Fall is here. The perfect time for your next great read. Add to your own digital and physical bookshelf, or grab a gift for someone else.

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Fabled Quest Chronicles / Epic Fantasy

Complete Series (Books 1 to 6)

Many die along the Trail horribly, but to embark on an epic adventure for the ultimate treasures of the Magical Lands, all shall be gladly risked!

“Bloody good!”

Ebooks HERE

Paperbacks (Books 1 to 3) HERE

Paperbacks (Books 4 to 6) HERE

The Official Fabled Quest Bestiary / Picture Glossary

Explore the illustrated glossary of the Fabled Quest Chronicles. Nearly 300 magical races and mythical creatures, both wondrous and horrifying!

Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series

“In the Shadow of the G-Man Years”: Books 1 to 6

Ebooks HERE

Paperbacks HERE and HERE

Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series

“Yeah, I’m Cruz”: Books 7 to 9 and all From the Crazy Maniac Files Books 1 to 3

Ebooks HERE

Paperbacks HERE and HERE

Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series

“In the Big Time”: Books 10 to 12 and Crazy Misadventures in Liquid Cool!

Ebooks HERE

Paperbacks HERE and HERE

Liquid Cool: The Cyberpunk Detective Series

“Just Cozy Sci-Fi, Please.”

Ebooks HERE

Paperbacks HERE and HERE

The Sleepy Hollow Horrors / Classic Horror

Ebooks HERE and HERE

Paperback HERE and HERE

“The Scary Bundle”

The Something Scary Halloween E-Book Bundle. Grab the Sleepy Hollow Horrors and more!

HERE

Don’t worry. I didn’t forget my Planet Tamers military sci-fi series. It’s going to have it’s own future post when Book 3 releases!

Happy Reading!

What’s the saying? A picture is worth a million words.

Here is a collection of inspirational artwork for my Planet Tamers military sci-fi series! Space exploration. Space colonies. Spaceships. Space soldiers. And future tech.

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Go to my full Planet Tamers Pinterest Page HERE.

What do you think?

Theme of Month: Military Sci-Fi!

Military science fiction is the popular sub-genre merging military adventure and hard sci-fi. From there stories could be heavy o the character development and inner turmoil of soldiers or nonstop planetary or outer space battles. Stories could include the courage and sacrifice of space soldiers fighting against technologically superior alien races, or an officer under the strain of leadership. Other stories include humanity’s last stand against invaders so alien and powerful that extinction all but seems inevitable. “Smart” spaceships and military life centuries, or more, in the future. Faster-than-light space exploration and interstellar warfare. Swashbuckling space operas with space marines instead of Jedis, or the cold, sci-fi horror-laden story our soldiers are thoroughly unprepared despite their superior training and weaponry.

Serving in the US Army myself, I’ve long wanted to try my hand at military sci-fi, and now I have. But want are some of the classics in the sub-genre that fans often refer to.

Here’s a sampling of ten of them:

1. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

Yes, they made a movie of it. The book is far superior. The “bug wars,” citizenship, and powered armor.

2. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

The hard, emotional cost of war.

3. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

A little humor injected into the sub-genre. Put seventy-something into new enhanced bodies and send them to fight humanity’s wars.

4. Armor by John Steakley

The combat scenes are relentless.

5. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Another where the original novel is better than any movie made from it. Tactical training, strategy, leadership, strategy, and the burden of command.

6. The Lost Fleet: Dauntless by Jack Campbell

Space combat depicted on a far larger scale, with all the realistic tactics included.

7. On Basilisk Station by David Weber

Politics, diplomacy, and amazing space battles.

8. Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos

Joins the military for a better future. But first you have to survive brutal interstellar warfare.

9. Hammer’s Slammers by David Drake

Technology changes. But the hell of combat doesn’t.

10. Dorsai! by Gordon R. Dickson

Professional soldiers shaping humanity’s future.

Back on Course!

My contribution to military sci-fi is HERE!

The concluding novel of the “Spacefaring” trilogy of my Planet Tamers is not to far away. There will be at least nine books in the series.

With the “Titan Mission” humanity is at the dawn of truly becoming a multiplanetary species. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, will be terraformed by a crack team of military and scientists to become Earth Two.

But did someone get there first?

But Now It’s Your Turn

Is it a classic “blast from the past”? Or a newer release people should know about?

Leave your favorites in the comments.

The paperback of Future Noir Reloaded (Liquid Cool, Book 12) Is Here!

It’s a future-forward follow-up to the last time the Cruz family decided to vacation on a sci-fi author themed Caribbean island. That’s now two special Liquid Cool sci-fi cozy mysteries.

Grab the Print Version from either link below:

AMAZON

DIRECT

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Or Grab the latest Paperback Bundle including the new Liquid Cool 12 HERE:

This LIQUID COOL SERIES PAPERBACK BUNDLE #5 includes three books —You’ll Never See Starlight Again (Book 10), The Neon Metal Kiss Goodbye (Book 11)--original and special edition, and Future Noir Reloaded (Book 12)! HERE

Grab your laser pistol and get into the high-tech, low-life world of Liquid Cool!

Enjoy!

LIQUID COOL IS BACK!

