Books

The entity known as the Faceless nearly destroyed Humanity. Only at the last moment, and at tremendous cost, did we prevail. That victory left a mystery in its wake. What was the source of the enemy’s terrifying and destructive power? The answer may be hidden in a star system called Godsend, from which the Faceless launched its war of...

Paul Ford is a man on the road, seeking to put distance and time between himself and events that turned his life inside out – and not for the better. Toby is a big dog, lost and far from home. A chance encounter brings them together and sends them on a journey to reunite the dog with his family, a trip that just might help Paul find his own way...

Of all the worlds in the multiverse, Adrathea is the last David Render would willingly revisit. What happened there broke his heart and drove him to retire from the UN Multiverse Survey. To hang up his sword, and leave the service of the Alvehn.

But now Adrathea is in peril. An Alvehn device known as an empathy bridge – called the Gryphon Stone...

Sequel to The Gryphon Stone. David Render’s travels through the multiverse have come to an end. Married to Sidraytha of the Isles, he is now the father of two children. The Isles of Wulde are his home, and the Islanders have adopted him as one of their own. His life in the service of the Alvehn, in their endless war against the barbaric Moj, is...

On a bitterly cold night under the stars, an old man willingly embraces the end of his life. Illness and a revelation of betrayal have convinced him that the time has come. But in dying, Gregory Williamson discovers that time is not what he believes it to be, and neither are life and death. Granted a new awareness of the true complexity of...

An age of peaceful exploration has ended.

The centuries old dream of meeting an intelligent, nonhuman species has finally come true, in the form of the people known as the Leyra'an. But the dream soon becomes something darker when the Leyra'an prove to be more than just humanoid. They are like us to a degree that cannot be explained by chance...

While Robert and Alicia MacGregor, survivors of the ill-fated probeship William Bartram, work to rebuild their lives, the Commonwealth seeks a way to end the long, bitter conflict between the Republic and the Leyra’an. But the leaders of the Republic, suspicious of the motives that drive their long-sundered kin and faced with unrest among their...

On a mission to bring aid to a beleaguered star system, John Knowles and Eb'shra Wirolen have been hurled by a freak accident across countless light years, and are marooned in uncharted space. As they work to repair their damaged ship, the Eli'ahtna, and the friends they've left behind launch a desperate rescue mission to bring them home, the...

Four years of research, using the combined resources of five species of sentient beings, have brought the Commonwealth and its allies no closer to understanding how Humanity’s sibling species came into existence. Who was responsible for redirecting the natural course of evolution on four living worlds? Why did they do it? And can they find the...

The Faceless have come, waging total war against the Republic and the Confederation of Clans. As star systems fall and a desperate effort is made to find out who and what the Faceless really are, foes must become allies against the common threat. If their defenses do not hold, nothing will prevent the Faceless from invading the Commonwealth. And...

The war is over and Humanity has prevailed, but victory came at a terrible price. The weapon used to bring down the enemy killed or injured as many people as it saved. One of the unintended casualties, Alicia MacGregor, has existed in a medically induced coma for two years while her neurological injuries were repaired.

At last, to the relief of...

If not for the intervention of the insectoid beings called the T’lack, the Faceless War would have ended with the extinction of Humanity and its Sibling Species. That intervention came at a great cost for the T’lack. No one knows or understands Humanity’s debt to the T’lack better than Jan Costa, who paid his own terrible price at the end of...

A passion for star-gazing often starts in a modest way, with a small telescope. For some, that modest beginning becomes a theme that resonates through a lifetime. Mr. Olcott’s Skies is the story of one such beginning, and of how a small telescope and an old book set the author on a long and often indirect road to the stars. It’s the tale of a...

In his book Mr. Olcott's Skies: An Old Book and a Youthful Obsession, author Thomas Watson explored the origins of his love for the night sky, and how after a nearly thirty year hiatus he returned to the pursuit of amateur astronomy. Tales of a Three-legged Newt is in part the rest of that story, recounting the acquisition of the telescope of...

Look over your shoulder, but don’t turn around. Here at the edge of reality, things are not always as they seem.

“A Friend of Kim’s”
Now you see her, now you don’t. Things tend to happen in the time between.

“Crossing the Pond”
Old friends visit Walden Pond on a rainy day, and meet someone they could not have expected.

“Page Turner”
They...

Writing fiction of any length is a journey through unexplored territory, with the intention of leaving a trail behind for others to follow. In these short essays, one writer shares his view of such journeys, and how it feels to take them. It’s a quick look inside one writer’s way of working, and of how stories can come into being.

Also included...

An unexpected event can change everything, especially when things are not as they first appear. This has always been true, and will remain true in the future. Here are three tales of chance encounters and the changes they bring, set sometime beyond the day after tomorrow.

“Swept Away” – All Richard wanted to do was relax and read a book....