C Gockel Writes

Featured Sci-Fantasy: Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

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Featured Sci-Fantasy: Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

$1.99 as of January 3, 2024
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*A 2019 Rainbow Book List Selection*

An action-packed tale full of romance, royalty, and adventure, inspired by the story of Anastasia. Perfect for fans of Six of Crows,Cinder, and the cult classic television show Firefly.

Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him.

Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them.

When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.

What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?

Featured Science Fiction: Owning a Spacebar by John Walker

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Featured Science Fiction: Owning a Spacebar by John Walker

99¢ as of January 1, 2024
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When Carson Flint traded his Commonwealth military badge for the quiet life, he thought he’d left his battles behind.

Two years of running a saloon called the Bulwark, a volatile hub for refugees, smugglers, and the occasional war-weary soldier, was the peace he’d been looking for.

He’s never had it easier, or been so bored.

But when a fugitive Commonwealth operative arrives with dangerous secrets and a war criminal on his tail, Carson’s sanctuary quickly becomes a target. Drawn back into a world of interstellar conspiracy and dangerous militias, Carson faces a decision that could alter the fate of not just the Bulwark, but perhaps the entire galaxy: risk everything to help old allies or turn his back and let the chaos close in.

The Bulwark may have given Carson an escape from his past, but adventure and old debts are calling.

If you enjoy reluctant heroes, unexpected twists, and high-stakes galactic intrigue, then you’ll love Owning A Spacebar, the latest sci-fi adventure from John Walker.

Featured Sci-fi: The Great War of the Worlds by Eric Goebelbecker

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Featured Sci-fi: The Great War of the Worlds by Eric Goebelbecker

FREE as of January 1, 2025
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It’s 1915, twenty years after the Martian invasion chronicled in the War of the Worlds failed.

The aliens left behind advanced technology and weapons, and now humanity is on the brink of a catastrophic war. Caught in the middle of the chaos are two unlikely heroes: Emil Zimmerman, a young German soldier, and James Brogan, an introverted radio engineer.

Emil dreamed of escaping his small village and making his way to the big city, but finds himself in the trenches fighting for an army that indiscriminately wields deadly Martian weapons. Meanwhile, James just wants to be left alone, but is pulled into a web of conspiracy when he’s called upon to repair crucial radios on Long Island.

As the world hurtles towards the brink of destruction, Emil and James find themselves on a collision course with fate, each struggling to survive and make sense of a new reality.

Shadows of the Past is a science fiction, alternate history, survival adventure. Do you love War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells? Then the thrilling journey of The Great War of the Worlds, where humanity grapples with the legacy of Martian technology is the ride you’re looking for.

Featured Sci-Fi: The Thief: A Cosmic Shores Novel (Amaranthe Book 21) by G.S Jennsen

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Featured Sci-Fi: The Thief: A Cosmic Shores Novel (Amaranthe Book 21) by G.S Jennsen

99¢ as of December 28, 2024
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* A stand-alone adventure set in the Amaranthe universe *

The Hesgyr are thieves. “Scavengers,” to hear their victims tell it; “repurposers” by their own reckoning.

As Chief of Intelligence for Non-Anaden Affairs, Eren Savitas’ job is to protect the Advocacy from all manner of alien threats: sabotage, assassination, insurgency and, way down the list, theft. So when he spots a Hesgyr running off with valuable technology, he follows the alien home—and discovers a civilization unlike any he’s ever encountered.

Yes, the Hesgyr are thieves. But they are also being hunted. Systematically exterminated by an insidious enemy they can’t see, touch or find. Eren finds himself drawn ever deeper into the Hesgyr’s fascinating yet labyrinthine world as he races against time to solve the mystery of the deadly attacks. What he discovers is a complex web of loyalties and betrayals, of grudges and grievances millennia old—and beneath it all, a secret that may hold the key to the survival of more than one civilization.

The Thief is a humorous, pulse-pounding sci-fi adventure about alien culture clashes, the flaws and foibles that transcend species, and the satisfaction that comes from breaking all the rules to save the day.

Featured Sci-fi: Eifelheim by Michael Flynn

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Featured Sci-fi: Eifelheim by Michael Flynn

$1.99 as of December 27, 2024
Click for current price: Amazon US, Canada (Paperback and Audiobook available at: United Kingdom, Germany, Australia)

“Carl Sagan meets Umberto Eco. . . . Bursting with pungent historical detail . . . this dense, provocative novel offers big rewards to patient readers.” —Entertainment Weekly

The alien world of medieval Europe lives again, transformed by the physics of the future, by a winner of the Heinlein Award.

Over the centuries, one small town in Germany has disappeared and never been resettled. Tom, a historian, and his theoretical physicist girlfriend Sharon, become interested. By all logic, the town should have survived. What’s so special about Eifelheim?

Father Dietrich is the village priest of Eifelheim, in the year 1348, when the Black Death is gathering strength but is still not nearby. Dietrich is an educated man, and to his astonishment becomes the first contact person between humanity and an alien race from a distant star, when their ship crashes in the nearby forest.

It is a time of wonders, in the shadow of the plague. Tom and Sharon, and Father Deitrich have a strange destiny of tragedy and triumph in Eifelheim, the brilliant science fiction novel by Michael Flynn.

“Heartbreaking. . . . Flynn masterfully achieves an intricate panorama of medieval life, full of fascinatingly realized human and [alien] characters whose fates interconnect with poignant irony.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Meticulously researched, intense, mesmerizing novel . . . for readers seeking thoughtful science fiction of the highest order.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Eifelheim may turn out to be the best science fiction novel this year.” —Orson Scott Card, Hugo Award–winning author of Ender’s Game

Featured Sci-fi: Ironhold Station (USS Hamiltron Book 1) by Mark Wayne McGinnis

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Featured Sci-fi: Ironhold Station (USS Hamiltron Book 1) by Mark Wayne McGinnis

FREE as of December 26, 2024
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The surprise attack within the Auriga Star System was worse than brutal, it was heinous—leaving the US-Navy’s 3rd Fleet decimated. Thousands of crew are reported dead, including the ship’s Captain.

Reluctantly, the young XO, Galvin Quintos, will be taking command of the fleet’s crippled dreadnaught, the USS Hamilton, while doing his best to bring fleet survivors back to Earth.

Going from bad to worse, a murderer is running loose onboard the ship. Add to that fuel levels are critically low, and the Grish are back and in fast pursuit—ready to finish what they’d started. Only by sheer luck, along with a good measure of cagey smarts, will Quintos be able to rise to the challenge.