Starship Blackbeard

Starship Blackbeard #1

by Michael Wallace

In the aftermath of an interstellar war with an alien race, Captain James Drake is unjustly court martialed and sentenced to hard labor. Now Drake is on the run from Lord Admiral Malthorne, while another pursuer, Drake's old friend, believes the accusations are true, and promises to bring him to justice.

But Drake won't go down without a fight. Rather than surrender, he'll lead his loyal crew into the lawless frontier worlds, infested with pirates and smugglers, to repair and rearm his ship. Then he'll return to attack Malthorne's estates and seize the evidence he needs to clear his name.

But more than just Malthorne's estate is at stake. If Drake is captured, he and his crew are doomed--and the kingdom will be plunged into another war.

Book #1 of the Starship Blackbeard Series, by Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author Michael Wallace.

Book #2: Lords of Space: amazon.com/Lords-Space-Starship-Black...

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction, Audiobook, Military Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Fantasy

219 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 22, 2014

About the author

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Michael also welcomes email from readers at m.wallace23(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Series note: after getting to page 180 (75%) of book three I gave up on this series. Several reasons that I will put in that review, but they include “space leviathans”, “space barnacles” and a further decaying of how space and physics works. The story and character motivations were suffering as well. Anyhow, original review below.

Ok, this is not "hard Sci-Fi". It's not even what I would call respectable space opera. It is 1930s era pulp space opera written in the 21st century.
But-did I enjoy it? ---
Sorta.
I originally gave this two (it was ok) stars. And that is a fair assessment. As a plot-driven novel, I was compelled to want to know "what was next?"; "how's it gonna end?". Otherwise, the characters are flat, and Wallace doesn't appear to have a real sense of space and physics that a reasonable sci-fi fan might have. His world is a bit more Saturday morning cartoon-like, and that's not a bad thing, just not a good thing.
The setting is a post Earth Anglican interplanetary diaspora dominated by sailing ship metaphors and terminology. The sailing trope is a bit strange and stretched as taught as the sails I bet Wallace wishes he could write into his spacecraft. Some aspects of the nautically characterized battles make no sense in the void of space warfare. For example, some enemy ship some many kilometers away somehow suddenly comes up underneath the protagonist ship and it's exposed belly. Yeah that's just not at all how it works. Ender made it very clear; the enemy's gate is down, otherwise there is no "down" in space and certainly no exposed spacecraft bellies. Even so, rotate your ship; result, no exposed belly. It's as though inertia doesn't exist. You can zoom at an opponent at several thousand miles per second then suddenly change course or turn-about or whatever.
Furthermore, I find it hard to believe that we have a human diaspora solely composed of the Western World with no explanation for what apocalyptic event prevented the East from joining in.
Even through all of the strangeness I somehow read it. I finished it easily and might just finish the series, but it is a bit silly, and not without some serious suspension of disbelief.

Final tally, it's a 2.5 star pulpy, comic book, space opera, Edgar Rice Burroughs-esque, low-fat, English nautical adventure in space.

[. · Rating 1 out of 5]

No! No! No!

Tell me, when you turned your ship around (after the mutiny) did you use orbital mechanics or physics to do so? Wasn't it hard on your tires? Did it drain a lot of power from the captain's magic wand. Were there <1 singularities about? Did you patent your method of reversing your orbit so your pursuers can't do the same as you? Do you know why a stern chase is a long chase? It's because one doesn't turn.
What will it take for people to stop photocopying the British Royal Navy into their manuscripts? How about using the Shawnee social structure? Or the Tsarist Russian Army? Or the Iowa National Guard?

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a new author for me and a different type (sort of) sci-fi thriller, than my usual fare of sci-fi literature. Apparently this is the first book of a series and the book is short only 6.3 hours long.

Our hero is Captain James Drake. He commanded the HMS Ajax during the war against the Hroom. Captain Drake was court marshaled and found guilty of shooting down an innocent merchant ship. His first mate and crew believe he is being framed and rescue him and steal the Ajax.

Drake and crew seek help and safety within a planets cluster of pirates and smugglers. Drake and crew set out to find the evidence to prove him not guilty. Drake renames the Ajax to Starship Blackbeard. The crew of the Blackbeard set out to find out why the Lord Admiral Malthorne framed Drake. Drake learns that the Admiral who owns vast sugar plantations is inciting War with the Hroom Empire and attempts to keep the Hroom addicted to granulated sugar to keep them working as slaves.

