Nerve Zero: A Novel of the Log of the Hand of Tyr

Justin Robinson

Nov 2012 · Phase 5 Publishing, LLC

About this ebook

Justin Robinson’s engrossing noir novel of an occupied, zero gravity, artificial world. Crime, mystery, cults, secret police, assassins, betrayal and a chase through the atmosphere of a gas giant - this book has it all!

Idriel Ramirez has returned home, haunted by the shame of being a conscripted pilot for the New Terran Empire.

Haunted by the shame that he's felt the sky.

Once respected as a nerve, now he's just pressed. Few in Hinden, clouded jewel of a fallen empire, will even look him in the eye.

Drawn into crime and mystery by Ausiel Montoya, an old itch, Ramirez tells himself he's floating through Hinden's steel nest of assassins, pscyhos and cultists because of what the money she promised can buy him - years off his indenture.

But as he delves deeper into the heart of his wretched homeworld he finds the secret she's carrying is as big as the secret at core of Hinden.

And just as dangerous.

Classification: Science Fiction

Appropriate for adults: Variant violence, Death, Infrequent cursing, Non-graphic deviant sexual situations

Elements: Human Derivative 13, Another World 101, Noir 0

Ratings and reviews

Idriel Ramirez is a classic Robinson hero - intelligent but not brilliant, quick but not superhuman, noble but flawed. A person with an essential skill for the universe he lives in but an outcast from the society to which he should belong. When Ramirez's ship pulls into his homeworld of Hinden, he runs directly into an old friend with a problem - and is willing to pay for him to fix it. When that old friend disappears Ramirez is drawn back into the labyrinthine structure - both physical and social - of Hinden to find her. The real strength of Nerve Zero is the world - the universe - that it builds. It is a bleak future, fallen from many glories and many times removed from our terran past - but it is one that feels like it can and does exist. Top that off with realistic characters and you have a story that pulls you to keep reading even when the plot twists and turns through the crowded belly of the city-world. Highly recommended read - especially if you enjoy complex, strong female characters. Although the main character is male, the majority of the cast consists of realistic, intelligent women.

Surprisingly good.

About the author

Much like film noir, Justin Robinson was born and raised in Los Angeles. He splits his time between editing comic books, writing prose and wondering what that disgusting smell is. Degrees in Anthropology and History prepared him for unemployment, but an obsession with horror fiction and a laundry list of phobias provided a more attractive option.