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

Jessie and Eric Ramsey have a family history of crime. Fighting back against heredity, each tried to make their way in the galaxy by respectable means. Jessie joined Earth Navy; Eric went to college for magic. But fate wasn’t having it. Eric was expelled. Jessie went AWOL. Now, due to a magical mishap that wasn’t entirely anyone’s fault (we swear!), they’re stranded five years in the future on a Mars that’s no longer friendly territory.

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?

Brad went on the run with his sister Michelle. He got away. They're safe. With new identities and a clean start, all Brad has to do is fake being a responsible, law-abiding adult until Michelle turns 18...in nine years. But how long can an incorrigible delinquent keep that up? Meanwhile, Chuck goes out of his mind trying to find his missing kids. With Mort along to help, they crisscross the galaxy, searching for a trail. Family friends haven't seen or heard anything, leaving the pair to confront a hard truth.

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.

The members of the Human Rebellion face a war spread across three worlds. Their enemies are multiplying. Their allies are becoming increasingly tenuous. With the war spiraling out of control, can Rynn find the answers to their plight in the pages of an ancient book? Or will Madlin take matters into her own hands and build something even she fears to turn on?

If anyone were ever to forget that magic can disrupt science and technological equipment, they need only refer to the incident at Mobile Mining Station YF-77. That poor, unfortunate station had a wizard for a guest, and that wizard lost control of his magical powers while the mining station was moving to a new drilling site. Bereft of attitude control, the station fell out of stable orbit on a collision course for a deserted, lifeless planet.

Esper made that promise. Now it's time to make good. The Cult of Ra has a flagship, and thanks to a turncoat in their ranks, Esper and her friends know where it's going to be. Better yet, they know that Pharaoh Ramesses XIII will be aboard. It's time to cut the head off the cult.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.