Sci-fi/YA
Date Published: January 2
Publisher: St. Martin’s
In the tradition of Star Wars, a galaxy-hopping space adventure about a galactic kingdom bent on control and the young misfit who must find the power within before it’s too late.
Cade Sura holds the future of the galaxy in his hands: the ultimate weapon that will bring total peace. He didn’t ask for it, he doesn’t want it, and there’s no worse choice to wield it in all of space, but if he doesn’t, everyone’s totally screwed. The evil Praxis kingdom is on the cusp of having every star system under its control, and if that happens, there’ll be no contesting their cruel reign. Especially if its fanatical overlord, Ga Halle, manages to capture Cade and snag the all-powerful weapon for herself.
Cade can’t hide from Praxis, and he can’t run from the destiny that’s been shoved into his hands. So he only has one option:
He has to fight.
Cade’s not going to let destiny send him on a suicide run, though. With some help from his friends―rebels and scoundrels alike―Cade’s going to use this weapon to chart a new destiny for the galaxy, and for himself.
He just has to do so before everyone around him discovers that he’s a complete and total fraud.
Blending the space operatics of Star Wars and the swagger of Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Star Renegades is a galaxy-hopping adventure that blasts its way from seedy spacer bars to sacred temples guarded by deadly creatures―all with a cast of misfit characters who have nowhere to go and nothing to lose.
Excerpt:
Prologue
Cade ran.
Warm blood poured out of his nose and over lips, but he was
too distracted to smear it away. He was running as fast as his legs would take
him while his brother urged him to “keep going, keep going,” even though, soon,
there'd be nowhere left to go. Tristan was older, bigger, and stronger; he
could have outpaced Cade and their pursuers with ease, but he stayed by his
brother's side, pushing him ahead. Cade sucked in shallow gasps of air as he
heard his own racing pulse pounding in his ears. Exhaustion nearly claimed
Cade, twice, but Tristan wrapped his fist around the back of his brother's
shirt, keeping him close, keeping him upright. He wouldn't let them quit, not
with the Zeros on their heels. They'd left their best friend, Mig, behind,
having been knocked unconscious by one of the Zero thugs. Cade knew he'd be
fine, though. The Zeros weren't after Mig.
They were after Cade and Tristan.
The brothers followed the narrow, winding path that cut
through the back alleys of the Kyysring outdoor bazaar. Tristan knocked over
harvesting bulbs, crates of dried botho meat, and anything else that might slow
down the maniacs chasing them. Cade cursed their decision to sneak out of the
shelter, even though it was his idea. Mig was aching to get parts for the
dasher bike he was trying to repair, and Cade was itching to break the
claustrophobic fever brought on by the shelter's confinement. Still, it was
Tristan's job to talk Cade out of his dumb ideas, and if he didn't think strolling
through a crowded bazaar at midday was the dumbest of ideas, he might have been
experiencing really, really early senility. Cade and Tristan both had targets
on their backs, and until they could jack a starship that would shoot them to
the other side of the galaxy, the shelter was the only place they were safe.
Cade tumbled around a corner, a half step behind Tristan's
lead, even though they both knew what they'd find: a dead end. In the halcyon
days before a ruthless gunrunning gang wanted them dead, all of Kyysring was
their playground. They grew up on this planet and knew every inch of its
market, inside and out. And that's why Cade knew being pegged by the Zeros in
the bazaar was the worst thing that could happen. There'd be no escape this time.
They'd been able to outrun the Zeros in the past, outmaneuver them, even
outthink them. But the rabble pursuing them was eight strong, and all they had
to do was shed some of their numbers to block off the few points of egress, and
Cade and Tristan would be bottled in. That's exactly what they did.
“All right, all right,” Tristan said as he hunched over and
cupped his hands together. “If you jump right when I boost you up, you should
be able to reach the top of the wall and climb over.”
Cade shoved his brother upright. “Don't be an idiot,” he
said, winded. “I'm not leaving you.”
“You'll do what I tell you to do,” Tristan snapped, taking
a parental tone. “I'm your—”
“You're my what? Not my dad, Tristan. You're my brother,
and we stick togeth—”
“Oy!” a voice called from behind. Cade and Tristan turned
to see four Zeros, led by a scrawny leader carrying a pair of shock batons,
coming their way. “It's charming, you brothers having a spat over who is more
eager to die. That decision is in the hands of The Zero, not either one of you
punks.”
Cade could almost smell the leader—Qwayg was his name— as
he stalked toward them. He wore a loose-fitting tank top covered by a fur-lined
jacket, and he had a tattoo of an elongated star sloppily applied over his
right eye. Everything about him was coated in sickly grime.
