Ian S. Bott

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About Ian S. Bott
Ian Bott is a public servant by day, and a science fiction author by night when his dark side emerges to wreak murder and mayhem on unsuspecting imaginary worlds.
He uses his lifelong love of both science and art to bring new worlds to life for readers to escape to. Back in the real world, he escaped from Britain in 2004 but still misses proper pubs, pork pies, and real bacon. He now lives in beautiful British Columbia with his wife, two children, and assorted pets.
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Titles By Ian S. Bott
Ghosts of Innocence
Jun 6, 2014
by
Ian Bott
$3.99
Master assassin Shayla Carver has killed many times. That's what assassins do, nothing to lose sleep over, but this mission is different.
She's never killed a whole planet before.
In a time when Earth is little more than a legend, life is dangerous for wayward colonies. Everyone fears the Emperor’s power to order a Cleansing, the burning of all traces of civilization from the face of a planet. Shayla's own home world was Cleansed, and now, years later, she's ready to exact payment in kind.
But her meticulous planning didn't prepare her for living undercover amongst some of the two billion people she's about to slaughter. Ordinary people. Not the strutting Imperials readily dismissed as legitimate targets or collateral damage. Then there's the Emperor himself. An ordinary man with troubles and dreams of his own.
Did this man really order the slaughter of innocents?
Can she?
Now she's starting to lose sleep.
She's never killed a whole planet before.
In a time when Earth is little more than a legend, life is dangerous for wayward colonies. Everyone fears the Emperor’s power to order a Cleansing, the burning of all traces of civilization from the face of a planet. Shayla's own home world was Cleansed, and now, years later, she's ready to exact payment in kind.
But her meticulous planning didn't prepare her for living undercover amongst some of the two billion people she's about to slaughter. Ordinary people. Not the strutting Imperials readily dismissed as legitimate targets or collateral damage. Then there's the Emperor himself. An ordinary man with troubles and dreams of his own.
Did this man really order the slaughter of innocents?
Can she?
Now she's starting to lose sleep.
Other Formats:
Paperback
The Long Dark
Dec 2, 2020
by
Ian Bott
$3.99
Trapped in the lengthening nights of Elysium.
Abandoned by the last convoy south.
Alone with her teenage son.
Anna never thought she would die this way.
It won’t come to that. She won't let it. She scours the darkened town for anything to help them make the long trek to rejoin their clan. But on a world starved of engineering resources it will take all her ingenuity to cobble together a usable vehicle.
A chance of escape is almost in reach when Anna finds they are not as alone as she thought. But the unexpected visitors are on a mission that they will kill to keep secret. Whatever these off-world intruders want, it can't be good for Anna's world, and a fight to save herself and her son becomes a battle for the future of the entire colony.
Abandoned by the last convoy south.
Alone with her teenage son.
Anna never thought she would die this way.
It won’t come to that. She won't let it. She scours the darkened town for anything to help them make the long trek to rejoin their clan. But on a world starved of engineering resources it will take all her ingenuity to cobble together a usable vehicle.
A chance of escape is almost in reach when Anna finds they are not as alone as she thought. But the unexpected visitors are on a mission that they will kill to keep secret. Whatever these off-world intruders want, it can't be good for Anna's world, and a fight to save herself and her son becomes a battle for the future of the entire colony.
Other Formats:
Paperback
Breaking the Block
Nov 28, 2019
by
Ian Bott
$0.99
What writer hasn’t felt the desolate emptiness of the white page, mocking, and remaining stubbornly blank? Summoning words to fill that page can, at times, be an effortless flight of creativity. At other times, it feels like mental constipation.
Writer’s block fills writers with dread because it feels impassable, something we just have to accept and wait for inspiration to strike. But we needn’t be passive victims of writer’s block. We can strike back with a combination of self-awareness and a suitable kit of tools. Breaking the Block provides a collection of approaches to keep the words flowing.
