
What’s it all about?
(Check out the free preview in the link below)
The Space Scrap 17 series tells the story of the crew of garbage hauler Space Scrap 17 who become caught up in the machinations of powerful, unknowable entities. They soon find themselves in the middle of a Galaxy-wide political conflict.
As one of the entities puts it, “If I win, there will be a universe of war, tyranny and sorrow. If you win, there will be a universe of peace, tiramisu and soy.”
The first three books in this series are titled;
- The Doomsday Machine
- 1960’s Purple Sex Gas
- The Biscuits of War
Meet the crew
Space Scrap 17 is crewed by misfits from across the Galaxy of the Earth year 2390;
Captain Daisy Daryl
Daughter of Admiral Daryl, Daisy is a fresh, new captain, having recently passed her captain’s exams without cheating. No, really. Those exams are impossible to cheat. And anyway she wouldn’t cheat something that important. That would be dangerous and stupid and alright, yes she cheated. However, she plans to pass unnoticed as she comes to grips with her new duties. She hopes for several ordinary, mundane, nondescript missions during which she can learn on the job, hopefully by observing her dynamic new XO, whoever that might be. But her father’s avarice and desperation thrust her rudely into the limelight by signing up her ship for a dangerous mission that would have any experienced captain wetting their pants. And not in a good way.
Executive Officer Michigan Jones
Daisy’s ex and now her XO, Jones is highly ambitious, if a desire to avoid contact with other people, reading books and getting out of his face on whatever comes to hand can be said to be ‘ambitious’. A natural-born hedonist, Jones sees his new duties as telling other people what to do and them sodding off to do it, leaving him alone with a bottle of Big Papa. Among his likes he lists; ‘the absence of other people’, ‘doing nothing’ and ‘drinking Big Papa’s Big Papa Golden Secretions’. Upon discovering that Daisy is his new Captain he believes his life could not get much worse. He is wrong. Very wrong.
Doctor Smiert
Ship’s medic and sociopath, Smiert hankers for the good old days of Mother Russia and the benign, warm caress of the KGB. She is definitely on the bad end of a scale of some description and probably listed on several registers. If there were a legal injunction prohibiting contact with any other life form, she would be served with it. The results of her experiments she keeps locked away in her laboratory and not even her secret employers know what she is really up to. Smiert’s experiments make Victor Frankenstein and Doctor Jekyll look like ashen faced, tremulous soy boys. Aboard Space Scrap 17, it is as well not to get ill, as Smiert’s ‘go to’ remedy for most ailments is amputation. And she is not a one for luxuries such as anaesthetic or not performing unnecessary amputations.
Science Officer Tongue
Listed in the crew manifest as the new science officer, Tongue is in reality an ambassador from the planet Yerboots. On Yerboots, it is the male gender that nature has tasked with Peacocking duties while the females are best described as dowdy. Armed only with his natural born death quills and plentiful supplies of lippy, Tongue is travelling incognito aboard Space Scrap 17. He has been tasked with the job of liaison between the Loose Association of Sentient Species and the Ululation diplomatic delegation and to ensure they arrive at the peace talks unharmed. His hair knows Wing Chun.
Communications Officer Mic Vol
Hailing from another dimension, Mic can only exist in our reality enclosed in his encounter suit. He is best described as a cross between Brian Eno and triangles. When not observing the people and places of our dimension, Mic spends most of his time avoiding contact with his mother, a black hole in the constellation of Telescopium. On closer inspection, one might harbour a suspicion that Mic is here to do more than observe. One might be right.
Navigation Officer Steve Power
An old drinking buddy of Jones, Steve has served aboard Space Scrap 17 the longest. Happy go lucky and generally unflappable, Steve has little idea what the universe has in store for him. Although, to be fair, Steve has little idea of anything going on around him.
Admiral Daryl
Proud Admiral of a fleet of one, John Daryl is a self-made man and yes, it is good of him to take the blame. Lifelong failure, dilettante and addictive purchaser of high-tech hairpieces, Admiral Daryl determined that the only business in the Galaxy that would always be in demand and yet would have the least competition was that of garbage reclamation and transportation. Pleased that his daughter was keen to play a part in the family business, Admiral Daryl wasted no time enrolling her for the exacting and impossible to cheat Captains’ exams, which she passed with flying colours. Apparently.
Errol
Errol is there as well. He likes buns.
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Space Scrap 17: The Doomsday Machine eBook is now available from Amazon.
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‘I thought the book was superbly written, with brilliantly drawn settings and characters. The author weaved a well-crafted and hilarious space adventure that will captivate the reader from the opening chapter.
Thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it. A well deserved five stars from me and looking forward to reading more from this talented writer.‘
Amazon reviewer