Sol Invictus

About the Book

Only a long dead and quarantined orb of darkness remains where the once miraculous sapphire called Earth orbited its home star, Sol. All of the sovereign nations perished alongside Terra, as interplanetary megaCorporations wrested control of the Solar System-reducing their employees to serfdom and slavery. The auspicious commoners serve one of the 512 Solaran megaCorporations, while the remainder becomes rejectamenta on the auction block. The corporatocracy now strictly enforces a revived caste system and individual freedoms no longer exist. The privilege of liberty lost its place-even its meaning--in the thousands of Extraterran colonies, from Mercurius to the Kuiper Belt. The University, once hailed as the savior of humanity and civilization, now viciously controls the Solaran populace at the behest of the avaricious megaCorporations. Manipulation via selective proscription, torture, and imprisonment never fail to effect the desired result. To this end, the University utilizes the cunning and deadly triOperativ assassins of SpecSci. Uriens, one of these agents skilled in the tradecraft of database hacking, interrogation, and assassination has lost the zealotry instilled in him since the impressionable age of eight orbits. Now driven by infinite remorse and sorrow, Uriens will make the only decision possible other than death-to find a new path. He will enter into an epic quest spanning Sol entire--in an attempt to rescue the ethos of humanity, return freedom to the Solar System, and restore his own battered mind, body, and soul. Will Uriens and his cohort succeed in their perilous ordeals, or merely worsen humanity’s plight--as well as their own?

About the Author

Born and raised in Utah, in the Shadow of Hill Air Force Base, Eric developed an early fascination with aircraft, the military, and space travel. By the time he graduated high school, he had already mapped out his future, and joined the United States Air Force–just days after turning 17 years old. He served as an aviator in the Air Force’s Air Combat Command, flying both strategic and tactical reconnaissance missions for 20 years. Soon after he turned 25 years old, having already attained the position of Airborne Analyst, he began to lead covert missions in many areas throughout the world. As an Airborne Mission Supervisor, he amassed vast insights into geopolitical affairs. As a member of a relatively small Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) career field within the Department of Defense, Eric is exceptionally qualified to regard the far-flung future of information gathering, and the planning and combat operations that his esoteric career supported. Through the course of his career, he liaised directly with the US Army, US Navy, US Marine Corps, JSOC, NRO, NSA, CSS, DIA, FBI, DEA, OSD, among other three letter agencies in the United States and other countries. While gaining experience in both overt and covert operations, he served in dozens of countries spanning the global. This vast knowledge culminated in assignment to the Pentagon, as a Deputy to the Air Force and Air National Guard Intelligence Managers. There he learned much about National Interests, National Policy, and National Strategy–how one flows to the next–and how best to facilitate the execution of the decisions of the government’s policy makers. Now retired, he lives in Utah to be near his family. He is not married and has no children. Aside from writing, Eric enjoys skiing, hiking, mountain biking, robotics, model rocketry, electronics, travelling the country and world, and reading about history and science. His favorite books are Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Walking Drum, and, of course, Dune. His current project, Sol Invictus–Senatus Populusque Solarus–the first instalment of The Solar Chronicles, thoughtful ly ponders the future of the Earth, and humanity’s struggle to survive while eliminating barriers to a just and free civilization living on a more verdant Earth, without sacrificing individualism. Other projects, past and present, include A Bowl, a Spoon, and a few Little Miracles, the Second Sun serial novel, and Surviving the Singularity, as well as many short stories. He primarily enjoys writing hard-boiled science fiction using the known physical laws of nature–and historical fiction, using actual historical events as a backdrop. Eric respectfully requests that you support manned space flight, the NASA budget, and the funding of private and corporate spacing start-ups with your vote. If we had stayed the course after Apollo 11–instead of throwing good money after bad in unnecessary wars–these United States would already have nuclear fusion power, hotels in orbit, bases on the moon, mines on asteroids, and colonies on Mars–along with a much greener planet. The country that dominates space will holds the keys to the future, and the guaranteed survival of our species.