In a world ruled by faith and fear, one man discovers a terrible truth: We are not alone...   Brother Carlos de Roja of the abbey of Sant Cugat du Valles leads a simple life, until the wars he studies in books and scrolls invade his home. What starts as a search for the identity of the mysterious Karl Outrikos soon embroils him in a dark conspiracy that stretches both across Europe, and back through the centuries to the beginnings of his faith.   Through it all, Carlos searches for one thing only—the truth. And when he finds it, nothing will ever be the same.

SideQuests are stand-alone stories or novellas that chronicle the heroes, villains, and adventures in The Foreworld Saga across numerous eras and ages. They can be read in any order with or without prior knowledge of The Foreworld Saga.

When The Italian Job meets the Knights of the Round Table, the ultimate medieval heist caper is born.

It is the summer of 1035 AD and three sons of Tancred de Hauteville are in ambivalent service to Guimar, Prince of Salerno. The three men, who have been trained by their father in the art of war since childhood, spend the sweltering afternoons practicing swordplay, trading barbs, and thinking of how many men they would need to take the prince’s poorly fortified castle for themselves.

But when a mysterious agent asks the prince for the brothers’ services in obtaining a gilded chest, eldest brother William recognizes an opportunity to strengthen the Hauteville legacy. When he assembles a crew of skilled mercenaries, loyalties are tested and truths revealed. Among the group, there is a traitor, a spy, and the carrier of a long-held secret. The trust William places in each of his men will decide the future for himself and his family.

A bold new SideQuest in the Foreworld Saga, Hearts of Iron shows a different side of the middle ages, but with all the deft-sword play, historical accuracy, and political intrigue you would expect from the series that brought you The Mongoliad trilogy.

SideQuests are stand-alone stories or novellas that chronicle the heroes, villains, and adventures in The Foreworld Saga across numerous eras and ages. They can be read in any order with or without prior knowledge of The Foreworld Saga.

As Mt. Vesuvius rumbles ominously, Pompeiian Councilor Valerius needs assistance in performing rituals to protect the city from the wrath of the fire-god, Vulcan. But his agenda is far from benevolent, as he cares less about quieting the volcano than taming it and taking the power for himself.

Now it’s up to Horatius, a former legionnaire and gladiator, to prevent Valerius’s sinister rites from coming to fruition. But with Vesuvius looming over the city—and the dead rising to defend the corrupt councilor—the warrior might have fled a troubled past only to have entered a doomed future…

Lt. Marya Andreison just wanted to get her career back on track. After years of crap assignments and missed promotions, she finally got the deep-space posting she always wanted, only to find bigotry and intolerance are universal.

But when an alien transmission only she can decode comes through an unauthorized wormhole, her situation goes from bad to worse to awful. Now she''s on the run, with only her wits, her wedding rings, and a downloaded message that could start an intergalactic war.

All Marya wants to do is get back home to her family. And if she has to burn down what''s left of civilization to get there, that''s exactly what she''s going to do.



In the last 12 hours, Mira Harlan has lost her ship, her crew, and what''s left of her sanity.

First, a group of heavily armed interstellar exiles emerged from hyperspace on a collision course for her battlegroup. Then, Captain Aloysius Martin revealed not only his membership in a secret society dedicated to stopping the next transgenic war before it starts, but also the existence of a centuries-old super mutant on board-the very same kind of extrasolar human running amok on her ship.

But when Captain Horace Kolodziejski branded her a traitor and tried to blast her out of space, the aliens she was just shooting at gave her an unlikely chance at survival-become one of them, and save the human race from itself!

In a world ruled by faith and fear, one man discovers a terrible truth: We are not alone...   Brother Carlos de Roja of the abbey of Sant Cugat du Valles leads a simple life, until the wars he studies in books and scrolls invade his home. What starts as a search for the identity of the mysterious Karl Outrikos soon embroils him in a dark conspiracy that stretches both across Europe, and back through the centuries to the beginnings of his faith.   Through it all, Carlos searches for one thing only—the truth. And when he finds it, nothing will ever be the same.

SideQuests are stand-alone stories or novellas that chronicle the heroes, villains, and adventures in The Foreworld Saga across numerous eras and ages. They can be read in any order with or without prior knowledge of The Foreworld Saga.

When The Italian Job meets the Knights of the Round Table, the ultimate medieval heist caper is born.

It is the summer of 1035 AD and three sons of Tancred de Hauteville are in ambivalent service to Guimar, Prince of Salerno. The three men, who have been trained by their father in the art of war since childhood, spend the sweltering afternoons practicing swordplay, trading barbs, and thinking of how many men they would need to take the prince’s poorly fortified castle for themselves.

But when a mysterious agent asks the prince for the brothers’ services in obtaining a gilded chest, eldest brother William recognizes an opportunity to strengthen the Hauteville legacy. When he assembles a crew of skilled mercenaries, loyalties are tested and truths revealed. Among the group, there is a traitor, a spy, and the carrier of a long-held secret. The trust William places in each of his men will decide the future for himself and his family.

A bold new SideQuest in the Foreworld Saga, Hearts of Iron shows a different side of the middle ages, but with all the deft-sword play, historical accuracy, and political intrigue you would expect from the series that brought you The Mongoliad trilogy.

SideQuests are stand-alone stories or novellas that chronicle the heroes, villains, and adventures in The Foreworld Saga across numerous eras and ages. They can be read in any order with or without prior knowledge of The Foreworld Saga.

As Mt. Vesuvius rumbles ominously, Pompeiian Councilor Valerius needs assistance in performing rituals to protect the city from the wrath of the fire-god, Vulcan. But his agenda is far from benevolent, as he cares less about quieting the volcano than taming it and taking the power for himself.

Now it’s up to Horatius, a former legionnaire and gladiator, to prevent Valerius’s sinister rites from coming to fruition. But with Vesuvius looming over the city—and the dead rising to defend the corrupt councilor—the warrior might have fled a troubled past only to have entered a doomed future…

Lt. Marya Andreison just wanted to get her career back on track. After years of crap assignments and missed promotions, she finally got the deep-space posting she always wanted, only to find bigotry and intolerance are universal.

But when an alien transmission only she can decode comes through an unauthorized wormhole, her situation goes from bad to worse to awful. Now she''s on the run, with only her wits, her wedding rings, and a downloaded message that could start an intergalactic war.

All Marya wants to do is get back home to her family. And if she has to burn down what''s left of civilization to get there, that''s exactly what she''s going to do.



In the last 12 hours, Mira Harlan has lost her ship, her crew, and what''s left of her sanity.

First, a group of heavily armed interstellar exiles emerged from hyperspace on a collision course for her battlegroup. Then, Captain Aloysius Martin revealed not only his membership in a secret society dedicated to stopping the next transgenic war before it starts, but also the existence of a centuries-old super mutant on board-the very same kind of extrasolar human running amok on her ship.

But when Captain Horace Kolodziejski branded her a traitor and tried to blast her out of space, the aliens she was just shooting at gave her an unlikely chance at survival-become one of them, and save the human race from itself!