New Science Fiction Titles from Titan Books

by MK French

Today, I have a few science fiction titles for you. If you are a fan of the television show Firefly, then you don't want to miss the two new books in the series. If cyberpunk is your thing, then you'll definitely want to check out The Escher Man.

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Firefly: Aim to Misbehave by Rosiee Thor

November 2024; Titan Books; 978-1789098396
audio, ebook, print (288 pages); science fiction

The Serenity crew is paid in geese instead of coin, so they can't buy the fuel to get offworld, even though the geese could potentially be purchased for a lot of coin at an offworld market. Stuck on Brome, the crew is potentially hired by Lyle Horne to get his factory workers back from someone called The Governess. Lyle has history with Shepherd Book, and neither of them are talking about it. Without much choice, the crew takes the job and forms a plan, but nothing ever runs smoothly.

Rosiee Thor is a great author, so it was a double bonus to see that name on this book. The beginning references several episodes of the show and is set up like an episode itself. The glimpses of crew interaction and a hint of Book's past are tantalizing and remind me of the way that the episodes hinted at more depth to all of the characters. The missing people who Lyle asks to find are at the Governess' compound, but of course, Lyle never told the whole story. As the factory overseer, his management style tended toward authoritarian and coercive, adding to the distrust of everyone associated with him. The crew takes their multiple-pronged plan to try to fix the situation, which goes all kinds of wrong. We get to see how it all gets pulled together in the end, reminiscent of the show itself. This was a really fun story and makes me want to watch the box set all over again.

Buy Firefly: Aim to Misbehave at Amazon

Firefly: Coup de Grâce by Una McCormack

September 2024; Titan Books; 978-1789098389
audio, ebook, print (272 pages); science fiction

The Serenity crew head to Yell City, a settlement on the Rim moon Abel. Annie Roberts hired them to track down her father's killers, a local gang. The job is more complicated than that, however. Powerful men wanted Annie's father out of the way, and cleaning up the corruption is a bit more than the Serenity crew can handle. The choice is taken out of their hands when the ship is impounded, leaving them trapped in Yell City.

This is the eighth book in the series, but it's essentially a standalone novel that easily could be a lost episode of the show. It's told mostly from Annie's perspective and not any of the crew, which other readers really don't enjoy much. I get it, we want to see what the crew thinks, and especially Mal since it's primarily his interaction that we get in this story. Her POV alternates with a third-person POV that follows the crew. 

This story has the crew looking into the conditions in Yell City following years of drought sending farmers into the city looking for work and undercutting the current residents. A Core company is trying to invest in the planet, and some of the wealthy are trying to get even wealthier. We get glimpses of the Serenity crew doing what they do best: Kaylee and Wash talking with people, River being cryptic and Book pacifying others, Inara and Simon being face characters, and then Mal, Zoë, and Jayne being the muscle and primary players facing the gang. The Browncoat vs. Alliance tension remains high, and there are no easy answers for who is the bad guy in this world. If you miss the series, this is definitely a story that will ease the nostalgia. 

Buy Firefly: Coup de Grâce at Amazon

The Escher Man by T. R. Napper

September 2024; Titan Books; 978-1803368153
audio, ebook, print (368 pages); cyberpunk

Endel ‘Endgame’ Ebbinghaus is an enforcer for the Macau Syndicate in 2101, with memories wiped and re-written. While most memories are gone, he has some memories of being a father and husband and wants to regain the family he lost. In a world where memory manipulation is the weapon of choice for the powerful, Endel can’t tell friends and enemies apart anymore, and can’t be sure if he’s a person or a tool.

Endel works for an unsavory gangster type, though he doesn't know what they deal in. It doesn't seem to be drugs, alcohol, or trafficking, but his boss is powerful and untouchable. The creeping sense of wrongness comes in slowly, and in a world with implants, memory pins, and various kinds of physical augmentation, there are also professionals able to identify the changes that people can make to memories. Endel had this done multiple times, and can't trust that he even knows what his memories are. He's not the only one being manipulated, and he doesn't even know why he has the urge to leave once he gets it, even though we do. From there, he's determined to get vengeance despite his poor memory and leaves clues for himself along the way. It's all about memory and identity, and who people are when both are altered beyond recognition. 

As with any good sci-fi story, there's real scientific knowledge as well as a question to answer. Memory implants might seem like a great idea for dementia or other organic brain issues, but it involves knowledge and preferences, and any future always seems to include powerful forces that want to manipulate the populace for their own gain. Endel is caught up in this mess and being used by multiple people to reach their end goals. His initial boss is too high up to reach, so goes a roundabout way to get revenge, blowing open the conspiracy. He isn't who he thought he was, and his identity changes several times over the course of the story because it's difficult for him to retain solid memories to keep a steady identity. It's a blessing and a curse, because he loses track of what he discovers, but his enemies also don't necessarily track down what he's doing. For all of the death and mayhem, Endel is searching for a soul, and I couldn't help but root for him anyway.

Buy The Escher Man at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

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