The Hour has Come!

 Available Now, An Hour For Vengeance

Kirov Series Special Edition, Volume #68

From a Temporal Cyclone to burning ships struck by terrible new weapons of Imperial Japan in 2030, the War in Limbo continues right where Volume #67 left off. Karpov and Kirov have already seen what can happen when locking horns with this modern Japanese Empire, in a world made possible by Ivan Volkov. With Letters of Marque from Director Kamenski, he takes Kirov to sea again in waters swarming with ships of the Combined Fleet, and with Odo Nobunaga set on exacting revenge for the duplicity and betrayal of the Siberians when his war prize fails to function as expected.  Action from start to finish in this one, as Fedorov and Karpov hope to eventually find a way home to their Meridian in 2027.

Now on Amazon

An Hour for Vengeance, Kindle edition, $6.99

An Hour For Vengeance

 Kirov Series Special Edition #68

The Kirov Series Revisited….

 

Most fans of the Kirov Series know by now that the never ending story never really ended. The last two volumes of the main series were #63 Final Sortie, and #64 Journey’s end. Then, after over ten years dedicated to the mighty Kirov, John took a break and put out a five volume Epic Fantasy series, The Chronicles of Innisfail, basically looking for more readers in that highly popular genre. But ever since Game of Thrones, fantasy has been absolutely saturated, and it was difficult to get noticed.  So John then returned to his Keyholders Saga, which arose as a subplot in the Kirov Series when the character Sir Roger Ames hired one Ian Thomas to burrow beneath Churchill’s burial site to obtain his ashes so they could be compressed to make a diamond by services like Eterneva, EverDear, Lonite and many others. Ever since that, Sir Roger has been wagering that diamond in a number of games with wealthy adversaries. These men all seem to have mysterious keys that open highly engineered gates to hidden passages concealing rifts in time. So time travel is again at the heart of these stories, which end up being highly textured alternate histories.

Of course the keys soon become prominent in the Kirov Series as other characters begin seeking them out, like Elena Fairchild, and eventually Fedorov and Karpov as well. We learn how they are used in the Kamenski Device to open more and more features of that magic box. Meanwhile, Sir Roger leads us through four excellent alternate histories of famous battles from British History.  The first was Field of Glory (Waterloo), then Zulu Hour (Isandlwana). Returning to this series John added The Devil Ship (The Opium Wars) and then The Sands of Honor, (Sudan and Omdurman), with Sir Roger Ames again involved in both stories. These are books that are pretty much stand alone novels, so the Keyholder’s Saga can be read in any order.

Now then… the never ending Kirov Saga suddenly had an Encore, (Series volume #65) and that volume actually seemed a more appropriate way to tie things off for the series as a whole.  While it focused on the officers and crew, the vehicle was the airship Baikal, not the Mighty Kirov. But it did get us sitting in on the plans and plots of Karpov and Fedorov, and on a fairly wild mission to both polar regions.

Next John went back to the ship he devoted so much love, time, and energy to and put out two quick volumes a month apart. They were Clash of Empires, Kirov Series #66, where Director Kamenski recruited our heroes and their intrepid battlecruiser to clean up a mess caused by the disappearance of a Chinese warship. It was followed in just one month by War in Limbo, volume #67.

With Kirov fighting in just about every historical war possible, this time John took his imagination forward to the year 2030, and in a future made possible by Ivan Volkov’s interventions. In the War in Limbo, we learn that Volkov gave “the Bomb” to the Japanese a year before the end of WWII, and that enabled Japan to stage a surprise attack on Halsey while he mustered in Truk Lagoon. That ended the war by treaty instead of unconditional surrender for Japan, and voila, what do we have in 2030, a ravenously Samurai souled Imperial Japanese Empire dominating all the Western Pacific, but with modern day ships and missiles in their Imperial Navy.

Kirov gets marooned in this Limbo in volume #67, quite literally tossed aground on the island named Limbo by a big Typhoon. It is not long before the Japanese become aware of the ship, and they meet the same character that they encountered when this world was first introduced in the main series, Captain Sato. Things then take a darker turn, and things transpire that series fans never thought possible. Mid-way through this story there are dramatic events which cannot be revealed here. This puts both Fedorov and Karpov to the test, and they devise a plan to try and reverse their setbacks and escape this world.

The ending of War in Limbo presents an eerie stalking of the ship and crew by the force of Paradox, which appears as a massive Temporal storm. So while a physical typhoon begins the story, it is bookended by a Temporal Cyclone,  and that is where we left it last month. Well guess what mister prolific has for us in June. The Kirov Series gets yet another sequel, Series Volume #68, An Hour For Vengeance is coming soon, and while the other Encores were stand alone stories, this one connects directly to War in Limbo, picking up right where that story ended. The two volumes even share a similar cover design.

