Privateer Tales

When you are old enough to finally become an Earth Mars citizen, everything should be perfect. Right? Not for Liam Hoffen. He's stuck on a mining asteroid called Colony 40, helping his father work a claim that is never going to pay out. His best friend, Nick James is set for life in James' Rental business and Liam just discovered that the girl he's known forever thinks he's pretty great and now she's leaving for the Mars Naval Academy.

Celina Dontal just escaped 18 months of captivity at the hands of Alexander Boyarov and his crew, members of the brutal Red Houzi Clan. That should have been the hard part. It was only the beginning. When she tried to contact her younger sister, Jenny, Celina received shocking news. The one person in the universe that Celina loved and lived for was missing, and no one could tell her what happened. Fool Me Once, a standalone novella, is the second story in Jamie McFarlane's Privateer Tales.

After fighting space pirates and rescuing a damsel in distress, nothing sounds better than shore leave at Puskar Stellar on Mars where Liam can reconnect with his girlfriend. But neither their newest crew member, Marny, nor the Mars Protectorate Navy is ready for them to spend much time relaxing.

Shot down behind enemy lines, all Marine Sergeant Pete Hoffen can think of is getting the remainder of his beleaguered platoon back to the extraction zone. But when a cocky, PITA lieutenant orders him to leave behind one of his own, he'll have nothing to do with it. Big Pete fights to locate his men and get the wounded out of the city, rescue his missing pilot, and avoid ripping the entire city down around him. His capture brings an entirely new problem. Who will rescue the rescuer?

There's guerrilla warfare in the main asteroid belt. The Red Houzi pirates have launched a deadly campaign, sacking defenseless mining colonies and then vanishing into the deep dark of space. No one can predict where or when they will show up next, not even the great Mars Protectorate Navy.

In the tangled bog city of Nannandry, Priloe Sharpe's life is worth only what his pick-pocketing skills can buy him. The entire planet of Grunholtz is now one big colonization failure and run completely by rival gangs. Hope of a better life is nonexistent - until the day off-worlders show up in the marketplace with a shiny piece of tech, which Priloe artfully snags. In a race for his life, Priloe must save his sister and somehow leave the planet, risking everything for a new life in the cloud city of Leger Nuage.

War veteran, Tabitha Masters, expected to live out the rest of her days with the debilitating scars of battle. But, after her crew made a deal with the devil ( Smuggler's Dilemma, Privateer Tales Book Five), she's been given a second chance. A month in a medical tank and Tabby's injuries are repaired, replaced and even upgraded. Within hours of being discharged from the hospital, Tabby hears from Shri Ganguly - a fellow veteran and survivor of the Red Houzi war.

If Nick James is right, the Tipperary solar system is about to become the busiest trading hub in the galaxy. To sweeten the pot, the cloud-city of Lèger Nuage is offering free warehouse space to qualified traders. Of course, nothing's as simple as it seems. Just like Earth's Old West, the Tipperary system is as full of promise as it is Buccaneers who are happy to prey on the weak. No one expects it to be easy, but deceit, piracy, and murder kindle the pioneering spirit in each of them.

Following closely on the heels of Buccaneers, Liam and the crew of Hotspur take a much needed vacation on the tropical planet Curie, where they have nothing more to do than enjoy sun and sand. Trouble is never far away for this group of privateers, however, as a mysterious invitation to meet the reclusive Phillipe Anino interrupts their holiday. With more wealth than could be spent in 20 lifetimes, and access to illicit technology and information.

Branded criminals and on the run from the most powerful corporation in the known universe, Liam Hoffen and the crew of Hotspur have a simple choice to make. They can either cower and hide on the long since abandoned planet Ophir, or continue their mission to set right the wrongs perpetrated by a company willing to trade human suffering and lives for their bottom line. If you've followed their story, you know which choice they'll make.

Trapped in a far-off galaxy, Liam Hoffen receives news that a massive Kroerak fleet has found its way to Earth. Knowing an invasion is imminent stuns our explorers, but there's nothing they can do when they discover the interplanetary Trans Loc system has been shut down to stem the tide of invading bugs. When a chance discovery that could end Earth's desperate war comes to light, our heroes find they will stop at nothing to return home. 

Liam Hoffen thought saving the world would cut him and his friends some slack. Instead, they're bankrupt, shipwrecked, and fugitives on a backwater planet. So much for gratitude.... But, after discovering an ancient Kroerak ship, Liam sees an opportunity to locate the home world of the vicious alien species. When they set out to uncover the mysteries of the ship, things are looking up until he finds out the truth: Every other crew who tried to solve the mystery was never heard from again....

If the Kroerak Empire had a soft spot, Liam Hoffen would have found it by now. After years of fighting the blasted bug invaders, he’s all but thrown in the towel. To make matters worse, intercepted enemy plans show the empire’s next attack could wipe them off the map. Rumors of a Kroerak weakness are their world’s only hope of survival. It’s too bad the keepers of the secret have long since turned into space dust. With time running out and alien bounty hunters in hot pursuit, Liam and his crew must venture to a long-forgotten planet. They’ll risk everything for a long-shot defense against certain annihilation. 

Left for dead on a backwater planet, Liam must crawl through ancient alien ruins in search of an advanced weapon. Piecing it together is the only way to hold the Kroerak forces at bay until reinforcements arrive - if they arrive at all. Marny Bertrand has never left a crew member behind, and she’s not about to start now. When she discovers Liam is still alive, she'll put everything on the line and mount a reckless rescue mission. If she can’t reach her stranded crew before their defenses fall, enemy droves will get their claws on the only weapon capable of saving humanity. 

After discovering an indefensible weapon, Liam thought he had the Kroerak invaders on the ropes. But as he and his crew root out the last alien strongholds, he comes face to face with the staggering damage the invaders wreaked on the crew’s now-inhospitable homeworlds. When the battle-scarred survivors call on Liam to lead their broken civilization out of the rubble, he can’t bear to turn them away. But Liam knows better than anyone, if he doesn’t squash the source of the infestation, the Kroerak forces will be back - and next time, there will nothing to stop them. 

Liam Hoffen is used to straightforward missions going off the rails. But when he emerges from a crash-landing, one look tells him he’ll need more than a simple repair job. Having spent years inadvertently trapped in stasis, life has done more than pass him by...it’s dumped his entire team into an alien revolution. Stranded on a rugged world hundreds of thousands of light years from home, Liam and his crew are immediately swept up in incomprehensible planetary politics. Choosing the wrong side to defeat a fresh menace could be the difference between life and death. 

An alien invasion. A home-world destroyed. Can an embattled captain survive a daring fight to save the remnant of his colony? Privateer Liam Hoffen can’t wait to reunite with his family. But after he emerges from a 20-year stasis, he’s shocked to discover a hostile enemy has razed his home and exiled his people...Can Liam stop the powerful adversary from killing his family and taking over the system?

Captain Liam Hoffen aims to expand Elea Station into a thriving community. But after an enemy armada attacks his struggling station, limited resources threaten the entire population. With no other options, Hoffen must abandon his people in search of supplies deep in marauder territory. Barely surviving his first battle, the bold captain is forced to partner with a double-dealing pirate to navigate treacherous space. But his fears multiply, when he discovers the scarce provisions he needs demand trade with a once-defeated nemesis he swore never to trust.