C Gockel Writes

Want to keep reading for free (or close to it)?

by

I Bring the Fire Omnibus eBook and The Defiant audiobook

Subscribe & Save

You can read (and listen to!) most of my books through subscription services:

  • Everand* (formerly Scribd) – ebooks + audiobooks
  • Kobo Plus – ebooks (no Kobo device needed—the app is free)

Both offer 30-day free trials—so if you’re a fast reader, you could get through quite a bit at no cost.

Learn more about KoboPlus and Everand. 

Or Read & Listen Completely Free

You can also find my books at your local library:

  • Libby / OverDrive
  • Hoopla
  • CloudLibrary
  • BorrowBox

If your library carries ebooks or audiobooks, there’s a good chance they have my books—or can request them.

Find Libraries that Offer Libby/Overdrive

If Your Library Doesn’t Loan eBooks or Audiobooks

You may be able to get a library card at a larger library system for a modest fee. Here is a website that lists libraries with non-resident borrowing priveleges.

A quick note

I’m a big library user myself and often enroll in various subscription services (books add up fast—and so do growing kids’ expenses).

However you choose to read—buying, borrowing, or listening—I’m just glad you’re spending your time with my stories.

*Everand isn’t currently featuring Magic After Midnight.

Featured Sci-fi: Orphan of Empire (Dodecahedral Book 1) by S. A. Melia

by

Orphan of Empire by S. A. Melia

FREE on Amazon

Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Six blade hits. One battle distinction. No birth certificate.

Guy Erma has one ambition: to escape the fashion house that raised him and join the Dome Militant, London’s legendary military brigade.

When Scavengii raiders attack, Guy’s training exercise becomes a real battle. His skill with a blade saves lives and brings him to the attention of a military recruiter. At last, everything he has fought for is within reach.

But Guy cannot enlist.
Without a birth certificate, he cannot prove who he is. Officially, he may not even exist.

He knows what he wants to become. First, he must discover who he is.

For readers of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, Brandon Sanderson’s Skyward and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga, Orphan of Empire is a fast-moving military space opera about identity, ambition, honour and belonging.

A standalone gateway to S. A. Melia’s acclaimed Dodecahedral series. Previous novels Born of Empire and Heirs of Empire are Gold Medal winners at the 2025 Global Books Awards, with five-star recognition from Readers’ Favorite, Literary Titan, The Book Review Directory and Indie Book Review. S. A. Melia was named YA Author at the 2026 Farnham Literary Festival.

Featured Sci-fi: Unidentified Invasion Volume 1 (Three Complete Alien Invasion Series) by Nathan Hystad

by

Unidentified Invasion Volume 1 by Nathan Hystad

FREE on Amazon
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Three complete alien invasion series from best-selling author Nathan Hystad in a single volume. Over 18,000 ratings and 3200 pages.

THE ABYSS: THE COMPLETE SERIES is over 1,000 pages of pulse-pounding science fiction filled with aliens, monsters, and unforgettable heroes.

A revolutionary energy project opens a doorway to something hidden beneath Earth’s oceans. As civilization collapses, a handful of survivors must uncover the truth behind the Abyss before humanity is consumed.

The real threat lies below.

THE BRIDGE SEQUENCE: THE COMPLETE SERIES is over 1,000 pages of adventure, ancient secrets, and first contact.

After discovering a clue tied to his father’s disappearance, anthropologist Rex Walker embarks on a globe-spanning search for the legendary Bridge. But as an unknown object approaches Pluto, time is running out.

Three bestselling novels of mystery, betrayal, and discovery.

THE GLASS: THE COMPLETE SERIES is over 1,200 pages of suspense, survival, and alien mystery.

Invisible barriers suddenly appear across Earth, changing humanity forever. As chaos spreads, a small group must venture beyond the Glass to uncover the truth.

Three epic novels. One impossible phenomenon. What waits on the other side?

Featured Fantasy: The Devil Next Door (Vegas Slayers Book 7) by Christine Pope

by

The Devil Next Door by Christine Pope

New Release
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, B&N, Kobo, Google Play, Christine’s Store

The Lockwoods could finally have the happy ending they’ve bled for — if the devil next door doesn’t take it first.

