Somers’ Short Stories

The Walled City
First Published: 2015
Continuing Avery Cates’ story from “The Shattered Gears,” “The Walled City” sees the aging Gunner tangle with a psionic who has set himself up as a City Lord in the crumbling remnants of civilization.

The Pale
First Published: 2015
Continuing from The Shattered Gears and The Walled City, Avery tries to put distance between himself and The Angels and meets an old man with an unusual companion named The Pale. When they accompany Avery thinking he’ll provide them protection on the road, they come to regret it. Because someone’s hunting Avery.

The Iron Island
First Published: 2015
The fourth episode of the exciting new Avery Cates adventure finds Avery en route to the mysterious Iron Island, where he will finally learn why he’s on everybody’s To Do List, and forge some surprising new alliances.

The Bey 
First Published: 2016
Cates returns to dry land on the hunt for The Pale and his possessions, and finds himself hunted in turn by the Archangel’s psionic lieutenant known as The Bey. Cates has to think fast, move faster, and adapt to a world in steep decline.

The Lord of the City
First Published: 2016
As Cates follows the trail to the fortified city of Castelvecchio, he finds The System hasn’t completely died yet, and he acquires something he hasn’t had in a long time: A target.

The Kendish Hit
First Published: 2017
In this thrilling prequel to The Electric Church, a young Avery Cates finds himself trying desperately to survive in the newly-established System of Federated Nations. When a hit on a Joint Council Undersecretary falls into his lap, Cates determines he’ll fulfill the contract, even if the people hiring don’t know it yet. As Cates learns the ropes, he meets someone who will one day be an old friend and struggles with the reality of what he’s about to do. Killing a man for money, he’s told, is a great and terrible thing. Contains the previously-released Avery Cates short stories “This Was Battle. This Was Joy,” “The Golden Badge,” “The Oldest Bastard on the Block,” “This Was Education,” “all orphans, at least,” and “The Sewer Rat.”

The Devil’s Bargain
First Published: 2018
Avery Cates has a problem.

In a shrinking, sterile world, the Archangel is marching his army to Castelvecchio, and Cates has the information he needs to access the last remnants of the awesome technology of the despise System. He’s made his Devil’s Bargain with Lucinda Barowel, and now he knows the hitch: In order to get to the machinery of war left behind at Cochtopa, he’s going to need a boat—and guns. His ersatz army is quickly running out of ammunition in a world where the factories stopped working long ago.

When he learns that a local criminal has been hoarding guns and ammo as insurance against the coming apocalypse, Cates heads off to make a deal. And if he can’t make a deal, he’ll have to use every last resource he has left to secure that weaponry for himself—and hope his bargain with Barowel doesn’t come back to bite him in the ass.

The Drum Trial
First Published: 2018
New York is burning.

After the assassination of Dennis Squalor came the Monk Riots: Thousands of cyborgs, released from their digital prisons, expressing rage and suffering and insanity through violence and bloodshed. The System Security Force mobilizes with brutal efficiency to restore order, but they take losses—and they’ve been ordered not to go after the man they blame: A young Gunner named Avery Cates.

But the System Police aren’t used to being told that someone is untouchable. And they have no intention of obeying this particular order.

Also contains the bonus Cates story, “A Small, Red-headed Problem”

The Long Siege
First Published: 2019
Avery Cates is a City Lord, but the world’s still ending. When he comes across a key piece of information, he hatches a bold plan to reboot the world – but the Archangel’s army is camped outside, and they’re coming in one way or another. Part Three of the new serialized Avery Cates novel ‘The Burning City’.

The New World
First Published: 2019
Avery Cates is a City Lord, but the world’s still ending. When he comes across a key piece of information, he hatches a bold plan to reboot the world – but the Archangel’s army is camped outside, and they’re coming in one way or another. Part Three of the new serialized Avery Cates novel ‘The Burning City’.

The Burning City
First Published: 2020
The sequel to THE SHATTERED GEARS containing the previously published novellas THE NEW WORLD, THE DEVIL’S BARGAIN, THE LONG SIEGE, and THE DARK HUNT.Avery Cates has his city, but being a City Lord isn’t what he thought it would be. Beset by problems, with the Archangel and his army of psionics marching inexorably towards him, he knows his one chance is to cobble together the resources to try and take Cochtopa, the secret System Security Force installation that might contain the tech and data he needs to reboot humanity and defeat the Archangel.Cates has his team: Techie Ezekial Marko, old-school System genius; Spectacular Dan, the most powerful Tele-K he’s ever seen; Moreau, former Stormer and ultra-reliable enforcer; The Pale, silent precognitive monk; and Lucinda Barowel, former Undersecretary and now his partner. They’re ready to make their play.But first, they’ll have to get out of the city alive.

The Dark Hunt
First Published: 2020
The fourth novella making up the novel “The Burning City.” Avery Cates is making his play for the ocean and the secret cache of System tech and data that might just bring humanity back from the brink. But nothing ever goes as planned, and when the Gunner finds himself alone in the dark with an unexpected ally, he has to play an epic game of cat and mouse.