Michael McCloskey

Biography

I am a software engineer in Silicon Valley who dreams of otherworldly creatures, mysterious alien planets, and fantastic adventures. I am also an indie author with over 150K paid sales plus another 150K free downloads.

Where to buy in print

Series

Parker Interstellar Travels
Telisa Relachik studied to be a xenoarchaeologist in a future where humans have found alien artifacts but have never encountered live aliens. Of all the aliens whose extinct civilizations are investigated, the Trilisks are the most advanced and the most mysterious. Telisa refuses to join the government because of her opposition to its hard-handed policies restricting civilian investigation and trade of alien artifacts, despite the fact that her estranged father is a captain in the United Nations Space Force. When a group of artifact smugglers recruits her, she can't pass up the chance at getting her hands on alien objects that could advance her life's work as an employee of their front company, Parker Interstellar Travels.
The Trilisk Ruins
Price: Free!
The Trilisk AI
Price: $3.99 USD.
The Trilisk Supersedure
Price: $3.99 USD.
The Trilisk Hunt
Price: $3.99 USD.
The Trilisk Revolution
Price: $2.99 USD.
The Celaran Ruins
Price: $3.99 USD.
Synchronicity Trilogy
The same story told three times from three radically different points of view: characters in the Western world, the Chinese bloc... and the mysterious Spinners. The tale doesn't read the same each time, and there's plenty of new discoveries along the way to keep it interesting for the second and third points of view. The setting: circa 2077, several giant corporations have moved into space to avoid oppressive governments owned by the competition. The Western world is in loose alliance, led by the United States, Brazil, and the European Union. Opposing them for world domination is the Chinese bloc, with a sphere of influence that spans the Eastern world, including what was once Japan. If you don't work for a big company or government, then you're one of billions living at subsistence level with little hope for a better future. But the resources to support an aging Earth will come from the rest of the solar system, where governments and companies are reaching out to seize the new frontier and control the new world order.
Insidious
Price: $0.99 USD.
Industrious
Price: $0.99 USD.
Ingenious
Price: $0.99 USD.

