Two Starships

Two Starships

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I’ve been playing with the current (Mongoose Publishing) edition of Traveller, specifically their version of the High Guard starship design rules. Here are a couple of ship designs that might possibly be relevant to another project I’m working on. Also, hopefully, of interest to Traveller fans . . .

Niarchos-class Far Trader (Modified)

These small merchant vessels are based on the TL12 Niarchos-class far trader, but have been specifically modified to support covert operations. They may (appear to) make a profit through normal free-trade operations, but are also likely to be covertly subsidized by an interstellar state.

  • Tech Level: 12
  • Hull: 200 tons, streamlined (80 Hull points, MCr12)
  • Armor: Crystaliron, 2 points (5 tons, MCr1.2)
  • M-Drive: Thrust 2 (4 tons, MCr8)
  • J-Drive: Jump 2 (15 tons, MCr22.5)
  • Power Plant: TL12 Fusion, Power 105 (7 tons, MCr7)
  • Fuel Tanks: Jump 2, 4 weeks operation (41 tons)
  • Bridge: Standard (10 tons, MCr1)
  • Computer: Computer/20 (MCr5)
  • Sensors: Improved (Power 4, 3 tons, MCr4.3)
  • Weapons: Double turret with pop-up mounting, Pulse Laser x2 (Power 9, 2 tons, MCr3.5)
  • Systems:
    • Fuel Scoop
    • Fuel Processor – 40 tons/day (Power 2, 2 tons, MCr0.1)
    • Cargo Crane (3 tons, MCr3)
    • Advanced Probe Drones – 5 TL12 drones (1 ton, MCr0.8)
    • Library (4 tons, MCr4)
  • Staterooms:
    • High Staterooms x1 (6 tons, MCr0.8)
    • Standard Staterooms x8 (32 tons, MCr4)
    • Low Berths x6 (Power 1, 3 tons, MCr0.3)
  • Software:
    • Electronic Warfare/1 (Bandwidth 10, MCr15)
    • Maneuver/0 (Bandwidth 0)
    • Jump Control/2 (Bandwidth 10, MCr0.2)
    • Library (Bandwidth 0)
  • Common Areas: 10 tons (MCr1)
  • Cargo: 52 tons
  • Standard Crew: Pilot, Astrogator, Engineer, Gunner, Medic, Steward. Usual crew roster combines Pilot and Astrogator, Engineer and Gunner, and Medic and Steward.
  • Cost: MCr93.7, monthly maintenance cost Cr7810.

Chen Zuyi-class Corsair

These ships were designed for long-term operation and small-scale commerce raiding in hostile space. Most of them have been sold to pirates, mercenaries, planetary governments seeking to maintain their independence, and other “troublemakers.”

  • Tech Level: 11
  • Hull: 400 tons, streamlined (160 Hull points, MCr24)
  • Armor: Crystaliron, 4 points (20 tons, MCr4.8)
  • M-Drive: Thrust 3 (12 tons, MCr24)
  • J-Drive: Jump 2 (25 tons, MCr37.5)
  • Power Plant: TL8 Fusion, Power 250 (25 tons, MCr12.5)
  • Fuel Tanks: Jump 2, 4 weeks operation (83 tons)
  • Bridge: Standard (20 tons, MCr2)
  • Computer: Computer/15 (MCr2)
  • Sensors: Military Grade (Power 2, 2 tons, MCr4.1)
  • Weapons:
    • Triple turret, Pulse Laser x3 (Power 13, 1 ton, MCr4)
    • Triple turret, Pulse Laser x3 (Power 13, 1 ton, MCr4)
    • Triple turret, Missile Rack x3 (Power 1, 1 ton, MCr3.25)
  • Systems:
    • Fuel Scoop
    • Fuel Processor – 80 tons/day (Power 4, 4 tons, MCr0.2)
    • Cargo Crane (3 tons, MCr3)
    • Breaching Tube (3 tons, MCr3)
    • Forced Linkage Apparatus (2 tons, MCr0.075)
    • Armory x2 (2 tons, MCr0.5)
    • Medical Bay (4 tons, MCr2)
    • Training Facilities x12 (Power 24, 24 tons, MCr4.8)
    • Workshop x2 (12 tons, MCr1.8)
  • Staterooms:
    • High Staterooms x1 (6 tons, MCr0.8)
    • Standard Staterooms x4 (16 tons, MCr2, set up for double occupancy)
    • Barracks x12 (24 tons, MCr1.2)
    • Brig x1 (4 tons, MCr0.25)
    • Low Berths x6 (Power 1, 3 tons, MCr0.3)
  • Software:
    • Fire Control/1 (Bandwidth 5, MCr2)
    • Maneuver/0 (Bandwidth 0)
    • Jump Control/2 (Bandwidth 10, MCr0.2)
    • Library (Bandwidth 0)
  • Common Areas: 13 tons (MCr1.3)
  • Cargo: 90 tons
  • Standard Crew: Pilot, Astrogator, 2 Engineers, 3 Gunners, Medic, 12 Marines.
  • Cost: MCr145.575, monthly maintenance cost Cr12200.
World-Building Exercise: St. Basil

