Zookosmic is my original series set in a (mostly) dystopian future, a place where the beasts of the land have evolved to wage war and exploit both the many planets of the Yggweh System and each other. Between unregulated corporate growth, greed over resources, and expansionist mindsets, war is abundant, opportunity is rare, and society frays at the seams. Money and power are the only certainties that bring comfort and safety and it is not easy to come by either.
I started writing this series as an exercise to flex the old brain and fingers but the more I wrote, the more I realized I enjoyed coming up with new things to shove in this burgeoning universe. It was originally born of my appreciation for other franchises, namely Brian Jacques' Redwall series, which I read a lot as a child, and the battletech universe, because giant robot based warfare is dope as shit. There are other things as well, a little Star Wars here, a pinch of Star Fox there, but I prefer to innovate over imitate and so I've fleshed out quite a lot of original parts for this series and have tried to make it my own. Your favorite book is the one you haven't written yet, as they say.
I've had other books and concepts I've tried but Zookosmic was always the one that stuck around, perhaps for the simplicity of funny critters being mean to each other. Tragedy, horror, and misery are all so much more whimsically entertaining when it's a fluffy creature in the crosshairs or holding the whip. And I like to not hold back with this aspect. These stories are violent, cruel, and contain multitudes of pain and misfortune, a warped reflection of our own world. I often find myself most motivated to write when horrible news arrives and these last few years haven't been short on that. I plan to keep writing these for as long as I can, or at least until I run out of ideas, which won't be anytime soon.
If you haven't checked it out already, I have a lore section you can peruse to get an idea of the who and the what in this series. It's mostly just a place to stash the worldbuilding and lore that doesn't make it into the books but hey, better than it sitting in some text document on my hard drive. If any of this sounds interesting, maybe pick up the first book and give it a shot or read the the first three chapters to see if it fits your fancy. The money will go directly to making sure I have the time and peace of mind to make more. Thank you for visiting regardless.
Fennick Stratus is a fox facing a major but common problem: He's almost out of money. With few options left as a hired gun in a stagnating theater of war, he sets out in his beat up ship to take a risky gamble on the Coalition's new and experimental Mercenary Wing, a haven for freelance contractors that promises suspiciously good pay and benefits.
Once there, he meets new friends, makes new enemies, and must survive politics, power struggles, and superiors that would love nothing more than to rend him limb from limb for their amusement. Life may be tough as a vulture of the battlefield, but life as the pawn of a major system power is somehow so much worse. It's not enough to just do your job in the Mercenary Wing, you also have to survive your allies…
On the run from the people they once served, Fennick Stratus, Senepta Veskot, and their fellow fugitives have decided to take shelter in the vast reaches of Yggweh's Belt while they plan for a new future as an independent mercenary outfit. They choose Barest Branch as a base of operations, a small colony station of little note that seems the perfect place to lie low until the heat dies down. Or so it seems.
Instead of quiet solitude, they cross paths with a slew of new foes, from local politicians who want them under their heel, to flashy crime bosses who want to hire them to solve their problems. Even worse, a major manufacturing corporation has recently arrived in the region and started to plunder it of both valuables and people, leading to a major threat that promises slavery and death unless someone does something about it. With opportunity so rich and rewards so lofty, they might just have to be that someone…
The outfit has become more than hired guns to Barest Branch, they've become close allies and a major pillar of the colony's stability. It's a demanding job, but with the destruction of Ospeare Manufacturing and the promise of payment for the deed sometime in the future, things have settled down considerably. Until they start right back up again.
Endcom Communications, one of the largest corporations in the system, is searching for the killers of Ospeare and will stop at nothing to find them. Now, Fennick Stratus, Senepta Veskot, and their mercenaries must juggle not only avoiding blame but dealing with a host of new challenges that range from spies in their ranks to all out war with a group hellbent on taking Barest Branch for all it's worth.