ZERO by J.S. Collyer

ZERO

An Orbit Novel

by

J.S.Collyer, Author

R.J.Davey, Editor

Matt Davis, Cover Design

SUMMARY
Kaleb Hugo is every­thing an offi­cer of the Ser­vice should be: loyal, expertly trained, unques­tion­ing. He has done every­thing ever ordered of him and has done so with a pride that comes from know­ing you are fight­ing for the good of humankind… until the day that he made a decision to go against orders to obtain victory and save lives.

The bat­tle was won, but Hugo was con­demned and dis­hon­ourably dis­charged by Ser­vice com­man­ders for defying regulations. There is no place in the Service for heroes. Their soldiers serve and obey.

Officially, anyway.

Unof­fi­cially, Hugo is re-​​assigned to cap­tain the crew of the Zero, an eight-​​man craft clas­si­fied as, at best, a pri­va­teer ship and at worst a smug­gling and crim­i­nal enter­prise vessel. But what very few know is that the Zero, and her crew, are con­tracted by the Ser­vice. Their role is to inves­ti­gate and infil­trate the less savoury lev­els of soci­ety. They sell on, buy in, bar­gain, threaten and report back on every­thing the polit­i­cal lev­els the Ser­vice don’t offi­cially want to know about.

The Zero’s rag-​​tag crew look to their com­man­der, Ezekiel Webb, as their leader and mid­dle­man between the reg­i­mented expec­ta­tions of the Ser­vice and the harsh and unpre­dictable demands of the under­world of colo­nial space. He has lived in both worlds his whole life and has trouble adjusting to Hugo, as he has every captain before him.

Hugo has to find a way to manage this unruly ship and unruly crew as they are pulled deeper into an orbit-​​wide game of pol­i­tics, deceit and cor­rup­tion which will threaten to tear them apart as well as throw human­ity back into a cycle of war and destruc­tion. Hugo, Webb and the crew will have to over­come per­sonal tragedy, insur­mount­able odds and every depraved twist of fate that the Orbit can throw at them in order to survive and prevent events that could threaten the lives of millions.

For Kaleb Hugo, nothing will ever be certain again.

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: Dagda Publishing Ltd (August 16, 2014)
• ISBN-10: 0992987105
• ISBN-13: 978-0992987107
• AUTHOR

 J. S. Collyer has written stories since she was old enough to hold a pen and began reading obsessively when she discovered Star Wars and science fiction in secondary school. She went on to study literature and creative writing up to Master of Arts level at the Lancaster University.

After graduating with her MA in 2008 she has stayed in Lancaster with her partner and has written consistently since.

She has always had a taste for narratives that are larger than life and science fiction delivers what she needs. But, though it’s true she likes spaceships, lasers and moon rocks, she also likes humanity, sincerity and relating to her characters. They may live on the moon, but they’re real and she is committed to creating human narratives albeit usually with a super-human backdrop.

 REVIEW
 From page one I thought this would be a new series that would be a definite winner.  The author used a different approach to sci fi. Commander Kaleb Hugo is disgraced after not adhering to several commands ordering retreat.  Even though, he was disgraced he was promoted to be the captain of the ZERO.  The ZERO was a ship shod  stuck together with whatever was available.  The crew was a bunch  of pirates that had gone rogue.
 The Serviceman and the True Believer are forced to work alongside a crew of misfits.  They try to settle their differences while on t his terrifying adventure.  The book is totally enjoyable as the author puts misfits , Serviceman and TrueBeliever to work together.  The author has taken HER plot and arranged it with fresh characters and scenes and has brought about a different approach to other books of the same nature.  The author puts a bit of herself in the book showing that she is somewhat like the underdogs that she has in her book.  She's willing to fight for what she needs and believes in.  The author appears to be a strong willed woman and she brings that forth in her book.  You will find a surprise about mid way through the book that will make you look twice.What you see on the surface is not all that is going on.   There's more underneath.  More for you, the reader to find out.
 The plot is about the future Earth and its colonial space subjects.     It all starts with what the title says, Earth's immediate orbit.   There's none of the warp's drive, no wild crazy escapades, no aliens and none of that technical talk that most of us don't understand.
The author stays with her bold crew of misfits and the political high stakes, which gives us a science fiction in the near future.


I was given a complimentary copy of ZERO from the author, J.S. Collyer for my view of the book.  No other compensation took place.


I would give this book 4 STARS.

links

http://jcollyer.wordpress.com
bemiown@yahoo.com
http://bemiown.blogspot.com
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1011307297