Four months ago, martial artist movie star Jim Morris and Wall Street corporate lawyer Kimberly Martin were discovering their mutual attraction while trying to deal with issues caused by a half-American, half-Japanese crew on board the cruise ship Jade Viking. The cultural differences were daunting, the problems real. They discovered the differences were much less than they thought when an alien starship hijacked the entire cruise ship with all aboard. Jim and Kimberly are key players in the battle for control, of first, the alien ship, and then the space station that acted as its home base. Two months later, now married, their roles continue, first, in making the space station a buffer against more alien incursions to Earth itself, and returning to Earth to explain what happened to the missing Jade Viking, as well as over half the crew and passengers still missing. And if that isn't enough of a challenge for both of them, trying to raise a precocious teenage daughter Jim has only just discovered is his. Jim and an increasingly pregnant Kimberly struggle to prepare Earth for what they know is soon to follow. Just as the space station's position becomes even more vulnerable, the effort to give Earth and Humanity a fighting chance for survival against multiple menacing races grows harder to control. A sky full of alien ships before them, plotting world powers behind them, Jim and Kimberly would be happy just to have a wall to have their back against.
About the Author: William Hatfield was born in a small town in northern Michigan and attended Western Michigan University, getting a degree in history and communications. Musical engagements led him to Gainesville, Florida, where he continues to live with his wife Karen and their two feline daughters. Rumor has it, he may have grown up, but it seems unlikely. Rumor also has it that on the convention circuit, no piano is safe from his inclination to cause spontaneous piano bar sing-alongs. Tough Crowd is the third book in his science fiction series, Fists of Earth, following the initial Captive Audience and sequel Duel Roles. William has also written Menu for Murder, which tells the stories of three newcomers to Key West, trying to scratch out a living, even as two of them come to terms with their lifestyle. It is a quirky novel of murder and mischief that will make you laugh out loud. Key Notes is a collection of short stories spanning genres and the decades of his life as an aspiring and perspiring writer.