Luck

The Luck Saga #1

by Nemo Euler

The Luck Saga:
Adventure, action and romance across two galaxies as they collide and merge.

On planet Luck Prime a boy is born. He is named Gabriall and it is his fate to change the destiny of two galaxies… but he cannot do it alone!

LUCK, volume one of The Luck Saga:
Gabriall, now a cadet at The Rider Academy, and his Ridemate, Tontonn, are trained to mind-mesh with self-aware intelligent machines and to fly the mighty Steel Hornets.

A near-fatal crash with his Hornet leaves Cadet Gabriall stranded on the beach of a remote deserted island. He is rescued by The Sky Lord, Thozan Vinnavan, and it is love at first sight…

The three young men grapple with their emotional bonds until they join forces and take to space in Thozan Vinnavan’s amazing Intergalactic Starship.

While exploring the outer reaches of a solar system, they encounter the overwhelmingly potent and mysterious alien powers that will prove to be the challenge of their lives!

Genres: Science Fiction, M M Romance, Gay, M M M, M M Science Fiction

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 28, 2012

About the author

Nemo lives in Second Life - a new media, a reality revolution...
For the first time in history you can live two lives!

In Second Life you can create almost anything - as long as you can imagine it!
That's why so many artists live partially in Second Life - painters, sculptors, film-makers, architects, authors, musicians, photographers and many more.

Nemo Euler is an avatar in Second Life, a massive online virtual world, where he has all sorts of stuff going on. Among other things - and apart from being a busy and diligent writer - he builds lighthouses and fine mansions by the sea. He fools around with his friends and his boy, they dance to trance and house - and shop of course, let's not forget shopping!
When skirmishing in the fictitious world of Gor, his weapon of choice is a fine supple longbow - he is an archer, and terrible with a sword, let's just admit it. He obviously has a grapple-hook on his belt and a coil of rope for captives.
Resident in Second Life since December 2007.

www.nemoeuler.com - if you want to check on Nemo's life and see photos.

www.facebook.com/Nemo.Euler - on FaceBook

If you want to meet Nemo, to talk to Nemo or to interview him, go into Second Life and send an Instant Message - IM - to Nemo Euler. You can find him in 'Search'.

PS:
If you like my book sufficiently, maybe you'll vote for it in one or more of the groups below - that would be great...

Best M/M Romance Published in 2012
Best Gay Science Fiction Romance
Best Science Fiction Books with Gay Main Characters
Best Triangles
Best Gay 3 Ways
Best m/m/m contemporary fiction
Best Gay Novel Series
Best Gay Friends Become Lovers
M/M Romance In Books With More Than 300 Pages Or 80,000 Words
Gay Romance that's NOT Insta-Love
M/M Books Written By Men
M/M Romance Series
FAVORITE GAY COUPLES
Favorite Series With A Gay Romance Plot/Subplot
Gay Romance Futuristic Fiction
LGBT sci-fi and fantasy
The Best of Gay Romance

Reviews

[M'rella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Non-stop info dump.
Rating the 40% I actually read.
The rest of the book might as well be fab, but so far I am not impressed.
1 star.

[Stefan Ruiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

My friend Paolo gave me this book to read a few days ago and asked what I think of it. You have to fall a little in love with Boy Ton and Thozan. There is a fair amount of info in places, but it is sci-fi and I think you need to know most of those things, so I think it's ok (if you're not used to reading sci-fi you might not agree). If you only read M/M for the sex scenes this is probably not a book for you. It's a good story. It has some flaws, but I give it 5 stars anyway because I really like it.

[Paolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book a lot. It is not perfect there are sometimes a good deal of information, but it is sci-fi so what. I like the persons a lot and the story is very good. Good sci-fi and gay romance. Read it.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must say I enjoyed book 1 of The Luck Saga and look forward to the sequels. Luck is the 1st novel by Nemo Euler, a self-described Second Life avatar.

It is a mix of space opera and m/m/m romance. The plot is intriguing and well constructed. The characters are interesting and well drawn. The SF universe is intriguing and open to a lot of exploration by the author. The main problem I have is that there is too much didactic description about the world and culture which would have been better to discover while the characters and plot blossom—don't tell me, show me. When examples are given, there are often too many to illustrate something—3's my maximum. Another problem I have, and this could change a the saga continues, is that everything turns out well in the end and one knows it will continue to do so. I have a sense of a family Christmas movie (which I've been watching lately) and of sentimentality in the strict sense. That's common in a romance, but I prefer gray over black and white and would like to make up my own mind about situations, let my own emotions come into play. I think a professional editor could have made a big difference (or a different editor).

Still I look forward to seeing the author grow as the Saga continues. For lovers of Gay SF, it is well worth a read.

Compared to all SF I have read:
3 stars overall
4 stars for plot and characters
5 stars for possibilities
5 stars for the cover image—I have a sense it is the authors work?

