Marksman

An alien species has invaded Earth and is systematically wiping out the planet's leadership, governments, communications and vital infrastructure. The alien's far superior technological advantage forces humans to unite against a common enemy, but they must resort to hit and run tactics which includes sniping. Marksman is a short story about a sniping team, Matt and Phillipe, who come together and forge a strong friendship. Having served and trained with their respective special armed forces in Australia and France, Matt and Phillipe's own leadership regard them as the best in the business as they go about taking out their high-ranking targets in the hope of removing the alien leaders. Upon return to their hidden base after another successful job which relied upon them downing an alien drone, their American general calls them to her office to discuss their next task. They dislike her as much as she dislikes them, but the circumstances requires they work together. Due to their familiarity with the Australian bush and ability to go on extended missions, the general considers the pair the logical choice to capture one of the aliens so security agencies can interrogate it and learn as much about their foe as they can. The task takes the pair to a place they would never have imagined they would go. They would need to operate under the noses of the enemy and not only kidnap the chosen alien but get it and themselves out alive.

Stephen. L. West was born in the UK but moved to South Australia in the mid-sixties growing up mainly in the north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide. At seventeen he enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy where he learnt his trade. Whilst still serving, he married Trudi in nineteen eighty. After a ten-year career he joined the New South Wales Fire Brigades before the family, now four with two children, decided to move back to South Australia.
His writing career started in the late nineteen-eighties creating technical manuals which soon led to looking further afield and dabbling in fiction. As an amateur astronomer with a lot of interest in other sciences, he decided to write his first science fiction novel.
'I had this thing going around and around inside my head so I decided one day to get it out of there and onto paper.'
Stephen and Trudi still live in South Australia, in the mid-north and are both involved with the Country Fire Service, Stephen as a firefighter and Trudi as a financial coordinator. Their family has expanded to six grandchildren (with more to come).