Jay Allan has 39 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 8 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.6★ across 123 ratings. The most-rated is Duel in the Dark.
The Shadow Legions
Summary
The war with the First Imperium is over, and Grand Fleet is limping home from the frontier. Erik Cain, Augustus Garret, and the rest of the high command are grimly satisfied that humanity has been saved from the First Imperium menace. There is no joy, however…no elation at the “victory.” The losses this time were too heavy…too personal…to bear. They did what had to be done to drive back the enemy and save the human worlds from certain destruction. Now they were left to find a way to live with the gut wrenching decisions that victory had required. Augustus Garret needed time. Time for repairs, time to replace losses, time to learn how to go on in the aftermath of what he’d done. But the fleet wasn’t heading for a well-deserved rest…they were moving into another firestorm. A new menace, one as deadly as the First Imperium, was waiting for them, and it threatened to shatter the fragile alliance of the Earth powers and throw all of human space into another desperate war…one that might be the final confrontation. On world after world, mysterious forces are invading, taking control of the most vital colonies. The invaders are well-drilled powered infantry, veteran forces that quickly shattered the planetary militias and established brutal occupation regimes. Garret, Cain, and the leaders of the Alliance’s forces must rally themselves once again to face this new threat…an unknown enemy that is as well trained, experienced, and equipped as the Marines themselves. Indeed, on some colony worlds rumors are already spreading that the invaders are the Marines themselves, that they have come to conquer, to rule…
©2014 Jay Allan Books, Inc. (P)2014 Jay Allan Books, Inc.
Marines: Crimson Worlds
Summary
Erik Cain joined the marines to get off death row. The deal was simple; enlist to fight in space and he would be pardoned for all his crimes. In the 23rd Century, assault troops go to war wearing AI-assisted, nuclear-powered armor, but it is still men and blood that win battles. From one brutal campaign to the next, Erik and his comrades fight an increasingly desperate war over the resource rich colony worlds that have become vital to the economies of Earth's exhausted and despotic Superpowers. As Erik rises through the ranks he finally finds a home, first with the marines who fight at his side and later among the colonists - men and women who have dared to leave everything behind to build a new society on the frontier, one where the freedoms and rights lost long ago on Earth are preserved. Amidst the blood and death and sacrifice, Erik begins to wonder. Is he fighting the right war? Who is the real enemy? Now Included: A sneak peak at Crimson Worlds II: The Cost of Victory. Read the first three chapters, immediately following the end of Marines in this Kindle edition. Crimson Worlds II: The Cost of Victory - Available Now! Crimson Worlds III: A Little Rebellion - December 2012
©2012 Jay Allan Books (P)2012 Jay Allan Books
Wings of Pegasus
Summary
A grim, haunted expanse of space, vast light years filled with dead, empty worlds. A dark place, the graveyard of an empire…and a frontier where vast riches can be had by those with the courage - and the luck - to survive. But trade in old tech is not for the timid. Prospectors face rival crews, ancient imperial security systems, and the ever-present shadow of the Union’s dread spy agency, Sector Nine, as they plunge forth in search of artifacts worth vast fortunes. Andi Lafarge and the crew of Pegasus are among the elite of the strange brotherhood that ventures forth, seeking the remnants of humanity’s lost past. She and her people will face the deadliest challenges, fight constant battles, and plunge forth into the darkest corners of the lost region of space. Pegasus has a new mission, one far more important than even Andi had her crew realize, a search for ancient technology that could determine the outcome of the next Confederation-Union war. To get it, they must travel to a vast ocean world…and they must find what they seek before Sector Nine does. They will fight, suffer, endure. But they will never fail. Not while Andi Lafarge still draws breath.
