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In less than a week, Bennet will finally return to the Shield Regiment, leaving behind the Gyrfalcon, his father, his friends… and Flynn. Promotion to Shield Major and being given command of a battle group despite the political fallout from Makepeace the year before is everything he thought he wanted. Everything he’s worked towards for the last three years. Except for leaving Flynn. He really doesn’t want to leave Flynn.
There’s time for one last flight together. A routine mission. Nothing too taxing, just savouring every moment with the best wingman, the best friend, he’s ever had. That’s the plan.
Bennet should know better than to trust to routine because what waits for them out there will change their lives forever.
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e-BOOK: Payhip | Universal link to a digital store near you
PAPERBACK: Available from Amazon, or contact me for a signed copy
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Publication Date : 28 June 2018
Publisher: Glass Hat Press
Cover Artist: Adrian Nicholas
Wordcount: c 106,300
Category: Sci Fi, Gay mainstream.
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plus 2 extra stars! Ms. Butler is one of my favorite sci-fi authors at this point. Her stories are spot on, the technology is enough to the keep the story flowing, without being too over the top technical, and her humans and aliens are totally believable. If you’re a sci-fi reader, and you haven’t read this series, you need to start it right now… I could go on praising the author all day… Take my advice, go one click this one immediately… I can only give 5.0 stars, but I’d give it more if I could. This will go down as one of my favorite books of the year. …. – Love Bytes Reviews
This is the most gripping story in the series. With everything, space battles, destruction, and death, at its heart this is still the epic love story of Bennet and Flynn.– OMGReads
…this series is predominantly a military sci-fi book with a strong m/m romance element. Romance is not uncommon in military scifi, but it is rarely written well. Here it is… I LOVE that this combined both almost seamlessly. THIS is the kind of romance I like in my science fiction!… Ms Butler – well done! Bravo! (golf clap! golf clap!)… Highly recommended if you like plot and character driven science fiction. An intense, unconventional plot that will leave you wrung out and content. – Gay Book Reviews
I was not a fan of science fiction books. Ms. Anna Butler changed that. …brilliant writing drew me in… Ms. Butler has touched every possible human emotion and motivation. She has taken us ten thousand years in the future and shown us the resiliency, drive and determination of the human race…the loyalty and love in the human spirit. And despair. And hope. Kudos to the author for this stunningly brilliant series. – ChezShay
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RAINBOW AWARDS 2018-2019 (award date 08 December 2019)
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As Bennet angled over to starboard, Flynn gave his own Hornet a metaphorical boot in the backside, and tagged along faithfully at Bennet’s port wing. He stayed close and tight. Pity the ensigns weren’t there to see how it was done. With finesse. Panache. And sheer, mind-boggling talent.
The Hornet’s navigational computer helpfully overlaid a representation of Aglaia with the usual spherical latitude-longitude grid, pulling the planetary data from the database. At least they had the figures for known planets logged and stored and the nav-com didn’t have to make it up. Which it could, of course, by designating the poles with an arbitrary north and south label, locating the equator, and inventing an arbitrary prime meridian to work with. According to legend, the system originated on Earth before humankind took to the skies, so old it was invented for sailing ships. Given Earth was ten thousand years gone, Flynn put a lot of emphasis on ‘legend’. Their flight navigation systems were built on bloody folklore.
Madness.
Still, at least he couldn’t get lost.
He followed Bennet into a high orbit along Aglaia’s equator, skimming along for a moment before going down into the atmosphere. And by skimming, he meant they bounced along like stones skipping over water before they burst through into a storm system. A big storm system. The air roiled in great waves and billows, buffeting the Hornets, and lightning cracked and sizzled off their hulls. The flow of the clouds was fierce, the turbulence greatest at the boundaries between cloud layers. And the winds! More than fierce. They were a howling, raging, relentless savagery that threatened to overwhelm even the Hornet’s engines. The Hornet bucked and balked against the winds, and it took every ounce of skill Flynn possessed to fight her into obedience, to keep her flying in the direction he wanted. He couldn’t rely on relaxed experience here. This was active, constant readjustment to make her respond. He dropped back a trifle, giving Bennet and himself room to ride out the bucking and bouncing. He wasn’t so much flying through Aglaia’s skies, as cavorting through them.
Gods, it was fun!
Additional excerpt read by the lovely ANGEL MARTINEZ
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Earth’s a dead planet, dark for thousands of years; lost for so long no one even knows where the solar system is. Her last known colony, Albion, has grown to be regional galactic power in its own right. But its drive to expand and found colonies of its own has threatened an alien race, the Maess, against whom Albion is now fighting a last-ditch battle for survival in a war that’s dragged on for generations.
Taking Shield charts the missions, adventures and loves of Shield Captain Bennet.
Anna Butler 