Crescent

by Phil Rossi

Darkness has inspired fear since mankind first watched the sun go down. Bad things hide in the dark feral beasts with mouths full of razors waiting for a taste of flesh. But now, the darkness is stirring with a life of its own. Crescent Station is the last bastion of civilization, floating in the cold, outer systems where colonized space gives way to the sparser settlements of the Frontier. Like the boom towns of distant Earth's Old American West, Crescent Station is a gateway to power, wealth, and opportunity for anyone who isn't afraid to get his or her hands dirty. But deep within the station's bowels, in Crescent's darkest and most secret places, an ancient evil is awakening and hungry, and it threatens the very fabric of space and time. Will the residents of Crescent Station find a way to stop it before the terror drives them insane? Or is it already too late?

Genres: Horror, Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Thriller, Space, Aliens

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Phil Rossi--writer, musician, and an embracer of "new media"--has a passion for story-telling matched only by the pleasure he derives from keeping his fans awake at night. Crescent, Rossi's debut novel, was originally released as a podcast in 2007 and has since lured 20,000 listeners into a dark, twisted world of nightmares and things that go bump in the night. Phil Rossi's writing has been paralleled to Stephen King, Philip K. Dick, and HP Lovecraft. He has a flair for vivid and often chilling imagery that lends itself to engrossing narratives and an undertone of inescapable, creeping dread. Phil Rossi is a professional musician in the Washington DC metropolitan area creating and performing music spanning from solo acoustic, to industrial, to techno. His the father of two little storytellers. The job he takes most serious of all.

"CRESCENT is the last stop at the intergalactic crossroads of gritty scifi and pucker-inducing horror--Blade Runner as written by H.P. Lovecraft, a horrific hard scifi express-ride." -- Scott Sigler, New York Times Best-Selling author of Contagious

"Crescent is the ultimate sci-fi / horror mashup. It's a wicked blend of the claustrophobia seen in Ridley Scott's Alien, and the viral demonology of Carpenter's Prince Of Darkness -- with the hard-drinkin' bad attitude of Battlestar Galactica added for good measure. The future has never been so frightening. Phil Rossi brings it." --J.C. Hutchins, author of Personal Effects: Dark Art and 7th Son: Descent

"Space opera - of the Sweeney Todd or Phantom of the Opera variety. That's right. Phil Rossi has crafted a space station tale with sex, horror, and vibrant attention to tech and human detail. Evocatively served, highly recommended." --Paul Levinson, author of The Plot to Save Socrates

"...sexy and full of scares. Harvey is dark, well-crafted, and downright menacing." -Philippa Ballantine, award-winning author of Geist

Reviews

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not seeing this, he thought.

Horror in Space is a niche that is somewhat unexploited, in my opinion. Sure, there are many Sci-Fi stories with elements of horror, like The Reality Dysfunction, Ship of Fools/Unto Leviathan, Hull Zero Three and Revelation Space (et al), but true Horror in Space seems to have translated mostly to the visual medium with films like Alien and Event Horizon, and the gaming industry (Dead Space). It’s true that there are tie-novels for the Alien franchise and the Dead Space franchise, but it seems that original works in this genre are few and far between. (Something that gets mentioned fairly regularly is Blindsight by Peter Watts, but at the time of writing this I haven’t read it yet so I’m not quite sure where it fits in, category-wise.)

Anyhoo, back to the book at hand. Crescent is touted as Horror in Space (pucker inducing, no less, according to Scott Sigler). And at first glance it appears that it is, in fact, trying to be true to this description.

What’s it all about?

If a Bat Durston novel is a Western set in space, then this book is a Small-Town Horror Story set on a Space Station. The Crescent station is basically a town in itself (it has a mayor, a general populace, a police force, a main street, etc. etc.) and something has been awakened in the bowels of the station that is suitably vague and ambiguous (for the most part) to be reminiscent of the old-school horror stories.

He’d seen nothing like Crescent. As it grew in the viewport, it appeared almost as a living thing – an ancient creature you’d see dwelling at the bottom of an ocean. The station’s long, curved hull was weathered, beaten and crudely patched. The surface looked like it had grown its fair share of tumors in the form of repairs and modifications. The mismatched hull plates, docking tubes, and sensor arrays looked natural – the adaptation and evolution of this ancient, void-dwelling beast.

What works?

