Showing results by author "J. F. Holmes" in All Categories

Sergeant Alex Slaughter and the Marines of Alpha Squad were on a routine training exercise near Quantico when everything went silent. No comms. No command. No clue. What they find when they return to base is worse than anything they trained for: a bioweapon has unleashed a zombie virus that has shattered civilization, and now they must survive the Collapse.

What would you do if America and the world were invaded tomorrow by a relentless and brutal enemy? In an alternate 2015, a US Army Special Forces Team, part of the legendary black ops unit "Delta", is in midtown Manhattan to take out a Chinese spy and his handlers, sending a message short of outright conflict. All goes smoothly until they find themselves in a full-blown shooting war through the canyons of the City.

Fae Wars returns on a new front as war rages in the Pacific Northwest! Corporal Erik Doherty isn't some kind of special operations super soldier; he’s just an infantry grunt trying to get by in what was once the United States Army, now an enforcement arm of the Fae overlords. When orders come down from a chain of command more interested in boot licking their new masters than protecting American citizens, he has to make the choice. To serve and live, or run and die?

After losing everything in the Succession Wars, Sergeant Marques Branch is just trying to survive. He and his partner Wells, a secretive former Terran Marine with a chip on his shoulder, are barely scraping by as freelance guns-for-hire. When a job goes sideways, they sign on with Highland Combat Applications, a shady private military contractor promising steady pay and a fresh start.

In July of 2016 a plague swept the world, and the civilization collapsed and fell. For a lone National Guard sergeant, a veteran of the wars overseas who had settled down to a new life, the nightmare began on a hot summer evening at the barricades. Orders and chaos, gunfire and being overrun, his unit dwindles away in the face of the infected. Months later, living in the ruins, the thud of helicopter rotors followed by a crash and the rescue of a downed pilot leads Nick Agostine back into the arms of the US military.

For the first time in two hundred years an enemy has stepped foot on American soil and war has come to our cities. The foe is unstoppable and...Fae. Creatures from a legendary past who have come to reclaim the Earth. In the hills of Pennsylvania a ragtag, devastated army prepares to make a last stand against dragon fire capable of melting an Abrams tank and wizardry that stops fifth-generation fighter jets in mid-air. Inevitably it comes down to shining steel versus human will, and Sergeant Oliva Acevedo transforms from a hospital clerk into a hardened fighter.

More than a decade after the Confederated Earth Forces were defeated, their commanding general, a boyhood protegee, lives in exile and disgrace. His life on an isolated farm is forever changed when two strangers show up at his homestead, and the war comes crashing back down on him. The problem, though, remains the same. How do you fight an enemy that is technologically superior and holds the high ground?

There are wars, and then there's War. The all encompassing thing that is fought on many levels, and with many kinds of weapons, many kinds of warriors. Even ghosts. Alex was no one, a man just trying to get by at his paperwork job at the new Homeland Security. A man grieving for his wife, who had died in the Invasion. Someone just trying to keep his head down while the elves appointed him to do the paperwork of putting their boots on the necks of a conquered American people.

Three years after the Undead virus / parasite infected the world, civilization struggles on. The United States is scraping by as a nation by the skin of its teeth, with forty million people crammed into the Pacific Northwest, living in squalid refugee camps. Army units have made inroads into the ruins of the rest of America, working on clearing the major cities.

What's a soldier to do when the war is over? When he's only known conflict his whole life? Since time immemorial the solution has been to find another war, this time for pay. Whoever has the credits and wins the high bid gets the experienced fighter. Sometimes, though, the money isn't enough to cover the price. In the tradition of Hammer's Slammers and Falkenberg's Legion, a new universe of mercenaries and warfare takes place in the ruins of an alien empire.

In August 2015, the war started, portals opening up between their world and ours, allowing the Fae to return to our (or their) home world in blood, fire and magic. Conventional forces fought back as well as they could, but the invasion had been planned to hit us in the middle of our civilization. America’s military was scattered overseas or concentrated in large bases that were quickly overwhelmed by forces that were dropped right in the middle of their units.

Wars end, enemies are defeated and territories are conquered and the combatants have to return to a life changed. America and the rest of humanity have fallen to the Fae, ancient mortal enemies of mankind. After building their strength for two thousand years, the Elves have claimed their vengeance and now rule Earth with an iron fist and dragon fire. Down but not out, a human resistance is building, but first daily life needs to be lived.

Two thousand years ago, the Fae were banished from Earth. They've spent that time plotting their return and revenge. When their portals open around the world and start crushing the human's military with spell encased steel and dragon fire, it becomes a massive stuggle between technology and magic.

A year has passed since the plague destroyed most of civilization around the world and the U.S. military is slowly starting to move out into a devastated country. From their bastion in the Pacific Northwest mechanized task forces take the fight for America onto the offensive. In front of the military, deep into the wild ruins, go the Irregular Scout Teams. A mix of hardened military veterans and experienced civilians who can operate for long periods of time on their own.

There is a thin wall between our world and that of the Fae, and, during times of war, it is easily stepped through. The passions and emotions stirred by violence and combat bleed over, and the supernatural often awake from long slumber to meddle in mortal affairs. Then also, there are the humans who purposely force that wall down seeking glory and power.

In space, when you lose the high ground, you lose the war. Eleven years before, General David Warren was the best and brightest, in charge of defending the Earth from an attacking fleet. Overmatched in battle, the Earth forces were devastated, and the enemy moved into the high ground and proceeded with orbital bombardment. Civilization fell, and then two years later, the enemy landed and the occupation began.

The world has fallen, swept away by plague and civil war. In a quiet corner of a what remains of the United States, former Scout Team leader Nick Agostine struggles to adjust to peace, wanting to raise corn and kids with his wife.

Edited by Jamie Ibson and Chris Kennedy, We Dare is a collection of 15 all-new stories that explores the use of augmented humanity in the near future. From getting a new personality loaded with the skills you need for a mission to nanobots that keep you from being killed to creating an indestructible tank, anything is possible!

In faraway places of time and space, a young princess of a land that maybe was or wasn't is called on to save her friends and her mother's throne. Ten-year-old Wilma, heir to the thrones of both powerful Northumberland and small Tuscana, splits her time between the two, spending winters with her father and summers with her mother. Shortly after her return to Tuscana, treachery makes her a captive in the hands of the Pirate King, who is intent on destroying Tuscana with the aid of supernatural allies.

Sure, men fight for their beliefs, their country, and their ways of life. And often times the battles are hard fought and devastating. But more often than not, the outcome is decided by who has the better gear.