About the Book

Book: Maxine Justice: Public Offender Author: Daniel Schwabauer Genre: Science Fiction Release Date: November 4, 2025 The case she didn’t need. The client she didn’t want. The trial she couldn’t win. Fresh off her single-handed defense against alien adversaries in a galactic courtroom, Maxine Justice discovers that saving the Earth is not enough to earn a hero’s welcome back home. Once again broke and now looking for revenge, her return to night court as a public defender takes an immediate detour when she’s tasked with defending a Therapod murder suspect. The case drags her into the quirky theories of her new client, Father Gilbert Barthes, and the corrupt underbelly of corporate robotics. As her defense takes on global significance, Maxine lands squarely in the crosshairs of new enemies determined to conceal their plans for acquiring the planet. Worse, her probably guilty client may be the only one who can expose what’s really happening. Stripped of all credibility and most of her friends, can Maxine find some way to save humanity when the world is bent on self-destruction? Or will Earth finally succumb to the most unlikely deception?

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Daniel Schwabauer, ThD, teaches English at MidAmerica Nazarene University and writes award-winning fantasy and science fiction novels. His professional work includes textbooks, stage plays, radio scripts, short stories, newspaper columns, comic books, scripting for the PBS animated series Auto-B-Good, and theology. He earned an MA in creative writing under science fiction legend James Gunn and completed his doctoral work in semiotic theology with Leonard Sweet. He lives in Olathe, Kansas, with his wife and dogs.

More from Daniel

I tend to get three questions from people who only know me from the Night Court Channel or watching my defense of planet Earth on the global broadcast that made me famous. To the first, no, I haven’t seen a penny of the money I’m owed because the feds froze ALL of my bank accounts, even my personal savings. Second, traveling in a space-egg with a pastoroid was not as terrifying as it sounds—except that I had no way to escape Counselor Singh’s dad jokes. And third, no, even though my cat is still missing, I do not want one of your kittens, thank you very much. Maxine Justice, LLC is your only source for first-hand legal advice pertaining to extraterrestrial medical malpractice, predatory off-world time-sharing contracts, and “surprise implants” experiences at the Coliseum. We’re also the only law firm committed to exposing what’s really happening in the world of artificial humans. Ever wondered how Counselor Singh could be targeted on the steps of the UN building during a heavily-covered press conference, yet six months later law enforcement still claims they have no idea who the shooter was? Doesn’t it seem odd that they turned the forensic evidence over to Singh’s manufacturer instead of using a neutral third party? If I were an artificial person, I’d be screaming these questions from the rooftop. Yet we haven’t heard a peep from that community since it happened. That’s not some wild conspiracy. That’s fear. Which is where I come in. If you’re a TheraPod concerned about your future in a world spiraling out of control— if you’re a pastoroid, a rabbot, a podre, an e-mam, a surgicon EZ Doc, or any other model of artificial person and you face a legal dilemma involving your own termination and/or the fate of biological humans, give me a call. If you’re a regular human and you’ve been railroaded by York City’s legal system, targeted by ruthless corporate bullies, or victimized by inhuman—and I do mean not-at-all-human—business practices, talk to me. I’m not in it for the money. I don’t have any! I’m in it for my name—for Justice. And I promise you this: I won’t smile until you do.

Interview with the Author

Do you read books in this genre? If so, who do you like to read?

I don’t get to read as much speculative fiction as I would like, but when I get a chance to read for pleasure it is almost always something set on another world or in another time. Terry Pratchett is my go-to author when I need to laugh, C.S. Lewis when I need to think, J.R.R. Tolkien when I need myth and meaning, and Robert Heinlein when I want to feel the wonder of endless possibilities.

What helps you to write? Do you eat snacks, listen to music?

I use music as an emotional plumb line. Snacks are a reward for achieving a daily goal, but usually only indulged in after my work is done. Music, on the other hand, is part of that work because it helps me connect, and re-connect, with the stream of thoughts and images I was experiencing in my previous writing session.

If you could travel back in time, what time period would you go to?

I would travel back to the 1980s and tell younger me not to do so many stupid and cringey things. And also to actually enjoy the absence of iPhones and social media, and to go ahead and read all the pulp fiction I was going to read anyway but not to feel guilty about it because someday it would help me more than I could imagine. Knowing that younger me would not listen, I would show him a picture of my wife on my iPhone and say something like, Trust me, kid, the future isn’t all bad.

What is your favorite hymn and why?

“Be Thou My Vision” is my favorite, in part because it is so very old and therefore feels to me like a mystical connection to generations of believers in the past, but also because the words perfectly match the haunting beauty of the melody. No other hymn connects my soul to the numinous realm so readily, and no other song invites me into a place of humility with such profound power.

Share with me a few of your favorite things.

Early morning walks with my two Cavachon dogs, Shiloh and Cocoa, through the woods along Indian Creek near my home. The smell of Ethiopian coffee brewing after a hot shower. A fire in the fireplace. The expression on a student’s face when they suddenly understand something important and life-changing—an expression of wonder that virtually shouts “Ah! So that’s why this thing is the way it is! I’ve never understood that before.” That same feeling in my own soul when I read something in scripture for the thousand-and-first time and suddenly understand what has escaped me for so many years; I can almost hear the smile on God’s face as he recognizes my own look of wonder.