C Gockel Writes

Featured Sci-fi: Steel Guardian (Rusted Wasteland Book 1) by Cameron Coral

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Featured Sci-fi: Steel Guardian, by Cameron Coral

FREE as of May 9, 2025
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A timid robot protects an abandoned baby in a post-apocalyptic world.

The AI Uprising destroys society.

No internet, phones, or electricity. Machines turn against humans. The military SoldierBots have one function–seek and destroy.

Block is a simple CleanerBot programmed to scrub floors and serve hotel guests. Forced to leave his city, he must avoid dangerous SoldierBots and find a new hotel he can call home.

But when Block discovers a human infant, his surprise attachment to the girl compels him to protect her while traveling across the metal-infested wastelands of America to a safe haven. When he encounters Nova – a surly soldier who becomes an unlikely ally – they must tackle the biggest challenge of their lives.

Together, they face mortal danger from bands of scavengers, militaristic SoldierBots, and Combat Mechs. A cyborg Bounty Hunter will stop at nothing to find Block and the child – an infant who holds the key to humanity’s future.

If you enjoy characters with heart and page-turning adventures, then you’ll love the award-winning first book of this post-apocalyptic sci-fi series.

Featured Sci-fi: Crisis of Command by John Frater

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Featured Sci-fi: Crisis of Command by John Frater

FREE Book 1—Book 2 & 3 only 99¢ Each in US
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It’s 2079. The Sleer War is over. Earth lost.

When Lt. Simon Brooks discovered an alien A.I., he made a name for himself as an officer in the Unified Earth Fleet. And while his tech skills are next level, he has a lot to learn about running a combat squadron.

After flubbing a training exercise, Brooks is set to choosing worlds for human colonization, and he thinks he has the perfect candidate: Vega. But rumors and intelligence reports make him think there’s something there which the Sleer missed.

As Brooks and the crew of UES Gauntlet head to Vega to prove his theory, a Sleer science vessel is already working to claim the prize: an armored military base from a long-forgotten war. Acquiring it for the UEF would put humanity back in the fight to reclaim Earth…and Simon Brooks back in control of his career.

But events from neighboring empires threaten to destabilize the UEF, pitting Gauntlet’s crew against secret police, government bureaucracy, interstellar trade negotiations, and Sleer merchant guilds. In the face of encroaching chaos, does victory in battle even matter?

The next action-packed Military Sci-Fi Series from Jon Frater, author of Battle Ring Earth. Perfect for fans of Rick Partlow (Drop Trooper), Jeffery H. Haskell (Grimm’s War), and Joshua Dalzelle (Omega Force). Grab your copy today!

Featured Sci-fi: The Alternien Wars by G J Ogden

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Featured Sci-fi: The Alternien Wars by G J Ogden

FREE Book 1—Books 2 & 3 only 99¢ Each US & UK
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Humanity cast him out. Now he’s their only hope.

Master Commander Carter Rose was engineered to be the ultimate weapon—augmented strength, tactical genius, and command of the deadliest warship ever built.

After crushing the post-human Aternien Empire, his reward was exile… and a century of bitter solitude on a distant moon.

Then Major Carina Larsen finds him with news that shatters his world. The Aterniens have returned, more dangerous than ever.

The Union, soft after a hundred years of peace, has forgotten how to fight. Their weapons are relics. Their tactics, obsolete. Only Rose’s legendary battleship—the Galatine—can stand against the coming storm.

To save the Union, Rose must reunite his scattered Master Officers—augmented heroes betrayed by the very people they once swore to protect—and reclaim his ship.

But in a galaxy where post-humans are feared and hated, both the Union and the Aterniens now vie for Rose’s allegiance.

When the perfect weapon must choose a side, no one is safe.

Winner of the Kindle Storyteller Award 2023!
Forsaken Commander launches the Aternian Wars series, an explosive fusion of military sci-fi and space opera, where engineered warriors battle a reborn empire forged from ancient Egyptian myth.

Begin the saga today.

Featured Fantasy: The Shattered Court (A Novel of the Four Arts) by M.J. Scott

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Featured Fantasy: The Shattered Court (A Novel of the Four Arts) by M.J. Scott

FREE as of May 5, 2025
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Enjoy this romantic historical fantasy series from RITA® Award nominated author M.J. Scott.

