto the boards.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t talk science to me, boy! I am not in the mood for it!” Banderlin roared.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey propped himself up on his elbows and shook his head. “Farwude’s valet…uses it to…soften clothes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This substance is absolutely monstrous! Barbaric! \u003cem\u003eDiabolical\u003c\/em\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s \u003cem\u003efabric softener\u003c\/em\u003e,” Chaucey groaned. He shook his head again. Slight dizziness swam through his senses, but his vision had cleared and his ears had returned to normal. \u003cem\u003eGood\u003c\/em\u003e. He tried to stand again, this time successfully. \u003cem\u003eBetter\u003c\/em\u003e. He crept forward, dragging the box behind him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It is a chemical weapon!” Banderlin persisted. “Agh, this smell!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not that bad. It’s just flowery,” Chaucey said, hoping Banderlin wouldn’t notice that his voice now came from a different place. He crouched by the gate lock and reached into his waistcoat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You are not a bear,” Banderlin continued. “Your nose is two thousand times inferior to mine. It is not \u003cem\u003ejust flowery\u003c\/em\u003e. It is a lavender-scented weapon of unparalleled caliber!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re not even dying,” Chaucey pointed out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanderlin froze.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What are you doing, boy?” he growled, squinting to the place where Chaucey had been lying.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom his pocket, Chaucey pulled a thin, rectangular case, and from that he slid out a lock pick. “Recovering,” he said, clenching the pick in his teeth. “Checking for broken bones. Same as I usually do when we meet.” Next he slipped a little L-shaped tool from the case.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanderlin’s ears twitched, listening. “No, you’re not. You’ve moved.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey didn’t bother answering; he knew it wasn’t a trick that could last long, and Banderlin’s paws were already inching around the gatewalk, orienting him where his eyes and nose could not. He wasn’t even growling now; his ears flitted about in all directions, attentive. Chaucey had to move fast.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe hooked the short end of the tension wrench into the bottom of the lock and slipped the lock pick in over it. Gingerly, he clicked along the tumblers on the inside, seeking the pattern that would finagle the lock into compliance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClick. Click. Click. Click. Click. His pick ran along the lock’s tumblers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eClick\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe found it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe twisted the tension wrench.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lock pick snapped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanderlin’s ears sprung erect. A fierce huff of recognition sprayed from his snout. He whipped to face Chaucey’s direction, a growl bubbling up in his throat, eyes burning red with fury and lavender-scented soap. He stomped forward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey yanked another lock pick from his case and jammed it into the gate lock.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClick. Click. Click. Click. Click.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanderlin’s steps tromped heavy on the woodwork, slow, cautious, but bone-jarringly powerful. Three more steps and the bear would be on top of him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClick. Click. Click.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStomp!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClick. Click.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe turned the tension wrench. It gave, but not totally.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClick. Click.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStomp!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTurn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eClank\u003c\/em\u003e!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey flung the gate open, grabbed his box, and bolted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was not long before a loud clang rang out behind him, followed by a satisfying clink and a fierce animal roar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eJames Chaucey Thatcher\u003c\/em\u003e!” Banderlin snarled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey had no reason to fear that snarl now. By the clang, clink, and roar that had followed him, he guessed that Banderlin had smashed into the gate, closing and locking it with his girth, and though the bear had a key, he was still blind and impaired by the overwhelming scent of the fabric softener. He \u003cem\u003ecould\u003c\/em\u003e chase Chaucey in that condition, but it wasn’t advisable, for there was a reason why the Heights were called the Heights.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe boards beneath his feet creaked and swayed at the whim of the mountain wind, and the wooden mansions that spread out and up from this row did so with careful, plotted eccentricity. Some were shaped like predictable polygons, as their foundations allowed, but others spiraled like whimsical labyrinths up and over several sets of foundations, as the mountain demanded, and all looked to have trees sprouting out of their rooftops because they \u003cem\u003edid\u003c\/em\u003e. Beneath the walk spread a great forest of massive oaks that had been alive since the beginning of the Queendom, claimed by an ambitious set of Fourth Aurice architects, and then rendered comfortably habitable through an intricate system of bolts, flexible joints, and sliding beams braced to secure the mansions in relative place. Several hundred wooden houses lingered in the canopy of the mountain’s forest, protected by the hundred-foot drop that waited beneath them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNo one\u003c\/em\u003e in the Crystal Heights ran without knowing the edges, which was why Chaucey ran with brilliant confidence in his stride.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd why his bones froze when he felt the walkway judder to the distinct thudding rhythm of an ursine gallop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanderlin was giving chase.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey didn’t bother looking back. He gathered every bit of spirit he had left into his legs and ran as best as his box would allow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanderlin barreled up behind, streamlined now on all fours.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey strained his muscles and sprinted forward even faster.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAhead, the walkway split, branching into ramps both upward and downward, and from there it wove an ant’s maze of artificial paths through the ancient trees. Chaucey dashed up. The slant of the run would be hard on his legs, but he needed to be high to make this worthwhile. The higher the better, where the view was clear and the fall was brutal. Otherwise this would all be for naught.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the top of the slant, the forest canopy opened. Brilliant sunlight streamed onto the wooden walkway, and Chaucey’s hand shot up to dull the shock of sun blindness. It was inconvenient, but Banderlin would suffer it, too—worse, with his irritated eyes—which might afford him some more time. He pressed forward, heart pounding, muscles burning. Other branching paths presented themselves, and he took them, the nearing chuff of Banderlin’s breath drawing ever closer in his pounding ears.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few more ramps, just a few more ramps, and then he’d be high enough on the overlook of Lord Arthur Maberley. Then he would jump and be free of Banderlin’s teeth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe ran harder, forcing his legs up the next incline.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd was met with a stairway. \u003cem\u003eDamn it\u003c\/em\u003e, a stairway! He could clear the stairs under less dire circumstances, but he couldn’t be slowed today. If he opted to thump the box up, Banderlin would be at the stairs before he could even reach the top.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe stared at the city below.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe view was clear. Some tents and wheeled vendors sprawled from the base of the mountain, but he could handle those when they were relevant. This was the best spot circumstances would allow, and now was as good a time as any.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe flung the box to the ground and tore at its lid—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e—just as a bear-shaped shadow rose over him and a claw thrashed him to the ground. His face smacked hard into the wood. He rolled over and tried to scramble to his feet, blood spurting from his nostrils, but found himself pinned by one massive padded foot before he could even sit up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey clawed at the foot and shouted, “\u003cem\u003eGet off me!\u003c\/em\u003e” He meant it to be a snarl, but it squeaked out more broken and vulnerable than he’d intended.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePerhaps hearing the strain of organs being crushed in the tone, Banderlin eased his foot off. Chaucey turned onto his side, groaning as a fresh stream of blood spilled from his nose onto the planks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Stop bleeding on everything, boy. Blood isn’t fashionable in these parts.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey tried to reply with an indifferent grunt, but in his condition it came out as a weak whimper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And stop your moaning!” Banderlin snapped. “You’re a Calderling! You’ve survived worse than a mere slap. I must say, you’ve been uncharacteristically dumb today. Did you really think those shenanigans would work?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eYes\u003c\/em\u003e,” Chaucey retorted. “I don’t do things unless I think they’ll work.” He propped himself up on one elbow and touched the back of his hand to his bleeding nose. “Besides, I was out of quicker ideas—Ow! Figs! I think you broke my nose!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m a bear. Did you expect a love tap? Here, let’s see that.” He crouched down to Chaucey’s prone form and tweaked his nose between two delicate claws. “No, it’s still in place,” he declared, then extended a paw.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey took it, expecting to be pulled to his feet, but instead found himself flung across the bearman’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oof! Banderlin, what are you doing?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t trust you to walk yourself,” Banderlin replied, taking the box handle in his other paw. “There’s too much trouble you could get up to, walking.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Put me down! I’ll look stupid to anyone who sees.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, you should have thought of that before you ruined my favorite waistcoat,” Banderlin replied, beginning to canter down the walkway. “You should be grateful, you know. For most men who rush me, looking stupid is the least of their worries. I go easy on you because you at least cause interesting trouble, and you’ve helped me find ways to better secure the Heights.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Glad to be of service,” Chaucey clipped, and then twisted as best he could to face the bear’s ear. “Banderlin, you \u003cem\u003ehave\u003c\/em\u003e to let me go today. It’s \u003cem\u003eimportant\u003c\/em\u003e. Listen, I’ll buy you all the fancy Bernia mints your heart desires. I’ll even throw in a keg of Bruunhead.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Mints and mead, is it? How could I ever turn down an offer like that?” A happy rise in the pitch of his voice gave Chaucey hope, but that dissolved when Banderlin continued. “I will say, I was disappointed in you today. Using your own stink to mask the lavender stench was clever, granted, but I’d expected a fancy machine to come into play—something more intricate than a lock pick, anyway. Maybe a modified track hook for the trees, or some equivalent. What’s the matter with you today? What’s the reason for all these hijinks?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Cumulus congestus clouds,” Chaucey said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re talking science again,” Banderlin stated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Towering cumulus,” Chaucey clarified. He pointed toward a patch of sky that had earlier been blue but was now punctuated by dark poofs that looked like foam billowing from the top of a freshly poured beer. “They mean a storm is on its way, and bad weather will interfere with…a thing I need to do today.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What kind of thing?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s a surprise,” Chaucey said lamely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It wouldn’t be like the surprise you gave that Ferantin prince’s balloon last fall, would it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, that was unintentional!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It was still on \u003cem\u003efire\u003c\/em\u003e. And it still landed you six months of trapfinding labor, didn’t it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s why you have to let me go,” Chaucey insisted. “My birthday’s this week. The Queen’s going to send her agents to see if I’ve satisfied The Grace, and if I don’t do something impressive—\u003cem\u003ereally\u003c\/em\u003e impressive—to overshadow the mess with the prince, they’re going to send me back to The Caldron.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Boy, they’re not going to send you back for that debacle. It’s the combination of that and all the other things you’ve done that’s the problem. Look at the facts. You’ve been out of The Caldron for ten years and have spent one month for each of them sentenced to \u003cem\u003etrapfinding\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I never committed any actual crimes,” Chaucey objected. “Just…badly timed accidents.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s what this next feat of yours is going to be, too. A badly timed accident, whatever it is.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, it won’t,” Chaucey insisted. “I’ve planned it down to the finest detail, and the conditions \u003cem\u003eright now\u003c\/em\u003e are perfect, and—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m trying to keep you out of trouble, boy,” Banderlin barked. “You’re the first Gracetaker in years to even make it to eighteen, and all your disasters have at least happened in the pursuit of noble ambitions. I’m sure The Queen will take that into account, too. This said, the Quincentennial Festival seems to be starting up. Go buy yourself some candied nuts and try to impress ladies at the carnival games. Keep yourself inconspicuous and worry about The Grace later.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I risk too much by doing nothing. Right now everyone thinks I’m just a polished ruffian with a lot of dangerous inventions.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanderlin snorted. “Well, you are.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I \u003cem\u003elook\u003c\/em\u003e it,” Chaucey objected. “When they look at me, they don’t see that I’ve singlehandedly run Farwude’s shop, that I can read now, that I haven’t stabbed anyone in ten years. They just remember that I did stab someone, and that I’m from The Caldron.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Let’s be fair, Chaucey. You ravaged a whole gang—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In self-defense!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And set their base on fire.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Accidentally!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“When you were seven.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“People who aren’t from The Caldron wouldn’t understand,” Chaucey objected. “Besides, I haven’t done anything like it since! But no one sees it that way, and that’s my problem.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Your \u003cem\u003eproblem\u003c\/em\u003e,” Banderlin stated, “is that when someone tells you not to do something, you hear ‘Find a different way to do it.’ Which, I admit, is not always a character flaw and will serve you well in your line of work, but is nonetheless problematic when a person tells you not to trespass in private districts or not to test your improved fireworks in the city.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Those fireworks worked spectacularly,” Chaucey objected. “They just did it in a direction I hadn’t intended.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“James Chaucey Thatcher, none of your catastrophic muck-ups are intentional, which is another of your problems. Ah, here we are.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Where?” Chaucey asked. He looked down at the surrounding treetops with their particularly dense branches but didn’t see anything otherwise exceptional about them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Do you think you’ve recovered? No dizziness, headaches? Good coordination? Steady on your legs?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure. Why? Where are we?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBanderlin didn’t answer, but instead jolted Chaucey off his shoulder and caught the front of his shirt in his claw. “I won’t be taking you to the Inspector today.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So you’re letting me go?” Chaucey said hopefully.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In a manner of speaking,” Banderlin replied. “Brace yourself.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was then that Chaucey noticed how close he was to the edge—and that he was moving closer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eOh, nonononono\u003c\/em\u003e! Banderlin, don’t!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Stop your whining. It’s not like you’re unaccustomed to this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe let Chaucey go.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA cluster of trees thick with age whooshed up to swallow him like the walls of a tomb. Stripes of wide metal flashed by in empty air, and then the branches resumed. Their twigs thwacked against his face and cut his skin, but with a twist of determination, he turned himself to face the ground and grabbed at whatever branches his hands could reach. The first several broke under his velocity, but they also lessened it, and when a thick one struck him with a meaty \u003cem\u003ethwap\u003c\/em\u003e, he snatched hold and clambered on to get his bearings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust in time to hear the \u003cem\u003ewhish\u003c\/em\u003e of his box zoom past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt crashed in the underbrush fifty feet below.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are you alive, boy?” he heard Banderlin shout from above.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes,” Chaucey spat back. “No thanks to you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re a Calderling,” Banderlin dismissed. “You’ve survived worse.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChaucey had, but he wasn’t about to give Banderlin the satisfaction of hearing him admit it. When he heard the creak of Banderlin walking away, he deflated against the branch. Residual bursts of terrified energy still coursed through his veins, so after making sure his important bones were whole, he made use of them and began his slow way down to the Underoaks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven if he’d wanted to climb back up, he couldn’t. The trees closest to the walkway had been shaved of their upper branches and sleeved in wide, iron bands, making it impossible for the average climber to reach the Heights from the ground beneath. They’d been put there to deter courageous thieves, but enhanced because of him, which was why some were barbed with poisoned spikes. (This he’d learned the hard way.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo he jumped, slid, and wrapped himself around branches until he made it to the mossy undergrowth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe found his box, and it looked undamaged. He’d built it hardy in anticipation of days like this, with a spring-supported inner chamber that would absorb sudden shocks in place of the contents. All the branches the box had broken during its descent had probably helped with the shocks, too, and the mostly wooden parts inside would bend first before breaking, so his equipment was probably intact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnfortunately, it was at the bottom of an old, spiked war pit, which complicated things.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe cursed the Old Auricans for not filling in their war traps, but soon rigged a harness from some thick vines and recovered the box, no worse for the wear. It had crushed most of the rotting wooden spikes, anyway.\u003c\/p\u003e\nNow with box in hand, he crawled out of the underbrush and hopped an iron fence onto a bricked street. Some passersby gave him odd looks but continued on in polite silence, and so he tidied himself as best he could and began his trek back to the High Districts.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47103594561827,"sku":"TWW-SIGNED","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TheWizardsWayShopifySignedPaperback.png?v=1701039947"},{"product_id":"copy-of-print-slay-bells-ring-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Slay Bells Ring (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA badass santa anthology from Bayonet Books. Featuring stories by J. R. Handley, Nicholas R. Garber, Ben Wolf, J. Clifton Slater, G Clatworthy, Robert E. Akers, Robert W. Ross, E.A. Shanniak, Reginald Lewis, Matthew Olaranont, A.M. Stevens, H.P. Holo, Michael J Allen, Fiona Grey, Nathan Pedde, Keith Hedger, Jonathan Watson, R Max Tillsley, and Steve Diamond \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by H.P. Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003ePrefer a different format?\u003c\/span\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Slay-Bells-Ring-Operation-Anthology\/dp\/1734025794\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHo ho... oh hell!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs that sleigh bells ringing in your ears or a few rounds from an M60?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYou wanted the jolly fat man to bring Yuletide joy, but the season has gifted you with a heart breaker and a life taker — Badass Santa.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrab your eggnog and camouflage candy canes, strap on your bulletproof holiday stockings, and prepare for thrills and kills.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom blood-stained rebellion at the north pole to a black ops raid on a distant planet, these eighteen action-packed tales will show you Saint Nick as you've never seen him before.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt's all you'll want for Christmas.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"\u003cspan data-hook=\"review-body\" class=\"a-size-base review-text review-text-content\"\u003eHOLY SMOKES! This book rocked my old person world! Who doesn't love a bada$$ Santa, weapons, aliens, all the monsters and more?! This anthology is a RIOT with humor, action, blood, gore and overall amazing authors.\" - Beta300RR, Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan data-hook=\"review-body\" class=\"a-size-base review-text review-text-content\"\u003e\"Fascinating collection of holiday based stories. Not your typical holiday fare!\" - Ann Keeran, Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"a-row a-spacing-small review-data\"\u003e\n\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-size-base review-text review-text-content\" data-hook=\"review-body\"\u003e \"This book has a terrific assortment of stories catered to those of us that are burnt out on the traditional Christmas and Holiday stories.\u003c\/span\u003e\" - David Birdsall, Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"a-row a-spacing-small review-data\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Slay-Bells-Ring-Operation-Anthology\/dp\/1734025794\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47103627723043,"sku":"SLAYBELLS-SIGNED","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/SlayBellsRingShopifySignedPaperback.png?v=1701046537"},{"product_id":"copy-of-print-time-troopers-signed-trade-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Time Troopers (Trade Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA time travel military sci-fi anthology from \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e. Edited by Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED TRADE PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/time-troopers.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eNEW AND CLASSIC STORIES OF TIME TRAVEL MILITARY SF\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBATTLEZONE: ETERNITY\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce, military actions were entirely two dimensional, confined to the surface of land and sea, but then submarines and aircraft added a third dimension, vastly extended by spaceflight. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNow, consider that if time travel is possible, the fourth dimension of time opens up new possibilities for combat, necessitating new defenses, new strategies and tactics. A battle that was once decisively won might be refought, or a narrow victory might be subtly tilted to the other side. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNever mind the history books, they’re only works in progress. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThere might be even more than four dimensions involved, if parallel universes and alternate realities exist and can be accessed. Imagine a universe where Rome never fell and its troops want to do something about our universe, where it did fall. Or another where more recent wars turned out very differently. Battle is a recurrent motif in the Earth of this universe, and would alternate realities be different or all too similar, with the tune the same, but different lyrics. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSupplying the lyrics for spacetime combat in these pages is an all-star general staff including Robert Silverberg, Poul Anderson, Fritz Leiber, John C. Wright, H. Beam Piper and more. It’s zero hour, in whatever time stream, so grab your time-appropriate weapon, be it sword or ray blaster, buckle on your general issue timeporter belt, and follow the Time Troopers into action across strange aeons!\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"The editors’ mastery of the military SF and time travel subgenres is evident in their thoughtful selections. Fans of literate speculative fiction will hope for more from these experts.\"—\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED TRADE PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/time-troopers.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47103881904419,"sku":"TT-TRADE-SIGNED","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TheDragonsofJupiterShopifySignedPaperback6.png?v=1701047396"},{"product_id":"print-time-troopers-signed-mass-market-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Time Troopers (Mass Market Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA time travel military sci-fi anthology from \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e. Edited by Hank Davis and Christopher Ruocchio.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED MASS MARKET PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/time-troopers.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eNEW AND CLASSIC STORIES OF TIME TRAVEL MILITARY SF\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBATTLEZONE: ETERNITY\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce, military actions were entirely two dimensional, confined to the surface of land and sea, but then submarines and aircraft added a third dimension, vastly extended by spaceflight. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNow, consider that if time travel is possible, the fourth dimension of time opens up new possibilities for combat, necessitating new defenses, new strategies and tactics. A battle that was once decisively won might be refought, or a narrow victory might be subtly tilted to the other side. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNever mind the history books, they’re only works in progress. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThere might be even more than four dimensions involved, if parallel universes and alternate realities exist and can be accessed. Imagine a universe where Rome never fell and its troops want to do something about our universe, where it did fall. Or another where more recent wars turned out very differently. Battle is a recurrent motif in the Earth of this universe, and would alternate realities be different or all too similar, with the tune the same, but different lyrics. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSupplying the lyrics for spacetime combat in these pages is an all-star general staff including Robert Silverberg, Poul Anderson, Fritz Leiber, John C. Wright, H. Beam Piper and more. It’s zero hour, in whatever time stream, so grab your time-appropriate weapon, be it sword or ray blaster, buckle on your general issue timeporter belt, and follow the Time Troopers into action across strange aeons!\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"The editors’ mastery of the military SF and time travel subgenres is evident in their thoughtful selections. Fans of literate speculative fiction will hope for more from these experts.\"—\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED MASS MARKET PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/time-troopers.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47103926239523,"sku":"TT-MM-SIGNED","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TimeTroopersShopifySignedMassMarketPaperback.png?v=1701047726"},{"product_id":"print-titan-mage-ruin-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Titan Mage Ruin (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Two in the Titan Mage series. Published by Spice Rack Press. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/ruin\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA monster-infested ruin? A dangerous bounty? A missing archaeologist? Sign this crew up for adventure!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s been one month since Locke was reborn on the world of Haven, and he’s still learning his way around. But his magic powers, giant mech, and brand new buff body definitely help. Not to mention his three gorgeous crew mates—Captain Alyssa, fellow Titan Mage Ember, and Chief Engineer Bexley—are determined to … help him get used to it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe’ll have to get used to it all fast, though, because their next bounty is a tough and personal one. An entire expedition has vanished at the site of an ancient ruin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn expedition including Ember’s mother, Erudicia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is no small task. On Haven, ruins involve more than lost history. They mean valuable artifacts, ruthless bandits, and magically-mutated monsters, and though Haven’s leading research society usually looks after its own missing crews … for some reason, it’s in no hurry to find Erudicia’s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLocke suspects Ember knows why this particular expedition has been abandoned. He also senses she fears what she might face when forced to reunite with her estranged family. But Ember’s not one to let a little fear stand in her way, and neither is Locke. Not when they have their badass mechs called Titans on their side.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStill, questions remain: What caused the rift in Ember’s family? Why was the entire expedition abandoned? What kind of monsters lurk in that ruin? And have Locke and Ember upgraded their Titans enough to survive the trial to come?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eWARNING: Titan Mage Ruin\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun fantasy adventure containing steam both punk and smutty: voluptuous airship captains, eager engineers, and lascivious mech pilots. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Edie Skye has somehow managed to mix together LitRPG, magical mecha, and a spicy harem romance into a story that is fun and great entertainment. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one night, but here we are.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a teenager, I drooled over the mechs of Robotech and Macross, and nothing since then has captured my love of those massive robots as the titans of Titan Mage.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/ruin\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from TITAN MAGE RUIN\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was the biggest slimeball Locke had seen since the last election.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, technically not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’d seen and fought plenty of slime since his strange and fortuitous arrival on the world of Haven. It seemed to be one of the more common forms of monster on this alternative, magical companion to his home world of Earth. (Or, more specifically Grassroots, Kentucky.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHow he’d come to be here wasn’t a long story, but it was a weird one. He’d recently suffered a car crash that left him paralyzed from the waist down and lost his job in quick (though unrelated) succession. He'd been trudging home in his wheelchair when he met a strange woman on the street—a headhunter, he soon learned, who was looking to hire someone with his qualifications. It was an unbelievable stroke of luck, so he’d signed the contract she’d offered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen he’d died.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen he’d woken up inside the cockpit of the giant robot he was presently piloting. Inside a brand-new body that was the exact opposite of the skinny, paralyzed, wheelchair-bound body he’d left behind. On an airship crewed by three gorgeous women, who \u003cem\u003ewanted\u003c\/em\u003e that body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was more to it than that, of course, but considering where he’d started, his current situation was \u003cem\u003eawesome\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven if he was presently staring down a giant slime monster.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost slimes he’d fought before had come in the form of what his crewmates called shadow dregs—a parasitic goo that fell in meteors from the Crystal Moon, which hung full in the sky over their heads even this far into the daytime. Locke hadn’t quite figured out the Crystal Moon yet or why it dropped parasite-laden meteors so frequently that meteorfall bounties were the Harper’s Harriers’ main source of income. But then, his crewmates hadn’t figured that out yet, either, and they were native to Haven. All they knew was that shadow dregs took over beings living and non- and bent them to their will, to destructive ends, and so they had to be obliterated the moment they touched down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut in some ways, those were better than whatever creature was writhing below the airship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis goo wasn’t trying to control anything. It was just eating everything in its path.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Found the source of the distress call,” Captain Alyssa Harper radioed from the control room of the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e. “Get ready to disembark.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Way ahead of you,” a voice Locke recognized as Ember Q’Van radioed from the inside of her titan, Long Shot. “Titan” was the name Havenites gave to their most powerful type of mobile weapon. There was as much magic involved in their running as there was technology, but basically they were two-story-tall robots, and Havenites had fun with their designs. Titan Long Shot was a sleek blue and silver mech with almost athletic-looking lines and a subtle, but decidedly female aspect to the chest and hip areas. It was built for speed, mostly so it could fire the magical cannon positioned over its left shoulder and then reposition itself with ease.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Same,” Locke replied from inside his own titan, Chimera. Chimera was the opposite of Long Shot in many ways. Where Long Shot was the obvious product of some refinement, Chimera was—as its name implied—a mess of disparate parts they’d had to scrounge from other titans. (The Harriers frequently operated on a shoestring budget, and it wasn’t even a particularly \u003cem\u003egood\u003c\/em\u003e shoestring.) He’d at least been able to use his matter magic to turn all the pieces the same shade of red—oh yeah, he had magic here, too!—but in general it looked like a weird, gracefully asymmetrical hodgepodge of pieces from different armor suits. Still, it was bulky, manly, built for power and smashing stuff, and that was all he needed it to do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke—and Titan Chimera—crouched for a better view through the square opening in the hangar floor, while Ember—and Titan Long Shot—crouched beside him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact, the two had been in their titans since the captain had first picked up the panicked radio signal and spotted the weird shape on the horizon, and now they peered through the open door to get a better look at what they’d be fighting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e’s engineer, Bexley, looked down through the opening in the floor, too, as casually as if it \u003cem\u003edidn’t\u003c\/em\u003e open to a \u003cem\u003ethousand-foot drop\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whoo,” she whistled. “That’s the biggest slimeball I’ve seen since the last time Locke and I f—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now’s not the time, Bexley,” Ember groaned, adjusting her cannon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What \u003cem\u003eis\u003c\/em\u003e that thing?” Locke asked. “It’s not acting like shadow dregs.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s a gluttony phantom,” Alyssa replied. “Concentrations of void essence sometimes cause them to manifest. No one knows why.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePeering down through his titan’s visual sensors, Locke could easily see why they were called “gluttony phantoms.” Beneath their airship lay an expansive farm, or what used to be one. The resident farmers ran about either shooting ineffectually at the monster or trying to corral livestock away from its flailing, grasping pseudopods, but projectile weapons could only do so much against slime. Locke saw the remains of some poor souls who’d tried to get close enough to torch it—they were currently disintegrating in its gelatinous guts—and there was nothing they could do to save the crops in its path. Wherever it traveled, it left a wide swath of vegetation devoured down to the dirt, and the phantom grew wider as it progressed. Locke could see the point where it had started, too—from this distance, a pinprick in a field of corn-like stalks, perhaps no bigger than a tennis ball. Now, growing ever closer to the cluster of barns, silos, and farmhouses, it was easily the size of a modest building.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHalf the size of a titan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It grows as it eats,” Locke observed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It does,” Alyssa replied. “Fortunately, phantoms only feed on organic matter.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh! So I can punch it!” Locke said. That was a small relief. He couldn’t punch shadow dregs; Bexley kept his titan well-maintained and sealed, but there was always the risk of the shadow dregs finding a crack and slipping in, and while there were ways to purge them, those same purges would gradually compromise the integrity of the titan’s internal systems. Generally, it was better not to touch them at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Any chance of the phantom reaching me in the cockpit?” Locke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There’s \u003cem\u003ealways\u003c\/em\u003e a chance,” Alyssa replied. “Gluttony phantoms aren’t nearly as persistent as shadow dregs, though. If they encounter something inedible, they ignore it, so they’re unlikely to make it that far inside your titan.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But if it \u003cem\u003edoes\u003c\/em\u003e get inside the cockpit?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Make sure it eats something less important than your dick,” Bexley advised.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I see Bexley has her priorities in order,” Ember groaned from inside her titan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I \u003cem\u003edo\u003c\/em\u003e have my priorities in order!” Bexley snapped back. “Locke’s a void mage! His is an \u003cem\u003eimportant dick\u003c\/em\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Can we focus on the task at hand, please?” Alyssa radioed in her most Captainly voice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wait,” Bexley chimed, “by task at hand, do you mean Locke’s dick or the—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The \u003cem\u003egluttony phantom\u003c\/em\u003e!” Alyssa shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fine,” Bexley huffed, and Ember moved to take up a better position behind where the engineer was standing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll snipe from here,” she said as Bexley skittered out of the way. “I can keep the pseudopods from grabbing things, but you’ll need to expose its core.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Core?” Locke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I can’t see it from here, but it’ll be a little glowing ball of void condensate somewhere in all that slime. Destroy the core, and the phantom will disintegrate.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Gotcha,” Locke replied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re low enough for you to avoid fall damage. Ready to jump?” Alyssa radioed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ready!” Locke replied, and then flung himself and his titan feet-first through the hangar opening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Chimera flashed brilliantly red in the morning sun as it plummeted from the airship toward the ground. In this world, titans looked like giant suits of fantastical armor, but they were more than that. Their insides brimmed with magical technologies that even this society didn’t fully understand, but Locke didn’t care much about those details. The details \u003cem\u003ehe\u003c\/em\u003e cared about were the ones that turned titans into ass-kicking war machines, and those were the details he was about to put to use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47140561060131,"sku":"TITANMAGERUIN-SIGNED","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TitanMageRuinShopifySignedPaperback.png?v=1701656053"},{"product_id":"print-titan-mage-dragon-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Titan Mage Dragon (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Three in the Titan Mage series. Published by Spice Rack Press. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/dragon\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWorld-shaking mysteries? Secretive aristocrats? Shapeshifting dragons? All in a day’s work for Harper’s Harriers!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSix months have blown by since Locke was reborn in another world with his hot new body, magic powers, and a giant mech called a Titan. In that time, word has spread that he’s a new void mage—the rarest mage type—and now every woman he meets wants a piece of him. But only the voluptuous ladies of the airship \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e can claim his heart (and … the rest of him).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey’ll need all of him to take on their next bounty, for it promises to test their skills to their limits. A once-simple drake-hunting job has now turned into a dragon-hunting job— but there’s more to this bounty than meets the eye. Something has twisted the dragon, Ultranoth the Organized, from a reclusive collector to a rampaging winged terror, and that “something” might just be the same thing that caused the downfall of civilization a thousand years ago.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s a job that only Locke and his crew are qualified to take … especially since his crew includes Chief Engineer Bexley. Or, as she’s more formally known, Lady Beaunessia Valerie Brimble Morton, prodigal (and proud of it) daughter of the distinguished Morton family—and childhood friend to Ultranoth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut will Bexley be able to reach her scaly friend? And if not, what then? Will their two Titans be enough to bring down a dragon?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr is it finally time for their \u003cem\u003ethird \u003c\/em\u003eTitan to enter the fray?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eWARNING: Titan Mage Dragon\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun fantasy adventure containing steam both punk and smutty: sexy mechanics, sensuous airship captains, racy mech pilots, curious catgirls, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Edie Skye has somehow managed to mix together LitRPG, magical mecha, and a spicy harem romance into a story that is fun and great entertainment. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one night, but here we are.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a teenager, I drooled over the mechs of Robotech and Macross, and nothing since then has captured my love of those massive robots as the titans of Titan Mage.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/dragon\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from TITAN MAGE DRAGON\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ground before Locke roiled with the shape of a monster still forming, and shuddered with the aftershocks of a natural disaster.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe meteor had struck mere hundreds of feet from the mine—far enough to miss it, but close enough to collapse it and trap all the miners inside, or worse. He didn’t know if there was anyone left to save so close to the still-smoking crater. He didn’t even know what kind of monster he was about to face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this moment, at his level of skill, Locke was certain of one thing and one thing only:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf he did not make a dramatic entrance with his robot’s arms heroically crossed over its chest, then he was wasting the whole robot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You ready, Ember?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe turned his head—and thus his titan’s head—to the right, where a sleek blue-and-silver mech crouched, the cannon on its right shoulder aimed down for its inevitable sniping. Locke’s red titan gripped a rafter at the top of the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e’s hangar, steadying itself as their airship floated around the scene. It was probably unnecessary—-titans could self-balance with aplomb—but it looked cool, and over the past several months, he’d grown so used to fighting in this machine that he figured he could safely indulge in a little Rule of Cool.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ready when you are,” Ember replied from Titan Long Shot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I’m \u003cem\u003ealways\u003c\/em\u003e ready,” Locke replied—then did exactly what he’d been planning to do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe let go of the rafter, crossed Titan Chimera’s arms over its broad, shining chest, and then took one step and plummeted down from the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e’s lowered hangar ramp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSafe inside the cushioning conductor fluid of his cockpit, he felt invigorated rather than terrified by the sudden punch of gravity lurching through his guts. Oh, it had been terrifying the first time he’d practiced this move, but months upon months of airdrops into monster battles had trained him in what to do. He let himself fall for a bit and then, when he was just close enough to the ground, channeled a burst of magic into the crystalline gravity catalysts implanted in the back of each of his titan’s legs. The catalysts flared with purple light. A similar blast of purple excess magic plumed out of his shoulder louvers and trailed behind him like a sparkling cape. And when he landed, it was with all the composed coolness of a veteran mech pilot who was here for one thing and one thing only:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo kick monster ass like it was just one bullet on today’s badass to-do list.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah.” Locke smiled privately inside the cockpit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What?” came another voice from above—Captain Alyssa, calling from her watch point in the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e’s control room. “Is the situation down there better than it looks?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nah, it’s as bad as it looks,” Locke replied. “It’s just that I’ve been trying to nail that entrance for months and I finally got it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What tactical advantage does that give you?” Ember asked from Titan Long Shot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“None. It just looks cool.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not as cool as the—what did you call it? The three-point landing?” chimed Bexley, the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e’s chief engineer. “Even if it did tax the titan’s joints too much. Still, nine out of ten stars, would smash.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Bexley, how would you even smash a \u003cem\u003elanding pose\u003c\/em\u003e?” Ember spat. Locke could practically hear her rolling her eyes over the radio.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’d find a way,” Bexley replied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m sure you would,” he agreed with a grin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m still not clear on why those ‘landing poses’ are worth expending effort on,” Ember continued.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt once, every giant robot show Locke had watched back home on Earth flashed through his mind, complete with elaborate transformation sequences and epic theme song fights and especially those moments when the robots made their first great appearances on the field of battle, looking so unbearably kickass that even elaborately-animated missiles seemed to stop in their paths just to admire the sheer power of the mech’s presence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut he couldn’t explain that to people from a world that had never known television.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s a guy thing,” Locke replied instead. “It’s hard to explain.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, like an alpha male ‘Step into the room and command all the attention’ thing?” Ember asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke was about to object, but then reflected on it and said, “Now that I think about it, that actually makes a lot of sense. You \u003cem\u003edo\u003c\/em\u003e get it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Men are not incredibly hard to figure out,” Ember stated. “It’s what I like about them. You’re very low-effort.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“… Thanks, I guess?” Locke replied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, men are as low-effort as you make them!” Bexley objected. “I, on the other hand—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We know, Bexley,” Ember retorted. “It’s hard to miss the noise.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry,” Bexley and Locke replied together, though Bexley’s was in a tone that was decidedly \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e sorry about all the noise she made when she and Locke were together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not that all this banter isn’t fascinating,” Captain Alyssa interrupted, “but there \u003cem\u003eis\u003c\/em\u003e a monster on the field.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nothing we can’t handle!” Locke replied. Now he stretched his arms out in preparation for the fight. (His titan stretched with him.) “We know it’s shadow dregs, and I’ve fought plenty of those before. Just gotta figure out the form.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe finished stretching, then focused on the writhing blob before him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis first few adventures on the world of Haven had been rocky ones, as he figured out the workings and dangers of his new home and circumstances. But their last big adventure had been pivotal. He’d learned a lot about Haven, its weird magical history, its geopolitics, its cultures, the strengths and limits of its naturally-occurring magic, the sheer complexity of its monsters, and the clever lengths to which he could push his titan—and all that had combined to unlock something inside him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSix months ago, he’d been Joseph Locke of Grassroots, Kentucky, down on his luck in every possible way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut thanks to a conveniently-timed acquaintance and some weird magical whatnot, he’d since been reborn as Locke—just Locke—void mage, wielder of \u003cem\u003eall\u003c\/em\u003e the magical elements, pilot of Titan Chimera, co-owner of the Harper’s Harriers, dangerous-errand-runner-and-occasional-bounty-hunter, and general inamorato of every woman on the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was, simply put, fucking awesome!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut even he knew that he’d been coasting until that point, trying to find his footing, and now that he’d found his first foothold, he didn’t intend to let it go.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMonster encounters were regular occurrences here, so his first step had been to brush up on the world’s monstrous fauna. He’d started taking notes on every monster he’d encountered, and filled in the gaps with tips from Ember and a titan mage friend he’d begun to make on another ship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOrion Havoc (or Rion, as he mercifully preferred to be called) was a distant friend at this point—the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eIndigo Gryphon\u003c\/em\u003e spent so much time in the air that they mostly only spoke by radio, or else when they met at random Arcane Indexes—but he was another part of Locke’s strategy: networking. He knew he was \u003cem\u003ebasically\u003c\/em\u003e powerful and valuable in this setting, but even the greatest people were only as powerful as the allies they kept, and he’d stumbled into some potentially useful ones when they’d returned to the Vasor Arcane Index after rescuing Ember’s mother from a fraught archaeology dig four months ago.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRion wasn’t even the most useful person he’d met that day, but over the course of their conversations, Locke quickly discovered that, in addition to being a mech pilot, he was also a monster nerd, and had been willing to send some detailed references for Locke to peruse between battles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBetween his own experience and Rion’s monster encyclopedias, Locke had been able to put together a much stronger picture of the kinds of creatures he’d be fighting, and the coalescing monster before him was one of the most prominent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShadow dregs were one of the single greatest scourges of the world of Haven. They were not native, but rather fell to the planet in meteors that broke off from the Crystal Moon hanging above in low orbit. No one had been able to explain what they were, except a magic-infused purple-black sludge; all they knew was that, once shadow dregs landed, they sought out things to take over. Living, dead, inanimate—it didn’t matter, and once they took over those things, they would rampage and spread until someone stepped in to obliterate them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke and the Harper’s Harriers made their careers out of being that someone. Meteorfall bounties were always plentiful and urgent, and time being of the essence, they generally paid well enough to be worth the risk. Of all the monsters he’d fought, shadow dregs were the one he was most familiar with.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut they were more complex than they seemed. The type of challenge presented hinged entirely on the person, monster, or type of object they took over, and they had an intelligence that, while limited, could also be incredibly dangerous. Most dregs opted to sink into living beings, to take over their muscles and brains until their eyes burned bloodshot purple-black with eldritch magic. But if the victim was large enough, they’d ignore the musculature entirely to home in on the brain, and with a host on that scale, they could wreak apocalyptic havoc.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere were other varieties, too, but Locke didn’t anticipate those in most instances.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor now, he looked at the wriggling, violet mass before him and cracked his titan’s knuckles, unnecessarily.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Welp, guess I better light it up before it figures out what it’s doing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll take the leftmost side,” Ember replied. “Keep clear of my shots.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Will do!” Locke shouted, and then coiled back as if to initiate a running tackle and clawed his hands together like he was holding a huge, invisible globe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis back foot landed with an enormous, earth-tearing stomp. The energy catalyst in his left arm glowed blazing orange with charging magic; the same color again spurted out of his shoulder louvers, and slowly, a dot of crackling bright energy began to coalesce between his palms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis was another move he’d been practicing. When he was still getting used to his energy catalyst, he’d either used it as a flamethrower, ice thrower, or beam weapon. He hadn’t yet figured out how his machine concentrated the very physical concept of \u003cem\u003eice\u003c\/em\u003e into a particulate, not-entirely-corporeal beam of light—Haven’s physics were slightly different from Earth’s anyway—but his titan could turn his very \u003cem\u003ewill\u003c\/em\u003e into reality, and so he’d figured other shapes were possible.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShapes like energy balls. Or spirit bombs. Or—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Gods, Locke, is the screaming really necessary?” Ember shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“YES,” Locke shouted back, through a scream that sounded like it should span several episodes and suck all the energy from every lifeform across the planet of Haven. “IT’S AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE PROCESS.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I have literally never heard of another mage harnessing the power of screams,” Ember replied, unimpressed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“MAYBE THAT JUST MEANS I’M INNOVATIVE!” Locke roared back. The energy ball throbbed between his palms, growing larger with each syllable until it threatened to envelop his hands. He raised it above his head and let it throb and grow in size until it spanned the width of his shoulders, glowing ferocious orange and crackling with tendrils of white lightning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“HYAAAH!” he finally bellowed, and flung the burning energy ball with all his might.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Impressive,” Ember deadpanned, still unimpressed—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe energy ball collided with the writhing churn of shadow dregs. It blasted along the whole of the spread like an incorporeal meteor making planetfall—and left nothing but a hole of singed earth at the center where it had struck.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I take that back,” Ember began. “That is legitimately impressi—\u003cem\u003eshit\u003c\/em\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBefore Locke could even see what she was shouting about, a blast of searing white shot from Ember’s own titan and stabbed into the left side of what remained of the puddle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt didn’t take him long to realize what, though.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor as the wood burning scent of magic wafted past his nostrils, so too did the acrid scent of burning shadow dregs—and the sickening scent of charred human flesh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shadow dreg puddle writhed more vigorously now, galvanized to action by a direct threat, and as the purplish goo undulated, Locke now saw that it was more than a puddle of mere sludge; there were \u003cem\u003ethings\u003c\/em\u003e inside it. Human-shaped things. And not moving of their own accord.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Be on guard!” Alyssa reported from above. “Something’s happening near the mine!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke didn’t need her warning. From his vantage, he could see the broken earth shifting, as if something enormous was moving it from underneath—-or an enormous horde of smaller things.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSuddenly, the ground exploded upward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke felt his stomach lurch as more shadow dregs slithered out of the rocky debris, carrying with them more human bodies, so broken that they looked like vaguely humanoid snakes wriggling across the ground. They all joined with the greater puddle in one sickening glide, and that was when the puddle began to take firmer shape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, damn, it’s a clump type!” Locke shouted, and began to blast heat attacks at the shape at a furious pace. Ember joined him at once, adding Long Shot’s powerful ranged arsenal to the mix. This kind of attack wouldn’t stop it, but the more they could whittle it down before it finished forming, the better.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClump-type shadow dregs were one of the most uncommon and least fun types to fight. Rather than controlling their victims like zombies, these took their victims’ bodies and lashed them together with their own nasty sludge, forming a single creature that looked made up of magical purplish tar and corpses.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Corpse dreg,” Locke specified, intensifying his blasts as the creature grew, as a huge arm splashed out of the shape to claw the ground, then another arm, then a leg, and another leg.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe creature had grown to one story tall by the time its first arm emerged, two by the time its second arm sprouted. A great cloud of acrid smoke rose from the fury of their titans’ attacks, partially obscuring the creature. But even behind that oily screen, Locke could see the creature rising even higher. The silhouette of a weirdly humanoid head formed atop its still-wriggling shoulders, twice as high as his titan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then a fierce gust of wind blew the smoke aside, revealing the creature in its full, terrible horror. Much of the shadow dreg sludge had retreated inward, either into their victims’ remains or behind them, yielding a monster that resembled hundreds of grimy, bloodied human bodies broken and cobbled together into the desired tall, stocky shape, connected loosely by thick, sticky strands of dark purple goop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Corpse \u003cem\u003egiant\u003c\/em\u003e,” Locke corrected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47140594221347,"sku":"TITANMAGEDRAGON-SIGNED","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TitanMageShopify3.png?v=1701656667"},{"product_id":"print-titan-mage-rising-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Titan Mage Rising (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Four in the Titan Mage series. Published by Spice Rack Press. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage-rising\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSinister cultists? A catgirl kidnapping? An elite enemy Titan? Sounds like a job for Harper’s Harriers!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke has finally adjusted to life on the fantastical world of Haven—but with his hot new body, magic powers, and giant mech called a Titan, how could he not? Especially since he flies on a ship full of gorgeous women who call him captain (both of his airship … and in their beds).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoon he’ll have to put all those resources to use because Peth, the incorporeal space witch trapped inside his Titan, has experienced a dark premonition about the Crystal Moon—and in Locke’s experience, “weird moon stuff” is just another way to spell trouble.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhich proves prescient when moon cultists show up alongside a terrifyingly advanced Titan wielding all four magical elements. They assault the Harriers’ airship and kidnap one of his crew—the shy catgirl Sloan, who has a dark history with these cultists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke is determined not to let any harm come to her, and the Harper’s Harriers surge into action. But why do the cultists want Sloan in the first place? How do these events connect to the ever-darkening shadow on the Crystal Moon? And are their Titans powerful enough to take on this new, mysterious foe?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: Titan Mage Rising is a fun fantasy adventure containing steam both punk and smutty: sensuous airship captains, naughty engineers, shameless mech pilots, mischievous catgirls, and salacious space witches. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Edie Skye has somehow managed to mix together LitRPG, magical mecha, and a spicy harem romance into a story that is fun and great entertainment. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one night, but here we are.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a teenager, I drooled over the mechs of Robotech and Macross, and nothing since then has captured my love of those massive robots as the titans of Titan Mage.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage-rising\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from TITAN MAGE RISING\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCHAPTER ONE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe V-fin Locke had added to his titan’s forehead might have been a bit much, but he didn’t particularly care.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen again, Titan Chimera was already a two-story-tall suit of bright red armor, with five different magic-channeling catalysts and a fresh polish that made it gleam in the rising sun like it had already won today’s battle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCompared to the heroic badassery of the rest of it, his little decorative indulgence was nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd besides, with all the ass he’d kicked these past nine months, he’d earned it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow his titan stood by the open hangar ramp of the airship \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e, arms crossed boldly over its knightly chest as Locke surveyed the scene below him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Harper’s Harriers’ star had been rising, but the success of the bounty with the dragon three months ago had rocketed that star straight across the whole sky. Now they no longer had to compete with other companies for bounty assignments; potential employers competed to hire \u003cem\u003ethem\u003c\/em\u003e by offering pay that matched their reputation. This was one such bounty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut with increased pay came increased challenge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e had three titans now, and today it would need all three of them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s the biggest bramble hulk I’ve ever seen,” Locke marveled, observing the thing through the visual sensors in his titan’s eyes. “No wonder Lord Argothine’s paying so much.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, it’s eaten at least twenty farmers and two mercenary crews,” Ember said from his right, in Titan Long Shot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The more meat it eats, the faster it grows, right?” added Sloan from Titan Deathly Rhythm on his left.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Exactly,” Locke replied. He’d fought bramble hulks before, but the way Lord Argothine’s emissary had described this one, it was levels above anything they’d yet faced. His original, unabridged copy of \u003cem\u003eThe Encyclopedia of Monsterkind\u003c\/em\u003e had been next to useless this time, so he’d used it as a reason to upgrade to the more comprehensive multivolume edition and had been reading up on the creature ever since.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBramble hulks were a plant-based form of monster, and not only carnivorous but predatory, even in their simplest form. Standard bramble hulks reminded Locke vaguely of the one plant from \u003cem\u003eLittle Shop of Horrors\u003c\/em\u003e, with a fleshy mouth for a bud and vines it could use for locomotion. (Though to his knowledge, bramble hulks didn’t sing.) In that form, they usually subsisted on small forest creatures and didn’t live long before they met a forest creature that would eat them back. But occasionally one would win against the larger attempts at prey and grow proportionally, and a reign of terror would ensue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArgothine was the lord of Greenvale, which was not only the most verdant area of Haven—with plenty of places for even a larger bramble hulk to hide—but its breadbasket. This meant that the population he managed was mostly farmers spending most of their lives outside, and vulnerable to the monster stalking the forests around their crops.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe creature had only eaten ten farmers when the lord had first hired the Harriers, but by the time they’d arrived in Greenvale, that number had doubled, and the creature’s power with it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster beneath them now had the same basic shape as a standard bramble hulk, but its size towered to nearly the same height as Locke’s titan, and the vines and leaves at its base spread out in a bushy tangle twice as wide and thick enough that it could be hiding any assortment of nasty surprises.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s a fully mature monster,” Locke reported to his companions. “It’ll probably have pods that spit digestive acid somewhere in there, as well as sticky nectar beads to trap victims, so be aware. We may have titans, but this thing’s already taken down at least one titan.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How are we going in, then?” Sloan radioed from Deathly Rhythm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Standard opening strategy,” Locke replied. “Ember, you freeze it while Sloan slows it and I whale on it. With any luck, it’ll be as simple as that, especially since it’s still morning.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey’d tracked the creature all day yesterday until it settled on the edge of this clearing and then monitored it, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Bramble hulks would go briefly dormant when the temperature cooled, as it did on these autumn nights. They were always at their most dormant just before sunrise, before the day began to warm, and so they’d waited until this moment to attack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ha!” Ember laughed from Long Shot. “When have our bounties ever been as simple as that?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“True.” Locke laughed back. “But we’ve gotta start somewhere. We’ll adapt as it reacts. Everyone ready?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I am,” Sloan replied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Let’s do it,” Ember echoed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Chimera’s head nodded. “Then, Alyssa, take us down.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got it,” Captain Alyssa radioed from the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e’s bridge, and slowly, the airship began to sink toward the ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke took a deep breath as he felt the gentle sway of the airship’s motion, and let all the sensation of his cockpit sink into him—the gooey slosh of the conductor fluid enveloping his body, the easy press of the insulating neck ring that kept it from splashing into his face, the strange awareness of his reflex link, as it connected his very consciousness to his mech so he could command it without controls.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe became aware of the energy catalyst in his left arm, the matter catalyst in his right, the time catalyst in his right shoulder and the … oh. He’d almost forgotten.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Remember,” he added, as much for himself as his crew, “I’m out both gravity catalysts while Bexley’s building my flight unit.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, I’m workin’ as fast as I can,” Chief Engineer Bexley radioed from her hangar workstation behind them. “You can’t rush genius.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Of course not.” Locke redirected his attention back to his fellow pilots. “My point is, I can compensate for speed with my time catalyst, but don’t expect me to be doing any super jumps or kicks this time around.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other two pilots confirmed their understanding, just as the airship shook with the gentle nudge of landing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Titan Chimera strode off, it was with the bold, heavy steps of a giant machine that knew exactly what it was here to do and how it was going to do it. Titan Deathly Rhythm strode out behind it in much a similar fashion—a welcome change from the timidity with which Sloan had approached her mech three months ago. Back then, she’d still been learning, albeit swiftly. Now she was a time-accelerated ass-kicking machine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce the two had disembarked, the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e lifted off with Titan Long Shot still on board.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Awaiting your signal,” Ember radioed as she rose, and her titan crouched to a more stable position.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Long Shot was a sleek blue and silver mech with graceful, athletic lines, but its most defining feature was the great shoulder-mounted cannon that presently rotated from its back to position itself to the right of its head. As an energy mage, Ember commanded energy catalysts in both forearms, but the energy mega-catalyst in her cannon was what saw the most use in battle, and even now Locke spotted the clear honeycomb of its crystalline rod charging to icy white.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ready, Sloan?” Locke said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I am!” Sloan chimed cheerily from beside him, and Locke grinned inside his mech.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then have at it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSloan’s mech sprinted into action before he’d even finished his order. Titan Deathly Rhythm was the Harriers’ newest addition, an elegant teal machine with black and silver highlights that moved with grace equal to that of its smooth curves. It only had a single time catalyst in its right arm, but Sloan had adapted to its capabilities with ease, and now it glowed bright green as she sprinted for the slumbering bramble hulk at over double her regular speed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bramble hulk stirred, vaguely aware that something strange was coming toward it, but not awake enough to react.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat changed when Sloan snatched a short sword from Deathly Rhythm’s back and plunged it straight into the monster’s centermost fleshy bud.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe creature’s mouth began to open in a startled, agonized shriek—but it could \u003cem\u003eonly\u003c\/em\u003e begin to open. Sloan’s time catalyst flared an even brighter green as she conducted her time magic through the sword and into the monster. Instead of speeding up, the bramble hulk slowed down to half speed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke saw its leaves and vines begin to move in slow motion, but they weren’t nearly fast enough to be of use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s ready!” Sloan reported happily. “Shoot it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer tone was like that of a student presenting a gift to a favorite teacher, or perhaps a cat presenting freshly-caught prey to a favorite person, and Ember showed her thanks with a frigid white blast from her cannon. A beam of glowing particulate ice shot into the brambly base of the monster, then crackled up along the thick flesh of the mouth pod.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nice start!” Locke shouted, and strode forward. “Now it’s my turn!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was his turn that would make this battle—had made all their battles over the past nine months. Most mages on the world of Haven were adept with only one magical element. Though they might have minimal aptitude with a second, few were apt enough to use more than one, and that was what made Locke special.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe was a void mage, a mage with high aptitude for all four magical elements—matter, time, energy, and gravity—and that gave him power and versatility beyond any other titan mage in his company. Ember could only wield heat or cold; Sloan could only speed up or slow down herself or her opponents—but Locke could do that, \u003cem\u003eand\u003c\/em\u003e matter-shift his own weapons on the fly, \u003cem\u003eand\u003c\/em\u003e jump and kick (and eventually fly) with wild manipulations of gravity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd now he funneled magic into every one of his catalysts as he stomped toward the titan-sized beast.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy now, he had a process for bramble hulks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, a matter-energy combo attack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWithin his back armor rested a tank of semiliquid swiftmetal, connected to both his energy and matter catalysts. He willed his energy catalyst to charge the swiftmetal with heat magic—all he ever needed was will; the titan did the rest—and then commanded his matter catalyst to spool it out of a barrel under his right hand. The thin wireframe shape of a long blade spun out of the opening, and then flash-filled with glowing white swiftmetal a moment before he reached the monster.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis timing had been perfected over scores of lesser bramble hulks, as had his techniques, and now he charged his time catalyst and dashed around the monster’s circumference, slashing its leaves and vines away like he was some fantastical (if sloppy) gardener, albeit one that kept killer plants. He didn’t move as fast as Sloan could—his time catalyst was a lower tier than hers—but it was still fast enough to make quick work of the frozen brambles, and soon he’d exposed the monster’s most essential center.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt looked like a root ball positioned just below the fleshy mouth pod. Brown tendrils of wood-hard roots curled down from the pod-like protective claws, encasing what Locke knew to be the vital organs of the monster.