Beyond Amargosa

Three novellas tell of humanity's reaction to the brutal invasion of distant Amargosa:Broken Skies - A failed liberation attempt for Amargosa reveals an enemy closer to Earth. Quentin Austin must find out who collaborated with the unknown aliens to have over the idyllic farming colony. And strand Austin's son behind enemy lines.Warped - Hideki Okada is drafted back into the Navy to make warp drive viable after four centuries of wormholes. Only the Navy wants to send humanity's new enemy, the Gelt, a message they'll never forget. Okada is reluctant to rain fire down on an unsuspecting colony.Flight Blade - Gid Modesto and Mitsuko Yamato are thrown together on a mission to visit Hanar, a former human colony where Gelt and human have joined forces to rebuild. They learn they have a new ally against those who seized Amargosa. Unfortunately, their biggest battle is with each other.

Tishla has the ideal job. Indentured to her lover in exchange for training as a geneticist, she serves as both his conscience and his foil. But when a mysterious alien arrives during a famine offering a "poh-tay-toe," things go horribly wrong. Her master, Kai, is convinced to join an invasion of two alien worlds, wildcat colonies the alien calls them. Only Kai learns the truth and exiles Tishla for her own good.In space occupied by a species called "human," she learns the alien, also human, is lying to both sides. And she's pregnant. She returns to her stolen world Hanar to help rebuild. She must foil a murder attempt, save her unborn twins, and become a reluctant leader of a world populated by two species hostile to each other. She will even have to travel to a planet called Amargosa on a mission of revenge to finally free her own people and the humans stranded with her.

Douglas Best sets out to do something no one has done in four centuries. He seeks three colonies for humanity's oldest interstellar presence, Jefivah. But a mysterious GMO salesman named Luxhomme has another agenda. Soon, seven weapons of mass destruction go missing, leaving Best on the hook. To avoid prison, he must cooperate with a cult to Marilyn Monroe.The intrigue will lead Best to The Caliphate and the headquarters of Juno, a shady GMO company. Before long, Best, his wife, and a rebellious Marilynist cleric on drawn into a web of intrigue and a battle over human evolution.

John Farno awakes one morning to discover his world destroyed. An engineering on the terraforming world of Farigha, he begins his fight for survival with only the contents of his rover to sustain him. He has no ship, no way to communicate, and the nearest human is forty light-years away. It's the ultimate in social distancing.