Lots of spring bulbs pushing up are making me happy at the moment, along with my lovely helebores. I've not been able to run much recently due to shin splints, but have been able to help by marshalling and coaching at Parkrun and orienteering events.
I'll be teaching some Mountain Training Rock Skills and Hill Skills courses next month. Should be a lot of fun.


And here are the books you want...

The Phage War had been a devastating conflict for the Terran Confederacy. Even with the destruction of their terrifying, implacable foe, humanity is still reeling. Political alliances are crumbling and their mighty fleet is in tatters. There is nothing to celebrate, even after such a complete victory.
They soon learn that there are other stellar neighbors ... and they’ve been watching the conflict with great interest. One species comes with an offer of friendship and alliance, but humanity is weary and distrustful, their only interactions with aliens having resulted in the near-eradication of their kind.
Before the ashes of war have been fully swept away Captain Celesta Wright is dispatched to the Frontier with a small taskforce to investigate a mysterious signal while the Confederacy struggles to hold itself together. A partnership with this new species could help accelerate the recovery effort, but is the offer too good to be true? Can humanity risk another fight with an advanced alien species right on the heels of the bloodiest war that had ever been waged?

Thirty years from now, in a dystopian future, the Earth is under strain due to natural disasters and accelerating pollution. On the coast of Madagascar, a ruthless corporate leader creates his own vision of the future in the shape of Tabula Rasa, a mega-complex inhabited by over a million people.
Jonathan Jarl, a rookie agent for the Amber group, is on his first assignment and is assigned to retrieve the famous Nebra Sky disc that has been stolen. During the mission, he is faced with some of Tabula Rasas darkest secrets.
Meanwhile, in orbit around the moon, a discovery is made that has potential implications for the entire human race but Tabula Rasa is doing everything in its powers to keep the discovery secret. In a lab within Tabula Rasa, an idealistic scientist decides to share the discovery with the world. She takes a fateful decision that puts her life on the line.
Jonathan is thrown into a breakneck race for time and Tabula Rasa is the first science fiction adventure thriller about Jonathan Jarl and the Amber group.
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We fought them for decades. And we won. But victory hurt us more than defeat.
Years after defeating aliens bent on burning down the galaxy, the Interstellar Union is breaking apart, its member species undermining each other at every opportunity.
When an interdimensional distress signal arrives, only humanity is interested in helping.
Captain Vin Husher is sent in with a task force ... right into a trap laid by humanity’s old enemy.
Surrounded by a bioengineered super-species and unable to return home, Husher must draw on decades of experience just to keep his people alive.
If he can’t survive long enough to escape this hellish pocket universe and warn humanity of the impending danger, all will be lost.

The FREE prequel novelette for The Atlantean Conflict series by C.P. MacDonald. Learn how Calin Aku became the Captain of the Sea Rover and experience one of his many adventures smuggling around the Solar System.
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For centuries, the Daegon waited. They plotted. And now they are ready to strike.
The core worlds of settled space enjoy a tenuous peace, unaware and ill prepared for the threat building beyond the furthest reaches of humanity. The star kingdom of Albion stands as a shining light of justice and mercy in a harsh galaxy, and they will be the first to suffer the Daegon's fury.
Defying his low born status, and despite his self-doubt, Commodore Thomas Gage has risen through the ranks by sheer grit and determination, defending Albion from brutal pirate clans.
And when the onslaught comes, Gage and his fleet may be Albion's last hope for freedom.

For centuries, the Wardens have guarded our planet. Their sacred duty: to protect humanity from itself… and from everything else.
Lord Anakreon, Warden of the First Circle, has a problem.
He’s been forced to kill another apprentice, and he’s rapidly running out of candidates.
In fact, there is precisely one left...
On Earth, Tristan Andrews is in trouble. He has been ever since the day his dad left for work – and never came home. Seven years later, living with one foot on the street, Tristan is struggling to survive. Until a tough old man with a scarred face breaks into his house. He claims to have the answers Tristan seeks… But there’s a price.
Rainbow-haired Kyra didn’t sign up to babysit a scrawny kid from Earth. She’s more about kicking ass, and looking damn fine while she’s doing it. But there’s something about this boy. He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s got talents… and if he’s anything like his father, he could change the shape of the galaxy.
She just has to keep him alive long enough to find out.
Join Tris, as he’s catapulted into a world he never could have imagined. Where bizarre aliens threaten mankind, genetically engineered assassins lurk in the shadows, and the mysterious Wardens live by an ancient code… Of sacrifice.

The recently colonized world of Glenlyon has learned that they're stronger when they stand with other star systems than they are on their own. But after helping their neighbor Kosatka against an invasion, Glenlyon has become a target. The aggressive star systems plan to neutralize Glenlyon before striking again.
An attack is launched against Glenlyon's orbital facility with forces too powerful for fleet officer Rob Geary to counter using their sole remaining destroyer, Saber. Mele Darcy's Marines must repel repeated assaults while their hacker tries to get into the enemy systems to give Saber a fighting chance.
To survive, Glenlyon needs more firepower, and the only source for that is their neighbor Kosatka or other star systems that have so far remained neutral. But Kosatka is still battling the remnants of the invasion forces on its own world, and if it sends its only remaining warship to help will be left undefended against another invasion. While Carmen Ochoa fights for the freedom of Kosatka, Lochan Nakamura must survive assassins as he tries to convince other worlds to join a seemingly hopeless struggle.
As star systems founded by people seeking freedom and autonomy, will Kosatka, Glenlyon and others be able to overcome deep suspicions of surrendering any authority to others? Will the free star systems stand together in a new Alliance, or fall alone?

Recruit. Fight. Build.
As Dash and his team begin expanding the Forge, they must focus on Dark Metal as the one thing that can give them an advantage in the coming war.
Using drones and a map from an ancient library, Dash and Leira must seek out the source of a transmission coming from far away.
That source, however, is something far more valuable than they could have hoped: a fleet of ancient Unseen ships, waiting to be salvaged.
With the Golden forces closing in, Dash will need to enlist more help as he prepares to engage the enemy.
He must choose his next battleground, all while the Forge works to arm his team with new weapons that could turn the tide once and for all.