I had so much fun writing this one! Flash-forward to a twenty-something Cruz Jr. and Kat solving a crazy case while Cruz goes on vacation. Who wouldn’t have fun with that?

If you’re wondering what the reference is, the Cruz family went on another “vacation” to a tropical Caribbean island when Cruz Jr. and Kat were five and three years old. Write Me a Murder on Jules Verne’s Island (Liquid Cool, Book 9) was Liquid Cool’s first sci-fi cozy mystery novel.

Quick Book Summary:

Can you combine a cyberpunk detective story with a cozy mystery?

Liquid Cool can!

It’s the future—well even further in the future—and Cruz is going on a rare vacation. He’s decided to let his two twenty-something kids, Cruz Jr. and Kat, run the Liquid Cool detective agency for a week. Heaven help us all!

Welcome to the high-tech, low-life world of Liquid Cool.

Also available is Liquid Cool Series Box Set 5: (Books 10-12).

Liquid Cool is the action-packed (and funny), sci-fi detective series. Over 1,000 pages include You’ll Never See Starlight Again (Book 10), The Neon Metal Kiss Goodbye (Book 11), The Neon Metal Kiss Goodbye: Time Flip Special Edition, and the newly released Future Noir Reloaded (Book 12)!

Tag along with Cruz, our private eye (and unlikely hero), in the supercity of Metropolis with a million victims and perpetrators, and beyond. He battles wits and gunfire (lasers too) with a darker shade of criminals—psychos, cyborgs, and gangsters.

In these books, the cases involve the genetically engineered, super-human crime boss known as Mr. Big!

Grab it HERE.

There’s also the special Liquid Cool Sci-Fi Cozy Mystery Bundle.

Get both LIQUID COOL action-packed and funny sci-fi cozy mystery novels in one!

In Write Me a Murder on Jules Verne’s Island, Cruz and family are off to the exclusive, secluded, French-Caribbean Jules Verne’s Island for a long-overdue holiday. Luck has smiled upon the Cruz family—Cruz, his wife Dot, and the two kids, Cruz Jr. and Kat. A free vacation during the very weeks the island is shut down for an annual writers’ retreat for the top sci-fi authors of Earth!

And Future Noir Reloaded.

Get the Liquid Cool Sci-fi Cozy Mystery “Double Feature!” HERE

The “spacefaring” trilogy books of overall Planet Tamers saga releases end of this month! Will humanity become a multi-series species at last with the terraforming of Saturn moon’s Titan? Or will the mission end in Planet Fall?

Pre-Order your copy HERE

Release Date: May 26, 2026

Book Summary:

One moon. One crew. One shot.

Embark on a high-stakes military sci-fi adventure to Titan—humanity’s boldest destination nearly 800 million miles from Earth and a mission fifty years in the making. They are supposed to be the first to establish “Earth Two” on Saturn’s largest moon.

Leading the charge are USS Army Captain Halley and USS Navy Captain Ayla—elite officers forged by military precision and bound by one unbreakable objective: reach Titan at any cost. Their course has been plotted to the millimeter. Every burn calculated. Every variable accounted for.

The moon of Titan is only five months away…

But is something waiting?

Communication systems are down—jammed.
Sensors keep detecting “anomalies” ahead—possible cloaked ships?
They are not alone.

Their course is about precision—trajectories, fuel consumption, proper velocity. One wrong calculation. One unseen deviation. One mistake during correction.

And they won’t just fail.

They’ll become the first crew to crash and die on Titan.

They came to build a new world.

Not die in the dark on one.

Will they reach Titan… or will the mission end in Planet Fall?

Perfect for fans of high-intensity military sci-fi, hard science realism, and edge-of-your-seat space thrillers.

Launch into the void and join the crew of the Da Vinci in the next military sci-fi PLANET TAMERS novel.

Also Available:

The entire Planet Tamers Boxset One! Preorder it HERE.

Boxset Summary:

An explosive military sci-fi saga of first contact, frontier survival, and the fight for humanity’s future among the stars. FATHER’S DAY (Book 1), DA VINCI RUN (Book 2), and PLANET FALL (Book 3).

Humanity is done waiting.

The dream of becoming a multi-planet species is no longer science fiction—it’s happening now.

At the edge of the solar system, Saturn’s largest moon—Titan—has been chosen as humanity’s boldest experiment yet: Earth 2.

But claiming a new world isn’t as simple as planting a flag.

It has to be tamed.

Captain Halley (USS Army) and Captain Ayla (USS Navy) are an unlikely but formidable command duo aboard the cutting-edge NCS Leonardo Da Vinci—a vessel built for exploration, defense, and survival in the most hostile environments imaginable.

They’ve been tasked with leading humanity’s expansion beyond Earth.

🌌Inside this action-packed box set, you’ll experience:

• First Contact Mysteries

• High-Stakes Military Missions

• Cutting-Edge Technology

• Relentless Space Combat

• A New Kind of War – This isn’t just about territory—it’s about the future of the human race.

🛰️ Three Books. One Mission. No Turning Back.

Because out here…
There are no reinforcements.
No second chances.
And no safe way home.

