Shadows, стр. 42
Raking his lower teeth over his upper lip, Tanavuna blinked to stop from crying. “I know you are trying to help, but I have no life to rebuild.” Lines in the corners of his eyes deepened as his face folded into grief.
It was the opening Cutter needed to prod the young man into joining the leadership cadre Colonel Murphy was building for the growing indig army. He only needed to speak a few well-chosen words to convince Tanavuna. The lieutenant trusted him and would likely take whatever advice he gave.
Which is why he couldn’t do it. “Rebuilding is all there is, Tanavuna. It’s all you can do.”
“No, friend TD, it is not. There is another way, another choice.” The lines that grief had cut into his weathered skin were suddenly stretched smooth as Tanavuna’s expression changed from sadness to something harder. Anger reddened his throat. “I can do as you have done. Did you not fight in your first war to free the…Fench?”
“French.”
“Yes, French. Were they your people?”
“No. I am American.”
“Yet you and your men fought anyway. I want to fight those who attack my people, and all the other people of R’Bak. We cannot do anything about the Searing, but you have shown us that the forces of the satrap and the J’Stull may be defeated. The F’ahdn of Imsurmik is dead, but the satrap is not, and, while he lives, my people are in danger. All the people of this world are in danger.”
“What you’re asking will change your life, Tanavuna, so you must be clear about what you want. You must say it. I will not put words in your mouth.”
“Then let there be no mistake: I want to become one of you.”
# # # # #
About William Alan Webb
Despite persistent rumors, Bill does not have Besquith ancestors, and he is not the result of a failed genetic experiment; he just looks that way. Born in the badlands of West Tennessee, he foraged for food and shelter in the perilous world of his parents’ home until age 21. They used the term ‘mooching;’ he saw it as wilderness survival.
Regardless of semantics, a lifetime of sloth and hedonism convinced his wife Kathy that he was a great catch, and by the time she realized her mistake, it was too late. There were kids and dogs and bills and a mortgage, and he had correctly calculated that she would decide that kicking him to the curb was too much trouble.
Having more time than brains, he attended the University of Memphis while majoring (more or less) in Creative Writing. (The university’s English Department would say ‘less.’) Ignoring the standard four-year schedule, he instead chose the more leisurely 38-year plan. This allowed him to be heavily involved in his children’s lives, which repeatedly embarrassed them in their teenage years. That, of course, was the point.
Then, in one fevered month year, 2014-2015, he wrote the two books that launched the writing career the world had successfully avoided until that moment. The rest, of course, is infamy.
Bill now lives in [REDACTED] with [REDACTED].
Follow Bill on social media:
Twitter: @jointhebrigade1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLastBrigade/
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The Caine Riordan Universe
The Caine Riordan series and Terran Republic universe deliver gritty yet doggedly optimistic hard scifi in a world that is a believable and embattled successor to our own. For those who are not familiar with the series’ hallmark blend of exploration, alien encounters, intrigue, and action, you can find them all right here:
The Caine Riordan series
(Baen Books)
Fire with Fire
Trial by Fire
Raising Caine
Caine’s Mutiny
Marque of Caine
Endangered Species (forthcoming)
Protected Species (forthcoming)
Triage (forthcoming, with Eric Flint)
The Murphy’s Lawless series
(Beyond Terra Press)
Shakes
Obligations
Man-Eater
Promises
Pearl
Waveoff
Murphy’s Lawless
Season Two
Sundown
Desperado
Shadows
Murphy’s Lawless: Watch the Skies (forthcoming)
Other works in the Terran Republic universe
(Beyond Terra Press)
Lost Signals
Since that list includes a winner of the Compton Crook Award, four Nebula finalists, and ten Dragon Award finalists, they’re not hard to find. Just go wherever books are sold. Want to learn more about the Caine Riordan series? Easy. Contact any of the publishers, or you can reach out to me at contact@charlesegannon.com.
Want to see more of what’s going on in the Terran Republic universe? Check out http://www.charlesegannon.com for exclusive written and visual content.
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And most important of all…welcome aboard; we’re glad you’re here!
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The following is an
Excerpt from Book One of the Chimera Company:
The Fall of Rho-Torkis
___________________
Tim C. Taylor
Now Available from Theogony Books
eBook, Paperback, and (soon) Audio
Excerpt from “The Fall of Rho-Torkis:”
“Relax, Sybutu.”
Osu didn’t fall for the man steepling his fingers behind his desk. When a lieutenant colonel told you to relax, you knew your life had just taken a seriously wrong turn.
“So what if we’re ruffling a few feathers?” said Malix. “We have a job to do, and you’re going to make it happen. You will take five men with you and travel unobserved to a location in the capital where you will deliver a coded phrase to this contact.”
He