Stranded on Haven

by William Zellmann

Jerd Carver wasn’t Captain of the star freighter Startrader. No, he was just a slum-bred cargo handler, until everyone aboard was killed except him. With the help of the ship’s Artificial Intelligence, he located the nearest known settled star, some ten light years away; thirty years away in normal space. There is, however a system just less than one light year away that might have an Earthlike planet. It does have one, and it also has a colony. Haven was settled 500 years ago, but a catastrophe prevented it from landing their colony ship, which was designed to provide computer information services for a century. Without the ship’s services, the colony has reverted, and is now at a prespace level. After two years in normal space, Jerd is desperate for human company. But the colony has airships, radios, and a patchwork of small nations. What kind of welcome can he expect? Startrader and the colony ship both contain information which would let any of the six nations occupying Haven take over the planet. Will the nations welcome him and his ship? Will they race to kill him and seize Startrader and its wonders? Will he face spies and assassins, or will he find a new home? Find out in William Zellmann’s newest space opera!

Genres: Science Fiction

507 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 24, 2014

About the author

I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, where I achieved nothing notable. I joined the U. S. Navy, and for the next twenty years was largely successful in tricking the Navy into thinking that I wasn't really a lazy slob. During this time, I met and married a wonderful woman. We had a beautiful daughter together.
After retiring from the Navy, I attended the University of Arkansas. I received a BSBA in Human Resources Management, to my utter surprise (and that of some of my professors!).
My wife passed away in 2008, and I had the incredible luck to meet another amazing woman. We married in December 2010. I seem to be attracted to low-paying government jobs, and upon graduation, I became employed by the State of Arkansas as an Employment Interviewer and Employment Services Supervisor. There, I completed another 20-year career. Since then my life has been devoted to writing and convincing my new wife she didn't really marry a lazy bum.
I retired in March of 2011, and we retired to the Philippines. Yep, I actually Ran Off To An Exotic South Seas Island With A Beautiful Native Girl! How many people actually get to live a cliché?

Reviews

[Shasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author takes a serious, even horrifying, situation and lightens it with a hero that approaches being in charge with a child-like glee. His lightheartedness gets rid of any suspense I may have felt in the precarious positions he ends up in but he does make smart decisions. There is sex mentioned without details. There is a lot of telling, not showing. The novel became tedious--I did this, I did that, in order to do this, I had to do these things.
The planet has steam based societies and airships!

The grammatical errors were pervasive and distracted from the story.

[Pamela Dodd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Fun Space Opera

While this indie novel lacks a few punctuation marks here and there, it is still way fun. It is a first person narrative, highly detailed, and only drags occasionally. The central character is just a bit too smart, but that is part of the charm. The depiction of Haven is a bit "steampunk" which contrasts nicely with the high tech "star man" and his wonderful gadgetry.

Fans of space opera should like this book quite a lot. I did.

[. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good Read

Good story, well put together.
There are some areas where basic editing is needed - writers should be demanding better care of their work. I'm sure that if the accountant's bottom line had mistakes like these there would be Hell to pay (maybe they do).

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise, but as a space opera, it was full of improbabilites. Wasn't a waste of time, but if there ever was a sequel, I probably wouldn't read it. Main character was a self-proclaimed "cargo rat" who appears to also be a brilliant statesman, strategist, pilot, and self-made man. Not!

[Vikarti · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dropped it unfinished

[Timothy Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

I love the story he wrote but my only problem was with the ending I felt it was a little lackluster but other than that a very good book.