Showing results by author "Mark Wayne McGinnis" in All Categories

It's 2182. Stuck on a dull space station, 17-year-old Loni Solace's heart is failing her, and not just metaphorically. In search of one last thrill, she jumps aboard a freighter to see the galaxy for the first and last time. She expects adventure, but what she gets is a nightmare as crewmates start to disappear, and crazed robots start attacking. Enter Hardy: a combat ChronoBot with a messed-up memory, now Loni's unexpected ally in a system aimed against her. Loni, Hardy, and a few badass crewmates are thrown into high-octane battles and face-offs.

Captain Galvin Quintos thought he'd seen it all, but nothing could have prepared him for the catastrophe that befalls USS Roosevelt. In the blink of an eye, the mighty omninought is reduced to a fractured hulk, leaving Quintos and his surviving crew stranded aboard little more than space wreckage Quintos re-christens, USS Resilience.

In the dying embers of an interstellar war, newly appointed Fleet Commander Galvin Quintos stands as humanity's last hope, staring down the maw of oblivion. Entrusted with the technological marvel, Omninought-Class warship, USS Washington, Quintos embarks on a campaign to engage the merciless Grish Empire's three formidable armadas—Prowess, Torrent, and Pinnacle.

When the Krygians, a soulless insectile alien race, attack a Floritineian goodwill convoy, annihilating their fleet and stealing the precious cargo, the U.S. Space Navy reaches out to the one person who can do the impossible: Captain Galvin Quintos. Tasked with the covert 'Quansport Ops' mission aboard USS Ike, a far smaller Corvette-class warship than he’s used to, Quintos must navigate treacherous alliances and cutting-edge tech to reclaim a warship that cannot be allowed to be in enemy hands—Oblivion.

Mollie stands at a precipice, facing three Herculean challenges. First: Recruit a starship captain who’s daring, relentless, and possesses balls of steel. Second: Commandeer the newly minted Caldurian warship, Crysteon. Third: In the midst of chaos, locate her missing father. Enter Captain Matt Briggs. Does he come with baggage? Sure. More than a little attitude? Maybe. Does he want to help the beautiful, headstrong resistance leader—not so much. But time’s running out—Earth’s fate hangs in the balance.

Brian Polk had been stateside for barely a year after leaving the Air Force when the unthinkable happened. It was an interstellar invasion. The Earupitans' technology and weaponry was so remarkable, humanity never really had a chance. The aliens now walk brazenly among humans - their reptilian eyes always watchful, always scrutinizing. Humanity now lives in fear - freedom is a thing of the past. And then there are those who have befriended the enemy. But not Captain Brian Polk. When he acquires some of the alien technology, he finally has hope of making some small difference.

A wicked snowstorm had blown in from the north and the roads were a mess. Recently split from his one-time girlfriend, there was now nothing holding Cameron Decker here in the little backwater mountain town of Larksburg Stand. Time to get back to college, back to Stanford. Seeing a guy knee-deep in slush at the side of the road, he pulled to the curb and waved him over. The guy smacked his head getting in—knocked his watch cap askew. Only then did Cameron notice—noticed that the individual couldn’t possibly be human.

During the day, he’s a South Chicago high school janitor, slopping a mop around from nine o’clock to three o’clock, five days a week. At night, hiding out in a boarded-up factory, he attends to his damaged interstellar spacecraft, making repairs and counting the days until he can return to his homeworld of Calunoth. All he needs to do is mind his own business and avoid any messy human dramas for just a few more weeks. But it is on one of those quiet nights when he hears them outside: the MP140s. Named for a police radio code for murder, they're among the most ruthless killers.

Dominic Moretti was dealing with a lot of issues. Life hadn’t been easy since returning home from Afghanistan. His marriage was on the rocks, his sports betting was out of control, and he was hanging out with the wrong cronies in Manhattan’s Little Italy - just another war hero who couldn’t piece his life back together in the real world. Also, there was that strange, annoying feeling that he was being watched.... Humankind was indeed being evaluated, by the highly advanced Khantam Lom, an alien species in control of much of the galaxy.

