Ashe Stelfire started out as a selfish and cruel person. The worst person for the job of helping Avril Enzali, his long-lost daughter, to save her goddess from eternal imprisonment in an extra-dimensional dungeon of unbreakable ice.
Things did not go as planned.
Avril and Ashe both suffered great harm. The daughter far worse than the father. All at the whims of Corsis, who toyed with them from the periphery of a dark empire’s rise to power. Before he could embark on the quest to free his daughter’s goddess, Ashe had to fight through a hellish world war to reclaim the means to heal Avril’s wounds.
Ashe changed along the way.
He lost his innate pyromancy, transformed himself with a transfusion of silver blood, and claimed the legendary Retributor axe. And he donned the monstrous bronze mask fashioned from the face of his old mentor. Of far greater significance, he put aside his greed for fortune hunting as he learned of the magnitude of Corsis’s threat. He strove to be better.
To repent.
He and his allies achieved a bitter victory in the final battle, where the means to heal Avril was at last recovered. Although they triumphed in that smaller goal, they still lost the war against the dark empire backed by Corsis. Ashe, Avril, and several of their friends fled to another world in the aftermath. A brighter world.
A world with the entrance to a certain ice maze.
Ashe and Avril will at last embark on the quest to break out the imprisoned goddess. One they had originally intended to perform by themselves. But the past hard years have imparted another hard lesson.
When it comes to the Game and all the things it touches, going it alone is folly.
LOTS of news this month, so I’m going to jump right in with the style of a 90s-era Marvel Bullpen Bulletin that they’d use as in-house newsletters.
I loved seeing the all-caps ITEM subheadings in the middle of a random Spider-Man or New Warriors comic, so I shall shamelessly copy that format now.
ITEM: The Breakers is Available for Pre Order on Kindle Now!
That’s right!
The Breakers is releasing on Thursday, September 4, 2025. And if you’re so inclined, you can pre-order it on Kindle now with the button below.
Do you prefer paperbacks or another ebook service besides Amazon?
Fear not!
The Breakers will be available for paperback purchase on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org. And other ebook versions will be available on Apple, BN, Kobo, and many others. They will go live on the actual 9/4/2025 date.
But if you are a Kindle reader, go right ahead and use the button below to get in line.
In the past, I had a paltry presence on Goodreads, as I found its user interface too annoying.
I’ve changed my stance. Its UI is… fine.
And more importantly, it’s one of the best places to learn what actual readers think about their favorite books.
I’ve also linked my blog from Stelfire.com to it, so it already has a robust selection of entries. Many of which will be familiar to long-time reader group members.
So, if Goodreads is your bag, please follow me on that platform with the link below.
New to the Players of the Game Saga or need a refresh before you jump into The Breakers? I’ve got you covered!
Check out the Recaps tab on Stelfire.com with the link below or the tab above.
Want to know the score fast? Select Quick Recap, and Corsis will detail all his jerky skullduggery in just a few minutes.
Want to know the nitty gritty? Select Detailed Recaps to jump in with both feet and learn all the big events and character moments of the Players of the Game saga.
Well, that’s not true at all, as the rest of the post below will confirm.
But we shall now return to the typical topics I cover in these reader group emails.
Translation: I gots ta share my usual artwork, WIP status reports, and geeky things I like. Starting with an image of Ashe Stelfire above that many of you have seen, but I wanted to share anew.
Players of the Game Works in Progress
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this earlier. But The Breakers is available on September 4th, 2025. I could have sworn I had talked about that topic somewhere.
Kidding aside, I’m excited to get it out in the world. But I shan’t be resting on my laurels.
I’m creeping toward the end of the first drafts for Book 5.5: Unseen Scars and Book 5.7: Secret Fronts. The initial combined draft sits at 137,600 words with 482 pages. That’s 14,000 words with 46 pages this time around. It didn’t feel like I did better this month, but that’s double last month’s so-so output, so I take the W.
Once I’m done with the combined draft, I’ll take a look at The Game War’s edits from my editor, and run it through ProWritingAid again. Then on to slicing and dicing books 5.5 and 5.7.
