Angel Rising, a New Ceres Novella
4.5/5
()
About this ebook
The New Ceres planetary charter forbids the use of all modern technology. Law confines the people to the ways of 18th Century Earth. But beneath the surface, rebellion and revolution simmer constantly.
Proctor George Gordon, a hidden protector of New Ceres, knows all too well how easily these can bubble over, but nothing can prepare him for interstellar warfare in his own technologically challenged backyard.
What odd coincidence brings him to the Sunrise Isles to be confronted by ninja and warrior nuns? Who is the strange but compelling amnesiac girl he finds in the convent, and what do the offworld nations want with her? And how can he really be sure who to trust?
Reviews
Angel Rising is an exciting, funny and engaging adventure romp
Keith Stevenson, Aurealis
Angel Rising is a quick, invigorating read, with swordplay, technology and frock-coats.
Liz Grzyb, Ticon 4
Dirk Flinthart’s writing is punchy, the action smoothly written and his characterization of George Gorden has left me wanting more stories with this protagonist.
seandblogonaut, Smashwords
The story itself is a fascinating one, and highly enjoyable, but Gordon himself is the key drawcard. It’s somewhat amazing, but in 51 pages Flinthart manages to sketch Gordon’s character (it’s by no means necessary to read the first story) and also develop it.
Alexandra Pierce, ASif!
Dirk Flinthart
Dirk Flinthart writes from the northeast of Tasmania, where he has settled to raise dangerous children and wait out the coming environmental, economic and social shitstorm. He's been writing for over ten years now, though mostly in small press, and favours speculative fiction — not least because (having three small children) he mostly writes short works. Recent years have seen his work in Twelfth Planet Press, Andromeda Spaceways, Agog! Press, Ticonderoga Press and a bunch of other like-minded places.Flinthart's interests, like most writers, are too varied to bother mentioning here, but shortlisting them to martial arts, cooking,offbeat cinema, animation and glass mosaic-work would be a good start. He's editing an anthology called "Canterbury 2100: Pilgrimages in a new world" for Agog! Press, is training for an advanced ju-jitsu grading, studying Iaido, and has just signed up for a course in fencing. The smart money says Flinthart is certifiably mad. Having no money to speak of, Flinthart laughs at such trifles — albeit somewhat manically.
Read more from Dirk Flinthart
Path of Night Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Striking Fire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Angel Rising, a New Ceres Novella
Related ebooks
Alien Conspiracy Theories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConstellations Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrotherhood of the Snake Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAre You A Happy Slave Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings2012: The Real Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Age of Aquarius II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Real Witness to Planet Nibiru Crossing and Real Parallel Time Slip: Trusting Yeshua Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsObama's Alien Conspiracy With The Beast: The Temptation Of Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBigfoot: A Guide To The Beasts Of The Field Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpiritual Encounters with Unusual Light Phenomena: Lightforms Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alien Annihilation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEzekiel's Chariot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAncients' Awakening - The Archive of the Lost Race Revealed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUFO Vantassels in Space Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Champion of Hollow Earth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDaughter of the Night Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Humans: Offspring of Aliens and the Subhuman Race Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Serpent and the Eagle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKeely and His Discoveries: Aerial Navigation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Saturn Nexus: Parts 1 & 2 - Ascension Dimension Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristianity Worships a Wrong and Evil God, Named Yahweh Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNephilim the Remembering Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJourney to the Center of the Earth "The Shasta Mountain Special Forces" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhosts and Lost Souls: The Mystic Knowledge Series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Adam and Eve Chronicles Book 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsREIGN: Restoring Identity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreadcrumbs!: My Five-Year Holy Spirit-Led Journey to the Male Child. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Templar Magician Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Science Fiction For You
Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Am Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wool: Book One of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Who Have Never Known Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cryptonomicon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silo Series Collection: Wool, Shift, Dust, and Silo Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annihilation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shift: Book Two of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camp Zero: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frankenstein: Original 1818 Uncensored Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Firestarter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Psalm for the Wild-Built Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Authority: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dust: Book Three of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Hideous Strength: (Space Trilogy, Book Three) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: A Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England: Secret Projects, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Deep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Angel Rising, a New Ceres Novella
2 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Angel Rising, a New Ceres Novella - Dirk Flinthart
INTRODUCTION
New Ceres was designed as a playground for authors who believed there just wasn't enough swashbuckle in science fiction. The original concept was a future world ruled by anachronists, enforcing the mores and social structure of Eighteenth Century Earth on their populace.
