C Gockel Writes

Featured Science Fiction: Star Nomad (Fallen Empire Book 1) by Lindsay Buroker

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Featured Science Fiction: Star Nomad (Fallen Empire Book 1) by Lindsay Buroker

FREE as of December 10, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

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The Alliance has toppled the tyrannical empire. It should be a time for celebration, but not for fighter pilot Captain Alisa Marchenko. After barely surviving a crash in the final battle for freedom, she’s stranded on a dustball of a planet, billions of miles from her young daughter. She has no money or resources, and there are no transports heading to Perun, her former home and the last imperial stronghold.

But she has a plan.

Steal a dilapidated and malfunctioning freighter from a junkyard full of lawless savages. Slightly suicidal, but she believes she can do it. Her plan, however, does not account for the elite cyborg soldier squatting in the freighter, intending to use it for his own purposes. As an imperial soldier, he has no love for Alliance pilots. In fact, he’s quite fond of killing them.

Alisa has more problems than she can count, but she can’t let cyborgs, savages, or ancient malfunctioning ships stand in her way. If she does, she’ll never see her daughter again.

Fans of Firefly and Star Wars should enjoy this fun, fast-paced new series from USA Today best-selling author, Lindsay Buroker.

Featured Fantasy: Redwall by Brian Jacques

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Featured Fantasy: Redwall by Brian Jacques

$2.99 as of December 10, 2025 (RECOMMENDED!)
Click for current price: Amazon US (full price at Amazon Amazon UK, Canada, Australia)

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One of TIME Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time

The book that inspired a legend—the first novel in the beloved, bestselling Redwall saga.

Welcome to Mossflower Wood, where the gentle mice have gathered to celebrate a year of peace and abundance. All is well…until a sinister shadow falls across the ancient stone abbey of Redwall. It is rumored that Cluny is coming—Cluny, the terrible one-eyed rat and his savage horde—Cluny, who has vowed to conquer Redwall Abbey! The only hope for the besieged mice lies in the lost sword of the legendary Martin the Warrior. And so begins the epic quest of a bumbling young apprentice—a courageous mouse who would rise up, fight back…and become a legend himself.

Perfect for fans of T. A. Barron’s Merlin saga, John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series, and J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings series.

“The medieval world of Redwall Abbey—where gallant mouse warriors triumph over evil invaders—has truly become the stuff of legend.”
—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Featured Fantasy: Legacy of Dragons the Complete Series by Sean Fletcher

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Featured Fantasy: Legacy of Dragons the Complete Series by Sean Fletcher

99¢ as of December 6, 2025
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She’s hunted for what she is. He hunts those who would hurt them.

When Astrid is attacked by a creep calling himself a Slayer, it seems like a cruel prank the universe is pulling on her already crappy life.

Then Kaden, the most infuriating, stunning boy she’s ever met, arrives and tells her she’s a dragon-kin like him—part dragon, part human.

Then Astrid actually shifts into a dragon.

Wonderful.

It’s not wonderful to Kaden, who should be busy hunting down the Slayers, a group as vicious as his methods and as dark as his past. He doesn’t have time to chaperone a girl with newly awakened dragon powers, one who’s too stubborn to stay safe.

Yet as the Slayer threat grows, Astrid and Kaden will have to work together to control a magic unlike any their world has ever seen, and stop a rising darkness from destroying everything they know.

[Read more…]

Featured Sci-Fi: Quiet War: A science fiction thriller (Farewell Amity Station Book 1) by Frank Kennedy

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Featured Sci-Fi: Quiet War: A science fiction thriller (Farewell Amity Station Book 1) by Frank Kennedy

FREE as of December 6, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

Fragile peace. Murder at the heart of an empire.

Deputy Trevor Stallion survived an interstellar war, found love, a good job, and a chance to overcome a tarnished family legacy. For what? To pass down a crippling genetic disease to his little girl, to see his wife turn to another man, to almost lose the only job that ever mattered.

