The Fencing Master

Carkston Monitor is a professional soldier on Kvasir, a minimal technology world in the Iron Age. Battles are fought with swords, spears, and bows. To marry Jenquill Botan, Lord Botan’s daughter, Carkston wants to raise his social standing from assistant armsmaster and enter the Kvasir peerage.

Dekason (Twilight Galaxy Book 1), by Ken Lizzi, follows Carkston’s adventures thereafter.

Carkston conceives of a brilliant plot to cause two armies to attack his Baron’s castles. It succeeds perfectly but proves to be a misstep. It gets him exiled from Brecksbury Keep. It seems he, a lowly armsman, upset plans developed by the nobility. Worse, he upstaged them.

While drinking his sorrows away in a decrepit tavern, Carkston is approached by a starship captain with an offer. Go to a different planet and become an arms instructor. The spacefarer saw Carkston in action and was impressed. He sees an opportunity for both to profit.

With no other prospects, Carkston accepts. He is soon on Dekason, a planet with a technology level far above Kvasir’s, but one experiencing slow civilizational decay. Society is stagnant. Industrial syndicates called houses run the planet like feudal overlords, a society that Carkston recognizes as similar to his home world. There is no upward mobility, although strivers outside the legitimate houses form crime syndicates called Unsanctioned Houses.

Dekason’s elite is decadent. They pass the time partying, debating obscure points about colors, and dueling. Carkston is hired as a fencing master by the heir to one of the syndicates, House Therm, which uses geothermal energy to produce electricity.

At first it is a great job. Carkston enjoys teaching fencing. Dekason’s tech level is higher than Kvasir’s. His life is more comfortable. While those on Dekason cannot fix what fails, collapse is a long way off.

Then Carkston learns that Dekason’s elite are just as willing to kick an underling to the curb as Kvasir’s were. When Carkston’s employer gets ostracized for misbehavior, he shifts the blame to Carkston and fires him. Unemployed and targeted for death by another House leader, Carkston allies with the head of an Unsanctioned House for survival and profit.

Dekason is enjoyable science fiction that simultaneously packages biting social commentary, distinct from the modern “woke” substitute. Its criticism of the social systems on Kvasir and Dekason is subtle, built in to propel its plot. It's a return to 1950s and 1960s science fiction as produced by Harry Harrison and H. Beam Piper.

“Dekason (Twilight Galaxy Book 1),” by Ken Lizzi, Raconteur Press, March 2026, 254 pages, $15.99 (Paperback), $5.99 (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.