©2019 Jay Allan Books Inc. (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Andromeda Rising
Summary
An industrial hell. The foulest and most decrepit slum on Parsephon. A nest of human misery, where hope is word long forgotten, and the dead are carted away every day. It is the worst pit in the Confederation’s great industrial machine known as the Iron Belt. Among the millions born into misery, poverty, and despair under the dark and smoky haze that covers the planet, Andromeda Lafarge is unique. One lost soul among billions, she is tough, relentless, determined to get out, to escape, to blaze her own trail, and to make a name for herself across the stars. Andi will break the chains binding her to a life of destitution, leave the Gut and Parsephon behind forever, and plunge into the dark and deadly worlds of the lost empire, prospecting for imperial artifacts, the bits and pieces of old tech that can make her rich. She will find new friends - and enemies - on the frontier, and she will blaze a trail from the filthy, polluted Iron Belt world of her birth to the dead and haunted imperial planets of the Badlands. She will fight, endure hardships unimaginable, save comrades...and lose some, too. She will struggle to amass wealth, to do whatever is necessary to ensure she will never again be helpless, and she will bring back the technology of the ancients, scraps of mankind’s lost legacy, to do it. She will create a name for herself among the rough and tumble adventurers who ply the rogue trade in ancient tech. For some, she will become one to emulate, to follow. To others, her name will become the foulest of curses. She will make her way, blade and pistol in hand, from one dead and ancient world to another.
©2019 Jay Allan Books Inc. (P)2019 Audible, Inc.
Into the Darkness
Summary
A brand-new series by the author of the best-selling Crimson Worlds saga. Terrence Compton is one of Earth's greatest admirals, a warrior almost without equal. Alongside his oldest friend and brilliant colleague, Augustus Garret, he and his forces saved Earth from invasion by the robotic legions of the First Imperium's insane computer Regent. There is just one problem. The First Imperium was held back by the disruption of the sole warp gate connecting the two domains...and Compton and 300 of his ships are trapped on the wrong side, surrounded by the Regent's vast fleets and cut off from Earth. Pursued by their deadly enemy, Compton and his fleet must flee into the darkness of unexplored space, seeking safety...and ultimately a new home. Their journey will take them deep into the heart of the First Imperium, to the silent, windswept worlds where the ancient race that built the Regent once dwelled...and uncover the lost secrets of its disappearance 500,000 years ago.
©2015 Jay Allan Books Inc. (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
The Emperor's Fist
Summary
In this thrilling new installment in the Far Stars saga, a reluctant hero with a bloody past must reunite with an old love to battle an evil emperor willing to destroy all their worlds if he cannot control them. When the Far Stars came under imperial attack, Astra Lucerne - the daughter and successor of the Far Stars’ greatest conqueror - Marshal Augustin Lucerne - rallied her father’s confederation forces to defend their worlds. They were joined in the fight by former imperial general Arkarin Blackhawk, a warrior whose skills and brutality made him infamous, and who has, for two decades, sought the redemption he knows is unreachable. Now, with the imperial foothold in the sector eliminated, the Far Stars is free and almost united. While Astra’s forces continue to depose local tyrants and warlords, Ark and his crew have slipped back into the shadows. Though his heart belongs to Astra, Ark cannot get too close. His imperial conditioning remains under control, but it is still volatile, and the temptation of power threatens to unleash the dark compulsions that made him the most merciless of the emperor’s servants. He cannot risk allowing Astra to see the darkness inside him. But while the battle has been won, the war may not be over. A petty smuggler makes a discovery that can enable the emperor to strike back and crush the resistance - unless Ark and Astra join forces again to stop him.