💥 A Military Sci-Fi Series That Delivers

…then Planet Tamers is your next obsession.

This isn’t just another sci-fi series.
It’s a front-row seat to humanity’s most dangerous leap forward.

Grab the Planet Tamers Series Box Set now and join the fight to claim humanity’s future in deep space!

Last month, we had the poll to decide the new subtitle of my ongoing sci-fi detective Liquid Cool series—(See the results HERE). After my next Planet Tamers military sci-fi novels arrive—Planet Fall and a prequel, will be Liquid Cool Book 12, Future Noir Reloaded. Quite a few people have been asking about offering a special edition for the very first Liquid Cool novel. So here’s the latest poll:

Which format should I offer? Let’s do a quick poll and you tell me.

Look forward to your input!

Kronos One Is Gone is the name for the prequel to my new, military sci-fi series -- Planet Tamers. The series page is HERE. So both the prequel and Book 3, Planet Fall are on their way! And both novels are linked in more ways than one.

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Here’s the book description:

Before the soldiers.
Before the scientists.
Before the NCS Leonardo Da Vinci.
Humanity’s space exploration belonged to the machines.

Centuries before the Titan Mission… before humanity dreamed of terraforming distant worlds… Earth reached into the dark with cold precision.

No heroes.
No astronauts.
No human footprints on alien soil.

Only deep-range probes, self-directed robots, and autonomous rovers built to endure what flesh never could—back then.

At a time when Earth’s nations had not fought a war in nearly fifty years, the world’s militaries faced an unexpected enemy: irrelevance. Armies had become security guards. Navies escorted cargo. Generals and admirals defended budgets instead of borders.

Peace was absolute.
And peace was suffocating.

Space offered salvation.

Before Luna’s industrial sprawl.
Before Mars’ expansion into a mining powerhouse.
Before humanity committed living crews to the void.

Discover the untold origins of humanity’s expansion in this gripping prequel novella to the PLANET TAMERS saga. A high-stakes era where robotic explorers carried the ambitions of Earth without a single human leaving the planet.

Before Captain Joshua Halley.

Before Captain H.B. Ayla.

Before Titan.

Before the Earth Two mission.

There was the ship called Kronos One.

And a mystery—and conspiracy—spanning centuries.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

This month, I should be finish with the next Planet Tamer novel in my new military sci-fi series. Colonizing Saturn’s moon, space soldiers and Marines, political intrigue on Earth, space pirates, new technologies, strange sensor readings on Titan, and strange sightings in space all around the cosmoship, NCS Da Vinci. And that’s just the start.

Planet Tamers, my new military science fiction series, is set in the far-future when humanity is on the dawn of truly becoming a multiplanetary species by turning Saturn’s largest moon to “Earth 2”.

Here’s the synopsis for the upcoming Book 3, Planet Fall.

There is no doubt. For the NCS Da Vinci, Earth’s flagship spaceship on humanity’s first-ever terraforming mission to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, to create “Earth 2”…

They are being hunted in the cold darkness of space.

USS Army Captain Halley and USS Navy Captain Ayla must pull the crew together against insurmountable odds to ensure the crew of the Da Vinci become the first Terran explorers to arrive on Titan and not the first crew to crash and die there.

They must avoid Planet Fall!

What’s Coming?

It all began with Book One, Father’s Day, introducing readers to this new universe and its main characters.

Book 2, Da Vinci Run was released just last November.

What’s coming next to round out the series opening trilogy (called the Spacefaring Books) will be:

• Planet Fall (Planet Tamers, Book 3)

• and a series prequel novella (name and Cover Reveal coming soon)

You won’t have much longer to wait. Stay tuned!

However, right after will be the next two Liquid Cool novels. Book 12 will round out a decade of Cruz and company in the ever-rainy city of Metropolis. But then comes Book 13…

The subtitle of the series has always been “The Cyberpunk Detective Series.” In terms of discoverability on Amazon and other online book distributors, the word “cyberpunk” pulls up a much different group of books now than it did back then. At the time of Liquid Cool’s debut novel, cyberpunk was all about Blade Runner, Philip K. Dick’s sci-fi novels, and William Gibson. Now the category is awash with LitRPG novels. None of which is bad but simply prompts me to take another look at the original subtitle.

Liquid Cool Book 12, Future Noir Reloaded, will keep the same subtitle as the main series. You can subscribe to my Substack or join my VIP Readers Club HERE to be notified when it releases.

But should I update that subtitle? Let’s do a quick poll and you tell me.

Look forward to your input!

Share Fiction Fantastic

So the question is: which one of my books would be great for Valentine’s Day? The runner-up would have to be In the Shadow of the Kings (Fabled Quest Chronicles, Book 2) but that would require reading all six books to get the full affect. That leaves one of my Liquid Cool novels as the top choice.

You’ll Never See Starlight Again (Liquid Cool, Book 10)

Synopsis:

Our favorite, sci-fi private eye is back in the tenth novel in the Liquid Cool sci-fi detective series—You’ll Never See Starlight Again.

“Cruz, do you remember NeuroDancer?”

