Destiny's Hand Read online

  CHEATC0DE - The Downlode Heroes Book I

  Most people play the game: total immersion VR with full neural sync. But Hank lives it.

  In Unlimited Combat, he’s one of the best. He makes his own luck. And he plays solo. Until now.

  When a player offers Hank fame and fortune, it’s too good to pass up. To succeed, Hank must fight harder than ever before, pushing past the game’s safety protocols. His life is on the line, and when he’s captured, he knows he’s in too deep. Can he escape? And who can he trust?

  Meanwhile, Hank’s father also escapes into VR, where he can relive his military past. But Hank’s dad has problems, caused by his experiences in the virtual battlefields of the future, and sometimes he has difficulty separating reality from his memories of virtual conflict. In real life, there’s conflict between father and son - could they be heading for a collision in VR?

  Join Hank in the game—if you dare.

  The Trust - The Downlode Heroes Book II

  In the virtual worlds at the Downlode Trust, you can be anyone you want - but who can you believe?

  Hank doesn’t do VR. Not anymore.

  He was always good at VR games, especially Combat Unlimited, but he’s left all that behind. These days, he doesn’t even log on. But he’s down on his luck, and when he’s offered a place at the prestigious Downlode Trust, it’s too good to miss. It means leaving home and everything he knows, but tempted by the Trust’s cutting edge VR, he signs up. Now, he must travel to the UK and forge a new life while tackling new challenges that push at the limits of his ability.

  But there’s trouble at the Trust. A security breach in the Trust’s systems looks like an inside job. Who could be behind the cyberattack? And will it make the Trust’s students vulnerable?

  As head of operations, Colonel Stewart Headingley-Clarke is in a race against time to protect everyone at the Trust. Can he root out the trouble before the new students arrive?

  Meanwhile, one student has discovered an illegal mod, smuggled into the VR system. It will make her invincible, and she wants to make sure she’s the only one who can use it. She’ll do whatever it takes, and no one will be allowed to stand in her way. No one.

  Join Hank in The Trust, but remember: logging in is just the beginning.

  After Dark - Thoughtful Horror Book I

  When another body is discovered - a young woman washed up by the tide - it seems that someone stalks the streets of the nearby town of Whitby, after dark. Someone who preys on young women, and kills them in a very singular manner. And as crowds of Goths arrive to celebrate an annual festival, the scene is set for a gothic tale with a contemporary twist.

  After Dark is a horror story set in modern day Whitby, the town where, according to Stoker, a certain Count came ashore. In recent years, Whitby has held an annual Goth festival, and this surreal event sets the stage for a deliciously dark tale.

  Once in a Blood Moon - Thoughtful Horror Book II

  England. A quiet stretch of wild countryside. An isolated farmhouse. And an American visitor taking a break from it all. It sounds idyllic, doesn’t it?

  But on this night, the full moon looms especially large in the sky - a supermoon. And this event just happens to coincide with a lunar eclipse, tinging the moon with red. But it’s probably safe to be outside at night. After all, some things only happen once in a blood moon.

  A Dark Assortment - Thoughtful Horror Book III

  Sometimes that noise you can hear upstairs is just the old floorboards creaking as they settle down for the night. Sometimes. But there’s no need to worry because that face you saw at the window was just a reflection. There’s no one else here. You’re alone. But that’s OK because you’re safe in your bed. And all those things you fear deep down in the dark reaches of your soul…well, they only happen in stories, don’t they?

  A Dark Assortment is a collection of seventeen stories; a chocolate box of handmade treats. But beware—beneath each richly decorated shell, there’s a seed of delicious darkness.

  The God Machine

  Areva dreams of the day when he will become a Scribe and contribute to The Collective—the tethered souls, connected to the God-Machine. The Scribes write the Universe into existence, and it’s Areva’s destiny to join them. But as his time draws near, he hesitates. Perhaps the God-Machine serves a darker purpose.

  This book is widely available for free.

  Connect With the Author

  Thank you for taking the time to read my work—I really hope you enjoyed it. I love hearing from readers so there are lots of ways to reach me. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me via [email protected]

  You can follow me on Twitter @mikeycampling and I’ll do my best to reply to your mentions.

  I’m also active on other social media and the best place to see all those links is on my website: mikeycampling.com/contact

  About the Author

  Mikey works hard at everything he does. As a teacher, he always went the extra mile to give kids the best start in life that he could. His particular passion was inspiring children to love books, and his lively readings were always popular. His proudest moment was when the parents of a young boy with Asperger’s Syndrome told him that their son was asking for bedtime stories for the first time in his life.

  Today, after a spell as a full-time dad, Mikey writes stories with characters you can believe in, and plots you can sink your teeth into. His style is vivid but never flowery; every word packs a punch. His stories are complex, thought-provoking, atmospheric and grounded in real life.

  Mikey has always read very widely, and his work is just as varied. There are several strands to Mikey’s work:

  The Downlode Heroes - An ongoing series of fast-paced sci-fi novels with plenty of action and written using USA spellings;

  Colony B - a science fiction colonization serial written using USA spellings;

  The Darkeningstone Books - A trilogy of novels plus a novella featuring supernatural suspense across time and set in the UK using British spellings (NB: These novels form an epic tale and are best read as a complete trilogy);

  Thoughtful Horror - Short, dark stories with modern settings and a twist in the tale.

  All Mikey’s works have one thing in common: respect for the reader. As a writer, he takes a professional approach, and he believes very firmly that errors are unacceptable.

  Judge for yourself and start reading for free! Get your free starter library of Mikey’s books at:

  mikeycampling.com/freebooks

  Copyright

  © 2017 Mikey Campling All rights reserved.

  No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the copyright holder, except as permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.