Science Fiction Adventure
- by -
James Matt Cox
SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS by James Matt Cox
These are the books describing the League and chronicling the adventures of its citizens. A Pattern of Details introduces the League. The Stone Blade series introduces us to Micah Stone and his team of friends. They work in the shadows of intrigue, plot and counter-plot, diligently defending and protecting the League from its enemies.
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The Burning Crown
Book Four in the Stone Blade series.
Failing a mission can cost Micah Stone his life, that's not new, but success may cost him his friends! A trail of defective parts that fail in combat leads Micah to the Starcrown sector: a tight-knit group of rival Noble Houses. He and his team must untangle a complex knot of plot and counter-plot to find who is sabotaging the League. What stands between him and success? The lives of his friends.
Knights with blasters! This book takes place in a League sector where Lords, Ladies, Knights and knaves engage in both interstellar trade and sword duels. We also make a truly amazing discovery about Micah's best friend, Charlie! I love Renaissance Faires, so this book was a LOT of fun to write!
A Pattern of Details
Welcome to the New Stars Trade League!
When Technician Morris Taylor accepted an assignment to train students on a distant world he had no idea his path would lead to possible doom for dozens of worlds and millions of people. After a plague of accidents too numerous to be coincidence Morris discovers he must outsmart an unknown saboteur and traitor to prevent certain death for himself and his friends and an interstellar war.
Morris Taylor is the quintesseintial Guild Technician; the master of his trade who is not distracted from his tasks. That leaves little time for a social life and he doesn't have one! This book both introduces the League and blasts Morris completely out of his comfort zone and into a journey of personal discovery.
Stone Blade
Meet Micah Stone, an unlikely hero.
When Micah Stone left work late he started down a path to change the fates of more worlds than his. Forced into his planet's military, he excels. Then kicked out by a coward, he joins the League Marines. Haunted by demons of his past he enters a world of shadow and intrigue and must face a planet of foes with only two friends to help him. Success means survival. Failure is not an option.
Micah Stone is an ordinary guy whom fate turns into an unlikely hero. He reflects my fascination with the warrior ideal: a true leader people would follow to hell and back, because they KNOW he'll make it through unscathed. Yet, in his own eyes Micah is still that ordinary guy working to atone for his past.
Double Bait
Book Two in the Stone Blade series.
Robin Macy, more comfortable in the virtual world than the real one, is a law-abiding and hard-working data tech until her online boyfriend vanishes. When she shows her skill by tracking him she lands in the clutches of a charming criminal only to be rescued by two people almost as scary. Now she must decide who she can trust as danger and intrigue shadow her every step.
The main character in this story is the stereotypical computer geek: highly skilled and fearless in the net yet socially inept and uncomfortable interacting with others. The difference is this geek is a GIRL!! Along with the main story is her journey of self-discovery; a journey that leads her from shy isolation into the truly awesome person inside her all along.
The Radical Factor
Book Three in the Stone Blade series.
The Semids are a peaceful people and staunch League friends and trade partners. When a group of interstellar terrorists detonates a nuclear bomb at the dedication of their Peace Spire the Semids call on the League for help tracking them down. Micah Stone and his team then embark on a journey of action, intrigue and interstellar trade to track down the ones responsible and bring them to justice.
Even in the highly-advanced universe of the League there are uncivilized barbarians. The Esavians are that and a lot more. They are brutal, savage and intolerant toward anyone but themselves. Micah and his team must puzzle out how to deal with them in a way that doesn't involve total extermination.
Expedient Measures
Book Five in the Stone Blade series.
Politics can be hazardous to your health! When Micah Stone and his team are assigned to help with elections in Grakis Major, they enter a quagmire of bickering unions, vicious crime cartels, squabbling candidates, apathetic citizens and yellow-armored security guards who fight like elite military. Behind it all they find a massive conspiracy to disrupt dozens of economies, including the League's!
Helping with an interstellar election can be fun or it can be full of danger. What, I thought, would happen if greed, power, unions, crime and corruption were carried to their logical conclusions? You end up with a really great story!
Lethal Max
Book Six in the Stone Blade series.
It's a royal wedding to lift the heaviest heart as Micah and Jenn Stone depart on their honeymoon cruise. Aboard ship they find their favorite movie stars, all bound for a goodwill tour of the Semid Federation. Disaster strikes when the ship is hijacked by a madman intent on revenge. Micah is left with little more than his wits to inform his friends of his plight and, somehow, effect a rescue!
This is a good, old-fashioned action move but in a book. Stone Blade made reference to the 'Lethal Max' character so I decided it was time to meet him. Of course, with Micah Stone and 'Lethal' Max Mayhem aboard the same ship action is inevitable!
The Border Incident
Book Seven in the Stone Blade series.
Illegal drugs are bad and worse when they lead to death. More so when it happens to a young couple in the Lost Angels sector on their graduation night. That tragedy embroils Micah and his team in an under-the-garble mission where they find corruption at the highest levels not of one government but two. Failure threatens the existence of Intelligence itself and success may land Micah in prison.
Politics and Intelligence seldom mix, especially when the Senator in charge of your service thinks it's a waste of money. Things go really bad when that senator along with a sector government just like him gets a chance to start a nasty scandal. This story explores what happens and it isn't pretty.
The Blatant Prey
Book Eight in the Stone Blade series.
It's dangerous outside the League. The path to a sensitive data leak leads Micah Stone and his team from glamorous parties with movie stars to the sleaziest town in the sleaziest part of space: the Kensie Free Systems. Micah and his team are abducted and must face assassins, gangsters and solicitors to rescue them. The assassins are not human and they fight as part of a sport known as BloodRing.
This book started out dark and turned even darker before it ended. I knew it was going to be bad but... WOW. It surprised even me. Micah has a lot of pent-up anger from his last few missions and he lets it go here. The bad guys mess with his friends and anyone who knows Micah knows that is never a good idea.
