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Which Flight of the Siren character are you?
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A scientist discovers an alien artifact with a faster-than-light engine. She launches
a search for its creators: a search which reveals a disturbing truth about her own world.
Lorelei Verlassen took the first job she could get after finishing her PhD: installing
comm relays in the ice belt. There she found a crashed alien space probe, containing
blueprints for a faster-than-light engine. Without knowing if the probe’s creators still
exist, she and her crewmates persuade The Conference of Nations to build a starship, to
launch a new era of space exploration for all humanity. But various factions conspire to
subvert the project for themselves. To protect her ship, Lorelei must navigate a political
whirlwind of ambition and deceit, without losing her moral integrity. But the clash of
corporations, military juntas, and fanatical religious groups could destroy her world
before her ship is ready to fly.
“Flight of the Siren is a masterpiece. It isn’t about outer space or aliens,
it’s about us, and we are the weirdest subject imaginable.
It is probably the most detailed study you will ever read of the near-infinite number
of ways nations, organizations and individuals will compete for purely imaginary
advantages over one another. An amusing satire well worth reading. Recommended.”
--Review in Amazing Stories.
Read the review here.
“The events in the story are paced brilliantly. There's not a lot of downtime, and I
found myself reading at a very good clip. The world-build is rich and well-constructed.
Lorelei is brave and persistent and easy to identify with. I understand what she wants
and why she wants it. I want her to have it. The ending is satisfying and touching;
hopeful and grief-filled all at once.”
— Meg Elison, winner of the Philip K. Dick award.
“Brendan Myers is a philosopher using hard-SF to ask deep questions about humanity
and our place in the universe. With the increased dumbing-down of Big 5 publishing,
Kickstarter is often the only way really innovative titles can find an audience.”
—Jordan Stratford, author of Wollstonecraft and Winter By Winter.
Flight of the Siren is:
• James S.A. Corey’s The Expanse, Malka Older’s State Tectonics, and Peter F. Hamilton Pandora’s Star, crossed with Isaac Asimov’s Foundation: old school and new school hard SF at the same time.
• Character-driven and ideas-driven: high-concept “social science fiction” (to borrow Asimov’s term).
• Multicultural and feminist: women and BIPOC characters have prominence, independence, and agency.
• The tension between cooperation and paranoia in a civilization on the edge of ascension, but also on the edge of collapse.
I am deeply grateful to the people who provided financial support for professional editing and design services through
Kickstarter.com,
the internet-based crowd-funding service. Among them, the following backers pledged $30 or more: Robert Hart, Robert Meeks, Alfred, Kimberly Hawkland, Sara Korn, Levar Jones, Cory Hutcheson, Albion Gould, Rosmairta Kilara, Yewtree, Joe Roy, Gillian Shields, Jennifer Gibson, Turlough Myers, Ivo Dominguez Jr., Eric Hortop, Stan Yamane, Pat Bellavance, John Bookwalter Jr., Sionain E McCann, Frank L Jenkins, Todd McGrattan, Tara Egan, Paul Elliot-Magwood, Lars Nohrstedt, Tony Schlisser, Barbara Pott, John Hoke, Joel Belland, Brian K., Thomas Schwartz, Zara, Todd Pote, Elaine Stutt, Mark-Anthony Page, Sian Reid, Lindsay Harris, Bridget Gole, Chris McLaren, Gwendolyn Guth, Lisa Bland, Catherine Haynes, Iona Reid, Scott Tizzard, William Apple, Jonathan Colvin, JD Ferries-Rowe, Ezekiel Zong-Han Azib, and two supporters who remained anonymous.
I remain forever grateful to everyone for their kindness and support.
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