The book is well written, lots of fast paced action, with space battles and chases. The crew is bold, brave and daring with lots of interesting characters. The book is highly entertaining and is easy to read. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Steve Barnes narrated the book.

[Jon West · Rating 3 out of 5]

First book in a series. I found it engaging and cleanly edited. Our protagonists are not outlaws by choice, but y treachery. The reader will follow them from sentenced traitor to bull-on pirate in this novel. The ending is a clear set-up for the next novel in the series.

My rating system (* = star)
1* couldn't finish book
2* finished book, but didn't like it
3* a good read
4* a very good read often with a novel concept or unusual plot
5* an exceptionally good read, a prominent example of the genre

[Scott S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Disclosure - The author provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

I don't usually accept review copies of books due to my inability to soften my harsher opinions, but this was a book that I was eager to get ahold of. The blurb sounded interesting and the cover was pure sci-fi eye candy.

3.5 stars. This really was an enjoyable little romp. I fired it up during a particularly mind numbing stretch of work and the day flew by, I was disappointed when things came to a close. Hopefully books two and three will be available in audio format soon. The writing was great, the characters believable and the stage very well set for more adventure to come. I look forward to more of Mr. Wallace's work.

Concerning narration, everything was well done. None of the narrator's voices were grating or over the top.

Things did wrap up a little shy of the book blurb's promise, but I don't feel cheated. There was plenty packed into this 6 1/2 hour listen.

The only things I took issue with: The idea of British in space....I kid, I kid. The idea that the British would hang onto a monarchical government after reaching space. And the idea that humanity would so easily fall back into an acceptance of slavery. Can you imagine what a huge percentage of the population would have to become Democrats in order for that to happen?

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a surprise. I picked it up for free or .99 on Kindle (it may still be so, I only got it a day or two ago). It was completely a cover buy. I've been hankering for some scifi and this had the perfect look. I'll gather my thoughts a bit more, but I did have a lot of fun with this. Strangely the most likable characters for me were the side characters though eventually our Captain's slow descent and questioning grew on me.
I think I like where it's going, tackling the idea of slavery and corruption within a patriarchal ruler-ship, so we'll see what book two does to develop this idea.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starship Blackbeard is an enjoyable space opera. The reader is dropped right in the middle of the action, but facts are revealed as needed and I never felt confused. My problem is the ending, or lack thereof. I don't believe that a trilogy means one book chopped in to thirds. I feel that each book should stand on its own. Obviously events should progress from book to book, but this one ended abruptly, like a television cliffhanger. If I had known this would be the case I would have waited until the series was complete before reading.

[Krista D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A shorter novel, which I think is a plus when faced with a TBR list filled with 1000 page tomes. I really enjoyed the quasi-Victorian, quasi-American plantation feel to it. In some ways, it reads as an SF adaptation of the opium wars.

I was a little detached from the main character, Drake, but my love of his ExO Tolvern and the assistant pilot well made up for that.

It ended on a harsh scene-cut cliffhanger. It's been a long while since I've read one of those, but since there are more books out in the series, I'm not worried about it.

[Justin Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too heavy in to the pirate stereotypes and throwbacks to 18th century elements (dubloons anyone?) but reasonably enjoyable. Not the greatest writing but for $1 for the collection in which I found this book, worth it. Haven't decided if I'll read the rest of the series yet...

[Gunther Rogahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The universe according to an entitled white male...So so. Short books.

[Debrac2014 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok! I had a hard time getting into the story but it did grab me by the end!

[Ivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's alright, not good and not bad. It manages to transplant golden age of piracy into space but at the cost of realism.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

Starship Blackbird is, admittedly, silly. An amusing sci fi romp that you really shouldn't take seriously and just enjoy it in all its B-movie DNA glory. For what we have here is the world of the Pirates of the Caribbean transplanted to space: replete with doubloons, grog, pirate women in low cut garments and gold hoops, incompetent aristocrats, sugar plantations and even slaves to work there (in the form of aliens who are addicted to sugar) , and ships with the names Captain Kidd and the titular Blackbeard. At 200 pages, it's a short read that ends just as it starts to get going.

