Cover Reveal - Beasts of the Wild Black by RJ Barker
Helllooo!
Well that was a long hot week in the UK! I think you deserve a treat and as its from me that means booktempting! Gentle Readers of the blog will know I’m a huge fan of RJ Barker’s work from solving mysteries with assassins in The Wounded Kingdom trilogy, travelling the high seas in the Bone Ships, saving an unforgettable world in The Forsaken trilogy and very recently solving a murder in a very strange city in the Sunday times Bestselling Mortedant’s Peril. Barker’s work guarantees unique worlds to explore, fascinating characters and plots where nothing is quite as simple as it first appears. You are always in for something unique. How about seeing what RJ does with science fiction? Thanks To RJ and Podium Entertainment I can finally tell you about what I read during my summer! Plus I am delighted share the beautiful covers
Now who doesn’t like space adventures? Who doesn’t love a good high powered mecha power suit with railguns to explore strange alien worlds? But also who doesn’t love cats? Now imagine all three of those combined! Welcome to the universe of Beasts of the Wild Black an exciting three part novella series coming soon!
Explore the Wild Black—where any signal could be a trap, any planet a mystery, and any companion a lifeline—in this trio of high-concept space adventures.
Deep Strike crews are accustomed to hostile terrain. But in Beasts of the Wild Black, Capt. Min Law and the crew of the Thunberg get more than they bargained for when they follow a garbled distress call to a seemingly quiet world. Meanwhile, in Pride of the Wild Black, Min’s mentor Maj. Gen. Alice Benner’s concern for her missing protégé draws her into a potentially wide-scale conspiracy. And in Lost in the Wild Black a wounded super-intelligent cat named Bruce is trapped on a lethal planet desperate to send out a signal, no matter who—or what—hears it.
From the bestselling author of the Tide Child series, the tales that comprise this sweeping space opera collection are set at the outermost edges of the universe. Here, sapient animals, hostile ecosystems, and competing factions will test the very limits of loyalty, ingenuity, and courage.
I’ll have a full review nearer the time but what I think I can say for you now is that this is future where the good news is that the human race survives but we have had to learn a lot of hard lessons and grow up in the process. We discover Fallspace a way of travelling immense distances faster than light but it’s a dangerous dimension that can send humans mad. The solution was to enhance other creatures that are less impacted by Fallspace to operate ships with humans and yet we then discovered if we can make animals understand and talk to us we then discover we have so much in common and need to work together for the common good. Many years later humans work in combined crews with jacklifted animals that can rooks, bears and most importantly of all cats (no doubt in their view). Earth is prized in the galactic community for being explorers testing the mysterious depths of space which are referred to as the Wild Black as a united sense of curiosity across all our species makes us unique (or some aliens believe all slightly mad).
Our first instalment sets up this premise beautifully as we have a fast moving propulsive story of a rescue mission that soon goes very very wrong and becomes a desperate race for survival on a an alien world. This is no good natured tale of simple talking animals and nor is it humans with just glued on cat ears as Barker gives each jacklifted lifeform their own unique characteristics and then we get to know the key cast from the stoic but kind human Captain Min Law to their endlessly curious and independent cat companion Hinder. The crew have to truly understand each other to survive in the dangers of deep space and you come away with lots of interesting thoughts about how we fit within our ecosystem. It is action packed from page 1, the stakes are high and emotional and it is also about not just blowing things up but also learning to do the right thing. trust me you are in for a ride and by the end we will know all about the power of N-suits, the dangers of space travel and why
plink
will be a sound of something very dangerous approaching you will come to dread…I loved it and strongly recommend it!
I asked RJ about the series and they said “I’ve always been fascinated by uplifted animals, and the idea of consent when it comes to that and Beasts of the Wild Black was a way to explore that idea. But it is also, very much, a book about cats in weaponised mechs shooting things”
Podium will be releasing each of these three novellas as individual e-book and audiobook editions with a full cast this autumn, followed by a collection in all formats (including trade paperback) in early January 2027. You can gaze at the beautiful covers below. We start 6th October with Beasts of the Wild Black and please go here for more information
https://podiumentertainment.com/titles/130026/beasts-of-the-wild-black
Very swiftly the second novella Pride of the Wild Black comes out the 3rd November and then Lost in the Wild Black comes out in e-book & audio the 1st of December
There will then be single combined version of all three tales not just in e-book but audio and paperback to start 2027 with a bang on the 5th of January more information on that is here
https://podiumentertainment.com/titles/169306/beasts-of-the-wild-black
A few other people have been able to read this advance and Adrian Tchaikovsky who knows a things or two about uplifted animals called it “A real adventure, equally joyous and thought-provoking.”, Gareth L Powell described it as “Tense, immersive, and fearlessly creative. Highly recommended.”, Caspar Geon noted that“The Wild Black is a scary place, but thankfully Barker sends us in with a delightful cast of uplifted creatures at the helm. Breakneck, brutal, and wonderfully warm-hearted.” and Stewart Hotston said it is “Brimming with ideas, adventure, cats, bears, and rooks (and a pesky human or two), this is a fantastically fresh and hopeful space opera.”
I think safe to say you’re going to want to get a hold of this!
