Showing results by author "Christopher G. Nuttall" in All Categories

When a bunch of interstellar scavengers approach Earth intending to abduct a few dozen humans and sell them into slavery in the darkest, they make the mistake of picking on Steve Stuart and his friends, ex-military veterans all. Unprepared for humans who can actually fight, unaware of the true capabilities of their stolen starships, the scavengers rapidly lose control of the ship - and their lives.

After completing her first year of learning magic at Whitehall School, Emily accepts an invitation from Princess Alassa to accompany her on her progress back to her home country of Zangaria, where the princess may meet her future husband. Alassa, who was a spoiled brat before she met Emily, wants to show off her friend—and impress potential suitors. For Emily, it is a chance to relax and explore a world very different to Earth, meet new people and come to terms with her reputation in the Nameless World.

Over the years, humans have grown used to their position within the empire, serving as soldiers and spacers for alien masters as well as building a place in the universe for themselves. But now, in the aftermath of a violent interstellar war that shattered the power of the Alphans, humanity has rediscovered its pride.

There was no reason for Crown Princess Anastasia of Rockfall to worry about her future, not when she was the only heir to a small yet important kingdom within the Allied Lands. There was no reason, either, for her to learn magic, or the growing arts of science and magitech, or indeed anything else… until she was kidnapped by a sorceress who stole her face, cursed her so she could never reveal her real name and dumped her on the far side of the Allied Lands, all the while intending to impersonate Anastasia long enough to murder her parents, be crowned Queen and instigate a reign of terror.

For centuries, the Kingdoms of Tintagel and Garstang have been rivals, battling endlessly over the borderlands with neither kingdom able to win a decisive victory, let alone knock the other out once and for all. But now, Garstang has unlocked the secret of recreating ancient war machines and unleashed an army out of nightmares, a magical-mechanical force grinding its way through once-impregnable defences and advancing on Shallot. Giant metal monsters stalk the land, crawling metal locusts tear through walls and defences, flying machines hover overhead or roam far behind the lines.

Ark Royal - the Royal Navy’s outdated space carrier - has won a smashing victory against the enigmatic aliens, capturing one of their starships and returning to Earth. Now, Admiral Theodore Smith and his crew are assigned to command a fleet charged with making a deep-penetration raid into alien territory, a fleet made up of carriers from four different nations. But with a crewman who isn't what he seems, untested pilots and international friction - and a new and dangerous alien plan - can Ted and his crew survive their mission?

Brimming with new ideas for magical research, Emily returns to Whitehall School for her second year of magical education, looking forward to returning to her studies. And yet things are different; her new roommates harbor their secrets, her old friends are becoming distracted by sports and games, and one of the teachers seems to dislike her. As she starts new classes, she discovers she has to work far harder to keep her place in the school. But her second year will be far more adventurous than her first.

Seventy years ago, the interstellar supercarrier Ark Royal was the pride of the Royal Navy. But now, her weapons are outdated and her solid-state armour nothing more than a burden on her colossal hull. She floats in permanent orbit near Earth, a dumping ground for the officers and crew the Royal Navy wishes to keep out of the public eye. But when a deadly alien threat appears, the modern starships built by humanity are no match for the powerful alien weapons.

Before Avalon, before the Fall of the Empire, Edward Stalker was a young man growing up in Earth's Undercity - a nightmarish rabbit warren of tiny apartments dominated by gangs who loot, rape, and murder with impunity. When his family is killed in a gang attack, Ed takes the opportunity to run to the one place that will take him: the Terran Marine Corps.

After the disastrous mission to Lakshmibai, the very existence of the Commonwealth is called into question by politicians on Avalon. But as the political firestorm mounts, a call for help arrives from Thule, a highly-developed world facing a major insurgency in the wake of the Empire's collapse. Reluctantly, the Commonwealth deploys the Commonwealth Expeditionary Force to Thule. But all is not as it seems.

The strong races rule the galaxy, doing as they please. The weak are enslaved or driven from their homeworlds or simply exterminated by the ruling powers. The Solar Union's only hope of survival is to master GalTech and improve upon it before the Galactics realize the human race is no longer trapped on a primitive world, at the mercy of any spacefaring race who stumbles across it. But GalTech keeps its secrets close, and time is not on humanity's side.

The Galactic Empire is dying and chaos and anarchy are breaking out everywhere. After a disastrous mission against terrorists on Earth itself, Captain Edward Stalker of the Terran Marine Corps makes the mistake of speaking truth to power, telling one of the most powerful men in the Empire a few home truths. As a result, Captain Stalker and his men are unceremoniously exiled to Avalon, a world right on the Rim of the Empire. It should have been an easy posting...

Montezuma was an isolated world of interest to no one—until an interstellar corporation discovered vast resources of rare materials under the surface, just waiting to be extracted and sold. The corporates legally stole the planet, crushed the native dreams of independence, and brought in vast numbers of outsiders to mine the rough-hewn world, leaving poverty, pollution, and deprivation on an unimaginable scale in their wake.

The first major alien offensive against Earth has been blunted, winning humanity time to deploy new weapons and prepare new tactics as Earth's space navies prepare to take the offensive. But the enigmatic aliens have plans of their own - a full-scale attack on Earth that will either win the war in a single stroke or lose it. The stakes have never been so high. The fate of humanity itself is in the balance.

For generations, the Magicians of Celeste have chafed at the limitations of the Compact, the treaties between the Magical and Mundane communities of the Allied Lands, and worked towards their abolition, envisaging a world in which magical supremacy would be established, allowing them to explore newer and greater fields of magic while keeping the powerless mundanes firmly under control. Their dreams were not taken seriously—until now.

Humanity has won a great victory, liberating their homeworld from the alien Pashtali and convincing many of the alien great powers that Earth is much more than a vassal state of a decaying empire, easy meat for the first invader who comes along. But the war is far from over. The Pashtali are gathering their forces, closing down their border wars with smaller powers while the greater ones sit on the sidelines, readying their navy for a final confrontation with Earth. The end cannot be long delayed.

In the year 2420, war looms between the galaxy's two most powerful empires: the tyrannical Theocracy and the protectionist Commonwealth. Caught in the middle sits the occupied outpost system Cadiz, where young officer and aristocrat Katherine "Kat" Falcone finds herself prematurely promoted at the behest of her powerful father. Against her own wishes, Kat is sent to command the Commonwealth navy's newest warship, Lightning.

Emily is a teenage girl pulled from our world into a world of magic and mystery by a necromancer who intends to sacrifice her to the dark gods. Rescued in the nick of time by an enigmatic sorcerer, she discovers that she possesses magical powers and must go to Whitehall School to learn how to master them. There, she learns that the locals believe she is a "Child of Destiny"—someone whose choices might save or damn their world, a title that earns her both friends and enemies.

Fifty years after Steve Stuart and his friends captured an alien starship, the Solar Union is a thriving interstellar power while Earth is increasingly backward and falling into barbarism. For two youngsters from Earth, the Solar Union offers the only chance they will ever have to make something of their lives.

Earth has fallen. The Empire is no more. Old certainties are collapsing everywhere. Chaos is spreading across the stars, with war following in its wake. Tarsus, a world too close to Earth for comfort, is far from immune. Clarence Esperanza, a reporter on Tarsus, thought he had the story of the century. But, when he took the story to his bosses, he was unceremoniously fired. Cut off from his former friends, abandoned by his wife isolated from the world around him, he thought all he could do was stagger onto the streets and wait to die.