World-Building Exercise: St. Basil

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Here’s a bit of additional world-building for the Scorpius Reach setting, mostly done with the current draft of Architect of Worlds.

St. Basil is the fourth planet of the A component of a binary star system. Its primary star is named Emmelia. Emmelia is a typical Population I star, somewhat more massive, hotter, and brighter than Sol. It possesses a substantial family of planets.

Emmelia

  • Mass: 1.06 Sol
  • Age: 5.7 billion standard years
  • Metallicity: 1.0 standard
  • Luminosity: 1.63 Sol
  • Effective Temperature: 5940 K
  • Spectral Classification: G0V

Mazaka (Companion Star)

  • Mass: 0.55 Sol
  • Age: 5.7 billion standard years
  • Metallicity: 1.0 standard
  • Luminosity: 0.06 Sol
  • Effective Temperature: 3850 K
  • Spectral Classification: M0V
  • Orbital Radius: 96.8 AU
  • Eccentricity: 0.25 (Forbidden zone at 24.2 AU)
  • Orbital Period: 750.6 standard years

Planetary System Summary

Planets and other major bodies in the Emmelia star system are named after people associated with St. Basil the Great.

OrbitNameUPPNotes
0.20 AUMeletiusY7A0000-0Tide-locked world with a hot carbon-dioxide atmosphere. No moons.
0.36 AUEustathiusY8A0000-0Tide-locked world with a hot carbon-dioxide atmosphere. No moons.
0.62 AUSt. MacrinaY600000-0Hot airless world. No moons.
1.28 AUSt. BasilC645456-8Primary world in the system, with a thin but breathable oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere tainted by biotoxins, a moderate amount of liquid surface water, and a temperate climate. Colony world. No moons.
1.85 AUSt. GregoryLarge GGSpectacular ring system. One large moon, many moonlets.
3.83 AUSt. PetrosMedium GGModerate ring system. Two large moons, several moonlets.
7.17 AUSt. NaucratiusSmall GGModerate ring system. One large moon, several moonlets.
11.61 AUJulianosYAA0000-0Dense, bitterly cold hydrogen-helium atmosphere. No moons.

St. Basil

St. Basil is a marginally habitable world. It has a pleasant climate in limited regions of the surface, but the local ecology is somewhat incompatible with human biochemistry and airborne toxins are common.

Orbital and Rotational Parameters

  • Orbital Radius: 1.275 AU
  • Orbital Eccentricity: 0.08
  • Orbital Period: 12260 hours
  • Rotation Period: 21.50 hours
  • Local Day: 21 hours, 32.5 minutes
  • Local Year: 569.13 local days
  • Obliquity: 24° (unstable)
  • Satellites: None

Mass and Surface Gravity

  • Mass: 0.47 Earth
  • Density: 0.92 Earth (5.08 g/cc)
  • Radius: 5090 km
  • Surface Gravity: 0.74 standard

Geophysics

  • Geophysical Parameters: Mature plate lithosphere with mobile plate tectonics
  • Magnetic Field: Strong
  • Hydrographic Coverage: 50%

Atmosphere

  • Surface Atmospheric Pressure: 0.69 atm
  • Atmospheric Components (by Mass):
    • Nitrogen 75.5%
    • Oxygen 22.3%
    • Carbon Dioxide 0.4%
    • Argon 1.0%
    • Water Vapor 0.3%
  • Atmospheric Scale Height: 11.6 km
  • Atmospheric Classification: Thin, tainted (low oxygen content, seasonal airborne toxins in regions of plentiful native vegetation)

Climate

  • Blackbody Temperature: 279 K
  • Bolometric Albedo: 0.27
  • Total Greenhouse Effect: 31 K
  • Average Surface Temperature: 289 K

