Ebook Discount

From May 27 – June 3  Jonathon Munros will be discounted to 99c on Amazon in the US and 99p in the UK. The third book in a series, in which the evil Jonathon Munro violates the only reason his evil behaviour has as yet not been punished. He is to be replaced by an android, who learns to behave like the real man. However. Jonathon’s inherent evil has been underestimated, and the android, knowing of Jonathon’s obsession with sex, and knowing that sex is needed for reproduction, decides to start reproducing itself. What could possibly go right? A dystopian hard science fiction novel that, while the third of a series, stands alone as long as you accept the characters have a past, and a problem that makes the Terminator seem modest.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EK5T6WE

Ebook Discount

From March 24 – 30, Miranda’s Demons will be discounted to 99c on Amazon in the US and UK. In 2285, the 34 exhausts of a badly mauled alien battle fleet are seen travelling at relativistic velocities to end on Miranda, the innermost moon of Uranus. The aliens conquer Mars and take slave labour to repair their ships, seemingly with cooperation from Terran corporations. War follows.

Natasha Kotchetkova, the Commissioner for Defence is faced with an alien race that totally outclasses any Earth military technology. Even if Terran forces can win, thanks to the corporate treachery, who wins the following peace? Meanwhile, Scaevola has followed the aliens, and arrives on Earth to meet his prophesied “second woman in his life: the ugliest woman in the world”.

A hard science fiction epic with 18 major characters, four alien races, several romances, not all of which end well, treachery, and is set variously in 3 continents, the Earth-Moon L-4 space station, Mars, Iapetus, the asteroid belt and Miranda. Book IV of a series, but originally written as a stand-alone.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZH851G8

Ebook Discount

For a short  time my ebook Spoliation is price reduced on Amazon. Unlike Kindle Countdowns, this discount applies world-wide, and I am experimenting to see how effective this strategy is.

The Board, is a ruthless, shadowy organization with limitless funds that employs space piracy and terrorism. A disgraced Captain Jonas Stryker is acting as an asteroid miner, and when The Board resorts to using a weaponised asteroid to get its way, only Stryker can divert the asteroid. The Board is determined to have Stryker killed, officially he is wanted for murder, so Stryker must expose and destroy this organization to have any future.

A story of greed, corruption and honour, combining science and visionary speculation that goes from the high frontier to outback Australia. The background also gives a scientific perspective on asteroid mining.

Ebook discount

From March 6 -12, my ebooks at Smashwords will be significantly discounted. The fictional ebooks, which are thrillers and, similar to Andy Weir, with real science in the background include:

Puppeteer:  A technothriller where governance is breaking down due to government debt, and where a terrorist attack threatens to kill tens to hundreds of millions of people and destroy billions of dollars worth of infrastructure.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/69696

‘Bot War:  A technothriller set about 8 years later, a more concerted series of terrorist attacks made by stolen drones lead to partial governance breaking down.

Smashwords    https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/677836

Troubles. Dystopian, set about 10 years later still, the world is emerging from anarchy, and there is a scramble to control the assets. Some are just plain greedy, some think corporate efficiency should rule, some think the individual should have the right to thrive, some think democracy should prevail as long as they can rig it, while the gun is the final arbiter.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/174203

Spoliation. A thriller set about asteroid mining, where some of the miners mysteriously disappear. Then someone tries tο weaponise a large asteroid. A story of greed, corruption and honour, combining science and visionary speculation that goes from the high frontier to outback Australia.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1090447

There is also the non-fictional “Biofuels”. This gives an overview of the issues involved in biofuels having an impact on climate change. Given that electric vehicles, over their lifetime probably have an environmental impact equivalent to or greater than the combustion motor, given that we might want to continue to fly, and given that the carbon from a combustion exhaust offers no increase in atmospheric carbon levels if it came from biofuel, you might be interested to see what potential this has. The author was involved in research on this intermittently (i.e. when there was a crisis and funding was available) for over thirty years. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/454344

An Ebook Discount and Something Different: Music!

From February 10 – 17, Scaevola’s Triumph will be discounted to 99c/99p on amazon.com and amazon.uk.

So far, the bizarre prophecy has worked, and Scaevola finds himself on a technically advanced alien planet where he is considered a primitive, yet it is losing a war. According to Pallas Athene, only he can save this civilization from extermination, and his use of strategy is needed to win this war. But what can he do, when at first he cannot even open the door to his apartment? A story of strategy and tactics in an interstellar war under relativistic physics. If you set off on a mission, when you return everyone who sent you is long dead. Book III of a series. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O0GS7LO

And now for the something different. A side hobby of mine is composing music, and I like to amuse myself by playing it, not necessarily very well. Anyway, I have decided to make some of what I play to myself available in case anyone is interested. Go to https://ianmiller.co.nz/music then scroll to the bottom.  I have listed in what I call Suite number 2 six short piano pieces that I like to play. The only connection, apart from being short, is they are in different time signatures, thus try number 5, in 5/4 time. Click on them and it takes you to a sheet music sale site, but it also has .mp3 files you can listen to.

