Cause of Death (Mirrors in the Dark, Book 3) by K.T. Belt

 

Release date: March 30, 2022

Subgenre: Space Opera, Military Science Fiction

 

About Cause of Death:

 

 The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The members of Space Force Fleet Command are renowned for their battle-hardened professionalism…except for one ship—the men and women who crew the ISS Griffin. Yet these misfits, screw-ups, and mutineers are Carmen Grey’s only hope at locating and destroying an alien research base concealed aboard a freighter deep behind enemy lines.

The Clairvoyant can fly and read minds, but even she can’t imagine the harrowing secrets contained aboard the freighter, which may be the key to stopping a menace poised to sweep across the entire galaxy. She has only a number of days to find the alien ship before it is lost forever.

When the situation grows desperate and when surrounded by enemies, sometimes the most dangerous adversary is the friend watching your back. The clock’s ticking.

 

Excerpt:

 

Inertia nodded casually. “We have to hurry. They’re holding the shuttle just for him. It’s in an auxiliary hangar.”

She nodded and increased her pace to keep up. In a minute or so, they entered another hangar vastly smaller than where The Lady was parked. Before them was open space, held at bay by a magcon field. The shuttle was a boxy, ugly craft meant to contain the maximum number of troopers as was volumetrically possible. Carmen could see the pilots in the cockpit turn to look at them when they entered. The deck crew, standing by to launch the shuttle when ready, did the same.

“Make it quick,” Inertia whispered to her before he moved away.

Carmen turned to face her charge and smiled. “End of the road for you,” she said. “I’m not going to have to worry about you, am I?” she teased tenderly.

“Do I have to worry about you?” Phaethon asked back.

She shook her head. “Inertia is with me,” she remarked, looking his way. Her partner stood impassively. “We take care of each other.”

“Still, be careful,” Phaethon said.

Carmen nodded a few times. “I’ll try. Come here,” she said, holding out her arms.

Handler and charge hugged awkwardly. It was not a skill taught at the facility, nor one they had much practice in. When it was done, she motioned toward the shuttle with her head, and Phaethon began walking toward it. Carmen watched him go. Each step he took produced a wave of emotions best described as bittersweet.

In time, she noticed that Inertia had come to stand next to her. With no prompting or conscious thought, she rested her head on his strong arm. She didn’t know he glanced down on her when she did so. Then he turned and left so abruptly that Carmen lost her balance for a moment. As she stood there alone, watching him make his way out of the hangar, she felt another emotion. It would never, in any sense, be described as sweet. She rushed to join him, but this time they didn’t walk side by side.

“So, what about us? Our mission?” she asked. “Can we do it?”

“I don’t know. But it’s definitely not something we can do on our own.”

“Who can help us?”

“There is only one person I could think of.” He took a deep breath before he continued, which made Carmen swallow hard. “I had to call in a marker—one I’ve been saving for an occasion like this. I just hoped I would never have to use it.”

 

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Apple | Google Play

 

About K.T. Belt:

Yup, I’m the evil guy keeping you up all night to read, “Just one more page.” A storyteller from birth, it was inevitable that I’d find my way to writing books. All of my works have a very strong focus on character and believable worlds.

Other than books, I’m a licensed pilot and certified jet nerd. I’m also interested in motorsports and a lover of the “sweet science.”

 

Website

 

 

The Rogue Wolf (Mirrors in the Dark, Book 2) by K.T. Belt

 

Release date: June 8, 2021

Subgenre: Urban Fantasy,Space Opera

About The Rogue Wolf:

 

Billions dead, entire worlds under siege, and no end in sight.

The most destructive war in the history of the galaxy has arrived and every able-bodied man and woman is mobilized, save one. Carmen Grey has been released from the facility into an uncertain future. The young Clairvoyant can fly and read minds and has been trained since the age of six to do one thing and one thing only: kill. Yet Carmen struggles with an entirely different battle—how to ring up customers without them running away from her.

As she tries desperately to keep her life from falling apart, everything changes when someone close to her is swept into the conflict. Carmen vowed to never fight again, but she will have to rely on her best skill in a race against time. When everything is on the line, will she be able to stay good?

Excerpt:

 

“Edge, you forget why you’re here?” he asked as he turned to look back outside. His tone was even. Carmen didn’t know what to make of it. He already turned her down but had yet to tell her to leave, for what that was worth.

“Why am I here?”

Yet again, Gungnir said nothing. He surveyed the city and the grounds, his head turning slightly from side to side as his gaze leapt from feature to feature.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” he finally asked. Carmen couldn’t help but agree with a small nod. “I must admit most of the reason I chose this office was because of the view. It’s fitting.”

“How?” she asked simply.

He glanced at her over his shoulder. “Did you know that, eons ago, on Earth, people were afraid to go into the forests?”

“No.”

