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The Ghost Fleet #1
Cascade Point
Grant Stone and his crew just want to be left alone. They fly at the edges of Alliance space, surveying new systems far from the problems that brought them all together. Some are former military, while others have more colorful pasts. Everyone aboard the Fallen Angel has a reason for staying on the fringes. It's a good life, but a chance discovery will change everything. Confronted by an enemy powerful enough to threaten all of human civilization, Grant and his crew are forced to choose between confinement or joining the Ghost Fleet, a hidden network of ships recruited and run by the Alliance Navy. Faced with an existential danger, Grant will lead his team into the far reaches of unknown space to keep the brewing conflict from exploding into all-out war.
220 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 9, 2017
93 people are currently reading
125 people want to read
About the author
Joshua Guess
50 books363 followersJoshua Guess (who goes by Josh most of the time, but Joshua professionally because his mom insists) is originally from southern Illinois, but moved to central Kentucky at an early age.
Always a storyteller, his interest in creating began with art. He loved to draw and come up with stories about his pictures.
Then he discovered comic books and novels, and things...took a turn.
Devouring everything from superboy to Stephen King, Josh started to gain a greater interest in writing, making it a hobby during high school and achieving distinguished marks in his portfolio.
Then, life got in the way. College and the struggle to start a life of his own away from home took up most of his time. His love of telling stories took a back seat to the needs of daily life for many years, with the occasional foray into working on one project or another.
In late 2009, Josh buckled down and started work on an idea for a fantasy novel that had been stuck in his head since those halcyon days back in high school. Struggling to find a voice, Josh realized months later after many false starts that he needed to stretch his brain a little, strengthen his writing muscles. So he began another project that had been simmering in the back of his mind, a continuing serialized zombie story, told in the form of a daily blog.
Living With the Dead has given him a measure of success, but more important has imparted new skills at wordsmithing and the drive to complete. 'Bound to Silence', his debut novel, has been released and is available now, as are many collections and versions of Living With the Dead.
Once that tipping point was reached, there was no choice for him but to keep on writing. Much more of Josh's work will be released in the coming months.
I hate writing in the third person about myself. I live an average life and work a full time job. I have three cats, two dogs, two ferrets, and a wife that I'm so in love with it hurts. My goal is to some day have enough success to write full time, and to manage a level of long term financial security that I don't have to worry about money. It's my dream to make a good living doing what I love--telling stories. I hope you enjoy my work. That's why I do it.
Always a storyteller, his interest in creating began with art. He loved to draw and come up with stories about his pictures.
Then he discovered comic books and novels, and things...took a turn.
Devouring everything from superboy to Stephen King, Josh started to gain a greater interest in writing, making it a hobby during high school and achieving distinguished marks in his portfolio.
Then, life got in the way. College and the struggle to start a life of his own away from home took up most of his time. His love of telling stories took a back seat to the needs of daily life for many years, with the occasional foray into working on one project or another.
In late 2009, Josh buckled down and started work on an idea for a fantasy novel that had been stuck in his head since those halcyon days back in high school. Struggling to find a voice, Josh realized months later after many false starts that he needed to stretch his brain a little, strengthen his writing muscles. So he began another project that had been simmering in the back of his mind, a continuing serialized zombie story, told in the form of a daily blog.
Living With the Dead has given him a measure of success, but more important has imparted new skills at wordsmithing and the drive to complete. 'Bound to Silence', his debut novel, has been released and is available now, as are many collections and versions of Living With the Dead.
Once that tipping point was reached, there was no choice for him but to keep on writing. Much more of Josh's work will be released in the coming months.
I hate writing in the third person about myself. I live an average life and work a full time job. I have three cats, two dogs, two ferrets, and a wife that I'm so in love with it hurts. My goal is to some day have enough success to write full time, and to manage a level of long term financial security that I don't have to worry about money. It's my dream to make a good living doing what I love--telling stories. I hope you enjoy my work. That's why I do it.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 7, 2020
My mind kept drifting. Not a good sign.
The good:
•Good premise
•Good characters (especially Dex and Aiona, very interesting)
•A female fighter pilot, yay!
The bad:
•Exposition. For some reason, just as you think "yes! we're about to get some action, they're flying towards the enemy", the author goes off on a tangent, explaining some irrelevant detail about politics or guns or science, etc. This happened again and again.
• It's never explained why they attacked.
• I loved that some of the characters had undergone severe trauma - but for some reason they have no signs of PTSD. A big nono for me. Dex's trauma especially would have lifelong consequences.
Poor execution spoiled what could have been a great book. I'll give the author another chance, because he has the right idea.
The good:
•Good premise
•Good characters (especially Dex and Aiona, very interesting)
•A female fighter pilot, yay!
