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Ad Luna
BASED ON 'A TRUE HISTORY'
The Moon is on the brink of war.
Alexander Dio, an officer of the Vulture Dragoons, flies in defence of the Lunar people against the monstrous armies of the Sun. He is ready for war - or at least he thinks he is.
But when Dio's patrol finds a crashed ship out in the Sea of Tranquility, his life is turned upside-down. Because the ship is not from the Moon, and its captain is unlike anyone he's ever known.
His name is Lucian, and he comes from the Earth.
Based on the ancient Greek story by Lucian of Samosata, this epic voyage of discovery goes back to the very beginning of science-fiction.
*
Hûw Steer is an author, historian and sketch comedian from London. You may have seen him with the UCL Graters at the Edinburgh Fringe, read his theses on ancient Roman science-fiction, or even read one of his short stories. You probably haven’t, but at least you’re reading this.
Hûw’s previous novel, The Blackbird and the Ghost, was a semi-finalist in the fifth Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. His short stories have been published in various anthologies.
PRAISE FOR THE BLACKBIRD AND THE GHOST:
★★★★★ - "my dream come true" - The Wood Between the Worlds
“full of imagination… over far too soon” - Beauty In Ruins
"wonderful worldbuilding... deeply engaging" - The Qwillery
★★★★★ - "a real page-turner" - The Voracious Bibliophile
The Moon is on the brink of war.
Alexander Dio, an officer of the Vulture Dragoons, flies in defence of the Lunar people against the monstrous armies of the Sun. He is ready for war - or at least he thinks he is.
But when Dio's patrol finds a crashed ship out in the Sea of Tranquility, his life is turned upside-down. Because the ship is not from the Moon, and its captain is unlike anyone he's ever known.
His name is Lucian, and he comes from the Earth.
Based on the ancient Greek story by Lucian of Samosata, this epic voyage of discovery goes back to the very beginning of science-fiction.
*
Hûw Steer is an author, historian and sketch comedian from London. You may have seen him with the UCL Graters at the Edinburgh Fringe, read his theses on ancient Roman science-fiction, or even read one of his short stories. You probably haven’t, but at least you’re reading this.
Hûw’s previous novel, The Blackbird and the Ghost, was a semi-finalist in the fifth Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. His short stories have been published in various anthologies.
PRAISE FOR THE BLACKBIRD AND THE GHOST:
★★★★★ - "my dream come true" - The Wood Between the Worlds
“full of imagination… over far too soon” - Beauty In Ruins
"wonderful worldbuilding... deeply engaging" - The Qwillery
★★★★★ - "a real page-turner" - The Voracious Bibliophile
424 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 4, 2020
4 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Hûw Steer
15 books21 followersI’m an author and historian from London. I have an MA in Ancient History, specialising in the study of ancient science-fiction (yes, there is some!). I’ve been writing for some years now, have published several short stories and five novels, and am currently having several more rejected by agents and publishers.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
spfbo7
September 20, 2021Read this as a guest judge (With FanFiAddict) for SPFBO 7.
October 24, 2020
Excellent imagination
Ad Luna is an excellent example of an imagination without limits. A fantastical tale truly worthy of a read. Not many can take Greek history and stand it on its head and come out with a novel that is both exciting and informative.
Ad Luna is an excellent example of an imagination without limits. A fantastical tale truly worthy of a read. Not many can take Greek history and stand it on its head and come out with a novel that is both exciting and informative.
August 7, 2021
It had a intriguing premise with a good blend of fantasy mythology and science fiction. The world building is excellent, prose is crisp and pacing is spot on. The blend of mythology and the sci-fi elements worked well making for an excellent read!
August 21, 2024
This book is satisfyingly full of history and mythology in a sci fi wrapping. Great characters and inventive scenarios. Best of all is the author's focus on the power of friendship and the huge potential of cooperation among enemies. In this election year, it is most hopeful and reassuring to remember such values.
August 6, 2020
Back in the second century AD, this Greek guy named Lucian of Samosata wrote an outlandish story about a trip to the moon.