Books

The Kriseel Temple
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 20. Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 47,300. Language: English. Published: July 19, 2023 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure, Fiction » Science fiction » Space opera
The Kriseel Temple is the 20th book in the PIT series. The PIT team travels to a forbidden planet they believe was the Imperian homeworld and once a Trilisk seat of government. The team’s allies, the Embeez, have promised many answers to their questions about the Trilisks—if the team can survive long enough to uncover them.
The Kriseel Crusade
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 19. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 51,800. Language: English. Published: September 7, 2022 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure, Fiction » Science fiction » Space opera
(5.00 from 1 review)
The Kriseel Crusade is the 19th book in the PIT series. The PIT team travels to an Imperian starbase intending to join forces with an Embeez operative, confront the leader of the Xenophobe Faction, and discover the Embeez’ plan for the future of the entire region.
The Kriseel Xenophobes
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 18. Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 46,490. Language: English. Published: January 15, 2022 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Space opera
The Kriseel Xenophobes is the 18th book in the PIT series. The survivors of a harrowing experience in an Imperian facility rush to aid the Pact Nexus, which has come under attack.
The Kriseel Invitation
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 17. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 59,620. Language: English. Published: July 31, 2021 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Space opera, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
(5.00 from 1 review)
The Kriseel Invitation is the 17th book in the PIT series. When the PIT team is formally invited to meet with the Kriseel leaders, Telisa splits the team into three groups to accomplish more than diplomacy.
The Kriseel Ruins
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 16. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 63,820. Language: English. Published: February 20, 2021 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Space opera, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
(5.00 from 1 review)
The Kriseel Ruins is the 16th book in the PIT series. When Blackhab scientists report evidence of a live civilization in a system known by the Rovans and Vovokans to be an ancient ruin site, the PIT team investigates.
The Rovan Gate
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 15. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 60,600. Language: English. Published: May 24, 2020 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure, Fiction » Science fiction » Space opera
The Rovan Gate is the 15th book in the PIT series. Just as it seems that the PIT team has learned the answers they sought about the Rovans, the team uncovers one last lead so tempting that they decide to stall the coming confrontation with Ambassador Shiny to investigate another legacy of the Rovan civilization.
The Rovan Catastrophe
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 14. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 57,020. Language: English. Published: September 7, 2019 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure, Fiction » Science fiction » Space opera
The Rovan Gate is the 14th book in the PIT series. Having escaped the Rovan trap, the PIT team returns to the binary star system Guiholda Conchallon, hoping to learn more about how the Rovans lived, but instead, they discover more about the Rovan’s demise.
The Rovan Trap
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 13. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 58,580. Language: English. Published: March 23, 2019 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Space opera, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
The Rovan Trap is the 13th book in the PIT series. The PIT team struggles to survive in all-too-close proximity with a Rovan battleship designed to exterminate all who fall into its trap. If the team cannot escape this uncaring death machine—who can save them?
The Rovan Binary
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 12. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 53,910. Language: English. Published: October 20, 2018 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Space opera, Fiction » Science fiction » High tech
The Rovan Binary is the 12th book in the PIT series. The PIT team continues to pull at the thread of the Rovan mystery by visiting another suspected colony. Though they find more clues, the next choice they must make threatens to tear the team apart...
The Rovan Ruins
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 11. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 65,170. Language: English. Published: May 13, 2018 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure, Fiction » Science fiction » Space opera
The Rovan Ruins is the 11th book in the PIT series. Avoiding their alien master at Sol, the PIT team has taken up new homes on a huge space habitat. As they ponder their next move, they hear of new alien ruins in a distant system, discovered by a Celaran probe ship. Uncertain of their future, the PIT team decides to do what they do best, so they leave on a fresh voyage of discovery.
The Celaran Pact
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 10. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 56,470. Language: English. Published: November 21, 2017 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
The Celaran Pact is the tenth book in the PIT series. A newly formed alliance of Terrans and Celarans sends a fleet to intimidate the Quarus with a show of force. They find resistance more formidable than expected, and the PIT team soon discovers that they are fighting old enemies as well as new.
The Celaran Solution
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 9. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 53,250. Language: English. Published: April 3, 2017 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
