Raise the Stakes

Book 3 in the Aces High, Jokers Wild series

It starts when you're always afraid.

Seven Corporations run the former United States on the codes of conduct their founders set down. You're signed into a Corporate contract the day you're born. And the fear of dropping in the Citizen Standing Scores keeps people in line. What choice is there?The Democratic State Force has fought for the return of democracy for decades, but they need the restless population of America to fight beside them if they're going to stand a chance. But when your Score goes down, so does your life. It's time for a new strategy: take out the Citizen Standing Score system. And it's time for the unit with the highest mission success rate, the best coder, and the craziest ideas in the Force to head the attempt. Base 1407 just got the call.

Life's a bitch. She raises the stakes when you least expect it. Play your cards as best you can.

O.E. Tearmann Bringing their own experiences as a marginalized author to the page with flawed and genuine characters, O.E. Tearmann’s work has been described as “Firefly for the dystopian genre.” Publisher’s Weekly called it “a lovely paean to the healing power of respectful personal connections among comrades, friends, and lovers.”

Tearmann lives in Colorado with two cats, their partner, and the belief that individuals can make humanity better through small actions. They are a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and the Queer Scifi group. In their spare time, they teach workshops on writing GLTBQ characters, plant gardens to encourage sustainable agricultural practices, and play too many video games