Ronin (The Last Reindeer): A Science Fiction Adventure

Tony Bertauski

Nov 2018 · DeadPixel Publications

About this ebook

The 6th standalone novel in the Claus Universe. The holiday legends you never heard growing up.

This is Ryder’s last stop.

It’s a half million acre ranch and home to forty teenagers. It’s also home to a famous and eccentric philanthropist with a peculiar obsession with the North Pole. His name is Billy “Big Game” Sinterklaas. But shortly after Ryder arrives, secret messages begin leading him to what’s really happening. Billy Big Game believes that Santa Claus is real.

This is the year he proves it.

He says there’s one Christmas story no one has ever heard, the legend of the biggest and baddest reindeer of them all, the one who leads the sleigh and protects the herd. But Billy Big Game doesn’t want to discover the last reindeer. He wants to capture him.

That’s why he brought Ryder to the ranch.

REVIEWS FOR THE CLAUS UNIVERSE

“Amazing rewrites that will astound you!” –Ruth Jackson, Reviewer
“Best Santa Story Ever!” – Bob, Reviewer
“Simply lovely.” –jl, Reviewer
“MY HEART GREW THREE SIZES…” – Reviewer
“Couldn’t Put It Down.” – Reviewer
“Fantasy at it’s [sic] finest.” –Carol, Reviewer
“Absolutely phenomenal!” –JayFly, Reviewer
“A++” –TKJ 131, Reviewer
“Absolutely Awesome.” –Dee greusel, Reviewer
“I absolutely love this series…” –Kara McCabe, Reviewer
“Tony is an excellent story teller!” jjjlake, Reviewer
“I want MORE!” –J. Bunch, Reviewer
“Awesomely engaging!” –Janice Everett, Reviewer

Ratings and reviews

"It's not a story if it's real." "Sometimes the truth was disguised as a lie. And sometimes a lie is just a lie." This is a wonderful tale of love and hate, protection and betrayal, what is truth and which is a lie. Ronin is the biggest and baddest reindeer of all, is this the truth? Join Ryder and the other misfit orphans (nicies and naughties) on a huge adventure trying to find the North Pole, Santa and reindeer. Is it true? Just a story? All is not as it seems. The nicies are plotting and the naughties are rebels - what's really going on? This is a really great story and I have loved the entire series. I hope Ronin is not the last!!

This is a really fun read and is a very good take on the whole idea of Santa Claus. Add a building full of orphans and a rich man with a strong purpose and you have a recipe for a mysterious and interesting story. I loved the whole concept of Ronin and what he was capable of. What a great idea!

This is wonderful. Such an enjoyable read that really makes you wonder about the reindeer! This series (all standalones) just keeps getting better I received an ARC from the author with the option of reviewing or not.

About the author

 I grew up in the Midwest where the land is flat and the corn is tall. The winters are bleak and cold. I hated winters.

I always wanted to write. But writing was hard. And I wasn’t very disciplined. The cold had nothing to do with that, but it didn’t help. That changed in grad school.

After several attempts at a proposal,  my major advisor was losing money on red ink and advised me to figure it out. Somehow, I did.

After grad school, his wife and my two very little children moved to the South in Charleston, South Carolina where the winters are spring and the summers are a sauna (cliche but dead on accurate). That’s when I started teaching and writing articles for trade magazines. I eventually published two textbooks on landscape design. I then transitioned to writing a column for the Post and Courier. They were all great gigs, but they weren’t fiction.

That was a few years later.

My daughter started reading before she could read, pretending she knew the words in books she propped on her lap. My son was a different story. In an attempt to change that, I began writing a story with him. We made up a character, gave him a name, and something to do. As with much of parenting, it did not go as planned. But the character got stuck in my head.

He wanted out.

A few years later, Socket Greeny was born. It was a science fiction trilogy that was gritty and thoughtful. That was 2005.

I have been practicing Zen since I was 23 years old. A daily meditator, I wanted to instill something meaningful in my stories that appeals to a young adult crowd as well as adult. I hadn’t planned to write fiction, didn’t even know if I had anymore stories in me after Socket Greeny.

Turns out I did.