The bad:
•Exposition. For some reason, just as you think "yes! we're about to get some action, they're flying towards the enemy", the author goes off on a tangent, explaining some irrelevant detail about politics or guns or science, etc. This happened again and again.
• It's never explained why they attacked.
• I loved that some of the characters had undergone severe trauma - but for some reason they have no signs of PTSD. A big nono for me. Dex's trauma especially would have lifelong consequences.
Poor execution spoiled what could have been a great book. I'll give the author another chance, because he has the right idea.
November 22, 2017
Smug, Condescending SJW Attitude Mars Otherwise Decent Story
Authored by Mr. Joshua Guess, “Cascade Point (The Ghost Fleet Book 1),” is a decent SciFi space opera. The smug, condescending, and at times, arrogant SJW attitude of the author, irritatingly permeates and mars the otherwise entertaining story.
In a far future, humanity has expanded throughout an large expanse of space, under the “Planetary Alliance (PA).” The crew of a former PA naval warship prototype, the “Fallen Angel,” mainly disgruntled, ex-PA personnel, are independent contractors, surveying stellar systems for a living. During one survey, the crew witnesses an apparently alien vessel, emerge from a “Cascade Point,” into normal space. The “Fallen Angel,” limping away on conventional propulsion due to the alien ship’s dampening field, eventually distances herself, makes her escape, and informs the PA navy. The aliens are not unknown to the PA intel assets, as multiple incursions have been observed. The “Fallen Angel’s” crew is manipulated into a espionage/privateer asset, within the PA’s “Ghost Fleet,” and dispatched to thwart the aliens’ invasion plans. Various plot lines ensue, including sentient AI, a human/genetic-enhancing as a religion/Spartan/world, interstellar space battles, and a potential fifth column within the PA.
Mr. Guess, has created an entertaining storyline, that has merit. On two levels, the arc is undermined, causing dissatisfaction for this reader.
Firstly, Mr. Guess, an experienced author, has serious flaws in his skill set. Writing “tics,” needless with the most basic of editing/proofreading, appear throughout “Cascade Point.” Examples: “after all;” “obviously;” and “snorted.” The most egregious repeated and systemic flaw is the use of “but.” Mr. Guess, is apparently of the writing philosophy that “but” can be used in lieu of “and,” as well as punctuation (comma, period, etc.). It’s indicative of a lazy and undisciplined effort. Further, the author commercially offered his story initially as a serial “chapters” enterprise, then combined all into one book. The result is an abundance of repetition in the book form of “Cascade Point.” Again, this is simply lazy.
Secondly, the smug, SJW, leftist ideology, that the author patronizingly intertwines throughout the story is irritating to this reader. Other readers might disagree, as they espouse similar beliefs. For this reader, it is more the arrogant and condescending manner of the author, as he pushes his agenda, rather then the agenda itself. Many of his main characters - “Dex,” “Crash” - are portrayed through the lens of victim hood. Dex, a young man, the “Angel’s” assistant engineer, is an escaped, genetically enhanced, de facto slave, from the religious, Spartan world. Crash, the XO, is the expert female pilot, who was unjustly discharged from the navy, after fighting off the sexual assault of her CAG. Even the captain and engineer, both navy buddies of Crash, left the PA in disgust, as their defense of Crash, went unfulfilled. The author sings the praises of how humanity has evolved to a better state, due to everyone having shelter, food, and medical care, “...at no cost....” Yet, he doesn’t explain how this is possible. In fact, the crew of the “Angel,” are working for a living, needing to get paid, and paying for things while on space stations. The contradiction is galling. This reader highlighted and noted dozens of examples of both the writing flaws and the author’s failure in subtlety, when pushing his agenda.
“Cascade Point,” is recommended as a SciFi story. Readers will decide for themselves, in regards to the author’s political ideology.
The book was fully read via Kindle Unlimited.
Authored by Mr. Joshua Guess, “Cascade Point (The Ghost Fleet Book 1),” is a decent SciFi space opera. The smug, condescending, and at times, arrogant SJW attitude of the author, irritatingly permeates and mars the otherwise entertaining story.
In a far future, humanity has expanded throughout an large expanse of space, under the “Planetary Alliance (PA).” The crew of a former PA naval warship prototype, the “Fallen Angel,” mainly disgruntled, ex-PA personnel, are independent contractors, surveying stellar systems for a living. During one survey, the crew witnesses an apparently alien vessel, emerge from a “Cascade Point,” into normal space. The “Fallen Angel,” limping away on conventional propulsion due to the alien ship’s dampening field, eventually distances herself, makes her escape, and informs the PA navy. The aliens are not unknown to the PA intel assets, as multiple incursions have been observed. The “Fallen Angel’s” crew is manipulated into a espionage/privateer asset, within the PA’s “Ghost Fleet,” and dispatched to thwart the aliens’ invasion plans. Various plot lines ensue, including sentient AI, a human/genetic-enhancing as a religion/Spartan/world, interstellar space battles, and a potential fifth column within the PA.
