Nomad Omnibus 01_A Kurtherian Gambit Series

by Craig Martelle

  “I am sure that I should be offended, but you are such a hunk of man candy, Terry Henry Walton, that I can find no anger to throw your way,” Felicity drawled. Terry beamed his best smile. Even though his face still hurt from the pounding Char had given him, the bruises were gone.

  Terry turned serious and looked at Billy. “We lost Devlin, and Lacy took a shot to the head. She’s got a concussion. James has some broken ribs, but is on the mend. Everyone did well. They stood tall before the enemy,” Terry reported.

  “He was a big fucker,” Billy said sympathetically.

  “Yeah, something like that, but we found really good people out there. Antioch, Claire, and their kids are going to help us grow,” Terry suggested, sweeping an arm to take in the big family. The old couple nodded and smiled. “We could use some food. It was a rough trip out of the Wastelands for them.”

  Billy sent Mark and Boris to load up from one of the freezers. Antioch sent his older children to help.

  When they returned, it was time for everyone to go their own way.

  “Mark, take the members of the Force to the barracks and get them and the horses settled. The major and I will show this good people their new home and fields, and then we’ll find you first thing tomorrow and get back on track with the training.”

  “Where are you going to take us next, TH?” Billy asked. Terry bristled as he did not yet consider Billy a friend, although the smaller man was growing on him.

  He paused, then decided to let it go.

  “I have some ideas,” Terry said, leaving everything unsaid. “We’ll be by sometime tomorrow.”

  Terry turned before Billy could reply. He and Char helped Claire and Antioch onto the horses. The group slowly moved on, horses, people, and cows heading toward a new life.

  * * *

  “We don’t have what we need, no matter how much you yell and stamp your feet!” Merrit told Timmons for the third time.

  “I want to blow shit up!” he howled.

  “We both do, but we need to go at this a little different way. How about a nitrate bomb? We can build us a cart to haul the damn thing and then, kaboom!” Merrit suggested, smiling.

  They sat within an old lab of the Air Force Academy. Debris from the ruined building had blocked the entrance. They’d spent days clearing it before finally gaining access. The lab was mostly intact because it had been inaccessible, but the chemicals were in a poor state. They hadn’t kept well for twenty years.

  The petroleum-based liquids, those things that Timmons wanted most, had either evaporated, gotten contaminated with moisture, or the container had failed. Some other chemicals were surprisingly intact, having been stored better or maybe just luckier.

  “Can we make gunpowder?” Timmons asked.

  “We can always make gunpowder, but we need to dig up a few other chemicals that we should be able to find in the hills. Electricity would be nice to help us grind the ingredients,” Merrit suggested.

  “Then that’s what we need to do,” Timmons said, far more calmly. Even if it took a month, at least they would be working toward something more than just eating and existing. There was plenty for every member of the pack to do. Saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, all ground to a fine powder.

  Timmons didn’t know why he had fixated on TATP or TNT, when something like gunpowder was significantly easier to produce and would fill the gap until they had something more powerful.

  If anyone tried to challenge his leadership, he’d be ready. If Marcus returned, he’d be ready for him, too. They were going to build a new world, where Werewolves were at the center. No one could stand up to them. The Forsaken, TQB, and all the rest. They hadn’t heard from them in decades. They were all gone, just like everyone else. Timmons’s lip curled as he snarled at those who had gone before, those who had hung him and his pack out to dry. He accepted the challenge to rectify that.

  “Time to get to work,” Timmons told his fellow Werewolf.

  The End of Nomad Redeemed

  Terry Henry Walton will return in Nomad Unleashed, February 2017

  Author Notes - Craig Martelle

  Written January 9th, 2017

  I'm a lifelong daydreamer and student of human interaction. I have some degrees, but those don't matter when it comes to telling the story. Engaging characters within a believable narrative- that's what it’s all about. I live in the interior of Alaska, far away from an awful lot, but I love it here. It is natural beauty at its finest.

  We love Alaska, but sometimes you just have to get away. We spent a week in Hawai’i while the final edits were taking place on Nomad Redeemed in early January, 2017. Alaska is so cold and dark, it takes going somewhere light and warm to recharge the bodies and power through the rest of winter.

  So we did, but that didn’t hold us back from reaching out and working to make Nomad Redeemed a worthy successor to Nomad Found. Plus, I was able to start Nomad Unleashed while on the plane here. I had to flesh out a few ideas and get the story off right with a little action, a little insight into where Terry is taking the Force de Guerre.

  Yes, my style is a little different from Michael’s and this story arc starts in a post-apocalyptic world, but eventually, the FDG will make it into space as a group that Bethany Anne can send to the universe’s hot spots that don’t rise to the attention of the Queen’s Bitches.

  In the interim, Terry needs to help bring the world back to a civilized state. Much work to do and only a limited amount of time – only 130 years!

