Professional assassin Gau Shesharrim wants to retire. But as his desperate colony's best operative against the superior Terran forces, retirement is easier said than done. For six years, Terrans and Osk have fought for control of the barely habitable planet Olios 3. The Terrans should have won easily: their Expansion fleet outclasses the Osk in ships, weaponry, technology. Operatives like Gau have held the line through espionage, sabotage, and assassinations, but every failed mission brings them closer to defeat. Gau's commanding officers are gambling his life on one more mission. If he can assassinate General Shanazkowitz, leader of the Terran forces, it might turn the tide. The bitter, war-weary Gau accepts the assignment with one hope in mind: that it will end the conflict. But what Gau discovers on the mission could be his colony's doom. Absence of Blade is the first volume in the Expansion space opera series, a sci-fi epic that reads like a thriller. A lot of fictional galactic empires start from one of two positions: either we are surrounded by aliens that are an active threat to the human republic, or we are alone in the universe. In the Terran Expansion, I wanted to create an empire whose relations with its alien neighbors were more nuanced, yet still contentious. I wrote the story primarily from the perspective of the Osk, an alien species that has clashed with the Expansion's empire several times, to explore what a human galactic republic might look like from a nonhuman perspective. I've always been fascinated by outer space and the possibility of alien invasion and interstellar colonization. Short of becoming a theoretical exobiologist (they do exist!), writing science fiction has allowed me to indulge my imagination while asking some big questions about our place in the universe, including whom we might share it with. I blog about writing and science fiction over at The Expansion Front (http: //expansionfront.com). For a limited time, subscribers can download free alien concept art, including an early cover draft, at this link: http: //expansionfront.com/free-download I'm also on Twitter @CaitlinDMcKenna and Facebook @CaitlinDemarisMcKenna. See you there!