Andrew Vaillencourt

There's a stranger in town, and he just wants to be left alone. But Dockside doesn't like strangers, and the dirty old town never leaves anyone alone. Join New Boston's most famous fixer for his first week in the most dangerous part of town. He may have wanted a quiet place to hide, but instead he will team up with the last good cop in Dockside to try to stop a gang war and protect the hard-working folks just trying to make an honest living. It's good cop vs, bad cop, gang leader vs. mobster, and Roland Tankowicz vs. everybody in a high-stakes contest for control of Dockside. He may be brand new to the job, but the smart money is on everybody's favorite Army surplus cyborg as he doubles down on the deadliest game in Dockside: ESCALANTE.

A Novella Featuring The Fixer

Escalante

Roland Tankowicz wasn’t even legally a person anymore. The aging cyborg had never really recovered from being betrayed and enslaved by his superiors in the Army, and the final insult of being permanently classified as “defunct military ordnance” had been a bitter pill to swallow. Now, he spent most of his time drinking beer and working as a fixer for the crime families in 25th-century Boston. It was easy money if you were the kind of guy who was bullet-proof and could pick up a house. But then Lucia Ribiero stumbled into his favorite watering hole dragging a squad of bounty hunters behind her. Shadows from his own dark past, and old debts still unpaid conspired to drive the old war-horse out for one more mission. Like any good soldier, the mission is all that matters for Roland. Linked by a shared connection to her kidnapped father, the duo will face veritable armies of criminals, mutants, cyborgs, and corporate executives as they search for the missing man. The secrets of the Ribiero family are exposed as they approach the center of the labyrinth, and Lucia’s mental and physical issues present an even deeper mystery than her father’s disappearance. Roland will have to face the horror of his past one more time, and Lucia will need to get a grip on her future if they expect to survive a running battle with an entire galaxy’s worth of mad science gone awry; and ultimately prevent a terrible history from repeating itself.

Ordnance

Roland Tankowicz is fed up. He’s really trying to be a better person. Killing fewer people, talking out his issues more, and not immediately resorting to violence whenever a problem arises. But let’s face it, when you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail. It’s not like he has any shortage of nails kicking around, either. After stopping that last batch of mobsters and pirates from upsetting the delicate balance of New Boston’s seedy underworld, the list of people willing to pay hard creds for his head is even longer than usual. Worse, The Brokerage still wants Dockside, and they have called in a ringer. Who is this guy who seems to know an awful lot about Dockside’s most famous Fixer? Where did he get all this classified information? Who are these unregistered mercenaries that keep popping up at inopportune moments? Roland will need the help of all his allies if he wants to run down the answers to these questions before a galactic crime war leaves the streets of his beloved hometown awash in blood. But at least there is one thing everybody agrees on: Dockside is done playing by mob rules. The war for the docks is coming to a head, and there is no guarantee that anyone will be left standing when the dust settles. It will be up to everybody’s least-favorite Army-surplus cyborg to take the fight out of Dockside and into the streets of New Boston. The stakes have never been higher, and the fight never more desperate than now. But Roland Tankowicz is mad as hell, and no matter what happens, a whole new crop of mad Science gone awry is about to learn a painful lesson about the differences between HAMMERS AND NAILS.

Hammers and Nails

It takes a brave soul to mess with Dockside. Roland Tankowicz has made a career out of teaching this lesson, and the galaxy is starting to notice. Yet despite filling entire graveyards with corporate raiders, pirates, criminal organizations, and the occasional marauding cybernetic psychopath, somebody out there still thinks the lucrative district is worth harassing. Someone is funding drug dealers, pimps, smugglers, and other scumbags, then sending them to Dockside faster than everybody’s least-favorite army-surplus cyborg can kick them out. Before Roland and his team can start rounding up suspects, a terrifying revelation about one of his former teammates raises the stakes higher than they’ve ever been. Soldiers, spies, mercenaries and pirates converge on New Boston’s most famous fixer as he begins to unravel the plot the only way he knows how: With his fists. Roland must take the fight to a lawless section of deep space and challenge a strange new enemy on his own turf. Lucia will face her darkest moment as well, as the past and future combine in a trial that will forever cement what she has become. Has Roland truly outgrown his days as a mindless war machine? Can Lucia accept the weight of leadership without the crush of fear dragging her down? Were the Golems just another super-soldier program, or is something even more sinister at play? This time it’s not about money, or power, or even revenge. It’s about the right to live, to grow, and to become what you were meant to be. This time, the battle is over HEAD SPACE.

Head Space

All's fair in love and war! Roland Tankowicz is not a complex man. All he wants is to get back to work maintaining the balance of power in Dockside. He's perfectly happy with an honest day's work of busting heads followed by a quick jaunt over to his favorite bar for a beer. Too bad the universe has other plans. A cryptic job offer from a good client hurls New Boston's most infamous team of fixers hundreds of light-years from Earth. At first, the gig seems normal enough: Stop a rampaging android before it destroys a whole colony of unarmed scientists. Other than the obvious lies being told by the client and the addition of several competing mega-corporations, it's pretty standard fare for Roland and his team. But things take a turn for the bizarre when Pike's Privateers show up with information that changes their corporate milk run into a quagmire of backroom deals, industrial espionage, and murder. How did a bunch of pacifist scientists get a combat android? What kind of deal are they working with OmniCorp? What does the death of one old farmer have to do with any of this? Roland, Lucia, and the rest of the crew have just a few days to find the answer to these questions. One thing is clear: there's a corporate war brewing. This one tiny colony perched on a faraway mudball looks to be the flashpoint that plunges the rest of the galaxy into fiscal and physical chaos. Can anyone stamp out the fire before it is too late? It will take more than technological might or overwhelming firepower to avert a catastrophe this time. It will take the kind of love that does not alter, and bears out all the way to— THE EDGE OF DOOM

