R.M. Meluch Books In Order

Publication Order of Tour of the Merrimack Books

Publication Order of Wind Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

R.M. Meluch is an American science fiction author best known for the “Tour of the Merrimack” series of novels. Born in 1956, she has been publishing in the genre for more than three decades and has degrees in classical civilization and communications. She also speaks several languages including Latin and Greek and has traveled through Egypt, Israel and Greece following the tracks of Alexander the Great. Meluch wrote her debut novel “Sovereign” in 1979 and until 1992 she wrote a variety of novels on several themes before she took a long break. In 2005, she published “The Myriad” the first of the “Tour of the Merrimack” series. These are space opera/military science fiction novels set in in a future where the recreated Roman Empire and the United States are at war with the alien invaders known as “The Hive.” She currently has more than twelve novels and a collection of short fiction. She first got interested in science fiction when she read the works of Gene Roddenberry, Jules Verne, Frank Herbert, and Robert Heinlein. She has also been influenced by the Patrick O’Brian sea stories.

Meluch is best known for her interesting blend of enemies, science, spies, SciFi, opposing factions, Odyssey/Space Opera, hard fighting marines and interpersonal relationships. These relationships tend to evolve as people live and work together for a long time. With the “Tour of the Merrimack” Series, she blends horror, humor, and science fiction with just the right amount of personal relationships. An overall theme of the series is the war between the Palatine colony, the successors of the Roman Empire and the United States. The Palatines had left planet Earth and colonized a huge swathe of interstellar space and were now threatening the dominance of the US government in space. While there is no love lost between the Palatines and the US, the two are forced to team up against the Gorgon who exhibit hive-like behavior and terrorize the other inhabitants of the universe. The Gorgon travel across space and seem to have an uncanny ability to withstand repeated attacks as they eat their way through anything organic including galaxies, planets and space ships. They are attracted to the same resonance emitted by American space agencies and space going ships.

In “Sovereign” her debut novel, R.M. Meluch shows her proficient grasp of the venues and conventions of science fiction adventure, even as it refracts the traditional material via the experiences of a complex protagonist. The protagonist is a culmination of the best genetic engineering programs that were set up by his father who continually haunts him. In the “Wind” series, she depicts a shapeshifter species in a story that comes close to being sentimental as it portrays how the characters are oppressed by an evil establishment that only wants to exploit the resources of the planet. After nearly a decade of not publishing any long-form fiction, she began the “Tour of the Merrimack” series in 2005 when she published “The Myriad.” They are a set of military science fiction adventure odysseys with a setting in interstellar venues. The series has been praised for its innovative alternate universe twists in the plot, action heavy sequences, pulpy and colorful settings.

“The Myriad,” which is Meluch’s first novel in more than a decade is an amalgam of alternate history, time paradox, space opera, and military science fiction. It is set in a world in which the Roman Empire continued to exist among the secret societies for millions of years before finally leaving the planet and establishing itself on Palatine, a distant planet. The Palatines are now at war with the League of Earth Nations until they are forced to confront the Hive a dark race of aliens from deep space. The confederation from Earth and the government of Palatine sign an uneasy truce and alliance to the nondescript alien invaders that consume everything in their path. Even as the unified forces struggle to protect their planets from annihilation from the Hive, the US tries one more thing. They send the Merrimack, a battleship on a quest to find the homeworld of the Hive so as to destroy them at the source. In the desperate search for the homeland of the hive, they discover a bizarre cluster of stars where they find sentient inhabitants. After contacting them, John Farragut the captain of the ship learns that there are wormholes in the locality that could be used to either destroy humankind forever or defeat the Hive.

“Wolf Star” the second novel of the Tour of the Merrimack by R.M. Meluch is a science fiction story with interesting science, action, horrible alien creatures and mystery with a slight feel of Star Trek. The US and Rome hold two sectors of interstellar space and are now vying to control the remaining third. The US space ship the Merrimack accidentally crosses the path of Roman ships and makes the wrong assumptions about them. The captain believes that this is part of the operation to create a device to move large objects from one location in space to another named the Catapult. The US owns the Shotgun, a similar device and hence by building the catapult, Rome can neutralize its effect. Farragut the captain attacks the formation only to learn that the controlling systems on the American ship have been infiltrated. They now have to find the traitor in their midst fast so that they can repair the ship and prevent such a catastrophe from reoccurring. They also need to stop the Romans from finishing their own Catapult device. But when the two armies meet next time round they realize that all they believed about their universe was wrong.

“The Sagittarius Command’s” main dramatic thrust is that there is a war against the Gorgon al alien life form that turns the understanding of the universe upside down. The Romans are so terrified that they unilaterally give in to John Farragut and the Americans. They trust him as he remains the only man to recover a ship that had been boarded by the Gorgons. The Roman Emperor has given up his legions including his most trusted partner Augustus to the command of Farragut. Augustus is an advanced human that can synthesize a large amount of information, push his body to insane limits and blindly follows Caesar’s commands. As the war rages, there is an uneasy truce between the Romans and their American commander. They can never fully trust each other but when it comes to waging war and winning they all know that no one is better than Farragut. As such, even though he is not liked by many of the people under him he still inspires begrudging respect.