Full Details
Ex Libris WWEnd: Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton
Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton
St. Martin’s Press | April 9, 2024
From the creator of Mickey7, soon to be a major motion picture titled Mickey17 directed by Oscar award-winning Bong Joon Ho starring Robert Pattinson, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo, comes Edward Ashton‘s newest standalone book, Mal Goes to War.
The humans are fighting again. Go figure.
As a free A.I., Mal finds the war between the modded and augmented Federals and the puritanical Humanists about as interesting as a battle between rival anthills. He’s not above scouting the battlefield for salvage, though, and when the Humanists abruptly cut off access to infospace he finds himself trapped in the body of a cyborg mercenary, and responsible for the safety of the modded girl she died protecting.
A dark comedy wrapped in a techno thriller’s skin, Mal Goes to War provides a satirical take on war, artificial intelligence, and what it really means to be human.
Read the first chapter for free at Worlds Without End.
Praise for Edward Ashton and the Mickey7 Series:
“A wildly entertaining mix of action and big ideas peppered with humor and a bizarre love story.” —NPR
“A brisk, spirited sci-fi romp…hugely enjoyable.” —Max Barry, author of Providence
“The fun [in reading Mickey7] is trying to keep up with Mr. Ashton’s twists and turns, and the extra fun is that you never do.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Ashton’s follow-up to his excellent Mickey7 (2022) is just as much fun as its predecessor.” —Booklist
“A nonstop SF adventure from beginning to end.” —Library Journal, starred
Edward Ashton lives with his adorably mopey dog, his inordinately patient wife, and a steadily diminishing number of daughters in Rochester, New York, where he studies new cancer therapies by day, and writes about the awful things his research may lead to by night.
He is the author of the novels Three Days in April and The End of Ordinary, as well as several dozen short stories which have appeared in venues ranging from the newsletter of an Italian sausage company to Louisiana Literature and Escape Pod.
Ex Libris WWEnd: Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton
Edward Ashton’s hardcover debut, Mickey7 has been one of the buzziest sci-fi releases of 2022 and is currently in production with Oscar award-winning director Bong Joon Ho (starring Robert Pattinson, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo, among others). Ashton follows up his adventurous debut with another novel in the world of Mickey7: ANTIMATTER BLUES (St. Martin’s Press, on sale 3/14/23).
Summer has come to the colony on Niflheim, and Mickey Barnes has a new mission. Though he’s retired as the colony’s Expendable (and his cloning days are hopefully behind him), the survival of the colony is still balanced on a knife’s edge. Winter is coming, and the antimatter that fuels their survival is running dangerously low — or so the Commander says.
Mickey’s been tasked with retrieving the antimatter bomb that he gave to the inhabitants of the planet at the end of the first book… and embroils himself in a cross-species conflict that leaves the fate of more than one civilization in his hands. And if something goes wrong this time, he won’t be coming back.
Ashton returns with another thrilling science fiction novel that expands on the incredible world-building of Mickey7 and continues to entertain.
“Readers who enjoy the nitty-gritty view of space colonization of John Scalzi or Michael Mammay will love this… A nonstop SF adventure from beginning to end.”
— Library Journal STARRED REVIEW
“Ashton’s follow-up to his excellent Mickey7 is just as much fun as its predecessor.”
— Booklist
“Ashton’s breezy characters, especially a few alien creepers able to communicate with the humans, delight, and the grungy details of colony life are rendered as realistically as Mickey’s hunger pangs. It’s good fun with a surprisingly effective closing twist that sci-fi fans will savor.”
— Publishers Weekly
Edward Ashton is the author of the novels Three Days in April and The End of Ordinary. He lives in upstate New York in a cabin in the woods (not that cabin in the woods) with his wife, a variable number of daughters, and an adorably mopey dog named Max. In his free time, he enjoys cancer research, teaching quantum physics to sullen graduate students, and whittling. You can find him online at edwardasthon.com or on Twitter @edastonwriting.
