Search Worlds Without End

Rick Shelley's Federation War trilogy begins with a novel that takes you through the barracks corridors and the trenches of war, bringing the war of the future home with a combination of battlefield action and home-town heroics.

For Doug Weintraub of the Buchanan Planetary Commission, it begins with a fuzzy call, quickly cut off. Federation troops have invaded his world. The battle they've long feared and tried to avoid is coming. Now it's time to seek help, to launch a rocket into Q Space and hope for Second Commonwealth troops to arrive -- and soon.

Aboard the Starship Victoria, it begins differently. It's a short, unexpected message on the screen for Sergeant David Spencer of the Royal Marines. New orders, surprising ones, that will send him and his men to an independent frontier world that's become a new front in the war between the Commonwealth and Federation.

Doug Weintraub and David Spencer soon find themselves in unexpected roles, a skilled warrior in the Royal Marines side-by-side with a back-world farmer. They'll need each other to keep the Federation at bay.

Coventry. One of the founding worlds of the Second Commonwealth. It lies just eight light years away from the Commonwealth's capitol world, Buckingham, but it's mostly been ignored during the Federation War.

No longer. The Federation has its sights set on taking Coventry by any means necessary. Their first wave of attacking troops have set Coventry aflame in an effort to force out the population and keep local resistance at bay as they establish a base for attacking the heart of the Commonwealth.

Coventry is Reggie Bailey's home. Reggie isn't a Royal Marine. He's a family man, a father of three. But he has to put it all aside and join his brethren to fight the fires that threaten his world. It's up to the home guard to keep the Federation at bay long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

To Sergeant David Spencer of the Commonwealth's Royal Marines, the scorched earth assault on Coventry is a challenge. But he's trained, skilled, armed, ready. When the unexpected orders to go to Coventry arrive, there's no question that David and his men are up to the task, but there's every question if they can arrive in time and fight their way through the fires of Coventry before it's too late for Reggie and his family.

War hits home as Rick Shelley's Federation War trilogy continues.

Prince George, Earl of New Britain, was supposed to hold a position of great importance on Buckingham, capitol world of the Second Commonwealth. However, Prince George wasn't on Buckingham. He hadn't been for seven years, in fact. The Federation War had stranded him on the resort world of Camerein, His Royal Highness little more than a footnote to the long, bitter war.

Newly made Captain David Spencer has proven his worth time and again on the fields of battle. But his latest promotion comes with some strings attached. He'll have to lead a top secret mission to Camerein, to determine once and for all the fate of Prince George.

Camerein is now in play. With a nearby shuttle crash putting Prince George and the other stranded resort guests on the move, Lieutenant Spencer beginning his search, and the Federation looking for one last bargaining chip for the war's endgame, the resort world of Camerein is about to host a deadly game of cat and mouse. The future of the Second Commonwealth could rest on who catches whom.

Rick Shelley concludes the Federation War trilogy with another great novel that puts the high tech toys and skilled tactics of David Spencer's Royal Marines team to use on the home front, bringing every sensation of war home to the reader.