Then you aren’t going to be disappointed with our next release! This Friday, Dragoon: First Strike, book 1 of the CAVDEV Cycle drops!

Dragoon: First Strike has been an absolute labor of love by its creator, Peter Stanley. We’ve worked together over the last two years to get this X-Com-inspired novel polished up and ready for public consumption that fans of the old-school game will certainly fall in love with.

Here’s the blurb

It finally happened… and the aliens were out for conquest.

Amid a worldwide invasion, a secluded part of the world holds its own against the unwelcome intruders.

Flight Lieutenant Nathan Harvey, a helicopter pilot from the Royal New Zealand Air Force is recruited into the CAVDEV, an experimental powered armor unit.
He quickly finds himself leading the fight on the front lines against an overwhelming alien force.

Can Harvey and his clandestine unit of powered armor drive back the invading forces and secure a foothold for the human race?

Now, here’s a little something extra that came in last night from our early reader team. How about the first review to give you a little insight?

Book Review – Dragoon: First Strike by Peter Stanley

 A major reason why I read science fiction is to gain a glimmer of a forecast of what lies ahead with the development of new science under new conditions. If the story isn’t too far into the future, and if it keeps my imagination and intellect engaged, then it’s a winner in my book. For me, the most recent case in point is the very fast-paced Dragoon: First Strike by Peter Stanley.

This is Mr. Stanley’s CAVDEV Cycle Book 1. That is, it is the first installment on the story of the Cavalry Development Group’s piloted powered armor and how it is wielded by a former Air Force man in combat with feline aliens in 2039. Flight Lieutenant Nathan Harvey, used to fly a helicopter, but he finds himself in the saddle-like seat of the CAVDEV armor.

The new CAVDEV science is a powered armor unit of just under ten tones of titanium and carbon fiber. The cockpit in the torso is plated with Boron Carbide and loaded with touch-control screens and a holographic heads-up display. Multiple sensors are designed to transfer feedback from muscles into the powered armor.  “Think of the powered armor as an extension of your body,” someone tells Harvey. “It is your body while you’re cooped up inside.”

Nathan Harvey quickly learns how to maneuver his unit in the face of a terrifying carnivorous foe. He learns how to handle its various guns and other munitions. And he engages in fast-paced hand-to-claw fights. In fact, the whole story is very fast-paced with  dialogue that has the speed and staccato of  soldiers in the stress and fury of battle.

At the end of the Cycle Book 1, with only a limited battlefield win, Harvey questions why he has been put in charge of a group of  units: “This isn’t the Air Force,” Harvey remarks to Tomasi, a fellow soldier. Tomasi replies “Nah, mate, it’s more intimate than that. But in the end, command is command. Doesn’t matter what branch or assignment.”

So, command is now firmly in Nathan Harvey’s future. In Cycle Book 2, after forty-eight hours liberty, he will return—more ready than ever to tackle the unknown.  I look forward to the continuation of this smart, fast, and genuinely engaging story.

–Joseph Corrado

Author of Zeus Alone

Stay tuned, it’ll be out on all ebook and print platforms Friday, June 30!

~Hillbilly~