©2019 Jay Allan (P)2019 HarperAudio
The Black Flag
Summary
The Triumvirate. Three clones of Gavin Stark who survived their evil master's destruction. Now they have cheated death again, downloading their minds into an alien intelligence, a relic of the First Imperium. For three decades they have worked, silently, diligently, preparing their forces for the day that would launch the final assault. Vali, a secret planet, home of the Triumvirate. A hidden and haunted world covered entirely with factories and fortifications, worked by legions of slaves, the kidnapped and forgotten of a thousand worlds. Erik Cain, the legendary hero of the Marines Corps, the man who killed the real Stark. For years he was a prisoner of the triumvirate's minions, held in brutal captivity on a dark world. Now he is free, battered by his long nightmare but never bowed, ready for the final struggle. Darius Cain, Erik's son, dread warrior and commander of the feared Black Eagles, the greatest of the mercenary Companies. Darius and his forces freed Erik Cain, and together with his father and his long-estranged twin brother, he is ready to rally the free forces of human space. Augustus Garret. A legendary admiral, the victor of more battles than are easily counted. Garret is long retired. But within him still beats the same heart of old, and he will stand with Erik Cain and his sons, fight alongside his old ally one last time. From the barren ruins of shattered Earth to the farthest reaches of human habitation in the galaxy, the final battle has begun. The Cains and their comrades are outnumbered, but the blood of warriors flows in their veins, and they will never stop, no matter what the cost...not until the battle is won. Massive fleets are on the move, armies fight great battles. Worlds burn, and the cataclysmic struggle for the future of mankind reaches its terrifying climax. Crimson World Successors Trilogy Listening Order: Book 1: MERCS Book 2: The Prisoner of Eldaron Book 3: The Black Flag
©2017 Jay Allan Books (P)2018 Audible, Inc.
Shadow of Empire
Summary
The first installment in the Far Star series, a swashbuckling space saga that introduces the daring pirate Blackhawk and the loyal crew of the Wolf's Claw, from the author of the best-selling Crimson Worlds saga. Smuggler and mercenary Arkarin Blackhawk and the crew of the ship Wolf's Claw are freelance adventurers who live on the fringe of human society in the Far Stars. A veteran fighter as deadly with a blade as he is with a gun, Blackhawk is a man haunted by a dark past. Even his cynicism cannot banish the guilt and pain that threaten his sanity. Sent to rescue the kidnapped daughter of his longtime friend, Marshal Augustin Lucerne, Blackhawk and his crew find themselves drawn into one deadly fight after another. When the Wolf's Claw is damaged, they are forced to land on a remote planet subsumed by civil war. Pulled unwittingly into the conflict, they uncover disturbing information about secret imperial involvement that could upset the plans of Lucerne. For the marshal is determined to forge a Far Stars Confederation powerful enough to eliminate all imperial influence and threats in the sector. He needs a skilled warrior like Blackhawk on his side, but the mercenary, plagued by dark memories from the past, refuses to join the cause. All too soon, though, he and his crew will have to take a stand.
©2015 Jay Allan Books (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers
The Cost of Victory
Summary
The Third Frontier War is raging, and all across human-occupied space worlds are burning. Massive fleets struggle for dominance and kilometer-long war ships exchange thermonuclear barrages. Battered in the early years of the war, the Western Alliance is resurgent. The brilliant Admiral Augustus Garret leads the Alliance fleet from victory to victory, taking the war to the very heart of the enemy empires. And on the ground, Colonel Erik Cain, hero of the Marine Corps, leads his crack troops again into combat, seeking the final battle. In the background, the secretive intelligence agencies of the despotic Superpowers plot and scheme, using their own soldiers as pawns in the great game for control of space. But the final battle will be fought in the reddish sands of a backwater world, and the prize will be the staggering secret that has lain hidden in a remote cave for untold centuries. All the Powers struggle for the ultimate victory, but at what cost? The Cost of Victory is the second book in the Crimson Worlds series and the sequel to Marines.
©2012 Jay Allan Books (P)2013 Jay Allan Books
To Hell's Heart
Summary
The combined forces of humanity have beaten back the First Imperium invasion. For the first time, the enemy has been defeated in battle. The cost was high in blood and suffering, but the Line held. The heart of human-occupied space has been saved from annihilation. For now. There is little time for the victorious warriors to savor their triumph or mourn their dead. The First Imperium has been driven back, but it has not been defeated. No one expects the fruits of victory to be more than a brief respite. Augustus Garret, Erik Cain, and the rest of the human high command have a decision to make. Do they stand on the defensive, waiting for the massive second invasion they all know will come? Or do they consider another option, one that compels them to face overwhelming odds, and launch a strike that could end the war in one campaign? The attack ship Hornet returned home after a miraculous run through enemy space, and her crew brought with them priceless intelligence... the location of a world of the First Imperium. In the capitals of Earth, the ruling classes call for caution, for the armed forces to stand on the defensive. But on the frontier, Garret and his compatriots are planning something different, and they do not intend to be deterred. They are going to take the war to the enemy. They are going to march into hell's heart.
