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ABOUT Exodus Protocol: Earthforce Saga Volume 23
Available Now! (12/07/2025)

The Type IV Alien civilization from the Andromeda galaxy that invaded the Milky Way was defeated and driven off by the Great Lyrian Empire, but not without a cost. The Lyrians have packed up and decided to leave their holdings in the Milky Way and go elsewhere, and now all the minor races there are on their own, to thrive or perish as they might.

Humanity is one minor race the Lyrians had great faith in, and thus far they have expanded to found 80 other colonies within 12 parsecs of Earth and prevailed over the Colony Virus, the Kroth, the Fendi, The Kiring, and the Khel. Yet some of those victories had help from the Lyrians, and now they are gone.

Then, while making a long range recon to the distant future, Fedorov and Karpov learn that the Jinn will return to the Milky Way in the year 2297. Being far too advanced as a Type IV civilization, Karpov realizes that there can be no military solution to the coming of the Jinn, and shifts forward in time to discover the colonies and the Earth itself are all destroyed, and Humanity is exterminated. In the last volume Sanctuary, they planned to stop the chain reaction of events that led to the Jinn attack, and instead negotiate a tentative peace with this dangerous Arachnid race. Then another plan is hatched, the Exodus Protocol. Should this peace ever fail, Earth must save some segment of the Human population to prevent extinction at the hands, or the claws, of the Jinn.

250,000 people are selected to join the Exodus Protocol, and they will board 250 starships and flee along the newly discovered Startide Epsilon to parts unknown. The protocol calls for the expedition to split into three groups to increase the chance that at least one survives. This is the story of how the Exodus Protocol is planned, organized and launched in the year 2250, a full 47 years before the known first arrival time of the Jinn in 2297. The story will join Group Orion of the protocol, led by Karpov and Fedorov. Their mission, find a place to hide 100,000 souls and 130 starships in the Orion Nebula and the Dark Orion Molecular Clouds beyond. Along the way they will explore alternate star systems, uncover an interstellar war between two planets in one system, make some amazing discoveries, but fail to seed their colony. In the end, they find they must fall back on another star system, with one of the few planets in the region capable of supporting Human life. Yet in doing so, they find other life already exists there in great abundance, and it wants no visitors.

Come join the Exodus Protocol! Available on or before 10 December on Amazon. (Available Now)

Or get this book and every other book John has written, including all books he will publish in 2026 by buying a pass to the Writing Shop Library. Download any book in the library as an EPUB file that can be sent to your kindle or loaded on many other eBook readers. You get everything, the Kirov series, Earthforce saga, Keyholders Saga, Meridian Series, Silk Road Series, Dharman Series, and all the Battle Books too.

“The Kirov Series and the Earthforce Saga represent one of the most ambitious and enduring epics in modern science fiction. The author’s ability to evolve a long-running military series into a vast, philosophical space opera is nothing short of remarkable. The recent installment’s exploration of what lies “beyond the rift” feels both mythic and immediate, a thrilling convergence of cosmic mystery and human courage. What lies “beyond the rift”? How do civilizations respond to forces beyond their control? The book’s blend of interstellar mystery, military realism, and mythological resonance creates a fertile ground for debate and reflection. The incredible scope and ambition behind this work is impressive—a vast and ongoing saga. Seventy volumes across the Kirov Series, and now the Earthforce Saga! That’s an extraordinary achievement and a real testament to the Author’s consistency and world-building skill.”  —Evelyn Carter

Series Entry Points: The best entry is Volume 1: Kirov to meet the main character set and understand what has happened to the ship. Then books 2 through 40 will present an alternate history of WWII as a result of the interventions of Kirov and crew.

A second entry point is book 41: Homecoming, which presents what the fate of the ship and crew would have been if they had not been displaced in time in Volume 1. This segment of the series is all modern day warfare (WWIII), first in 2021 on the Prime Meridian with mostly naval operations in the Atlantic and Arctic in Books 41-48. Some strange encounters occur in this segment. Then Books 49-56 depict the war in the Pacific in the future of the Timeline altered by Kirov in WWII.

Books 60-64 are special mission events, in a  linked story. Any book after 64 is a special edition, including a series of linked books that became the Earthforce Saga beginning with Volume #70 Goliath.

An accident during live fire exercises sends the most powerful surface combatant in the world back in time to the heart of WWII. There the officers and crew struggle to understand what has happened to them, where they are in time, and how they will use the power they have to shape the course of the war.

The Kirov Series!

"..Lose yourself in a world riveted with exacting detail, top notch historical research, a narrative style that is utterly captivating, with characters and dialog that keep you glued to every page. The Kirov Series is a masterpiece, by a master story teller in love with this history.

The author presents a world as real and visceral as the war he is writing about, and when that history alters in the whirlwind of Kirov’s many battles, the outcomes are completely convincing... This series sets a new standard for alternate history military fiction that is unsurpassed. Its scale and scope is simply awesome! ...”

