Nightflare

My first novel, Nightflare, is out! It's been in the works for years, and I'm really excited to share it with everyone.

Cover Art

Official Description

The first murder in outer space. An experiment unfinished. Love lost and found.

Follow a young woman at a Midwestern college, a vengeful lab assistant on a space stations, and a pair of investigators way out of their league as they all try to navigate loss, betrayal, and a menacing new threat to every person on Earth.

In this epic sci-fi space opera factions vie for control of nothing less than the future of humankind. To win, they'll rely on their wits, their instincts, and each other. And lasers.

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End Notes

As a bonus, these are the references I compiled while doing research for the story. They illustrate how some of the ideas and concepts are surprisingly not fiction.

• The idea mentioned in chapter 3 that protein folding and crystal growth both change drastically without Earth's gravity is real
• Also in chapter 3, the US federal government does indeed hire lawyers as criminal investigators - here's an example of one such job within the Department of Energy
• Noted in chapter 7, the US Air Force does actually operate in both space and cyberspace
• The X-37 space plane mentioned in chapter 10 is a real NASA project
• The role of the Japanese Emperor was reduced to that of a figurehead at the behest of General MacArthur as described in chapter 16
• Mentioned in chapter 22, the truly silent gun relying on sealed cartridges with internal pistons is real
• The solar flare discussed in chapter 26 actually happened in 1859 and would severely disrupt global communications and electronics if it happened today
• The fuelless ion engines described in chapter 30 are real
• Also in chapter 30, using nuclear-powered lasers as a weapon in space was a real government research project
• And again in chapter 30, the massive destructive power of antimatter is real
• As mentioned in chapter 31, bullets designed to disintegrate and not penetrate hard surfaces like walls are real - the word to describe them is "frangible"
• Glasses with a HUD and augmented reality features for military use like those described in chapter 39 are real
• The Cas9 protein mentioned in chapter 40 is a real way to perform genetic engineering in living beings via RNA and DNA modification
• Also in chapter 40, a disabled version of HIV being used to modify genes is real, particularly as a possible treatment for cancer
• Mentioned in chapter 43, there really was a horrible aftermath to World War II in regards to home ownership and displacement
• The Lagrange points talked about in chapter 46, L4 and L5, would in fact be the most energy efficient places to put an object with line-of-sight around the sun
• The Homan Square black site in Chicago referenced in chapter 50 is real
• The idea to use orbital platforms to defend the ground mentioned in chapter 51 is real