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Six years after the apocalypse, the survivors are making progress rebuilding civilization. The problem is, criminal gangs are making progress, too. While Eric Marten, the Marine veteran-turned-rancher and empire builder, fights them at home, his adopted daughter Taylor decides on a different course. She wants to cut the head off the snake, to take out the crime boss of New Orleans.It sounds like a good idea, until she’s trying to fight her way alone out of the French Quarter, with half the population gunning for her. Maybe Eric could have told her that no plan survives contact with the enemy, but he and her friends were hundreds of miles way across a wasteland. Her luck, though, in New Orleans style, might turn with unexpected help and just a chance.
The Cannon High Caliber Awards are an annual contest for new writers. In it we ask them to submit a novella length story of Science Fiction, Military or Fantasy genre to challenge their skills. Out of twenty two entries we picked eight top ones, and here they are!
1st Vexation - Greg Fennewald
2nd Elko – Jon Holt
3rd Wings of Gold – N.J. Todd
4th The Jaguar God & Golden Idol - Zachary Weeks
Honorable Mentions (in no specific order)
• Knight Beats Grave Digger – Ryan Overton
• Miss Imperium – L.J. Hilse
• Reaper – Michael Woodworth
• Stardrakes and Scrutiny - Ruth Thompson
Every author has multiple universes in their mind, times and places where they set their heroes (or villians!) But through them all runs a collective thread of mystery, daring, and adventure. It's why we read, to be taken far away.
J.F. Holmes has, for the last decade and a half, focused on men and women fighting against impossible odds idn deseperate situations. Sometimes in militaries of the now and of the future, sometimes just trying to survive on their own.
Facing the Storm is a collection of stories selected from books published over the years. (Along with some new Irish Brigade action!) So if you're a long time reader, you might see some old friends and also find some stories you missed. If you're new to the Holmesverses, well you're in for a hell of a ride!
Peredur of Gwenned has survived that most dangerous of times, a soldier’s first encounter with combat, and now rides with ease and respect among his companions. Arthur, impressed by Peredure’s courage and composure, sends him beyond the old Roman borders. His mission to accompany Arthur’s counselor, Myrddin, and his protégé, Morgana, into the lands of Dal Riata on a diplomatic journey.
The situation in the Old North presents hazards at every turn, however. Surrounded by rival kingdoms, shifting loyalties, and enemies who are not always what they seem, Peredur discovers that words can be as lethal as open battle. Far from the safety of his unit and stripped of certainty, he is forced to confront the realities of leadership and the cost of responsibility in a land where Roman law no longer holds sway.
Life is hard. Under the bootheels of an oppressor who cares nothing about human life? Almost impossible. Thing is, though, when you put the boot on the neck of Americans, they tend to get a little pissed off and a lot worked up. Doesn't matter if they face overwhelming odds, heavy firepower or bewildering magic. They're going to resist, to the death.
The Fae have won, and they're trying to do their best to beat that spirit of independence out of their ancient enemy, humanity. In a lot of places, people are just trying to survive, but here, there and everywhere someone, somehow, will stand up and say, "Not me. Never."
Eight tales of ordinary people, and some not so ordinary, fighting a war that they may never see the end of but never giving up.
The modern world is gone, replaced by tides of possessed undead and demonic monsters.
Through this hellscape, a train full of survivors makes their way from the death-zones of the East Coast towards a hope of safety in the West. They have crossed the mighty Mississippi, led by former Army Captain Jack Zamora, and defeated a messianic cult leader who worshiped a demon on earth.
Now, though, they face a new threat... something alien, something ancient. Horrific mutated plants, demonic trees, and hordes of spore-possessed corpses that will bury the living in a tide of dead flesh. Worse, internal struggles on the train put everything at risk, with the most recent rescues presenting as much of a threat as anything else.
