AustLit

'Aliens, AIs and family - and of course it's the family who cause all the trouble!

'Jaya Romanov is an independent star ship shaman. She studies the energy flows of the universe and—for a price—will harness them to her employer’s purpose. Wormholes are a whole lot safer to travel when a shaman guides the jump.

'Vulf Trent is a bounty hunter. It was that or join the family business, piracy, and Vulf is too much the lone wolf to tolerate the demands of a large pirate crew. Where his family enjoys the bonds of pack, he prefers the freedom of ranging the universe, alone.

'Seven generations ago, humanity evacuated Earth and the shifter clans’ ability to transform into their animal forms was one of the most terrible losses of that time. Now, the werewolves, werebears and other shifters are trapped in their human bodies and slowly losing the essence of their primal souls. Jaya is determined to heal their torn transformational abilities, but Vulf doesn’t believe her.

'He didn’t kidnap her for her healing abilities.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'Everyone has secrets. But some people will risk the galaxy to protect theirs.

'When starship shaman Jaya Romanov and her new mate partner, galactic bounty hunter and robot wolf shifter, Vulf Trent, saved the galaxy from the deadly actions of a determined geriatric terrorist, they forgot that old Earth truism: no good deed goes unpunished.

'Now, the galaxy is exploding with unexpected aliens, greedy politicians—well, that’s normal enough, it’s what the politicians will attempt that is worrying—and a radically new aspect to sha energy that has the potential to change everything.

'And then there’s the mystery of Jaya’s father…who is he? Some big secrets are lurking in Jaya’s past, and to save those she loves, she’ll be forced to risk the galaxy in a shoot ’em up, take-no-prisoners rescue because sometimes there’s no fighting your destiny.

'Fortunately, Vulf is always ready for a fight!'

Source : publisher's blurb

'The scum of the galaxy are using Earth as a nuclear winter death camp. It outrages pirate captain Kohia Jekyll’s sense of justice. No one deserves to die agonizingly of radiation poisoning, especially not on the planet humanity had to evacuate seven generations ago. So Kohia intends to close the prison camp down.

'She didn’t count on an infuriating shaman healer hitching a ride aboard her starship.

'Nairo Bloodstone isn’t going to Earth to be a hero. He learned the hard way that when you’re a healer, doing your best for people is never enough. One miracle leads them to demand another and another. Heroes die exhausted and alone, and the galaxy continues with billions of people still clamoring for a miracle-worker to save them.

'No, Nairo isn't going to Earth to be a hero. He intends to change what it means to be human.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'When a starship decides to play Santa Claus…

'Ahab is a mLa’an artificial intelligence embedded in the starship, Orion.

'The campaign for AIs to be recognized as full citizens of Galaxy Proper is within reach of its extraordinary goal. The only thing that could stop it now is if an AI did something foolish…like take a space station hostage to save eight orphaned children.

***
'And this is the letter to Santa that starts it all:

'Dear Santa

'I don’t know if your reindeers work in space. But if you have room in your sleigh after you finish delivering presents to the lucky kids with parents and homes, can you come and get me and my friends? Please?

'We’ve been good. Well, we haven’t been really bad. We’re on Station Elphame, in the junkyard, and Zoe is sick. She’s bad sick. I think she’d be better on a planet. We don’t need presents. We just need a way out of here. Ollie tried to sneak onto a trampship…he died.

'Please, Santa, I don’t want any more of my friends to die.

'Aiden.'

Source : publisher's blurb

'The legendary Ceph have been in stasis for forty two millennia. In a century, they’ll wake. History remembers them as an unstoppable force, employing a mysterious power to decimate sentient life on the planets they attacked.

'Jaya’s first mission as a new Shaman Justice is to lead an expedition into the perilous Ceph Sector. If she can learn how to contain or fight the sha-energy-using Ceph, Galaxy Proper might let them live. If not, destroying the Ceph’s home world, with all of them on it, will prevent the Ceph from ever waking.

'Jaya will do anything to avoid the annihilation of an entire sentient species. But she has no idea what her compassionate instincts will cost her. She has a century in which to save the Ceph—unless they wake early.'

Source : publisher's blurb