BOOK BOMB Sarah Hoyt's Darkship Thieves!

A couple of months ago I posted here when John Brown’s excellent Servant of a Dark God came out in paperback. I suggested that if any members of the Monster Hunter Nation were looking for a really awesome book to read, they should go over to Amazon and buy it immediately, that way we could boost his sales stats on Amazon.

Mission accomplished. You guys took SoaDG from the mid 200,000 range to the 3,000 range and got it into the top 100 on fantasy. That’s really impressive.

So I got to thinking, I really need to do this every so often. So I’m going to post every once in awhile when I find a book I really like. Then we can see how far we can boost it on Amazon. (mostly because it is the place with the hourly updated sales rankings, but if you don’t like Amazon, this is still a good book to pick up someplace else).

This month’s book is Darkship Thieves by Sarah Hoyt. http://www.amazon.com/Darkship-Thieves-Sarah-Hoyt/dp/1439133980/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291303703&sr=8-1  The paperback just came out and it is only $7.99.

Darkship Thieves is classic sci-fi and it is very good. Honestly, reading it took me back to when I was a teenager and first discovered Heinlein. It is kind of a libertarian space-opera adventure. Sarah’s got big ideas, visualizes an interesting future, and writes a really fun main character. Athena Hera Sinestra is a troubled, snarky, pain in the ass, stubborn, rich kid, with an attitude. Basically she’s a badass, she’s funny, and you can’t help but root for her.

The book opens with Thena escaping what she thinks is a mutiny on her father’s ship. She ends up escaping (naked) in an escape pod before she gets picked up by the a Darkship. The Darkship Thieves are mysterious pirates that raid Earth’s solar collectors. And then the book really gets going. The best part is you get to see Thena grow up during her adventure, and even though she starts out as kind of a brat, (this is a girl that uses flashing as a distractionary weapon) she’s so spunky and believable you like her the whole time. That’s a hard trick for a writer to pull off, but Sarah does character growth a whole lot better than I do.

So if you’re looking for some good classic style sci-fi for yourself or to give as Christmas gifts (pick up some more copies of MHI & MHV while you’re at it) head over to Amazon and order Darkship Thieves.

And I met Sarah at LibertyCon. She’s originally from Portugal and talks exactly like my grandma. (but much younger obviously!) Sarah’s a great person. That’s two Portuguese authors at Baen. Sarah says that means we have the other writers outnumbered. If we get one more we’ll have them surrounded.

Right now at 8:00 MST Sarah is: Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #212,479 in Books

Let’s see what we can get her up to today. If we can get her into a top 100 list then more people will see it.

Next up, I’m not sure. I’ve been writing so much that I’ve not had a chance to read anything. (I read DST like 3 months ago). I’ve just got a copy of Jim Gavin’s Hardboiled Vampire Killers (not out yet) to blurb. (fighting evil on two 99 cent tacos a day!) It’s next in line.

Plus, I just got a copy of Corruptor by Jason Cordova. http://www.amazon.com/Corruptor-Jason-Cordova/dp/1606192337/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291305120&sr=1-1-spell But I’ve not been able to look at it yet. Jason is a frequent poster here and reviews books over on Shiny Book. I know Dr. Travis Taylor helped with the science in it. So I’m looking forward to it.

EDIT 1: The Monster Hunter Nation strikes again!

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #18,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

EDIT 2: BOOOOOM!

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #11,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

EDIT 3: Still hanging in there

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #11,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

EDIT 4: MHN does it again!

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #8,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Residual Hauntings Podcast, and a signing today
Signing this Saturday in Layton

35 thoughts on “BOOK BOMB Sarah Hoyt's Darkship Thieves!”

  1. 🙂 Doc Travis was behind the science, a bunch of smarter people than I helped with the computer stuff, and John Ringo and Jim Baen were pushing me to write it.

    I had LOTS of help. Hope you like it.

    1. Speaking of which, I can’t believe that I haven’t reviewed this book yet. I wonder if I should have Barb do it, since she’s a much better reviewer than I…

    2. Doc Travis, Ringo, and Baen. That is some impressive name dropping >:P

      And because I don’t already have enough books to read (somewhere around 30 in my pile) I’ll make sure to order Darkship Thieves!

      1. Well, if you’ve read any Doc Travis’s early stuff, you’ll recognize some things immediately. And Ringo was getting on both mine and Vanner’s butt about getting our books done faster at a con once. Vanner beat me, but I’m okay with that. He deserved it.

        Jim was just… being Jim.

  2. Larry,
    Thank you. It’s officially a mutual admiration society. I’ve used MHI in workshops as an example of how to begin a book.

    Jason — do you want a signed copy? (Hint, you have to send me your snail mail!)

  3. Done. Plus, it gave me an excuse to finally replace my lost Outlaw Josey Wales DVD. Got to push the total up for the free shipping.

  4. I think it’s working.
    Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #18,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) at 12:13pm MST.

