The Swamp Cat and the Reckless Scout

By Sherry D. Ramsey

Captain Stel Aurora of the Reckless Scout is on a routine ScoutGuard mission when the emergency call comes in - the men of a remote research station are disappearing, possibly kidnapped. The "swamp planet" Inderani B boasts a humid climate, voracious insects...but no other inhabitants, and not many clues to the vanished researchers. It's a race against time for Aurora and her crew as they delve into the secrets of the jungle, and the mysterious swamp cats who might hold the answers to it all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sherry D. Ramsey
• Release date: Nov 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781999575687

Sherry D. Ramsey

Sherry D. Ramsey is a speculative fiction writer, editor, publisher, creativity addict and self-confessed internet geek. When she's not writing, she makes jewelry, gardens, hones her creative procrastination skills on social media, and consumes far more coffee and chocolate than is likely good for her.Her debut novel, One's Aspect to the Sun, was published by Tyche Books in late 2013 and was awarded the Book Publishers of Alberta "Book of the Year" Award for Speculative Fiction. The sequel, Dark Beneath the Moon, is due out from Tyche in 2015. Her other books include To Unimagined Shores—Collected Stories. With her partners at Third Person Press (http://www.thirdpersonpress.com), she has co-edited five anthologies of regional short fiction to date. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies in North America and beyond. Every November she disappears into the strange realm of National Novel Writing Month and emerges gasping at the end, clutching something resembling a novel.A member of the Writer’s Federation of Nova Scotia Writer’s Council, Sherry is also a past Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer of SF Canada, Canada's national association for Speculative Fiction Professionals.You can visit Sherry online www.sherrydramsey.com, find her on Facebook, and follow her on Twitter @sdramsey.

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The Swamp Cat and the Reckless Scout

by

Sherry D. Ramsey

Copyright © Sherry D. Ramsey 2019

Cover Design by James, GoOnWrite.com

Rocket Icon by Pixel Perfect from www.flaticon.com

All rights reserved. The author retains all copyright in the content of this ebook.

No part of this book may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the author.

This book contains a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, entities or settings is entirely coincidental or due to flaws in the space-time continuum.

The Swamp Cat and the Reckless Scout originally appeared in Pulp Science Fiction from the Rock from Engen Books, 2020.

Ramsey, Sherry D. 1963 -

Email: [e-mail]

Web: www.sherrydramsey.com

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada

The Swamp Cat and the Reckless Scout

ISBN: 978-1-9995756-8-7

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Captain Stel Aurora had her magbooted feet up on the cockpit’s console again, and she felt someone’s disapproving glare on the back of her head. One corner of her mouth crept up in a half smile only she could see, reflected in the dark hologlass of the navigation screen. Rolling her skimchair a few centimetres to starboard, she caught Ensign Hardyp’s unguarded reflection as he stood behind her.

Ensign! she said, not bothering to turn around. Be a dear and fetch me a hot caffeo, would you? We’ll be at the Sea Star Nebula any minute, and I don’t want to miss it.

The pause before his answer was just long enough for Captain Aurora to be sure the ensign had choked back an unwise retort. Of course, Captain, he managed, and his heavy tread retreated from the bridge.

A voice laced with amusement tsk-tsked from the console to her left. "Captain, you’ll drive him