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m to the core!” Locke reported. “Ember, can I get a heat blast? The root armor’s thick.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not too hot, though!” Sloan added. “Don’t incinerate me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a reasonable warning; with Long Shot’s upgrades, Ember routinely incinerated weaker monsters to ash—but she was also precise in every aspect of her handling, from aim to power.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ready,” Ember reported. “Stand back.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke zipped out of her line of sight, and soon a hot red beam bored into the root ball.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn explosion of burning splinters blasted from the wooden knot, and a plume of flame billowed out as the wood began to burn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Eew! It stinks!” Sloan groaned as a cloud of smoke wafted up toward her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke didn’t disagree; bramble hulk smoke always carried on it the unpleasant scent of decomposition and wood rot … but there was something different about the smell of this advanced bramble hulk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt smelled like that, and burning blood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What’s the verdict?” Ember called down. “Need another—wait, Locke! Look out behind you!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47140605559075,"sku":"TITANMAGERISING-SIGNED","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TitanMageShopify4.png?v=1701658459"},{"product_id":"print-titan-mage-apocalypse-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Titan Mage Apocalypse (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Five in the Titan Mage series. Published by Spice Rack Press. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage-apocalypse\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA world-ending deity? An ancient superweapon? A fight for the future of Haven? Only Harper’s Harriers can save the day!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Locke came to the world of Haven, he didn’t know he’d be called upon to save it one day—but with his god-tier magic, his giant mech called a Titan, and his crew of hot, capable women, he’s the best man for the job.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEspecially now that his crew includes the Precursor space witch Peth, whose memories of what destroyed her civilization a thousand years ago have come rushing back. Now that same destroyer is about to break free from its prison within the Crystal Moon. To defeat it, they’ll have to find and activate an ancient Precursor superweapon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut reaching the superweapon won’t be easy, for Locke must now lead the Harper’s Harriers to the one place no one from Haven has gone in over a thousand years:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOuter space.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHas Locke mastered his Titan enough to face his greatest challenge yet? Will his crew, their Titans, and all their epic upgrades be enough to save the world?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe may not know how his story on Haven will end, but between his harem of badass women and the coming battle with a destroyer god, one thing’s for sure:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhatever comes next, he’s going to go out with a bang.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: Titan Mage Apocalypse is a fun fantasy adventure containing steam both punk and smutty: captivating airship captains, alluring engineers, provocative mech pilots, titillating catgirls, and sensual space witches. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Edie Skye has somehow managed to mix together LitRPG, magical mecha, and a spicy harem romance into a story that is fun and great entertainment. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one night, but here we are.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a teenager, I drooled over the mechs of Robotech and Macross, and nothing since then has captured my love of those massive robots as the titans of Titan Mage.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage-apocalypse\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from TITAN MAGE APOCALYPSE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Did you literally just fuck Peth’s memory back into place?” Bexley exclaimed from the other side of Titan Chimera’s open hatch door.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke quickly readjusted his magesuit as Peth restored her short, witchy dress—what little there was of it, anyway. Until a few minutes ago, he’d been tossed in the throes of hot nasty psy magic sex with a resurrected Precursor witch inside the cockpit of his giant robot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike most experiences of his past nine months on the world of Haven, it’d been fucking awesome, but amazing as the sex had been, it wasn’t the most amazing part of this evening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat had been when Peth convulsed on top of him and then said:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I remember. \u003cem\u003eEverything\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, it’s been firmly established that my dick has incredible talents,” Locke said as he rounded the hatch door.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe found the four women of his crew gathered on his titan’s scaffold in the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e’s hangar, as if hesitant to fully violate his and Peth’s privacy, even though the reason they’d come to the hangar in the first place was to investigate—and perhaps join in on—the noise. They were still docked at Edgewater, after all, which left all the ladies of the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e with more free time than usual.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe buxom, blonde pixie-haired Bexley just shrugged and nodded in agreement, as did the elegant Captain Alyssa and cute catgirl Sloan. His fellow titan mage Ember was the one hold out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I agree that your dick is talented, but dick-restored memory is a bit of a stretch.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke turned back to Peth, who was following behind him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eWas\u003c\/em\u003e that part of your design?” he asked. “That sleeping with me would restore your memories?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If that had been the case, I wouldn’t have waited!” Peth laughed. “It was simply glorious timing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Glorious …” Locke repeated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe timing wasn’t the only thing about his situation that was glorious. Nine months ago, he’d been a regular nobody in … well, who he’d been back on Earth was largely irrelevant now, and anyone who wanted to know his full story knew where to look. Especially now that his true origin was on record with the Arcane Index as a consequence of … everything that had happened in the past few days.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe important part was this: Peth had been a lost Precursor consciousness trapped inside Titan Chimera’s magical core. She’d brought him to Haven so he could use his rare and powerful void mage talents to pull her out into a new body, and the entire time he’d known her, memories of her old life had only emerged in fragments. Which was unfortunate, considering the thing that threatened them now was the very thing that had destroyed the Precursors a thousand years ago.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the meantime, she’d granted him an incredible life, pulling him into a hot, capable new body and a ship full of women who made regular, vigorous use of it. Not to mention his giant mech—Titan Chimera—which circumstances had forced him to upgrade into a badass big stompy robot, because present circumstances indeed demanded Big Stomps.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd now, with her returned memories, Peth could provide valuable insight into where those big stomps needed to go.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe situation was this:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke had already saved the world once. Sort of. Maybe?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn truth, his last significant battle had only just ended, it had revealed several twists and surprises that he wasn’t sure how to make sense of, and the Arcane Index’s wider investigation into the matter had only just begun.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll Locke knew was that a force named Avarice was stirring in the Crystal Moon and the Endpoint City Arcane Index Director, Pious Pemberton, had used research conducted by moon cultists to turn himself and his followers into potential vessels for the thing. What Avarice was exactly—an intelligent alien, a hungry monster, a literal fucking cosmic horror god—Locke didn’t know. All he knew for sure was that Avarice was responsible for the meteorfall, shadow dregs, and dark specters that had plagued Haven for centuries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd, oh, Pious had shot his disembodied soul into the moon using a Precursor psy satellite dish. As one does.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlso, he’d kidnapped Sloan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was all totally villain behavior on Pious’ part, but that was where the situation became  complex. Because Locke wasn’t entirely sure that Pious was a villain. Oh, turning even willing cultists into vessels for a gooey moon god was suspect, no doubt, but Sloan trusted Pious like a good surrogate father, and Pious had treated his operation like he was acting on the least terrible of two terrible options:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey could allow Avarice to destroy Haven wildly, or they could try to wield its power for themselves, to guide the magic it would inevitably unleash to productive uses. Both would result in the end of their world, but Pious’ expenditure of the magic, so he said, would have been wielded to create a better tomorrow—a world to rival that of the Precursors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke understood the logic, but he didn’t understand why Pious wouldn’t just want to \u003cem\u003edestroy\u003c\/em\u003e the thing, to end its cycle completely. Maybe Pious \u003cem\u003ewanted\u003c\/em\u003e to wield that power, either for his own selfish ends or for the noble end he claimed. But with his body dead and some part of him beamed up to the moon, it wasn’t like Locke could ask him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven that was uncertain, though. Locke couldn’t tell if Pious’ use of the satellite dish had succeeded. The ethereal light that poured off the dish as the spell enacted had flickered unstably, and there was no clear sign of what had actually happened. At least not as clear as, say, the moon laughing evilly as it adopted Pious’ likeness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, it still wore that creepy shadow grin stretched across its lower hemisphere. But, notably, it was no longer sending down meteors. All the meteorfall had ceased within an hour of Pious’ dying.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke wanted to think that was a result of Pious’ influence—that he actually projected his soul into the moon in the same way Peth had pulled Locke to Haven, and that he was now fighting Avarice from the inside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAlone\u003c\/em\u003e, Locke reflected, and shivered at the thought. If Pious was indeed a good man, that was fucking heroic, and he didn’t deserve to be doing it by himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut with their present level of information, all they had were conjectures, and how could one even make an educated guess about the results of psy-magicking one’s soul into the moon? It wasn’t like that sort of thing was a common occurrence, even on Haven.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut now—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke looked into Peth’s blue eyes, faintly glowing with more eager understanding than he’d ever seen. She could very well hold all the secrets they needed to defeat this destructive moon god and save their world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke stepped aside and gestured to let her go first.\u003c\/p\u003e\n“Then let’s hear everything.”\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47140620173603,"sku":"TITANMAGEAPOCALYPSE-SIGNED","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/TitanMageShopify5.png?v=1701657306"},{"product_id":"print-blood-knight-vampire-slayer-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Blood Knight: Vampire Slayer (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Blood Knight series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn insatiable succubus? A shy werewolf? A scatterbrained angel? This team needs a leader!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJ.B. Clarke enrolled in college to earn his degree and find a steady job. What he got instead was an adventure in a secret underworld where vampires rule over all. Emma Rose, a friendly gamer who turns out to be a succubus, recruits him into Broken Fang, an overly ambitious team of monster girls. These lovely ladies know they’ll need help if they’re to stand a chance against the vampires, and they’re looking for a few good men.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, one man, actually. And that’s him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke is soon thrust into a hidden world full of magic, mystery, and mythical creatures. He’s in way over his head because Broken Fang is a dysfunctional mess, and his calculus professor is a sadistic vampire who snacks on pet animals. He’ll need more than his (considerable) experience with fantasy games to solve this problem!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, he’s far from helpless. He’s a blood knight, descended from an ancient and powerful line of vampire hunters, and his magical abilities have finally begun to awaken. But will they be enough? Can he master his powers in time to face the coming storm? Can he grow into the leader Broken Fang so desperately needs?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr will he end up as just one more meal for the vampires?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eBlood Knight: Vampire Slayer\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun urban fantasy adventure with a healthy side of heat: voluptuous succubi, energetic werewolves, incorrigible slime girls, nubile witches, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from BLOOD KNIGHT: VAMPIRE SLAYER\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCHAPTER ONE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Clarke?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hmm?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know this is out of the blue, but have you ever played Dungeons \u0026amp; Dragons before?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJ.B Clarke sat in the Engineering and Science building’s study hall, his brain fogged with the musty stench of the decades-old building his college was too cheap to update, despite its exorbitant tuition fees. It had fallen deeper into fog over the past few hours, immersed in a grueling software problem as part of his database coursework. So when Emma called upon his brain to switch gears, it was a struggle—but soon he ungummed his brain cogs and flicked his eyes up from his laptop to meet hers across the table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmma cocked a playful eyebrow, which managed to coax Clarke’s mind fully out of its code-induced stupor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A while ago,” he said cautiously, not sure what was behind her question. “Some of my friends were into it back in high school, but I haven’t played since I graduated. Why?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No reason, really. You just seemed the type.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The type?” Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir professor had divvied up the class into random pairs for this assignment, which involved two students tackling each problem together. That meant they were supposed to divide the scope of their code between them and develop an interface to mesh their work back together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke had hoped to be paired with one of his acquaintances from the class—he hadn’t been at Chester Creek University long enough to develop any new close friends—but he’d ended up with Emma, a girl he’d exchanged no more than three words with before this assignment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot that he minded! He’d take about \u003cem\u003eany \u003c\/em\u003eexcuse to get to know her better, and it just so happened one had landed in his lap.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a testament to the brain-dulling, soul-sucking nature of his surroundings that he’d managed to be distracted from her at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmmaline “Emma” Rose possessed what Clarke thought of as an “abundant” figure. Her burgundy leather jacket, black miniskirt, and gray-and-black striped stockings each seemed to strain against all those curves, especially the high and heavy thrust of her breasts, almost as if her clothes were under immense pressure from the inside, ready to burst open from all that barely-contained femininity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer face was equally attractive with large, dark eyes behind horn-rimmed glasses and a generous—often smiling—mouth, all framed by a cascade of long, raven-black hair. The glasses gave her a “sexy geek” vibe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, are you?” Emma asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was no judgment in her voice. No condescension or disdain. Just a soft, friendly form of curiosity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke had been a little nervous about how to approach Emma after class, worried about coming across as either too forward or too business-like. They were classmates assigned to the same problem; it would have been awkward for him to hit on her right out of the gate. Conversely, he didn’t want to keep things \u003cem\u003etoo \u003c\/em\u003eformal. This \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e a golden opportunity to get to know her better, after all!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, Emma had beaten him to the punch. She’d broken the ice outside class with a great programming joke: \u003cem\u003eA SQL query goes into a bar, walks up to two tables and asks, “Can I join you?”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’d have to remember that one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why do I get the feeling this question didn’t come out of nowhere?” Clarke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe flashed a brief smile. “Well, this place is \u003cem\u003eboring\u003c\/em\u003e, for one. And actually, one of my friends likes to GM. She put together this custom campaign, but we’re short one player. You interested?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke paused to consider how best to reply. A girl—a \u003cem\u003esmoking hot \u003c\/em\u003egirl—was inviting him to join her and her friends—her \u003cem\u003every possibly smoking hot\u003c\/em\u003e friends—for a night of pen-and-paper roleplaying. There was no way he could turn this down!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCareful though\u003c\/em\u003e, he told himself. \u003cem\u003eDon’t come across as too eager. Ease up to an eventual “yes.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Depends,” he replied guardedly. “What gaming system are you using?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pathfinder 3.5. You ever hear of it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I have,” he replied, his mind flashing through countless hours playing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ashley likes to use Pathfinder as a base for all her custom scenarios.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ashley?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“One of my friends. She stopped by our table earlier.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You mean—” He almost said \u003cem\u003ethe blonde that looks like a supermodel\u003c\/em\u003e, but instead replied, “the blonde dressed all in white. Long hair? Shiny hairband?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s her. My other friends—Sammy and Brooke—also play. Normally, the three of us would be enough, but Ashley \u003cem\u003einsists\u003c\/em\u003e we have four players for this one.” Emma leaned forward and gave him a crooked, knowing smile. “She can be stubborn like that sometimes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, if she put in all the time and effort to make her own scenario, then yeah. I can see why she’d be picky about how you played through it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Which brings us back around to my question.” She leaned back and draped an arm over the back of her chair. “Interested?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure. When and where?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This Saturday at my apartment. We generally start arriving around five, have something to eat, then pull out the dice around six—six thirty. I’ll email you the address. It’s about twenty minutes from campus.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Great. I assume I’ll need to put together a character?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not for this one. Ashley has prebuilt characters for all of us. That’s part of the reason why she needs a specific number of players.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For the story?” Clarke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You guessed it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What can you tell me about the scenario?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s urban fantasy, so the setting is modern day but with all these secretive magical elements thrown in. You’ll be playing a blood knight in hiding. They’re a hybrid class, sort of like a ranger or druid. Ashley gave the class a mix of magic and combat abilities. \u003cem\u003eVery\u003c\/em\u003e versatile.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sounds fun. I’ve always enjoyed playing hybrid classes. More options make for more engaging roleplay.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“See?” She extended an open palm toward him. “I knew you were the type!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I guess you had me figured out,” he replied, returning a bashful smile. “Should I bring anything to the session?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just a copy of your character sheet and some dice, though I have spares if you need some.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, I have my own.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Figured you would.” Emma gave him a friendly wink. “I’ll email you the character sheet along with the address. Just need to get it from Ashley first.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks, but I was actually asking about food or drink. I don’t want to mooch off your hospitality or anything.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No worries there. The four of us—now \u003cem\u003efive \u003c\/em\u003eof us—take turns covering the pregame meal, and it’s Brooke’s turn this week.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got it, and thanks for the invite. You can expect me at five, rules and dice at the ready.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Great! Looking forward to it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What about you? What’s your character like?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, me?” Emma placed a demure hand over her chest. “I’m playing a succubus.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat Saturday, Clarke arrived at Emma’s apartment a few minutes before five with a ring binder clutched in the crook of his arm and a dice bag hanging from his fingers. Of the housing options available around campus, this was clearly one of the higher-end ones—not fancy, exactly, but sleek and new with pleasant facades that looked like they saw few raucous, vomit-strewn parties or drug deals, which was more than he could say about his own cheap place. He knocked on the door with his free hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe door cracked open, and Emma peeked her head out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Clarke!” She gave him with a warm smile. “Come on in.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe swung the door wide, and he stepped in, taking in the apartment. It was larger than the cubbyhole he called home—and cleaner, too—with comfy recliners and a long couch arranged around a low coffee table. Artwork hung on the walls in thick, black frames depicting a mix of anime and movie characters. \u003cem\u003eFrames\u003c\/em\u003e. She definitely lived a step above him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks for the invite, again.” He set the binder down on the granite counter that separated the kitchen from the living room and tried not to look overly curious as he returned his attention to the binder. “It feels like ages since I scratched that pen-and-paper itch.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t mention it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Though, I do have some \u003cem\u003eslight \u003c\/em\u003econcerns.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Like what?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well …” Clarke opened the binder and thumbed through the hundred or so pages. “I wasn’t expecting quite this many custom rules.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah,” Emma replied, her eyes laughing. “Sometimes Ashley can go a bit overboard.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Where’s she find the time for all this, anyway?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who knows? But you know how it is. If you’re passionate about something, you find the time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I guess so. Just wondering if her grades suffer because of her hobby.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nope. Quite the opposite, in fact. She gets straight A’s every semester, and I’m pretty sure she takes more hours than either of us.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know her major?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ma-\u003cem\u003ejors\u003c\/em\u003e, actually. Political science and history.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke’s eyes widened. “She’s getting straight A’s with a dual major?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yep.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke shook his head. He flipped back to the front page, which contained the bulk of his character stats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmma glanced down at the page. Something must have caught her eye, because her brow furrowed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uh, Clarke?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s not your real name, is it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke sighed internally. \u003cem\u003eHere we go.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m afraid so.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But …” She made a disgusted face. “There’s no way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I wish that were true,” he replied in a tired manner that attested to many similar conversations he endured in the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I thought Clarke was your first name.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That would have been nice, but no. It’s my last name.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come on.” Emma pointed to the name at the top of his character sheet, as if that would reveal some secret, \u003cem\u003ereally\u003c\/em\u003e real name beneath it. “You’re pulling my leg.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wish I was.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But no one’s parents would be that cruel!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’d \u003cem\u003ethink\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJ.B. Clarke gave her a sad smile, because his full name was Joffrey Baratheon Clarke. His mother—bless her enthusiastic fantasy-loving heart—had discovered George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire a few years before he’d been born and had “really liked the name’s ring.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis father—bless \u003cem\u003ehis\u003c\/em\u003e heart—hadn’t put his foot down, which led to him being named after a contender for “worst human being in fiction.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt wasn’t all bad, though. Back then, most people didn’t have a clue who Joffrey Baratheon was, and the name shortened to the much more palatable J.B., though his parents had settled for Joff most of the time. However, his namesake’s anonymity had vanished once HBO turned the books into a popular TV series and thus elevated the character from “worst human being in fiction” to “worst human being in fiction, for whom people cheered when he died and then rewound to watch it again.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then the teasing began.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd kept going.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd going.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd fucking \u003cem\u003egoing\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke couldn’t have been happier when the show tanked in its last season so disastrously that literally \u003cem\u003eno one \u003c\/em\u003ewanted to talk about it anymore. Even a \u003cem\u003eglobal pandemic\u003c\/em\u003e couldn’t get people to rewatch its dumpster fire of an ending.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat said, his parents had been less than sympathetic when he’d confronted them about his namesake, stressing that they had no way of seeing into the future and it could have been worse. They even shared the supposedly true story of a woman who’d wanted to name her newborn daughter “Vagina” because she’d never encountered the word before the obstetrician used it and because, “Thas jus tha purdiest word I eva hurd!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke shivered involuntarily. Yes, it could have been worse.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Actually,” he continued, “I’m wondering how Ashley knew my name, because it seems you didn’t tell her.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nope. News to me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Will she let me go by ‘Clarke’ in the campaign?” He tapped a note on the page. “Because this part says we’re playing alternate versions of ourselves in the scenario.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I’m sure Ashley will,” Emma replied with a carefree wave of her hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Will what?” came the unexpected response from the opening door.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Ash! Speak of the devil.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe newcomer gave Emma a cross look. “You know I don’t like that joke.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Must be why I keep using it, then,” Emma teased in a good-natured manner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley Smith rolled her eyes as she eased the door shut, then crossed the room with long-legged strides, high heels clicking on the hardwood. She’d dressed in all white again, this time with a short neck scarf to accent her sleeveless button-down shirt. She’d left the first three buttons open to provide a tantalizing glimpse of deep, firm cleavage. Her long, blonde hair practically gleamed in the light, held back by a metallic hairband.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe smiled at Clarke, but the expression held all the warmth of a business transaction. Clarke fought an urge to check his phone, almost certain she’d arrived at \u003cem\u003eexactly\u003c\/em\u003e 5:00 PM. She struck him as the severely punctual type.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m Ashley.” She extended a slender hand, which he shook, and found she was all business there, too. “I’m glad you could make it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Me, too,” Clarke replied, not sure what else to say, and trying to keep his eyes from wandering toward her plunging neckline. (Which was \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e business-appropriate.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So, what are you sure I’ll allow?” Ashley asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“He wants to shorten his character name.” Emma tapped her finger on the character sheet. “Just chop off the first two parts.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley leaned over the page, then glanced up at Clarke.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You don’t want to use your given name?” she asked, sounding somewhat perplexed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not really.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why not?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uh …” Clarke frowned at her. “Isn’t it obvious?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley’s eyes darted to the character sheet, stayed there for long, confused seconds, then zipped back up to Clarke. She seemed ready to ask another question, but then something softened in her face, and she shrugged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If you’re not comfortable with it, then use whatever you like. I only thought starting with everyone’s real names would make the scenario more immersive.” She gave Emma a knowing glance. “After all, if tonight goes well—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe door swung open violently. A tall, athletic woman barged in, four pizza boxes balanced atop one hand with absurd grace compared to the rest of her, especially when she shouted:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, bitches! I brought the meats!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second newcomer was almost as tall as Clarke, who was no slouch in the height department, though her shoulders weren’t nearly as broad, and her chest possessed a great deal more … topology than his. Still, the toned muscles visible on her arms and bare midriff spoke to an active lifestyle. Or curriculum. Or both, perhaps.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d tied her thick, wavy mane of brunette hair back into a ponytail and wore a baggy gray T-shirt cut off at the bottom to reveal her firm stomach, its design and lettering too faded to make out. Her jeans gave a similar impression of comfortable wear and tear with a few rips around the knees.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer sharp, intense eyes caught his, but then widened suddenly, and she froze midstride, almost launching the pizzas forward before she stabilized them with her free hand. Her expression—initially loud and boisterous—became almost mousy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh. You’re already here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That I am,” Clarke replied dryly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uh … Hi? I’m Brooke. Brooke Hawthorne.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Clarke. Nice to meet you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, uh.” Brooke held the boxes out as if offering them as an apology. “I brought pizza.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll take those.” Emma grabbed the pizza boxes and began arraying them on the kitchen counter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rich, savory smell of hot cheese, meat, and marinara tickled Clarke’s nose, and his stomach grumbled in anticipation. Emma and Ashley busied themselves setting out paper plates, napkins, plastic cups, and a selection of colas at one end of the boxes. Brooke eventually unfroze from her awkward pose, gave Clarke a bashful glance, then grabbed a plate and began loading it up with pizza slices.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke grabbed his own plate and surveyed the selection: three large pizzas consisting of pepperoni, meat lovers, supreme (also piled high with enough meat that the rare veggies would have cowered in fear if they’d been sapient), one medium pizza split into half pepperoni and half cheese, and a bag of breadsticks and marinara dipping sauce.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The meats indeed,” Ashley noted with a sour glance over the options.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The cheesy one is for you,” Brooke said. “See? I kept you in mind.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And what about our guest? You consider him, too?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I—” Brooke paused with her mouth open, then frowned. She faced Clarke. “You’re not a vegetarian, are you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nope.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Any allergies?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“None I’m aware of.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You like pizza?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, I \u003cem\u003elove \u003c\/em\u003epizza, and the more meat the better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fantastic! I was worried there for a minute.” Brooke’s face brightened. “You’ll fit right in.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The point,” Ashley said firmly, “is you should have asked \u003cem\u003ebefore\u003c\/em\u003e you bought the food.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whoops.” Brooke shrugged before adding another slice to her plate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey there, girlfriends!” said a petite figure from the doorway.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Sammy!” Emma waved at her. “Would you mind locking the door? We’re all here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure thing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke realized he’d seen Sammy a few times around campus, though he’d never spoken to her. In fact, it was hard \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e to notice her, since she favored loud clothes and even louder hair, which seemed to be a different color every time he laid eyes on her. She wore a hoodie stylized with splotches of fluorescent paint, the hood pulled back to reveal a pixie cut of vibrant red hair blending toward purple at the tips.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe walked up to Clarke. “You Clarke?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s right.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Samantha Eloise.” She extended a gloved hand. “But you can call me Sammy. All my friends do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe shook her hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Sammy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You ready to kick some vampire butt tonight?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eShh!\u003c\/em\u003e” Ashley snapped. “Spoilers!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, come on.” Sammy rolled her eyes as she grabbed her plate. “He already knows. You put it right there in your twenty-thousand-word lore dump.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke kept very quiet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I suppose you have a point there.” Ashley placed a single cheesy slice on her plate, struggling to disentangle the gooey strands gracefully. “You did read all the lore, right?” she asked, her voice tinged with uneasy hopefulness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I …” Clarke sighed. “Okay, I’m going to be honest here. I didn’t realize there was going to be quite so much material when I started printing it out. All I did was skim it before I drove over.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley sank in her seat a little and, oddly, her hairband seemed to darken a few shades. It must have been a trick of the lighting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t give him that look.” Sammy flopped into one of the recliners and took a large bite from a breadstick. She continued speaking with her mouth full. “All I did was skim it, too. It was either that or fall asleep halfway through.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, now,” Ashley protested. “It wasn’t that dry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSammy snorted out a laugh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I liked it.” Brooke plopped down into one of the chairs. “I think it’s a good primer for people new to the, uh, setting.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke guessed she’d been about to use a different word there at the end, but he didn’t give it more than a passing thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley sighed and joined them around the coffee table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith all the recliners taken, Clarke sat down at one end of the couch, fully expecting Emma to pick the other end.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe didn’t, instead choosing to sit in the middle close enough for their hips to press against each other. Clarke felt a jolt of almost electric excitement surge through him at the unexpected contact. He glanced over at her, and she smiled sweetly back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Something wrong?” she asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s nothing.” He was about to start eating when he noticed Emma hadn’t brought a plate. “Not eating with us?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll snack on something else later.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not a fan of pizza?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not that. I love a good slice of pizza as much as the next girl. I just have these”—she twirled a hand around as if searching for the right word—“dietary restrictions.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ah.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I can only handle so much junk food before I get hit with these cravings and need something more, umm, nutritious to fill me up.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got it. Say no more.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSammy chuckled around a fat bite of breadstick. He had no idea why.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47841580384547,"sku":"BLOODKNIGHT-SIGNED","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/BloodKnightVampireSlayerSIGNEDShopify.png?v=1711073932"},{"product_id":"print-the-hot-springs-episode-titan-mage-side-quests-1-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Hot Springs Episode (Titan Mage Side Quests #1) (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Titan Mage Side Quests series. Published by Spice Rack Press. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. Contact us at holowriting (at) holowriting.com for personalization requests.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium PAPERBACK:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/the-hot-springs-episode\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage-apocalypse\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA mountain hot spring? Sultry swimsuits? A steamy vacation? Sometimes even a hero needs a break!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLocke’s enjoying his new life in another world, fighting dark magic and monsters in his giant mech called a Titan. Add in his hot new body and an airship of stunning ladies who can’t get enough of him and, yes, he thinks he could get very used to this.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen a successful bounty takes the airship \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e by the hot springs town of Steamridge, Captain Alyssa, Chief Engineer Bexley, and Titan Mage Ember decide that what Locke really needs is some “steamy” rest and relaxation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut something is stirring beneath the mountain, and it’s a problem that can only be solved by a titan mage. Will Locke and the ladies ever get to enjoy their hot spring vacation? Or will their hearts be pounding for altogether more dangerous reasons?\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eThe Hot Springs Episode\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun fantasy adventure containing steam both punk and smutty: alluring airship captains, eager engineers, and provocative mech pilots. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eCONTINUITY NOTE: This side story novella is set between \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage\u003c\/em\u003e (Book #1) and \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage Ruin\u003c\/em\u003e (Book #2), but can be read as a standalone.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Edie Skye has somehow managed to mix together LitRPG, magical mecha, and a spicy harem romance into a story that is fun and great entertainment. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one night, but here we are.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a teenager, I drooled over the mechs of Robotech and Macross, and nothing since then has captured my love of those massive robots as the titans of Titan Mage.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/the-hot-springs-episode\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE HOT SPRINGS EPISODE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChapter One\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It was supposed to be \u003cem\u003eone monster\u003c\/em\u003e!” Locke snarled as he charged his catalysts in preparation for the latest wave of wood drakes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe creatures came out of the trees like a pack of tiny, angry half-dragon, half-treants, snapping and snarling and wholly unhappy to see him there in his titan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTechnically he knew it was inaccurate to compare them to dragons, since he’d learned that drakes and dragons were two completely different creatures on the world of Haven, but it helped him to think of them that way—as wingless, flameless four-legged dragons that made him \u003cem\u003eloath\u003c\/em\u003e to meet a real dragon. For those comparatively tiny beasts—tiny compared to a dragon, at least—still matched the entire two-story height of his mech.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Chimera was a brilliant red building-height suit of armor outfitted with an energy catalyst, a matter catalyst, and two gravity catalysts. While far from being fully upgraded, it was more than capable of wrecking face—and had already done so several times since he’d joined Harper’s Harriers—but never against a pack of titan-sized monsters. Never against fifteen wood drakes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“He has a point, Captain,” his partner’s voice came through the titan’s radio. A sudden blast of red shot past Titan Chimera and incinerated two of the drakes as she spoke. “We may need to have some … heated renegotiations with the client. There’s no way they could have missed this many wood drakes, especially as dark-infested as they are. I think they were trying to cheap out on us.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t disagree,” the captain replied from the bridge of the Harriers’ airship, in her usual restrained manner. “I’ll inform you if I see another wave coming from here. In the meantime, take out as many as you can, and try not to get infected.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For real, \u003cem\u003edon’t\u003c\/em\u003e,” radioed the ship’s chief engineer, in her usual \u003cem\u003eun\u003c\/em\u003erestrained manner. “If this dickhead gets away with cheaping out on our bounty, pretty much all of my budget’s going to get sucked up by repairs, which \u003cem\u003enone\u003c\/em\u003e of us wants. You hear me?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Loud and clear, Bexley,” Locke replied. “Ember, which side are you taking today?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe turned to see Ember’s titan, Long Shot, through Chimera’s visual sensors. The great streamlined airship that was the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e hovered some way behind him, its hangar ramp open, and Long Shot perched there with a clear view of the battlefield below and a shoulder-mounted energy mega-catalyst cannon ready to snipe from a safe distance. The titans paired well together, his bulky, solid mech the melee brawler, her sleek blue-and-silver mech the ranged sniper, and now they both prepared to do what they did best:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFuck up some monsters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Split them up,” Ember said. “I’ll take the left side. And make sure your group’s far from mine when you start burning it. I don’t want to lose you in the smoke and accidentally incinerate you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Will do,” Locke said, and moved out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe sprinted toward the encroaching swarm of wood drakes, set his energy catalyst to freezing and then fired the gravity catalysts in his legs to \u003cem\u003eleap!\u003c\/em\u003e That was something else he had access to in this world—magic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere were only a limited number of types—energy magic, matter magic, gravity magic, and time magic. It had to be channeled through specially built catalysts before it could be accessed, but he’d taken to it this past month like a … well, like a half-paralyzed nineteen-year-old isekai’d into a new world and a new body that had \u003cem\u003eall the muscles\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eall the magic\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd now his pimped-out giant robot somersaulted over the wood drakes on the force of the glowing purple gravity catalysts implanted in the backs of the mech’s robotic calves. The energy catalyst on the underside of his left arm whirred and glowed blue, and a great freezing beam sprayed from his hand, straight through the middle of the pack of wood drakes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Chimera landed on the other side of the rush with a tremendous, controlled thud, and when he turned the titan around, he saw that his plan had worked. A low wall of ice now bisected the group of monsters, and they began to split in different directions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother focused heat blast from Ember took out two more of her drakes, and Locke switched his own energy catalyst to heat and leapt again to catch up with his half. He aimed his left hand straight at the pack, waited for the full charge, and then blasted the backmost creatures with a steady stream of searing fire before they even thought to turn around.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe didn’t land.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBefore he could, he fired his gravity catalysts again to push him away from the beasts, out of even their slightest grasp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgainst most monsters, Locke preferred to fight up close, with his fists and whatever weapons he felt like summoning with his matter catalyst—but these were not normal monsters. He’d fought a lot of drakes in the past month—stone drakes, mountain drakes, water drakes, lake drakes, sea drakes (which were all distinct from each other)—but despite the size and generally ferocious appearance, most were merely cool-tempered animals who wanted to be left alone and only attacked if they felt threatened.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis was especially true of the wood drake. A standard wood drake looked something like an old wise man of the forest, like an ageless being that had no concept of the passage of time and only cared to exist quietly in its secluded copse until it decided it was time to leave this place for another. Its scales resembled bark, sometimes curved into the shapes of horns or spikes, and mosses, mushrooms, and lichens just grew on them as a matter of course.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBexley had once shown him how to \u003cem\u003epet\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003efeed\u003c\/em\u003e a wild wood drake. They weren’t even carnivorous, except when they accidentally ate bugs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThese\u003c\/em\u003e wood drakes were nothing like those.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir normally placid eyes flickered with dark, unnatural sparks of some nebulous energy, and their moss-covered shapes now pulsated with a blackish-purple sludge, slowly seeping into the spaces between their bark scales and filling their bodies with a madness that was not their own—and not even of this world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the sky above hung the great orb of the Crystal Moon; from its surface fell meteors, and from those meteors spread the shadow dregs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo one knew exactly what the dregs were, not even his crewmates, who’d all been born on Haven. All anyone knew was that the shadow dregs craved destruction and would take over anything—living or non—to wreak it. They routinely turned peaceful creatures into zombie-like killing machines for no apparent reason. Once a creature—or a person—was infected, there was no saving them. It was why he couldn’t risk touching the creatures, and why the dregs had to be obliterated whenever they landed. The only creature he’d ever seen survive a shadow dreg infestation was a stone drake, and that was merely because it was fireproof and thus resistant to the magic he’d used to kill the dregs infecting it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wood drakes were definitely \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e fireproof.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut they were also no longer themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith a horrible multi-tonal shriek, every wood drake in his group rounded toward him. He shuddered as even the three that were on fire came for him, their bodies propelled forward by the dregs inside them even as the drakes themselves screeched in terrible pain. He could hear the sap inside their bodies cracking and popping as the heat of his flames cooked them—but all he could do was put them out of their misery faster.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe triggered his gravity catalyst again. A great plume of sparkling steam and excess magic billowed out of his shoulder louvers as he once again leapt out of the monsters’ reach, charged his energy catalyst as white-hot as it would go, and blasted a beam straight at the nearest drake’s flaming head. The creature’s skull exploded. It still moved under the influence of the shadow dregs, but at least it was no longer screaming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe repeated the process for the other two that were on fire, then leapt back again to take new stock of his situation. Three drakes remained on his side, still mostly untouched; one drake was frozen in the nearby ice wall, apparently caught in his initial blast, and if the diminishing levels of smoke rising from Ember’s side of the wall were any indication, her cannon had obliterated even the ashes of her drakes. But then she had a tier three \u003cem\u003emega\u003c\/em\u003e-catalyst embedded in that cannon, whereas he hadn’t yet gathered enough materials and void essence to upgrade his energy catalyst beyond tier one. \u003cem\u003eOf course\u003c\/em\u003e she’d be wiping out wood drakes with ease. Her titan was \u003cem\u003ededicated\u003c\/em\u003e to ranged combat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis energy catalyst wouldn’t be tier one for long though, and the void essence his titan collected from all these monsters would help him get there.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Alyssa, what’s the news from the forest?” Locke radioed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Stay on your toes,” Captain Alyssa replied from the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e. “I see motion in the trees.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke charged his energy catalyst and leapt again, spraying the nearest of the four wood drakes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What kind of motion?” he grunted under the jolt of his titan landing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Could be another wave,” the captain replied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn. Why so many?” Locke stated, blasting off the head of the next drake. “Is it normal for wood drake packs to be this large?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, these are oak drakes,” Bexley replied from inside the hangar, with all the leisure of someone who wasn’t presently staring down two charging, flaming monsters. “They leave their little acorn eggs everywhere and most of them take, so you get lots of oak drake babies and big packs. The proper term for a pack is a grove, by the way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wait, how do you know that?” Locke asked, taking out the next drake.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll have you know the size of my intellect is directly proportional to the size of my spectacular chest,” Bexley replied. “Plus I once bedded a botanical monstrologist, and the stuff he talked about post-coitus was \u003cem\u003efascinating\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Bexley, we’re in the middle of a job here,” Captain Alyssa reprimanded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fine,” Bexley scoffed. “Don’t make use of my eclectic knowledge. But you’ll probably find it relevant that most oak drake packs have an—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, \u003cem\u003eshit\u003c\/em\u003e!” Alyssa suddenly exclaimed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke had barely taken out the last of his drakes before a great and terrible thrash blasted the forest open and sent trees taller than his titan flying through the air.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Gods!” Ember echoed, and fired another beam to incinerate one before it hit the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke was not so lucky. He was close to the forest, and so had more trees to dodge, and he taxed his gravity catalysts to their limit as he sprinted and ducked through the avalanche of wood and foliage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the trees stopped crashing, only one thing of the forest remained in motion: an ancient wood drake, its bark rough and knotted with the passing of untold ages, its eyes glowing with the same shadowy fury as the others, and its head stretching far above that of his titan’s, at least three stories tall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“An Oak King,” Bexley finished.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Oak King came for Locke like a landslide. He’d barely fired his catalysts before its great green claws smashed down into the dirt where Titan Chimera had been, tearing divots that were at least a foot deep.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe fired a white-hot blast at the creature’s forearm, but it didn’t recoil. The lichens on its back simply caught fire, and it brushed them off as if they were little more than spicy dust.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut as it did so, Locke noticed something.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ember, I don’t see any shadow dregs on the outside. Do you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmber’s visual sensors were better than his, being more essential for her sniping, and after taking a moment to look, she replied, “No, I don’t, either.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What does that mean?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“They’re probably concentrated in the monster’s brain case,” Alyssa suggested. “A creature that large? It would take all the shadow dregs you’ve already destroyed and then some to control it their usual way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Take the brain directly, however,” Bexley added, “and they can control the whole thing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are shadow dregs smart enough to know that?” Locke asked, blasting a lichen-free spot, then dodging another swipe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“They don’t do it often because the alternative’s easier,” Ember said, “but I’ve seen it enough to know it’s a predictable tactic for big monsters. We’ll want to go for the head.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke dodged back a safe distance, then gazed up to get a better look at the head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Dammit,” he groaned. If the bark was thick elsewhere, it was doubly so on the skull. The mosses there hung from great horns that were as thick as his titan’s arm, which suggested the skull supporting them would be at least that thick.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m gonna have to chop it,” he said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMoreover, he was going to have to \u003cem\u003erun up\u003c\/em\u003e the monster to chop it. He could jump, he supposed, but his control of his gravity catalysts wasn’t fine enough for complex midair maneuvers yet, and if the Oak King wanted to swat him out of his jump, it would have little trouble doing so. He had no choice but to run up its shape, and that meant risking infection by shadow dregs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hang on! I’ve got an idea!” He sprinted before anyone could order him otherwise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Locke, what are you doing?” Ember shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m going to break the skull open!” Locke rounded the monster’s tail and launched up to its hindquarters. He darted up the monster’s ragged spine, and in three great strides, was at the base of its neck.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got it,” Ember replied, and as Locke scaled the Oak King’s head, he called upon his matter catalyst. This in turn called upon the tank of swiftmetal implanted within Titan Chimera’s back, which spooled out of an opening beneath his right hand to form the thin wireframe of a titan-sized war axe. More slick pseudo-liquid metal spun out to fill the shape with every ferocious step he took, and by the time he leapt onto the skull, it had solidified into its desired form.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe fired his gravity catalysts, leapt as high into the air as he could go, and then brought his axe down with all the might of Titan Chimera behind it. The axe blade chopped into the wood of the Oak King’s skull with a thick, wet \u003cem\u003ethunk\u003c\/em\u003e—but only a few inches.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd now the Oak King knew what he was doing. It reared its head back and roared—not a ferocious-sounding thing, but a sad noise like ages-old trees groaning as they were felled. Fortunately, though, its thick bark gave it a limited range of motion, and Locke was able to bring the axe down in a similar spot with ease. He did this again and again, each time eliciting tragic moans from the creature, but also knowing it was the only thing he could do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shadow dregs wouldn’t leave. They could only be destroyed. And so anything they infected also had to share their fate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Chimera leapt into the air and brought the axe down with thunderous force—and this time, the edge sank in with a sickening \u003cem\u003ethwomp!\u003c\/em\u003e The thick wood of the skull split, and a savaged chunk flew out, revealing the weird grayish green of the Oak King’s brain—and the shadow dregs throbbing around it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shadow dregs gushed up through the hole, straight for him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe met them with his energy catalyst, fired a white-hot beam down into the gap before they could even reach the outside air, and then, the dregs sufficiently distracted, he leapt off the monster’s head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNearly as soon as he said it, a brilliant white flash from Titan Long Shot’s shoulder cannon bored into the Oak King’s head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was some seconds before Locke could look in its direction without squinting. When he did, he saw the creature’s skull black with smoldering embers. But more importantly, he saw a distinct plume of smoke rising from the hole he’d chopped in that skull, suggesting there was even more damage inside. The bit of Ember’s blast that reached the soft tissue behind that hole would have ricocheted throughout the monster’s brain case, incinerating everything inside—brain, shadow dregs, and all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd soon, the unnatural flickering sparks left the monster’s eyes, taking every other spark of life with them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster still stood there, held upright by the thick bulk of its body, but now the only life about it was \u003cem\u003eon\u003c\/em\u003e it, in the greenery that still grew and would continue to grow despite the creature’s state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, Locke reflected, at least that life would continue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut on the other hand, he reflected as he headed back toward the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e, his titan had absorbed \u003cem\u003ea ton\u003c\/em\u003e of void essence from the kill!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47935607931171,"sku":"HOTSPRINGS-SIGNED","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/The_Hot_Springs_Episode_SIGNED_Shopify.png?v=1732920972"},{"product_id":"print-i-power-up-with-every-monster-girl-i-defeat-monster-girl-tamer-1-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: I Power Up With Every Monster Girl I Defeat (Monster Girl Tamer #1) (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Monster Girl Tamer series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/monster-girl-tamer\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA red hot, fiery demon girl. A goblin girl obsessed with wood. An oni girl who loves to grip a big sword. And they’re going to help him save the world … \u003cem\u003ehow\u003c\/em\u003e?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAxel Hunter Radcliff has trained his whole life to be a hero. Once every generation, someone in his family is called upon to be a Chosen One, and Axel’s prepared himself extensively, just in case it’s him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe just wasn’t prepared for the portal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow he’s in another world brimming with dangerous monsters beneath a sky full of magic portals … and with no idea what he’s been summoned to do. All he knows is that every Chosen Radcliff has been aided by a support staff of skilled women: a \u003cem\u003etactical harem\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen mysterious monster girls start wreaking havoc in this new world, Axel is ready to answer the call. He’ll have to draw upon insight borne from every tabletop RPG he’s played and every harem novel he’s read to face them, because these are either the women he’s destined to gather … or the force he’s been summoned to stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEither way, these monster girls need to be \u003cem\u003etamed\u003c\/em\u003e!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eMonster Girl Tamer\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun LitRPG fantasy adventure with a healthy side of heat: sensuous demons, lustful goblins, voluptuous oni, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/monster-girl-tamer\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from I POWER UP WITH EVERY MONSTER GIRL I DEFEAT!\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER ONE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Son, it’s time for The Talk.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel had known those words were coming since last night.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe Talk meant something different in his family. Oh, he’d gotten the, “We’ve noticed how you look at girls, here’s a condom, don’t get anyone pregnant” talk when he was thirteen, but that was small potatoes compared to the talk every man in his family got at twenty. That Talk was a Very Big Potato.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWhich was why his dad’s nonchalance surprised him. When Axel came through the front door, his dad simply waved the same distant hello as usual, then went back to the kitchen sink, cleaning the last dishes from the birthday party Axel had been called away from—not that anyone blamed him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWhen you made a hobby of running toward fires, you had to go when the fire summoned you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Can I clean up a bit first?” Axel said. He still smelled like smoke from the night’s job.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHis dad waved again, and Axel went downstairs. He’d left his gear in his locker at the firehouse, but despite the hours spent cleaning the gear and tools, the scent and soot of his work still lingered. He was always vigilant about maintaining his gear, as much to preserve its reliability as to fend off the inevitable carcinogens he’d encounter; he was just as vigilant about his own body, and so he took a long shower to fend off the rest. It was an irony, he reflected, that so many firefighters spent their lives saving others, only to be killed by their own work, either in a fire or the slow cancer resulting from the things that burned around them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThen he chuckled darkly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eGiven what his father was about to say, he was not likely to die of cancer. Few of the Radcliffs ever died in such mundane ways.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWhen he came back upstairs, his father greeted him by cracking open a beer. He wasn’t even twenty-one yet, but he recognized the beer, one that only emerged on serious occasions. The brew was based on one his grandfather had brought back from overseas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWell, “overseas” was only loosely correct. The bottle was a recycled original, and its label was in a language he’d never seen on this earth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Damn, that’s good beer!” Axel exclaimed after his first swig.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“There’s a reason your grandfather founded his microbrewery once he came back,” his father said, taking his own as they flopped onto the living room couch. “Glad one of your grandmothers knew how to make this stuff.” (Grandpa had a lot of adventures.) “If you’re lucky enough to survive whatever’s coming, you’ll inherit the recipe, too. For now, though, you get this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eOn the coffee table before them was positioned a thin, hard-shelled carrying case that resembled the ones Axel used to transport his wargaming miniatures. His father clicked it open with all the slow pride of an uber nerd about to show off an unholy amount of money spent on plastic and paint.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Axel, meet Mel.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe case did not contain painted miniatures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt contained a whole-ass M4 carbine, fully assembled and maintained to such perfection that it looked fresh off the production line, but Axel knew that wasn’t true. First off, because there was a sparkling pink cat head on its grip that had likely been slapped on as a joke. Second because, if the family stories were true—and \u003ci\u003eall\u003c\/i\u003e the family stories were true—that thing had already delivered some top-quality dakkas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWorld War III had been in progress before Mel and his father had gone to fight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWorld War III was no longer in progress.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I’d hoped to present her to you at the party last night, but well …”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Duty called.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“As it does. And given how often duty called you even before your birthday, I thought I should equip you sooner rather than later.” He lifted the carbine from the case and extended it toward his son, like a blessing. “Axel Hunter Radcliff, if she’ll have you, she’s yours. Take her.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eIf she’ll have you.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThat was the key, and why every man in the family trained. Because there was no way of knowing who Mel would choose until …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel braced his muscles to accept the heirloom. He hadn’t even fully gripped it when the weapon began to glow. Little streamers of sparkling light whipped off its form and then came back to envelop it, like some over-the-top magical girl transformation sequence, but with a badass gun. When the magical ribbons finished encasing it, its shape changed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIts protruding bits withdrew into the main length of the gun, which then stretched out and back in a curve, except for one glob of light. This separated and hovered before him, stretching into a rectangle—no, a cylinder with a strap—which then zipped around to his back. In front, he could see additional details working into the piece still in his hands. Multiple layers of cables slipped around what looked like pulley wheels on each end of the elaborate curve. A final whip of luminescence encased his forearm and hand in the shape of an archery gauntlet, and when the light flashed away into a rain of sparkles, Axel’s suspicion was confirmed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eResting in his hands was a shining silver compound bow, complete with that weird little cat head on the grip.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Huh,” Axel mused. “That’s … not what I expected.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You were expecting \u003ci\u003eanything\u003c\/i\u003e?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Dad, it’s hard to have a family history like ours and \u003ci\u003enot\u003c\/i\u003e expect some kind of weirdness. Granted, I didn’t expect the transforming anime weapon, but once I saw what it was doing, I didn’t expect a bow, either.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“That ‘transforming anime weapon’ is formally called The Arsenal, and it adapts to the user. It’s been passed down through our family for generations.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Oh! So the ‘Mel’ grandfather used was the same as your carbine, and the same as my bow? I thought it was just the name that got passed down.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHis father shook his head. “Nope, it’s both.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Why’d grandpa get a whole \u003ci\u003etank\u003c\/i\u003e?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Different time, different place, \u003ci\u003every \u003c\/i\u003edifferent threat.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Where’s the name Mel come from, anyway?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Actually … I don’t think even your grandpa remembers. We’ve always called her Mel, as far as I know.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel positioned Mel in his hands and tested its stability and tension, then drew an arrow from the quiver that had materialized on his back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Not in the house,” his father said. “We’ll never hear the end of it if you blow up your mom’s new couch. Let’s take it outside to the range.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“The Range” was a bit of a misnomer. Oh, there was definitely a shooting range in their backyard, both for firearms and bows. But there was also a variety of obstacle courses, such that anyone flying over might mistake it for a little boot camp, were it not for the children’s playground positioned on the other side of the house. Even that was an intense, elaborate structure, meant to teach its users to fall down hard and get up quick.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eBoth were necessary skills in the Radcliff family.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel went to his favorite spot on the archery range, put his beer down, and nocked an arrow to his new bow. He was amazed at how familiar it felt, like he’d been using this very bow since he’d picked up the sport.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Our family has a great destiny, son,” his father said, creaking down into a nearby lawn chair.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I’m aware of that. Hard to miss when your grandpa’s sucked into a war in another world and your dad fought off the elder gods.” (World War III had been complicated.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“It goes back further than that. And it’s stranger than you realize.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“But isn’t the short of it that we’re all called on to be heroes?” Axel asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt was one of the reasons he’d been given a name like Axel Hunter Radcliff, in fact. One only had to pay half-attention while growing up to realize that, at least once in a generation, someone in his family earned a place in a history book somewhere, and like hell were any of them going to go down in history with names like John Smith or Chris Jones. His father had lucked out with the normal-sounding name of Byron, but most Radcliffs had names that sounded like they’d been pulled from old pulp adventures—and were expected to live up to them whether they were that generation’s Chosen One or not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAnd so Axel had prepared as best he could.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt was not as simple a task as it sounded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eChosen Ones were an immutable fact in his family, but there were few ways of knowing what the One was Chosen \u003ci\u003efor\u003c\/i\u003e, which meant the best approach was a well-rounded one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eMost of the family heroes benefited from physicality, so he’d participated in every sport he could when he was in school. Competitive archery was the only one he’d pursued after high school, but that was primarily because his work in the family landscaping business met a lot of his exercise demands. (After defeating the elder gods, his dad had wanted to do something low-key.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel didn’t find the job all that fulfilling, though, which was where volunteer firefighting came in. He’d never considered taking the career route, because like most jobs that were essential to the functioning of society, the pay was shit—but it allowed him to both test his limits and, more importantly, to do something meaningful. Heroic, even. Plus, he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed the surge of adrenaline that flooded his veins every time the alert came. He didn’t wish fires on anyone, of course, but the joy he felt facing them was real—and specifically, the joy of taming such a volatile force.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt was like conquering a part of nature itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAnd the money he made off posing for the yearly firefighter calendar wasn’t bad, either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe let the arrow fly. The cable thumped against his gauntlet with a powerful crack, and the arrow pierced its target with a near-silent swish. A good shot, but mundane otherwise. No magical sparkles or anything. He prepared another.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“We’re all called to be heroes,” Byron Radcliff continued, “but we’ve never told you the full story, nor what it means for each generation’s Chosen hero.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel let the arrow fly. It landed, again a good shot, but again mundane.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe suspected he knew more than his father thought—after all, kids picked up a lot when the adults thought they weren’t listening—but he also knew his father wanted to tell the story. He’d probably been looking forward to this for years, and so Axel returned to his beer and took the seat next to his dad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“It’s not that we’re called to be heroes, like some holy vocation. It’s that we get summoned, and we have no choice in the matter. And we have to make it work, because if we don’t, awful things can happen. Whatever you’re chosen for, you’re not destined to win. You’ll need to make clever use of the resources available to you. Mel, for one, and … let’s call it your support staff.