Showing results for "The Book Smugglers" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

Anna survives a deadly virus at age four thanks to a poisonous red-headed krait. The medical community is excited since there is no known cure for the virus, but Anna and her snake, Red, have a symbiotic relationship. If she is ever separated from Red, she will die. As her krait becomes known and valuable throughout the three star empires as one of only a handful of such snakes, she fights off attempts to kill her and snatch Red. When the Naval Intelligence Agency, the NIA, recruits her, her adventures grow beyond fending off thieves and killers.

In what constitutes as a prequel to Mariners of Gor, we learn that a mysterious cargo, suitably disguised, was covertly placed on the great ship, a cargo that might influence the outcome of the aforementioned gamble. One narrator is a young woman, once a Miss Margaret Alyssa Cameron, and the other is an individual whose name, for reasons that will become obvious, is withheld in the manuscript. It does seem clear, however, that the individual referred to was somehow instrumental in bringing the former Miss Cameron to the height of a large slave block in the coastal city of Brundisium, one of Gor’s major ports.

Escaped Imperial officer Dirk doesn't care his crew are runaways, revolutionaries, and alleged criminals, as long as they're adequately competent and don't kill each other too often. When a smuggling job goes badly wrong and they improvise, he'll trade competency for just non-suicidal. If one crime causes problems, a second should fix it. But after a botched heist lands them in the freezing woods of a frozen planet, they need a new plan.

Jon Bartlett's path is clear before him: finish his last year of schooling, then off on the family's ships to learn the intricacies of interstellar trade. But a message of tragedy at home comes for him, and his expected life is flung far out of reach and he's cast into a role he never wanted.

When circumstances drive Zoya and Natalya to accept an offer from the most powerful organization in the Western Annex, it looks like their ship - literally - comes in. The job fails to live up to its promise and the pair soon find themselves fighting for their lives against a booby trapped ship and its unseen master. Will they unmask their enemies and survive their suicide run?

Smuggler Ship is a prequel novella in the Sky Full of Stars universe. Find out how Jelena and Erick first acquired their freighter, the Snapper, in this fast-paced space adventure.