Last years’ overseas family vacation didn’t quite turn out as expected (namely a dead body), but Cruz is back on his home turf to solve cases on the rainy, neon, mean streets of Metropolis, as if he never left.

New suit. New hat. New case. At first, he thought his natural paranoia was playing tricks on him, but now he’s certain—he’s being followed.

Many villains have tried to kill Cruz, but NeuroDancer came closer than most and with flair to the very end. Cruz always feared her mind-control “powers” might fall into criminal hands, but it’s far worse.

An ultra-secret organization of corporate spies—all female—may have acquired the psi-tech. And now they seek vengeance against Cruz for their fallen ‘sister.’

But there are other desperate and deadly players in the shadows. Everyone is after the stolen corporate device known by the codename: Starlight.

Action, thrills, and laughs. The sci-fi/cyberpunk detective series continues.

Enter the high-tech, low-life world of Liquid Cool.

GRAB IT HERE

This year will likely be my busiest ever in my years as an indie author. But let’s start with what was accomplished last year.

Recap of 2025

Three new titles released which included:

#1 Crazy Misadventures in Liquid Cool (from my Liquid Cool, Sci-fi Detective Series)

Step into the thrilling world of Liquid Cool and the Sci Fi / Cyberpunk Detective Novella Collection jam-packed with action and laughs!

Seven Liquid Cool cases with laser shootouts, cyborgs, cults, robots, tech-magicians, and assassins.

Under these rainy skies of neon megatowers where danger lurks around every corner, get ready for a wild ride featuring our favorite (sci-fi) private detective with an attitude!

Welcome to the high tech, low life world of Liquid Cool.

Get the Print or ebook!

#2 A Monstrous Game (a classic horror novella)

In the historic city of Oxford, where towers and spires paint a picturesque skyline, an ambitious young journalist from the States arrives for a life-changing interview. After a year of anticipation, he’ll meet the reclusive Professor Oldman—an eccentric academic whose work has long intrigued him.

But as they prepare to delve into their conversation, a chilling atmosphere descends, hinting at a deadly game about to unfold. One of these men harbors a monstrous secret, while the other is on a mission to uncover a truth that could shake the very foundations of reality.

With death looming in the shadows, prepare to be spellbound by a gripping tale of mystery, deception, and suspense as dark forces collide in this City of Dreaming Spires.

An ultimate battle between hunter and hunted, light and darkness, good and evil—but beware. In this game, only one of you will walk away human.

Are you ready to play?

Get the ebook HERE.

#3 Da Vinci Run (Book #2 in my Planet Tamers military sci-fi series)

The moon of Titan is only five months away…

But for those aboard the cosmoship NCS Da Vinci, it feels like a lifetime.

In DA VINCI RUN, embark on their thrilling high-stakes journey to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. USS Army Captain Halley, USS Navy Captain Ayla and their fearless crew will push the boundaries of human exploration on the first ever terraforming mission to this distant planetoid. However, as they navigate the cold vast expanse of space, they discover that they are not the only ones out there. Who are these mysterious forces, and what secrets lie hidden on Titan’s surface?

They came out here to create “Earth Two,” not die almost 800 million miles from home.

Fifty years in the making. But the mission’s success hangs in the balance as the Earth Alliance faces unexpected threats from unknown adversaries that could bring the planet to disaster.

It’s a race against time to get to Titan and the crew must overcome challenges that could change the course of history. Will they triumph against all odds and survive, or if they do, wish they hadn’t?

Dive into the gripping military sci-fi adventure in the PLANET TAMERS series by author Austin Dragon, a must-read for fans of The Expanse, the Original Star Trek and TNG, and solid military sci-fi adventures.

Get the ebook or print version HERE.

That was last year! And in one of my last posts for 2025, I mentioned a bit about what’s planned for this year: the next Planet Tamers novels, the next Liquid Cool novel, and more!

11 To 50 Milestone In Sight!

Can you believe it? As a multi-series, multi-genre author, I’m only 11 books away from reaching 50 published titles! And since I already have a few of those titles in the pipeline, I may actually reach that goal this year.

My Perennial Favorite

No year would be complete without mentioning….

Bobba Fett’s Top 12 New Year’s Resolution Tips

Read my Substack article and tips Here!

Enjoy!

Thanks for being a reader!

Whether you’re new or have been part of the “club” for years, your support and feedback have been invaluable to me as a multi-genre, multi-series author.

We had three new releases this year, along with my first Kickstarter campaign.

Signing Off

I always take off the month of December from social media, blogging, and email. I’m late in starting my “vacation” but today is that day.

So have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holiday. I’ll see you in 2026! (And make sure to have a Happy New Year too)

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Crystal Ball 2026

More books are on the way!

What books, you ask? For Q1 2026 look forward to:

• Planet Tamers 3: Planet Fall

• Planet Tamers Box Set 1 (Books 1 to 3)

• Liquid Cool 12: Future Noir Reloaded

• Liquid Cool Box Set 5 (Books 10-12)

• And a surprise!

So while I’m away, here are all the links to my books, including holiday discounts.

Holiday Books

Love Box Sets? Grab any of them HERE!

All Ebooks HERE!

All Paperbacks HERE!