OK, so he wasn't just some Greek guy. He was a pretty cool dude who was also a scholar, politician, teacher, and first-class satirist.
He wrote A True History to poke fun at historians and travel-writers who would write "true," in-depth accounts of places they'd never visited. To one-up them, Lucian wrote a story about his voyage to mythical islands, the sun, moon, and stars. In doing so, he unwittingly created the first science fiction story.
Hûw Steer, author of The Blackbird and the Ghost, admits to wishing Lucian's book was a little longer. (It's only 53 pages). So, as you do, he wrote his own, longer version.
And folks. It. Is. Epic.
Imagine battles atop giant three-headed vultures, fire-creatures who live in the heart of the sun, and massive space spiders that spin new worlds, and you'll have a little bit of an idea how awesome Hûw Steer's imagination is.
Couple that with engaging characters, weighty dilemmas, and a great prose style, and you might see why I enjoyed this book so much.
Let's be honest, though. I also liked it because it combined three of my all-time loves: classic lit, Greek stuff, and space.
Our main character is Dio, a young lieutenant in the army of Lord Endymion, ruler of the moon. The enemy is Phaethon, ruler of the sun and its race of Solars. Both the Solars and the Lunars (Endymion's race of moon-dwellers) are bent on settling the Morning Star, and the result is a long-standing war between the two peoples.
Things get more complicated when a guy named Lucian of Samosata (hey) shows up with a ship of earth-dwellers who've accidentally landed on the moon. Now, Dio has to balance fighting for his people with entertaining a group of alien tourists.
From there, there's intense battles between the Solars and Lunars, a fiery prison located on the sun, and a lot of tense, life-or-death negotiating. It's a ride. (Like, one day I just camped out in my yard and read this book for several hours until I finished it, because I couldn't stop.)
I haven't actually read A True History (now on my to-read list), so I can't say how the two stack up or how faithful Ad Luna is to the original. It's certainly an interesting thought experiment to see things like centaurs, dryads (or something similar, anyway), and mythical spiders translated into the medium of space.
It's equally intriguing to see how Greco-Roman hot button topics like slavery play out on alien planets, and it's fun to think about the mythical Endymion becoming Lord of the moon and leading a whole race of alien people when, according to the Greeks, he's just locked in eternal slumber.
In the end, I'll fall back on what Lucian tells Dio when the latter remarks that neither of their races will believe the stories they tell:
"It does not matter. Whether a good story is true or not, it is still a good story."
Since this is a heck of a good story, I think Lucian of Samosata would approve.
OK, so he wasn't just some Greek guy. He was a pretty cool dude who was also a scholar, politician, teacher, and first-class satirist.
He wrote A True History to poke fun at historians and travel-writers who would write "true," in-depth accounts of places they'd never visited. To one-up them, Lucian wrote a story about his voyage to mythical islands, the sun, moon, and stars. In doing so, he unwittingly created the first science fiction story.
Hûw Steer, author of The Blackbird and the Ghost, admits to wishing Lucian's book was a little longer. (It's only 53 pages). So, as you do, he wrote his own, longer version.
And folks. It. Is. Epic.
Imagine battles atop giant three-headed vultures, fire-creatures who live in the heart of the sun, and massive space spiders that spin new worlds, and you'll have a little bit of an idea how awesome Hûw Steer's imagination is.
Couple that with engaging characters, weighty dilemmas, and a great prose style, and you might see why I enjoyed this book so much.
Let's be honest, though. I also liked it because it combined three of my all-time loves: classic lit, Greek stuff, and space.
Our main character is Dio, a young lieutenant in the army of Lord Endymion, ruler of the moon. The enemy is Phaethon, ruler of the sun and its race of Solars. Both the Solars and the Lunars (Endymion's race of moon-dwellers) are bent on settling the Morning Star, and the result is a long-standing war between the two peoples.
