Showing results by author "J.S. Morin" in All Categories

Chuck Ramsey is a traveling comedian trying to turn a planetside gig on Earth into a cash cow. Of course, the cost of living on Earth is astronomical. He needs to get rich quick - or at least come out ahead - and head for cheaper pastures. Enter Mordecai The Brown. Once the golden boy of the Convocation, Guardian of the Plundered Tomes and the Convocation's number one hunter of dark wizards, "Mort" has found himself on the wrong end of an internal investigation.

The galaxy's most feared pirate raiders are the megalodogs. Massive, nearly indestructible, and knowing just enough magic that science cannot save defenders. The best way to deal with them? Never to let them board your ship. If you invite them aboard, knowingly or not, you're pretty much screwed. That's the situation Captain Jessica Ramsey finds herself in. With her wizard brother Eric off on a personal quest halfway across the galaxy, her resources for dealing with the giant canines are limited. But once a special forces operative, always a special forces operative.

If he could turn back time, he would find a way... A loved one's life is on the line. The only hope of saving him is a slim one, and so much will have to go right that it would take a miracle to rescue him. Eric Ramsey isn't willing to accept failure, and his solution to a long shot is to lock himself and the entire Arete crew in a time loop. Their only hope for escape is to save a single life that refuses to be saved.

Jessie and Eric Ramsey finally catch a break. The League of Independent Planets has granted them asylum and allowed them to live on the techno-paradise world of Phabian. Jessie gets a clerical job. Eric ends up working at a factory making magical construction materials. He might even have a girlfriend. Of course, trouble always finds a Ramsey. Eric’s inquisitor parole officers locate him despite having no official jurisdiction. Jessie gets recruited into Phabian’s ultra-secret counterintelligence agency, Section 74. Yet somehow, everything revolves around a newcomer to this part of the galaxy.

Dive back into the worlds of the best-selling Twinborn Trilogy with this collection of eight short stories - including three exclusive, never-before-published works. J.S. Morin peels back the larger Twinborn story to reveal the smaller tales concealed beneath.

Carl Ramsey is a dead man. Or he will be soon. Captured by the Eyndar Empire, his old Third War service record becomes a list of charges. Actions that earned him commendations and acclaim from his own side resulted in thousands of deaths to his eyndar foes, and they plan to make a public celebration out of his executions. Plural. Thanks to medical science, they have Six Deaths lined up. With a calendar of events available via the omni, the Arete crew has a very literal deadline to work with formulating a rescue plan.

Esper may dress the part. She has her own ship. She even carries a blaster - not that she ever uses it. But she violates the cardinal rule of the galaxy’s most cold-blooded profession: get paid. At least she's not alone. Her partner, Kubu, is an alien who gets mistaken for a dog. One is a wizard on the run from her past. The other is a lovable eating machine. Between them, they haven’t got a ruthless bone in their bodies. But when a client hires them, they’ll do whatever it takes to bring a target home safely. This time, it’s a teenage kidnapping victim.

After losing control of his magic, wizard Cedric The Brown blew up his boss and nearly crashed a space station into a planet. Determined to make amends, he pledges to help the mining station negotiate with the nearby planet's mysterious magical inhabitants. With nothing but the bankrupt station as severance pay, Director Fujita Hiroko moves to the edge of the galaxy to keep the station afloat as an independent mining operation.

Earth has fallen and Mars is in chaos. With their coup behind them, the Arete crew regroups and plans for life beyond the civil war. There's only one problem: one of their number has yet to return from his undercover mission.

With their outpost secure, the newly crowned king of the Dragonhammer dwarves finds himself more concerned with trade and infrastructure than conquest. The failed invasion weakened their enemies, and the dwarves have graciously declined to counterattack. After all, the Dragonhammer Clan sees the monument to their dead every day. But the goblins can't afford to leave well enough alone. Desperate for resources only available within the dwarven-controlled region, they try to barter. And when the dwarves refuse to deal with their enemies, the goblins resort to theft.

Chuck takes the Radio City to a little out-of-the-way planet where the locals leave outsiders alone. The Ramseys meet up with some nomad friends. And while the adults drink and catch up, the younger generation makes their own fun. While Brad tries to hustle his friends out of their money, Chuck forgets about interest on an old loan he only sort of repaid. As consequences swirl around both of them, an out-of-his-element wizard scurries to keep the Ramseys safe while also keeping a low profile.

The astral drop took out all the tech on the ship—maybe for good. They’re so far down that rescue seems unlikely. If they had it to do over again, maybe Eric and Jessie would have found some other way to escape their pursuers. But unless Eric figures out reverse time travel, they’re going to have to live with the decision.

A missionary ship hijacked by pirates. Legion of armed aliens burnt to a crisp. At the Convocation, something doesn't add up, and when the Grand Council gets word, they launch an investigation. Now, anyone who was aboard the missionary vessel is a suspect. There was a wizard aboard, and until the Convocation inquisitors are satisfied, anyone on that ship might be the most wanted wizard in the galaxy in disguise.

Esper and Kubu take an outlaw vacation to a remote planet whose tiny colony seems idyllic. It’s far enough for the Convocation wizards dogging them to lose their trail. The plan is simple: Stay out of trouble, let the heat die down, and slink back quietly to civilized space. But these two aren’t good at keeping out of trouble. Before long, they’re exposed to the rotten core beneath this purported utopia. Bitter feuds lurk just below the surface. Feigned friendships mask deadly rivalries. Cliques control what passes for a government on the colony.

With humanity out in the open, Eve and her sisters are now the subject of worldwide adoration—and constant surveillance. With Eve as humanity’s spokeswoman, it’s up to her to bargain for the freedom she craves. But Eve’s pleas fall on deaf ears. Hers is only one voice, lost in a committee of robots hundreds of years her senior. No amount of earnestness can overcome the crushing inertia of the Human Committee. With no prospect of gaining room to breathe within the rules, Eve hatches a plot to escape and finds out exactly why the robots have tried so hard to keep the humans safe.

Brad scams his own father and gets to go summer camp for starship racing. It starts out as a delightful getaway filled with competition and catching up with an old friend. Along the way, things go haywire. Several of the racers get kidnapped. Brad and his friend have to consider a new career in order to survive.

The jig is up. The news is out. They finally found her. As Esper has tried to save the galaxy’s wayward children, she’s done it with the looming threat of the Convocation dogging her steps. She knows why they’re after her, even if she can’t remember the events. She’s shaken them across a dozen star systems. She’s bested their hunters the few times they’ve caught up. Now, Esper is about to face her greatest fear: the truth about what she’s done.

Though she's new to the resistance, Jessie Ramsey and the crew of the Arete are the spearhead of an assault that's been years in the making. They've uncovered the heart of a sinister alien conspiracy to hide the existence of ongoing human labor camps, and on a scale that's unlike anything any of the heroes have seen before. They have a target. They have a goal. What they need is a plan, and that's a tall order when the idea is to rescue a small city's worth of captive laborers.

With the capture of the Eye of Ra, Esper and her friends discover that small problems have started looking too small. When a plague breaks out on the occupied planet of Meyang, she decides it's time to see what her new ship and crew are capable of. However, the situation is more complicated than they counted on. Not only does the occupying force not want them there, the azrin living on Meyang are none too keen on interference from outsiders. But never let it be said that Esper wasn't willing to help those who refused to be helped.

Esper made that promise. Now it's time to make good. The Cult of Ra has a flagship, and thanks to a turncoat in their ranks, Esper and her friends know where it's going to be. Better yet, they know that Pharaoh Ramesses XIII will be aboard. It's time to cut the head off the cult.