So this month the story takes off again, and puts us right back on the bridge of Kirov to resolve the ending of War in Limbo. Saying more about An Hour for Vengeance might spoil things for you, but needless to say, Karpov is pissed off with the Imperial Japanese Navy for what they put the ship and crew through, and he shows them what Mizuchi can really do. Coming this June, possibly around the 15th again, we get another Kirov fix that is utterly classic, and it looks like these books revisiting the series are becoming a stealth Season Nine. Like the four or five Star Trek spinoffs, there may be more to come as the Kirov series reboots in these tales. Don’t miss out! 

~ The The Writing Shop Press

Season 9: The Encore Series for Kirov

Volume 65: Encore

Volume 66: Clash of Empires

Volume 67: War in Limbo

Volume 68: An Hour for Vengeance

Available now: War In Limbo

 A Kirov Series Special Edition!

Available Now on Amazon!

Kirov has gone to many grim futures, but this one was one of the most dangerous. After preying on the Imperial Japanese Navy in WWII on many occasions, Karpov finds a pleasure cruise for the ship and crew runs afoul of turbulent weather, and they are marooned in Limbo after they are grounded by a massive Typhoon. Soon they are found by old enemies, made far more dangerous by the modern ships and weapons they now command. It is an enemy they have faced and fought before, the product of a twisted history that has spun off a new altered Meridian. Was Ivan Volkov responsible for this future? Though Volkov is dead, Kirov must now face and fight the new dominant Pacific power in the year 2030, not China, but a rejuvenated Imperial Japanese Empire that has risen from the ashes of WWII like a dark Phoenix.

The Empire has but one weakness, its center is unformed and the young Emperor in waiting has no real power. Instead the Empire is ruled by quarreling Daimyos who serve as Regents and command powerful fleets. While planning to begin new conquests, they remain bitter rivals, each maneuvering to gain face and force to propel them to the coveted rank of Shogun, a military dictator who will seize the reins of power and unite all the warring Clans.

One among them, Odo Nobunaga, has discovered a most unusual ship aground within his Regency, and he soon learns the secret of their tremendous power. As Odo maneuvers to gain possession of the the Kamenski Device, Fedorov and Karpov must negotiate with the Japanese to secure safe passage home to Petropavlovsk. But Mother Time has other plans for the ship and crew, and sets her mind on ending its offensive voyages once and for all. This brings Kirov to a fateful hour that no one aboard ever thought they would face.

This Kirov Series special Edition (Series Volume #67) is a stand alone novel focused on the ship and crew.

Duel at Sea!

 Oh My... Where did Ivan Volkov get that Battleship?

That's the question Karpov asked himself when he first learned about the challenge. Volkov! He was back again, from some other Meridian, and intent on putting an end to the one Fedorov and Karpov had fought so long to defend.

But Volkov just made a very big mistake. Was it hubris, blind ambition, or simply rabid hatred that led him to boldly challenge Karpov and Kirov to one final battle at sea, a duel to settle their long vendetta once and for all.

Vladimir Karpov was a happy man the day he received that challenge, and he said so.

"Come and get it!" Volkov taunted. "You come too, Fedorov, you sniveling toad. I’m going to enjoy chopping Kirov up and putting you both in the water. Then I’ll sail up, hook the two of you and drag your asses all the way back to my home port at Sevastopol. So what do you say? Are you game for a nice little showdown at sea?”

“You’ve got it, Asshole,” said Karpov. He didn’t hesitate a second.

“The one thing I did not get to do was to put you in a grave. It will be my pleasure. When we heard you had passed, I was very disappointed. Killing you and whatever monstrosity of a ship you’ve built, will be a supreme joy.”

“Oh, you can try, but Orenburg is no pushover, Karpov. I designed it to be my flagship for the new Orenburg Federation I’ll build here after I get rid of the two of you, and that damn ship of yours.  Good to at least see you aren’t the cowards I thought you were. I’m going to enjoy carving your precious battlecruiser up.”

“Be careful what you wish for, Volkov. You talk tough, but you’ve got no experience at sea. You won’t last ten minutes in naval combat with me. I’ll box your ears so hard you’ll be deaf for a year, and I’m going to enjoy every goddamn minute of it. You can bet on that.”

“That may be true for the little ships you preyed upon in the last war, but not mine. I won’t be in a Chinese Corvette, Karpov.”

“But you will be dead just the same.”

So where did Volkov get a ship good enough to challenge Karpov on Kirov?

Come and see!

Don't miss Encore, an all new book in the Kirov series. Available Now on Amazon!

