Heart of Stone
by Rob Buckman
Genre: SciFi, Action
Mike Grainger had enough of killing and death, and all he wanted now was to be left alone in peace and to forget the past, finding a quiet place, high in the Rocky Mountains where he could live his life. Maybe now he could put the ghost that haunted him to rest. Here, death and destruction were forces of nature, something he understood, and respected, yet even as he watched a storms moving across the mountains another storm swept towards him, one that had nothing to do with the weather.
To Roland Hawkins', his world revolved around money and power, and gaining a fortune that nothing could destroy. To him, disposing of people who stood in his way meant nothing. He felt no remorse when he ordered people killed to fulfill his ambition. Now he wanted an insignificant section of land high in the Rockies, and to consummate his latest business deal he’d arranged the death of the previous owner. To his consternation, the land slipped from his grasp before his agents could obtain it, and due to poor judgment and timing the land was purchased by another. In fury, he ordered the property be obtained by any means necessary, thinking his power and money would protect him from anything. Nowhere in his calculation did he consider the new owner, Mike Grainger, thinking him nothing more than some local hick to be disposed of as quickly as possible. Bribery, extortion, and murder were tools to Roland Hawkins and used to justify his ambition. Mike Grainger used death and destruction as a tool to keep what was his. To him, life and death were meaningless, his own included. It would have all been so easy if Kat Ballard hadn't stepped into the picture. She gave him a reason to live, to care, and pushed the stakes even higher. Now, it was not just a question of fighting a pack of hired killers on their trail, but staying one jump ahead of them. He now had to consider someone else's life, as well as trying to discover why Roland Hawkins wanted his land so badly.
Together they fought the mountain, the mercenaries, the elements, and each other in a wild death hunt over and under the mountains, finding love and losing it. Now he was mad. Roland Hawkins would pay a high price for his ambition: his life. The hunted would now become the hunter. No quarter asked, or given.
He Who Dares: Book One
The Gray Chronicals 1
by Rob Buckman
For Mike Gray, his life was a series of mysteries and unanswered question. Even the man who raised him, his paternal grandfather, was a question mark. Beyond the love, understanding, and nurturing lay the unanswered question of why a disgraced ex-Royal Naval Admiral would pulled himself out of a bottle and take upon himself to bring a one year old child home as raise him as his own. The question of why his family, the Tregallion clan, refused to come to his aid went unanswered. Even so, between them they build a life for themselves until the fateful day he died. After that, Mike fled across the stars, swearing he would never again take the responsibility for another person’s death. Fate and destiny had other ideas, plunging him into one situation after the other where he had to take command, and decide the fate of others. With war on the horizon, and the future of the free stars hanging in the balance, Mike reluctantly accepted his destiny, and the part he must play. For better or worse, he would find the answered to his question, and make those responsible pay a terrible price.
He Who Dares: Book Two
The Gray Chronicals 2
For Mike Gray, his life continues to be series of mysteries and unanswered question. Even the man who raised him, his paternal grandfather, was a question mark. Beyond the love, understanding, and nurturing lay the unanswered question of why a disgraced ex-Royal Naval Admiral would pulled himself out of a bottle and take upon himself to bring a child home as raise him as his own. The death of his one grandfather still haunts him, and even after confronting the head of the Tregallion clan, so many question remained unanswered. Mike battled his way across the stars, looking for answered, swearing to protect the lives of the men and woman under his command and just do his duty. Fate and destiny had other ideas, plunging him into one situation after the other where he had to take command, and decide the fate of others. With war on the horizon, and the future of the free stars hanging in the balance, Mike reluctantly accepted his destiny, and the part he must play. For better or worse, he would find the answered to his question, and make those responsible pay a terrible price.
He Who Dares: Book Three
The Gray Chronicles 3
For Mike Gray, his life continues to be series of mysteries and unanswered question. Even the man who raised him, his paternal grandfather, was a question mark. Beyond the love, understanding, and nurturing lay the unanswered question of why a disgraced ex-Royal Naval Admiral would pulled himself out of a bottle and take upon himself to bring a child home as raise him as his own. The death of his grandfather still haunts him, and even after confronting the head of the Tregallion clan, Max Tregallion, so many question remained unanswered. Still looking for answers, Mike battled his way across the stars now that the Sirriens have declared war, and prepares to take the fight to the enemy. In a covert war in new ships and untested crew, all the while swearing to protect the lives of the men and woman under his command and just do his duty. Fate and destiny had other plans, plunging him and the woman he loves into one desparate situation after the other, and the future of the free stars hanging in the balance, Mike reluctantly accepted his destiny, and the part he must play.
The Prize
Book 1
To everyone in the Empire military, all human's were stark raving mad, and no matter how hard they tried, or how many they killed, the crazy human's wouldn't stop fighting. What the Emperor, Director Markoff, and the Empire military should have remembered the old adage. …never trust a human, and especially Richard Penn.
For Penn, the hated and despised human killer, the choice was simple, go on a suicide mission to a forbidden planet, or another human city with over a million men, woman and children would die. To make the mission even more interesting, Director Markoff send along seventeen cold eyed killer as his escort who'd rather see him dead than breath. Seventeen cold eyed killer, an inexperience Captain who couldn't find his butt in the dark with a flashlight and a map, and one human female, Sub Major Ellis. A beautiful, gray eyed, cold hearted bitch in cast iron panties. She hated and despised Penn more than all the others put together, and held the other end of his electronic leash.
So all he had to do was crash land on a forbidden planet you couldn't escape from, lead the motley team through a hundred miles of trackless jungle full of death traps, unimaginable monsters, and alien troops, to a mountain size pyramid shaped building.
Surviving the crash landing was one thing, surviving forty eight hours with seventeen killer another, getting to the building and finding the Prize would be a miracle, so how could he refuse such an offer. Getting to the building was easy compared to what they faced inside. Here, he had to face the most dangerous monster of all to collect a prize he didn't want, and maybe lose the prize he truly wanted.
The Prize
Book 2- Retribution
For Penn, the hated and despised human killer with bright, yellow, tigers eyes, the choice was simple, go on a suicide mission to a forbidden planet, or another human city with over a million men, woman and children would die. Director Markoff send seventeen cold eyed killer as his escort who'd rather see him dead than breath. So after crash land on a forbidden planet you couldn't escape from and leading a band of killer through hundreds of miles of trackless jungle full of death traps, unimaginable monsters, and alien troops. Reaching the mountain size pyramid shaped building was a walk in the park compared to what waited inside. Here, he had to face the most dangerous monster of all to collect the prize he truly wanted. But even after winning the prize, there was no rest. Now he had to put planet earth back together, build an army, navy and air force, and get ready to take the war to Director Markoff and Emperor Cytec. Just when he thought he had a handle on thing, everything went sideways and he had to fight and kill again to win the one prize he valued above all others, a beautiful, gray eyed wildcat, by the name of Alexandra Ellis.
Echo of Tomorrow
The Drake Chronicles Book 1
For General Scott Drake the attack on four American cities by religious fanatic using nuclear weapons destroyed not only US cities, but his life as he knew it. They say that vengeance is a dish best served cold, but to the men and woman who went with him over the border to deliver that vengeance, it was dish served hot, and out of the barrel of a gun and cannon, and from the air. Yet in victory came defeat as he found three hundred years later in the world he woke up in. One far different from the one he'd left behind when he went into cold sleep. Now he had to find a place in this strange new world, one without the means to wage war against an alien race raping the planet of its young people. First, he had to build an army, navy and air force from scratch while fending off attacks from the aliens and the secret government that wanted to put him and his men back into cold sleep or the grave.
Echo of Tomorrow
The Drake Chronicles Book 2
For General Scott Drake the attack on four American cities by religious fanatic using nuclear weapons destroyed his life as he knew it. Yet in victory came defeat as he found three hundred years later in the world he woke up in. One far different from the one he'd left behind when he went into cold sleep. Now he and his men and women had to find a place in this strange new world, one without the means to wage war against an alien race raping the planet of its young people. First, he had to build an army, navy and air force from scratch while fending off attacks from the aliens and the secret government that wanted to put him and his men back into cold sleep or the grave. Now it was a race against time as they struggled to build a fleet while fighting saboteurs with one hand and a religious fanatic on the other. Now it was a question of if man could retain his place at the top of the food chain, or be reduced to the status of sheep.
I am a 65 year old retired mechanical engineer, ex-soldier, ex-sailor, have mined and prospected for gold in the Amazon jungle in places no white man has ever been, and generally tried to be a ‘jack of all trades’ and turn my hand to many things. This came in handy when I started to write, as I could draw on many different experiences, both positive and negative to build my stories and characters. To me, writing is similar to another activity that men do alone… no, not that, I meant fishing (lol), in that it gives your mind a chance to wander down strange pathways, and try to answer the question ‘What if?’. Like many self published authors did before me, I posted my stories before I had the means, or readership to edit or proofread the stories, for which you have my apologies, and have attempted to correct that oversight. Like any good author, I try to write an entertaining story of interest to a particular group of reader, i.e. Sci-fi fans, and not to win an English essay contest, composition award, or a spelling bee. With luck I have achieved that end, and beg your indulgence, and hope you will overlook any irritating errors you still may come across while reading and not let them detract from the your overall enjoyment of the storytelling.
At the moment I am working on Book Three of both ‘Echo of Tomorrow’ and ‘He Who Dares’. During my ‘spare’ time I’m also working on several short stories and plotting out sequels to a couple of my other short stories.
Member of Sci-Fi Writers of America
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