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe way his father said it suggested there was more to the phrase than allies. Namely, the way his eyebrows raised.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Some Radcliffs are sucked into conflicts around our world, but not all. Your grandfather was one such exception, summoned to another world to fight a demon king and his four generals. It was a fantastic situation to say the least, but the thing that got him through it was not his weapon, but his \u003ci\u003eharem\u003c\/i\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel had just taken a swig of beer, and now it shot up through his nose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Did you just say \u003ci\u003eharem\u003c\/i\u003e?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You know the phrase ‘Behind every great man is a great woman’? Well, when you’re in extreme situations, having more can help.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Wait, so … that was an intentional, organized thing? It wasn’t just that grandpa slept around with a bunch of women on his adventure?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Oh, he slept around for sure. But mainly with women who brought some kind of skill to his cause. They were his support as much as his lovers.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Even the crazy cat lady?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe crazy cat lady was the only one Axel had ever heard described in any detail, and now that he thought of it, something else about her was odd. Namely, that she’d never been described as having any cats. And given what kind of world she’d come from …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Was one of my grandmas secretly a catgirl?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eByron shrugged and took another swig of beer. “She certainly had … cat in some form. But that’s not my point. My point is that he’s not the first Radcliff to succeed because of his harem.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You, too? Then why do I only have one mom?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Because after the elder god thing was over, she was the one I chose. You don’t have to marry them all. You just need to build a harem that helps you win the day.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“How will I know what my challenge is, then? What kind of skills I need to gather?” Axel asked urgently. This complicated things. More than his father realized. “Dad, I’ve always avoided getting a girlfriend because I didn’t want to endanger her. I don’t know how to flirt!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You’re a firefighter. Just take your shirt off and they’ll come.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“That’s not my point. Have you seen the size of my wargaming collection? No girl I bring to my parents’ basement is going to see that and want to stay with me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“She will if she’s cool.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Oh god, I live in my parents’ basement, too!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHis father set his beer aside and looked him dead in the eyes. “Axel. The only reason we didn’t tell you this before is because we didn’t want your hormonal teenage self to take advantage of it. Your mother and I have, in fact, soundproofed the basement in anticipation of this day, so that you can freely get up to wargaming or … not. Whatever it takes to build your harem and save the world.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel froze with his beer halfway to his mouth. He’d thought he’d had some idea of how this day would go, and it had not involved his father telling him, “Go forth and fuck to save the world.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt had especially not involved the portal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eNonetheless, he became aware of a sudden sparkle beneath his chair. Before he could register that it wasn’t coming from Mel, the sparkle whirled around his feet like a circle drawn by a speeding comet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe didn’t even have time to scream before he fell, nor before the circle closed, leaving only empty ground and his father, who said:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Huh. That happened faster than expected.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAnd then he drained his beer and went inside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Spice Rack Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48449041301795,"sku":"MGT-SIGNEDPAPERBACK","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Monster_Girl_Tamer_1_TOMOE_Signed_Paperback_Shopify.jpg?v=1768152085"},{"product_id":"print-space-cowboys-5-cattle-drive-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Space Cowboys 5: Cattle Drive (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA sci-fi western anthology from \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thelawdogfiles.com\/raconteur-press\"\u003eRaconteur Press\u003c\/a\u003e. Edited by LawDog.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0D344WPVN\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/time-troopers.html\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-expanded=\"false\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhen every inch of our planet has been explored, from the depths of the sea to the top of every mountain, Space and her untamed frontiers will still be beckoning us, calling us to go beyond the farthest star and see what there is to see.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOld Sam Clemens once said that History don’t repeat itself, but it do rhyme. In Space, we got a vast, unexplored, mysterious, and dangerous frontier. We’ll have herds of some kind to watch over and to drive to market. Most times we’ll be far and beyond the reach of “civilization,” with their myriad of laws, lawyers, and politicians. Those tough enough to carve out a living will need the independent, rugged spirit of the cowboy to survive. There will be leeches and villains, for sure, heroes and anti-heroes, and some folks just trying to eke out a living. If we choose to tell their tales draped in the lingo and trappings of the cowboy, that’s just another rhyme, with form following the function.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIf you’re new to the Space Cowboy series, you’re in for a treat. These ten stories, from ten different authors, are where you’ll find Explorers charting new frontiers in space, Trailhands and Drovers watching over their cattle on alien plains, and Lawdogs of every stripe meting out frontier justice, and doing their best to make sure scallywags with evil intent don’t win in the end. These cowboys and cowgirls don’t back down from a challenge. It’s not in their nature.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e(From the Introduction written by Rick Cutler)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0D344WPVN\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/time-troopers.html\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48449041826083,"sku":"SPACECOWBOYS","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Space_Cowboys_5_Cattle_Drive_Signed_1c1a43ea-2e97-43c7-ba60-debd595e9e42.png?v=1715958425"},{"product_id":"print-the-weltall-file-signed-mass-market-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Weltall File (Mass Market Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Four in the Gordian Division series. Published by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED MASS MARKET PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by both David Weber and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-weltall-file.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCOME FOR THE GAMES. STAY FOR THE MURDER.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA mystery in the Gordian Division universe.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Weltall Tournament’s professional VR games were supposed to be a symbol of cooperation between SysGov and its militaristic neighbor, the Admin. But that was before star Admin player Elly Sako received a death threat, written in blood next to a copy of her own severed head. The Admin’s Department of Temporal Investigation swiftly seizes control of the crime scene, and the tournament transforms into a flashpoint of charged politics and conflicting jurisdictions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSysPol Detective Isaac Cho and DTI Special Agent Susan Cantrell—partners in the officer exchange program—are sent in to take charge of the investigation and bring the situation under control. But solving this mystery won’t be easy, and the pair struggles to determine who is telling the truth. A jilted relationship between players soon explodes into signs of a far-reaching conspiracy, and the two detectives find themselves racing against time before the tournament ends.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause the killer will be the only one who wins, should they fail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“. . .moments of humor amid the expected culture clashes, and the exploration of the authors’ well-realized far-future world. . .It’s pure entertainment.” —Publishers Weekly on \u003cem\u003eThe Janus File\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium mass market paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-weltall-file.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE WELTALL FILE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"chapter\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p11first\"\u003e“You dumped me for a fucking tin man?!” Grafton Lacan spat from just outside the open hotel suite door.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p41\" name=\"p41\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eElly Sako crossed her arms underneath her breasts, shook her head at him like a disapproving parent, then sighed wearily and even gave the idiot a roll of her eyes for good measure. She stood at the threshold, weight centered over her back leg, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt while water dripped from her short, black hair. She tried to avoid public appearances while looking this frumpy, but the hotel hallway was private enough, and Lacan had arrived—\u003ci\u003euninvited\u003c\/i\u003e—at her door moments after she’d finished her shower, so it wasn’t like she had much of a choice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p42\" name=\"p42\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExcept for ignoring him. Which, in hindsight, might have been the better option.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p43\" name=\"p43\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA glistening lock fell over her eyes, and she combed it back with her fingers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p44\" name=\"p44\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLacan stared at her with his reddened, teary, uncomposed, and utterly \u003ci\u003eunattractive\u003c\/i\u003e eyes. Moist trails rain down his cheeks, and his lower lip quivered. He seemed like a different person now, no longer the cocky young man with the gorgeous blonde braid, the mischievous baby blues, and those wonderfully adventurous hands of his. Those physical traits remained, of course, but they no longer added up to the same total anymore. Somewhere along the way, the vibrant young man she’d bedded during the Admin’s universal qualifier had been replaced with this sniveling, emotional wreck standing before her, a wreck that \u003ci\u003einsisted\u003c\/i\u003e on having a pointless heart-to-heart when all she wanted to do was go to take a nap!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p45\" name=\"p45\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eUhh!\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p46\" name=\"p46\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLacan sniffled. Not in a subtle way either, but loud enough for her to hear suction moving viscous snot further back up his nasal cavity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p47\" name=\"p47\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Seriously?” Sako raised an eyebrow at him. “Of all the things you could say to me, \u003ci\u003ethat’s\u003c\/i\u003e what you picked?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p48\" name=\"p48\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“He’s not even flesh and blood!” Lacan whined.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p49\" name=\"p49\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, please,” she scolded, her patience growing thin. “His mommy carried him in her womb, same as our moms did. He just transitioned into a synthoid, is all, and not that long ago either. Besides, I didn’t ‘dump’ you. That’s what I’ve been trying to drill through your thick skull! There was never anything to dump. It was a harmless diversion. Nothing more.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p50\" name=\"p50\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A \u003ci\u003ediversion\u003c\/i\u003e?” He sucked in some more snot. “Is that all I mean to you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p51\" name=\"p51\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, yeah.” She shrugged her shoulders. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p52\" name=\"p52\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But I love you!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p53\" name=\"p53\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe sighed, put a delicate hand to her forehead, and rubbed her brow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p54\" name=\"p54\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eFuck. Me.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p55\" name=\"p55\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’d used the L-word. Why in Yanluo’s burning hells did he have to toss \u003ci\u003ethat \u003c\/i\u003eloaded word into the conversation?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p56\" name=\"p56\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eYou really should have seen this coming,\u003c\/i\u003e she thought to herself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p57\" name=\"p57\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d known Lacan wouldn’t take this news well, and to a certain degree, the blame for that fell on her. After all, he’d used the L-word once or twice or…five times before? She wasn’t sure, but she also had failed to make her own feelings clear at the time. In her defense, she’d been too busy saying things like \u003ci\u003e“Yes! Harder! Like that!” \u003c\/i\u003eto really concentrate on the long-term consequence of her nonexistent reply.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p58\" name=\"p58\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd so here we are. Fuck.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p59\" name=\"p59\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d known he’d take the news poorly—it was one of the reasons why she wanted to be done with him—but she never suspected he’d handle it \u003ci\u003ethis \u003c\/i\u003epoorly, good grief! Honestly, she would have preferred not to say anything, instead letting him shuffle around blindly until he stumbled into the truth on his own. But he could be so \u003ci\u003edense\u003c\/i\u003e, and then he’d wanted to try out sex in zero gravity on the way over, and so she’d made the nature of their relationship—or, more specifically, their \u003ci\u003elack \u003c\/i\u003eof a relationship—crystal clear to him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p60\" name=\"p60\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eBut now we’re having this blasted heart-to-heart, or whatever he wants to call it.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p61\" name=\"p61\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Do you actually love him?” he blubbered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p62\" name=\"p62\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, grow up.” Sako sighed heavily, frustration welling up within her. “How much clearer do you want me to make this?” She cupped her mouth and leaned toward him. “It’s none of your business!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p63\" name=\"p63\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It is my business! I love you!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p64\" name=\"p64\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I don’t love you!” She shrugged her arms. “Sorry, but not sorry. What the hell do you want me to do about it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p65\" name=\"p65\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is this all I mean to you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p66\" name=\"p66\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, please!” she scoffed. “You’re acting like we were married or something. You were a quick fling, Lacan, nothing more! It was fun while it lasted, but you know what? It’s over now! Move on, already! I certainly have!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p67\" name=\"p67\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“He’s behind this, isn’t he!” He pointed an unsteady finger at her. “He’s trying to drive a wedge between us!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p68\" name=\"p68\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, he’s not!” she snapped, her frustration boiling over into anger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p69\" name=\"p69\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And how would you know that?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p70\" name=\"p70\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because I’d choose him over you any day of the week, you fucking idiot!” she snapped, and immediately regretted her words. She’d wanted to end this stupid and pointless shouting match, but instead the sniveling wreck he’d become morphed before her eyes into a font of indignant rage. His back straightened, eyes ablaze with an inner fire, and he took a step toward her and poked her collar bone with a finger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p71\" name=\"p71\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then why don’t you do him already!” he bellowed in her face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p72\" name=\"p72\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No fucking need!” She flashed a condescending smirk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p73\" name=\"p73\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And why’s that?” he shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p74\" name=\"p74\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because I already did!” She glared at him with fierce, unflinching eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p75\" name=\"p75\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fuck you!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p76\" name=\"p76\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Been there, done that,” she countered. “And you know what? He’s a better lover than you’ll ever be!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p77\" name=\"p77\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then you’d better enjoy it while it lasts! Because next time I see him, I’m going to rip off his metal dick! And \u003ci\u003ethen\u003c\/i\u003e, I’m going to find you and use it to beat the living shit out of y—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p78\" name=\"p78\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Excuse me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p79\" name=\"p79\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe newcomer’s voice was not particularly loud or forceful. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was almost a whisper, though it had the immediate effect of silencing both Lacan and Sako. Not because of his soft voice or simple words, but because of the body those words originated from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p80\" name=\"p80\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNeither of them had noticed Agent Miguel Pérez’s quiet arrival. The hotel hallway bent in a gentle curve, and Pérez stood just far enough around it that Lacan had to back up and turn to face him while Sako had to peek her head out past the threshold. Pérez’s synthoid body was tall and broad shouldered with gray skin and yellow eyes, harkening from a time when closed-minded fools like Lacan were far more common throughout the Admin and the public had demanded these artificial supersoldiers be distinct from flesh-and-blood humans. He wore the blue uniform of an Admin Peacekeeper, peaked cap fitted neatly on his head, and a heavy sidearm at his hip.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p81\" name=\"p81\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is something wrong?” Pérez asked, as if he were unaware of their hormone-fueled shouting match. “If so, may I be of assistance?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p82\" name=\"p82\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSako hadn’t heard him approach. Granted, she’d been preoccupied, but Pérez moved \u003ci\u003equietly\u003c\/i\u003e for such a big man, synthetic or not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p83\" name=\"p83\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Umm. I, uhh…” Lacan sputtered, backing off, the fury gone from his eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p84\" name=\"p84\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes,” Sako answered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p85\" name=\"p85\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePérez nodded to her. “What seems to be the problem, Miss Sako?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p86\" name=\"p86\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Lacan and I were engaged in what you might call a…” She smiled suddenly. “A scholarly debate.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p87\" name=\"p87\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A debate, is it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p88\" name=\"p88\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes. Perhaps you could help us sort it all out.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p89\" name=\"p89\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I’ll certainly try. What’s the subject?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p90\" name=\"p90\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe flashed a toothy grin. “Synthoid genitalia.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p91\" name=\"p91\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I see,” he replied in a tone more appropriate to discussing the weather than his own synthetic anatomy. “I suppose, of the three of us, I can rightfully claim to be the expert on that front.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p92\" name=\"p92\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wonderful!” She clapped her hands together. “You see, Lacan seems to believe male synthoids in SysGov have metal dicks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p93\" name=\"p93\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ah. Well, that’s a bit different, then. I can’t claim any direct experience with \u003ci\u003eSysGov\u003c\/i\u003e synthoids, though I can certainly share what I’ve heard.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p94\" name=\"p94\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, do tell,” she said brightly. “I’d \u003ci\u003elove \u003c\/i\u003eto hear your take on this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p95\" name=\"p95\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLacan glared at her use of the word “love.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p96\" name=\"p96\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Perhaps we could have that discussion some other time,” Pérez said. “Agent Arlot?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p97\" name=\"p97\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sir!” A second gray-skinned synthoid stepped forward. She hadn’t heard \u003ci\u003ethis\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eone\u003c\/i\u003e either. She stuck her head out further and glanced down the hallway, wondering if Pérez had a whole squad of synthoids waiting nearby, but the rest of the hallway was empty as far back as she could see.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p98\" name=\"p98\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I believe Mister Lacan would like an escort back to his suite.” Pérez faced the young man. “Isn’t that right, sir?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p99\" name=\"p99\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I…” Lacan’s face twisted in a snarl, as if he were about to lash out at her again, but instead he let out a sharp exhale and looked away. “Fine. I’m done here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p100\" name=\"p100\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Very good, sir,” Pérez said. “Arlot?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p101\" name=\"p101\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This way, sir.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p102\" name=\"p102\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArlot stepped up behind Lacan and gestured down the hall with an open palm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p103\" name=\"p103\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLacan glanced over to Sako one last time, grief and rage swirling in his eyes like a tempest. His lips cracked open, as if he wanted to get in one last word, but then he shook his head and stomped off with Arlot close behind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p104\" name=\"p104\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSako waited for him to disappear beyond the hallway’s curve, and then she let out a long, tired sigh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p105\" name=\"p105\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks, Pérez.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p106\" name=\"p106\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My pleasure. Now, before I head out—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p107\" name=\"p107\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh no!” Her eyes twinkled at him. “You’re not getting off that easily!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p108\" name=\"p108\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Excuse me?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p109\" name=\"p109\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You still owe me an answer.” She leaned her shoulder against the doorjamb. “What exactly \u003ci\u003ehave\u003c\/i\u003e you heard about SysGov synthoids?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p110\" name=\"p110\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Seriously?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p111\" name=\"p111\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come on. This is important cultural information.” She spread her arms. “Lay the truth on me, baby!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p112\" name=\"p112\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s more along the lines of secondhand testimony than truth.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p113\" name=\"p113\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, yeah.” She made a shooing gesture. “Just get to the good stuff.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p114\" name=\"p114\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well,” he said with a brief, resigned exhale. “If you must know, it’s my understanding that the cosmetics on SysGov synthoids, genitals included, are comparable to our own newer models. I doubt most people could tell the difference between a synthoid and an organic body, even under”—he smiled ever so slightly—“close, personal inspection.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p115\" name=\"p115\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, that sounds about right.” She nodded, but then tilted her head. “Wait a second. You said ‘most.’”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p116\" name=\"p116\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just something I’ve heard while working with the people over here,” Pérez continued.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p117\" name=\"p117\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Anything juicy?” she pressed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p118\" name=\"p118\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I suppose a little. Truth be told, I haven’t witnessed one myself, but I hear the people from this universe’s Oort cloud are quite…adventurous in the kinds of bodies they inhabit.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p119\" name=\"p119\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Adventurous how?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p120\" name=\"p120\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m afraid that’s the limit of my knowledge. You’ll have to ask someone else if you’re still curious.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p121\" name=\"p121\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I just might do that.” She stepped away from the door and was about to palm it shut when Pérez placed his hand in the way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p122\" name=\"p122\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Actually, that’s not what I was about to say.” His eyes flicked past her. “I need to check your room.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p123\" name=\"p123\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What? \u003ci\u003eAgain?\u003c\/i\u003e”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p124\" name=\"p124\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p125\" name=\"p125\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What the hell for? One of your minions checked it like, I don’t know, half an hour ago.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p126\" name=\"p126\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“True, but the perimeter has been compromised.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p127\" name=\"p127\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come again?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p128\" name=\"p128\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You opened the door.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p129\" name=\"p129\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, good grief!” She rubbed her forehead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p130\" name=\"p130\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m sorry, but these are the rules. You opened the door, so now I need to sweep your room again.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p131\" name=\"p131\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But I was standing at the door the whole time!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p132\" name=\"p132\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There are plenty of miniaturized drones that could have escaped your notice, just to name one possibility.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p133\" name=\"p133\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Do you really think our hosts would be that nefarious?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p134\" name=\"p134\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Doesn’t matter what I think. These are the rules. I just follow them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p135\" name=\"p135\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Can’t this wait?” She yawned into her fist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p136\" name=\"p136\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Isn’t it a little early in the day to be yawning?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p137\" name=\"p137\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, well, I was up partying all night before the flight over to Luna.” She paused, and then grimaced. “I mean the flight over to \u003ci\u003ethis\u003c\/i\u003e Luna. Which was a flight from \u003ci\u003eour\u003c\/i\u003e Luna.” She crossed her arms. “You know what I mean?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p138\" name=\"p138\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes, I know exactly what you mean.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p139\" name=\"p139\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe nodded at the remark. The Admin’s Department of Temporal Investigation was handling all their transportation and security needs, which meant Pérez and his minions were all veterans of the DTI’s counterterrorism ops. Never mind that the “temporal” part of their name was something of a misnomer nowadays, since the DTI had expanded its role to regulate both temporal and \u003ci\u003etransdimensional\u003c\/i\u003e travel to and from the Admin’s True Present, as well as taken the lead on foreign relations with SysGov.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p140\" name=\"p140\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Okay, fine.” She stepped back and waved him in. “Just hurry up and secure my perimeter again, or whatever you want to call it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p141\" name=\"p141\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thank you. This won’t take long.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p142\" name=\"p142\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePérez took a device off his belt shaped like a stubby baton then walked past her and closed the door. He began a slow circuit of the room, holding the baton in front of him, occasionally raising or lowering it. It took longer than she’d have liked because this wasn’t the only room in her suite, which sprawled over \u003ci\u003ethree\u003c\/i\u003e floors and included four bedrooms, its own \u003ci\u003egravity lift\u003c\/i\u003e to get between floors, a three-story waterfall along the back, and a private pool shaped like a giant leaf on top! She wasn’t sure what their hosts thought she needed so much space and luxury for, but she wasn’t about to complain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p143\" name=\"p143\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe rested her back against the wall and yawned again, her thoughts wandering as she waited for Pérez to finish his sweep.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p144\" name=\"p144\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eAm I doing the right thing?\u003c\/i\u003e she asked herself, and not for the first time, though her thoughts always led her back to the same answer, the same firm resolve to see where it all would lead. She didn’t know what the future held, but Opportunity or Fate or Good Fortune or Whatever-You-Wanted-To-Call-It had knocked at her door, and she’d answered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p145\" name=\"p145\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe risks, though. And the reactions people would have…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p146\" name=\"p146\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhat would my parents say?\u003c\/i\u003e she wondered. \u003ci\u003eHell, what would \u003c\/i\u003eeveryone\u003ci\u003e in both universes think of what I’m about to do?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p147\" name=\"p147\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe wasn’t on an Admin planet or moon, where even the strange possessed a certain comfortable familiarity. She was in a different \u003ci\u003euniverse\u003c\/i\u003e, with laws and culture all its own! The scope and wonder and alienness of this place boggled her mind. This Luna had open air \u003ci\u003ebeaches\u003c\/i\u003e, for crying out loud!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p148\" name=\"p148\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeaches!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p149\" name=\"p149\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Earth’s moon!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p150\" name=\"p150\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd that was hardly the most amazing spectacle over here. For one, her first experience with something as fantastical as artificial gravity had been when the grav tube had whisked her away to her \u003ci\u003ehotel suite!\u003c\/i\u003e What other marvels lurked around the corners of this society? And, more importantly, what treacherous pitfalls lay ahead, ready to snare her?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p151\" name=\"p151\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause, after all, she was in a realm of powers and authority she had no true concept of.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p152\" name=\"p152\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd yet she was about to—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p153\" name=\"p153\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All done,” Pérez said, walking over. “Thank you for your patience.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p154\" name=\"p154\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe looked up at him wordlessly, and the two stood in silence for long seconds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p155\" name=\"p155\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Miss Sako?” he asked at last.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p156\" name=\"p156\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry.” She blinked and shook her head. “Lost in my own head.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p157\" name=\"p157\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Perhaps a nap might help refresh you. You don’t want to be drowsy for the finals tomorrow.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p158\" name=\"p158\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I was about to take a nap, but Lacan showed up and then \u003ci\u003eyou\u003c\/i\u003e had to secure the perimeter, and well…”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p159\" name=\"p159\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes, yes. I’ll be going now.” Pérez opened the door, stepped through, then gave her a curt nod. “Have a pleasant day.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p160\" name=\"p160\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You, too.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p161\" name=\"p161\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe door closed, and her exaggerated fatigue melted away. She walked purposefully over to the kitchen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p162\" name=\"p162\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was another thing about this place. The suite had a \u003ci\u003ekitchen\u003c\/i\u003e, of all things, but the hotel had also installed a high-end food printer, so why would anyone bother \u003ci\u003emanually\u003c\/i\u003e preparing their meals?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p163\" name=\"p163\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe picked her infosystem wearable off the counter and slipped the band around her wrist. Secure protocols in the wearable interfaced with her Personal Implant Network and translated the surrounding SysGov infostructure for her virtual senses. Artwork appeared over blank white walls, showing picturesque views from across the terraformed Luna, and a menu materialized beside the food printer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p164\" name=\"p164\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe loaded the prepared order on her wearable, confirmed it, then leaned against the island counter in the middle of the kitchen. The timer ticked down, and she connected to the surrounding infostructure while she waited, sending a query for any news on the Weltall Tournament.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p165\" name=\"p165\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA segment from a news stream called the \u003ci\u003eNectaris Daily\u003c\/i\u003e pulsed at the top of her search list, and she selected it and let the virtual presentation unfold around her. She smiled thinly as she watched an abstraction of herself taking her first steps in SysGov.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p166\" name=\"p166\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe DTI chronoport filled her virtual vision like a giant, looming manta ray with weapon pods slung under its delta wing and a ramp extending down from its armored belly. The virtual image of herself led the party down the ramp, waving and smiling at the press and tournament officials assembled in the hangar. The other five players formed a loose gaggle behind her with Pérez and another synthoid pulling up the rear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p167\" name=\"p167\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWong Fei and the other two SysGov finalists were returning from a two-week sight-seeing tour around Earth in the Admin, which she and the Admin players had accompanied them on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p168\" name=\"p168\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe was a tall, handsome man with a dignified but not arrogant air about him and a pleasant, barely-there smile. His cool, dark eyes swept his surroundings studiously. He kept his dark hair short, which made him stand out from Admin men with their long braids or ponytails or hair spilling over their shoulders, but she kind of liked it. That and all the other ways he was different.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p169\" name=\"p169\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was…refreshing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p170\" name=\"p170\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEspecially after Lacan’s blithering lack of self-control.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p171\" name=\"p171\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe thought drew her eyes to Lacan near the back of the players. Everyone else was waving and smiling, even the normally dour Shingo Masuda from the Admin’s Earth. But not Lacan. Instead, he glared at his perceived rival’s back. If his eyes had been lasers, they would have burned a hole through the back of Wong Fei’s head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p172\" name=\"p172\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Love,” she scoffed. “Ha!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p173\" name=\"p173\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer time together with Wong Fei had been short—barely a month since she first saw him at the universal qualifier—but it had also been \u003ci\u003edense\u003c\/i\u003e, and once again a nervous flutter within her chest made her question if she was doing the right thing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p174\" name=\"p174\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe pushed her doubts down, locking them away in her heart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p175\" name=\"p175\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe food printer beeped, and she closed the news abstraction and pushed off the counter to walk over. Mechanisms built into the wall shifted her order up to the delivery port, the circular panel irised open, and a tray extended out—\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p176\" name=\"p176\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut instead of food, the tray held a severed head atop a white plate. The head was her own, down to the very last detail, even though it couldn’t be. Her own eyes were rolled back into their sockets, and her own tongue lolled out of a loose, lifeless jaw. Words written in blood formed an arch before the severed head, and it took her wearable a moment to translate the SysGov version of English into her own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ca id=\"p177\" name=\"p177\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe gory message read: LEAVE OR DIE.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48761454100771,"sku":"WELTALL-MMP","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/The_Weltall_File_SIGNED_Mass_Market_Paperback.jpg?v=1733022062"},{"product_id":"print-the-thermopylae-protocol-signed-hardback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Thermopylae Protocol (Hardback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Six in the Gordian Division series. Published by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED HARDBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by both David Weber and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-thermopylae-protocol.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eNEW NOVEL IN THE BEST-SELLING GORDIAN DIVISION SERIES FROM \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNYT \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eBEST-SELLING AUTHOR DAVID WEBER AND JACOB HOLO\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Time Storm is Brewing.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter an industrial ship carrying advanced self-replicating machines explodes on its way to Mercury, analysis of the wreckage reveals it to be forty years too old. Raibert Kaminski, the Gordian Division’s top agent, and his crew on the TransTemporal Vehicle \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eKleio\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e soon discover the ship had been transported to an uncharted universe, one with temporarily accelerated time. Forty years passed for the ship’s industrial machines while everyone else experienced only a few short days. Raibert is certain a powerful weapon of some nature has been built out in the unexplored reaches of the multiverse, but where and by whom remains unknown.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe search is on, and the Gordian Division musters its fleet of time machines at Providence, a massive transdimensional station under construction. They call upon their allies from the militaristic Admin for aid in their search—but before plans can be formalized, the leader of the Admin’s Department of Temporal Investigation is murdered while visiting Providence, and the joint operation is thrown into chaos.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAccusations fly and tensions mount between the two organizations. Detectives Isaac Cho and Susan Cantrell—both fast becoming experts in transdimensional crime—are dispatched to Providence. But the clock is ticking for the detectives and Raibert’s crew. A vast, powerful conspiracy has shuddered into motion, and the two teams may be all that stand between it and destruction on a universal scale.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“. . .moments of humor amid the expected culture clashes, and the exploration of the authors’ well-realized far-future world. . .It’s pure entertainment.” —Publishers Weekly on \u003cem\u003eThe Janus File\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium hardback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-thermopylae-protocol.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-weltall-file.html\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THE THERMOPYLAE PROTOCOL \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"chapter\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"93Dateline-centeredCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSourceCode Industrial Carrier \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eGrand Sculptor\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"93Dateline-centeredCxSpLast\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSysGov, 2981 CE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"23Firstpar\"\u003e“Look at it this way. It could be worse.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eAntoni Ruckman, lead engineer of the Dyson Realization Project, turned with the slow, deliberate motion of a man who refused to believe the nonsense assaulting his ears to face his brother.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Excuse me?” he replied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“It could be worse,” Bradley Ruckman repeated. And then, as if realizing his statement hadn’t been well received, flashed a defensive, almost apologetic smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“How, exactly?” Antoni asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Well, we could have been on board when the ship blew up.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eAntoni let out a noncommittal harrumph, then turned back to face the source of his ire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eA false color image of \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eReality Flux\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e hovered above the bridge’s command table. Or rather, a projection of the ship’s expanding debris cloud. A trio of labeled icons swam about the periphery: two Consolidated System Police corvettes and the \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eGrand Sculptor\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e, which SourceCode’s upper management had detached from their construction fleet to assist SysPol.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eReality Flux\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e had been one of SourceCode’s older autonomous constructors. Perhaps not as well maintained as the rest of the construction fleet\u003ca name=\"_Hlk126671430\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e—its departure from SourceCode HQ’s Saturnian orbit \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ehad\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ebeen delayed due to a reactor imbalance—but to have \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eexploded\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eon the way to Mercury? Accidents happened, but what were the odds the reactor would fail so spectacularly \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eafter\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ereceiving additional maintenance?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eNot very high.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eAntoni shook his head, his eyes locked forward, jawline tense, almost to the point of forming a snarl.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Hey.” Bradley placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be fine.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“This screws up our whole timetable. We’re going to lose months because of this fiasco. Months!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Of course we will. But look at the bright side. All we lost is equipment. No one died when \u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eReality Flux\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eblew; it was catching up to the fleet on full auto. And besides, no one’s going to blame you for this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“That’s not why I’m upset,” Antoni growled under his breath, fingertips resting on the command table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Then why?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“It’s…” Antoni paused and regarded his brother once more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eThe two men looked identical, with dark skin and trim heads of black hair that extended down into generous, curling sideburns. They even wore matching black business suits, though the more complex green tracery on Antoni’s served as a subtle nod to his position as lead engineer. Either man could have changed his appearance at any time to create greater visual separation; they were both abstract citizens, after all. Their appearances were purely virtual, even if the avatars were modeled on Antoni’s original organic body before he’d transitioned to a virtual existence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eThe round bridge they stood in was equally abstract, the environment running within \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eGrand Sculptor\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e’s infostructure. SourceCode employed very few organic citizens, and \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eGrand Sculptor\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e lacked a physical bridge entirely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eBradley waited beside him, a patient question in his eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“It’s…” Antoni turned away once more and gritted his teeth together. “I thought we were past this sort of crap!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“You think it’s sabotage?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“What else could it be? Take your pick who it might be \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ethis\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003etime! Maybe the nuts over at the \u003ca name=\"_Hlk153698040\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003eMercury Historical Preservation Society! Or perhaps our competitors over at Atlas again, trying one last time to undermine us! Never mind what happened to you—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eHe paused, his open hand pointed toward Bradley. He lowered it and frowned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Sorry,” he apologized softly. “I didn’t mean to dig up bad memories.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“It’s all right.” Bradley paused, then shrugged. “I’ve been doing a lot better recently.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I know you have, and I’m proud of you for that. I know it hasn’t been easy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eBradley smiled and glanced away bashfully.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eBradley Ruckman had started his existence as an illegal copy of Antoni’s connectome—the neural map of his mind—which criminals had then modified to make him more docile and easier to extract information from. The damage had been extensive—almost irreversible—by the time SysPol rescued him from the copy-kidnappers. Doctors at Saturn’s \u003ca name=\"_Hlk153698092\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003eConnectome Wellness Center had worked a small miracle piecing his mutilated mind back together, but the aftershocks of the trauma lingered on, even five months after the incident. Both men still transmitted over to the CWC for weekly therapy sessions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“It’s just…I’ve had it with people messing with our lives!” Antoni brought a horizontal hand up to his throat. “I’ve had it up to \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ehere\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“It might still be an accident.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Not likely!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Let’s not jump to conclusions. If anything survived intact, it should be the black box.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eAntoni let out a long, calming exhale, then nodded in agreement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eEven though he was an abstract being, his connectome didn’t exist in isolation. A biochemical simulation ran in parallel with his neural map, which allowed certain acts—such as releasing a deep breath—to affect his mood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I suppose you’re right.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eAntoni pulled up a schematic of the pre-explosion \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eReality Flux\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eThe design resembled a line of five fat spheres joined together by thick bracketing. The ship’s hot singularity reactor had been housed in Sphere Five while the black box and control systems had been part of Sphere One. Not only was the black box designed to survive most of the violent ends that could befall spacecraft, it was also located at the farthest point from the explosion’s source.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eAntoni switched the image back to the debris cloud.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eJudging by the chunks SysPol’s already tracked down\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e, he thought,\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e \u003cem\u003ea good portion of the ship survived the explosion. Just…not in one piece.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Chief Engineer Ruckman,” said the ship’s nonsentient attendant program, “Executive Xian would like to speak with you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Of course he would,” Antoni grumbled. “Should I transfer over to his ship?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“No, Chief Engineer. Executive Xian plans to transmit from \u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eRadical Architect\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eto this ship a few minutes from now. I am sorry, but he was not more specific about his departure time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Fine, fine. I’ll wait here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eSix minutes later, a man in a black-and-green suit appeared on the far side of the command table. His pale skin resembled wax paper, and the soft glow in his white eyes wavered, giving the impression of candle flames flickering within his head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“How bad is it?” Junior Executive Xian asked, clasping origami hands behind his back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“If you’re looking for reassurances, look elsewhere,” Antoni said. “All I can give you is honesty with a light garnish of shattered dreams.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I would expect nothing less,” Xian replied neutrally, then glanced over the false-color debris field. “That looks bad.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Because it is. The ship exploded.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Hmm.” Xian took in the display. “So it would seem. Casualties?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“None, thankfully. The ship was on auto.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“At least there’s that.” Xian sighed, and his shoulders lost some of their rigidity. “Do we know what destroyed it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Initial assessment from SysPol is a catastrophic failure in the hot singularity reactor.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“And your thoughts on their theory?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Barring an external device, I don’t see how it \u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e\u003cem\u003ecouldn\u003c\/em\u003e’t\u003c\/span\u003e be the reactor. We’re hoping they’ll recover the black box. Once we have our hands on the flight data, we should know more. SysPol’s already requested our assistance in the investigation. We’ll have access to the raw data roughly in sync with their forensics teams, and we’ll have the opportunity to provide input before they file any reports.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eXian didn’t so much as bat an eye at the mention of an “external device.” Not with the long history of criminals and malcontents working to undermine the Dyson Realization Project and SourceCode’s involvement in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Anything unusual leading up to the incident?” the executive asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Just one minor inconsistency,” Antoni said. “Bradley noticed a gap in the \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eFlux\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e’s reporting. In automatic, the ship sends an hourly log to its command vessel, which is \u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eGrand Sculptor\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e. Most of the logs look perfectly normal, but one from about a day ago was received late.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“And we didn’t notice?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eGrand Sculptor\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e’s attendant did, but it was flagged as a low-priority warning, and a resend request was transmitted automatically to \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eReality Flux\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e. The ships were about twenty-four light-minutes apart at the time, and the second log was received with the expected transmission delay, so the alarm was cleared automatically and never brought to our attention. The attendant would have notified us if there’d been a prolonged communication blackout.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I see,” Xian said. “Why wasn’t \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eReality Flux\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e with the rest of the fleet?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“It left HQ late due to a reactor issue.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Enough of an issue to cause this?” Xian indicated the display.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I don’t see how, but I suppose it’s possible. After the reactor was rebalanced, the ship was placed on a full-thrust course for Mercury to make up for lost time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eXian raised a paper eyebrow. “We maxed out the ship with the dodgy reactor?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Don’t look at me,” Antoni defended stiffly. “Maintenance certified the craft ready for deployment with no restrictions. If you have a problem with me trying to keep to our original schedule, take it up with them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Just asking the questions the other execs will ask me,” Xian replied, his tone lacking any edge of confrontation. “What sort of impact are we looking at?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“This is going to shift the whole blasted schedule.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“By how much?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“The \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eFlux\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e’s reservoirs were carrying half our self-replicator seed volume for this job. Without those microbots, we either need to manufacture replacements back at HQ and haul them over here or use the ones we \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003edo\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ehave to replicate additional swarms. Both options will be time intensive. You’re looking at two months minimum. Maybe three.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Is any of the lost volume recoverable?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I don’t see how. What wasn’t vaporized is scattered all over the place.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Hmm.” Xian pursed his lips. “Anything else to add?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Not until SysPol finds our black box.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“All right. Keep me informed of any developments. In the meantime”—Xian’s frown creased his paper face—“\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eI\u003c\/span\u003e now need to make my own report to the rest of the board.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Good luck with that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eXian grunted and vanished.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"30Break\"\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eIt took SysPol a little over five hours to track down the piece of wreckage containing the black box and another twenty minutes to pull the log files and transmit them to \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eGrand Sculptor\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e. Antoni and Bradley spent the next few hours poring over the logs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Antoni asked his brother after a long period of silence. The two men stood on either side of the bridge command table, reports and diagrams cluttering the space between them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Well, we do come from the same mental stock.” Bradley shrugged. “So, probably?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Fair enough.” Antoni permitted himself a humorless smile. “If you ask me, this whole mess paints a rather unflattering picture of our maintenance department. Sure, they addressed the imbalance that took the ship off-line, but they missed a subtler secondary problem, and it looks like their repairs made that one worse. Then, to compound matters, we pushed the reactor hard for a few days so the ship could catch up, and then”—he spread his hands grandly—“boom.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I agree with you to a point.” Bradley held up a finger. “But the problem I have with that scenario is the reactor’s own diagnostics should have caught this problem before it became critical. Instead, the logs show normal operations up until a few seconds before the shell blew open.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eOverly\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003enormal, if you ask me. All those sensors had to be yanked out when they worked on the reactor. Some of them could have been reinstalled incorrectly, causing us to miss the impending disaster.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Maybe, but that seems like a \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003elot\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eof shoddy maintenance work.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“What are you suggesting, then? That someone \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003edeliberately\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ebotched the repairs?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I…” Bradley hesitated, then frowned. “I don’t know what I’m saying yet, other than I’m not ready to buy the maintenance angle.” He lowered his head and added a new tab to one of his reports.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eAnd with that, Antoni knew the conversation was over. Bradley had a habit of ending conversations unilaterally when he had nothing more to say, and Antoni had found it best to leave him be when that happened.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eAntoni returned to his own report. He understood his brother’s hesitancy, but the more he dug through the data, the more corroboration he found that their own maintenance team had screwed up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Chief Engineer Ruckman,” said \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eGrand Sculptor\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e’s attendant, “I have a message from Executive Xian. He is requesting an update on your review of the black box data.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I figured we were due for a little managerial nagging,” Antoni grumbled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Is that the response you would like me to send him?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Hell, no! Tell him he can join us at his convenience.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Yes, Chief Engineer.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eXian appeared on the bridge less than a minute later.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Well? What do we have?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Nothing conclusive,” Antoni said, “but the evidence is building that HQ messed up the repair, leading to the reactor blowing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I see.” Xian’s candlelit eyes flicked across the reports, then back to the twin Ruckmans. “Was the reactor one of ours?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“No. \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eFlux\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eused a custom model designed and built by the Mitchell Group.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Why not one of ours? Don’t we make products in that power and performance range?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“We do nowadays, but \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eReality Flux\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e was one of our oldest ships. We weren’t as deep into the hot singularity market back then, so we subcontracted the reactors and several other systems.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I hadn’t realized that.” Xian looked down and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I wonder if we can use that to deflect some of the blame.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I’d be careful before venturing down that road. If you ask me, the ship exploded because our own team messed up.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“And why \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003edid\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eit explode?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“The reactor was out of balance, and the imbalance grew worse until the outer shell cracked.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Which means?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Just what I said.” Antoni put a hand on his hip. “How familiar are you with hot singularity reactors?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Not terribly. Self-replicators are more my area of expertise.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Then would you like a refresher?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eXian raised his lidded, somewhat suspicious eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“All right, but don’t go overboard,” the executive warned. “I know how you engineers can be.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I promise I’ll be gentle.” Antoni flashed a disarming smile. “First, understand that ‘hot singularity’ is a bit of a misnomer. It’s shorthand for what is essentially a fake black hole encased within a shell of exotic matter. The matter inside the core emits Hawking radiation, which is collected by the shell and used to power other systems. Black holes evaporate at a rate inversely proportional to their mass, and these reactors deal with such low mass values—fourteen hundred tons for the \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eFlux\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e—that the energy released by a real black hole of that size would be \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ecatastrophically\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003erapid!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Maybe a little. Anyway, the positive mass inside the reactor’s core and the negative mass in the shell are segregated from basically nothing during construction. It’s a \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003elittle \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003emore complicated than that, but the important point is they form two halves of a balanced nothingness. Also, that’s what they’re \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003esupposed\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eto return to during a critical failure. The positive and negative mass-energy components of the system collapse and cancel each other out.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Which didn’t happen this time,” Xian said dryly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Because the two halves were severely out of balance. Normally, an imbalance isn’t a major concern. As a general rule, hot singularity reactors are stable and resilient, but if a problem like this is allowed to grow, the disparity in the system will eventually reach a critical threshold. To the point where the system collapses in on itself. When that happens, \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003emost\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eof the mass-energy cancels out, but any surplus is released.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Boom?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Boom. That’s why the reactor was being worked on back at HQ.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Which should have \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eprevented\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ethe boom, not \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ecaused \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eit.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“It seems the repairs were executed poorly.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Could the failure have been caused by an outside party?” Xian asked, perhaps a little too hopefully.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“We can’t rule anything out this early, but I haven’t seen any signs of—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Aha!” Bradley exclaimed. He looked up with a wide grin, and the other two men faced him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Ahh-hah?” Xian cocked an eyebrow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Found something?” Antoni asked, leaving off the please-don’t-embarrass-us-in-front-of-the-boss part. Whatever his brother had found, Antoni would have preferred he and Bradley review it together first before discussing it in front of Xian. Giving half-baked information to a manager was ill-advised at the best of times, and that went double now that Xian was on the hunt for a scapegoat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“It’s fake,” Bradley declared boldly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“What’s fake?” Xian asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“All of it. The whole thing!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I’m sorry,” Antoni said. “You lost me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“The black box data!” Bradley smiled, almost gleefully. “Someone tampered with it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“What?” Antoni hurried over to his brother’s side. “How can you tell?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Here.” Bradley pointed to one of his charts. “See for yourself.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eAntoni joined his brother, and Xian came up behind them, peering at the data between their shoulders.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“What am I looking at?” Xian asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Some of the black box metadata,” Antoni said. “Time stamps, file sizes, access logs. That sort of thing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Now take a look at this!” Bradley jabbed a line near the bottom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“That’s…a date,” Xian observed blandly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Exactly!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I don’t see the significance. What’s got you so excited?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Wait a second.” Antoni leaned closer. “Did that date come from the box’s atomic clock?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“You’ve got it!” Bradley beamed at him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“But then…how can that be?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Care to explain?” Xian asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Bradley spotted a discrepancy in the time stamps.” Antoni scrolled through metadata. Sure enough, all the other dates looked normal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eBut then\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e, Antoni thought, \u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eall of those are generated by software, and software is malleable by definition. A skilled individual with the time and access could have hacked these records. But the date from the atomic clock comes from\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ehardware\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e. \u003cem\u003eA hacker couldn’t touch that without physical access to the black box, and even then, it’s an easy feature to miss.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“What sort of discrepancy?” Xian asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Well, according to this,” Antoni began, then paused to lick his lips, “the ship was forty years older than it should have been when it exploded.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48761461932323,"sku":"THERMOPYLAE-HB","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/The_Thermopylae_Protocol_Hardback_Shopify.png?v=1719611175"},{"product_id":"print-it-came-from-the-trailer-park-volume-iii-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: It Came From the Trailer Park, Volume III (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA redneck horror-fantasy anthology from Three Ravens Publishing. Edited by Michael Knost, William Joseph Roberts, and Philip K. Booker. Opening by Faith Hunter. Featuring stories by Christopher Woods, D. Raymond Smith, David Badurina, H.P. Holo, James Palmer, Jason Cordova, Lee Ellis, M Leigh, Michael Morton, and Michael Craig.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by H.P. Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003ePrefer a different format?\u003c\/span\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3xMVuPn\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eCan't get enough Redneck Hijinks and Trailer Park Divas?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen you're in for a treat. Volume three of our popular anthology series is sure to scratch that questionable itch.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith stories by Michael Knost, William Joseph Roberts, Philip K. Booker, Christopher Woods, D. Raymond Smith, David Badurina, H.P. Holo, James Palmer, Jason Cordova, Lee Ellis, M Leigh, Michael Morton, Michael Craig, and Guest Editorial by Faith Hunter\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePull off your boots, crack a cold one, and come sit with us for a \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003espell. \u003c\/span\u003eFrom Crossroad Demons to Vampires, you're sure to find a favorite tale or three in this collection.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"An excellent collection of stories of horror and the macabre but, with a comedic twist.\" - Larry Southard, Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"With echoes of Tales From the Crypt, and Fright Night, the stories behind these covers chill, thrill and excitement builds with each story.\" - MCV, Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3xMVuPn\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48807741522211,"sku":"TRAILERPARK-SIGNED","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/It_Came_From_the_Trailer_Park_Volume_3_Shopify.jpg?v=1720363716"},{"product_id":"print-freelancers-of-neptune-signed-hardback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Freelancers of Neptune (Hardback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Sol Blazers series. Published by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/\"\u003eBaen Books\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED HARDBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/freelancer-s-of-neptune.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNEW NOVEL FROM A RISING STAR OF SCIENCE FICTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"padding-bottom: 20px;\" class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content a-expander-content-expanded\" data-expanded=\"true\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAll he wanted was a simple job to make ends meet. What he got was a mysterious cat girl, a shot at a hoard of treasure, and a whole lot of trouble.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Solar System ain’t what it used to be! \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the far distant future, Saturn’s rings are gone, Mercury is a gas giant, and Earth is remembered only as a unit of measure. Nearly godlike AIs reshaped the Solar System in eons past, but they too are now nothing more than a fading memory. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCaptain Nathaniel Kade cares for none of that. He’s but a simple freelancer from the orbital ring of Neptune, struggling to make ends meet and to keep his understaffed spaceship from falling apart. All he wants is a decent, uneventful job to help put his finances back in order. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat he receives instead is Vessani S’Kaari, a mysterious and beautiful cat girl who tried—and failed—to steal a ship belonging to a band of space pirates. Vessani’s in over her head and is clearly more trouble than she’s worth, but she also has a lead on what may be the greatest treasure trove of lost technology the Solar System has ever seen. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNathan pulls her butt out of the fire, and together they begin to assemble a team to seek out this long-lost bounty. But other interested parties have their eyes on the same prize; the Jovian Everlife has dispatched a fleet of warships with one of their elite, many-bodied agents in command, and he’d like a few words with Nathan and his new crewmember.