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Kirov Series: Jericho

 The Next War: 2025 

BUY NOW ON AMAZON: $4.99 (Kindle)

As the Siberians struggle to recover from the terrible event at Irkutsk, a tense pause in operations ensues. But Karpov is now eager to get north, and when he learns the Koreans are planning an amphibious operation against Vladivostok in the coming days, he is determined to intervene. Along the way he and Fedorov meet an old nemesis, now a newfound friend as they enter the Sea of Japan.

Out on the First Island Chain, China’s ‘Great Wall at Sea’ is now the object of Admiral Cook’s Fleet Carrier Force. He intends to shout down that wall with a storm of missiles and aircraft, as the USMC prepares Operation Sledgehammer against Amami and Okinawa.

Now Admiral Zheng Bao rallies the PLAN fleet in defense of the Ryukyus, and on the mainland, China musters its remaining ballistic missile ship killers in an effort to turn the fortunes of war in their favor. The last desperate battles of the war begin as the Western navies hammer on the wall that guards the East China Sea.

About Jericho:
The war that began in 2025 has now come full circle in the next volume of the Kirov Series, Jericho, as the fighting returns to the place where it all began in the Ryukyu Island Chain. The US Navy has now reached the edge of the East China Sea, the rocky “First Island Chain” that China hoped to hold secure. Billed as China’s Great Wall at Sea, the seizure of the Ryukyus from Amami in the north and south through Okinawa to the Miyako Islands lit the fuse on what might have been a limited conflict in the Pacific, but that was not to be. After engagements from the Med, to the Canary Islands, the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf, the war rolled back into the Pacific as the US secured its island bases at Palau, Yap, and the Marianas, and buttressed Singapore.

After a brief sortie into the South China Sea, Alpha Strike then presented the many campaign against Chinese position sin the Philippines. The effort was to break the network of airfields China relied upon, and without air cover, the fleet had limited staying power. Once munitions at Manila Bay ran out, they had no choice other than to fall back on Taiwan. Yet the last volume saw the return of Admiral Wu Jinlong, who had been relieved of his command earlier after his failure to take out US island outposts after seizing Davao in his Operation Sea Eagle. He was steadily driven from the Celebes Sea and retreated through the Sulu Sea to safer waters, only to find himself relieved and given command of a desk on Hainan Island.

In Alpha Strike, Wu Jinlong returns to torment the Japanese in action in and around the vital Tsushima Strait, called “The North Gate” connecting the East China Sea to the Sea of Japan, which the Chinese are now renaming the Bohai Sea. Alpha Strike then left us with the stunning detonation at Irkutsk, which shocked the Siberians and prompted Karpov to get Kirov’s bow headed north.

In Jericho, the PLAN begins the defense of its Great Wall at Sea along the Ryukyu Island chain, while Wu Jinlong redeems himself with his occupation of the Goto Islands and Tsushima. The US Navy has reinforced to have five Carrier Strike Groups available when the Roosevelt is moved from the Indian Ocean. That group joins Admiral Cook’s fleet carriers, Enterprise, Independence, Washington and John F. Kennedy. Now this powerful fleet sails east of the Great Wall at Sea, and begins its mighty shouts to start bringing that wall down. The USN has also seen the arrival of the entire “Gator” force, ten light carriers with other supporting ships carrying an entire US Marine Division.

The battles here are on a scale that has not been seen since WWII. Admiral Cook and the Marines will begin in the north to prepare the invasion of Amami, with the next big objective in the plan being Okinawa. The fighting in this volume is intense, and all the decisions made by either side are well explained through the musings and meetings of all the Admirals in charge. As this volume closes, Vladimir Karpov is eager to get north, particularly after the disastrous incident at Irkutsk. When the 48 hour cooling off period between China and Siberia expires, Karpov learns that Vladivostok is now threatened again. Liberated by his lately departed brother-self, Karpov now rushes north to oppose a big amphibious operation aimed at Vladivostok by the Korean Navy.

In Jericho, this astounding depiction of WWIII now careens toward its conclusion in the final volume of Season 7, Whirlwind. That will still leave the unfinished business between Kirov and company, and the dastardly machinations of Ivan Volkov, who also has a doppelganger operating in the past, and that is the substance of the final season of the Kirov Series, (yes, we mean it this time) coming next year after the war finishes in Whirlwind. There’s never been anything like this series. With a scope and scale that is truly awesome, it will end up running ten years before it concludes. Don’t miss the big battles here in Jericho, as this one comes to Amazon on December 1st.

