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Rex Nihilo #0.5
The Chicolini Incident: A Rex Nihilo Adventure
Interstellar con artist Rex Nihilo has just hijacked a shipment of five thousand lazepistols, and he needs to unload them fast. When Rex encounters a band of stick-wielding separatists on the planet Chicolini, he thinks he’s found the buyers he’s been looking for. But Rex’s greed knows no bounds, and he’s determined to scam the separatists out of their cargo so that he can re-sell his black-market booty a few more times before leaving the planet. As the complications in Rex’s plan multiply, he becomes a target of not only the separatists, but also of paramilitary thugs, the local cops, and even the Ursa Minor mafia. Will Rex’s long-suffering robot companion talk some sense into him before he gets them both killed? Or will Rex, the self-described “greatest wheeler-dealer in the galaxy,” finally succeed in outsmarting himself?
41 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 23, 2014
31 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
About the author
Robert Kroese
70 books632 followersRobert Kroese's sense of irony was honed growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan - home of the Amway Corporation and the Gerald R. Ford Museum, and the first city in the United States to fluoridate its water supply. In second grade, he wrote his first novel, the saga of Captain Bill and his spaceship Thee Eagle. This turned out to be the high point of his academic career. After barely graduating from Calvin College in 1992 with a philosophy degree, he was fired from a variety of jobs before moving to California, where he stumbled into software development. As this job required neither punctuality nor a sense of direction, he excelled at it. In 2009, he called upon his extensive knowledge of useless information and love of explosions to write his first novel, Mercury Falls. Since then, he has written 18 more books.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
October 23, 2017
Namby-Pamby Peace-Loving Planet
This has quickly become the best space opera around in my opinion. Hilarity unparalleled. Rationalize a course to side-splitting fun.
This has quickly become the best space opera around in my opinion. Hilarity unparalleled. Rationalize a course to side-splitting fun.
February 15, 2017
Pretty damn hilarious. Intergalactic sci-fi featuring a guy that is very much like Han Solo, only not quite as cool and not nearly as honest. (Yeah, think about that one.)
Really entertaining read, plenty of humor with some laugh out loud moments. I'm moving onto Starship Grifters after this because this was good stuff.
Really entertaining read, plenty of humor with some laugh out loud moments. I'm moving onto Starship Grifters after this because this was good stuff.
June 9, 2017
A fun romp
The plot was fun and I enjoyed how it came together. I really liked how things were settled in a way that they usually aren't. Rex is an amusing jerk, and Sasha (though a bit generic) was also very enjoyable.
The plot was fun and I enjoyed how it came together. I really liked how things were settled in a way that they usually aren't. Rex is an amusing jerk, and Sasha (though a bit generic) was also very enjoyable.
January 31, 2018
A brief Rex Nihilo adventure, with Sasah, involving their doing a lot of running around trying to sell guns. Leads into Starship Grifters
May 8, 2014
A really good short story featuring space wheeler-dealer Rex Nihilo ahead of a full story featuring the character coming soon.
The book is narrated by Sasha, Rex's robot, which is a really clever thing to do. Sasha is not a million miles away from Marvin the paranoid android from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but feels like a more plausible robot.
The plot involves Rex visiting the planet Chicolini with a hoard of guns to sell. However, Rex's dealing are more than immoral as he proceeds to attempt to use trickery to sell the same set of guns as many times as possible. This is easier said than done and as Rex keeps having to improvise with new ways to make money, the people of Chicolini never quite do what he expects.
This is exactly what one would expect from the writer of the Mercury books, a zany space adventure with good characters, lots of humour alongside a plot that really works. I look forward to reading the first Rex Nihilo novel!
The book is narrated by Sasha, Rex's robot, which is a really clever thing to do. Sasha is not a million miles away from Marvin the paranoid android from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but feels like a more plausible robot.
The plot involves Rex visiting the planet Chicolini with a hoard of guns to sell. However, Rex's dealing are more than immoral as he proceeds to attempt to use trickery to sell the same set of guns as many times as possible. This is easier said than done and as Rex keeps having to improvise with new ways to make money, the people of Chicolini never quite do what he expects.
This is exactly what one would expect from the writer of the Mercury books, a zany space adventure with good characters, lots of humour alongside a plot that really works. I look forward to reading the first Rex Nihilo novel!
July 21, 2017
5 stars
The Chicolini Incident is a short story that I read after the prequel novel Out of the Soylent Planet (A Rex Nihilo Adventure) by Robert Kroese. This is a laugh out loud science fiction romp by a favorite author of mine. This is a fabulous summer read. Robert Kroese is one cool cat that writes about things that really interest me. I love his Mercury series, which is a dark comedy, satire, and it is filled with angels and demons. It is hilarious at times, loaded with light hearted witty dialogue, and is really a fun series to read. Kroese dabbles in science fiction as well and those stories are just as good as the ones about Mercury. This is a prequel to the first book of the series Starship Grifters.
I loved this book. It is filled with so many jokes, one-liners, puns, and witty humor. Top that off by making this a fun space adventure, an intelligent robot sidekick, walking and talking horny trees, and of course the dubious hero himself Rex Nihilo.
Great stuff.
I devoured this book along with the other novella length prequel and will immediately go on to book one. Robert Kroese is an author not to be missed.
Loved it!
The Chicolini Incident is a short story that I read after the prequel novel Out of the Soylent Planet (A Rex Nihilo Adventure) by Robert Kroese. This is a laugh out loud science fiction romp by a favorite author of mine. This is a fabulous summer read. Robert Kroese is one cool cat that writes about things that really interest me. I love his Mercury series, which is a dark comedy, satire, and it is filled with angels and demons. It is hilarious at times, loaded with light hearted witty dialogue, and is really a fun series to read. Kroese dabbles in science fiction as well and those stories are just as good as the ones about Mercury. This is a prequel to the first book of the series Starship Grifters.
