The Mosquito Fleet
New sci-fi horror novel, The Mosquito Fleet, by Andrew Penn Romine, explores the strange lives of starship crews at the fringes of known space.
In the far future, humankind has settled remote frontier worlds thanks to the science of biotics, a combination of organic and inorganic engineering that powers FTL drives and even synthetic humans.
FUNGAL SPACE HORROR
In the far future, humankind has settled remote frontier worlds thanks to the science of biotics, a combination of organic and inorganic engineering that powers FTL drives and even synthetic humans.
The Mosquito Fleet is a novel of three interwoven tales that concern Lira, a synthetic spacer whose ability to interface with biotic stardrives ordinarily would make her an indispensable navigator. After her miscalculations result in a tragic accident, however, Lira can only find employment on rundown vessels, traveling to the fringes of the Spin Colonies.
During one such routine voyage, a mysterious comet unexpectedly appears, broadcasting a strange signal that threatens to infect all biotic technology, including Lira herself. Haunted by her past mistakes, she must find a way to save her ship and the lives of all aboard while contending with one of the passengers—a violent religious fanatic who believes the comet has returned to show him how to purge humanity from the stars.
PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR
"Sense of wonder meets sense of the Weird in this compelling and original space opera. I loved it!" (John Joseph Adams, series editor of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and Hugo Award-winning editor of Lightspeed Magazine)
“The Mosquito Fleet is great science fiction with a Lovecraftian twist. The worlds and technology are strange, but the characters are people we understand completely and care about. The action comes hot and heavy yet leaves space for emotional moments.” (Daryl Gregory, award-winning author of Spoonbenders)
“In Andrew Penn Romine’s The Mosquito Fleet, organic technologies are used not only to create sentient starships, but synthetic beings perhaps more human than their masters, as embodied in our complex protagonist, Lira. Filled with fast-paced action, intriguing characters, vivid imagery, and more than a dash of cosmic horror, The Mosquito Fleet is a warp jump into a scintillatingly imaginative future.” (Jeffrey Thomas, author of the Punktown series.)
“Andy Romine’s The Mosquito Fleet is the warp-driven, wide-ranging, and biotically well-oiled adventure you’ve been waiting for! With an eye for kinetic action anchored in the (mostly) human hearts of these gripping characters, The Mosquito Fleet is an expertly navigated jaunt through interstellar sci-fi, splatastically fungal body horror, and philosophical hyperjumps of the most entertaining kind.” (Gordon B. White, Shirley Jackson Award and Bram Stoker Award finalist)