The Sacrifice Play Kickstarter is LIVE!

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Sacrifice Play – A Tale from the Arbiter Chronicles, is the third novel based on my Mark Time and Parsec Award-winning Arbiter Chronicles science fiction series. It’s in final editing stages now, weighing in at about 60,500 words.

Sacrifice Play cover art by Caio CacauThis time out, the Arbiters are passengers on a military vessel that’s been assigned to test a dangerous new technology. If word of that technology’s existence gets out to the public, the Confederate Navy believes their very way of life could crumble. They’re willing to kill to protect the secret, and the Captain of the CNV Haakon Rodriguez decides to sacrifice his own ship and everyone on board for the good of all.

The Arbiters, aboard the doomed ship, um, disagree. It’s a battle of wills and a battle against the clock as they race to save the ship from its own captain. Caio Cacau’s gorgeous cover painting of Metcalfe and Carson should make it plain that the stakes are high this time out.

Continue reading

A Long Time Ago: Exploring the Star Wars Cinematic Universe

Just in time for the upcoming release of the seventh film in the franchise, Sequart Press has released a collection of essays on the Star Wars cinematic universe. Editors Rich Handley and Joe Berenato were kind enough to invite me to contribute. It will be followed in 2016 by two more volumes covering the comic book and novel tie-ins. Here’s the first page of my entry for Volume 1. In Volume 3, I’ll have an essay on the Lando Calrissian novels of one of my favorite authors, L. Neil Smith, and my son Ethan, keeper of the Figure in Question blog, will offer a retrospective on the Star Wars action figures.

11202973_10206924381141098_6166310895253096439_n

The Arbiter Logs #4: The White Lady

TheWhiteLady2Only 99 cents! 

Visiting the colony of New Rhineland, the Arbiters are lured into the centuries old German ghost story of the White Lady, a harbinger of death and spirit of vengeance. Metcalfe is confronted by the most haunting spectre of all — that of his sister, Lydia.

The White Lady is the fourth adventure of the crew of the CNV Arbiter, adapted from the Mark Time and Parsec Award-winning audio drama series, The Arbiter Chronicles. Library Journal calls the Arbiters “a cast of compelling characters,” and Analog calls the Chronicles “a fun romp… like a cross between the funniest episodes of the original Star Trek and Monty Python.”

Buy it for:
All formats at Smashwords | Kindle | Nook  | iBooks

 

The Arbiter Logs #1: Mutiny Springs Eternal

MutinyA century ago, the Faraday disappeared. The great ship dropped into the mysterious region known as L-space, never to be seen again. There are only legends left, legends of mutiny, of murder, and of the discovery of forbidden secrets. Today, the young midshipmen of the patrol ship Arbiter have found Faraday, a ghost ship orbiting a remote planet. And, somehow, someone… or something… has survived.

Mutiny Springs Eternal is the first adventure of the crew of the CNV Arbiter, adapted from the Mark Time and Parsec Award-winning audio drama series, The Arbiter Chronicles. Library Journal calls the Arbiters “a cast of compelling characters,” and Analog calls the Chronicles “a fun romp… like a cross between the funniest episodes of the original Star Trek and Monty Python.”

Buy it for: Kindle | Nook | Other formats at Smashwords

 

The Arbiter Logs #3: Man of Letters

ManofLettersOnly 99 cents! 

In all of the history of the planet Phaeton, since it was settled hundreds of years ago, only a handful of its telepathic citizens have ventured into outer space. Professor Mors, a legendary intellectual, and his young protégé Cernaq are two of those. Now that Cernaq is serving on border patrol aboard the CNV Arbiter, his mentor has tasked him with chronicling the extraordinary events he is a part of. Cernaq’s letters provide a glimpse of a very seedy corner of Naval service through very innocent, foreign eyes, as he learns that much of humanity is not governed by reason or science.

Man of Letters is the third adventure of the crew of the CNV Arbiter, adapted from the Mark Time and Parsec Award-winning audio drama series, The Arbiter Chronicles. Library Journal calls the Arbiters “a cast of compelling characters,” and Analog calls the Chronicles “a fun romp… like a cross between the funniest episodes of the original Star Trek and Monty Python.”

Buy it for:
All formats at Smashwords | Kindle | Nook  | iBooks

The Arbiter Logs #2: A Man Walks Into a Bar

ManWalksIn“Isn’t it obvious? I’ve just killed a man.”

My second Arbiter Logs novella is now in release! Only 99 cents for the eBook for your Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iPad, Droid… you name it, we got it. This adventure is based on a script Prometheus Radio Theatre first performed at Balticon 35. It turned out to be one of our most popular shows, and, as noted in the jacket copy, it took the 2004 Mark Time Silver Award. We were all kinda proud of that. Here it’s committed to prose and expanded, with some extra glimpses into the private lives of Captain Atal, Doc Faulkner, Kaya and Aer’La that weren’t in the radio play. And, of course, we all know the characters better now, myself included, so we get a better look inside some of their heads this time around. I hope you’ll pick up a copy. Purchase links below. (Some retailers pick up the books faster than others. Amazon should be out in a couple more hours. The others will trail along. I’ll update as they show up. Smashwords is always the fastest!)

