A Swift Kick in the Asteroids is a kick asteroid read
A Swift Kick In The Asteroids (The Wave Gate Cycle #1)
by Edward Zajac
Curiosity Quills Press
Sci Fi & Fantasy
Pub Date: November 9, 2015
Description
Neurotic tech Zagarat Cole had no choice but to steal 432,985 credits from the Deus Syndicate. It was the only way to pay for his mother’s medical treatments. So, when a Deus executive called Zag into his office, he knew the jig was up. Or down. Or however it was you danced a jig. Yet to Zag’s astonishment, the executive didn’t excoriate, eviscerate, or “ate” him at all. He offered him a job.
The Deus CEO would consider it a personal favor if Zag helped privateer, ladies’ man, and all around great guy Fletcher Griffin with an easy outsource assignment. Were the fates smiling on Zag for once in his sunning life? Until then, it seemed like whoever was writing his story in the Great Cosmic Diary just plain didn’t like Zag. But here was an opportunity to curry favor from the tenth most powerful CEO in the known universe and possibly even make a few credits on the side.
However, Zag quickly learns that nothing is easy when Fletcher Griffin is involved. He soon finds himself hacking into the corporation’s database, searching for incriminating evidence linking a Deus executive to Galustay; an insidious drug that can only be derived by harvesting adrenaline from living Weiylans. Now Fletcher and Zag must find a way to stop the harvesters and free the Weiylans, all the while fighting off a case of intentionally induced food poisoning (which Fletcher could totally explain), avoiding the ire of a powerful executive (which Fletcher could totally explain), and generally running for their lives wherever they go (which Fletcher could totally explain).
And yet, something strange happens to Zag along the way. His anxieties dwindle away, subsumed by something called courage. All because of an enigmatic privateer who is more than what he seems. And he seems to be a bumbling idiot.
Review
Be prepared to laugh your asteroid off. Edward Zajac takes up the challenge left in the passing of the comic greats, Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. His new novel A Swift Kick in the Asteroids is a perfect, hilarious tribute to the sci-fi luminaries. The humor is at once clever, irreverent, and off-the-wall. He successfully parodies various motifs from popular novels, tv programs, computer games and movies. I think that both Adams and Pratchett would appreciate this well written homage. Yes its funny, but more than that, the novel is also a terrific action-packed adventure.
Zag is an archetypal tech, great with software and gadgetry, but not so great with the human side of the equation. As life goes, his is fairly dull, until he steals an immense amount of credits so his mother can receive an experimental medical treatment. From the moment he meets Fletcher Griffin, his life takes an abrupt turn. Fletcher is what every man wishes to be, handsome, erudite, capable of seducing just about any sent (sentient). Every endeavor the charming privateer undertakes is a success, regardless of his ability to act like a bumbling idiot. He convinces Zag to help him with a small job, in exchange for transporting his mother to the hospital planet for treatment and a large number of credits. Of course having the CEO of Deus, the Syndicate he just robbed, breathing down his neck and demanding he help Fletcher has nothing to do with it.
A little hacking job turns into a great adventure where Zag’s skills and Fletcher’s outrageousness might be the only thing preventing a gentle race of beings (the Weiyans) from exploitation and extinction.
I absolutely loved A Swift Kick in the Asteroids. It is exciting to come across an author who can really do a good job writing comic sci-fi. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
5/5
I received a copy of A Swift Kick in the Asteroids from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
—Crittermom
http://muttcafe.com/2015/12/a-swift-kick-in-the-asteroids/
