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?

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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.

Author Interview

What is your favorite genre of books? Why?

I’ve loved speculative fiction since childhood and studied it in graduate school under the legendary sci-fi writer, Jim Gunn. Why I love it is a tricky question to which I don’t have a complete answer. I used to think that it was the ability of these works to whisk me away to some other world where life could be adventurous and wholly meaningful. Later I thought it had to do with the ability of sci-fi and fantasy to speak truth to the real world. Now I suspect it has to do with a sort of spiritual hunger for the transcendent that can only be fulfilled partially in this life. I think that stories like The Lord of the Rings and Tunnel in the Sky are whispering to my soul that there is indeed a Wizard behind the curtain of the material world and he is better and more interesting than any of us have believed.

Are you a one project at a time author or do you have multiple projects going at once?

I usually have several ideas percolating in the background simultaneously, but when it comes to research and writing, I stick to one major project at a time. Once I’m past the rough draft, I can start working on a new project while editing the previous one. But my imagination needs the focus of a magnifying glass.

How has your life experience helped in your writing journey?

I worked for eleven years in the insurance industry handling multi-lines claims—auto wrecks, slip and fall claims, arson fires, fraudulent thefts, etc.—and this is rich comedic soil for Maxine Justice’s garden. People do stuff in real life that I couldn’t put into a book, even a book about a space-faring galactic attorney handling cases in an alien courtroom. Readers can only believe so much.

Where do you find your greatest inspiration?

Okay, this may sound either pretentious or ridiculous (or both), but my greatest inspiration comes when I pray. I don’t hear voices or get visits from angels, sadly, and most of my prayer life has been frankly boring. When I die I may file a complaint. But over the years I have found a sense of stillness and comfort—and sometimes even a presence that I recognize as the Spirit of God brooding over the chaos of my life—and when I bring story ideas and problems to Him I usually find an unexpected answer. I don’t claim that God is writing my books. He’s a much better writer than I will ever be. But somehow I receive what is described in Narnia as “strange help.”

Do you have extensive outlines when writing or do you write a book as you go?

I’m a hopeless outliner. But I never follow my outlines the way they are written. Instead, I write a series of short treatments that serve as a target or a flexible plan of attack. As the story unfolds this sort of planning keeps me focused on the overall arc and character development without dictating everything that happens. I apparently need a combination of structure and freedom in order to write creatively.