As the flap says
Innermost of worlds, blasted by the sun by day and frozen by night, Mercury remains an enigma. Mythical Mercury was also the messenger and trickster, and known for blazing speed and wit. Here are thirteen tales of science-fiction and the fantastic featuring Mercury.
Throughout history, the planets of our solar system have meant many things to many people; Planetary Fiction explores the themes associated with these heavenly bodies as well as their astronomical, mythological, and in some cases even alchemical significance.
Included in this volume are
In the Palace of Promised Immortality by John C. Wright
Schubert to Rachmaninoff by Benjamin Wheeler
The Element of Transformation by L. Jagi Lamplighter
In Tower of the Luminious Sages by Corey McCleery
The Haunted Mines of Mercury by Joshua M. Young
Quicksilver by J.D. Beckwith
Ancestors Answer by Bokerah Brumley
Last Call by Lou Antonelli
Deceptive Appearances by Declan Finn
mDNA by Misha Burnett
The Star of Mercury by A.M. Freeman
Cucurbita Mercurias by Dawn Witzke
The Wanderer by David Hallquist
Dawn Witzke is a cover artist and Catholic Writers Guild member.
There is the Dragon Award winner John C. Wright, and his wife, the Dragon Award nominated L. Jagi Lamplighter. As well as Dragon Award nominees Finn and Lou Antonelli.
And there are the usual suspects from Superversive: Young, Freeman, Wheeler, McCleery. Brumley has been on our radio show. Burnett is well known on the interwebs from various and sundry places, both pulp and Superversive circles.
So, it’s not a bad collection of people.
What did I do for my short? That’s easy. Superversive wanted to focus on a theme of journeys and messages for Mercury. As the Greek deity Hermes, he is known as a healer.
I wanted to focus on something a little different: Mercury as a trickster.
Enter my hero, Sean Patrick Ryan, from in Astounding Frontiers #1. I wrote this SPR, space ranger, years before SAPR came on the scene. He’s two meters tall, one wide, and he never suffers fools.
Sean Patrick Ryan has a name as a mercenary, a fixer, and has the unfortunate sobriquet as “the most dangerous man in the galaxy.” Why unfortunate? Because that means that every idiot and lowlife wants to test him, and bring him down, just to earn the “honor” of the name.
So with Sean and his friend Peter Sierra walk into a bar, and everyone else is being charged admission fees…. but not them… they know that they’re about to become the floor show.
When the first alien comes in and Sean lays him out, the threat seems to be over….
And then the Touri, a seven-foot bipedal velociraptor, named Fe’eshar Straczyn strolls into the bar.
Then the fun really starts.
And, of course, because we have this one already teed up for us, we have a trailer, using Gustav Holst’s Mercury, the Winged Messenger.
Andy
ashetoashes
catholicgeekguest
Declan Finn
Karina Fabian
Matthew Bowman
Lori Janeski
Hannah Rose
Ross Windsor
Olivia Bushey
The Catholic Geeks 