Get ready for Ghosts of Timkovichi

BattleTech: Ghosts of Timkovichi is the newest BattleTech novel, coming out on May 15th, 2026. It takes place at the end of 3152 and is the first full-length adventure for the Ghost Dogs, as they’re called back into service by Callandre Kell and the Kell Hounds in service to the Arc-Royal Liberty Coalition. We haven’t heard much about Arc-Royal and that little corner of the Hinterlands lately and its border with the Lyran Commonwealth, so this novel will offer windows into areas of the ilClan era Inner Sphere that have yet to be explored in fiction.

For fans of the Kell Hounds, this is going to be a must-read novel.

Like all of my books, I’ve done my best to make this one as new reader friendly as possible. You should have no trouble picking it up and going without feeling like you’ve missed anything. On the other hand, there are fans that want to know everything that feeds into a book. To that end, I’ve put together a chronological reading list of adventures the Ghost Dogs have had, as well as the events on Timkovichi and the Arc-Royal Liberty Coalition, in case you want to catch up prior to reading Ghosts of Timkovichi.

1. Field Manual 3145, Era Report: 3145, Shattered Fortress - To get the full sweep of information about Timkovichi and Arc-Royal, you’ll need to catch a number of sourcebooks, as it’s really not documented in any fiction… yet. Field Manual: 3145 and Era Report: 3145 are the two best places to go to learn about the fate of the Kell Hounds on Timkovichi. To learn about the Jade Falcons and their conquest of Arc-Royal and subsequent attack on the Kell Hounds, Shattered Fortress is the book you’ll need to check out.

2. Giving Up the Ghost by Bryan Young - Major Hank Mallory started out the year 3146 as the man in charge of the Kell Hounds 2nd Company—the Wolfhounds. By the end of the year, the Jade Falcons had made it known that being a Kell Hound was a death sentence and Callandre Kell issues orders for them to become an independent, off the books unit. Thus, the Ghost Dogs are born. This novella-length adventure was published in Fortunes of War #1 and was also offered free to all backers of the Mercenaries Kickstarter.

3. Way of the Ghost Dog by Bryan Young - Taking place in 3147, this short story sees the Ghost Dogs finding their footing in and around Galatea, dealing with pirates, Capellans, and other ne’er-do-wells. This was part of the 2025 free fiction program and was collected in Tales of the Inner Sphere.

4. Extraordinary Rendition by Bryan Young - Later in 3147, the Ghost Dogs find themselves on Solaris VII, the game world, looking to bring a fugitive to justice. As is the style for the Ghost Dogs, they use their clandestine skills of subterfuge to get the job done. This novelette length story appeared in the pages of Shrapnel #21.

5. Let Slip the Dogs of War by Bryan Young - Set during the summer of 3148, this novella length story takes the Ghost Dogs to the Free World’s League where they are hired to defend a planet against invasion from the Marian Hegemony. At the same time, they’re dealing with a populace who is suspicious of their motives and not really interested in their help. Let Slip the Dogs of War was, so far, a digital only release and is available wherever you get eBooks, including the Catalyst Store.

6. Tamar Rising - To get a sense of what’s going on with the Arc-Royal Liberty Coalition and Callandre Kell, the sourcebook Tamar Rising, which includes a terrific short story by Loren Coleman called By the Sword starring Callandre, documents the formation of Callandre’s new government of, by, and for the Kells and Kell Hounds.

7. Zealot’s Nest by Bryan Young - Set across 3151 through New Years Day 3152, Callandre Kell has much to celebrate with her burgeoning coalition on Arc-Royal, but she also has the issue of dealing with the Jade Falcons leftover from when they controlled the planet. This short story gives a sense of some of the things she’s had to deal with and appeared in the pages of Shrapnel #18.

The Arc-Royal Liberty Coalition has not appeared on screen much and the Kell Hounds that Callandre has sent to ground are larger in number than just the Ghost Dogs, but those are stories for another day. As for the Ghost Dogs themselves, there are plenty more adventures for the Kell Hounds former 2nd Company in the years between 3148 and 3152 (and some of those are even written and waiting for their day in the sun), but this list is all that’s available so far. One day, all of these adventures of theirs to date will be collected chronologically in one volume, but until then, you’ll have to chase them down one at a time in advance of Ghosts of Timkovichi. 

Trust me, it’ll be worth it. This is a fun batch of characters and they’re carrying on the legacy of the Kell Hounds in some very interesting ways. They were created at the behest of Michael A. Stackpole, who insisted I create a splinter unit of the Kell Hounds to call my own. Before my first book in the BattleTech universe, Honor’s Gauntlet, ever came out, he and I were working on tag-teaming a trilogy of Kell Hound novels that never ended up happening. Part one would have dramatized the initial Battle of Timkovichi and send a number of these splinter units heading in various directions. We would each create our own stories on the side to feature these units, and then they’d get called back when the Kell Hounds had their day of revenge against the Jade Falcons and Malvina Hazen on Terra. That never ended up happening, but Mike suggested I take the notes about the unit I was going to use and write their stories anyway, we’d find a use for them down the line and here we are years later and the Ghost Dogs are coming into their own and back into the Kell Hounds fold.

Catch up with them to this point and then see how it all goes down in Ghosts of Timkovichi, which comes out in May. These aren’t mandatory to enjoy the book as Ghosts of Timkovichi definitely stands on its own with no need for prior reading, but it would definitely add to your enjoyment.

You can pre-order the book for its May 15th, 2026 release date here.

- Bryan Young