From the ashes of their past, Cygnus was rising.

Following in the footsteps of their forefathers, humanity returns to space to explore, learn what the galaxy has to offer, maybe even return to Earth. Cain, the great-great-grandson of the ones who brought peace and free trade back to Planet Cygnus VII, finds himself challenged to live up to the deeds of his ancestors, driven to excel he joins the Space Exploration Service trying to earn a position on the latest deep space exploration vessel.

But space is a dangerous place, where the risks are great and the rewards fleeting.

Faced with the most difficult decisions, Cain finds himself trapped on a human-colonized world. With hostile forces pressing in, Cain has no choice but to dig deep for lessons from his past, match wits with a ruthless enemy, and help his companions transition from being peaceful explorers to fierce fighters if they are to survive.

A journey to the far reaches of the galaxy, an exploration of their inner souls. From space they came, to space they returned...

Cygnus Rising is the first in Craig Martelle's Cygnus Space Opera Series, set in his Free Trader universe! You don't want to miss this Sci-Fi series!

A hitman with a conscience…

Ian Bragg is paid to kill people. Only bad people and not many, but for a great deal of money.

Case the target. Make the hit. Move on until he meets the woman with sparkling green eyes who changes everything.

Is his newest target deserving of death? Who is Ian to decide if the politician needs to die? He is the one who has to live with the consequences, that’s who.

The contract deadline nears. Too many unknowns, too much to lose. Pull the trigger or not?

Ian makes his own rules to get himself out of a quandary where it’s more than just his life on the line. For the greater good, join Ian Bragg.

Humanity’s greatest export—Justice.

Space is a dangerous place, even for the wary, especially for the unprepared. The aliens have no idea.

Here comes the Bad Company.

Colonel Terry Henry Walton takes his warriors into battle, for a price, in this first installment of The Bad Company. He believes in the moral high ground and is happy getting paid for his role in securing it.

Set in the Kurtherian Gambit Universe, Terry, Char, and their people—humans, Werewolves, Weretigers, and Vampires—form the core of the Bad Company’s Direct Action Branch, a private conflict solution enterprise.

Join them as they fight their way across Tissikinnon Four where none of the warring parties were what they expected.

--- PLEASE NOTE ---

Inside this book is cursing, amusing cursing, but cursing nonetheless. If bad language offends you, perhaps this book is not for you.​ ​

Set on the foundation laid by the Kurtherian Gambit Series, The Bad Company tells an entirely new story in the Age of Expansion--when the Etheric Empire is fast becoming the Etheric Federation with all of the trials and tribulations that come with bringing together different peoples, systems, and ideals.

Do you publish one book a year? Or twenty? Here’s a secret. You can be successful with either. Publish your books in a way that brings you the most readers.

Put the experience of over one hundred book launches to work for you. Right here. Release Strategies. It’s how successful indie authors get ahead.

Plan. Prepare. And Execute.

With checklists, recommendations, and candid discussion, you’ll find everything you need to determine your best publication strategy. Implement it and keep your foot on the gas. It’s time to take the ride of your life.

Release Strategies. The book you didn’t know you needed.

Demystifying the tangled web of self-publishing to put you on the road to success.

This is the 2nd Edition, updated in 2020. A motivational guide based on publishing over four million words (mostly with Amazon) to help you see past the hurdles that are keeping you from climbing the mountain of success. Nothing is overwhelming once it's been explained. If you are smart enough to write a book, you are smart enough to do everything else needed to make your indie author business a success.

"Craig, thanks to the book, I went from kicking around vague concepts for my first series to knowing exactly how to proceed with it, and because of that I know it'll be far more successful than it would have been if I hadn't read this."

"This was insightful and motivating, I'm inspired and wiser for it. Thank you, Craig."

"Over the years, I’ve read many How To Books, Self Help Biographies, and Industry Books. Become a Successful Indie Author is one of the best. It reads like a novel, teaches specifics like a field manual, and shines light on pathways through the dark jungle of self-publishing."

Clocking in at over 50,000 words, this guide has something for every budding author as well as those who have already published, but for whom success remains elusive. In this business there is only one hard and fast rule - you must find readers willing to pay for your stories. It starts with the first sentence. You have to write a gripping tale that people want to read, wrap a cover around the book, and then do the marketing. There’s no doubt that you can do it. Let me show you how. Read it today.

