Bøker av John Schettler

ABOUT GOLIATH: Linked directly to Volume #69, the story begins with Fedorov still trapped inside the ancient Sphinx, but where it soon goes from there is a wild new twist, and a new story line. Hold on to your hats, Director Kamenski has another mission for Karpov, Fedorov, and crew, and it is different from anything they have ever been asked to do. The problem is the dread Grand Finality rearing its ugly head again. Karpov thought the mission to the polar bases using Baikal to plant hidden tactical nukes had made an end of the Finality when the initial Skeletal invasion was stopped, but now Kamenski reveals that the fierce Alien race is not yet through with Earth, and that they have planned for the annihilation of humanity another way. Kamenski gambles that men like Karpov, Fedorov, Troyak and his Marines are just the type to foil the plot the Ice Men are hatching, but to do this they have to go to the strangest farthest place the saga has ever reached.The Skeletals are once again the primary antagonists, and it will take all Fedorov's reasoned wits, Karpov's razor sharp military instincts, and the muscle and bravado of Troyak and his Black Death Marines to pull this mission off against the most dangerous foe they have ever faced. It's an amazing twist in the series to try and save the earth itself and everything on it

About Downfall: An all new Volume #32 for the Kirov Series. This book replaces the original #32, Field of Glory, which was moved to Book #1 in the Keyholder's Series. It features a special operation staged by the Germans to try and eliminate Ivan Volkov's Orenburg Federation from the war after he betrays Hitler and signs a peace treaty with Sergei Kirov. Can Germany's miracle worker make Volkov disappear? An outraged Hitler sends the very best of his legions to punish Volkov, including Steiner's 1st SS Panzerkorps augmented by 5th SS Wiking Division, and then a Wehrmacht Korps composed of the three most elite divisions in the regular Army, Grossdeutschland, Brandenburg Division, and the new Panzer Lehr. Their mission is to first take the oil fields at Grozny that eluded German capture in the 1942 Operation Edelweiss, and then press on to either Astrakhan or Baku. Volkov's tentative treaty with the Soviets receives a series of hard jolts when the Russians cross into the neutral zone under General Rokossovsky, and also cross the Volga. Like a hard pressed chess player against a Grandmaster of the art of maneuver warfare, Volkov matches wits against Manstein and castles to find the one place on the map where the elite German Panzer Divisions might not harm him. Then in an encore battle after their failure at Kursk, Manstein stages an alternate and expanded version of Operation Habicht-Panther to try and bag all the Soviet forces in the Izyum pocket and along the lower Donetz. East Front Action from start to finish in a volume presenting two battles that were not covered in the main series. Will Ivan Volkov meet his downfall at the hands of Germany's best?

About The Rage of FujinThis is the fifth volume in the "Encore Season" of the Kirov series. Kirov comes under attack by nuclear tipped DF-100 missiles and one goes off. The resulting explosion moves the ship from one great storm at sea to another as Kirov careens into the past. Their first jaunt sees them batted from one storm to another and appearing at the edge of a very different contest for the island of Tsushima. Then time intervenes again, and the ship slips ever deeper into the past. This sends Fedorov off on a mission of exploration, to the Atlantic, into the Med, on a quest to find evidence of ancient civilizations that pre-dated those of Sumeria, Greece and Egypt, and to learn the truth of the many myths of a great flood that swept them away. On this hunt, he aims to find conclusive proof or refutation of the oft cited existence of the great empire of Atlantis. A new Alternate History Military Fictionfrom the author of his best selling Kirov Series

