Buried Starship

Shadow of War, Book 1

By: Anthony J. Melchiorri

Narrated by: John Pirhalla

Jace Hawthorne paid the price for defending humanity. Now he lives in the shadows of a galaxy occupied by hostile aliens.

Branded a criminal for daring to fight ruthless alien invaders, Marine veteran Jace Hawthorne now scrapes by as a Shadow. He is forced to smuggle contraband past Enforcer patrols for the local Shadowport Guild. Every illegal run funds his mother’s medicine, every day a careful dance around their oppressive alien overlords. But when a routine job explodes into catastrophe, Jace realizes he’s stumbled into something far deadlier than black market goods.

The Enforcers take his mother away in chains. Someone has betrayed him, and now they’re hunting Jace.

Fellow Shadow and Marine veteran Caera Frost offers him sanctuary—and something more dangerous: hope. She speaks of rebellion brewing in the darkest corners of space, where forgotten alien technologies lie buried. Weapons and ships that could ignite a war humanity might actually win.

Jace never wanted to be a hero. But when an entire species faces extinction, sometimes the shadows are where legends are born.

Buried Starship is the explosive first book in the Shadow of War series. If you love military space opera with alien technology, underdog rebellions, and heroes forged in the fires of war, then you’ll be riveted by this tale of humanity’s fight for survival.

©2025 Anthony J. Melchiorri (P)2025 Blackstone Publishing