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

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.

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.

Eve has responsibilities now. As chairwoman of the Human Welfare Committee, she is humanity’s voice in a world run by robots. Her job includes approving geneticists who want to engage in ethical human cloning as well as overseeing the agency that hunts down threats to mankind. So when one of her sisters vanishes, Eve can’t afford to abandon her post to personally search. Eve’s agents hunt for her missing sister, but in the process, they run afoul of some influential robots.

A simple pickup and delivery. No questions asked; no looking inside the cargo. All it requires is a fast, stealthy ship and a crew who can keep their imaginations and consciences in check until the drop-off. The Mobius is up to the task, but when the crew can't control their curiosity, they're faced with a moral dilemma. Do they cut their losses? Contact the authorities? Take the money and run?

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.

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.

Chuck's fortunes are shifting, and he lands a long-term gig performing at a casino on a core world. They're planetside long enough that Brad gets stuck attending a school. Meanwhile, Mort wanders off on his own errands. But nothing is quite what it seems. Brad's new school friends turn out to be rich kids and become suckers in his plot to make cash he can conceal from his parents. Chuck's casino gig was a setup. And Mort's errands are actually a series of contract killings. He's made a deal to keep the family safe, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to keep up his end.

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.

Operating in the uninhabited, the unexplored, and the uncharted systems of the Milky Way is a permanent swap meet. An ever-changing fleet of nomads, traders, and criminals follows a central ship that acts as common ground, a place of commerce, and a hub of nomad life. Ventura Convoy. When Chuck gets bored of shopping for diapers, cereal, and used electronics and Brad stumbles into a mysterious stranger, they each come up with a plan to pull a heist and make the trip worthwhile.

It seemed like a safe enough gig. A week aboard a One Church missionary ship. Bland entertainment for respectable money. A place where the family could relax and let their guard down. Until the pirates attacked. Alone in alien space, the missionaries are sitting ducks. When the hijackers commandeer the vessel, Mort and the Ramseys get split up.

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.

Simpler times don't always mean simpler troubles. With Captain Carl Ramsey presumed dead, the Mobius crew heads off to a retrovert colony, among the history-loving residents and old-Earth lifestyle. With limited scanning tech and access to the omni, the crew believes no one will recognize the not-actually-dead Carl - until the galaxy's sharpest investigators show up. But not even a utopian, middle-20th century colony can suppress Carl's natural instincts for mischief and greed.

Carl Ramsey has done the unthinkable: he turned down a lucrative job. When the deed is too despicable even for outlaws like the Mobius crew, someone nasty had to be behind it. Carl and his friends decide to hunt down their potential employer and turn him over to the authorities. But as amateur vigilantes, they mire themselves in a moral quagmire of conflicts of interest. With victory (and a tidy payday) in their sights, can they live with the awful truth they uncover?

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.

On the heels of a crazy, dangerous scheme that he barely got away with, Chuck Ramsey presses his luck and keeps trying. But on Ganymede, in the heart of Sol's wine country, in the territory of a small but ruthless local criminal syndicate, his luck runs out. Chuck sends off quick comms to the rest of the family to get them back to the ship on the double.

Carl Ramsey gets a comm from an old squadron mate with a lead on the salvage of a lifetime: an ARGO battleship. The ENV Odysseus doesn't just represent more money than the Mobius crew has ever seen, it could provide answers on what became of the last ship Carl ever served aboard during his time in the navy. But experimental battleships don't just fall from the sky, and the Mobius will have to overcome whatever caused the Odysseus to crash in the first place.

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.

Chuck and Mort team up to finish a job Mort had to leave undone. A dark wizard is on the loose with a head start and the entire galaxy in which to hide. Their only lead? A mystical connection that Mort doesn't want to talk about. To make matters worse, their target has an accomplice, and it's someone Mort isn't inclined to get rough with.

When the crew of the Mobius takes on passenger Bryce Brisson to make some easy money, they find themselves caught up in his business dealings with Tanny's estranged family: the Rucker Syndicate. On top of that, Tanny has exhausted her supply of the drugs she needs to keep up her enhanced marine physiology. But will Carl double-cross family to make his payday or dive headlong into a trap that wasn't meant for him? If he plays this wrong, he risks making enemies of the most ruthless gangsters on Mars.

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.