Discount Miracles

by Brand Gamblin

The crew of the space salvage ship JN3-0518 have crash-landed on a planet that was colonized hundreds of years earlier, and has lapsed into a suspicious and superstitious dark age. With their advanced technical knowledge, the crew makes a living by faking miracles. Kings and clergy hire them to make ancient prophecies come true. But when they are tasked with making a prince ascend into light and power, they find themselves cast as kidnappers and witches.

Discount Miracles is a slipstream story of sci-fi and fantasy that lightly treads the edges of Clarke's Third Law. Hoverbikes and giant monsters come together in a story that is a little comedy, a little romance, and a lot of adventure.

Genres: Science Fiction

206 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 2012

About the author

Brand Gamblin was born in San Antonio in 1973. He spent most of his youth in Texas, earning a bachelors degree in Computer Science from Texas Tech University.

Following college, he achieved his boyhood dream of working as a video game programmer. For the next decade, he published games for such companies as Microprose, Acclaim, and Firaxis.

In his spare time, Brand created the YouTube video cult classic, "Calls For Cthulhu", which has thousands of followers worldwide, and has been nominated for several film awards.

Brand's books are generally sci-fi, with some fantasy elements. They range from the near future of asteroid mining to the distant Neo-Victorian era.

In addition to the books he has published, Brand has a steampunk retelling of George Orwell's 1984 which is still waiting on permission from the Orwell estate before it can be published.

Odd Facts:

* For his minor acting roles, Brand Gamblin has a Kevin Bacon score of 6.

* In week one of the 2685 Galactic Football League season, Bran-Gam-Blin was named Defensive Player of the Week.

* Brand's oldest recorded writing was some bad Fraggle Rock Fanfic written when he was a child.

Reviews

[Kate Sherrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firefly meets A Game of Thrones meets H.P. Lovecraft? You might not think it works, but it totally, totally does. I wish I could give this 4.5 stars. It comes close to 5, but I didn't find the depth of characterization that I've seen in this author's earlier work. It might have been sacrificed to make room for all the plots and counter-plots in a short, YA-friendly format, but since I know he can do better, I'd slice off the half-star from the five.

Lots and lots of fun, here.

[Nomad Scry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm ready for whatever comes next for the crew of the Jenny. I didn't fall in love with any of the characters but the story never went where I was expecting and I can't believe the speed of the read. I'm talking McCaffrey fast.

I wish more folks would read Gamblin's writing so I could get more of his creations to read.

[Cayt Landis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Discount Miracles by Brand Gamblin is a fun sci-fi romp. The story follows the crew of a space salvage ship that crash landed on a planet. The planet is inhabited by colonists who landed there centuries ago and have fallen into a superstitious dark age. The crew of the JN3-0518 uses their advanced knowledge and technology to manipulate the populace, creating "miracles" for them in exchange for the money they need to survive until they can be rescued. It is a fun, adventurous novel that doesn't take itself too seriously.

The Good

This story is fun, light-hearted, and humorous. The idea of going to a planet full of people with lesser technology and using your knowledge to manipulate them is pretty messed up but it's also rather appealing. Becoming a miracle worker or a God could have high appeal to someone trapped on a planet where their knowledge far outstrips that of the populace. The captain of the wrecked ship attempts to keep their impact to a minimum, beyond creating miracles. There is no selling of technology, no matter how small, to the citizenry. It is hard to balance between surviving, thriving, and impacting a society that you really have no business being involved in.

I loved the way that these miracles were carried out. Each society has their own superstitions and religions that they follow but their leaders are often looking for ways to ensure that things happen as they "should". It doesn't take much for the crew to use some bits of technology to create a light and sound show that is awe-inspiring to the citizens at large. Even the holy men and learned scholars are fooled!

I also enjoyed the plot line as it developed. The crew finds themselves in a bit of hot water as they go along. The crew are at odds on how to escape the planet and get back home, as well as how to interact with the populace. And just when you think things couldn't get any worse for them...well, they do!

The Bad

The only issues I had with this book was it's lack of depth. The characters were each unique and felt real to me, but their motivations weren't as fleshed out as they could have been. The makings of great world building were there, but it lacked the depth that I prefer in a good sci-fi or fantasy novel. The storyline is interesting and rather fast paced, but it moves along almost too quickly in parts and I found the resolution to be wrapped up a little too nicely. I think that I would have preferred a longer book with more effort put into really developing the world and the characters. However, I don't think that's what the author was going for.

The Verdict

This is a fun little read and I'd recommend it if the idea of making miracles with advanced technology appeals to you. It reminded me a bit of the episode of Voyager "False Profits", where a pair of Ferengi ended up on a medieval-style world and using

Discount Miracles by Brand Gamblin is a fun sci-fi romp. The story follows the crew of a space salvage ship that crash landed on a planet. The planet is inhabited by colonists who landed there centuries ago and have fallen into a superstitious dark age. The crew of JN3-0518 uses their advanced knowledge and technology to manipulate the populace, creating "miracles" for them in exchange for the money they need to survive until they can be rescued. It is a fun, adventurous novel that doesn't take itself too seriously.

