Germline

A drug-addicted reporter is on the frontlines of a 22nd-century war alongside super soldiers and mechanized armor in this science fiction series opener.

“A day-after-tomorrow sci-fi warfare novel fought with genetically engineered female warriors and power-suited grunts for control of some of Earth's most valuable rare metals? Ten-hut! . . . It takes real skill to lead readers into actually seeing, smelling, and hearing (and maybe even tasting) the realities of war.” —Wired.com

Germline (n.) the genetic material contained in a cellular lineage which can be passed to the next generation. Also: secret military program to develop genetically engineered super-soldiers (slang).

War is Oscar Wendell’s ticket to greatness. A reporter for The Stars and Stripes, he has the only one-way pass to the front lines of a brutal war over natural resources buried underneath the icy, mineral rich mountains of Kazakhstan.

But war is nothing like he expected. Heavily armored soldiers battle genetically engineered troops hundreds of meters below the surface. The genetics—the germline soldiers—are the key to winning this war, but some inventions can’t be un-done. Some technologies can’t be put back in the box.

Kaz will change everything, not least Oscar himself. Hooked on a dangerous cocktail of adrenaline and drugs, Oscar doesn’t find the war, the war finds him.

“[A] compelling debut. . . . A portrait of the effects of battlefield stress that is difficult to bear but impossible to put down. . . . One of the best SFF novels of Fall 2011.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A non-stop military techno-adventure. . . . A roller coaster of a read. . . . It is character-driven story and it is well worth the read.” —SF Site