C Gockel Writes

Featured Sci-fi: Justice Keepers Saga by R.S. Penney Author

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Featured Sci-fi: Justice Keepers Saga by R.S. Penney Author

Start the Series FREE as of January 14, 2024
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Thousands of years ago, the Overseers scattered humans across the galaxy. Now, one of them has found her way back home.

On a mission to recover an escaped alien life form, young Justice Keeper Anna Lenai pursues the felon into uncharted space, and accidentally finds the lost homeworld of her ancestors.

While Anna tries to adapt and survive in a strange, hostile environment, she accidentally uncovers a conspiracy that will shake their world to its foundations.

Praise:

★★★★★ – “Fresh take on sci-fi with wonderful characters that draw you in.”

★★★★★ – “Intelligent, articulate, witty and thought-provoking.”

Featured Sci-fi: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

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Featured Sci-fi: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

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A masterpiece ahead of its time, a prescient rendering of a dark future, and the inspiration for the blockbuster film Blade Runner

By 2021, the World War has killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remain covet any living creature, and for people who can’t afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacra: horses, birds, cats, sheep. They’ve even built humans. Immigrants to Mars receive androids so sophisticated they are indistinguishable from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans can wreak, the government bans them from Earth. Driven into hiding, unauthorized androids live among human beings, undetected. Rick Deckard, an officially sanctioned bounty hunter, is commissioned to find rogue androids and “retire” them. But when cornered, androids fight back—with lethal force.

Praise for Philip K. Dick

“The most consistently brilliant science fiction writer in the world.”—John Brunner

“A kind of pulp-fiction Kafka, a prophet.”—The New York Times

“[Philip K. Dick] sees all the sparkling—and terrifying—possibilities . . . that other authors shy away from.”—Rolling Stone

Featured Sci-fi: Saving Mars (Saving Mars Series Book 1) by Cidney Swanson

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Saving Mars (Saving Mars Series Book 1) Kindle Edition by Cidney Swanson (Author)

FREE as of January 13, 2025
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Some pilots follow orders. Others just wing it.

Grounded for her Top Gun attitude, a Mars colony pilot jumps at the chance to fly a covert mission to off-limits Earth and save her world from starvation. On Earth, the Chancellor keeps a dystopian peace through a competitive consciousness-transfer program, offering perfect bodies to those who toe the line. Pilot Jessamyn’s orders are simple: get the food and get out, minimizing contact. But when the pilot’s brilliant autistic brother is captured and charged with treason, all bets are off. Jess finds an ally in Pavel, the Chancellor’s rebel nephew, but now she’s got a choice to make: rescue her brother or save Mars?

“SCI-FI THAT SOARS.” -Kirkus, starred review

Saving Mars is a Sci-Fi series of colonization on Mars featuring interplanetary politics, adventure, and romance that’s perfect for fans of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising or Mary Robinette Kowal’s Lady Astronaut series.

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Featured Sci-fi: Neon Nights (There’s no Murder in Paradise Book 1) by Anna Mocikat

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Featured Sci-fi: Neon Nights (There's no Murder in Paradise Book 1) by Anna Mocikat

FREE as of January 12, 2025
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There’s no murder in paradise.

Homicide detective Siro Ferreira-Nunes must solve his most challenging case.

More and more people end up dead in the “city of dreams,” an allegedly perfect society. The victims haven’t just been murdered; they’ve been also horribly mutilated and stripped of their neural implants and augmentations. This is not the work of a serial killer but the signature of crime syndicates who sell the costly augmentations on the black market.

A specialist in organized crime, detective Ferreira-Nunes is the right man for job. Partnered with the sharp-witted Kate Spader, they delve into the seedy underworld of Oldtown, the megacity’s most notorious district, where life is cheap and criminal masterminds know how to evade the all-controlling “perfect” society of Olympias.

One of the victims, a popular TV star provides a surprising clue: behind his shiny smile the actor hid a shocking double life in Oldtown’s infamous redlight district. Was the man really just a victim?

The investigation leads Siro and Kate from Oldtown’s gritty shadows to the opulent penthouses of the elite in the skyscrapers above. After the detectives barely survive an assassination attempt on their lives, the Guardian Angels, Olympias’ notorious elite cyborg enforcers enter the stage.

But can they be trusted or are they following their own agenda?

“Neon Nights” is a spin-off from the acclaimed “Behind Blue Eyes” series but can be read as a standalone—an exciting mix of cyber intrigue, sex, and danger.

For fans of “Altered Carbon” and noir detective stories!

Featured Science Fiction: Negation Force by Anthony James

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Featured Science Fiction: Negation Force by Anthony James

FREE as of January 10, 2025
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Negation Force. A planet without power, locked down by an alien war fleet.

The human Confederation has known an unprecedented time of peace, unheard of in a universe where every other species is not only technologically advanced, but also incredibly hostile.

The good times are about to end.

Out on the fringes, the planet Atlantis is attacked by an alien foe remembered only by the oldest members of the Space Corps. These aliens – known as Vraxar – are abominations of flesh and metal, driven to exterminate every other life form in the universe. Now it’s humanity’s turn.

In the ruins of the Tillos military installation, Sergeant Eric McKinney is determined to fight back and find out why the Vraxar have come. Meanwhile, a response fleet is mustered with the intention of facing the enemy head-on. It’s a mission with no hope of success.

As events unfold, it becomes apparent the Vraxar have secrets which give clues to their purpose. The answers are more shocking than anyone could have imagined.

The lives of strangers are intertwined and together they must try and salvage something from this first exchange in a war that will not end until one side is utterly defeated. Luckily, the Tillos base holds secrets of its own…a warship with an exceptionally powerful Obsidiar core is contained within an underground bunker. It is the only hope for Atlantis…

Negation Force is a science fiction action and adventure book which begins The Obsidiar Fleet series.

Author’s Note: this book is set forty years after events in the Survival Wars series. There is no necessity to read the earlier books to enjoy this one.

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Featured Fantasy: The Golden Spider (Elemental Web Chronicles Book 1) by Anne Renwick

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Featured Fantasy: The Golden Spider (Elemental Web Chronicles Book 1) by Anne Renwick

FREE as of January 9, 2024
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On the foggy streets of Victorian London, secrets and spies hide in a world of gaslamp fantasy.

Lady Amanda blackmailed her way into a prestigious London medical school…

Not the preferred method of entrance, of course, but necessary, for it’s the only way to force Lord Thornton, a professor at the school, to help her perfect her invention: a clockwork spider capable of spinning artificial nerves.

And Lord Thornton is interested… but is he interested in Amanda, or simply the invention that could cure his own debilitating injury? Neither one can trust the other, but both know this: any attraction is a danger, any romance forbidden.

But when a foreign spy steals the spider and uses it to perform grisly experiments on human subjects, they must set aside both their differences and their growing attraction to capture the killer terrorizing the streets of London.

STEP INTO THE ELEMENTAL WEB!

Enjoy this romance by USA Today Bestselling historical fantasy author Anne Renwick where you’ll unravel mysteries and defy conventions in a world where danger lurks around every corner…
The Golden Spider is the first story in the Elemental Web Chronicles, although all books in the Elemental Web (Chronicles, Tales & Stories) can be read as standalones. For fans of steampunk and gaslamp fantasy romance, this is a STEAMY romance with a guaranteed happily ever after for women in STEM and the men who are their match.