November 5, 2023 at 5:19 PM

A Bar Sinister Prince Emerges

@Seawriter

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Chase Collis was a street rat in the Solarian Empire’s capital city. He is an orphan, a bastard. His mother died when he was twelve. He lived on the streets since then. At 20 he is a lieutenant in the city’s biggest gang. To move up he needs cred from a stretch in an Imperial prison. The trial judge, his father, an Imperial prince, intervened. He sentenced Chase to ten years in the Imperial Navy instead.

“Stand Alone: Wolfhounds - Book One,” by John Van Stry, opens with Chase arriving at his new unit following training: Wolfhound Base. The Wolfhounds are the Emperor’s Own, the Imperial Guard unit, and about to ship out to conquer Rogen’s World. Chase joins them in cold sleep.

They wake ten years later. A coup has overthrown the Emperor. The Democratic People’s Republic of Solaria (as dictatorial a government as the name implies) rules. Wolfhound Base and the Wolfhounds were removed from the board by an unwitting dupe of the revolutionaries. Too late to save the Emperor, the Wolfhounds have a new mission: restore the Empire.

Initially, this is above Chase’s pay grade. An apprentice mechanic, he helps maintain Wolfhound Base’s systems. His goal is to get ahead in his new gang, the Wolfhounds, through demonstrating competence and diligence. The Wolfhounds need an Imperial, a potential heir to the throne to provide legitimacy. Artemis, the Base Artificial Intelligence, suggests Chase to play the prince. Wolfhound’s leaders like the idea. Chase is the ideal fall guy.

Chase is soon acclaimed as the “lost heir.” Artemis knows Chase is likely the real heir, since his father was a prince. No one else, even Chase, realizes it though. Chase reluctantly becomes the figurehead leader of the counter-rebellion.

Chase turns out every bit as tough and capable as his father, the Bastard Prince. First-rate space opera follows. The result is a fast-paced adventure novel, the first in a planned series of five.

“Stand Alone” feels like the offspring of Van Stry’s novel "Summers End" and the four-book Empire of Man series written by David Weber and John Ringo. The central character is a former gang-banger. It marries that character to the theme of a disreputable prince put in the position of redeeming an empire he distained.

The plot of “Stand Alone” is not borrowed. It tells highly original story, with an entertaining and compelling plot. The end leaves you eagerly awaiting the next installment.

“Stand Alone: Wolfhounds - Book One,” by John Van Stry, Independently Published, 2023, 387 pages, $10.99 (paperback), $4.99 (e-book)

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.

This post was promoted to the Main Feed by an editor.

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Percival@Percival2y

ReplyingtoKCVolunteer

Percival (View Comment):
It sounds like a ripping good read, Mark. I don’t know when I’ll get to it, but I’ll look for it.
… but (he said adjusting his herald’s chapeau) …
There is no such thing as a bar sinister!
I think what you’re thinking of is a bend sinister. A bend proceeds from the upper right of the escutcheon (from the perspective of the bearer) to the lower left. A bend sinister goes from the upper left to the lower right. The French term for a bend is barre. That might be where the confusion arose.
As a designation for illegitimacy, the bend sinister has been confused with the baton sinister, which in some places did so designate. Some heraldic colleges used a different symbol, some didn’t have a device for illegitimacy. Germany doesn’t seem to have, which could mean that none of them were bastards, or all of them were.
KCVolunteer (View Comment):
Thank you, now I understand Wilkes-Barre, Pa. It’s at a bend in the Susquehanna River.

Wilkes-Barre was named for two members of the British Parliament: John Wilkes and Isaac Barré. Both of them were Whigs and followers of William Pitt the Elder (for which Pittsburgh was named). Wilkes was a lifelong loose cannon whose legal battles with the King(!) over free speech(!!!) made the newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic.

When Charles Townsend defended the proposed legislation that came to be known as the Stamp Act, Barré stood up and gave a speech that scorched the walls of the Chamber of the House of Commons. While picking apart Townsend's categorization of Americans as "Children planted by our Care, nourished up by our Indulgence until they are grown to a Degree of Strength & Opulence, and protected by our Arms," he said this:

They nourished up by your indulgence? they grew by your neglect of Em: — as soon as you began to care about Em, that Care was Excercised in sending persons to rule over Em, in one Department and another, who were perhaps the Deputies of Deputies to some Member of this house — sent to Spy out their Lyberty, to misrepresent their Actions & to prey upon Em; men whose behaviour on many Occasions has caused the Blood of those Sons of Liberty to recoil within them; men promoted to the highest Seats of Justice, some, who to my knowledge were glad by going to a foreign Country to Escape being brought to the Bar of a Court of Justice in their own.

