Winter Duty: 8 (Vampire Earth)

The cause of freedom in Kentucky balances on a knife-edge. Major David Valentine and his fugitive battalion are all that is left of an expeditionary force shattered in its long retreat from disaster in the Appalachians. Between a raging blizzard, the remnants of the brutal and fanatic Moondaggers—bands of headhunters kidnapping entire towns to sell to the Kurians—and the need to recover wounded soldiers lost during the retreat, Valentine is in for the toughest winter of his life. And Valentine is losing allies fast. Some of the clans in the region have declared themselves in favor of the Kurians, throwing Kentucky into civil war. But the Kurian overlords have determined that the region isn’t worth the effort of another conquest. Their order: extermination. By whatever means necessary...

E. E. Knight was born in Wisconsin, grew up in Minnesota and now calls Chicago home, where he abides in domestic felicity with a spouse, a young son, and assorted pets. He invites readers to visit his Web site at vampjac.com or his blog, Bohemian Word Werks.