TS Hottle is the creator of the Compact Universe, a series of loosely connected novels and novellas set in a confederation of human worlds as they deal with a disastrous first contact with a similar species known as the Gelt. By day, he is a software developer. He lives in suburban Cincinnati with his wife Candy.
Contact Information:
Email Address: tshottlewriter@gmail.com
Books By TS Hottle
Series: Compact Universe
Word Count: Click here to reveal87,200 (Click here to hide)
Summary: Childhood ends the night the sky explodes. Six teenagers from different backgrounds are thrown together when an unknown species seizes their world. Will they be able to put their differences aside long enough to survive?
Word Count: Click here to reveal80,000 (Click here to hide)
Summary: Amargosa is under occupation. But a fallen starship may turn the tide for the resistance. JT Austin, Davra Andraste, and Eric Yuwono disobey orders to reach this ship. Along the way, they discover that not every enemy is Gelt, not every ally is human, and humans and Gelt are not the only intelligences on Amargosa.
Word Count: Click here to reveal99,800 (Click here to hide)
Summary: The Storm has arrived. For Davra Andraste, redemption comes as she accompanies the resistance commander to confront the human warlord fighting against both sides. And the newest overlord on Amargosa. For an ambitious politician, control of human evolution is almost in his grasp. Only a very old foe threatens to undo his plans. For Laral Farad, it is his family's last hope to tame the "rogue colony" called Cyal, which humans call Amargosa. For JT Austin, it's a now or never moment to prove himself as he trains to liberate his adopted homeworld. For Amargosa, it's a chance to end a year-long nightmare. The Amargosa Trilogy comes to a thrilling conclusion!
Word Count: Information not available
Summary: Seven stories of the gap year for the Children of Amargosa between Storming Amargosa and Suicide Run: Tishla must decide if Hanar can accommodate a group of socially inept sentient turtles. JT Austin has a ghost. Eric Yuwono must deal with his former enemies, who are now refugees on Amargosa. Davra Andraste tries to save a group of mean girls in space. Connor Duffy hacks the Boston sewer system. Ellie Nardino ponders her future, which might include terraforming. Mitsuko Yamato confronts squid people
Series: Suicide Arc
Word Count: Click here to reveal83,000 (Click here to hide)
Summary: Life on Amargosa was supposed to be quiet for Cui Yun, better known by her call sign Suicide. But when a baby is dropped on her doorstep, the mother's disappearance leads her across the galaxy to a world of Neanderthals, a colony devoted to Marilyn Monroe as a goddess, and a planet still in a post-apocalypse and rife with monster plants. She and her protege will find themselves above the galactic plain facing down an enemy that wants control of human evolution itself. Suicide Run marks the return of one of TS Hottle's most popular characters. Find out where she came from, how she became a pilot, and why her call sign is 'Suicide".
Word Count: Click here to reveal75400 (Click here to hide)
Summary: JT Austin. Hero of Amargosa's liberation. One of the Children of Amargosa. Now a Navy pilot. Serving with his comrade, Mitsuko Yamato, aboard the Queen Maria Sophia, he is handed what should be a milk run: Retrieve Lt. Cmdr. Edward Windsor from his garrison on a remote – and smelly – planet as he has just become king of Bonaparte, the Compact's only planetwide monarchy. However, an unknown attacker disables the Sophie, boards the ship with killer mechs, and sends JT with the new king and his entourage fleeing their ship. He will have to talk fast to make a deal with the enemy Gelt, summon his mentor Suicide for help, and get the king to safety. He will also discover he has at least one traitor in his midst. He will also discover his surrogate mother has a secret that will shatter his world.
Word Count: Click here to reveal82000 (Click here to hide)
Summary: Royal Orders is Book 3 of the Suicide Arc. This time, it's Mitsuko Yamato-Windsor's turn in the spotlight. Since leaving the Navy, Mitsuko has become chief of King Edward's personal security, not to mention resuming her engagement. When a would-be assassin nearly kills Edward, she goes on the warpath, following a trail leading to a cult known as the Cubists. Except the founder and leader of the Cubists is no angry cleric running a jihad from the shadows. Master Ansel is, in fact, an affable space engineer who found an interesting philosophy. Someone else has coopted his legacy for violence. To find that person, he suggests she travel to sultry, war-torn Aphrodite with his most brilliant follower: Suicide. Their journey will bring them face-to-face with Gerard Kurz, a man who isn't the fanatic he seems to be. He's worse. And he plans to unleash an ancient technology. He will kidnap Suicide to bend Mitsuko to his will. Only that summons the other Children of Amargosa and the full might of the Navy. It all comes to an explosive head on the peak of Aphrodite's most sacred mountain.
Word Count: Click here to reveal72,000 (Click here to hide)
Summary: Cybercommand has a field agent newly licensed to kill. And his name is Yuwono. Eric Yuwono. Eric travels to the remote paradise of Hosh, where someone is peddling stolen resurrection technology not ready for general use. Posing as a smuggler and with the aid of a sexy AI named Effie, he'll penetrate the organization and discover a connection back to Juno, the shadowy operation undermining the Compact. To bring them down, he'll need the help of the Children of Amargosa and their mentor, Suicide. But if he's not careful, his newfound amortality might be cut short.
Word Count: Click here to reveal72000 (Click here to hide)
Summary: On a peaceful evening, Suicide's meditation is interrupted when a ship crashes near her remote home on Amargosa. It's a modified lifepod containing Tishla, First Citizen of Hanar, and her daughter. A coup has sent Tishla fleeing for help from Suicide and her surrogate son, JT Austin. Together, they will smuggle Tishla to the Realm, humanity's reluctant enemy, to plead for help from the Sovereign, the absolute ruler dubbed "the Father of All Gelt." Tishla will submit to a life of indentured servitude if He will restore Hanar's independent status. But an old foe seizes the opportunity to claim Tishla for himself, revenge for the deaths of his uncle and cousins, the Laral family, who brutally occupied Amargosa for a year. JT refuses to allow this and challenges her would-be master to a duel for her indenture contract. Both JT and Suicide will risk death in the arena to save Tishla and Hanar. But is it already too late? Through flashbacks to her time on Aphrodite, Suicide's past is revealed, how she met the founder of Cubism and the radical who corrupted the new faith, how she worked to build a new Aphrodite after centuries of civil conflict, and how a woman named Priya awakened both a capacity for love and a need to create art in Suicide.
Word Count: Click here to reveal77,000 (Click here to hide)
Summary: Ellie Nardino finds a dazed and confused man wandering the forests of Amargosa's tundra. They soon learn he is the stricken former president of the Compact. To find out what happened to him, they will smuggle him to a clinic inside the Compact. Ellie is tasked with escorting the former president and Tishla, now working as a genetic researcher in an off-the-books mission. When their pilot betrays them, they'll have to survive a lawless colony to keep him away from those who want to kill him.
Word Count: Click here to reveal80000 (Click here to hide)
Summary: While on shore leave in an orbital city, Connor Duffy meets a mysterious Gelt woman who entices him into a night of passion. But she has more than pleasure on her mind. Her name is Shrian, and she has discovered an alien device that can transport a ship across light-years instantly. And she wants him to have it. There's a catch. Under Realm law, she's in bondage to a Gelt trader whose family Duffy knows very well. He will have to free her, then convince the Compact to give Shrian political asylum. But it doesn't end there. While taking the device out for its first use in the field, Duffy and Shrian encounter the aliens who created it. They want it back. And they're not above killing to make their point. Duffy and Shrian must figure out a way to give the aliens what they want. Because while they're missing in action, the Compact of Humanity is tearing itself apart.