(Author's note: Sorry I've been gone so long. I've been suffering
from an overdose of interesting life. The good news is that I seem to
still be alive. The bad news is that I'm not quite sure how. I know I
owe reviews to like eleventy-billion people. I will get to you.
Things are just a bit crazy right now. At any rate, on with the
review.)
I have to admit to being a bad boy. I
had heard a lot about the Four Horsemen Universe but I hadn't tried
it. This is a bad thing for a guy like me. I love military SF. I love
stories about mercenaries. I freaking love mecha combat and I can't
get enough of plucky little humanity stories. It was obvious that I
needed an in to this universe and so I jumped at the chance to get a
copy of A Fistful of Credit, an anthology edited by
Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey. I figured to be thoroughly
entertained and to learn about this awesome universe. I wasn't
disappointed on either count. This anthology really rocks. I'll get
to each story in a bit, but I wanted to share a few thoughts on the
anthology overall first.
Each story starts with notes about the
author. I find this to be excellent. I love indie authors but I
haven't had time to read them all. The information about each author,
what other things they've had written and published and where to find
them was awesome. I'm not promising to read the all (I, like most of
you, have limited resources of both time and money) but I'll
definitely get to a few at least. So good work there. Chuck Gannon's
preface is pretty awesome too, as it provides a gateway for those of
us (yup, guilty) who haven't had a chance to read the stories
previously. I really wish I hadn't need it, but I did.
I also want to get into the
organization of the anthology for just a second. The first story is
called “The First Alpha” by Mark Wandrey. I'll get to a review of
the story itself in a second, but for now I want to express a bit of
frustration. This is an anthology set in the Four Horsemen Universe.
The premise of the entire series is that humanity has been introduced
to a wider universe full of aliens and can only survive by selling
their services as mercenaries. When I opened this e-book I wanted to
walk face first into a kick-ass mercenary story. I wanted a
battlefield with bodies and explosions. What I got was a crime
thriller. It's a good story (more on that next paragraph) but I
really don't think that it was the right tale to kick off the
anthology with. I was a bit disappointed here because it wasn't what
I was expecting. Overall, it didn't really detract from my overall
enjoyment of the collection all that much but it was a bit jarring.
Other than that, things seemed to flow smoothly, but honestly if I
were to read AFoC again, I'd probably skip this one and come
back to it.'
“The
First Alpha” by Mark Wandrey was a look into life on Earth in the
Four Horsemen Universe (4HU). Things on humanity's home planet are
not good. People are broke to the point where most of them can't
afford a simple breakfast out. Crime is rampant and infrastructure is
crumbling. Our “hero” is a guy named Zeke. He's sneaky. He's
resourceful. He's got a plan. This was an entertaining story with a
surprise ending that I never saw coming but that made sense once I
read it. Overall, I really enjoyed it once I got past the fact that
it wasn't a merc story.
“Breach
of Contract” by Terry Mixon is a detective story. It gives us an
insight into the workings of law and justice in the 4HU and it really
rocks. Of course, I'm partial to story featuring ass-kicking
attractive women, but this one has plenty of action and just enough
back story to hold everything together without bogging the story down
into long reminisces that would make it drag. The tech is awesome.
The search for vengeance is fun and the daring of our heroes Jackie
and Anton make “Breach of Contract” a winner.
The business end of the merc business
meets good old fashioned ass-kickery in Jason Cordova's “Paint the
Sky.” It's the story of Mulbah Luo, who buys a mercenary company
and finds out that there's more to running it than just having some
gear. He ends up leading his men in the field and learning a few
lessons along the way. The character arc is amazing. The action is a
ton of fun. And this is the type of story I was looking forward to
when I cracked this book. There's a bit of a surprise at the end of
this one too. I really had a good time following the mercs into the
field on their first assignment under a new owner.
Dude. Dude, dude, dude, dude, dude. I
loved “Surf and Turf” by Jon Osborne. The only problem I had with
this story comes in the introduction. Despite the fact that there is
at least one other story in AFoC that includes a tag about an
upcoming novel, this one does not. Our main character is Bjorn
Tovesson III and he's the reluctant commander of a mercenary unit.
He's got an amazing back-story and he's a lot of fun to hang out
with. He kicks ass, drinks hard and really does care about his troops
and the people they're protecting. In short, he is way too cool of a
character to be wasted on only having a short story. The story itself
is awesome. The combat is gripping. There's a flirty attractive
waitress. The villains are sentient crabs with shell mounted
weaponry. “Surf and Turf” drips with awesome. NOW WHERE IS MY
NOVEL?!?!?!??!?!?!?! (Please?)
“Stand
on It,” by Kevin Ikenberry takes a tried and true trope and makes
it amazing. This is the story of a mercenary unit who ends up with
more of a challenge than they bargained for – and a missing member
to boot. Don't you just hate it when the employer lies about what the
mercs are going to be facing and hangs them out to dry? I don't. I
mean, I would if I were one of the character in “Stand on It,”
but from the point of view of the reader it rocks. I see that Kevin
is already signed for a novel in the 4HU. I'm looking forward to it.
