Böcker av J N McLaughlin

Vacation Among the Stars! With her boss on an extended vacation to see his nephew on Unitorium, Spaulding Recovery is officially on hiatus, and Bea's indomitable mother decides this is the perfect opportunity for some mother-daughter bonding- and they're going to do it in style! The wealthy and artistic from across the Republic have gathered aboard the five star luxury liner Astral Angel, not just for the art shows and expensive champagne, but for the lure of adventure. That's right! The tourist agency has promised to take its affluent and famous guests to where no one has gone before ... and with alien hunting all the rage, they get to do it from a stateroom in their hot tubs. But this may turn out to be more than a simple advertising ploy, and Bea thinks she's being taken advantage of, either by the people that made the brochure, or the universe. She doesn't know which, but now it's up to her to pull their Hors D'oeuvres out of the fire, save the day, and get everyone home in one piece!

SHUTLZ-- As the UN ramps up production of ships and opens new training facilities for soldiers, the first elected governor of Mars realizes that he might be facing an invasion. With Lieutenant Governor Jung dead, murdered by a soldier on Ganymede, Shultz must bear the full weight of the office he chose alone, and find a way to keep Mars free. COMPTON-- Amidst a pending court-martial the Lieutenant Colonel begins to reflect on what it means to be a soldier. His most trusted ally and friend, Sergeant Jenkins, is silenced about the events on Ganymede by a superior, and Compton knows the order to enact martial law looms over Mars. One day soon he will be ordered to monitor and arrest his own neighbors. TETSUYA-- For Detective Takahashi the way of justice is clouded. He knows Matthew Middleton and his crew have committed crimes, but they are not criminals, and he finds that the demands of duty no longer align with his heart. ALEXANDRIA-- For every mountain there is a valley. Her plans to change the world have led Alexandria to this place. Confined, interrogated, and with her company crumbling under Modi's UN, she finds that she has lost the vision. MAT-- Feeling the weight of family on his shoulders, he can do nothing but watch as Misaki buries her pain in endless work, and Yuri, returning to his depression drinks himself into oblivion. To add to his burdens, no one wants to buy Apex ore.

Have Spaceship-Will Travel In the wake of the Modronovich Incident a new era of industry and interstellar exploration has begun. Everyone wants to find 'them' ... the aliens ... even if the cosmic trail is two-hundred and fifty years old, and finding them might be a bad idea. After the initial whirlwind of movie offers and government interviews, Bea has settled down to the quieter life as Spaulding Recovery Service's simple starship pilot, enjoying her time between the sandy beaches of the Pearls, and long trips into the long dark hauling cargo or tracking down derelict ships for almighty insurance companies. That is until she gets a call from Algernon, the Asimov Institute's synthetic consciousness. It seems the famed Institute has lost a ship, and since everyone else is hunting aliens, Bea's the woman for the job. It's good money, and her toff boss says do it ... but something's not right. Why does the Institute seem more concerned with a star outside of the Republic's borders than they do about the lost ship and her crew? And why does the staff they send with her act like soldiers out of uniform?