Salvage Trouble: Mission 1 (Black Ocean: Galaxy Outlaws)

It’s always a nice surprise to find indie authors who know how to tell a story and can write well enough to tell it. BLACK OCEAN: A PILOT’S PILOT kept me entertained first page to last.The first in a series of space opera installments reminiscent of FIREFLY and STAR WARS, the novella introduces the crew of the Mobius, including Captain Carl and their wizard Mort. No, you didn’t misread ‘wizard’—BLACK OCEAN merges traditional soft science fiction space opera with fantasy. If that idea doesn’t appeal to you, go read a different book. If you’re not turned off by the genre mashup, read on to learn why you should buy and read BLACK OCEAN.At first I wasn’t sure what to think of a fantasy / space opera mashup. Wizards that create gravity fields? That move ships through “Astral Space” as a means of traveling faster than light (FTL)? What the heck is going on? Then it hit me: virtually ALL science fiction involves vigorous “hand waving” to explain how artificial gravity or FTL travel might be possible. In a nutshell: they aren’t. Not without science having near god-like reach, and “world killer” torch ships that that could shred planets and the very fabric of space time.That’s what make the concept a stroke of genius: true science and scientific extrapolation cannot offer FTL ships or artificial gravity. Does that mean we should throw those concepts out as the backdrop for a story? Not at all. What J.S. Morin has done is simple and brilliant: acknowledge the improbability of these concepts and simply call them what they are (whether other science fiction authors would agree or not): MAGIC.Once you get past that hurdle (if it’s a hurdle at all), the book reads as better than average space opera with your typical iconoclast captain, a loyal crew, dog fights, off ship shenanigans, mercs, pirates, blasters, space scrap, etc… All of it works the same way a Western or a Romance or a Vampire story works (when it does work that is): the ideas themselves are common, making the execution all that counts.BLACK OCEAN gets the execution very close to perfect. The characters are likable. The story is interesting. The A plot and B plots move along at a nice pace. The scientific details are accurate where they need to be (no sound in a vacuum, ships that can flip around and fire backward while maintain a certain trajectory, etc…) and the Magic (once you buy in) becomes a seamless part of the world.The only real weakness of the first installment of BLACK OCEAN is that the ending tidies itself up a bit faster and easier than I would have preferred. The story arc is great, but things felt a touch too convenient in the book’s waning pages. Not terribly so, but not quite as compelling as I would have liked.That said, BLACK OCEAN kept me turning pages. If you’re the sort of reader who enjoys fantasy AND science fiction, this book is a no-brainer. If you’re a hard science fiction fan and hate the concept of magic itself, find a different book to read.

Carl Ramsey, Captain of the ship Mobius is a man of opportunity. His crew will take any job, anywhere, that will bring them the money they need to survive and keep the ship running in the area of space called The Black Ocean. So, when he witnesses a pirate ship attacking a passenger freighter he jumps at that opportunity. Driving the raiders off, he and his crew board the ruined ship only to find their efforts were late and all the crew apparently dead. Not letting a gift horse escape him, his crew begins stripping and salvaging what they can from the wreck. It's only when they discover a single, unlaunched escape pod, jammed while trying to flee, and holding two survivors that the fate of Carl and the Mobius take an extremely dangerous turn. Soon, they are being pursued by seemingly everyone attempting to take the two away from him. Carl, thinks he knows why, but...things are never what they seem in the Black Ocean.J.S. Morin launches his new series set in the broad expanses of space with a solid first entry. Morin takes grounded science fiction but then takes a left turn and adds a fun twist as he creates a universe where gravity is considered to be magic and wizards who can seize it and control it are an integral part of the standard ships crew. His characters are solid and well developed while his world building (in this case universe building) is fun and well done.I have heard some readers compare the story as having the same fun and feel as the late FIREFLY TV series. As for myself, I immediately flashed back to the wonderful SOLAR QUEEN series of novels written by Andre Norton.I had earlier read Morin's SINS of ANGELS quintology and looking around for more of his stories discovered these and thought I would give it a try. I'm glad I did as it was definitely worth the cost of admittance. If you love old time space opera and simple adventures among the stars, I think you'll enjoy this, the first book in the rather extensive BLACK OCEAN series.

Morin's Twinborn Saga was decent. There were issues there that I chalked up to him being a new writer back then.Luckily, I only wanted an escapism type of read. This fit the bill-action, a little humor, a tiny mystery and, intrigue that one doesn't have to work hard to figure out. I didn't go into it with major expectations so, wasn't too disappointed.This read as if Morin watched Firefly and decided to just make his own version. I think that if he'd actually developed the characters better, given better descriptions of the settings, made the Mobius more of its own character, and utilized professional editing (not just proofreading), this novella would have really taken off.As there are several more of these tales, I'm not sure I'd pay $9.99 for four each of the stories together. However, I am a little curious about the adventures so, I'll read the 2nd story and go from there.

I have had this book in my to-read pile for a while now, and I’m kicking myself for not picking it up sooner. The reason I didn’t? The series title “Black Ocean”. While skimming through titles on Amazon, I spotted an interesting-looking sci-fi story, but assumed it was something to do with underwater exploration. Turns out I was wrong, and “Black Ocean” is a metaphor for the emptiness of space. Don’t make the same mistake I did!As for a review, I’ll admit at the start that I loved the TV show Firefly. Why is this important? Because this book has a very similar feel. A genre-bending sci-fi novel about a crew of odd individuals scratching a living in a richly-realised interplanetary setting, and somehow managing to make things work most (well, some) of the time. You can’t escape the sense that the author is a Firefly fan, too, but I also spotted influences from Star Wars, the works of C. J. Cherryh, the old Traveller game, and probably many others. That’s not to say that this is derivative, it just shows that Morin has read (or watched, or played) the classics and knows how to put together an engaging space opera story, and add his own twist.The twist that makes this book stand out is the clever mix of genres. Where Firefly was space-meets-western, this is space-meets-fantasy. Arthur C. Clarke famously stated that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. In the universe that these characters inhabit, it seems that any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology. The usual physicist-infuriating tropes of faster-than-light travel, artificial gravity and so on are here explicitly provided by magic. One member of the crew is a grumpy wizard with an aversion to science, and we even get a glimpse of that fantasy game staple, the healer cleric.All of this combines to make a fun space opera with an interesting twist and plenty of opportunities for future stories. This the first of a series, and naturally enough spends some time introducing the characters, but we get enough plot to see them in action and want to find out more. I look forward to making my way through the rest of the series.

This is really reminiscent of Firefly and not in a bad way, great storyline believable characters lots of action even a little humor a thoroughly enjoyable read. The standout for me, the completely crazy crew including a drunk mechanic a powerful wizard an ex-wife as a pilot, and a predatory species as a bodyguard, what could possibly wrong? lot of fun recommended read, Baz.

Really enjoyed this book, great characters and story writing. Clever script. I liked how not all the characters were human and how the crew tested each other as family.Well be looking out for the next in the series

Very much in the firefly mode. Mixed bags of individuals sharing ship under a charismatic captain. Good story. Light sci fi.

Outstanding sci to book , Carl and crew flesh out a fantastic universe . Really impressed with this :)