BUY NOW ON AMAZON: $4.99 (Kindle)

Paperback also available in a few days

Kirov Saga:
Volume #55 - Jericho

By
John Schettler

Part I – Vindication
Part II – The Swelling Tide
Part III – Urgent Sword
Part IV – Stand Your Ground
Part V – Attrition
Part VI – Engagement
Part VII – Sledgehammer
Part VIII– Island Wars
Part IX – Decisions
Part X – Old Friends & Enemies
Part XI – Bohai Sea
Part XII – The Big Stick

Alpha Strike

 Kirov Returns to the War in 2026...

Thinking they are marooned in 2030, and in a world made by Ivan Volkov, the temporal instability of the ship itself suddenly sends Kirov home.

 

Kirov Saga:

Alpha Strike

 By

John Schettler

 

Part I – Return

Part II – Lightfoot

Part III – Stormfront

Part IV – Typhoon

Part V – Alpha 1

Part VI – Mischief

Part VII – The First Link

Part VIII– The Last Vampire

Part IX – 13 Seconds

Part X – Avenging Fire

Part XI – The North Gate

Part XII – Tsushima

 

 

 

 BUY FOR KINDLE: $4.99

At the conclusion of Firedrake, the temporal instability of Kirov again sends the ship off into the ether where they soon encounter a derelict warship, its innards and crew warped and melded into one another in a way that Fedorov has worried about for some time. Kirov’s own reactor room has shown signs of instability, and two more crewman have gone missing.

Thinking to reverse the shift, they go to the Kamenski Device but find it is not cooperative, apparently wanting another key before it will do what they ask. Fearing they might be marooned in the year 2030, Fedorov soon learns that they are no longer in the future of the war they have been fighting in 2026. The history in the Pacific is badly skewed, and Imperial Japan remains a prominent world power with an extensive empire that even has dominion over China.

Until they can discover a way to make a graceful exit, Karpov decides to head south towards New Britain, where Fedorov learns the US and British have bases. They have already tangled with a Japanese warship, so now it is any port in a storm….

Alpha Strike opens with more strange signs that the ship is undergoing another temporal shift, and readers fearing the war in 2026 was being left behind will soon rest easy. The author has pledged to take that war to its rightful conclusion by volume eight of this season, whereupon he will then deal with the mission Karpov and Fedorov are scheming on in the grand facedown with Ivan Volkov.

Learning they actually crossed Meridians to a different world in that last temporal shift, Fedorov speculates that the two worlds, the war in 2026 and the one where they butted heads with the IJN, are now running parallel to one another. As it is impossible for two separate futures to coexist for very long, Time is seeking to choose one or the other as the new Prime Meridian.

Ivan Volkov has done his worst with the assassination of Stalin and Sergei Kirov, radically undermining the future where the war in 2026 is still raging. So Fedorov and Karpov are planning a grand counterattack, but to do so they will have to either cross the temporal gulf between the two parallel worlds again, or get far enough into the past on their own Meridian to reach the Prime and prevent Volkov’s mischief.

In the meantime, the war in 2026 continues as the US fights to neutralize the reef island bases in the South China Sea, and then masses its four active carriers for the battle to reduce the Chinese position on Luzon. The heart of this action is the title of the book, an “Alpha Strike” where the lion’s share of the carrier air power takes flight in a massive air operation. China has heavily reinforced Luzon with SAM and SSM battalions, and many more fighters, but the power of the US Carrier Strike Groups is awesome when they combine on either offense or defense, as Admiral Zheng Bao soon sees.

The Chinese must now lay plans for the future, as they know the war will inevitably roll north towards Taiwan and the Ryukyu Island chain. As they look to unite their south and east seas fleets into one massive armada, they also begin a preemptive war against Japan, aiming to destroy the Japanese Navy no matter what the outcome of the war in general.

Alpha Strike presents all this action in detail, air strikes and an amphibious landing on Mischief Reef, and the grand battle in the skies over Luzon before it shifts north to welcome back an old warrior. Marooned behind a desk on Hainan Island after being relieved of command when his Operation Sea Eagle ended in failure, China now moves to an all hands on deck urgency in the war, as it is rolling all too close to their sovereign soil. So Admiral Wu Jinlong returns, and he is given the mission to use a portion of the East Seas Fleet to engage and destroy the Japanese Navy. Along the way, the Chinese show they have a few surprises up their sleeves, and then Vladimir Karpov is asked to take on a mission that soon leads to a dramatic escalation of events in these dangerous waters.

Ride with the Hellcats and F-35’s over the Philippines as Alpha Strike lights the fires to take the war to a whole new level.

 

Alpha Strike is available now for Kindle at $4.99,  with trade paperback available by Oct 1.

 
 BUY FOR KINDLE: $4.99