About Coming ThroughFedorov and Karpov begin their campaign to discover and seal off temporal rifts being used by unwanted guests from the distant past. From the deep subterranean passages of Siberian caves to the broad expanse of Lake Baikal, the "Old Ones" are coming through. They must be stopped before their numbers increase to a point where that becomes impossible.As the fighting escalates, Karpov resorts to some heavy-handed tactics, but they soon find the Raptors have begun to use an alarming new weapon of their own. A roller coaster ride of action follows as the undeclared inter-species war rages across Siberia, and not even the great cities are immune from attack. Then, while making a recon jump to the future, Fedorov realizes they have discovered a new shadow Meridian, and reason to doubt if the future they fought for in two world wars can even exist. They also make an amazing new discovery while crossing the great sand seas of the Taklamakan. Kirov Saga: Coming Through ByJohn Schettler Part I - TrollswarrenPart II - A Stich In TimePart III - JonahPart IV - Second ChancesPart V - In Case of ArmageddonPart VI - The Missing ToothPart VII - StalinPart VIII- ConsolidationPart IX - BorisPart X - The Delta ThreadPart XI - Pyrrhic VictoriesPart XII - Taklamakan

Mother HeartBook II in the Dharman Series TrilogyBy John Schettler Ensign Lydia Gates is perhaps the most important Human being alive, yet she is lost, missing in the menagerie of strange evolving life on Dharma VI. Ryan, Caruso and CLEM return to the planet's surface to begin the search for Gates, but she has already been discovered by another survivor from the original research team, Dr. Elena Chandros. Together they commune with a vast entity buried deep beneath the surface of the planet - Mother Heart. The mystery deepens when CLEM secures a sample of the Colony Virus in his containment chamber, and discovers a strange alien consciousness vying for control of his own system! The effort to save the last survivors of the Dharma Colony is further complicated by the arrival of AFA Director Simonsen, a sinister bureaucrat with an agenda of his own. Ryan soon learns that the AFA has made a decision about the crisis on Dharma VI that will have far reaching consequences.

Kirov faces the tightening grip of a Temporal Storm as the annihilating power of Paradox reaches for the ship. If they escape this danger they must then face the ire of the Imperial Japanese Navy when Japan goes to war against Siberia. Battles rage in the Sea of Okhotsk until Odo Nobunaga strives to convince the other senior naval officers that their real war lies in the south against the Americans. Who will dominate the Western Pacific? Imperial Japan returns to challenge US forces invading the Marianas, and with deadly new hypersonic weapons known as the Jinn-21. This special edition is part of the Encore Season of the Kirov Series which consists of: Encore (#65), Clash of Empires (#66), War in Limbo (#67) and An Hour for Vengeance (#68). They can be read and enjoyed without reading the main series. - A new Alternate History Military Fiction from the author of his best selling Kirov Series.

Linked directly to Volume #69, the story begins with Fedorov still trapped inside the ancient Sphinx, but where it soon goes from there is a wild new twist, and a new story line. Hold on to your hats, Director Kamenski has another mission for Karpov, Fedorov, and crew, and it is different from anything  they have ever been asked to do. The problem is the dread Grand Finality rearing its ugly head again. Karpov thought the mission to the polar bases using Baikal  to plant hidden tactical nukes had made an end of the Finality when the initial Skeletal invasion was stopped, but now Kamenski reveals that the fierce Alien race is not yet through with Earth, and that they have planned for the annihilation of humanity another way. Kamenski gambles that men like Karpov, Fedorov, Troyak and his Marines are just the type to  foil the plot the Ice Men are hatching, but to do this they have to go to the strangest farthest place the saga has ever reached.The Skeletals are once again the primary antagonists, and it will take all Fedorov's reasoned wits, Karpov's razer sharp military instincts, and the muscle and bravado of Troyak and his Black Death Marines to pull this mission off against the most dangerous foe they have ever faced. It's an amazing twist in the series to try and save the earth itself and everything on it.

