Kristine Smith

Rules of Conflict

As part of a diplomatic corps sent to establish peaceful relations with the alien idomeni species, Jani Kilian did the unthinkable--she took sides in an alien civil--and two decades later, she has finally returned to the Commonwealth with a genetically rebuilt body. Original.

Code of Conduct

Captain Jani Kilian's life should have ended in front of a firing squad. Instead, she evaded battlefield justice by dying in a transport crash. End of story, according to official Commonwealth Service records. But doctors repaired her in secret, using the most advanced Service Medical technologies available, or so they assured her. In the last days of the idomeni civil war, she escaped their homeworld of Shèrá, and spent the next 18 years on the run. But someone like Jani leaves a trail no matter how hard they try to hide it, and she soon learns the Service hunt for her never ended. When Interior Minister Evan van Reuter, her former lover, tracks her down and begs her help in finding his wife's killer, she has no choice but to agree.

Contact Imminent

A human-idomeni hybrid with a very bad reputation, former Captain Jani Kilian is out of hiding and officially a civilian. But peace is not an option. Suddenly an important player in the Commonwealth's delicate dealings with the alien idomeni, Jani has inadvertently incurred the wrath of top powers in politics, finance, diplomacy, and crime. Her war is not yet over, just moving to a higher plane. There's no truth to the timeworn adage that old soldiers never die; they do . . . and sometimes badly. Jani Kilian's come back to a new world that's not brave but definitely in peril. And "kill or be killed" is her only real choice . . . because now only one law remains.

Law of Survival

Ever since contact was first made between humans and the alien idomeni, tensions between the two races have been frequent and bloody. As the first genetically altered human-idomeni hybrid, former Captain Jani Kilian serves as a lightning rod for the anger, outrage, and hatreds of both sides. And now the ex-soldier finds herself in the unwanted role of diplomat—serving the interests of her hybrid enclave, Thalassa, the only place in the universe that welcomes renegade humans, hybrids, and aliens alike. But the all-powerful Commonwealth intends to bring Thalassa to its knees, and the time for diplomacy is at an end. With death surrounding her, Jani Kilian must return to where her nightmare began and once again take on her most powerful persona: warrior. For as the game approaches its inevitable conclusion, she knows only two options remain: victory . . . or extermination.

Endgame

Anarchy Rules For eighteen years, Captain Jani Kilian has been hiding from her bloody past. Now she faces trial for what she once did, what she knows now, and what she has become. Eighteen years ago, she was saved by a radical -- and illegal -- medical procedure that added alien genetic material to her own. But her hybrid body is breaking down. And so is everything else. Relations between the human and alien "idomeni" races are deteriorating as rapidly as Jani Kilian's augmentation. And Jani's reemergence has caused old wounds to reopen and new wounds to form. Perhaps it's time for a damaged soldier to stop fighting; to let the desperate architects of a vast and devouring conspiracy keep the truth well hidden; to let the universe and everyone in it go straight to Hell. Perhaps not...

Steve Miller

Chaz Brenchley

Sharon Lee

Sarena Ulibarri

Nicole Givens Kurtz

Gail Z. Martin

Liam Hogan

Larry N. Martin

Lauren C. Teffeau

Anthony Lowe

Anthony W. Eichenlaub

S.C. Butler

Jason Palmatier

Rhondi Salsitz

David Keener

Devan Barlow

Christopher R. Muscato

Ember Randall

Here Comes the Sun! Rising temperatures, melting glaciers, violent storms, and excessive heat. The future seems bleak...but there are signs of hope. In Solar Flare, we ask you to step into a world where we have managed to mitigate or even reverse the disastrous effects of climate change and our own destruction of our world. Race down the depleted waterway of the Mississippi in a solar-, wind-, and water-powered boat. Sail through the skies in a floating hydroponic dirigible. Skim along a solar-powered road in order to expose a corporation’s secret. Hover weightless in space in a last-ditch effort to repair an umbrella-like solar collector. Or cower in a shelter as fire rages outside...only to emerge and discover the rebirth such fire can bring. Experience all of this and more in these seventeen solarpunk stories brought to you by today’s hottest authors, including David Keener, Anthony W. Eichenlaub, Sarena Ulibarri, Jason Palmatier, Lauren C. Teffeau, S.C. Butler, Devan Barlow, Chaz Brenchley, Liam Hogan, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Christopher R. Muscato, Rhondi Salsitz, Ember Randall, Gail Z. Martin & Larry N. Martin, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, Kristine Smith, and Anthony Lowe. Time to turn the tide and dream of a better future.