At 35, the so-called “Forever Deputy’ tries to salvage his crumbling life aboard the massive Amity Station, heart of the forty-world People’s Collectorate. This three-sector city in space houses the Interstellar Congress and leads the way in scientific and technological advances. Built in the wake of war to unify humanity, Amity Station provides a beacon of hope as dark tidings spread across the galaxy.

When a school-age resident with a brilliant mind dies from an overdose of the deadly drug Motif, which is ravaging member worlds, Trevor and his reluctant partner investigate. The mystery sends Trevor into dangerous territory which may unearth a presence no one on Amity foresaw.

Will Trevor bend his principles in search of the truth, all while dealing with his beloved daughter’s struggling health, his brother’s wayward behavior, and the resistance of his superiors? How will fate steal his joy this time? And is anyone on Amity safe?

Quiet War is the opening stanza in the five-book saga of an empire on the brink, threatened by rising enemies – seen and unseen. Fans of Babylon 5 and anyone who loves solving a mystery will be captivated by this series.

Featured Sci-fi: The Posh Prepper Book 1 by Todd Knight

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Featured Sci-fi: The Posh Prepper Book 1 by Todd Knight

FREE as of December 5, 2025
Click for current price: Amazon US, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia

“A spellbinding apocalyptic thriller with a relentless pace and unpredictable plot.” – WINNER, Literary Titan Gold Book Award

“An action-packed survivalist story with a deeper story of friendship and found family.” – OFFICIAL SELECTION, US Review of Books

“An absolute must-read for fans of the post-apocalyptic genre.” – Robin’s Reviews

An apocalyptic virus. A crisis consultant. A 24-hour head start.
In 2035, in a hopelessly broken world, Nick Ritter is The Posh Prepper, a gifted crisis consultant who sells disaster-survival plans to rich and powerful clients.

Haunted by corrupt clients and a tragic past, Nick lives a reclusive life in overcrowded Boston, counting the days until he can retire to his survival ranch in New Zealand.

But when he gets an insider tip that a deadly virus is tearing through Boston, Nick has 24 hours to escape the city and flee to New Zealand. He has the perfect survival plan, but there’s just one problem…it doesn’t account for company.

As he scrambles toward safety, Nick picks up a ragtag group of followers:

Abby Blackwell, a pregnant teen runaway, is hiding a dark secret. If she can outrun her troubled past, she can start a new life. But trusting anyone could put everyone in danger.

Brian Donahue, a washed-up Navy SEAL, is scraping by as an escape pilot. Torn between family and duty, he’ll risk everything to complete this final mission.

Dana Foster, an overworked ER doctor, is haunted by human suffering. As the outbreak spreads, she faces an impossible choice: who should they save?

Now Nick must call on his disaster-planning skills to survive, facing off against a collapsing society to protect his newfound family and save mankind from extinction.

The Posh Prepper is a dark, tense, fast-paced apocalyptic thriller with an unforgettable cast of complex characters.

A character-driven story where intelligence matters more than firepower, and every survival choice carries a human cost. For readers who want layered characters, moral complexity, and stakes that feel uncomfortably real.

Perfect for fans of T.L. Payne, Grace Hamilton, and Kyla Stone.

Featured Fantasy: Wolf Rampant Trilogy (Book 1 Wolf’s Pack) by Aimee Easterling

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Featured Fantasy: Wolf Rampant Trilogy (Book 1 Wolf's Pack) by Aimee Easterling

FREE as of December 3, 2025
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The complete Wolf Rampant Trilogy: An outcast shifter builds a life around running away from her wolf, until an irresistible alpha makes hiding impossible.

Terra Wilder has spent years smothering her inner wolf, pretending she’s human so she can slip through the cracks.

Then Wolfie Young walks into her life—an untamed bloodling alpha whose very presence shreds the careful control she’s fought so hard to maintain.

Soon, Terra and Wolfie are thrust into a maelstrom of warring packs, deadly secrets, and outcasts who become found family. Together, they must choose between the lives they were born into…and the future they could claim side by side.

Perfect for fans of Patricia Briggs, this complete trilogy blends slow-burn romance with pulse-pounding urban fantasy. Includes Shiftless, Pack Princess, and Alpha Ascendant.