This Long Vigil

This Long Vigil by Rhett C. Bruno. Originally published December, 2015 by Pervenio Corp. Approx. 20 pages.

Last June, I concluded my review for Rhett C. Bruno's ambitious bounty hunter novel Titanborn with the observation that he has introduced a universe that is fertile ground for additional stories. This Long Vigil, actually published back in 2015, While this emotional short does take place in the same universe, it is not connected to the story of Titanborn protagonist Malcolm Graves. Let's take a look at the blurb before we get to the review.

After twenty five years serving as the lone human Monitor of the Interstellar Ark, Hermes, Orion is scheduled to be placed back in his hibernation chamber with the other members of the crew. Knowing that he will die there and be replaced before the ship's voyage is over, he decides that he won't accept that fate. Whatever it takes he will escape Hermes and see space again, even if it means defying the regulations of his only friend -- the ship-wide artificial intelligence known as Dan.

The story here revolves around Orion's "last day on the job". We watch as he goes through the mundane motions of his daily tasks, eats the same nutrient-balanced food equivalent, and engages in games of riddles with Dan, the AI that overseas all the major operations of the Hermes. 

And yet, something keeps niggling at the back of Orion's mind. Is it a feeling of doubt, of desire, or both? These feelings are exacerbated as he finalizes his choice for his replacement monitor. Day in, and day out, he witnesses births and deaths which occur in stasis tubes. It is Inhabitant 2781, the beautiful young female who is the forerunner in his replacement choices, that apparently spurs the escalation of Orion's desire to want.....well, to want more.

So, Orion has to make the first true choice of his lifetime. What comes out of it is a sobering, emotional tale. You might be expecting something with an element of danger, or perhaps the kindly Dan assuming a dictator role, but that isn't this story. This is a story that reminds us that the tough choices are often the tough choices because they do not come with guaranteed happy endings.

Orion is a nicely done protagonist. We can sympathize, for sure, with the frustration associated with a mundane life of set tasks. At one point I wondered, what is it that drives him to desire "freedom"? It isn't as though he is shown trying to gather additional intelligence on the "worlds out there". But, then you realize, it is basic human nature to try to see, learn, and know what is a step beyond the familiar.

As in his Circuit books, Bruno gives us an AI that is more compelling than the human character. Dan is a system akin to HAL or AUTO, As the story progresses, we wonder if his efforts at rapport are genuine, or set algorithms in place to maintain the mental sanity of the human element on the ship. However, as the story reaches its climax, it becomes apparent that the concern was in fact genuine (or was it?).

There you have it; a fully-realized, emotional tale packed into an economical wordcount. Give this short a read.

Buy it here.

Visit Rhett's site.

Recent TNL interview with Rhett C. Bruno.

Titanborn

Titanborn by Rhett C. Bruno. Published by Aethon Books, February 2019. Approx. 241 pages.

HachiSnax Note: I received an e-ARC of the book from the author in return for a fair and honest review. This is what I plan to offer. My assessment of the book will not be influenced in any way. Thanks for reading!

Almost two years ago I reviewed a book by Rhett Bruno, which was the first installment in an ambitious trilogy. It was called The Circuit: Executor Rising, and it was chock full of great world building concepts and thoroughly fleshed out characters.

So, you can probably understand my excitement at getting a chance to review his newest novel, which promised to be a nice, gritty little slice of bounty hunter sci-fi. Let's start with the blurb:

"In this gritty and innovative science fiction thriller, turmoil on one of Saturn’s moons rattles Earth’s most powerful citizens—and draws one planet-hopping rogue into a fight he never saw coming.

Malcolm Graves lives by two rules: finish the job, and get paid. After thirty years as a Collector, chasing bounties and extinguishing rebellions throughout the solar system, Malcolm does what he’s told, takes what he’s earned, and leaves the questions to someone else—especially when it comes to the affairs of offworlders.

But his latest mission doesn’t afford him that luxury. After a high-profile bombing on Earth, the men who sign Malcolm’s paychecks are clamoring for answers. Before he can object, the corporation teams him up with a strange new partner who’s more interested in statistics than instinct and ships them both off to Titan, the disputed moon where humans have been living for centuries. Their assignment is to hunt down a group of extremists: Titanborn dissidents who will go to any length to free their home from the tyranny of Earth.

