Allen Steele didn’t always write about interstellar adventures and futuristic societies. With an MA in journalism, he spent several years reporting for newspapers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Missouri, and his home state of Tennessee. His career as a prolific author of science fiction began with the 1988 publication of his first short story, “Live from the Mars Hotel.” Since then, Steele has published eighteen novels, including the critically acclaimed Coyote series, and nearly one hundred short stories. His works have appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Science Fiction Chronicle, Locus, and the New York Review of Science Fiction. They have also been translated into several foreign languages.
Throughout the course of his career, Steele has received three Hugo Awards and won or been nominated for countless other honors, including the Locus, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards. In 2013, Steele was presented with the Robert A. Heinlein Award in recognition of his fiction promoting space exploration.
It also appears that Steele may be adding “astronaut” to his resume sometime in the future, having indicated a desire to go into orbit. He has been present for several space shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center and has operated the NASA shuttle cockpit simulator at the Johnson Space Center.
In addition to dreaming of space travel, Steele serves on the board of advisors for the Space Frontier Foundation and is a member of Sigma, a group of science fiction writers who serve as unpaid consultants on matters regarding technology and security.
Not surprisingly, space travel is the name of the game in the latest batch of Allen Steele ebook releases from Open Road. These thrillers feature mystery, intrigue, suspicion, and death against the backdrop of the ultimate unknown: outer space.
In Angel of Europa, an astronaut is the sole survivor of an exploration of one of Jupiter’s icy moons and becomes a murder suspect as a result. In Labyrinth of Night, strange music plays in the innermost chamber of an ancient Martian maze, and the scientist who discovers it gets trapped inside—forever. Years later, internationally famous guitarist Ben Cassidy is sent to join a research team on Mars to solve the mystery of the chamber, but he soon realizes that the explorers themselves could be just as dangerous as the secrets of the red planet.
Winner of the 1990 Locus Award for Best First Novel, Orbital Decay follows a group of space station construction workers who discover the true nature of their home base: it’s a giant antenna designed to spy on every living person on Earth. Rude Astronauts is a collection of fiction and nonfiction stretching back to Steele’s first published story, “Live from the Mars Hotel.”
In The Jericho Iteration, an earthquake reduces St. Louis to rubble, but reporter Gerry Rosen has other concerns. He must go on the run when he discovers a government conspiracy in the aftermath of the quake. The Tranquillity Alternative chronicles a final NASA lunar mission gone awry. An imposter is discovered onboard the USS Conestoga with a deadly objective that threatens the future of mankind.
This fantastic selection of ebooks is sure to thrill and entertain. So pick a title and hold tight. You’re in for quite a ride!
Photo courtesy of the official Allen Steele website.