Bøker av T. K. Toppin

Technicolour Sandbox is a quirky melange of off-beat, might-just-happen, speculative science fiction stories, held together by an underlying adhesive from the virtual and digital universe-an inevitable epoch the world is approaching in leaps and bounds. These six short stories carry the basic theme, whether it's a mere mention or a full-on metaverse experience.* * *From Mars, with (Love) Terror: Could a habitat simulation be, in fact, a virtual minefield to navigate? It's worth a thought when reality becomes so skewed as to make one wonder.Puff of Smoke & Quantum Qubits: Entities created from the energies of real life and the virtual world. Is that even possible? It appears so, since a would-be empress enters Real Life to find the emperor she must free.Trans-galactic Dreaming: Can astral travel really be as simple as falling asleep? And can one return from such travels?Cabin Cruising: Will our elderly end up going on virtual cruises? What's to stop its abuse - and meddling offspring who only want their inheritance and the old out of the way?Adnile: Drenched in a world inhabited by everything fantasy, from dragons to faeries-but is it real? And why does the queen remember her mortal self?The Robot and the Goldfish: Can a robot evolve to have emotions so he can watch sunsets with his fish? And can a robot suffer grief and loss, then make things right for his well-being?

Truth is an illusion...or is it?Pirates and corporate criminals will never die out. In 2337, Earth has expanded its domain into space, colonising the dark abyss as far as Jupiter. The need to travel faster than light, to stretch farther into the galaxy, comes with humanity's growth-and with it, corruption and greed.Captain Alanis Grosjean of the Commonwealth Corp always thought she had life figured out. Be honest and dedicated in protecting and serving Earth and its citizens, do the job right, follow orders, finish the mission. But when one space pirate dies, despite ending the mission, the next thing she knows, it's a dull routine of patrolling space like a traffic warden. She may have kept her rank and ship, but the "deserved reprieve" seems more like a demotion.The elusive space pirate Norstrom may have led the world to believe he was dead, but lately it seems the dead can be killed again. Death threats force him out of hiding to seek the help of the one person he trusts, his old lover, Grosjean.As Grosjean and Norstrom join forces to ferret out the source of the threats, they discover the gruesome truths behind the destruction of a Commonwealth Corp scout ship, underhanded corporate deals, greed, and terrifying research. Before long, Norstrom's pirate crew from the Drunken Sailor, long written off as dead, make a dramatic reappearance.Will they be in time to save the galaxy from corporate criminals? Will their history hinder them, or make them work together like a well-oiled engine? And will Captain Grosjean finally figure out her life and what makes her happy?

What Wouldn't You Do To Catch A Criminal?At the end of the 24th Century, Special Inspector Michael Pedroni pursues Jax Marlin, a beautiful and elusive vigilante. It's a wild cat and mouse chase that will take him from Earth to the Bacchus Dome and beyond. Jax Marlin is not your average criminal. She seeks out evil-doers and law-breakers, doling out justice in whatever way she sees fit. But lately, she finds she's been gift-wrapping criminals specially for her favorite copper. Four of the world's leading criminals are lining up to form an alliance. Jax is determined to stop them. Hot on her heels, Inspector Pedroni finds himself questioning the difference, if any, between her justice and his. More than that, he wonders why, when he'd had her in his grasp, he was unable to slap on the restraints and bring her in.

A Tangled Web of Secrets and RevelationsGreat battles are nothing new to the generations of oligarchs and aristocrats who rule the colonised systems of Earth's descendants. They are a necessary evil to protect star systems and outposts from greedy poachers and other systems bent on dominating the galaxy, as King Greycer of Strium System knows all too well. The king arranges to marry Ryn Bengaria, a young woman from Halantia, the main planet of the Strium System.Unknown to Ryn, her life had been planned before she was even born. Through their marriage, King Greycer seeks to reclaim nine outposts from the underhanded regent, Xin Sibur. When the king is assassinated, Ryn finds herself a reluctant queen and war commander. With the help of her former weapons master, and an unlikely alliance with a commander of the feared Nezu Warrior clans, Ryn embarks on a path of duty and vengeance. Her quest to destroy Xin Sibur and secure the future of Strium System will go down in galactic history as Bengaria's War.

Lies that become truths…The Hlad are one race, the only race beneath the Great Abyss. The great Fire King deemed it so when the Great Mother birthed the Fire King's children from the dry lake beds. All know of His power and scorn, and praise Him with each rising so He may shine down gently and with kindness.Warrior Class Lieutenant Raq of the Imperial Guard is a proud soldier, an adoring father to his sons, brave, dutiful and honour-bound, a devout servant of the Fire King. He is a true Hlad. But his faith is shattered when an alien craft crash-lands on Hlad from the Great Abyss.One alien, the Dayyid, survives the horrible massacre that follows the crash. Imprisoned, suffering from malnutrition, and studied by the reptilian doctors and scientists, he doesn't forget one of the creatures from the crash site. One who hesitated to kill.Forced to live together, Raq and the Dayyid learn to understand each other despite the language barrier. But when they learn of a threat to Earth, they discover an almost unbelievable truth that unites them against the Hlad. The rest of Hlad must learn this truth, and so, too, the rest of the universe.

