I wrote a science fiction novel, and it's an absolute riot!
It’s true, I wrote a book. It’s a seat of your pants roller-coasting ride through an alien invasion, and it’s an absolute riot. If you like a great story that’s well told, a page turner that drags you kicking an screaming through to the end of world, wrap your eyes around this tale.
Over one hundred and twelve thousand words for less than a price of a cup of coffee? The only risk is a sleepless night, because you won’t be able to put it down.
If Clancy did Sci Fi. Fast paced action thriller with a sci fi twist, hopefully there will be more to come as there are plenty of hints of a much wider scope.
“What appears to be a missile attack from the direction of the Russian Federation is only the first of a series of events that bring humanity to the very edge of disaster. Huge vessels touch down in the oceans surrounding North America, their intent unknown. Allies are revealed to be enemies and adversaries find common ground as the American President, isolated on Air Force One, has to contend with duplicitous leaders, quarrelling advisers, and a situation that is spiralling out of control.
Throughout, people try to survive and to make a difference. A lone navy destroyer, tired and dispirited after a long deployment, finds itself witness to terrifying events as it fights for its life upon dangerous waters. A former soldier has to don his uniform one last time, defending those he loves on an improvised battlefield only a taxi ride from home. A one time spy finds herself in the same room as an asset she last saw twenty-five years ago, a man who is now a senior member of the Russian armed forces. With incidents merging into an existential war, the President of the United States is left with a choice that is no choice at all.
Experience a sudden and total war that was only ever a horizon away.”
Enjoy this excerpt from Indigo by K. Alex McTomney
Air Force One
President Kyleton was both fascinated and horrified as the track of Indigo One raced towards the icon representing the destroyer on the tactical display. Another screen showed a magnified image of the contact from an optical tracker on the warship.
“What happens when the bogey gets to one mile?” He asked.
“The Churchill will open up with everything it’s got,” said Wolf. “Which, at that range, will be the deck gun and crew-served weapons originally designed for use against small surface craft, fast boats full of explosives, that sort of thing. They’ll have rifle caliber chain guns, .50 cals, and depending on if it can generate a lock, the Phalanx will also engage. The Indigo is too close for her main anti-surface weapons, the Harpoons and the SM-6 with the Baseline 9 Aegis software.”
“Son of a bitch,” said the President out loud, as he saw the destroyer fire its gun across the ‘bow’ of the Indigo.
Kyleton was not an unemotional man. He had learned to maintain a poker face in business, but that was acting, all camouflage and deception. Inside he experienced things with an electric sense of hyper-reality that, if he had not learned early to contain, would have burned him up. This was not the first time as President people would die under his command, but this was the first time he was going to watch it happen. Jesus Christ, they had been using these people in an attempt to establish some level of communication with the Indigos, and now they were going to die.
“What have I done?” He said quietly.
“I beg your pardon, Mr. President?” Asked Nicholson.
USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81)
Commander Telham, Captain of the USS Winston S. Churchill, looked to the image of the eponymous British Prime Minister that sat within a shatterproof frame mounted upon the forward bulkhead of the CIC. Via the black and white image, the spectre of Winston Spencer Churchill, cigar in mouth, a Tommy gun in his soft paw-like hands, glared down at him from his lofty position in history, and dared Telham to do something.
Here goes, he thought. For the first time in his long career he was taking a ship into combat.
“Engage Indigo One with whatever we can bring to bear, fire, fire, fire!” Captain Telham shouted.
The deck gun barked, sending out a shell every few seconds, followed a few moments later by the ripping sound of the Phalanx’s 20mm cannon.
The enormous rooster tail of water, a crest that arched three hundred feet into the air, collapsed as quickly as gravity would allow. Kat’s exhaled with relief at seeing the rooster tail fall, leaving a drifting cloud of mist that was bisected by cannon fire from the Phalanx. Shells from the deck gun burst centrally upon the area of white water generated by the collapsed rooster tail.
“Radar, Indigo One has disappeared from my screen.”
“Sonar. I’ve got it, Indigo One is accelerating, speed now eight-zero knots, range two thousand yards, depth shallow.”
‘Ah, hell,’ thought Kat.
The underwater bogey was less than a minute out and it had them cold.
“Conn, CiC, ahead flank, bearing two-seven-zero,” ordered Telham. “Sound the collision alarm.”
The USS Churchill began to accelerate, her twin screws biting hard into the water, and her rudders pushing the bow around to the west. At best it delayed the inevitable; even at full tilt, the Churchill could only steam at less than half the speed of the submerged Indigo.
Katrina reached out to support herself as the big ship leaned over, its clipper bow sweeping the horizon. She could not help herself from ducking in surprise as the light grey silhouette of Anvil thundered past the starboard side of the bridge, so close in she wondered if its rotor blades would clip the aft superstructure. Kat ran out onto the opposite bridge wing and saw Anvil bank aggressively beyond the stern of the destroyer, turning onto the bearing of the Indigo where the helicopter dropped a small dark object. The helicopter climbed quickly and fled to the south. Seconds later, the sea behind the ship erupted. The surface of the ocean jumped and then was punched through by a tremendous dirty gout of water, steam, gas, and spray. The deep bass boom of the explosion rolled over the ocean surface. Anvil had dropped a depth charge in the path of the Indigo.
‘If I survive this,’ thought Kat to herself. ‘I am going to buy that crew a drink.’
“