©2013 Jay Allan Books (P)2013 Jay Allan Books
The First Imperium
Summary
The Alliance and its colonies have called a truce and signed the Confederation Agreement, providing the frontier worlds with guarantees of self-government. No one expects the deal to last, and both sides are preparing for the next showdown. But from the depths of space another challenge is coming, one that will endanger the very survival of mankind and force not just the Alliance and its colonies, but all of the Superpowers, to join forces or face annihilation. The dusty ruins the Alliance discovered on Epsilon Eridani IV were built by an ancient race, eons dead. But their guardians remain, and the disturbance of the long silent caves triggered an automated alert, one which has been heard. Erik Cain and his Marines grimly take to the field once again, for what may be their final battle, against the robotic legions of the First Imperium. But facing a ruthless and technologically superior enemy may be easier than learning to fight alongside old enemies. This is Book 4 of the Crimson World Series
©2013 Jay Allan Books (P)2013 Jay Allan Books
Enemy in the Dark
Summary
The second book in the Far Star series follows Blackhawk and the crew of the Wolf's Claw as they are gradually (and unwillingly) drawn more deeply into Marshal Lucerne's campaign to form a united power bloc in the Far Stars to resist imperial encroachment. Successfully completing their mission to rescue Marshal Augustin Lucerne's daughter, Astra, the crew of the Wolf's Claw are enjoying some well-deserved rest - all, that is, except Blackhawk. The space gun for hire cannot escape Lucerne's relentless pleas for help against growing imperial control in the Far Stars. While Blackhawk deeply respects his friend, he fears that the power Lucerne offers will lead him back to his old dark ways. His resistance crumbles, however, when Lucerne presents evidence that the imperial governor has been manipulating the conflicts in the Far Stars. Convinced of the deadly danger of imperial domination, Blackhawk and his crew board the Wolf's Claw once more and set out to gather intelligence on the Empire's movements - the proof Lucerne needs to unite the fractured and feuding worlds of the Far Stars into a single power bloc capable of resisting imperial aggression. But deep in the sparsely populated territory of the Far Stars, he discovers that the imperial governor's machinations are far reaching - and threaten the independence of every world this side of the Void. A man seemingly running from himself, Blackhawk is beginning to realize he can no longer remain a prisoner to his own past while the future of the Far Stars is in jeopardy.
©2015 Jay Allan Books (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers
Red Team Alpha
Summary
Red Team Alpha. An elite military unit. Twenty highly trained veteran warriors, Mars' best. They are capable, dedicated, armed with the best technology Mars has to offer. And they don't exist, at least not officially. Now the team will be called upon to face its greatest test. On a planet in a newly discovered system, there is a mysterious wreck, the remains of an ancient ship. The discovery is a momentous one, first contact and proof that mankind is not alone in the universe. It is a job for the Team, but even these crack soldiers will be tested to the limit of their abilities as they uncover the dark horror within, a technological nightmare that threatens the very future of humanity. The soldiers of Alpha will fight, ignoring the odds as usual, but this time they will be caught between two enemies. For they are not the only ones who know about the ruins. Even now, the notorious Gavin Stark and his Alliance Intelligence forces are on the move, seeking to seize the ancient vessel and the priceless technology within for their own purposes. And they are ready to do whatever is necessary to gain the priceless ship...including wiping out Red Team Alpha completely.
