the shakedowners series
shakedowners
To boldly go where no losers have gone before…
Some starship captains explore strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilisations. Some lead missions of discovery through wormholes to the other side of the galaxy. Then there's Captain Iridius B. Franklin, someone who spent too long seeking out strange new bars and new alien cocktails.
After graduating bottom of his class at Space Command Academy Iridius Franklin hasn't had the glamorous career he envisioned, instead he hauls cargo ships full of mining waste, alien land whale dung, and artificially intelligent toy dogs across the stars.
Iridius does have talent though - he is exceptionally good at breaking starships.
So, when not hauling freight, he is captain of a shakedown crew, a skeleton crew used to test newly constructed ships for faults before the real crew takes over.
While on a routine shakedown mission aboard the FSC Gallaway, soon to be pride of the Federation Fleet, Earth is attacked by an unknown alien life-form. With the galaxy in chaos, Captain Iridius B. Franklin finds himself, unqualified, understaffed and completely unprepared, in command of the most advanced starship in the galaxy.
Now, he just needs to not break it.
Shakedowners is available in ebook, print and audio.
shakedowners 2: the vinyl frontier
Captain Iridius B. Franklin accidentally destroyed the planet Earth, but then he totally on purpose saved the galaxy so you know, you win some, you lose some.
Fresh in command of the advanced stealth ship the FSC Deus Ex, Iridius and his crew of misfits are sent on a reconnaissance mission to observe a suspected weapons development program being undertaken by the Federation’s long-time enemy, the Planetary Alliance.
When they discover the Alliance has created an incredible weapon – a bomb capable of manipulating time - Captain Franklin must stop them from releasing it and changing the outcome of a war that happened a hundred years ago.
But to infiltrate the station where the weapon is hidden Iridius is forced to go undercover as one of the galaxy’s biggest stars, the secretive DJ Chromium.
Completely out of his depth, as usual, Captain Iridius Franklin must stop a literal ticking timebomb, hide from the real DJ Chromium, avoid a deadly team of assassins and maybe learn to spin some tunes. Plus, in the deepest darkness of space an existential threat unlike any other grows ever closer.
Shakedowners 2: The Vinyl Frontier is available in ebook, print and audio.
shakedowners 3: slack to the future
Through the skilful application of being barely competent, Captain Iridius B. Franklin and the crew of the FSC Deus Ex have managed to triumph in not just one adventure but two.
Unfortunately, despite being assured this sort of thing doesn’t happen to space adventurers nearly as often as is assumed, Iridius and his crew have been flung almost a year back in time.
Now, in order to stop an existential threat to the galaxy and ensure they don’t cause irreparable damage to the space-time continuum, the crew of the Deus Ex must set out to find their way back to the future.
Things go about as well as expected and Iridius Franklin finds himself encountering Nazis, cyberpunks, the bureaucratic nightmare that is the Department of Historical Timeline Preservation and yet more time-travel paradoxes including finally coming face to face with the biggest mystery of his life.
Shakedowners 3: Slack to the Future is available in ebook, print and coming soon to audio.
BLACK LIBRARY
redemption through sacrifice (Short Story)
A Warhammer 40,000 story
The world of Vandicus is in the grip of heresy. Come to liberate it are the forces of the Astra Militarum, among them the Second Rapture Penal Legion. Made up of countless criminals from across the Imperium, the penal legion – known as the "Meat Dogs" – are thrown into the fighting, expected to find their peace with the Emperor in battle. For one such convict, a chance comes for more when he takes command mid-battle… under the eyes of the Inquisition.
night shriekers (Short Story)
A Warhammer 40,000 story
On the world of Raskova, the apex predator is the nocturnadon, better known as the Night Shrieker. These fearsome beasts lend their name to an elite, all-female fighter squadron – and Marina Maranova is their newest recruit. Alongside her friend and rival Alena Nazoya, Marina prepares to scour the skies of the Emperor's enemies. Their first training flight with their new comrades turns deadly when T'au Air Caste forces attack, and Marina is forced into a battle for her life.