And maybe make use of Eleven Labs to see how AI narration sounds. I’ve been kicking around using that where I’d direct the performance of a virtual voice. Sadly, I cannot afford a voice actor for an audio book. So it’s either AI-narrated audio or no audio. I’m still determining what I want to do there.
A quandary for a later time.
Players of the Game Out of Context Quote of the Month
Corsis and Frulgrath:
Corsis considered Frulgrath, maybe with an eyebrow raised from behind his mask, maybe not. Finally, he said, “Self-delusion sneaks up on the best of us.”
Frulgrath stood away from the wall, still unsure if Corsis leveraged only intuition or something more invasive. He supposed it didn’t matter either way. “Hrh. You gotta be you. And I gotta be me.”
Recommendation Corner
Superman (2025)
I adored this movie.
Superman is so easy to get wrong. But this felt like picking up a random issue and jumping in with both feet. Some folks won’t like the “toss into the deep end” approach to reintroducing him.
I am not among them.
It’s the best comic book movie I’ve seen in years.
The pacing is fantastic. There was no part of this movie that felt slow. Luckily I had an empty bladder, as there were no slow-pace expository/transitional scenes where it felt like a good time to step out. I’ve seen it twice, and I remained impressed by its story structure.
Mr. Terrific, Lex, Lois, and of course, Krypto, were the other standouts. I teared up at the father-son scene between Clark and Pa Kent.
Its take on the original John Williams score was very hummable, which is job one of any movie score in my reckoning.
A very positive and earnest movie. Highest possible recommendation.
Fantastic Four: First Steps
The best cinematic adaptation of Fantastic Four. Not as good as Superman. But the more I pondered the movie, the more I liked it.
I was initially on the fence with whether I’d be on board (pun partially intended) with the Silver Surfer swap from Norrin Radd to Shalla Bal. But the angle they took with it worked for me. This interpretation of the Surfer made her and Johnny Storm sort of love interests. They sort of flirted with tentative curiosity about each other. It turned tragic as Johnny figured out a cipher for her language while Reed, Sue, and Ben were busy with figuring out a way to beat Galactus.
Speaking of which, I love how they leveraged Reed’s brains and Sue and Ben’s hearts as part of their drive to not sacrifice Franklin to Galactus’s designs. Dare I say it? I thought it worked better than the comics’ Ultimate Nullifier macguffin in the original story.
Sue’s drive to keep Franklin safe was very relatable. Vanessa Kirby really excelled in showing her strength when she confronted a crowd of haters. The Invisible Woman is rightly up there with Storm and Wonder Woman as an exemplar of a female super hero.
And Pedro Pascal did a good portrayal of Reed Richards, but (nerd quibble alert) he wasn’t stretchy enough. All the others’ powers were spot on.
Some people had an issue with Ben Grimm not having a gravelly voice. But I liked his soft-spoken, understated, pensive demeanor. I also like that they dialed into his Jewish background.
Herbie and the Fantasticar were also spot on with the retro-future aesthetic.
And this score is up there with Superman and the Avengers. Especially the verbal part. I’ve been singing “FANTASTIC FOUR!!!!” to my wife for days. It’s a fun earworm and I get to tease her. A true double threat.
Also recommended. Like I said earlier, Superman is better. But FF: FS is totally worth seeing in the theater too.
Everything Avril Enzali has done. From enlisting Ashe Stelfire’s aid. To clawing her path back to the land of the living. To dueling her mother in the mountain city of Onno.
All of it has led to liberating this woman from the center of a maze of unbreakable ice.
Both women share the same shade of red hair and the forehead tattoo. But Celsis Kri is not like Avril. Her demeanor is sharp-edged. She seldom makes apologies for it. A tapestry of tattoos covers much of the Goddess of Conquest’s body. In the past, they granted her powers and weapons, but her chilled shackles now suppress such manifestations.
But her bonds cannot negate the ethereal glyphs’ defenses. They have protected her from torture and worse. The goddess’s crimson markings also allow her to explore other places within unseen realms of the mind.
