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Mercenary Calling
Exoplanets. Terrorists. Lawyers...
Calvin Tondini has his first client, but he may be in over his head.
It's the twenty-second century. Humanity's first and only interstellar starship returns safely. Its mission to discover a habitable planet succeeded beyond all hopes, but there's one problem. Captain Paolina Nigmatullin of the USS Aeneid left an unsanctioned human colony behind and now stands charged with mutiny.
Despite a somewhat spontaneous approach to his own career, life, and limb, Calvin intends to map a more cautious path for his new client. Captain Nigmatullin, however, shows an unnerving penchant for talk shows--appearing on them, that is--and otherwise ignoring her attorney's sober counsel.
How can Calvin ensure his client's freedom when death stalks the Aeneid's crew, and Nigmatullin herself hides secrets from everyone, even her lawyer?
Calvin Tondini has his first client, but he may be in over his head.
It's the twenty-second century. Humanity's first and only interstellar starship returns safely. Its mission to discover a habitable planet succeeded beyond all hopes, but there's one problem. Captain Paolina Nigmatullin of the USS Aeneid left an unsanctioned human colony behind and now stands charged with mutiny.
Despite a somewhat spontaneous approach to his own career, life, and limb, Calvin intends to map a more cautious path for his new client. Captain Nigmatullin, however, shows an unnerving penchant for talk shows--appearing on them, that is--and otherwise ignoring her attorney's sober counsel.
How can Calvin ensure his client's freedom when death stalks the Aeneid's crew, and Nigmatullin herself hides secrets from everyone, even her lawyer?
Kindle Edition
First published January 26, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 4, 2019
MERCENARY CALLING is an exciting and engrossing science fiction novel which has everything going for it. I adored the characters (even the bad guys have their points and comprehensible rationales), the settings are wondrous, and the science fiction aspects inspire me to blast off into space myself. The story is really encouraging, inspirational, and hopeful. Earth's first interstellar voyage has resulted in the discovery scientists have hoped for over decades of searching the skies: a compatible planet to Earth. So a colony of volunteers remains on the newly-discovered planet, Elysia, and the spaceship returns in triumph. Unfortunately, the victory parade turns very ugly (although that makes for an explosive reader's hook) and the protagonist and his friends quickly show their good character by leaping into the fray. Attorney Calvin, employed at the U.S. Department of Energy, the very individual who exposed copyright and proved that a private corporation has the legal right to build a spaceship--not just a government--is quickly offered an opportunity which may make his career, or destroy it. Really, there's only one choice, and Calvin makes the right decision, propelling this novel along at light speed. I couldn't put it down and I expect it will soon become a re-read.
January 31, 2019
Great twists, engaging characters, fun world building...it's a keeper. I found myself in a continuous ripple of internal chuckles throughout the story. Plus I stayed up too late with the need to read "just one chapter more." I'll be re-reading MERCENARY CALLING.
July 18, 2018
LAWYERS IN SP-A-A-A-CE!!! try to save the WORLDS (notice the plural)
I obtained this book through the Kindle Unlimited program. You should do the same. Or buy it. Just get the book, okay?
Some of us have been hopeless dreamers of vacations on the Moon, or living in a self-sustaining colony at L-5, or petting miniature dinosaurs on faraway planets, all of our lives. Despite that, we made our living selling vacuum cleaners, or providing patient care, or teaching 12 year old middle schoolers how to multiply fractions. The author of this book got a bit closer to the dream than most of us: she's a space lawyer.( Read her bio; this is a book review!)
The above is relevant, because the protagonist, Calvin Tondini , is also a space lawyer. This means that the procedural details of the story, which are massive contributions, aren't just fabricated, but are based on personal experience, extrapolated to a time in the not-too-distant future. I hesitate to draw comparison to Grisham, Turow, or Scott Pratt, because THOSE lawyer books always involves someone getting shot, stabbed, or otherwise violently slain; actually, that's how 'Mercenary Calling' starts as well, but it's different in this case. And I'm not gonna go further, because I am SO not gonna write a spoiler.
I will say this: the survival of Earth was called into question. That provided the impetus to develop technology for FTL travel, to find a new basket t put our eggs in. But for reasons exotic and reasons tawdry, there are Dark Doings which are determined to sabotage a return voyage.
Calvin doesn't initially seem to be an idealistic young lawyer; but he has managed to save a space program at the risk of alienating those with an influence on his career, at a time when a place in a secure bureaucracy is the goal of every lawyer. Is he REALLY a candidate for sort-of saving the world, or the worlds yet unknown?