Native Life

  • Age of Advanced Biosphere: 1.71 billion standard years
  • Dominant Life Forms: Sophisticated animals, both aquatic and land-based, including several pre-sentient species
  • Biochemical Compatibility: Poor

Human Habitation

  • Human Population: 50,000
  • Founder Groups: Eosi (100%)
  • Government Type: Feudal Technocracy
  • Law Level: 6
  • Starport Class: C (Routine facilities, repair yard for small ships)
  • Base Facilities: Scout base
  • Local Tech Level: 18
  • Trade Classifications: Non-Industrial

Notes

St. Basil is notable for its proximity to the massive gas giant planet St. Gregory. St. Basil and St. Gregory are in a stable 7:4 orbital resonance. While the gas giant’s influence stabilizes St. Basil’s orbit, it also causes the smaller planet’s rotational axis to undergo wild excursions over million-year timescales.

St. Basil is currently recovering from a mass extinction which apparently took place about two million years ago. The largest native land animals are about the size and sophistication of a domestic cat. The history of life on the planet is full of such incidents – the variability of the planet’s rotational axis means that its climate is also extremely unstable over long periods.

Native life on St. Basil is biochemically incompatible with Earth-derived life – the two can usually obtain no nutritional value from one another, and the very attempt is likely to provoke serious allergic or toxic reactions. Even the native plant life is prone to give off airborne toxins that can lead to serious illness or even death in Earth-derived animal life. The St. Basil colony tends to expand its territory by burning the native ecology to the ground, plowing the resulting carbon under, and then introducing Earth- or Eos-derived life forms. Humans venturing away from the protected colony are advised to wear filter masks and carry supplemental oxygen.

St. Basil was originally colonized in 2403, by founder groups of Chinese and Japanese origin. The original name of the colony was Guang. The Guang colony failed slowly after the Silence, with all human inhabitants deceased by 2600. The planet was rediscovered in 2833 and recolonized from Eos in 2840. St. Basil is currently organized as a semi-autonomous province of the Kingdom of Eos, ruled by a consortium of technical and scientific experts, with support from the Kingdom’s interstellar navy and scout service.

The local economy is more or less self-sufficient at a TL8 level. It is centered around scientific study of the native biosphere, which promises to produce a variety of useful pharmaceuticals. Prospectors have also recently discovered prodromoi remnants on the planet.

Planning for June 2021

Planning for June 2021

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The last few months have been very productive, and I think this pattern of posting a status report and priority list at the beginning of each month is helping. Not to mention that it’s likely to be useful information for my patrons, and anyone else who’s following my work.

May was a good month overall. I released an update to my Scorpius Reach setting bible, adding a fair amount of material to the initial draft. This gathered some good attention from the Traveller communities on Facebook and Reddit. I also released a minor-version update to the Architect of Worlds Introduction and Design Sequence document. Finally, I wrote and released the first draft of a completely new section of Architect of Worlds: the Working with Astronomical Data document.

I did not get any new fiction written, and I think I need to refocus on that in the coming month. Earlier this year I had a potential project to write and sell several stories, and for a while I was holding time and energy aside for that. Unfortunately, that seems to have fallen through, so I’m turning back to writing in my own original universes again for a while.

One very useful milestone happened this month. I’ve been developing my Scorpius Reach setting, not just as a test-bed for the Game of Empire rules, but also possibly as the backdrop for some serialized fiction to bring to market. Although the stories themselves are going to be entirely original to me, and I don’t plan to market them as anything but original fiction, there was still a potential IP problem there. I’ve been using the Traveller game rules to help develop the setting, and the “bible” for it is framed in terms of a Traveller universe. So I decided to approach Marc Miller, the owner and primary publisher of Traveller, and discuss how best to avoid stepping on his intellectual property. Once I described what I was planning to do, he immediately and graciously granted me permission to proceed without any concerns. So that’s a big potential obstacle out of the way. I plan to start writing the first Scorpius Reach serialized novel in June.

So here’s the priority list for June 2021. I’m reworking the format a little, to organize by a hierarchy of urgency first, rather than by overall project:

  • Top Priority, or the “this is how I’ll judge whether the month has been successful” level:
    • Architect of Worlds: Return to improvement and polishing of the Introduction and Design Sequence document, leading to a new minor-version release.
    • Krava’s Legend: Write a few more chapters of The Sunlit Lands.
    • Scorpius Reach: Write the first few chapters of a serialized novel to be published via Kindle Vella.
  • Second Priority, or the “work on this as time permits” level:
    • Architect of Worlds: Start work on a section describing the structure of the galaxy and of interstellar space, and providing guidelines on how to make maps for interstellar settings.
    • Architect of Worlds: Start work on a section of special cases and additional worldbuilding material that doesn’t fit into the design sequence.
    • Krava’s Legend: Write the first short story for the “reader magnet” collection.
    • Krava’s Legend: More research toward improvements to my release-and-marketing workflow.
    • Scorpius Reach: Start work on a third edition of the Game of Empire rules.
  • Back Burner, or the “work on this only if everything else gets blocked” level:
    • Human Destiny: Write a new short story for eventual collection and publication.
    • Human Destiny: Write a few thousand more words of the Cortex Prime sourcebook and setting bible.

For my patrons, this month’s free releases will almost certainly include a new minor-version release of the Architect of Worlds design sequence. This month’s charged release, if there is one, will probably be a block of new fiction from the Krava’s Legend and Scorpius Reach settings. I do hope to produce some new Architect of Worlds material this month, but there probably won’t be enough of that to bundle up as a release for my patrons, so maybe look for that in July.

As always, I’ll want to complete one or two book reviews for self-published fiction this month.

Watch this space for status reports, and if any of the above interests you, please consider signing up as a patron using the link in the sidebar.

A small administrative note: I spent some time this morning cleaning up the post tags on this site, merging a few tags and making sure they had consistent format. In particular, I merged all the tags that made any reference to my high-fantasy novel series into the krava’s legend tag. I also merged the tags that referred to the various Bios-series games by Phil Eklund into the bios tag. Might make the site a little easier to navigate.

Review: The Craftsman and the Wizard, by Joel Newlon

Review: The Craftsman and the Wizard, by Joel Newlon

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The Craftsman and the Wizard by Joel Newlon

Overall Rating: **** (4 stars)

The Craftsman and the Wizard is a flawed but entertaining story, a high-fantasy novel with the trappings of an old Norse tale, but which is firmly rooted in the present day.

The village of Two Rivers has a terrible problem. Ever since one of the farmers disturbed an ancient runestone in the middle of his fields, the village has been haunted by a draugr, the revenant of an old burial mound. The monster has been taking children from the farms all around, binding them beneath the earth and leaving their families to mourn.

Two unlikely heroes, and later a third, come on quest to help Two Rivers. The dwarven smith Dvalinn is called to answer an ancient debt, bringing all his skills as a warrior and craftsman. The apprentice wizard Asmund is called by a series of terrible dreams. Later, a woodcutter girl named Kolga joins Asmund, at first out of a yearning for adventure, later out of love.

Most of the story follows first Dvalinn, then Asmund and Kolga, as they make their way separately toward the stricken village. The two sets of heroes move independently – they know nothing about each other and don’t interact until the very end of the story.

The two plot threads have very different flavor and feel, almost as if the heroes are moving through two completely separate worlds. Dvalinn’s scenes are more entwined with Norse myth, involving epic battles against supernatural foes. Asmund and Kolga seem to be moving through a more generic fantasy world, facing down human bigotry and corruption. In fact, some of Asmund’s scenes turn into rather unsubtle political satire, of a kind that would only make sense in today’s world.

In fact, this dichotomy is what I had the most trouble with while reading The Craftsman and the Wizard. It was as if the novel didn’t know what it wanted to be. One moment I might be lost in a truly audacious scene built out of deep myth, the next I would find myself plodding through a scene about a cowardly warrior or a pathetic mad king. I kept getting pulled out of the story as a result.

Still, Joel Newlon has done a good job with this story. His prose is clean, with only a few copy-editing errors (and one consistently irritating misspelling). The story has plenty of emotional heft, especially when it focuses on the heroes and their motivations. I found myself caring about the characters and their struggles, turning the pages to see how the plot threads would resolve. The conclusion was entirely satisfying. Recommended.

Status Report (29 May 2021)

Status Report (29 May 2021)

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A very quick note: I’ve just finished the next section of the Architect of Worlds draft, titled “Working with Astronomical Data.” This is about 13500 words on where to get authoritative scientific data about real-world stars and exoplanets, and how to marry that information with the Architect of Worlds design sequence, so you can build plausible planetary systems.

That section is available for my patrons only at this point. If you’re interested in that material, or in Architect of Worlds in general, please consider signing up for my Patreon at any level: https://www.patreon.com/Sharrukin.

