The Xanaian Iliad

The Xanaian Iliad is a close-knit, sci-fi anthology featuring conspiracy, tragedy, and interplanetary exploits. The single act of an Earthen expedition to the planet Xana ignites a multigenerational chain of events…

Brazen Ares (Vol. I)  “Debris settled around him as he sat upon the sand, and he removed a glove. The sand sifted through his fingers like any other sand; it was hot and smooth. Glancing over his shoulder revealed a distant skyline of glittering buildings. And according to the heat maps from their data scientists, teeming subterranean cities ran underneath his very feet. This caused him brief panic at the idea of aliens emerging deep from the ground, and he sprang up. His ears rang from the explosion under this unforgiving sunlight; and while the bright flames made him lightheaded as he stared into them, Ken continued to watch and hope answers would shape in the rising smoke. He felt the excitement he held under the stars make way for fear in the ship’s mocking spears of heat. It feels like Earth here. Standing with his hands on his hips, one fact remained sulking beside him: His team was nowhere in sight, and he would have to trek this desert expanse to find them.”

In Strife and Fray (Vol. II)  “It was an assortment of little moments that formed seconds. Seconds transformed into minutes, hours, days. Denouement became him—although he was of the opinion that ‘complex’ was too gracious a term with which to assign his life. Hardly complex; it was an amalgamation of decisions, all possessing a duality of this or that. Act or do not act. Walk or run. And either decision completed the sojourn to the end: Live or do not live.”

Helm of Hades (Vol. III) “In this decade since The Downfall, it was undeniable that power resided in aggressive force. Possession of armaments and vessels of war led to influence. Landmasses became pawns for naval patrols as the United States took to controlling its shores and bases overseas via the Navy. And tyrannical pursuits ensued with only a single word as its descriptor: piracy.”

Steep Olympus (Vol. IV) “Zherdyev often dreamt of Xana, imagining the softness of its fields and wide skies. And in these dreams she grew frustrated—indignant, as if a schoolyard bully had tormented her into relinquishing any and all treasured possessions. To her, Xana was the tormentor, looming high above and beyond the clouds, taunting her with possibilities of a new life, a better life, for the people of Earth. She wrote something more before closing the journal altogether. Humanity belongs to it all. And it all belongs to me.”

Dread Goddess & The Man of Might (Vol. V) “No one tells you how the end of the world will feel. And that’s a good thing. Because if you knew, if you knew what it would feel like to have their hand close around yours as that sound fills your ears and drowns your skin and ignites across your eyes—if you only knew. It would change everything.”

Phantasma

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Summary: She awoke in an alleyway dressed only with a winter night's frost and the clothes on her back. No memory. No identity.  But discovering who―and what―she is will determine the fate of humanity.