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If you are perfect, your friends are perfect, and your life is perfect; then this isn't the adventure for you. Tomboy Al is far from perfect. Her real name is Alba Ester Domici, but everyone calls her Al. She responds to it, so it works. Al's life stinks. She wants to be a rich and famous adventurer like the hero in her favorite vid series, "Joaqim Domici: Red Pirate in Black Space." Instead, her family lives in an old house, her clothes are from last year, and adventure seems far, far away for a gawky almost thirteen year old. She lives on Birach, where there are lots of soldiers and military parades. Everywhere you go there are proud men and women in uniform, and they talk about how heroic their friends are. If you are anyone on Birach, you have medals to prove it. Al's life really stinks; her dad is a part-time teacher at the local seminary. He's a great guy, and she jogs with him when Mom pokes his belly and raises an eyebrow, but he's not heroic. He just talks to people. Even worse, there is a rich and famous adventurer also named Marco Domici. That Captain Marco Domici saved millions of lives and has his very own starship. Probably more than one. Have you ever felt the shame of explaining that you're not famous, not important? Al's side kick, Wilbur Lefron, is a few months older and few pounds stronger. They ride bikes together and make up adventures wherever they go. Wilbur tries to keep Al from doing what she isn't supposed to do, but he usually fails and just tags along to protect her. He has a deep, dark, secret; he's madly in love with Al. Well, it's not much of a secret since everyone else on the planet knows it; everyone but Al. Even Al's dad knows! Josephine "Jo" Franco and Monte "Mon" Pascal round out the troop. Jo studies military fencing, and Mon swims like a fish. Jo has a starship flight simulator at home, with a really large screen. It has to be huge, since she's nearly blind. She wears 'corders; glasses that record everything she saw during the day. Only one friend knows how much time she spends staring at the screen, watching how the day went. Mon is that friend, and whatever he knows about her he doesn't tell. They complete each other's sentences and critique Wilbur's inability to tell Al how he really feels. So, what are these adventures about? Love. Not flighty, burning passion, but love forged in a heart willing to lay down its life for friends. Being yourself. Normal is, well, ugh. We weren't created to meet everyone else's expectations, but to find our true selves. To live a life like no other. Defying labels. Other label us; "fat", "too young", "weird", "crazy". But their labels do not define us unless we let them. Receiving grace. Sometimes we mess up so bad that everyone hates us. Then the one you hurt the most reaches out to you. Pirates. That bit wasn't planned, but pirates never do what they're supposed to do, do they? Chocolate. Lots of it. |
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Backworld tomboy Alba "Al" Domici is an adventurer. With her side-kick Wilbur, Al trains hard, rides her bike like a star fighter, and does repairs after every crash. Then life spirals out of control. Strangers show up and know everything. Her family isn't quite what she thought. Scratch that, her family is nothing like she thought: the family dog probably has deep, dark secrets. Al crashes every relationship possible and then must face thugs, wearing a dress, mutiny, tough coaches, and weird prophecies from the Mad Knitter. Someone who "isn't exactly a spy" offers to help, and Al must choose. Should she be like everyone else, or risk being herself? |
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Thirteen year old Gray is the best rider and fencer on her team. The garden planet Garradh hosts their next competition but Gray must step aboard the ship that almost killed her. Tomboy Al flunked zero gravity sword-fighting. She desperately wants to pressure seal her feelings and kick them into deep space. No one expected pirates. |
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Academic over-achiever Dede McKenna needs the girl that barely made
it into Firster Academy; can their friendship survive bullies,
boys, and felonies?
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Everyone on the planet praises and respects Tinny's parents. She loves them, but wants her own life. Her own choices. Her own friends.
A series of bad choices lead her down a dark and destructive path;
will her new friends save her?
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Al is a Firster adult, a Clan warrior. She feels like an empty shell;
a fraud and a failure. Al leaves the academy and joins the Marines, but
can the taint of her past be outrun?
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Rebels capture her dad and destroy everything Al holds dear; she has nothing
left. Nothing but a prophecy she hates and a willingness to make them pay for
what they have done.
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This book contains two complete novellas; Engineer and Chief. EngineerJames "Jimmie" Lauwers is trying to earn money to buy out the dehumanizing contracts his parents and girlfriend are under. The plan was simple; Jimmie would get a job as a starship engineer, earn good money, and set people free. They would in turn do the same for others, ending a cycle of "employed by contract before being born."
Jimmie's captain doesn't pay for months, and then gets thrown in jail. He has no money, no recorded work history to get his Apprentice license, and his family will stay enslaved. The ship gets a new Captain and First Officer straight out of the Merchant Marine Academy, and an emergency mission to run medical supplies out to the belt. When other engineers rebel against the change of command, and are hospitalized, a barely trained Jimmie has to keep the ship spaceworthy. A garbled and abruptly ended transmission from a belter ship reports an alien vessel in deep space: Jimmie has to keep the ship going against an enemy they cannot understand. ChiefAfter healing from the discovery of the Mulgoi ship, Jimmie is pulled out of the Merchant Marine Academy to serve on an experimental ship going to the Mulgo home world. If ship systems fail then the crew will be lost in space for the rest of their lives, just like the Mulgoi were. If the mission fails, the Mulgoi ship, and the surviving Mulgoi will be sold to the highest bidder. Despite personal tragedy, Jimmie won't let his friends be sold. He just doesn't know if he'll ever see his son again. |
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“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” -- G.K. Chesterton "Be a kid when it's time to be a kid. Be a world changer when the world needs changing." -- Josephine "Jo" Franco "She struggled to understand love, to accept it. She struggled, as we all do, to find her place. To find her heart." -- Matreetha of the Dragon Clan, NavakSen, "Grandmother" |
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The Domici War novels are easy reading level science-fiction Coming of Age stories with a Christian Warrior ethos. The characters struggle with their imperfections and the challenges of an unknowable future. |
Website copyright Free Trade League 2025 |
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