A massive Alternate history of WWII

The latest books featuring characters from the Kirov Series are in the new Earthforce Saga below...

Historical Military Fiction

The Keyholders Series ~ Alternate History

Two mysterious men are traveling through time and wagering on the outcome of famous historical battles, with each taking a side and making interventions in the history to favor their desired outcome.

A FOUR BOOK SERIES!

Volume I: Field of Glory - An alternate history of the Battle of Waterloo
Volume II: Zulu Hour - Alternate History of the Zulu War ~ Isandlwana
Volume III: The Devil Ship ~ The Opium Wars
Volume IV: The Sands of Honor ~ Gordon, Kitchener and the Battle of Omdurman

The Award Winning Meridian Series Quintet!

The Meridian Series is a set of five linked volumes comprising a quintet of extraordinary novels in the popular time travel genre. It is the story of the first ever attempt to travel in time on a rainy Memorial Day weekend set in the very near future. The project team has acquired a site at Lawrence Berkeley Labs, and quietly built their “Arch Complex” to test new physics principles in Quantum Mechanics that could possibly allow for time travel. They succeed! All these books can be found on Amazon

Volume I: Meridian ~ Forward Magazine Science Fiction Book of the year (2002) - Silver Medal Winner. Also Readers Digest rated 9.5/10
The Meridian team visits Lawrence of Arabia!

Volume II: Nexus Point - A Jaunt through the Crusades and the Medieval Assassin Cult.

Volume III: Touchstone ~ Napoleon's Invasion of Egypt & the Rossetta Stone.

Volume IV: Anvil of Fate ~ The Battle of Tours & the Fate of Christendom in Europe.

Volume V: Golem 7 ~ The Hunt for the Bismarck! (Naval Fiction)

Science Fiction: Enter the Wild Zone

The Silk Road Series is comprised of the novels Taklamakan - The Land of No Return, by John Schettler, and its sequel Khan Tengri - The Lord of the Sky.

This is epic historical fiction set in northwestern China in the year 757 A.D. It is the story of Tando Ghazi Khan, a simple caravaneer on the fabled Silk Road, who sets out from Dun Huang China on what he hopes will be his final trek to the western bazaars of Kashgar. But the mighty T’ang Empire of China has been shaken from within by the rebellion of the Turkic-Sogdian general An Lu Shan, and the balance of power in the Tarim Basin, where Tando must travel, suddenly shifts when the Chinese Western Garrisons are called home. Tando’s caravan is soon embroiled in political intrigue as the armies of Tibet, China’s long time rival, begin to advance into the Tarim Basin to choke off trade.

Tando must use all his skills to secure the lives of his men and the safety of his cargo. He soon discovers an unexpected ally in the Tibetan camp and circumstances lead him to pursue the mystery inscribed on a strange map that will lead to an ancient secret in the heart of the most forbidding and feared desert on earth--the Taklamakan.

The Mystery of Time Travel

The Colony on Dharma VI has gone dark, and Special Services Agent Timothy Scott Ryan is sent on the Frigate Achilles to investigate. He finds the Safe Zone colony site has been overrun in a vicious attack. Three robotic aids assist him, and as the mystery deepens he discovers the that the fate of humanity and all evolution is now at stake....

Historical Fiction The Silk Road Series

An Alternate History of the Desert War

Foxbane: Kirov Series Battle Book I of two Volumes: The Alternate History of the war in the desert! (Volume II also available). All books are on Amazon.

In a move that stunned Great Britain in 1940, the Germans launched a daring operation to seize the vaunted Rock of Gibraltar and Malta. Now Erwin Rommel leads the Afrika Korps in a bid to conquer all of Egypt and knock England out of the war. But a strange event in the year 2021 sends the Great Grandsons of the Desert Rats back through time to pose a bold new challenge. Soon the hunter becomes the hunted, as the Desert Fox struggles for his very survival in this exciting alternate history of WWII.

Loaded with action, this book presents 58 chapters of all the action from the German Operation Felix attack on Gibraltar, the daring attack on Malta, the opening moves in North Africa with O'Connor's Raid, the Battle of Beda Fomm, and Operation Sonnenblume (Rommel's first offensive). Then, in the midst of the fighting, General O'Connor goes missing, and a desperate search and rescue operation is mounted. Fate takes the search team to a unexpected rendezvous in the deep desert, where a strange event in the midst of a new war in 2021 has displaced the modern British 7th Armored Brigade back in time to 1941.

As Rommel drives east towards Alexandria, he is soon confronted by a powerful new enemy that becomes the bane of the Desert Fox from that day forward. At the battle of Bir el Khamsa (alternative history), modern day Challenger II tanks and Warrior AFVs confront the cream of Rommel's Afrika Korps. But we're just getting started! Foxbane then continues as Rommel receives powerful new reinforcements to launch a bold attack on Tobruk. The fighting continues as the British launch their own counteroffensives in Operation Crusader, and finally Operation Supercharge, where the Desert Rats seek to push Rommel back to Tripoli.