Grab this full series omnibus collection of The Bad Company series today!

Humanity’s greatest export—Justice.

Space is a dangerous place, even for the wary, especially for the unprepared. The aliens have no idea.

Here comes the Bad Company.

The Bad Company, book 1 - 

Colonel Terry Henry Walton takes his warriors into battle, for a price, in this first installment of The Bad Company. He believes in the moral high ground and is happy getting paid for his role in securing it.

Set in the Kurtherian Gambit Universe, Terry, Char, and their people—humans, Werewolves, Weretigers, and Vampires—form the core of the Bad Company’s Direct Action Branch, a private conflict solution enterprise.

Join them as they fight their way across Tissikinnon Four where none of the warring parties were what they expected.

Book 2, Blockade -

When the Bad Company learns of a human colony blockaded by aliens, they take the upgraded War Axe into battle. Once again, nothing is as it seems, but this time, they find a single enemy, evil to its core. 

Ending that threat is a cause they are willing to die for. What would you do?

Book 3, Price of Freedom - 

*** Price of Freedom is a 2018 Dragon Award Finalist ***

On Earth, parents told stories about the devil to frighten children. But devils exist and from time to time, they find their way here. 

Terry and Char, take the Bad Company’s Direct Action Branch into combat to rid a world beyond the borders of a new incursion. All it will cost is the inhabitants’ most advanced technology, a miniaturized power supply that will revolutionize the Etheric Federation.  

Nathan wants it, badly enough that he’s made the mission non-negotiable. Terry’s hands are tied as he takes the team into the hot zone. 

Join Terry and Char as the War Axe delivers the team to a planet well outside of Federation space where they have to convince the local aliens that the Bad Company is from the government and they’re there to help.

Join the Bad Company as they fight an enemy from their worst nightmares.

This 7 book series omnibus includes:

1. The Bad Company
2. Blockade
3. Price of Freedom
4. Liberation
5. Destroyer
6. Discovery
7. Overwhelming Force

Terry. Char. The last chapter. Read it now.

This is the final series with Terry and Char as main characters. If you haven’t followed Terry and Char’s adventures, you can start here, or you can go all the way back to when they first met in Nomad Found, Book 1 of the Terry Henry Walton Chronicles.

Go forth and conquer, just like Terry and Char.

--- PLEASE NOTE ---

*NOTE: If cursing is a problem, then this might not be for you.

A crime against all – stealing one’s life blood.

It prolongs life! It gives strength and power. Such exotic luxuries come at a high price. Those who have been drained? “Donors” but not quite volunteers. That’s why they’re kidnapped, never to be heard from again. 

Taken from their families and removed from existence.

Who would do such a thing? Do the ones paying for this blood know where it comes from?

Which crime is greatest? The Magistrate is called in to end the nightmare, but she can’t do it alone. Rivka enlists the aid of two with the most intimate knowledge.

The Magistrate heads out to dismantle the Blood Trade, going for the throat of both buyers and suppliers. The perpetrators have money and power and won’t easily give them up.

Magistrate Rivka Anoa is the legal eagle you want on your side. No better friend. No worse enemy.

Get it today.

Judge, Jury, & Executioner is within the Kurtherian Gambit Universe, but you don’t need to read those to enjoy these. Start with You Have Been Judged and enjoy the stories of Rivka and her team. Just lock in your seatbelt, grab your favorite drink, and be ready for your socks to be blown off.

Killing a bad man is easy, as long as it’s a clean kill.

Ian Bragg is thrust into a world in between. An operator AND a manager. Can he teach morality to professional hit men?

Know when a target needs to be taken down and when to walk away.

What happens when operators get together? One place. One time. Will any of them live to see a new day?

Jenny works to keep Ian sane just until she gets in the line of fire. Ian unleashes on his new reality, changing the world by his force of will alone.

Ian Bragg. A hitman with a conscience. Pick up the second book in this explosive new series today.

When criminals cross the line, who will make them pay?

From police to vigilantes to secret government organizations, the answer awaits those who think they are beyond the reach of the law-abiding world. They make their own rules.

For that, we must make them pay!

More than twenty thriller authors bring their ‘A’ game with never-before-seen stories, different takes on justice, and maybe that’s the way we want it to be.