Story: Uptight aristocrat Drake, captain of the HMS Ajax, is falsely accused of a crime and sent to two years hard labor in the mines. But his loyal crew stage a mutiny to save him - something he doesn't want to happen. He feels he can do the two years, survive, and then come back to clear his name. But if he allows the mutiny to happen, he'll be branded a traitor forever. But his crew has been doing research on his crime - and have found startling evidence that Drake's framing is part of a greater conspiracy that could topple the Albion empire. Can Drake survive long enough, especially since he is being hounded by his best friend to recapture him (a la Logan's Run)? Can Drake assemble a new crew in time?

Pretty much most of the swashbuckling era is lifted wholesale. Albion is England, there are colonies in the form of planets, aristocrats protect their slave trade and the income it generates, and the pirates pick off the privateers and merchants while the navy hounds them. A clever idea was to make the slaves aliens - aliens who are addicted to the sugar they are forced to make in order to addict more aliens.

It all makes for grand fun but ironically I found the characters to be cliche, stereotypes, or just plain unbelievable. Drake as the uptight aristocrat captain was a plank of wood - the loyalty he inspired in the crew inexplicable. It made for a lot of telling but not enough showing to make us believe the crew would throw away their careers and possibly lives on a mickey mouse mutiny. Tolvern, as the first mate, spends too much of the book mooning over her captain - it made her whole mutiny seem like the act of a school girl crush. The evil aristocratic admiral was lifted wholesale from Georgian romance bodice rippers - he should have been twirling a long mustache while cackling over his own incompetence. And the aliens were completely inscrutable (and did stupid things - to say what they were would be too spoilery). But it made for a lot of unlikeable characters. E.g., the alien people are conquered and enslaved by sugar but there might be a way to end that - and Drake has the key. So he and Tolvern ponder whether it would be a good thing to free the slaves - in front of the alien they supposedly call friend who says nothing (and did a LOT of things to try to free his people just previous). I supposed author Wallace was channeling the period - but were people really that stupid?

Since this was a quick 6 hour audible reading, it went fast. If I shut off my brain to the bad physics (people use miles?!?), it felt like the Pirates of the Caribbean movie in space. Enjoyable but empty - the sci fi version of a twinkie.

[Jas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brilliant series, the author has basically taken the entire concept of the old Colonial sailing days on the high seas, and the Royal Navy protecting the Colonies for the King from Pirates etc, and put it in space.
Captain James Drake of the Starship Ajax, has been wrongly accused of crimes, and as a result, lost his command, his ship, his commission, and is off to a penal colony to do hard labour. His loyal crew, however, has other ideas and mutinies to rescue him.
What follows is what can only be described as, a swashbuckling tale of high adventure of the very best sort.
This story seriously has everything you could want. Not only are there exceptionally good Characters, the Captain is brilliant, Drake is of Noble birth (as all good Captain's should be!), and has a very fine crew. However, due to the circumstances he finds himself in, he soon has to engage, and even hire Pirates as part of his crew, just to survive.
This leads to some rather amusing exchanges between the crew.
The ships, although they are starships, have ‘cannons’ and other equivalent gun emplacements similar to that found on the old sea faring vessels. This makes for some brilliant combat sequences as the ships launch into each other like the days of old. The only thing missing are the sails!
The story is not just about the Captain and the ships mutiny however. The larger story is about a race called the Hroom, a race that have been enslaved as they are addicted to white sugar, in its pure form. Once a Hroom eats it, they become addicted for life, and are hence known as 'eaters'.
The Captains Pilot and Navigator, a Hroom called Nyb Pym, has become an eater, and must be rescued, as the Captain believes as a part of the treachery that was played on him, caused the fall of his friend.
Starship Blackbeard is a fantastic first book to the series, setting up the story, the background, and all the characters. For those that remember back that far, the characters really remind me of the old Errol Flynn style of movies, where the Captain is a man of honour and noble breeding, and the villains are all corrupt, evil and have no honour at all, the word ‘Dastardly’ just fits perfectly. The Heroes and Heroines are swashbuckling heroes in the truest sense, full of courage and self-sacrificing to the core. There is even the friend who is with the Villain, but he is of noble breeding as well.
This is the start of what is going to be a truly brilliant series, and if you are a Sci-Fi fan, love a good read with outstanding characters, a bit of humour, some awesome technology and combat, and an exceptional storyline, then get into this.