\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"We deserve more books that combine gorgeous lines and concepts like 'the echoing thoughts of absent gods' with the shenanigans of the people those gods left behind.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI'm happy to tell you Jacob Holo has delivered exactly that. Freelancers of Neptune puts together the formation of a ragtag crew, a high stakes adventure, laugh out loud moments, and a gut punch or two along the way.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExpect to enjoy the wild ride and be intrigued by the depth of the universe hinted at along the way. I loved every moment with this story, and can't wait for more. Also, join me in forming the Beany Fan Club, because sentient coffee trees that just want to support (and caffeinate) their crew should be celebrated EVERYwhere.\"\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e—\u003c\/span\u003eMarisa Wolf, author of \u003cem\u003eBeyond Enemies\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eValkyrie's Chosen\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Ringing endorsement time. So I finally got off my butt and started reading Freelancers of Neptune by Jacob Holo. I'd read his stuff with David Weber and was impressed, so I've really been looking forward to diving into his own universe and creation to see what he can do.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHoly.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSh*t.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTHAT WAS AWESOME!!!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSentient coffee trees, a solar system so changed due to time and technology that it's barely recognizable, ancient wars in heaven, cat girls, cyborgs ... all with more than a little hint of Firefly.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSo if you haven't [read] Freelancers of Neptune yet, get on it while the going is good. This is a fantastic book and can expand into a wonderful series.\"\u003cspan class=\"x193iq5w\"\u003e—Jason Cordova, bestselling co-author of \u003cem\u003eMonster Hunter Memoirs: Fever\u003c\/em\u003e with Larry Correia and \u003cem\u003eMountain of Fire\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"x193iq5w\"\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"x193iq5w\"\u003e\"I am all of 40 pages into the book and I'm FREAKING LOVING THE HECK outta it!\"—Melissa Olthoff, author of \u003cem\u003eCompanions in Chains\u003c\/em\u003e and 2024 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award Finalist\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium hardback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/freelancer-s-of-neptune.html\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.baen.com\/the-gordian-protocol.html\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from FREELANCERS OF NEPTUNE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"23Firstpar\"\u003eVessani S’Kaari entered the docking bay with all the swagger of a woman ready to cast aside the past year and strike out on her own. She was eager for a fresh start free of scummy pirate gangs—sorry, \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eindependent contractors\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e—and the idiots who led them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eBut first things first,\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eshe thought with a twinkle in her golden eyes. She crossed the bay to the gang’s ship, the \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eDirge of Darkness\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e. It was an ugly, bulky, somewhat batlike vessel with thick, high-mounted wings tipped with stubby thruster pods on each end. The vessel was painted all black with no other markings of any kind, because \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eof course\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e Hugo Dirge would accept nothing less.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eVessani’s hips swayed with each long-legged stride. She was dressed in all black because that’s what Hugo Dirge expected of his crew. He must have thought it made them look tough. She wore a many-pocketed vest above durable, formfitting pants, leaving the alabaster skin of her shoulders and arms exposed, though her hands were clad in leather, fingerless gloves. Her customized pistol hung from the holster belt slung across her hips.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eHer short, somewhat wild hair was a black that matched her clothes, and her triangular, catlike ears stood up from the top of her head. She stepped up the boarding ramp to the ship’s modest cargo hold, and the vertical pupils of her golden eyes adjusted to the gloom almost instantly. Her long, furry tail swayed gently with each step.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eThree other members of Dirge’s crew sat at a table to one side playing a game involving triangular cards. Maybe it was a local Neptunian game? She didn’t know and didn’t care. A modest pile of c’troni coins sat in the middle of the table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eThe largest and most muscular of the three pirates twisted around in his seat. His name was Broog, and he was a towering divergent brute with green skin and maroon eyes. He was also Hugo Dirge’s right-hand man.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Hey, Vess,” he grunted at her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Hey.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“You’re back early,” Broog said, but in a tone that also asked the question of \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ewhy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I felt like having a chat with Felix.” She held up a pair of beer bottles as her explanation. Condensation frosted their sides. She’d been dropping hints she was sweet on Felix for almost a month now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eBroog eyed the two beers, then gave her a toothy smirk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Have fun,” he muttered, and returned to the card game.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Oh, we will.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Hey, Vess!” One of the other pirates stood up and spread his arms. He was a tech-savvy asshole named Zuloph. “What about me? Don’t I get a beer?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eVessani rolled her eyes, gave him a little shake of her head, then continued past their table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Come on! Don’t you have anything to say to me? Cat got your tongue or something?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eShe held up a hand and extended her middle finger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Ah, you’re no fun!” Zuloph snapped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Man, that cat can have my tongue \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eany \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eday,” said the third pirate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Shut it, Narsh,” Broog growled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“What? All I’m saying is—\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eyeiah\u003c\/em\u003e!\u003c\/span\u003e” Narsh recoiled his leg from the stomp Broog gave his toes. “Damn it! What the hell you do that for?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Because. Now ante up before I decide you’ve earned more.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“All right! All right!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eVessani passed through the open pressure door at the far side of the cargo hold. She didn’t hold any of the Dirge Company in high regard, but she did have to hand one thing to Broog: he was good at keeping the human-shaped trash on the ship from stepping out of line.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eShe paused past the threshold and glanced back over the hold, checking the few pieces of cargo stacked and \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003esecured\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ealong the walls. That last part would be important very soon. She turned away and followed the corridor to a steep staircase that led up to a cockpit with three chairs: two for tandem-seated pilots and a third behind them for Hugo Dirge to complain from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eFelix sat in the one of the pilot chairs, boots propped up on the console and a magazine in his hands. He was holding it vertically with the centerfold spread open. She didn’t catch the title before he slapped the magazine shut, creasing the centerfold in the process, though the buxom, bikini-clad girl on the cover told her enough.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eMaybe he reads it for the articles\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003eshe thought wryly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Vessani!” Felix stuffed the magazine into a compartment under the console. “Hey! When did you get back?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Just now.” She set one of the beer bottles on top of the console, then crashed into the captain’s chair, her tail tucked to the side. She slung her long legs over the armrest and smiled at Felix, her own beer bottle dangling from her fingers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“You know Hugo doesn’t like it when people sit in his chair,” he warned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I won’t tell if you don’t.” She winked at him and took a swig from her bottle, which tasted cool and refreshing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eLike water.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eIn fact, \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eexactly\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003elike water, because that’s what she’d filled her bottle with.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Ahh,” she sighed, leaning back luxuriously.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“So. Umm.” Felix licked his lips. “What brings you here?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Oh, this and that.” She swung her legs, and the end of her tail gave him a happy swish. “You?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I thought you were hitting the town.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Yeah.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“And?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Got bored. Came back.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eWhich was a lie. She’d been meeting with Joshua Cotton again. It was strange to think her upbringing on an uncharted, low-tech habitat in the middle of nowhere had somehow granted her the knowledge to locate a lost pentatech relic. Or, more accurately, to locate the device that could \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ethen \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003elocate the relic, but there it was. Little Miss Nobody Catgirl knew how to find the biggest pentatech bonanza in…perhaps \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eever\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eShe’d done her best to keep her dealings with Joshua as discreet as possible, but there was always the chance one of these thugs would fire up a few brain cells and realize she was up to something. She \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ereally\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/em\u003edidn’t like being employed by Hugo Dirge, and she had some…interesting ideas about severance pay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eSo far so good, though\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003eshe thought, appraising Felix’s dumb grin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eVessani had detected a few hints that Hugo Dirge knew she knew something and had grown mildly curious, but he clearly didn’t have a firm grasp of \u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ewhat\u003c\/span\u003e she knew. She had a pretty good idea what a man of Dirge’s character—or lack thereof—might do to her if he learned she knew the way to a pentatech relic, and it would involve a lot of sharp implements, blood, and screaming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eBest to cut our ties before that happens.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Is it hot in here?” she asked Felix. “Or is it just me?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eShe unzipped her vest halfway.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eFelix gulped, his eyes drawn to her cleavage like iron to a magnet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“It’s you. It’s \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003edefinitely \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eyou.” He sat up and reached out with the intent of grasping her assets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Hold it right there, buster!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“What?” His hands flinched back. “What’s wrong?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Look at you! I go out of my way to bring you a nice, cold beer!” She pointed an unsteady hand at the bottle on the console. “And you don’t even \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003etouch \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eit!” She sat back and pouted. “I even bought a label I thought you’d like.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eFelix turned the bottle to face him, revealing the logo of a smiling woman sitting astride a guided munition in what could only be described as a suggestive manner. The text underneath read: \u003cspan class=\"0smCaps\"\u003eTORPEDO GIRL PALE LAGER.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eFelix’s eyes flicked from the bottle to Vessani’s breasts and back. He seemed to come to a decision, grabbed the bottle, and proceeded to chug the entire contents.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eOh dear\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003eVessani thought, mildly concerned. \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eI hope I didn’t overdo the dosage.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Now?” he asked, wiping his mouth with a sleeve.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Patience.” She held up her bottle and her eyes laughed with mischief. “I need to finish mine.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eShe nursed her water-filled “beer” while Felix grew increasingly restless and uncoordinated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Wow!” he exclaimed a few minutes later. “This stuff has some \u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ekick\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“I know, right? Great, isn’t it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eFelix made one last-ditch effort to initiate the proceedings but only succeeded in planting himself on the floor with his pants around his ankles. He fell asleep soon after.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"30Break\"\u003e||scenebreak||\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eBroog spread his Triad Trial cards on the table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Sorry, boys. Prime flush.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Ah, shit!” Zuloph threw his cards onto the table while Narsh shook his head and slouched deeper into his chair.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eBroog shoveled his winnings over to his side and began organizing the coins into neat columns. He heard someone whistling from the far side of the cargo hold followed by a meaty \u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ethunk\u003c\/span\u003e, and he glanced over to see what the commotion was about.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Vess?” he asked, not sure what to make of the spectacle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eVessani whistled a jaunty tune while she rolled a snoring Felix across the floor and out into the cargo hold, her efforts made somewhat more awkward by the pants dangling around his ankles. She stood up, dusted off her hands, and waved at him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Hey, Broog!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Something you want to share with us?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Yes, actually. You can consider this my resignation.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eShe smacked the door controls, and the pressure door slammed shut.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Resignation? Wait, \u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003ewhat\u003c\/span\u003e?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eHe rose from the table and hurried over to the door, stepping over Felix in the process. He hit the release, but the door bleeped angrily at him and didn’t open. She’d locked them out of the ship!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Open up!” He pounded the door, then peered through the porthole but only saw an empty corridor. “You hear me! Open up in there or else!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Or else, what?” The voice came from door’s control vlass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Or, I swear to the Gods, I will flay you alive and use your skin as a jump rope!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Eww. Those are some serious anger issues you’ve got there. Have you considered therapy?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Don’t you dare mock me! I will rip that tongue right out of your pretty little mouth and beat you to death with it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Now you’re just being weird.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eThe ship’s reactor hummed to life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Don’t you dare!” he roared. “This is your last warning!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“No. This is yours.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eThe thruster apertures at the front and back of each wingtip opened and angled down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“You might want to get out while we’re still close to the ground,” Vessani added. “You know. Just saying.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eBroog screamed at the door’s vlass, the veins in his face pulsating with rage. But if Vessani heard him, she gave no indication. He pounded his fist against the door, then kicked it with a heavy boot, but only succeeded in denting the barrier.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eZuloph and Narsh were behind him now, backing him up more out of instinct than any knowledge or insight into what was wrong, but he was barely aware of their presence. He drew his pistol and aimed it at the door when the floor began to shift, angling upward. The roar from the thrusters grew louder, and the floor pitched higher.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eHe dropped to one knee and placed a hand on the floor to steady himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eThe gambling table, chairs, cards, and his recent winnings tumbled out of the cargo hold, followed by Zuloph and Narsh, who both slid back across the tilting floor to land on their feet outside. The unconscious Felix followed them, rolling across the deck until his pants caught on an eyebolt. He dangled there for a moment before the weight of his body stripped the pants off his legs, and he fell away, landing on top of Zuloph.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eBroog scrambled for purchase against the floor, but the angle grew too steep, and he slid, then fell, landing with a heavy thud next to the others.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eThe \u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eDirge of Darkness\u003c\/span\u003e lifted away from the dock with its nose pointed skyward, and Broog snarled at it, raising his pistol. He opened fire, his shots zinging off random parts of the ship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eZuloph and Narsh followed his lead and pulled out their own weapons. The three of them peppered the escaping ship, but their shots failed to achieve anything before the thruster exhaust washed over them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eThe \u003cspan class=\"0ital\"\u003eDirge of Darkness\u003c\/span\u003e, like most deifactured vessels, featured thrusters that adapted to the local environment. In air or liquids, reactor output drove retractable turbines in each thruster that drew in and expelled the local medium. In space, the thruster inlets would close, and the full fury of the reactor would blare out their nozzles. That was why Broog and his fellow pirates, despite being underneath the ship as it shot off into the Neptunian sky, were merely knocked over rather than vaporized.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eBroog rose to his feet, and the other two did the same.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“Shit,” Zuloph hissed. “What now?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eBroog locked him in a withering glare, then pulled the commect off his belt and keyed up his boss. The deifactured communication-connector interfaced with other nearby commects to form an improvised network and routed his call.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003eIt took Hugo Dirge almost a full minute to respond.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“This had better be good,” he groaned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"13Bodytext\"\u003e“It’s…” Broog hesitated and frowned up at the now distant running lights of his boss’s prized possession. “It’s not.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50180227924259,"sku":"FREELANCERS-HB","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Freelancers_of_Neptune_SIGNED_Shopify.jpg?v=1731430146"},{"product_id":"print-blood-knight-scepter-of-bone-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Blood Knight: Scepter of Bone (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Two in the Blood Knight series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA werebear at wits’ end? A necromancer in dire need? A bone scepter the vampires will kill for? Send in the blood knight to sort this mess out!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJ.B. Clarke and the lovely ladies of Broken Fang have won their first victory against the vampires who secretly rule the world. But their fight is far from over. To defeat the vampires once and for all, they’ll need to rally powerful allies to their cause. But before they can do that, they need to make a name for themselves amongst the hidden underworld of monsters, mages, and vampire slayers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClarke makes a deal with the Coven of the Ashen Flower: his services as a blood knight in exchange for a steady stream of work. The coven agrees and assigns him to Ixia Grey, a young witch and aspiring esports player. Ixia proves to be a deft hand at lining up jobs for Broken Fang, and Clarke soon finds himself up to his elbows in monsters to slay—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—and fat paychecks to earn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut all is not well in the city of Chester Creek. The vampires have unleashed a terrifying new monster, one more powerful and deadly than anything Clarke has ever faced. A ghostly killer now roams the shadows, an embodiment of fear and death that shreds its victims’ minds as it drains their bodies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut Clarke is a blood knight, heir to the greatest line of vampire slayers who ever walked the Earth, and he will face the coming darkness no matter what form it takes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eBlood Knight: Scepter of Bone\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun urban fantasy adventure with a healthy side of heat: ravishing succubi, submissive werewolves, cosplaying slime girls, flirtatious witches, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from BLOOD KNIGHT: SCEPTER OF BONE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCHAPTER ONE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt took less than an hour for the aroma of Emma’s cooking to spur Clarke out of bed. He grabbed a quick shower and shave, then dressed and joined her by the apartment’s kitchen countertop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eEvidently, Emma hadn’t bothered to dress in anything besides her glasses and an apron, which said “Kiss the Cook” on the front. She kept her wings folded while her tail swung back and forth like a happy pendulum.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Good morning, Sexy!” She greeted him with a big smile. “Breakfast is almost done.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Smells great. What’s on the menu?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Omelets with feta cheese, spinach, and oven-roasted tomatoes. Want anything to drink besides coffee?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“No, thanks. Coffee’s good.” He grabbed a stool by the counter, sat down, and took a sip from the steaming mug. His eyes lit up after the first invigorating swallow. “Oh, wow. Is there something different with today’s brew? It’s going down smooth.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Glad you noticed!” She waved her spatula toward the open bag of coffee grounds. “I’m trying out a local company’s roast. This one’s called Quigley’s Dark Delight. It’s been getting rave reviews.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I can see why.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe drained his first cup and refilled it at the coffee maker before she served their omelets alongside a plate of buttered toast.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“It’s a shame you and I are so busy this week,” she said, joining him on a stool at the counter. “We could have used today as an excuse to celebrate.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Celebrate? What’s the occasion?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You mean you don’t know?” She flashed a coy half-smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe shook his head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Why, today’s the three-month anniversary!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe froze with a forkful of egg halfway to his mouth, a sense of trepidation falling over him. Emma watched him expectantly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Wait, don’t tell me.” He lowered the fork, wracking his memories. The past few months had easily been the densest in his twenty-year life. “It’s been about a month since we defeated Heinrich.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Just about.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“So that means …”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Yes?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“That means it’s been three months since you freed me from the hex.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Close, but not quite. You’re off by two days.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Two days?” He snapped his fingers. “Of course! That’s when we started dating!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“There you go!” She clasped her hands together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Sorry. I didn’t realize it had been that long. The last few months have just flown by.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Tell me about it.” Emma chuckled and dug into her omelet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Did you have something in mind?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Oh, I don’t know.” Her eyes glinted playfully. “I’m sure I can come up with an activity we both enjoy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Emma, we do that all the time anyway.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Nothing wrong with doing it more.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Is it even possible for you to grow tired of sex?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Don’t know.” She draped an arm around him and whispered huskily into his ear. “Let’s find out.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“What have I gotten myself into?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Let’s see here.” She sat back. “A sexually overcharged harem with a succubus, a werewolf, and a slime girl?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Yes, that would be it.” He laughed and shook his head. “That’s a lot of dates to keep track of.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I can program all the important ones into your phone if you like.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“It’s not that. Have I ever mentioned that I feel like I need a manual for dating demihumans?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Maybe once or twice.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“It would really help. I want to treat all of you right, but I still feel like I’m stumbling around in the dark. Rewind three months, and I didn’t have a clue about demihumans or magic or the vampires who secretly rule the world. I’m still new to all of this, whereas you and Brooke have lived your entire lives with that knowledge. Even Sammy has me beat by years.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You haven’t let us down yet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“And I intend to keep it that way. For all our sakes. Let’s not forget that one of you is strong enough to snap people in half.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Brooke would never hurt you.” Emma paused with a slight frown. “On purpose, anyway.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I know. I just …” He shrugged. “I’m not sure what I’m saying. I guess it boils down to me knowing we have something special. I don’t want to screw that up.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I’m confident you won’t. You know why?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Why?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Because you worry about it. You’re keeping an eye on yourself, probably asking yourself questions like ‘Am I being the partner I need to be?’ ‘Is there more I should be doing?’ Stuff like that, right?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“More or less.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Then you have nothing to worry about.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“How can you be so sure?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Because”—she leaned in with a sly smile—“I ask myself those same questions when I think of you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50390304162083,"sku":"SCEPTEROFBONE-SIGNED","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Blood_Knight_2_Signed_Paperback_Shopify.jpg?v=1730334007"},{"product_id":"print-blood-knight-academy-of-silence-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Blood Knight: Academy of Silence (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Three in the Blood Knight series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA mysterious elf librarian? A rambunctious dragonkin coach? A cold yuki-onna professor? These monster girls are up to something!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJ.B. Clarke and the lovely ladies of Broken Fang have killed five vampires in as many months, but their mission to free humanity from the bloodsuckers who control the world has only just begun—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—and it’s about to get a lot more complicated!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThree mysterious monster girls have arrived in the city of Chester Creek, and they’ve been poking around in all the wrong places. Are they potential allies or a new threat? No one can tell, but fortunately, Clarke’s team includes Sammy Eloise: a slime girl with a fondness for video games, cosplay, and poisoning anyone who gets in her way. They’ll need all her shapeshifting talents if they’re to unravel this latest conundrum!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut time is running out because dark forces are on the move. The Academy of Silence has dispatched a hunter to the region, and his arrival ushers in a deadly game of cat and mouse for Clarke and the women he loves.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut who is the cat, and who is the mouse?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Academy hunter is an ancient vampire, trained and equipped to dispatch any foe—including blood knights! But Clarke is hardly defenseless; his skills have been honed, his team is ready, and magical boons have transformed him into a powerful weapon against evil.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe stage has been set, the battle lines drawn, and soon these two men will meet in a clash that will shape the future of the entire world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eBlood Knight: Academy of Silence\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun urban fantasy adventure with a healthy side of heat: devoted succubi, frisky werewolves, adventurous slime girls, seductive witches, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from BLOOD KNIGHT: ACADEMY OF SILENCE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe small, windowless office was unremarkable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe woman behind the desk wasn’t.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eLady Illustris Tenebris Iram—Wrath of the Glorious Darkness—lounged in a highbacked chair, its dark leather softened with long use. She wore a black qipao that showed off her long legs, crossed with slender hands resting in her lap. The Chinese dress featured a golden dragon—because apparently that was \u003ci\u003eeveryone’s \u003c\/i\u003eidea of what a qipao looked like these days. Either that or decorated with flowers, and she’d take the dragon any day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe embroidered serpent snaked up, down, and around her full, voluptuous figure. Her skin was soft and pale, her face delicate and composed. It wasn’t her usual face, however. \u003ci\u003eThis\u003c\/i\u003e one she reserved for only her most distinguished guests.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnd what a guest, \u003c\/i\u003eshe thought with a wry grin. \u003ci\u003eHow long has it been since I had dealings with the Academy of Silence?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe Academy was the vampires’ answer to an important question: how best to keep various malefactors—mages or unhexed demihumans—under control? That answer took the form of the deviant hunters: elite vampires specially trained to kill the hardest of targets. The Academy was part school, fortress, and command center all wrapped in one, and though she knew where it was located—and couldn’t deny the allure of its many secrets—she also knew that some things were best left alone.\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe wooden door to her office creaked open, and a tall, handsome man stepped in. Everything about him was dark, from his short, curly hair to his complexion and the long trench coat emphasizing his broad frame. He closed the door and approached the desk, every motion measured and precise. He reminded Iram of a coiled spring, full of pent-up energy, ready to explode into action at the slightest provocation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe man removed his sunglasses and pocketed them, revealing dark eyes, piercing and patient.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThey were the eyes of a predator.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThey had to be, for this man hunted only the most dangerous of prey.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe lines of his face were sharp, yet youthful, but those eyes hinted at a cold, ancient truth. An aura of magic followed him into the room, partially obscured by a well-crafted Concealment spell, but not good enough to shroud all his power. Not from her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eShe sensed the iron in that aura. Strong and pungent, even in its occluded state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt left the taste of blood in the air.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Lady Iram.” His voice was deep and resonant.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Dorian,” she replied, her tone light, almost musical. This wasn’t her usual voice, either. She gestured to the only other chair in the office, and Deviant Hunter Dorian Alant sank into it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“It’s been a while since I saw that face. I thought we agreed to leave it in the past.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I was feeling nostalgic this morning.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Then there’s no hidden message you’re trying to convey?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“None.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I somehow doubt that. Nothing is ever so simple with you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You know me so well, then?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I know your type.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“My ‘type,’ is it now?” Lady Iram cocked an eyebrow. “How long has it been, Dorian?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“At least ten years. Perhaps longer.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“And in all that time, you never so much as sent me a letter.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“My work keeps me busy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“No phone calls either.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“\u003ci\u003eVery\u003c\/i\u003e busy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Not even an email. You know that’s a thing nowadays, right?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I’m aware.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Got to stay current, Dorian. Can’t let the latest human trends slip by you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I understand you have a little deviancy problem, and that you requested me personally.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“\u003ci\u003eMay \u003c\/i\u003ehave one. And is that all you have to say? Just straight to business as if we only saw each other yesterday?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Is there anything else \u003ci\u003ebut\u003c\/i\u003e the Academy’s business?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Of course, there is. For one, how’s Bel, and have you spoken to her recently?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eDorian’s lip twitched. “Our \u003ci\u003eGreat Mother\u003c\/i\u003e graced the Academy with her presence last year. And yes, I was granted the honor of speaking to her, if briefly.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“She have anything interesting to say?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“She expressed her pride in the Academy, and in a few of my own accomplishments.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Pride, is it?” Iram chuckled. “I thought sloth was more her style.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You haven’t changed at all. Must you always speak of Mother so casually?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Kid, let me explain something to you.” Lady Iram sat forward. “I was old long before you were born, and Bel is far older than me. You think either of us care for your stuffy formalities?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Respect is due to the mother of all vampires.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“She’s not \u003ci\u003emy\u003c\/i\u003e mother.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“That much is self-evident, but would it trouble you to show her a little deference? At least while I’m here. If you were anyone else, I would have ripped your throat out by now.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIram rolled her one eye. “You mean you would have tried.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Would it help if I said ‘please’?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“All right, all right.” She flashed a sudden smile, cold but polite. “I’ll behave myself. But only because you’re my favorite hunter.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThank \u003c\/i\u003eyou.” Dorian relaxed, if only by the tiniest of fractions. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to discuss why I’m here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“The reason you’re here is simple: local vampires keep turning up dead, and I don’t know why.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“When and how many?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Five so far. It started about three months ago with a vampire named Heinrich. He used to work at Chester Creek University as a math professor.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Pureblood?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“No, risen.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eDorian snorted. “Hardly a concern of ours.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Trust me, it gets better. I don’t know who killed Heinrich, but it had the appearance of typical risen infighting. Two other risen vampires moved in to claim Heinrich’s territory shortly afterward: Plainsborough and Rost, CCU’s head librarian and head football coach respectively. They clashed several times—destroying each other’s property and thralls—until their petulant spat culminated in a duel at the stadium.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Who won?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Neither. They both snuffed it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“An unusual outcome for a duel.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“That’s what I thought at the time, but there’s more. It turns out a \u003ci\u003ethird\u003c\/i\u003e vampire was present that night. I don’t have any information on this one, but the amount of structural damage suggests a very powerful pureblood. Too powerful to ordinarily be concerned with a pissant town like this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Then that’s who killed the others?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“No. He’s dead, too! As in, his guts were splattered all over the stadium!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I see.” Dorian lowered his eyes. “That’s four dead so far. Who’s the fifth?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Olcott, a necromancer some dumbass elevated into a risen.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe hunter looked up sharply. “Someone turned a mage into a vampire?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Correct.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“That couldn’t have ended well.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“It didn’t. There’s a cemetery on the campus grounds. The original name is unimportant; nowadays it’s called Old Chester Cemetery. It’s part of the old church the place got built around. Someone used Olcott’s body to paint it red.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“And that someone is …”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Wouldn’t I like to know?” Lady Iram leaned back in her chair, and the leather sighed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Five vampires dead,” Dorian said. “Three of them risen nobodies, but two that weren’t: one a pureblood and the other a risen mage. Quite the impressive pile of corpses.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You see why I called you here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I do.” He let out a slow sigh. “Could the mage clans be behind this?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Dorian, the mage clans are \u003ci\u003ealways\u003c\/i\u003e up to something. You might as well ask me if the sky is still blue.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Point taken.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Sure, they \u003ci\u003ecould\u003c\/i\u003e be behind the killings, but every mage knows to stay clear of vampiric business.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Lest a d-hunter be called in to perform a little housekeeping,” Dorian added, his cruel grin revealing his fangs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Precisely. And the same goes for the demihumans in this city. They all know not to mess with you vampires, because there \u003ci\u003ewill\u003c\/i\u003e be consequences. Personally, I’d say we’re dealing with a group and not an individual. Perhaps mages. Perhaps unhexed demihumans. Maybe a mix of the two. We could have a team of uppity idiots on our hands. People trying to make the world a ‘better place’ or some dreck like that. But there may be another motivator at work here, one that’s drawing powerful individuals to this area.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Do you have any idea what that might be?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Not really.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Then it seems my task is twofold. Objective One: Find and eliminate whoever’s killing vampires in this city. Objective Two: Uncover what in this area makes the killings worthwhile.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“That about sums it up.” She pushed a manila folder across the desk. “Here’s all the information I’ve compiled on the victims. Also, I recommend you take a close look at the university grounds. All the recent excitement seems to involve that place one way or another. Hell if I know why, though.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Then I’ll have a look around, starting with the stadium and the cemetery.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Are you settled in yet?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“No. I still need a base of operations while I’m in this area.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I can arrange one for you, if you like.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“This place?” Dorian made a circular gesture, indicating the business Lady Iram ran.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“No, no. Too public. I have a better location in mind. One with all the amenities of home. It’s scheduled to be renovated soon, anyway, so you’ll have the whole place to yourself. It’s in downtown Chester Creek, tucked into a corner that doesn’t see a lot of foot traffic, and it even has some existing Wards for protection, though you may wish to reinforce those yourself.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Acceptable.” Dorian pushed his chair back and rose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Don’t you want to stay a little longer?” Lady Iram’s tone bordered on a pout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“The sooner I get started, the better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Always duty first when it comes to you. It’s a shame, really.” Lady Iram retrieved a chilled wine bottle and two empty glasses from underneath her desk. Moisture clung to the bottle and traced down its sides. She set them down on the desktop. “I suppose I’ll have to drink this myself.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eDorian turned the bottle. His eyebrows rose when he read the label.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Virgin werewolf blood. If any of your customers saw you with this, \u003ci\u003ethey’d\u003c\/i\u003e rip your throat out.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“They’d try.” Lady Iram opened the bottle of bloodwine and poured two full glasses. “Fortunately, I have nothing to fear. Ignorance is bliss, as the humans are so fond of saying.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eDorian raised his glass and breathed in the aroma.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Exquisite,” he sighed, fangs lengthening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eLady Iram found her gaze drawn to the four obsidian rings glinting on his left hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Another one?” she asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Pardon?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You had three rings last we met.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I’ve served the Academy long enough to receive my fourth. Our Great Mother granted it to me herself.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“My, how time flies. Has it really been that long?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You growing senile in your old age?” Dorian asked, quirking a smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Hardly.” Lady Iram raised her glass. “To the success of your mission.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“To success.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThey drained their glasses.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50391963828515,"sku":"ACADEMYOFSILENCE-SIGNED","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Blood_Knight_3_Signed_Paperback_Shopify.jpg?v=1730339816"},{"product_id":"print-im-an-isekai-hero-of-course-im-fighting-a-demon-lord-monster-girl-tamer-2-signed-paperback-copy","title":"SIGNED PRINT: I'm an Isekai Hero! Of Course I'm Fighting a Demon Lord (Monster Girl Tamer #2) (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Two in the Monster Girl Tamer series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/monster-girl-tamer\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA thicc cowgirl with a thicker accent. A bookish succubus with an absurd secret. A demon, goblin, and oni girl who’re as chaotic as they are good.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAnd they’re going to defeat a demon lord … how?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eIt’s been three months since Axel Hunter Radcliff fell through a magic portal into another world of dangerous monsters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHailing from a family of Chosen Ones, he’s trained his whole life to be a hero. He just didn’t expect destiny to involve taming monster girls into semi-civilized adventurers. Or training them to form his tactical harem.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOr their giant robots. Or their conspicuous anime tropes. Or the geeky succubus “Sexy Wizard” who transformed them in the first place.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen a new minotaur girl shows up at his hot spring, he realizes the Sexy Wizard needs his help, too. She’s been captured by some of her own creations—but this time there’s a twist. These dragon ladies used to be two of his monster hunting friends, Jaz and Pix.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith all the isekai tropes tied up in his destiny, Axel expected a demon lord. What he didn’t expect was Demon Lord Jaspartina “Jaz” Red and her Demon Lord General Tailer “Pix” Weaver!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd, after a mere three months, he doesn’t have the stats to face his final boss.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFortunately, his magic power grows with his romantic bonds. And he has a whole harem of devoted monster girls eager to help raise his stats.\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eWARNING:\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eMonster Girl Tamer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a fun isekai LitRPG fantasy action adventure where the hero saves the day and gets\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eall\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003ethe girls. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/monster-girl-tamer\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from I'M AN ISEKAI HERO! OF COURSE I'M FIGHTING A DEMON LORD\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\nThe summons came by Howitzer Beetle.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eMore precisely, it came when the beetle buzzed through Jaz’s balcony bug net, blasted a stone through Pix’s bedroom window, then shouted “Hunters, I require you!” in a familiar, regal voice. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThe Howitzer Beetle was distinct for the tube that ran from nasal opening to back. Articulate hind legs allowed it to toss debris inside, which it would then project at lethal, or at least very attention-getting speeds. This, combined with its ability to imitate speech like a parrot, made it Harly’s messenger of choice. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eFor, when the fusillade of a Howitzer Beetle woke you up, you answered.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eSo it was that Pix and Jaz rushed through the jungle.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I can just smell the gems already!” Jaz practically drooled, bounding through a patch of carnivorous plants with all the enthusiasm of a track and field junkie. “Harly’s probably got an incredible bounty for us. Why else would she wake us up like that?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003ePix wove nimbly around the same obstacle—just as fast but much less noisily.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“It can’t be a regular bounty. There’s something else afoot here.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eTailer “Pix” Weaver and Jaspartina “Jaz” Red matched as well as deep-fried potatoes and pepperpickle ice cream—which was to say, they shouldn’t have, but they did. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003ePix, nicknamed thus for her bright red pixie cut, ran in a dark set of full-body leather armor with a heavily marked-up Hunter’s Handbook hanging from a shoulder strap. The scabbard at her waist held a vertically-split blade with a revolving cylinder sandwiched between its forte and hilt, but she clutched the book in a way that suggested she’d rather solve problems than fight them. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eJaz, meanwhile, sprinted in a plate mail bikini top segmented for maximum jiggle, red leather hot pants, and sunglasses on her sporty black hair. An enormous monsterbone greatsword bounced on one shoulder, her hand on its hilt in the manner of one who solved problems by bashing first. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Now that you mention it”—Jaz somersaulted over a log—”how did Harly get her voice in the beetle? It’s not like she can talk. Not like us, anyway.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“That’s why I’m suspicious,” Pix replied.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThey knew the path well and soon pushed aside teal ferns to unveil an idyllic clearing, marked by a majestic waterfall that nourished the glen’s rolling greenery. A sweeping wonderland of butterflies and bioluminescent bugs fluttered about like fairy dust.\u003cbr\u003eIn the center of that whirl stood the woman.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eShe towered seven feet tall, including her headpiece, which resembled an old-timey wimple merged with a jester’s hat—or perhaps horns. Yes, more likely horns, for though her clothing brimmed fierce with color, it also brimmed fierce with armor. Sea green chitinous pieces hugged her voluptuous curves, except where they flared out into bustle or ballgown-esque flourishes. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThe support was probably necessary, for the firm neckline of the chest plate cupped a pair of breasts so voluminous Pix half-expected them to attract satellites. Her face was sharp, with pouty, glamorous lips—and as if all that didn’t command sufficient attention, the jungle sun refracted through the sequin-like gems on her armor, casting a vibrant explosion of color through her immediate area.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eJaz flicked down her sunglasses to ease the eye strain.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThe mysterious fashionista faced them with an imperious sneer.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Finally, someone competent enough to help! Do you see this? My skeleton is on the inside!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThe voice was identical to the Howitzer Beetle’s.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Harly?” Pix exclaimed. “Is that you?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Of course it’s me! How could you confuse this armor with anyone else’s? Even if what it contains is disgusting.” \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eJaz frolicked up to examine Harly’s new shape. “So this isn’t a new form for fashion hunter week?” \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Of course not!” \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“But you’d kill it on the catwalk!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I kill wherever I please.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I mean dress to kill.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I kill however I please, whether through violence or fashion, but that’s beside the point! Why would I change my original form? I was perfect! And now my beautiful skeleton is ON THE INSIDE!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I … can see how that’d be disturbing for you,” Pix mused.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eFor most people, that condition would have been the opposite of a problem—but Harly was not most people. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eWhether she was a person at all was up for debate within the Society for the Exploration of the Monstrous Continent, because she was more commonly known as the Harlequin Mantis. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHer typical form was that of a three-story-tall mantid monster, her exoskeleton shaped into the chitin equivalent of a puffy-sleeved ballgown, and her antennae swept up into a playfully fashionable headdress. Gems grew along the spines that formed her artificial bustle, granting her a natural scattering of jewelry, and rendering her, truly, one of the most beautiful creatures on the continent. She rarely left her clearing to cause trouble, so the Society’s hunters usually left her alone.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eUntil one hunter hadn’t.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eUntil Jaspartina Red had gotten it in her head to stick an Earworm in the mantis’ ear … and through the telepathy it granted, learned she was a captivating conversationalist. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eToo captivating to be of purely monster intelligence. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eWhich begged the question: What made a person a person, and a monster a monster, if some monsters could think like people?\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHarly’s present form only complicated this question. Pix circled the woman more analytically than her partner.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“This wasn’t a voluntary transformation?” \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Absolutely not! What use would I have for this nonsense?” Harly smacked the side of her breasts. The resulting motion was the kind of absurd, hypnotic display that men would spend small fortunes to see on stage, even from the cheapest and most suspiciously stained of seats.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eEven Jaz decided she wanted a closer look. She laid her greatsword on the ground, clicked a few gems to new positions, then mounted it like a surfboard. In a burst of pink and red flames, the rocket-powered greatsword conveyed her above and before Harly, because of course Jaz would customize her greatsword for flight.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eShe brought the greatsword into a flame-plumed hover and bent in for a conspicuous look.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Wow. You could make bank in Skull Harbor with jugs like that. Could you imagine the striptease? Is your armor removable, or is it part of you? That could complicate things if—”\u003cbr\u003eHarly waved a dismissive hand, the pointy tips of her hard elbow-length “gloves” rendering her all the more imperious.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I’m not interested in such crass activities, nor men who won’t let me rip their heads off at the end of the night. Really, your legalities are so frustrating. How’s a female supposed to get off under those conditions? We monsters have no concept of ‘murder’ and we get along just fine.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eIn retrospect, Pix thought, perhaps the casual acceptance of murder-for-the-purposes-of-arousal was the difference between people and monsters.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“We don’t rip the heads off our partners,” she said with a shiver.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Oh, you poor, sheltered thing. The permanence of the death is part of the pleasure.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003ePix flailed her hands. “Can we stop talking about mantis mating rituals and get to why you called us here?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“If you wish.” Harly gestured to herself with a revolted sneer. “I wish this handled. This humanoid spine is insufficient to support these monstrosities, and my back aches. I’ll pay you every gem on the last carapace I shed to capture the person who caused this and force him to change me back.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Not that I don’t appreciate the offer, but why hire us?” Jaz asked, taking a seat on her still-hovering greatsword. “You were a badass motherfucker in your original form, and you’re just a hotter BAMF in this one. Heck, you can one-shot most monsters when you want to, and now you’ve got built-in distractions!” She lowered her sunglasses at Harly’s chest.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“That’s just it; I don’t want to. I want to stay cozy by my waterfall eating bugs and sunbathing while I pay competent peasants to solve my problems for me.” She tilted her chin, then added, “You’re the peasants.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I can’t say we’d mind the pay.” Pix shrugged, long used to Harly’s insults.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“You know it’s a person?” Jaz asked. “Not some random magic or artifact from the sky or whatever?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Where exactly did your change happen?” Pix inquired.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I was on a day trip to the Hellpits,” Harly said. “Its springs are quite invigorating, and their minerals fortify my exoskeleton nicely.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I thought you hated water,” Pix said. “Wasn’t that why you didn’t help us with the Screecher last time?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Hot springs are different. They’re soothing for both the chitin and the soul, and they don’t have fish shit in them. Anyway, I was preparing to leave when someone ran by my spring. I felt odd afterward, like I do when I’m in the mood to rip off some good head.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“You mean you were horny?” Jaz guessed.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I believe that’s your equivalent. Anyway, my body began to change soon after, and then my exoskeleton ejected me, in this form! The nerve! My own exoskeleton! The only coinciding event was the passing hunter, so I know he’s responsible.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“You’re sure it’s a man?” Pix asked.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“No, but what other sort of person would saddle me with these ridiculous things?” She slapped her breasts again, eliciting yet another hypnotic gazong! “I’m not even a mammal!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003ePix and Jaz traded a glance. It had been some time since the last incident, but this situation sounded awfully similar to one they’d encountered two months ago. The monsters involved had been much lower level than Harly, but they’d still been turned into sexy Thicc Variant monster girls, all by a passing mysterious figure.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eBut given Harly’s … open-mindedness toward killing, Pix wanted to approach the situation carefully.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I have some ideas,” Pix began, “but first I want to—”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Sounds like the Sexy Wizard is behind this!” Jaz declared.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003ePix sighed. Of course Jaz would blurt out what she’d hoped to hide.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHarly’s eyes perked with fresh interest. “The Sexy Wizard? Oh my. Can you describe his head for me? How satisfyingly do you think his neck would snap?” She shivered, the thought already making her wet, or whatever the Thicc Harlequin Mantis equivalent was. \u003cbr\u003ePix didn’t know and wasn’t curious enough to find out.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“The wizard isn’t a man.” \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHarly drooped. “And here I thought this might take an interesting turn.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“The Society’s already investigating her,” Pix continued, referring to the Society for the Exploration of the Monstrous Continent. “She’s turned at least two other monsters into monster girls.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Have any turned back?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“No, but they don’t seem to be in any hurry to.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Why not?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“They’re gettin’ good dick,” Jaz chimed, then perked with an idea of her own. “Do you think Harly’s meant to be one of Axel’s monster girls?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“‘Meant to be’?” Harly furrowed her brow. “Who is this ‘Axel’ and what does he have to do with the Sexy Wizard?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“He’s a Chosen One and he’s collecting monster girls to save the world or whatever. He’s wooed every monster girl the wizard’s created thus far into his harem, so maybe you’re a candidate? I mean, if he’s going to save the world, it’d be helpful to have a girlfriend with a magic beam cannon.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I am not a bug to be collected!” Harly snarled. “Nor am I a monster girl! These”—she smacked her breasts again—”are quite womanly traits!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“What trope would she even fit?” Pix asked, trying to downplay the suggestion. “Don’t all Axel’s monster girls fit some kind of … He called it an ‘anime’ trope?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Oh! Yandere, definitely.” Jaz plunged into one of her pouches with the enthusiasm of a feral raccoon who’d just found a whole dumpster of crack, only to produce a beaten-up paperback featuring a sparsely-clothed, pointy-eared woman whose proportions defied the esoteric laws of time, space, physics only bespectacled bow tie-wearing sci-fi authors cared about, and probably a few RPG rule sets. The title of this Most Important Literary Work was The Second Coming of Beeflord Assgetter. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“It’s not anime,” Jaz continued, “but according to Axel, its tropes line up pretty closely. We talked about it during last month’s book club meeting. Anyway, wanting to rip a dude’s head off after sex definitely falls into the crazy girlfriend category, which is yandere to a T.”\u003cbr\u003e“Yandere isn’t generic crazy,” Pix countered. “Based upon what Axel said, the yandere is crazy for the male lead, at the expense of people who threaten him.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“What sort of book club is this?” Harly snatched the book from Jaz’s hands and thumbed through it.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“If anything, Harly’s the Princess trope,” Pix continued.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Oh, that’s a much better fit!” Jaz exclaimed. “Harly, give us a laugh.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHarly raised the back of her hand to her mouth and unleashed a high-pitched, musical, “OH-HO-HO-HO!” that left no doubt as to who was the most infuriatingly entitled of all royalty in the land. At least, until it devolved into a cackle worthy of a witch who’d finally gotten fed up with the princess’ shit and had a wicked curse waiting for her.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Maybe Harly’s just Harly,” Pix observed with a shrug.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I am not just me; I am absolutely me,” Harly preened. “But tell me more of this Axel, Sexy Wizard, and monster girl dick-getting. Is it truly so spectacular that it earns their complete allegiance?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“There’s more to it than that, I think,” Pix said. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“The hot springs and the game nights are big pluses, too,” Jaz added.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Hot springs?” Harly’s antennae-horns wiggled. “Is this where the dick happens?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Um, Harly?” Pix began nervously. “We know you’re a colossal eldritch-class monster, and in no way obliged to listen to us—”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Yes.” Harly said it as a statement of fact rather than a question.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“But if you woo Axel, could you please not rip off his head? He’s the first useful Chosen One that’s fallen through the Skies, ever.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“And he lets us come to Raging Cliff Hot Springs whenever we want,” Jaz chimed.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Ah! I see the opportunity for a trade, then. You capture the Sexy Wizard and force her to change me back, and I’ll spare this eligible friend of yours.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Which also gives Axel motivation to help us find her!” Jaz exclaimed. “Win win! We could enlist him and his monster girls to help!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“No!” Pix snapped. “Axel has nothing to do with this!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Why not? He’s already trying to find the Sexy Wizard!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Yes, but—Skies dammit, Jaz. He’s not trying to find her for the same reason Harly is. Or even the Society.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Why’s your Society trying to find her?” Harly asked.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Because she’s turning monsters into powered-up monster girls,” Pix explained. “Axel’s tamed all the monster girls so far, but eventually she’s going to create one that’s a genuine danger. The Society wants to find her before she does that.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Why’s this ‘Axel’ trying to find her, then, if not to stop the danger she presents?” Harly took on a pensive look. “Does he want to force her to make more?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“No, he’s not like that. He thinks she’s a monster girl, too, and he wants to help her.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Well. That just won’t do.” Harly crossed her arms and glared. “No one who moves my skeleton gets away with it.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“What do you mean?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Maybe I’ll eat her. After she changes me back, of course.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“That would be murder,” Pix stated firmly.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Yes, I know how your laws work, much as I disagree with them. You’re only allowed to kill monsters—” Harly’s eyes gleamed. “Wait. If she’s a monster girl, does she count as a monster, or as a girl? Do the murder laws not apply to her? How does it work?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThat, too, was a subject under debate at the Society. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“The Society doesn’t allow us to act as hit men,” Pix replied. “Or in a way that makes us complicit in such behavior. We’ll help the Sexy Wizard turn you back, but we’re not going to let you kill her.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“What if I throw in an extra carapace of gems?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Our morals aren’t for sale.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Mine are,” Jaz said, and Pix glared at her. “What? I’m just being honest here.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHarly regarded them with an air of frustration, then shrugged the matter aside.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“I appreciate your honesty, and I suppose I can be satisfied with merely being changed back. When it comes down to it, you’ve done good work for me before. There are no other hunters I’d rather hire.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Aww, thanks!” Jaz beamed. “There’s no other mantis I’d consider taking morally-questionable bounties from!”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“We’ll set off to the area of the Hellpits where you encountered the Sexy Wizard as soon as possible,” Pix said, “and report back once we know something.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eA snide, sly smile slipped across Harly’s face. “Oh, you won’t be going alone.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Pardon?” Pix’s face quirked.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“What’s that face for?”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“You just had the most insidious smile I’ve ever seen.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Did I really?” Harly raised both hands and patted her soft, squishy cheeks. “I suppose I shall have to get used to facial expressions, too. Skies, I hate this body. I miss having a face that doesn’t emote.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“What do you mean we won’t be going alone?” \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eHarly stopped squishing her face. “You said there were two other monster girls. Your information is outdated. There is another, and she works for me.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eShe raised the back of her hand to her lips. Another villainous princess laugh trilled through the jungle, echoing with the weight of a whole lot of foreshadowing.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Spice Rack Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54266339623203,"sku":"MGT2-SIGNEDPAPERBACK","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Monster_Girl_Tamer_2_SIGNED_Shopify_Paperback_2025.jpg?v=1755732453"},{"product_id":"print-blood-knight-portal-of-gold-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Blood Knight: Portal of Gold (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Four in the Blood Knight series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/blood-knight\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA deadly vampire on the prowl? A beautiful werewolf in heat? A voluptuous dragonkin desperate for a child? This blood knight has his hands full!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJ.B. Clarke and the lovely ladies of Broken Fang have forged new alliances thanks to their victories against the vampires who secretly rule the world—but their job is far from over! They’re closer than ever to uncovering the secrets buried deep below the city of Chester Creek, and to securing the ultimate weapon in this magical war: the fabled Portal of Gold.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut a new threat stirs in the city’s shifter underworld. Whole werewolf packs have shown up dead under ghastly circumstances, and Brooke Hawthorne, a gorgeous wolf girl and one of Clarke’s four wives, begins searching for answers. Together, they start to unravel this new and deadly mystery, but all is not as it seems.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTreacherous forces have been playing a shadow game this whole time, and everyone—vampires and slayers alike—are nothing more than pawns to an elusive puppet master. The alluring power of the Portal of Gold has drawn this terrible being to Chester Creek, and Clarke will need all his wits and magic if he’s to survive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis greatest challenge looms just around the corner, but he won’t face it alone: Brooke and the beautiful women of Broken Fang will stand by his side no matter what, and he’s far from defenseless on his own. He’s a blood knight, the last of the great vampire slayers, and he won’t stop until he’s freed humanity from the vampiric scourge.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAssuming a creature far worse than any vampire doesn’t kill him first.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eWARNING: \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eBlood Knight: Portal of Gold\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e is a fun urban fantasy adventure where the hero saves the day and gets \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eall the girls\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/blood-knight\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from BLOOD KNIGHT: PORTAL OF GOLD\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eLady Illustris Tenebris Iram—Wrath of the Glorious Darkness—tapped a polished nail against the dark varnished wood of her desk. She sat in her office, the pleasant din of customers eating, drinking, and having a good time echoing from below.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eShe was not having a good time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe state of the game had changed, and she was no longer in control of the quaint college town of Chester Creek. Powerful forces were moving in—or were already here—and she needed to tread carefully as she bent the pieces on the board to her will.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eShe’d done it before, hundreds of times across hundreds of years, and she could do it again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eOnly this time was different.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThis time the Portal of Gold was the prize, and that meant she needed to step onto the board in order to seize its awesome power. She couldn’t rely on her minions for such an important task. Not entirely. Not without her power to back them up. Oh, she had eyes and ears and muscle aplenty at her disposal, but most were nothing more than unhexed demihumans.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eUnremarkable compared to her raw might.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt had been twenty years since she’d been forced to engage with events so directly, but the stakes were too high, the involved parties too powerful.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThose parties didn’t have eyes on each other yet. But they knew of each other. They’d been swirling around the city for months, like planets in wild, opposing orbits. They tugged on one another, drawing closer and closer with each perilous passing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThey would eventually collide, but she couldn’t let that happen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eNot yet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eNot until she’d squeezed every last advantage from the situation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe question remained how to do that. She didn’t know, and that uncertainty bothered her deeply. The tapping of her fingernail became more urgent, and her nail glittered for an instant like a precious gem. She stabbed the tip into her desktop, finger punching down to the first joint with no effort at all. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eShe grimaced at the damage. The nail returned to normal, and she folded her fingers into a loose fist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eLady Iram’s first challenge drew near and she composed herself. Her sharp hearing picked out the vampire’s light, high heeled footfalls clicking up a flight of wooden steps, followed closely by a heavier booted cadence. Iram drew a deep breath and studied the approaching magical auras: the first cool, controlled, but simmering with dangerous potential. In contrast, the man behind her possessed a more limited spark of magic, though Iram could practically taste his martial prowess, drawn back like a bow ready to be loosed. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eShe brought her groom with her, Iram thought. Doesn’t she trust me enough to come alone?\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWell, I can’t really blame her. The Academy of Silence already lost one hunter in this town. I didn’t have anything to do with his death, but she doesn’t know that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe two visitors stopped outside her office, and a dainty double knock followed.\u003cbr\u003e“Come in, Jezebel,” Iram said pleasantly. “I was wondering when you’d stop by.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe door opened and the vampire walked in first. She was a slender, graceful woman with honey-blonde hair cut short and at an angle so that one side dipped near her cool gray eyes. Her lips were a severe, neutral line emphasized by deep red lipstick, and her snug black dress ended an inch below her hips, leaving an enticing glimpse of soft, pale flesh above each black stocking.