The sequel to THE SHATTERED GEARS containing the previously published novellas THE NEW WORLD, THE DEVIL'S BARGAIN, THE LONG SIEGE, and THE DARK HUNT. Avery Cates has his city, but being a City Lord isn't what he thought it would be. Beset by problems, with the Archangel and his army of psionics marching inexorably towards him, he knows his one chance is to cobble together the resources to try and take Cochtopa, the secret System Security Force installation that might contain the tech and data he needs to reboot humanity and defeat the Archangel. Cates has his team: Techie Ezekial Marko, old-school System genius; Spectacular Dan, the most powerful Tele-K he's ever seen; Moreau, former Stormer and ultra-reliable enforcer; The Pale, silent precognitive monk; and Lucinda Barowel, former Undersecretary and now his partner. They're ready to make their play. But first, they'll have to get out of the city alive.

Avery Cates is a City Lord, but the world's still ending. When he comes across a key piece of information, he hatches a bold plan to reboot the world - but the Archangel's army is camped outside, and they're coming in one way or another. Part Three of the new serialized Avery Cates novel 'The Burning City'.

Avery Cates and his shrinking number of allies have made it to Cochtopa, the secret installation crammed with enough high-tech murder to trade blows with the ArchAngel -- but Cochtopa's AI security is a digital imprint of none other than Dick Marin, the King Worm himself. Now it's a race against time as Marin seeks to snuff out Avery for good and Cates struggles to claim the prize he's sacrificed so much for. As Avery claws his way to victory, however, he's reminded that every win comes with a price -- a price usually paid by the people around him. This is part three in the upcoming Avery Cates novel THE MACHINES OF WAR.

Avery Cates is in charge of Cochtopa, the last bastion of System technology and military might left in the world. But with his allies down to three people and a ghostly voice in his head, it may not be enough to stop the Archangel from forcing suicide on a dying world. With the Archangel's forces on the march and time running out for the human race, Avery decides the only way forward is to go back to basics, back to doing what he's always done best: Being a Gunner. And killing people. Part Four of the novel The Machines of War, available separately.

Avery Cates has a problem. In a shrinking, sterile world, the Archangel is marching his army to Castelvecchio, and Cates has the information he needs to access the last remnants of the awesome technology of the despise System. He’s made his Devil’s Bargain with Lucinda Barowel, and now he knows the hitch: In order to get to the machinery of war left behind at Cochtopa, he’s going to need a boat—and guns. His ersatz army is quickly running out of ammunition in a world where the factories stopped working long ago. When he learns that a local criminal has been hoarding guns and ammo as insurance against the coming apocalypse, Cates heads off to make a deal. And if he can’t make a deal, he’ll have to use every last resource he has left to secure that weaponry for himself—and hope his bargain with Barowel doesn’t come back to bite him in the ass.

The fourth novella making up the novel "The Burning City." Avery Cates is making his play for the ocean and the secret cache of System tech and data that might just bring humanity back from the brink. But nothing ever goes as planned, and when the Gunner finds himself alone in the dark with an unexpected ally, he has to play an epic game of cat and mouse.

A crashing hover, a team of people he can't trust, another group of people who want him dead -- a typical post-apocalyptic day for Avery Cates. Recovering from disaster, Cates finds himself marooned on a tiny island. Cochtopa is no closer, but ere's hope in the form of the brilliant Ezekial Marko, techie extraordinaire. If Cates can hold everything together long enough -- and survive. Part Two of what will be the concluding novel in the trilogy begun with "The Shattered Gears" and continued with "The Burning City." www.avery-cates.com