Things get more complicated when a guy named Lucian of Samosata (hey) shows up with a ship of earth-dwellers who've accidentally landed on the moon. Now, Dio has to balance fighting for his people with entertaining a group of alien tourists.
From there, there's intense battles between the Solars and Lunars, a fiery prison located on the sun, and a lot of tense, life-or-death negotiating. It's a ride. (Like, one day I just camped out in my yard and read this book for several hours until I finished it, because I couldn't stop.)
I haven't actually read A True History (now on my to-read list), so I can't say how the two stack up or how faithful Ad Luna is to the original. It's certainly an interesting thought experiment to see things like centaurs, dryads (or something similar, anyway), and mythical spiders translated into the medium of space.
It's equally intriguing to see how Greco-Roman hot button topics like slavery play out on alien planets, and it's fun to think about the mythical Endymion becoming Lord of the moon and leading a whole race of alien people when, according to the Greeks, he's just locked in eternal slumber.
In the end, I'll fall back on what Lucian tells Dio when the latter remarks that neither of their races will believe the stories they tell:
"It does not matter. Whether a good story is true or not, it is still a good story."
Since this is a heck of a good story, I think Lucian of Samosata would approve.
December 15, 2020
This was the first time I've read a full-length novel based upon an ancient Greek sci-fi parody, and it was as awesome as it sounds.
Ad Luna is a space war story between the inhabitants of the Sun and the Moon, so epic that it draws in collateral combatants from Athens. What follows is a non-stop adventure through space and mythological fantasy.
I recommend this book on several levels. If you love fantasy or sci-fi, I'm sure you'll love this book.
Ad Luna is a space war story between the inhabitants of the Sun and the Moon, so epic that it draws in collateral combatants from Athens. What follows is a non-stop adventure through space and mythological fantasy.
I recommend this book on several levels. If you love fantasy or sci-fi, I'm sure you'll love this book.
Read
January 27, 2023RTC - SPSFC 2
April 1, 2024
Well, what a fascinating book! The concept is truly original, in that it's an Ancient Greek tale of adventure set in space, and the imaginative world-building does it justice. Steer creates wondrous Lunar and Solar worlds which feel fresh and new whilst maintaining that mythological flavour we would expect from such a story.
The characters are great, especially Lucian, who inspired the whole book with his fantastical tales in ancient times, and his characterisation in the book is excellent. A scholar, a diplomat and a friend to our protagonist Dio, Lucian is endearing throughout, and pivotal to the success of the story. Dio himself is more understated, but no less likeable, and I enjoy seeing him become more confident in his role as an officer and later an ambassador, and reassessing his own ambitions and priorities.
I will say that the second half of the book far outshines the first. While I enjoyed the novel as a whole, there's an odd lack of motivation for the characters to be doing what they're doing at times, and the the battle scenes go on far longer than I think is necessary, meaning the plot lulls in the middle. Saying that, I'm glad I persevered through the slightly tedious mid-point and experienced everything that comes afterwards, as there was a very satisfying and even somewhat heartwarming climax and ending to come.
The characters are great, especially Lucian, who inspired the whole book with his fantastical tales in ancient times, and his characterisation in the book is excellent. A scholar, a diplomat and a friend to our protagonist Dio, Lucian is endearing throughout, and pivotal to the success of the story. Dio himself is more understated, but no less likeable, and I enjoy seeing him become more confident in his role as an officer and later an ambassador, and reassessing his own ambitions and priorities.
I will say that the second half of the book far outshines the first. While I enjoyed the novel as a whole, there's an odd lack of motivation for the characters to be doing what they're doing at times, and the the battle scenes go on far longer than I think is necessary, meaning the plot lulls in the middle. Saying that, I'm glad I persevered through the slightly tedious mid-point and experienced everything that comes afterwards, as there was a very satisfying and even somewhat heartwarming climax and ending to come.
Want to Read
August 24, 2024-----
8/24/24—Purchased (free) during the Narratess Indie Sale.
8/24/24—Purchased (free) during the Narratess Indie Sale.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews