SF Action and Romance -Kati of Terra, Books 1, 2, and 3 on
Kindle Countdown this week (and a Free Gothic Short Story)
All three Kati of Terra books are on Kindle Countdown this
week (August 9 to 16, 2018), a great value at 99 cents each, this week only
(regular $3.99 each). Enjoy all the adventure and romance, in a galaxy
far, far away.
Also, the gothic short story “Beyond the Blue Door” is free
this week.
Kati 1 - Escape from the Drowned
Planet
In saving her small
son from alien abductors, a 24-year-old Earth woman, Katie, finds herself
abducted instead. She awakens from a drug-induced coma on a spaceship, in a
room full of children, both human and alien, and two other women, younger than
she is. The young women adapt to the situation as best they can, keeping the
youngsters calm and entertained. But, when a drugged alien man wearing a
uniform is added to the captive cargo, it becomes clear that this is an
intergalactic slave operation.
The slave traders
implant their captives with “translation nodes” in order to allow communication
among various groups. These are living entities, normally docile, merely
enhancing certain brain functions, such as language acquisition. However, Katie
discovers that she has accidentally received a very special “granda node”, a
long-lived node with its own cantankerous personality, including a fondness for
criminality and lethal weaponry. Fortunately for Katie, it also values its
freedom. With its help, she escapes on a fringe planet, dragging the peace
officer along—also at the granda’s suggestion.
She finds herself
on a strange world, with a somewhat deranged personality, quite possibly a killer,
in her head, and partnered with a man from an advanced civilization who abhors
killing. He is a Federation Peace Officer, captured by the slavers while
attempting to bring them to justice. His task is complicated by the fact that
he has sworn to avoid the taking of sentient life during the performance of his
duties. He can and does, however, make vigorous use of non-lethal weaponry.
Since, before leaving the ship, Katie had promised to help her co-captives gain
their liberty, she and the alien peace officer find that they have a common
cause.
But first they must
find their way off the primitive planet and get to the Federated Civilization,
avoiding the slavers who have been left on the planet to re-capture them. Their
flight is complicated by the fact that the planet has had a global warming
catastrophe some centuries back – the locals refer to it as the Drowned World.
This has forced the inhabitants to revert to a pre-industrial state of
development; however, they are a wily and resourceful people, mostly helpful,
but they can also be dangerous.
Kati (to mark her
escape, she adopts a slight name change) and Mikal seek a Federation beacon,
which had been hidden on this planet ages ago, to aid in situations such as
this, (in accord with a longstanding Federation policy for fringe worlds). They
must embark on an arduous trek across two continents and an ocean, seeking the
temple that holds the beacon. They travel on foot, by cart, by riverboat, by
tall sailing ship, and on pack animals, always pursued by the dangerous
slavers.
They must rely on
their wits, guile, charm and acting abilities to avoid recapture, while their
chasers have advanced technology and ruthlessness on their side. Fortunately,
they are able to make many friends who help them along the way, and their quest
becomes a series of adventures, both frightening and funny, and involving a
cast of engaging characters.
To complicate
matters, Kati finds herself falling in love with Mikal, the strange, handsome
and amusing alien. He seems to be reciprocating, though they both struggle
against an untimely romantic entanglement.
Will Kati and Mikal
escape from the Drowned Planet? Can they ultimately bring the slavers to
justice, as Mikal has sworn to do? Can they free the remaining captives of the
slavers, as Kati has promised to do? Read this book and the rest of the series
to find out all.
At about 200,000
words (equivalent to a paperback of about 400 pages), the book is an excellent
value.
Kati 2 - On Assignment on the
Planet of the Exalted
After narrowly
escaping the pursuit of the slave trader Gorsh on Makros III, the Drowned
Planet, Kati of Terra has arrived on the planet Lamania, the home world of her
alien companion and fellow escapee, Mikal r’ma Trodden. The bureaucracy of the
Lamanian Social Services, however, insists that the two be separated for
half-a-Lamanian year, to ensure that this Wilder woman is not being exploited
by her more urbane lover, who is also a Star Federation agent. In principle a
worthy policy, it has left Kati without Mikal’s company while dealing with the
loss of her connection to her young son Jake, and the knowledge that she will
never be able to return home to Earth.
