Harvest End

Four hundred years have passed since Earth first colonized other star systems. Spreading out into the Milky Way, humanity has found new worlds to embrace in a galaxy-spanning governorship called the League of Worlds. Peace, lasting for nearly a century, is broken only by pirates and the voices of a distant separatist movement. It is a time when the extended family of man prospers. Traveling the trade routes across the League of Worlds, a merchant vessel arrives at Madras, a world far out on the fringe of colonized space. Apprehension begins to build when the once-busy colony refuses to respond to the usual hails. Bringing their ship planet-side, they are shocked to find the colony reduced to sand and its twenty thousand inhabitants missing. The mystery of Madras lingers over the merchant vessel, haunting the crew as they resume their journey. Eager to reach the next marketplace, they are unaware that something has come back with them. Invisible, voracious, and relentless, it is a killer of worlds. And it is spreading to each colony they visit. Join our hero, Finn Holt, the young and courageous Captain of the military ship, Ajax, as he receives orders to escort a Science Council vessel to Madras to investigate. The routine assignment quickly turns to horror when the magnitude of what has happened becomes clear, and disaster looms when he realizes the Ajax is contaminated and showing signs of a deadly transformation. As ship systems begin to fail and fear grips the crew, an impossible survivor arrives to tell his desperate story. ‘The scourge,’ he says, ‘is spreading from colony to colony across the inner systems. Millions upon millions have already perished, and time is running out.’Come with Finn and the crew of the Ajax as they search for answers amidst a growing chaos. In a horrific and mind-bending climax, Finn comes face to face with the ravager of the human empire and is shocked to discover its origin. Stunningly suspenseful, Harvest End is an exciting sci-fi thriller placed in the future, in the style of Niven and Pournelle, and Frank Herbert, and a dash of Stephen King. (It is a full-length novel with +85,000 words.)