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Resisting Terrorists While Suspected of Being Part of Them
Sean Danker wrote the novel “Admiral” in 2016, a tale of four castaways who have to cross a hostile planet to survive. Three are fresh out of their service academies traveling to their first service assignment. The fourth is the Admiral – an individual unlike any admiral the three newbies have ever met. That was five novels ago. The series was dropped by Penguin, the original publisher. Danker is continuing it independently.
“Snowblind,” by Sean Danker is the sixth novel in the Evagardian universe, the setting in which the events of “Admiral” took place. It reunites the three graduates from the first novel: Deilani, the medical officer, Nils, the communications and computer wizard, and Salmagard, the negotiator. This time they face even greater than the last time they were thrown together.
They are all stationed aboard the Julian, the Evagardian flagship. On off-hours, they get together for dinner at a restaurant on Sterling Station. All three are under a cloud due to their association with the Admiral. Deilani and Samlagard are suspected of disloyalty to the Empress.
Then things really go wrong. New Unity, an insurgent group from Deiani’s home planet of Cohengard begins an attempt to take over both Julian and Sterling Station. The three comrades find themselves caught in the crossfire between New Unity terrorists and Internal Security of the Evagardian Empire. Some of the New Unity insurgents have infiltrated Imperial service and are aboard Julian as crew. Nils, Deilani, and Salmagard are under suspicion. They might be New Unity members. Equally, they might be loyal members of the Evagardian Empire in a situation where there are too few loyal troops.
While all this is going on they learn the Admiral is on the prison planet of New Brittia. Watching prisoners fight for survival at New Brittia in a reality show is the popular entertainment in Danker’s future, an interstellar analog to Rome’s gladiatorial games.
As with earlier books, in “Snowblind” Danker offers fast-paced adventure in an intricate plot with generous elements of mystery and horror blended in. It leaves readers wondering what is really going on. That is Danker’s style and a part of the appeal of his book. Readers familiar with the series will find themselves in comfortably uncomfortable surroundings, while new readers will find themselves drawn into Danker’s world.
“Snowblind” is a great stand-alone story. An intriguing and complex story, it leaves you wanting more. This book, like all of Danker’s stories, is marvelously addictive.
“Snowblind,” by Sean Danker, Independently Published, 2020, 318 pages, #12.99 (paperback), $4.99 (Kindle)
This review was written by Mark Lardas who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.
Published in Literature
Am intrigued.
Added: Is there a story to go with Danker’s being dropped by Penguin?
Good question.
Not enough sales.
Your story needs a lot of work.
Never heard of this series. Always looking for good sci-fi series that are good which are not about about being the Messiah and saving all of man kind (it seems so many good series in the last 10 years debase them selves into this religious like cult story plot). Pricing is sort of messed up. Usually you want to price the first book in a large series lower than the rest. The new release in the series. Not almost three times higher.
Well, that’s weird if the previous books were earning out. Is the company as a whole in trouble?
It could also be they were not politically correct enough. But a lot of publishers cancel series if the first two books don’t do “The Martian” level sales when released. If you go to Sarah Hoyt’s website (accordingtohoyt.com) or read some of the stuff at madgeniusclub.com you will discover how whimsical publishing is nowadays. And since those promoting marketing at most NYC publishers are typically woke 20-somthing Grrrls! if the book does not meet their tastes it gets an inadequate roll-out.
Thanks. I get some insider view of this from Brad Torgersen and Corriea, on their respective FB pages, where Hoyt occasionally comments. Nice to see her mentioned again on Ricochet. Get out there and buy Conservative/Libertarian SF you slouches!
Oh, and start reading Analog if you don’t already. There are many contributors who share our range of political philosophies writing for it and have been for a while.
And not two hours after I wrote this, Arlan Andrews wrote a post excoriating the editor for an anti-Trump editorial in the current issue. Never mind….
What is it about people that they have to polarize things that are supposed to be for customers?