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eA dark elf followed her in. His movements possessed an air of focused restraint, calm but capable of bursting into terrible violence in the blink of an eye. His pale purple skin brought out his high cheekbones and red eyes, and the ponytail kept his snow-white hair off the tall points of his ears.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eJezebel Hatchett, pureblood vampire and deviant hunter for the Academy of Silence, gave Lady Iram a curt nod before taking a seat uninvited. Her groom, Elliot Pryce, closed the door. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, eyes fixed on Iram.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Let’s get straight to business, Lady Iram,” Jezebel began. “You know why I’m here.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Of course I do. It’s because they’re still finding pieces of your predecessor strewn about the city.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“An exaggeration.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“The point is the Academy lost a d-hunter in this pissant town, and now you’ve been sent in to find out what happened to poor, old, exploded Dorian.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I’m also here to kill whoever eliminated him.” Jezebel crossed her slender legs and placed delicate hands in her lap. A lone obsidian ring gleamed on one finger.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“And his brides,” Iram added, eyes drawn to the bond ring. “They’re dead, too.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Their deaths are of no consequence.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIram glanced at Elliot. If the dark elf found Jezebel’s words distasteful, his face didn’t show it. Not that Iram had expected him to. It took a special kind of idiot to submit willingly to a vampire, to give up his freedom for power.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“What can you tell me about those responsible?” Jezebel asked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Very little, I’m afraid.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Oh?” The vampire cocked an eyebrow. “What is this I hear? The legendary Lady Iram, caught unawares in her own city? How very strange.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eJezebel was right to be suspicious, and Iram needed to walk a fine line here. She’d spent decades spreading her influence across Chester Creek, and she knew exactly who’d killed the d-hunter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eBut she couldn’t reveal that to Jezebel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eNot yet.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eNot when so much advantage remained to be gleaned from the blood knight and his harem.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe mere mention of a blood knight, the antithesis to vampires in many ways, would have escalated the situation beyond Iram’s ability to guide it. Dozens of d-hunters would descend on Chester Creek within days, and the blood knight would either be killed or forced into hiding.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eNeither outcome benefited her. Not yet. Not with the path to the Portal of Gold partially open.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWhich presented its own problems. Jezebel would likely find a way to retrace Dorian’s steps, and that would lead her down the same path—a path that led toward the Portal of Gold.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIram couldn’t allow that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWhich meant she needed to eliminate both Jezebel and Elliot.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eFortunately, she knew exactly how to accomplish that task without sullying her own hands.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“What can you share with me?” Jezebel asked pointedly.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Just the basics. I requested the aid of a hunter about a month ago, asked for Dorian specifically because I knew I could depend on him. I told him about the five vampires who’d turned up dead recently, and he began his investigation. A few weeks later, he turns up dead, along with his four brides.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Where?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I’m not sure,” Iram lied, thinking carefully about which half-truths to feed the vampire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Not sure?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“According to my sources within the police department, his brides were found dead in Studio Nightshade. It’s a club in downtown Chester Creek that was undergoing renovations at the time. Dorian was using it as his base of operations.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Then he was ambushed there?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I don’t think so. My sources came across evidence the brides’ bodies were moved there after the fact.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“A cover up, then.” Jezebel’s eyes gleamed. “But I noticed you only said the brides were moved. What about Dorian?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Oh, he was there, too. What little was left of him, anyway.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I see.” The vampire knitted her fingers. “Do you believe the mage clans were behind this? \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eI understand there are a handful of clans active in this city.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“If so, it’s unusual behavior for them. Killing a d-hunter, on top of five other vampires?” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIram shook his head. “That’s not their style. Too aggressive.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Then what are we dealing with?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“My best guess is an independent party. Perhaps a mix of mages and demihumans.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Don’t you have anything besides guesses?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I’m afraid not.” Iram sat back, and the chair’s leather sighed. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I find this sudden lapse in your network’s abilities … distressing.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“What are you getting at?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“It’s quite simple, Lady Iram. A d-hunter is dead, and I must follow the trail wherever it leads me.” The vampire’s gaze turned sharp. “Wherever it leads.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Are you suggesting I’m somehow involved?” Iram laced her words with manufactured indignation. “I’m the one who asked for him to come here, remember?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“No one is above suspicion.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I should be. Do I need to call Belphegor myself and have her sort you out?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Lady Iram, please.” Jezebel smiled faintly. “I meant no offense. Certainly, the relationship you have with our Great Mother is both known and respected. However, I must approach the situation with an impartial eye.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Now hold on a second.” Outwardly, Iram’s face contorted with mild offense, but inside she was grinning. “Yes, I don’t have anything for you now, but my own investigation is ongoing. I know the police are hiding something, and that’s where I’m focusing my efforts.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Then you’ll share anything you discover?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Absolutely. I want this problem solved as much as you do.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Excellent.” Jezebel rose and smoothed out her dress. “Then I will be on my way. How often can I expect updates from you?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Daily, unless there’s a breakthrough, in which case I’ll contact you immediately.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Very good. Then, Lady Iram, I wish you a pleasant evening.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eJezebel dipped her head ever so slightly. Elliot opened the door for her, and the two left.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eLady Iram finally permitted herself that well-earned grin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eShe would reveal to Jezebel who killed Dorian, but she would do so at a time of her choosing. She needed this d-hunter off the board, and she knew just the piece to throw at her:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eJ.B. Clarke.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAfter all, what better way to kill a vampire than with a blood knight?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54520446583075,"sku":"PORTALOFGOLD-PPR-SIGNED","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Portal_of_Gold_SIGNED_Paperback_Shopify.jpg?v=1763776029"},{"product_id":"print-catgirls-from-outer-space-signed-paperback-gold-foil-painted-edges-premium-edition-1","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Catgirls from Outer Space PAPERBACK (Gold Foil \u0026 Painted Edges Premium Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium PAPERBACK with GOLD FOIL and PAINTED EDGES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!-- x-tinymce\/html --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/catgirls-from-outer-space\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA down on his luck spaceship captain? An ex-space pirate catgirl? A catgirl warrior who’s down for some wild … adventure? Only one question remains: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWant to make some kittens tonight?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCaptain Nathan Kade just wants a quick job \u003c\/strong\u003eto keep his busted-up spaceship limping through the Solar System.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInstead he gets Vessani S’Kaari, a mysterious and beautiful catgirl\u003c\/strong\u003e who tried—and failed—to steal a ship belonging to a band of space pirates. She’s chaos in a tight catsuit, but she also has a lead on what may be the greatest treasure trove of lost technology the Solar System has ever seen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNot to mention a really nice … tail. \u003c\/strong\u003eHe pulls that tail out of the fire, and together they assemble a team to seek out this long-lost bounty.\u003cstrong\u003e Soon, he’s commanding a ragtag crew of space cowboys:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003eA warrior catgirl who’s as deadly with a wink as her blade\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003eA snarky multi-bodied robot commando pilot\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003eA sexy engineer who knows how to make a reactor purr\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003eAnd a grumpy, cyber-implanted cleric who whispers with the remnants of ancient gods\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003eThey’ll dodge spaceship fire, flirt with danger (and each other), and maybe—just maybe—make the score of a lifetime.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBut they’re not the only ones chasing the prize. \u003c\/strong\u003eThe Jovian Everlife has dispatched a fleet of warships with one of their elite, many-bodied agents in command, and he’d like a few words with Nathan and his catgirls—preferably in chains.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGuns will blaze. Spaceships will burn. Tails will swish.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnd somewhere in all that mayhem, a broke captain might just find everything he never knew he wanted.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eEmbark on the adventure of a lifetime with national bestselling author Jacob Holo and Amazon bestselling author Edie Skye in this brand new science fiction standalone. If you’re a fan of wild futuristic technology, wilder catgirls, and spicy scrappy crew space opera, this just might be the story you’ve been waiting for.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eCatgirls from Outer Space\u003c\/em\u003e is a fast-paced, action-packed sci-fi adventure romance for men where the hero saves the day and gets all the girls. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTROPES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExtra Spicy Fast Burn Romance\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHeroic Broke Spaceship Captain MMC\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBadass Catgirl FMCs\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSmut with Feelings\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLots of Snark and Banter\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSmall Harem (MFFF)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eQuest\/Treasure Hunt Across Space\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eScrappy\/Ragtag Crew\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSpace Western\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003eNOTE: The first edition of this novel was originally released by Baen Books as Freelancers of Neptune by Jacob Holo. This second edition features additional content and character arcs contributed by Edie Skye. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003eFor readers unfamiliar with Edie Skye, there will be spice and its doors will be WAAAAY open. For readers unfamiliar with Jacob Holo, there will be math but it will be fade to black.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e⭐\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e⭐\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“The sci-fi elements flowed well with the spicy bits. It’s every man’s (and quite a few women’s) fantasy as well.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“This is a seat-of-your-pants space adventure with drool-worthy interludes!”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Humorous Action Adventure with Catgirls!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“This story has a lot more going for it than the catgirls. Don't get me wrong, they're amazing, but the adventure here, the fascinating universe of the setting, the hints of mysteries and dangers out there, it is all great.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“A fast-paced enjoyable read” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“The cover tells you exactly what you'll get - but there is a lot more than that also.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“A fantastic book with more swishing cat tail than you can shake a stick at!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Fantastic writing and well developed, funny, interesting characters.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Put simply, this book is better than an 80 pack of Jimmy Dean sausages!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“If you like the cover, you'll like the book.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Holo \u0026amp; Skye Weave a Great Tail, er Tale \u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e😉\u003c\/span\u003e” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Well, Edie has done it again. A nicely spiced space opera.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“More spiciness than a hot sauce competition!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel with gold foil and painted edges.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/catgirls-from-outer-space\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #0f1111; background: white;\"\u003e\u003c!-- x-tinymce\/html --\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from CATGIRLS FROM OUTER SPACE:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe habitat ring glittered in the vacuum of space, and Galatt Xormun watched the growing image with patient, predatory eyes. He didn’t consider himself an evil man, but he also held no illusions about the nature of his work, and especially the nature of this latest assignment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe was here to kidnap a man.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then squeeze him for information.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter that, who could really say?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOh, the wording of his orders from the Jovian Everlife—received in hushed tones and with carefully structured deniability—never used the words “kidnap” or “torture” or phrases like “Be your usual ruthless self. It’s why we’re sending you,” but Xormun knew how to read between the lines, and his superiors knew how to write there as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis orders were clear enough to him, and that’s all he and his crew needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSomeone has to do the dirty work, he thought with a wry grin. Might as well be a persona who’ll get the job done!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe studied the ring with silver-within-black eyes, themselves situated in an angular, gold-skinned face. Not gold-en. Not tanned or burnt like some piece of revolting meat, but metallic gold etched with intricate traceries that gave his face a regal bearing. His current body stood on the bridge of the Leviathan of Io, ramrod straight with hands clasped in the small of his back despite the three gees of acceleration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe habitat he now studied was remarkable only in how unremarkable it appeared. It was an open ring three thousand kilometers in diameter and five hundred fifty wide with atmospheric retention walls two hundred kilometers tall on either side of the ring’s habitable interior. A combination of the retention walls and centrifugal force kept the air from escaping.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA sheen of black solar skin coated the ring’s exterior, providing power to its ancient systems, which included an artificial light source at the hub stabilized by three slender spokes. The megastructure was angled so that the habitable zones never experienced Sol’s direct light. Instead, the sun-orb recreated the twenty-four-hour days so common amongst the solar system’s hundreds of thousands of habitats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll totaled, the ring featured a little over five million square kilometers of living space. Barely .01 earths of land. Not all that impressive, especially when he considered his own home—the two shell bands around Jupiter—boasted over twenty-three earths of surface area.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to his mission brief, the locals called this place Kirkwood, and the name struck Xormun as appropriate. Over sixty percent of the ring’s interior was covered in a wide variety of woodlands: predominantly greens but with splotches of dark blues, purples, blacks, and even a few slashes of deep reds. A smattering of lakes took up most of the remaining space, with primitive cities seeded along their shores, often built near the ruins of more advanced structures. No census had been conducted on the ring, though informal estimates ran between ten and twenty million inhabitants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe locals were not his concern, however. They were mid-tech nobodies with no access to spaceships. In all likelihood, they and their ancestors had been stuck on this ring for four millennia, and they could stay there and rot for all he cared.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo, his mission involved a visiting group of Saturnian missionaries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr rather, one specific cleric named Anterus vaan Kronya.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Leviathan of Io reached a relative stop with the habitat, and its massive fusion thrusters switched off. The kilometer-long cruiser could land on the ring if the mission required, descending upon it like a dark, angular skyscraper, but why bother when its support corvettes were far more suited to the task at hand?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun floated off the floor and—with a frown—pressed a hand against the low ceiling to push himself back down. The ship’s pilot spun in her seat and faced Xormun. She’d had the sense to strap in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Ship in position, Apex,\u0026gt; the pilot reported, transmitting her words wirelessly to him. Her body possessed vocal cords, but they were useless while the bridge remained in vacuum. The Leviathan’s interior could be pressurized, and soon would be once their “guest” was brought on board.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun gave her a brief nod and floated closer to the main visual-glass. A white diamond blinked next to one of the ring’s cities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;How certain are we he’s there?\u0026gt; he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Almost guaranteed, Apex,\u0026gt; replied one of his data analysts. \u0026lt;It’s the only location on the ring transmitting a Saturnian locator beacon.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;How considerate of them.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Now that we have an angle down into the interior, our telescopes can make out a modular structure on the outskirts of this city.\u0026gt; The analyst indicated a cluster of linked rectangles next to the icon. \u0026lt;We believe it’s a missionary prefab, since it’s the source of the beacon and it doesn’t resemble other nearby buildings.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun nodded as the analyst finished. Jovians almost always referred to each other by position when on duty, and he, as the ship’s apex, formed the eye at the top of the vessel’s mind-copy pyramid. He’d be addressed as “captain” on a Saturnian or Neptunian ship, but such narrow definitions were for people limited to a single body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt present, twenty distinct Galatt Xormuns served on the Leviathan of Io, and more could be activated if needed. That few may not have seemed significant for a ship staffed with over five thousand bodies, but he’d ensured his copies filled the roles that would benefit most from his personal supervision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking of which … \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun linked with a body in the hangar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Yes, Apex?\u0026gt; The response came from his copy aboard one of eight corvettes, berthed on the Leviathan and prepped for launch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Is your team ready?\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;It is.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Any concerns?\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;None at present. If there are surprises, my commandos will take care of it. We’re ready to deploy on your command.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Then execute.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe corvette descended through the ring’s atmosphere, and Galatt Xormun stood in the cargo hold beside a dozen Jovian commandos, each resplendent in red armor trimmed with gold highlights and armed with a combination of lethal and nonlethal weaponry. Their triangular, unmoving heads all faced the closed forward ramp, ready to charge out at a moment’s notice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe corvette jostled from its descent through the atmosphere, and Xormun adjusted his footing, one hand gripping a handhold along the wall. This version of him wasn’t the apex, but that didn’t cloud his view of the larger picture, of the absolute necessity to bring Anterus in alive if his mission were to succeed. If anything, it heightened his awareness of every potential problem, impressing upon his mind the need to complete his objectives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLater, back on the Leviathan, his memories would be reintegrated into the core Galatt Xormun persona, retaining this version’s experiences for future copies. But for now, he was an individual—separate and distinct—and he focused on his goal with singular intensity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe turbulence ebbed, and the hum from the thrusters tapered off. The hold had already been filled with breathable air, its pressure equalized with the ring’s surface environment, and the sounds of their descent filled the vessel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Star Dragon-pattern corvette was a rare sight even in the Jovian Everlife, and the Leviathan carried eight of them. The craft’s sleek, black hull widened slightly toward the rear, ending in a pair of thrust-vectoring nozzles. Flared sections on either side of the cockpit resembled thick, stubby wings that housed the craft’s recessed weapon systems, which in this case included a pair of 37mm rail-repeaters and eight torpedoes. A thruster capped the end of each wing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStar Dragon arsenals could vary greatly depending on the mission, with options to carry even more weaponry on external racks above and below the wing stubs, though these were rarely used. External weapons often compromised the craft’s stealth profile to an unacceptable level.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun didn’t believe all those weapons—along with the commandos’ lethal armaments—would be required to nab Anterus, but he also believed in being prepared, and he knew how this mission could end up shifting the balance of power across the entire solar system.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ramp opened, and orb-light spilled into the dark cargo hold. The commandos rushed out, each leaping off the ramp to plummet to the ground dozens of meters. Xormun approached the ramp but didn’t jump off; instead, he kept his hand on a side railing while the corvette circled the target building.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe structure was a collection of six modular blocks conjoined into a neat, curving row along a lakeside clearing. Teal-leafed trees towered nearby but provided no shade from the sun-orb’s light, always fixed at noon. His commandos had landed in a rough oval around the complex, and they moved in with rifles raised.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe attack—if it could even be called that—didn’t last long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Target acquired,\u0026gt; reported one of the commandos. \u0026lt;Three others subdued, one local and two Saturnians by the looks of them. Ready for extraction.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Take us down,\u0026gt; Xormun ordered the corvette’s pilot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Yes, sir.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe corvette spun its four nozzles and descended in a steep, slow diagonal until it came to rest along the shoreline. Xormun let go once the craft came to a complete stop and hurried down the ramp. His skin gleamed under the sun-orb’s light—silver instead of the gold he preferred when acting as apex—and he strode toward the Saturnian building. The warm breeze and sparse clouds overhead told him it would be a pleasant day as the sun-orb brightened toward noon-light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe passed through a pair of breached double doors, one on the floor and the other hanging on by a single, bent hinge. The module contained a short hall lined with open doors at regular intervals. He peeked inside a few, finding what might have been classrooms. One of them contained three individuals on their stomachs, hands bound behind their backs with a pair of commandos standing watch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe local woman struck Xormun as a typical baseline human, or at least close enough to pass as one, with a cascade of blonde hair tousled over moist, frightened eyes. He wasn’t sure how much the habitat’s locals diverged from baseline, and he didn’t really care.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two Saturnian clerics were obvious enough with metallic hints of cranial implants scattered across their bald heads. Their two wigs were on the floor nearby. Not all members of the Church of the Pentatheon accepted—or even wanted—such neural augmentations, but they were common enough to make the clergy stand out more often than not. Xormun continued on with little more than a glance; these three were unimportant, which made them the lucky ones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe hall led into the next module with a slight bend, opening to a chamber that must have served as the mission’s worship center. Rows of pews faced an altar draped in royal purple cloth and adorned with five idols of colored glass, one for each Guardian Deity in the Pentatheon. Two of the idols had been knocked over, and one had rolled dangerously close to the edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus vaan Kronya lay on the floor in front of the altar, his arms bound behind his back and four commandos standing watch. He was a somewhat overweight man with a round face, his implants glinting along his scalp like little coins.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now, now,” Xormun scolded. “There’s no need for that. Get the good man to his feet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo commandos hefted Anterus upright. The man’s feet dangled beneath him for a moment before he found his footing and the commandos released him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry about that.” Xormun dusted off the cleric’s purple robe, then straightened it at the shoulders. “There. Isn’t that better?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who are you?” Anterus demanded, his face reddened and twisted in scornful defiance. “What is the meaning of this?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Galatt Xormun of the Jovian Everlife.” He placed a hand on his chest and dipped his head to the cleric. “And before we discuss the meaning of our … visit”—he flashed a quick smile—“it seems we made a mess of your altar. If you’ll grant me a moment to tidy things up?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t seem to have a choice.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Indeed.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun stepped over to the altar and stood up the idols for Edencraft and Pathfinder. He adjusted the position of Metatron so the idols formed a neat row once more and picked up a piece of lint in front of Codex before flicking it aside. Only one of the five idols remained untouched, and he eyed it with a hint of scorn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe five machine gods of the Pentatheon had served as humanity’s caretakers for tens of thousands of years, overseeing what most scholars believed was an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUntil the Guardian Deities fell silent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd it all came crashing down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRepresentations of those ancient, hyperintelligent machines varied wildly, even within the Church, but the green glass of a cornucopia filled with all manner of fauna and flora could only be Divergence. No other Guardian Deity was so inexorably tied to the organic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun placed a finger atop the cornucopia and rolled it over the table’s edge. It fell to the ground and shattered in an explosion of broken glass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus flinched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There,” Xormun declared contently. “Much better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe made the zigzagged sign of the Tetrad, pressing two fingers to his forehead, then each of his shoulders in turn, and finally his chest. He dipped his head to the altar then turned back to the cleric.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If it’s a theological debate you’re looking for,” Anterus spat, “I’m afraid you’re going about this the wrong way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Funny you should mention theology.” Xormun stood before the cleric, his boots crunching on glass shards. “That’s actually what brought us here today. Or, to be more precise, a combination of theology and history. Would you mind if I asked you about the Scourging of Heaven?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whatever for?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Intellectual curiosity. As it happens, the Scourging is linked to my work. Tell me, what do you believe happened back then?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Class resumes at nine tomorrow morning. Come back then if you want to talk, and”—he struggled against the commandos holding him up—“leave your goons at home!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My good sir.” Xormun placed a gentle hand on the cleric’s shoulder. “I know we only just met, but you should understand I’m a busy man, and I dislike it when people waste my time. Now, again, why don’t you indulge me and share your thoughts on the Scourging?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I fail to see the point in all this, but fine. The Scourging of Heaven is the event where the Pentatheon fell silent.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Which ended the Age of Communion—an age where anyone could speak to our Guardian Deities—and ushered in our current Age of Silence.” Xormun took his hand away and nodded. “A simple, if uninspired, answer. As for why they stopped responding to humanity, I find that a much more fascinating topic. Both major religions—the Church of the Pentatheon and followers of the Tetrad—call this event the Scourging of Heaven, though sometimes also the War in Heaven. Now why do you think that is?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nothing more than regional differences in how the Scourging is interpreted.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But is it really that simple? Consider, for a moment, that it was indeed a war. Does a war not imply battles? If so, who fought whom? Were our gods wounded? Were they killed? Who were they fighting? Was it some external threat, like the fabled Devil of Proxima? Or were they, perhaps, fighting a threat closer to home? Did Divergence really betray the Four?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s a hallmark of your Tetrad faith,” Anterus bit out. “Not mine. And it’s a view enshrined by your people’s anti-organic mindset, and your rejection of Divergence.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Perhaps. The truth is neither of us knows what really happened. We can debate the matter until … well, one of us is blue in the face, but it won’t get us anywhere. And really, what would be the point?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then why are you here?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because, my good sir”—Xormun flashed a sinister smile—“you’ve learned something about the Scourging, haven’t you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What could possibly make you think that—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Conversations with your former student,” Xormun interrupted, still holding that smile. “A certain engineer named Josephine Cotton.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus gasped. “But how could you—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Easily intercepted conversations, I might add,” Xormun explained with a dismissive wave. “They make for interesting reading. Theories about the Scourging, along with mentions of a second individual. A woman named Vessani S’Kaari.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cleric’s brow beaded with sudden sweat, though he tried to put on a brave face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A woman whom you now believe holds the key to unraveling the mystery behind the Scourging. Or, at least, the part of it I care about most.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus swallowed with an audible gulp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The wonders the Guardian Deities wrought upon the solar system are clear for all to see.” Xormun gestured to their surroundings. “They constructed countless habitats like this ring. They tore apart moons, whole planets even, and harvested matter from Sol itself to build whatever humanity asked of them. They reshaped the solar system as if it were but a mound of clay in their hands. How amazing they must have been to witness. How awe-inspiring. How … utterly terrifying.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus turned away, but Xormun took hold of his chin and forced the cleric to face him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Tell me, what kind of weapon would be needed to kill such a being?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We haven’t found anything!” Anterus cried, his speech distorted by Xormun’s grip.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But you suspect. And that suspicion is enough for me. The ‘War in Heaven,’ indeed. Gods killing gods. And you believe you’re close to finding one such device. A pentatech relic that shattered the solar system and brought about the Age of Silence.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No! You’re mistaken! We haven’t found anything! It’s a theory! Harmless speculation, nothing more!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then why do you look so worried?” Xormun asked. “No, don’t bother answering. Let’s cut to the heart of the matter, shall we?” He nodded to the commandos. They uncuffed Anterus while keeping him restrained, and one of them forced the cleric’s splayed hand against the altar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What are you doing?!” he blurted, his breaths shallow and quick, his face flushed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Allow me to explain what happens next. I’m going to ask you a series of questions, and you’re going to give me truthful and complete answers. You might hold some delusions about resisting, but rest assured I’m something of an expert in these matters. Your efforts won’t change the end result. You will tell me what I want to know, even if nothing remains of you when I’m done besides a pile of quivering meat.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun drew a knife and held it up for Anterus to see. Then he placed the tip of the blade underneath the nail of the man’s ring finger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Stop!” Anterus pleaded. “I … I’ll tell you everything!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know you will.” Xormun pushed the blade into the soft flesh under the man’s nail, drawing blood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll tell you everything!” The cleric’s legs thrashed vainly underneath him, his body in the iron grip of the commandos. “Everything!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know you will,” Xormun repeated softly, almost kindly. “This is merely so you and I can reach an understanding. So that you realize how serious I am.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe thrust the knife all the way under the nail, then levered it upward, ripping the nail free as the cleric cried out in pain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Jacob \u0026 H.P. Holo ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54597822578979,"sku":null,"price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Catgirls_GOLD_FOIL_Edition_Paperback_SIGNED_Shopify.png?v=1784753140"},{"product_id":"print-catgirls-from-outer-space-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Catgirls from Outer Space PAPERBACK","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium PAPERBACK:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!-- x-tinymce\/html --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/catgirls-from-outer-space\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA down on his luck spaceship captain? An ex-space pirate catgirl? A catgirl warrior who’s down for some wild … adventure? Only one question remains: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWant to make some kittens tonight?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCaptain Nathan Kade just wants a quick job \u003c\/strong\u003eto keep his busted-up spaceship limping through the Solar System.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInstead he gets Vessani S’Kaari, a mysterious and beautiful catgirl\u003c\/strong\u003e who tried—and failed—to steal a ship belonging to a band of space pirates. She’s chaos in a tight catsuit, but she also has a lead on what may be the greatest treasure trove of lost technology the Solar System has ever seen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNot to mention a really nice … tail. \u003c\/strong\u003eHe pulls that tail out of the fire, and together they assemble a team to seek out this long-lost bounty.\u003cstrong\u003e Soon, he’s commanding a ragtag crew of space cowboys:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eA warrior catgirl who’s as deadly with a wink as her blade\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eA snarky multi-bodied robot commando pilot\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eA sexy engineer who knows how to make a reactor purr\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eAnd a grumpy, cyber-implanted cleric who whispers with the remnants of ancient gods\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eThey’ll dodge spaceship fire, flirt with danger (and each other), and maybe—just maybe—make the score of a lifetime.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBut they’re not the only ones chasing the prize. \u003c\/strong\u003eThe Jovian Everlife has dispatched a fleet of warships with one of their elite, many-bodied agents in command, and he’d like a few words with Nathan and his catgirls—preferably in chains.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGuns will blaze. Spaceships will burn. Tails will swish.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnd somewhere in all that mayhem, a broke captain might just find everything he never knew he wanted.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eEmbark on the adventure of a lifetime with national bestselling author Jacob Holo and Amazon bestselling author Edie Skye in this brand new science fiction standalone. If you’re a fan of wild futuristic technology, wilder catgirls, and spicy scrappy crew space opera, this just might be the story you’ve been waiting for.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eCatgirls from Outer Space\u003c\/em\u003e is a fast-paced, action-packed sci-fi adventure romance for men where the hero saves the day and gets all the girls. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTROPES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExtra Spicy Fast Burn Romance\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHeroic Broke Spaceship Captain MMC\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBadass Catgirl FMCs\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSmut with Feelings\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLots of Snark and Banter\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSmall Harem (MFFF)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eQuest\/Treasure Hunt Across Space\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eScrappy\/Ragtag Crew\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSpace Western\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eNOTE: The first edition of this novel was originally released by Baen Books as Freelancers of Neptune by Jacob Holo. This second edition features additional content and character arcs contributed by Edie Skye. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eFor readers unfamiliar with Edie Skye, there will be spice and its doors will be WAAAAY open. For readers unfamiliar with Jacob Holo, there will be math but it will be fade to black.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e⭐\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e⭐\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“The sci-fi elements flowed well with the spicy bits. It’s every man’s (and quite a few women’s) fantasy as well.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“This is a seat-of-your-pants space adventure with drool-worthy interludes!”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Humorous Action Adventure with Catgirls!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“This story has a lot more going for it than the catgirls. Don't get me wrong, they're amazing, but the adventure here, the fascinating universe of the setting, the hints of mysteries and dangers out there, it is all great.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“A fast-paced enjoyable read” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“The cover tells you exactly what you'll get - but there is a lot more than that also.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“A fantastic book with more swishing cat tail than you can shake a stick at!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Fantastic writing and well developed, funny, interesting characters.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Put simply, this book is better than an 80 pack of Jimmy Dean sausages!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“If you like the cover, you'll like the book.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Holo \u0026amp; Skye Weave a Great Tail, er Tale \u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e😉\u003c\/span\u003e” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Well, Edie has done it again. A nicely spiced space opera.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“More spiciness than a hot sauce competition!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/catgirls-from-outer-space\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #0f1111; background: white;\"\u003e\u003c!-- x-tinymce\/html --\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from CATGIRLS FROM OUTER SPACE:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe habitat ring glittered in the vacuum of space, and Galatt Xormun watched the growing image with patient, predatory eyes. He didn’t consider himself an evil man, but he also held no illusions about the nature of his work, and especially the nature of this latest assignment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe was here to kidnap a man.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then squeeze him for information.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter that, who could really say?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOh, the wording of his orders from the Jovian Everlife—received in hushed tones and with carefully structured deniability—never used the words “kidnap” or “torture” or phrases like “Be your usual ruthless self. It’s why we’re sending you,” but Xormun knew how to read between the lines, and his superiors knew how to write there as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis orders were clear enough to him, and that’s all he and his crew needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSomeone has to do the dirty work, he thought with a wry grin. Might as well be a persona who’ll get the job done!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe studied the ring with silver-within-black eyes, themselves situated in an angular, gold-skinned face. Not gold-en. Not tanned or burnt like some piece of revolting meat, but metallic gold etched with intricate traceries that gave his face a regal bearing. His current body stood on the bridge of the Leviathan of Io, ramrod straight with hands clasped in the small of his back despite the three gees of acceleration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe habitat he now studied was remarkable only in how unremarkable it appeared. It was an open ring three thousand kilometers in diameter and five hundred fifty wide with atmospheric retention walls two hundred kilometers tall on either side of the ring’s habitable interior. A combination of the retention walls and centrifugal force kept the air from escaping.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA sheen of black solar skin coated the ring’s exterior, providing power to its ancient systems, which included an artificial light source at the hub stabilized by three slender spokes. The megastructure was angled so that the habitable zones never experienced Sol’s direct light. Instead, the sun-orb recreated the twenty-four-hour days so common amongst the solar system’s hundreds of thousands of habitats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll totaled, the ring featured a little over five million square kilometers of living space. Barely .01 earths of land. Not all that impressive, especially when he considered his own home—the two shell bands around Jupiter—boasted over twenty-three earths of surface area.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to his mission brief, the locals called this place Kirkwood, and the name struck Xormun as appropriate. Over sixty percent of the ring’s interior was covered in a wide variety of woodlands: predominantly greens but with splotches of dark blues, purples, blacks, and even a few slashes of deep reds. A smattering of lakes took up most of the remaining space, with primitive cities seeded along their shores, often built near the ruins of more advanced structures. No census had been conducted on the ring, though informal estimates ran between ten and twenty million inhabitants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe locals were not his concern, however. They were mid-tech nobodies with no access to spaceships. In all likelihood, they and their ancestors had been stuck on this ring for four millennia, and they could stay there and rot for all he cared.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo, his mission involved a visiting group of Saturnian missionaries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr rather, one specific cleric named Anterus vaan Kronya.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Leviathan of Io reached a relative stop with the habitat, and its massive fusion thrusters switched off. The kilometer-long cruiser could land on the ring if the mission required, descending upon it like a dark, angular skyscraper, but why bother when its support corvettes were far more suited to the task at hand?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun floated off the floor and—with a frown—pressed a hand against the low ceiling to push himself back down. The ship’s pilot spun in her seat and faced Xormun. She’d had the sense to strap in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Ship in position, Apex,\u0026gt; the pilot reported, transmitting her words wirelessly to him. Her body possessed vocal cords, but they were useless while the bridge remained in vacuum. The Leviathan’s interior could be pressurized, and soon would be once their “guest” was brought on board.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun gave her a brief nod and floated closer to the main visual-glass. A white diamond blinked next to one of the ring’s cities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;How certain are we he’s there?\u0026gt; he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Almost guaranteed, Apex,\u0026gt; replied one of his data analysts. \u0026lt;It’s the only location on the ring transmitting a Saturnian locator beacon.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;How considerate of them.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Now that we have an angle down into the interior, our telescopes can make out a modular structure on the outskirts of this city.\u0026gt; The analyst indicated a cluster of linked rectangles next to the icon. \u0026lt;We believe it’s a missionary prefab, since it’s the source of the beacon and it doesn’t resemble other nearby buildings.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun nodded as the analyst finished. Jovians almost always referred to each other by position when on duty, and he, as the ship’s apex, formed the eye at the top of the vessel’s mind-copy pyramid. He’d be addressed as “captain” on a Saturnian or Neptunian ship, but such narrow definitions were for people limited to a single body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt present, twenty distinct Galatt Xormuns served on the Leviathan of Io, and more could be activated if needed. That few may not have seemed significant for a ship staffed with over five thousand bodies, but he’d ensured his copies filled the roles that would benefit most from his personal supervision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking of which … \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun linked with a body in the hangar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Yes, Apex?\u0026gt; The response came from his copy aboard one of eight corvettes, berthed on the Leviathan and prepped for launch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Is your team ready?\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;It is.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Any concerns?\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;None at present. If there are surprises, my commandos will take care of it. We’re ready to deploy on your command.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Then execute.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe corvette descended through the ring’s atmosphere, and Galatt Xormun stood in the cargo hold beside a dozen Jovian commandos, each resplendent in red armor trimmed with gold highlights and armed with a combination of lethal and nonlethal weaponry. Their triangular, unmoving heads all faced the closed forward ramp, ready to charge out at a moment’s notice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe corvette jostled from its descent through the atmosphere, and Xormun adjusted his footing, one hand gripping a handhold along the wall. This version of him wasn’t the apex, but that didn’t cloud his view of the larger picture, of the absolute necessity to bring Anterus in alive if his mission were to succeed. If anything, it heightened his awareness of every potential problem, impressing upon his mind the need to complete his objectives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLater, back on the Leviathan, his memories would be reintegrated into the core Galatt Xormun persona, retaining this version’s experiences for future copies. But for now, he was an individual—separate and distinct—and he focused on his goal with singular intensity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe turbulence ebbed, and the hum from the thrusters tapered off. The hold had already been filled with breathable air, its pressure equalized with the ring’s surface environment, and the sounds of their descent filled the vessel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Star Dragon-pattern corvette was a rare sight even in the Jovian Everlife, and the Leviathan carried eight of them. The craft’s sleek, black hull widened slightly toward the rear, ending in a pair of thrust-vectoring nozzles. Flared sections on either side of the cockpit resembled thick, stubby wings that housed the craft’s recessed weapon systems, which in this case included a pair of 37mm rail-repeaters and eight torpedoes. A thruster capped the end of each wing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStar Dragon arsenals could vary greatly depending on the mission, with options to carry even more weaponry on external racks above and below the wing stubs, though these were rarely used. External weapons often compromised the craft’s stealth profile to an unacceptable level.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun didn’t believe all those weapons—along with the commandos’ lethal armaments—would be required to nab Anterus, but he also believed in being prepared, and he knew how this mission could end up shifting the balance of power across the entire solar system.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ramp opened, and orb-light spilled into the dark cargo hold. The commandos rushed out, each leaping off the ramp to plummet to the ground dozens of meters. Xormun approached the ramp but didn’t jump off; instead, he kept his hand on a side railing while the corvette circled the target building.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe structure was a collection of six modular blocks conjoined into a neat, curving row along a lakeside clearing. Teal-leafed trees towered nearby but provided no shade from the sun-orb’s light, always fixed at noon. His commandos had landed in a rough oval around the complex, and they moved in with rifles raised.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe attack—if it could even be called that—didn’t last long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Target acquired,\u0026gt; reported one of the commandos. \u0026lt;Three others subdued, one local and two Saturnians by the looks of them. Ready for extraction.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Take us down,\u0026gt; Xormun ordered the corvette’s pilot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Yes, sir.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe corvette spun its four nozzles and descended in a steep, slow diagonal until it came to rest along the shoreline. Xormun let go once the craft came to a complete stop and hurried down the ramp. His skin gleamed under the sun-orb’s light—silver instead of the gold he preferred when acting as apex—and he strode toward the Saturnian building. The warm breeze and sparse clouds overhead told him it would be a pleasant day as the sun-orb brightened toward noon-light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe passed through a pair of breached double doors, one on the floor and the other hanging on by a single, bent hinge. The module contained a short hall lined with open doors at regular intervals. He peeked inside a few, finding what might have been classrooms. One of them contained three individuals on their stomachs, hands bound behind their backs with a pair of commandos standing watch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe local woman struck Xormun as a typical baseline human, or at least close enough to pass as one, with a cascade of blonde hair tousled over moist, frightened eyes. He wasn’t sure how much the habitat’s locals diverged from baseline, and he didn’t really care.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two Saturnian clerics were obvious enough with metallic hints of cranial implants scattered across their bald heads. Their two wigs were on the floor nearby. Not all members of the Church of the Pentatheon accepted—or even wanted—such neural augmentations, but they were common enough to make the clergy stand out more often than not. Xormun continued on with little more than a glance; these three were unimportant, which made them the lucky ones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe hall led into the next module with a slight bend, opening to a chamber that must have served as the mission’s worship center. Rows of pews faced an altar draped in royal purple cloth and adorned with five idols of colored glass, one for each Guardian Deity in the Pentatheon. Two of the idols had been knocked over, and one had rolled dangerously close to the edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus vaan Kronya lay on the floor in front of the altar, his arms bound behind his back and four commandos standing watch. He was a somewhat overweight man with a round face, his implants glinting along his scalp like little coins.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now, now,” Xormun scolded. “There’s no need for that. Get the good man to his feet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo commandos hefted Anterus upright. The man’s feet dangled beneath him for a moment before he found his footing and the commandos released him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry about that.” Xormun dusted off the cleric’s purple robe, then straightened it at the shoulders. “There. Isn’t that better?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who are you?” Anterus demanded, his face reddened and twisted in scornful defiance. “What is the meaning of this?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Galatt Xormun of the Jovian Everlife.” He placed a hand on his chest and dipped his head to the cleric. “And before we discuss the meaning of our … visit”—he flashed a quick smile—“it seems we made a mess of your altar. If you’ll grant me a moment to tidy things up?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t seem to have a choice.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Indeed.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun stepped over to the altar and stood up the idols for Edencraft and Pathfinder. He adjusted the position of Metatron so the idols formed a neat row once more and picked up a piece of lint in front of Codex before flicking it aside. Only one of the five idols remained untouched, and he eyed it with a hint of scorn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe five machine gods of the Pentatheon had served as humanity’s caretakers for tens of thousands of years, overseeing what most scholars believed was an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUntil the Guardian Deities fell silent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd it all came crashing down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRepresentations of those ancient, hyperintelligent machines varied wildly, even within the Church, but the green glass of a cornucopia filled with all manner of fauna and flora could only be Divergence. No other Guardian Deity was so inexorably tied to the organic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun placed a finger atop the cornucopia and rolled it over the table’s edge. It fell to the ground and shattered in an explosion of broken glass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus flinched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There,” Xormun declared contently. “Much better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe made the zigzagged sign of the Tetrad, pressing two fingers to his forehead, then each of his shoulders in turn, and finally his chest. He dipped his head to the altar then turned back to the cleric.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If it’s a theological debate you’re looking for,” Anterus spat, “I’m afraid you’re going about this the wrong way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Funny you should mention theology.” Xormun stood before the cleric, his boots crunching on glass shards. “That’s actually what brought us here today. Or, to be more precise, a combination of theology and history. Would you mind if I asked you about the Scourging of Heaven?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whatever for?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Intellectual curiosity. As it happens, the Scourging is linked to my work. Tell me, what do you believe happened back then?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Class resumes at nine tomorrow morning. Come back then if you want to talk, and”—he struggled against the commandos holding him up—“leave your goons at home!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My good sir.” Xormun placed a gentle hand on the cleric’s shoulder. “I know we only just met, but you should understand I’m a busy man, and I dislike it when people waste my time. Now, again, why don’t you indulge me and share your thoughts on the Scourging?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I fail to see the point in all this, but fine. The Scourging of Heaven is the event where the Pentatheon fell silent.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Which ended the Age of Communion—an age where anyone could speak to our Guardian Deities—and ushered in our current Age of Silence.” Xormun took his hand away and nodded. “A simple, if uninspired, answer. As for why they stopped responding to humanity, I find that a much more fascinating topic. Both major religions—the Church of the Pentatheon and followers of the Tetrad—call this event the Scourging of Heaven, though sometimes also the War in Heaven. Now why do you think that is?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nothing more than regional differences in how the Scourging is interpreted.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But is it really that simple? Consider, for a moment, that it was indeed a war. Does a war not imply battles? If so, who fought whom? Were our gods wounded? Were they killed? Who were they fighting? Was it some external threat, like the fabled Devil of Proxima? Or were they, perhaps, fighting a threat closer to home? Did Divergence really betray the Four?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s a hallmark of your Tetrad faith,” Anterus bit out. “Not mine. And it’s a view enshrined by your people’s anti-organic mindset, and your rejection of Divergence.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Perhaps. The truth is neither of us knows what really happened. We can debate the matter until … well, one of us is blue in the face, but it won’t get us anywhere. And really, what would be the point?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then why are you here?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because, my good sir”—Xormun flashed a sinister smile—“you’ve learned something about the Scourging, haven’t you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What could possibly make you think that—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Conversations with your former student,” Xormun interrupted, still holding that smile. “A certain engineer named Josephine Cotton.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus gasped. “But how could you—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Easily intercepted conversations, I might add,” Xormun explained with a dismissive wave. “They make for interesting reading. Theories about the Scourging, along with mentions of a second individual. A woman named Vessani S’Kaari.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cleric’s brow beaded with sudden sweat, though he tried to put on a brave face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A woman whom you now believe holds the key to unraveling the mystery behind the Scourging. Or, at least, the part of it I care about most.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus swallowed with an audible gulp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The wonders the Guardian Deities wrought upon the solar system are clear for all to see.” Xormun gestured to their surroundings. “They constructed countless habitats like this ring. They tore apart moons, whole planets even, and harvested matter from Sol itself to build whatever humanity asked of them. They reshaped the solar system as if it were but a mound of clay in their hands. How amazing they must have been to witness. How awe-inspiring. How … utterly terrifying.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus turned away, but Xormun took hold of his chin and forced the cleric to face him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Tell me, what kind of weapon would be needed to kill such a being?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We haven’t found anything!” Anterus cried, his speech distorted by Xormun’s grip.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But you suspect. And that suspicion is enough for me. The ‘War in Heaven,’ indeed. Gods killing gods. And you believe you’re close to finding one such device. A pentatech relic that shattered the solar system and brought about the Age of Silence.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No! You’re mistaken! We haven’t found anything! It’s a theory! Harmless speculation, nothing more!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then why do you look so worried?” Xormun asked. “No, don’t bother answering. Let’s cut to the heart of the matter, shall we?” He nodded to the commandos. They uncuffed Anterus while keeping him restrained, and one of them forced the cleric’s splayed hand against the altar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What are you doing?!” he blurted, his breaths shallow and quick, his face flushed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Allow me to explain what happens next. I’m going to ask you a series of questions, and you’re going to give me truthful and complete answers. You might hold some delusions about resisting, but rest assured I’m something of an expert in these matters. Your efforts won’t change the end result. You will tell me what I want to know, even if nothing remains of you when I’m done besides a pile of quivering meat.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun drew a knife and held it up for Anterus to see. Then he placed the tip of the blade underneath the nail of the man’s ring finger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Stop!” Anterus pleaded. “I … I’ll tell you everything!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know you will.” Xormun pushed the blade into the soft flesh under the man’s nail, drawing blood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll tell you everything!” The cleric’s legs thrashed vainly underneath him, his body in the iron grip of the commandos. “Everything!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know you will,” Xormun repeated softly, almost kindly. “This is merely so you and I can reach an understanding. So that you realize how serious I am.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe thrust the knife all the way under the nail, then levered it upward, ripping the nail free as the cleric cried out in pain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Jacob \u0026 H.P. Holo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54597834277155,"sku":null,"price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Catgirls_STANDARD_Edition_Paperback_SIGNED_Shopify.jpg?v=1766247045"},{"product_id":"print-catgirls-from-outer-space-signed-paperback-iridescent-foil-painted-edges-premium-edition-copy","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Catgirls from Outer Space (Paperback - Iridescent Foil \u0026 Painted Edges Premium Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium PAPERBACK with IRIDESCENT FOIL and PAINTED EDGES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003eSome dude called an author pal's book \"too girly for sci-fi\" whilst I was in the midst of designing the original cover, so I harnessed my combined powers of smartassery and graphic design and created this 💋 I AM BECOME PINK, DESTROYER OF MAN 💋 edition. 💋\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!-- x-tinymce\/html --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/catgirls-from-outer-space\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA down on his luck spaceship captain? An ex-space pirate catgirl? A catgirl warrior who’s down for some wild … adventure? Only one question remains: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWant to make some kittens tonight?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCaptain Nathan Kade just wants a quick job \u003c\/strong\u003eto keep his busted-up spaceship limping through the Solar System.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInstead he gets Vessani S’Kaari, a mysterious and beautiful catgirl\u003c\/strong\u003e who tried—and failed—to steal a ship belonging to a band of space pirates. She’s chaos in a tight catsuit, but she also has a lead on what may be the greatest treasure trove of lost technology the Solar System has ever seen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNot to mention a really nice … tail. \u003c\/strong\u003eHe pulls that tail out of the fire, and together they assemble a team to seek out this long-lost bounty.\u003cstrong\u003e Soon, he’s commanding a ragtag crew of space cowboys:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eA warrior catgirl who’s as deadly with a wink as her blade\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eA snarky multi-bodied robot commando pilot\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eA sexy engineer who knows how to make a reactor purr\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eAnd a grumpy, cyber-implanted cleric who whispers with the remnants of ancient gods\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eThey’ll dodge spaceship fire, flirt with danger (and each other), and maybe—just maybe—make the score of a lifetime.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBut they’re not the only ones chasing the prize. \u003c\/strong\u003eThe Jovian Everlife has dispatched a fleet of warships with one of their elite, many-bodied agents in command, and he’d like a few words with Nathan and his catgirls—preferably in chains.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGuns will blaze. Spaceships will burn. Tails will swish.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnd somewhere in all that mayhem, a broke captain might just find everything he never knew he wanted.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eEmbark on the adventure of a lifetime with national bestselling author Jacob Holo and Amazon bestselling author Edie Skye in this brand new science fiction standalone. If you’re a fan of wild futuristic technology, wilder catgirls, and spicy scrappy crew space opera, this just might be the story you’ve been waiting for.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eCatgirls from Outer Space\u003c\/em\u003e is a fast-paced, action-packed sci-fi adventure romance for men where the hero saves the day and gets all the girls. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTROPES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExtra Spicy Fast Burn Romance\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHeroic Broke Spaceship Captain MMC\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBadass Catgirl FMCs\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSmut with Feelings\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLots of Snark and Banter\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSmall Harem (MFFF)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eQuest\/Treasure Hunt Across Space\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eScrappy\/Ragtag Crew\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSpace Western\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eNOTE: The first edition of this novel was originally released by Baen Books as Freelancers of Neptune by Jacob Holo. This second edition features additional content and character arcs contributed by Edie Skye. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eFor readers unfamiliar with Edie Skye, there will be spice and its doors will be WAAAAY open. For readers unfamiliar with Jacob Holo, there will be math but it will be fade to black.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e⭐\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e⭐\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“The sci-fi elements flowed well with the spicy bits. It’s every man’s (and quite a few women’s) fantasy as well.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“This is a seat-of-your-pants space adventure with drool-worthy interludes!”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Humorous Action Adventure with Catgirls!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“This story has a lot more going for it than the catgirls. Don't get me wrong, they're amazing, but the adventure here, the fascinating universe of the setting, the hints of mysteries and dangers out there, it is all great.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“A fast-paced enjoyable read” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“The cover tells you exactly what you'll get - but there is a lot more than that also.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“A fantastic book with more swishing cat tail than you can shake a stick at!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Fantastic writing and well developed, funny, interesting characters.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Put simply, this book is better than an 80 pack of Jimmy Dean sausages!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“If you like the cover, you'll like the book.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Holo \u0026amp; Skye Weave a Great Tail, er Tale \u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji',sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Segoe UI Emoji';\"\u003e😉\u003c\/span\u003e” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Well, Edie has done it again. A nicely spiced space opera.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“More spiciness than a hot sauce competition!” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel with iridescent foil and painted edges.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/catgirls-from-outer-space\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #0f1111; background: white;\"\u003e\u003c!-- x-tinymce\/html --\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from CATGIRLS FROM OUTER SPACE:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe habitat ring glittered in the vacuum of space, and Galatt Xormun watched the growing image with patient, predatory eyes. He didn’t consider himself an evil man, but he also held no illusions about the nature of his work, and especially the nature of this latest assignment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe was here to kidnap a man.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then squeeze him for information.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter that, who could really say?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOh, the wording of his orders from the Jovian Everlife—received in hushed tones and with carefully structured deniability—never used the words “kidnap” or “torture” or phrases like “Be your usual ruthless self. It’s why we’re sending you,” but Xormun knew how to read between the lines, and his superiors knew how to write there as well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis orders were clear enough to him, and that’s all he and his crew needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSomeone has to do the dirty work, he thought with a wry grin. Might as well be a persona who’ll get the job done!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe studied the ring with silver-within-black eyes, themselves situated in an angular, gold-skinned face. Not gold-en. Not tanned or burnt like some piece of revolting meat, but metallic gold etched with intricate traceries that gave his face a regal bearing. His current body stood on the bridge of the Leviathan of Io, ramrod straight with hands clasped in the small of his back despite the three gees of acceleration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe habitat he now studied was remarkable only in how unremarkable it appeared. It was an open ring three thousand kilometers in diameter and five hundred fifty wide with atmospheric retention walls two hundred kilometers tall on either side of the ring’s habitable interior. A combination of the retention walls and centrifugal force kept the air from escaping.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA sheen of black solar skin coated the ring’s exterior, providing power to its ancient systems, which included an artificial light source at the hub stabilized by three slender spokes. The megastructure was angled so that the habitable zones never experienced Sol’s direct light. Instead, the sun-orb recreated the twenty-four-hour days so common amongst the solar system’s hundreds of thousands of habitats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll totaled, the ring featured a little over five million square kilometers of living space. Barely .01 earths of land. Not all that impressive, especially when he considered his own home—the two shell bands around Jupiter—boasted over twenty-three earths of surface area.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to his mission brief, the locals called this place Kirkwood, and the name struck Xormun as appropriate. Over sixty percent of the ring’s interior was covered in a wide variety of woodlands: predominantly greens but with splotches of dark blues, purples, blacks, and even a few slashes of deep reds. A smattering of lakes took up most of the remaining space, with primitive cities seeded along their shores, often built near the ruins of more advanced structures. No census had been conducted on the ring, though informal estimates ran between ten and twenty million inhabitants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe locals were not his concern, however. They were mid-tech nobodies with no access to spaceships. In all likelihood, they and their ancestors had been stuck on this ring for four millennia, and they could stay there and rot for all he cared.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo, his mission involved a visiting group of Saturnian missionaries.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr rather, one specific cleric named Anterus vaan Kronya.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Leviathan of Io reached a relative stop with the habitat, and its massive fusion thrusters switched off. The kilometer-long cruiser could land on the ring if the mission required, descending upon it like a dark, angular skyscraper, but why bother when its support corvettes were far more suited to the task at hand?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun floated off the floor and—with a frown—pressed a hand against the low ceiling to push himself back down. The ship’s pilot spun in her seat and faced Xormun. She’d had the sense to strap in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Ship in position, Apex,\u0026gt; the pilot reported, transmitting her words wirelessly to him. Her body possessed vocal cords, but they were useless while the bridge remained in vacuum. The Leviathan’s interior could be pressurized, and soon would be once their “guest” was brought on board.