The Draco Eye

by Sharon Bidwell

HMAS Sovereign has breached the asteroid belt, chasing the Russians to the mysterious Planet X, but this is also a mission of exploration. Their first stop is Jupiter, King of Planets and Destroyer of Comets.

Many onboard feel Jupiter’s mighty pull, and their intuition has nothing to do with its great magnetic field. Jupiter has much to reveal, including an inner core that all the scientists on Earth insist cannot exist, and a type of life that’s the most incredible yet—the most legendary of creatures.

Already sensing he’s on the trail of something incredible, Nathaniel Stone has to ask whether this beast is an element of the same puzzle. Has it been created for a specific purpose? He may never know the answer if he doesn’t survive getting up close and personal, yet the draco may be the key to the very thing he’s looking for.

Deep in Jupiter’s core, there’s a trap, and no one sets a trap unless there’s something worth protecting. No stranger to suspicion, Nathaniel Stone is about to demonstrate the luck of the Irish and a willingness to sacrifice his self-respect for the good of the mission.

212 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2014

About the author

During Sharon’s writing career she’s lived in a house with a Harry Potter cupboard under the stairs, shared a publisher with the creator of Roger Rabbit, and has taken a trip to Jupiter. Only one of these has been in her imagination.

The first short story she submitted — Silver Apples of the Moon — was accepted by Roadworks Magazine. The editor announced her as “a writer who is going places” and described the story as having “both a Sci-fi and horror element,” and being “strong on characterisation, and quite literary, in terms of style.” Subsequently, she was approached to write all reports and publicity material, including a piece for translation into Braille for The Really Wild Nursery and Arthritis Care Breaking Down the Barriers garden project, which took place at the Malvern Spring Show.

Since then, her work has appeared steadily in both print and electronic publications, such as Midnight Street, Aoife’s Kiss (Sam’s Dot Publishing), Night To Dawn, and Radgepacket (Byker Books). Her short story — Bitter and Intoxicating — was snapped up for inclusion in the anthology Red Velvet and Absinthe. This compilation, edited by Mitzi Szereto with a foreword by Kelly Armstrong, was designed to evoke the romantic ethos of classic Gothic fiction with a serving of eroticism. With a repertoire of twisted tales and a love of cross-genre writing, it surprised everyone (including herself) when she branched out into erotic romance. These works have been critically acclaimed and often described as ‘deeply passionate’.

Sharon’s worlds are vivid, unexpected and sometimes intensely magical. Sharon writes whatever her warped mind can come up with and is quite capable of writing something darker, grittier, and even outright twisted. Though her love for all things Myth and Legend has led her to write under more than one name, from 2019 she's using S.M.Bidwell for her Dark Fiction.

She was propelled into the Steampunk universe of Space, 1899 and beyond, winning approval of series creator and award-winning game designer, Frank Chadwick, with three books, one of which was co-authored with editor (and writer) Andy Frankham-Allen, and subsequently led to her writing for the Lethbridge-Stewart series, and a short audio story for Doctor Who, performed by Katy Manning.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am sad to see this series end in mid stream. Apparently the last few books are on hold and in limbo. Good SiFi series that is very reminiscent of the Golden age SiFi planetary Romance style stories. Recommended