Heading into hostile territory, Malcolm will have to use everything he’s learned to stay alive. But he soon realizes that the situation on the ground is much more complex than he anticipated . . . and much more personal."

Ok, sounds great. Let's take a look at the book itself.

Titanborn takes place in 2334 AD, three centuries after a meteorite obliterated most of the Earth. At the time, survivors had left to colonize Titan, Saturn's largest moon. As the colony evolved, they found success in harvesting the gases surrounding Saturn. Meanwhile, on Earth, humanity rebuilt itself, never achieving the same grandeur it once held.

Now, a large percentage of the human race isn't even Earthborn. The descendants of the pilgrims to Titan are now so changed by their environment as to be almost an entirely different race: taller, lanky, near albino-white; the Titanborn. There are other "offworlders" born on Mars as well. There is a system of population control through which reproduction is legislated, leading to the rise of clan families in which arranged breedings are orchestrated. 

There is a palpable level of tension between these different human factions: the Earthers look down on offworlders, and there are also a lot of illegitimate children who have to hustle through life with no identity to claim as their own. The Titanborn have true cause for frustration: recent events on Earth have driven droves of Earther to the fertile gas supply around Saturn. These immigrants find themselves getting plum jobs over the native Titanborn. Also, the Titanborn are so far removed from the Earth population that they can contract life threatening diseases from even the most mundane Earth germs. This has cultivated enough frustration and animosity that splinter resistance groups have begun to form.

There is one group that finds itself thriving despite the unrest - the corporate mega entities reaping the benefits of the gas harvesting. Foremost among these is Pervenio Corp. To maintain the integrity of their galaxy spanning assets, Pervenio contracts a group of bounty hunting/problem solving experts know an "Collectors". Titanborn is the story of one such Collector, a thirty-year jaded veteran named Malcolm Graves.

While cooling his heels on a forced vacation on Earth following a job botched by shoddy intel, Graves finds himself embroiled in a terrorist bombing on Earth's biggest holidar. Although on the outs with the Pervenio higher-ups, he finds himself on the case of finding the culprits - members of a deadly offworld cell known as the Children of Titan. Their motto: "From ice to ashes." And they are hell-bent on realizing that goal.

As the stakes become higher and the severity of the situation unfolds, Pervenio opts to pair Graves up with a partner. This is a first for the veteran, who has never been saddled with an "official" partner. Moreover, this partner is a young man just pushed out of a secretive program called the "Cogent Initiative". This program optimizes all the applicable skills of gifted children to make them essentially purely efficient collecting machines. This young Cogent, Zhaff, has that frightening efficiency, but he lacks any social development. He has no personal desires, needs no bounty, he just collects.

Heading offworld in pursuit of their quarry, while racing a rival Collector and discovering the true depth of the separatist group, Graves and Zhaff find that every step they take could very well be their last.

So, I'll say right off the bat that I really enjoyed Titanborn. This is the second book in a row that I've read by Bruno which combines rich characterization with thorough world building.

First, the characters. As a lead, there are a lot of familiar physical elements to Malcolm Graves: the pistol packing, trench coat wearing, grizzled, worlds weary veteran. However, Bruno makes him very much his own person. Graves is well-balanced; resourceful but with plenty of flaws. He carries a lot of regrets; especially those surrounding his illegitimate, illegal, estranged daughter Aria. He's pretty tired of the collecting life, but doesn't know anything else. And, even though he knows how inherently odious the mega-corporations are, he willingly turns a blind eye to the bigger picture, so long as the checks clear.

Then, there is Zhaff. The Cogent is an interesting, compelling character, especially given that he is bereft of social skills. But picture a lean faced, tightly coiled killing machine and you get a pretty good idea of him. It is the classic case of seeing if being placed with the right partner will coax some emotive aspect to come to the surface.

The supporting cast are well-done, also. What really stands out for me is how real Bruno made the Titanborn; their physical appearance, and their attitudes. There are a lot of strong thematic elements rolling under the narrative, and a lot of them are tied into the residents of Titan.

