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Gideon the Ninth meets Moby Dick in USA Today bestselling author Alexis Hall's science fiction debut, Hell's Heart!
Earth is a ruin, and the scattered remnants of humanity scavenge what they can from the stars under the watchful auspices of a grab-bag of collectives, corporations, and churches which are all that remains of what we once called society. Having long exhausted any conventional sources of energy, life in the solar system is now sustained by a volatile, hallucinogenic substance called spermaceti, which is harvested from the brains of vast cetacean-like Leviathans that swim the atmospheric currents of Jupiter.
Finding herself with no money and little to occupy her groundside, the narrator ("I") takes a commission aboard the hunter-barque Pequod as it sets out in pursuit of precious spermaceti. Once aboard, however, she finds herself pulled inexorably into the orbit of the barque's captain, a charismatic but fanatically driven woman who the narrator names only as "A". As the Pequod plunges ever deeper into the turbulent, monster-haunted atmosphere of the gas giant, the narrator begins to lose herself in the eerie word of Leviathan-hunting and the captain's increasingly insistent delusions; the only thing that might keep her grounded is the bond she develops with Q, a woman from the wreck of Old Earth whose skin is marked with holographic light and who remembers things otherwise lost. Some years ago-never mind how long precisely-having little or no money in their purse, and nothing particular to interest them on shore, Alexis Hall thought they would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. Unfortunately the boat they were in sank with all hands, and they were rescued only by a passing whaler. They have since become a novelist.
"Hall is a dizzyingly talented writer, one likely to spur envy in anyone who's ever picked up a pen."-Entertainment Weekly on Boyfriend Material
"Simply the best writer I've come across in years."-Laura Kinsale, New York Times bestselling author
"Full of adventure, chaos, magic, and lust, this will enthrall Hall's fans and new readers alike."-Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Mortal Follies
"Utterly enchanting"-Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Confounding Oaths
"Thoroughly queer and extraordinary."-Kirkus, starred review, on Something Extraordinary
"Hall has a gift for humor but is also skilled at composing passages that evoke the deepest emotions, whether the ache of long-denied love, crushing grief or the relief and soulful joy of being accepted and adored as one's most authentic self."-Library Journal, starred review, on A Lady For a Duke
"Hall has hit it out of the park with this emotionally resonant, character-driven Regency romance... stellar."-Bookpage, starred review, on A Lady for a Duke
"Hall is a consistently beautiful writer."-Kirkus, starred review, on A Lady for a Duke
"The characters are charmingly flawed, with enough chemistry to see them through some serious ups and downs... full of poetry and honesty."-Publishers Weekly, starred review, on For Real
Earth is a ruin, and the scattered remnants of humanity scavenge what they can from the stars under the watchful auspices of a grab-bag of collectives, corporations, and churches which are all that remains of what we once called society. Having long exhausted any conventional sources of energy, life in the solar system is now sustained by a volatile, hallucinogenic substance called spermaceti, which is harvested from the brains of vast cetacean-like Leviathans that swim the atmospheric currents of Jupiter.
Finding herself with no money and little to occupy her groundside, the narrator ("I") takes a commission aboard the hunter-barque Pequod as it sets out in pursuit of precious spermaceti. Once aboard, however, she finds herself pulled inexorably into the orbit of the barque's captain, a charismatic but fanatically driven woman who the narrator names only as "A". As the Pequod plunges ever deeper into the turbulent, monster-haunted atmosphere of the gas giant, the narrator begins to lose herself in the eerie word of Leviathan-hunting and the captain's increasingly insistent delusions; the only thing that might keep her grounded is the bond she develops with Q, a woman from the wreck of Old Earth whose skin is marked with holographic light and who remembers things otherwise lost. Some years ago-never mind how long precisely-having little or no money in their purse, and nothing particular to interest them on shore, Alexis Hall thought they would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. Unfortunately the boat they were in sank with all hands, and they were rescued only by a passing whaler. They have since become a novelist.
"Hall is a dizzyingly talented writer, one likely to spur envy in anyone who's ever picked up a pen."-Entertainment Weekly on Boyfriend Material
"Simply the best writer I've come across in years."-Laura Kinsale, New York Times bestselling author
"Full of adventure, chaos, magic, and lust, this will enthrall Hall's fans and new readers alike."-Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Mortal Follies
"Utterly enchanting"-Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Confounding Oaths
"Thoroughly queer and extraordinary."-Kirkus, starred review, on Something Extraordinary
"Hall has a gift for humor but is also skilled at composing passages that evoke the deepest emotions, whether the ache of long-denied love, crushing grief or the relief and soulful joy of being accepted and adored as one's most authentic self."-Library Journal, starred review, on A Lady For a Duke
"Hall has hit it out of the park with this emotionally resonant, character-driven Regency romance... stellar."-Bookpage, starred review, on A Lady for a Duke
"Hall is a consistently beautiful writer."-Kirkus, starred review, on A Lady for a Duke
"The characters are charmingly flawed, with enough chemistry to see them through some serious ups and downs... full of poetry and honesty."-Publishers Weekly, starred review, on For Real
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Reviews
"Charli Anne Delores manifests a nameless narrator with a self-destructive streak in this SF reimagining of Moby-Dick. This narrator isn't particularly great at anything: She's impulsive, self-damaging, and resistant to love, and her path has inexplicably landed her aboard the Pequod. As she and her shipmates hunt down an enormous leviathan swimming around the planet Jupiter, the narrator grows closer to a harpooner named Q and the ship's captain, who's obsessed with hunting the white whale. The story is as much about the horrors of space-monster hunting as it is a rumination on religion, sex, and connection. Delores brings an entire interstellar melting pot to life, sharply voicing characters who represent a range of genders, cultures, and species. While the story stifles at times, Delores keeps listeners on the edge.
A queer fever dream made real by committed narration."
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