Patty Jansen

On the backwater world of Cayelle, Tina Freeman runs a shop with her son Rex: fifteen years old, half-human, half-android with a massive chip on his shoulder about having been born without arms or legs. The shop makes a modest profit, but when a creditor turns up wanting his money back, everything goes pear-shaped. She needs money, and needs it fast. Another creditor is impossible to find. That leaves her one option: to return to the world she fled fifteen years ago and Kelso Space Station, where her spaceship has languished for over fifteen years, and finally sell the thing. Tina worked as scientific officer in the Federacy Force's top secret Project Charon, and was forced out when she rang alarm bells about particles that escaped out of a rift to another universe. As it turns out, the alien dust has been infecting people in her absence, causing profound changes in human behaviour. When Tina re-surfaces at Kelso, her presence is a threat to those who still defend the project, including her ex-husband, and they want to shut her up, but her continued silence may well mean the end of civilisation.

"A blisteringly good collection." "Will read everything in this series I can get my hands on." "These stories are full of great, complex characters (not all of them human), twists and turns, and fantastic world-building." BEYOND THE STARS: Rocking Space includes these short stories: * One Last Gig (Cain V. Hopwood)* Camp Kids (Patrice Fitzgerald)* First Contract (Julia Huni)* Destroy Is My Favorite Part (David Bruns)* Chocolate (Andy McKell)* Unfair Advantage (Misty Zaugg)* The Switcheroo (Christopher J. Valin)* Juno Triumphant (Patty Jansen)* I Said Flamenco (J. M. Thomas)* Curiosity (R. J. Howell)* Imperatrix (Nemma Wollenfang)* The Original Sacrifice (A. K. DuBoff)* Wily and Tate (Patricia Gilliam)Thirteen brand new tales from fantastic writers--both bestselling and freshly discovered--in this seventh collection from the BEYOND THE STARS series of space opera anthologies. Join these authors who are deep into... Rocking Space Don't miss the earlier volumes: DARK BEYOND THE STARSBEYOND THE STARS: A Planet Too FarBEYOND THE STARS: At Galaxy's EdgeBEYOND THE STARS: New Worlds, New SunsBest of BEYOND THE STARSBEYOND THE STARS: Unimagined RealmsAnd now... BEYOND THE STARS: Rocking Space

CThe latest book in the long-running Ambassador series

The latest volume in the long-running Ambassador series.

Self-published authors are coming to realise that a stable career is about a backlist of titles and keeping that backlist selling. But how do you do this? Invariably, advice given by other authors includes holding promotions and lowering the price of the first book in series, or even making it free. However, few people mention one of the most powerful ways to keep your backlist selling: the author mailing list. This is where Mailing Lists Unboxed comes in. It shows you: --The different types of author mailing lists--How to recruit people to sign up--What to do with your list once you have one--Attitudes about mailing lists, including those that stand in your way--Warnings and precautions--And much moreThis is not a book for beginners. If you know little about self-publishing, read Self-publishing Unboxed first.

Where magic is evil, characters are twisted, and victory comes at a heavy price.

Where magic is evil, characters are twisted, and victory comes at a heavy price.

Melati escaped New Jakarta space station when it fell into Allion's hands. Her family was left behind the enemy lines. She signed up for active duty with the International Space Force in the hope they would liberate the station. Instead, they chose to maintain a crippling siege that has lasted for ten months. A small ship escapes from the station with on board a single male occupant whose mind appears to have been wiped. With her skills in artificial mindbases, Melati is part of the team that tries to get information out of him. He could be a human Trojan horse sent by Allion and his calls for help nothing more than a trap to get ISF to send people to the station. Or he could be a genuine escapee from the station where the recycling processes have collapsed and ten thousand civilians have mere weeks until they die of asphyxiation. Either way, the time for watching and waiting is over. War is about to begin.

Never has there been more at stake for the people on Earth. The referendum question is simple: does Earth join gamra, the organisation that governs the Exchange, the FTL space travel network? While a "yes" vote would mean big changes, a "no" vote would leave Earth isolated and alone to face those waiting to fill the void, and those dark forces are already on the prowl. Cory is one of the few people who can see the big picture, not just those campaigning for the "no" vote, but the off-Earth forces that wait behind them, but he and his team went on a holiday to New Zealand and communication has been mysteriously cut off. Someone is taking control of communication channels, bringing the "yes" campaign to its knees, and by the time Cory is aware that the race is on, the only avenue open to him is a hard-hitting, negative campaign that requires him to go into the lion's den: the homelands of the obscenely rich members of the Pretoria Cartel, where gun-crazy hunters, lions and elephants are just the start of his problems.

Deadly creatures, hostile climate, and that is just the scenery. For many years, mysterious things have happened on the ice world of Tamer, but when a scientist goes missing from Barresh thought to be on Tamer, Cory is forced to take the issue by the horns. Problem is, he is dealing with unexpected side effects of his fertility treatment, and, like his Coldi companions, he's lost much of his night vision, and has trouble tolerating low temperatures. Trouble is, a recent addition to his team has sent shockwaves through his group of loyal companions and things are still sorting themselves out. Not his healthy self, under-resourced, frozen and half-blind, that's not the best preparation to visit a world where humans are not at the top of the food chain, let alone dealing with enemies who will go to any lengths to hide their activities.

A few years ago, a military doctor walking the corridors of New Jakarta Space Station saved Melati's life. She signed up for the International Space Force to pay back her moral debt to him. But her family thinks she has betrayed her people. It was ISF who forcefully removed their grandmothers and grandfathers from the crowded slums of Jakarta to work in interstellar space stations. It is Melati's job to teach six-year old construct soldiers, artificial humans grown in labs and activated with programmed minds to serve in an interstellar war. Her latest cohort has one student who claims that he is not a little boy, but a mindbase traveller whose swap partner took off with his body. It soon becomes clear that a lot of people are scouring the space station for this fugitive, a scientist with dangerous knowledge about interstellar space. The best place to hide in the space station is amongst the many cultures and subcultures of the expat Indonesian B-sector. Looking for him brings Melati into direct conflict with her people. She does not want to be seen as one of the enemy, but if the scientist's knowledge falls in the wrong hands, war will come to the station.

A few years ago, a military doctor walking the corridors of New Jakarta Space Station saved Melati's life. She signed up for the International Space Force to pay back her moral debt to him. But her family thinks she has betrayed her people. It was ISF who forcefully removed their grandmothers and grandfathers from the crowded slums of Jakarta to work in interstellar space stations. It is Melati's job to teach six-year old construct soldiers, artificial humans grown in labs and activated with programmed minds to serve in an interstellar war. Her latest cohort has one student who claims that he is not a little boy, but a mindbase traveller whose swap partner took off with his body. It soon becomes clear that a lot of people are scouring the space station for this fugitive, a scientist with dangerous knowledge about interstellar space. The best place to hide in the space station is amongst the many cultures and subcultures of the expat Indonesian B-sector. Looking for him brings Melati into direct conflict with her people. She does not want to be seen as one of the enemy, but if the scientist's knowledge falls in the wrong hands, war will come to the station.