Tales from five different worlds…The Legend of the Levi: Agent Serafina Derwynde of the Acquisitions Guild stumbles upon an ancient generation ship. Lured by the prospect of early retirement thanks to the commission such a find would bring her, she boards the old vessel. But she discovers a thriving community, and soon comes to realise that in order to save humanity, she must sacrifice herself.Time Fracture: One man comes to realise that time is being stolen. In his quest to uncover the truth, he learns that he must destroy time and hide from its ever-watchful eyes.The Garoneu Trial: Empress Amiqus Vossen of the Provincial Systems finds herself facing execution. Her failure to murder her husband prevented genocide, but ensured her own death. As she embarks on her final journey, she is forced to perform one last task, one born of desperation by someone who chose to face the ultimate act of evil.Bengaria's War: Maryn's Oath (A prequel to Bengaria's War): Deep in space, Ensign Sul Bengaria encounters a young woman, near death, in an escape pod. The woman is from the feared Nezu Colony, notorious for their ruthless pursuit of death and destruction. Disgraced and branded a traitor, her punishment is to live dirtside as an Outsider. Her oath is to protect the Nezu, by any means, until her death.Raq: When aliens crash-land onto Lieutenant Raq's homeworld, he faces his greatest challenge. These aliens prove the Hlad are not alone. There is life beyond the Great Abyss. Everything he believes and understands has changed forever.

Unlocking the past...could unleash chaos...Josie begins her new life in the future as wife to the world president, John Lancaster. But all is not idyllic. A dangerous man from her past returns to wreak more havoc and destruction. Along with him comes a hostage, Josie's great-niece seven times removed. The trade off-a keycode for the life of her niece. As revelations of Josie's long-ago past begin to unfold, every question she has ever asked is answered. Together with John, she heads to the Scrap Yard, a cybernetics space station where a battle to regain control of the world's droids begins. Can Josie save the life of her new-found niece? Will learning the truth about her family and her past really be enough to put the ghosts to rest?

When destiny calls, it can take 300 years...The world loathes Josie Bettencourt's kind-pod-survivors from the past. When she awakens three hundred years later, she discovers what falling into hell is like. Stalked by uncertainty and death, her new life pitches from one extreme to the next. She is soon arrested and taken straight to the Citadel, the heart of the Lancaster regime where they have ruled tyrannically for over half a century.Now young John Lancaster is in power, hoping to make a change, to erase the wars, oppression and unimaginable terror. When Josie meets the frighteningly powerful John, she wonders if he really is the so-called tyrants' spawn? But like a plague from the past, her presence in the future draws dangerous forces together. Josie soon discovers who the true tyrants are by unraveling a terrifying plot to take over the world. And she realises that her life in this new future are indelibly linked to the one she left behind.

You cannot change what has already happened, just as what will happen cannot be altered. Lies. Nothing but lies!"Humankind is always doomed to fail. It has fallen many times before, and many times we have intervened to ensure it stays on the correct course. Earth is salvageable, but if you had continued along the path you were on, it would not have been. You have billions of years more to exist before your planet's final destruction. We are only making certain it survives that long, and ensuring your survival until the ultimate end. At times you progress too fast, but such is humankind's way. So we had to accelerate this current failure sooner in order to restart. As we have done before, a guide with a better objective and understanding of how to protect your world, will be inserted…"But why did they care what humans did with their lives? They were aliens-beings from another dimension! Earth wasn't their home.Esme Serrano's predestined encounter with the trans-dimensional anthropomorphic Aakehollats sends her on a multi-pathed journey spanning ten thousand years. A journey riddled with lies, manipulations and untold layers of deception. She guides Earth as the Sibyl, a powerful and mystical leader, and brings the dying world back from the brink of death. She helps the Aakehollats, and ensures that Earth survives until its ultimate destruction in the cosmos.But her one true goal is, and always will be, to kill the Aakehollats.

Ten engaging and exciting Short Stories in one book - Sequentially ordered for your reading pleasure.Following the events from the full-length novel, Jax Marlin-To Catch a Marlin, the vigilante, Jax Marlin, and the special inspector who chases her, Michael Pedroni, find themselves on a journey of deeper self-discovery and mutual understanding as they battle the criminals of the world. What was once black and white and by the book, no longer applies. The world is filled with myriad shades and perspectives, and in order to conquer evil, one must do what one must. Learning this prompts Pedroni to make a life-altering decision.As for Jax, her once-resolute focus wavers when her driving force, the fire inside her, takes over with violent results. She battles her inner demon in a life-long war, she realises she can't change who she is and what drives her: bad people must be punished. She must make the ultimate decision: destroy the beast within or continue down the destructive path of homicidal abandon.Follow the adventures of Jax and Pedroni from the dark depths of space and sunny tropical islands to the fume-filled streets of major cities.

Forever Just Got Longer...Unable to resist the lure of finding her niece, Josie sifts through the crumbs of clues left behind. With her friend and savior, pod-hunter Quin Aguilar at her side, she seeks out Fern Bettencourt, who is assumed to be sleeping for over a century. When Fern's location is discovered from an unlikely source, Josie seeks out the last link to her past.But will Fern want to be found? Will finding this niece be enough to bury the ghosts that haunt Josie? And can Josie bring herself to destroy her last surviving family in order to save herself? The Eternal Knot, the final chapter in the Lancaster trilogy: Every question answered, every truth revealed. Will Josie finally rest in peace in the new future she lives in?