The large space station itself is a deliciously eerie location. Crescent is not in the greatest shape: it is old and somewhat dilapidated, with some sections sealed off due to flooding and other (much more sinister) issues. With all the corridors and areas such a station might contain, it goes without saying that there is plenty of opportunity for some scares. Most of the action takes place on the station, but there are some excursions, notably a visit to the planet around which Crescent orbits in a sequence that contains one of the stronger horror scenes of the novel. There is a lot of horror here.

What doesn’t work?

Well, one of the reasons small town horror stories became so popular under the likes of Stephen King is the strong character development. We can often identify with the people in these stories; they are just like us or someone we know. I really didn’t care too much for anybody in Crescent. The author has also gone the route of having two separate (and unrelated) sets of antagonists (the one being human and the other paranormal). This doesn’t always work in the context of the story. The reason the Alien film was so effective was because it was basically a Slasher film with a non-human antagonist and a uniquely isolated (and spooky) setting. That’s not quite what happens here, and whether that is to your taste or not will determine how much you will enjoy this book. There is a lot of horror here, but not all of it is scary. I also picked up a few typos, which I won’t use to penalize the book, but it is still unfortunate.

Verdict

There are some interesting elements here, but, in the end, it didn’t hang together well enough for my taste. It could have been so much more, considering that there aren’t too many of this kind of thing out there. Having said that, I’m convinced that there are lots of people out there who will enjoy this book very much. I’m conflicted about the rating, because I don’t really want to give it two stars but I’m not sure it deserves a three either. The coolest thing, by far, about this story, is the station itself.

The entire level was a ghost town. The corridors were lined with the mildew covered luggage, toys, and appliances the residents had been forced to leave behind when the residential level had flooded. [He] crawled past abandoned apartments with doors that stood open. It seemed vulgar that the former homes were so exposed. Weak dregs of starlight bled through dirty viewports to show the insides of the vacant, water-damaged living spaces.

[mark monday · Rating 1 out of 5]

this child of Event Horizon and Outland was a severe disappointment. silly, nonsensical, zero characterization, and the worst sentient computer voice i've ever seen depicted in dialogue. i can read only so many descriptions of an old woman's sour body odor before realizing how all-inclusive the novel is when it comes to cliches. and i had such high hopes! a haunted space station is an ideal setting and it is irritating to see that setting squandered in trite set pieces and an excessive desire to be the snarkiest book in the room.

[Echo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Crescent is an enjoyable new mark on the world of sci-fi. I listened to Crescent read by Phil Rossi via podcast. It was fantastic. Phil has an excellent voice and commitment to excellence in production. The atmosphere was vivid and absorbing. The way Crescent was portrayed made it easy to see oneself there while at the same time, wishing you would never actually be there. I admit that there was some disturbing physically violent scenes, the most distressing involving sex, but they never lasted all that long, and were very effective in making me passionate about the characters (and how they might die.) Phil’s characters never lost their edge, sarcasm or all-to-human fear, often saying exactly as I was thinking about their situation. I found myself chuckling and cringing at near the same moment a couple of times.
If you want to get lost in a far off space station, meet people imperfect and human, and get entangled in a story as dark as space itself, Crescent is an ideal place for you.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof. This was challenging to finish. Characterization was stiff, the plotline seemed interesting and then went off into left field - simplistic yet unexplained. We didn't care much about any character. We never quite understood what the monster was, why it was bad, etc. Slow. Lots of repetition. Cliche action. Kinda painful. Hoped for more.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

I "read" this one in podcast form back in 2008. It was creepy. Made me think that if I had the chance to go off-world to a space station I might have to say no. And after all those years of believing that if I ever got the chance, I was out of here. Ok. that's not true, I'd still go in a second, but I'd be really, really scared. Thanks, Phil.

[DDog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally got to finish this. I really enjoyed most of it, and quickly discovered I shouldn't eat while listening to it. The soundtrack and the music choices on the podcast version are great, as is the author's read with unique voices for each character. It's definitely a scary ride. I picked it up because Tee Morris recommended it as part Firefly, part Babylon 5, part Blade Runner--only darker--and I was not disappointed.

I'm rating it a five because everything else was just too awesome not to give it the full measure of my appreciation, but the very end (the last chapter & epilogue) didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Perhaps I just need to let it sit in my head a bit longer and I'll figure it out, but it seemed like a very abrupt ending.

[Dustin Hertel · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't too bad, but pretty slow in parts, and kinda lost my attention a few times. I like a book to keep me so engaged I don't want to put it down... but for this one I did several times, and LEFT it down for days on end, which just made it that much harder to get back into. It's not a BAD book by any extent, but could have used some cutting down at points.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crescent was a fun light sci-fi read, the plot was a little overreaching I thought at times but the main characters were interesting, good guys were mostly good, the bad guys very bad and everyone else something in the middle. To describe it shortly, it's a spaghetti western but in space with no cowboys. Was a fun read on the plane.

