OK gang – MuseHackers, Seventh Sanctum, regular readers, here’s two books you want.
First, my friend Serdar has gotten his novel Flight of the Vajra out. I’ve known him for years and watched him evolve this novel, and I was an editor – and I can say that very quickly the editing stopped being a job and started being a pleasure because finally I was having the kind of fun in SF I haven’t had in ages. This is the kind of Space Opera I’ve missed for a decade, and it’s well worth your time to get it and read it because it’s both far-flung high-tech space adventure, and a character-driven story with a memorable cast.
What’s it about? It’s the story of Henré Sim, a talented engineer who lost his family and best friend in a horrible accident aboard a starship of his own design. With a destroyed career, a large legal settlement, a cache of legally questionable technology, and a vague hope of finding out what happened, he ends up traveling around the galaxy in a personal investigation that soon turns to wandering and drinking. However, when a few events thrust him back into the spotlight, he quickly ends up entangled in the agendas of multiple people and organizations, and soon finds that the event that ruined his life may now lead to far larger problems. Henré’s got a lot more on his hands than he ever expected, and he’s got to count on his ever-growing and half-accidental crew to save the day; a circus acrobat, a religious leader, an experienced cop and his not-quite-human partner, a gender-shifting singer, and more. You’re going to keep guessing what’s up until the very end as Henré and company try to stay one step ahead of everyone else . . .
But there’s more than Space Opera. My friend Rob Barba’s Kickstarting his own project, Razorblade Angel. Rob’s ambition is to create an anime/mecha-themed military sci-fi adventure in a persistent universe he’s been evolving. Rob’s been in the military himself, so he’s bringing a realistic and human take to mecha and military adventure – but Rob’s also a fan of anime and mecha, so he’s combining that with a loving homage to “real robot” anime and stories. You can even read the first two chapters here.
I know these guys. They’re great. They’re talented. They deserve your support – and they’ll entertain the hell out of you.
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.