Prisoners of waaagh! (NOVELLA)
A Warhammer 40,000 story
Marcus van Veenan thought he’d finally found a quiet posting to see out his career in the Astra Militarum. But when the planet of Rotauri falls to the green tide of warboss ’Eadbasha’s ork invasion, van Veenan and several hundred Guardsmen are taken prisoner by the greenskins and forced to construct a bizarre, colossal ork effigy. With the fate of the regiment in his hands, van Veenan reluctantly sets about leading a daring breakout to escape the prison camp and warn the Imperium of the growing Waaagh!.
catachan devil (NOVEL)
An Astra Militarum Novel
Colonel Haskell 'Hell Fist' Aldalon and the Catachan 57th Jungle Fighters arrive on Gondwa VI, a world ravaged by greenskins. The Catachans prepare to go on the offensive, but can they retake a vital outpost when saddled with the barely-trained Trooper Torvin – the last survivor of the Skadi Second Infantry?
READ IT BECAUSE
Get up close and personal with the ruthless Catachan Jungle Fighters as they prepare to give up everything in order to claim victory.
THE STORY
When Colonel Haskell 'Hell Fist' Aldalon and the Catachan 57th Jungle Fighters arrive on the quagmire world of Gondwa VI, they find it locked in the grip of an ever-growing greenskin threat. Rather than shoring up the meagre existing defences, the Catachans elect to go on the offensive and retake the strategically vital Outpost Four. In the process, they are saddled with the sole survivor of the outpost's fall – the barely-trained Trooper Torvin, of the Skadi Second Infantry.
As the Astra Militarum clash with savage orks and Colonel Aldalon comes to terms with the cost of victory, Torvin finds himself under suspicion of cowardice by the Jungle Fighters. The young trooper's new comrades may be just as dangerous to him as the xenos marauders... unless, that is, he can pass through this trial by fire and earn the respect of the Catachan Devils.
the territory series
A TOwn Called Dust
Stranded in the desert, the last of mankind is kept safe by a large border fence… Until the fence falls.
Squid is a young orphan living under the oppressive rule of his uncle in the outskirts of the Territory. Lynn is a headstrong girl with an influential father who has spent her entire life within the walled city of Alice.
When the border fence is breached, the Territory is invaded by the largest horde of undead ghouls seen in two hundred years. Squid is soon conscripted into the Diggers—the armed forces of the Territory. And after Lynn finds herself at odds with the Territory’s powerful church, she too escapes to join the Diggers.
Together Squid and Lynn form an unlikely friendship as they march to battle against the ghouls. Their journey will take them further than they ever imagined, leading them closer to discovering secrets about themselves, their world, and a conspiracy that may spell the end of the Territory as they know it.
A Town Called Dust is available as an ebook, in print and as an audiobook.
A CITY CALLED SMOKE
The battle was only the beginning; the real danger is beyond the fence ...
The Diggers have been destroyed, a horde of ghouls is moving inland and the High Priestess has seized control of the Central Territory. Together with Nim, a Nomad boy seeking vengeance against the ghouls, Squid and Lynn begin their long journey toward the city of Big Smoke, a city that may not even exist.
Pursued by forces that wish to see them fail, facing threats on all sides and conflict from within, Squid, Lynn and Nim search for a weapon against the ghouls. It is a search that will lead them into forbidden lands where long-held beliefs about their world are tested and Squid may finally unravel the truth of his identity.
But even if they survive their journey, the teenagers on whom the fate of the Territory now rests have no idea what dangers await them beyond the fence.
A City Called Smoke is available as an ebook, in print and as an audiobook.
A World of ash
Salvation is a world away.
Trapped in a city no one knows exists, Squid lies dying as Nim fights for their lives. With every minute, their hope of getting the vaccine back to civilization is fading. From the brink of death and the edge of the world, Squid must once again conquer dangers even more sinister than the undead – the future of humankind depends on it.
But Squid's efforts will be wasted if Lynn cannot keep the people of Alice safe until he returns, and Lynn is now a hostage of the Holy Order. Forced to face punishment at the hands of the High Priestess, Lynn is at the mercy of the mad cult, as beyond the wall the undead horde continues its relentless approach.