ABOUT EARTHFORCE MARS  Linked directly to Volume #70, Earth has completed a 100 ship navy in space and chosen Vladimir Karpov as its CIC. Now Karpov leads a Task Force from the new Earthforce battle fleet to Mars to seek out and eliminate any alien presence there, but he and Fedorov find much more than they were expecting.   The year is 2130, and learning that the Kroth, or the Skeletal Ice Men, will arrive with a new invasion fleet in just five years, Karpov intends to use that time to scour the Solar system and eliminate any Krothi outposts, bases, or ships that remain. He will also establish a military footprint on Mars to hold that planet as Earth's forward base.    Leading a twelve ship squadron, Karpov soon finds Mars is already under attack by raiding Krothi forces. So the war begins early, on Mars, in the Inner Asteroid Belt, at the Moons of Jupiter and Saturn and even farther, to the outer limits of the Solar system near the Kuiper Belt.      In the deep Marineris Valley, Earthforce enters a system of caves in the canyon wall to root out a suspected Krothi base. There, Troyak, Karpov, and Fedorov make a startling discovery about Mars that will change everything then known about the rise of Humanity on Earth.

The distant outpost in the newly prospected Dharman System has gone dark and does not respond to signals traffic. This sends Special Services Agent Lieutenant Timothy Scott Ryan to the main colony holding on Dharma VI. Ryan reaches the "Safe Zone" only to find out its facilities have come under attack and are mostly destroyed. He joins with three robotic aids to hold the Zone until more help can arrive from Frigate Achilles in orbit. Yet Ryan soon discovers the alien threat that ravaged the colony, and faces another terrible attack. With help from Achilles, he then ventures into the Wild Zone to determine the fate of the original colony science and security team. One threat leads to another when he learns the primary predator on the planet is not the one he was attacked by, and that an insidious virus now threatens Dharma VI and many other colonies in the Cyonid spiral extension. In time, the real threat emerges as the Navy musters a fleet in the Dharman system to meet the arrival of a sinister new alien race they come to call the Shadows. With themes involving bioengineering, robotics, AI, a riveting first contact scenario, and interstellar war, the story becomes a depiction of humanity's first active conflict with a hostile alien species. It is a war fought on two fronts, both within the very bodies of those infected by the alien virus, and in the vast deeps of interstellar space where the Federal Navy faces a strange new enemy, unlike any life form ever encountered.

It was the product of a Secret Committee in the largest company on earth, so enormous that it commanded its own standing army, bigger than that of its native homeland, and hundreds of ships, more ships than the Royal Navy itself. But for this mission, the Company wanted one more-purpose built for a very special mission. It would be a dangerous ship, a Devil Ship, and on its maiden voyage one man comes aboard with Letters of Marque in hand and an imprimatur bestowing him with the full authority of the company itself. This man and his mission remained a complete mystery. Everything about the launch of the ship was wreathed in shadow, even its destination. For Captain William Hall, the ship itself was as much a mystery as it was a marvel of new engineering, a strange hybrid of tried shipbuilding methods with novel new techniques and materials that were opening the door to a whole new modern era on the seas. But where was he taking it? What was his mission? Why was it built as it was, and who was this man who had come aboard as the company's special representative?The Devil ShipByJohn Schettler ProloguePart I - A Curious SecretPart II - Trouble at SeaPart III - The Coming StormPart IV - ConfrontationPart V - The Mandate of HeavenPart VI - Clash of EmpiresPart VII - Death of a Thousand CutsPart VIII- The Lion and DragonPart IX - Black WindPart X - The Final MarchPart XI - The Garden of Perfect BrightnessPart XII - CalamityAfterword

About Encore: Fedorov misses his Tuesday Discord call with Karpov when he receives an alarming warning from Director Kamenski and must leave his hotel in Moscow to seek refuge in a safe house. Yet Karpov, fearing the worst, hitches a ride to Moscow on a cargo plane to look for his friend. The news Kamenski brings is disturbing, but a plan is hatched to try and prevent the arrival of the Skeletal "Ice Men" that were first discovered in Antarctica. Now Fedorov and Karpov accept a new mission that will take them to familiar far flung places on the earth to lay an ambush for the Skeletals. Can they save the distant future of the Meridian they fought so hard to preserve? Can they help prevent the Grand Finality with the coming of the Murder Hornets? Fedorov also learns a change has altered the outcome of the war in 2025-26 and Kirov sorties to investigate and set things right. Later, a chance encounter at Ilanskiy reveals that another Ivan Volkov has appeared on the scene, and he brings a new challenge to Karpov, in more than one way. The mighty Kirov sorties again to settle affairs with Volkov one last time. Kirov Saga: Encore ByJohn Schettler Part I - DiscordPart II - Back in the SoupPart III - Ice WormsPart IV - Third Time's a CharmPart V - DiversionsPart VI - Deja vuPart VII - Up In SmokePart VIII- East China SeaPart IX - ResolutionsPart X - ShowdownPart XI - TreacheryAfterword

