Black Key Books started as a big site meant to showcase books in all their glory, but as with many technical things, it grew and grew until it became a slog to update and keep updated. I'm sure that's fascinating to everyone reading this, but the end result is that this new site is faster, slimmer, and leaves more time for the good stuff: writing new stories!
With that in mind, here's a quick hit on a few things up and running now, if you're looking for a new galaxy to jump into:
First up, Starshot is free this week on Amazon - through Friday, you can snag the novel for a grand total of $0 and step into a completed, galaxy-spanning series.
If you're one that wants to jump in and get discounted pre-order pricing, you've got some options coming up. As ever, these will all be popping up everywhere in print on their release days (4th Tuesday of the month, every month) too.
Check'em out:
The Farthest Star: The Far Horizons Book One (September)
In the far future, a dormant android awakes on a vast starship to find humanity's last hopes rest with him.
Launched to carry the human species across the galaxy, Starship's generations-long journey has crumbled as machines took everything from their human creators, including life itself. Given a mission by humanity's last digital remnants, Gamma must traverse Starship's vast, dangerous bulk in search of a way to preserve Starship's original purpose.
Yet Gamma isn't the only intelligent machine on Starship, and some want a very different end as the spacecraft approaches its final destination. As he confronts the mechs that've claimed Starship as their own, the key to Gamma's survival will come not only from his metal fists, but from figuring out why Starship's humans fell in the first place.
A far-future science fiction action adventure that blends the real and virtual worlds, The Farthest Star kicks off a series that will have you wondering whether what makes us human comes our biology, or our beliefs.
Rogue Bet: The Wild Nines Book Four (October)
Turns out saving the solar system doesn't make you a hero. It makes you a target.
With his crew gone their separate ways, Davin runs cargo from Mars to the Moon, taking bit jobs as they come in and watching as the safe play slowly ruins his relationship with Phyla. Itching for some action, Davin jumps at a chance when a call comes in to get a secret weapon all the way out to Jupiter. It's a mission that turns dangerous quick, but then, isn't that what Davin's wanted?
Bursting into a new story set after the first *Wild Nines* novels, *Rogue Bet* slams Davin's cocky attitude into big problems with messy solutions. Friends and enemies return, not always on the same sides, as Davin and Phyla are pulled into a web more dangerous than any they've been in before.
A space opera filled with action, mystery and characters that'll grab you from the first page, Rogue Bet blasts off a new story that puts the fate of the solar system on one freighter and its mercenary crew.
Hope's Debt: Sever Squad Book Three (November)
For some, their past haunts them. For Sever Squad, their past gets revenge.
After leaving Dynas with secrets and suspicions, Sever Squad abandons their employer and makes for a secluded mining world to figure out what's next. An offer to help remove some stubborn locals serves as a paycheck, one that quickly turns sour when Sever realizes those same locals aren't exactly the deadly killers they're supposed to be.
Trading conscience for cash is nothing new, but the stakes jump up when Sever's knowledge makes it to the wider galaxy and draws the wrong kind of attention. What should have been a chance to reset turns into a desperate fight for survival for both Sever and the miners as overwhelming force floods the world and threatens the mercenaries with total annihilation.
All to keep a secret.
Hope's Debt continues the sci-fi action adventure of the Sever Squad series, a smash-and-shoot story that runs on adrenaline from start to finish.