[Teressa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Wallace continues to write exceptional novels proving his skilled talents. This was a solid science fiction/fantasy with everything I would expect in this genre. It wasn't predictable at all and included all the technical details I would expect to read or listen to. It had a great plot with unexpected twists. He writes in a way that engages all the senses of the reader or listener. You feel as if you're right there in the story.

Along with great characters, one can picture the spaceships, smell the atmosphere, and taste the sugar. It's a vividly picturesque listen. It's the whole package. This is an impressive audiobook all around. While this is the second audiobook I've listened to by Michael Wallace, he stays consistent and true to his work. It's the perfect length with excellent editing as well as superb narration. I feel this book is destined to be a classic as Wallace continues to deliver. He's an author to watch as I'm certain he's destined to be one of the greats.

Overall, I would highly recommend listening to this audiobook as well as his others. His writing is quality and I feel he puts everything into his work and doesn't spare anything.

Steve Barnes did an exceptional job voicing this audiobook. This was one of the best narrations I've heard. His performance was smooth and flawless. He had excellent voice control and character differentiation. He didn't miss a beat throughout the entire book. Very, very impressive. I look forward to hearing more from him as well.

Audiobook received in exchange for unbiased review.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

What starts off as a pretty standard "royal navy in space" adventure turns into a fairly good "finding a crew" story. The main two characters are well enough written and interesting, I especially enjoyed the first mate. She is smart, gungho, and loyal to the end but the quick peeks inside her mind point to much more character depth than we are initially presented with. As the story develops, the additions to the crew prove interesting as well. The setting was interesting as well with the sugar-slavery connection and the hroom aliens.

What I did find strange was the almost literal lifting of ideas, names, and themes from pirate tales from the Age of Sail. Most was ok bits bits just seemed somewhat out of place to me, but nothing enough to jar me into not finishing the book.

I read a few people that complained that this was a serial (duh, apparently they do not read as it is clearly stated that this is book one of a series). It was perfectly fine, the initial book is setting up the crew, the reasons they become pirates and setting the stage for the second book and continuing tales. Not sure what the big deal is.

I enjoyed it, as I have other books by Mr Wallace, and will certainly be continuing the series.

[Enzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent start to a SciFi series by Micahel Wallace. "Starship Blackbeard" is the first book in the series that promises to be more than scifi to the realms of a Space Opera. Right after the Peace treaty is signed between Humans and Hroom we find that Captain Drake has been arrested and convicted of Murder by destroying a friendly vessel. His crew mutiny the new Captain and rescue Drake before he is shuttled to a prison planet. As they escape they are attacked by friendly ships not to stop but to destroy. This and a couple other things make Drake really believe he was framed. As we will discover this is only the start of a issue that goes all the way up to the Admiralty. Drake and the HMS Ajax mark in the rescue of their Pilot a Hroom who has become a drug addict. HIs drug of choice Sugar. Hrooms can not tolerate pure sugar and become addicted to it and suffer swooning. They lose all control and become mentally unstable. After this Drake now fully convinced that Admiral Malthorne is out to get him embarks in an adventure that could mimic Pirates of the Caribbean. The HMS Ajax changes name to Blackbeard and that is a great story. Lots of action and a thrill ride. This one leaves you wanting for the next book in the series and that is what it should do.

[Mark Zodda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Curse you, Michael Wallace. I thought I was done with you after finishing The Righteous series, but no, once again you have me hooked, like I was a Hroom on sugar. In fact I just ordered the next book, Lords of Space, which should be out in a few days. Starship Blackbeard was a quick read that immediately grabbed my attention and kept me interested until the end. I like SF and this was done quite well, but parts of the story remain a bit unclear as he introduced elements of uncertainty like you would find in a mystery or thriller that didn't work as well in this story. These bits seemed a bit out of place, but not enough to take away from the pace of the story or make me stop reading. Looking forward to getting my MW fix with the next installment.