ABOUT THE WAR IN LIMBO It was only a pleasure cruise, sun, white sand, and island girls, until a Devil in the Banda Sea finds Kirov and crew and casts them ashore into a grim future ruled by one of their their most ardent enemies, Imperial Japan, only with modern weapons and powerful new ships.When Ivan Volkov gave Japan the bomb a year before the Americans completed theirs in WWII, the Japanese Empire set a dangerous trap at Truk Lagoon that destroyed much of Halsey's Fast Carrier fleet. As a result, the Pacific War ends by treaty instead of Japan's unconditional surrender, and Japan survives to become a powerful modern day Pacific Power.Yet the empire has a weakness, its soft and unformed center. The young crown prince will not take the throne for another five years. Until that time, the Empire is ruled by powerful Daimyos serving as Regents, each commanding fleets of modern warships. In a brilliant depiction of this modern day Japanese Empire, rival Clan leaders struggle to obtain the best new ships and further their own devious aims while also fending off the incursion of the United States Navy into the neutral Zone in the Central Pacific. The Americans set their sights on recovering both Truk and the Marianas, and a new modern day clash at sea is imminent.Enter Kirov, the ship and crew once again cast into this strange and dangerous future in the year 2030. Grounded and marooned by a terrible storm, Typhoon Setan, the ship's hull is under repair when the Japanese Captain Sato appears with a heavy cruiser and three destroyers. He remembers this old nemesis, for he has fought Kirov before, just three months earlier when the Siberians last appeared on this Meridian. Tense negotiations ensue, which soon see Fedorov and Karpov swept into the convoluted Imperial intrigue between clan leaders when the head of the local Regency, Odo Nobunaga, discovers Kirov is the ship that has plagued Japan for decades, Mizuchi. Realizing Kirov is indeed that ship, Odo soon learns the secret of its tremendous power, and strives to take it for his own.Meanwhile, the Toki-Akechi Clan that Odo commands must face down another old enemy, the United States Navy. Odo struggles to bring other rival clans into the war and forge a union in the face of this powerful enemy, and we get a tale that is reminiscent of a modern day Shogun, the title Odo seeks as military dictator to unite the entire realm.It's the most comprehensive look at this altered future yet, a Meridian engineered by the late Ivan Volkov. This time, Kirov is lost in a crucible of fate, and brought to a fateful hour when they must finally face the consequences of their meddling in the business of Mother Time, and Imperial Japan. With the Kamenski Device damaged, they cannot simply flee to safe waters elsewhere, and now Kirov fights a harrowing battle with the Japanese. As their missile count thins, they also face an even more serious threat that cannot be defeated by Zircons-for their plan to escape this world leads to Paradox.

