Bone of Contention

Bone of Contention

If you’ve read What’s Bred in the Bone and A Bone to Pick, you’re two-thirds through the XK9 “Bones” Trilogy. What’s next? Bone of Contention! Jan is currently writing this book.

This image shows a false book cover for "Bone of Contention" by Jan S. Gephardt, visualized as both on an e-reader, and as the cover of a fat paperback. Underneath, it says: This is a placeholder mockup, to give you something to look at until we have a real cover. The gorgeous background image (of the Milky Way’s galactic center) is courtesy of NASA, and you might recognize “Running Rex,” ©2020 by Lucy A. Synk.

XK9 Rex is a dog who dreams too big . . . Now he may lose everything.

Rex and his Packmates were bio-engineered and cyber-enhanced to be cutting edge law enforcement tools. But they’re more than super-smart forensic tools with cold, wet noses and wagging tails. Their human allies on Rana Station claim the XK9s are sapient beings.

Rex and the Pack have begun to enjoy the freedom Ranans believe they deserve. But they also have work to do. They’re hot on the trail of a murderous gang that explodes spaceships in the Black Void of space—killing all the souls onboard.

Mass murder in the Black Void is a hideous crime. But in the far-flung systems of the Alliance of the Peoples, trafficking in sapient beings is even more deeply reviled.

Inspectors from the Alliance of the Peoples are headed to Rana, to test the XK9s’ sapience claim. The leaders of the XK9 Project that created Rex and his Pack deny wrongdoing. And the system-dominating Transmondian Government that sponsored the XK9 Project will do anything they must to protect themselves.

Even if it means destroying every XK9 in the universe.

You could be reading previews of this book. How? Subscribe to Jan’s Monthly Newsletter!

Bone of Contention wraps up the XK9 “Bones” Trilogy. It answers key questions about XK9 sapience and brings the Izgubil Investigation to a conclusion. But the XK9s’ story doesn’t end with the Trilogy. Learn more about planned future projects once this book is finished! Meanwhile, where can you get more XK9 stories?

Chapter One Sneak Peek

The banner shows a 3D mockup of the story’s cover on an e-reader, an empty park bench, and the words, “Shady couldn’t see the entity on the bench in Glen Haven Park, but she could clearly smell it.” Along the bottom, a yellow strip like crime scene tape reads, “SPOILERS LINE DO NOT CROSS.” Across it, in red, a block of type says, “Unless you’ve read ‘A Bone to Pick’!”
There’d be a link for you here, if you subscribed to Jan’s Monthly Newsletter!

Chapter Two Sneak Peek

This banner shows a 3D mockup of “The Murder Brothers-‘Bone of Contention’ Chapter Two” as an ebook on a tablet, next to the words, “The truth can’t be told if no one believes the evidence. With help from their human allies, the XK9s decoded what Rufus and Neil Dolan did on the bridge of the doomed ship “Izgubil.” But it’ll all count for nothing if XK9 Rex’s partner Charlie Morgan’s reconstruction doesn’t communicate. Has he built a GR that will convince a skeptical prosecutor of the truth the scent evidence revealed?” Another line reads, “Cover art ©2022 by Jose-Luis Segura.”
There’d be a link for you here, if you subscribed to Jan’s Monthly Newsletter!