For a royal witch, magic always means marriage…whether she likes it or not

Lady Sophia Kendall has always known three things. That she’s thirty-second in line to the throne of Anglion. That when she turns twenty-one, she’ll find out if she’s a royal witch. And that, if she is a witch, she’ll be married off immediately to whichever lord the king chooses. Now she’s about to turn twenty-one and fulfill all the expectations that the Anglion court has for her.

But when the palace is attacked just before her birthday, Sophie is spirited away from the city by Lieutenant Cameron Mackenzie, a royal guard determined to keep her safe. Being alone with a man she hardly knows is dangerous, especially so close to her birthday. And when Sophia discovers she does indeed have magic—strong magic—she and Cameron accidentally forge a bond that breaks every tradition Anglion holds dear. When they return to the palace, the aftermath of the attack has stirred up the worst kind of court politics and their unexpected union and Sophie’s magic brings her to the deadly attention of those seeking to control the court and those who seeking to destroy it…and her. To survive, Sophia will have to see beyond the lies she’s been taught and embrace the power nobody wants her to have…

The Shattered Court is the first book in the Four Arts trilogy, a complete historical fantasy romance series from RITA® Award nominated author M.J. Scott. Perfect if you love fantasies with royal turmoil, witches, gaslamp vibes, marriages of convenience, protective heroes, sexy times and political intrigues. Enjoy!

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Featured Sci-fi: The Risen Empire (Succession Book 1) by Scott Westerfeld

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Featured Sci-fi: The Risen Empire (Succession Book 1) by Scott Westerfeld

FREE as of April 24, 2025
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“Westerfeld’s blend of traditional space opera and cutting-edge speculation makes this a truly twenty-first-century SF novel.” —Karl Schroeder, author of Pirate Sun

The undead Emperor has ruled his mighty interstellar empire of eighty human worlds for sixteen hundred years. Because he can grant a form of eternal life, creating an elite known as the Risen, his power has been absolute. He and his sister, the Child Empress, who is eternally a little girl, are worshiped as living gods. No one can touch them.

Not until the Rix, machine-augmented humans who worship very different gods: AI compound minds of planetary extent. The Rix are cool, relentless fanatics, and their only goal is to propagate such AIs throughout the galaxy. They seek to end, by any means necessary, the Emperor’s prolonged tyranny of one and supplant it with an eternal cybernetic dynasty of their own. They begin by taking the Child Empress hostage. Captain Laurent Zai of the Imperial Frigate Lynx is tasked with her rescue.

Separated by light-years, bound by an unlikely love, Zai and pacifist senator Nara Oxham must each in their own way, face the challenge of the Rix, and they each will hold the fate of the empire in their hands. The Risen Empire is the first great space opera of the twenty-first century.

“In the tradition of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series and Frank Herbert’s Dune books.” —The New York Times

“Confirms the buzz that space opera is one of the most exciting branches of current SF.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Featured Sci-fi: Exodus Earth by Andrew Beery

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Featured Sci-fi: Exodus Earth by Andrew Beery

BOOK ONE FREE as of May 3, 2025 (BOOK 2 & BOOK 3—99¢ Each in US)
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Earth is a frozen wasteland…
The victim of a war we hadn’t realized we were fighting.

Opportunities there are few and far between… that is unless you’re willing to put on a uniform. For ace-pilot Deborah Allen Riker (a.k.a “Admiral Dare”), life had never been easy. She’s defended Earth against countless enemies, both alien and human alike.

Now a civilian and academic living on the fringes of civilized space, she has committed herself to a life of solitude and studying a race of long-dead aliens. Everything was great… until she finds herself dragged into a new conflict. A conflict she never saw coming.

One of the great Arks built to carry the last vestiges of humanity into the deepest reaches of space goes missing. And she’s just the gal to find it.

Don’t miss the start of a Military Sci-Fi Series from Amazon Bestseller Andrew Beery. It’s perfect for fans of Rick Partlow, Christopher G. Nuttall, and Mark Wayne McGinnis.