Ebook Discounts at Smashwords

From December 17 – January 1, my ebooks at Smashwords will be significantly discounted. The fictional ebooks, which are thrillers and, similar to Andy Weir, with real science in the background, include:

Puppeteer:  A technothriller where governance is breaking down due to government debt, and where a terrorist attack threatens to kill tens to hundreds of millions of people and destroy billions of dollars worth of infrastructure.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/69696

‘Bot War:  A technothriller set about 8 years later, a more concerted series of terrorist attacks made by stolen drones lead to partial governance breaking down.

Smashwords    https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/677836

Troubles. Dystopian, set about 10 years later still, the world is emerging from anarchy, and there is a scramble to control the assets. Some are just plain greedy, some think corporate efficiency should rule, some think the individual should have the right to thrive, some think democracy should prevail as long as they can rig it, while the gun is the final arbiter.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/174203

Spoliation. A thriller set about asteroid mining, where some of the miners mysteriously disappear. Then someone tries tο weaponise a large asteroid. A story of greed, corruption and honour, combining science and visionary speculation that goes from the high frontier to outback Australia.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1090447

There is also the non-fictional “Biofuels”. This gives an overview of the issues involved in biofuels having an impact on climate change. Given that electric vehicles, over their lifetime probably have an environmental impact equivalent to or greater than the combustion motor, given that we might want to continue to fly, and given that the carbon from a combustion exhaust offers no increase in atmospheric carbon levels if it came from biofuel, you might be interested to see what potential this has. The author was involved in research on this intermittently (i.e. when there was a crisis and funding was available) for over thirty years. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/454344

Ebook Discount

From October 21 – 28, “Red Gold” will be discounted to 99c/99p.

Mars is to be colonized. The hype is huge, the suckers will line up, and we will control the floats. There is money to be made, and the beauty is, nobody on Earth can check what is really going on on Mars. Meanwhile, on Mars we shall be the only ones with guns. This can’t lose.

Except that there is one person who will try to stop the fraud. Which means he cannot be allowed to live. Partly inspired by the 1988 crash, Red Gold shows the anatomy of one sort of fraud. Then there is the problem that fraudsters with guns cannot permit anyone to expose them. One side must kill the other.

If you liked The Martian where science allowed one person to survive then Red Gold is a thriller that has a touch of romance, a little economics and enough science to show how Mars might be colonised and the colonists survive indefinitely.http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009U0458Y

New Ebook

Now on preorder, and available from July 15 at Amazon and most outlets that sell .epub, Spoliation.

When a trial to cover-up a corporate failure ends Captain Jonas Stryker’s career, he wants revenge against The Board, a ruthless, shadowy organization with limitless funds that employs space piracy, terrorism, and even weaponised asteroids. Posing as a space miner, Stryker learns that The Board wants him killed, while a young female SCIB police agent wants retribution against him for having her career spoiled at his trial. As Stryker avoids attempts to kill him, he becomes the only chance to prevent The Board from overturning the Federation Government and imposing a Fascist-style rule.

A story of greed, corruption and honour, combining science and visionary speculation that goes from the high frontier to outback Australia.

The complications involved in processing small asteroids means they have to be moved to a central point. The background to this novel shows the science behind that, and also how to convert an asteroid into a weapon. You know what happened to the dinosaurs so the weapon has punch.

Preorder at:

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097M95LCJ 

Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1090447

B&N                https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940164941673

Apple:             https://books.apple.com/us/book/x/id1574442266

Kobo               https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/Search?Query=9781005532796

Ebook discount: Athene’s Prophecy

From May 20 – May 27, Athene’s Prophecy will be discounted to 99c/99p on Amazon and Amazon UK. Science fiction with some science you can try your hand at. The young Roman Gaius Claudius Scaevola receives a vision from Pallas Athene, who asks him to do three things so he can save humanity from total destruction. He must learn the art of war, he must make a steam engine, and while using only knowledge available in the first century he must show the Earth goes around the sun. Can you do it? Try your luck. I suspect you will fail, and to stop cheating, the answer is in the following ebook. 

Scaevola is in Egypt for the anti-Jewish riots, then he is sent to Syria as Tribunis laticlavius in the Fulminata. Soon he must prevent a rebellion when Caligulae orders a statue of himself in the temple of Jerusalem. You will get a different picture of Caligulae than what you normally see, supported by a transcription of a report of the critical meeting regarding the statue by Philo of Alexandria. (Fortunately, copyright has expired.). First of a series. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GYL4HGW

Ebook discount

From March 18 – 25, my thriller, The Manganese Dilemma, will be discounted to 99c/99p on Amazon. When the curvaceous Svetlana escapes to the West with clues that the Russians have developed super stealth, Charles Burrowes, a master hacker living under a cloud of suspicion, must find out what it is. Surveillance technology cannot show any evidence of such an invention, but Svetlana’s father was shot dead as they made their escape. Burrowes must uncover what is going on before Russian counterintelligence or a local criminal conspiracy blow what is left of his freedom out of the water