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun gave her a brief nod and floated closer to the main visual-glass. A white diamond blinked next to one of the ring’s cities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;How certain are we he’s there?\u0026gt; he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Almost guaranteed, Apex,\u0026gt; replied one of his data analysts. \u0026lt;It’s the only location on the ring transmitting a Saturnian locator beacon.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;How considerate of them.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Now that we have an angle down into the interior, our telescopes can make out a modular structure on the outskirts of this city.\u0026gt; The analyst indicated a cluster of linked rectangles next to the icon. \u0026lt;We believe it’s a missionary prefab, since it’s the source of the beacon and it doesn’t resemble other nearby buildings.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun nodded as the analyst finished. Jovians almost always referred to each other by position when on duty, and he, as the ship’s apex, formed the eye at the top of the vessel’s mind-copy pyramid. He’d be addressed as “captain” on a Saturnian or Neptunian ship, but such narrow definitions were for people limited to a single body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt present, twenty distinct Galatt Xormuns served on the Leviathan of Io, and more could be activated if needed. That few may not have seemed significant for a ship staffed with over five thousand bodies, but he’d ensured his copies filled the roles that would benefit most from his personal supervision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking of which … \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun linked with a body in the hangar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Yes, Apex?\u0026gt; The response came from his copy aboard one of eight corvettes, berthed on the Leviathan and prepped for launch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Is your team ready?\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;It is.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Any concerns?\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;None at present. If there are surprises, my commandos will take care of it. We’re ready to deploy on your command.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Then execute.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe corvette descended through the ring’s atmosphere, and Galatt Xormun stood in the cargo hold beside a dozen Jovian commandos, each resplendent in red armor trimmed with gold highlights and armed with a combination of lethal and nonlethal weaponry. Their triangular, unmoving heads all faced the closed forward ramp, ready to charge out at a moment’s notice.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe corvette jostled from its descent through the atmosphere, and Xormun adjusted his footing, one hand gripping a handhold along the wall. This version of him wasn’t the apex, but that didn’t cloud his view of the larger picture, of the absolute necessity to bring Anterus in alive if his mission were to succeed. If anything, it heightened his awareness of every potential problem, impressing upon his mind the need to complete his objectives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLater, back on the Leviathan, his memories would be reintegrated into the core Galatt Xormun persona, retaining this version’s experiences for future copies. But for now, he was an individual—separate and distinct—and he focused on his goal with singular intensity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe turbulence ebbed, and the hum from the thrusters tapered off. The hold had already been filled with breathable air, its pressure equalized with the ring’s surface environment, and the sounds of their descent filled the vessel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Star Dragon-pattern corvette was a rare sight even in the Jovian Everlife, and the Leviathan carried eight of them. The craft’s sleek, black hull widened slightly toward the rear, ending in a pair of thrust-vectoring nozzles. Flared sections on either side of the cockpit resembled thick, stubby wings that housed the craft’s recessed weapon systems, which in this case included a pair of 37mm rail-repeaters and eight torpedoes. A thruster capped the end of each wing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStar Dragon arsenals could vary greatly depending on the mission, with options to carry even more weaponry on external racks above and below the wing stubs, though these were rarely used. External weapons often compromised the craft’s stealth profile to an unacceptable level.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun didn’t believe all those weapons—along with the commandos’ lethal armaments—would be required to nab Anterus, but he also believed in being prepared, and he knew how this mission could end up shifting the balance of power across the entire solar system.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe ramp opened, and orb-light spilled into the dark cargo hold. The commandos rushed out, each leaping off the ramp to plummet to the ground dozens of meters. Xormun approached the ramp but didn’t jump off; instead, he kept his hand on a side railing while the corvette circled the target building.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe structure was a collection of six modular blocks conjoined into a neat, curving row along a lakeside clearing. Teal-leafed trees towered nearby but provided no shade from the sun-orb’s light, always fixed at noon. His commandos had landed in a rough oval around the complex, and they moved in with rifles raised.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe attack—if it could even be called that—didn’t last long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Target acquired,\u0026gt; reported one of the commandos. \u0026lt;Three others subdued, one local and two Saturnians by the looks of them. Ready for extraction.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Take us down,\u0026gt; Xormun ordered the corvette’s pilot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026lt;Yes, sir.\u0026gt;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe corvette spun its four nozzles and descended in a steep, slow diagonal until it came to rest along the shoreline. Xormun let go once the craft came to a complete stop and hurried down the ramp. His skin gleamed under the sun-orb’s light—silver instead of the gold he preferred when acting as apex—and he strode toward the Saturnian building. The warm breeze and sparse clouds overhead told him it would be a pleasant day as the sun-orb brightened toward noon-light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe passed through a pair of breached double doors, one on the floor and the other hanging on by a single, bent hinge. The module contained a short hall lined with open doors at regular intervals. He peeked inside a few, finding what might have been classrooms. One of them contained three individuals on their stomachs, hands bound behind their backs with a pair of commandos standing watch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe local woman struck Xormun as a typical baseline human, or at least close enough to pass as one, with a cascade of blonde hair tousled over moist, frightened eyes. He wasn’t sure how much the habitat’s locals diverged from baseline, and he didn’t really care.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two Saturnian clerics were obvious enough with metallic hints of cranial implants scattered across their bald heads. Their two wigs were on the floor nearby. Not all members of the Church of the Pentatheon accepted—or even wanted—such neural augmentations, but they were common enough to make the clergy stand out more often than not. Xormun continued on with little more than a glance; these three were unimportant, which made them the lucky ones.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe hall led into the next module with a slight bend, opening to a chamber that must have served as the mission’s worship center. Rows of pews faced an altar draped in royal purple cloth and adorned with five idols of colored glass, one for each Guardian Deity in the Pentatheon. Two of the idols had been knocked over, and one had rolled dangerously close to the edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus vaan Kronya lay on the floor in front of the altar, his arms bound behind his back and four commandos standing watch. He was a somewhat overweight man with a round face, his implants glinting along his scalp like little coins.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now, now,” Xormun scolded. “There’s no need for that. Get the good man to his feet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo commandos hefted Anterus upright. The man’s feet dangled beneath him for a moment before he found his footing and the commandos released him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry about that.” Xormun dusted off the cleric’s purple robe, then straightened it at the shoulders. “There. Isn’t that better?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who are you?” Anterus demanded, his face reddened and twisted in scornful defiance. “What is the meaning of this?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Galatt Xormun of the Jovian Everlife.” He placed a hand on his chest and dipped his head to the cleric. “And before we discuss the meaning of our … visit”—he flashed a quick smile—“it seems we made a mess of your altar. If you’ll grant me a moment to tidy things up?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t seem to have a choice.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Indeed.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun stepped over to the altar and stood up the idols for Edencraft and Pathfinder. He adjusted the position of Metatron so the idols formed a neat row once more and picked up a piece of lint in front of Codex before flicking it aside. Only one of the five idols remained untouched, and he eyed it with a hint of scorn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe five machine gods of the Pentatheon had served as humanity’s caretakers for tens of thousands of years, overseeing what most scholars believed was an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUntil the Guardian Deities fell silent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd it all came crashing down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRepresentations of those ancient, hyperintelligent machines varied wildly, even within the Church, but the green glass of a cornucopia filled with all manner of fauna and flora could only be Divergence. No other Guardian Deity was so inexorably tied to the organic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun placed a finger atop the cornucopia and rolled it over the table’s edge. It fell to the ground and shattered in an explosion of broken glass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus flinched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There,” Xormun declared contently. “Much better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe made the zigzagged sign of the Tetrad, pressing two fingers to his forehead, then each of his shoulders in turn, and finally his chest. He dipped his head to the altar then turned back to the cleric.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If it’s a theological debate you’re looking for,” Anterus spat, “I’m afraid you’re going about this the wrong way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Funny you should mention theology.” Xormun stood before the cleric, his boots crunching on glass shards. “That’s actually what brought us here today. Or, to be more precise, a combination of theology and history. Would you mind if I asked you about the Scourging of Heaven?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whatever for?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Intellectual curiosity. As it happens, the Scourging is linked to my work. Tell me, what do you believe happened back then?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Class resumes at nine tomorrow morning. Come back then if you want to talk, and”—he struggled against the commandos holding him up—“leave your goons at home!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My good sir.” Xormun placed a gentle hand on the cleric’s shoulder. “I know we only just met, but you should understand I’m a busy man, and I dislike it when people waste my time. Now, again, why don’t you indulge me and share your thoughts on the Scourging?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I fail to see the point in all this, but fine. The Scourging of Heaven is the event where the Pentatheon fell silent.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Which ended the Age of Communion—an age where anyone could speak to our Guardian Deities—and ushered in our current Age of Silence.” Xormun took his hand away and nodded. “A simple, if uninspired, answer. As for why they stopped responding to humanity, I find that a much more fascinating topic. Both major religions—the Church of the Pentatheon and followers of the Tetrad—call this event the Scourging of Heaven, though sometimes also the War in Heaven. Now why do you think that is?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nothing more than regional differences in how the Scourging is interpreted.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But is it really that simple? Consider, for a moment, that it was indeed a war. Does a war not imply battles? If so, who fought whom? Were our gods wounded? Were they killed? Who were they fighting? Was it some external threat, like the fabled Devil of Proxima? Or were they, perhaps, fighting a threat closer to home? Did Divergence really betray the Four?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s a hallmark of your Tetrad faith,” Anterus bit out. “Not mine. And it’s a view enshrined by your people’s anti-organic mindset, and your rejection of Divergence.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Perhaps. The truth is neither of us knows what really happened. We can debate the matter until … well, one of us is blue in the face, but it won’t get us anywhere. And really, what would be the point?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then why are you here?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because, my good sir”—Xormun flashed a sinister smile—“you’ve learned something about the Scourging, haven’t you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What could possibly make you think that—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Conversations with your former student,” Xormun interrupted, still holding that smile. “A certain engineer named Josephine Cotton.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus gasped. “But how could you—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Easily intercepted conversations, I might add,” Xormun explained with a dismissive wave. “They make for interesting reading. Theories about the Scourging, along with mentions of a second individual. A woman named Vessani S’Kaari.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cleric’s brow beaded with sudden sweat, though he tried to put on a brave face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A woman whom you now believe holds the key to unraveling the mystery behind the Scourging. Or, at least, the part of it I care about most.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus swallowed with an audible gulp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The wonders the Guardian Deities wrought upon the solar system are clear for all to see.” Xormun gestured to their surroundings. “They constructed countless habitats like this ring. They tore apart moons, whole planets even, and harvested matter from Sol itself to build whatever humanity asked of them. They reshaped the solar system as if it were but a mound of clay in their hands. How amazing they must have been to witness. How awe-inspiring. How … utterly terrifying.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnterus turned away, but Xormun took hold of his chin and forced the cleric to face him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Tell me, what kind of weapon would be needed to kill such a being?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We haven’t found anything!” Anterus cried, his speech distorted by Xormun’s grip.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But you suspect. And that suspicion is enough for me. The ‘War in Heaven,’ indeed. Gods killing gods. And you believe you’re close to finding one such device. A pentatech relic that shattered the solar system and brought about the Age of Silence.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No! You’re mistaken! We haven’t found anything! It’s a theory! Harmless speculation, nothing more!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then why do you look so worried?” Xormun asked. “No, don’t bother answering. Let’s cut to the heart of the matter, shall we?” He nodded to the commandos. They uncuffed Anterus while keeping him restrained, and one of them forced the cleric’s splayed hand against the altar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What are you doing?!” he blurted, his breaths shallow and quick, his face flushed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Allow me to explain what happens next. I’m going to ask you a series of questions, and you’re going to give me truthful and complete answers. You might hold some delusions about resisting, but rest assured I’m something of an expert in these matters. Your efforts won’t change the end result. You will tell me what I want to know, even if nothing remains of you when I’m done besides a pile of quivering meat.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eXormun drew a knife and held it up for Anterus to see. Then he placed the tip of the blade underneath the nail of the man’s ring finger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Stop!” Anterus pleaded. “I … I’ll tell you everything!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know you will.” Xormun pushed the blade into the soft flesh under the man’s nail, drawing blood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll tell you everything!” The cleric’s legs thrashed vainly underneath him, his body in the iron grip of the commandos. “Everything!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know you will,” Xormun repeated softly, almost kindly. “This is merely so you and I can reach an understanding. So that you realize how serious I am.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe thrust the knife all the way under the nail, then levered it upward, ripping the nail free as the cleric cried out in pain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Jacob \u0026 H.P. Holo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54598652985635,"sku":null,"price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Catgirls_Iridiscent_Pink_Foil_Edition_SIGNED_Shopify_Front.png?v=1784753487"},{"product_id":"print-blood-knight-throne-of-shadows-signed-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Blood Knight: Throne of Shadows (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Five in the Blood Knight series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/blood-knight\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"a-expander-content a-expander-partial-collapse-content a-expander-content-expanded\" data-expanded=\"true\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA beautiful angel in love? A devil in need of smiting? A grand destiny to fulfill? Time for this blood knight to save the world!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the Portal of Gold in their possession and powerful allies at their backs, Clarke and the gorgeous heroines of Broken Fang are poised to strike at the vampires who secretly rule the world. But as Broken Fang’s successes have mounted, so too has the attention they’ve drawn, and the devil Belphegor—mother of all vampires—has dispatched a squad of her most powerful minions to the city of Chester Creek. Their mission? Find whoever’s been causing her so much trouble—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—and slaughter them all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClarke faces his greatest challenge yet, but he isn’t about to back down now. He’s a blood knight, a master of blood magic and heir to the greatest vampire slayers in history. He will fight these bloodsuckers to the bitter end, accompanied by Emma the succubus, Ixia the witch, Sammy the slime girl, Brooke the werewolf—and the angel Sandalphon, better known as Ashley Smith.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith their enemies drawing near, Ashley puts forward a plan to defeat Belphegor once and for all. They must locate the Throne of Shadows, the arcane heart of Belphegor’s power, and destroy its evil forever. But the trail to finding the Throne has been cold for twenty years, and the only lead Ashley has is an old ally in hiding.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn ally who just so happens to be a vampire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClarke and the lovely ladies of Broken Fang soon find themselves in a race against time. Can they uncover the location of the Throne of Shadows and devise a way to destroy it? Or will Belphegor’s hunters find them first? It’s angel versus devil with the fate of humanity in the balance!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe thrilling, action-packed conclusion to the Blood Knight series has arrived!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eBlood Knight: Throne of Shadows\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e is a fun urban fantasy adventure where the hero saves the day and gets all the girls. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"a-expander-header a-expander-partial-collapse-header\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/blood-knight\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from BLOOD KNIGHT: THRONE OF SHADOWS\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I hear you have another blood knight for me to kill.” Lord Baxter Redpeak grinned toothily.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBelphegor, mother of all vampires, rose from the Throne of Shadows located deep within the Fortress of Sloth. The devil shook out her wings and took long-legged strides off the Throne’s dais. She approached the dapper vampire, her eyes gleaming with purpose, weighted by the centuries she’d spent on this wretched world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Indeed, I do, Lord Redpeak.” Her voice was a clear, silvery note—resonant and commanding, yet also soft and seductive. She walked up to him, one arm folded under her generous breasts, the other tucked to the side.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRedpeak dipped his head a touch more, his lips curled into a sinister yet reverent grin. He rose to his full height and fitted his top hat back in place. With his pale skin, black hair, and brown eyes that seemed almost red in the right light, Redpeak was every bit the ancient, pureblood vampire. The knee-length frock coat, elaborate vest, and richly embroidered cravat only added to the sense he’d been plucked from a bygone era. Most vampires employed a degree of subtlety in public, but Redpeak wore his heritage on his sleeve.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBelphegor couldn’t help but smile inwardly at the presence of her most loyal and capable servant. Yes, Redpeak had his quirks—all her vampires did to some degree—but this one relished each chance to curry her favor. He was a straightforward killer, perhaps to a fault, which Belphegor found refreshing from the tiresome scheming she had to put up with from other vampiric lords and ladies, especially those control freaks who ran the Big Tech companies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I had begun to wonder if the blood knights were extinct.” Redpeak’s voice was as smooth as velvet and as deadly as a hidden razor. [HH1.1]\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“As had I.” Belphegor shrugged as if afflicted by a minor irritant. “A pity.”\u003cbr\u003eTheir voices echoed softly in the vast underground chamber. The arcano-mechanical interface of the Throne of Shadows—the “throne” itself, as it were—sat at the center of a wide, circular platform, but the actual device was much, much larger. The Throne’s high back devolved into thick cable runs, tracing upward and fanning outward to connect with the machinery built into the high ceiling. More machines extended downward from the platform, forming a thick column several hundred meters tall with conduits and coolant pipes spanning the deep, dark pit. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA young vampire had once told Belphegor the chamber resembled the emperor’s throne room from Return of the Jedi. Or at least the access pit where technicians could make adjustments to the Throne’s many intricate components. She’d never bothered to watch the movie to find out.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What do we know so far?” Redpeak asked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not much, I’m afraid. Are you familiar with Lady Iram?” \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Of course, Great Mother. I make it a point to stay informed on the movements of all the surviving dragons. Why? Has something happened to her?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“She’s dead.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh my.” Redpeak glanced aside in thought. “If I’m not mistaken, it’s been over five centuries since the last draconic death.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You aren’t.” Belphegor’s immortal mind recalled the death with great clarity. She’d orchestrated the draconic genocide, after all, and the few survivors had sworn fealty to her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot that she’d given them much choice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Do the other dragons know?” Redpeak asked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Doubtful, but that’s not our immediate concern. We’ll let sleeping dragons lie, as it were. Instead, I want you to investigate how she died.” Belphegor gestured to the small obsidian box set beside her throne. \u003cbr\u003eRedpeak’s reddish eyes flicked to the box. “Ah, the dragon’s death box, linked to her across all space and time. I wish you would share with me how to craft such an artifact.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Perhaps one day,” Belphegor teased, and meant it. If any vampire deserved to be taught the secrets of her magic, it was Lord Redpeak.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What message did the box convey?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That she’d been killed by a blood knight.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A blood knight killed a dragon?” A hint of glee twinkled in his eyes. “I haven’t faced a challenge like this in, oh, perhaps three or four hundred years.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What is the status of Knightfall?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Four of our number are out on assignments, but can—and will—be recalled for a threat of this magnitude. The rest stand ready for your orders, Great Mother.” He grinned with obedient malice, fangs bare. “Will you grant me the pleasure of killing yet another blood knight?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Eventually, but first I have a task for you.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You have only to name it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The Prime Grimoire. I want it moved.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRedpeak’s brow creased. “Because of the blood knight?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because of what the existence of another blood knight implies.” Belphegor paused to see if her servant made the connection and was delighted to see his eyes glint with understanding.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You suspect the angel Sandalphon has returned.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Correct, Lord Redpeak. It’s a possibility we can’t ignore. While the transplanar hexes I cast on Earth’s dimensional divide have served us well, we know they’re not impervious. Sandalphon may have found a gap she can exploit. And even if she blundered straight through them, I doubt the hexes would kill her. Maim, perhaps. But kill outright?” Belphegor shook her head. “Angels are hard to put down for good.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then, if the angel has returned to this plane, you believe she’ll seek the Prime Grimoire?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s one avenue open to her, so we’ll work to close it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The grimoire is well defended,” Redpeak assured her. “Both externally, and from within. None but your most trusted servants can read it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sandalphon could, given enough time. And while angels are naturally patient, the appearance of another blood knight tells me she’s put a new plan into motion. The Prime Grimoire represents a point of vulnerability for us. It contains details on every spell we deploy through the Throne of Shadows, spells that keep the human populace ignorant of us and limit the powers of most demihumans. Vampires control the world because of these spells, and if an enemy were ever able to study them …”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“They would possess the knowledge necessary to unravel them on a large scale,” Redpeak finished. “Though not the means.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t underestimate Sandalphon.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe vampire dipped his head submissively, but the devil continued:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I only damaged her citadel twenty years ago, and it has undoubtedly healed itself to some extent over the past two decades. We have no way of knowing what resources the angel has, and so we shall prepare accordingly for all contingencies.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I understand and obey, Great Mother.” Redpeak met her gaze. “I will see to it the Prime Grimoire is moved to an appropriately secure location. Perhaps the ‘Galaxy,’ if only temporarily?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“An excellent suggestion. See to it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Of course, Great Mother. As for the blood knight?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Eliminate that threat with extreme prejudice.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRedpeak’s grin became almost manic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Lady Iram was based in the city of Chester Creek,” Belphegor continued. “Gather Knightfall and head there. Find and kill the blood knight. If the enemy turns out to be male, slaughter any females with him. Take no chances. Stamp out his line once and for all.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“With pleasure, Great Mother.” Redpeak removed his top hat and swept his arm into an elegant bow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54649480184099,"sku":"THRONEOFSHADOWS-PPR-SIGNED","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Blood_Knight_Throne_of_Shadows_SIGNED_Paperback_Shopify.jpg?v=1768153146"},{"product_id":"print-monster-girl-tamer-complete-series-bundle-signed-paperbacks","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Monster Girl Tamer - Complete Series BUNDLE (Paperbacks)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis bundle contains Books One and Two in the Monster Girl Tamer series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout these premium SIGNED PAPERBACKS:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/monster-girl-tamer\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eI Power Up With Every Monster Girl I Defeat!\u003c\/em\u003e (Monster Girl Tamer #1):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA red hot, fiery demon girl. A goblin girl obsessed with wood. An oni girl who loves to grip a big sword. And they’re going to help him save the world … \u003cem\u003ehow\u003c\/em\u003e?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAxel Hunter Radcliff has trained his whole life to be a hero. Once every generation, someone in his family is called upon to be a Chosen One, and Axel’s prepared himself extensively, just in case it’s him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe just wasn’t prepared for the portal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow he’s in another world brimming with dangerous monsters beneath a sky full of magic portals … and with no idea what he’s been summoned to do. All he knows is that every Chosen Radcliff has been aided by a support staff of skilled women: a \u003cem\u003etactical harem\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen mysterious monster girls start wreaking havoc in this new world, Axel is ready to answer the call. He’ll have to draw upon insight borne from every tabletop RPG he’s played and every harem novel he’s read to face them, because these are either the women he’s destined to gather … or the force he’s been summoned to stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEither way, these monster girls need to be \u003cem\u003etamed\u003c\/em\u003e!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eMonster Girl Tamer\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun LitRPG fantasy adventure with a healthy side of heat: sensuous demons, lustful goblins, voluptuous oni, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eI'm an Isekai Hero! Of Course I'm Fighting a Demon Lord\u003c\/em\u003e (Monster Girl Tamer #2):\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eA thicc cowgirl with a thicker accent. A bookish succubus with an absurd secret. A demon, goblin, and oni girl who’re as chaotic as they are good.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAnd they’re going to defeat a demon lord … how?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eIt’s been three months since Axel Hunter Radcliff fell through a magic portal into another world of dangerous monsters.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHailing from a family of Chosen Ones, he’s trained his whole life to be a hero. He just didn’t expect destiny to involve taming monster girls into semi-civilized adventurers. Or training them to form his tactical harem.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOr their giant robots. Or their conspicuous anime tropes. Or the geeky succubus “Sexy Wizard” who transformed them in the first place.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen a new minotaur girl shows up at his hot spring, he realizes the Sexy Wizard needs his help, too. She’s been captured by some of her own creations—but this time there’s a twist. These dragon ladies used to be two of his monster hunting friends, Jaz and Pix.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith all the isekai tropes tied up in his destiny, Axel expected a demon lord. What he didn’t expect was Demon Lord Jaspartina “Jaz” Red and her Demon Lord General Tailer “Pix” Weaver!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd, after a mere three months, he doesn’t have the stats to face his final boss.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFortunately, his magic power grows with his romantic bonds. And he has a whole harem of devoted monster girls eager to help raise his stats.\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eWARNING:\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eMonster Girl Tamer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a fun isekai LitRPG fantasy action adventure where the hero saves the day and gets\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eall\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003ethe girls. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThese products are premium paperback novels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/monster-girl-tamer\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from I POWER UP WITH EVERY MONSTER GIRL I DEFEAT!\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eCHAPTER ONE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Son, it’s time for The Talk.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel had known those words were coming since last night.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe Talk meant something different in his family. Oh, he’d gotten the, “We’ve noticed how you look at girls, here’s a condom, don’t get anyone pregnant” talk when he was thirteen, but that was small potatoes compared to the talk every man in his family got at twenty. That Talk was a Very Big Potato.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWhich was why his dad’s nonchalance surprised him. When Axel came through the front door, his dad simply waved the same distant hello as usual, then went back to the kitchen sink, cleaning the last dishes from the birthday party Axel had been called away from—not that anyone blamed him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWhen you made a hobby of running toward fires, you had to go when the fire summoned you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Can I clean up a bit first?” Axel said. He still smelled like smoke from the night’s job.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHis dad waved again, and Axel went downstairs. He’d left his gear in his locker at the firehouse, but despite the hours spent cleaning the gear and tools, the scent and soot of his work still lingered. He was always vigilant about maintaining his gear, as much to preserve its reliability as to fend off the inevitable carcinogens he’d encounter; he was just as vigilant about his own body, and so he took a long shower to fend off the rest. It was an irony, he reflected, that so many firefighters spent their lives saving others, only to be killed by their own work, either in a fire or the slow cancer resulting from the things that burned around them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThen he chuckled darkly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eGiven what his father was about to say, he was not likely to die of cancer. Few of the Radcliffs ever died in such mundane ways.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWhen he came back upstairs, his father greeted him by cracking open a beer. He wasn’t even twenty-one yet, but he recognized the beer, one that only emerged on serious occasions. The brew was based on one his grandfather had brought back from overseas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWell, “overseas” was only loosely correct. The bottle was a recycled original, and its label was in a language he’d never seen on this earth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Damn, that’s good beer!” Axel exclaimed after his first swig.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“There’s a reason your grandfather founded his microbrewery once he came back,” his father said, taking his own as they flopped onto the living room couch. “Glad one of your grandmothers knew how to make this stuff.” (Grandpa had a lot of adventures.) “If you’re lucky enough to survive whatever’s coming, you’ll inherit the recipe, too. For now, though, you get this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eOn the coffee table before them was positioned a thin, hard-shelled carrying case that resembled the ones Axel used to transport his wargaming miniatures. His father clicked it open with all the slow pride of an uber nerd about to show off an unholy amount of money spent on plastic and paint.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Axel, meet Mel.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe case did not contain painted miniatures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt contained a whole-ass M4 carbine, fully assembled and maintained to such perfection that it looked fresh off the production line, but Axel knew that wasn’t true. First off, because there was a sparkling pink cat head on its grip that had likely been slapped on as a joke. Second because, if the family stories were true—and \u003ci\u003eall\u003c\/i\u003e the family stories were true—that thing had already delivered some top-quality dakkas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWorld War III had been in progress before Mel and his father had gone to fight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eWorld War III was no longer in progress.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I’d hoped to present her to you at the party last night, but well …”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Duty called.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“As it does. And given how often duty called you even before your birthday, I thought I should equip you sooner rather than later.” He lifted the carbine from the case and extended it toward his son, like a blessing. “Axel Hunter Radcliff, if she’ll have you, she’s yours. Take her.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eIf she’ll have you.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThat was the key, and why every man in the family trained. Because there was no way of knowing who Mel would choose until …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel braced his muscles to accept the heirloom. He hadn’t even fully gripped it when the weapon began to glow. Little streamers of sparkling light whipped off its form and then came back to envelop it, like some over-the-top magical girl transformation sequence, but with a badass gun. When the magical ribbons finished encasing it, its shape changed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIts protruding bits withdrew into the main length of the gun, which then stretched out and back in a curve, except for one glob of light. This separated and hovered before him, stretching into a rectangle—no, a cylinder with a strap—which then zipped around to his back. In front, he could see additional details working into the piece still in his hands. Multiple layers of cables slipped around what looked like pulley wheels on each end of the elaborate curve. A final whip of luminescence encased his forearm and hand in the shape of an archery gauntlet, and when the light flashed away into a rain of sparkles, Axel’s suspicion was confirmed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eResting in his hands was a shining silver compound bow, complete with that weird little cat head on the grip.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Huh,” Axel mused. “That’s … not what I expected.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You were expecting \u003ci\u003eanything\u003c\/i\u003e?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Dad, it’s hard to have a family history like ours and \u003ci\u003enot\u003c\/i\u003e expect some kind of weirdness. Granted, I didn’t expect the transforming anime weapon, but once I saw what it was doing, I didn’t expect a bow, either.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“That ‘transforming anime weapon’ is formally called The Arsenal, and it adapts to the user. It’s been passed down through our family for generations.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Oh! So the ‘Mel’ grandfather used was the same as your carbine, and the same as my bow? I thought it was just the name that got passed down.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHis father shook his head. “Nope, it’s both.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Why’d grandpa get a whole \u003ci\u003etank\u003c\/i\u003e?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Different time, different place, \u003ci\u003every \u003c\/i\u003edifferent threat.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Where’s the name Mel come from, anyway?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Actually … I don’t think even your grandpa remembers. We’ve always called her Mel, as far as I know.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel positioned Mel in his hands and tested its stability and tension, then drew an arrow from the quiver that had materialized on his back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Not in the house,” his father said. “We’ll never hear the end of it if you blow up your mom’s new couch. Let’s take it outside to the range.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“The Range” was a bit of a misnomer. Oh, there was definitely a shooting range in their backyard, both for firearms and bows. But there was also a variety of obstacle courses, such that anyone flying over might mistake it for a little boot camp, were it not for the children’s playground positioned on the other side of the house. Even that was an intense, elaborate structure, meant to teach its users to fall down hard and get up quick.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eBoth were necessary skills in the Radcliff family.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel went to his favorite spot on the archery range, put his beer down, and nocked an arrow to his new bow. He was amazed at how familiar it felt, like he’d been using this very bow since he’d picked up the sport.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Our family has a great destiny, son,” his father said, creaking down into a nearby lawn chair.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“I’m aware of that. Hard to miss when your grandpa’s sucked into a war in another world and your dad fought off the elder gods.” (World War III had been complicated.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“It goes back further than that. And it’s stranger than you realize.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“But isn’t the short of it that we’re all called on to be heroes?” Axel asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt was one of the reasons he’d been given a name like Axel Hunter Radcliff, in fact. One only had to pay half-attention while growing up to realize that, at least once in a generation, someone in his family earned a place in a history book somewhere, and like hell were any of them going to go down in history with names like John Smith or Chris Jones. His father had lucked out with the normal-sounding name of Byron, but most Radcliffs had names that sounded like they’d been pulled from old pulp adventures—and were expected to live up to them whether they were that generation’s Chosen One or not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAnd so Axel had prepared as best he could.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt was not as simple a task as it sounded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eChosen Ones were an immutable fact in his family, but there were few ways of knowing what the One was Chosen \u003ci\u003efor\u003c\/i\u003e, which meant the best approach was a well-rounded one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eMost of the family heroes benefited from physicality, so he’d participated in every sport he could when he was in school. Competitive archery was the only one he’d pursued after high school, but that was primarily because his work in the family landscaping business met a lot of his exercise demands. (After defeating the elder gods, his dad had wanted to do something low-key.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel didn’t find the job all that fulfilling, though, which was where volunteer firefighting came in. He’d never considered taking the career route, because like most jobs that were essential to the functioning of society, the pay was shit—but it allowed him to both test his limits and, more importantly, to do something meaningful. Heroic, even. Plus, he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed the surge of adrenaline that flooded his veins every time the alert came. He didn’t wish fires on anyone, of course, but the joy he felt facing them was real—and specifically, the joy of taming such a volatile force.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt was like conquering a part of nature itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAnd the money he made off posing for the yearly firefighter calendar wasn’t bad, either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe let the arrow fly. The cable thumped against his gauntlet with a powerful crack, and the arrow pierced its target with a near-silent swish. A good shot, but mundane otherwise. No magical sparkles or anything. He prepared another.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“We’re all called to be heroes,” Byron Radcliff continued, “but we’ve never told you the full story, nor what it means for each generation’s Chosen hero.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel let the arrow fly. It landed, again a good shot, but again mundane.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe suspected he knew more than his father thought—after all, kids picked up a lot when the adults thought they weren’t listening—but he also knew his father wanted to tell the story. He’d probably been looking forward to this for years, and so Axel returned to his beer and took the seat next to his dad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“It’s not that we’re called to be heroes, like some holy vocation. It’s that we get summoned, and we have no choice in the matter. And we have to make it work, because if we don’t, awful things can happen. Whatever you’re chosen for, you’re not destined to win. You’ll need to make clever use of the resources available to you. Mel, for one, and … let’s call it your support staff.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe way his father said it suggested there was more to the phrase than allies. Namely, the way his eyebrows raised.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Some Radcliffs are sucked into conflicts around our world, but not all. Your grandfather was one such exception, summoned to another world to fight a demon king and his four generals. It was a fantastic situation to say the least, but the thing that got him through it was not his weapon, but his \u003ci\u003eharem\u003c\/i\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel had just taken a swig of beer, and now it shot up through his nose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Did you just say \u003ci\u003eharem\u003c\/i\u003e?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You know the phrase ‘Behind every great man is a great woman’? Well, when you’re in extreme situations, having more can help.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Wait, so … that was an intentional, organized thing? It wasn’t just that grandpa slept around with a bunch of women on his adventure?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Oh, he slept around for sure. But mainly with women who brought some kind of skill to his cause. They were his support as much as his lovers.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Even the crazy cat lady?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe crazy cat lady was the only one Axel had ever heard described in any detail, and now that he thought of it, something else about her was odd. Namely, that she’d never been described as having any cats. And given what kind of world she’d come from …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Was one of my grandmas secretly a catgirl?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eByron shrugged and took another swig of beer. “She certainly had … cat in some form. But that’s not my point. My point is that he’s not the first Radcliff to succeed because of his harem.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You, too? Then why do I only have one mom?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Because after the elder god thing was over, she was the one I chose. You don’t have to marry them all. You just need to build a harem that helps you win the day.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“How will I know what my challenge is, then? What kind of skills I need to gather?” Axel asked urgently. This complicated things. More than his father realized. “Dad, I’ve always avoided getting a girlfriend because I didn’t want to endanger her. I don’t know how to flirt!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“You’re a firefighter. Just take your shirt off and they’ll come.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“That’s not my point. Have you seen the size of my wargaming collection? No girl I bring to my parents’ basement is going to see that and want to stay with me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“She will if she’s cool.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Oh god, I live in my parents’ basement, too!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHis father set his beer aside and looked him dead in the eyes. “Axel. The only reason we didn’t tell you this before is because we didn’t want your hormonal teenage self to take advantage of it. Your mother and I have, in fact, soundproofed the basement in anticipation of this day, so that you can freely get up to wargaming or … not. Whatever it takes to build your harem and save the world.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAxel froze with his beer halfway to his mouth. He’d thought he’d had some idea of how this day would go, and it had not involved his father telling him, “Go forth and fuck to save the world.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt had especially not involved the portal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eNonetheless, he became aware of a sudden sparkle beneath his chair. Before he could register that it wasn’t coming from Mel, the sparkle whirled around his feet like a circle drawn by a speeding comet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eHe didn’t even have time to scream before he fell, nor before the circle closed, leaving only empty ground and his father, who said:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“Huh. That happened faster than expected.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAnd then he drained his beer and went inside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"Spice Rack Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54694934872355,"sku":"MGT-SIGNEDBUNDLE","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Monster_Girl_Tamer_Bundle_Shopify.jpg?v=1769715049"},{"product_id":"print-titan-mage-omnibus-the-complete-crystal-moon-arc-volume-i-signed-silver-foil-painted-edges-premium-edition-hardback","title":"[RETIRING - LAST CHANCE PRE-ORDER!] SIGNED PRINT: Titan Mage Omnibus: The Complete Crystal Moon Arc - Volume I (Hardback Silver Foil \u0026 Painted Edges Premium Edition)","description":"\u003ch1\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNOTE: THIS ITEM WILL BE RETIRED SEPTEMBER 30, 2026. This is a pre-order for our final print run; allowing roughly a month for printing, delivery is expected in LATE OCTOBER\/EARLY NOVEMBER.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eContains \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage\u003c\/em\u003e (#1), \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage: The Hot Springs Episode\u003c\/em\u003e (#1.5), \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage Ruin\u003c\/em\u003e (#2) and \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage Dragon\u003c\/em\u003e (#3) in the Titan Mage series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium HARDBACK with SILVER FOIL and PAINTED EDGES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHot girls? Giant Robots? HELL YEAH.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJoseph Locke is dead.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut considering that he just woke up with a brand new body, in the cockpit of a badass steampunk robot, on an airship of nothing but hot babes, his next life may not be all that bad. Especially when he learns that he’s a void mage—the rarest and most powerful of all mages on the world of Haven. And his shipmates want to help him make more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs if that weren’t enough, they offer Locke a job piloting one of their mechs, which they call Titans. In the meantime, Locke has to learn his way around this exciting world, all while coming to grips with his new—and dangerous—occupation. Will he be able to master his Titan? How can he best upgrade the machine to become as badass as possible? Why’s a strange parasitic sludge falling from the sky? What’s up with the ghost of a space witch living in his Titan—and inside his head?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd what’s going on with that strange shadow moving inside the Crystal Moon?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage: The Complete Crystal Moon Arc - Volume I\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun isekai fantasy adventure where the hero saves the day, gets all the girls, and gets up to steam both punk and ... (Anyway, don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Edie Skye has somehow managed to mix together LitRPG, magical mecha, and a spicy harem romance into a story that is fun and great entertainment. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one night, but here we are.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a teenager, I drooled over the mechs of Robotech and Macross, and nothing since then has captured my love of those massive robots as the titans of Titan Mage.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium hardback novel with silver foil and painted edges.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from TITAN MAGE: THE COMPLETE CRYSTAL MOON ARC - VOLUME I:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How many are there?” Locke asked, his body cocooned safely within the massive bulk of Titan Chimera. The war machine towered over two stories tall, a humanoid frame of crimson armor plates over black joints and artificial muscles. Gold filigree—faded from wear and tear from who-knew-how-many battles—highlighted a few edges, accentuating its sturdy, powerful build.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke walked the titan up to the square opening in the floor, where diffused light from the sunrise spilled into the airship’s long central hangar bay. He clenched a gargantuan fist around a support rafter running the length of the ceiling and peered down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMorning mist shrouded the base of Mount Driver, and thick pine forests climbed its craggy slopes, thinning out into bare rock and snow near the mountain’s peak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExcept for a glint of blue and silver moving along the forest’s edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA \u003cem\u003elarge\u003c\/em\u003e glint. Moving fast for something so big.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ember?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hold it,” she radioed from Titan Long Shot. “I’m not in position yet. Almost there.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Take your time,” he sighed. Or he’d intended to, but his voice cracked at the end. Jitters ate at his nerves, and butterflies fluttered in the pit of his stomach. Fighting monsters in a titan was one thing, but this? This was on a whole different scale of crazy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhy did I agree to this? \u003c\/em\u003eLocke thought. \u003cem\u003eWhy did I \u003c\/em\u003esuggest \u003cem\u003ethis\u003c\/em\u003e?!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In position,” Ember reported. The glint settled atop an outthrust of stone on the mountain, almost like a ship’s bow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And?” Locke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I see them. Right where we thought they’d be.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How many?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“One titan, which we expected … plus two heavy weapon quads. Big ones, too. Maybe thirty tons each.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And how many titties?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe radio fell silent for long, agonized seconds. He could almost feel Ember rolling her eyes at him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For the last time, Locke, the ‘small titans’ are \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e titties! They’re called rigs!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I know that,” he countered, gazing once more at the drop. “But consider the world from my perspective, just for a moment. I’m \u003cem\u003enervous\u003c\/em\u003e, and I’ve been nervous since I agreed to this plan.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s \u003cem\u003eyour\u003c\/em\u003e plan!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s beside the point. What \u003cem\u003eis\u003c\/em\u003e the point is I made a lame little joke back then in an attempt to make myself feel better. And you know the response I got? \u003cem\u003eNone\u003c\/em\u003e of you laughed at my joke. So guess what? I’m calling them titties until I start feeling better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, good grief.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Remember, I’m about to leap from this airship in a seventeen-ton coffin, and the only thing preventing me from going crunch at the end is an upgrade we’ve never tested!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re not that high up,” Ember jabbed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, you think so? Alyssa, how high up are we?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just a hair under six thousand feet,” she radioed from the airship’s bridge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Right. Over a mile up, then. And not only that, but I’m dropping in next to some bad people who want us dead.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Try not to land right on top of them, would you?” Ember warned. “You’ll block my shots.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll \u003cem\u003etry\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Ember,” Alyssa cut in. “Back to Locke’s question, before he went off on this weird tangent. How many rigs do you see?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ten to fifteen. Hard to be exact. Some of them are obscured by the trees, and the quads will probably have some extra rigs I can’t see from here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s a whole lot of titties,” Alyssa quipped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uhh,” Ember groaned. “Not you, too.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That make you feel any better, Locke?” Alyssa asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Marginally.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, shake it out of your system. You’re a titan mage now. You charge in where others fear to tread. Don’t ever forget that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know. And I won’t let you down. I promise.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’ve got this. I know you do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now brace yourself. Here comes the turn.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe airship banked to the left, and Locke shifted one of Titan Chimera’s feet outward for better balance. He raised an arm, and through the titan’s eyes he studied the catalyst built into the underside of its forearm. The crystalline rod ran from the machine’s wrist down to its elbow, appearing clear in its inert state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke channeled a simple matter-based spell through the catalyst. Titan Chimera’s void furnace roared alive, burning a steady stream of liquefied void condensate and releasing the powerful essence sealed within. Hot air and black smoke belched out of two louvers, one at each of the titan’s shoulders, and the crystalline catalyst darkened to the same hue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSilvery swiftmetal poured out of a port below the wrist and spun itself into the wireframe of a great shield, while one of the many gauges in his console wiggled downward. More swiftmetal spooled outward, filling in the shield until it formed a solid, reassuring wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke let the base of the shield thump down against the deck. The magical construct was as solid as wrought iron.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e “I’m getting better at this,” he declared privately with a smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re almost on top of them,” Alyssa radioed in. “You ready to jump?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“As ready as I’ll ever be.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Watch it,” Ember warned. “That unexpected turn must have grabbed their attention. Those two quads are swinging their guns your way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Time to go!” Locke let go of the rafter, took one heavy step forward, and let the titan’s bulk tilt over the side. His stomach slammed up into his throat, and Titan Chimera plummeted toward the forest below, wind howling past him, armor plates rattling in the turbulence. Seventeen tons may have granted the machine a degree of stubborn inertia, but a brick still flew like a brick.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Warm morning sunlight kissed the titan’s armor as Locke channeled a gravity-based spell into the catalysts in each leg. Crystalline rods built into the titan’s calves glowed a faint purple, and smoke of the same color plumed out of the titan’s louvers in long, pale streamers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis descent slowed and stabilized.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whew!” Locke exclaimed. “That’s one less worry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe twin gravity catalysts weren’t powerful enough for true flight, but he could use them to fall in a controlled manner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhich was all he needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good luck!” Alyssa called out. High above, the long, glinting shape of the airship banked away from the battle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Luck?” Locke scoffed. “Who needs luck when you can use mag—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA beam of blinding yellow light shot up from the ground and blared past him with an aura of crackling magical lightning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Never mind!” He raised his shield, but the act obstructed his view of the oncoming ground. “Damn. Didn’t think this through, did I?” he mumbled to himself and channeled a matter spell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSwiftmetal parted to form a narrow viewing slit near the top of the shield.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There. That’s bet—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA second beam speared into the shield. Silvery metal turned cherry red around the impact, and the force sent the titan spinning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yikes!” He channeled bursts of gravity thrust, righted the titan, and stabilized the shield with both hands. “Ember, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m being shot at!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is this a surprise?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Isn’t this the part where \u003cem\u003eyou\u003c\/em\u003e start shooting at them?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hold it. I don’t want to waste my opening shot.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother beam scythed past him, its nimbus crackling against the edge of his shield.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Would you fire sooner if I said pretty please?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No need. Aaaand … gotcha!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Long Shot channeled its own magic into a red lance of lethal energy. The beam pierced through the superstructure atop one of the enemy quads, rupturing its furnace. Superheated void essence screamed through the widening cracks like enraged, escaping steam, and lightning forked through the air. Mages and engineers in black livery scurried away from the four-legged weapon platform moments before its furnace blew in a cataclysm of unfocused energy magic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe blast ripped the entire superstructure off its turret mooring and flung it three stories into the air before it fell back down and crumpled against the ground next to the quad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s one!” Ember called out triumphantly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second quad swiveled its cannon toward Titan Long Shot and fired, but the crew clearly didn’t have a fix on her position, and the beam bored a ragged line across the stony mountainside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA scattering of shots from void rifles \u003cem\u003etinked\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eplinked\u003c\/em\u003e against Locke’s shield, and he channeled one final burst of gravity magic before Titan Chimera stomped feetfirst into a narrow clearing. He stumbled forward, grabbed the thick trunk of an ancient pine, and planted his feet. The titan’s forward movement plowed two grooves through the damp soil and nearly uprooted the tree before it came to a stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Made it!” Locke said, then chuckled with the joy of still being alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Three rigs heading toward you,” Ember reported. “North by northwest.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I see them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke faced the approaching weapons he thought of as “little titans.” These black-armored rigs stood twelve feet tall, less than half the height of his own Titan Chimera. They were too small to come with furnaces of their own, and instead received power from tanks of compressed void essence attached to their backs, which made them resemble deep sea divers to his eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke channeled through his matter catalyst, and the shield reformed into a massive hammer with a long, sturdy shaft. He gripped the weapon with both hands and charged the trio of rigs with long, thunderous strides.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rigs opened fire, and bolts of energy chipped at Locke’s armor. He closed the distance and swung the hammer in a wide overhand arc. The hammer slammed into the lead rig’s head, flattened it, then imploded the top half of its torso. It teetered forward, arms outstretched, groping the air before Locke kicked it over. The rig \u003cem\u003ethunked\u003c\/em\u003e to the ground on its back, its legs and arms thrashing in vain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other two rigs paused, perhaps now regretting their bold charge against this titan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who’s next?” Locke asked with a wide grin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54702603534627,"sku":"TM-OMNIBUSI","price":79.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Titan_Mage_Omnibus_I_Shopify_SIGNED.jpg?v=1769975947"},{"product_id":"print-titan-mage-omnibus-the-complete-crystal-moon-arc-volume-ii-signed-gold-foil-and-painted-edges-premium-edition-hardback-copy","title":"[RETIRING - LAST CHANCE PRE-ORDER!] SIGNED PRINT: Titan Mage Omnibus: The Complete Crystal Moon Arc - Volume II (Gold Foil and Painted Edges Premium Edition Hardback)","description":"\u003ch1\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNOTE: THIS ITEM WILL BE RETIRED SEPTEMBER 30, 2026. This is a pre-order for our final print run; allowing roughly a month for printing, delivery is expected in LATE OCTOBER\/EARLY NOVEMBER.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eContains \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eRising \u003c\/em\u003e(#4), \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage Apocalypse \u003c\/em\u003e(#5), and the short stories \"I'm In Love with A Helicopter,\" \"Once a Titan Mage,\" and \"Romancing Some Rock\" in the Titan Mage series, as well as extras including maps and a peek at \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage Havoc and the Frigid Flame\u003c\/em\u003e. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium HARDBACK with GOLD FOIL and PAINTED EDGES:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHot girls? Giant Robots? HELL YEAH.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJoseph Locke is reborn.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Locke came to Haven, he didn’t know he’d have to save it—but with his god-tier magic, his giant mech called a Titan, and his crew of hot, capable women, he’s the best man for the job. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoon he’ll have to put all of that to use because Peth, the incorporeal space witch trapped inside his Titan, has had a dark premonition about the Crystal Moon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe same force that destroyed Peth’s civilization is about to break free from its prison. To defeat it, they’ll have to find and activate an ancient Precursor superweapon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut reaching the superweapon won’t be easy, for Locke must lead his crew where no Havenite has gone in a thousand years:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOuter space.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWill Locke’s crew and their Titans be enough to save the world?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe may not know how his story will end, but one thing’s for sure: Whatever comes next, he’s going to go out with a bang.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage: The Complete Crystal Moon Arc - Volume II\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun isekai fantasy adventure where the hero saves the day, gets all the girls, and gets up to steam both punk and ... (Anyway, don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Edie Skye has somehow managed to mix together LitRPG, magical mecha, and a spicy harem romance into a story that is fun and great entertainment. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one night, but here we are.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a teenager, I drooled over the mechs of Robotech and Macross, and nothing since then has captured my love of those massive robots as the titans of Titan Mage.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium hardback novel with silver foil and painted edges.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from TITAN MAGE: THE COMPLETE CRYSTAL MOON ARC - VOLUME II:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTITAN MAGE RISING: CHAPTER ONE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe V-fin Locke had added to his titan’s forehead might have been a bit much, but he didn’t particularly care.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen again, Titan Chimera was already a two-story-tall suit of bright red armor, with five different magic-channeling catalysts and a fresh polish that made it gleam in the rising sun like it had already won today’s battle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCompared to the heroic badassery of the rest of it, his little decorative indulgence was nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd besides, with all the ass he’d kicked these past nine months, he’d earned it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow his titan stood by the open hangar ramp of the airship \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e, arms crossed boldly over its knightly chest as Locke surveyed the scene below him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Harper’s Harriers’ star had been rising, but the success of the bounty with the dragon three months ago had rocketed that star straight across the whole sky. Now they no longer had to compete with other companies for bounty assignments; potential employers competed to hire \u003cem\u003ethem\u003c\/em\u003e by offering pay that matched their reputation. This was one such bounty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut with increased pay came increased challenge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e had three titans now, and today it would need all three of them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s the biggest bramble hulk I’ve ever seen,” Locke marveled, observing the thing through the visual sensors in his titan’s eyes. “No wonder Lord Argothine’s paying so much.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, it’s eaten at least twenty farmers and two mercenary crews,” Ember said from his right, in Titan Long Shot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The more meat it eats, the faster it grows, right?” added Sloan from Titan Deathly Rhythm on his left.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Exactly,” Locke replied. He’d fought bramble hulks before, but the way Lord Argothine’s emissary had described this one, it was levels above anything they’d yet faced. His original, unabridged copy of \u003cem\u003eThe Encyclopedia of Monsterkind\u003c\/em\u003e had been next to useless this time, so he’d used it as a reason to upgrade to the more comprehensive multivolume edition and had been reading up on the creature ever since.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBramble hulks were a plant-based form of monster, and not only carnivorous but predatory, even in their simplest form. Standard bramble hulks reminded Locke vaguely of the one plant from \u003cem\u003eLittle Shop of Horrors\u003c\/em\u003e, with a fleshy mouth for a bud and vines it could use for locomotion. (Though to his knowledge, bramble hulks didn’t sing.) In that form, they usually subsisted on small forest creatures and didn’t live long before they met a forest creature that would eat them back. But occasionally one would win against the larger attempts at prey and grow proportionally, and a reign of terror would ensue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArgothine was the lord of Greenvale, which was not only the most verdant area of Haven—with plenty of places for even a larger bramble hulk to hide—but its breadbasket. This meant that the population he managed was mostly farmers spending most of their lives outside, and vulnerable to the monster stalking the forests around their crops.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe creature had only eaten ten farmers when the lord had first hired the Harriers, but by the time they’d arrived in Greenvale, that number had doubled, and the creature’s power with it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster beneath them now had the same basic shape as a standard bramble hulk, but its size towered to nearly the same height as Locke’s titan, and the vines and leaves at its base spread out in a bushy tangle twice as wide and thick enough that it could be hiding any assortment of nasty surprises.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s a fully mature monster,” Locke reported to his companions. “It’ll probably have pods that spit digestive acid somewhere in there, as well as sticky nectar beads to trap victims, so be aware. We may have titans, but this thing’s already taken down at least one titan.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How are we going in, then?” Sloan radioed from Deathly Rhythm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Standard opening strategy,” Locke replied. “Ember, you freeze it while Sloan slows it and I whale on it. With any luck, it’ll be as simple as that, especially since it’s still morning.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey’d tracked the creature all day yesterday until it settled on the edge of this clearing and then monitored it, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Bramble hulks would go briefly dormant when the temperature cooled, as it did on these autumn nights. They were always at their most dormant just before sunrise, before the day began to warm, and so they’d waited until this moment to attack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ha!” Ember laughed from Long Shot. “When have our bounties ever been as simple as that?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“True.” Locke laughed back. “But we’ve gotta start somewhere. We’ll adapt as it reacts. Everyone ready?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I am,” Sloan replied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Let’s do it,” Ember echoed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Chimera’s head nodded. “Then, Alyssa, take us down.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got it,” Captain Alyssa radioed from the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e’s bridge, and slowly, the airship began to sink toward the ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke took a deep breath as he felt the gentle sway of the airship’s motion, and let all the sensation of his cockpit sink into him—the gooey slosh of the conductor fluid enveloping his body, the easy press of the insulating neck ring that kept it from splashing into his face, the strange awareness of his reflex link, as it connected his very consciousness to his mech so he could command it without controls.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe became aware of the energy catalyst in his left arm, the matter catalyst in his right, the time catalyst in his right shoulder and the … oh. He’d almost forgotten.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Remember,” he added, as much for himself as his crew, “I’m out both gravity catalysts while Bexley’s building my flight unit.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, I’m workin’ as fast as I can,” Chief Engineer Bexley radioed from her hangar workstation behind them. “You can’t rush genius.