©2016 Jay Allan Books, Inc. (P)2017 Tantor
Even Legends Die
Summary
The final battle has begun... Gavin Stark, the former head of Alliance Intelligence, and the bitter nemesis of the Marine Corps, has made his bid for power. The manufactured clone soldiers of his Shadow Legions have seized control of dozens of colony worlds, imposing his brutal rule over millions of colonists. His plan is no less than to subjugate all mankind under his iron fist. On Earth, Stark's manipulations have brought the Superpowers to the brink of war, threatening the Treaty of Paris and its prohibition against terrestrial warfare. For a century, man had restricted his wars to space, but now the Powers are sliding closer to the brink...the final battle that could kill billions, and turn Earth into a wasteland. On a few key colony worlds, Erik Cain, Elias Holm, and the remnants of the shattered Marine Corps struggle against Stark's vast armies...the only hope of turning back the tide of destruction and despair that threatens to engulf all mankind. They are outnumbered and outgunned, but they will fight nevertheless, standing grimly in the breach, holding back Stark and his dark legions. The Marines will give their all, fight with the last of their strength and resolve. But this time the cost will be too high to bear, too personal. Even Marines need their heroes, their legends. But even legends die.
©2014 Jay Allan Books (P)2014 Jay Allan Books
A Little Rebellion
Summary
A Little Rebellion Crimson Worlds Book III The Third Frontier War is over, and the Western Alliance is triumphant. All across human-occupied space, colony worlds celebrate the coming of peace. But peace is an elusive dream, and more trouble is brewing. The war was expensive, and the economies of the Superpowers, always fragile, are on the verge of total collapse. The Directorate, the shadowy intelligence organization that has become the true power behind the Alliance government, plans to strip the colonies bare to pay the costs of war. Already, they are tightening their control over the freewheeling colonial governments. And the Marine Corps faces total destruction at the hands of the worst traitor in its history. But the colonists are a different breed than the passive mob on Earth, and they have no intention of meekly surrendering their hard-won freedoms. On worlds all across the frontier, plans are hatched and weapons hoarded. And in taverns and meeting halls the words of an ancient text are uttered in hushed tones. A little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing.
©2013 Jay Allan Books (P)2013 Jay Allan Books
The Prisoner of Eldaron
Summary
The Search for Erik Cain... The Superpowers of Earth have fought their final war, leaving Earth a devastated ruin, populated only by scattered groups of survivors living in primitive squalor. Out in space, however, humanity moves forward, and the former colonies of Earth's dead nations are now free from the yoke of the despotic governments that had long ruled over them. For many, it is their first taste of liberty. But a thousand free worlds, varying enormously in wealth and power, cannot long exist in peace, and soon they begin to fight, to seek to bend their neighbors to their wills. Darius Cain is the commander of the Black Eagles, the most feared and renowned of all the mercenary companies that fight the colonies' wars. His veteran warriors have fought dozens of battles, and they have never met their equals. The wealthiest colonies compete to hire the Eagles, for contracting with Cain's warriors is the surest guarantee of victory in any dispute. But there is another power, one whose very existence has been the most closely guarded secret in human history. The Triumvirate. For decades it has operated in the shadows, interfering secretly in the affairs of the former colonies while steadily building an invincible war machine. But the Triumvirate has come to fear the Black Eagles, and the decision has been made. Darius Cain's private army must be destroyed utterly before the final invasion of human space can begin. A message reaches the Black Eagles' base, with evidence that the father he'd thought long dead might still be alive, a captive of the shadowy enemy, held on a planet called Eldaron. Darius Cain is skeptical, a man slow to believe what he is told without incontrovertible proof. But Cain didn't build the greatest military force in human space by being cautious or timid...and even the slightest chance his father is alive compels his course of action.