Finally, Cameron Decker is reunited with Heather - the love of his life, now a fellow galactic traveler in her own right. Each has survived their own hellish experiences. Now onboard their new starship, they settle in for the journey home to Earth - or what's left of it. News is not good: the massive, tentacled Loths are multiplying at an astounding rate, and much of humankind has either perished, succumbing to the rampaging beasts, or moved on to other worlds.

The year is 2117. In the farthest reaches of Earth's territorial space, a spree of depraved murders has local cattle ranchers fearing for their families. A fear, they will soon discover, that is more than justified. Apparently, John Gallic's reputation proceeded his arrival to the fringe-world of Muleshoe. A reputation suggesting he be given a wide berth. As the new Territory Abettor, commonly referred to as a Frontier Marshal, Gallic would be there for the long haul.

The epic battle for AI supremacy in the universe between the Geo-Mind and Gia continues. Beneath the isolation zone, 300 alien troops have been dispatched, and if that’s not discouraging enough, the 23rd Silarian Fleet has initiated terra displacement operations outside the energy dome. It’s looking more and more desperate in the small town of Castle Rock.

They reach the shore, barks and joyful laughter swallowed by the crashing waves. Suddenly, an odd-looking object in the sky draws closer. As dark clouds loom, a flicker of unease crosses Scotty’s face. Before he can react, an eerie glow surrounds both boy and dog. In an instant, they vanish without a trace. Now aboard an alien ship, Scotty faces a reality far from home. The walls breathe, the corridors pulse and his fear deepens.

The year is 2049, and we most certainly are not alone...A miraculous, life-enhancing microbe has been discovered on Mars and the race is on to bring the organism back to Earth. But failed physicist Jack Harding has his own reasons to get to Mars first - to save a dying, seven-year-old boy. All he must do to succeed is break the law - the law of gravity. To make the mission to Mars, Jack must perfect a ground-breaking anti-gravity technology and avoid being killed by ruthless billionaire, Travis Locke, a man who has no qualms with breaking a few laws himself - even murder.

Five years have passed, and the story begins in a dark period within the Star Watch saga. Captain Jason Reynolds, Omni of the U.S. Space Fleet, along with his now 16-year-old daughter, Mollie, are en route to the Dacci System to attend the memorial service for none other than Boomer, his other daughter.

The need for Star Watch assistance is heating up within the galaxy. With their resources quickly thinning, Ricket and a small team are sent to Port City, on the planet Eriok. Here Ricket’s adventure begins, and he’ll have to use every bit of his technical cunning to survive because what’s waiting for him will alter the course—for both Star Watch and Ricket forever.

The Craing War is now over, the enemy defeated. As planetary systems around the galaxy try to bring normalcy back to their existence, one thing becomes crystal clear: Without the Craing around to keep everyone in line, space has become a far more dangerous place. As more requests for prompt Allied assistance come in from the farthest reaches of outer space, Admiral Perry Reynolds is compelled to introduce a new stellar over-watch program. With his own career winding down, one of his final directives will be in the formation of a special intergalactic marshaling service…Star Watch.

My name is Collin Frost. I’m a fairly unpopular 17-year-old high school student. This is my story…one that chronicles how my already-dredge-of-a-life went from miserable to totally and irreversibly jacked. I guess I should start at the beginning…right before we were shanghaied-up into that alien spaceship. It all started on the way back from the game. I’m the kicker. We lost. It was because of me. Big surprise. But everything started to really go south when the school bus pulled up at another railroad crossing in just one more hicksville small town in rural Texas.

WWI is waning in Europe, but Lieutenant Barksdale’s near-constant aerial combat missions have taken their toll. Lura Lee Dunn is an aspiring concert pianist whose own personal battle is just beginning. The women’s suffrage movement is on the rise, emboldening her to break free from her prominent father’s outdated expectations. Unexpectedly, at a posh Hollis House gala, she meets a young pilot, one just home from fighting the Jerries over France. Try as she might to avoid the young aviator, Lura finds herself drawn to him.

Rob Chandler, regaining consciousness, realizes he’s somehow been involved in a horrendous car accident. In pain and unable to move, he has no memory of his identity, or how the hell he'd gotten on that deserted desert road in the middle of nowhere. He has little time to contemplate his situation when he sees an 18-wheeler barreling down on him. The truck swerves, crashes, and plows into Chandler’s already decimated car.