Now that the secrets of Mars have been unearthed, nation stands against nation in the brink of a catastrophic war. A war that threatens our entire existence.The revelations on Mars – a half-million year-old legacy of the vanished star-traveling Builders – have fed the flames of catastrophic war. A beleaguered United States and its Russian and Japanese allies struggle to hold their own against the indomitable forces of the enemy United Nations. The bloody conflict that has swept over the home planet now rages across the blackness of space – with the U.S. Marine Corps in the vanguard, leading the charge as always.But Mars is not the sole repository of alien wonders. The Earth's moon hides unsettling mysteries of its own-and dangerous secrets pointing toward an unstoppable threat advancing from somewhere beyond the solar system. And as scientists on both sides ract to utilize technology they have only barely begun to comprehend, the UN makes the opening move in a gambit that could end the hostilities quickly and decisively by bringing about the death of millions…without the aid of alien-inspired weaponry.A bad situation worsens by the nanosecond. And that means it's time to call in the Marines – to make a life or death stand on the gray shores of Luna.
War is foreverThe people on Earth no longer remember how the human race was nearly obliterated centuries earlier during the terror visited upon them by the merciless Xul. But the Star Marines, thirty thousand light years from home, know all too well the horror that still lives.In the year 2886, in the midst of the intergalactic war that has been raging non-stop for nearly a decade, the unthinkable has occurred. Intelligence has located the gargantuan hidden homeworld of humankind's dedicated foe, the brutal, unstoppable Xul.The time has come for the courageous men and women of the 1st Marine Interstellar Expeditionary Force to strike the killing blow. But misguided politics on an Earth that no longer supports their mission could prove the Marine's greatest enemy—as they plunge bravely into the maelstrom of conflict . . . and into the heart of a million-year-old mystery.
In the future, earth's warriors have conquered the heavens. But on a distant world, humanity is in chains…Many millennia ago, the human race was enslaved by the An – a fearsome alien people whose cruel empire once spanned the galaxies, until they were defeated and consigned to oblivion. But a research mission to the planet Ishtar has made a terrifying – and fatal – discovery: the Ahanu, ancestors of the former masters, live on, far from the reach of Earth – born weapons and technology … and tens of thousands of captive human souls still bow to their iron will.Now Earth's Interstellar Marine Expeditionary Unit must undertake a rescue operation as improbable as it is essential to humankind's future, embarking on a ten-year voyage to a hostile world to face an entrenched enemy driven by dreams of past glory and intent once more on domination. For those who, for countless generations, have known nothing but toil and subjugation must be granted, at all costs, the precious gift entitled to all of their star-traveling kind: freedom!
Planet by planet, galaxy by galaxy, the inhabited universe has fallen to the alien Xul…Now only one obstacle stands between them and total domination: the warriors of a resilient race the world-devourers nearly annihilated centuries ago . . .A power vast, ancient, and terrifying, the mighty Xul have lost track of the insignificant humans hundreds of years after devastating their home world—which has enabled the United Star Marines to operate unnoticed and unhindered. A near-autonomous intergalactic policing force, they battle in defense of an Earth they may not live to see again. Now, following the trail of a vanished twenty-fourth-century transport, they are journeying through an unexplored stargate to the edge of an unknown galaxy many light years from their sun. For the last, best, and only chance to defeat the tyrants of the universe may at long last be at hand . . .
The Marines have landed on Mars to guard the unearthed secrets of an ancient and dangerous alien race: Ourselves.The Year is 2040.Scientists have discovered something astonishing in the subterranean ruins of a sprawling Martian city: startling evidence of an alternative history that threatens to split humanity into opposing factions and plunge the Earth into chaos and war. The USMC – a branch of a military considered, until just recently, to be obsolete – has dispatched the Marine Mars Expeditionary Force, a thirty-man weapons platoon, to the Red Planet to protect American civilians and interest with lethal force if necessary.Because great powers are willing to devastate a world in order to keep an ancient secret buried. Because something that was hidden in the Martian dust for half a million years has just been unearthed . . . something that calls into question every belief that forms the delicate foundation of civilization . . .Something inexplicably human.
The sixth book in this action-packed, New York Times bestselling science fiction series – STAR CARRIER.The clock is ticking in the struggle for galactic independenceOnce rebels themselves facing off against the Earth Confederation, the United States of North America is now the dominant force in negotiations with the interstellar Sh'daar Collective. But just as the Marines root out the last violent dissenters, an alien ship of unknown origin suddenly flees Earth's orbit. Is it mere coincidence . . . or a terrifying omen?President Alexander Koenig watches with great interest as USNA forces chase the runaways down. But upon first contact, it's not apparent where—or when—the crew is headed. For this bizarre species has somehow mastered the power to manipulate time itself. Now Koenig must decide whether he's dealing with angels of astonishing technological prowess . . . or the agents of humanity's destruction.
The ultimate battle is about to be waged in a war that will alter the universe forever . . .With the planet's fighting men and women deployed across the galaxy—battling in the noble cause of enslaved humanity—the insidious Xul have reached across space to devastate the unsuspecting Earth with asteroid fire. Without warning, a once majestic world is reduced to near-rubble—and the very future of humankind is in dire jeopardy.Interplanetary leaders are on the brink of abandoning Earth and its colonies to an overwhelming enemy. But Brigadier General Garroway of the Marine Interstellar Expeditionary Unit is unwilling to concede defeat—not as long as there's a single marine willing to give his or her life in defense of their embattled homeworld.
The second book in the epic saga of humankind's war of transcendenceIn the evolution of every sentient race, there is a turning point when the species achieves transcendence through technology.The warlike Sh’daar are determined that this monumental milestone will never be achieved by the creatures known as human.On the far side of known human space, the Marines are under siege, battling the relentless servant races of the Sh'daar aggressor. With a task force stripped to the bone and the Terran Confederation of States racked by dissent, rogue Admiral Alexander Koenig must make the momentous decision that will seal his fate and the fate of humankind.A strong defensive posture is futile, so Koenig will seize the initiative and turn the gargantuan Star Carrier America toward the unknown. For the element of surprise is the only hope of stalling the Sh'daar assault on Earth's solar system—and the war for humankind's survival must be taken directly to the enemy.
Emory Maxwell has come home to the small town of Sweetness, Georgia, with one goal in mind–to get his childhood sweetheart Shelby Moon to marry him. They've been in love with the second grade, but Shelby's father is determined to keep his daughter in Sweetness, not moving around the country as a soldier's wife.No matter what she chooses, Shelby knows she'll hurt one of the men she loves.But when a tornado rips through town, will she and Emory lose their chance to be together forever?Get ready to fall in love with the town of Sweetness, Georgia, in this prequel to Stephanie Bond's Southern Roads trilogy.
THROUGH THE SHADOWLANDS: Where the touch of silver was Protection, Power and Peril… UNWILLINGLY ENTWINED… There is more danger than usual in the Otherworld of the Sidhe and the mortal world of the Shadowlands. An unlikely group of conspirators–both mortal and Sidhe–plot to overthrow both thrones. They'd stolen the silver caul that protected the borders between the realms–and set into motion a perilous war….A BLACKSMITH'S DAUGHTER, A SIDHE LADY, A MORTAL QUEENThree women stand against the encroaching evil. All they have is a girl's love for her father, a lady's for her queen–and a queen's for her country. Nessa, Delphinea and Cecily are each driven by a personal destiny, yet share a fierce sense of love, justice and determination to protect what is theirs.Will the spirit and strength of these women be enough to turn back the tide of the goblin hordes waiting to overrun the kingdoms? Perhaps. But the battle must still be fought….