Excerpt: KNIGHT ERRANT by Paul Barrett and Steve Murphy
Enjoy reading an excerpt from KNIGHT ERRANT by Paul Barrett and Steve Murphy.
KNIGHT ERRANT
by Paul Barrett & Steve Murphy
“This is the rest of the crew,” Trey said. A one-and-a-half-meter tall lizard leapt up from his chair. She first thought he was naked, then realized his green vest and pants almost blended in with his emerald scales. He held out a taloned hand as his long jaw split into a terrifying, tooth-filled grin. “I’m Ashron, weapons master.” “Anne,” she said, tentatively offering her own petite hand. “Ashron, you’re scaring our guest,” a woman said as she walked across the room. She stood a little taller than the lizard. Even though her loose-fitting grey jumpsuit hid her body, her movement told Anne the fabric concealed a lithe figure. She had fine features, with bronze skin and short chestnut hair. “He didn’t scare me.” Anne stared into the other woman’s eyes, the color of wet sand. “It’s just that a Lorothian’s natural exuberance can be startling.” “Especially Ashron, who has the energy of three Lorothians. I’m Laura Benzing, ship’s doctor and co-captain.” Anne coolly shook the proffered hand. “That’s Gerard and Wolf.” Trey pointed at the other two crew members. “Wolf’s the engineer and Gerard’s…well, Gerard does a lot of things.” Anne studied the two men, who couldn’t have been more different. Wolf caught her attention first by virtue of size. He sat in a huge chair obviously designed specifically for his bulk. She guessed him at just shy of two-and-a-half meters tall, almost one-and-a-half wide, and massing at least two-hundred and a quarter kilos. His skin resembled gray leather and overflowed with muscles. Even his face appeared oversized, with a thick, square jaw and angular cheeks. Dense black hair covered his head. Strangest of all were his sparkling blue eyes, completely inappropriate for his cement face. On the other end, Gerard’s pale skin appeared almost translucent, which enhanced his iridescent green eyes. Thin hair, also white, stuck out in unkempt tufts from beneath a tattered blue, billed cap. He wore a brown jumpsuit that seemed overlarge on his lanky, frail-looking body. His most notable feature was his right arm, a cybernetic appendage like none she had ever seen. Twenty-four carat gold, she guessed. It cast a brilliant shine across Gerard’s face as he moved it, giving a yellow glow to his ivory skin. Thin, purple-colored wires ran embedded over the entire arm in an intricate knot-work design. They diverged into seven separate filaments at the wrist and terminated at one of the seven fingers on the hand. Each finger had its own series of intricate violet tracery, and these ended in a circular pattern at the tips. She looked at Wolf. “Since you’re Uraxian,” Anne said to the large man, “I assume Wolf is not your real name.” Wolf nodded. “It is Wofanienlapabeko.” Ashron smiled at her again. “Hawk has a standing thousand unit offer to anyone other than Wolf who can pronounce it.” “I don’t think I’ll try.” Her attention went to Gerard. “And you’re Berolian. Are you a Preternatural Scientist?” Gerard winced. “I’ve always hated that name. Not only is it pretentious, it’s also essentially incorrect.” “How so?” Anne asked. “Because what we study is no more preternatural than astrophysics. It’s just a different set of rules and mathematics.” “Rules and mathematics to perform magic?” “An acceptable term, though still not quite correct.” Gerard shrugged. “It makes people feel better to label it such.” “So, if you don’t like to be called a Preternatural Scientist, what do you prefer?” “Gerard.”
BOOK INFO
Knight Errant By Paul Barrett & Steve Murphy Fiery Seas Publishing July 11, 2017 Science Fiction
Warriors…Scoundrels…Mercenaries…. The Knights of the Flaming Star are the most feared and respected Special Operations teams in the known universe. There’s no assignment they can’t handle. No job they can’t complete. As a team, they’re unstoppable. Then a rescue mission gone awry finds them betrayed by a ghost from their past. Bent on vengeance their nemesis has laid a trap designed to grind their reputation into the dirt and ultimately destroy them. The pursuit of their enemy will take them from planets run by corporate oligarchies—to a world entrenched in medieval technology and shrouded in magic. They’ll need every ounce of their will, prowess and cunning to turn the tables, salvage their reputation, and save the universe from apocalyptic destruction.
AMAZON ~~ BARNES & NOBLE ~~ KOBO ~~ iBOOKS
Paul has lived a varied life full of excitement and adventure. Not really, but it sounds good as an opening line. Paul’s multiple careers have included: rock and roll roadie, children’s theater stage manager, television camera operator, mortgage banker, and support specialist for Microsoft Excel. This eclectic mix prepared him to go into his true love: motion picture production. He has produced two motion pictures and two documentaries: His film Night Feeders released on DVD in 2007, and Cold Storage was released by Lionsgate in 2010 Amidst all this, Paul has worked on his writing, starting with his first short story, about Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, at age 8. Paul has written and produced numerous commercial and industrial video scripts in his tenure with his forcreative agency, Indievision. He has two published short stories (As You Sow and Double Cross) and one self-published novel (Godchild). He lives with his filmmaker/graphic artist partner and their three cats.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Steve Murphy has spent much of his life as a military man, starting with four years in the Navy and a stint in the Army National Guard. Not through with serving his fellow man, Steve then became a police officer and spent 23 years doing that. Fourteen of those years he was on the SWAT team and 9 of that he worked as a sniper.
Steve currently lives on a 14-acre farm somewhere in North Carolina with his wife, three dogs and a cat.
SOCIAL MEDIA
