Trunk Line

by Dave O'Neill

It’s the dawn of the second millennia of space flight. Humanity has survived numerous wars, a couple of hard singularities, several religious events and first contact with a vastly superior alien species and, despite all that, for better or worse it remains resolutely and bloody mindedly human. People have spread across a thousand star systems in a very loose federation of entirely disinterested worlds. Commerce flows thanks to kind of person who live, thanks to the vague nature of time in FTL travel, permanently out of step with the rest of humanity and trade in exotic wares; bringing unique experiences to the jaded populations of the inner systems and making a living, of sorts. One them is a about to have a really bad day. The kind of once in a lifetime, why didn’t karma just kill you and bring you back as an ant, kind of day. Tim Symbles. Captain. Ship owner. Alcoholic. Barely solvent. Is about to be made an offer he can’t refuse and escort a team of crack alien commando archaeologists to retrieve something. The trouble is everybody else in the galaxy seems to want it too and, if necessary, over the dead bodies of Symbles and his crew. The payday could be fantastic. If he can just keep everybody alive long enough to collect it.Truck Line – a comedy, space adventure in the tradition of Douglas Adams and Harry Harrison.

317 pages, Paperback

Published September 12, 2017

About the author

Dave O’Neill has been an aerospace engineer, a marine engineer and, for a smelly and depressing summer, a project engineer working in paper recycling. He then moved into IT and sales and decided that sitting behind a desk and traveling between virtually indistinguishable large chain hotels while racking up the airmiles and waistline was somehow more fun.

He writes because the universe is currently too depressing and as a veteran of the great flame wars of the 1990s he’s bored of the internet and tired of explaining to people there why they are wrong.

He lives in Seattle, WA where he moved to for the weather.

Reviews

[Anya Pavelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sci-fi adventure has a silly tone that is well executed. Its humor very much reminds me of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and other books of that type, so the author's wry satire works very well to entertain the reader.

I also appreciated the overall tone. As an example, when a cache of weapons is discovered, the author describes the event as such: "The compartment was filled to bursting point with a selection of weapons which, if they were caught carrying them, would result in a fairly lengthy detention at the displeasure of the government of your choice."

Very enjoyable read. I'll continue reading this series.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost a fun read

The book started out ok, but the typos were distracting and generally ruined what could have been a fun read. The Author should not depend on spell check to proof read his work.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recent Reads: Trunk Line. Dave O'Neil's space opera satire reads like a cross between Peter Hamilton and Terry Pratchett's early Larry Niven pastiches. A chase across the stars for a set of mysterious artefacts leads a tramp starship's crew to the secret of mysterious, long-gone, predecessors.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Loaded with typos and grammatical errors, this novel is not ready for publication.