This is an older novel but close to my heart. Humorous science fiction with western overtones, it's very much a labor of love cause I really like the two main characters, brothers Trouble and Bear. I have a soft spot for the "buddy heroes" sort of story line having watched too many cop and detective shows in the past perhaps. I love to write dialogue and this sort of genre is perfect for that.
Often times stories in this sort of genre have an "Odd Couple" feel to them. One person fanatically clean and proper, the other preternaturally filthy with few inhibitions. My brothers in Trouble both sort of fall into the latter camp (depending on the time of day). The difference is that one sails through life eager for a challenge while the other rumbles along loaded for bear. This could be why I chose the name Bear for the older brother. He growls, he grouses and can intimidate with his size.
Trouble is perfectly named since somehow he always managed to find it (and if he isn't finding it, he's often causing it). His antics often annoy his brother which of course encourages Trouble to do it even more.
I say, "Don't over think it. It's supposed to be fun" because...well that's what it is. There is no mind-bending physics or sociological comment in this. It is a space opera. I had two characters I loved to write for and a fun plot and I set it in Jeffers City, a dusty mining town on the planet Exiise. A town pretty much owned by Alby Jeffers whose ambition goes beyond the mining concern that he bought up a good portion of the town to build. The goals he is working toward will have planet-, maybe system-wide impact and it's up to the brothers to stop them.
Bear was blissfully ignorant of anything Jeffers was up to until his brother came to town. He'd returned from the vagabond life of a planet-hopping con and took up, of all things, the job of sheriff in Jeffers City. It's a cushy job since most of the citizens of Jeffers City are too tired from working the mines to give him much of a problem. Those that do, soon learn from their mistake and never do again.
Trouble comes to town hoping to enlist his brother's aid in retrieving the plans to an important piece of mining equipment out of which Alby Jeffers cheated Trouble's client. Despite Bear's warnings not to pursue the issue, Trouble digs anyway and unravels a plot that goes beyond mere mining equipment. And there we have the dilemma that eventually sends the brothers on a mission to stop him.
When I was younger, I purchased Harry Harrison's The Stainless Steel Rat from the Science Fiction Book Club and fell in love with the series. This, and novels like the Xanth series by Piers Anthony and of course Douglas Adams' fantastic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, inspired in me a love of science fiction/fantasy sprinkled liberally with humor.
So it's with great pleasure that I announce the publication of my novel Trouble and hope that everyone has as much fun reading it as I had writing it.
Remember: Don't over think it. It's supposed to be fun.
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