An “Architect of Worlds” Teaser

An “Architect of Worlds” Teaser

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I’ve been working on a new section of the book, with the overall title of “Working with Astronomical Data.” Here’s a list of topic headers for the material I’ve produced over the past week or two, about 7000 words in all:

  • Star Names and Star Catalogs
    • The International Astronomical Union (IAU)
    • The VizieR Catalog Reference Service
    • Traditional Astronomy
      • The Ptolemaic Constellations
      • Proper Names for the Stars
    • Bayer Designation
    • Flamsteed Designation
    • The Durchmusterung Catalogs
    • The Henry Draper Catalog
    • The Gliese Catalogs
    • The Hipparcos Catalogs
    • The Gaia Data Releases
    • Other Data Sources
      • SIMBAD
      • NASA Exoplanet Archive
      • Wikipedia
  • Developing Inputs for Interstellar Maps and the Design Sequence
    • Star Positions
      • Equatorial Coordinates
      • Deriving Cartesian Coordinates from Equatorial Coordinates
      • Galactic Coordinates
      • Deriving Cartesian Coordinates from Galactic Coordinates

Lots more to work on in this section. I’m not at all sure whether I’ll have the whole section finished by the end of this month, but if there’s enough there (say, 15000 words or more) then I’ll make the interim draft a charged release for my patrons, after which they’ll get free updates while I keep working on and adding to the material.

Once this section is finished, there will be only two more chunks of the book that need to be written: the “how to generate random maps of interstellar space” and “special cases that don’t fit neatly into the main design sequence.” I’m beginning to think I’ll have a complete pre-layout draft for Architect of Worlds by the end of summer 2021 . . . which means the first edition of the book may be ready for release late this year or early in 2022.

Status Report (16 May 2021)

Status Report (16 May 2021)

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Since the beginning of this month, I’ve returned to my day-job office on a mixed schedule that allows for a couple of days of telework per week. It’s been an adjustment, but so far the results have been pretty good – I’m continuing to be productive on my creative projects. So here’s the state of things as of mid-month.

Biggest push right now is to write a completely new section of Architect of Worlds. This is a section titled “Working with Astronomical Data,” and it’s intended to document most of the tricks I’ve learned over the years for taking real-world data and turning it into plausible star system designs and maps of interstellar space.

So far I’ve got about 4500 words down on how stars are named, what the best data sources are for information on stars, and where on the Web one might go to lay hands on useful star catalogs. That piece is about finished. Then I’m going to start working on material describing how to read star catalogs and other data sources, and translate those data into inputs for the main Architect of Worlds design sequence. I’m hoping to have this whole section finished in rough draft by the end of May, at which time it will probably be this month’s charged release for my patrons.

This is a big deal! This section is one of the three blocks of material that still needs to be written before I can seriously start thinking about laying out Architect of Worlds and getting it ready for release. (The other two blocks are “how to design maps of interstellar space” and “special cases that aren’t explicitly covered in the main design sequence.”) I still have no clear idea as to when the book will be ready for its first-edition release, but I’m increasingly confident that will be either late this calendar year, or early in 2022.

Meanwhile, I’m continuing to investigate improvements to my process for publishing new fiction. Right now I’m focusing on finding a reliable source for book cover designs – the cover I designed for The Curse of Steel was okay, but it didn’t pop, and I suspect it’s one reason why sales have been a bit disappointing.

I’m also continuing to work on development of some serialized fiction to be published through the new Kindle Vella outlet, based on the Scorpius Reach setting. I had a big step forward on that a few days ago – more about that once things come closer to fruition – and I suspect I may be in a good position to have a story in place once the platform is released to readers.

Finally, of course, I’m continuing to work on The Sunlit Lands as time permits. That might be a back-burner project for what’s left of May, since I released a few chapters to my patrons last month and I’m focusing hard on Architect for the moment.

Update: The Scorpius Reach Setting

Update: The Scorpius Reach Setting

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I’ve made a bunch of updates to the “Scorpius Reach” document. It’s up to about 13,000 words now, with extensive revisions to the material I published at the end of March, and a bunch of new material as well. Still a living document, but it’s a lot closer to a final release than before, and it would probably work quite well as the setting bible for a tabletop game campaign. This is a free release for my blog readers and patrons.

Here’s a link to the current draft in PDF form: The Scorpius Reach (version 0.2).

