Hey, y’all! 😄 If you’re in the Greenville, SC area, come on over to the Artist’s Alley at SC ComiCon this weekend (April 6-7th)! We’ll be at Booth 918, signing books and generally hanging out. 😄
Come see us at SC ComiCon this weekend!
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The Thermopylae Protocol eARC is out!
Ever wished you could read a new book before it releases? 😀 Well, you’re in luck, as Baen Books just released the Early Access eARC for Gordian Division #6 – The Thermopylae Protocol.
US $15.00
What’s an eARC? It’s the semi-final version of the book; it’ll have a few typos (and, in fact, is the version H.P.’s editing right now), but other than that, it’s pretty close to the final version that will release in June.
But, of course, if you’d rather wait for the finished version, it’s also up for pre-order wherever you like to buy books (and in Baen’s June Monthly Bundle). 😁
However you choose to experience it, we’re looking forward to sharing it with you, and we hope you enjoy it. ️️😊
What’s H.P. Reading? – The Moon and the Desert by Robert E. Hampson
Imagine The Six Million Dollar Man as written by an internationally-recognized expert in neuroscience and bionics, and you have The Moon and the Desert.
As you might guess from the title, itself a reference to the first episode of the show, the Six Million Dollar Man played no small part in inspiring author Robert E. Hampson to enter said fields in the first place, and his love of the original concept and his present work shines here.
The ultimate questions of this novel are “What would it take to build a bionic man? What’s involved in adapting to a bionic body? What are its limits and practical uses? How, especially, can it help humans function in the very non-human-friendly environment of space?”
It’s equal parts hard sci-fi and medical thriller with enough detail on both fronts to make a science-loving reader happy, but what makes it succeed is its human element.
Despite his extraordinary circumstances, astronaut and flight surgeon Glenn Armstrong Shepard reads like a regular, determined guy who’s eager to turn the disaster of losing most of his body into an opportunity to test the limits of bionics. He’s no stereotypical action hero, though he is admirable: Even though he volunteered for his bionics, he struggles with adapting to his complex prosthetics with the same frustration of any person who suddenly finds themselves with metal and plastic where there was formerly flesh. This sets him up as a relatable character, which makes the reader even more eager to follow him when he volunteers himself for a mission in outer space that tests the limits of his bionic capabilities.
The first part of the novel is all human; the second is all thrilling medical mystery as he faces the dual challenges of handling a crew-sweeping medical emergency on a returning space shuttle, while also pushing his physical and technological limits.
Though there’s a lot of science and medical talk, it’s all conveyed so naturally and in such manageable bits that, combined with the relatable cast, it becomes an easy, fast-paced read, especially once the space action starts.
Overall, it’s highly recommended for anyone with an interest in bionics, medical technology, the future of humans in space, or just a solid story about a determined man facing an incredible situation.
The Thermopylae Protocol (Gordian Division #6) is up for Pre-Order!
It’s amazing to think we’re already on Book 6 of the Gordian Division series, but here we are. 😮
The Thermopylae Protocol marks an interesting departure for the series.
David and I wrote previous books to fit within their own separate branches, with the “Protocol” branch leaning toward alternate history and hard sci-fi with the risk of exploding universes, and the “File” branch being sci-fi police procedurals with lower-stakes but still thrilling adventures.
This novel starts with an exploding spaceship, which is fun for readers 😃 … but not so much for the Gordian Division, when it finds the wreckage is inexplicably 40 years older than it should be – not to mention carrying advanced self-replicating machines that, in the wrong hands, could be put to multiverse-destroying ends. 😨
Gordian Division’s no stranger to multiverse-threatening challenges, but time is of the essence, and when you’ve got a multiverse-spanning time-travel mystery, who better to call than a pair of time cops from two different universes? 😉
They’ll all have to work together to get to the bottom of this, and fast, because if they don’t, the fate of multiple universes could be at stake. (Again.)
Reading & Q&A (& PRIZES!) with Patrick Chiles, Author of Interstellar Medic: The Long Run
Saturday, February 24th @ 8pm EST
H.P. chats with author Patrick Chiles about his new sci-fi novel, Interstellar Medic: The Long Run, (available March 5, 2024 from Baen Books). Join us for a reading and fun book chatter, and enter to win a signed book of your own!
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BEING A PARAMEDIC IS A TOUGH JOB; IT’S TOUGHER WHEN YOU STUMBLE ONTO A CRASHED ALIEN SPACECRAFT.
Melanie Mooney thought she was just doing her job when she came upon an unusual accident in the deep woods late one night. Acting alone, what she found was nothing like she’d expected. What followed was even more unexpected.
Recruited by emissaries of a galaxy-spanning civilization, Melanie is thrust into a world she thought only existed in supermarket tabloids. As the first human in the Galactic Union Medical Corps, she cares for extraterrestrials in desperate need of a medic who can ignore the fact that they’re nothing like any patient she’s ever seen, even on their best days. And in emergency medicine, it’s a given that every patient is having the worst day of their life.
Each run takes her deeper into the galaxy and farther from home, navigating alien cultures that only get weirder with each call. It will take all of Melanie’s experience, instinct, and grit to prove herself—and the rest of humanity—to be worthy of the Union. That’s a lot to put on a woman who’d just like to end the day with a cheeseburger and a cold beer.
Q&A (& PRIZES!) with Marisa Wolf, Author of Beyond Enemies
Saturday, February 17th @ 8pm EST
H.P. chats with author Marisa Wolf about her new sci-fi novel, Beyond Enemies (available now from Baen Books). Join us for fun book chatter and enter to win a signed book of your own!
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An assignment on a backwater world turns deadly for a combat vet and her AI tank. Military SF with heart and humor from up-and-coming author Marisa Wolf.
