The Summer Thieves: A Novel of the Quinary

by Paul Di Filippo

A masterful, witty, picaresque science fiction adventure story evoking the styles of Gene Wolfe and Jack Vance,  The Summer Thieves  is the first novel in the new Quinary series by noted author and reviewer Paul Di Filippo. 

He chased his dreams of the ideal summer across a galaxy of thieves . . .

Far in the glorious interstellar future, a time of riches and complex technologies, the stern but utilitarian Quinary guards and regulates the flourishing human-colonized galaxy. Under their business-like rule, a family may own a whole planet. And so two bloodlines—the Corvivios clan and the Soldavere clan—are in full possession of the lush and benign world of Verano.  The youngest members of each family—Johrun Corvivios and Minka Soldavere—are slated to wed. All looks rosy for the joint family enterprises.  

But then the happy future is dramatically and tragically overturned!  Circumstances separate the lovers and rob them of their places in the galaxy, and Johrun must undertake a desperate quest across the stars to reclaim his birthright. At first aided only by his devoted chimeric helper, the canny Lutramella, Johrun will face a thousand deadly challenges, from malign magicians to haughty outlaws. 

As his character is matured in fire, his dedication to Verano and his determination to return increase, and his group of friends and allies becomes stronger . . . but will the precious Summer Planet, and his bride-to-be, even be the same when—and if—he returns?

Genres: Science Fiction

264 pages, Paperback

Published July 20, 2021

About the author

Paul Di Filippo is the author of hundreds of short stories, some of which have been collected in these widely-praised collections: The Steampunk Trilogy, Ribofunk, Fractal Paisleys, Lost Pages, Little Doors, Strange Trades, Babylon Sisters, and his multiple-award-nominated novella, A Year in the Linear City. Another earlier collection, Destroy All Brains, was published by Pirate Writings, but is quite rare because of the extremely short print run (if you see one, buy it!).

The popularity of Di Filippo’s short stories sometimes distracts from the impact of his mindbending, utterly unclassifiable novels: Ciphers, Joe’s Liver, Fuzzy Dice, A Mouthful of Tongues, and Spondulix. Paul’s offbeat sensibility, soulful characterizations, exquisite-yet-compact prose, and laugh-out-loud dialogue give his work a charmingly unique voice that is both compelling and addictive. He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, BSFA, Philip K. Dick, Wired Magazine, and World Fantasy awards.

Despite his dilatory ways, Paul affirms that the sequel to A Year in the Linear City, to be titled A Princess of the Linear Jungle, will get written in 2008. He has two books forthcoming from PS Publications: the collection entitled Harsh Oases and the novel titled Roadside Bodhisattva. His 2008 novel Cosmocopia is graced by Jim Woodring illustrations.

Paul lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hugely amusing and a good tribute to Jack Vance (Maske: Thaery and the Alastor novels) as well nods to Dune and Alan Dean Foster’s Icerigger and its sequels. Well worth the time.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the far future, in a galaxy-spanning civilization, Johren is partial heir to a valuable planet. He is due to be wed to the heir to the other half of the president, when things go sideways for him and his family. The story is well told, and very interesting, but it's Di Filippo's prose which really grabs you. I started this book on paper, but switched to the Kindle version part way through because I was looking up so many words in the dictionary; it's not that he was using large or difficult words, but really deftly used words from history in new contexts. Lots I could figure out, and I have a decent vocabulary but looking them up made the book very much more rewarding. Highly recommended.

[John Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one. It was a bit of a mixed bag - in some ways feeling both old-fashioned and modern. The tone and set-up of the young scion exiled onto a heroes journey, the twists of plot, the heist setup, and a lot of the language felt almost Golden Age at times. But somehow the characters felt more modern, kind of like Dawson's Creek got mashed up with a Heinlein. Probably not a perfect analogy as I only know Dawson's Creek as a punch-line and not really as a show.

Not sure yet if I need to read the next Quinary novel - the Quinary setting seemed quite secondary. Presumably we won't see Johrun Corvivios, Minka Soldavere, Lutramella, or Archie and the Jughead gang (or whatever the gang of bullies were called).

Not perfect, but fun.