About TS Hottle
TS Hottle is a science fiction writer originally from Cleveland. By night, he writes, cooks, and fights with a cat named Tearyon. Sometimes, he wins against the cat, but not often. By day, he is a software developer.
For fifteen years, he wrote crime fiction under the name Jim Winter. Now he has returned to his first love, science fiction He has created The Compact Universe, a series of loosely connected space opera tales centered around humans' disastrous first contact with a species known as the Gelt.
He lives in the Cincinnati suburb of Deer Park with his wife Candy. When not writing or cooking, they both can be found fixing up their Cape Cod. Which has a deck. Which makes TS very happy.
Suicide Gambit
Six years ago, Tishla helped Suicide liberate her homeworld. Now, Suicide must return the favor.
Fleeing a coup on Hanar, Tishla and her daughter crash land near Suicide's home on Amargosa. Two groups of separatist seek to undo all the work Tishla and her inner circle have done to build a world welcoming to all species. Now, she must go the Sovereign of the Realm, humanity's erstwhile enemy. There, she will submit to a life of servitude to save her people.
Suicide and JT Austin will take Tishla on her journey. But once there, an old enemy has a score he wants to settle. And he claims Tishla as his prize. To save Tishla, and Hanar, Suicide and JT will have to enter the arena. Either they will win back Tishla's freedom. Or they will die.
Tishla's Journey
Tishla has the ideal life. Indentured to her childhood best friend in exchange for her education, she is his conscience and his virtual wife.
But an alien and a devious general convince them to join an illegal invasion of two alien worlds. When they discover the truth, Tishla's master sends her away while he tries to stop the slaughter.
She returns his legal widow, pregnant with his unborn twins, and holding his legal claim to a human colony. Now she must weld Gelt and human, two enemy species, into a single world.
Tishla must survive an assassination attempt, endure the loss of one child, and offer her own life to atone for the death of a woman whose husband is out for revenge.
And somehow, her efforts will make her one of the saviors of a world called Amargosa.
Beyond Amargosa
An unknown alien species seizes three distant colonies. Humanity fights back. Three novellas tell of the battle to liberate Amargosa.
Broken Skies - Quentin Austin leads a failed attempt to retake Amargosa. As he awaits his fate, he investigates a mysterious company called Juno, present before each colony went silent. Dodging murder and chaos, he discovers the enemy is closer to Earth.
Warped - True FTL has arrived. Hideki Okada and Peter Lancaster have perfected Dr. Alcubierre's dream. Only they have grave misgivings about plans for its first use: Raining fire down on an alien planet.
Flight Blade - Gid Modesto and Mistuko Yamato join the fight to liberate Amargosa. On Hanar, formerly Gilead, they discover a new ally. Only now they have to stop fighting each other.
Check out the Compact Universe
The Compact Universe and The Amargosa Trilogy are TS Hottle's science fiction universe, space opera in the grand tradition of Neal Asher, David Weber, and plenty of Game of Thrones thrown in for good measure. (Except for the dragons. For now.)