Over time, each author who dipped a toe into the green waters of New Ceres added more depth and colour to that world, mingling their styles to develop and expand the scenery and society, picking up and remixing that which had gone before. As a writer involved in the early stages of the New Ceres project, what excited me most was the creation of characters who lived and breathed New Ceres, combining those tantalising ingredients of regency history and science fiction. Dirk Flinthart was one of those authors who didn't just dip his toe into the waters, but leapt in with both boots. His George Gordon may have started out as the bastard child of Lord Byron and James Bond, but he took on an existence all of his own, and I'm delighted to see his snarky, dangerous self let loose again,
This time in a novella. With samurai. And ninja. And nuns. Dirk Flinthart also happens to be one of my favourite people. If I ever needed to cook salmon for 50 people, build a fallout shelter or defend myself from a horde of Mongols, he'd be the bloke I called to help me out. He writes the best fight scenes in the business, his historical research is so tight it makes my eyes water, and he always manages to make me laugh along the way.
Samurai. And ninja. And nuns! What are you still reading this for? Start the story!
Tansy Rayner Roberts,
2008.
###
Twelfth Planet Press would like to thank Simon Petrie, Kathryn Linge, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Ben Payne for their help in producing this book, all the authors who have helped bring New Ceres to life so far and Gillian Polack who created the original blueprints for the backdrop to this wild story.
Very special thanks to Cat Sparks who is ever patient and enormously talented.
###
ANGEL RISING
The rugged little ship scudded past the seawall into Shusaeki Harbour. In the bow, George Gordon stood spraddle-legged, the breeze toying with his curling hair, his face turned to the sun. His manservant Stilton waited nearby, guarding Gordon’s bulky trunks as impassively as a human Stonehenge. Behind the shelter of the seawall, the confused breeze brought scents of the waterfront to Gordon’s nose. His lip curled. ‘Fish,’ he growled. ‘Wet, stinking fish.’ He clambered down to the crowded deck, and rubbed the shiny black surface of his largest trunk with a linen kerchief before seating himself on it. ‘That’s all they eat here, you know Stilton. Bloody fish. And not a piece of cheese to be had on the whole devil-damned archipelago.’
He hawked wetly, and spat into the water.
‘Exile. That’s the only word for it. Bloody exile. Damn the Lady governor and her damnable secrets. The Sunrise Isles are Michio’s patch. I’ve got no business here, even if Michio has managed to get his knickers in a bunch over a blasted meteoroid.’
‘The Lady Governor seemed most insistent, sir,’ said Stilton. ‘She appeared to believe your presence here is important.’
‘Hell with her, Stilton,’ Gordon replied. ‘She’s angry with me because I spitted that wretched Oxenbould man. And then, when I showed her the proof he was literally selling political refugees offworld, she started that song and dance about my drinking. She knows I have to drink. It’s in my character. Everybody knows George Gordon is a drinker. In any case, she also knows I’ve had my liver rewritten. Stuff’s like water to me.’ As if to prove a point, he dragged a glass bottle from somewhere under his jacket, drained the dregs, and threw it over the side for the seagulls to chase.
The memory nagged at him, nevertheless. After this long — how long had it been, anyway, that he’d been Proctor to New Ceres, charged with keeping the planet safe from provocateurs, infiltrators, saboteurs and enemies of all sort? His mind kept shying away from the answer, and he found himself patting at his pockets, looking for his flask of brandy.
Certainly, it had been a while. Not just as George Gordon, but by another name before that, and still another. The Lady Governor might be able to extend her lifespan legally, but no supposedly ordinary citizen of New Ceres should.
Sometimes it did get a little trying, he admitted to himself. Times when he wasn’t quite sure who he was meant to be any more. Even times when he briefly forgot who he had been first, when he had parents and a family. Trying times.
‘Ah well,’ he said. ‘Change is as good as a holiday, eh, Stilton? perhaps a bit of sightseeing, a little relaxation. Maybe the Lady governor has our best interests at heart after all.’
Stilton laid a big hand atop one of the smaller cases, imperturbably picking up the conversation where Gordon had left it. ‘I imagine you’ll be all right, sir. Three cheddar wheels ought to be enough.’
Gordon frowned. ‘I don’t know why I bothered, really. Good cheese calls for decent wine, not filthy saki. Rice wine! If the Lord had meant for us to drink rice wine, Stilton, rice would be red and sweet and juicy and grow on vines.’
‘Sir,’ said Stilton, with the air of someone who knew from long experience that saying anything more would be dangerous.
‘Oh, never mind,’ said Gordon. ‘Look — there go the hawsers. We’ll be on the shore soon enough. You stay with the gear. I’ll find some porters.’
The boat sidled up to the oiled wooden wharf. As it nestled into its berth, Gordon lightly vaulted the rail to the dock below. Recovering his balance, he took in the seething mass of humanity about him: dockhands making ropes fast about the bollards; laden porters staggering under baskets and bales; hawkers and pedlars crying their wares; beggars, travellers, sightseers, even children, darting back and forth underfoot. Despite the noise and apparent confusion, the islanders moved smoothly around him, not even brushing against the hem of his frock-coat as he got his bearings and looked around.
At the end of the dock, on the quayside proper, a few bare-legged men clustered in the shade of a