“Leave my brother,” Tristan said, stepping in front of
Cade. “If The Zero wants to make an example, he can do so with just the one of
us. He doesn't need both.”
Qwayg scoffed. “This isn't a negotiation, kiddo. You're
worth more to The Zero alive, but he'll take you dead all the same. Your
parents cost him a lot of money by attracting Praxis to our planet. And because
of that, we have to show what happens when someone interferes with Zero
business.”
“Our parents didn't bring Praxis here,” Cade spat. “They
weren't helping the Kaldorian uprising—they were aid workers, not freedom
fighters. Everyone knows that.”
“Too bad they aren't around to say so themselves,” Qwayg
shrugged. “Or pay the price themselves. Now—”
The other three
Zeros raised their weapons at Qwayg's signal—another was equipped with a shock
baton while the other two were armed with snub-nosed outpost pistols.
“How's this going to go?” Qwayg smugly asked.
Cade, though, was focused less on the threat of four lethal
weapons bearing down on him and more on the strange man who'd entered the
alleyway. He was standing a couple paces behind the Zeros, a three-foot wooden
bo staff gripped in his right hand.
“Let them go,” the man said, evenly. “Let them go and walk
away from here while you still can.”
Cade watched Qwayg turn around, slowly, the satisfied grin
already disappearing from his face. “And who's this? Granpappy?”
The strange man took two steps forward, and Cade studied
him in more detail. He was older than any of the other Zeroes and wore a
tight-fitting tunic the color of sand. His tidy appearance and measured
demeanor were, to say the least, oddities on Kyysring. Same for the weapon.
Cade noticed that three immaculate blades studded the top of his staff, but it
was still just a wooden stick with some sharp edges. While it was nice for this
crazy person to intervene on his and Tristan's behalf, what Cade really hoped
was that he could last long enough in a fight against the Zeros to provide a
window for them to escape.
“Those young men belong to me now, so I'll say this one
more time,” the man explained, “leave them be and get out of here while I'm
still willing to let you do so.”
“Do you have any idea who we are?” Qwayg yelled. “We're
emissaries of The Zero! We're—”
“Poor choice,” the man said, and in that same instant, he
twisted the center of his staff and it crackled to life. Cycling sparks of raw
energy, dark blue and orange, crowned the top of the staff, contained by the
protruding blades.
Capitalizing on the distraction his fiery staff provided,
the man jumped on the offensive. He swung his weapon around, using the blunt
end to knock the outpost pistol out of the hand of the nearest Zero. He then
jabbed the same end of his staff into the Zero's torso, doubling her over. Cade
was about to yell out a warning as the other pistol-armed Zero trained it on
the man, but before a syllable could slip through Cade's lips, the man grabbed
the doubled-over Zero and used her as a shield against the incoming fire. He
then charged forward, still using the woman for protection, and when he neared
the Zero who was shooting at him, he plunged his staff forward—close enough so
the energy could jump from the weapon onto the man, sending him into a fit of
electrified convulsions. Unconscious, he fell to the ground, and Cade could see
the smoke wafting off his body.
The man dropped the woman and pointed his weapon ahead,
waiting for the two remaining Zeros to make their move.
“This guy is awesome,” Cade whispered to his
brother. Tristan wasn't listening, though; he was staring at the scene in front
of them in wonderment.
Qwayg tried pushing his last remaining ally forward, toward
the man, but he wouldn't budge. “You know what?” he said as he dropped his
baton. “This isn't even worth it. I'm out.” He kept his arms raised in
surrender as he crept by the strange man, who let the Zero pass.
“You'll have no such luck with me, granpappy,” Qwayg
snarled as he held his batons forward, their ends pulsing with dull purple
energy—nothing compared to his opponent's crackling weapon. “I've been trained
by the very best in close quarters combat.”
“That's very nice,” the man said and launched into his
attack. He held his staff in a centermost position, using both the charged and
blunt ends to fight off Qwayg's baton strikes. Qwayg came at the man with fast
and varied strikes, but the man, as far as Cade could tell, defended himself
with ease. And the more attacks he defended, the more ferocious, and frustrated,
Qwayg became; he started to grunt with each swing of his baton while the man
remained silent, his face a mask of impassivity.
Having tired of toying with Qwayg, the next time he came to
attack, the man caught his batons between his staff; he spun his staff around,
disarming Qwayg and then, in a swift, fluid movement, he swept out Qwayg's legs
and knocked him on his back, hard. Before Qwayg could so much as groan, the man
had the charged end of his weapon pointed just above his face, daring him to move.