[Galen Dudec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished this book after having found it here on GoodReads.
I love Sci-Fi and especially Sci-Fi with a gay/MM subplot. Unfortunately there are not many of those around in which the science part is creditable and well described, but this is one of them.
I love this story and I love the characters. The romance part is good and sweet. The science and the world created is well described and has a solid foundation - believable and good Sci-Fi/MM Romance!

A word about 'info-dump':
I saw the term used in a review of this book - nothing personal David :)
I dislike the term myself. I find it derogatory and it gives me associations to 'a dump', a trash or rubbish dump. It's a bit as if you say that you sympathize with health care, and then somebody tells you you're a communist... blam! End of discussion.
I see the term used more and more often as an easy way to dismiss a book or part of a book, when sometimes it's actually the reader not wanting a deeper understanding. Of course there are times when info is too much or too often, even for me :-p

[Lori]

I had to give up on this book. I just can't get past the endless pages of narration. 25 pages in and it's still the narrators voice telling me what's happening. It's just not my style and while others may love it, I need to be shown not told a story or I quickly lose interest. I love space opera so I'm really disappointed that this didn't turn out to be something I could get excited about.

[Jette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gay science fiction. A sweet romance that near the end turns into a threesome. Good, believable world-building.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story of three young men discovering their sexuality in a sci-fi realm.

I enjoyed the story very much. The only reason I did not give it five stars is the many chapters of info dumping and the repeats of events the happen in the book. I sometimes felt like I was reading an enyclopedia.

[Furio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even aware of its flaws I enjoyed this short novel.


About its actual length I had quite a lively and lengthy exchange of opinions with its author and I decided to post a revised review for this reason.

The official statement on Amazon's description of this book is 304 pages.
I have no doubt that with a "Paperback 5x8 inch, Garamond 11pt and NO double or increased line-spacing, standard margins" the number of pages is precisely 304 and if that is really Amazon's accepted standard, so be it.

Yet if I compare this typesetting (see also the preview for the printed edition) with that that most US fantasy/SF publishers actually use for their Mass Market Paperbacks I think the book is actually much shorter.
My personal rough estimate is less than half.
The time it took me to read it plays a role in my estimate.
I think my estimate, rough as it is, is worth mentioning for all those customers that have read actual paperbacks for many years and still evaluate a book's price according to those standards.


This is the first and as of now only published volume of a M/M SF series; it ends with a steep cliffhanger and it does not stand on its own.
The M/M romance element is essential to the plot, making the read unsuitable for those readers who do not care for gay fiction. Sex scenes, though, are few and not very graphic.

The main flaw of this novel is a most basic one: most of the events, not only the many -too many- flashbacks, are told and not shown, and not without several repetitions as if the different chapters had been written at different times and collated later.
Most of said repetitions might have been intentional, especially those moments that are replayed through the eyes of a different character, but, even accepting that, they are not entirely well managed.

Telling instead of showing makes of this book a much shorter read than it could have been, the timespan covered being of about two years -plus flashbacks- and the plot being eventful. I would have loved to be able to read about all those neglected details that are only hinted at.
The events that are actually shown are often naive in their logical transitions, a curious thing, actually, as elsewhere psychologies are finely depicted.
The character of Thozan and his developing feelings for Boy are only cursorily and unsatisfyingly rounded which is a problem as they should be at the core of the plot. Gesaia, an AI, is very funny while the hornets are not enough rounded.

I think there are two more problems but they might be more a matter of taste than anything else.

VERY MILD SPOILERS MIGHT FOLLOW

First I do not like Thozan's thoughts about the feasibility of his relationships with Ton and Boy. His reasoning in terms of dominance and submission might be logical as he is much older than they are and needs them to learn quickly what they need to survive in outer space without questioning him, but it shows an unpleasant side of his character. I hope this tract will evolve in the next instalments.
What we gather about the actual sex-making, with Thozan being firmly on top and Ton (and obviously Boy) surrendering control and accepting a position of inferiority, is also unpleasant and I also hope this will evolve later on.

Second there is this idea that a federation of planets can impose its own laws on a planet simply because it is located in an area that said federation considers within its control. There is a second idea, that of an inhabited world being private property of a person or family.
Both ideas are realistic, unfortunately: globalization is leading us to a world where corporate interests will rule more than people's wills, but they are appalling and it is sad to see them left unchallenged by the author.
The author also leaves the idea unchallenged that an oligarchy, thanks to a control mechanism which prevents abuses, might be a better form of government than democracy.

END OF VERY MILD SPOILERS

What pushed me through the pages, despite the flaws, is the unquestionable ability of the author of narrating a compelling story with some loveable characters.
Writing is very simple, early-teen level, but it is fluid and the story never drags.
Grammar is in order and only a couple of name switches disrupt the reading experience, especially where, in the last pages, Boy's sister is called Nia and not Kira, the first being Ton's niece.

P.S. while the blond model on the cover is gorgeous, the other two and especially the read-haired one are not up to the beauty they are supposed to possess.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great gay SciFi adventure... I love it and hope for book 2 soon!

[Zaza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very promising... Takes a bit getting started, but once rolling I loved the depth of the story and characters, love those boys, and can't wait for the sequels!