    GoTeamMHI! 🙂

  5. I read the 9 free sample chapters of Darkship Thieves on Baen’s website before ordering my copy, and as is so often the case, the samples got me hooked on reading the rest of the book.

    I’m not much of a sci-fi reader, but as Larry said, DT is reminiscent of a Heinlein or Poul Anderson book and has a nice fast pace that doesn’t get bogged down with the kind of boring sci-fi technobabble and overdone setting description that sci-fi authors so often indulge in, which painfully slows the story and makes me put the book down for good.

    DT isn’t like that so far, which is a good sign, and the POV character is a lot of fun, being impulsive, savvy, but just a little dumb. Overconfident while at the same time tough as nails. I like her.

    I’m looking forward to the rest of the book.

  6. So, it’s Captains Courageous in Space?

    You’ve not steered me wrong yet.. Ordered 😉

    Now, to the sample chapters!

  7. It’s funny you should mention this novel. I’m about 1/2 way through it. I didn’t get it through Amazon, but off the WebScription at Baen.com. Actually, that’s where I was introduced to MHI last year and got MHV this year.

  8. 0853 EST Friday… #13,947 for Darkship Thieves. Hanging tough!

    For what it’s worth, just mentioning “Corruptor” on here had it jump from around #400,000 yesterday to #119,100 late last night. Thanks Larry and Monster Hunter Nation!

    P.S. – If you do buy it, buy the ebook. The trade paperback is a bit pricey for a new author. Just sayin’…

  9. I gotta admit, I didn’t help the DST book-bombing. I know, I know, I should be ashamed.

    But the truth is, I own a Nook, not a Kindle, and Amazon doesn’t seem to sell in EPUB format.

    …so I went and picked it up via Webscriptions, instead. Hope that’s okay by you!

    Interestingly, I’m planning on making my wife read Darkship Thieves. She normally is NOT a science fiction reader, but this novel reminded me so strongly in style of a couple of her projects that I think she’ll make the exception. Great read!

  10. Thanks alot Larry. Looks like I’ve got another damn book to read! I don’t have enough time already and people are writing fantastic books and forcing me to keep up with all my reading while working and trying to sleep with any woman that will even look at me. My life is hard.

    Also I’d like to note that Jason Cordova’s book ‘Corruptor’ got a review by one of the guys who wrote ‘An Introduction To Planetary Defence: A Study Of Modern Warfare Applied To Extra-Terrestrial Invasion’. I bet that’s a short book.

    I figure it goes something like this – Aliens Invade. Everybody dies.

    Alternatively it could be like this – Aliens Invade. Will Smith kicks their ass. Everybody parties like it’s Russia during the World Cup in 2018! Because you know that’s going to go off like a fireworks factory in China.

    I mean can you imagine how many vodka drinking dancing bears there are going to be on the streets!?!?

    1. Actually, Planetary Defense is a really good book. It’s about… 200 pages or so. Textbook if I remember correctly.

      1. I’ve got a lot of respect for Travis Taylor, one of the co-authors of the book and also a Baen author, so I’m interested in getting my hands on a copy and having a read through. I still stand by my assertion that humanity would get it’s ass handed to it by a determined alien invader unless Will Smith gets involved somehow.

        One thing that I’ve been thinking lately is that the reason that we haven’t been invaded already by aliens is that there is no way to break the FTL limit so everybody is constrained to sublight speeds. I’m sure somebodies thought of that though and come up with a reason that’s not the case.

      2. It is good, but expensive. Especially if your friend who is borrowing it never returns it…But there’s lots of science and some talk on asymmetrical warfare. At one point hover-tanks are mentioned and there’s a picture of a Gundam which was cool. Lots of theory and such. I think it deserves a sequel, I loved showing it to my science teacher and saying, “There’s a super-scientist who works for NASA, mountain bikes, does karate, has a rock band, and writes books. And he believes in aliens so shut up.” Best detention-worthy offense I’ve ever made.

  11. Just bought Darkship Thieves based on your recommendation. Haven’t started it because I’m finishing up ‘Live Free or Die’ by John Ringo. My first book by him. Not sure if you have read his work, but I think this book will appeal. Essentially alien invasion space opera, but really well done. Ringo seems to be of a somewhat conservative bent. Not many firearms in the book, but there is a really big honking solar array laser.

    1. Yep. Read it. Great book.

      Made even more awesome because Tyler Vernon is based on Howard Tayler, who is a friend of mine. Which makes for an interesting read. 🙂

  12. I’m glad you posted this. I never knew about the baen ebook offerings. I was waiting for the MH books to show up on bn.com, but there they are, just in time for X-mas reading. Throw Darkship Thieves, old Heinlein (books that I lost in one more or another), I don’t know what to read next.

  13. I put the book on my amazon wishlist when you posted this last year. Someone just bought it for me and I read it in a few days. Excellent book, thanks for the recommendation.

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