And those also seen.
Using their common tattoo on both the goddess and her last follower’s foreheads, Celsis has tracked Avril’s progress, or lack thereof, through the events of Repenter and The Brigands. The imprisoned woman had to learn patience over these past sixteen centuries. Her captors have tormented her with promises of freedom if she would only renounce her rebellion against Starm, the Dragon God of the Holy Alliance. And away from the reptilian deity’s notice, enticement to rejoin the Game on Corsis’s side.
Celsis refused. And has continued to refuse. Her change of heart endures.
The horrors of the Eruption changed her perspective, reminding her of the Weird War from millennia earlier. The realization pierced through her very core. Everything Starm overtly put into motion and everything Corsis covertly orchestrated without the Dragon God’s knowledge, all of it continued the mad agenda the Weird Ones had attempted to inflict on the world. Reshape it into something outside of the natural order. Something twisted.
The cataclysm that created the Fire Well was only the beginning.
She had undone everything she’d fought to save in the Weird War. And so she rebelled against Starm and Corsis. The Dragon God captured and imprisoned her, while the Master of the Game has continued to whittle at her resolve from the shadows.
She bides her time and has recently let something dangerous creep into her mind. Hope that she might walk out of her frigid prison. If only Avril, Ashe, and a group of New Players can breach the cold dungeon. If only they can break her free.
Read more about the quest to liberate Celsis Kri in The Breakers.
I do believe most readers have a backlog. A stack of reading material that you intend to get to at some point. But if you’re like me, you end up stacking more on top of it. Not just books, but a manner of reading material like magazines. Or if you’re even more like me, comic books.
Months upon months of them.
I need to move them to the frontlog. Reduce the piles. Retake sanity. Okay, maybe not that last part. But catch up on things.
Honestly, part of why I’m writing about this is to force a little accountability for myself. I waste a decent chunk of time looking at YouTube videos about educational topics and tactics role-playing video games. None of it awful, but also none of it fantastic either. I know I’ll feel better about the stuff I put in my mind if I’m more deliberate about it.
And the stuff I put in other folks’ minds.
I’m also making the publication of Breakers part of my frontlog. Sometime in the first two weeks of August, likely on a Thursday. I don’t quite have a specific release date narrowed down, but it’s getting closer.
Fun stuff to add to your own aspirational reading pile.
Players of the Game Works in Progress
I had a few life curve balls and bouts of slogging through mental molasses this month. So my productivity is lower than I would have liked. I reached page 436 of Secret Fronts with 123,600 words. That’s 28 pages with 7600 words for this round. Better than last month, but I’ll strive to do more as the summer weeks tick away.
Also, as mentioned last time, I’ll be splitting this bonus novel in two. Book 5.5, which focuses on the fallout of the events of Book 5, will be called Unseen Scars. And Book 5.7, which focuses on other realms affected by the Game, will be called Secret Fronts.
I’m liking where the story is going, despite the manuscript mitosis. Plus there’s the above referenced August release of The Breakers, so that’s exciting too.
I shall keep walking the path.
Players of the Game Out of Context Quote of the Month:
“Brunch.” Ed shook his head. “This is what maturity feels like.”
Fernallus turned his attention away from his friend. “Simply horrifying, isn’t it?”
Recommendation Corner
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
I always enjoy the dark humor of Abercrombie’s grim-dark worlds. And this dark setting is brand new.
A lost princess who grew up as a scumbag con artist finds herself in the middle of a succession crisis as events conspire to murder her horribly as the politics of nations and the church also conspire to put her on the throne of a Constantinople analogue.
And she can’t stop being a conniving, opportunistic coward.
Luckily, or more accurately unluckily, she’s protected by a suicide squad team called the Chapel of the Holy Expediency, led by a very weary knight, a rogue with far too much experience, a weathered vampire, an arrogant necromancer, a low-key elf. And a filth-minded werewolf who can’t tell friend from foe in her wolf form. Only that she has to eat the “good meat.”
