Joe Ballen

A grisly death, a disturbed scientist, and a dangerous conspiracy. Joe Ballen dreams of returning to space, but after an accident left him half-crippled, he scrapes a living flying cabs in flooded-out Baltimore. When one of his passengers suffers a grisly death, Joe is dragged into a dangerous conspiracy centered around a prototype JumpShip. No one believes the ship will work, not even the space-faring Atolls who have barricaded Earth from the rest of the solar system. But someone is murdering everyone connected to it. As the bodies pile up, Joe becomes suspect number one, and his enemies will stop at nothing to hide the truth. With the help of a disturbed scientist, a senile survivalist, and his glamorous boss, can Joe untangle the puzzle and uncover the truth before he becomes another statistic? The future's about to get a lot more action packed! The Joe Ballen series is a near future, sci-fi noir thriller series, featuring a smart-mouthed space engineer, engaging characters, cynical humor, and plausible science.

Change can be deadly! With his life crumbling around him, Joe Ballen is close to going out in a blaze, fueled by cheap alcohol and self-hatred. But when something "out there" starts destroying spaceships and stations, the only JumpShip available to investigate is the Shokasta-locked away by Joe in an attempt to get justice for his family. But when an old friend offers him the chance to return to space in the hunt for a missing ship, it proves more complicated than either of them imagined. With all sides of the political spectrum looking to grab a piece of the newly explored star systems, Joe soon realizes that some people will go to any lengths to get what they want, and are willing to sacrifice anyone in the process. And when Joe's past catches up with him in a way he couldn't have seen coming, he must battle enemies new and old as well as his own inner demons. The Joe Ballen series is a near future, sci-fi noir thriller series, featuring a smart-mouthed space engineer, engaging characters, cynical humor, and plausible science.

Where deception and betrayal meet... Joe Ballen is taking it easy as head of engineering on the new giant space station at Alpha Centauri, or at least as easy as it ever gets for Joe. One thing he's sure of though-he's out of the hero game for good. But on a routine visit back to Earth, one of Joe's oldest acquaintances is killed in front of him. Followed almost immediately by an attack. Forced to take desperate measures, Joe survives by the slimmest of margins And when he uncovers a secret message from an unusual source, Joe must undertake a deep space journey filled with deceit and danger to uncover the secrets behind the murder and attacks. But with a potential war looming, can he survive long enough to find the answers?

First they framed him. Now they want him dead.After an accident in space cost Joe Ballen three of his limbs, he's finished as a space engineer-the only job he ever wanted. Now, with a replacement arm and legs that don't work so well, all he has to look forward to is life on basic income and a small medical pension that he drinks his way through all too fast.But when Joe helps a beautiful woman who's desperate and needs somewhere to hide, he ends up losing four days out of his life. What's more, he wakes to discover he's wanted for murder and the theft of a space freighter with a cargo worth millions.Now the police have all the evidence they need: fingerprints, his security access codes, video of him committing the crime, and even his DNA from the crime scene. Joe's only chance of proving his innocence is to track down the woman he helped. But he's not the only one looking, and the corpses are piling up.Get in on the action and find out how it all began in this prequel to David M. Kelly's popular Joe Ballen series.Fall guys don't come any snarkier!