[Sherry D. Ramsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was caught up in this book immediately, and found its fast pace pulled me along inexorably until I'd stayed up far too late at night reading. :) I found it a good example of taking something known (the British navy) and twisting it with something new (transplanting it to deep space and another system of worlds) to make a satisfying milieu. Despite the quick pace and action, I thought there were enough insights into the characters to make them real people and not just caricatures, and the plot was intriguing. A little disappointed in the abrupt ending, but a cliffhanger ending in the first book of a series is the rule rather than the exception.

[Sandy Conley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The set up was the main purpose of the first book so I felt it was slow. The premise of the story is now established an when the text read "end" it surprised me. Now I am ready to get into the story on a deeper level but since it is 1:00 AM I will start tomorrow. The characters are fleshed out and the ones who will be the main actors appear to be likable. A couple characters are hard to measure as to their part in the events to come. The main villain is a high ranking officer the military and the ruling class of the main planets society. He appears to be using his position to kill or compromise those around him to achieve his goal.

[Dinah Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A REAL PAGE TURNER!

I usually don't read this kind of gentry, but once I started to read this book ,I found it hard to put down. It's fast moving with lots of twists and turns. The characters are well developed and strange. I actually believe that the " Hrooms", aliens were real. If you really want a great futuristic fast paced book to read, you will enjoy this one. I recommend that you get the second one in this series "Lord of Space" as soon as you get this one read, because "Starship Blackbeard" is a cliffhanger! Thanks Michael Wallace you've done it again.

[Mrklingon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yarr! Pirates, neo-British monarchy and a new triangle trade!

Well, I'll admit I picked this up as a bargain - the $2.99 ebook grants a $1.99 *audiobook*...

Wallace puts together a good scenario - an honorable captain, falsely courtmartialed, is rescued in a mutiny by his loyal crew and leads the Royal Navy in a merry chase. Troubling his loyal friend who is tasked to capture him, there's plenty of action, intrigue and adventure in an interesting quasi-Honor-Harrington story. Book two is queued up next - we'll see how things develop....

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good start to a series with plenty of action. Mutiny, evil empire building, addiction, piracy, and so on. There is a lot to keep the story exciting. I felt the characters could have had a little more depth to them. They felt a little one dimensional. I enjoyed the characters but I wanted to care more about them. I'm looking forward to reading the next one and seeing what happens to Drake and his crew.

[MaryJude Schmitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good start to a new series

I enjoyed this book very much and I am happy to.have a new series to read by Michael Wallace now that the Blister Creek series is coming to an end. This is also a very different genre for Michael Wallace, more sci-fi than fantasy. I like the new characters and hope to meet more in the next book

[neal mirin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thinking mind's work slow,but get things done faster.

Consider you are starting from nothing but gaining Info will things are happening to try to slows you down and Chang your mind. But it's the info that keeps coming in that keeps you going. knowing that life will Chang as you know it but will it save lives?

[Mark Polino · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a nugget of something good in here but it's lost in trying to connect too tightly to old royal navy stories. The mixture of naval lore is bit a of mess and the characters are stilted. The references to sugar and sugar plantations almost made me quit reading but the explanation is one of the things that works.

[Glenn Thurmond · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short story and book is only 177 pages

Story line just isn't there. Space ships of the future with kings, queens, dukes & commoners of old earth. But no one's actually been to earth. Ships designated names from ww2. suddenly book 1 ends and your expected to buy another extremely short story. I think not.

[Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give it a 3.5 rating. I would have scored it higher but there seems to be a chapter missing. The plot line leads you up to a hard 'jump' into a Red Dwarf star gravity well and then... nothing. The missing chapter. It had the potential to be a nail biter chapter and the whole thing was omitted! So sad.

[Andrew Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great space opera! When Captain Drake is framed for a crime he didn't commit his crew break him out and flee to the outer reaches of space. What's left for a man but to turn Pirate? This was a lot of fun and there are several plot lines in it I hope are well served. The characterization is good and the action is rollicking! Fans of Carson Mach or Honor Harrington will enjoy this one!

[Mick Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting beginning

I have enjoyed reading this first book of what looks like a good series. We see a Royal Navy captain falsely sentenced to jail for a attack his ship didn't do. But on been rescued he finds that there is more going on than they are aware of. I am sure that book two will give us more information on the problems within the Navy.