The Ephialtes Shorts Collection Kindle Edition

There are five stories in the Ephialtes Shorts Collection. . The first story tells of Mars seceding from its colonizer, USAN (read Earth). The writer tells about the evolution of a loose Mars Security System established by Earth on Mars, and how it and its main characters evolve into a military service. The story signals the theme of revolution, takeover and independence of a distant country from its distant colonizer.
The second story tells of a Research Assistant on Mars Venkdt Agronomy. Kim is asked to plant some plants outside the dome. There are stories of strange things going on. She has a supernatural experience being touched, apparently by a ghost. A big problem is to develop plants which can be resilient to low pressure.
The third story centers on a dystopian USAN, with a dictator at the helm and protests involving killing by the armed forces. A strong anti-protest male character rants against protesters until he finds out that the killing of several protest leaders by Government forces was deliberate.. He has to dig deep for information; and in himself to deal with his father’s death ‘in the line of duty”; and with the protest movement, which he joins. Values do change in the face of information and death. Such persons go on to be heroes and martyrs (!?).
The fourth story (set on Mars) is the fullest and best of the lot. Pride, strength, character, determination; loss of limbs; pain; love; and other experiences coalesce around this female character (Kris) which for me makes her a major character. She mixes superhuman effort with the human failing of being afraid of her fear, as she moves from one stage to another trying to regain her place in the military unit, despite her physical deficiencies. She falters but she moves on, and gets her job back. She still must wait two years to see if the necessary procedures on her are completely successful; but she is ready. I love this story, and with confidence, I see her a star character placement.
The fifth story is about a legendary scientist wondering whether his well-known cleverness is the result of genes or gene editing. In the story, he does not find out. But he is a top researcher, and no doubt in some book he will.
The author says he wrote these stories so that they look forward and backward to the trilogy. The stories are cast within the wider story of interplanetary war between Unites States and Nations (USAN) and Mars. The author says the wider story (books) is probably essential to the stories, but not vice-versa. So he advises to read Ephialtes before reading the shorts.
I must admit to be somewhat confused about the connection. I guess that this may be because the stories themselves (notwithstanding the overall contest of inter-planetary war) have no individual context. So there are questions: Were the stories born out of incidents occurring in the books, or are they précis versions of book content? Were they extensions of minor actions of minor characters of the books? Each story contains content that would be a welcome diversion from the main theme of war - the human element. I believe that Kris’ story would star in any ‘military experiences’. Her behavior is ‘Medal of Honor’ category, as she becomes and creates a legend. Having said all this this, I think that the literary quality of the stories (and I presume the books) is quite solid, and the stories are interesting.

I still don’t know how there is still people supporting blindly stuff like Star Wars when the definitive space adventure is this one.
Unbelievable, that is the only allowed compliment I have at the moment for this collection, you know I’m the kind of person who reads the description and almost immediately start boiling my eyes for boredom or for not being original and this time however, something was telling me to keep my expectations at sight. The universe is visited with a new perspective, this time, two planets, Earth and Mars are fighting, what can be done to reach an agreement? Or war is the only answer?
‘Be All You Can Be’ I have this ‘gift’ to find inspiration in unusual phrases but this one is phenomenal, the whole setting and dispute between two words is amazingly unique and entertaining and the fact this is a collection, get this deal more than settled, so if you like science-fiction, buy this collection as soon as possible.

The Ephialtes Trilogy chronicles the conflict between Earth and Mars, triggered by Mars’ secession from the USAN in the aftermath of World War IV. The stories of  The Ephialtes Shorts Collection make up the connective tissue between books one and two of the trilogy. The collection comprises all four previously released shorts together with the exclusive   Ephialtes Short V: Why Am I So Clever.

The stories are set in the same fictional universe and sit somewhere between the two books. They feature characters and incidents from both books and expand on them or come at them from new angles.

These stories were compiled into the book called  The Ephialtes Shorts Collection   which was released in May 2017 and is available from Amazon in both paperback and eBook formats.