[C.P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

**I received a copy of this book free of charge courtesy of GoodReads First Reads Giveaways**


I wasn't exactly sure what I thought about this when I first received it. After reading I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it overall. This is the on lighter side of Sci-Fi in comparison but it really works. There is nothing worse than a fiction novel written by an author who just can't stop themselves. Brand didn't fill pages with unnecessary info about irrelevant past stories or worlds, he just kept it plain and simple. Something I have learned to appreciate in life.

I must agree with other readers though that the story did lack a certain "something". The characters could have been deeper, stronger, and better developed. There were also parts of the storyline where the author passed on opportunities for expansion which is a shame. This book was light enough that a little more background info or extra details would have been a welcome addition.

In the end I'm rating 4 stars. It's not an amazing book but an enjoyable, easy read with a well thought out storyline. As for YA or adult it could really go either way.

[Icepick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book, but I felt there was enough functional elements to be a bit longer and give us some more character development and background.

[Jacob Cruzan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an intriguing tail of manipulation and the risks of interfering with other cultures. The characters are amicable and easy to connect with. I highly recommend this book.

[Scott Roche · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up a copy of Brand Gamblin's book Discount Miracles while I was at Batlicon a few weeks ago. As a fan I was eager to check it out and started reading it right away. It's a little on the light side page count wise, so the reading went fast. Before I get into what I think of it, conflicted is one word, let me tell you what it's about.

This is kind of a shipwreck story and there are also elements of Gulliver's Travels. The crew of the Jenny, an interstellar salvage ship, find themselves in a bit of a pickle when they experience extreme engine problems in a relatively unknown part of space. Faced with only a few choices, most of which would end up in either an explosion or an aimless drifting, they aim for the nearest habitable world and go for it. They find themselves setting up shop on a backwater, low tech world making the titular "miracles" to make a living while they try and repair the ship.

There's a good amount of conflict that Brand develops. The Captain tries to keep his crew happy and occupied without revealing their origins to the locals. A conman who stowed away on the Jenny helps them in their endeavors, but may be trying to sabotage their efforts to leave. There's also the temptation among the crew to go native. Speaking of the natives, they're happy to burn anyone who looks like a witch, and the discount miracles the crew of the Jenny perform may qualify them as fuel. The miracles themselves, when they work, often have unforeseen political and social ramifications. That's all a lot of good gold to mine, literarily speaking.

Ultimately though, it all seems very thin. One of the things I enjoyed about Brand's previous works is the richness of setting and character. The sheer amount of potential for that in this world is staggering. I mentioned Gulliver's Travels and I would have loved to see him do with the different cultures in this book what he did with the societies he set up in The Hidden Institute and Tumbler. In comparison, the pseudo-medieval European country and the Mediterranean/Middle Eastern country he shows us are almost cardboard cutouts.

The characters, primary and secondary, feel watered down. I really felt the growth that Libby and Cliffy underwent in their respective books. Some of that happens with the con man. That's nice, since he could have easily been a cipher. I'm not sure if the lack of character development stems from the jumping around from POV character to POV character or not, but I would have liked more time in just a few heads. One character's romance that feels tacked together, and that becomes a key plot point later. A little more time developing that would have made the reveal more resonant. A couple of the villains are muddy as well. I know that Brand can do a good scenery chewing bad guy and he can do nuanced evil too. I don't see that here.

There are good things about the book. I was surprised a time or two. The plot is tight and well crafted. The origin of the planet they find themselves on is interesting and I'd like to know more about that. I think it would be an excellent book for the younger crowd, even though all of the characters are adults. It's good entry level sci-fi/fantasy. I will definitely be passing it on to my daughter for her to read, as I did with Tumbler.

My biggest beef with this book is that it's a missed opportunity to tell a much richer story and I know the author can do it. If I'd never read another Brand Gamblin book I would probably give this three and a half out of five rocket ships. Since I know he's capable of much more I'm going to ding him a half ship for an even three. That's hard for me to do, but an honest review is how I roll. I hope if there's a follow up to this one, and it's set up for a sequel, that he really nails it.
Comment

[A.F. Grappin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like the pacing of this book was a little off. Some of the same issues got hashed and rehashed at length, the same arguments between the crew that got to be a little draggy as time went on. Where you generally want to have a couple smaller peaks building up to a great climax at the end, I feel like the big climax was much earlier, before the halfway point of the book. That weakened the great bit that was supposed to be the final peak, the great climax at the end. And I think the final skirmish really ended too soon. There wasn’t a real feel of danger or threat, because so much happened so quickly and got resolved so fast. I don’t really feel like there was any threat, even when the crew split up to face down the leaders of a couple separate armies. It ended up too neat, and that bothered me. The epilogue, on the other hand, I did like, mostly because it added a new dimension to the planet and its goings-on, as well as to the prophecies the crew was working to make come true (or to prevent). But I admit I was a little disappointed with the second half of the book.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable yarn about the crew of a spaceship stranded on a world where magic is taboo, their advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and how they stretch the rules on interacting with little less advanced civilizations. Engaging characters and plot, worthy off your to time. This also has the distinction of being the first ebook I've read.

[Lou O · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read, with the characters not very well fleshed out.
We're thrown in medias res of their working how to get off planet after a malfunction, and not die starving in the process.
Nice twist late in the book, with a rather anticlimactic ending, but leaving room for a further book.

[Justin · Rating 1 out of 5]

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