Showing results by author "Patty Jansen" in All Categories

In this anthology, you'll find 17 tales of conflict and heroism, exploration and discovery, endurance and triumph. Flee the apocalypse of modern-day Earth, fly a fighter in the cold emptiness of deep space, and find new life on the distant shores of an alien world. You might even discover something about yourself as each author opens a window on the soul of mankind.

As the only child of a successful merchant, Johanna has her wits and a sense for business. The royal family is in deep trouble: ever since the crown princess died of illness, the king has attempted to educate his son to become king. However, the prince is "not good in the head" and quite unsuited to the task. In his grief for his daughter, the king has run the coffers dry: he hired dubious magicians for even more dubious tasks. Those magicians circle like vultures waiting for the kingdom to fail. The king must get his son on the throne, preferably supported by a smart and well-off wife.

A prisoner, a secret he can't remember, and the military force that will destroy planets to get their hands on it. When Fabio Velazquez arrives on the secretive military base on Jupiter's moon Io, he knows two things: one, that he's had his memories erased and two, that he has a secret. Except because of point one, he can't remember what point two is. The portents aren't good: he's hated by his fellow soldiers, responsible for "the greatest f ** *-up in military history", traitor and human guinea pig.

Nellie Dreessen is a kitchen maid in the palace of Regent Bernard of Saardam. She has worked for two kings and two regents, has seen two royal families murdered through magic, has seen ghosts and demons, and kept her head down like a good girl. On her 50th birthday, she receives her late father’s diary, which describes a magical item that is so evil it needs to be kept in the church crypt: a box that contains dragon. Problem is someone has stolen the box.

24 October 2114: the day that shocked the world. Young diplomat Cory Wilson narrowly escapes death in the assassination of President Sirkonen. No one claims responsibility but there is no doubt that the attack is extraterrestrial. Cory was meant to start work as a representative to Gamra, the alien organization that governs the FTL transport network, but now his new job may well be scrapped in anger.

Self-published authors are coming to realize that a stable career is about a backlist of titles and keeping that backlist selling. But how do you do this? Invariably, advice given by other authors includes holding promotions and lowering the price of the first book in series, or even making it free. However, few people mention one of the most powerful ways to keep your backlist selling: the author mailing list.

Fifty thousand years ago, a meteorite hit the planet Asto, giving its Aghyrian inhabitants mere days of notice. Three ships escaped the Armageddon. Two went to the neighboring planet. The third, a massive generation ship, refused to take on refugees and then vanished without a trace. It’s coming back. Its initial burst of communication caused the outage of the Exchange, the FTL network for transport and communication, but since then, the ship has been silent.

The bundled edition of the first three books in the popular Ambassador series. 1: Seeing Red - Cory Wilson is about to start his new job as representative to gamra, the alien organization that controls the network for wormhole travel, when a political murder may well end his career before it starts. In Coldi society, you can get killed for looking a superior in the eye. Never mind accusing him of murder. 1A: The Sahara Conspiracy - Cory is asked to deal with the alien mafia on Earth, and stumbles across a plot that endangers Earth's fragile peace.

The second-quickest way to get yourself killed when dealing with Coldi people of the planet Asto is to look a superior in the eye. The Coldi people possess an instinct that demands the formation of hierarchical networks in which every person has a prescribed place. These networks provide stability. They also place one person at the top. Ezhya Palayi is that person. After having been released by his previous employers, Cory Wilson not only depends on Ezhya Palayi for his income, but he has developed an unusually friendly relationship with this man whom people on Earth would call an absolute dictator, but whose reign is benign.

Delegate Cory Wilson has returned to gamra headquarters from deep space with a rather unwelcome guest: Captain Kando Luczon of the mammoth Aghyrian ship that has returned after mysteriously vanishing 50,000 years ago. On board the ship only 400 years have passed, in which they have visited another galaxy. But the captain isn't willing to share what they found there or why they decided to come back. In fact, the captain does his utmost best to live up to his infamous historical reputation as an utter jerk, having lived through 400 years to cultivate his jerkery.

Cast out from the palace, Nellie survives in the streets of Saardam with the poor and destitute and a dragon whose behavior she can't control but is the key to finding the last member of the royal family. The pompous Regent is hell-bent on finding the person who has killed his court advisor, and he has decided the dragon is guilty. If he doesn't find a culprit, his main source of money is at stake. The guards comb the city. It's only a matter of time before they find Nellie.

Deep under the City of Glass in the frozen southern land, an age-old machine called the Heart of the City radiates a power which locals call icefire. Most citizens are immune to it, but a few, always born with physical disabilities, can bend it to their will. For fifty years, the ruling Eagle Knights, who fly on the back of giant birds, have killed these Imperfects, fearing the return of the old royal family, who used icefire to cut out people's hearts, turning them into ghostly servitors.

Fifteen years ago, a brilliant scientist built a barrier against the dangerous power that radiates from the City of Glass in the southern land, allowing the citizens of Chevakia to live without fear of their lives. Since then, the democracy of Chevakia has prospered, with free-thinking scientists developing steam power and the beginnings of electricity. But the power, which they call sonorics, controls the weather in Chevakia. Senator Sadorius han Chevonian is the country’s chief meteorologist.

Following the destruction of the City of Glass through an explosion of sonorics, huge numbers of refugees have descended upon the Chevakian capital Tiverius. The refugees are mostly members of the rebel group Brotherhood of the Light, supporters of the old royal family. They are injured, scared and hungry, and few speak Chevakian. The young Queen Jevaithi and her lover Isandor are amongst them, safe from the Eagle Knights for now.

Cory has made several commitments to members of the Asto inner circles. He needs to spend time with Thayu's son. He has also been asked to give a favour to a boy of the Azimi clan. What better to do with a couple of pre-teens than to visit the theme parks that are historic relics from the 21st century on Earth?

Ceren, the world that's the home of the city of Barresh, has vast swathes of untamed wilderness, most of it tribal land belonging to meta-human tribes like the Pengali. For many years, illegal organizations have seen these tribes as inroad into the lucrative gamra economy, abusing the local population with next to no payment, inflicting damage on their society. Cory's Pengali worker Ynggi has indicated he'd wanted to visit his home tribe, giving Cory the perfect reason to check out Pengali involvement in smuggling activities.

Cory Wilson is woken in the middle of the night with a summons to appear in the president of Nations of Earth's office. An aid worker in Djibouti has discovered a shipment of alien guns. As ambassador to gamra, the extraterrestrial organization which controls the Exchange, the FTL wormhole network, Cory has often been critical of Earth's handling of extraterrestrial problems. This is his moment to shine, to apply his knowledge about alien customs, to, in the words of the president, "get those idiots out of there".

Johanna, Roald, Nellie and Loesie have come to Florisheim finding many of their kinsmen there. The survivors from the burning of Saardam who have come here are the nobles who were never great supporters the old king, and it is likely that they won’t support his son either, even if he was normal. They support his marriage to Johanna even less and Johanna’s position as the new king’s wife would be improved immensely if she produced an heir, but so far that’s not happening. Florisheim is alive with evil magic, and that magic is starting to affect the Saarlanders who are unused to it.

Johanna, Prince Roald, Nellie and Loesie have been captured by bandits. Touched by evil magic, Loesie behaves ever stranger and may be a danger to attempts to escape. Every step they take brings them closer to the duke who is said to be the source of evil. Is he the necromancer who has burned all of Saardam?

One day when bullied Florian comes home from school, he finds a visitor in the caravan where he lives with his father. The woman, who looks older than time, tells him that his father is king of Celestia and has seven days to renew the spell of protection over the land. But his father has no interest in going back.