Loathsome Justice – M.A. Comley – The game is up!

The First Hit – Craig Martelle – They say the first is the hardest.

An Inside Job – Ian W. Sainsbury – A Bedlam Boy Story

System Failure – M.K. Farrar – When the system fails, only murder will put it right.

The Ninth Man – Jeff Shelby – A man with a reputation for being able to find anyone joins forces with a woman seeking to avenge her daughter’s death.

Cross Your Heart – G.K. Parks – Who will survive when a private investigator’s good deed places him on a collision course with a Russian gangster?

Mine – Michele PW – No good deed goes unpunished.

Rats – J.R. Pomerantz – Ravi’s rat problem is about to blow up.

The Silent One – Jack Probyn – Contract killing’s hard. Especially when the next name on your list is your father’s.

Super Something – John Hindmarsh – Penny was on a mission of revenge and retribution. Russian agents had similar objectives. She was a super recognizer; one of the Russians was the Poisoner. Penny wanted to win.

Innocence Lost – D.K. Greene – When her son goes missing, a terrified mom uncovers a horrific kidnapping scheme.

A Dance with Death – Drew Avera – How do you stop a killer when he’s one of your own?

The Last Assignment – Douglas Dorow – The last assignment for a Military Working Dog Handler and his four-legged partner is more than just another day in the field.

Getting the Wind – Stephen Couch – A man delivering meals to shut-ins finds himself, and his elderly client, caught in a drug war.

Straight Flight – Arleigh Jacobs – When a girl is kidnapped, Colt has one path: Get her back.

The Package – N Gray – All I had to do was hand over the package. What could go wrong?

Hunting Darkness – A. K. Hughey – Death waits for those who dare to stop the traffickers.

Temptress – Fallon Raynes – When local bars become the hot target for thieves, Detective Reyes is reminded that temptation comes in many forms.

Lane Departure – Tom Fowler – John Tyler thought he stumbled into a robbery.

When good men have to do bad things...

Ian Bragg returns to his roots while trying to manage from the top. Too much of one and not enough of the other.

Change is constant as it trips up those who are trying to move forward. Those with work to do, important, hard work.

When their cover is blown, Ian and Jenny have to fend for themselves while trying to get the Archive’s contracts back on track. They fight an uphill battle against an establishment that both loathes them and needs them.

When Ian and Jimmy Tripplethorn cross paths once again, will anyone escape unscathed?

Ian Bragg. A hitman with a conscience. Pick up the third book in this explosive new series today.

Proper pricing prevents poor paydays. Pricing Strategies is about making the most from your work by understanding what your genre will support. It’s not hard, but you have to have a plan.

Over the course of a year, you might change your book’s price five or ten times. That’s perfectly fine, when done for the right reasons as part of an overall marketing strategy. What is one reader worth to you as an entry point into your author world? What is that reader worth if they stay on board?

Pricing Strategies explains why and how you would vary price points, whether you are exclusive to Amazon or distribute on multiple platforms. Book pricing is about getting the most money from your book or box set, not just one time but for the long term. 

It is how you can be a successful indie author. Without buyers for your books, self-publishing is just a hobby. Look at your words as your profession and earn your just desserts by pricing your books appropriately and intentionally to improve your bottom line.

That’s what Pricing Strategies is all about. Understand the why and let the money flow.

Pricing Strategies. The book you need.

Humans take their cats to space and immediately regret their decision.

Space is a dangerous place, but human-populated worlds are the most dangerous of all.

The ship is life! Save the ship.

The Cygnus-12 crew did just that, losing a quarter of their number repelling boarders. They returned home with news that they'd found an outpost of humanity, hostile, like Cygnus VII used to be.

The Hillcats decide that their role is critical in the overall success of the Cygnus Marines, and they invite themselves along for the ride.

Cain is challenged with building a small military unit to protect the deep space explorers. With the AI's help, he determines that Earth's Marines would fill the role best. Five millennia had passed since such a unit last existed, so Cain learns from old Marine Corps manuals and videos like the Sands of Iwo Jima, The DI, and The Siege of Firebase Gloria. With only that to go on, he recruits from the intelligent species to flesh out the ranks.

When the ship returns to Concordia, will the Marines and the cats be enough to help them?

Find out today.