Solarpunk Stories

Solar Flare

Ever since contact was first made between humans and the alien idomeni, tensions between the two races have been frequent and bloody. As the first genetically altered human-idomeni hybrid, former Captain Jani Kilian serves as a lightning rod for the anger, outrage, and hatreds of both sides. And now the ex-soldier finds herself in the unwanted role of diplomat - serving the interests of her hybrid enclave, Thalassa, the only place in the universe that welcomes renegade humans, hybrids, and aliens alike. But the all-powerful Commonwealth intends to bring Thalassa to its knees, and the time for diplomacy is at an end. With death surrounding her, Jani Kiliam must return to where her nightmare began and once again take on her most powerful personal warrior. For as the game approaches its inevitable conclusion, she knows only two options remain: victory. . . or exterminations.

The Chronicles of Jani Killian

A genetically altered human-diomeni hybrid, Jani Kilian finds herself caught in the middle of a looming intergalactic civil war, when a horrific terrorist attack threatens to ignite a long-feared conflict between humankind and aliens.

Julie E. Czerneda

Jack Campbell

Gini Koch

Alex Bledsoe

Jacey Bedford

Andrija Popovic

Gerald Brandt

D.B. Jackson

Griffin Ayaz Tyree

Kit Harding

Mark D. Jacobsen

Jana Paniccia

R.Z. Held

A ship lost with all hands on icy Titan. A dying woman’s soul linked with the fate of an interstellar vessel. A wrecked ferry possessed by the ruin-demon who grounded her. A haunted space cruiser of legend again terrorizing those who travel among the stars. A pirate-ravaged frigate concealing magical secrets that can doom the wicked, or redeem the worthy. An inexplicably empty cruiser arriving at a space station amid the panic of a system-wide pandemic. There is an allure to the ghost ship, the once-proud voyaging craft now abandoned to the void of space or the depths of the sea. In Derelict, speculative fiction authors Kristine Smith, D.B. Jackson, Griffin Ayaz Tyree, Andrija Popovic, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, Gerald Brandt, Kit Harding, Gini Koch, Jacey Bedford, Mark D. Jacobsen, Jana Paniccia, Alex Bledsoe, Chaz Brenchley, R.Z. Held, Jack Campbell, and Julie E. Czerneda offer their tales of the lost vessel. So climb aboard if you dare, and prepare for a reading adventure that will unnerve and inspire and transport you beyond distant horizons.

Derelict

It takes a killer to catch a killer. Jani Kilian finally has her life under control. Discharged from the Service, she's become an important player in negotiations with the alien idomeni. But when a classified report containing revelations about past crimes comes to light, Jani realizes that old enemies still seek to destroy her. As dangers mount and those closest to her are threatened, a hard lesson learned during her years on the run hits home. Whether in colonial back alleys or halls of power, the game is life and death, and only the winner survives.

If not for a question I couldn't answer back in 2000, this book probably would never have been written. When DeForest Kelley's biographer Terry Lee Rioux asked me, "How did you go from being a fan-on the outermost reaches of fandom-to being at Mr. Kelley's bedside when he died?" I was struck speechless. Finally, I responded, "I have no idea. That's something only De could answer. I can't speak for him." Terry persisted: "You know the answer. You just have to connect the dots..." The question pestered me. My 30-plus year association with DeForest Kelley had all just seemed so miraculous to me. That's because I still hadn't come to grips with the reality that De and Carolyn Kelley weren't just being kind to one of their most ardent fans. I had become a friend. Terry's question led me to re-visit the scores of journals and four behemoth three-ring binders that I had filled with the conversations I had painstakingly recorded after each visit and call. You wouldn't think-as crazy about the Kelleys as I was-that I would have forgotten a single moment. But I had. This is how I discovered, for the very first time, the path that our friendship took. My hope is that my precious journey will bring you as close to meeting "the real McCoy" up close and personal as I was blessed to experience.

Kristine Smith

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