The Mountain skyport is an oasis, the one place where airships from across the known world can thaw their engines before they finish their journey across the endless frozen wastes. Any nation would be happy to claim it, but none do. The Mountain is independent, and the people that live there are a family. To its friends, the Mountain offers warmth, smiles, and entertainment. To its enemies, it offers lightning— powerful storms that appear from nowhere and clear the skies of enemy ships.
Jiaire is a young man on the cusp of adulthood. By day, he works on the docks. By night, he dreams of the Show, when characters like Golden Sam, the Reptile, and the mysterious Count do battle under the big top for an audience of thousands. When an invading army arrives at the Mountain, Jiaire almost isn’t concerned. Until the storms fail to come. To find out why, and free his home from the invaders, Jiaire will have to penetrate the mysteries of the Mountain, and of his own heart.
Brendan Detzner’s work has appeared in Podcastle, Chizine, Pseudopod, One Buck Horror, Bizarrocast, Edge of Propinquity, Untied Shoelaces of the Mind, and many other venues. He is the author of the short story collections “Scarce Resources” and “Beasts”, and of the novel “Millersville”. “The Orphan Fleet” is his debut in the fantasy genre.
Praise for The Orphan Fleet:
"The Orphan Fleet" is terrific adventure fantasy -- a non-stop tale of action and strange magic on a wind-swept mountain top where abandoned children have forged a free community, servicing far-traveling airships on sturdy wooden platforms. Here masked heroes with names like Golden Sam and The Sparrow are the ultimate celebrities -- and the mysterious Count leaves shivers of terror wherever he treads. When that community is threatened by an admiral who demands the return of his prized daughter, it triggers a terrible war fought in the air, on the ground, and in the old abandoned scaffolding circling the mountain ... a war where Golden Sam may prove himself a true hero after all, and the Count has a terrible role to play."
John O'Neill, Publisher & Editor of Black Gate Magazine
“This novella is a fun adventurous tale of daring and bravery with a twist of magic. It is a very quick read and filled with bold imagination and interesting ideas. I can easily see many a young reader picking up this novella and demanding more stories to follow suit.”
Angela JC at Pooled Ink
TOF is the first of a new series and I'm very excited about it!
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French
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Already translated.
Translated by Ionica Monticelli
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Neil Hernani Lunga Pacheco
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Spanish
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Translation in progress.
Translated by Cristina Oliveros Calvo
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