I’m only part way through it so far, but I’m enjoying it a bunch. Steven Pacey’s performance is top-notch with his wry delivery.
Good stuff.
Murderbot on Apple TV
If you’ve been reading my newsletters for any length of time, you’ll know that I love the Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries novella and novel series.
The Apple series does a fantastic job of bringing the violent and absurd world to life. The banal evil of the various intergalactic corporations. The inane researchers who are way too touchy feely in their interactions with each other. All of it seen through the eyes of an android who would much rather sit by itself and watch its TV shows. Especially the ludicrous Sanctuary Moon.
Alexander Skarsgard does a great job of portraying the introverted Sec Unit with the secret name of Murderbot in all the android’s awkward glory. And the writing is very similar to the novels’ not-quite-comedy action as the humans ignore Murderbot’s advice and it has to continuously save them.
I think I still like the books a little more. But this is still an A-tier adaptation.
I’ve had this image for a couple of years. I even gave a cropped version of it to my cousin. (Hey, Nick!)
I think it looks amazing.
It shows Ashe Stelfire and Celsis Kri in the middle of a fight with a bunch of Fethelither demons. I love the sense of frantic action.
I might end up changing the titling design with my name on the bottom, instead of being squeezed at the top. But the image will stay as is. It was made by Ringasure. You can check out his stuff on DeviantArt and ArtStation.
I’m still narrowing down the launch date for it. Probably end of July or sometime in August. I might even set up preorder on the various platforms to see how that goes.
Halfway through the year, and after many updates with the incremental crafting of various works in progress, I am ready to share the Breakers’ cover.
Take a look at it above!
Players of the Game Works in Progress
As predicted last time, various personal matters, which have thankfully turned out well, ate into my productivity. I’m up to page 408 with 116,000 words on Secret Fronts. So that means I only wrote 16 pages with 4800 words. I don’t feel bad about this at all. The past month has driven home that there are more important things in life than productivity goals. I’ll ramp back up next time around.
And I’ve come to a realization with this bonus novel WIP. It’s actually two bonus novels.
One focusing on the fallout from the events of Game War, and one showing a previously unseen long siege with other characters who will meet Ashe, Avril, Ed, Harry, and the rest in the sixth main book in the series. I had outlined a briefer exploration of the long siege, but the story of Gathiner and especially Nadia’s struggles against Corsis’s cruelty took on a lot of life as I wrote it, and demanded more story real estate.
So much so that the aftermath story and the long siege story each need a separate book, rather than a single bonus novel.
Right now, I’m guessing I’ll be designating them with Book 5.5 and Book 5.7. I still need to figure out a new title for the split bonus novel, but Secret Fronts will probably be the name of the latter one.
Onwards!
Players of the Game Out of Context Quote of the Month:
Ashe and Crystala:
Crystala bent forward with one hand on her knee and the other raised with her forefinger extended upward. Pitch blackness danced at the edges of her vision. “Give me… give me a ten count.”
Ashe Stelfire crouched to meet her gaze. “Nuul Light is roiling around your eyes. You need more than a ten count.”
She huffed out a laugh. “You might be on to something there.”
Recommendation Corner
Dark Deity II on Steam
You thought you could escape mentions of tactics video games in my monthly missives, but you can’t. Grid-based game reviews are as inevitable as the passing of the seasons.
Dark Deity II has more of the same Shining Force/Fire Emblem-esque game play. Fun weapons, skill, and character class customizations. Too many characters, so you end up ignoring half of them. Though that’s better than ignoring 2/3 of them from the first game.
The voice acting is good. And the writing is mostly okay, though it gets a little wordy and melodramatic when they’re confronting the bad guy boss characters.
The tactical progression through the battle maps is the big selling point of the game. And it does that part quite well. So I’m happy with it.
The Lords of Uncreation by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Final Architecture trilogy ups the stakes throughout this third installment.