The Official Fabled Quest Bestiary (Hardcover Special Edition)

Physical picture book galore HERE!

or the ebook HERE!

Crazy Misadventures in Liquid Cool

Print or ebook!

Be (Liquid) Cool: 52 Weeks of Witty, Pithy, and Profound Sci-Fi-Based Inspiration For Positive Thinking, Planning, and Action! (Inspirational Planner)

HERE!

Planet Tamers Military Sci-Fi Series

HERE!

Planet Tamers: Planet Fall (Book 3)

Planet Tamers: Da Vinci Run (Book 2) was just released November 3rd, 2025. I even updated the debut book in my new military sci-fi series Father’s Day (Book 1). With the release of Planet Fall (Book 3) that will complete the Spacefaring Books. Next year will be the Colony Books! So check out the Book 3 cover above.

Here’s the Planet Tamers military sci-fi series to date:

Planet Tamers Series HERE

Future Noir Reloaded (Liquid Cool, Book 12)

Then another Liquid Cool novel arrives with laughs and mayhem. An “older” Cruz is going on vacation so he decides to leave his twenty-something kids Cruz Jr. and Kat in charge of the detective agency for a week. Heaven help us all!

Here’s the main novels in the Liquid Cool sci-fi detective thriller series.

Liquid Cool series HERE

Ranking the Planets by Habitability.

Excerpt from the NASA science Article: Life in Our Solar System? Meet the Neighbors by Pat Brennan

Mars: Potentially habitable at some point

In a sense, the Red Planet tells a tale echoing that of Venus, but from the other side of the temperature scale. Investigations by orbiters, and rovers on the surface, confirm that Mars was once wet, with rivers, lakes and perhaps even oceans, and like Earth potentially habitable.

“The most exciting thing about Mars is that, at some point in time, 3.5 billion years ago, it’s clear the climate on Mars was more similar to Earth’s and had liquid water on its surface,” Voytek said. (Mary Voytek, senior scientist for astrobiology at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.)

Then solar wind and radiation stripped most of its atmosphere away. Its minimally active core ceased to generate a protective magnetic field. Its surface became forbiddingly cold and dry even as it was bombarded with radiation.

Two strikes against Mars, Voytek said, are its lack of available water and the absence of plate tectonics – the process on Earth that moves continents over eons and recycles buried nutrients back up to the surface.

Ocean worlds: The moons of gas giants

Our solar system’s majestic giants – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune – and their trains of moons might almost be considered solar systems in their own right. Some of these moons could well be habitable worlds; one of them, Titan, has a thick atmosphere, rain, rivers and lakes, though composed of methane and ethane instead of water.

We first glide toward Europa, a moon of Jupiter with an icy shell. Beneath the frozen surface, however, space probes have detected evidence of a vast ocean of liquid water. Two other Jovian moons, Ganymede and Callisto, also are likely to host subsurface oceans, though these might be sandwiched between layers of ice. That makes life less likely, Cable says. (Morgan Cable, a researcher with the Astrobiology and Ocean Worlds Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

“Europa, we think, has a nice contact between the liquid water ocean and the rocky interior,” she said. “That’s important because the energy you can generate through chemistry can be utilized by life.”

A potentially more accessible example can be found among the moons of Saturn, the next planet out. Enceladus, though tiny, also hides a liquid water ocean beneath an icy shell. But in this case, scientists know the little moon is doing something extraordinary.

“Luckily, it happens to be sending free samples from its ocean into space,” Cable says. “Enceladus is the only place in the solar system with guaranteed access to a subsurface ocean without the need to dig or drill.”

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft detected convincing evidence of hydrothermal vents on its sea floor, and jets of ocean water shoot through cracks in the moon’s surface, known as tiger stripes (Europa might have similar plumes). The material from Enceladus’s jets, in fact, forms one of Saturn’s rings.

Cassini flew through the plume, and although its instruments were not designed to analyze ocean-water samples – when it was built, the nature of these distant ocean worlds was unknown – it did pick up important clues.

These include complex organic molecules, salts similar to those in Earth’s oceans, and silicate “nanograins” and other evidence indicating the presence of hydrothermal activity.

Gases detected in the plume, hydrogen and methane, suggest enough energy is present to provide fuel for life.

“If there’s that much energy, why isn’t there life eating it?” Cable asks. So far, no one knows the answer.

Then there’s Titan!

Though smaller and with lighter gravity than Earth, Titan reminds us of our own world, if perhaps reflected through a fun-house mirror. Nitrogen dominates this moon’s atmosphere, as it does Earth’s. And Titan is the only other body in the solar system with rain, lakes and rivers – a whole hydrologic cycle in fact. Its flowing lakes and rivers are made of the hydrocarbons, methane and ethane.

Flowing water is not an option; Titan is nightmarishly cold, and water is essentially rock on its surface.

Titan also possesses a subsurface ocean of water, though deep down, and it’s unknown whether the ocean makes contact with anything from the surface. If it does, mixing with complex chemistry on the surface could provide fuel for life.

If it doesn’t, there’s another possibility. The chemical brew on the surface could power life as we don’t know it: exotic forms based on completely different components and chemical reactions.

