Novels In Work

These are novels which I am currently writing.  All of these have words on pages. Now I just need to buckle down and finish them!

The Federal Agency of SUPER-VILLAINY

Being Bad never did so much Good.

Superheroes exist, and everyone loves them when they save the world from asteroid impacts or monstrous invaders from the Far Dimensions, but there's not enough supercrime to keep superheroes busy, and everyone knows that a bored superhero is just a supervillain waiting to happen.

Thus, the government created a secret agency of fake supervillains to keep superheroes occupied until they are needed. Why do you think villains and heroes are so well matched? It's almost as though there's a system making certain they are perfectly balanced. Why do you think there are so few casualties in villain schemes? It's almost like they don't want to kill anyone. Why do you think the villains break out of prison so easily? You'd think they were federal agents who are not even supposed to be in jail!

This is the story of one of those overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated supervillains doing his best to support his family while secretly saving the world.

The Illyrian Civil War Quintet

An Age of Aether novel.

This series of novels will detail the political and military conflict between Sel'lyradon, the future Dragon Queen of Illyria, and the wealthy nobles who have slowly assumed control of the nation. Princess Lyra wishes to bring modern enlightened principles to Illyrian society, such as universal suffrage and the abolition of slavery. The entrenched nobility sees these reforms as threats to their wealth and power, and raise an army by duping the masses into believing that they are fighting for Illyrian Freedom, instead of just the freedom for the rich to do what they want.

Throughout the novels, Princess Lyra must fight not only her enemies, but also her allies, as the loose coalition of Royalists have divided aims and often dislike the other bands they fight with. The Duke of Ravenhill is a brilliant general who openly criticizes her every move, the Dondish separatists wish to break away from Illyrian control, and the Royal Army is on the edge of mutiny every time their pay is delayed. Meanwhile, on the Patriot side, the peasant-born orc Avery Grant must survive a string of incompetent generals and fractious members of parliament who seem more interested in gaining political dominance over their rivals than winning the war. Her battlefield prowess propels her up the chain of command, but upon reaching the top, she finds that control of the army is determined by political factors, not military concerns, and she must ally herself with the slimy schemer Leslie Sackville, an odious necessity to ensure that the Patriot cause does not collapse from infighting in the face of the Royalist onslaught.

Lyra's high-minded ideals and the daring tactics of her obstreperous warlord Duke Ravenhill will smash against the ruthless stratagems of Avery Grant and the sinister schemes of Lord Leslie Sackville as they vie for the fate of the kingdom.

The Terrible Tale of Ernest Sterling

An Age of Aether novel.

Twenty years ago, Constance chose money over love, and has regretted it ever since. Now she must deal with her odious husband and his incessant scheming as he plots to take over the city of Greyleaf. As she meets and negotiates with the elite of the city on her husband's behalf, she encounters his ultimate opposite: the rakish, romantic, adventuresome Ernest Sterling, whose very presence threatens to sweep Constance off her feet, even as he forwards her husband's dark designs. Her amorous intentions might come to fruition, if Greyleaf's high society had not begun an alarming and rather inconsiderate trend of being brutally murdered.

This string of slaughtered souls brings Ihial, a police investigator turned ascetic monk, back out of retirement as he tries to track down the one killer he never caught. As he pursues the trail of body parts and blood, he finds that the circle of the dead surrounds Constance and her family, and that he is frustratingly following in Sterling's footsteps as the adventurer pursues his own investigation. As the two come closer to discovering the killer's identity, Ihial begins to realize that there is a greater purpose to the murderer's plan aside from simple butchery or political expediency. If Ihial is to capture his quarry, he must decide between upholding his righteous ideals, or descending into the pattern of brutality and violence that infects the social order of Greyleaf.

Lines We Cannot Cross

A Rimverse novel.

Levar Boylan is a young Commonwealth officer whose promising peacetime career is shattered by the outbreak of war with the Voidstar Empire. The enemy’s initial blitz is frighteningly effective, conquering dozens of planets with ease, shattering the Commonwealth’s expeditionary force and scattering allied armies. Levar must leave many dead friends in his wake as the army retreats to build a new line of defense. As the war settles into the grind of attrition, Levar’s humanity is slowly stripped away. He calculates that a soldier’s gear is more valuable than the soldier carrying it, but more importantly, he calculates that the Alliance cannot beat the Voidstar Empire in a war of attrition. His report lands him a spot in Operation Overthrow, a long-shot plan designed to skip over the enemy shock troops and open up a new line in their rear. If successful, it could change the balance of power in the war, but if it fails, then half a million soldiers, Levar and his few surviving friends included, will be stranded fifty parsecs behind enemy lines.