Idris discovers lots more about the nature of the universe. Specifically, the unspeakable thing in unspace that drives sentient minds insane and suicidal. And the masters pulling the strings of both it and the moon-sized, crystalline Architects. But he’s so mentally broken and twitchy that he has a hard time convincing the others of this bigger picture.
I don’t generally like whiny main characters, but Idris was compelling. And Solace, Kris, Havaer, and Olli were thankfully more assertive in each of their own ways.
But first the characters need to deal with Magda super thugs and their unexpected allies. And a weird empire that’s hung around the periphery that gets VERY pissed off with all the human factionalism and other more esoteric concerns, though their chosen means of multiple layers of interpreters gets in the way of communicating that.
One minor quibble. I wish more time had been spent with Idris and Solace’s quasi romance. It was mentioned in passing throughout the series, but never shown very much aside from a few interactions where they leaned on each other for strength. I didn’t really get a sense of actual intimacy between them.
But that’s not enough to hinder my enjoyment. I loved this book. And the whole series. Read it with your ears or eyes!
Avril Enzali sets in motion much in the Players of the Game saga.
And it all starts when she embarks on a quest to find her biological father, Ashe Stelfire, in his remote tower on an island in Sufrinzon’s Ocean of the Lost. With a companion who has an agenda of his own.
Svithe. Broker of All Things Rare.
But Avril possesses much of her own resources. She wields Nixer, a sword that leaves ethereal and everlasting harm on anyone it stabs or strikes. Her Krian helm, symbol of her order’s leadership. One she took on from her adoptive father.
Her most potent asset, however, is her determination. It drives her to become the best in swordplay and myriad forms of mancy. But despite that, she still cannot master the one thing that will free her goddess from her prison of unbreakable ice.
Channeling Flames of Tumult. She needs Ashe Stelfire for that.
And nothing will stop her from recruiting him to her cause.
Whether they can actually return to Trojis to accomplish that goal is another matter entirely. A goal Svithe will stand against. Or get others to do in his stead.
Read more about Avril’s early struggles, starting in Repenter.
And check out her image below without her helmet with her forehead’s Kri’s Eyes tattoos.
I often make a joke/observation that lands about 10 percent of the time, but I like it so much that I don’t care.
Molecules are more expensive than electrons.
It means that publishing on paper costs more than ebooks. And I’ve found that lots of my readers prefer to pay for that premium to have the physical book for all kinds of reasons.
To sniff when it’s brand new. (What? That’s just me? I think not.) To dog ear, to flip back to earlier parts and front matter. To physically see your progress with an official or improvised book mark.
All great stuff about having a physical book to read.
And now, the Players of the Game series is available not just on Amazon, but also Barnes and Noble and Bookshop.org.
If you have a local bookstore you want to support, totally do it. Just swing in and have them order from Bookshop.org. Or order online.
I’m experimenting with some Amazon ads with a new Repenter Collection. exclusive to ebook. It collects the Repenter and Brigands novels. Along with The Hidden Chapters and The Favor bonus novellas.
It’s also available wide on Apple, BN, Kobo, and the rest.
I’ll be altering its description, price, and possibly the cover as time goes on to see what praises the almighty algorithm the best.
Things shall evolve as I work on various initiatives to expand my audience.
Players of the Game Works in Progress
Lots of plates spinning right now. I launched the expanded availability of paperbacks. And the ongoing experiment with the ebook collection.
And the Secret Fronts bonus novel chugs along. I’ve reached page 392 with 111,200 words. That’s 46 pages and 13,200 words for the month. Pretty good.
I will almost certainly have less productivity in May with some various personal stuff on which I’ll be helping. But any words on the page are a plus.
I’m still looking to release The Breakers sometime in the summer, likely in July. So that’s also exciting.
Players of the Game Out of Context Quote of the Month:
“You want me sick,“ Jarah said. “Never well.”
Corsis shot back with an immediate reply. “Never stopping.”
She looked at him with eyes glistening. “Never loved.”
He didn’t answer for a long stretch of moments. “Love is beneath us.”
“Beneath us,” Jarah whispered. “As it always was.”
Recommendation Corner
Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Final Architecture Trilogy is rad.