“It’s ridiculous, but they believed monsters and horrible beasts lived in the forests and other dark places.” He paused before he continued. “A war is raging, but if you haven’t noticed, none of that war is taking place here or on any world with a large Clairvoyant population. When the sortens or Eternals attack other worlds, they have to kill every last man, woman, and child to be certain they can hold the territory. That is why we are here. We are wolves,” he said, turning around. Behind him, Carmen could see the clouds break, once again covering the facility in the shadows of Haven City. “And we aren’t able to give pause to those who want to enter the forest if we aren’t vicious. More than that, we can never leave the forest, otherwise those taking refuge within it would be rendered defenseless.”

Carmen couldn’t help but think about her time with Janus and Kali, her thus far failed attempts at reaching Phaethon, and how much trouble she had with finding a job.

“And this has what to do with me and my problem?” she asked.

“As I said, you have no problem, since you are acting exactly as you were trained. It is not something I can really fix. I was trained similarly,” he said. “You said you need money. I can help you get that. But I can’t do anything to help with why you need money and can’t get it other than through people like me. Before you and I go any further, I want you to understand that.”

“It’s just a job. I don’t have any choice.”

“It’s not just a job, and there is always a choice,” Gungnir said.

Carmen looked at him hard and then said slowly, “I don’t have any choice.”

Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Apple | Google Play

 

 

About K.T. Belt:

Yup, I’m the evil guy keeping you up all night to read, “Just one more page.” A storyteller from birth, it was inevitable that I’d find my way to writing books. All of my works have a very strong focus on character and believable worlds.

Other than books, I’m a licensed pilot and certified jet nerd. I’m also interested in motorsports and a lover of the “sweet science.”

 

Website

Monster of the Dark (Mirrors in the Dark, Book 1) by K.T. Belt

 

Release date: March 30, 2021

Subgenre: Urban Fantasy, Dystopian

 

About Monster of the Dark: 

Carmen Grey always knew she was different.

None of the other children seemed able to read minds. None of the other children were able to manipulate their toys without touching them. On the morning of her sixth birthday, three men dressed in black arrive to remove her from the loving care of her parents.

She is taken to an underground facility meant for others like her, for Clairvoyants. Stripped of her name and identity, over the years she is fashioned into something scary—something lethal. Each day is an endless struggle and every night is plagued by nightmares. Yet, for Carmen, her ultimate battle isn’t to save her life, but to keep her soul.

Excerpt:

 

The four of them reached the aerocar, and the man in the suit gestured for her to get in. She did so without question, and then he sat next to her. The other two men sat up front. No one said anything, but Carmen didn’t mind that. She often thought people talked too much anyway. What was the point when, most of the time, you already knew what they were going to say?

The aerocar didn’t move right away as the soldiers still piled into the rest of the vehicles in the convoy. Carmen didn’t pay them much mind; her attention was firmly fixed on the man in the suit. Why couldn’t she figure him out? He was different from every person she’d ever met, that much was certain. He did nothing more than watch her casually out the corner of his eye, but she could swear he was fighting her. If he wasn’t, there was resistance of some sort, whether it was produced by him or not.

As he drew more of her attention, this wasn’t just a game anymore to her. Carmen thought she found a crack in his shell, but when she pushed through, the next barrier was even stronger. The frustration made her curl her hands into little fists, and it was then, and quite by surprise, that she heard a voice in her head.

“Impressive,” it said. “However, it’s more polite to ask permission first.”

Carmen’s mouth dropped open. Her parents always told her she was different from other people—that she was special. She wasn’t so sure about the second part, but she already knew the first. The other kids were just different around her, wary even when she sat quietly in a lonely corner of the playground. They could look at her and somehow know she was not one of them. Yet, for all that, she never thought she’d hear voices in her head. Crazy people heard voices, and she wasn’t crazy. She was just different, as she was constantly told.

The man in the suit looked at her and smiled. “Don’t be alarmed. You’re not imagining this,” he said telepathically.

Carmen now knew how those kids at the playground felt. She moved as far away from the man as possible while continuing to stare. Her breathing quickened. She didn’t even notice the car had started to move.

“How…how do you do that?” she asked quickly.

The man smiled again. “You are strong. Unusually strong. But it seems like you have yet to discover the full extent of your abilities. I shall correct that.”

She had no idea what he was talking about. “Who are you?” she asked.

The man paused for a moment. “You may call me Janus,” he said, using audible sound for the first time.

She considered her response for a few seconds. “My name is Carmen.” Her mother and father would want her to be polite—and her mother did tell her to stay good, whatever that meant.

“No, it is not,” Janus said sternly.

The change in his demeanor took Carmen aback. It was not that he was angry—at least, he didn’t seem angry. He was just so…forceful.

“You don’t have a name. Not yet. You don’t have a name until we give you a name.”

Amazon | Kobo | Apple | Google Play | Thalia 

About K.T. Belt:

Yup, I’m the evil guy keeping you up all night to read, “Just one more page.” A storyteller from birth, it was inevitable that I’d find my way to writing books. All of my works have a very strong focus on character and believable worlds.

Other than books, I’m a licensed pilot and certified jet nerd. I’m also interested in motorsports and a lover of the “sweet science.”

 

Website