The only way forward is down a line of tracks leading right through the green center of a cursed place. Jack will have to lead his people to safety before their dwindling supplies of food and fuel run out. Will he succeed, or will the horrors of this hellish world consume them all?
Decker had a problem. Well, multiple problems. Some good, some bad. Some pretty bad. The good problem is that she was up a whole bunch of credits and the title to an Azelia class yacht called Vagabond King. That was the good problem.The bad problem was that she was in debt to Daresh An-Jaska, Former Princeps in the Golden Legion, Grausian exile, and the biggest gangster in the sector. Not a money debt but a favor debt, one that she paid principle on doing favors in return. Dirty deeds that never seemed to pay enough, of course. That was until yesterday, when she found a line she couldn’t cross.
Today, faced with a brutal and violent death at the hands of Jaska, Sandy did what any good spook would do. She told a story and sold a secret. Operation Marconi and the missing U.S.S. Resolute. Now it's good news, bad news.
The good news: Jaska bought the story.
The bad news: Jaska didn’t trust Sandy as far as she can throw a grat.
So, Jaska put Sandy on The Leash—a small half-alive, remotely controlled explosive charge cozied up to Sandy’s brainstem—and handed the controller to her most trusted lieutenant, Martin Grogan. Where Sandy goes, he goes. And, as insurance, the leash is on a timer. Keep Grogan happy, or he blows it. Kill Grogan and it blows itself. And her head with it.
The dead are endless but the living are worse, and when survival is the mission, honor becomes a luxury.
Sergeant Alex Slaughter, United States Marine Corps, thought fighting the infected was hard enough on land. Now he sails with the Salvation Armada, a desperate Naval flotilla carrying the last survivors of Washington, D.C.—men, women, and children who owe their lives to Alpha Squad’s final sacrifice.
The veteran NCO now commands Slaughter Squad, a hard-hitting Marine strike force tasked with raiding the shore and annihilating the undead so the civilians can eat, drink, and live another day. Every mission leaves more bodies in his wake—sometimes the enemy’s, sometimes his Marines.
But the true enemy isn’t just the dead. When a new America emerges from the old, war erupts in the Caribbean. The Marines of Guantanamo Bay, led by the ruthless Lt. Col. Nico, battle cartel remnants, smugglers, and warlords for dominance of the sea lanes. As Slaughter Squad takes brutal losses, the sergeant himself begins to fray. Each fight chips away at his humanity, and the hope that once kept him moving forward starts to bleed out.
Then comes the hardest realization of all: The greatest threat to the Armada’s survival may not be the zombies, the gangs, or even Lt. Col. Nico; It may be Slaughterhimself.
Our Series
Fae Wars
What would you do if America and the world were invaded tomorrow by a relentless and brutal enemy?
In an alternate 2015, a US Army Special Forces Team, part of the legendary black ops unit "Delta", is in midtown Manhattan to take out a Chinese spy and his handlers, sending a message short of outright conflict. All goes smoothly until they find themselves in a full blown shooting war through the canyons of the City. Portals from another world have opened in Central Park, making a way for figures out of historical nightmare to invade. The Fae, creatures banished from Earth thousands of years ago and now only part of our legends, have returned with Dragon fire, spell and sword to conquer and take revenge.
Irregular Scout Team One
In July of 2016 a plague swept the world, and the civilization collapsed and fell. For a lone National Guard sergeant, a veteran of the wars overseas who had settled down to a new life, the nightmare began on a hot summer evening at the barricades. Orders and chaos, gunfire and being overrun, his unit dwindles away in the face of the infected.
Months later, living in the ruins, the thud of helicopter rotors followed by a crash and the rescue of a downed pilot leads Sergeant First Class Nick Agostine back into the arms of the US military. From his experience comes the idea of teams, military and civilians experienced in dealing with the undead and barbarism of the wilds. The first Irregular Scout Team leads the way for Task Force Liberty to advance down the Mohawk Valley in Upstate NY, making contact with survivors and clearing out the infected with stealth and firepower.