Planning for May

Planning for May

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Making a post like this at the beginning of the month seems to work, at least for certain values of “work.” Insert comments about plans never surviving contact with the foe, plans being useless whereas planning is essential, that kind of thing.

Biggest change-of-plans in April involved a sudden side project for both Architect of Worlds and the “Scorpius Reach” setting. This was the “Abbreviated Architect of Worlds for Traveller” project, which ate up a lot of hours through the middle of the month. Still very productive, both by teaching me a lot of Excel Fu, and by helping me produce a document which attracted a lot of attention from Traveller fans.

So although progress on all the goals I identified at the beginning of April was a bit anemic, I’m not unhappy with how things went. I did a free minor-version release for the Architect of Worlds design sequence. I got unblocked with respect to Krava’s Legend and was able to write a few more chapters of The Sunlit Lands. I also picked up several new blog readers and patrons – welcome to all the newcomers!

Still, I think the plan for May is going to look a lot like the plan for April. As always, we’ll see how things actually go. One wrinkle is that I’m fully immunized against COVID-19 now, so I’ll be going back into the office starting Monday. That shouldn’t cripple my creative schedule – I’ve been fully on the clock, albeit working from home, for months already. Still, my daily routine is going to need some adjustment.

Here’s the agenda, more or less in order of priority:

  • Architect of Worlds
    • Continued work on the current round of improvements to the existing design sequence.
    • Possibly an additional step or two at the end of the existing design sequence, to add some new parameters related to a world’s habitability and resource value for human (or other) settlement.
    • New sections for the book, on the subjects of designing maps of interstellar space and using real-world astronomical data.
  • Krava’s Legend
    • At least another 10,000 words on the first draft of The Sunlit Lands.
    • Write the first item to go into my “reader magnet,” a collection of short pieces telling some of the back story for the lead characters of Krava’s Legend. The idea is to release that widely and for free, and use it to attract readers to the novel series.
    • Do more investigation toward improvements to my release-and-marketing workflow: find affordable sources for professionally done book cover art, read about techniques for book marketing on a budget that won’t take away too much time from writing, and so on.
  • Scorpius Reach Sector and Game of Empire
    • Develop more of the sector map and setting bible.
    • Develop a set of characters and a rough story outline for serialized fiction, possibly to be released on the new Kindle Vella platform.
    • Begin assembling a third-edition draft of the Game of Empire rules.
  • Human Destiny Sourcebook
    • Write a few thousand more words to fill out new sections of the partial rough draft.

Free updates for my patrons will probably include a minor-version release of the Architect of Worlds design sequence, and possibly a piece of Krava’s Legend short fiction. This month’s charged release, if there is one, will probably be a combination of additional chapters of The Sunlit Lands and some of the new material for Architect of Worlds.

I’ll also need to complete one or two book reviews this month. Fortunately I’ve found a few self-published novels by way of this blog’s contact form, which may lead to reviews.

Watch this space for status reports, and as always, if any of the above interests you, please consider signing up as a patron using the link in the sidebar.

Review: Nothing, by R. J. Goldman

Review: Nothing, by R. J. Goldman

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Nothing by R. J. Goldman

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

Nothing is a science-fantasy novelette, set in the present day. While it doesn’t break much new ground, it’s a tightly plotted and well-written story about young super-powered people on the run.

At the beginning of the story, Juana Pérez is riding home from work on public transit, being harassed by a coarse drunk who refuses to back off. Under stress, Juana “lights up,” summoning up a burst of flames that drives the creep away with blisters. Unfortunately, the entire car full of commuters saw and heard the incident, and at least one of them caught it on their phone. Fleeing from all the eyewitnesses and the blaring alarm, Juana realizes that her cover is well and truly blown.

It turns out that Juana, and her siblings Ajay, JT, and Taro, are all the product of illicit experiments that gave them control over the four classical elements. Juana has control over Fire, able to summon it up and direct it, and her brothers have similar command over Water, Earth, and Air. Some time ago they escaped from the lab where they were created, and they have been in hiding ever since. Now, with Juana’s burst of power making the news, they fear they may have to abandon their lives once more.

What follows is a story about courage, trust and betrayal, and the ties of a self-chosen family. The dialogue snaps along, and the action scenes near the end are thrilling.

Nothing is very well done – R. J. Goldman has crisp, clean prose, with few or no copy-editing errors, and she knows how to put a story together. There weren’t a lot of surprises in the plot, but I found it a very quick and smooth read. When I reached the end, I craved more about this world and these characters. Highly recommended.