The Celaran Solution is the ninth book in the PIT series. The ragged remains of the PIT team travel to Celara Palnod to reunify the fragments of a peaceful alien civilization.
The Celaran Refuge
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 8. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 67,010. Language: English. Published: September 3, 2016 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
The Celaran Refuge is the eighth book in the PIT series. The PIT team learns more about friend and foe alike as they fight for their lives alongside their new allies, the Celarans.
The Created
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 78,530. Language: English. Published: December 19, 2015 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
What do a stealthy synthetic plant, an eavesdropping sound curtain, and an invisible observer have in common? They are artificial agents working tirelessly in the crime-ridden city of Red Calais for their ingenious Master. They wend their way through the cutthroats, cat burglars and con men of the greatest city of the core world called Idona. Yet it seems that their Master hardly notices...
The Celaran Probe
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 7. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 58,290. Language: English. Published: December 8, 2015 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
The Celaran Probe is the seventh book in the PIT series. Telisa Relachik studied to be a xenoarchaeologist at a time when humans had found alien artifacts but hadn't encountered live aliens. Rather than return to Earth with the modest spoils of the team’s first Celaran expedition, Telisa decides to proceed to another Celaran colony site in an attempt to find living Celarans.
The Eimar Beacon
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 61,590. Language: English. Published: March 12, 2015 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech
When Cluster scientists detect what they believe to be an alien signal, some suspect a trap set by their enemies. Nevertheless, they scrape together a small task force to investigate the signal in the desperate hope that alien allies or technology can swing the balance of the war.
The Celaran Ruins
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 6. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 55,900. Language: English. Published: October 28, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
(5.00 from 1 review)
Forced into service by an alien she once befriended, Telisa, along with Cilreth, Siobhan, Caden, Jason and Imanol are sent to a distant world to investigate a mysterious alien race for their new master.
The Dreamslayer
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 58,460. Language: English. Published: September 21, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » Epic
The lone warrior Garlon trudges across the wild lands, slaying the missionaries of the East wherever he finds them. When he arrives at the first great city of the East, he almost despairs, seeing that the servants of the Eastern gods outnumber him. Then a monstrous ally points out he can address the problem at its source, so he decides to join forces with it to hunt the gods themselves.
The Flutes of Aeran
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 51,250. Language: English. Published: January 5, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » Epic, Fiction » Horror » Weird fiction
(4.00 from 1 review)
Ex-soldier-turned-wanderer Keran travels into the wasteland, fleeing an unknown horror that has killed his friends. He finds safety in an isolated tower by an oasis, but the tower slowly becomes his prison, for the creature awaits him beyond its walls.
Archon Than: Episode 1
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 34,560. Language: English. Published: December 24, 2013 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure, Fiction » Science fiction » Military
When the Emperor of Athapon sets upon a senseless campaign of conquest targeted at the distant and mysterious planet Vovok, Archon Than is one of the few standing between Athapon and destruction.
The Trilisk Revolution
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 5. Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 44,690. Language: English. Published: December 23, 2013 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
The Trilisk Revolution is the fifth book in the PIT series. Upon learning that the unifying Terran government has been infiltrated by Trilisks, Telisa is galvanized to face the task she’s been afraid to undertake: defeat the Space Force and topple the rotten leadership of Earth. The Trilisk Revolution is the fifth book in the PIT series.
The Trilisk Hunt
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 4. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 69,680. Language: American English. Published: August 30, 2013 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
The Trilisk Hunt is the fourth book in the PIT series. Telisa Relachik studied to be a xenoarchaeologist at a time when humans had found alien artifacts but hadn't encountered live aliens. After a harrowing brush with a real Trilisk on Chigran Callnir Four, the PIT team, fresh with four new members, heads out on a new type of expedition: hunting a live Trilisk.
Synchronicity Trilogy Omnibus
Series: Synchronicity Trilogy, Omnibus (1-3). Price: $9.99 USD. Words: 189,260. Language: English. Published: April 13, 2013 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Military, Fiction » Science fiction » High tech
Omnibus of the Synchronicity Trilogy. The same story told three times from three radically different points of view: characters in the Western world, the Chinese bloc... and the mysterious Spinners. The tale doesn't read the same each time, and there's plenty of new discoveries along the way to keep it interesting for the second and third points of view.
Force Cantrithor
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 60,010. Language: English. Published: February 19, 2013 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Military, Fiction » Science fiction » High tech
