A gritty, sci fi noir adventure on the last station in human space, where corruption rules and one bitter warrior wages his own private war for justice.
Death is never more than an airlock away for the denizens of Hell, the last deck before the Void on the last station in human space. It’s a place where justice is for sale and slavers hawk their human merchandise to the highest bidder. But to Rick, a scarred, bitter Lupan warrior, it’s home – or at least the one place in the known universe where he can ignore all the death warrants on him throughout the rest of the human Commonwealth. It’s someplace where a few drops of the most precious liquid in all of human space just might buy him a berth on the last ship back to his birth world. Until a mysterious, vaguely familiar woman walks into the dive Rick runs. And brings his deadly, ugly past in with her.
Somehow Rick must unlock the secrets she carries. Because if he fails, he will lose far more than just his life.
Excerpt
That woman smelled of trouble the first time I saw her. If I’d known just how much trouble that’d be, I probably would’ve cut and run right then. Probably.
Truth be told, I probably wouldn’t have noticed her at all, except it was eight bells, station day. That was too early for my evening crowd, and too late for the poor sots who’d been in here when Bayliss and his Sec team arrived. The usual run of deckhands and pickpockets hadn’t made it up from Hell yet, because dockside shifts on Bogue Dast Station didn’t change for another hour. So both my bar and the corridor outside it were close to empty when she stopped to read the ‘Rick’s Bar’ sign flashing above my hatch.
Professional Reviews
sci fi to remember as time goes by
Of all the gin joints in all the worlds... this is one you might have to make sure you visit.
Welcome to Hell, the last human station on the edge of deep space, and more particularly, welcome to Rick's Bar, the lower decks dive run by an opportunist with a moral streak, with a penchant for making money and a habit of spacing slavers.
If this sounds like it has more than a hint of Casablanca about it, you're right - though if you're looking for a line by line comparison, I'm not your man, being one of the few never to have seen Bogart playing shell games with the Nazis. But such a part of a cultural tapestry as it is, you can tell there's a connection, and you can feel the love of the author for the movie.
This Rick is a dangerous type, he's Lupan, the part-human, part-wolf DNA species that also features in Bonnie Milani's Home World (reviewed on this blog here). This story is set in the same universe, but at the other end, far from the events in the novel. One of the notable parts of that novel was the way in which it expressed different forms of communication, the Lupans there being able to tell a lot from people's scent. And so it is here, with Rick's nose able to sniff a path through the dangers of a space station built on lies, power plays and illicit deals, even through the gut-burning alcohol he serves to the surly mob he calls his customers.
Then in through his door walks the woman who is going to change his life, or maybe get him killed.
Bonnie Milani crafts a sleek, taut novella here. It's not too long, you'll zip through it quickly enough, not least of all because the writing makes you want to keep turning the pages. I loved Home World, with its broader canvas and bigger story but this is more tightly written, focused sharply on its end goal. It's witty and sassy, with the sense that Rick could as easily punch someone or kiss someone on the next turn of the page, endlessly dancing on the edge that divides success and disaster.
In the end, I heartily recommend you give it a try. It could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
It's Rick...in space
Very entertaining and well-written. If you like Casablanca and Science-Fiction (and who doesn't?), then you'll like this little story which takes place in 'Rick's Bar' - but not the one you're thinking of. It's a short read and it won't take you long but it'll keep you turning the pages - and the main character Rick is every bit as super cool as his Bogart counterpart.
Nice little sci-fi caper!,
This was a fun, solid read! I love a good space station story, and this short hit the spot. With a lovely call back to Casablanca, too. However, this is no soft-filtered romance---it's gritty, deadly, and enough intrigue and corruption with shady characters to keep it interesting.
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