WHAT LURKS BEYOND THE FRONTIER?

January is almost halfway over? How did that happen so fast?

I put the finishing touches on Frontier today. That means the book should be available in paperback and ebook formats within a few days, but I wanted to share some details early, hopefully to whet your whistle for the BEN Books release.

About Frontier:
Frontier collects 9 sci fi short stories from Bobby Nash, author of Earthstrike Agenda, Evil Ways, and Deadly Games! Some of the rare tales presented in Frontier are reprints and others are in print there for the first time. The stories that make up Frontier happen on Earth, on alien planets, and in the deepest recesses of space. There’s action, adventure, horror, and even a little romance.

Stories included in Frontier:

SAMARITAN
In deepest space, a research vessel rescues a survivor who asks to be returned home. The catch: her planet lies at the center of a black hole. [Note: Samaritan is also available as a stand-alone ebook novella]

DREAMWEAVER
Nathanial “Doc” Dresden wakes up in space, free floating above the moon. But he is not alone. The first prose story featuring Doc Dresden: The Immortal.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE MONSTERS GONE?

Doc Dresden: The Immortal returns. Nathanial “Doc” Dresden and his team investigate bizarre happenings.

MIDWAY
A meteor storm damages Midway Station, a free-floating museum storage facility and frees an ancient creature from its icy tomb to terrorize the repair crew on board to make repairs.

JUST ANOTHER SATURDAY ON OUTPOST 9When war breaks out between neighboring worlds, the Outpost 9 space station is caught in the crossfire. Dr. Erin Moonshadow tries to save lives as chaos reigns around her.

THE DROP
War. Ground troops are dispatched. Dropped from their starship, the troop transport is attacked and one of the soldiers is lost. Then things get strange.

NIGHTMARE IN AMBER
Are a young man’s dreams of an interstellar war a product of his imagination or a prophecy of things to come?

THE GARDEN
A survey crew discovers a veritable Garden of Eden at the far edge of the galaxy. Is this paradise? Or is there a serpent in hiding in this garden, waiting to strike? The Garden is a comic book story by Bobby Nash with art by Jeff Austin and Rusty Gilligan.

A JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY
This one is really a rare find. It was a one-page story that doubled as an advertisement for a convention where I was a guest and ran in their mailer booklet and in the convention’s program book.

Illustrations in Frontier are by Bobby Nash and Jeff Austin.
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Publishing Frontier has been on my to do list for some time, but was constantly being pushed to the back burner as other projects and deadlines move to the foreground. Some of the stories included in the book were characters I had hoped to spin into more adventures, like Doc Dresden, who appeared in a few comic book stories I may have to dig up and reprint soon. Just Another Saturday on Outpost 9 and The Drop were also part of a shared universe, seeing events happening from different perspectives. There have been times when I’ve thought about returning to those respective universes, and I may still. Stranger things have certainly happened.

Others are one offs or bits and pieces I had lying around while others are connected in weird ways. The plot for Midway, for instance, was originally one I considered as a sequel to Samaritan, but then decided not to do. I felt that Samaritan should stand on its own and that a sequel wasn’t really warranted, but it was still a tempting idea so when a call came out for a [SPOILER] anthology, I used that plot. I put that spoiler there so as not to spoil a reveal in the story. Ain’t I a tease? Sadly, the anthology’s editor passed on Midway, but I’m excited to see it finally getting out to the masses.

Speaking of Midway, look for an announcement regarding this story real soon. It’s pretty cool stuff, I think.

One of the most fun aspects of this particular project was creating the covers for each story. I had a lot more fun creating those than I expected, so much so that I hope to do more. A lot of the art used in the covers was older pieces I had laying around from old projects Jeff Austin and I started together that, for one reason or another, were never completed. I think some of them came out quite nice. I hope you like them as well.

Look for an official press release for FRONTIER in a few days.

I look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts on the new release.

Now, I guess I’d better get back to writing the Evil Intent novel.

Bobby