Booklog 38/2021: Jacey Bedford: Crossways - Psi-Tech #2

[jacey]

Perhaps I shouldn't review my own book. After all, I could just say best-book-ever, please buy it, and leave it at that, but I wrote Crossways in 2014 and it came out in 2015 and I haven't read it since... so taking time and distance into account, I'd forgotten some of the detail, and I ended up reading it as a reader, not as a writer... and... I enjoyed it.  It's the middle book of the Psi-Tech trilogy, sandwiched between Empire of Dust and Nimbus. The pace is relentless and the multi-stranded plot plays out with main characters, Cara and Ben, whose viewpoints did the heavy lifting in Empire of Dust.

At the end of Empire of Dust, Ben, Cara, the psi-techs and the settlers sold the planet Olyanda and its platinum reserves to criminal-with-ambitions, Garrick, and took refuge on Crossways, rogue space station, or maybe space station of rogues. They'd outmanoeuvred two megacorporations and lived to tell the tale, but an ark ship with 30,000 more settlers frozen in cryo, is missing presumed lost in space. Ben has promised to investigate and Ben always keeps his promises. Cara is searching to find a new home for the displaced settlers before they drive Garrick bonkers with their unreasonable demands. The psi-techs have decided that since the megacorps want them dead, they'll stick together and form The Free Company (psi-techs for hire). Ben and Cara are on everyone's most-wanted list. They bested the megacorps once, but it doesn't mean that they have escaped free and clear. Expect ambush, treachery, space battles, family in peril, very strange aliens, and an impossible flight.

Cara is a top-grade telepath. Ben is a psi-tech Navigator, able to fly that liminal space beween jump gates. He's been trained to believe the 'visions' in Foldspace aren't real, but there's something sentient in the Folds that is certainly NOT an illusion - a big scary void dragon. In order to find the missing settlers they are going to have to brave foldspace again and again and Ben's not sure he can do it any more.

I recommend starting with Empire of Dust, but if you start with this one I don't think you'll find catching up a problem. I'm always happy to answer questions if you have any. Thanks for reading.

PS, The cover is by the hugely talented Stephan Martiniere and I love it. www.martiniere.com

 

 

 

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Comments

[watervole]

I've just bought a Kobo, but they don't seem to stock any of your novels.

Is that because they aren't available in ebook format?

[jacey]

Because they are American publications with (only) North American rights, they don't offer them on Kindle (and I presume Kobo) on this side of the Atlantic. They are available as paper copies or ebooks in North America or paper copies over here (as imports). I'm hoping Amber Crown will be available in e-format over here because the publisher has world rights.

[watervole]

Ah, the craziness of regional rights...

Though I'm guessing they may have some advantages for writers if you can leverage better rates sometimes for a given region?

[jacey]

I'm very bad at the business side of things, so I take my agent's advice. The next book, The Amber Crown, due out 11th January 2022 from DAW, is once again available to pre-order in trade paperback on both sides of the Atlantic and on Kindle in the USA but not in the UK, despite DAW having world rights this time. Not sure why or whether it will go on Kindle in the UK nearer to publication day. I do get a lot of Brits asking about Kindle editions, and I confess I (mostly) read electronically these days.

[watervole]

I find e-books are much easier to read in bed. I don't have to hold the pages open.

[jacey]

Yes, I mostly read on ebook now unless it's something I can only get on paper. You can make the print bigger when your eyes get tired. I buy non-fiction in paper format because the pictures are poor on Kindle Paperwhite. I do have a Kindle Fire, which is better for illustrations, but it's a 10 inch one and backlit, so not suitable for reading in bed. I read in bed with the paperwhite because I can turn it to white on black which sheds less light and therefore tends not to wake Brian. He's particulary sensitive to light. It disturbs his sleep.

[watervole]

Agreed. I still buy non-fiction on paper. I like to be able to make annotations in the margin and highlight - and I still find that easier in a paper book. Also, I'm far more likely to flip back and forth between sections to compare bits of text.

[sartorias]

I really enjoyed this one, but the next one seems to have slipped by me without my being aware. Damn!

[jacey]

If you enjoyed Empire of Dust I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy Crossways and Nimbus, too. (Im that order.)