©2015 Jay Allan Books Inc. (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
The Fall
Summary
The Epic Conclusion to the Crimson Worlds Series. Erik Cain is the hero of the Marine Corps, a celebrated warrior who has led his grim veterans into every war the Alliance and mankind have faced. But now he has left the Corps, driven to near madness by an overwhelming need for vengeance. He has sworn to kill Gavin Stark, the madman responsible for his mentor’s death and, with a small band of dedicated followers, he is pursuing his prey across occupied space. Meanwhile, on a dozen colony worlds, Marines land to face the occupying forces of Stark’s Shadow Legions. They are supported by the Janissaries, their longtime enemies, now turned allies, but they are exhausted and outnumbered, facing a vastly superior enemy entrenched and waiting for them. But they are veterans, Marines and Janissaries both, men and women who have battled the armies of the First Imperium and lived to tell the tale. They know what is at stake, and they are determined to prevail, even if none of them come back. And on Earth, the economic collapse Stark engineered has shattered the Treaty of Paris and its century-long prohibition against terrestrial warfare. Millions are already dead as the war between the Superpowers spreads across the Earth, a growing conflagration that could end in apocalyptic nuclear, chemical, and biological exchanges between the powers. Will mankind live under the iron boot of Gavin Stark and his clone descendants forever? Or will Erik Cain and the Marines defeat him once and for all? The Crimson Worlds Series:Marines (Crimson Worlds I), The Cost of Victory (Crimson Worlds II), A Little Rebellion (Crimson Worlds III), The First Imperium (Crimson Worlds IV), The Line Must Hold (Crimson Worlds V), To Hell’s Heart (Crimson Worlds VI), The Shadow Legions (Crimson Worlds VII), Even Legends Die (Crimson Worlds VIII), War Stories (3 Crimson Worlds Prequels)
©2014 Jay Allan Books (P)2014 Jay Allan Books
Winds of Vengeance
Summary
Earth Two. A new home for the survivors of the fleet, the men and women who battled against seemingly insurmountable odds to survive the assault of the First Imperium and to destroy the homicidal Regent, the artificial intelligence committed to their destruction. They have prospered in the years since their arrival, adapting the technology of the First Imperium to build a new and prosperous republic. But as the fear of the First Imperium recedes, cracks have begun to appear, conflicts looming that threaten to destroy all they have worked to achieve. There are rivalries between the clones known as Tanks and the NBs, naturally born humans - disputes driven by envy, resentment. And on the fringe of the new society, the enhanced genetic hybrids known as Mules are feared by both groups, though they continue to decipher First Imperium technology for the benefit of all. But there is a far greater threat lurking in deep space, for the Regent was one of two, and its copy activated automatically upon its destruction. It has been planning, exploring, building vast fleets of new warships, and now it is ready to strike at a divided republic, to accomplish what the Regent failed to do. It is ruthlessly single-minded, existing for a single purpose. And that purpose is vengeance.
©2016 Jay Allan Books Inc. (P)2016 Audible, Inc.
Mercs
Summary
Earth has been a scarred ruin for three decades, its scattered people struggling to survive amid the poisoned and radioactive wreckage of the final war between its despotic superpowers. While the people of Earth struggle to survive, out on the frontier, on a thousand worlds, mankind thrives and grows, building new civilizations and looking boldly to the future. But man has never been able to live in peace, and even Earth's sad fate has failed to slow the call to war. Most of the colonies lack the industry and economic power to sustain their own armies and navies, and they look to the mercenaries of the Great Companies for aid in time of war. These futuristic condottiere contract themselves to the highest bidder, and the mightiest strike fear into the hearts of all who oppose them. Darius Cain is the leader of the Black Eagles, the most renowned of all the companies. A military genius, he has led his undefeated warriors from victory to victory. The Eagles command the highest rates of any of the companies, and leaders bankrupt worlds to pay their price. But amid the ruins of Earth and on planets all across occupied space there are signs of a greater darkness, a force working in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike, to launch a final war to reduce all mankind to slavery. As Cain slowly uncovers the truth, he must forge an alliance among old enemies, the other companies his men have fought for years...and the twin brother he hasn't seen in a decade. The Crimson Worlds are about to explode into a war that may be mankind's last.
©2015 Jay Allan Books Inc. (P)2015 Audible, Inc.