“Titan allows us to test a completely separate hypothesis of life,” Cable said. “It has a completely different liquid on its surface.”

The extreme cold on Titan’s surface, of course, means chemistry happens very slowly if at all. That could make “weird life” far less likely.

“Hopefully a future mission will journey back to Enceladus and bring today’s modern sensitive instruments to this test,” she said.

For the launch (finally) of my military sci-fi series, Planet Tamers, this is the fourth and final article in a series.

In the future time period of Planet Tamers, we are very much content with being confined to our own solar system—for now. We pick the planetoid Titan to terraform and colonize to create “Earth 2.” How’s that for one giant step for humankind!

But there’s something else there. Of course, there is. It’s never that easy.

VIP: 👽Alien

What is Nanowrimo?

It’s the November National Novel Writing Month which happens all across the globe! I’ve participated for many years. One year, I even wrote three Liquid Cool novels in a month.

This time I’m only aiming to finish two books, so I can get them ready for a December release, which would be a nice way to roll into Christmas 2025 and end the year.

What are the two books?

Future Noir Reloaded (Liquid Cool, Book 12)

It’s the future—well even further in the future—and Cruz is going on a rare vacation. He’s decided to let his two twenty-something kids, Cruz and Kat, run the Liquid Cool detective agency for a week. Heaven help us all!

Planet Fall (Planet Tamers, Book 3)

Can the NCS Da Vinci and its crew commanded by USS Army Captain Halley and USS Navy Captain Ayla get to Titan. Or will they all die…in Planet Fall!

Here’s my poll:

I’m so happy to be able to finally release the eagerly-awaited sequel to my debut Father’s Day. Humanity is about to become a multi-series species at last with the terraforming of Saturn moon’s Titan. But things are never quite that simple.

Pre-Order you copy now at 50% off! Grab it HERE

Release Date: Nov. 3, 2025

Book Summary:

The moon of Titan is only five months away…

But for those aboard the cosmoship NCS Da Vinci, it feels like a lifetime.

In DA VINCI RUN, embark on their thrilling high-stakes journey to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. USS Army Captain Halley, USS Navy Captain Ayla and their fearless crew will push the boundaries of human exploration on the first ever terraforming mission to this distant planetoid. However, as they navigate the cold vast expanse of space, they discover that they are not the only ones out there. Who are these mysterious forces, and what secrets lie hidden on Titan’s surface?

They came out here to create “Earth Two,” not die almost 800 million miles from home.

Fifty years in the making. But the mission’s success hangs in the balance as the Earth Alliance faces unexpected threats from unknown adversaries that could bring the planet to disaster.

It’s a race against time to get to Titan and the crew must overcome challenges that could change the course of history. Will they triumph against all odds and survive, or if they do, wish they hadn’t?

Dive into the gripping military sci-fi adventure in the PLANET TAMERS series by author Austin Dragon, a must-read for fans of The Expanse, the Original Star Trek and TNG, and solid military sci-fi adventures.

It’s Not All Fun and Games Like in the Movies.

Long-term space travel and extraterrestrial living expose humans to extreme radiation, bone loss, muscle atrophy, and mental health challenges due to isolation and confinement. Despite advances in technology, the human body—and mind—evolved for Earth, not Mars or another planet. Colonizing another world could pose irreversible risks to human that we aren’t yet prepared to manage.

But that’s not the case in the world of Planet Tamers!

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The Great Dangers of Space Travel

Human spaceflight presents several hazards that significantly risk the health of space travelers. NASA’s Human Research Program has identified five key hazards:

• Space Radiation: This invisible hazard can increase cancer risk, damage the central nervous system, and contribute to degenerative diseases like cataracts. The type of radiation in space differs from Earth, making risk assessment and mitigation challenging.

• Altered Gravity Fields: Moving between different gravity fields (Earth, microgravity, lunar gravity, Martian gravity) places strain on the body. Microgravity, in particular, leads to bone and muscle loss (atrophy), cardiovascular deconditioning, and fluid shifts that can impact vision and balance.

• Hostile/Closed Environments: Living in a confined spacecraft for extended periods creates unique challenges. Factors like temperature, pressure, lighting, noise, and microbes need careful management to maintain a safe and healthy environment. Dust, both from the spacecraft and potentially from an extraterrestrial planet surface can also pose a risk to equipment and astronaut health.

• Distance from Earth: As missions venture further into space, the distance creates logistical and medical challenges. Resupply missions become more difficult, and communication delays can make real-time support from Earth challenging or impossible. Astronauts need to be increasingly self-sufficient and capable of handling emergencies independently.

• Isolation and Confinement: Extended periods of living in a confined space, far from family and familiar environments, can have significant psychological impacts. Stress, anxiety, depression, and disruptions to circadian rhythms can affect cognitive function and team dynamics.

Other significant dangers include:

• Space Debris: The increasing amount of space debris orbiting Earth poses a threat to spacecraft and missions. Collisions with debris, even small pieces, can be catastrophic. NASA tracks larger debris objects, but smaller debris and micrometeoroids are difficult to track and avoid.

