Amy has always loved science fiction—books, movies, shows, and games. She was born in San Diego, California, and moved with her family to Vancouver, Washington, at the age of seven. After devouring some of the classics like Dune and Ender's Game in her tween years, she began writing science fiction and fantasy short stories.
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In the ensuing years, Amy attended the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, where she continued to study creative writing, visual art and played viola in the school orchestra. During this time, she began the very early sketches of what would eventually evolve into the Cadicle series.
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Amy received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Portland State University, and also pursued minors in Professional Writing and Business Administration. After graduating, she moved to Portland, Oregon, and began working in business development for an energy efficiency consulting firm. Over the next several years, she primarily wrote proposals to prospective utility clients and managed the proposal development process. She then transitioned from energy efficiency into the architectural, engineering and planning industry. However, she eventually succumbed to the writing bug.
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Now a full-time author, Amy currently lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband. When she's not writing, she enjoys travel, wine tasting, binge-watching TV series, and playing epic strategy board games.
BIOGRAPHY
STARSHIP OF THE ANCIENTS
BOOK 1: STRANDED
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ABOUT THE BOOK
Shipwrecked on a distant planet. Mysterious alien relics. His fresh start just turned into an interstellar conspiracy.
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After an undercover investigation goes bad, ex-soldier Evan hopes to forge a new life on a remote colony world. But when the transport ship explodes in orbit, his plans for a peaceful early retirement go out the airlock.
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He crash-lands with a small group of settlers, away from the target site and with limited resources. Unable to call for help off-world, Evan and the mission's xenobiologist Anya race for survival in the dangerous wilds—until they realize they aren’t alone on the planet.
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Evan’s investigative instincts tell him that nothing about this colony mission going awry is an accident. When evidence points to an ancient alien starship hidden somewhere on the planet, he realizes that solving the mystery will be the biggest case of his life.
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Can Evan survive the hostile planet long enough to uncover the truth?
PLOT SYNOPSIS - Stranded (Starship of the Ancients Book 1)
When a colony ship explodes in orbit above the remote planet Aethos, Evan Taylor—an ex-soldier and former undercover operative—emerges from his emergency pod to find he’s one of approximately fifty survivors. Amid the chaos, he teams up with Anya Rojas—the colony expedition’s xenobiologist—to devise a survival strategy. They soon discover that the mission’s military escort cruiser has also crashed many kilometers away. Their dire circumstances become clear when they find an emergency pod with an apparently murdered man inside, prompting them to question if the disaster might not be an accident.
Evan and Anya decide to trek to the crashed military cruiser with the hope of securing long-range communications equipment to call for help. Venturing out with limited gear, they face a flash flood, aggressive wildlife, a toxic vine that nearly kills Anya, and other environmental hazards on their harrowing journey. Anya’s deep understanding of Aethos’ ecology, paired with Evan’s military experience, forges a quick bond as they navigate challenging circumstances.
They eventually reach the crashed military escort ship, where they find that the communications equipment has been removed. As they gather supplies, they uncover disturbing evidence that the military ship was shot down by hostile forces already on Aethos. They locate and follow a trail of human footprints to a hidden stash of supply crates, where they’re attacked by a group of soldiers and captured.
After being taken to a hidden underground base, Evan and Anya are shocked to meet Chancellor Conroy—the former leader of the Commonwealth, who was supposedly killed in a shuttle accident five years prior. The chancellor explains that he has been secretly living in exile after an attempted assassination plot and coup perpetrated by the new chancellor, Rostov. Conroy reveals that this doomed colony expedition was an orchestrated event to dispose of people considered “loose ends” in a larger conspiracy. Critically, the illegitimate current government has been working with the colonization company NovaTech, while also conducting backdoor dealings with a powerful criminal organization known as the Noche Syndicate—the subject of Evan’s last undercover assignment—in the pursuit of alien technology.
Evan is shocked to learn that the Syndicate has exclusive access to this alien technology, which requires a special serum—a “primer”—for human compatibility. As part of his initiation into an upper tier of the Syndicate, he was given this serum, which is still in his blood. Since Conroy’s group lost a vital sample of this serum in the crash, Evan is now their only chance to analyze and replicate it. Their ultimate goal is to use this alien-tech interface to locate and secure an ancient alien starship supposedly hidden on Aethos. Conroy implores Evan and Anya to help him find the ship, as it’s suspected to contain jump drive technology that could usher in a new era for humanity.
However, Conroy’s people aren’t the only ones after the coveted technology. Military operatives sent by Chancellor Rostov and members of the Syndicate also survived the crash. They are led by Roman Santano, the younger brother of the Syndicate’s leader—who was sent to Aethos to retrieve the alien ship and execute Conroy.
While Evan and Anya are discussing next steps with Conroy’s team, Roman’s operatives attack the base, prompting Evan and Anya to flee. One of Conroy’s top soldiers, Samor, gives them a map and instructions about where to find the alleged ship before risking his life to help Conroy safely escape. Haunted by his past undercover work with the Syndicate and wary of Conroy’s motives, Evan and Anya won’t yet commit to helping Conroy’s side, but they recognize that finding the ship is their best chance to make it off the planet.
Evan and Anya encounter Roman in the forest, where Evan recognizes Roman as a high-ranking Syndicate member. He spares his life, reasoning it to be the best move in light of the larger conspiracy.
As they race to find the ship, Evan and Anya come across an alien artifact buried underground, which includes a strange sphere. The device reacts to Evan but not Anya—presumably because he’d received the Syndicate’s primer serum—and they take it. When they encounter some enemy soldiers, the sphere vaporizes the enemies in response to Evan’s unintentional telepathic command, prompting him to try to distance himself from the device. Evan then experiences another strange telepathic encounter with a seemingly alien monster guarding the area, which shares an image of where to find the ship.
Roman trails Evan and Anya on their trek, eventually confronting them at a cave entrance marked with mysterious carvings. A fight ensues, and Roman falls off the high cliff with the sphere in hand, presumed dead. However, Roman awakens to discover that the sphere has started to merge with him and has healed his injuries, also granting him new power.
Evan opens the cave entrance using his unique connection to the alien technology, where he and Anya discover an unoccupied alien city inside the mountain. The structures appear to be grown rather than built, leading them to suspect the aliens possess nanotechnology that can reshape materials, though the control mechanism is unclear.
At the back of the huge cavern is a dormant alien starship. Upon entering, the ship powers on and a sentient AI telepathically interfaces with Evan and greets them. Ignoring Evan and Anya’s commands, the AI launches the ship into space, announcing that it will take them to its homeworld to meet its makers. A swarm of golden particles—some kind of alien technology—surrounds the ship, forming a lattice structure around the vessel as it prepares to jump away.
Conroy’s team and Roman see the ship leave, hoping it will be back. The war has just begun.