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April
April
Series ·
14
books · 2012-2023
By
Mackey Chandler
Books in series
#1
April
2012
April is an exceptional young lady and something of a snoop. She finds herself involved with intrigues that stretch her abilities after a chance run in with a spy. There is a terrible danger she and her friends and family will lose the only home she has ever known in orbit and be forced to live on the slum ball below. It's more than a almost teen can deal with. Fortunately she has a lot of smart friends and allies. It's a good thing because things get very rough and dicey.
#2
Down to Earth
2012
April seems to make a habit of rescues. Now two lieutenants from the recent war appeal to her for help to reach Home. The secret they hold makes their escape doubtful. North America, the United States of North America, has been cheating on their treaty obligations and a public figure like April taking a very visible vacation there would be a good way to remind them of their obligations. Wouldn't it? Her family and business associates all think it is a great idea. She can serve a public purpose and do her rescue on the sly too. But things get difficult enough, just getting back Home alive is going to be a challenge. It's a good thing she has some help. Why does everything have to be so complicated?
#3
The Middle of Nowhere
2013
April returns home from her trip down to Earth unhappy with what she accomplished. Papa-san Santos is finishing her rescue of the Lieutenants, Her traitorous brother is dead, and so many things are uncertain.The Chinese and North Americans both continue to give her and Home a hard time. But April, Jeff, and Heather are gathering allies and power. China, trying to steal Singh technology, gets its hand slapped badly by Jeff, and the Patriot Party in America is damaged, but not gone. Their project on the moon is not so easy for North America to shut down, especially with the Russians helping. Heather proves able to defend it forcefully. They really didn't know she owns a cannon. The three have their own bank now, Home is growing, and April is quickly growing up into a formidable young woman, worthy of her partners.
#4
A Different Perspective
2013
Despite winning a war against one of the world's super powers, and undertaking a mission to Earth to try to demonstrate their independence, April and her new nation still find their freedom tenuous. There are shortages and hostility, and machinations against them behind the scenes. Their small technological lead on the Earthies is about the only advantage they have besides courage and sheer nerve. But they are attracting the right sort of people, and if pressed, they still are capable of bold action. Home is growing physically and maturing. So is April.
#5
A Depth of Understanding
2014
April's nation Home has removed itself from orbiting close to Earth, but problems continue. Their enemies try to use the United Nations to act against them, as if that isn't a transparent subterfuge. The new Lunar nation of Central acts to help them, but at considerable cost. Meanwhile Home is expanding their reach into the solar system and gaining new citizens who appreciate opportunity and freedom. The things Home citizens decide to do, both new and old are interesting. The trouble from Earth is contained, but the whole matter is far from over.
#6
And What Goes Around
2015
The nation of Home and their ally Central seems to have bought some safety by moving Mitsubishi 3 from Low Earth Orbit to a halo orbit around L2 beyond the moon. It has added expenses, but it has unexpected advantages too, when Earth has its own problems. A little extra distance works just fine. Like April and her close friends Heather and Jeff, Home is growing, developing its own character, and becoming more independent.
#7
They Said it would be Easy
2016
The nation of Home seems to be safe beyond the moon, but life is hardly certain. Earth still is a huge influence and far too big for Home to affect to any degree. The Earthies have their own problems and Home can't be of much help. Sometimes when your neighbors are crazy and bent on ruin all you can do is watch in horror and protect yourself. Life goes on and things do get easier as adjustments are made. Of course when things return to normal not all those adjustments will just go away. April and her partners Jeff and Heather support Home, but not with a blank check. A lot of Earthies want to join them, but growth in business and actual places to put them can only happen so fast. Even in interesting times life goes on. People still get married, go to work, and want to have a good time. It is suggested if you haven't read the earlier April series books the characters and events in the seventh book of the series will be much richer and meaningful if you read the others as a base first.
#8
It's Always Something
2016
Home is a nice place to live. If only so many people didn't think so. The influx has driven housing prices past anything reasonable. The Homies and their lunar allies have made sure they won't starve if Earth cuts them off, but they want to do much more than just survive. April and her friends are prospering, and working to make everyone else succeeds too. But Earth is still in turmoil. China and the USNA are holding back a global recovery after The Great Flu, because of their internal power struggles. Our heroes aren't going to wait for them to get their houses in order. There are other Earth nations that can be trading partners. Somebody is still targeting them, but April, Jeff and Heather will meet the challenge. As the eighth book in this series, it is impossible to fully cite the back-story. I don't suggest this as a stand-alone book. To understand the characters and rich details start with "April". The story will continue...
