Book 2 coming 26th May 26
Don't ask what's in the cargo.
"The thing about deliberate ignorance is that it works until it doesn't."
The Manchester is a rust bucket. Her crew are freight haulers, underpaid and one bodged repair away from the vacuum. Captain Mick Hennessey has kept them alive for years by following one rule: don't ask what's in the cargo.
Then a hull breach rips open the hold and the cargo answers anyway.
The containers are wrong weight, wrong temperature, headed somewhere that isn't on any manifest. And the corporation that owns the Manchester has been making sure no crew ever notices, and making sure the ones who do are never heard from again.
Fourteen people have already gone missing across the Saturn system. The company's fixer has been assigned to their next run. And the deeper the crew dig, the more they realise that walking away was never one of the options.
If they run, they disappear. If they talk, they disappear. The only way out is through, and through means flying the route again with a smile on their faces and evidence hidden in the walls.
The crew of the Manchester are not heroes. They're grafters who picked the wrong ship, found the wrong secret, and now have to stay alive long enough to make someone act.
Perfect for readers of: The Expanse, Firefly, Alastair Reynolds, Adrian Tchaikovsky
Tropes: found family crew · blue-collar workers in space · corporate conspiracy · trapped with the enemy · "we know too much to live and not enough to prove it"
Welcome to my Sci Fi & Cyberpunk tales
I write future noir with teeth.
Hi, I’m Steve Kelly, indie author of gritty sci-fi, neon-drenched cyberpunk, and punchy crime thrillers set in futures you’d never want to live in... but won’t want to leave.
If you're into Blade Runner grit, Altered Carbon twists, or Bosch-style detective work, welcome to your next obsession.
From rain-slicked streets and neural conspiracy (Detective Reign), to off-world policing and corporate sabotage (Colonial Transit Police), my stories blend the thrill of classic procedurals with the paranoia of a world owned by tech.
And if you’ve ever wondered whether your apps are listening...
Error: Human Not Found is your next digital nightmare.
my stories blend the thrill of classic procedurals with the paranoia of a world owned by tech.
New readers start here:
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Body Count – Detective Reign Book 1 - Near future crime with a soul
- Dead Reckoning - The Deep Haul Book 1 - Deep Space
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Error: Human Not Found – Black Mirror meets your browser history
Live from Neo Glendale. Broadcast direct to your brain.
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