Bøger af Mark Barber

The first of a new line of novels set in the SF world of Infinty. Four very different soldiers with four completely different views on the conduct of war are left to lead the defence of Alpha Four Four as a full scale offensive is mounted against them, all the while being left in the dark as to what lies beneath MagnaObra’s mysterious facility.  Sub Officer Kyle Hawkins is two days out of his training as a Knight Hospitaller when he is sent to the jungle planet of Paradiso. After four years of gruelling training as a warrior of the NeoVatican, criticised by his superiors for his liberal, pacifistic theological views, he volunteers for the Paradiso assignment in an attempt to prove his worth. However, after arriving he finds that it is little more than a simple security detail, attached to a platoon of Fusiliers of the PanOceanian Light Infantry, guarding a sleepy MagnaObra research facility not far from the border of Yujingyu territory known as Alpha Four Four. The platoon Hawkins works alongside is led by Lieutenant Priya Shankar, a driven, serious minded officer whose professionalism makes her popular with her seniors, but seemingly cold and unapproachable to the soldiers under her command. Experienced with peacekeeping, disaster relief operations and ceremonial guard duties, Shankar has done everything expected of a Fusilier officer - except actual combat. Shankar is assisted by her veteran deputy, Sergeant Jim Cochrane, a brash, gregarious ex-Indigo SpecOps soldier whose charisma and respected combat experience holds the loyalty of the platoon. When the sleepy research facility is probed by an unseen enemy force, Hawkins is propelled into action alongside the Fusiliers as political tension between PanOceania and Yu Jing quickly mounts. The secrets of what is hidden beneath the research facility are rumoured to hold information vital to the delicate relations between the Human Sphere, the mysterious alien Tohaa and the deadly forces of the EI. Major Lisette Beckmann, a beautiful but explosively violent operative of the PanO Strategic Security Division is sent to Alpha Four Four just as the fighting begins in earnest to act as a ‘defence consultant’. Four very different soldiers with four completely different views on the conduct of war are left to lead the defence of Alpha Four Four as a full scale offensive is mounted against them, all the while being left in the dark as to what lies beneath MagnaObra’s mysterious facility.

The fame and success following the Battle of Andro has left ex-Sisterhood mercenary and adventurer Aestelle both wealthy and famous, but also spiritually unfulfilled and disenchanted. Knowing that her actions in the lead up to that battle have awakened an evil in the Mountains of Tarkis, she assembles a group of adventurers from her past to return to the mountains and put right her mistake. At her side are the famed adventurers Ragran the Mighty, a brutal warrior from the Howling Peaks, and Thesilar, an elven archer famed for her role in defeating the orc warlord Thrundak. Also in the band is Z'akke, a gentle and optimistic salamander mage-priest with his own mission, and Valletto, another veteran of the Battle of Andro who is needed once more for his skills as an aeromancer.Braving the ancient corridors and tunnels of the ancient, long forgotten mountain tombs, the band of warriors struggle onward in the face of the undead, simultaneously threatened from within by conflicting motivations and forceful personalities. The situation for Aestelle is complicated further by the arrival of Khirius, a vampire lord forced to flee by the Order of the Brothermark, and now the unwilling ally of a dark, secretive underground alliance of undead operating within the very heart of Basilea.

The fragile alliance between Basilea and the Order of the Brothermark is holding together, but increasingly under strain. With the Order of the Brothermark suffering both the demons of the Abyss and from the influence of their former comrades from the fractured Brotherhood, the Basilean Duma knows that it is time to act. Even a simple gesture could symbolically prove their good faith and intentions for the future of this vital alliance.Paladin Defender Kateryn is charged with leading a small force to escort a relic of deep spiritual importance from Spartha, back to its rightful home in the Brothermark. With her is Paladin Defender Orion, freshly promoted and still in the limelight after the heroic stand against the forces of the Abyss at the Battle of Andro.With the dead rising within Basilea itself, Kateryn and Orion are left isolated and alone at the head of a small band, desperately attempting to fight off the forces of evil as well as the bitter politics driven between two factions aligned by faith alone.

The 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, combined with the threat of significant cuts to the current RAF. This title describes the lack of funding and attention which it received during the interwar period.