Here is all the great desert war action extracted from the massive 64 volume Kirov Series novels by John Schettler, re-edited by the author and presented in one continuous file spanning 58 chapters. (Over 175,000 words). (In two volumes)

An Alternate History of the Pacific War!

This is the alternate history of the war in the Pacific, extracted from many volumes of the long Kirov Series and re-edited into one continuous narrative. There are already 90 chapters featuring action from the Pacific, far too many to assemble in just one volume. That history will therefore be presented in a series of Battle Books, this being the first: Roll of Thunder. Volume II continues with Sea of Fire.

In editing this, I have revised certain segments to eliminate information not needed for this narrative, and also included new material in places to improve the flow. I worked a bit so that a reader who is new to the series can jump right in without having to read all of season 1 and 2. So if you are a Pacific War fan, I hope you will enjoy my spin on this history, though be advised that it will be heavily influenced by the underlying premise of the series as a whole—what if a modern day ship of war suddenly found itself transported into the midst of WWII? How would it, or how could it, influence the course of events and shape the outcome of the war, and by extension, of all the history that followed that war. The battlecruiser Kirov was that ship, launching a series that has become much more than I ever expected from the story, and this is but one of the many subplots presented in that series, which has covered wartime action on every key front.

Volume II for the Pacific War will then continue with the story concerning JS Takami, the Battle of the Coral Sea, Halsey’s raid on the Marshalls, Japanese Operation FS and the landings on Fiji, the Battle of the Koro Sea, US Landing at Suva Bay, Karpov’s Landings on Sakhalin Island, and finally the battle between Kirov and an unexpected challenger in the Sea of Okhotsk, (another 45 chapters in all). It will then probably take at least one more volume of this same length to cover the remainder of the Pacific War through 1944-45. For those many readers who have written and asked me to cover the Pacific in the next release for the Battle Book series, enjoy!

Volkov was nothing more than a nuisance to Karpov when he came aboard with Inspector General Kapustin in Vladivostok. Karpov called him a lapdog, but Volkov, who’s name translates as “Wolf” in Russian, became something very much more in this story. Pursuing Fedorov along the Trans-Siberian rail, he comes upon the railway inn at Ilanskiy, stumbles down that stairway and finds himself in 1908, just as Fedorov once did. But unlike Fedorov, who’s brief time there ended up profoundly changing the history of the 20th Century when he warned a young Sergei Kirov of an impending plot to take his life, Ivan Volkov never came back. Instead he used his foreknowledge of future events, the data stored in his service jacket computer, to co-opt the White Russian movement after the revolution, unseating Denikin and establishing his private little empire, the Orenburg Federation.

In time he hoped to easily defeat Kolchak’s fledgling Free Siberian State, and by so doing place himself in a position to challenge the Soviet Union, now led by Sergei Kirov, who murdered a young Josef Stalin as a result of Fedorov’s errant whisper. Then along came Vladimir Karpov, defeated in his second attempt to seize control of the ship named for Kirov, lost, forsaken, alone, and adrift at sea. But not for very long.

While the other main characters aboard Kirov, and the ship’s crew, harbor mixed feelings as they commemorate his apparent death, Karpov survives, makes his way to Siberia, and soon applies his unique personality and will to quickly rise in the ranks of the Siberian power elite. This is that story, of his fall in that last terrible moment aboard Kirov off Oki Island in the Sea of Japan, and his meteoric rise from the ashes, Phoenix like, to seize control of the Free Siberian State. In so doing, it is inevitable that he comes into conflict with his neighbor state to the west, Volkov’s Orenburg Federation, shocked to learn the real identity of the man behind it, and dedicated to his demise.

Here is their story, the clash and contest of wills between our saga’s two arch villains that became a long Vendetta. In presenting it here, re-edited into one continuous narrative, I also include what might be called “outtakes,” deleted scenes, and occasional new material that never appeared in the original Kirov Series. Consider it my “Director’s Cut” for this long intriguing subplot in the saga, all things Ilanskiy, the mystery, the mayhem, and oh yes, the Zeppelins!

Steampunk with Zeppelin Duels!

A Five Volume Epic Fantasy Series

Discover the world of the Alderenh as free men and the Imperial Empire of Innisfail struggle for survival against the rise of three terrible Dreadlords. A five Volume Military Fantasy series!

From Pearl Harbor to Operation FS against the Fiji Islands, Yamamoto shuns his Midway operation and moves to Isolate Australia!

Book III- Nightwatch: $6.99 Kindle

Or Get the Entire Series: $9.99 Kindle

The Dharman Series

Scroll Down to Explore the world of Innisfail on 22 Maps!

Meridian - 2002

Innisfail Map Library

You can click and "Save Image As" to download full size images.

These maps cover most every segment of the story, including important battle sites.

About Us

The Writing Shop is the creative home of Author John Schettler, a place where imagination and storytelling come to life through military & historical fiction, time travel, science fiction, and fantasy. Join us on an adventure through the pages of his books.

Get in Touch!

John@writingshop.press