Cut Down to Size (Once Giants, Book 3) by Eugene Kirk and Garan Mad

Release date: June 16, 2017

Subgenre: Military science fiction, Cyberpunk

About Cut Down to Size:

 

Someone is killing people in the name of profit… and it’s up to Tina and Doc to stop them.

Embarking upon a mission into IEA Madagascar, Tina and Doc encounter heavy opposition while defending a factory against a team of heavily armed mercs.

Outmanned and outgunned, their only chance for survival is to call a shaky truce based on an even shakier mercenary code of honor. But when a compromise can’t be reached, the future of both their company and their client, hangs in the balance. Pushed to the edge, Tina doubles down with a risky business move that could either see them raking in millions or winding up dead broke.

Or just dead.

With the stakes higher than ever, just how far will Tina go to win? Will she pull it off at the risk of compromising everything she believes in?

Or will she be the one finally cut down to size…

Excerpt:

 

Moses had the throttle cranked. The aerodyne’s turbine screamed above the wail of the wind as, below, the thick jungle canopy of Ronamafina National Park flew by like something on a high-speed assembly line.  

Doc shouted above the din as he looked back at her. “Be ready for anything! We ain’t got much intel on this one.”

“More like no intel,” Tina muttered, checking over her gear. Uncertainty, anticipation, and dread combined to form a deadly cocktail within her mind. Heading blind into a combat zone was something she’d experienced only once before, and that was enough to know that this had the makings of a bad situation. 

Tina squinted against the onrushing air, looking out over the blurred treetops and rolling terrain. Madagascar—she hadn’t even known it was part of the East African Empire. “Who the hell would waste their time attacking something way out here?”

“Shit if I know.” Doc pulled his dreadlocks into a ponytail, his silver-gray eyes glinting with focus against his deep mahogany skin. His overcoat billowed in the wind, revealing his camouflage fatigues underneath, as well as his usual arsenal of small arms and blades. “The locals say they’ve been hit twice already. Killed over two hundred civilians. We might actually get a chance to catch the bastards this time, so stay sharp.”

That thought caused even more adrenaline to spike.

“Approaching Mananjary,” Moses, their pilot, called over the comm from the cockpit. “Eleven o’clock.”

Tina shielded her eyes from the mid-morning sun as she looked for their landing zone. She made out a plume of gray-and-white smoke on the horizon, punctuated against a near cloudless sky. They’d be there soon. She checked the snugness of the 20mm rifle slung across her back and zipped her gray bodysuit to the neck.

Moses slid the aerodyne to a stop in midair, and Doc signaled for her to jump. “Go! Go!”

Tina grabbed hold of one of the spring-loaded tether lines at the door’s edge and leapt into the open air. The monofilament strand screamed behind her as her eight-foot, six-hundred-pound frame plummeted toward the earth. Her heartbeat pumped in her throat as the ground spun and grew rapidly. Hot wind and white smoke filled her senses, adding to the dizzying effect. With a touch of the brake, the tether reeled with a zip and arrested her fall.

She let go a couple dozen feet above the ground and dropped into a roll when her feet hit the hard-packed earth. Something jabbed her in the back, and she instantly remembered the rifle she had strapped there. “Puta merda . . .”

 Doc hit the ground next to her with a thud, dirt and grass flying. The impact was so hard, Tina wondered if he had used the brake at all.

 “I’m taking point,” he said. He was up and sprinting ahead before she had even regained her footing. The rest of his message came through the comm: “Cover me, and then sweep the building from the other side. Vinsa, give us some cover from above.”

 Doc had his assault rifle ready and let off a couple shots toward the burning structure ahead of them. Tina still couldn’t make out who they were even fighting against. From above, the chainsaw howl of the minigun wailed as Vinsa followed Doc’s command, laying down covering fire that lit up the perimeter of their landing zone with fountains of packed dirt and debris.

Tina took off, following Doc’s lead. She felt a bit ridiculous crouching the way he did; at eight feet tall, she was too big to miss no matter what she did.

 

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About Eugene Kirk:

 

I've been writing for about twenty years, mostly in the Sci-fi genre. Before then, I used to make up stories all the time for role playing games, along side my co-author, Garan Mad. But now, with a wife, two kids and a full time career as an engineer, I don't have time to game anymore, but my creative juices still flow, so now I pour them into my writing.

After publishing a couple of novels, I've switched to focus on shorter length works; something I like to call "Made for TV novels". They are fast, fun reads that you can digest in an hour or so, much like an episode of your favorite TV show. And with the time pressures we all have these days, maybe a couple of hours is all you can afford to spend on some quick entertainment. So hopefully you'll enjoy the format and if you keep reading it, I'll keep writing it.

About Garan Mad:

Though I trained as an artist, writing has always been a passion of mine, though this was kept mostly to Role Playing games, alongside long-time friend and co-author, Eugene Kirk.

A few years ago I fulfilled my dream of publishing a series of comics called CONTRACT and although comics/graphic novels have always been my first passion the time and monetary constraints of artwork production is quite daunting. So, after a bit of encouragement to return to writing I've jumped (back) into the pool.

So pick up a book, give it a shot and, most important, if you enjoy PLEASE let us know.