Sara Seastrom is his associate/love/not-love interest/adversary. Yes, it's complicated, and you are gonna really enjoy finding out why. (Fear not: there are no sweaty sheet scenes.)
Paolina Nigmatullin is his client. She is also the only surviving captain of the returning interstellar voyage, and she is up on charges of mutiny, along with whatever else the government can think of to charge her with.It's really NOT a good lawyer book, unless there is some tension between the lawyer and the client. I am pleased to report that this is present in full and glorious detail. I don't think I mentioned that people are trying to kill her. As well as members of her crew.
Additional characters provide heroism, self-sacrifice, competing interests, and nasty skulduggery, as well as talk-show schlock and betrayal of the public trust. There is PLENTY of good character development.
Great story
Excellent characters.
And hope for the future.
I was young enough (4 years old) when Sputnik launched in 1957 to be terrified by Comrade Khrushchev's statement that "America sleeps under a Soviet moon." I was 16 when the Eagle landed, and Neil Armstrong took a small step for (a) man. And I'm 65 years old now, and to my fascination with (almost) all things space-y, I have added interest in mysteries, lawyer stories, and human interactions rife with complications.
I obtained this book through the Kindle Unlimited program. You should do the same. Or buy it. Just get the book, okay?
Some of us have been hopeless dreamers of vacations on the Moon, or living in a self-sustaining colony at L-5, or petting miniature dinosaurs on faraway planets, all of our lives. Despite that, we made our living selling vacuum cleaners, or providing patient care, or teaching 12 year old middle schoolers how to multiply fractions. The author of this book got a bit closer to the dream than most of us: she's a space lawyer.( Read her bio; this is a book review!)
The above is relevant, because the protagonist, Calvin Tondini , is also a space lawyer. This means that the procedural details of the story, which are massive contributions, aren't just fabricated, but are based on personal experience, extrapolated to a time in the not-too-distant future. I hesitate to draw comparison to Grisham, Turow, or Scott Pratt, because THOSE lawyer books always involves someone getting shot, stabbed, or otherwise violently slain; actually, that's how 'Mercenary Calling' starts as well, but it's different in this case. And I'm not gonna go further, because I am SO not gonna write a spoiler.
I will say this: the survival of Earth was called into question. That provided the impetus to develop technology for FTL travel, to find a new basket t put our eggs in. But for reasons exotic and reasons tawdry, there are Dark Doings which are determined to sabotage a return voyage.
Calvin doesn't initially seem to be an idealistic young lawyer; but he has managed to save a space program at the risk of alienating those with an influence on his career, at a time when a place in a secure bureaucracy is the goal of every lawyer. Is he REALLY a candidate for sort-of saving the world, or the worlds yet unknown?
Sara Seastrom is his associate/love/not-love interest/adversary. Yes, it's complicated, and you are gonna really enjoy finding out why. (Fear not: there are no sweaty sheet scenes.)
Paolina Nigmatullin is his client. She is also the only surviving captain of the returning interstellar voyage, and she is up on charges of mutiny, along with whatever else the government can think of to charge her with.It's really NOT a good lawyer book, unless there is some tension between the lawyer and the client. I am pleased to report that this is present in full and glorious detail. I don't think I mentioned that people are trying to kill her. As well as members of her crew.
Additional characters provide heroism, self-sacrifice, competing interests, and nasty skulduggery, as well as talk-show schlock and betrayal of the public trust. There is PLENTY of good character development.
Great story
Excellent characters.
And hope for the future.
I was young enough (4 years old) when Sputnik launched in 1957 to be terrified by Comrade Khrushchev's statement that "America sleeps under a Soviet moon." I was 16 when the Eagle landed, and Neil Armstrong took a small step for (a) man. And I'm 65 years old now, and to my fascination with (almost) all things space-y, I have added interest in mysteries, lawyer stories, and human interactions rife with complications.
March 19, 2021
Solid storytelling; wonderful premise!
If you're checking this out because you want an action-filled space opera romp (I love those!) you'll feel a bit flat. Oh there's action. But the polint of this one is the intersection of legal intrigue with the possibility of mankind building a home on other planets. The characters... You so much want to root for them if you have ever dreamed of space. And did I mention the solid writing: plot, character, prose?
Here's a nice bit "He stopped and waited on the sidewalk. He felt very still and empty, but not unhappy. Soon, he would need something else to come along, but right now he wanted to hold to the realization that something very good had happened and he had been part of it, even if it was over."
