Mickey7

A sci fi adventure tackling questions of who we are, what is human, and how far would we go to stay alive? Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there's a mission that's too dangerous—even suicidal— the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. Mickey signed on to escape from both bad debts and boredom on Midgard. After six deaths, Mickey7 understands the terms of his deal... and why it was the only colonial position unfilled when he took it. On a fairly routine scouting mission, Mickey7 goes missing and is presumed dead. By the time he returns to the colony base, surprisingly helped back by native life, Mickey7's fate has been sealed. There's a new clone, Mickey8, reporting for Expendable duties. While Expendables make most of the crew nervous, the idea of duplicates is universally loathed. If caught, they will likely be thrown into the recycler for protein. Mickey7 must keep his double a secret from the rest of the colony. That includes everyone from best friend and combat pilot Berto to his Expendable-hating superior Commander Marshall. Meanwhile, life on Niflheim is getting worse. Niflheim's atmosphere is unsuitable for humans, food is in short supply and terraforming is going poorly. The native species that had helped Mickey survive his scouting mission, known to the colonizers as Critters, are growing curious about their new neighbors. And that curiosity has Commander Marshall very afraid. Ultimately, the survival of both lifeforms will come down to Mickey7. That is, if he can just keep from dying for good.

Edward Ashton's Antimatter Blues is the thrilling follow up to Mickey7 in which an expendable heads out to explore new terrain for human habitation. Summer has come to Niflheim. The lichens are growing, the six-winged bat-things are chirping, and much to his own surprise, Mickey Barnes is still alive - that last part thanks almost entirely to the fact that Commander Marshall believes that the colony's creeper neighbors are holding an antimatter bomb, and that Mickey is the only one who's keeping them from using it. Mickey's just another colonist now. Instead of cleaning out the reactor core, he spends his time these days cleaning out the rabbit hutches. It's not a bad life. It's not going to last. It may be sunny now, but winter is coming. The antimatter that fuels the colony is running low, and Marshall wants his bomb back. If Mickey agrees to retrieve it, he'll be giving up the only thing that's kept his head off of the chopping block. If he refuses, he might doom the entire colony. Meanwhile, the creepers have their own worries, and they're not going to surrender the bomb without getting something in return. Once again, Mickey finds the fate of two species resting in his hands. If something goes wrong this time, though, he won't be coming back. A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.