"Sons of Liberty." All of a sudden, an inclination became a movement – a movement with a name.

Discussion (10)

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Some Call Me ...Tim@SomeCallMeTim2y
Another one for my list. You’re reviewing them faster than I can read ‘em!
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Percival@Percival2y
It sounds like a ripping good read, Mark. I don't know when I'll get to it, but I'll look for it.
... but (he said adjusting his herald's chapeau) ...
There is no such thing as a bar sinister!
I think what you're thinking of is a bend sinister. A bend proceeds from the upper right of the escutcheon (from the perspective of the bearer) to the lower left. A bend sinister goes from the upper left to the lower right. The French term for a bend is barre. That might be where the confusion arose.
As a designation for illegitimacy, the bend sinister has been confused with the baton sinister, which in some places did so designate. Some heraldic colleges used a different symbol, some didn't have a device for illegitimacy. Germany doesn't seem to have, which could mean that none of them were bastards, or all of them were.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
KCVolunteer@KCVolunteer2y
ReplyingtoPercival
Percival (View Comment):
It sounds like a ripping good read, Mark. I don’t know when I’ll get to it, but I’ll look for it.
… but (he said adjusting his herald’s chapeau) …
There is no such thing as a bar sinister!
I think what you’re thinking of is a bend sinister. A bend proceeds from the upper right of the escutcheon (from the perspective of the bearer) to the lower left. A bend sinister goes from the upper left to the lower right. The French term for a bend is barre. That might be where the confusion arose.
As a designation for illegitimacy, the bend sinister has been confused with the baton sinister, which in some places did so designate. Some heraldic colleges used a different symbol, some didn’t have a device for illegitimacy. Germany doesn’t seem to have, which could mean that none of them were bastards, or all of them were.
Thank you, now I understand Wilkes-Barre, Pa. It's at a bend in the Susquehanna River.
Banned Member@BryanGStephens2y
This summary indeed has Roger vibes
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Percival@Percival2y
ReplyingtoKCVolunteer
Percival (View Comment):
It sounds like a ripping good read, Mark. I don’t know when I’ll get to it, but I’ll look for it.
… but (he said adjusting his herald’s chapeau) …
There is no such thing as a bar sinister!
I think what you’re thinking of is a bend sinister. A bend proceeds from the upper right of the escutcheon (from the perspective of the bearer) to the lower left. A bend sinister goes from the upper left to the lower right. The French term for a bend is barre. That might be where the confusion arose.
As a designation for illegitimacy, the bend sinister has been confused with the baton sinister, which in some places did so designate. Some heraldic colleges used a different symbol, some didn’t have a device for illegitimacy. Germany doesn’t seem to have, which could mean that none of them were bastards, or all of them were.
KCVolunteer (View Comment):
Thank you, now I understand Wilkes-Barre, Pa. It’s at a bend in the Susquehanna River.
Wilkes-Barre was named for two members of the British Parliament: John Wilkes and Isaac Barré. Both of them were Whigs and followers of William Pitt the Elder (for which Pittsburgh was named). Wilkes was a lifelong loose cannon whose legal battles with the King(!) over free speech(!!!) made the newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic.
When Charles Townsend defended the proposed legislation that came to be known as the Stamp Act, Barré stood up and gave a speech that scorched the walls of the Chamber of the House of Commons. While picking apart Townsend's categorization of Americans as "Children planted by our Care, nourished up by our Indulgence until they are grown to a Degree of Strength & Opulence, and protected by our Arms," he said this:
They nourished up by your indulgence? they grew by your neglect of Em: — as soon as you began to care about Em, that Care was Excercised in sending persons to rule over Em, in one Department and another, who were perhaps the Deputies of Deputies to some Member of this house — sent to Spy out their Lyberty, to misrepresent their Actions & to prey upon Em; men whose behaviour on many Occasions has caused the Blood of those Sons of Liberty to recoil within them; men promoted to the highest Seats of Justice, some, who to my knowledge were glad by going to a foreign Country to Escape being brought to the Bar of a Court of Justice in their own.
"Sons of Liberty." All of a sudden, an inclination became a movement – a movement with a name.

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