[Aj · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is frustrating because it has potential to be good but it fails on almost everything. The characters are bland, the pace is extremely slow and the gore/sex is totally unnecessary and feels awkward.

[ChaptersbyKeeter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book, that kept me wanting to keep reading nonstop.

[MacWithBooksonMountains Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Downloaded from podcast and listened to it for the first time in 2008. Read the paperback years later. The narrator has a very interesting accent that is a cross between southern plantation and something undefinable. This obviously gets lost in the paperback. Missing are the sound effects and the music which are not only high quality and just the proper volume level but also fit very well with the plot; a plot that is science fiction interspersed with horror elements. The main character is noir-cool, minor characters are well-rounded and believable. This here space-horror fiction is a masterpiece. If you get the chance, go for the audiobook podcast, the paperback just does not cut it. This was original made as a podcast and works best like that

[Hollie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a creepy potboiler, but I can't say it is much more than that. I listened to the audiobook/podcast read by the author.

Points off for putting mirrors in jail cells, that's not at all believable. More points off for the author's glottal stop affectation. (When any character has to say, "There are buttons on the curtains," you can be sure they will say "There are bu'ens on the cur'ens." One character doing it would have been clever. All characters skipping the letter T when it appears mid-word becomes the narrator being tiresome, sorry.)

[Max Birch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Downloaded from podcast. Very professionally done from the technical side. The narrater has a very interesting accent that is a cross between southern plantation and something undefinable. The sound effects and the music not only are if high quality and just the proper volume level but also fit very well with the plot; a plot that is science fiction interspersed with horror elements. The main character is noir-cool, minor characters are well-rounded and believable. This here space-horror fiction is a masterpiece.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

So first of all - you can find audiobook narrated by the author for FREE on Librevox. I tried it with low expectations, but holy shit, audiobook quality is amazing! The author is an excellent narrator and additional sounds of environments breath life into the story.
The story itself is a very solid 3.5-star worth space horror. However, the audiobook version deserves full five stars. You can really see (or hear in this case) that the author put a lot of effort and love into Crescent.

[Don · Rating 2 out of 5]

Far from an enjoyable read... I considered abandoning it several times and now am just glad to be done with it... With that being said this book might appeal to those who enjoy horror genre books.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine enough, lots of action and interesting story and world building

[Tarl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was recommended to me from a number of people and online when I asked for some good science fiction horror that takes place in space. I decided to give it a go and see where it lead me, and where it lead me wasn't as good as I had expected.

The basic storyline for 'Crescent' is an interesting one, and one that will keep the reader turning the pages to figure out what exactly is happening on the station. The opening hook is an excellent one and easily dragged me in. You want to know about the Vault, you want to know about the Black, and you want to know just what the dirty little secret of the station is. Starting out, 'Crescent' shows a lot of potential.

Rossi does a good job with his characters, in fact, they pretty much make up everything that is excellent about this book. I would have given this book two stars if it weren't for his characters actually. Rossi's characters are individuals, no two alike, and each has their own goals, dreams and desires. No matter who's the center of attention, they act in a way that pulls you into the story and drags you along for the ride. They don't have clear cut good or bad sides, they struggle with their actions, and each has a different moral code. This also goes for the antagonists, specifically the mayor who is the type of character you love to hate, and want to see punished for his crimes.

The thing is, you never do. Not really. And that brings me to the major failing point of 'Crescent'. As the story progresses, things seem to be getting less and less intense and lose a lot of the momentum that the opening half of the book has. Even as the characters start to lose themselves in their individual horrors, even that loses its edge as things continue forward. Where in the beginning a slow burn is stated, promising a horrific climax, when it finally all comes down, the horror is a mess of random events and the ending itself a huge deus ex machina with everything being solved by something that doesn't even have to do with the characters or their struggles. In fact, with how the book ended, every struggle the characters went through meant nothing, as the solution to the problems seems to have been willing to do it no matter the outcome of the human equation.