Love the stories in this not-too-distant future where humanity has a shot at the stars. I hope the author gives us many more.
If you're checking this out because you want an action-filled space opera romp (I love those!) you'll feel a bit flat. Oh there's action. But the polint of this one is the intersection of legal intrigue with the possibility of mankind building a home on other planets. The characters... You so much want to root for them if you have ever dreamed of space. And did I mention the solid writing: plot, character, prose?
Here's a nice bit "He stopped and waited on the sidewalk. He felt very still and empty, but not unhappy. Soon, he would need something else to come along, but right now he wanted to hold to the realization that something very good had happened and he had been part of it, even if it was over."
Love the stories in this not-too-distant future where humanity has a shot at the stars. I hope the author gives us many more.
November 15, 2018
A very different kind of Sci/Fi book. The future was there, the different worlds were there, the really smart people were there and then the "Lawyers" took over the book. (not that lawyers aren't really smart too sometimes..) I found the book a bit confusing at times with a LOT of characters and I had a hard time believing the premise of the hoopla that transpired once the Capt. and some crew returned to Earth. Which is really the whole point of the book.
February 26, 2021
I hardly ever read science fiction, but I enjoyed this tale. Many fantastical elements all combined to make a compelling yarn: the background of space exploration, a new world to serve as a second home for Earth’s inhabitants, romance, a court case and assassins! All in one fast-paced short book.
March 11, 2018
I love Laura's books in her Ground-Based Universe. Bureaucrats, lawyers, terrorists, and the returning crew of the first ship to another solar system make an entertaining scifi mix.
May 8, 2018
Pick it up
Very likable character interesting story. If you want some variety in your Syfi reading this is a nice mix. Definite worth the read
Very likable character interesting story. If you want some variety in your Syfi reading this is a nice mix. Definite worth the read
August 31, 2025
Perry Mason-like protagonist defending an astronaut returning to Earth. I liked the idea.
October 17, 2019
A lot can change in the decades between leaving the planet and returning, especially when the leaving took place soon after the planet was nearly destroyed and humanity lost. Some people are so convinced that humanity should not poison the rest of the universe, they’re willing to kill to keep us here.
This is another really nice legal thriller that happens to be also about space. Unlike its predecessor, The Sky Suspended, some of the action does take place on and in orbit around an extrasolar planet, although technically this action takes place as a description told on Earth by the person who took part in it, the world’s only surviving starship captain, Captain Paola Nigmatullin.
The hero, however, continues to be Calvin Tondini, her lawyer.
A lot of the tension comes from Captain Nigmatullin trying to rely on stereotypical legalese that Tondini keeps trying to tell her are wrong, such as that Congress can grant blanket immunity, or that the DC circuit is a tiny little thing of importance only to the District of Columbia.
There are also some really nice lines that get across the incredible nature of the feat pulled off by the first and only starship crew.
In fact, she was used to the entire population of two planets knowing who she was; one because the entire population was small; and another because she had done an amazing thing: gone to another planet and returned.
And in fact the novel successfully shares in the grandeur of that achievement, that mankind has successfully traveled to and colonized another planet outside of the solar system, contrasted against the culture clash where Earth, or at least the people of the United States, need to be convinced that this was a good thing.
This is another really nice legal thriller that happens to be also about space. Unlike its predecessor, The Sky Suspended, some of the action does take place on and in orbit around an extrasolar planet, although technically this action takes place as a description told on Earth by the person who took part in it, the world’s only surviving starship captain, Captain Paola Nigmatullin.
The hero, however, continues to be Calvin Tondini, her lawyer.
A lot of the tension comes from Captain Nigmatullin trying to rely on stereotypical legalese that Tondini keeps trying to tell her are wrong, such as that Congress can grant blanket immunity, or that the DC circuit is a tiny little thing of importance only to the District of Columbia.
I am sure that if you think about all of this some more you will figure out a way for me to get immunity without my having to worry about the District of Columbia.” “The D.C. Circuit,” he mumbled in defeat, but determined to get something right in the exchange.
There are also some really nice lines that get across the incredible nature of the feat pulled off by the first and only starship crew.
She was used to it, the entire population of the planet knowing who she was,
In fact, she was used to the entire population of two planets knowing who she was; one because the entire population was small; and another because she had done an amazing thing: gone to another planet and returned.
And in fact the novel successfully shares in the grandeur of that achievement, that mankind has successfully traveled to and colonized another planet outside of the solar system, contrasted against the culture clash where Earth, or at least the people of the United States, need to be convinced that this was a good thing.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews