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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