It made for a very, very unsatisfactory ending, and made me feel as if I had just wasted my time on the book. A lot of the horror elements used earlier on seem forgotten in the later half of the novel, and a lot of elements seem tossed in for no reason or with little lead up. (like the altered collector robots and the vatter) That's not to say the horror elements aren't well written, because early in the book, they are wonderfully done. The Black is scary, the killings are brutal and personal. It has a very Hellraiser like feel to it...until you get further into the book where everything feels glossed over. Massive horrific events feel glossed over, rushed, with the odd atrocity written in just to make it more 'evil'.

Still, even despite the fading horror element and the ending, 'Crescent' wasn't that bad of a book. I did enjoy a large amount of it, and terrible ending aside, it was worth the read, especially the first half of the book. The epilogue wasn't too bad, though if it had been cut I think the ending would have had the same impact, though it was nice to see how Gerald was dealing with the memories and such. Still, once everything was said and done, it was good to see the main characters get what they deserved...sort of, even if all they did was survive.

So if you are looking for horror in space, 'Crescent' may be for you. However, if you don't like endings where things are ultimately solved by something outside the main characters, and their ultimate trials and struggles are pointless, then perhaps don't pick up this book and go for something else. There are reasons writers are warned away from using deus ex machina endings, and this book is a prime example.

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having listened to Rossi's other podiobook Harvey, I will admit that I was a little disappointed that so much of the plot was similar. I tried thinking of it as a sequel (even though Crescent came out years before), which did seem to help it out some. There's a lot to like in this book, but I just have to say that while this book came in with a might roar, it left with more of a whimper.

Crescent takes place in the far reaches of space in a strange future. Space salvager Gerald makes the mistake of accepting a job offer from Kendall, the corrupt mayor of the creepy space station Crescent. It sounds too good to be true: make a few job runs, get paid an obscene amount of money & retire rich. When Gerald discovers that his jobs are too dodgy sounding even for him, he accepts the offer of neurosurgeon turned archaeologist Donovan Cortez in the hopes of being able to make enough to buy out of his contract. All he wants is for Gerald to run a little salvage operation to a nearby area, to retrieve a Crescent lifeboat that he believes will shed some light on the mysterious & sinister happenings 15 years earlier. What Gerald doesn't know is that he'd have been better off running jobs for Kendall, for this seemingly simple salvage run for Cortez is going to further awaken an ancient evil that'd be better off left alone.

I did enjoy the book for the most part. I liked that Rossi does an excellent job of building suspense, but I just couldn't help but wish that more of the book had been fleshed out. We've got all of this fantastic space age stuff, but not a lot of description & as a result I kind of felt like the background was a little lacking. I also felt that at times there was just a bit too much going on character-wise. There's a TON of characters in this book, not all of which are all that interesting. Don't get me wrong, the character ideas in this book are great but with the focus shifting between all of the characters I couldn't help but feel like none of them really got enough screen time to really focus on any of them. I do think that if I'd started out with Crescent rather than listening to Harvey first, I'd have liked the book more. (Hey, the guy is really darn good & I just felt like he could've done better in this one. This *is* his first book though, so I really recommend reading this. The guy's raw potential is amazing.)

This is still an enjoyable book & will make for a nice enough beach read for thriller fans. Rossi does have a way with horror, although he still has a ways to go before he gets to the levels of podcast heroes such as Scott Sigler & J.C. Hutchins. He'll get there- I have no doubt about that, but he just has a ways to go.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phil Rossi's Crescent was a bit of an odd read for me. I started off with actually listening to the podcast version, but partway through decided to go ahead and switch over to reading the Kindle edition. So this is a bit of a hybrid review.

Salvage pilot Gerard Evans accepts a job working for the mayor of Crescent, a run-down station on the fringes of colonized space. Things start to go south very quickly, though, as he finds out that not only is the mayor up to his eyes in the shadiest of shady dealings--but that something is loose on Crescent, something that's out for blood and lives.

The podcast version, or at least the initial stretch of it I listened to, was intriguing listening. Rossi reads well, and is good at varying accents to give you a sense of the voices of the different characters, something you don't get as well when you're just reading the ebook. There are also neat tricks done with certain sound effects that maximize the creepiness of a few key scenes, something else you don't get in the ebook version.

Either way, I found myself poised between wanting more SF to this story and more horror at the same time, possibly because it had a foot in both genres and didn't quite commit to either one, and possibly also because the horror tropes that the story invokes aren't really the ones that work best for me. In particular, I found it had way too much reliance on acts of senseless violence--especially rape of random side characters, which happens twice--as a means of creating the horror.

When it avoids those tactics, which is thankfully the majority of the time, Crescent does achieve some genuine moments of creepiness and suspense. So, three stars.