Writer’s block fills writers with dread because it feels impassable, something we just have to accept and wait for inspiration to strike. But we needn’t be passive victims of writer’s block. We can strike back with a combination of self-awareness and a suitable kit of tools. Breaking the Block provides a collection of approaches to keep the words flowing.
The Ashes of Home
Apr 1, 2018
by
Ian Bott
$3.99
Shayla Carver, master assassin (retired) and planetary governor, has made more enemies than an Imperial tax collector. To atone for her murderous past, she’s now exiled and tasked with rebuilding her home planet, a planet which was burned to ashes many years before.
As if exile wasn’t punishment enough, she’s ordered to act as both jailor and protector of the two powerful and traitorous noblemen who destroyed her home world all those years ago.
But deadly ghosts from her past haunt her every step. One especially dangerous enemy is intent not just on personal revenge, but on assassinating her influential prisoners. While she wouldn’t shed a tear for those prisoners, their deaths will topple the Empire and plunge the galaxy into a devastating civil war. Suddenly, even her own survival is the least of Shayla’s worries.
As if exile wasn’t punishment enough, she’s ordered to act as both jailor and protector of the two powerful and traitorous noblemen who destroyed her home world all those years ago.
But deadly ghosts from her past haunt her every step. One especially dangerous enemy is intent not just on personal revenge, but on assassinating her influential prisoners. While she wouldn’t shed a tear for those prisoners, their deaths will topple the Empire and plunge the galaxy into a devastating civil war. Suddenly, even her own survival is the least of Shayla’s worries.
Other Formats:
Paperback
The Critique Survival Guide
Jan 21, 2016
by
Ian Bott
$0.99
When you pen those magical words, “The End”, it’s really only the first step on the road to publication. That first draft needs polishing, revising, editing, but you are too close to your work to do this alone. You need independent, thorough and honest feedback. The kind that digs deep into what’s working and what’s not. The kind that will ruthlessly expose cardboard characters and lackluster descriptions. The kind that will drive transit buses through your carefully-crafted plot.
In other words, the kind that hurts.
The trouble is that even amongst friends a detailed critique can be hard to take, but blunt and honest critiques are a necessary growth pain for any writer. Venturing into the anonymous jungle of online critique groups in search of tough love is both terrifying and exponentially rewarding. The Critique Survival Guide shares practical tips for surviving - and thriving on - the harshest of critiquing experiences.
In other words, the kind that hurts.
The trouble is that even amongst friends a detailed critique can be hard to take, but blunt and honest critiques are a necessary growth pain for any writer. Venturing into the anonymous jungle of online critique groups in search of tough love is both terrifying and exponentially rewarding. The Critique Survival Guide shares practical tips for surviving - and thriving on - the harshest of critiquing experiences.
Tiamat's Nest
Aug 29, 2015
by
Ian Bott
$3.99
Weather forecasting is a life-or-death profession, and hard sciences and technology are all that keep people alive and fed. Anthropologists, soft and useless, rank slightly below politicians and telemarketers on the social scale. This sucks for Charles Hawthorne, Professor of Anthropology.
Worse yet, his research into human behavior has discovered how human history ended up on its current miserable course, and the perpetrator is hell-bent on keeping it hidden.
Worst of all, with everything mechanical under computer control, the most innocuous device is a potential murder weapon to a well-connected villain.
After a series of deadly near-misses Charles flees to the wilds of Greenland where the global network has yet to reach. But to deal with the threat, to save himself and his family, Charles has to confront technology full on and enter the even more hostile world online.
Freeing humanity from a lifetime of slavery comes as an added bonus.
Worse yet, his research into human behavior has discovered how human history ended up on its current miserable course, and the perpetrator is hell-bent on keeping it hidden.
Worst of all, with everything mechanical under computer control, the most innocuous device is a potential murder weapon to a well-connected villain.
After a series of deadly near-misses Charles flees to the wilds of Greenland where the global network has yet to reach. But to deal with the threat, to save himself and his family, Charles has to confront technology full on and enter the even more hostile world online.
Freeing humanity from a lifetime of slavery comes as an added bonus.
Other Formats:
Paperback