Next, comes the world-building. This is what Bruno does that I really enjoy. His concepts for mankind's expansion past Terra, shown in both this book and in the Circuit series, are as exciting as they are logical. In Titanborn, he has conceived of a believable presentation of life and the economy surrounding Saturn's largest moon.

And finally, just a quick note: there is plenty of action here as well, and it is done well. There's a bit of cursing too; just as a warning. Nothing overdone; it plays off of the tone of the narrative.

Now, if there is anything that I have an issue with, it's the first-person perspective. I only mention this because it is obvious that Bruno has a huge amount of world-building detail that he wants to paint the background with, but he also wants to tell the story entirely through Graves' interior monologue. This isn't always the best fit; there is simply too much expository description and location detailing. Especially when you think about it; I would think that a veteran bounty hunter would keep his/her thoughts and sentences as economical as possible. 

See, you can tell that while Bruno is telling the tale, he is visually storyboarding it as well. A better structure for Titanborn would've had descriptive paragraphs interspersed throughout Graves' narration.

But, either way, the whole story gets told. It's just that adding all the detail to Graves' monologue sometimes breaks the flow, especially in the moments that need to move at a breakneck speed.

Still a solid story, though. And, it closes with a great ending. Plus, the Titanborn universe is fertile ground for further stories.

Final Score:

8.5/10

Cover:

This Aethon Books cover for Titanborn is simply fantastic. It truly does Malcolm Graves justice.

The Circuit: Executor Rising

The Circuit: Executor Rising by Rhett C. Bruno. Originally published by Mundania Press, June 2014. Approx. 264 pages.

HachiSnax Note: I was given a copy of this story by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review, and I intend to do just that. This is a first for me, and I appreciate it and thank Mr. Bruno for the opportunity. I would also like to mention that the author also informed me that this version was in the process of going through a new editor, and I could expect to see some typos within. There are some, but since I was informed in advance, I am not taking off points for it.

The Circuit: Executor Rising is a solid debut novel by Rhett C. Bruno (not counting a fantasy series he self-published while still in high school) that blends dark sci-fi with cinematic storytelling. It is set in a deftly created world where mankind has left the desolated Earth for a conglomeration of civilized outposts along the galaxy (the titular Circuit). In this opening act, we follow a quartet of players as their lives become intertwined (and re-intertwined) as they are caught in the midst of a power upheaval.

Before getting into the characters and power plays which are the crux of the tale, it's a good idea to look at the civilization the Bruno has crafted. The smattering of territories form what is known as the Kepler Circuit, and now, 500 years into this system, there is a reigning dogmatic governmental structure known as the New Earth Tribunal (lorded over by four individual, supremely powerful Tribunes). There is also an outland on Ceres, where strong anti-Tribunal sentiment brews. And finally, the is the energy source which fuels the power struggles: Gravitum. Gravitum is a mineral that was first discovered within the Earth's mantle; and, in true human fashion, over-zealous digging to mine it caused the apocalypse which ravaged the Earth. It is still a fiercely-coveted commodity, so much so that recently freighters carrying it have been getting boarded and hijacked. Which brings us to the story.....

TC:ER opens with guns blazing, as a lethal android killing machine named ADIM takes control of another freighter bearing Gravitum. Seeing a robot in action is quite an anomaly in 500 KC; their manufacture and usage has been deemed blasphemous by the Tribunal. In fact, any remaining robotics are relegated to the most menial tasks in wastelands like Ceres. And yet, this ADIM droid works with pinpoint precision at the behest of his "Creator", one Cassius Vale. Vale is the most dynamic character in the book, a bitter and enraged former Tribune that has lost all that he ever held dear, and who is harboring a grand plan to make a clean slate. Vale is charged by the Tribune, and begrudgingly agrees, to help investigate and discover the source of these attacks. There is no love lost on either side between him and his former co-Tribunes. They fully suspect his involvement in the attacks, and he gleefully keeps them in the dark.

Before going on, I should point out the ADIM is, in fact, one of the four primary players in this book. Where Vale is the most dynamic, the android is easily the most sympathetic. Somehow, Vale imparted to him a sense of consciousness, and ADIM spends a good deal of his page time attempting to rationalize, and juggling the concepts of forming an independent identity as well as seeking to appease his Creator. I've heard it said that one of the most tired tropes in sci-fi is to have a Neon-Genesis (now where have I heard that term before....) story, where the final two characters are named Adam and Eve.  Bruno does it one better and plays on a God/Adam narrative, as Vale clearly sees beings like his android as the real future.