• Temperature extremes: Although the vacuum of space is extremely cold, spacecraft and astronauts are also exposed to intense solar radiation, leading to vast temperature fluctuations. Maintaining a stable internal temperature requires specialized engineering and insulation.

• Potential for equipment failures and technical glitches: Space is an unforgiving environment. Malfunctions in any of the spacecraft’s complex systems, from power and communication to life support, can quickly become critical situations.

Addressing these numerous and complex challenges is crucial for the future of human space exploration, especially as ambitions extend to missions to the Moon and Mars. Research and development efforts focus on improving the understanding of these hazards, developing effective countermeasures, and building more robust and resilient spacecraft and systems.

In preparation of the launch of my military sci-fi series, Planet Tamers, this is the third article in a series of four. We’ve talked about the natural dangers of space. But what about the manmade kind? Should we call them space pirates or space mercenaries?

The real question is whether the crew of the Da Vinci, and their allies, can defeat all these many dangers to make it to Titan and begin humanity’s first step to terraform and colonize another world. Read the series and find out!

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October is the perfect time to dive into stories from the darker side of life. 👻Our author has handpicked six chilling reads to satisfy your craving for something spooky.

The discounted selection includes: A Monstrous Game (classic horror short), Hollow Blood and The Devil’s Patch (the complete duology of his Sleepy Hollow Horrors), from his sci-fi, detective series, Liquid Cool: I, Alien Hunter and The UFO Case, and finally the prequel to the Fabled Quest Chronicles, Quest Master.

That’s over 344,000 words of spooky season reading fun.

Grab the 6-book bundle today at the discounted price!

A Monstrous Game

In the historic city of Oxford, where towers and spires paint a picturesque skyline, an ambitious young journalist from the States arrives for a life-changing interview. After a year of anticipation, he’ll meet the reclusive Professor Oldman—an eccentric academic whose work has long intrigued him.

But as they prepare to delve into their conversation, a chilling atmosphere descends, hinting at a deadly game about to unfold. One of these men harbors a monstrous secret, while the other is on a mission to uncover a truth that could shake the very foundations of reality.

With death looming in the shadows, prepare to be spellbound by a gripping tale of mystery, deception, and suspense as dark forces collide in this City of Dreaming Spires.

An ultimate battle between hunter and hunted, light and darkness, good and evil—but beware. In this game, only one of you will walk away human.

Are you ready to play?

Hollow Blood (Sleepy Hollow Horrors, Book 1)

The Hunt For the Foul Murderer of Ichabod Crane! Get the full mini-series with Hollow Blood and The Devil’s Patch all-in-one.

This is not the fake, Hollywood-style Sleepy Hollow American television series. This is the true, terrifying complete story. Ichabod Crane is dead! Everyone knows it. The Horseman took him—like so many others—one dark night in 1790. All that remained of the town’s amiable schoolmaster was his hat on the side of the road, with a shattered pumpkin beside it. But soon the fearful townspeople of Sleepy Hollow realized that the terrifying Horseman, that haunted their region for ages, had also disappeared, inexplicably, after that night. They were free!

That was 10 years ago. And a lone stranger has come to their quiet town. He is friendly enough, well-mannered, educated, but there is a secret about this man—he is not what he seems. Suspicions grow. The whispers of gossip begin. All of Sleepy Hollow is soon turned upside-down when they learn the truth. It is only the beginning, as they find themselves in the path of his black vengeance, his hunt for the foul murderer of Ichabod Crane. This stranger threatens not only their lives by his presence but their very souls by bringing about the return of the hellish Headless Horseman! For Sleepy Hollow, will death be upon them all?

The Devil’s Patch (Sleepy Hollow Horrors, Book 1)

Now he knows the truth of who killed his uncle—and the many, many other victims—and that murderer is not a man of flesh and blood. But can he and his Super Posse stop this evil thing? They are no longer in Sleepy Hollow. They have tracked it to its accursed domain—The Devil’s Patch.

Will any of them survive its hellish wrath?

I, Alien Hunter (Liquid Cool, Book 5)

In Liquid Cool Book 5 its Alien Meets Blade Runner…It’s I, Alien Hunter!

Liquid Cool, the action-packed (and funny), cyberpunk detective series continues.

Our private detective, Cruz, has dealt with all kinds of criminal crazies—full human, cyborgs, and robots—and even crazier clients. But he has never had to deal with…extraterrestrials.

Is this case more than a missing persons? Have humans on the Main Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter actually found proof of alien life from another world? What does it all have to do with a missing scientist?

The UFO Case (Liquid Cool: From the Crazy Maniac Files, Book 3)

All aboard the Falcon Express! Earth’s first royal luxury hoverjet designed to travel the skies, on the seas, underwater, and into space! What could possibly go wrong with our hero detective on-board for vacation?

A dream of high-end travel has arrived. But that dream becomes a Nightmare...at 40,000 feet!

What are the Crazy Maniac Files?

Cruz has dealt with all kinds of criminal crazies—humans, cyborgs, robots—and even crazier clients. The supercity has a million victims and perpetrators but the LIQUID COOL Mini-Series features one “crazy maniac.”

