Obsidian

by Bryan W. Alaspa, Bryan W. Alaspa

The crew of the Vanguard is used to tough jobs. They’ve seen their share of wrecked ships and desperate distress calls as a blue-collar salvage team. But when they receive a request to assist the Lightspeed—a luxury vessel stranded in orbit around the pitch-black planet known as Obsidian—they expect an easy payday.

Then, they find the escape pod. Inside is Allan Marcum, a passenger from the Lightspeed. He’s alive—but something is wrong. His eyes are too wide, his whispers too frantic. He speaks of horrors aboard the pleasure craft, things no sane man should say. And he seems particularly terrified of the dark planet itself.

Is the planet Obsidian evil?

Or is this man just dangerous?

Whatever the reason, the crew of the Vanguard is about to enter a deadly nightmare in the galaxy's far reaches.

Genres: Science Fiction

81 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 25, 2025

About the author

I was born in the fine year of 1971 in Park Ridge, IL. I am a life long Chicago resident and I love the city. I spent a few years in St. Louis, as well. I knew I wanted to write from the time I sat down at my mom's electric typewriter in the 3rd grade. Now I do write. I write freelance and articles for online news sources. I write horror, thrillers and detective novels. I also write non-fiction in true crime and history genres. I publish my fiction myself as an indie publisher and write and have found an audience for my work among ebook fans. I publish for Kindle, Nook and other tablets and devices at Smashwords.com. My non-fiction is usually published in print, but that may soon change as ebooks become more and more of the norm.

Reviews

[Milt Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Obsidian" is an action-heavy, fast paced adventure of survival and teamwork, a sort of Die Hard meets Gravity, with the action divided between two spaceships. It's also a decent sci-fi horror tale, as it's brimming with hints of something horrific going on backstage, turning the difficult situations happening in the ships, into part of a potential manipulation scenario by an alien planet.
(Obsidian is precisely the aforementioned planet, a Jupiter-sized gas-giant, named after its totally dark surface.)

I liked how the author allowed the action to grow organically out of the plot, without forcing his hand early about the nature of the threat facing the poor crew of the rescue vessel. I also enjoyed the persistent ambiguities around the planet's influence. The fact that the action never actually stopped, kept me turning the pages to reach the end craving for some just resolution of the issues. I'm not sure I got it, since there's a surprising plot twist about the villain, which changed the stakes and increased the horror elements of the story. I would have appreciated a more definite ending; now I have to think about them corpses in the freezer, being taken back to base.... Ughh!

[Desiree Horton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly enjoyable romp through the terrifying unknown of space. This would make a brilliant movie or extended novel, but for now, I will just have to be happy with the novella. It was sort of an Event Horizon meets Pandorum with a little extra something all its own. I suggest you check it out if you love space horror, it scratches the itch!