Now, reading up to this point, you might be wondering what is the "Executor Rising" portion of the title? Executors are operatives of the Tribune which possess "certain sets of skills" to allow them to handle the dirty work that allows a benevolent society to thrive. The Circuit focuses on one young Executor named Sage Volus, a red haired beauty with a murky past and a lethal, cybernetic arm. After a close call taking down a would be bombing strike by a Ceresian fanatic in the Mars colony of New Terrene, she is dispatched by Benjar Vakari, the most odious of the current Tribunes, to get to the bottom of the freighter heists. Sage adopts a deep cover identity and heads to Ceres to see what is going on.

While Ceres is populated mostly by society's outcasts, it of course falls onto someone to pull the strings. Out of the grasp of the Tribune, assorted banking cartels don that mantle in Ceresian society. A scion to one of these Houses tasks a former family bodyguard turned miner named Talon Rayne with conducting a dangerous mission. Talon, suffering from an affliction known as the Blue Death (caused by exposure to Gravitum), accepts, and fate arranges it so that Sage is in his party. From this point, all the characters' fates converge on the grand finale.

TC:ER is structured in a manner that the arcs primarily involving Vale and ADIM serve as bookends. The introductions of Sage and Talon, their mission, and other background information, comprises the bulk of the rest of the book. As mentioned before, the Vale/ADIM portions end up being the truly engaging ones.

The best thing about The Circuit is that Bruno has a definite vision of the world he has created: from the composition to the governmental factors, economics and day to day exchanges. He does his best to fill a lot of details into what is actually a compact, quick read. I will say this: make sure to read the blurb on either goodreads or Amazon, for it provides a good background primer. In my opinion, that info would have been better included as a page or two at the beginning of the book.

To say that the best thing is the world-building does not imply that it is the only good thing. TC:ER is, at heart, a character-driven book. And even though ADIM may be the most sympathetic character, you find yourself rooting for all the main characters, despite their flaws. Like I've said, the best scenes in the book go to Vale and ADIM, but there are solid foundations set for Sage and Talon. For reasons beyond her control, we do not get to see all there is to Sage in this introductory book, so that is another reason to look forward to Book 2. Talon, as well, doesn't get a full story arc either. We spend a lot of time getting to know him, feeling his pains and his frustrations, and then he is out of the picture. Sure to return, but we still feel left hanging a bit.

Bruno's bio says that he is pursuing writing for screenplays and video games. I would say that might be the perfect niche for him. I mentioned at the beginning that the book has a cinematic quality to it, and it is the truth. Every scene feels meticulously storyboarded, yielding some stellar fight scenes (especially those with ADIM). However, at times, there also seems to be an oversaturation of description. When characters are introduced, it is similar to stage directions. I don't mean this in a bad way, since I am glad to have a clear picture of who I am reading about.

Other than that, there are a few facets in which Bruno just needs a little more polish that more books will iron out. Towards the beginning of The Circuit, there are chunks where there are simply too many modifiers all around. As the author hones his craft, he'll learn to tap into the reader's mindset with well-placed words rather than a plethora of words. And again, it's better to have too much detail rather than no detail.

Just a final note, TC:ER pushes the limits of a PG-13 rating and borders on R territory. There is some adult language and adult situations, along with some real brutal violence (which is fine by me). Nothing gratuitous, and all well choreographed. Enjoy this book; I sure did!

Here's what it is:

The Circuit: Executor Rising is a well planned out opener to an exciting series populated by fully realized characters (no cardboard cutouts). Power plays and shadow games culminate in an explosive finale. 

Final Score:

83/100

Cover Score:

Nothing too special here, and at least it tries to incorporate elements from the storyline. The font and color scheme are nice enough. Let's be honest; it's word of mouth that will drive sales of this book, not the cover. However, if you want to see something that does justice to the content, head over to Bruno's website and check out the great pic of ADIM there. 

Cover Final Score:

59/100