  Thank you to those who’ve read Nomad Found and left reviews! You warm my heart, and I listen to your comments. We’ll continue to improve the three-dimensional view of the characters as you’ve asked while keeping the action going. It is a dynamic world in which TH and Char live.

  Diane Velasquez and Dorene Johnson are perpetually ready to lend a helping hand by reading a passage and telling me how it resonates. Kat Lind has been a force of nature in making me a better writer because she makes me want to be a better writer. Some of my newest readers are making this a fun trip, along with some stalwart folks who joined me in the Free Trader series – Sherry Foster, Melissa Ratcliffe, Norman Meredith, Nipa Jhaveri, Heath Felps, and so many more. If I left you off, it was unintentional and everyone deserves a mention.

  The editor and publisher of my post-apocalyptic End Times Alaska series is also on board and working to make sure that the final book of that series comes out at the same time as Nomad Redeemed. Thank you! Monique Lewis Happy for keeping my books relevant in both the traditionally published and self-published world. A rising tide floats all boats, as I like to say.

  And one final thank you to Michael Anderle for driving this train. The Kurtherian Gambit is a great series with an endless universe of stories. I appreciate the opportunity to fill in one small gap of time in one tiny place on the third rock from the sun.

  Peace to all – time to get back to work on Nomad Unleashed. TH & Char have city-states to dismantle and rebuild. So much work to do, but with the power of a bullwhip and keen minds, they have a plan…

  If you liked this story, you might like some of my other books.

  You can join my mailing list by dropping by my website www.craigmartelle.com or if you have any comments, shoot me a note at craig@craigmartelle.com. I am always happy to hear from people who’ve read my work. I try to answer every email I receive.

  If you liked the story, please write a short review for me on Amazon. I greatly appreciate any kind words, even one or two sentences go a long way. The number of reviews an ebook receives greatly improves how well an ebook does on Amazon.

  Amazon – www.amazon.com/author/craigmartelle

  Facebook – www.facebook.com/authorcraigmartelle

  My web page – www.craigmartelle.com

  Twitter – www.twitter.com/rick_banik

  Thank you for reading Nomad Found!

  Written January 14th, 2016

  As always, can I say with a HUGE amount of appreciation how much it means to me that you not
only read this book, but you are reading these notes as well?

  (Quick note, Please read the end comments related to Craig’s Trad Pubbed book later.)

  So, how can everything go right, and wrong, in the space of 48 hours? (Warning - RANT coming ahead!)

  On the wrong side - please don’t ever ask a romance writer if a Romance book (notice the capital ‘R’) needs an HEA? (Happy Ever After - or HEA for Now). Now, this story is coming from the 20Books group (Indie Authors supporting each other), and the individual who asked the question just wanted to know the answer. You know, a simple yes or no?

  Unfortunately, there were those who decided they wanted to argue the point.

  Now, I happened to be editing Claimed By Honor (with Justin Sloan) on this particular day, and only kinda knew what was going on when someone had decided to jump out of the group due to ‘stuff said’ and personally messaged me they were leaving.

  I’m not into angst, anger, harsh words…It just isn’t me at all. (Mind you, I FEEL these emotions a fair amount of times, but I don’t like being a part of arguments because… arguments!) Further, when I saw another post by a person I admire the next morning, who was still feeling emotions over this discussion in the 20Books group, it sucked for me to know it sucked for her.

  In the end, I would have personally told those arguing the facts. The fact that Romance (the category) has a MAJOR trope called the HEA. If you choose not to abide by the trope and then label your book a Romance, you are going to go down in a flaming mess. That a person doesn’t like the idea the category 'Romance' needs an HEA doesn’t change the reality of readers expectations.

  Obviously, this isn't true for 100% of all readers, but it is the vast majority. More than enough to kill the reviews for any particular book.

  Once I told them this, I would tell them to go out and do what they are going to do based on the information. If they ignore the warning and should they get blasted to smithereens by reviews, don’t say they weren’t warned, or that the world was against them.

  The World isn’t anymore against them than if they jumped off a building and went SPLAT on the ground twenty stories below.

  Gravity isn’t against them, it just is.

  (Speculation on Dark Matter / Dark Energy and entangled particles connected to gravity can be found here …What? You didn’t think I dreamt up all this science stuff, right? (grin!) https://www.wired.com/2017/01/case-dark-matter/)

  So, we had a ton of ignorance and a non-bliss discussion with (I think) over 300 replies. (I never did read the whole post, because of arguments, remember?) That was the sucky part of the last 48 hours since Claimed By Honor released.

  On the positive side: family is good, Claimed By Honor went to at least #180 in the store, a best seller in multiple categories and Justin Sloan is a top 30 Science Fiction author again!

  Oh, and yours truly is a top 100 author in all of Amazon for the fifth straight day.