[Fairul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. i cannot understand the hype.

looking at the rating and good reviews, i was very keenly hoping for a scifi horror alongside the likes of Event Horizon or even Pandorum.

instaed, what i get is an It-like nonsense, with forces of cosmos and multiverses thingamajig. Don't get me wrong, I love that sort of thing if it was at least comprehensible or engaging, perhaps like Lovecratian tales or Dark Tower series. The plot is somehow messed up and i dont really know what is going on.

The characters are lovable enough though, although the main character is abit jerk himself. I particularly like the conversation with occasional humor thrown at it.

Also be advise, this story have a lot of sex in it, not advisable to underage kids or adult with underage brains.

*updated the rating from 2 to 3 stars, since it's actually wasn't THAT bad*

[Simon C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Promised more than it really delivered but quite enjoyable anyway.

I thought the universe in which this was set was rather tired and generic and increasingly unlikely given the way that the Internet has developed. I quite liked the mix of genres but felt that there was a lot of build up and not a greatly satisfying climax. I think Rossi has a nice turn of phrase and the main character is a likeable cynic.
I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot even if it was a little hard to follow at times but it didn't really make me have to know what happens next.

And the epilogue really didn't seem to have a point to it.

[Raghdan fawakhiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is a blend of science fiction and horror, with some elements of political thriller and organized crime fiction.
It is well written, although there is no character development. The events and the mysteries keep the reader's interest kindled for most of the novel. Although it drags-on in some parts, where it slows down, or repeats previously emphasized reflections on the happenings.
I listened to the novel as a free podcast on iTunes, read by the author, who had a wonderful assortment of voice-overs, which is a loss for the readers of the book in print.

[Frank · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Crescent" attempts to marry science fiction and horror and fails on both fronts. The science fiction part involves characters that have little depth and puts them into situations that are straight from pulp and B movie westerns - a city at the edge of civilization; corrupt politicians; rampant prostitution; a saloon with drinking, smoking, and plenty of fighting; gun-running; outlaw bands; and the like. The formless horror is not terrifying. The book was hard to complete as it was slow and somewhat disjoint. There is not much to recommend it.

[Terry and dog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, this placed is messed up.
A good, solid sci fi horror story. There was a lot of promise right off the bat, and then came the slower part, and honestly, I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue. Nothing terribly wrong with it, but just a lot of everyday life on a nasty, corrupt, space station. I am glad I did continue though because it did get into a lot more action and a lot of weirdness. I kind of liked the main protagonists (not head over heals in love with them, but enough that I was rooting for them), I did like the way it ended too. Glad I read it.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Crescent was an enjoyable "read", keeping in mind that it is intended for a mature audience. It told a pacy and chilling tale of terror in deep space, carefully balancing horror with action. The characters were generally well-rounded and portrayed with a deft hand, and there are moments where the writing really shines."

Read the rest of my review here:

http://freshly-ground.blogspot.com/20...

[R. Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always love the mixture of space and horror. There don't seem to be too many in that genre, and this is a good example of it.

The only knocks I have are that some of the characters are a bit two dimensional and seem to be there just to make you hate them. Now that may be a means to an end, but it would have been more interesting to have these characters seem more real than representing a particular archetype.

[Mai Ling · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know how when you're watching a scary movie and the idiots walk into some dilapidated house unvited and you're screaming, "What the heck are you doing? Get out of there!" I kept thinking that through this whole book, to like, every single inhabitant of this half-built, run-down and extremely haunted station. Seriously, people? I suppose it does make for a good read, though. Despite the type-os.

[Chris Bowsman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phil Rossi's CRESCENT is a nod to classic science fiction, where the characters are gritty and interesting, and a nod to classic horror, where the emphasis is on scaring the hell out of the reader rather than grossing them out.

I've listened to two of Phil's other books (EDEN and HARVEY, not yet in print), and will honestly say he's my favorite horror writer.

[D. Henbane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it thoroughly. A nice Sci-fi filled with deep characters and a great plot. If you are into space themed science fiction with a bit of American wild west type story you will love it. If I had to sum it up without giving anything away... I would say it is an amalgam of plots from Rango, The Fifth Element, and Doctor Who. Regardless, this one should be on your read list.

[David Piwinski · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main story is decent, and I enjoyed the cosmic horror stuff a lot. I thought there were too many side-plots and unnecessary characters, though, and the novel felt too long to me. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood. If it were tightened up a bit, it would be a 4 or maybe even a 5 for me, but as it is I'd call it a 3.5.