Cruz thinks he’s on a fun vacation with two thousand fellow passengers--very wealthy, cultured, interesting, some quirky, all professionals--for rest, relaxation, fine dining, strong drinks, and poker. Instead, he finds himself in the center of a “horror above all others.”

Welcome to a Liquid Cool Sci-Fi Horror Mystery.

Quest Master (Prequel to the Fabled Quest Chronicles)

The Fabled Quest from the lands of humans through the magical lands of fae and mythical creatures to the ultimate destination—the legendary kingdom of Atlantea!

The path is called Titan’s Trail, created by a long-gone ancient super giant. Many will risk all, even death, for the magical adventure and the reward of ultimate treasure.

A boy arrives in one of the last villages before the Trail. Men arrive from the far reaches of the Seven Empires to northern Avalonia—the sole gateway into the magical lands for the year or more long journey.

A quest of unimaginable dangers, both mortal and magical, of men and monsters, by day and night.

The epic fantasy adventure of the Fabled Quest Chronicles. The most fantastic and deadliest adventure of all time. The story of how a human boy would become the caravan master called Traveler, with his magical sword and shape-shifting companion.

Read how it all begins!

Quest Master, the Boy Who Would Be (A Prequel to the Fabled Quest Chronicles)

GET THE 6-EBOOK BUNDLE HERE ON SALE!

Also, if you’re looking for a special book gift, why not grab my Fabled Quest Official Bestiary with more than 300 mythological monsters and races from my epic fantasy series!

Get the special edition hard cover edition in color!

Get The Official Fabled Quest Bestiary!

Sorry, humans, no warp drive. Why Speed is the Final Boss of Space Exploration.

Want to boldly go? Start by asking one question: how fast can we get there? Everything else comes after.

If we’re ever going to explore the galaxy, it’s not going to be aboard the USS Enterprise. Warp drive? Sorry, still pure sci-fi. We’re stuck with physics as we know it—and that means speed is the name of the game.

Before we pick out beachfront property on Kepler-442b, we have to face one brutal cosmic truth: space is stupidly big. So big that even our fastest spacecraft to date, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, would take over 6,000 years to reach the nearest star outside our solar system!

WHY NO WARP DRIVE

The Cosmic Speed Limit

For a long time, scientists believed there was no upper limit to how fast something could travel. But then Einstein flipped the script.

He revealed that the universe does, in fact, have a speed limit: the speed of light in a vacuum—about 300,000 kilometers per second (or 186,000 miles per second). And here’s the kicker: nothing with mass can ever reach it. Only massless particles, like photons (the building blocks of light), can move that fast.

Why not just crank the engines harder? Because physics says no.

As an object accelerates, its mass effectively increases. That means the faster you go, the heavier you get—and the more energy it takes to keep accelerating. Try pushing an object to light speed and you'd hit an energy wall: it would require infinite energy. And no, we don’t have an infinity generator in the garage.

So even Einstein himself—who once daydreamed about chasing a beam of light as a teenager—would’ve been left in the cosmic dust.

THE RECAP

• Speed of light = universe’s hard limit on speed.

• Massless = Yes to go light speed.

• Have mass? You're out of luck.

• Infinite energy? Not happening.

• Warp drive? Still fiction.

The Real Space Race: Speed

Forget rocket size or Mars real estate. The real question isn’t where we want to go, but how fast we can get there. Without a major breakthrough in propulsion, humanity’s ambitions for deep space exploration will stay locked in our own solar system. Light speed? Out of the question (at least for now). We're bound by Einstein’s cosmic speed limit, and breaking it isn’t just illegal—it’s impossible.

The Cold Reality of Physics

So why can't you travel faster than light?

The faster an object travels, the more massive it becomes.

As an accelerating object gains mass and thus becomes heavier, it takes more and more energy to increase its speed.

It would take an infinite amount of energy to make an object reach the speed of light.

Here’s what we’re working with: chemical rockets (like the ones that took us to the Moon), ion propulsion (slower but super efficient), and a few weird science projects like nuclear thermal propulsion or laser sails. But even those "fast" concepts still take years or decades to cross even our local planetary neighborhood.

So unless someone invents a black hole slingshot or figures out how to manipulate spacetime, we need to design missions based on reality, not space opera.

Why Speed Defines Our Future

Speed isn’t just a technical problem. It shapes everything—from mission planning to astronaut lifespan, from communication lag to the economics of colonization. Want to reach Proxima Centauri in less than 100 years? We’ll need propulsion tech a thousand times faster than today’s best engines. And until we get it, the final frontier remains just that—final, and very far.

Bottom Line?

No warp drive. No teleporters. No shortcuts.

Just us, our ingenuity, and the ticking clock of propulsion tech. The good news? Humans are annoyingly good at solving impossible problems. So maybe the next Einstein is already sketching the blueprint for humanity’s first real interstellar engine. Until then, speed isn't just a challenge—it’s the mission.

In preparation of the launch (finally) of my military sci-fi series, Planet Tamers, this is the second article in a series over the next 6 weeks.

In the future time period of Planet Tamers, we are very much content with being confined to our own solar system—for now. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do big things. We’ll terraform an entire planetoid to create “Earth 2.” How’s that for one giant step for humankind!

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