Eleven Science Fiction adventure stories, throwbacks to the pulp days of off-world exploration and colonization on a dazzling, mysterious, dangerous planet. Four never-before published stories are included with stories that appeared in top publications - Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Tomorrow Speculative Fiction Magazine, Gorezone Magazine, Oceans of the Mind Magazine, Fantastic Stories of the Imagination Magazine, Adventure Anthology and Cricket Children's Magazine. Along the backwash of the Milky Way Galaxy lies a sun-kissed planet Earthlings call Octavion, a world of sparkling blue...

Being Different Is Lonely ... Until You Find Another Like You A troubled, seventeen year old boy finally admits to himself he is different from other boys. Marc LeRoux is the finest athlete in his high school, but his abilities go far beyond what he's demonstrated on the gymnastics team. On a lonely walk along the neutral ground (medians are called neutral grounds in New Orleans) not far from his home, Marc is attacked by two men, one with a gun. He turns on the muggers and uses his powers to knock both out and escape. It is exhilarating and he feels good for the first time in a long time....

NEW ORLEANS HOMICIDE - LaStanza Novel #6 Murder is no stranger to New Orleans and the Easter Weekend of 1986 is particularly violent, an elderly man brutally murdered on Good Friday evening, a young woman shot to death on Saturday evening, a middle-aged woman bludgeoned to death on Easter morning. Homicide detectives, responding to the scenes, are again faced with sudden violence. Det. LaStanza, handling the first murder, feels a connection with the victim, a ninety-one year old Italian-American named Venetta. When asked by the victim's family what are the chances he'll catch the killers, he...

GRIM REAPER - LaStanza Novel #1 This is New Orleans - 1981. Police Detective Dino LaStanza's first week in Homicide and he must handle the horrific murder of Marie Sumner, slashed to death on a quiet French Quarter street. LaStanza and his partner Mark Land work long, frustrating hours with no results. When another woman is slashed to death along Bayou St. John, the detectives bear witness to the carnage again. LaStanza feels even worse this time, almost useless. The media labels the killer 'The Slasher' and when he strikes a third time - murdering the daughter of a wealthy banker - LaStanza...

THE BIG KISS - LaStanza Novel #2 This is New Orleans - 1982. In Homicide, you're only as good as your last case. Fresh from solving the Slasher Murders, NOPD Homicide Det. LaStanza must investigate a 'floater' pulled from the Mississippi River. The bloated body with two holes in the head is the son-in-law of the La Cosa Nostra Boss Alphonso Badalamente. Sicilian-American LaStanza's is in the middle of a Mafia slaying. LaStanza's new partner, Paul Snowood, who dresses in cowboy get-ups, teases LaStanza with, "There goes your perfect record." The killer is probably back in Detroit or Chicago or...

BLUE ORLEANS - LaStanza Novel #3 This is New Orleans - 1982 The case is not only a 'whodunit' but also a 'whoisit' - the case of a body dumped in a ditch along an isolated stretch of a deserted highway. The victim is shot in the back of the head, execution-style. A bone-tired NOPD Det. LaStanza identifies the victim then meets his victim's seventeen year old daughter who is reluctant to talk at first, but when she does, she draws LaStanza to a Latin-American killing circle where he must build a case against drug importers and keep the daughter alive. The 'Electric Daughter' is an alluring,...

THE BIG SHOW - LaStanza Novel #5 This is New Orleans - 1985. A burning man stumbles in front of Det. Dino LaStanza's police car. Doused with gasoline, the victim had been set afire with a flare gun. How did this homeless man manage to get murdered along the manicured lawns of the Garden District? Who was he? And who would commit such a vicious crime? In every profession there's a big show In the army it's the Special Forces In the navy it's the Seals In baseball it's the Major Leagues In football it's the NFL In police work it's the Homicide Division Homicide - The big pressure cooker. The...

Two months after Hurricane Katrina the New Orleans Police Department is as devastated as the city - police stations destroyed, mass desertions of officers, no reliable communications, a fraction of the force struggling to hold it all together. The slow process of rebuilding brings an influx of honest workers along with criminals eager to fill the void left when most of the thugs evacuated the city. The Brown Ravens, a multiracial, super-violent crew of drug dealers sets up in the half-deserted city. To solidify their turf, they begin to litter the streets with murder victims. Organized crime...