Showing results by author "Chris Kennedy"

First contact has been made, and Earth's militaries and its premier mercenary companies stand ready to take their first tentative steps outside the solar system. With a galaxy of aliens to explore and fistfuls of credits to be made, follow along as the Four Horsemen select their contracts and venture forth to meet their destinies. 

Nigel Shirazi was first in line for the chairmanship of Asbaran Solutions, one of the prominent "Four Horsemen" mercenary companies. First in line...until his drinking and temper caused him to fail out of college and get disinherited by the family. Now he leads the life of a playboy, enjoying a stipend from the family to stay out of the way. But someone is out to get his family, and Nigel is all that stands between the hidden enemy and the destruction of Asbaran Solutions and the Shirazi family.

It's the 22nd Century. The galaxy has opened up to humanity as a hyperactive beehive of stargates and new technologies, and we suddenly find ourselves in a vast playground of different races, environments, and cultures. There's just one catch: we are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain. Enter the Four Horsemen universe, where only a willingness to fight and die for money separates Humans from the majority of the other races. Enter a galaxy not only of mercenaries, but also of Peacemakers, bounty hunters, and even a strung out junkie.

The plot by the Galactic Union’s Mercenary Guild against the Four Horsemen has culminated in an invasion of Earth. Faced with an overwhelming force, the human mercs had no choice. They’ve fled, leaving Sansar Enkh to go to the Mercenary Guild headquarters on Capital Planet to stand trial for humanity. On the run, Jim Cartwright and Nigel Shirazi have travelled to the Winged Hussars’ secret base of New Warsaw, in an effort to convince Alexis Cromwell to join the fight, while the other mercenaries who escaped the fall of Earth have gone to the perceived safe haven of Karma.

The slaughter is on! Across the galaxy, human mercenaries are being ambushed, and an ever-increasing number of companies aren't returning from their contracts. Someone even appears to be plotting the demise of the premier Four Horsemen companies, and disaster for the other three companies has only been averted by the narrowest of margins. Sansar Enkh, the president of The Golden Horde, knows her company is likely to be next, but has no idea who is behind the attacks, or when they will strike her beloved Horde.

Edited by best-selling authors and universe creators Mark Wandrey and Chris Kennedy, Tales from the Lyon’s Den includes 18 all-new stories in the Four Horsemen universe by a variety of best-selling authors - and some you may not have heard of...yet.  

It's the 22nd century. Humanity has taken its first steps into the galaxy, and we've found ourselves in a vast playground of alien races, environments, and cultures. As the newest players on the universal stage, though, our position is readily apparent - we're at the bottom of the food chain.   

It's the 22nd century. Humanity has taken its first steps into the galaxy, and we've found ourselves in a vast playground of alien races and cultures. As the newest players on the universal stage, though, we're at the bottom of the food chain. Welcome back to the Four Horsemen universe, where only a willingness to fight and die for money separates humans from the majority of the other races. While some of the stories deal with mercenaries, others introduce listeners to the other guilds, organizations, and races that make up the landscape of the Four Horsemen universe.

The Omega War is in full swing. Earth has fallen to General Peepo’s army, and the surviving human mercenaries have taken refuge at the hidden Winged Hussars’ base in New Warsaw. On Earth, the defensive forces fight to keep the hearts and minds of their fellow humans, but Peepo’s plans are slowly converting the people to her way of thinking, and the Mercenary Guild troops continue to root out the forces arrayed against them.

The war with China was over and Lieutenant Shawn "Calvin" Hobbs just wanted his life to go back to normal. The hero of the war, he had a small ream of paperwork to fill out, a deployment with his Navy F-18 squadron to prepare for, and a new girlfriend to spend some quality time with. Life was good. Until the aliens showed up.

Lieutenant Commander Shawn 'Calvin' Hobbs and his special forces platoon just returned from a three-month mission to the stars. The technology they brought back will help with the Earth's defense, but it won't be enough to hold off the alien menace headed their way. Although they made it back alive, they returned without any new allies or help in building the fleet necessary to ensure the Earth's survival. They've got to go back.

The Drakuls have found the solar system. A merciless race, there is nothing left once the Drakuls have conquered a civilization except the bones of its dead. When the first Drakul exploratory ship emerges from the stargate, Earth's days become numbered. Although LCDR Shawn "Calvin" Hobbs and the crew of the TSS Vella Gulf came back with a battleship from their last mission, it won't be enough to defend the solar system from the Drakul menace.

The spectre of war once more looms on the global horizon. A new generation of writers and military theorists are addressing the new forms of warfare that now challenge the nation-state's monopoly on war. Terrorism, technology, fourth generation warfare, the decline of the Pax Americana, and the rise of China are among the issues contemplated by the 20 contributors to Riding the Red Horse, the new annual anthology of military science fiction.

Lieutenant Commander Shawn "Calvin" Hobbs has saved Seattle, traveled to the stars and forged new alliances with alien races. With the latest war concluded, he turned his attention to deciphering the strange rod an ancient alien civilization gave him as a test. Was a little downtime to work on the project too much to hope for?

The war with the Shaitans continues, and Lieutenant Commander Shawn "Calvin" Hobbs has stayed behind to help the reptilian Ssselipsssiss race fight the Shaitans while his ship, the TSS Vella Gulf, has gone for aid. Formerly enemies, Calvin now finds himself supporting the Ssselipsssiss in their war against the Shaitans in a "must-win" situation. If the Ssselipsssiss fall, Terra is next! Able to operate in two universes and armed with unavoidable time-based weapons, the Shaitans have proven unstoppable.

Billed as "the most realistic game ever," Worlds at War was a video game unlike any other - one that promised a virtual reality experience that rivaled operating a giant mecha in combat. People flocked to the game in anticipation. For some, the game lived up to and far exceeded their expectations - the level of graphics was indeed, "just like being there." The game didn't provide the experience many others had hoped for, though; for a large number of players, the game was "too real to be fun." For video game design majors Ryan Johnson and Noah Bowden, the game play was incredible. 

The Chinese have captured Seattle!

In 1949, the government of the Republic of China fled to the island of Taiwan. For nearly 70 years, mainland China wanted to take the island back and unite the nation under one flag, the Communist flag. Their desire was thwarted by US support for Taiwan, until the Chinese conceived and executed the perfect plan to keep the US out of the war for Taiwan, an invasion of Seattle!

Drawn from today's headlines, Red Tide: The Chinese Invasion of Seattle, is set in a not-too-distant future where China decides to invade Seattle to use American citizens as high-stakes chips in a game of nuclear blackmail. Will the United States get Seattle back? It will, if a shot down F-18 pilot, a retired Navy SEAL, and a platoon of Army Rangers have anything to say about it.

Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin “Benno” Sanchez has devoted over 20 years of his life to the Alliance of Liberated Systems’ Navy, defending his colony world from the continued encroachment of the Terran Union. His young daughter has been virtually orphaned for years, but his time away is coming to an end. On Adelaide, 14-year-old Mio Sanchez chafes at the limitations placed upon her. With her father away and her mother long since passed, she struggles with an indifferent foster family and yearns to leave her simple life and join her father in the Alliance Navy.

A mysterious race from an alternate universe has allied itself with the Jotunn, and the alliance is set on destroying the Aesir and bringing about Ragnarok. With an ability to jump between universes and unstoppable time-based weapons, the Efreet seem invincible. The Vella Gulf is the only ship to survive its first meeting with the Efreet, but only through a fluke of luck.