New Series! Driving Force
In the post-apocalyptic wastelands of North America, Swash Jones struggles to find the resources to keep his crew alive. Aboard the earth rover the Beast, they’ll do whatever is necessary to survive, even if that means agreeing to save the world.
As the third-generation captain of the Beast—a century-old earth rover—Swash Jones has endured more than his share of loss. But that’s the way it is for most people in post-apocalyptic North America. To keep his current crew alive, Swash will need to overcome the PTSD that haunts him.
Each member of the crew comes with particular challenges. Swash must be on constant watch for the trader who’s after him for freeing his navigation expert—Whisper—from slavery. He also needs to guard the personal secret of Roach, his pilot, maintain a degree of separation from Stitch, the attractive medic who saved his life, and hang onto Blade, their hired-gun weapons master with a shady past.
Only by keeping his crew together can he maintain the Beast and hope to survive the wastelands, storms, and marauders of daily existence. When Whisper receives a message from her mother over a deactivated satellite, the crew members must combine their skills and test the limits of the Beast to meet the next challenge. Swash’s team will soon prepare for a new mission—one that has the potential to save what’s left of humanity.
For the crew of the Beast, rest and relaxation are never advisable while outrunning the apocalypse.
Swash Jones has pushed his crew hard, probably too hard, and they’re all showing the effects. His weapons master, Blade, has turned to drinking. Roach and Whisper are barreling headlong into a relationship with potentially monstrous ramifications. Stitch, the seductive medic with a dark past, has lost her professional objectivity. And Swash himself is experiencing the muscle-locking tension of too much guilt and responsibility—which, while he’s behind the wheel of the Beast, could spell the doom of them all.
They all need a break from the struggle of post-apocalyptic survival. When Roach stumbles on a major trading post run by Warlord Inferno, Swash hopes this may provide the distraction his crew needs. The town, populated by traders, gamblers, and slaves, promises to have something for everyone.
However, their rest and relaxation doesn’t last long. As the others pursue tamer personal tasks in town, Blade delves headlong into his vices. When he loses at cards to Scorch, their persistent enemy, the rest of the crew members are forced to mount a rescue. Warlord Inferno’s solution to the infractions in her trading post spins the crew of the Beast into a new set of adventures.
Swash Jones and the crew of the Beast have made their exit from Warlord Inferno’s camp. The respite from their troubles gained them useful information that will help them survive. That’s the good news. The bad is that they lost Blade, their weapons master, which leaves them vulnerable. Too vulnerable. And with their nemesis, Scorch, out for revenge, Swash is going to have to keep a careful watch to avoid falling into a trap.
To continue Whisper’s mission of locating the key master, however, means straining his overburdened crew to the breaking point. Though Swash is willing to endure both physical and mental assaults, Whisper must confront her very essence.
If the girl can reconcile the differing aspects of what makes her unique, Swash and his crew just might find the answers humanity needs to survive.