Ready to begin a new chapter in your life? Thinking of writing a book and self-publishing? Not everyone needs to convince a major publishing house to praise their prose . . .  sometimes a house will find you. Witness the success of Nicholas Sansbury Smith’s ORBS (Simon & Schuster/Simon451), a bestselling trilogy that is (according to those in the know) “a masterful blend of horror, science fiction and pulse-pounding thrills” as they follow the last survivors of an alien invasion. Not bad for someone who worked for Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management in disaster mitigation before switching careers to focus on his one true passion . . . writing.

When it was first released online, ORBS was a phenomenon of independent publishing. Selling tens of thousands of copies since its online release in October 2013, it reached as high as No. 71 on Amazon. Now, for the first time ever in print, this unprecedented and immensely popular trilogy is back. All are $12.99.

When the series begins, the year is 2061, and the planet is dying. Cataclysmic solar storms have forced leaders from around the world to finally put aside their differences and agree on one thing—to jump ship. The human race is headed to Mars.

Just days after Dr. Sophie Winston is hired by New Tech Corporation to help prepare for the three-year flight to Mars, things immediately start to go wrong. When she and her crew unlock themselves from their lab, they discover a changed world. Two things have vanished without a trace: Humans and all of the planet’s water.

One shocking discovery leads to the next, as Sophie and her team of survivors discover luminous blue orbs lining the streets. The orbs are not what they seem, and spur a nightmarish yet compelling journey for the crew, discovering a more startling universe than they could have ever imagined . . .

The trilogy includes ORBS; ORBS II: Stranded and ORBS III: Redemption.