The Edge of Doom

Dockside is burning, and it’s up to everybody’s least favorite Army-surplus cyborg to fix it. It starts when somebody takes a hit out on The Chairman, and quickly spirals into a mystery that takes Roland and his hyper-kinetic partner Lucia far from New Boston and into the depths of unregulated star systems. To save his home, Roland will need to figure out who would risk upsetting the delicate truce in Dockside before the peace crumbles and the streets run red with blood. Unfortunately for the pair of them, it could be anyone! Everybody wants to control the docks and everybody hates the Chairman. Is it the Pirate King of frontier space? Is it the gigantic mega-corporation who is tired of the docks being harassed? Is The Combine finally falling apart? Could it be… Rodney the Dwarf? It’s probably not Rodney, but Roland will need to ask hard questions of some hard people. It’s a good thing Roland is the kind of guy who knows how to get answers. The guns will blaze and the fists will fly as the galaxy’s least likely duo of problem-solvers hop the next ship to deep space and teach a whole new crop of mad science gone awry that wherever The Fixer goes: HELL FOLLOWS.

Hell Follows

Rick Partlow

Cora Buhlert

Alasdair Shaw

Elizabeth Baxter

Jeff Tanyard

C Gold

Zen DiPietro

Benjamin Douglas

JJ Green

Edward M Grant

Guardians are defenders, carers and guides. Some look after individual people, others whole planets or universes, but all share a strong belief in their responsibility to protect their charges. The Guardian is an anthology of eleven science fiction short stories by writers from across the globe. It is part of the Newcomer series of scifi anthologies. The stories are:- Awakening - Alasdair Shaw The Lattice - Jeff Tanyard Biting Shadow - C Gold Gate of Dreams - Rick Partlow The Following Star - Elizabeth Baxter The Renewal - Zen DiPietro Stowaway - Benjamin Douglas Baptism of Fire - Cora Buhlert Sleeping Giant - Andrew Vaillencourt We Have the Stars - JJ Green Warning Signs - Edward M Grant

Eleven Science Fiction Short Stories

The Guardian

A killer stalks the streets of Dockside, and he has a bone to pick with Roland Tankowicz. Old friends, former clients, and even rivals find themselves in the sights of a murderer who loves his work a little too much and seems custom-built to take on New Boston’s most famous Army-surplus cyborg. Roland and his team will have to play detective to piece together the identity of this strange assassin before all his associates end up face down in the street. It would be a full day’s work for anybody, but it wouldn’t be Dockside if a whole crop of other disasters didn’t pop up at the same time just to make things interesting. A possessive ex-boyfriend, upheavals in the local police department, and shadowy corporate interests all choose this moment to rear their ugly heads. But far be it from the galaxy’s strangest duo of problem solvers to turn away from hard work or a decent paycheck. If anybody can juggle corrupt cops, sinister corporations, and one strange killer all at once, it’s everybody’s least-favorite metal curmudgeon and his hyperkinetic partner. Before the gunfire fades and the dust settles, The Fixer will meet death head-on to find out if he has what it takes to face down a DEAD MAN DREAMING.

Dead Man Dreaming

Roland Tankowicz hates Venus. The last time he went there, he died. So, no one could really blame him if he never went back. Nevertheless, when a squad of Venusian assassins ruins date night, everybody’s least-favorite Army-surplus cyborg decides to take a trip to Earth’s sister planet and have a sit-down with an infamous group of terrorists. Perhaps it’s because he really likes date night. Maybe he just wants to keep the promise he once made to a troubled young man. It is even conceivable that he might still have a heap of unresolved issues with the separatists who blew his body apart years ago. For whatever reason, the big man and his motley crew of misfits strap on their guns and hurl themselves into murky world of interplanetary terrorism. To his dismay, Roland discovers that Venus has changed since his last visit. The black-and-white politics of the fanatics and governments he remembers have now merged into complicated shades of gray. Cyborg killers walk the halls without fear, and the soldiers stationed there seem no better than the thugs they fight. The sweltering underworld of Venus holds terrors and trials that will test the old soldier in ways he is not prepared for, while a crafty assassin stalks them all from shadows both real and imagined. The team must to walk a narrow path between terrorists, soldiers, and their own dark pasts if they expect to get out of this one alive. Is The Fixer strong enough to pull an entire population from the ashes of civil war? If he isn’t, they may all drown in a flood of: APHRODITE’S TEARS.

Aphrodite's Tears

Roland Tankowicz wasn’t even legally a person anymore. The aging cyborg had never really recovered from being betrayed and enslaved by his superiors in the Army, and the final insult of being permanently classified as “defunct military ordnance” had been a bitter pill to swallow. For the last three decades, he's avoided dealing with this by drinking beer and working as a fixer for the crime families in 25th-century Boston. It's easy money when you're the kind of guy who is bullet-proof and can pick up a house. But then Lucia Ribiero stumbles into his favorite watering hole dragging a squad of bounty hunters behind her. Shadows from his own dark past, and old debts still unpaid conspire to drive the old war-horse out for one more mission. Like any good soldier, the mission is all that matters for Roland. What follows is action and adventure on a scale the galaxy may never recover from. In this volume be prepared to see Roland fight cyborgs, gangsters, mercenaries, crime lords, mutants and at least one angry corporate executive as he starts down the ugly path to redemption. The guns will blaze and fists will fly, but before the dust settles a whole galaxy's worth of mad science gone awry will learn a painful lesson about letting sleeping dogs lie. Collected here are the first three full-length novels in the critically-acclaimed tech-noir phenomenon known as: THE FIXER

Andrew Vaillencourt

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