I enjoyed this second entry in the series as much as the first. Hugh (The Council of Human Interests) and the Parthenon should be getting along now that the Architects have returned. Just as they did in the war in the distant past.
But they aren’t.
Factions within Hugh with the Magda families have a warped agenda. One that sees a great deal of threat in the vat-grown Partheni sisterhood.
And Idris Telemmier and the crew of the Vulture God are caught in the middle of everything. A middle that includes a frantic fire fight against Magda ultra thugs on a planet as a trio of Architects unmake it. Or plunging into Unspace on a planet of radioactive super flora.
So good. Highest possible recommendation.
Thunderbolts*
I have a soft spot for the original Thunderbolts team from the 90s with Baron Zemo as the fake hero, Citizen V, leading a team that was secretly the Masters of Evil. Much of the team ended up becoming conflicted as they grew to like their lives of lies.
This movie has none of that, taking much more from the era when Norman Osborn led the team in the aughts. Though Norman is not part of this team.
It focuses on a group of anti heroes who must team up after events conspire to end their lives. And they encounter a seeming civilian named Bob, who becomes central to the conflict of the rest of the story.
Yelena (White Widow) is the main character, who’s carrying a lot of emotional damage from doing wet work throughout her life. Red Guardian is great comic relief as the washed up Red Guardian and Yelena’s father figure. Bucky and John Walker (US Agent) are also great in their roles.
I love how the movie’s stakes are more emotional with some trippy super stuff thrown in, rather than a villain who wants to blow up the ocean. (Blue Laser Commander deep cut for all you Homestar Runner fans.)
It’s the best Marvel movie in a couple of years. Good stuff.
As part of the Krians, he led an invasion of Grelland in the conflict that resulted in the Eruption. In its aftermath, Eric regrouped the sect of warriors following Celsis Kri’s imprisonment by Starm.
And time has not been kind to the immortal warrior’s organization. The Krians have diminished. All of his children and many others died in futile attempts to free their goddess.
Eric and those below him will never reclaim their former glory unless they can liberate Celsis Kri. That’s the hope.
Hope that just might be kindled by the infant Avril.
Her arrival in the hands of the Peddler of All Things Rare bodes ill, however.
The Krians remain weak. While they are fierce warriors, they are vulnerable in their diminished state. Even if they get help from the Grells against common enemies.
Find out Eric’s fate in Repenter and The Brigands.
A few months back, I lamented the fall of Game Informer, a cherished video game news magazine. Well, it appears that they’ve risen from the ashes. Another outfit bought the IP, rehired all the staffers, and is planning to restart the publication in a few months.
Yay!
I haven’t mentioned this bit of geek news earlier, mainly because I didn’t know how it would shake out. The main comics distributor, Diamond, declared bankruptcy earlier this year. They had mismanaged much and a series of events following lock down really hurt them. Other distributors had picked up the bigger publishers, but things were going to be most annoying for my local comic shop. Thankfully, a separate toy distributor is poised to buy them. I’m hoping this makes things less dicey for this other cherished print medium. It looks cautiously optimistic.
Additional yay!
And I also have paper announcements of my own.
The Players of the Game series paperbacks will have updated spines and back covers in a few weeks. They’ll be wide. Not just at Amazon. You’ll be able to order them through Barnes and Nobles and any book store that orders from Ingram.
Triple yay!
Take a look at these proofs.
With my fingers making a guest appearance to steady the spine view.
And after a long delay, the first two bonus novellas will join the third in print. Both The Hidden Chapters and The Favor now have expanded back matter sections.
Again with my fingers making a steadying appearance for the spine view.
These pics are from the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing proofs with their lovely “Not for Resale” stripes. I’ll be getting the Draft2Digital proofs soon. Once they’re ready to go, I’ll release them.
PLUS: I’ll also be releasing the Repenter Collection later this month too. It collects, Repenter, The Hidden Chapters, The Brigands, and The Favor in one ebook bundle for just $1.99.
Here’s its faux boxed set image.
