Piers Platt

Firearms technology dominates the modern day battlefield, but how did the earliest guns affect battles in the Middle Ages? From their earliest incarnations in the 14th Century – which were as much a danger to their operator as they were to the enemy – to the muskets and breech-loading rifles of the 19th century, Piers Platt traces the technological advancements that revolutionized weapons, and how infantry tactics were forced to evolve as new and more lethal weapons were developed.

From the nostalgic to the adrenaline-pumping, the bittersweet to the absurdly hilarious, A Patchwork of Yarns includes ten original short stories, including the previously published Welcome Home, and A Prisoner of His Own Mind, which was selected as a Penn Review finalist.

Welcome Home is the tale of one man's struggle to maintain his innocence amid a brutal war, torn between his family's expectations, his loyalty to his brothers-in-arms, and his own moral code.

His father fought in WWII. His brother in Korea. When his own draft card arrived, he knew he would have to fight in Vietnam. But he could not bring himself to kill another man.

What happens when the main character in a story becomes self aware?
A 16-year old aspiring writer sits down to write a story. There's just one problem. Well, two problems. First, he's not a very good writer. Second, and more importantly, his main character knows it...and he's not taking it lying down. A Prisoner of His Own Mind is the absurd tale of what happens when a character fights back.

Escape from Oz
Sirio Falken has been a fighter his whole life. But when the government bans professional fighting, his life spirals out of control. Convicted of murder, he's sentenced to life in prison. But all of the felons he's ever known have disappeared from Earth, never to return. He's about to find out firsthand what happened to them. He'll have to stay alive amongst Earth’s most ruthless felons if he wants to survive … and become the first man to escape from Oz.

Escape from Olympus
After his escape from the prison colony Oz, Sirio Falken has found a new life as a safari guide on the planet Olympus. There, he helps tourists navigate the planet's exotic ecosystem, which is dominated by a single apex predator: a long-lived and sightless avian species called dragons. With exceptional hearing, the dragons are feared for hunting down anything that moves, including Falken and his guests, if they’re not careful. But unknown to Falken, criminal elements have plans to use him to plunder the planet's resources, whether he's willing to help them or not. He'll have to keep the lethal dragons at bay long enough to unravel a growing conspiracy … and escape from Olympus.

Return to Oz
Falken survived the ordeal on Olympus, only to be stunned with a shocking revelation: his good friend Weaver is still incarcerated on Oz. The only way to get Weaver out is to volunteer to go back inside the prison himself. But the clock is ticking – Falken will only have a few days to find his friend and help him escape. While he’s back on Oz, he’ll have to follow the rules to the letter. One step out of line, and they’ll both be stuck in jail … forever.

The complete first trilogy. 3 books. 1,100 pages. Over 80,000 copies downloaded.

The complete second trilogy. 3 books. 800 pages. Over 6,000 copies sold.

A dozen science fiction writers, including New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors, offer remarkable tales in this third collection of space opera stories presented under the Beyond the Stars banner. These twelve stories showcase strange new worlds, alien life forms, and deep space battles. Come with us to where the legends are born... at galaxy’s edge.