The Far From the Spaceports series

The Far From the Spaceports series is set in the outer reaches of our solar system, around a century from now. Small settlements have sprung up on Mars, various moons and many asteroids, linked together by ion-drive spaceships that have reduced travel times between these outposts to weeks rather than years.

Virtual AI assistants — personas — work alongside humans in partnership. One such long-standing partnership, working in the area of financial fraud prevention, is Mitnash Thakur and Slate, who we first meet in the gap between Mars and Jupiter, tracking down fraudsters working on and around a cluster of asteroids called The Scilly Isles…

Far From the Spaceports Cover

Quick wits and loyalty confront high-tech crime in space

Welcome to the Scilly Isles, a handful of asteroids bunched together in space, well beyond the orbit of Mars. This remote and isolated habitat is home to a diverse group of human settlers, and a whole flock of parakeets. But earth-based financial regulator ECRB suspects that it’s also home to serious large scale fraud, and the reputation of the islands comes under threat.

Enter Mitnash Thakur and his virtual partner Slate, sent out from Earth to investigate. Their ECRB colleagues are several weeks away at their ship’s best speed, and even message signals take an hour for the round trip. Slate and Mitnash are on their own, until they can work out who on Scilly to trust. How will they cope when the threat gets personal?

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Timing Cover

When quick wits and loyalty are put to the test

Mitnash and his AI companion Slate, coders and investigators of interplanetary fraud, are at work again in Timing, the sequel to Far from the Spaceports.

This time their travels take them from Jupiter to Mars, chasing a small-scale scam which seems a waste of their time. Then the case escalates dramatically into threats and extortion. Robin's Rebels, a new player in the game, is determined to bring down the financial world, and Slate's fellow AIs are the targets. Will Slate be the next victim?

The clues lead them back to the asteroid belt, and to their friends on the Scilly Isles. The next attack will be here, and Mitnash and Slate must put themselves in the line of fire. To solve the case, they need to team up with an old adversary - the only person this far from Earth who has the necessary skills to help them. But can they trust somebody who keeps their own agenda so well hidden?

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The Liminal Zone Cover

Selkies in Space?

Nina Buraca, investigator of possible signs of alien life, has heard tales of mysterious events on Pluto's moon Charon, where a science outpost studies extrasolar planets. Facing opposition from her colleagues, she nevertheless travels from Earth to uncover the truth. Once there, she finds herself working with a team of people who have many secrets. To make progress, she has to take sides in an old dispute that she knows nothing about.

Can she determine who – or what – is really behind the name "selkies", that the station's staff have given to this uncanny phenomenon? And how will the discovery change her life?

The Liminal Zone, a novel in the Far from the Spaceports series, takes you a further twenty years into the future – and out to the edge of our solar system – for an encounter with the unknown.

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The Authentication Key is the planned sequel to Timing, and follows Mit and Slate as they decide whether to help an old adversary or not…