Hammer and Crucible

Cameron Cooper

Aug 2020 · Imperial Hammer Book 1 · Stories Rule Press

About this ebook

The interstellar array which links worlds together wakes to find it has enemies…

 

The Fourth Carinad Empire stretches across hundreds of settled worlds and stellar cities, and thousands of light years. The Empire’s people and data are linked by a space-folding gates array controlled by the Emperor and his cohorts. When the array evolves into a sentient entity, it recognizes the Emperor as its foe.

 

Danny Andela, once known as The Imperial Hammer, withdrew from the Imperial Rangers decades ago, her reputation in tatters. She lives on her family’s star barge, waiting to die of a rare disease: old age. She would be the array’s perfect weapon against the Emperor, except she no longer gives a damn—about anything.

 

Then Danny learns that the military disaster which essentially ended her life might possibly have been arranged by the Emperor himself…

 

Hammer and Crucible is the first book in the Imperial Hammer space opera science fiction series by award-winning SF author Cameron Cooper.

 

The Imperial Hammer series:

1.0: Hammer and Crucible

1.1: An Average Night on Androkles

2.0: Star Forge

3.0: Long Live the Emperor

4.0: Severed

5.0: Destroyer of Worlds

 

Space Opera Science Fiction Novel

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Praise and Kudos for Hammer and Crucible:

 

Fourth place in Hugh Howey's Self-Published Science Fiction Contest

 

This was a fun, fast paced read full of action and humor.

 

I greedily read in this in one day. You will want to as well.

 

Lots of action and a boatload of twists and turns that grab your attention and won't let go. It has kept me up way past bedtime!

 

He builds the scenes in a way that I feel as though I am actually walking long the ship’s corridors and I can totally relate to all of the characters.

 

I loved Hammer and Crucible! Couldn’t put it down.

 

The plot is fascinating; it is intricate as well as filled with surprises and action.

 

This is a read that really sucks you in!

 

Excellent characters, twists and turns throughout.

 

Written in such a natural hand that you can fully image the spectacular universe the author has created.

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Cameron Cooper is the author of the Imperial Hammer space opera series, among others. 

 

Cameron tends to write space opera short stories and novels, but also roams across the science fiction landscape. Cameron was raised on a steady diet of Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, McCaffrey, and others. Peter F. Hamilton, John Scalzi, Martha Wells and Cory Doctorow are contemporary heroes. An Australian Canadian, Cam lives near the Canadian Rockies.

 

Ratings and reviews

As a reader of S/F since the 1940s, I was pleasently surprised when reading Hammer and Crucible. The Author has traces of Asimov and Heinlein in his writing. It is a book to keep you reading as often as possible (forget those chores for a day or two). I feel sure that other bookworms will agree that it is worth visiting more than once. Thank you Cameron for the best read I have had for quite a while.

I'm a huge sifi fan. This is the first story by Cooper that I've read. I am really impressed! The thing about reading a really well written story is that the author can put you in the character's head, you feeling their emotions, their thoughts...so much better than the best movie can portray. Cooper does it right!

An amazing first book in this new sci-fi series. There is action, thrills, surprises, and a population in which a large majority need never know the aches and pains or show signs of aging. Space ships no longer need to take lifetimes to get from one area of space to another, they just use the"array", but the building of this amazing technology is not shared but used for power and profit. There appears to be a secret surrounding the one in power that some family members believe led to the death of one of their own, the downfall of a hero, the desertion from the military of another. The AI's are amazing in this fantastic world-building story, more than you'd ever suspect. With the help of a most unusual AI, family, and former military comrades, the heroine now knows she must find and uncover the truth. The journey is complex and filled with surprises and danger. You may think I've given you spoilers, think again cause there is sooo much happening between the lines. Start this new series and continue the journey, as I'm about to do with book 2; onward towards the stars, unknown dangers, and new discoveries.