The Wrath of Cons
Robert Kroese
Interstellar con man Rex Nihilo and his long-suffering robot sidekick Sasha are back, and they're neck-deep in their most outrageous scam yet: selling black market planets! Terraforming uninhabitable planets and selling them to criminals right under the nose of the repressive interstellar Malarchy is good work if you can get it, but there's a price: as the pair's profits soar, they find themselves on the run from... well, pretty much everybody. With the Malarchy breathing down their necks, the malevolent cult known as the Sp'ossels hot on their heels, and the Ursa Minor Mafia out for their cut, Rex and Sasha hop from planet to planet, with nothing but their wits and a motley crew of loyal friends to keep them alive. But when their antics draw the attention of an ancient intelligence determined to wipe humanity from the galaxy, they put their moneymaking plans on hold--and team up with their biggest rival--to save the galaxy once again. Praise for Starship Grifters "My favorite read this year. A hilarious space adventure. Hard book to put down." ―Hugh Howey, author of Wool "I am reminded of Harry Harrison... but Rex Nihilo novels are like 10x funnier than Stainless Steel Rat." - Travis Corcoran, Prometheus Award-winning author of The Powers of the Earth "Fiendishly clever." - Frederick Heimbach, author of Ronald Reagan's Brilliant Bullet "Starship Grifters is one of the funniest things I’ve ever experienced. It is certainly the funniest book I’ve read." - N.R. LaPoint, author of Chalk "Laugh-out loud funny. I loved every page of it. If you like sci-fi and laughter, this is the book for you!" - Rob Blackwell, author of The Forest of Forever "This is a funny, funny book. It is loveably absurd and ridiculously extravagant." - Benjamin Espen "Damn, I laughed.... This novel is funny, and should be approached only by those looking for a damn good reason to laugh." - John Daulton "Funny SF is tricky. Funny SF that holds up over an entire novel is a rarity. The writing in this book is sharp, tight, and clever. I laughed out loud enough to lose track of tally or occurrence. In a word, this novel is SMART." - SFFAudio.com "It’s kind of like Foucault’s Pendulum in space but without 500 pages of Italians discussing European history." - Castalia House "Kroese is the premier writer of humorous genre fiction in the indie sphere." - J. Manfred Weichsel, author of Five Maidens on the Pentagram