Synapse

Celestial Spheres #1

by Ant Ryan

Short Story.

A young wench is trying to improve her place in society, but someone or something is out to stop her.

She enters a game of intellect which decides who lives, who dies, who suffers and who thrives in the annual event. A method of natural selection allowing the lower classes of mankind the chance to expand their riches.

The binary star system's effect and game have controlled humanity on the Globe for millennia, giving the world a peaceful order, in a society where humans lag behind the Scient minority. Until an outsider meddles with that peace.

Take a Sith like guy. Add Hunger Games feel, Game of Thrones fantasy landscape. Shake vigorously.

Atmospheric, escapist, dark, mysterious, surreal science fiction/fantasy. First part of a space opera series. (This part is ~ 6500 words).

ebook

First published August 30, 2015

About the author

Hi, I'm Ant. I live in North West England, just a 'Ferry Across The Mersey' from Liverpool. I share my home with cats and rabbits.

I am a vegan, write science fiction/fantasy and am a scientist, having an honours degree in chemistry. Been in full-time employment since University. Enjoy trying to solve physics problems, from quantum gravity to the origin & fate of the Universe.

I'm usually drinking coffee, eating out, enjoying art in various forms or watching TV quiz shows. Not too bad at drawing, ok at table tennis, go to the gym; kettlebells, weights, cardio. I spend a few weeks a year in a cave in Spain!

I was born prematurely (have mild Cerebral Palsy) on the original "Star Wars Day" - obviously wanted to see it ASAP! I love animals.

Thanks for reading.

Celestial Spheres is a short story science fiction/fantasy/space opera series.

My page is: http://antryan.com/

I'm always on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ant_writer

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Reviews

[Tina Bird · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific writing from Ant. I was going to wait until he finished and released books 2 & 3 and grab them all, then I got a review copy via Twitter; great idea. Very enjoyable and a quick, but thoroughly concise read, with a storyline that yields some great mystery and mood. What I particularly like about Ryan's work is the atmosphere that’s created, while leaving enough to the reader’s imagination – a good balance, often tipped too far either way.
You get an underlying sense that a larger story arc is rising that will carry forward, while as a standalone the book satisfied my scifi/fantasy need anyway. Where I must say the balance of the two genres was nice. I wonder what “magic” Amara experienced and if it can be explained or is just paranormal? Looking forward to the next parts of this Space Opera.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing, sci-fi short story, forming part of a series. I will clone these comments between parts one and two, because to me, they seem very much parts of the same tale. It's set in a parallel universe to ours I think, a little magical, but not intrusively so. The style is straightforward in terms of writing style, but thoughtful in terms of storyline. Part I has echoes of "Hunger Games", but this story is much more subtle. TBH I much preferred this to the Hunger Games! Most of the "action" is implied rather than explicit, which is a style I am quite comfortable and is, in fact, the approach so successfully employed by Azimov in the Foundation Series. Part II really needs to follow part I, rather than being stand alone IMHO.
To me they read more like books/ chapters within a larger novel, and I wonder if one day they may be republished in that form. Both parts I and II are written in the first person, but a different person. . . Reminding me of The Collector.
Parts I and II set a lot of scenes and pose a lot of questions, I am very keen to see partIII, which will hopefully resolve some of these, but may of course raise some more!

[R Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was an easy short read. Quite fun and has potential. Like the omni status of the species in this world. Look forward to further parts to this.