C Gockel Writes

Feature Sci-fi: The Fallen Empire Omnibus (Books 1 – 3 and prequel) by Lindsay Buroker

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Feature Sci-fi: The Fallen Empire Omnibus (Books 1 - 3 and prequel) by Lindsay Buroker

99¢ as of October 19, 2025
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A fighter pilot on a mission to reunite with her daughter.
A cyborg soldier on a quest to regain his humanity.

Mortal enemies during the war, they must now work together to salvage a seventy-year-old freighter and navigate the gauntlet of pirates, scavengers, mercenaries, and other pitfalls that stand in their way after the fall of the largest empire mankind has ever known.

This set includes:

Book 1: Star Nomad
Book 2: Honor’s Flight
Book 3: Starseers
The previously unpublished prequel novella Last Command
The short story Starfall Station

Star Nomad was a nominee for the Goodreads Readers’ Choice Awards and also made Amazon’s Top 20 list of Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016. Start the adventure now!

Featured Sci-fi & Fantasy: The Dragonback Series Book 1 – 3 by Timothy Zahn

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Featured Sci-fi: The Dragonback Series Book 1 - 3 by Timothy Zahn

$2.99 as of October 16, 2025
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The first three adventures in the Dragonback science fiction fantasy series from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Thrawn series.

Dragon and Thief: Young thief and con artist Jack Morgan is hiding out on an uninhabited planet after he’s falsely accused of a crime. But his solitude is interrupted when Draycos, a warrior whose reptilian race is being targeted for extinction, makes an emergency landing. The two will be able to survive, but only if they literally bond together . . .

Dragon and Soldier: When all is well, Draycos looks like nothing more than a tattoo on Jack Morgan’s back. But when Jack’s threatened, the K’da warrior appears in his true, dragonlike form. Together they go undercover to investigate a mercenary outfit connected to the extermination of Draycos’s people, and it turns out Jack isn’t the only new recruit with a secret . . .

Dragon and Slave: Following a lead, Jack becomes a slave on a Brummga alien estate where he must find out all he can while under the cruel watch of a vicious slave master who has no problem killing the help. Fortunately, Draycos always has his back.

Featured Sci-fi: Off Midway Station (Guardians of the Dark Book 1) by Marc Alan Edelheit

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Featured Sci-fi: Off Midway Station (Guardians of the Dark Book 1) by Marc Alan Edelheit

99¢ as of October 16, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia (Full-price: Germany)

“I realized that I wasn’t going to get any sleep (Just one more page… Just one more page…) I’m not just reading words on a page, I’m there… A hell of a ride.” NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Humanity is on the brink of annihilation. Only one man can turn the tide.

For centuries, we explored the stars and settled new worlds. But a mysterious alien threat emerged, launching devastating attacks and seizing entire star systems. Every fifty years they come, silent and relentless, before disappearing again into the dark. And as they close in on humanity’s home worlds, one more defeat could mean total extinction.

Captain Jim Garrett joined the navy to fight back. But when a delicate mission ends in madness and mutiny, Garrett takes the blame and his career is left in ruins.

Now, the only thing he commands is a construction site. The CNS Surprise is an experimental warship, half built in the dockyards of Midway Station. Garrett knows the ship inside out, but the navy brass would never let him take the helm, let alone lead her in battle.

But when the aliens strike early, with unexpected ferocity, it’s clear that every ship in the fleet will be needed. And the Surprise could be the only hope of slowing the enemy onslaught.

Garrett is thrust into command for the first time, launching straight into combat. He must unite a maverick crew and master new technologies, as he leads a desperate counterstrike that will decide mankind’s future.

Off Midway Station is a military SF adventure of high-stakes space warfare, nail-biting action, and characters you would gladly follow into battle. A monumental journey of courage, innovation, and the relentless pursuit of survival, it’s perfect for fans of Jack Campbell, David Weber, and Marko Kloos.

[Read more…]

Featured Sci-fi: Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (Dirk Gently Book 2) by Douglas Adams

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Featured Sci-fi: Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (Dirk Gently Book 2) by Douglas Adams

$1.99 as of October 16, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US (Full-price: United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia)

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Beloved, bumbling Detective Dirk Gently returns in this standalone novel from Douglas Adams, the legendary author of one of the most beloved science fiction novels of all time, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

When a check-in desk at London’s Heathrow Airport disappears in a ball of orange flame, the event is said to be an act of God. But which god? wonders holistic detective Dirk Gently. And how is this connected to Dirk’s battle with his cleaning lady over his filthy refrigerator…or to the murder of his latest client? Or are these events just another stretch of coincidences in the life of the world’s most off-kilter private investigator?

Douglas Adams, “one of England’s top exporters of irreverence” (Chicago Tribune), continues the implausible adventures of supersleuth Dirk Gently in his quest to solve the mysteries of the universe.

Featured Sci-fi: Points of Origin by E.S. Fein

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Featured Sci-fi: Points of Origin by E.S. Fein

FREE as of October 16, 2025
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Embark on a cosmic mystery spanning all of spacetime and beyond and delve into the nature of the cosmos, time travel, quantum physics, religion, deep time, transhumanism, metaphysics, and more.
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Amero wakes from an eerily familiar dream in an unfamiliar bed.

Within hours, he is forced onto an experimental craft and jettisoned across the galaxy alongside a mysterious, potentially homicidal man named Hann.

Finding themselves in a strange yet familiar spacetime, the men are told by suspicious entities to hunt for Points, strange objects no larger than one’s thumb, which are spread across the cosmos by unknown means.

The purpose of the hunt is unknown. The purpose of the Points is unknown.

All Amero wants is to return to his dead-end life. All Hann wants is to hunt down and destroy those responsible for his predicament.

It will take a journey to the end of time itself and beyond the boundaries of every universe to know the truth–to witness the light behind the veil…for better or worse.
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“E.S. Fein is raising the bar for quality as it’s a very well-written and thought-provoking book…There are points and themes in the story that could be discussed for eons as people will have their own idea on where it leads. It’s a book I would highly recommend.” – Andy Whitaker, SFCrowsnest

Featured Sci-fi: Big Trouble, Little Earth by J.N. Chaney and Jason Anspach

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99¢ as of October 13, 2025
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Long after Earth’s destruction, Humanity is an endangered species…

When freighter pilot Dalton Thorne reunites with his old friend Kota at Little Earth’s best noodle shop, he’s expecting a straightforward job. Instead, he finds himself embroiled in a centuries-old mystery that could change humanity’s place in the universe forever.

Little Earth is a decaying city carved into an alien planet where humans live as refugees.

Beneath its neon-lit streets and crowded markets lies a secret: fragments of Earth’s past, preserved by a mysterious race of aliens and hidden from the ruling Consortium.

Now, Dalton and his fledgling crew must uncover a vital piece of evidence, long buried in depths of Little Earth—one that might lead to a real home for humanity.

With combat-enhanced martial artists, power-hungry crime lords, and the iron fist of the Consortium all hot on their trail, Dalton must navigate a web of divided loyalties and hard choices.

If only he’d kept eating his noodles, none of this would have happened.

Grab your copy of “Big Trouble, Little Earth” today and join Dalton Thorne on a journey that will take him from the depths of Little Earth to the secrets of humanity’s forgotten past.