Showing results by author "Allan Cole" in All Categories

The first book in an action–packed new SF adventure series. Vulcan is a factory planet, centuries old, Company run, ugly as sin, and unfeeling as death. Vulcan breeds just two types of native: complacent or tough. Sten is tough. When his family is killed in a mysterious accident, Sten rebels, harassing the Company from the metal world’s endless maze-like warrens. He could end up just another burnt–out Delinquent. But people like Sten never give up.

The Eternal Emperor was back and ready to save his Empire from collapse. Only Sten guessed that something was rotten at the core. The Empire is in chaos. The once great Imperial Navy has been shattered in battle and lies burning in space, driven by a civil war that threatens to engulf humanity’s future. For the revered Eternal Emperor is not the man his subjects thought him to be — and may not even be human at all. And it is Sten who now leads humanity’s fight for survival.

The Eternal Emperor's fleets were taking a beating. Had even Sten met his match? Sten's luck seems to have deserted him. He had barely scraped through Imperial flight school when he was assigned a tacdivision in the Fringe Worlds. The enemy couldn't have picked a better time or place to launch their long-planned attack against the Empire. But Sten won't give up without a fight.

Sten had fought his way up from slave labor on a factory world to commander of the Eternal Emperor’s bodyguard, the Imperial Gurkhas. But during his first three months on Prime World, the most dangerous weapons Sten had encountered were the well–phrased lies of Court politicians. It seemed no place for an honest fighting man. But when a bomb destroys a local bar, Sten discovers the danger and corruption behind Court intrigue.

The Eternal Emperor was dead, and the five members of the Privy Council ruled in his place. But they quickly discovered that their power would collapse around them if they didn’t locate the Emperor’s secret source of Anti-Matter Two, the economic keystone of the Empire. And so they sent a team of crack commandos to capture Sten, one of their late ruler’s few surviving confidantes.

Sten had fully expected to die in a blaze of glory, taking his Emperor's greatest foe with him. Instead he was a slave laborer in a P.O.W. camp deep in the heart of enemy territory. But sitting out the action had never been Sten's style. And now that the war was building to a climax, the Eternal Emperor needed him more than ever. Not even the toughest prison in the known universe could keep Sten from his mission . . .

Sten embarks on the ultimate treasure hunt: the search for the source of the Eternal Emperor's power. But his quest uncovers the dark secret of the emperor's past - and Sten finds himself questioning his loyalties - and whether the only way to save the human race is to destroy the Empire he vowed to protect.

A gripping war story. For the first - and only - time in fiction, A Reckoning for Kings tells the story of the Vietnam conflict from both sides - Americans as well as North Vietnamese. In four short months - during the lightning-quick, bloody campaign known as the Tet Offensive - two bitterly opposing armies would clash in an epoch-shattering encounter that would alter the course of the war and the shape of the world forever. It was a time when America won the battle but lost the war.

Raised on the factory planet of Vulcan, Sten soon learns about the survival of the toughest. Now he wants more than survival. The Eternal Emperor rules countless worlds across the galaxy. Vast armies and huge fleets await his command. But when the Emperor needs to pacify the Wolf Worlds, the planets of an insignificant cluster that have raised space piracy to a low art, he turns to Mantis Team and its small band of militant problem–solvers. Sten’s destiny is in his own hands.

Mutiny! In the Eternal Emperor's service it is forbidden to even speak the word. To join an insurgency is a firing-squad offense. So, when the crewmembers of the Flame turn traitor and steal an entire space train of Imperium X - the second most valuable element in the Empire - and threaten to sell it to the Emperor's enemies, the Emperor only has one option...to send in his best assassin and dirty trickster: Sten!

With the Empire poised on the edge of war, Sten spearheads the Eternal Emperor’s crackdown on the pirates and traitorous profiteers who are arming his enemies with vital war supplies. A trap is baited to lure the villains into a truel - a three-way duel. Only one thing stands in Sten’s way: Venatora, the beautiful pirate queen he’s grown to love. When it comes down to it, can he overcome loyalty and duty and pull the trigger?

Ever since Amalric Antero returned from the legendary Far Kingdoms, bringing with him magic and riches, the people of Orissa believed they lived in a golden age. Even Amalric did not suspect the truth: that dark forces from another world threatened his beloved city. Then a beautiful stranger arrived claiming to be the great-granddaughter of Janos Greycloak, master-wizard and betrayer of Amalric’s youth.

All of Orissa believed that Rali Emilie Antero, legendary warrior and sorceress extraordinaire, was dead, lost at sea during some grand adventure gone wrong. In fact, Rali was not dead, but left entombed in ice to dream for eternity—until a goddess needed her for one last quest....

Captain Rali Emilie Antero came from an illustrious family of traders, wizards, and adventurers. But Rali cared little for magic, and even less for journeying. She was a soldier, captain of the elite Maranon Guard, staunch defenders of the majestic city of Orissa. But her family legacy was about to catch up with her.

Fresh from their mission to pacify the Wolf Worlds, Sten and his Mantis Team encounter a mysterious ship that has been lost among the stars for thousands of years. At first, everyone aboard appears to be long dead. Then a strange Being beckons, pleading for help. More disturbing: The presence of AM2, a strategically vital fuel tightly controlled by their boss - The Eternal Emperor. They are ordered to retrieve the remaining AM2 "at all costs."

A nameless evil stalks the land, preying on all that lives, human and demon alike. Only one man has the power to stem the ravening tide: Safar Timura, greatest wizard of the age, whose matchless magic once raised Iraj Protarus to the throne of all Esmir ... and then, when king turned tyrant, destroyed him. Now Safar is done with the deadly intrigues of courts and kings.

King of Kings, Lord over Men and Demons Alike: Only one ruler had ever held that title, and now Iraj Protarus, an orphaned prince exiled to a small village high in the Valley of the Clouds, dreamed of being the next great conqueror. The key to his destiny would be Safar Timura, a youth with an awesome gift for sorcery, whose visions foretold Iraj's rise to power. And in those visions, Safar stood at Iraj's side, his soul-blasting spells enabling his friend to attain his dreams.

Young, pampered Amalric Antero cared only for real places and possible dreams. But then he met Janos Greycloak, a dashing soldier who dabbled in forbidden magic and who carried on him proof of riches and mysteries beyond imagination. And suddenly Amalric found himself setting out on the adventure of a lifetime, a daring and perilous quest through unknown lands peopled by nightmares, to seek the ultimate in fables... The Far Kingdoms!

S.O.S. is a fine WWII-era historical novel (based on Allan Cole’s family experiences) set in Florida, on the “Home Front.” Nazi submarine attacks off the coast are only the start of the problems for local residents. Will humans overcome obstacles in the face of adversity and surely save the day? The author writes: “Between February & May of 1942, German U-boats operated with impunity off the Florida coast, sinking nearly two dozen freighters from Cape Canaveral to Key West & killing 5,000 people. Residents were horrified witnesses of the attacks...."

Lucky in Cyprus is a coming-of-age story set in the Middle East during the height of the Cold War. An American teenager - son of a CIA operative - is inspired by grand events and a Greek Cypriot teacher to learn about survival and his art. He witnesses earthquakes and riots and terrorist attacks, but in the end it is his teacher's gentle lessons that keep him whole.