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Of course not.” Locke redirected his attention back to his fellow pilots. “My point is, I can compensate for speed with my time catalyst, but don’t expect me to be doing any super jumps or kicks this time around.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other two pilots confirmed their understanding, just as the airship shook with the gentle nudge of landing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Titan Chimera strode off, it was with the bold, heavy steps of a giant machine that knew exactly what it was here to do and how it was going to do it. Titan Deathly Rhythm strode out behind it in much a similar fashion—a welcome change from the timidity with which Sloan had approached her mech three months ago. Back then, she’d still been learning, albeit swiftly. Now she was a time-accelerated ass-kicking machine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce the two had disembarked, the \u003cem\u003eBlue Heron\u003c\/em\u003e lifted off with Titan Long Shot still on board.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Awaiting your signal,” Ember radioed as she rose, and her titan crouched to a more stable position.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Long Shot was a sleek blue and silver mech with graceful, athletic lines, but its most defining feature was the great shoulder-mounted cannon that presently rotated from its back to position itself to the right of its head. As an energy mage, Ember commanded energy catalysts in both forearms, but the energy mega-catalyst in her cannon was what saw the most use in battle, and even now Locke spotted the clear honeycomb of its crystalline rod charging to icy white.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ready, Sloan?” Locke said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I am!” Sloan chimed cheerily from beside him, and Locke grinned inside his mech.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then have at it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSloan’s mech sprinted into action before he’d even finished his order. Titan Deathly Rhythm was the Harriers’ newest addition, an elegant teal machine with black and silver highlights that moved with grace equal to that of its smooth curves. It only had a single time catalyst in its right arm, but Sloan had adapted to its capabilities with ease, and now it glowed bright green as she sprinted for the slumbering bramble hulk at over double her regular speed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bramble hulk stirred, vaguely aware that something strange was coming toward it, but not awake enough to react.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat changed when Sloan snatched a short sword from Deathly Rhythm’s back and plunged it straight into the monster’s centermost fleshy bud.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe creature’s mouth began to open in a startled, agonized shriek—but it could \u003cem\u003eonly\u003c\/em\u003e begin to open. Sloan’s time catalyst flared an even brighter green as she conducted her time magic through the sword and into the monster. Instead of speeding up, the bramble hulk slowed down to half speed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke saw its leaves and vines begin to move in slow motion, but they weren’t nearly fast enough to be of use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s ready!” Sloan reported happily. “Shoot it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer tone was like that of a student presenting a gift to a favorite teacher, or perhaps a cat presenting freshly-caught prey to a favorite person, and Ember showed her thanks with a frigid white blast from her cannon. A beam of glowing particulate ice shot into the brambly base of the monster, then crackled up along the thick flesh of the mouth pod.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nice start!” Locke shouted, and strode forward. “Now it’s my turn!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was his turn that would make this battle—had made all their battles over the past nine months. Most mages on the world of Haven were adept with only one magical element. Though they might have minimal aptitude with a second, few were apt enough to use more than one, and that was what made Locke special.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe was a void mage, a mage with high aptitude for all four magical elements—matter, time, energy, and gravity—and that gave him power and versatility beyond any other titan mage in his company. Ember could only wield heat or cold; Sloan could only speed up or slow down herself or her opponents—but Locke could do that, \u003cem\u003eand\u003c\/em\u003e matter-shift his own weapons on the fly, \u003cem\u003eand\u003c\/em\u003e jump and kick (and eventually fly) with wild manipulations of gravity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd now he funneled magic into every one of his catalysts as he stomped toward the titan-sized beast.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy now, he had a process for bramble hulks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, a matter-energy combo attack.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWithin his back armor rested a tank of semiliquid swiftmetal, connected to both his energy and matter catalysts. He willed his energy catalyst to charge the swiftmetal with heat magic—all he ever needed was will; the titan did the rest—and then commanded his matter catalyst to spool it out of a barrel under his right hand. The thin wireframe shape of a long blade spun out of the opening, and then flash-filled with glowing white swiftmetal a moment before he reached the monster.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis timing had been perfected over scores of lesser bramble hulks, as had his techniques, and now he charged his time catalyst and dashed around the monster’s circumference, slashing its leaves and vines away like he was some fantastical (if sloppy) gardener, albeit one that kept killer plants. He didn’t move as fast as Sloan could—his time catalyst was a lower tier than hers—but it was still fast enough to make quick work of the frozen brambles, and soon he’d exposed the monster’s most essential center.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt looked like a root ball positioned just below the fleshy mouth pod. Brown tendrils of wood-hard roots curled down from the pod-like protective claws, encasing what Locke knew to be the vital organs of the monster.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m to the core!” Locke reported. “Ember, can I get a heat blast? The root armor’s thick.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not too hot, though!” Sloan added. “Don’t incinerate me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a reasonable warning; with Long Shot’s upgrades, Ember routinely incinerated weaker monsters to ash—but she was also precise in every aspect of her handling, from aim to power.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ready,” Ember reported. “Stand back.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke zipped out of her line of sight, and soon a hot red beam bored into the root ball.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn explosion of burning splinters blasted from the wooden knot, and a plume of flame billowed out as the wood began to burn.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Eew! It stinks!” Sloan groaned as a cloud of smoke wafted up toward her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke didn’t disagree; bramble hulk smoke always carried on it the unpleasant scent of decomposition and wood rot … but there was something different about the smell of this advanced bramble hulk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt smelled like that, and burning blood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What’s the verdict?” Ember called down. “Need another—wait, Locke! Look out behind you!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54702624604451,"sku":"9621769000059","price":79.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Titan_Mage_Omnibus_2_Shopify_SIGNED.jpg?v=1769976817"},{"product_id":"signed-print-titan-mage-complete-series-bundle","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Titan Mage - Complete Series BUNDLE","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis bundle contains Books One thru Five and The Hot Springs Episode in the Titan Mage series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout these premium SIGNED PAPERBACKS:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTitan Mage (Titan Mage #1):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMagic powers? His own mech? A whole airship of gorgeous women desperate for his genes? Yes, please!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParalyzed by a drunk driver, let go from his job, and stuck in a sad, stagnant town in the middle of nowhere, Joseph Locke was having the worst day of his life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then he \u003cem\u003edied\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut considering that he wakes up with a brand new body, in the cockpit of a badass steampunk robot, on an airship of nothing but hot babes, his next life may not be all that bad. Especially when he learns that he’s a void mage—the rarest and most powerful of all mages on the world of Haven. And his shipmates want to help him make \u003cem\u003emore\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs if that weren’t enough, they offer Locke a job piloting one of their mechs, which they call Titans. In the meantime, Locke has to learn his way around this exciting world, all while coming to grips with his new—and \u003cem\u003edangerous\u003c\/em\u003e—occupation. Will he be able to master his Titan? How can he best upgrade the machine to become as badass as possible? Why’s a strange parasitic sludge falling from the sky? And what’s up with the ghost of a space witch living in his Titan—and inside his head?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eWARNING\u003c\/em\u003e: \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun fantasy adventure containing steam both punk and smutty: raunchy sausage-obsessed mechanics, lusty airship captains, prurient mech pilots, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Edie Skye has somehow managed to mix together LitRPG, magical mecha, and a spicy harem romance into a story that is fun and great entertainment. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one night, but here we are.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a teenager, I drooled over the mechs of Robotech and Macross, and nothing since then has captured my love of those massive robots as the titans of Titan Mage.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThese products are premium paperback novels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from TITAN MAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How many are there?” Locke asked, his body cocooned safely within the massive bulk of Titan Chimera. The war machine towered over two stories tall, a humanoid frame of crimson armor plates over black joints and artificial muscles. Gold filigree—faded from wear and tear from who-knew-how-many battles—highlighted a few edges, accentuating its sturdy, powerful build.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke walked the titan up to the square opening in the floor, where diffused light from the sunrise spilled into the airship’s long central hangar bay. He clenched a gargantuan fist around a support rafter running the length of the ceiling and peered down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMorning mist shrouded the base of Mount Driver, and thick pine forests climbed its craggy slopes, thinning out into bare rock and snow near the mountain’s peak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExcept for a glint of blue and silver moving along the forest’s edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA \u003cem\u003elarge\u003c\/em\u003e glint. Moving fast for something so big.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ember?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hold it,” she radioed from Titan Long Shot. “I’m not in position yet. Almost there.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Take your time,” he sighed. Or he’d intended to, but his voice cracked at the end. Jitters ate at his nerves, and butterflies fluttered in the pit of his stomach. Fighting monsters in a titan was one thing, but this? This was on a whole different scale of crazy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhy did I agree to this? \u003c\/em\u003eLocke thought. \u003cem\u003eWhy did I \u003c\/em\u003esuggest \u003cem\u003ethis\u003c\/em\u003e?!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In position,” Ember reported. The glint settled atop an outthrust of stone on the mountain, almost like a ship’s bow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And?” Locke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I see them. Right where we thought they’d be.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How many?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“One titan, which we expected … plus two heavy weapon quads. Big ones, too. Maybe thirty tons each.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And how many titties?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe radio fell silent for long, agonized seconds. He could almost feel Ember rolling her eyes at him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For the last time, Locke, the ‘small titans’ are \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e titties! They’re called rigs!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I know that,” he countered, gazing once more at the drop. “But consider the world from my perspective, just for a moment. I’m \u003cem\u003enervous\u003c\/em\u003e, and I’ve been nervous since I agreed to this plan.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s \u003cem\u003eyour\u003c\/em\u003e plan!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s beside the point. What \u003cem\u003eis\u003c\/em\u003e the point is I made a lame little joke back then in an attempt to make myself feel better. And you know the response I got? \u003cem\u003eNone\u003c\/em\u003e of you laughed at my joke. So guess what? I’m calling them titties until I start feeling better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, good grief.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Remember, I’m about to leap from this airship in a seventeen-ton coffin, and the only thing preventing me from going crunch at the end is an upgrade we’ve never tested!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re not that high up,” Ember jabbed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, you think so? Alyssa, how high up are we?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just a hair under six thousand feet,” she radioed from the airship’s bridge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Right. Over a mile up, then. And not only that, but I’m dropping in next to some bad people who want us dead.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Try not to land right on top of them, would you?” Ember warned. “You’ll block my shots.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll \u003cem\u003etry\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Ember,” Alyssa cut in. “Back to Locke’s question, before he went off on this weird tangent. How many rigs do you see?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ten to fifteen. Hard to be exact. Some of them are obscured by the trees, and the quads will probably have some extra rigs I can’t see from here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s a whole lot of titties,” Alyssa quipped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uhh,” Ember groaned. “Not you, too.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That make you feel any better, Locke?” Alyssa asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Marginally.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, shake it out of your system. You’re a titan mage now. You charge in where others fear to tread. Don’t ever forget that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know. And I won’t let you down. I promise.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’ve got this. I know you do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now brace yourself. Here comes the turn.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe airship banked to the left, and Locke shifted one of Titan Chimera’s feet outward for better balance. He raised an arm, and through the titan’s eyes he studied the catalyst built into the underside of its forearm. The crystalline rod ran from the machine’s wrist down to its elbow, appearing clear in its inert state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke channeled a simple matter-based spell through the catalyst. Titan Chimera’s void furnace roared alive, burning a steady stream of liquefied void condensate and releasing the powerful essence sealed within. Hot air and black smoke belched out of two louvers, one at each of the titan’s shoulders, and the crystalline catalyst darkened to the same hue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSilvery swiftmetal poured out of a port below the wrist and spun itself into the wireframe of a great shield, while one of the many gauges in his console wiggled downward. More swiftmetal spooled outward, filling in the shield until it formed a solid, reassuring wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke let the base of the shield thump down against the deck. The magical construct was as solid as wrought iron.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e “I’m getting better at this,” he declared privately with a smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re almost on top of them,” Alyssa radioed in. “You ready to jump?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“As ready as I’ll ever be.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Watch it,” Ember warned. “That unexpected turn must have grabbed their attention. Those two quads are swinging their guns your way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Time to go!” Locke let go of the rafter, took one heavy step forward, and let the titan’s bulk tilt over the side. His stomach slammed up into his throat, and Titan Chimera plummeted toward the forest below, wind howling past him, armor plates rattling in the turbulence. Seventeen tons may have granted the machine a degree of stubborn inertia, but a brick still flew like a brick.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Warm morning sunlight kissed the titan’s armor as Locke channeled a gravity-based spell into the catalysts in each leg. Crystalline rods built into the titan’s calves glowed a faint purple, and smoke of the same color plumed out of the titan’s louvers in long, pale streamers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis descent slowed and stabilized.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whew!” Locke exclaimed. “That’s one less worry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe twin gravity catalysts weren’t powerful enough for true flight, but he could use them to fall in a controlled manner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhich was all he needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good luck!” Alyssa called out. High above, the long, glinting shape of the airship banked away from the battle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Luck?” Locke scoffed. “Who needs luck when you can use mag—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA beam of blinding yellow light shot up from the ground and blared past him with an aura of crackling magical lightning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Never mind!” He raised his shield, but the act obstructed his view of the oncoming ground. “Damn. Didn’t think this through, did I?” he mumbled to himself and channeled a matter spell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSwiftmetal parted to form a narrow viewing slit near the top of the shield.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There. That’s bet—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA second beam speared into the shield. Silvery metal turned cherry red around the impact, and the force sent the titan spinning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yikes!” He channeled bursts of gravity thrust, righted the titan, and stabilized the shield with both hands. “Ember, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m being shot at!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is this a surprise?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Isn’t this the part where \u003cem\u003eyou\u003c\/em\u003e start shooting at them?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hold it. I don’t want to waste my opening shot.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother beam scythed past him, its nimbus crackling against the edge of his shield.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Would you fire sooner if I said pretty please?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No need. Aaaand … gotcha!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Long Shot channeled its own magic into a red lance of lethal energy. The beam pierced through the superstructure atop one of the enemy quads, rupturing its furnace. Superheated void essence screamed through the widening cracks like enraged, escaping steam, and lightning forked through the air. Mages and engineers in black livery scurried away from the four-legged weapon platform moments before its furnace blew in a cataclysm of unfocused energy magic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe blast ripped the entire superstructure off its turret mooring and flung it three stories into the air before it fell back down and crumpled against the ground next to the quad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s one!” Ember called out triumphantly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second quad swiveled its cannon toward Titan Long Shot and fired, but the crew clearly didn’t have a fix on her position, and the beam bored a ragged line across the stony mountainside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA scattering of shots from void rifles \u003cem\u003etinked\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eplinked\u003c\/em\u003e against Locke’s shield, and he channeled one final burst of gravity magic before Titan Chimera stomped feetfirst into a narrow clearing. He stumbled forward, grabbed the thick trunk of an ancient pine, and planted his feet. The titan’s forward movement plowed two grooves through the damp soil and nearly uprooted the tree before it came to a stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Made it!” Locke said, then chuckled with the joy of still being alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Three rigs heading toward you,” Ember reported. “North by northwest.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I see them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke faced the approaching weapons he thought of as “little titans.” These black-armored rigs stood twelve feet tall, less than half the height of his own Titan Chimera. They were too small to come with furnaces of their own, and instead received power from tanks of compressed void essence attached to their backs, which made them resemble deep sea divers to his eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke channeled through his matter catalyst, and the shield reformed into a massive hammer with a long, sturdy shaft. He gripped the weapon with both hands and charged the trio of rigs with long, thunderous strides.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rigs opened fire, and bolts of energy chipped at Locke’s armor. He closed the distance and swung the hammer in a wide overhand arc. The hammer slammed into the lead rig’s head, flattened it, then imploded the top half of its torso. It teetered forward, arms outstretched, groping the air before Locke kicked it over. The rig \u003cem\u003ethunked\u003c\/em\u003e to the ground on its back, its legs and arms thrashing in vain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other two rigs paused, perhaps now regretting their bold charge against this titan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who’s next?” Locke asked with a wide grin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55481571705123,"sku":"TITANMAGE-COMPLETE","price":94.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Titan_Mage_Signed_Paperback_Bundle_Shopify.png?v=1786967972"},{"product_id":"signed-print-blood-knight-vampire-slayer-complete-series-bundle-paperbacks","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Blood Knight - Complete Series BUNDLE (Paperbacks)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis bundle contains Books One thru Five in the Blood Knight series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout these premium SIGNED PAPERBACKS:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBlood Knight: Vampire Slayer (Blood Knight #1):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn insatiable succubus? A shy werewolf? A scatterbrained angel? This team needs a leader!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJ.B. Clarke enrolled in college to earn his degree and find a steady job. What he got instead was an adventure in a secret underworld where vampires rule over all. Emma Rose, a friendly gamer who turns out to be a succubus, recruits him into Broken Fang, an overly ambitious team of monster girls. These lovely ladies know they’ll need help if they’re to stand a chance against the vampires, and they’re looking for a few good men.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, one man, actually. And that’s him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke is soon thrust into a hidden world full of magic, mystery, and mythical creatures. He’s in way over his head because Broken Fang is a dysfunctional mess, and his calculus professor is a sadistic vampire who snacks on pet animals. He’ll need more than his (considerable) experience with fantasy games to solve this problem!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, he’s far from helpless. He’s a blood knight, descended from an ancient and powerful line of vampire hunters, and his magical abilities have finally begun to awaken. But will they be enough? Can he master his powers in time to face the coming storm? Can he grow into the leader Broken Fang so desperately needs?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr will he end up as just one more meal for the vampires?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eBlood Knight: Vampire Slayer\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun urban fantasy adventure with a healthy side of heat: voluptuous succubi, energetic werewolves, incorrigible slime girls, nubile witches, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThese products are premium paperback novels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from BLOOD KNIGHT: VAMPIRE SLAYER\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCHAPTER ONE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Clarke?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hmm?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know this is out of the blue, but have you ever played Dungeons \u0026amp; Dragons before?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJ.B Clarke sat in the Engineering and Science building’s study hall, his brain fogged with the musty stench of the decades-old building his college was too cheap to update, despite its exorbitant tuition fees. It had fallen deeper into fog over the past few hours, immersed in a grueling software problem as part of his database coursework. So when Emma called upon his brain to switch gears, it was a struggle—but soon he ungummed his brain cogs and flicked his eyes up from his laptop to meet hers across the table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmma cocked a playful eyebrow, which managed to coax Clarke’s mind fully out of its code-induced stupor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A while ago,” he said cautiously, not sure what was behind her question. “Some of my friends were into it back in high school, but I haven’t played since I graduated. Why?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No reason, really. You just seemed the type.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The type?” Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir professor had divvied up the class into random pairs for this assignment, which involved two students tackling each problem together. That meant they were supposed to divide the scope of their code between them and develop an interface to mesh their work back together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke had hoped to be paired with one of his acquaintances from the class—he hadn’t been at Chester Creek University long enough to develop any new close friends—but he’d ended up with Emma, a girl he’d exchanged no more than three words with before this assignment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot that he minded! He’d take about \u003cem\u003eany \u003c\/em\u003eexcuse to get to know her better, and it just so happened one had landed in his lap.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a testament to the brain-dulling, soul-sucking nature of his surroundings that he’d managed to be distracted from her at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmmaline “Emma” Rose possessed what Clarke thought of as an “abundant” figure. Her burgundy leather jacket, black miniskirt, and gray-and-black striped stockings each seemed to strain against all those curves, especially the high and heavy thrust of her breasts, almost as if her clothes were under immense pressure from the inside, ready to burst open from all that barely-contained femininity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer face was equally attractive with large, dark eyes behind horn-rimmed glasses and a generous—often smiling—mouth, all framed by a cascade of long, raven-black hair. The glasses gave her a “sexy geek” vibe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, are you?” Emma asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was no judgment in her voice. No condescension or disdain. Just a soft, friendly form of curiosity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke had been a little nervous about how to approach Emma after class, worried about coming across as either too forward or too business-like. They were classmates assigned to the same problem; it would have been awkward for him to hit on her right out of the gate. Conversely, he didn’t want to keep things \u003cem\u003etoo \u003c\/em\u003eformal. This \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e a golden opportunity to get to know her better, after all!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, Emma had beaten him to the punch. She’d broken the ice outside class with a great programming joke: \u003cem\u003eA SQL query goes into a bar, walks up to two tables and asks, “Can I join you?”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’d have to remember that one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why do I get the feeling this question didn’t come out of nowhere?” Clarke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe flashed a brief smile. “Well, this place is \u003cem\u003eboring\u003c\/em\u003e, for one. And actually, one of my friends likes to GM. She put together this custom campaign, but we’re short one player. You interested?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke paused to consider how best to reply. A girl—a \u003cem\u003esmoking hot \u003c\/em\u003egirl—was inviting him to join her and her friends—her \u003cem\u003every possibly smoking hot\u003c\/em\u003e friends—for a night of pen-and-paper roleplaying. There was no way he could turn this down!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCareful though\u003c\/em\u003e, he told himself. \u003cem\u003eDon’t come across as too eager. Ease up to an eventual “yes.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Depends,” he replied guardedly. “What gaming system are you using?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pathfinder 3.5. You ever hear of it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I have,” he replied, his mind flashing through countless hours playing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ashley likes to use Pathfinder as a base for all her custom scenarios.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ashley?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“One of my friends. She stopped by our table earlier.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You mean—” He almost said \u003cem\u003ethe blonde that looks like a supermodel\u003c\/em\u003e, but instead replied, “the blonde dressed all in white. Long hair? Shiny hairband?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s her. My other friends—Sammy and Brooke—also play. Normally, the three of us would be enough, but Ashley \u003cem\u003einsists\u003c\/em\u003e we have four players for this one.” Emma leaned forward and gave him a crooked, knowing smile. “She can be stubborn like that sometimes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, if she put in all the time and effort to make her own scenario, then yeah. I can see why she’d be picky about how you played through it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Which brings us back around to my question.” She leaned back and draped an arm over the back of her chair. “Interested?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure. When and where?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This Saturday at my apartment. We generally start arriving around five, have something to eat, then pull out the dice around six—six thirty. I’ll email you the address. It’s about twenty minutes from campus.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Great. I assume I’ll need to put together a character?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not for this one. Ashley has prebuilt characters for all of us. That’s part of the reason why she needs a specific number of players.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For the story?” Clarke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You guessed it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What can you tell me about the scenario?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s urban fantasy, so the setting is modern day but with all these secretive magical elements thrown in. You’ll be playing a blood knight in hiding. They’re a hybrid class, sort of like a ranger or druid. Ashley gave the class a mix of magic and combat abilities. \u003cem\u003eVery\u003c\/em\u003e versatile.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sounds fun. I’ve always enjoyed playing hybrid classes. More options make for more engaging roleplay.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“See?” She extended an open palm toward him. “I knew you were the type!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I guess you had me figured out,” he replied, returning a bashful smile. “Should I bring anything to the session?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just a copy of your character sheet and some dice, though I have spares if you need some.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, I have my own.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Figured you would.” Emma gave him a friendly wink. “I’ll email you the character sheet along with the address. Just need to get it from Ashley first.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks, but I was actually asking about food or drink. I don’t want to mooch off your hospitality or anything.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No worries there. The four of us—now \u003cem\u003efive \u003c\/em\u003eof us—take turns covering the pregame meal, and it’s Brooke’s turn this week.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got it, and thanks for the invite. You can expect me at five, rules and dice at the ready.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Great! Looking forward to it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What about you? What’s your character like?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, me?” Emma placed a demure hand over her chest. “I’m playing a succubus.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat Saturday, Clarke arrived at Emma’s apartment a few minutes before five with a ring binder clutched in the crook of his arm and a dice bag hanging from his fingers. Of the housing options available around campus, this was clearly one of the higher-end ones—not fancy, exactly, but sleek and new with pleasant facades that looked like they saw few raucous, vomit-strewn parties or drug deals, which was more than he could say about his own cheap place. He knocked on the door with his free hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe door cracked open, and Emma peeked her head out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Clarke!” She gave him with a warm smile. “Come on in.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe swung the door wide, and he stepped in, taking in the apartment. It was larger than the cubbyhole he called home—and cleaner, too—with comfy recliners and a long couch arranged around a low coffee table. Artwork hung on the walls in thick, black frames depicting a mix of anime and movie characters. \u003cem\u003eFrames\u003c\/em\u003e. She definitely lived a step above him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks for the invite, again.” He set the binder down on the granite counter that separated the kitchen from the living room and tried not to look overly curious as he returned his attention to the binder. “It feels like ages since I scratched that pen-and-paper itch.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t mention it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Though, I do have some \u003cem\u003eslight \u003c\/em\u003econcerns.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Like what?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well …” Clarke opened the binder and thumbed through the hundred or so pages. “I wasn’t expecting quite this many custom rules.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah,” Emma replied, her eyes laughing. “Sometimes Ashley can go a bit overboard.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Where’s she find the time for all this, anyway?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who knows? But you know how it is. If you’re passionate about something, you find the time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I guess so. Just wondering if her grades suffer because of her hobby.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nope. Quite the opposite, in fact. She gets straight A’s every semester, and I’m pretty sure she takes more hours than either of us.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know her major?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ma-\u003cem\u003ejors\u003c\/em\u003e, actually. Political science and history.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke’s eyes widened. “She’s getting straight A’s with a dual major?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yep.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke shook his head. He flipped back to the front page, which contained the bulk of his character stats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmma glanced down at the page. Something must have caught her eye, because her brow furrowed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uh, Clarke?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s not your real name, is it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke sighed internally. \u003cem\u003eHere we go.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m afraid so.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But …” She made a disgusted face. “There’s no way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I wish that were true,” he replied in a tired manner that attested to many similar conversations he endured in the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I thought Clarke was your first name.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That would have been nice, but no. It’s my last name.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come on.” Emma pointed to the name at the top of his character sheet, as if that would reveal some secret, \u003cem\u003ereally\u003c\/em\u003e real name beneath it. “You’re pulling my leg.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wish I was.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But no one’s parents would be that cruel!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’d \u003cem\u003ethink\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJ.B. Clarke gave her a sad smile, because his full name was Joffrey Baratheon Clarke. His mother—bless her enthusiastic fantasy-loving heart—had discovered George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire a few years before he’d been born and had “really liked the name’s ring.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis father—bless \u003cem\u003ehis\u003c\/em\u003e heart—hadn’t put his foot down, which led to him being named after a contender for “worst human being in fiction.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt wasn’t all bad, though. Back then, most people didn’t have a clue who Joffrey Baratheon was, and the name shortened to the much more palatable J.B., though his parents had settled for Joff most of the time. However, his namesake’s anonymity had vanished once HBO turned the books into a popular TV series and thus elevated the character from “worst human being in fiction” to “worst human being in fiction, for whom people cheered when he died and then rewound to watch it again.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then the teasing began.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd kept going.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd going.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd fucking \u003cem\u003egoing\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke couldn’t have been happier when the show tanked in its last season so disastrously that literally \u003cem\u003eno one \u003c\/em\u003ewanted to talk about it anymore. Even a \u003cem\u003eglobal pandemic\u003c\/em\u003e couldn’t get people to rewatch its dumpster fire of an ending.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat said, his parents had been less than sympathetic when he’d confronted them about his namesake, stressing that they had no way of seeing into the future and it could have been worse. They even shared the supposedly true story of a woman who’d wanted to name her newborn daughter “Vagina” because she’d never encountered the word before the obstetrician used it and because, “Thas jus tha purdiest word I eva hurd!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke shivered involuntarily. Yes, it could have been worse.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Actually,” he continued, “I’m wondering how Ashley knew my name, because it seems you didn’t tell her.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nope. News to me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Will she let me go by ‘Clarke’ in the campaign?” He tapped a note on the page. “Because this part says we’re playing alternate versions of ourselves in the scenario.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I’m sure Ashley will,” Emma replied with a carefree wave of her hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Will what?” came the unexpected response from the opening door.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Ash! Speak of the devil.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe newcomer gave Emma a cross look. “You know I don’t like that joke.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Must be why I keep using it, then,” Emma teased in a good-natured manner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley Smith rolled her eyes as she eased the door shut, then crossed the room with long-legged strides, high heels clicking on the hardwood. She’d dressed in all white again, this time with a short neck scarf to accent her sleeveless button-down shirt. She’d left the first three buttons open to provide a tantalizing glimpse of deep, firm cleavage. Her long, blonde hair practically gleamed in the light, held back by a metallic hairband.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe smiled at Clarke, but the expression held all the warmth of a business transaction. Clarke fought an urge to check his phone, almost certain she’d arrived at \u003cem\u003eexactly\u003c\/em\u003e 5:00 PM. She struck him as the severely punctual type.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m Ashley.” She extended a slender hand, which he shook, and found she was all business there, too. “I’m glad you could make it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Me, too,” Clarke replied, not sure what else to say, and trying to keep his eyes from wandering toward her plunging neckline. (Which was \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e business-appropriate.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So, what are you sure I’ll allow?” Ashley asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“He wants to shorten his character name.” Emma tapped her finger on the character sheet. “Just chop off the first two parts.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley leaned over the page, then glanced up at Clarke.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You don’t want to use your given name?” she asked, sounding somewhat perplexed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not really.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why not?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uh …” Clarke frowned at her. “Isn’t it obvious?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley’s eyes darted to the character sheet, stayed there for long, confused seconds, then zipped back up to Clarke. She seemed ready to ask another question, but then something softened in her face, and she shrugged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If you’re not comfortable with it, then use whatever you like. I only thought starting with everyone’s real names would make the scenario more immersive.” She gave Emma a knowing glance. “After all, if tonight goes well—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe door swung open violently. A tall, athletic woman barged in, four pizza boxes balanced atop one hand with absurd grace compared to the rest of her, especially when she shouted:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, bitches! I brought the meats!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second newcomer was almost as tall as Clarke, who was no slouch in the height department, though her shoulders weren’t nearly as broad, and her chest possessed a great deal more … topology than his. Still, the toned muscles visible on her arms and bare midriff spoke to an active lifestyle. Or curriculum. Or both, perhaps.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d tied her thick, wavy mane of brunette hair back into a ponytail and wore a baggy gray T-shirt cut off at the bottom to reveal her firm stomach, its design and lettering too faded to make out. Her jeans gave a similar impression of comfortable wear and tear with a few rips around the knees.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer sharp, intense eyes caught his, but then widened suddenly, and she froze midstride, almost launching the pizzas forward before she stabilized them with her free hand. Her expression—initially loud and boisterous—became almost mousy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh. You’re already here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That I am,” Clarke replied dryly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uh … Hi? I’m Brooke. Brooke Hawthorne.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Clarke. Nice to meet you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, uh.” Brooke held the boxes out as if offering them as an apology. “I brought pizza.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll take those.” Emma grabbed the pizza boxes and began arraying them on the kitchen counter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rich, savory smell of hot cheese, meat, and marinara tickled Clarke’s nose, and his stomach grumbled in anticipation. Emma and Ashley busied themselves setting out paper plates, napkins, plastic cups, and a selection of colas at one end of the boxes. Brooke eventually unfroze from her awkward pose, gave Clarke a bashful glance, then grabbed a plate and began loading it up with pizza slices.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke grabbed his own plate and surveyed the selection: three large pizzas consisting of pepperoni, meat lovers, supreme (also piled high with enough meat that the rare veggies would have cowered in fear if they’d been sapient), one medium pizza split into half pepperoni and half cheese, and a bag of breadsticks and marinara dipping sauce.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The meats indeed,” Ashley noted with a sour glance over the options.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The cheesy one is for you,” Brooke said. “See? I kept you in mind.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And what about our guest? You consider him, too?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I—” Brooke paused with her mouth open, then frowned. She faced Clarke. “You’re not a vegetarian, are you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nope.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Any allergies?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“None I’m aware of.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You like pizza?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, I \u003cem\u003elove \u003c\/em\u003epizza, and the more meat the better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fantastic! I was worried there for a minute.” Brooke’s face brightened. “You’ll fit right in.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The point,” Ashley said firmly, “is you should have asked \u003cem\u003ebefore\u003c\/em\u003e you bought the food.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whoops.” Brooke shrugged before adding another slice to her plate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey there, girlfriends!” said a petite figure from the doorway.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Sammy!” Emma waved at her. “Would you mind locking the door? We’re all here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure thing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke realized he’d seen Sammy a few times around campus, though he’d never spoken to her. In fact, it was hard \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e to notice her, since she favored loud clothes and even louder hair, which seemed to be a different color every time he laid eyes on her. She wore a hoodie stylized with splotches of fluorescent paint, the hood pulled back to reveal a pixie cut of vibrant red hair blending toward purple at the tips.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe walked up to Clarke. “You Clarke?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s right.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Samantha Eloise.” She extended a gloved hand. “But you can call me Sammy. All my friends do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe shook her hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Sammy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You ready to kick some vampire butt tonight?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eShh!\u003c\/em\u003e” Ashley snapped. “Spoilers!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, come on.” Sammy rolled her eyes as she grabbed her plate. “He already knows. You put it right there in your twenty-thousand-word lore dump.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke kept very quiet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I suppose you have a point there.” Ashley placed a single cheesy slice on her plate, struggling to disentangle the gooey strands gracefully. “You did read all the lore, right?” she asked, her voice tinged with uneasy hopefulness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I …” Clarke sighed. “Okay, I’m going to be honest here. I didn’t realize there was going to be quite so much material when I started printing it out. All I did was skim it before I drove over.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley sank in her seat a little and, oddly, her hairband seemed to darken a few shades. It must have been a trick of the lighting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t give him that look.” Sammy flopped into one of the recliners and took a large bite from a breadstick. She continued speaking with her mouth full. “All I did was skim it, too. It was either that or fall asleep halfway through.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, now,” Ashley protested. “It wasn’t that dry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSammy snorted out a laugh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I liked it.” Brooke plopped down into one of the chairs. “I think it’s a good primer for people new to the, uh, setting.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke guessed she’d been about to use a different word there at the end, but he didn’t give it more than a passing thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley sighed and joined them around the coffee table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith all the recliners taken, Clarke sat down at one end of the couch, fully expecting Emma to pick the other end.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe didn’t, instead choosing to sit in the middle close enough for their hips to press against each other. Clarke felt a jolt of almost electric excitement surge through him at the unexpected contact. He glanced over at her, and she smiled sweetly back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Something wrong?” she asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s nothing.” He was about to start eating when he noticed Emma hadn’t brought a plate. “Not eating with us?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll snack on something else later.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not a fan of pizza?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not that. I love a good slice of pizza as much as the next girl. I just have these”—she twirled a hand around as if searching for the right word—“dietary restrictions.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ah.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I can only handle so much junk food before I get hit with these cravings and need something more, umm, nutritious to fill me up.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got it. Say no more.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSammy chuckled around a fat bite of breadstick. He had no idea why.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55481585402147,"sku":"BLOODKNIGHT-COMPLETE","price":94.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Blood_Knight_Signed_Paperback_Bundle_Shopify.png?v=1786968486"},{"product_id":"signed-print-the-edie-skye-starter-kit-bundle","title":"SIGNED PRINT: The Edie Skye Starter Kit BUNDLE","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis bundle contains \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage\u003c\/em\u003e (Titan Mage #1), \u003cem\u003eBlood Knight: Vampire Slayer\u003c\/em\u003e (Blood Knight #1), \u003cem\u003eI Power Up With Every Monster Girl I Defeat!\u003c\/em\u003e (Monster Girl Tamer #1), and \u003cem\u003eCatgirls from Outer Space\u003c\/em\u003e. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout these premium SIGNED PAPERBACKS:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTitan Mage (Titan Mage #1):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMagic powers? His own mech? A whole airship of gorgeous women desperate for his genes? Yes, please!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParalyzed by a drunk driver, let go from his job, and stuck in a sad, stagnant town in the middle of nowhere, Joseph Locke was having the worst day of his life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then he \u003cem\u003edied\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut considering that he wakes up with a brand new body, in the cockpit of a badass steampunk robot, on an airship of nothing but hot babes, his next life may not be all that bad. Especially when he learns that he’s a void mage—the rarest and most powerful of all mages on the world of Haven. And his shipmates want to help him make \u003cem\u003emore\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs if that weren’t enough, they offer Locke a job piloting one of their mechs, which they call Titans. In the meantime, Locke has to learn his way around this exciting world, all while coming to grips with his new—and \u003cem\u003edangerous\u003c\/em\u003e—occupation. Will he be able to master his Titan? How can he best upgrade the machine to become as badass as possible? Why’s a strange parasitic sludge falling from the sky? And what’s up with the ghost of a space witch living in his Titan—and inside his head?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eWARNING\u003c\/em\u003e: \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun fantasy adventure containing steam both punk and smutty: raunchy sausage-obsessed mechanics, lusty airship captains, prurient mech pilots, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Edie Skye has somehow managed to mix together LitRPG, magical mecha, and a spicy harem romance into a story that is fun and great entertainment. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one night, but here we are.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a teenager, I drooled over the mechs of Robotech and Macross, and nothing since then has captured my love of those massive robots as the titans of Titan Mage.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBlood Knight: Vampire Slayer (Blood Knight #1):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn insatiable succubus? A shy werewolf? A scatterbrained angel? This team needs a leader!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJ.B. Clarke enrolled in college to earn his degree and find a steady job. What he got instead was an adventure in a secret underworld where vampires rule over all. Emma Rose, a friendly gamer who turns out to be a succubus, recruits him into Broken Fang, an overly ambitious team of monster girls. These lovely ladies know they’ll need help if they’re to stand a chance against the vampires, and they’re looking for a few good men.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, one man, actually. And that’s him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke is soon thrust into a hidden world full of magic, mystery, and mythical creatures. He’s in way over his head because Broken Fang is a dysfunctional mess, and his calculus professor is a sadistic vampire who snacks on pet animals. He’ll need more than his (considerable) experience with fantasy games to solve this problem!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, he’s far from helpless. He’s a blood knight, descended from an ancient and powerful line of vampire hunters, and his magical abilities have finally begun to awaken. But will they be enough? Can he master his powers in time to face the coming storm? Can he grow into the leader Broken Fang so desperately needs?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr will he end up as just one more meal for the vampires?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eBlood Knight: Vampire Slayer\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun urban fantasy adventure with a healthy side of heat: voluptuous succubi, energetic werewolves, incorrigible slime girls, nubile witches, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI Power Up With Every Monster Girl I Defeat! (Monster Girl Tamer #1):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA red hot, fiery demon girl. A goblin girl obsessed with wood. An oni girl who loves to grip a big sword. And they’re going to help him save the world … \u003cem\u003ehow\u003c\/em\u003e?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAxel Hunter Radcliff has trained his whole life to be a hero. Once every generation, someone in his family is called upon to be a Chosen One, and Axel’s prepared himself extensively, just in case it’s him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe just wasn’t prepared for the portal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow he’s in another world brimming with dangerous monsters beneath a sky full of magic portals … and with no idea what he’s been summoned to do. All he knows is that every Chosen Radcliff has been aided by a support staff of skilled women: a \u003cem\u003etactical harem\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen mysterious monster girls start wreaking havoc in this new world, Axel is ready to answer the call. He’ll have to draw upon insight borne from every tabletop RPG he’s played and every harem novel he’s read to face them, because these are either the women he’s destined to gather … or the force he’s been summoned to stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEither way, these monster girls need to be \u003cem\u003etamed\u003c\/em\u003e!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eMonster Girl Tamer\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun LitRPG fantasy adventure with a healthy side of heat: sensuous demons, lustful goblins, voluptuous oni, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eCatgirls from Outer Space\u003c\/em\u003e:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA down on his luck spaceship captain? An ex-space pirate catgirl? A catgirl warrior who’s down for some wild … adventure? Only one question remains: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWant to make some kittens tonight?\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCaptain Nathan Kade just wants a quick job \u003c\/strong\u003eto keep his busted-up spaceship limping through the Solar System.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInstead he gets Vessani S’Kaari, a mysterious and beautiful catgirl\u003c\/strong\u003e who tried—and failed—to steal a ship belonging to a band of space pirates. She’s chaos in a tight catsuit, but she also has a lead on what may be the greatest treasure trove of lost technology the Solar System has ever seen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNot to mention a really nice … tail. \u003c\/strong\u003eHe pulls that tail out of the fire, and together they assemble a team to seek out this long-lost bounty.\u003cstrong\u003e Soon, he’s commanding a ragtag crew of space cowboys:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eA warrior catgirl who’s as deadly with a wink as her blade\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eA snarky multi-bodied robot commando pilot\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eA sexy engineer who knows how to make a reactor purr\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eAnd a grumpy, cyber-implanted cleric who whispers with the remnants of ancient gods\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003eThey’ll dodge spaceship fire, flirt with danger (and each other), and maybe—just maybe—make the score of a lifetime.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBut they’re not the only ones chasing the prize. \u003c\/strong\u003eThe Jovian Everlife has dispatched a fleet of warships with one of their elite, many-bodied agents in command, and he’d like a few words with Nathan and his catgirls—preferably in chains.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGuns will blaze. Spaceships will burn. Tails will swish.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnd somewhere in all that mayhem, a broke captain might just find everything he never knew he wanted.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eEmbark on the adventure of a lifetime with national bestselling author Jacob Holo and Amazon bestselling author Edie Skye in this brand new science fiction standalone. If you’re a fan of wild futuristic technology, wilder catgirls, and spicy scrappy crew space opera, this just might be the story you’ve been waiting for.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\" class=\"MsoNormalCxSpFirst\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eCatgirls from Outer Space\u003c\/em\u003e is a fast-paced, action-packed sci-fi adventure romance for men where the hero saves the day and gets all the girls. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThese products are premium paperback novels.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from TITAN MAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How many are there?” Locke asked, his body cocooned safely within the massive bulk of Titan Chimera. The war machine towered over two stories tall, a humanoid frame of crimson armor plates over black joints and artificial muscles. Gold filigree—faded from wear and tear from who-knew-how-many battles—highlighted a few edges, accentuating its sturdy, powerful build.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke walked the titan up to the square opening in the floor, where diffused light from the sunrise spilled into the airship’s long central hangar bay. He clenched a gargantuan fist around a support rafter running the length of the ceiling and peered down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMorning mist shrouded the base of Mount Driver, and thick pine forests climbed its craggy slopes, thinning out into bare rock and snow near the mountain’s peak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExcept for a glint of blue and silver moving along the forest’s edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA \u003cem\u003elarge\u003c\/em\u003e glint. Moving fast for something so big.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ember?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hold it,” she radioed from Titan Long Shot. “I’m not in position yet. Almost there.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Take your time,” he sighed. Or he’d intended to, but his voice cracked at the end. Jitters ate at his nerves, and butterflies fluttered in the pit of his stomach. Fighting monsters in a titan was one thing, but this? This was on a whole different scale of crazy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhy did I agree to this? \u003c\/em\u003eLocke thought. \u003cem\u003eWhy did I \u003c\/em\u003esuggest \u003cem\u003ethis\u003c\/em\u003e?!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In position,” Ember reported. The glint settled atop an outthrust of stone on the mountain, almost like a ship’s bow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And?” Locke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I see them. Right where we thought they’d be.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How many?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“One titan, which we expected … plus two heavy weapon quads. Big ones, too. Maybe thirty tons each.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And how many titties?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe radio fell silent for long, agonized seconds. He could almost feel Ember rolling her eyes at him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For the last time, Locke, the ‘small titans’ are \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e titties! They’re called rigs!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I know that,” he countered, gazing once more at the drop. “But consider the world from my perspective, just for a moment. I’m \u003cem\u003enervous\u003c\/em\u003e, and I’ve been nervous since I agreed to this plan.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s \u003cem\u003eyour\u003c\/em\u003e plan!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s beside the point. What \u003cem\u003eis\u003c\/em\u003e the point is I made a lame little joke back then in an attempt to make myself feel better. And you know the response I got? \u003cem\u003eNone\u003c\/em\u003e of you laughed at my joke. So guess what? I’m calling them titties until I start feeling better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, good grief.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Remember, I’m about to leap from this airship in a seventeen-ton coffin, and the only thing preventing me from going crunch at the end is an upgrade we’ve never tested!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re not that high up,” Ember jabbed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, you think so? Alyssa, how high up are we?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just a hair under six thousand feet,” she radioed from the airship’s bridge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Right. Over a mile up, then. And not only that, but I’m dropping in next to some bad people who want us dead.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Try not to land right on top of them, would you?” Ember warned. “You’ll block my shots.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll \u003cem\u003etry\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Ember,” Alyssa cut in. “Back to Locke’s question, before he went off on this weird tangent. How many rigs do you see?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ten to fifteen. Hard to be exact. Some of them are obscured by the trees, and the quads will probably have some extra rigs I can’t see from here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s a whole lot of titties,” Alyssa quipped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uhh,” Ember groaned. “Not you, too.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That make you feel any better, Locke?” Alyssa asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Marginally.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, shake it out of your system. You’re a titan mage now. You charge in where others fear to tread. Don’t ever forget that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know. And I won’t let you down. I promise.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’ve got this. I know you do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now brace yourself. Here comes the turn.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe airship banked to the left, and Locke shifted one of Titan Chimera’s feet outward for better balance. He raised an arm, and through the titan’s eyes he studied the catalyst built into the underside of its forearm. The crystalline rod ran from the machine’s wrist down to its elbow, appearing clear in its inert state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke channeled a simple matter-based spell through the catalyst. Titan Chimera’s void furnace roared alive, burning a steady stream of liquefied void condensate and releasing the powerful essence sealed within. Hot air and black smoke belched out of two louvers, one at each of the titan’s shoulders, and the crystalline catalyst darkened to the same hue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSilvery swiftmetal poured out of a port below the wrist and spun itself into the wireframe of a great shield, while one of the many gauges in his console wiggled downward. More swiftmetal spooled outward, filling in the shield until it formed a solid, reassuring wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke let the base of the shield thump down against the deck. The magical construct was as solid as wrought iron.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e “I’m getting better at this,” he declared privately with a smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re almost on top of them,” Alyssa radioed in. “You ready to jump?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“As ready as I’ll ever be.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Watch it,” Ember warned. “That unexpected turn must have grabbed their attention. Those two quads are swinging their guns your way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Time to go!” Locke let go of the rafter, took one heavy step forward, and let the titan’s bulk tilt over the side. His stomach slammed up into his throat, and Titan Chimera plummeted toward the forest below, wind howling past him, armor plates rattling in the turbulence. Seventeen tons may have granted the machine a degree of stubborn inertia, but a brick still flew like a brick.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Warm morning sunlight kissed the titan’s armor as Locke channeled a gravity-based spell into the catalysts in each leg. Crystalline rods built into the titan’s calves glowed a faint purple, and smoke of the same color plumed out of the titan’s louvers in long, pale streamers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis descent slowed and stabilized.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whew!” Locke exclaimed. “That’s one less worry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe twin gravity catalysts weren’t powerful enough for true flight, but he could use them to fall in a controlled manner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhich was all he needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good luck!” Alyssa called out. High above, the long, glinting shape of the airship banked away from the battle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Luck?” Locke scoffed. “Who needs luck when you can use mag—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA beam of blinding yellow light shot up from the ground and blared past him with an aura of crackling magical lightning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Never mind!” He raised his shield, but the act obstructed his view of the oncoming ground. “Damn. Didn’t think this through, did I?” he mumbled to himself and channeled a matter spell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSwiftmetal parted to form a narrow viewing slit near the top of the shield.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There. That’s bet—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA second beam speared into the shield. Silvery metal turned cherry red around the impact, and the force sent the titan spinning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yikes!” He channeled bursts of gravity thrust, righted the titan, and stabilized the shield with both hands. “Ember, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m being shot at!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is this a surprise?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Isn’t this the part where \u003cem\u003eyou\u003c\/em\u003e start shooting at them?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hold it. I don’t want to waste my opening shot.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother beam scythed past him, its nimbus crackling against the edge of his shield.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Would you fire sooner if I said pretty please?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No need. Aaaand … gotcha!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Long Shot channeled its own magic into a red lance of lethal energy. The beam pierced through the superstructure atop one of the enemy quads, rupturing its furnace. Superheated void essence screamed through the widening cracks like enraged, escaping steam, and lightning forked through the air. Mages and engineers in black livery scurried away from the four-legged weapon platform moments before its furnace blew in a cataclysm of unfocused energy magic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe blast ripped the entire superstructure off its turret mooring and flung it three stories into the air before it fell back down and crumpled against the ground next to the quad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s one!” Ember called out triumphantly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second quad swiveled its cannon toward Titan Long Shot and fired, but the crew clearly didn’t have a fix on her position, and the beam bored a ragged line across the stony mountainside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA scattering of shots from void rifles \u003cem\u003etinked\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eplinked\u003c\/em\u003e against Locke’s shield, and he channeled one final burst of gravity magic before Titan Chimera stomped feetfirst into a narrow clearing. He stumbled forward, grabbed the thick trunk of an ancient pine, and planted his feet. The titan’s forward movement plowed two grooves through the damp soil and nearly uprooted the tree before it came to a stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Made it!” Locke said, then chuckled with the joy of still being alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Three rigs heading toward you,” Ember reported. “North by northwest.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I see them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke faced the approaching weapons he thought of as “little titans.” These black-armored rigs stood twelve feet tall, less than half the height of his own Titan Chimera. They were too small to come with furnaces of their own, and instead received power from tanks of compressed void essence attached to their backs, which made them resemble deep sea divers to his eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke channeled through his matter catalyst, and the shield reformed into a massive hammer with a long, sturdy shaft. He gripped the weapon with both hands and charged the trio of rigs with long, thunderous strides.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rigs opened fire, and bolts of energy chipped at Locke’s armor. He closed the distance and swung the hammer in a wide overhand arc. The hammer slammed into the lead rig’s head, flattened it, then imploded the top half of its torso. It teetered forward, arms outstretched, groping the air before Locke kicked it over. The rig \u003cem\u003ethunked\u003c\/em\u003e to the ground on its back, its legs and arms thrashing in vain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other two rigs paused, perhaps now regretting their bold charge against this titan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who’s next?” Locke asked with a wide grin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55481588547875,"sku":"EDIESKYE-STARTERKIT","price":69.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Edie_Skye_Starter_Kit_Shopify.png?v=1786969249"},{"product_id":"signed-print-titan-mage-titan-mage-1-and-titan-mage-ruin-titan-mage-2-bundle","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Titan Mage (Titan Mage #1) and Titan Mage Ruin (Titan Mage #2) BUNDLE","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis bundle contains Books One and Two in the Titan Mage series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout these premium SIGNED PAPERBACKS:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTitan Mage (Titan Mage #1):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMagic powers? His own mech? A whole airship of gorgeous women desperate for his genes? Yes, please!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParalyzed by a drunk driver, let go from his job, and stuck in a sad, stagnant town in the middle of nowhere, Joseph Locke was having the worst day of his life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then he \u003cem\u003edied\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut considering that he wakes up with a brand new body, in the cockpit of a badass steampunk robot, on an airship of nothing but hot babes, his next life may not be all that bad. Especially when he learns that he’s a void mage—the rarest and most powerful of all mages on the world of Haven. And his shipmates want to help him make \u003cem\u003emore\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs if that weren’t enough, they offer Locke a job piloting one of their mechs, which they call Titans. In the meantime, Locke has to learn his way around this exciting world, all while coming to grips with his new—and \u003cem\u003edangerous\u003c\/em\u003e—occupation. Will he be able to master his Titan? How can he best upgrade the machine to become as badass as possible? Why’s a strange parasitic sludge falling from the sky? And what’s up with the ghost of a space witch living in his Titan—and inside his head?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eWARNING\u003c\/em\u003e: \u003cem\u003eTitan Mage\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun fantasy adventure containing steam both punk and smutty: raunchy sausage-obsessed mechanics, lusty airship captains, prurient mech pilots, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTitan Mage Ruin (Titan Mage #2):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA monster-infested ruin? A dangerous bounty? A missing archaeologist? Sign this crew up for adventure!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s been one month since Locke was reborn on the world of Haven, and he’s still learning his way around. But his magic powers, giant mech, and brand new buff body definitely help. Not to mention his three gorgeous crew mates—Captain Alyssa, fellow Titan Mage Ember, and Chief Engineer Bexley—are determined to … help him get used to it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe’ll have to get used to it all fast, though, because their next bounty is a tough and personal one. An entire expedition has vanished at the site of an ancient ruin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn expedition including Ember’s mother, Erudicia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is no small task. On Haven, ruins involve more than lost history. They mean valuable artifacts, ruthless bandits, and magically-mutated monsters, and though Haven’s leading research society usually looks after its own missing crews … for some reason, it’s in no hurry to find Erudicia’s.