I loved this book. It is filled with so many jokes, one-liners, puns, and witty humor. Top that off by making this a fun space adventure, an intelligent robot sidekick, walking and talking horny trees, and of course the dubious hero himself Rex Nihilo.
Great stuff.
I devoured this book along with the other novella length prequel and will immediately go on to book one. Robert Kroese is an author not to be missed.
Loved it!
March 5, 2017
A fun prequel short to Starship Grifters that explains how they got there. For the free price of admission, definitely worth it. Now onto the 99 cent novella!
May 6, 2017
I really liked the level of humor. The story was interesting enough that I will probably get the next one. The characters were interesting and engaging.
May 19, 2017
Fun shorty!
Quick read with several good chuckles and one good belly laugh. Quite a few proofreading problems which could easily be fixed.
Quick read with several good chuckles and one good belly laugh. Quite a few proofreading problems which could easily be fixed.
May 22, 2017
Fun book sets the stage for Starship grifters. Good fun
July 23, 2017
Short entertaining.Perhaps not s clever as the longer books about Rex Nihilo, but the ending is great!
August 29, 2017
Rex is so busy double-crossing everyone he does business with that he doesn't quite know how to quit when he's ahead. :-)
February 20, 2018
Fun
Good little short story, acts as a nice little fill in between the first two parts of the Starship Grifters universe.
Good little short story, acts as a nice little fill in between the first two parts of the Starship Grifters universe.
July 21, 2025
Short, but effective. These characters would actually do well in a short story collection.
July 13, 2017
Rex and Sasha!
Rex is the ultimate con man, swindling gangsters and separatists while Sasha does her best to keep them alive.
Rex is the ultimate con man, swindling gangsters and separatists while Sasha does her best to keep them alive.
March 6, 2017
Enjoyable short story
This was an amusing short story with Rex and Sasha. And the name of the island was very amusing to me.
This was an amusing short story with Rex and Sasha. And the name of the island was very amusing to me.
June 25, 2017
This was pointless. There is literally nothing in this story that adds to the Rex Nihilo universe. The short version in Starship Grifters was so much better. Do not waste your time.
May 18, 2015
I read the sample of the book that follows this prequel and thought it was decent enough, then I realized the prequel was available and opted to give it a go. Wanting to be thorough and all. I am glad I did as it caused me to realize I do not want to read an entire novel with these characters in it.
The main character, SASHA, a near sentient robot is pretty well written but is clearly the smarter of the two and is always using the common sense. The captain is a complete moron, sometimes in a funny way, but a moron in the sense that reading him either getting drunk or coming up with insanely stupid ideas repeatedly is only funny the first few times. Plus is insane ideas never pan out. He literally is a failure at nearly everything he does, the only thing he has going for him is he is lucky in the end. Lucky in the end just enough have his life spared and nothing more.
I was really excited when the read the intro. I have been jonesing for a pulpy scifi adventure and I was hoping this could be it, perhaps with a slightly more than I wanted comedic factor. Sadly, it did not fit the bill. Unless you just are dying for some scifi and have nothing on your shelf, I would skip this one.
The main character, SASHA, a near sentient robot is pretty well written but is clearly the smarter of the two and is always using the common sense. The captain is a complete moron, sometimes in a funny way, but a moron in the sense that reading him either getting drunk or coming up with insanely stupid ideas repeatedly is only funny the first few times. Plus is insane ideas never pan out. He literally is a failure at nearly everything he does, the only thing he has going for him is he is lucky in the end. Lucky in the end just enough have his life spared and nothing more.
I was really excited when the read the intro. I have been jonesing for a pulpy scifi adventure and I was hoping this could be it, perhaps with a slightly more than I wanted comedic factor. Sadly, it did not fit the bill. Unless you just are dying for some scifi and have nothing on your shelf, I would skip this one.
June 25, 2015
A witty short prequel to the pulp sci-fi escapade Starship Grifters. Told from the perspective of SASHA, a sensible robot to the idiot captain Rex Nihilo. Rex delights in coming up with lunatic ideas. He also likes to get blind blind drunk, double-crossing and dealing with the inevitable zany fall out. It’s a funny enough short story and it had enough going for it to make me want to read the full novel, Starship Grifters. If nothing else I’m guessing it adds some back story and context to this? Recommended, if you want to kill 30 minutes or so.
August 12, 2014
Very funny. I can not wait to read the full length. Fun satire.
August 9, 2015
This is a hilarious addition to Starship Grifters. It is a very short book that explains a story that was casually mentioned in the other book. It is well worth a read if you read Starship Grifters.
August 8, 2016
Fun short story prequel to the Rex Nihilo and Sasha novel, Starship Grifters. Want more novels with these characters on their interstellar attempted crime spree.
January 12, 2017
Solid short story that will hold me over until Aye, Robot comes out.
February 5, 2017
Promising.
This is a short, amusing story that is a prequel to Starship Grifters. Having not read the next book, which I plan to do, I don't know whether the impulsive, often drunken captain develops a more nuanced character; but in this story the robot Sasha is the most interesting. Additionally, the story just ends abruptly (not unlike this review).
This is a short, amusing story that is a prequel to Starship Grifters. Having not read the next book, which I plan to do, I don't know whether the impulsive, often drunken captain develops a more nuanced character; but in this story the robot Sasha is the most interesting. Additionally, the story just ends abruptly (not unlike this review).
April 3, 2017
Good little read
This was a good little read it was a little bit different than what I normally read but it was still a fun read. His luck is about as good as mine is lol.
This was a good little read it was a little bit different than what I normally read but it was still a fun read. His luck is about as good as mine is lol.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews