Today we have a spotlight with author Andria Stone and her book Edge of the Future.
First off, let’s find out a little about Andria:
ANDRIA STONE was born in the South but has lived many places, from California to Indiana to Florida. Traveling has been her passion, with visits to four continents.
Growing up, her favorite books were superhero comics that belonged to her cousins. She’s devoured books ever since. Her favorites became Science Fiction. So, she’s written one, but while doing that—so many plots occurred to her that she decided to write a Trilogy.
She now lives in sunny Florida with two rescued Siamese cats, CoCo and YumYum.
As a science fiction writer, she seeks out new scientific developments to use in her stories, which helps her forecast the techno-social changes of our culture. She hopes the way they’re woven into her storytelling will spark your interest, challenge your sense of cultural propriety and expand your consciousness—not to mention being a mighty fun read.
She has a BA in Liberal Arts from UCLA.
Now that we know who Andria Stone is, let’s find out about her book
“Edge Of The Future”
Edge of the Future is a fast-paced, action-packed, military-scientific, suspense-thriller with a Female Villain, and is the first part of a Trilogy.
One hundred and fifty years after the last war, humanity has united to explore space with colonies on Luna and Mars. But the Europa Mission has just failed and 152 people died in space. No one knows why.
When military bioscientist, Captain Mark Warren’s hidden research installation gets attacked, he meets armored assault Sergeant Axel Von Radach. They become entangled in a deadly fight to stop the theft of classified military secrets by a lethal female adversary.
Her plan to use enemy cyborgs posing as humans, plus unsuspecting high-ranking military personnel with neural implants altered to accept her commands, has every chance of succeeding. Unless…Captain Warren and Sergeant Von Radach get a chance to end her first.
Read on for a preview
Edge of the Future
Andria Stone
Forward
After the last war, most democratic countries on Earth had united, combining their forces into one universal military. This led to a pooling of military funds, resulting in the construction of a new space station, a space dock and a shipyard. The military quickly became the primary spacefaring entity. The moon, officially named Luna, was colonized with three underground military bases. Mars was also colonized with three military bases and its own space station. Recently, world leaders elected to discard the old nomenclature “earth” meaning dirt or soil; formally christening the planet Terra, with Terran Military Defense (TMD) as humanity’s dominant armed forces.
Chapter 1
The Emergency Warning siren blared from every comm system throughout the research facility. Lights dimmed to a flashing red. The PA system crackled with static, announcing, “This is not a drill. The CAMRI facility is under attack. All systems are under full security lockdown. Shelter-in-place.”
Captain Mark Warren froze for a moment. Looking up from his microscope, he scanned the room for his lab partner, Dr. Coulter. She wasn’t there. He didn’t remember her saying where she was going, either. He’d been so absorbed in his experiment he hadn’t paid any attention. He instinctively rushed to the door of their small Xenobiology laboratory and tried to twist the knob. Nope. Not opening. Damn. He hurried to the desk and checked the vid screen for information. Black nothingness. He grabbed his tablet to check for data. Dead. He tapped his comm for any voice message. Silence.
The headache-inducing siren stopped. Only the red warning lights continued flashing. Mark ransacked the cabinets for anything useful. He found a MedKit, a fire extinguisher, but not so much as a box cutter to defend himself. And if someone wanted to hide—there wasn’t even a closet.
All hell broke loose. Mark flinched at the sounds of automatic weapons’ fire coming from several different directions. An explosion ripped through the air. The whole room shuddered. Shit, shit, shit. Mark found the darkest corner in his small lab and hunkered down to wait for the end. Oh, hell. He should have stayed in Portland; nothing ever happened in Portland, or any one of a dozen different places he’d been. Like Paris. Yes, Paris, with Juliette, now only a memory. Long distance relationships with beautiful French women were short-lived. Instead, he’d let the Terran Military recruit him, then snooker him into a tour in the isolated Canadian wilderness, all for the sake of research. If it hadn’t been for his love of science—wait—he remembered an earlier briefing about some fanatics. A faction of global anti-technology extremists had been very vocal lately; making threats. Today they were making good on those threats with bombs and guns. Mark wondered where the soldiers were that should be guarding this place.
***
The Terran Military troop transport ship hovered scant inches above a cold North Dakota spaceport tarmac, while the tactical assault group boarded.
Sergeant Axel Von Radach was the last to jump through the airlock hatch. He headed straight for the pilot’s cabin. He knew the drill; he rapped on the bulkhead and poked his head inside to confirm the coordinates. He recognized the call signs emblazoned in red on both pilots’ helmets. Axel had personal history with both these women.
“Well, hello, ladies. We having lunch in Canada this afternoon?”
To his left, Boss Lady continued tapping the screens on her flight console. “Affirmative. Don’t worry your pretty little head, Sergeant. We’ll be there before you know it.” She tossed him a look over her shoulder, winked, and puckered her lips.
In the Nav seat, Tiger Lily flashed him a smile then gave him a thumbs-up. She tapped the ship’s comm, and announced, “Okay, people, harness up. Ten seconds to liftoff.”
Axel backed out, slid around the bulkhead into the nearest empty harness station, and strapped himself to the hull.
As they became airborne, the interior lighting switched to deep blue. The same color glowed in the twin light strips on the floor. Today, his transport held one platoon of thirty soldiers. Mostly men, with some women, all with buzz cuts or shaved heads. Each outfitted in urban gray tactical combat armor, gear, and pulse weapons. They were divided into two squads sitting opposite each other.
Lieutenant Monroe always positioned himself in the middle, facing the hatch. Inside his helmet, Monroe’s mouth moved, and his head bobbed. Axel knew he was conversing with HQ. Sergeant Russo, of Bravo Squad, sat centered along the back, updating his people in subdued tones.
Axel commed his squad. “Listen up. Terrorists have attacked CAMRI, a joint Canadian-American Military Research Installation outside Churchill, Manitoba. We received an alert when their systems went offline. An unknown number of heavily armed militants have been onsite now for fifteen minutes. CAMRI’s onsite forces have gone dark, so we have no news on casualties or damages. Our orders are to eliminate any and all threats. We knew this was a military research installation, but now suspect it may house classified biomaterials. I say again, classified biomaterials. Use extreme caution in any laboratory areas. I don’t want anyone bringing back a deadly pathogen. Am I clear?”
In unison, fourteen voices responded, “Yes, Sergeant.”
Axel continued, “They’re dropping us onto the roof. The structure is two levels of twenty-four laboratories, each. We’ll split up, sweep it from the top down. Bravo Squad is taking the ground floor.” Axel grinned. “Neutralize all the bad guys—not any of the good guys—and do not go blowing holes in things for the fun of it—unless you want them billing us for the damages.”
Again, fourteen voices responded, “Yes, Sergeant.”
The ship’s comm buzzed. Tiger Lily warned, “Okay people, lock and load. Hot LZ in twenty seconds.”
***
A massive explosion detonated somewhere close in the corridor outside Mark’s lab, followed by weapon fire, yelling and screaming, then silence.
If you like this you can buy the book on Amazon at the links below
Alex R Carver 