Semper Audacia is the story of a warrior; the last of her kind, defending her home world via an orbital outpost. The planet’s population too has dwindled and is just hanging on. Their ancient foe attacks and the last guardian springs into action accompanied by a battalion of ghosts; the memories of her fallen comrades.
The odds are almost hopeless. Almost. She must try; it’s what she does, it’s what she is and has been all her life. But then a wrinkle – the enemy battleship transmits a valid “friendly” code even as it’s powering up weapons. If the enemy are finally responding to their pleas for peace, attacking the ship would fling her people back into eternal war. If it’s a ruse, her people could be exterminated. She chooses a decidedly unconventional solution.
Semper Audacia is Mary Pax’s first novella, and it comes on the heels of several short stories, including Plantgirl, Translations, and Small Graces, all of which are delightful reads and are available for free from Smashwords. B&N and iTunes. Mary employs a unique writing style which I would describe as “Literary Sci-Fi”. Her economical prose is tight, active, and colorfully descriptive, yet draws upon the reader to participate in the story, not just observe it. It is not the type of reading that you can skim and understand but her writing is so vital that you don’t want to skim it; it implores you, like a hot bath, to slide in and immerse yourself in the experience.
Each of the stories she offers contain unique and surprising elements. Semper Audacia contained several moments that caused me to marvel at their uniqueness.
A Technical Review
The book itself is very well written and edited. You’ll find no amateurish stumbling blocks such as sentence fragments left over from an edit or transposed words that made it past a spell checker but are the wrong word for the context. Punctuation and grammar are – as far as I could tell – flawless. Her characterization and scene setting is clear and vital, but done without a single wasted word. Audacia is a professional grade release from an exciting new author.
Mary’s website is Wistful Nebulae http://mpaxauthor.blogspot.com from here you may obtain all of her short stories in your preferred format. Her twitter ID is @MPax1
Thanks for the very wonderful review, Allan. You’re awesome.
No, Mary, YOU’RE awesome – I’m merely awed (maybe should be spelled ‘odd’). 🙂 I’m looking forward to Borderlands too. Really liked the sample at the end of Semper.