The Line
On a hot July day on the plains of Kansas a US Army armored brigade of the storied 1st Infantry Division gets alert orders and its young troopers saddle up on their armored beasts to control civil unrest in the streets of Kansas City. Police receive calls to deal with an unprecedented number of domestic violence incidents and end up arresting citizens who appear to have gone violently insane. A prisoner at Fort Leavenworth out on a work-release program witnesses a strange murder and is forced to make a run for it. As the situation descends into chaos, conflicting orders are given as confusion reigns supreme. The active Army and National Guard fight a desperate battle in the heartland to keep the outbreak from entering a death-spiral before it crosses the point of no return, consuming the entire world. It’s a battle they cannot afford to lose
The Apocalypse written as only a veteran infantryman can, The Thin Dead Line is set as a companion series to the best selling Irregular Scout Team One by J.F. Holmes.
Fallen Empire
What’s a soldier to do when the war is over? When he’s only known conflict his whole life? Since time immemorial the solution has been to find another war, this time for pay. Whoever has the credits and wins the high bid gets the experienced fighter. Sometimes, though, the credits aren’t enough to cover the price.
Empires rise, but Empires also fall. The Terran Union has spent five centuries under the control of the alien Grausians, like a barbarian tribe under the thumb of Rome. Now, after almost two decades of civil war and succession struggles, the formerly subject races have settled back in their ancient territories to lick their wounds and re-arm, leaving hundreds of settled planets to exist in a political vacuum.
Into that space steps the free companies, mercenary units that fight for gold, honor, power and glory. Veterans who can’t get the wars out of their souls, new recruits looking for adventure, corporations with their own agenda.
Athenaeum, Inc
The Professor has problems, and not just what decades of soldiering did to his back and his knees. His boss just died, leaving him as CEO of the extremely discreet intelligence contractor Athenaeum, Incorporated. His old buddy the Operations Director is a highly skilled Army Ranger veteran but his finance chief is slightly unhinged and spends her money on highly inappropriate work outfits. The surviving old men on the Board of Directors are stuck in the 1970s. Running Athenaeum out of an old Cold War bunker and keeping their roster of experts together is expensive, but the government contracts are drying up or going to bigger, flashier corporate players.
So how does the Company survive in a changing future? By digging deeper into the world of intelligence and Black Operations.
When nine out of ten people in the world have died in a brutal plague, what do those who remain do to pick up the pieces? Does the creed, "Duty, Honor, Country" have a place any more if there's no country left?
On his way across the devastated remains of Texas, Marine Corps veteran and survivor Eric Marten rescues a young woman from a vicious attack by men who have turned into savages. As Dani slowly learns to trust him, they try to stay alive in the deathlands that America has become, using all their wits to survive a post-apocalyptic nightmare.
SEMPER DIE
The dead rose expecting a feast. What they got was a firefight.
Sergeant Alex Slaughter and the Marines of Alpha Squad were on a routine training exercise near Quantico when everything went silent. No comms. No command. No clue.
What they find when they return to base is worse than anything they trained for: a bioweapon has unleashed a zombie virus that has shattered civilization, and now they must survive the Collapse.
But as the squad pushes deeper into hostile territory—through the death-choked streets of Arlington and into the rot-stained corridors beneath D.C.—they discover that the undead aren’t the only threat. Desperate survivors, rogue military units, and darker truths buried beneath the weight of secrecy will test their loyalty, their mission, and their very humanity.
Written by USMC veteran Jonathan Shuerger and set in J.F. Holmes’s brutal and unrelenting Irregular Scout Team One universe, Semper Die delivers pulse-pounding action, authentic military detail, and a terrifying vision of what happens when duty and apocalypse collide.
If you crave hard-hitting military thrillers, brotherhood forged in battle, and Marines who refuse to die quietly—this is your next mission.
Lock. Load. Semper Fi. Semper Die.
Additional Novels