While exploring her new environment, she is confronted with the realization
that Gorsh has spread his tentacles into the Star Federation. She identifies
and rescues a young victim of the slave trade, using knowledge gained during
her and Mikal’s period of captivity on Gorsh’s ship.
She agrees to take the lead role in an undercover investigation of the venerable
Federation planet, Vultaire, which seems to be implicated in the lawlessness.
Apparently the members of the planet’s upper class, known as the Exalted
Citizens, have grown corrupt, some of them even taking up slave-ownership,
alongside numerous other vices. With three companions, Kati forms the
Unofficial Investigative Team into the Conditions on the Planet Vultaire. The
team members make their way, clandestinely, there, and undertake their
investigation while posing as an itinerant Entertainment Troupe. Secretly, they
make common cause with the downtrodden locals, including elements of the
resistance to the oligarchy.
Meanwhile, Mikal, the Federation agent, is sent to explore the Xeonsaur
connection to the slave trade. It has to do with a captive member of the lizard
species who has been forced to navigate Slaver Gorsh’s space ship through vast
distances during its slave-snatching operations. Mikal too must make common
cause; he does so with a beautiful female of the reptilian/humanoid race, the
life-partner to the unhappy Xeonsaur captive.
Kati and Mikal must make their separate ways and overcome separate obstacles
and dangers, before re-uniting in the struggle on Vultaire. Their reunion as
battlers against the slave trade coincides with the end of their forced
separation, ushering in a time of new connection. However, together on
Vultaire, they need all the resources and ingenuity that they and their
companions have, to stay alive, and to help heal the Vultairian society, as
well as the very planet itself from the sickness that the corruptions have
caused.
This is a full-length novel of about 260,000 words (equivalent to a paperback
of about 500 pages). Please note that the Kati of Terra novels are written so
that they can be read as stand-alone books. Kati of Terra Book 2 can be enjoyed
by readers who have not yet read Kati of Terra Book 1. Naturally, we encourage
people to read both novels to experience all the adventure and romance of the
Kati of Terra series.
Kati 3 - Showdown on the Planet of
the Slavers
Kati of Terra and
Star Federation Agent Mikal R’ma Trodden join forces with the beautiful female
reptilian, Xoraya, and the young Tarangayan mathematics and engineering genius,
Lank, to chase down the Slaver Gorsh and bring him to justice. The evil
Waywardian Gorsh was responsible for Kati’s abduction from Earth, along with
numerous other victims from many other worlds; among these were many small
children from Earth and other planets.
Their quest begins on an obscure Fringe Space Station which houses a reputable
used space ship yard, the services of which they need if they are to journey
along the Space Trade Lanes. Odd and dangerous events start to shadow them
while they are on the Space Station, Qupar, and never really cease during the
course of their mission. It begins to look like there is much more at stake
than merely bringing to justice a slaver, and rescuing the people he has
enslaved and sold - an unnatural and unspeakable evil of cosmic proportions may
well be at the center of events.
The group gains new members, even while it loses Mikal and Xoraya into Gorsh’s
hands - Kati and Mikal are once again separated, and have to struggle to
perform their tasks apart from one another. However, neither of them is a
quitter; they are resourceful and in love, so no force in the universe can keep
them separated for long. The manner in which they and their allies overcome the
obstacles that they face makes for an exciting, amusing, and romantic tale.
This is the thrilling
conclusion to the dramatic story which began in Escape from the Drowned Planet,
and continued in On Assignment to the Planet of the Exalted. Kati and Mikal can
now take a breather from adventure - or can they? Time will tell.
This is a
full-length novel of about 260,000 words (equivalent to a paperback of about
550 pages). Please note that the Kati of Terra novels are written so that they
can be read as stand-alone books, so Kati of Terra Book 3 can be enjoyed by
readers who have not yet read Kati of Terra Book 1 or Book 2. Naturally, we
encourage people to read the entire trilogy to experience all the adventure and
romance of the Kati of Terra series.
Beyond the Blue Door
Here's a tale of a haunted house, of a sort.
Really, two haunted houses are involved. But where does the
greater evil reside - in the safe family domicile of our everyday world or in
the creepy old abandoned farmhouse? And then there’s the question that we must
all face eventually. What lies Beyond The Blue Door?
