Prospector's Run

Holtz Mitsumi is desperate. Mitsumi gambled everything to find lost tech on the First Stellar Civilization’s dead, shattered worlds. Massive riches were his if he won. He lost. Instead of wealth, he was saddled with a mysterious alien artifact that invaded his mind and instilled an iron compulsion to find its origin. But the artifact did not communicate with anyone else and appeared to be common manufactured diamond—as common as dirt and worth as much. Broke and in debt, but driven to get back to the stars, Mitsumi is stuck. Mounting an expedition to find the object’s origin is impossible. Then an enigmatic stranger corners Mitsumi. He claims to have solid leads to fabulous lost tech and offers to let Mitsumi captain a prospecting run, in exchange for a share of the voyage profits. After scraping a crew together, Mitsumi embarks on one last run to finance his search. But the crew has secrets, some of them deadly. Before he knows it, Mitsumi picks up the perfect accessory for a struggling prospector—an implacable foe. Chased across the galaxy, Mitsumi wrestles with his unruly crew in an impossible bid to survive and find the artifact’s secret. It's a Star Trek, Firefly and Raiders of the Lost Ark mashup! Perfect for adventure lovers. Join Mitsumi and his crew on their great adventure! Hit that buy now button! Reviews: I don't read much science fiction, but the concept of this one caught my attention immediately. The storyline itself was intriguing; though I know little to nothing about sci-fi, it was easy to become invested in the storyline. I could easily see the world and plot happening as I read. - A J Martin I really enjoyed this book. It was a fun page-turner from beginning to end. This was a complete story, but leaves room for a sequel, for which I’m eagerly awaiting! The world creation is solid and Bates wields the futuristic technologies with confidence. - Nancy Sutton An exciting tale combing two of my favorites, space opera and archeological adventure. The characters were well defined and easy to identify with. I really like this book and I highly recommend it. - Larry Gray About the author: Kevin W. Bates was born in Berkeley, California and, with the exception of a couple year stint in Sydney Australia and a study abroad program in Japan, was raised there. In his Martin Luther King Jr. High and Berkeley High School years, Kevin developed a life-long fascination with science fiction (and, oddly, nuclear weapons) and a tendency to day dream. He discovered early that among the greatest joys in life is the thrill of losing yourself in a gripping space adventure soaring across the galaxy. Raised on classic science fiction authors such as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ray Bradbury, Kevin took up writing science fiction to provide the same mind expanding thrills he enjoyed from those authors and more contemporary ones like Alastair Reynolds, Iain M. Banks, David Brin and Neal Stephenson.