Hadan’s Reach. To the kaygryn, a major federal nation of a few hundred million. To the UN, an irrelevant backwater garrisoned by a few platoons of bored troopers. As the UN and the Ascendancy thrash out the final terms of the largest and most controversial trade treaty in Tier Three history, intelligence agencies receive a tip-off from a murdered UN The Reach, far from an unassuming colonial outpost, is the nexus of an Ascendancy slavery ring. Elise Kudo, a freshly-minted counter-terrorism officer from EFFECT’s Electronic Warfare School, has her first shut down the ring before the word gets out and the UN is forced to withdraw from the deal. But she is about to discover just how lawless and isolated the vast jungles of the Reach can be...\\\*Hadan's Reach as a standalone novel set fifty years before the events of Reclamation. For updates and more, follow me at stonetemplelibrary.com

Espionage, intelligence, warfare, politics, religion, diplomacy, genocide... the Reclamation has begun. Tier Three: a compact of six vast interstellar empires, intricately bound by political, diplomatic and trade accords. Together, after centuries of massacres, brushfire wars, trade embargoes and political assassinations, they have finally brought a modicum of peace to a turbulent galaxy. But all of it is about to unravel. In deep space, the kaygryn inexplicably launch a suicidal attack on an Ascendancy crusade fleet; on the shared world of Uvolon, the Ascendancy shoots down a kaygryn corvette over the human city of Anternis. Zavian Yano, a member of the United Nations’ élite Xeno Division diplomatic corps, has one job: to stop the provar and the kaygryn from going to war. Strike Commander John Garrick, one of Solar Operations Command’s most senior generals, also has one job; but he has been side-lined by the President at the height of tensions. On a rainy Uvolonese mountainside, Special Agent Lyra Staerck is killed by a kinetic railstrike, and must find out why. And Captain Ben Vondur, a pilot in UNAF's 6th Goliath Squadron, has orders that seem designed only to inflame the situation. Four people, separated by thousands of lightyears, are bound by fate. And all the while the galaxy hurtles towards war…

The United Nations and the Provar Ascendancy are at war, and across the galaxy, human politicians, generals and diplomats are being abducted as part of a brutal campaign of psychological warfare. While the vast armies of humanity battle frantically to stem the Ascendancy advance, UN Joint Intelligence Command orders the formation of a new unit: VIPER, Very Important Person Recovery, an experimental squad of mission specialists with the latest in military hardware and an unlimited mandate. When news that Vaughn Almeida, a senior diplomat in the United Nations’ Xeno Division, is being held by the provar on Iepthae, it’s a chance for Captain Adrian Vasco to prove that VIPER can work. But with UN forces poised to retake the planet within days, the clock is ticking…

Ariadne has been abandoned. As the UN reels from multiple Ascendancy attacks and cedes hundreds of lightyears of territory, Solar Operations Command has initiated a policy of strategic sacrifice. Hundreds of colonies across the Outer Ring will be left to their fate as the UN Fleet desperately rallies. With six hours to go until the provar arrive, VIPER must extract seven persons of interest from two cities on Ariadne. Except, with the planet on the brink of civil war, the arrival of the Ascendancy is that last of their worries…

The Ascendancy War has raged for six months. After two enormous fleet actions at New Port Louis and the Pillars of Cain, the seemingly unstoppable provari advance into UN space has finally been forced to a grinding halt. In the respite of stalemate, the UN gears up for its biggest counter-offensive of the war: Operation Talisman, a do-or-die effort to open up the coreward flank of the Ascendancy. Succeed, and the UN will seize the upper hand; fail, and defeat is inevitable. Andrea Constance, President of the UN and an anxious coalition of Tier Three allies, must prepare for either outcome as D-Day draws closer. But she knows that every human lost and every provar killed means two fewer soldiers to fight the Kaygryn Empire… \\\* Illustrated edition! The Ascendancy War contains 7 beautiful illustrations by Kelvin Liew. You can check out more of his work here: https://www.artstation.com/artist/lov.... Please note that the images will vary in quality and size depending on your reading device (a swift double-tap on most devices will enlarge the images to full-screen if they do not immediately appear that way), but I will also upload them to my blog (links below). The Ascendancy War forms book two of the Art of War trilogy. Keep an eye out for book three, Empire of the Fallen, coming in 2017. For updates, follow me at https://www.facebook.com/Reclamationb..., or my blog at reclamationbook.com.

The Kaygryn Empire is coming. Amidst the embers of the Ascendancy War, old enmities must be forgotten and new alliances forged if the UN is to rally against the Imperial Fleet of Reclamation. Yet even on the eve of battle, the beleaguered forces of Tier Three are far from prepared. Power-hungry politicians, duplicitous generals and terrorists from all races threaten to destroy the fragile new alliance. In the face of annihilation, one last throw of the dice: a suicide mission deep into Andromeda, to the heart of the Kaygryn Empire. Its only objective: to stop the invasion at all costs...