Forged Wings: A military sci-fi thriller

by Kagan Tumer

Lori ... is a prickly paradox, complex enough to carry the story, and unreliable enough to be an interesting main character ... Her ferocious desire for justice drives the high tension plot. —Foreword Clarion Review on Purged Souls

A decade after a global virus and the subsequent chaos brought civilization to the brink, Lori Rose joined the military of a nascent matriarchal society to strengthen the rebuilding efforts. But her career stalled because her headstrong personality drew the ire of her superiors. As she contemplates her dwindling options, their enemy launches a sneak attack that kills the command staff at her remote outpost and captures hundreds.

But if their enemy wanted a quick victory, they crossed the wrong soldier. With nothing but her wits and a few unlikely allies, Lori hatches a daring rescue attempt against a superior force.

Can she save her people before her actions plunge them into an unwinnable war?

This novella is set a decade before the events in Purged Souls, Kagan Tumer’s Book of the Year finalist debut novel.

118 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 9, 2022

About the author

Kagan Tumer is a science fiction author and professor of AI and Robotics. He attended seven schools in five cities in four countries, all before reaching high school. The constant upheaval taught him two things: observe the world and the people in it because you need to understand them, and don't get too attached to any place or anyone because neither will be there next year.

Turns out, that’s pretty good training for a writer.

Along the way, Kagan worked as a cafeteria food server, registrar's office clerk, print shop copier, soccer referee, math tutor, and well logging engineer. He also worked for NASA, designing autonomous robot coordination algorithms for future missions. When it finally dawned on him that NASA wasn't going to build and send hundreds of robots to Mars so he can play with them, he decided to create his own reality in Science Fiction.

After a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area, he now lives in the Pacific Northwest. His debut novel, Purged Souls, was a Foreword INDIES Book of the Year finalist. When not writing, he ponders AI ethics, teaches AI, and mentors future scientists.