You know what's really fun? Enemies
that are pretty much invincible but that need to be beaten or we're
all gonna die. Seriously. I love it when the Big Bad shows up ripping
shit to pieces and the heroes have to save us all, only they NEED
MORE POWER. “Lost and Found” but Jon Del Arroz delivers my
favorite premise and it just make my day. The solution to the problem
is one that I probably would not have come up with, but it makes
sense and it works – barely. The ironic part is that it's not more
power that gets the job done. I'll be reading more Jon Del Arroz as
soon as I can.
“Gilded
Cage” by Kacey Ezell is a story of drug addiction and enslavement.
It is aptly named as our heroine, Dr. Susan Aloh, trades her drug
addicted lifestyle for a life as a pet to an alien. It's a fun story
about a woman who learns to love.
Chris Woods gives us an epic in
adventure in “Legends.” You can't beat a bunch of mercs in a bar
telling war stories, especially when one of them is about to retire
and his nickname is “The Legend.” This one was over way too soon.
It was a great time. Sergeant Martin Quincy is really a bad ass,
despite the fact that he really never wanted to be a merc. This hits
a lot of the quintessential themes in merc stories. I had a lot of
fun with it.
Doug Dandridge brings us “With The
Eagles” a story of a merc company battling on a poisonous planet.
The dual threats (the enemy and the native flora and fauna of the
planet) keep this one suspenseful. We never know what's coming next
and neither do the mercs. With the enemy being a fearsome Besquith
and a hostage to recover things heat up quickly. This one was a lot
of fun.
PP Corcoran's “Dead or Alive”
brings us the story of Nikki Sinclair, a Peacekeeper and daughter the
owner of Sinclair's Scorpions mercenary company in search of a
criminal. Nikki is deadly and armed with a M1911 pistol. I'm a huge
fan of that much firepower, especially in a world dominated by laser
pistols. I just find something satisfying about a weapon that goes
BLAM instead of pew. The fact that she gets a couple of friends and
tears up the inside of a space station in CASPer power armor is
pretty bad ass too.
Christopher Nutall's “Hide and Seek,”
is a story about a conflict between Allen Jermaine, a security
officer aboard a ship and the government of the planet his ship is
orbiting which wants to snatch one of his passengers. It fits very
well with my attitude toward government and their greedy, imperious,
right violating ways. I had a bad case of the screw yous while
reading about these damned government agents. I was all up in arms.
Good job, Christopher Nutall. You tell it like it is and make the
right guy the hero. (HINT: It's not the government.)
“Information
Overload” by Charity Ayres is the story of a crew just trying to
survive after their ship was sabotaged. Her captain, Janna McCloud,
is resourceful and focused and works her tail off to save her crew.
Seriously. She does a lot of the work herself. This isn't exactly
normal for a captain (unless this is ST:TOS and there's an away
mission DERP, DERP, DERP) but it makes sense in the context of the
story. She manages to overcome betrayal and get on with her mission.
She's a member of the Information Guild, but she gets things done as
well as any merc in the book. I like this chick.
“Enough”
by Chris Kennedy is probably the best story in AFoC
It's the story of a betrayed group of mercs being hunted to
extinction by humanity's oldest foe. It kicks large amounts of ass.
Since I just mentioned ST: TOS, I should probably bring up another
reference: The Kobayashi Maru, only this time there's no way to cheat
the way Kirk did. No-win scenarios suck, and when you're pursued by a
force that has a massive numerical superiority and has accepted a
contract that can only be fulfilled by killing every member of your
unit things get desperate, especially when your commander gets offed
in the first paragraph. (No, I don't do spoilers. But if it happens
on the FIRST PAGE it's not a spoiler.) Captain, cum Colonel Dan
Walker doesn't give up on his people or their survival. He does fall
for one rather obvious ploy, but maybe he was just tired. And he does
what he needs to in the end, regardless of the risk to himself. I
really loved this story.
Brad Torgersen was the victim of one
of the earliest reviews on this blog. I love Brad's work and his
entry (also the final entry of the A Fistful of Credits),
“CASPers Ghost,” did not disappoint. When Blue Platoon hits the
surface of Echo Tango 11, the fecal matter hits the rotary air
impeller. They're seeking a deposit of F11 (the compound that powers
spaceflight) and everything goes haywire. Torgersen makes a habit out
of dropping surprises in this one and I don't want to spoil it. I'll
just say that this “CASPer's Ghost” cooks with grease and it
freaking rocked.
Bottom Line: 4.5
out of 5 Massive Paydays. Honestly, if the first two stories in the
anthology had been like the fourth and fifth it probably would have
been closer to 4.75 or maybe 5.0. Leading the anthology off with two
non-mercenary stories detracted from my enjoyment of the anthology as
a whole.
A Fistful of
Credits
Edited by Chris Kennedy and Mark
Wandrey
Seventh Seal
Press, 2017
A Fistful of
Credit is available for purchase
at the link below:
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