Caught between madness and mindlessness, the odds are stacked against Squid and Lynn. Will they triumph or do they already walk in a world of ash?
A World of Ash is available in ebook and in print.
we are omega
I AM. YOU ARE. WE ARE OMEGA.
Six years ago an alien spacecraft crashed into the remote Nevada desert, releasing a virus that killed one-fifth of the Earth's population.
Molly McManus, whose parents died in the plague, can't forgive the aliens just because they give humanity a few new toys. For Wells Marsden, a computer hacker desperate to atone for his past, the aliens might offer the fresh start he needs.
Both Molly and Wells find themselves, for very different reasons, at the Institute for the Betterment of Humanity – a prestigious facility for gifted youth to learn from the aliens. But when they discover Earth's visitors are not as benevolent as they claim they must escape the Institute, join a mysterious resistance group known only as Omega, and save humanity from disaster – so long as humanity itself doesn't get in their way.
WE ARE OMEGA is a science fiction adventure featuring hacking, telekinetic powers, giant alien crabs out to control the planet and two troubled teens who just might be the best hope we have. It's a thundering read for fans of Illuminae, The 5th Wave, and I Am Number Four.
We Are Omega is available in ebook and print and is coming soon to audiobook read by voice actress Arryn Zech (RWBY).
About Justin
Justin Woolley has been writing stories since he could first scrawl with a crayon. When he was six years old he wrote his first book, a 300 word pirate epic in unreadable handwriting called 'The Ghost Ship'. He promptly declared that he was now an author and didn't need to go to school. Despite being informed that this was, in fact, not the case, he continued to make things up and write them down.
Today Justin is the author of the Australian set dystopian trilogy The Territory Series consisting of the novels A Town Called Dust, A City Called Smoke and A World of Ash, the young-adult science fiction adventure We Are Omega, the science-fiction comedy Shakedowners, and is now adding to the darkness of the 41st millennium for Black Library.
Justin lives in Hobart, Australia with his wife and two sons. In his other life he's been an engineer, a teacher and at one stage even a magician. His handwriting has not improved.
You can contact Justin at justin@justinwoolley.net.
screenwriting
This page is designed as a list of synopses for completed screenplays. Please reach out at justin@justinwoolley.com if you are interested.
raising hell
Genre: Horror/Comedy
When a nineteen-year-old college student receives word that her parents have been killed in a car accident she is forced to return to the hometown she thought she escaped to care for her eight-year-old brother, a boy who happens to be the Antichrist
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take me to your loser
Genre: Science-Fiction/Comedy
In 1982, ten-year-old Henry Norton encountered an abandoned Extra-Terrestrial in the forest near his California home. After bonding with the alien he helped keep it hidden from secretive government agents until it could return home.
Now, thirty years later, nobody believes a god-damn word of his story and Henry, a down and out truck driver, spends his spare time travelling the UFO convention circuit lecturing to those few tin-foil-hat-wearers who want to believe.
But when those aliens return in a full-scale invasion Henry is the only one able to communicate with them and is forced to step in as Earth’s ambassador and attempt to negotiate a way out of our first interstellar ass-kicking.
MANCHURIAN MIKE
Genre: Action/Comedy
Mike Mercia is a disappointment – as much to himself as anyone else.
Instead of following in the footsteps of his father – a renowned neuroscientist, or his older brother Dave – a shining star on the rise in the US Army, Mike left military school to pursue a career stocking shelves at the local convenience store. Constantly berated as a loser by his brother, nagged about his choices by his mother, and lacking the confidence to pursue anything better for himself Mike feels like a nobody.
But when Dave is recruited into Operation Oswald, a top-secret government program to test the instant transfer of skills to military personnel, he selects Mike as the test subject. Suddenly, mild mannered Mike is left with all the skills of the world’s deadliest assassin.
When a darker truth emerges about the test program and Dave’s daughter is kidnapped it’s up to Mike to step up, save his niece and take down Operation Oswald.
Luckily Mike Mercia has all the skills of a hero, he just doesn’t have the know-how.
MANCHURIAN MIKE is an action comedy that asks what would happen if JASON BOURNE woke up in the body.