Mandrake Company Books In Order

Publication Order of Mandrake Company Books

Ruby Lionsdrake is the pseudonym of author Lindsay Buroker.

Lindsay, or Ruby, has worked in many various jobs and fields before deciding to become an author full-time. She has been a flinger of fast food, a lifeguard, a U.S. Army soldier, and a network administrator. She also worked as an affiliate marketer and blogger from 2004 to 2011. It was a great job for her since she could work when she wanted while working from home, but her dream job was to be a fiction writer.

She decided in 2009 that it was time to buckle down and get serious about finishing her novels. It helped that she already had a few half-written manuscripts, but ultimately decided that it would be better to work with finishing her Emperor’s Edge books since she loved spending time with the characters in it so much. She finished it, but then it sat on her computer for a year as she wasn’t certain it would be good enough to justify sending it out for publication acceptance. Buroker also decided that starting Emperor’s Edge two would not be helpful if she hadn’t sold the first yet.

The author went on to write a book called Encrypted, thinking it might be easier to sell since it was stand-alone. However, a high fantasy story set in a steam-age world ended up being quite science fiction heavy towards the end, and she was not sure how to sell it or pitch it to an agent. Buroker found inspiration when she got a Kindle in 2010 and found a blog on self-publishing that proved helpful. She decided that self-publishing was the way to go for her.

Since she had a good background in internet marketing, blogging, and SEO, she was not put off by the idea of promoting her book online. Although she says that it did help less than she thought, and it turned out that there was more to learn. Still, self-publishing proved the route to go for her and her fourth novel was published online in late 2011. She is thrilled with the support she has received and has been able to go full-time with being an author. While the pay may be different, the important thing to Buroker is that she has a dream job.

The first novel in the Mandrake Company series by Ruby Lionsdrake is Mercenary Instinct. If you’re a big fantasy or science fiction fan, give this book a try!

Ankari Markovich knows that lurking around in ruins on a planet full of bounty hunters, slavers, and hunters isn’t good for her health. However, she also requires some archaeological samples so that she can generate enough money to finally move her family off-planet.

Ankari has gotten the samples that she requires, but then things go wrong when she gets caught by mercenaries. Their captain is somewhat handsome, but he’s also going to turn her over to the lord who has placed a large bounty out on her. She has to figure out a way to escape before she ends up being delivered like a package to the lord, where she faces indentured servitude or worse.

Then there’s Captain Viktor Mandrake. He doesn’t take on bounty hunting jobs often but was told by his intelligence officer that there is a wanted criminal close by. He figures it wouldn’t be the worst idea to use a shuttle to go down and collect her. Once he does, however, he finds out that Ankari Markovich is nothing but trouble. She’s also tricking people as much as possible. He likes her spirit, but as she’s a criminal, he decides the best move is to make sure that she stays safely in the brig until she can be delivered.

Things only get complicated when bounty hunters appear wanting to claim Ankari as their own. Now Viktor’s ship is threatened and some of the crew are going missing, and he’s fighting unasked-for enemies. He’s either going to blame Ankari or fall for her. But is falling for the criminal the very thing that could get him killed? Get a copy of this novel to find out what happens!

Trial and Temptation is the second novel in the Mandrake Company series by Ruby Lionsdrake. If you liked the first book, you’ll love the continuation.

Val Calendula flew ships for a decade and never thought she’d got for a combat pilot job with some mercenaries. However, she needs the gig to save her brother from going to debtor’s prison. Mercenaries may not live long, but they do make good cash while alive. Val knows just a few combat bonuses could give her the money she needs. She may have attended military flight academy and graduated, but she has never fought anything dangerous.

Still worse, Commander Thatcher is hiring pilots and he was her academy instructor. He was smart but Val thought that he would talk down to the students and perceived him as arrogant. Val always got the impression that he didn’t think she had what it takes to be in the academy. Now that some time has passed, will she be able to show him that she is capable and tolerate working alongside him?

Gregor did not expect that he’d run into people he knew from his old life in the military again. He is surprised to see Val Calendula again, a woman he had always cared for. He was uncertain what to do with how he felt, and mixing with the cadets was never encouraged. He’s happy she has come back into his world again, but it seems like she doesn’t care for him. He also is the one that chooses whether she’s good enough to be cleared for combat as a pilot, which is tough when he gets tongue-tied when she’s around.

Val and Gregor are sent on a special mission to get a military advisor, transporting him safely to a war planet. Val wants to show she’d be a good pilot. Thatcher hopes that in spending time with Val she can go on to have a better opinion of him. Then the advisor goes missing and they must hide out at a base, and from there it’s all about survival. Will Val see Gregor for the man he is and not who she thought he was? Get this novel and find out!

Ruby Lionsdrake is the author of several adventures in the sci-fi and fantasy genre, as well as romance. It is the pen name used by Lindsay Buroker.

