Screenshot from Amazon.

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

That’s right. The Starry Eyed Press science fiction anthology One-Way Ticket is selling great guns on the free kindle market just now.

Cover art for “One-Way Ticket”

Here’s what it’s all about:

Space, with its infinite possibilities, calls us to explore, but makes no promises of returning home for those brave or foolish enough to test its resolve.

Starry Eyed Press proudly presents One-Way Ticket, a collection of fourteen science fiction tales of action, adventure, suspense, mystery and terror. Follow hopeful explorers, observe new settlers and terraforming efforts, meet sentient planets, witness lethal attacks, and discover alien species beyond your wildest imagination.

This one-way ticket takes you forward in time to a place where technology, infinite possibility and the vastness of the galaxy itself combine.

Embark upon this journey to new worlds, new possibilities and unforgettable adventures.

It’s also getting some great reviews but still needs more (hint, hint).

Promotional image for my short story “Fall of the Tower” featured in the anthology “One-Way Ticket”

The book features my short story “Fall of the Tower”. Here’s how the story begins:

The Mahli war cruiser attacked the starship Raeb from below the system’s ecliptic plane, accelerating from behind a ring of asteroids where it was hiding to mask its waste heat. It took less than three seconds for their weapon to form a transitory miniature singularity. It distorted and then shredded major portions of the Raeb’s hull, exposing over half of the ship’s interior to space. But that would be the only shot they’d get.

Tianna was at her bio-engineering station, cocooned like the others in an acceleration pod. She was continually linked to the rest of the thousand-strong crew by the Arabika, a psionic consciousness generated by the ship’s Eshana lifeform. With a single thought, they immediately decelerated the massive craft to throw off the enemy’s next firing solution. Within the Arabika’s influence, they were all but oblivious to flashing emergency lights, the wail of crisis sirens, and, thanks to the rapid change in velocity, debris being hurled through bulkheads like projectiles.

In less than an eyeblink, Tianna felt something she knew she shouldn’t; something astonishing. Somehow, the Eshana wasn’t just encompassing the Raeb’s crew, it was reaching out to the enemy with the Arabika. The Mahli ship, which should have been on a return trajectory to cover, instead abruptly slowed. In that instant, having anticipated this action, the Raeb fired two plasma missiles at the now indecisive adversary which was less than a quarter of a light-second away. Minutes later, without any seeming effort to evade the torpedoes, the Mahli spacecraft crumbled in a blazing flash, its remaining velocity sending the wreckage speeding sunward.

“Daron, you’re alive.” Tianna called out to her husband through the link and she could feel his thoughts momentarily turn toward her. Her wave of joy rippled through the Arabika but then, like all of her shipmates including Daron, her emotions were dampened down and she was re-engaged by the Eshana and its Priest to duty, performing damage assessments, calculating remaining life support capacity, and directing repair drones to manage reactor failures.

The spacecraft Raeb had survived this latest challenge from the enemy in what was supposed to be an unoccupied solar system, but the damage and loss of life were devastating. The ship’s Priest Balem through the Arabika, blocked the survivors from experiencing the deaths of hundreds of their mates, keeping everyone focused on survival.

Sensors and communications were gone. Fuel injector systems to three of twelve reactors had jammed or melted, and power conduits from six more had been severed. Normal and hyperspace propulsion was offline. Tianna thought they could restore partial main power and limp to their closest outpost over twenty lightyears away. Even with optimal performance, under current conditions it would still take them a five to six years to get back.

That was before the solar flare struck them three days later.

As I said, the kindle version of this book is a great seller which should tell you something. Don’t miss out. Buy your copy of One-Way Ticket today.