 

  Because of my success, there is HUGE gnashing of teeth out in a couple of authoring groups about that damned Michael Anderle and his fans. (Apparently, you are now lumped in WITH me for being too stupid to understand what makes a good book - I’m assuming a good book is anything they write, I can’t say, I haven’t read them. I’m a pulp fiction writer; I write what I like to read and it so happens that a few others like these stories I write, too.)

  Well, for those of you who have read these author notes from way back in the very beginning of The Kurtherian Gambit, you won’t be surprised by my next sentence.

  I’ve got my middle finger up to those who are still hating on us.

  The haters can kiss my ever-loving-Indie-Publishing-Outlaw-Ass… My fans are the FUCKING BEST IN THE WORLD. (Ooops, there I went again, sticking ‘yet another F*Bomb’ in my book.) We are smart, intelligent, giving, supportive, and frankly, don’t give a shit about their opinions. So, I WISH THEM THE BEST THAT LIFE HAS TO OFFER and a few suggestions, not the least of which is …

  You be you, and let us be us.

  We all have problems, and no life is perfect. But, my fans wouldn’t enjoy my stories if they didn’t appreciate justice, desire to see injustice served and enjoy the friendship and all around fun that the characters exhibit. Does this mean my fans DON’T like other types of books?

  NO!

  Many of you, my fans, read a ton of different genre’s, support multiple authors, encourage people in remarkable ways and are amazing in your diversity… These grumbling individuals need to be careful they don’t have an online fan riot backlash.

  Because, if this stuff keeps up (attacking my fans). I’ll track down their online internet conversations and personally and privately warn them they can say whatever they want about me… It comes with the territory of success.

  But if they keep up with this speaking and slurring my fans?

  Yeah, I’ll shine a little light their way for doing that, and I don’t think they will enjoy the discussions with so many pissed off, highly literate and well-read individuals.

 

  Now, here is the second of the Terry Henry Walton Chronicles, and I have to say I love this series! Yeah, it’s different, but I damned well enjoy TH and Char and the rest. I hated that some of those friends from book 01 died, but gosh damn that dude was a colossal son-of-a-bitch!

  What’s going on with the rest of the pack? Is TH going to get GOOD beer (because, priorities, you know?) and will the mayor get the car running and I wonder whether Felicity will stay the ugly person she seems like she is, or will she change, too? This feels like a fun soap-opera to me, and I’m digging every damned page.

  So, I’m grabbing the popcorn like so many others and popping it in my mouth, wondering what is coming up next?

  Best Regards,

  Michael Anderle

  P.S. - Check out the first few chapters of End Times Alaska. It isn’t in Kindle Unlimited (because it was published by a traditional publisher who has constraints, I think). Who knows, maybe at some point in the future we can look to the merging of Indie and Trad Publishing as being supported by this book, right here. If the traditional publisher notices a lift in sales? We might change the future of how we (Trad Pub, Indie Author and Fans) all work together.

 

  (Actually, yes, yes I am.)

  End Times Alaska - a four-book series about survival and life after the destruction of society in the frigid cold of interior Alaska.

  “This book drew me in right away. I loved the characters and the descriptions of the area. I could almost see the place. It was really intense at some points. I loved the amount of detail used to describe how the people handled the sudden changes to their lifestyle. I was completely unable to put this book down,” an Amazon five-star review.

  Please enjoy the first two short chapters of ENDURE, book 01 in the series.

  http://www.winlockpress.com

  Why?

  Smoke didn’t billow from the barrel after I fired at the injured animal. I could see clearly the hole I’d blown through its chest. It had only been three days since the dog’s humans had been home, but that was long enough.

  The pair of dogs had fought viciously. One was dead and the other mortally wounded. I only put him out of his misery, at least that’s what I told myself.

  I’d broken through a window of a neighbor’s home when I heard the pitiful wailing of the injured dog. I knew something was wrong when I heard it. A dog. Dying.

  I couldn’t leave it in pain, but that didn’t make me feel any better.

  It’d be best if I buried the two dogs, but temperatures were way too cold. What was it? Minus twenty Fahrenheit? Even the snow was frozen hard.

  I left the dog where it lay, not far from its former house mate. I’d come back when it was warmer, before they started to decompose, and give them a proper burial.

  I wond
ered how many times I’d tell myself that same story. I shoved the pistol, already cool after the shot, back into my pocket and put my glove on. I had the short walk home to think about how our lives had been a mere three days ago.

  The Instant

  It was Tuesday morning. My wife, Madison, was a professor and started later in the day, so she was still home. Students in college couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed early. Life began at the crack of noon. This was the best for us as it fit our lifestyle. I’d retired from the Marines quite a few years back, and filled the role of house husband, kept man, whatever you wanted to call it. I was too busy with the kids to work. In a previous life, I was gone from home two weeks out of every month.