The Ephialtes Trilogy is a series of three books set in the twenty-third century. The story centres on the conflict arising  between the dominant nation on Earth, the USAN, and their colony on Mars. When the leading industrialist on Mars, Charles Venkdt, polls the Martian population on independence he receives a powerful mandate and proceeds with proclaiming independence.

In the USAN this is met with consternation and the president controversially decides to refit the massive orbiting dropship carrier  Ephialtes   for interplanetary spaceflight. News of the impending arrival of  Ephialtes   galvanises the Martians, who in turn set about quickly forming an army and building defences.
The first book of the series,  Ephialtes , was released on Amazon Kindle and paperback on 22 September 2015. The second book of the series is due for release later in 2017.

The main novel trilogy is complemented by a series of short stories, The Ephialtes Shorts, set in the same fictional universe. The first four shorts,  See the Worlds ,   A Cold Wind Blows ,   Son of New York   and   Be All You Can Be   are available now.

Background:

The Ephialtes Trilogy Book One : EPHIALTES
In 2241, following the end of World War IV, a little local difficulty on Mars quickly escalates to a full-blown crisis for President Cortes of the United States and Nations. As stakes rise ever higher neither side can afford to back down, and the prospect of revolutionary interplanetary conflict looms large. When a brutal act of terrorism casts doubt on all sides, it’s left to returning war hero Bobby Karjalainen and genius engineer Askel Lund to try to find a way out of the maelstrom but, with the enormous attack ship Ephialtes closing in on Mars, time is running out.

These stories effectively generate suspense for the inevitable confrontation between the two planets...
Parker is inventive introducing his version of the 23rd century, where politics still reign.For fans of this kind of military sci-fi, these books are an exceptional example of its genre that push for a fully fleshed-out trilogy that.

Coming later 2017: The Ephialtes Trilogy Book Two :

"The peace delivered in the wake of the Ephialtes incident is more fragile. The USAN’s rearmament program continues apace, hindered only by the harsh economic realities imposed by the Martian deuterium embargo. On Mars, Askel and Bobby have to come to terms with an uncertain future while Foveaux and Kostovich brace themselves for the crisis they dread but know is coming. When a shocking act of violence sends two planets careening towards conflict there is nowhere left to hide. The cold war between Earth and Mars is about to get hot, and there can only be one winner."

Summary:

The author creativity takes readers to another level of interpreting the ancient values layered in Greek Mythology and succeeds to project ancient values and transform living into an imaginary future universe of the 23rd century.

The giants Otus and Ephialtes, also known as the "Aloadae", were the sons of Iphimedia and  Poseidon , the god of the seas.   It all happened when Iphimedia fell in love with Poseidon, so day by day she went down to the seashore, where she could scoop water from the waves with her hands and pour it into her lap until she became pregnant.  Otus and Ephialtes were extraordinary giants. Every year they grew about 18 inches broader and six feet higher. However, they didn't look horrifying at all. Instead, they were beautiful and gentle creatures.   When they were only nine years old, the two brothers began to challenge the gods on several occasions.  

Brothers Otus and Ephialtes' first challenge was to abduct and imprison Ares, the god of war. They managed to do so for 13 months, until the gods reluctantly sent Hermes the messenger of the gods to release him.  Their next challenge was to put one mountain upon another, threatening to use these mountains to climb up to heaven. When Zeus , the king of the gods, found out he was about to hit both giants with his lightning - but Poseidon, their loving father, convinced Zeus to show mercy for his children.   The fatal third challenge
The third challenge of the two brothers was to catch Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. When Artemis saw the twins approaching, she quickly transformed herself into a deer and leapt between them. Greedily, the two brothers threw javelins to hit the animal, but the javelins went back and killed them both.

The 23 century - will humanity survive facing all the challenges relating to interplanetary connections, genetic engineering, warfare, planetary science?

Scarlett Jensen
15 June 2017