Sometimes the only way forward is to burn it all down.
Talinn Reaze and Bee serve as “Breezy,” part of the United Colonial Force’s elite Artificial Intelligence Troops. Trained for full integration since before Talinn’s birth, they exceeded expectations and became one of the premier heavy tanks, leading assaults on several fronts of the long war against the Interstellar Defense Corps.
When they’re thrown to a backwater base without cause, boredom becomes their main enemy—until the world falls out from under their treads and they begin to question everything they’ve ever known.
As they orient to their new reality, they have a decision to make: Uphold the status quo, or risk burning civilization to the ground?
Talinn and Bee always did have a fondness for fire.
Where will Jacob & H.P. be in 2024?
One of our favorite parts of going to cons is meeting and hanging out with our readers, and we’re kicking off 2024’s con schedule fast!
From January 12th-14th – that’s just over two weeks from now – both of us will be Featured Guests at MarsCon in Virginia Beach, VA. (H.P. will be appearing as a Featured Fantasy Writer, and Jacob will be a Featured Science Fiction Writer.)
It’ll be our first time going to this con, so we’re pumped to meet all our fans in that area. 😄 We’ll be on lots of panels, but we also enjoy just hanging out in the hotel bar and chatting with whoever stops by, so if you won’t be able to make a signing or a panel, just look for Jacob’s bowtie or H.P.’s hair, and eventually you’ll find us. 😊
Won’t be able to make it to MarsCon? Fear not; we have three more cons already on our schedule:
- SC ComiCon (Greenville, SC) – April 6th-7th
- FantaSci (Durham, NC) – April 19th-21st
- LibertyCon (Chattanooga, TN) – June 21st-23rd
More will be added as the year goes on, so keep your eyes peeled for announcements – or tell us about your favorite local con so we can add it to our list of potential stops! 😄
Q&A (& PRIZES!) with Monalisa Foster, Author of Threading the Needle
Saturday, January 6th @ 8pm EST
H.P. chats with author Monalisa Foster about her new sci-fi novel, Threading the Needle (available now from Baen Books). Join us for fun book chatter and enter to win a signed book of your own!
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A NEW START—OR AN OLD CALLING?
Talia Merritt, a former military sniper once known as Death’s Handmaiden, is a woman haunted by her past. Her cybernetic arm and her phantom—the implant that allows her to control it—serve as a constant reminder of what she’s lost. But Talia is hoping to leave her past and her reputation behind and start anew on the colony world of Goruden, a hardscrabble planet of frontier-minded people seeking a better life. And she’s finally earned enough to start to make that dream come true.
In the bucolic town of Tsuri, she interviews for a job as a marksmanship instructor for local bigwig Signore Ferran Contesti. But Contesi is not what he seems. A recent arrival on Goruden, he hopes to mold the colony world in his own image—an image at odds with the unencumbered life free of government and corporate meddling that Talia has come to find.
Soon, Talia finds herself thrust into the start of another conflict. Talia desperately wants to stay out of it, but she may not have that luxury.
With the fate of a planet and her own peace of mind hanging in the balance, Talia must decide whether or not to once again take up the mantle of Death’s Handmaiden. . . .
Jacob talks The Dyson File and geek stuff on the Blasters and Blades Podcast!
If you’ve ever wanted to hear Jacob wax geeky about Star Wars, giant robots, bowties, gaming, and, oh, maybe his new solo novel The Dyson File 😉, go check out this week’s episode of Blasters and Blades! 😄
Jacob talks fandom and writing on The Halfling and the Spaceman!
Hey, y’all! The Halfling and the Spaceman is one of our favorite podcasts, and today they’re chatting Heinlein, Dune, Star Wars, Star Trek, David Weber, and all the other fandoms that got Jacob into writing. Go give it a listen! 😄
The Dyson File is out today! (Also, join us Saturday for a Virtual Launch Party!)
The Dyson File
(Gordian Division #4)
by Jacob Holo
• • •
NEW GORDIAN DIVISION NOVEL: 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.
The 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.
Detective 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.
The 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.
What 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:
If they don’t solve this case soon, it’ll be their corpses that turn up next.
Curious to hear more about the book? Join us for our Virtual Launch Party THIS SATURDAY, November 11th @ 8pm as we chat … and give away some signed copies!
Meet our new blessing, Dazzle.
We had not intended to get a new cat. Not this soon.
For me, the loss of Nova was still so raw that the idea of adopting any new cat felt like a betrayal of her memory and all the joy she’d brought us. Like an ungrateful dismissal of a near-decade of blessing.
But this past Friday, my mom received a text.
See, my family has an unofficial Cat Network. None of us actually try to find cats, but cats find us, and together we get the cats to the places where they need to be.
In keeping with family tradition, my cousin’s boyfriend found an abandoned kitten on one of his construction sites. Cousin then went to rescue kitten … much to the surprise of her mom, who declared “You’re not getting ANOTHER cat!” (Cousin already has two, from similar origins. It’s A Whole Thing. 
)
But cousin had A Plan, and picked up her phone.
“I know it’s soon, but …”
It was soon. I told mom I’d think on it, and perhaps meet the kitten the next day since I was going to be in town anyway.
Then I showed Jacob the text.
We visited the cat that very evening.
And, well, you see the result. 
The thing is, y’all, this cat’s absurd.
He cuddles.
He flops for scratches.
He squeaks.
He carries on conversations.
And he loves on sight.
There is so much of Nova in this random abandoned kitten that his every move makes me cry in her memory.
But it’s a happy cry now, because it feels like she had some part in sending him. Like she couldn’t bear to see us sad, even from her next life, and did what she could to help.
We named him in Nova’s honor, after the Dazzling Skies through which she fell.
Meet our new blessing, Dazzle.