#9
A Sudden Departure
2017
The Earth below is a house in disorder. The spacers increasingly just want to be left alone. They need less from Earth all the time so many don't really care what they do down there on the Slum Ball, but what if improving technology made it easier for them to bring all their old factions and sects and rivalries among the stars? The three partners April, Jeff and Heather hope to beat them at that game and find a firm foothold out there before the Earthies arrive. (As this is the 9th book in a series you will not understand a lot of story elements if you don't start at the beginning. To explain everything in depth the entire book would have to be backstory at this point and it would turn into one huge info-dump.)
#10
Been There, Done That
2018
April and her partners Jeff and Heather have a secret. They’ve been to another star, and are sending a crew to a couple more close-by stars. The Earthies have tried to do this already, and failed. The Three have just a hair better technology, and with a little luck and April’s good sense, managed not to kill themselves right away. Any normal person would be hot to bask in the glory and grasp a place in the history books with the likes of Columbus, de Gama, and Neil Armstrong. Jeff just wants to go grab as much of the prime real estate as they can find before the Earth nations catch up. There are a few hitches along the way with people wanting to partner with them unasked, spies, more spies, and the Martians. The Martians are nuts and are the only other people who know there are aliens out there, but they are more than happy to keep that a secret too, even if they have to kill you to do so. There’s always something happening on Home and among April’s friends, but that just keeps life from being boring between the real crises.
Author
Mackey Chandler
Author · 29 books
#11
All in Good Time
2020
Living by bad neighbors is hard. Especially when there is a whole mob of them. Needing to do business with them makes it harder. Imagine nine billion noisy disrespectful neighbors who can’t keep their word and would be just as happy to see you dead. The orbital nation of Home moved the fence line a little by moving from Low Earth Orbit to beyond the Moon, but the Slumball, Earth, is still a just few light seconds away and thoroughly unpredictable. April and her partners Heather and Jeff know they need an entirely new neighborhood far away. Their superluminal drive will let them do that. It’s better than anything the Earthies have. They have just started learning to use it and explore both its capabilities and the nearby stars. They don’t want to jump out too far too soon and disappear inexplicably like the Earthies' first starship the Pedro Escobar did. Starships aren’t cheap and they have two now and a sort of lifeboat. They’ll need more and a lot more trained crew. Right now, they need to gather resources including money. They’ll do business with the Earthies to do that, but there are real limits how much crap April will put up with for their support. Such as if they kidnap her banker friend. They haven’t found anywhere men could live or full of valuable resources yet but they haven’t lost hope of doing so and expect to make it all work in good time.
#12
Who Can Own the Stars?
2020
The Kingdom of Central's sovereign, Heather Anderson, set L1 as a limit for armed ships to respect, de-militarizing the Solar System. Now that the Earth nations are experimenting with star drives they want to challenge this limit anew. The USNA starship, Constitution is intercepted violating the L1 limit and brings them to the brink of war again. Will Peer Jeffrey Singh be able to negotiate a compromise? Do the Earthies mean to bargain in good faith? The Spacers need to buy time but things on Earth are always so complicated...
#13
Let Us Tell You Again
2022
The continuing story of April, Jeff, and Heather after they conspire to rebel against North America and their efforts to find friends and a safe haven in the stars. Continuing to close the time gap to the later Family Law series of books. Heather and her peers impose a ban on armed ships beyond L1 in the Solar System and a prohibition for explorer ships going interstellar heavily armed. There are continuing stories of future characters still stuck on Earth. Heather has a lot of help from her friends but it isn't easy being the queen.
#14
The Long View
2023
Despite their animosity, North America seems cowed into leaving Home and the Kingdom of Central alone for the moment. They are begrudgingly honoring the treaty Singh and Love hammered out in Hawaii and allowing free passage to home. That doesn’t mean they’ve lifted the sanctions on Home trade. The European powers are as friendly as needed to do trade but have never apologized for the lies about the origin of the last flu pandemic. That’s already fading from short-lifer’s memories. They can’t understand why long-lifers just won’t let stuff go. It helps that North America has other problems like Texas aggressively nibbling away at their border. Quebec has always been patiently waiting for them to be too busy elsewhere to repress them, and Mexico is quietly slipping away to Texan influence without a shot being fired. China, never really homogenous is too fractured into competing regions and interests to be a threat for a while. Jeff may have tipped them over the edge to that but it wasn’t hard. In the relative peace holding for a moment in history, the habitats and the Moon are progressing past survival to making life comfortable. While many on Earth think the Spacers survive on Earth-grown food they’ve progressed to an abundance of essentials and are working away on the luxuries. They are acquiring extra-solar real estate beyond the Earthies reach. Heather and her peers, April, and Jeff, plan a Grand Ball to celebrate life, friends, and allies. If the timing doesn’t work for the Earthies that’s their problem. It’s time to enjoy what they’ve accomplished and make plans for the future long put off. Soon enough, short-lived politicians will be replaced by those who don’t remember what happens when you rile the Spacers up. But for now, they can enjoy the moment.
