Beyond Death (Perimeter Defense Book #2)

Playing by the book? That's not good enough for Crown Prince Georg! In his attempt to delay his appearance at the Emperor’s court, he triggers an alien invasion of his own star system. The whole of the Empire watches the live broadcast with bated breath as his fleet battles the awesome invaders. The Iseyeks - gigantic sentient praying mantises - are suitably impressed too, so they promptly remind the Crown Prince of his allied duties. The Sector Eight Fleet hurries to the Swarm’s aid… but sadly disregards the insects’ hive mentality.

Desperate to prolong their own existence for a few extra months, the insects unflinchingly sacrifice the human fleet. What is Georg supposed to do? He can't turn back - not with a doomed fleet in his wake! So he battles through armadas of alien starships, ignoring the "Victory impossible!" system messages and laying an elusive path to freedom across yet unexplored star systems. Georg is bent on breaking free - and no amount of enemy can stop him!

Michael Atamanov was born in 1975 in Grozny, Chechnia. He excelled at school, winning numerous national science and writing competitions. Having graduated with honors, he entered Moscow University to study material engineering. Soon, however, he had no home to return to: their house was destroyed during the first Chechen campaign. Michael's family fled the war, taking shelter with some relatives in Stavropol Territory in the South of Russia. Having graduated from the University, Michael was forced to accept whatever work was available. He moonlighted in chemical labs, loaded trucks, translated technical articles, worked as a software installer as well as scene shifter for local artists and events. At the same time he never stopped writing, even when squatting in some seedy Moscow hostels. Writing became an urgent need for Michael, driving him to submit articles to science publications and news fillers for a variety of web sites while accepting a plethora of technical and copywriting gigs. Then one day unexpectedly for himself he started writing fairy tales and science fiction novels. For several years, his audience consisted of only one person: Michael's elder son. Then, at the end of 2014 he decided to upload one of his manuscripts to a free online writers resource. Readers liked it and demanded a sequel. Michael uploaded another book, and yet another, his audience growing as did his list. It was his readers who helped Michael hone his writing style. He finally had the breakthrough he deserved when the Moscow-based EKSMO - the biggest publishing house in Europe - offered him a contract for his first and consequent books.