Ruby has had many jobs before becoming an author. These include being a lifeguard, working in fast food, serving as a network administrator, and serving in the U.S. Army as a soldier. Starting in 2004 and continuing until 2011, she earned money working as a blogger and an affiliate marketer. She was able to make her own hours and work from home but had also wanted to also tell stories. In 2009, she decided she was going to get serious about completing some novels. She had a variety of manuscripts to focus on but chose her Emperor’s Edge characters to work on since she’d known them the longest.

The author finished Emperor’s Edge, then waited a year with it on a hard drive since she was not certain it was ‘good enough’ to send to an agent. She delayed on starting the second book since she had not yet sold the first. Ruby/Lindsay then went on to pen Encrypted, a standalone story. Not knowing how to describe or sell it to agents since it was high-fantasy, steam-age, and science fiction, a little bit of them all.

It was around autumn of 2010 that Ruby got a Kindle for the first time and found a self-publishing blog by J.A. Konrath. She decided she wanted to do self-publishing within a few weeks. She also was not intimidated by the concept of online book promotion since she had experience in blogging, SEO, and internet marketing. Still, she had a lot to learn but got started and never looked back. She’s left her day job and although not making what she has previously, is now working her dream job, writing.

Ruby Lionsdrake is the creator and the author of the Mandrake Company series of fictional novels. The science fiction romance series first got started in 2014 with the release of the first novel, Mercenary Instinct. It was quickly followed by the release of the second novel, Trial and Temptation. The series then continued with the third novel, The Assassin’s Salvation, and the fourth novel, The Ruins of Karzelek. The fifth book is titled Mercenary Courage, and the sixth novel is titled The Tracker’s Dilemma.

Mercenary Instinct is the first book in the Mandrake Company by Ruby Lionsdrake. This full length, standalone novel is great for readers who love space stories or romance.

When it comes to making money, sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. Ankari Markovich does not exactly want to make her way through the ruins of a planet that is teeming with slavers, treasure hunters, and bounty hunters, but she also needs some archaeological samples from there for her newest business venture. If it takes off, it might end up providing her with enough money to help her family move from the planet she grew up on and no longer be poor.

Ankari gets there and takes her samples, but then is quickly captured by a group of strong mercenaries. The captain’s handsome, but he also intends to give her to some finance lord that has placed a huge bounty on her head for reasons she does not know. If Ankari is not able to find a way to get away and make her escape before she gets shipped to the home world of this lord, she could find herself being a servant for life, or something worse.

Captain Viktor Mandrake does not typically take on gigs relating to bounty hunters, but then his intelligence officer tells him about a criminal on a planet that is close by. He figures it might be worth taking a shuttle down to collect her. Ankari Markovich proves to be a tough capture from the beginning, eluding his forces and fighting his people as well as tricking them any way that she can.

He admires her for it, but the warrant says she’s a criminal. The best thing he can do is just throw her in the brig and try to ignore her until they can get her to the man that wants her. Still, more bounty hunters show up and things start to get complicated. All of them want to claim Ankari themselves. The ship’s in danger, crew is going missing, and he’s fighting enemies he never saw coming. It’s all because of Ankari. If he doesn’t kill her for the misfortune she’s bringing with her, he might just fall in love with her. But that doesn’t mean he’s safe. What will happen? Read this book to find out!

Trial and Temptation is the second book in the Mandrake Company by Ruby Lionsdrake. Check out the second book in this series if you like romance, sci-fi, or adventure!

Val Calendula has been flying freighter ships for ten years to different planets. She never thought she’d apply to be a combat pilot in a mercenary outfit, but her brother has accumulated some financial debts. If she can’t come up with the money to bail him out by paying them off, he’ll be sent to a mining prison.

She knows that mercenaries typically don’t have long lives, but figures they make good money before they’re dead so it’s worth trying. Val just needs a few bonuses from combat, and she could earn what she needs. She did make her way out of military flight academy but hasn’t been in any fights. The man that is hiring pilots is also her former academy instructor.

Commander Thatcher was always smart but also came off as condescending and arrogant. Val’s impression was that he never thought she was smart enough to attend. Can she convince him differently or tolerate working with him now? For his part, Gregor Thatcher never thought he’d run into former acquaintances.

Back in the day, he actually did care quite a bit about Val, but officers were not allowed to have relationships with cadets. He also didn’t know how to talk about his feelings. He’s happy she’s come into his life once more but thinks that she hates him. He also has to decide whether she has the stuff to be a combat pilot.

The captain sends Gregor and Val on a mission to get a military advisor and get him to a planet at war. Val wants to prove she can do the piloting position, while Gregor wants Val to like him better. When the advisor is missing, they have to go to a moon base and fight to survive. Will Val see that there’s more to Gregor than meets the eye and fall for him? Read this book to find out!