About the Sands of Honor:The Sands of Honor is a real tour deforce through the author's extensive world. He first laid out his principles of Time Travel in a five volume Meridian series, the first of which was Foreword Magazine's Silver Medal Winner for Science Fiction Book of the Year when it premiered. Schettler then penned his Magnum Opus, the Kirov Series, which took the Russian battlecruiser back in time to the heart of WWII. The Meridian Team made cameo appearances in that series, mostly to explain things that were happening in the time theory. At the same time, a subplot of the Kirov Series introduced the character Sir Roger Ames, who has been romping through the Age of Imperialism, from one decisive battle to another. Now, in Sands of Honor, we get book IV in that series, though Sir Roger does not appear until well into the second half of the book.In the meantime, come all ye desert loving Englishmen, because we get a great historical fiction that first depicts General Charles Gordon's trip to Khartum, and his scheme to compel his own rescue and pull a British Army south into the Sudan under General Wolseley. That segment of the book takes us all the way to Gordon's fate at Khartum. Then the story jumps ahead to General Kitchener, who has become Sirdar, the commander in Chief of military forces in Egypt. Kitchener has a plan in hand with multiple goals: to restore Britain's position in the Sudan, protect it in Egypt, defeat the rebellious successor to the Mahdi, the Khalifa; to restore the honor of the British empire, and avenge Gordon. That segment follows Kitchener's advance into Sudan all the way through the Battle of Atbara and then on to the decisive Battle of Omdurman. It is there, near that battle's end that something happens to decisively upset the time line of years to come. Then the story begins to shift gears through the Author's amazing connected universe.The Meridian Team picks up a major alteration originating in September of 1898, and they learn what has happened. Then, two missions are set up for a most special ship and crew. You guessed it, the climax of this book will see Kirov in action again, and a mission for Troyak's Marines and the Argonauts off the Argos Fire. In effect, Schettler is serving up a medley of all his major character sets: The Meridian Team, the crew of Kirov, including Volsky, Karpov and Fedorov, and the crew of Argos fire.The book is a wild ride, a great historical fiction at the outset that suffers a catastrophic event at Omdurman, then the efforts of the Meridian Team, and Kirov and crew to heal things. It's quite a story, with a great deal at stake. Because if Fedorov can't prevail, then all the history they fought through in WWII is on the chopping block of Fate and Time. If you enjoyed the Time-travel elements of the Kirov Series, you'll love this book. It's got so much more, three land battles featuring the British against the wild Dervish Mahdist raiders. Then it has a tumultuous WWII naval battle where Kirov, the ship present in the series at the time of Paradox Hour just before it vanished, must play a very important role.Win, lose or draw, this book becomes a landmark that can change everything that happened from Paradox Hour forward. It's astounding how adroitly the author knits together the Meridian Characters and those of Kirov and Argos Fire with the people active in his Keyholders Saga. Not to be missed!

ABOUT THE FATE OF EMPIRE It has been said that everything that is powerful will one day come under siege. In the year 788, the capital and largest city of Innisfail, Rammath-Innis, comes under siege by the hosts of three Dreadlords. As the pressure mounts and Sonderin uses a powerful new weapon, General Scion Cross must make a very difficult decision. The fate of the Empire is now in his hands, but hope comes with a startling new plan. Far to the east, Kaspar takes Starseed and finds a new world, and Cross maneuvers to make powerful new allies. He vows a great crusade and leads the Army of Innisfail west again to reclaim lands and titles lost and forestall a long dark age under the deepening shadow of the Dreadlords. Learning this, Duke Morgin Grenfell now sorties from his mountain fortress of Cartimandua to reclaim his Ducal fief in Rhaingoll and join the war against the Shadows. Now, from the author of the long running Kirov Series, comes an epic Fantasy series as broad and detailed as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and as gritty and real as George Martin's Game of Thrones. This is mythic military fiction at its best.

ABOUT TALONS OF TALLUS: The war against the Dreadlords has now entered its third year. Duke Morgin's men are threatened in Cartimandua by an undermining attack from below. The Dreadlords make another effort to enter Innisfail but Duke Morgin again enlists the support of the Imperial Army. This time the plan is to take the fight to the enemy, in the heart of his own realm--Dark Mornaland, but things do not go as planned... The last strength of free men is supported by troops from the far east. They will now confront the combined strength of all three Dreadlords, but for this climactic battle, Morwenna has summoned Demons from the Abyss, and their legions of Marauders and Fiends. And Sonderin brings a strange new host of icy beings from the far north, The Ancient race known as the Archons. Now, from the author of the long running Kirov Series, comes an epic Fantasy series as broad and detailed as J.R.R.Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The great war reaches its terrifying and bloody conclusion. Will light prevail over the darkness, or will the world fall into perpetual blackness beneath Morwenna's heel? This is mythic military fiction at its best.