Buy it for:
All formats at Smashwords | Kindle | Nook  | iBooks

The Jacket Copy:

Cernaq is a telepath from the planet Phaeton, the gentlest, most unassuming of the crew of the CNV Arbiter. After he must take a man’s life in the line of duty, his behavior begins to take a turn for the worse. Another presence is slowly gaining control of his mind, and one of the most powerful telepathic intellects in the galaxy is now a threat to himself and his shipmates.

A Man Walks Into a Bar is the second adventure of the crew of the CNV Arbiter, adapted from Parsec Award-winning audio drama series, The Arbiter Chronicles. This story also received the Mark Time Silver Award for excellence in science fiction audio drama in 2004. Library Journal calls the Arbiters “a cast of compelling characters,” and Analog calls the Chronicles “a fun romp… like a cross between the funniest episodes of the original Star Trek and Monty Python.”

Unfriendly Persuasion: : A Tale from the Arbiter Chronicles

ISBN: 978-0977385133
$20.00 (Book) $2.99 (eBook)

“Everything Is Going To Be All Right…” That’s what Lieutenant Terry Metcalfe keeps telling his friends and co-workers. A hero to the public, just months ago he successfully prevented the veritable destruction of human civilization at the hands of terrorists from the warlike Qraitian Empire. But Metcalfe has changed, grown unhappy with his role as an officer in the Confederate Navy. Distancing himself from his friends, he’s decided to join a religious sect which believes it’s literally found God living beneath the surface of the far-off planet Eleusis. And to be sure, there’s something there: an alien intelligence which reaches out to the young Lieutenant and offers him the power to protect everything he loves. But is Metcalfe finding the spiritual fulfilment he’s sought so long, or is he falling under the spell of a malevolent new enemy?

Steven H. Wilson’s original science fiction audio series, The Arbiter Chronicles, has captured the imaginations of audiences for over a decade. Winner of the Mark Time Silver Award and the Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction Audio Drama, it’s character-driven space opera in the tradition of Heinlein’s The Rolling Stones and Joss Whedon’s Firefly. Drenched in adventure, humor and sexuality, Unfriendly Persuasion joins its predecessor, Taken Liberty, in bringing new depth to the popular audio drama series.

Buy it!   Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Kindle   Nook   Other eBook formats via Smashwords

Peace Lord of the Red Planet

ISBN: 978-0977385126
$20.00 (Book) $4.99 (eBook)

His Death was only the Beginning… Shepherd Autrey is a Quaker, a physician, and a man deeply disturbed by the madness around him as the War Between the States bears down on his America in 1863. Dared by a friend to take an active role, Shep volunteers to provide humanitarian aid to the victims of Sherman’s scorched earth campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. There he runs foul of a Confederate recruiting drive and finds himself hanged by the neck from a tree. Awakening in a strange land which can’t possibly be earth, Shep is plunged into battle and saves the life of an alien warrior prince. Hailed by bloodthirsty killers as the bravest man alive, Shep combats his conscience, his flagging faith, and an ever-growing number of people who want him dead.

Buy it!   Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Kindle   Nook   Other eBook formats via Smashwords

Taken Liberty – A Tale from the Arbiter Chronicles

ISBN: 978-0977385102
$17.95 (Book) $4.99 (eBook)

AER’LA ONLY WANTED TO BE FREE The Confederated Worlds are unparalleled as a society of free people, yet, somehow, slavery still manages to exist. Aer’La, a non-human, was bred to serve as a pleasure slave. Years ago, she escaped her masters and masqueraded as a human, joining the Confederate Navy, where she worked her way up to ship’s Bos’n under the heroic Captain Jan Atal. Now, Aer’La’s secret has been discovered by Atal’s superiors, the media, and the world at large. Branded a sociopath, she learns that even a free society isn’t willing to grant freedom – or justice – to all.

Review from Library Journal:

Though the Confederated Worlds have outlawed slavery, the traders of the Varthian system have perpetrated the institution under the guise of controlling the feral near-humans sharing their world, while in reality condemning them to lives of sexual servitude. When Bos’n Aer’La is exposed as a feral and a fugitive from her homeworld, the Varthians want her back, and the authorities of the Confederated Worlds decide to cooperate rather than cause an interplanetary incident. Neither Varthians nor the Confederation, however, reckons on the efforts of Aer’La’s commander, the legendary Capt. Jan Atal, and his crew, who face seemingly impossible odds to protect the freedom of a shipmate. The author of the Arbiter Chronicles, an award-winning audio drama, vividly brings to life a cast of compelling characters while telling a story that measures the cost of freedom. The far-future military setting should appeal to fans of David Weber’s “Honor Harrington” series as well as the military sf of David Drake. Recommended for most sf collections.

Buy it!   Amazon   Barnes & Noble   Kindle   Nook   Kobo   Other eBook formats via Smashwords