Ness Brown

2023

Ex Libris WWEnd: The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown Posted at 6:24 PM by Dave Post

Ness Brown’s debut novella, The Scourge Between Stars (Nightfire; April 4, 2023) is a tense, claustrophobic sci-fi/horror blend in the vein of Alien and Event Horizon.

As acting captain of the starship Calypso, Jacklyn Albright is responsible for keeping the last of humanity alive as they limp back to Earth from their forebears’ failed colony on a distant planet.

Faced with constant threats of starvation and destruction in the treacherous minefield of interstellar space, Jacklyn’s crew has reached their breaking point. As unrest begins to spread throughout the ship’s Wards, a new threat emerges, picking off crew members in grim, bloody fashion.

Jacklyn and her team must hunt down the ship’s unknown intruder if they have any hope of making it back to their solar system alive.

“The claustrophobic, locked-in environment of a generation ship makes an ideal setting for this tense, gory, and genuinely creepy novella. Brown handles the astronomy and exobiology equally as competently as the interpersonal dynamics and trauma. The result is a sci-fi horror mash-up that holds its own with the classics of the genre.” –Publishers Weekly

“Are you afraid of generation ships? And outer space? And dying airless, stranded in nothing? Then keep your eyes out for The Scourge Between Stars, which crosses The Expanse with Pandorum by way of Event Horizon and emerges darkly victorious.” –Gemma Files

“Following in Jack’s desperate footsteps will have SF, horror, and thriller readers on the edge of their seats waiting to see what explodes out of where next…. Highly recommended for readers who like their science-fictional thrills to be both real and out of this world at the same time.” –Library Journal

“A perfect blend of science fiction and horror… Short, fast, engaging, wildly entertaining, and unexpectedly gory, it almost demands to be devoured in one sitting.” –Locus

NESS BROWN is a speculative fiction author by day and astrophysicist by night. They are a proud New Mexican living in New York City (and missing green chile) with their husband and two cats, Faust and Mephi. They are currently studying graduate astrophysics after several years of teaching astronomy and encouraging students to wonder about worlds beyond our own. The Scourge Between Stars is their debut.