Mike Lane journeys over 100 million miles to Mars, to officially become the first man to make it on the Red Planet. After eight months of space travel, he arrives safely; only to have his space craft explode within six minutes after landing. It turns out he isn't alone on Mars ... and he isn't welcome. Swedish-based company, The Corporation, planned to send a full colony crew to Mars. Before they would be allowed to do this, they had to prove that humans could indeed survive on the red planet alone. Sent on a proof of concept mission, we meet our everyday hero: Mike Lane. The plan was set for Mike to live on Mars by himself for six years, until the first full colony team was sent; however, as with anything in life, plans changed ... While Lane survives the explosion of his space craft, the next string of events would leave him frustrated, confused, and shocked. Mike thinks he is following in the footsteps of other space exploration trail blazers, such as Alan Shepard, Neil Armstrong, and Yuri Gagarin; hoping to contribute significantly to the whole 'one giant leap for mankind' idea. However, as it turns out, he may have been way off base about that. 3,000 kilometers away, in a secret underground base, a beautiful alien-human hybrid woman observes Lane. Using pirated satellite signals, she sees the explosion, and the resilient Lane, moving forward and setting-up his colony site. As she watches, she admires his bravery, and his resolve. Much, much closer, a vicious little Eridani Drone is watching him as well, but for a very different reason. The Drone must follow its Master's orders. It must show its Master how completely devoted it is. It has to kill the human ... but the hybrid woman watching will never let that happen. Evil aliens; good aliens; an orbiting weapons platform; beautiful, sexy, and deadly alien-human hybrids; turns out, Mars is actually a pretty busy planet. ... and let's not forget the North Koreans.
About the Author: Poet, programmer, procrastinator, sci-fi geek, coffee snob, actor, writer. A devoted Christian, Jim is a quiet and thoughtful man who tends to think deeply, and act slowly. Much of this inner reflection and self-assessment shows up in his writing. "Capturing what truly motivates us," is how Jim describes his approach to both fiction and non-fiction. This author has a very direct, and sometimes in-your-face, way of writing. He tries to always use conversational language, and as one test reader of a work in progress put it, "made the complexities of space flight seem almost understandable." Jim read his first novel by Laura Ingalls Wilder at the age of eight, and so this began his love affair with the written word. Jim's first foray into personal writing, as a child, was poetry. These and other poetic scribblings provided the content for his first book, I Apologize for Nothing, published in April, 2014. Life, a child, a career with the Police Service, and a part-time business authoring software; all got in the way of pursuing his desire to write. In his 40's, Jim decided to turn his hand back to writing, mainly on topics surrounding self-development, spirituality, and Reiki. However, none of these really satisfied that craving for creativity. In 2013, Jim decided to pursue his creative yearnings, and he began writing for pleasure. Drawing on a solid work ethic from his experience authoring technical manuals and writing business proposals, Jim found writing for himself to be liberating and enjoyable. While working on his first fiction novel, he kept getting sidetracked by other ideas. He dusted off an old stage play he had written and published under the title, Mama's Slippers, with the hopes of attracting production interest. He currently continues work on both science fiction and Christian themed projects. Originally hailing from the East Coast, Jim now lives just outside Cobourg, ON.