The Secrets of Rebellion…
Authors are often asked where their ideas come from. Author Neil Gaiman’s has said his reply to this question is usually, “From the idea-of-the-month club.” –I’m still waiting on my subscription notice to come in the mail…
In the case of my Insurrection series, the idea came in a dream. I observed an interrogation room in some Sci-Fi version of a dystopian future. In the room sat a prisoner who my mind told me used to be an interrogator. “Serves you right,” I thought. “What goes around comes around.” (Have I mentioned that my subconscious has a vindictive streak?) Still, I kind of liked the guy and something told me he was there to help someone else. In comes his interrogator. He knows her. She sits down and the question she repeatedly asks is, “Where is the Albatross?”
At this point, my baby wakes up demanding milk but my sleep deprived brain whispered that the Albatross is the leader of a rebellion. I scribbled down the idea but it didn’t have the branching subplots required of a novel. A short story then, I decided. Since I’d just completed my first novel, it seemed like a nice change of pace.
After I wrote Gemson’s story — the interrogator from my dream — I realized this universe is a lot bigger than I’d initially thought. The horrors Earth endured from a past alien invasion remained heavy in the minds of humanity, opening the way for the dictatorial governing body to take control under the guise of security. And I wondered, who is the Albatross? What will become of the rebellion he leads? If he topples the Establishment, will the Earth be able to repel another invasion should the aliens return? Too many questions to leave hanging and the story spiraled out for me, demanding I see it to conclusion.
Thus, Insurrection became a five-part novella series, each installment told from the perspective of a single character, each interconnected with the others and humanity’s ultimate fate. I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I have writing them. I’d like to say the idea was all mine but I have to credit to the Sandman for pushing the Albatross and his fight into my dreaming thoughts. Thanks, man.
~ Insurrection: The Complete Omnibus ~
An enigmatic rebel leader known as the Albatross challenges Earth’s dictatorial regime. But as a new threat emerges an unlikely few must forge alliances among enemies to save mankind from annihilation.
The omnibus brings all five books of the Insurrection series together. An action-packed space adventure, it’s a tale of sacrifice and redemption in the struggle for humanity’s ultimate fate.
~ Subversive (Insurrection Book One) ~
In a not so distant future, an unprepared humanity barely managed to repel the Locusts when they invaded Earth. But the long war left its mark on mankind and the Establishment was founded to ensure it would never come so close to destruction from an alien force again. Now, decades later, the world is run by this single governing entity. Loyalty is rewarded. Disloyalty is met with corrective action.
As an inquisitor for the past twenty years, Gemson used torture and interrogation to root out subversives. He’d worked hard to earn his cold, hard reputation. Now he finds himself on the subject’s side of the interrogation table. Loyalty? Some bonds transcend the laws of state.
~ Operative (Insurrection Book Two) ~
In a not so distant future, an unprepared humanity barely managed to repel the Locusts when they invaded Earth. But the long war left its mark on mankind and the Establishment was founded to ensure it would never come so close to destruction from an alien force again. Now, decades later, the world is run by this single governing entity. Loyalty is rewarded. Disloyalty is met with corrective action.
For Ellie, the job of an analyst was simple: Evaluate her target’s patterns, make a virtual connection, garner trust, and ascertain identity and location. Falling in love with the Albatross — the Establishment’s most notorious subversive and leader of the insurgency — complicates matters. Now she’ll have to decide which to betray: her duty or her heart.
~ Inquisitor (Insurrection Book Three) ~
In a not so distant future, an unprepared humanity barely managed to repel the Locusts when they invaded Earth. But the long war left its mark on mankind and the Establishment was founded to ensure it would never come so close to destruction from an alien force again. Now, decades later, the world is run by this single governing entity. Loyalty is rewarded. Disloyalty is met with corrective action.
Before the war, they called Harlow the Butcher. The Establishment calls him Inquisitor and he’s been handed his most intriguing subject: the Albatross, leader of the insurgency. But strange orders frustrate Harlow’s work. When an unexpected visitor arrives with an interesting proposition, Harlow might have the solution he needs. If not, well, his knives don’t care where the screams come from.
~ Assassin (Insurrection Book Four) ~
Mankind has heard the voice of the Albatross speak against the Establishment for years. The resistance sees him as their leader, their symbol of freedom from oppression. No one knows he was once an assassin, a shadow of fear and torment wielded by the Establishment as a weapon of death. Until now. But there are secrets more horrifying than the Albatross’s past, deceptions interconnected with the Establishment and the alien enemy that humanity believes it defeated.
When Everett awakens on an abandoned outpost in the asteroid belt, he is desperate to find Ellie and warn the resistance of the Locusts’ impending return. Neither may be possible, especially when Everett faces an old adversary who knows he’s hiding more than just a savage past. But when intruders enter the outpost, they’ll have to work together to escape with their lives or lose everything they’ve fought for.
~ Martyr (Insurrection Book Five) ~
On the outside, Yaren appears human. A friend to the Albatross. A rebel ally. But her humanity is only skin deep, a means to hide her true origins. Her people have traveled long and far to find a new home and she has given everything to ensure nothing stands in their way.
As the Locust armada moves to eradicate mankind on Earth, Yaren’s task is to betray the human fleet’s position and strategy. She only needs to evade the watchful eye of an infuriating former inquisitor to see it done. Human notions of trust and friendship will not distract her. Nothing will, not even the doubts thumping in her borrowed heart.
Author of speculative fiction 