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLocke suspects Ember knows why this particular expedition has been abandoned. He also senses she fears what she might face when forced to reunite with her estranged family. But Ember’s not one to let a little fear stand in her way, and neither is Locke. Not when they have their badass mechs called Titans on their side.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStill, questions remain: What caused the rift in Ember’s family? Why was the entire expedition abandoned? What kind of monsters lurk in that ruin? And have Locke and Ember upgraded their Titans enough to survive the trial to come?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eWARNING: Titan Mage Ruin\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun fantasy adventure containing steam both punk and smutty: voluptuous airship captains, eager engineers, and lascivious mech pilots. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Edie Skye has somehow managed to mix together LitRPG, magical mecha, and a spicy harem romance into a story that is fun and great entertainment. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book in one night, but here we are.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a teenager, I drooled over the mechs of Robotech and Macross, and nothing since then has captured my love of those massive robots as the titans of Titan Mage.” —Amazon Reviewer\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThese products are premium paperback novels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from TITAN MAGE\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How many are there?” Locke asked, his body cocooned safely within the massive bulk of Titan Chimera. The war machine towered over two stories tall, a humanoid frame of crimson armor plates over black joints and artificial muscles. Gold filigree—faded from wear and tear from who-knew-how-many battles—highlighted a few edges, accentuating its sturdy, powerful build.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke walked the titan up to the square opening in the floor, where diffused light from the sunrise spilled into the airship’s long central hangar bay. He clenched a gargantuan fist around a support rafter running the length of the ceiling and peered down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMorning mist shrouded the base of Mount Driver, and thick pine forests climbed its craggy slopes, thinning out into bare rock and snow near the mountain’s peak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExcept for a glint of blue and silver moving along the forest’s edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA \u003cem\u003elarge\u003c\/em\u003e glint. Moving fast for something so big.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ember?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hold it,” she radioed from Titan Long Shot. “I’m not in position yet. Almost there.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Take your time,” he sighed. Or he’d intended to, but his voice cracked at the end. Jitters ate at his nerves, and butterflies fluttered in the pit of his stomach. Fighting monsters in a titan was one thing, but this? This was on a whole different scale of crazy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhy did I agree to this? \u003c\/em\u003eLocke thought. \u003cem\u003eWhy did I \u003c\/em\u003esuggest \u003cem\u003ethis\u003c\/em\u003e?!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In position,” Ember reported. The glint settled atop an outthrust of stone on the mountain, almost like a ship’s bow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And?” Locke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I see them. Right where we thought they’d be.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“How many?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“One titan, which we expected … plus two heavy weapon quads. Big ones, too. Maybe thirty tons each.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And how many titties?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe radio fell silent for long, agonized seconds. He could almost feel Ember rolling her eyes at him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For the last time, Locke, the ‘small titans’ are \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e titties! They’re called rigs!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I know that,” he countered, gazing once more at the drop. “But consider the world from my perspective, just for a moment. I’m \u003cem\u003enervous\u003c\/em\u003e, and I’ve been nervous since I agreed to this plan.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s \u003cem\u003eyour\u003c\/em\u003e plan!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s beside the point. What \u003cem\u003eis\u003c\/em\u003e the point is I made a lame little joke back then in an attempt to make myself feel better. And you know the response I got? \u003cem\u003eNone\u003c\/em\u003e of you laughed at my joke. So guess what? I’m calling them titties until I start feeling better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, good grief.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Remember, I’m about to leap from this airship in a seventeen-ton coffin, and the only thing preventing me from going crunch at the end is an upgrade we’ve never tested!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re not that high up,” Ember jabbed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, you think so? Alyssa, how high up are we?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just a hair under six thousand feet,” she radioed from the airship’s bridge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Right. Over a mile up, then. And not only that, but I’m dropping in next to some bad people who want us dead.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Try not to land right on top of them, would you?” Ember warned. “You’ll block my shots.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll \u003cem\u003etry\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Ember,” Alyssa cut in. “Back to Locke’s question, before he went off on this weird tangent. How many rigs do you see?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ten to fifteen. Hard to be exact. Some of them are obscured by the trees, and the quads will probably have some extra rigs I can’t see from here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s a whole lot of titties,” Alyssa quipped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uhh,” Ember groaned. “Not you, too.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That make you feel any better, Locke?” Alyssa asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Marginally.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, shake it out of your system. You’re a titan mage now. You charge in where others fear to tread. Don’t ever forget that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know. And I won’t let you down. I promise.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’ve got this. I know you do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now brace yourself. Here comes the turn.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe airship banked to the left, and Locke shifted one of Titan Chimera’s feet outward for better balance. He raised an arm, and through the titan’s eyes he studied the catalyst built into the underside of its forearm. The crystalline rod ran from the machine’s wrist down to its elbow, appearing clear in its inert state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke channeled a simple matter-based spell through the catalyst. Titan Chimera’s void furnace roared alive, burning a steady stream of liquefied void condensate and releasing the powerful essence sealed within. Hot air and black smoke belched out of two louvers, one at each of the titan’s shoulders, and the crystalline catalyst darkened to the same hue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSilvery swiftmetal poured out of a port below the wrist and spun itself into the wireframe of a great shield, while one of the many gauges in his console wiggled downward. More swiftmetal spooled outward, filling in the shield until it formed a solid, reassuring wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke let the base of the shield thump down against the deck. The magical construct was as solid as wrought iron.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e “I’m getting better at this,” he declared privately with a smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re almost on top of them,” Alyssa radioed in. “You ready to jump?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“As ready as I’ll ever be.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Watch it,” Ember warned. “That unexpected turn must have grabbed their attention. Those two quads are swinging their guns your way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Time to go!” Locke let go of the rafter, took one heavy step forward, and let the titan’s bulk tilt over the side. His stomach slammed up into his throat, and Titan Chimera plummeted toward the forest below, wind howling past him, armor plates rattling in the turbulence. Seventeen tons may have granted the machine a degree of stubborn inertia, but a brick still flew like a brick.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Warm morning sunlight kissed the titan’s armor as Locke channeled a gravity-based spell into the catalysts in each leg. Crystalline rods built into the titan’s calves glowed a faint purple, and smoke of the same color plumed out of the titan’s louvers in long, pale streamers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis descent slowed and stabilized.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whew!” Locke exclaimed. “That’s one less worry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe twin gravity catalysts weren’t powerful enough for true flight, but he could use them to fall in a controlled manner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhich was all he needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good luck!” Alyssa called out. High above, the long, glinting shape of the airship banked away from the battle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Luck?” Locke scoffed. “Who needs luck when you can use mag—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA beam of blinding yellow light shot up from the ground and blared past him with an aura of crackling magical lightning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Never mind!” He raised his shield, but the act obstructed his view of the oncoming ground. “Damn. Didn’t think this through, did I?” he mumbled to himself and channeled a matter spell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSwiftmetal parted to form a narrow viewing slit near the top of the shield.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There. That’s bet—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA second beam speared into the shield. Silvery metal turned cherry red around the impact, and the force sent the titan spinning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yikes!” He channeled bursts of gravity thrust, righted the titan, and stabilized the shield with both hands. “Ember, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m being shot at!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is this a surprise?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Isn’t this the part where \u003cem\u003eyou\u003c\/em\u003e start shooting at them?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hold it. I don’t want to waste my opening shot.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother beam scythed past him, its nimbus crackling against the edge of his shield.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Would you fire sooner if I said pretty please?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No need. Aaaand … gotcha!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTitan Long Shot channeled its own magic into a red lance of lethal energy. The beam pierced through the superstructure atop one of the enemy quads, rupturing its furnace. Superheated void essence screamed through the widening cracks like enraged, escaping steam, and lightning forked through the air. Mages and engineers in black livery scurried away from the four-legged weapon platform moments before its furnace blew in a cataclysm of unfocused energy magic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe blast ripped the entire superstructure off its turret mooring and flung it three stories into the air before it fell back down and crumpled against the ground next to the quad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s one!” Ember called out triumphantly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second quad swiveled its cannon toward Titan Long Shot and fired, but the crew clearly didn’t have a fix on her position, and the beam bored a ragged line across the stony mountainside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA scattering of shots from void rifles \u003cem\u003etinked\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eplinked\u003c\/em\u003e against Locke’s shield, and he channeled one final burst of gravity magic before Titan Chimera stomped feetfirst into a narrow clearing. He stumbled forward, grabbed the thick trunk of an ancient pine, and planted his feet. The titan’s forward movement plowed two grooves through the damp soil and nearly uprooted the tree before it came to a stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Made it!” Locke said, then chuckled with the joy of still being alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Three rigs heading toward you,” Ember reported. “North by northwest.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I see them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke faced the approaching weapons he thought of as “little titans.” These black-armored rigs stood twelve feet tall, less than half the height of his own Titan Chimera. They were too small to come with furnaces of their own, and instead received power from tanks of compressed void essence attached to their backs, which made them resemble deep sea divers to his eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLocke channeled through his matter catalyst, and the shield reformed into a massive hammer with a long, sturdy shaft. He gripped the weapon with both hands and charged the trio of rigs with long, thunderous strides.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rigs opened fire, and bolts of energy chipped at Locke’s armor. He closed the distance and swung the hammer in a wide overhand arc. The hammer slammed into the lead rig’s head, flattened it, then imploded the top half of its torso. It teetered forward, arms outstretched, groping the air before Locke kicked it over. The rig \u003cem\u003ethunked\u003c\/em\u003e to the ground on its back, its legs and arms thrashing in vain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other two rigs paused, perhaps now regretting their bold charge against this titan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who’s next?” Locke asked with a wide grin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55481593364771,"sku":"TITANMAGE-1and2","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Titan_Mage_1_and_2_Bundle_Shopify.png?v=1786970847"},{"product_id":"signed-print-blood-knight-vampire-slayer-blood-knight-1-and-blood-knight-scepter-of-bone-blood-knight-2-bundle-paperbacks","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Blood Knight: Vampire Slayer (Blood Knight #1) and Blood Knight: Scepter of Bone (Blood Knight #2) BUNDLE (Paperbacks)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis bundle contains Books One and Two in the Blood Knight series. Published by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout these premium SIGNED PAPERBACKS:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by Edie Skye. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/titan-mage\/\"\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"short-description std\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBlood Knight: Vampire Slayer (Blood Knight #1):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"two-thirds first genesis-author-pro-book-description\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn insatiable succubus? A shy werewolf? A scatterbrained angel? This team needs a leader!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJ.B. Clarke enrolled in college to earn his degree and find a steady job. What he got instead was an adventure in a secret underworld where vampires rule over all. Emma Rose, a friendly gamer who turns out to be a succubus, recruits him into Broken Fang, an overly ambitious team of monster girls. These lovely ladies know they’ll need help if they’re to stand a chance against the vampires, and they’re looking for a few good men.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, one man, actually. And that’s him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke is soon thrust into a hidden world full of magic, mystery, and mythical creatures. He’s in way over his head because Broken Fang is a dysfunctional mess, and his calculus professor is a sadistic vampire who snacks on pet animals. He’ll need more than his (considerable) experience with fantasy games to solve this problem!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, he’s far from helpless. He’s a blood knight, descended from an ancient and powerful line of vampire hunters, and his magical abilities have finally begun to awaken. But will they be enough? Can he master his powers in time to face the coming storm? Can he grow into the leader Broken Fang so desperately needs?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr will he end up as just one more meal for the vampires?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eBlood Knight: Vampire Slayer\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun urban fantasy adventure with a healthy side of heat: voluptuous succubi, energetic werewolves, incorrigible slime girls, nubile witches, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBlood Knight: Scepter of Bone (Blood Knight #2):\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA werebear at wits’ end? A necromancer in dire need? A bone scepter the vampires will kill for? Send in the blood knight to sort this mess out!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJ.B. Clarke and the lovely ladies of Broken Fang have won their first victory against the vampires who secretly rule the world. But their fight is far from over. To defeat the vampires once and for all, they’ll need to rally powerful allies to their cause. But before they can do that, they need to make a name for themselves amongst the hidden underworld of monsters, mages, and vampire slayers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClarke makes a deal with the Coven of the Ashen Flower: his services as a blood knight in exchange for a steady stream of work. The coven agrees and assigns him to Ixia Grey, a young witch and aspiring esports player. Ixia proves to be a deft hand at lining up jobs for Broken Fang, and Clarke soon finds himself up to his elbows in monsters to slay—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e—and fat paychecks to earn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut all is not well in the city of Chester Creek. The vampires have unleashed a terrifying new monster, one more powerful and deadly than anything Clarke has ever faced. A ghostly killer now roams the shadows, an embodiment of fear and death that shreds its victims’ minds as it drains their bodies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut Clarke is a blood knight, heir to the greatest line of vampire slayers who ever walked the Earth, and he will face the coming darkness no matter what form it takes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWARNING: \u003cem\u003eBlood Knight: Scepter of Bone\u003c\/em\u003e is a fun urban fantasy adventure with a healthy side of heat: ravishing succubi, submissive werewolves, cosplaying slime girls, flirtatious witches, and saucy language to match. (So don’t read it and then complain about the spice. Y’all know exactly what you’re getting into.)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThese products are premium paperback novels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/edieskye.com\/book\/blood-knight\/\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from BLOOD KNIGHT: VAMPIRE SLAYER\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCHAPTER ONE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Clarke?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hmm?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know this is out of the blue, but have you ever played Dungeons \u0026amp; Dragons before?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJ.B Clarke sat in the Engineering and Science building’s study hall, his brain fogged with the musty stench of the decades-old building his college was too cheap to update, despite its exorbitant tuition fees. It had fallen deeper into fog over the past few hours, immersed in a grueling software problem as part of his database coursework. So when Emma called upon his brain to switch gears, it was a struggle—but soon he ungummed his brain cogs and flicked his eyes up from his laptop to meet hers across the table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmma cocked a playful eyebrow, which managed to coax Clarke’s mind fully out of its code-induced stupor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A while ago,” he said cautiously, not sure what was behind her question. “Some of my friends were into it back in high school, but I haven’t played since I graduated. Why?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No reason, really. You just seemed the type.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The type?” Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir professor had divvied up the class into random pairs for this assignment, which involved two students tackling each problem together. That meant they were supposed to divide the scope of their code between them and develop an interface to mesh their work back together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke had hoped to be paired with one of his acquaintances from the class—he hadn’t been at Chester Creek University long enough to develop any new close friends—but he’d ended up with Emma, a girl he’d exchanged no more than three words with before this assignment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot that he minded! He’d take about \u003cem\u003eany \u003c\/em\u003eexcuse to get to know her better, and it just so happened one had landed in his lap.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a testament to the brain-dulling, soul-sucking nature of his surroundings that he’d managed to be distracted from her at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmmaline “Emma” Rose possessed what Clarke thought of as an “abundant” figure. Her burgundy leather jacket, black miniskirt, and gray-and-black striped stockings each seemed to strain against all those curves, especially the high and heavy thrust of her breasts, almost as if her clothes were under immense pressure from the inside, ready to burst open from all that barely-contained femininity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer face was equally attractive with large, dark eyes behind horn-rimmed glasses and a generous—often smiling—mouth, all framed by a cascade of long, raven-black hair. The glasses gave her a “sexy geek” vibe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, are you?” Emma asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was no judgment in her voice. No condescension or disdain. Just a soft, friendly form of curiosity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke had been a little nervous about how to approach Emma after class, worried about coming across as either too forward or too business-like. They were classmates assigned to the same problem; it would have been awkward for him to hit on her right out of the gate. Conversely, he didn’t want to keep things \u003cem\u003etoo \u003c\/em\u003eformal. This \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e a golden opportunity to get to know her better, after all!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, Emma had beaten him to the punch. She’d broken the ice outside class with a great programming joke: \u003cem\u003eA SQL query goes into a bar, walks up to two tables and asks, “Can I join you?”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’d have to remember that one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why do I get the feeling this question didn’t come out of nowhere?” Clarke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe flashed a brief smile. “Well, this place is \u003cem\u003eboring\u003c\/em\u003e, for one. And actually, one of my friends likes to GM. She put together this custom campaign, but we’re short one player. You interested?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke paused to consider how best to reply. A girl—a \u003cem\u003esmoking hot \u003c\/em\u003egirl—was inviting him to join her and her friends—her \u003cem\u003every possibly smoking hot\u003c\/em\u003e friends—for a night of pen-and-paper roleplaying. There was no way he could turn this down!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCareful though\u003c\/em\u003e, he told himself. \u003cem\u003eDon’t come across as too eager. Ease up to an eventual “yes.” \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Depends,” he replied guardedly. “What gaming system are you using?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pathfinder 3.5. You ever hear of it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I have,” he replied, his mind flashing through countless hours playing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ashley likes to use Pathfinder as a base for all her custom scenarios.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ashley?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“One of my friends. She stopped by our table earlier.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You mean—” He almost said \u003cem\u003ethe blonde that looks like a supermodel\u003c\/em\u003e, but instead replied, “the blonde dressed all in white. Long hair? Shiny hairband?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s her. My other friends—Sammy and Brooke—also play. Normally, the three of us would be enough, but Ashley \u003cem\u003einsists\u003c\/em\u003e we have four players for this one.” Emma leaned forward and gave him a crooked, knowing smile. “She can be stubborn like that sometimes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, if she put in all the time and effort to make her own scenario, then yeah. I can see why she’d be picky about how you played through it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Which brings us back around to my question.” She leaned back and draped an arm over the back of her chair. “Interested?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure. When and where?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This Saturday at my apartment. We generally start arriving around five, have something to eat, then pull out the dice around six—six thirty. I’ll email you the address. It’s about twenty minutes from campus.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Great. I assume I’ll need to put together a character?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not for this one. Ashley has prebuilt characters for all of us. That’s part of the reason why she needs a specific number of players.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For the story?” Clarke asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You guessed it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What can you tell me about the scenario?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s urban fantasy, so the setting is modern day but with all these secretive magical elements thrown in. You’ll be playing a blood knight in hiding. They’re a hybrid class, sort of like a ranger or druid. Ashley gave the class a mix of magic and combat abilities. \u003cem\u003eVery\u003c\/em\u003e versatile.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sounds fun. I’ve always enjoyed playing hybrid classes. More options make for more engaging roleplay.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“See?” She extended an open palm toward him. “I knew you were the type!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I guess you had me figured out,” he replied, returning a bashful smile. “Should I bring anything to the session?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just a copy of your character sheet and some dice, though I have spares if you need some.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, I have my own.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Figured you would.” Emma gave him a friendly wink. “I’ll email you the character sheet along with the address. Just need to get it from Ashley first.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks, but I was actually asking about food or drink. I don’t want to mooch off your hospitality or anything.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No worries there. The four of us—now \u003cem\u003efive \u003c\/em\u003eof us—take turns covering the pregame meal, and it’s Brooke’s turn this week.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got it, and thanks for the invite. You can expect me at five, rules and dice at the ready.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Great! Looking forward to it!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What about you? What’s your character like?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, me?” Emma placed a demure hand over her chest. “I’m playing a succubus.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat Saturday, Clarke arrived at Emma’s apartment a few minutes before five with a ring binder clutched in the crook of his arm and a dice bag hanging from his fingers. Of the housing options available around campus, this was clearly one of the higher-end ones—not fancy, exactly, but sleek and new with pleasant facades that looked like they saw few raucous, vomit-strewn parties or drug deals, which was more than he could say about his own cheap place. He knocked on the door with his free hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe door cracked open, and Emma peeked her head out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Clarke!” She gave him with a warm smile. “Come on in.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe swung the door wide, and he stepped in, taking in the apartment. It was larger than the cubbyhole he called home—and cleaner, too—with comfy recliners and a long couch arranged around a low coffee table. Artwork hung on the walls in thick, black frames depicting a mix of anime and movie characters. \u003cem\u003eFrames\u003c\/em\u003e. She definitely lived a step above him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks for the invite, again.” He set the binder down on the granite counter that separated the kitchen from the living room and tried not to look overly curious as he returned his attention to the binder. “It feels like ages since I scratched that pen-and-paper itch.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t mention it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Though, I do have some \u003cem\u003eslight \u003c\/em\u003econcerns.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Like what?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well …” Clarke opened the binder and thumbed through the hundred or so pages. “I wasn’t expecting quite this many custom rules.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah,” Emma replied, her eyes laughing. “Sometimes Ashley can go a bit overboard.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Where’s she find the time for all this, anyway?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Who knows? But you know how it is. If you’re passionate about something, you find the time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I guess so. Just wondering if her grades suffer because of her hobby.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nope. Quite the opposite, in fact. She gets straight A’s every semester, and I’m pretty sure she takes more hours than either of us.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know her major?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ma-\u003cem\u003ejors\u003c\/em\u003e, actually. Political science and history.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke’s eyes widened. “She’s getting straight A’s with a dual major?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yep.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke shook his head. He flipped back to the front page, which contained the bulk of his character stats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEmma glanced down at the page. Something must have caught her eye, because her brow furrowed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uh, Clarke?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s not your real name, is it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke sighed internally. \u003cem\u003eHere we go.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m afraid so.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But …” She made a disgusted face. “There’s no way.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I wish that were true,” he replied in a tired manner that attested to many similar conversations he endured in the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I thought Clarke was your first name.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That would have been nice, but no. It’s my last name.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come on.” Emma pointed to the name at the top of his character sheet, as if that would reveal some secret, \u003cem\u003ereally\u003c\/em\u003e real name beneath it. “You’re pulling my leg.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wish I was.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But no one’s parents would be that cruel!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’d \u003cem\u003ethink\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJ.B. Clarke gave her a sad smile, because his full name was Joffrey Baratheon Clarke. His mother—bless her enthusiastic fantasy-loving heart—had discovered George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire a few years before he’d been born and had “really liked the name’s ring.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis father—bless \u003cem\u003ehis\u003c\/em\u003e heart—hadn’t put his foot down, which led to him being named after a contender for “worst human being in fiction.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt wasn’t all bad, though. Back then, most people didn’t have a clue who Joffrey Baratheon was, and the name shortened to the much more palatable J.B., though his parents had settled for Joff most of the time. However, his namesake’s anonymity had vanished once HBO turned the books into a popular TV series and thus elevated the character from “worst human being in fiction” to “worst human being in fiction, for whom people cheered when he died and then rewound to watch it again.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then the teasing began.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd kept going.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd going.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd fucking \u003cem\u003egoing\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke couldn’t have been happier when the show tanked in its last season so disastrously that literally \u003cem\u003eno one \u003c\/em\u003ewanted to talk about it anymore. Even a \u003cem\u003eglobal pandemic\u003c\/em\u003e couldn’t get people to rewatch its dumpster fire of an ending.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat said, his parents had been less than sympathetic when he’d confronted them about his namesake, stressing that they had no way of seeing into the future and it could have been worse. They even shared the supposedly true story of a woman who’d wanted to name her newborn daughter “Vagina” because she’d never encountered the word before the obstetrician used it and because, “Thas jus tha purdiest word I eva hurd!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke shivered involuntarily. Yes, it could have been worse.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Actually,” he continued, “I’m wondering how Ashley knew my name, because it seems you didn’t tell her.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nope. News to me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Will she let me go by ‘Clarke’ in the campaign?” He tapped a note on the page. “Because this part says we’re playing alternate versions of ourselves in the scenario.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I’m sure Ashley will,” Emma replied with a carefree wave of her hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Will what?” came the unexpected response from the opening door.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Ash! Speak of the devil.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe newcomer gave Emma a cross look. “You know I don’t like that joke.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Must be why I keep using it, then,” Emma teased in a good-natured manner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley Smith rolled her eyes as she eased the door shut, then crossed the room with long-legged strides, high heels clicking on the hardwood. She’d dressed in all white again, this time with a short neck scarf to accent her sleeveless button-down shirt. She’d left the first three buttons open to provide a tantalizing glimpse of deep, firm cleavage. Her long, blonde hair practically gleamed in the light, held back by a metallic hairband.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe smiled at Clarke, but the expression held all the warmth of a business transaction. Clarke fought an urge to check his phone, almost certain she’d arrived at \u003cem\u003eexactly\u003c\/em\u003e 5:00 PM. She struck him as the severely punctual type.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m Ashley.” She extended a slender hand, which he shook, and found she was all business there, too. “I’m glad you could make it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Me, too,” Clarke replied, not sure what else to say, and trying to keep his eyes from wandering toward her plunging neckline. (Which was \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e business-appropriate.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So, what are you sure I’ll allow?” Ashley asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“He wants to shorten his character name.” Emma tapped her finger on the character sheet. “Just chop off the first two parts.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley leaned over the page, then glanced up at Clarke.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You don’t want to use your given name?” she asked, sounding somewhat perplexed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not really.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why not?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uh …” Clarke frowned at her. “Isn’t it obvious?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley’s eyes darted to the character sheet, stayed there for long, confused seconds, then zipped back up to Clarke. She seemed ready to ask another question, but then something softened in her face, and she shrugged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If you’re not comfortable with it, then use whatever you like. I only thought starting with everyone’s real names would make the scenario more immersive.” She gave Emma a knowing glance. “After all, if tonight goes well—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe door swung open violently. A tall, athletic woman barged in, four pizza boxes balanced atop one hand with absurd grace compared to the rest of her, especially when she shouted:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, bitches! I brought the meats!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second newcomer was almost as tall as Clarke, who was no slouch in the height department, though her shoulders weren’t nearly as broad, and her chest possessed a great deal more … topology than his. Still, the toned muscles visible on her arms and bare midriff spoke to an active lifestyle. Or curriculum. Or both, perhaps.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d tied her thick, wavy mane of brunette hair back into a ponytail and wore a baggy gray T-shirt cut off at the bottom to reveal her firm stomach, its design and lettering too faded to make out. Her jeans gave a similar impression of comfortable wear and tear with a few rips around the knees.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer sharp, intense eyes caught his, but then widened suddenly, and she froze midstride, almost launching the pizzas forward before she stabilized them with her free hand. Her expression—initially loud and boisterous—became almost mousy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh. You’re already here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That I am,” Clarke replied dryly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uh … Hi? I’m Brooke. Brooke Hawthorne.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Clarke. Nice to meet you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, uh.” Brooke held the boxes out as if offering them as an apology. “I brought pizza.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll take those.” Emma grabbed the pizza boxes and began arraying them on the kitchen counter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rich, savory smell of hot cheese, meat, and marinara tickled Clarke’s nose, and his stomach grumbled in anticipation. Emma and Ashley busied themselves setting out paper plates, napkins, plastic cups, and a selection of colas at one end of the boxes. Brooke eventually unfroze from her awkward pose, gave Clarke a bashful glance, then grabbed a plate and began loading it up with pizza slices.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke grabbed his own plate and surveyed the selection: three large pizzas consisting of pepperoni, meat lovers, supreme (also piled high with enough meat that the rare veggies would have cowered in fear if they’d been sapient), one medium pizza split into half pepperoni and half cheese, and a bag of breadsticks and marinara dipping sauce.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The meats indeed,” Ashley noted with a sour glance over the options.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The cheesy one is for you,” Brooke said. “See? I kept you in mind.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And what about our guest? You consider him, too?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I—” Brooke paused with her mouth open, then frowned. She faced Clarke. “You’re not a vegetarian, are you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nope.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Any allergies?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“None I’m aware of.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You like pizza?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, I \u003cem\u003elove \u003c\/em\u003epizza, and the more meat the better.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fantastic! I was worried there for a minute.” Brooke’s face brightened. “You’ll fit right in.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The point,” Ashley said firmly, “is you should have asked \u003cem\u003ebefore\u003c\/em\u003e you bought the food.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whoops.” Brooke shrugged before adding another slice to her plate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey there, girlfriends!” said a petite figure from the doorway.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Sammy!” Emma waved at her. “Would you mind locking the door? We’re all here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure thing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke realized he’d seen Sammy a few times around campus, though he’d never spoken to her. In fact, it was hard \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e to notice her, since she favored loud clothes and even louder hair, which seemed to be a different color every time he laid eyes on her. She wore a hoodie stylized with splotches of fluorescent paint, the hood pulled back to reveal a pixie cut of vibrant red hair blending toward purple at the tips.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe walked up to Clarke. “You Clarke?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s right.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Samantha Eloise.” She extended a gloved hand. “But you can call me Sammy. All my friends do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe shook her hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Sammy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You ready to kick some vampire butt tonight?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eShh!\u003c\/em\u003e” Ashley snapped. “Spoilers!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, come on.” Sammy rolled her eyes as she grabbed her plate. “He already knows. You put it right there in your twenty-thousand-word lore dump.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke kept very quiet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I suppose you have a point there.” Ashley placed a single cheesy slice on her plate, struggling to disentangle the gooey strands gracefully. “You did read all the lore, right?” she asked, her voice tinged with uneasy hopefulness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I …” Clarke sighed. “Okay, I’m going to be honest here. I didn’t realize there was going to be quite so much material when I started printing it out. All I did was skim it before I drove over.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley sank in her seat a little and, oddly, her hairband seemed to darken a few shades. It must have been a trick of the lighting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t give him that look.” Sammy flopped into one of the recliners and took a large bite from a breadstick. She continued speaking with her mouth full. “All I did was skim it, too. It was either that or fall asleep halfway through.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, now,” Ashley protested. “It wasn’t that dry.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSammy snorted out a laugh.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I liked it.” Brooke plopped down into one of the chairs. “I think it’s a good primer for people new to the, uh, setting.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClarke guessed she’d been about to use a different word there at the end, but he didn’t give it more than a passing thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAshley sighed and joined them around the coffee table.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith all the recliners taken, Clarke sat down at one end of the couch, fully expecting Emma to pick the other end.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe didn’t, instead choosing to sit in the middle close enough for their hips to press against each other. Clarke felt a jolt of almost electric excitement surge through him at the unexpected contact. He glanced over at her, and she smiled sweetly back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Something wrong?” she asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s nothing.” He was about to start eating when he noticed Emma hadn’t brought a plate. “Not eating with us?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll snack on something else later.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not a fan of pizza?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not that. I love a good slice of pizza as much as the next girl. I just have these”—she twirled a hand around as if searching for the right word—“dietary restrictions.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ah.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I can only handle so much junk food before I get hit with these cravings and need something more, umm, nutritious to fill me up.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got it. Say no more.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSammy chuckled around a fat bite of breadstick. He had no idea why.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55481600180515,"sku":"BLOODKNIGHT-1and2","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Blood_Knight_1_and_2_Bundle_Shopify.png?v=1786971847"},{"product_id":"signed-print-into-the-arms-of-the-demon-dark-infernals-1-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT: Into the Arms of the Demon (Dark Infernals #1) (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Dark Infernals series. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublished by Spice Rack Press.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!-- x-tinymce\/html --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/dark-infernals\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-indent: 0in; line-height: normal;\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #0f1111; background: white;\"\u003e\u003c!-- x-tinymce\/html --\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlunge into the feral, twisted dungeons of \u003cem\u003eInto the Arms of the Demon\u003c\/em\u003e, a sizzling monster romance tale of betrayal, power, unhinged revenge, and freaky supernatural spice.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA HEARTWARMING TALE OF UNHINGED REVENGE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVyran:\u003c\/strong\u003e I was the fearsome right hand to the Infernal Empress—but her demonic empire fell. Two hundred years later, it’s my duty to resurrect it. To do that, I’ll need a battle queen by my side, and she’s the perfect specimen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBroken, betrayed, abandoned … yet burning with a spark that could set the whole world ablaze.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI can remake her into a demon worthy of the infernal court, but to accept my power, she’ll have to survive every dark, forbidden thing I yearn to do to her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer will is strong. But if I have my way with her, she’ll beg to bend to mine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTassa:\u003c\/strong\u003e I’ve always had to hide what I am, cowering in darkness and crawling through dungeons, all so I can barely survive this harsh world. I thought my new adventuring party was my chance for a better life, until they uncovered my secret and trapped me in this dungeon to die for it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut I’m not dead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow I’m a prisoner of a demon who’s offered me the world—if I prove I can claim it. He’s dark, seductive, and dangerous. Nothing like the people who betrayed me.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’ve always had to be strong, to fight for survival. It’s never been enough.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut with the power he’s offered me, I’ll become the monster they fear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“They expect to face what they call a succubus. They have no idea what fresh terror they’re about to face.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePerfect for fans of Harley Laroux, Amber V. Nicole, Jasmine Mas, and fast burn, high stakes, monstrous fantasy romance!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e ***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTHIS BOOK IS PERFECT FOR READERS WHO LOVE:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMonster ... Mashing\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e“Why Choose?”\/Reverse Harem Romance\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHurt\/Comfort Vibes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMorally Grey MCs\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Badass Heroine Finding Her Strength and Entering Her Villain Era\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Debonair But Secretly Feral Demon Eager to Help Her Discover Her Dark Side\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e A Good Boy Next Door Who’s Unaware of Any of This, Bless Him\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDungeon Crawling and an RPG-Inspired World\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eExtra Spicy Heat Levels\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFor real, you’re gonna need several ice potions by the end of this thing, so stock up before you start. Ready? Ok go!\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCONTENT WARNING:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis is a dark monster romance with multiple male love interests. Reader discretion advised.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur heroine Tassa may start off weak and unassuming, but the dark path she ventures down transforms her forever. She embraces the darkness within her and, in so doing, becomes something truly terrifying. Her journey is filled with intense experiences, some that happen to her, and some she inflicts on others, especially those who have harmed her in the past. Please avoid this book if you find this description disturbing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis story contains \u003cstrong\u003edesperation born from poverty, selling one’s body for money, bigotry against fantasy races, and mentions of bodily harm for magical goals\u003c\/strong\u003e. Chapters with elevated levels of sexual content are labeled by their intensity as follows: \u003cstrong\u003eMedium Heat Level, High Heat Level, and Dark Infernal Heat Level\u003c\/strong\u003e. Please use these guides to skip any content you do not feel ready for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you object to \u003cstrong\u003espit roasting, double and triple penetrations, monsters with more than one, huge insertions, extreme creampies, inflation, tentacles, bondage, fisting, dubcon, humiliation, body horror with sexual overtones, or a succubus revenge-pegging a guy with her tail\u003c\/strong\u003e, then this is not the book for you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo all others, welcome. You’re in for a wild ride.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED paperback novel.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/pages\/dark-infernals\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from INTO THE ARMS OF THE DEMON:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003ePROLOGUE\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family: 'Georgia',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia;\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eThe underground storeroom was vast, dark, cool, and filled with the dry musk of ancient dust. A single handheld lantern cast wavering, luminous ribbons across the floor, cutting through gaps in rows upon endless rows of shelves that reached from floor to ceiling, their contents either pillaged or abandoned as worthless long ago.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eEchoes of the storeroom’s former abundance remained: a rack of rusted swords here, several sealed barrels there. The man raised his lantern as he swept past the barrels, one hand reaching toward them, fingers not quite brushing their dusty, web-encrusted surfaces.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eTattered threads of the original Preservation spells remained, and the barrels had been constructed well. The water inside would be crisp and clean, should he desire to slake his thirst, and indeed he saw evidence a similar event had happened years ago. The spigot at the base of one barrel had been opened and its contents emptied, though the stones underneath were dry.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eA party of adventurers, perhaps? Using the storeroom to top off their supplies before moving on, though clearly not caring enough to close the spigot.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eAnd why would they? These ruins had stood empty for the better part of two centuries and had been picked clean by scholars and fortune seekers alike many times over. There was nothing of value left within these once-storied halls.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eOr so everyone had been led to believe.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eThe man’s name was Vyran, and he treaded assuredly down the storeroom’s aisles, eyes alert, lips curled with the smallest hint of a smile. The appointed time had finally arrived, and now he moved with clarity of purpose to fulfill his mistress’ final order.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe struck an attractive, if somewhat imposing figure: tall and broad-shouldered with the planes and contours of his muscles apparent under his long-sleeved shirt, the top three buttons loose beneath the neck to expose more of his bronzed skin. The lantern’s light flickered within the depths of his rich brown eyes and caught the edges of sharp cheekbones and his strong jaw. His tough boots thudded with each long stride across the stone, the only noise in this dead ruin from a dead empire.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe reached the end of the aisle and studied the disturbed stack of crates. A flicker of apprehension shot through him. One of the crates lay open on the floor, its multitude of forks, knives, and metal plates spilled haphazardly across the ground. Another crate had been pried open, its sides cracked, and he raised his lantern to inspect the contents.\u003cbr\u003eThis one contained nothing more remarkable than thick-stemmed candles, their wax browned with extreme age.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eVyran drew in a deep breath. So far, he’d seen no signs his mistress’ plan had failed. He found a hook mounted to the wall, hung the lantern, then began to search the stack. He located the correct crate soon enough, recognizing it by the small, innocuous N etched into the side. Anyone else would have passed the marking off as a trio of scuffs or scratches, but he knew how to identify the signs left by his mistress. They’d led him this far.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eThe crate had been stored at the bottom of a tall, heavy stack. He donned a pair of tough leather gloves, then spent several minutes shifting the boxes around until he’d uncovered the one with the N. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eThe containers, though often heavier than him, provided little challenge, and he found the mild exercise refreshing rather than taxing. He cleared a space in the aisle, then dragged the marked crate into the lantern light before wiping the dust and cobwebs from his gloves.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eVyran hesitated, staring down upon the object of his search with a mix of elation and trepidation. The top was far cleaner than most surfaces within the storeroom, thanks to being buried beneath all that worthless junk.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe knew its placement had been intentional, just as the choice of this particular storeroom had been no accident. The true prize of this dungeon hadn’t been stored in a vault, surrounded by traps and monsters, or sealed behind powerful arcane barriers. No, it had been hidden within a plain crate stashed underneath cutlery and candles. Why would anyone look here, even if they knew to look in the first place?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eThe location itself had been a part of his mistress’ elaborate ruse. Surely an outpost overrun by the High Alliance in the early days of the war—and subsequently abandoned as its armies marched onward—would be the last place anyone would look for something so valuable.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHis mistress had meticulously considered every detail, and while she’d shared most of her machinations, even he hadn’t been privy to the full scope of her designs. That thought irked him to some degree, though he understood the necessity. What if his own resting place had been discovered? What if he’d been captured and coerced into revealing his mistress’ secrets?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe would never do so willingly; he would rather give his life than betray her, but the freedom of choice wasn’t always an option, and the mind-twisting power of a High Alliance inquisitor was a terrifying thing to behold.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eOr had been, once long ago.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eTime had reduced his mistress’ greatest enemies to old tales, fading memories, and history lessons.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eJust as she’d intended.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eVyran dropped to his knees slowly, almost reverently. An adult woman would struggle to fit inside the crate, knees tucked tightly against her chest, and his mistress had suffered this indignity for centuries.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eNo more, he thought. Now is the time for us to rise again.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe placed a hand atop the crate and cast Inspect.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eThe contents unfolded within his mind.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eA woman crammed within a box. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eA corpse, remarkably well-preserved.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHis pulse quickened, though he’d known to expect this. Inspect was a second circle spell, and because of its basic nature, its ability to tease out an object’s secrets was limited. The line between life and death was thin, and the side on which the thread resided could be difficult to discern at times, especially if that thread rested almost directly on top of the threshold.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eAs his mistress had “lived” for so very, very long.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eVyran closed his eyes, rested both hands atop the crate, and cast Scrutinize, a fifth circle spell.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eThere, he thought. A pulse. Slow. Remarkably slow. Maybe one beat a day, with breathing paced to match.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHis mistress was alive, protected by an astoundingly complex weave of Stasis, one too intricate to have been created by any of her subjects.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe sighed with genuine relief. He’d fretted over this moment for ten long years, but it had been worth it. It had all been worth it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe took hold of one edge of the crate’s top. Unlike the explorers before him, he had no need for a pry bar, and he ripped the top off with brute strength alone.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eLantern light shone upon his mistress. She was naked, eschewing any finery or artifacts that could be used to identify her. Her disguise was that of a corpse, buried in a strange place and lacking any decay, but the Preservation spells saturating this place could be blamed for the latter. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHer knees were tucked underneath her chin, arms wrapped around her shins, fingers knitted. Her hair was long and brown and her skin pale almost to the point of being gray. He touched the side of her bare hip, and the chill of her body shocked him, though he’d known to expect this as well.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eShe appeared just as she’d intended: a corpse in an unexpected place. A mystery, though one most adventurers would ignore given the lack of worthwhile loot nearby.\u003cbr\u003e“Finally.” Vyran let out a long, relieved exhale. “The time for your return has come, Your Majesty.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe slipped his arms into the box, then lifted her out of it, cradling her with one arm across her back and the other slung underneath her knees.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eThe woman was perfectly still, her flesh cold against his. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe retrieved the lantern and left the storeroom, cradling Nix Kal’Plaarea in his arms—ruler of the once and future Infernal Empire and the most powerful succubus who’d ever lived.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e***\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eVyran brought the hibernating demoness to a grand, dark hall with a high ceiling where the tattered remains of battle banners hung, their faded ends covered in cobwebs. Broken debris from a huge, rectangular table and dozens of chairs cluttered the floor alongside pieces of stone fallen from the ceiling and walls.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe placed the lantern on the floor, then used a restrained application of Force Blast to clear the ground, kicking up unwanted dust clouds in the process. He let out an abrupt sneeze, then cast Telekinesis on one of the banners and yanked it down with a mental tug.\u003cbr\u003eIt hung in the air, folding itself several times over.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe draped the rectangle of folded banner across the clean patch of stone before placing Nix on top. He raised her head and doubled over one end of the banner to serve as her pillow. It wasn’t much. He wasn’t sure how aware she was after such a long hibernation—he certainly didn’t remember a thing from his!—but affording her even this small show of respect was important to him.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eBecause without her, there was no empire.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHis eyes drank in her nakedness, starting with her delicate oval face, then across her firm breasts, past the roundness of her hips and down her long, shapely legs.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eA hunger rose deep within him.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eA yearning that had nothing to do with food.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe repressed these base urges; he had a duty to perform—entrusted to him and him alone—and he would see it through.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe stood up beside her, then closed his eyes and spread his hands to either side. \u003cbr\u003eHis silhouette morphed, backlit by the lantern, shoulders broadening to strain against his shirt. The lines of his face transformed from merely attractive to dashing, his ears elongated into prominent points, and his locks shifted from a deep brown to a silken white.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eTwin dark horns grew out of his forehead, stretching back over his scalp then up in elegant S-shaped curves that ended in sharp points. The horns resembled angular black crystal, and the lantern light gleamed off them.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe opened golden eyes with thin, vertical pupils. They glowed with faint bioluminescence as he gazed down at his mistress once more. She would be ravenous when she awoke, and his lifeforce would serve as the banquet to break her fast.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe pulled his shirt off, revealing his broad chest and defined abdominals. A pair of expansive, batlike wings grew out of his naked back, the webbing between each digit dark but sheer enough for the veins to be backlit. A long, smooth, muscular tail uncoiled from his tailbone, its flattened tip resembling the point of a spear.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe brushed aside an errant strand of her long brunette locks, then knelt beside her cross-legged. He rested both hands loosely atop his knees and drew his attention away from the material, instead focusing on the ethereal: the arcane power thrumming within him, the broken echoes of dead magics wafting through the hall.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eAnd the tentative ember of life glowing faintly within Nix’s chest.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eAn ember that would soon blaze once more.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe cast a subtle version of Dispel, and his magic loosened the bonds of Stasis permeating her body. Her chest rose fractionally with a slow inhale, and he permitted himself a thin smile.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe proceeded with his next incantation—again Dispel, but this time with more punch behind it. He chipped away at her magical hibernation, one layer at a time, rousing her fractionally with each casting. The Stasis weakened. He could have shattered the spell with a thought, but the effect would have been like dousing her with a bucket of ice water. Instead, he proceeded slowly. Cautiously.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eWith patient care.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHis mistress deserved nothing less.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Mm,” Nix murmured—more a breath than a word, but a far greater sign of life than there’d been a minute earlier.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHe finished unraveling the Stasis and switched to Gifted Essence, drawing up his own lifeforce to replenish hers. The act wasn’t ideal—demonic essence was poor nourishment to another demon—but his mistress was so weak it hardly mattered.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eNix stirred with another long exhale, her eyes closed as she began to change. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eHer silhouette morphed from attractive to voluptuous as her hips rounded and her breasts grew in size and firmness. The lines of her face became jaw-droppingly gorgeous, her ears elongated, her long locks shifted from brunette to a soft shade of lilac, and with each shift her exhalations eased to contented breaths, then sighs—then an outright moan.\u003cbr\u003eTwin white horns sprouted from either side of her head, curving up and back in again until straightening upward to end in high, sharp points. The horns resembled angular, milky crystal, and with their emergence came that other most succubus of traits. She shifted before him, sultrily pressing her thighs together in the manner of someone who ached to be filled. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eWell. He couldn’t give her that right now, but what he could grant her, he would.\u003cbr\u003eHe fed her more of his life’s essence, and she reached down between her legs until her fingers found the swollen clit above her glistening folds. Her mouth parted in a soundless cry, and her back arched in the highest of pleasures—pleasure he was glad to grant her, if not in a conventional manner. Grand wings webbed in dark purple burst from her back, and a violet tail slinked out between her legs. He cast Gifted Essence a third time, and fresh energy surged through her body. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eShe opened her eyes, revealing twin slitted pools of luminous magenta.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Lord Vyran.” She smiled sweetly and reached toward him. “I knew I could count on you.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Welcome back, Your Majesty.” He took her hand and kissed her delicate knuckles.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e***\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eNix Kal’Plaarea gazed out across the moonlit landscape, hands resting on a broken parapet. Vyran came alongside her, sharing the view from high atop one of several towers that connected with the dungeon’s depths.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eA strong, warm wind cut across the tower’s octagonal top, and a distant gust sent ripples of shimmering darkness across the rolling grasslands. The silvery highlights upon distant clouds told Vyran the brewing storm would soon reach them.\u003cbr\u003eBut enough time remained for his mistress to behold her domain.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eSuch as it was these days.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“What year is it?” Nix asked.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Eleven ninety-two, Post Crossing.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Two hundred years have passed.” She nodded solemnly.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eShe’d retained her full succubus form, no longer requiring the human guise she’d assumed for her long hibernation. She stood bare-chested with expansive wings folded behind her back, her crystalline horns glimmering in the low light. Vyran had offered her clothes he’d brought in his pack, sized just for her, but she’d refused them, instead choosing to indulge in the sensuality and raw feminine power of her resurrected form.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Two hundred years to the day,” he clarified.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“And you’ve been active for the last ten?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“In precise accordance with your orders. I’ve spent that time evaluating the state of your empire.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Its ruins, you mean.” She took in the view somberly.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“As you say, Your Majesty.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“What of the heroes who defeated us?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Dead. Most of them from old age.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“And the High Alliance?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Broke apart long ago.” Vyran favored her with a crafty smile. “As you predicted.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“The humans?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“The humans. Or, more specifically, the discontent between them and the other races. It seems once we demons were no longer a threat, the friction within the Alliance grew to the point where unity could no longer be sustained. What followed is a bit of a muddled mess. It’s difficult to say who’s to blame for which infraction—it all depends on which history book you read—but in general, the humans saw an opportunity to expand, and their neighbors took exception to their ambitions. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Conflict followed, along with several outright wars that eventually saw humans take their place atop the new pecking order. The elves were the first to break away from the High Alliance, and they fought the first and bloodiest war against the humans. Humanity, more or less unified under the Protectorate of Man, has never forgiven them.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Humans have always been tribal by nature,” Nix said. “Their societies function best when their energies can be directed at a common enemy. Deprive them of that enemy and they’ll find another. They have to. Otherwise, they’ll turn their attentions inward in a desperate search for something to oppose. My prediction wasn’t a difficult one to make.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eThe Empress without an Empire closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. The air grew warmer and more humid by the second. Lightning flashed across distant clouds, and peals of thunder reached their ears\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“What of our fates?” she asked after a while. “What do people believe became of us?”\u003cbr\u003e“Most assume us dead.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“‘Most’?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Those who remember us at all. It has been two hundred years. The war between the Infernal Empire and the High Alliance has taken on a vague, almost mythological quality. A golden age of chivalry and adventure as the races united to face down the ‘Empress of Lust.’”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eNix sniffed at the name.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Regardless, Your Majesty, most history books conclude you died in the final assault on Nekra’Stol.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Then Ryleen succeeded.” Nix’s gaze grew distant. Her delicate features hardened, and Vyran understood why.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eLady Ryleen. Battle Queen Brilliance.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eOne of Nix’s succubus sisters, and the final one to fall in that dreadful war.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eVyran had spent ten years coming to terms with their deaths. To Nix, it had only been a few days, and as the silence between them dragged on, Vyran placed his hand atop hers.\u003cbr\u003e“It was her choice to sacrifice herself so that you could live.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“So that we could live.” Nix turned her hand over and squeezed. “And yes, it was her choice. The plan wouldn’t have worked without her sacrifice. Without proof we were ‘dead.’ Someone had to stay behind. Someone who possessed sufficient power to fake our presence in the final battle.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“And Ryleen volunteered for that role.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Of course, it would have been her.” Her voice grew soft. “She was always the stubborn one.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“If it helps at all, the history books record that ‘we’ exacted a horrendous toll on the enemy before falling in battle.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“I would expect nothing less from her. From any of my Battle Queens.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eThey watched the encroaching storm together. Fat droplets began to splatter around them.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“We must turn our attention to the future if we’re to survive this new age,” Nix said, her voice now firm. “I’ll need to study the intelligence you’ve collected.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Of course, Your Majesty. I brought a selection of reports with me in anticipation of this request.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Excellent.” She rested a hand on his forearm. “We’ll move cautiously for now. Careful, but not timid. I intend for us to rebuild our strength and, eventually, to reclaim our rightful place in the world. There’s much work to be done, and in order to begin, we’ll need a base of operations. Should I assume you’ve given this requirement some thought?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e\"You assume correctly. I believe I’ve located a suitable location.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Not here, I hope.” She swept a hand toward the other broken towers in the distance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“No. Sadly, this dungeon’s spirit is long dead, but Xai’Stol is a different matter.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eNix raised an eyebrow. Xai’Stol had been one of the Empire’s largest subterranean fortresses.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“The High Alliance never discovered the lower levels,” Vyran explained. “They were too busy pressing on toward Nekra’Stol to perform a more thorough survey, and after you ‘fell in battle’ … well, it’s safe to say they lost interest. The levels they did find they reduced to rubble, but everything below that should be more or less intact. Furthermore, while the dungeon spirit has been dormant for centuries, I believe he can be roused. There may even be a few lesser demons lurking within his depths.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Xai’Stol.” Nix nodded thoughtfully. “The High Alliance town of Al’Kurtos wasn’t far from there, though I’m sure much has changed. I’ll need to see a recent map. Are there any cities near the dungeon these days?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Several noteworthy ones within a week’s travel, including the sprawling city of Al’Kurtos, which has grown so large it now includes what was once Al’Hemmet. It’s one of the largest cities within the Protectorate, second only to their capital. The area features dominant human majorities with a smattering of other races living as second-class citizens.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“Fertile ground for our needs, then.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“My lady?” Vyran raised an eyebrow.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“The High Alliance is no more, and the heroes who defeated us are dead. You and I are almost assuredly the last of our kind. Do you believe for an instant I intend for us to remain this way when we possess the power to create more?”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eVyran’s heart skipped a beat. He’d wished for this, even expected it, but to hear his deepest desire voiced by the Empress was another thing entirely.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“We’ll not squander the gift Ryleen and the other Battle Queens bought for us through pain and blood,” she continued. “We must—and we will—rebuild our forces. But in order to do that, we’ll need recruits. One to start with; a woman with the right potential.” Nix faced him with a vicious gleam in her eyes. “I’ll see to the dungeon’s reawakening, while you search the nearby cities for a suitable candidate.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003e“I understand, Your Majesty.” Vyran smiled knowingly. “You may leave this task in my capable hands.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext; background: white;\"\u003eThunder forked across a black sky, clouds crossed in front of the bright moon, and the two demons ducked inside as the rain picked up.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Jacob \u0026 H.P. 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