Mr. Guess, has created an entertaining storyline, that has merit. On two levels, the arc is undermined, causing dissatisfaction for this reader.
Firstly, Mr. Guess, an experienced author, has serious flaws in his skill set. Writing “tics,” needless with the most basic of editing/proofreading, appear throughout “Cascade Point.” Examples: “after all;” “obviously;” and “snorted.” The most egregious repeated and systemic flaw is the use of “but.” Mr. Guess, is apparently of the writing philosophy that “but” can be used in lieu of “and,” as well as punctuation (comma, period, etc.). It’s indicative of a lazy and undisciplined effort. Further, the author commercially offered his story initially as a serial “chapters” enterprise, then combined all into one book. The result is an abundance of repetition in the book form of “Cascade Point.” Again, this is simply lazy.
Secondly, the smug, SJW, leftist ideology, that the author patronizingly intertwines throughout the story is irritating to this reader. Other readers might disagree, as they espouse similar beliefs. For this reader, it is more the arrogant and condescending manner of the author, as he pushes his agenda, rather then the agenda itself. Many of his main characters - “Dex,” “Crash” - are portrayed through the lens of victim hood. Dex, a young man, the “Angel’s” assistant engineer, is an escaped, genetically enhanced, de facto slave, from the religious, Spartan world. Crash, the XO, is the expert female pilot, who was unjustly discharged from the navy, after fighting off the sexual assault of her CAG. Even the captain and engineer, both navy buddies of Crash, left the PA in disgust, as their defense of Crash, went unfulfilled. The author sings the praises of how humanity has evolved to a better state, due to everyone having shelter, food, and medical care, “...at no cost....” Yet, he doesn’t explain how this is possible. In fact, the crew of the “Angel,” are working for a living, needing to get paid, and paying for things while on space stations. The contradiction is galling. This reader highlighted and noted dozens of examples of both the writing flaws and the author’s failure in subtlety, when pushing his agenda.
“Cascade Point,” is recommended as a SciFi story. Readers will decide for themselves, in regards to the author’s political ideology.
The book was fully read via Kindle Unlimited.
August 7, 2019
The crew of the Fallen Angel is enlisted as part of the Ghost Fleet to investigate the sighting of a new vessel and what appears to be a new mining colony.
This book was an entertaining and neat story with some twists that made it interesting. There are some new concepts created by the author that I felt were explained a little bit late, but otherwise, it was a fun read. I missed well-developed characters, since all were just archetypes but with little definition. Giving some of a backstory is usually not enough to have well-defined characters.
Because of this, I didn’t get very invested in the story, and my attention zoned out often. Maybe due to that, I felt the transitions between scenes too abrupt at times. In general, I think the book would have benefited from being edited.
I enjoyed the tension and intrigue about who the enemy was, and I think it was done in a clever way, but the ending, somehow, felt a bit anticlimactic.
Andy Harrington did a good job with the narration of this book, voicing the different characters and bringing them to life. Harrington’s narration did, overall, add interest to the book.
It was an okay book, with very good premises but subpar execution. I felt this could have been much better than what it really was.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This book was an entertaining and neat story with some twists that made it interesting. There are some new concepts created by the author that I felt were explained a little bit late, but otherwise, it was a fun read. I missed well-developed characters, since all were just archetypes but with little definition. Giving some of a backstory is usually not enough to have well-defined characters.
Because of this, I didn’t get very invested in the story, and my attention zoned out often. Maybe due to that, I felt the transitions between scenes too abrupt at times. In general, I think the book would have benefited from being edited.
I enjoyed the tension and intrigue about who the enemy was, and I think it was done in a clever way, but the ending, somehow, felt a bit anticlimactic.
Andy Harrington did a good job with the narration of this book, voicing the different characters and bringing them to life. Harrington’s narration did, overall, add interest to the book.
It was an okay book, with very good premises but subpar execution. I felt this could have been much better than what it really was.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
August 26, 2020
Do AI Dream of AI Sheep?
An interesting adventure through space. The story was interesting and makes you want to explore what happens next. The characters have some background, hopefully they'll be expanded upon in the rest of the series.
An interesting adventure through space. The story was interesting and makes you want to explore what happens next. The characters have some background, hopefully they'll be expanded upon in the rest of the series.
May 9, 2018
Great read
I enjoyed this book, well written , neat concepts, i.e. space travel, weapons, I will read the sequel as it looks interesting
I enjoyed this book, well written , neat concepts, i.e. space travel, weapons, I will read the sequel as it looks interesting
August 21, 2018
Grant Stone and his renegades become part of the Navy Ghost Fleet after they discover a threat to civilization, Worse yet, the threat is mankind's fault
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews