Out Now: Fire in the Andes. On Kindle Unlimited or $1.99 US to buy.
Pulp-Noir meets Sci-Fi. A short adventure. The Year is 1949, in a timeline not quite our own.
A missing atomic engineer. A lovely but sad senorita. And another assignment for Bert Henderson, this time to the mountains of Argentina.Did the engineer defect to the other side? And what’s with all these Germans?
Will Bert survive long enough to uncover the mystery? Or will he succumb to the Fire in the Andes?
I am about to re-issue a story that previously appeared in Cirsova Magazine a few years back. Look for it on Amazon Kindle Store soon.
“A short story adventure. The Year is 2185, in a timeline not quite our own. The Jovian Guard patrols the space near Jupiter and its inhabited moons, potentially the last uncontaminated human settlements in the Solar System since the plague 50 years ago.
Lieutenant Osiris Jackson, aboard the patrol ship Nevada, intercepts a distress call from the civilian ship Masuyo near the moon Callisto. Is the crippled ship the result of a mere accident, or are more sinister forces in play?
The young officer is plunged into a life-or-death situation with far more at stake than he realizes as he tries to save the mysterious Callistan passengers.”
Here is the opening to my SF novel that I was stuck on 3 years back. It’s been recently revised a couple times after a critique.
Matroh: Island in the Fire I
by Spencer E. Hart
Chapter One: Volcano
“Hurry, Matt. Get those instruments aboard.”
Dr. Ignasio waved his arms in the direction of a stack of electronics boxes in the back of the jeep. The geologist himself hopped out of the vehicle almost before it came to a full stop on the tarmac of the little local airfield outside of town.
Matt looked up from his preflight checklist for the chopper the expedition had rented. It was a good bird, a little on in years but well-maintained.
The doctor also looked a bit on in years, maybe as old as Matt’s father, but he seemed to be bursting with energy at the moment. A leathery hand stroked through thinning brown hair while the other one gestured towards the smoking mountain.
“What luck that I am here now! This volcano has been dormant for a thousand years. We must get readings of the seismic activity, get pictures of the vents.”
Matt put down the checklist as he stepped out of the helicopter. He towered over the scientist by a good half-a-foot. “Whatever you say, Doc. Just put it all in the back?”
Ignasio turned his head towards the younger man. “You Americans and your informalities! At such a historic moment please address me as Dottore or at least Signore Ignasio.”
Matt repressed a sigh. This had almost become something of a running joke between them over the course of the expedition, but he sensed that maybe this time the geologist meant it.
“Of course, Doctor. But put the gear in the back of the helicopter?”
“Except for the cameras. Put those up front with me. We need to deliver the master unit to the base camp and drop the sensors around the mountain.”
Matt ambled over to the jeep and grabbed a sensor pod in each hand. The little electronic boxes were topped by loops of plastic cord attached to the tiny folded parachute packs.
He walked back to the chopper and rigged them to an overhead rail just inside the door to the back compartment. Ignasio peered around Matt’s bulk as he worked.
“Careful with those! It would not do to have them fall off before we trigger the deployment mechanism.”
“Yes, Dottore,” Matt said with a bit of a sigh. Just because he was big didn’t mean he was clumsy.
After going back for the other pair of sensors, Matt hefted the larger receiver unit under one arm, carried it to the helicopter, and secured it in the back.
Ignasio clambered through the front passenger door, and Matt brought him both the still and video cameras.
Stepping in himself, Matt buckled his straps.
“All right, Doctor. Please secure your belt. We wouldn’t want you to fall out, would we?” Matt chided.
Ignasio may have known a lot about rocks and volcanoes, but the chopper was Matt’s domain. He’d been to civilian flight school back in the US, even if nobody would hire him there after that incident with the news copter. Said he was a bit too reckless for their taste.
After glancing over to make sure that the older man was secured, Matt flipped the switches and the rotors began to turn. He let them build up to a good speed while he verified the gauges.
Then with a roar the chopper lifted off and headed for the geologists’ base camp near the lower slopes of the mountain.
* * *
Matt glanced up at the plume of dark smoke rising from the near flank of the mountain as he approached the hilltop with the pair of shacks. He’d made this trip dozens of times before, but this was a different experience.
Ignasio was busy snapping away with the still camera. “Just a few for practice and to show the others. We’ll get better ones when we circle the mountain to drop the sensors.”
Even from this distance, Matt felt a bit of an updraft as he set the helicopter down. He idled the engine as he hopped out and began unstrapping the big control unit. The sooner they were done, the sooner he’d be on the ground back in town. Maybe he could find a bar open that early.
Ignasio climbed out and supervised the positioning of the device, then fiddled with a number of knobs.
Matt gazed down towards the town on the shore. From this distance it looked as peaceful as ever, but he wondered what the people below thought of the smoking mountain.
The ground under his feet vibrated slightly. “Uh, Doc, is that a bad sign?”
“It could be a catastrophe! The seismic probes are not yet deployed to capture the data! Hurry, back to the helicopter!”
The little scientist ran back and climbed into the chopper. Matt had never seen him move so fast in the whole month he’d been here.
spencerhartwriting 