I’m often asked for a reading order for my books. The truth is, I’ve written in 5 main series and none are interconnected. Three of them are what I’d call near-future and two are what I’d call far-future. And I tend to think that’s the best way to go about reading them.

Near-future series

Saturn’s Legacy was the first near-future series I wrote (set about 35-40 years in the future.)

The plot revolves around the discovery of a series of seemingly unrelated artifacts on Earth, Mars, and Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Entertaining sci-fi shenanigans ensue!

Like all my books, the cast of characters grows quickly. But this one starts with two guys with very little in common: A disgraced Marine and a kidnapped archeologist. Half the fun is seeing them find a way to work together.

Saturn's Legacy series

 

Heartland Aliens was the next series I wrote, this one much more of a modern-day thriller. It’s set just a few years in the future.

The plot is simple: HG Wells’ War of the Worlds if it happened today. But rather than a big city setting (aka London), I set it in a small town that quickly gets cut off from the rest of the world. Frightening shenanigans ensue!

This book begins with a small cast of characters with little in common and lets them figure out ways to survive together (and apart). This is actually my favorite group of characters and I have a feeling I might revisit this story at some point.

Heartland Aliens series

 

ENIGMA Files is my latest near-future series. This is essentially set in the present, or very close to it.

This series posits that humanity has made much greater advances in the past than history textbooks would have you know, grounding some of the more far-fetched legends of yesteryear in science. But those advances have been lost to… well, let’s just say time isn’t the unbroken straight-line you believe it to be.

This series is really the story of three people: A cocky hitman, a retired special forces officer, and a wide-eyed academic. By the end, I hope you’ll come to root for all three of them, warts and all. As always, the cast grows along with the series!

ENIGMA Files series

 

Far-future series

Last Stand (which long-time readers will know as Gunn & Salvo) is a series set thousands of years in the future.

Humanity has settled the stars and doesn’t even know or really care where Earth is anymore. Which turns out to be a big problem when an ancient evil comes along aiming to exterminate all life in the galaxy!

Think of this as my take on Star Wars, except everyone using The Force is evil. How will us normal people survive?! The main characters are a bit of a cross between Hans Solo and Mulder and Scully from the X-files. This series, more than any other of mine, grows to have an enormously diverse and wildly entertaining cast of characters. It’s a favorite series of many readers.

Last Stand series

 

Lucky’s Marines is the original! My very first series, and the one that most of my first readers know me for.

Earth never even gets mentioned in this far-future series. Humanity lives—and wars—among the stars, but there are no aliens to be found. Or at least, that’s how it seems…

I’ll be honest, I think my writing has improved quite a bit, but having recently re-read the first book, I will say that it’s just as over-the-top entertaining as I remember.

And I absolutely love Lucky, a cynical Space Marine who enjoys dark humor, and Rocky, the sarcastic AI in his head that enjoys tormenting him.

This series is full of bloody space battles, hand-to-hand combat, and characters who refuse to take anything too seriously. If you’ve ever wanted to read a series focused on the Colonial Marines from James Cameron’s Aliens movie, you’ll love this one!

Lucky's Marines series

 

So there you have it. I’d call that a reasonable overview of my biggest books and how to read them. I do have a smattering of other books and plenty of cowritten works. You can dig deeper in my catalog on Amazon to find all that other good stuff!