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.

Interview with Daniel

How long does it take you to write a book?

Depends on my teaching schedule and what sort of book I’m working on. Generally speaking, I spend about a year mulling over an idea before I start researching and writing the rough draft. But during that time I’m working on something else. The actual drafting and revising of a manuscript generally takes me about a year. Six to nine months for the draft, and three to six months of revision.

When did you write your first book and how old were you?

In college I wrote a terrible series of three satiric science-fiction novels that were so bad I can’t now even laugh at them. I’m still amazed that I wasn’t punished by Fate through some micro-cataclysm involving boils or swarms of locusts.

How do you create your main characters?

My creative process has changed over the years, in part because I keep trying new things and learning more about the nature of narrative as a human exploration of reality. The last few years I’ve taken a more archetypal approach, meaning that I explore possibilities for what a protagonist might look like and then ask myself questions about their personality. That said, I don’t think any of my main characters have been the result of conscious invention. The ones I use tend to present themselves to me as I write. Maxine appeared uninvited in my imagination and immediately started re-arranging the furniture.

What would you say is the most difficult part of writing a book?

Hands-down, the hardest part for me is writing the rough draft. I know how to do it, and I know how much work it is. The rough draft is also the most rewarding part. But everything else is easy in comparison. I would rather edit and revise ten pages than write one. The magic of story creation is expensive at the level of the human soul. For me anyway, the cost of creating boils down to facing my fear of failure and the possibility that what I encounter in my own mind will be worthless or foolish or something even worse.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I read a lot. And of course I have a teaching schedule, which means lectures and grading and committee meetings and other similar micro-cataclsyms that keep me from … Ah. I think I understand now.