Read an excerpt from Paco Chierici's new novel 'Lions of the Sky' - on sale April 12

Paco Chierici is an accomplished military aviator, commercial pilot, and writer that has previously served as the Editor here at Fighter Sweep. Now, his action packed debut novel, “Lions of the Sky” is about to go on sale.

In the world of fighter pilots, the most alpha of the alpha, competition is everything and the stakes are impossibly high. A Top Gun for the new millennium, LIONS OF THE SKY propels us into a realm in which friendship, loyalty, and skill are tested, battles won and lost in an instant, and lives irrevocably changed in the time it takes to plug in your afterburners.

Thanks to Paco, you can now get a sneak peak at what you’ll find inside “Lions of the Sky” right here on Fighter Sweep. Read the excerpt below and make sure to head over to Amazon to order your own copy of the book!

Slammer was processing the new geometry for his intercept when everything

went to crap. He saw a missile streak from the closest Flanker, trailing a plume

of smoke.

Tiny’s voice screamed over the radio, “Fox-3! Smoke in the air. Tiny’s still

spiked, breaking left.” Tiny fired a retaliatory shot and was turning for all he was

worth in a desperate, last ditch attempt to evade the incoming Chinese missile.

Slammer jerked his trigger then pressed the mic switch, “Fox-3!” The AMRAAM

left his plane with a surprisingly loud scream. A moment later the sky

was latticed with smoke trails as Quick and Lips followed suit. He watched

their missiles travel downrange with disbelief. The Rhinos were now too close

to merging to take evasive maneuvers. Any turn away at this range would just

put the Flankers on their tails.

Committed to a head-on pass, he pulled his throttles to idle to reduce the

infrared signature from his engines and held his breath, watching for any more

missiles coming his way.

Five missiles—four American and one Chinese—closed in on their prey

with a combined closure rate of Mach 6, or 4,000 knots. Roughly one mile per

second. It would be the longest six seconds of Slammer’s life.

Quick pulled the trigger instinctively. After Tiny pitched away she jerked the

stick to bug out, but Tumor’s voice stopped her. “Don’t turn! Straight ahead

now, Quick. Fight’s on.”

She aimed for a close pass with the Flanker her radar was locked onto. Tiny’s

jet had turned almost ninety degrees but the smoke trail from the Chinese missile

was matching it all the way. As she watched, the smoke intersected the plane.

There was a small black puff as the warhead exploded, sending a million hot

metal fragments into an angry cloud. A nanosecond later one pierced a fuel cell

on Tiny’s jet and it erupted in a ball of flame. Large chunks of debris tumbled

from the fireball.

Fuck! she mouthed into her mask. Panic bubbled just beneath, but her

out-of-body self yanked her eyes forward to follow her missile to the merge.

Fight’s on, bitch.

Slammer managed a last radio call before all hell broke loose. “Banger, we lost

Tiny. Merge plot. Lions’ shots in the air. Engaged.”

He turned his attention to the Heads-Up-Display. The missile Tiny had

shot avenged him by vaporizing the same Flanker that destroyed Tiny. A double

knockout in the sky.

Slammer chased after his own missile’s smoke trail directly to his bandit. It

reached the Flanker two seconds before he would have merged, and a second

Chinese fighter disappeared in a huge explosion.

He jinked hard left to miss the debris field lest he suck bits into his engine

turbines. The last two Chinese fighters were obscured by the black curtain of

smoke, but the AMRAAM missile trails Quick and Lips had shot gave him an

excellent idea where they would be.

Quick’s breathing was fast and shallow. She followed Slammer’s maneuver,

dodging around the debris, sure she would see two more black clouds on the

other side. Instead she came through to see Slammer merging with the closest

Flanker while Lips was pointed at the other. The last two missiles fused too

early, confounded by the wreckage.