When the alien enemies called the Vothriles ask for a secret meeting in deep space with Emil’s task force, everyone is suspicious. The warship Excalibur heads out to meet with the alien foes that no Terran yet understands. The Vothriles propose joining forces against an even greater common menace, a mysterious enemy code-named "Force Cantrithor".
The Trilisk Supersedure
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 3. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 56,190. Language: English. Published: December 18, 2012 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
(5.00 from 2 reviews)
The Trilisk Supersedure is the third book in the PIT series. Having secured an amazing new base of operations that provides for their every material need, Telisa, her fellow smuggler Magnus, the alien Shiny, and the new recruit Cilreth head out on their third expedition in style with robots and advanced Vovokan technology at their fingertips.
The Trilisk AI
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 2. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 65,230. Language: English. Published: July 10, 2012 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
(3.80 from 5 reviews)
The Trilisk AI is the second book in the PIT series. Recruited by a group of artifact smugglers, Telisa endures deadly opposition on her first expedition and comes out an experienced explorer. Telisa and Magnus feel up to a new challenge, but does Shiny have a hidden agenda?
The House of Yeel
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 62,010. Language: English. Published: April 7, 2012 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » Epic, Fiction » Young adult or teen » Fantasy
(4.00 from 1 review)
For years, adventurers have traveled great distances only to meet their doom at the Far Coast. This distant and isolated place is the legendary home of the mysterious creature named Yeel. Countless souls have fallen before the dangers of the journey and the devious guardians who seek to keep Yeel imprisoned at this point farthest west in all the lands.
The Rise of Sarnai
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 68,380. Language: English. Published: February 20, 2012 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » Historical, Fiction » Fantasy » Epic
Pharkol has always thirsted for glory. His machinations are aimed toward creating his own grand destiny as a warlord emperor of Sarnai. His greatest ally is his wife Simarra, a seer who uses her influence to secure his rule. She has told her husband he is fated to rule the outside world... and take three new wives. Together, these two will forge the xenophobic Sarnese into a nation of conquerors.
The Trilisk Ruins
Series: Parker Interstellar Travels, Book 1. Price: Free! Words: 69,950. Language: English. Published: October 1, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Space opera
(4.43 from 14 reviews)
When a group of artifact smugglers recruits her, Telisa can't pass up the chance at getting her hands on objects that could advance her life's work. But she soon learns her expectations of excitement and riches come with serious drawbacks as she ends up fighting for her life on a mysterious alien planet.
Ingenious
Series: Synchronicity Trilogy, Book 3. Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 48,200. Language: English. Published: July 3, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Military
(5.00 from 2 reviews)
Nine mysterious Spinners silently seize control of deep space stations millions of miles from Earth. But what do they want? And will anyone be able to stop them? Ingenious is the third book of the Synchronicity Trilogy. Its events are concurrent with events in Insidious and Industrious. I'd like to thank the many readers of Insidious and Industrious for following me through the trilogy!
Industrious
Series: Synchronicity Trilogy, Book 2. Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 48,570. Language: English. Published: March 4, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Military
(3.50 from 2 reviews)
The People's Republic of China dominates half the globe, balanced only by the combined power of the decaying Western world. As main players in a new age of expansion, the Chinese reach outward to establish many stations throughout the solar system.
Hell on a Leash
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 63,410. Language: English. Published: January 2, 2011 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » General
Nergal, Ralcander, Avawo and Kreen are the meanest, most dangerous brigands in the Three Kingdoms. A disparate group, they find in common between themselves only brute strength, consumate skill, and ruthless drive. Having just made the heist of their career, they simply wish to escape from the soldiers hunting for them, but soon they become enslaved to an evil greater than themselves.
Slave of Chu Kutall
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 116,510. Language: English. Published: December 29, 2010 . Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » General
(5.00 from 2 reviews)
When the ex-slave named Nergal joins a party of heroes, he isn't looking for adventure, he's just looking for an easy meal! But soon enough the impressionable half-sragn begins to feel a kinship with these men and women who are on an important mission to an abandoned castle.
Insidious
Series: Synchronicity Trilogy, Book 1. Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 91,600. Language: English. Published: December 7, 2010 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Military, Fiction » Science fiction » Hard sci-fi
(4.50 from 2 reviews)
Leaked stories of strange new rules and codes of behavior indicate something's gone sour in the deep space retreats of the superrich corporate execs. Some say that it's only the eccentricities of the powerful leaders of capitalistic society. But others speak of dark, twisted rituals, human slavery and illegal experiments in banned technologies.

Smashwords book reviews by Michael McCloskey

  • Artefact War on Sep. 16, 2012

    Halses's Rhyka books are gritty, gory, with a lot of action which is just how I like my adventure books. Yet they also have a lot of intrigue and nasty plotting: priests and soldiers alike fight to control what's left of the world. To sum it up, just the right mix of action and intrigue.