Showing results by author "William C. Dietz" in All Categories

On May Day 2018, 60 meteors entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded around the globe with a force greater than a nuclear blast. Earthquakes and tsunamis followed. Then China attacked Europe, Asia, and the United States in the belief the disaster was an act of war. Washington, DC was a casualty of the meteor onslaught that decimated the nation's leadership and left the surviving elements of the armed forces to try to restore order as American society fell apart.

As people fight to survive the aftereffects of more than a dozen meteor strikes, a group of wealthy individuals conspires to rebuild the United States as a corporate entity called the New Confederacy, where the bottom line is law. As a second civil war rages, with families fighting against families on opposite sides, Union president Samuel T. Sloan battles to keep the country whole.

There was a time when the Confederacy of Sentient beings ruled the galaxy. A time when the Legion of the Damned kept the peace. But no more. Autocrats rose and fell. Now mankind is ruled by a xenophobe named Cassidian, other races have retreated, and an interstellar war is brewing. The kind of war the Legion used to fight. But where are the legionnaires? “Retired,” some say. “Dead,” according to others. There are rebels, however, men and women who oppose Cassidian. But they need warships, and warships require pilots.

In a crumbling futuristic society, Earth is only a myth, the technological advances of centuries have faded into distant memory, and space travel depends on a fleet of run-down, unreliable ships. Only the brave-or foolhardy-undertake such risky journeys. The brave, the foolhardy-and the runners… Jak Rebo is one such runner, whose current job is to deliver a future religious leader to his people, while avoiding assassins.

The Confederacy is threatened by an uprising of the Hudathans, an unfeeling cyborg race that has built up its forces through stolen technology, and their only opponents are the members of the Legion.

In a far-distant future, the Uman Empire has spread to the stars and beyond, conquering and colonizing worlds, ruling with a benevolent - but iron - fist. The Pax Umana reigns, and all is well. But on one planet, the remnants of a violent, shape-shifting race called the Sagathis are confined, kept captive by xeno-cops, who have been bio-engineered to be able to see through their guises.

Making good on a promise to a dead man, Rebo must deliver an AI known as Logos to a mysterious backwater planet. Once there, Logos will be capable of restoring the system of star gates that once knitted the settled worlds together. But as the Techno Society wars with murderous antitechnics, Rebo gets caught in the middle - and all he can do is run.

The Second Civil War continues to rage as Union president Samuel T. Sloan battles to keep America whole. Following a fateful battle between Union Army major Robin "Mac" Macintyre and her sister, the New Confederacy places a price on Mac's head, and bounty hunters are on her trail. Mac is determined to help Sloan reunify the country by freeing hundreds of Union POWs from appalling conditions in Mexico and capturing a strategic oil reserve deep inside Confederate territory.

LAPD detective Cassandra Lee is known for her single-mindedness, and right now she's got only one goal: track down the Bonebreaker, the man who murdered her father. But her quest for justice is derailed when LA comes under attack. The Aztec Empire, a Central American group determined to take back the US territories that their Spanish ancestors once controlled, has led a mutant army into California.

The year is 2065, almost 30 years since a bioterrorist attack decimated the population. The world has been divided, and new nations have formed. Those mutated from exposure inhabit the red zones while "norms" live in the green zones. In the nation of Pacifica, Los Angeles detective Cassandra Lee is in charge of investigating a disturbing case, tracking a cop killer dubbed the Bonebreaker.

In the year 2038, an act of bioengineered terrorism decimated humanity. Those who survived were either completely unaffected or developed horrible mutations. Across the globe, nations are now divided between areas populated by “norms” and lands run by "mutants" - Detective Cassandra Lee of Los Angeles's Special Investigative Section has built a fierce reputation taking down some of the city's most notorious criminals.

Convicted of a crime he did not commit, Jonathan Renn is sentenced to life in the Swamp, a prison-planet death row in a distant galaxy. Renn only has two choices: Escape the Swamp or die in the process. Defending himself from attacks by deadly, native monsters and his fellow convicts, Renn is obsessed with escaping the planet and getting his revenge on the people who set him up. Marla Marie Mendez is even more down on her luck. Trapped inside a cybernetic dog and dropped defenseless into the Swamp, Marla can only rely on Renn and her claws to save her from the unfriendly elements.

A traitor is on the loose. A treacherous navy captain plans to sell military secrets to the alien Il Ronn. The only man who can stop him is Sam McCade. Betrayed by his friends, stalked by his enemies, McCade is the only one standing between a terrifying alien threat - and the unimaginable devastation of the Terran Empire.

Aboard the Outward Bound, there are thousands of colonists headed towards Mars. But, one person on the ship is different. Inside that crew member’s head, there are a half-dozen voices, a half-dozen personalities normally bickering and disagreeing. Today, though, just as the ship is about to leave Earth’s orbit, they all agree on one thing - they have to kill to keep their secret safe. That’s dangerous for Rex Corvan, because secrets are the thing he was born to seek out.

An android named Harley Doon finds himself caught in a battle between human and alien. It’s not his fight, but somebody has to save the world. Years ago, when humans and androids crash landed onto the planet Zuul, whatever remained of their society quickly succumbed to the ravages of earthquakes and a never-ending winter from volcanic dust clouds. As humans and machines scavenged to stay alive, they also faced the Zid, an alien race that abhors all technology with religious fervor.

Somewhere, deep in the vast blackness of space, a wormhole waits to be found. Dorn Voss needs to find it. But, the stakes are high and he isn’t the only one looking. Natural occurring wormholes are the lone means of intergalactic travel in the universe. Whoever controls them gains riches and power unimaginable. The coordinates of one such wormhole, the Mescalaro Gap, are lost, hidden behind conspiracy and murder. With a prize so great, many a man or alien would do anything to find those coordinates and control the universe.

Smuggler Pik Lando is hired by a beautiful woman named Angel, and suddenly he finds himself involved with her and a group of hell-bent revolutionaries...and there is a price on his head.

Max Maxon is an ex-marine who makes his living with a gun. Sasha Casad is a rich teenager trying to catch the next spaceship home. Max's job is to get her there alive. Somebody's trying to stop them - somebody with plenty of money and firepower. That doesn't bother Max. A contract is a contract. Against all odds, he's going to fulfill this one. and then he's going to make somebody pay.

Pik Lando, with a very tempting price on his head, tries to avoid any run-ins with the law by taking a job on a space tug. But the reward for his capture is just too much to resist, and soon a beautiful bounty hunter shows up at his door.

From acclaimed author William C. Dietz, a novel of Sam McCade, interstellar bounty hunter. This time it's personal - pirate Mustapha Pong has kidnapped McCade's daughter. Usually, McCade works for pay, but this time, the only reward is seeing his daughter alive - and he'll do anything to make that happen.