99 Gods Series

Dave Estrada’s cadmium poisoning threatens his life. His options gone, the successful business co-owner turns to the 99 Gods for help. Who are the 99 Gods, though? “I’ll make this short and sweet, as I’m not accustomed to public speaking in forums like this. As you’ve just seen, I can do miracles. My name is Dubuque, I’m a Living Saint directing God Almighty’s miracles, and I am but one of 99. We’re here to end national war, a new commandment sent by God, and our creators trained us in how to end wars. Beyond that, we’re here to do good.” So said Dubuque, a North American Territorial God, on the day of his arrival. The people of Earth, shocked and pleased at the sudden appearance of the 99 Gods, expect utopia. Dubuque also says: “The last thing our creators said to us was ‘Your capability to change the world does have limits. As we have hinted before, you are not alone.’ I take that as a warning to us Living Saints to be cautious, and cautious I shall be.” Who, then, are the 99 Gods peers? Dave’s decision to seek miraculous aid from the 99 Gods will thrust him into an emerging conflict involving the 99 Gods. His initial pragmatic reaction to the 99 Gods – “With the 99 Gods around, though, where’s the need for faith? You can just go ask them” – will face repeated tests. The choices he makes will irrevocably change his life. The just-starting-out Territorial God, Atlanta, is responsible for doing good in the southeastern United States. “I don’t even pretend to be as limited as a CEO,” she says. She senses some of the other Gods doing other than good, though, and decides to confront them about their activities. Her choice introduces her to God politics and puts her in danger, showing her how much more complicated the God business is than her previous profession as a Marine aviator. Nessa Binglehauser, who lives alone in Alaska, recently lost contact with her collaborator Uffie, a research primatologist. An old friend, Ken Bolnick, convinces her that one of the 99 Gods kidnapped Nessa’s collaborator. Their ability to know what the 99 Gods are doing in private marks them as special. “These Gods remind me of puppy dogs,” Nessa says. “House-training them is going to take a great many whacks on the nose. What happened to their sense of ethics and morality, anyway?” Nessa and Ken’s own sense of morality calls upon them to investigate the 99 Gods. To succeed, they will have to reveal themselves and their hidden abilities. “Thy will be done. I submit myself to you. Whatever thou wilst, let it be done to me,” John Lorenzi prayed. He, an abnormally long-lived magician hunter and holy man, initially welcomed the Gods – until one of the Gods attacked him and marked him for death. How far will he go to defend himself against the Gods? 99 Gods: War investigates a near-future conflict between the 99 Gods and the people of Earth who oppose their actions, as seen through the eyes of the four people mentioned above. Hidden dangers from within and without will test all.

“Betrayer” is the second book in the 99 Gods Trilogy. Nessa Binglehauser, Ken Bolnick, John Lorenzi, Dave Estrada and Dana Ravencraft continue their struggles against the 99 Gods and the hidden supernatural powers of Earth. The media labels the effects of the 99 Gods on politics and the economy ‘The Troubles’. Governments fall, repeatedly. The unemployment level rises to staggering proportions. The fall of the Gods known of as Atlanta and Miami convinced all of the 99 Gods that direct God vs. God conflicts are disastrous, and forbidden. Instead, the 99 Gods now jostle amongst themselves indirectly, using God-powered human enhanced cat’s paws known of as Supported. In the midst of this, the Telepaths, led by Nessa and Ken, get caught up in the conflict between Portland’s Helping Hands alliance and Dubuque’s City of God alliance. What Nessa and Ken want to be doing is rescuing Nessa’s friend Uffie from the clutches of the God Nairobi. When they finally get the chance to work on the rescue, their work will lead them down a dark and unexpected path. Dave Estrada, now revealed as a Psychic, is dragooned into a quest to find John Lorenzi’s lost supporters, the Ecumenists. This quest is the only bit of work both the Helping Hands Gods and the City of God can agree upon, and Dave ends up involved because of his distant ties to Dubuque. Dana Ravencraft copes with the passing of Atlanta and ends up regent for Atlanta’s old territory. She also ends up with the responsibility to raise Atlanta’s replacement, the Kid God, and protect Atlanta’s old allies, the Indigo. John Lorenzi’s old nemesis Satan interferes with everything, causing chaos. None will escape unscathed as they are drawn together to confront new dangers, impossible evils, and unexpected opponents.

“Odysseia” is the final book in the 99 Gods trilogy. Dana Ravencraft, Nessa Binglehauser, Ken Bolnick, Dave Estrada and John Lorenzi continue their seemingly futile struggles against the 99 Gods and the hidden supernatural powers of Earth. The City of God consolidates its power in the Americas and Europe, opposed by the Tradition Gods of Asia. Humanity struggles amid the ongoing Troubles, the worldwide economic calamity created by the Gods. Dubuque’s City of God forces are hunting down the last independent Gods in North America, including Orlando, the territorial God of Florida and the Caribbean, Bob, the child God who holds the territory of the southeastern United States, and Dana Ravencraft, Bob’s mortal but powerful regent and foster mother. Down to their final options, Orlando proposes a solution to Dana that will combine their territories and attract the interest of other last powerful independents, Nessa Binglehauser and Ken Bolnick’s group of Telepaths and associates, which includes Elorie Portath and Dave Estrada (of the completed Ecumenist quest), the Angel-doubting actress Goddess Persona, the former magician-hunter John Lorenzi, and his former nemesis and ancient Telepath Satan. Betrayer, the God responsible for betraying the Recruiter’s band of Telepaths to Dubuque, cackles in the background, ready to use up everyone and everything in her secret mission. All the while the armies of the City of God gather, waiting to strike...

“Tales From the Anime Café” (part two) includes three stories from the 99 Gods universe. These tales can be considered as side stories, back story, or stand-alone stories set in the same world as the 99 Gods trilogy. The first, “The Cordoba Solution”, is set roughly a thousand years in the past. This novelette tells the tale of Johannes De Lorenzi and struggles with being a magician, and how he brought his unwanted magical abilities under control. The second, “Being a Myth”, is a long novella about the adventures of Jan Cox after her so-called death while defending her people from a group of Dubuque Supported (as seen in “99 Gods: Betrayer”) and her unexpected appearance at the end of the book. Told from Jan’s point of view, this story tells of her adventures in another timeline and in Hell. The third, “The Death of Vanessa”, is set approximately a decade before the appearance of the 99 Gods, during the time period Nessa Binglehauser is known of as Vanessa Luck, and she’s working as a private detective for Ken Bolnick. This long novella is a story of insanity, change, and the dangers of Telepaths gone bad.

“Tales From the Anime Café” (part one) includes three stories from the 99 Gods: War universe. These tales can be considered as side stories, back story, or stand-alone stories set in the same world as 99 Gods: War. The first, “Saving the North Wind”, is set just before the start of “99 Gods: War”. This short novel involves the Indigo group of barely unnatural people as they learn the 99 Gods aren’t who they thought they were, and how they save an allied group from unknown assailants. The second, “The Searchlight Mind”, is a long novella about Nessa Binglehauser. The story details the time in her childhood when she first learns she is a telepath, her first meeting with Ken Bolnick, and her first encounter John Lorenzi and the Minds of the Sea. The third, “Pennies”, is a novelette (long short story) telling the tale of Dr. Velma Horton (one of the Indigo group’s liaisons with Atlanta) and her first encounter with the dangerous unnatural (and the Indigo group), roughly thirty five years before the events of “99 Gods: War”.