I’ll send an update with links once everything is ready later in April.
The paperbacks will ultimately get wraparound images that will cover the spines and back covers, so this color-coordinated variety are limited editions.
I’ll have you covered if you’re looking for snazzy molecules (paperbacks) or economical electrons (ebook collections).
Exciting stuff!
Players of the Game Works in Progress
As part of my season of intentionality, I have a bunch of other initiatives in the offing.
With Secret Fronts’ first draft, I’ve reached page 346 with 98,000 words. That’s 42 pages with 11,700 words for the month. Not quite as productive as last month, but not bad.
I think I’m on track to release The Breakers by June or July of this year. I’ll be sharing more info and cover artwork with that release in upcoming newsletters.
I’m jazzed to get this one out in the world.
I’m also exploring Eleven Labs to see if either a voice clone of me or one of their other voices makes sense for putting out audio books.
I’m kind of on the fence with that, but I’m leaning yes. Producing an audio book with a voice actor is sadly out of my price comfort zone. And I personally do a whole lot of my story consumption by audio books.
So it makes sense to put my series in that market.
Right now, I’m leaning toward making another bargain bundle with The Repenter Collection. I’d want to make sure it sounds good, so we’ll see where that goes.
Players of the Game Out of Context Quote of the Month:
Avril: “Did I become the Demonic equivalent of a baby queen bee?”
Solneena: “Maybe. But you’re much prettier if that helps.”
Avril: “I hate you sometimes.”
The Human-guised Sphinx kissed the air in Avril’s direction with an exaggerated smack of her lips.
Recommendation Corner
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This is my favorite sci-fi space opera in a good long time.
I enjoy stories where humanity is one of many species, rather than the one alien race versus humans that we often get. I prefer more of a cosmopolitan setting that mixes antagonistic and sympathetic aliens and humans.
This series has that in spades.
A race of vat-grown warrior women. Swarms of cyborg insects inside robot exoskeletons. Crab-like creatures with billboard advertisements on their arms. Unkillable symbiote hybrids that can literally come back from getting ripped to shreds. Giant clams with multiple tentacles that demand worship for their indifferent patronage.
Oh, and moon-sized planet destroyers called Architects that rip apart planets into atomically rearranged abstract art.
And Earth fell victim to that nearly a century earlier.
The Architects withdrew after the mentally altered Intermediaries managed to communicate with them and tell them: “We are here.”
Idris, one of the main characters, was one of them. He’s a twitchy wreck who’s haunted by the past. He doesn’t sleep and hasn’t aged. And he can navigate Unspace. The haunted in between that allows for FTL travel and drives people mad.
There’s something lurking in it that people insist is imaginary. But Idris doesn’t believe it.
The various nations and criminal organizations all want him working for them. Which is why he keeps a knife-wielding lawyer on retainer. And the threat of the Architects looms large, even if everyone else pretends its history.
I LOVE this book, and will gladly listen to the other two books in this trilogy. I wish there were more.
The names of the ships are great too. TheVulture God, the Dark Joan, and the Pythoness being among the most notable.
Highest possible recommendation.
Mickey 17
I’m so glad they can’t unmake movies.
This flick was expensive and didn’t do well. I think it’s already on streaming.
And I loved it.
Mickey escapes a loan shark by joining a voyage to another planet as an expendable. His mind gets continually loaded into a series of clone bodies that are used as guinea pigs for alien atmosphere toxins, radiation, and even more ignominious fates.
Until some aliens spare him when his crew assumed he got killed. And his 18th clone and the 17th now both exist at the same time. Which is forbidden for a very hilarious reason in the backstory.
The Alamo pre-show revealed that Robert Pattinson based Mickey’s voice on Stimpy, the lovably dumb cartoon cat from the 90s. And his delivery is fantastic. Though Mickey is much more dejected than Stimpy’s confident stupidity.
Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette are also great as unhinged religious/political leaders. They have an unhealthy obsession with sauce.
The caterpillar pachyderm aliens are also interesting and way quirkier than their monstrous appearance would have you believe.