“Those boys are coming with me,” the man said. “Do we have
an understanding?”
“The Zeros don't surrender,” Qwayg grunted. “We are the
ruling pow—”
The man inched his weapon down the slightest bit, and the
cycling energy leapt onto Qwayg's face, frying what few brain cells he actually
possessed. By the time the man pulled his staff back, Qwayg was out cold.
The man then turned his attention to Cade and Tristan,
neither of whom had moved while the Zeros were being dispatched. Tristan was
was still dumbstruck while Cade was torn between satisfying his curiosity of
finding out who this guy was and wanting to run while he and Tristan maybe had
a chance.
“Don't be afraid,” the man said. “I'm not here to hurt you,
either of you.”
“What...who are you?” Tristan muttered.
The man twisted his staff once more, and the energy that'd
been pulsing at its head subsided. He walked closer to Cade and Tristan as he
slung his weapon over his back.
“My name is Jorken, Ser Jorken. I am a Master Rai of the
Well. Have you heard of the Well?”
“Nope,” Cade sharply replied even though he'd of course
heard of the Well. Who hadn't? Defenders of galactic peace, spiritual warriors,
all that stuff. But, Cade wasn't sold on this Ser Jorken, and he wasn't going
to give him what he wanted so easily. Especially when it seemed that the thing
he wanted was him and Tristan, which was more than a little strange.
“You're a Master Rai. From the Well,” Tristan said, still
spellbound. “And that,” he continued, craning his neck to espy the weapon
strapped to Jorken's back, “is your shido.”
“Excellent, you already know much,” Jorken said. “That will
serve you well.”
“Serve us well for what?” Tristan asked.
Jorken smiled and leaned down so he could directly address
both brothers. “For your training, Tristan Sura. And for your training, Cade
Sura. You are to become Rai, like me, if you choose.”
Cade and Tristan shared a glance; Tristan was still agape
while Cade shrugged at Jorken's offer. Unlike his brother, tragic events had
aged Cade into skeptical pragmatism. Still, if real, Cade knew abandoning
Kyysring for the Well would be a considerable upgrade. If nothing else, it
would be nice to live in a place where he wasn't chased around by people trying
to kill him.
“Does this mean we'll get to knock the snot out of some
Praxis a-holes?” Cade asked.
“You live up to your reputation for possessing a unique
fire,” Jorken said with a laugh. “But that's not quite how we operate. You'll
help people, you'll provide security, relief, whatever's needed to keep peace
and justice alive throughout the galaxy. Much like your parents, in a way.”
Tristan looked once more at Cade, and he already knew what
his brother was going to say. “We go together, that's the only way,” Tristan
said. “If Cade isn't up for it, then the discussion ends here.”
All eyes trained on Cade, who wasted no time getting to the
inevitable. “Anywhere beats this place,” he said. “Let's go.”
“I had a feeling this would work out just fine,” Jorken
said, and he led them through the alleyway, circumventing the downed Zero thugs
as they passed.
They were passing through the artery leading them to the
bazaar, teeming with people, when Cade broke the silence and their progress.
“Wait, I want to know something before we get too far,” he
said.
“Anything,” Jorken
replied.
“Why us? I mean, of all the people, why did we get chosen
for this?”
“It's simple,” Jorken said, as he backed into the heart of
the marketplace, leading the brothers to follow him. “I believe one of you may
be destined to save the galaxy.”
About the Author
Michael Moreci is a bestselling author who’s the creator of numerous original comics series and has written and collaborated on multiple established properties. His sci-fi trilogy, Roche Limit (Image Comics),is currently in development for television with SyFy, and it was recognized by many publications as being among the best comics of 2015. It’s been called the “sci-fi comic you need to read” by Nerdist and io9, and Paste Magazine named it one of the “50 best sci-fi comics” of all time. Moreci has also written stories for iconic characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Conan the Barbarian.
In 2018, Moreci's debut novel, Black Star Renegades, was released with St. Martin's Press. Drawing inspiration from the space operatics of Star Wars and the swagger of Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Star Renegades is a galaxy-hopping adventure that blasts its way from seedy spacer bars to sacred temples guarded by strange creatures--all with a cast of misfit characters charged with saving the world.
His second novel, The Throwaway—an espionage thriller—is slated for release with Tor in June 2018. A sequel to Black Star Renegades will be released in 2019.
He lives outside Chicago with his wife, two children, and his dog.
Contact Links
Purchase Links
0 comments:
Post a Comment