C Gockel Writes

Featured Sci-fi: Space Team by Barry J. Hutchison

by

Start the Series FREE and get Book 2 for 99¢ in the US and UK
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

The galaxy just called for help. Unfortunately, the wrong man answered.

When small-time conman, Cal Carver, is thrown in jail and forced to share a cell with a semi-naked cannibalistic serial killer, he’s pretty sure his day can’t get any worse.

Boy, is he wrong.

It isn’t until two-thirds of the human race is wiped out and Cal is mistakenly abducted by aliens that things really start to go downhill.

Whisked across the galaxy, Cal is forced into a team of some of the sector’s most notorious villains and scumbags and tasked with delivering a package to a warlord-run solar system where the authorities daren’t venture.

The mission should be simple enough, but as one screw-up leads to another the ragtag group of unwitting heroes find themselves in a frantic battle to save an entire alien civilization – and its god – from total annihilation.

Featuring epic space battles, hilariously snarky characters, and a shapeshifting blob with the face of Tobey Maguire, Space Team is the first book in the internationally bestselling series by award-winning author, Barry J. Hutchison.

Perfect for fans of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Galaxy Quest, Guardians of the Galaxy, and pretty much anything else with the word ‘Galaxy’ in the title.*

*Except Samsung’s Galaxy S series, which is a range of mobile devices, and so not really similar.

You don’t really want to stick around on Earth, do you? Have you seen the state of the place? Buy Space Team now, or read FREE on Kindle Unlimited, and blast off on an action-packed adventure that’ll have you laughing your puny human head off.

(Not literally.)

(I hope.)

[Read more…]

Featured Fantasy: The Purgatorium (The Purgatorium Series) by Eva Pohler

by

Featured Fantasy: The Purgatorium (The Purgatorium Series) by Eva Pohler

FREE as of March 17, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay, Author’s Store

Did her parents send her to the Purgatorium to help her or punish her?

A teen who feels guilty for her sister’s death is sent by her parents to a remote island off the coast of California for “suicide therapy,” where she learns that the doctor and her team use experimental methods that cross ethical lines. After undergoing one bizarre experience after another, the teen gets lost on the haunted side of the island and wonders if her parents meant to help or to punish her.

Some readers have compared this young adult psychological thriller by USA Today bestselling author Eva Pohler to Shutter Island and Lost.

[Read more…]

Featured Sci-fi: A Town Called Potato (Galactic Detective Agency Book 1) by Gary Blaine Randolph

by

Featured Sci-fi: A Town Called Potato (Galactic Detective Agency Book 1) by Gary Blaine Randolph

FREE as of March 16, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

It’s a lighthearted murder mystery … with space aliens!

Gabriel Lake is a not so hard-boiled computer guy who finds himself swept up into a web of interstellar crime when he is recruited into the Galactic Detective Agency, led by the brilliant Oren Vilkas.

Can a mere Earthling track a killer across the stars before more lives are lost? Can he negotiate his way around other worlds and understand the ways of extra-terrestrial cultures? Can he even figure out how to use a bathroom designed for aliens?

And can he uncover the mystery of A Town Called Potato?

Featured Fantasy: The Rogue and the Healer (Five Kingdoms Book 3) by Cidney Swanson

by

Featured Fantasy: The Rogue and the Healer (Five Kingdoms Book 3) by Cidney Swanson

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

Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay, Author’s Website

(Book 1 Tsarina Scholar Woodsman Thief free on BookFunnel)

Magia awakens….

Katrin and Cyril return to the mysterious island of Talisfarne only to find their beloved stonecote – and their lives – in appalling disarray. Things get worse when Katrin must choose whether or not to heal the son and heir of her darkest enemy, who lies gravely ill. Worse still, Cyril is threatened with expulsion from the abbey school, and Astrid is betrothed to a prince, with the promise that she will reign as queen.

Meanwhile the dashing Tsarevich Sasha feverishly pursues his own agenda, determined to uncover the mysterious source of Katrin’s and Cyril’s increasing magia. Before long, however, all five friends face must heart-wrenching choices that threaten lasting impact, not only on the Five Kingdoms but also on the Kingdom of the Fey.

The thrilling third book in the trilogy ventures into the treacherous landscape of the human heart, and the desperate choices to be made when all outcomes appear bleak.

Possible triggers: book contains character memories of being forcibly struck as a child and off-screen flogging of an adult male. For more information contact the author via her website.

Featured Fantasy: The Legend of the Gods Complete Trilogy by Aaron Hodges

by

Featured Fantasy: The Legend of the Gods Complete Trilogy by Aaron Hodges

99¢ as of March 13, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Apple, Nook, Kobo, GooglePlay

★★★★★ “Aaron Hodges is one of those authors you just can’t put down. His books suck you in and just won’t let go. Matter of fact, you don’t want them to let you go. You want the book to continue on and on, the let down is once the book is over.”

A century since the departure of the Gods, the Three Nations are now united beneath the Tsar. Magic has been outlawed, its power too dangerous to remain unchecked. All Magickers must surrender themselves to the crown, or face imprisonment and death.

Alana’s mundane life has just been torn apart by the emergence of her brother’s magic. Now they must leave behind everything they’ve ever known and flee – before the Tsar’s Stalkers pick up their trail. Tasked with hunting down renegade Magickers, the merciless hunters will stop at nothing to bring them before the Tsar’s judgement.

As the noose closes around Alana and her brother, disgraced hero Devon finds himself at odds with the law when he picks a fight with the wrong man. The former warrior has set aside his weapons, but now, caught between the renegades and the Stalkers, he is forced to pick a side – the empire, or the innocent.

Brandon Sanderson meets Terry Brooks in this epic fantasy series by New York Times Bestselling Author Aaron Hodges.

Featured Sci-fi: Battlefield Diplomacy by L.L. Richman

by

Featured Sci-fi: Battlefield Diplomacy by L.L. Richman

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

A lone soldier must save humanity from the remnants of a vicious alien enemy bent on revenge.

A fragile alliance. A stolen weapon. A war for Humanity’s future.


Special Forces operator Matt Whitaker survived the Oniki War — but only just. Now the war is over, and a tenuous peace has been struck.

When weapons plans are stolen from an Oniki shipyard and all evidence points to human involvement, tensions flare, threatening that hard-won peace. Whitaker is the only person with the knowledge and experience to uncover the truth.

Still recovering from his injuries, he is forced to face his demons, and charge back into the fray.

His orders are clear: uncover the truth and exonerate humanity. But the mission unearths more than just stolen plans, and what Whitaker discovers is worse than anyone could have imagined.

Now, the fate of both civilizations rests on his shoulders… and time is running out. Can one soldier save humanity from a second, and final, war?