The future of Star Crusades

The Alliance arrive deep inside the Orion Nebula

I receive many questions regarding my expanding series but none is more common than ‘how many books will it be?’ My original plan was just to write the first book ‘Siege of Titan’ to see if there was any interest at all in this kind of novel. It was a radical departure from my previous historical and zombie related fiction but also one that i wanted to write more than any of the others. Luckily the interest was massive and I’ve expanded the original plot to include new locations, themes and characters. Even so, right from book 1 i have had a second book called the Star Crusades Encyclopedia. This is a companion volume that is just for me that I used to record al my ideas as well as every single person and location in the series. By the time Titan was finished I had lots of ideas that could move the books on to a trilogy or perhaps even more.

Back to the present. I am please to announce that the Star Crusades series is now fully planned out to three complete series of at least six books a piece and that this means you can expect no less than eighteen books in total. The first series ‘Star Crusades Uprising’ was made up of six novels that introduced are characters, the uprising itself and the emergency of new tech as well as the Alliance. The second series, known as ‘Nexus’ concerns these new regions of space such as T’Karan and Helios and how the Alliance will establish itself with its new neighbors whilst dealing with the specter of the old enemy. This will be approximately six books and lead to the third and final chapter, ‘Star Crusades Apocalypse’.

Will that be the end? I hope not but it will be the end of the story cycle that I planned for the Morato family. I would definitely like to go back and visit other locations in the universe I’ve created both before, during and after the current time line. What was Spartan up to in his days as a pit fighter? Perhaps stories set on the individual worlds or even the outer colonies where something has been lurking since their establishment just a few years ago.

My new series - Star Crusades Nexus

Legions, the 1st book in the Nexus series

As many of you have noticed, my original Star Crusades series is complete. Six novels divided up into two trilogies that chronicle the Great Uprising that ripped the Centauri Confederacy apart, much as the Great War did fifty years before that. I've taken a short time out to work on my Black Legion series but am now back and pleased to announce that the Star Crusades is far from over, in fact you are only a third the way in! My original intention was to write Siege of Titan as a test novel, to see if there was interest in this kind of old-school science fiction. The sales of the first book were massive and I've used subsequent books to flesh out the world including backstory, characters and an entire star system. This world has now become so complex that I am receiving lots of requests for prequels and side story novels to cover different parts of the series. Some want the Spartan story prior to Siege of Titan while others want something new like a Corsair trilogy set in the middle of the Uprising. Even the Jotnar are a possibility for a spinoff. Even so, I have a strict schedule to follow over the next year or two and my new series is the beginning.

I am therefore pleased to announce that Star Crusades Nexus is the second part of my long-term story arc that extends the timeframe and the story of the Alliance. Rifts are artificially constructed out of the technology taken from Hyperion and humanity travels deep into space, initially to the Orion Nebula. Here they discover other races as well as the background to the Biomechs and where the motivations for the Zealots came from. This series is projected to be six books and will see the Alliance make great discoveries and hit some major problems. This series is stand-alone and does not require reading the Uprising series though it will add some great backstory. It is my intention that each block of novels can be enjoyed on its own and serves as a chunk of a much greater story.

Machine Gods, 2nd book in the Nexus series

What next? Well, that is a very good question. I have other book series such as my psuedo-historical Black Legion series but Star Crusaded will always receive the lion share of my attention. Nexus is the middle of my planned series and when complete the stage will be set for the grand finale, something that will make any even so far seem almost insignificant. I don't want to say to much but suffice to say it will be a truly epic conclusion to a massive science-fiction series.

If you want to know anymore please contact me through my Facebook fanpage or via my publisher.

Slaves of Hyperion (Star Crusades, Book 6) is in the wild!

Slaves of Hyperion is now out and marks the end of the six-book cycle that is the Star Crusades series. It has been sometime since I visited the world of Spartan and his friends as I’ve been writing the new Black Legion series. With so many requests for this book I had to put Black Legion III on hold to get  this final book competed.

This book ties up many of the loose ends from Fall of Terra Nova and gives closure to most of the characters. The book moves the story to the planet of Hyperion, a mysterious jungle world and hides a secret. Old enemies and characters from all five previous books show up in this conclusion to the story. Expect to learn more about the Zealots, the Biomechs and the religious cult of Echidna that has been the driving force in the war.

The Star Crusades series will be continued by Star Crusades Nexus, an exciting new stand-alone series that is set seventeen years after the end of Slaves of Hyperion.

Star Crusades: The First Trilogy…and onwards!

The First Trilogy Artwork

I have several exciting pieces of news for you concerning my latest novels. The first is that my publisher is releasing the first three novels in the Star Crusades series as a combined edition. This is the cheapest way so far of obtaining these exciting novels. The combined edition contains some great new artwork that shows our eponymous hero Spartan, in yet another of his favoured warzones.  Previously you could purchase the entire five-book series at a much higher price. This has now changed in readiness for the next piece of news…

As you might have already guessed, the title for the combined edition kind of gives the game away. If you haven’t already guessed it, there cannot be a first trilogy unless there is more than one. So in answer to all your questions, yes, there will be a sixth novel and yes it will form the last part of the second trilogy. This means ‘Fall of Terra Nova’ will actually be the middle title in the second set of books. I will announce more of this over the next few weeks once the second book in the Black Legion is released. For now just know that book six is coming and that there will be more to follow!

A new series and a new book...BLACK LEGION

It is 2012 and after a number of delays my latest novel has been released. This is novel number nine and the first in this new series. Unlike the Star Crusades saga of five books, this series is set far into the future. It is a world populated by aliens, advanced technology and characters with no memory of Earth and its ancient past.

My background is ancient history, advanced computing and European martial arts, so this new book combines the lot into a new and exciting work. The story is influenced by the famous story of Xenophon and the Ten Thousand Mercenaries. I studied this work in great detail when working on my Masters Degree in the original Ancient Greek, and have always found its themes influential in my writing.

It is my plan continue the Black Legion story into a series of at least three books. I would them like to jump ahead a couple of generations to continue the story with new characters with stories to tell. This will all follow the framework of Ancient European history, mixed with renaissance intrigue, politics and style.


The Black Legion is an army like no other. Paid for by the blood money of a sinister alien race and filled with ten thousand of humanity’s best warriors. They are an unstoppable force with their number taken from every known Terran planet in the Galaxy. They have little in common, other than their love of wealth and adventure, and a bitter hatred for each other. Ten thousand savage mercenaries, exiles, thieves and criminals, each looking to make their name in the greatest enterprise in living memory.


Into this world of space travel, war and intrigue comes Xenophon, the exile from the Alliance planet Attica, Glaucon the rich playboy, Roxana the experienced starship officer, and Tamara, the blue-haired castaway with a hidden past and a violent personality. Fate brings them together, to serve on board one of the mighty Titans, the great floating fortresses and the most powerful starships known to mankind. There are only twelve of these in existence, and just one is powerful enough to take on an entire fleet of enemy ships.


With only a few weeks to train with their comrades, nothing will prepare them for the carnage that awaits them at the infamous Gates of Cilicia. This fortified sector serves as the entrance to the Median Empire, the largest and most powerful empire in the known Galaxy and ruled with an iron fist by the tyrant, Emperor Artaxerxes.


An epic science fiction novel that retells the ancient tale of Xenophon and the Ten Thousand Mercenaries.