Caleb Lockwood has spent a year learning how to be happy. Quarter-demon, retired from the tables, and about to be a father, he’s traded Hell and high-stakes poker for a house in Summerlin, a ten-foot Christmas tree in the tall windows, and the woman who loves him, monster and all.

He should have known his father wouldn’t let a clean ending stand.

Delia Dunne can feel a haunting the way other people feel a draft…and lately, something cold has been leaking through the wall of the vacant flip next door. She wants to blame the pregnancy, two unfamiliar kinds of power humming under her skin at once. But the wrongness isn’t coming from the baby. It’s coming from whatever Daniel Lockwood left behind, patient and waiting for the family’s power to gather close enough to touch.

Featured Sci-fi: A Dangerous Universe Book 1 by Saxon Andrew

by

A Dangerous Universe - Saving Crystal by Saxon Andrew

FREE on Amazon
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

From bestselling author Saxon Andrew comes A Dangerous Universe – Saving Crystal.

Kyle Jamison is given command of the Rock Project and he’s thankful for the opportunity to get away from his personal issues.

The Rock Project has been studying a strange rock sphere that was uncovered hundreds of years ago.

The Project has been going on for more than a hundred years at M.I.T. and there’s been no breakthrough or progress to take place on finding out just what the Rock might be or why it emits energy. The project is basically a dead-end unit and only misfits and problematic sailors have been assigned there.

No one expects Kyle to find anything new, and his main task is to make presentations to universities.

But Kyle finds a linguist that challenges him and that will change everything.

He discovers that Earth is about to have a dangerous universe come crashing down on it and time is running out. He also discovers Earth is its own worst enemy and he must find a way to prevent the government from causing its destruction.

Featured Fantasy: A Gathering of Ravens (Grimnir Series Book 1) by Scott Oden

by

A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden

$1.99 on Most Vendors

Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, B&N, Kobo, GooglePlay

“Magnificent. . . . A dark, grim and unrelentingly bloody tale of the last Orc and his quest for vengeance. Highly recommended.” —John Gwynne, author of Wrath (Book Four of The Faithful and the Fallen)

“A satisfying saga that’s as complex as an old tree’s roots, and a pleasure to read.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

To the Danes, he is skraelingr; to the English, he is orcnéas; to the Irish, he is fomoraig. He is Corpse-maker and Life-quencher, the Bringer of Night, the Son of the Wolf and Brother of the Serpent. He is Grimnir, and he is the last of his kind―the last in a long line of monsters who have plagued humanity since the Elder Days.

Drawn from his lair by a thirst for vengeance against the Dane who slew his brother, Grimnir emerges into a world that’s changed. A new faith has arisen. The Old Ways are dying, and their followers retreating into the shadows; even still, Grimnir’s vengeance cannot be denied.

Taking a young Christian hostage to be his guide, Grimnir embarks on a journey that takes him from the hinterlands of Denmark, where the wisdom of the ancient dwarves has given way to madness, to the war-torn heart of southern England, where the spirits of the land make violence on one another. And thence to the green shores of Ireland and the Viking stronghold of Dubhlinn, where his enemy awaits.

But, unless Grimnir can set aside his hatreds, his dream of retribution will come to nothing. For Dubhlinn is set to be the site of a reckoning―the Old Ways versus the New―and Grimnir, the last of his kind left to plague mankind, must choose: stand with the Christian King of Ireland and see his vengeance done or stand against him and see it slip away?

“Not to be missed. More The Broken Sword than Lord of the Rings, this is Norse Fantasy with a Vengeance. Grab your axe and line up for the shield wall, and Odin count the dead.”―Charles R. Rutledge, co-author of Blind Shadows and Congregations of the Dead

Featured Sci-fi: Destiny (Union Station) by E.M. Foner

by

Destiny: Union Station by E.M. Foner

FREE on Most Vendors

Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble, & GooglePlay

The universe has plans for Kelly and Joe, if only it can put them on the same space station at the same time.

Kelly Frank is a junior employee in Earth’s diplomatic service who’s sick and tired of cleaning up after human tourists behaving badly.

Joe McAllister is a reluctant mercenary who’s looking for a way out and family-friendly place to start a business and raise an orphaned boy.

Will the choices they make in the next few months shape the rest of their lives, or is free will just an illusion in a galaxy managed by ancient artificial intelligence?

Destiny: Union Station takes place two years before the start of the nineteen book EarthCent Ambassador series.