Obligatory spoiler warning!
Glynn Stewart’s Excalibur Lost, though one of his older books, is a hidden gem that sci-fi diehards should pick up at least once in their lives. It’s short, it’s got class - and it’s brimming with adventure.
Warning! Spoilers.
Set in the near future, the book takes place in a world in which humanity has been subjugated - pushed to the edge of extinction by a xenocidal alien empire, reduced to a few slum-like colonies and ‘arkships’ - large colony ships. Humanity’s role within the new empire is solely utilitarian, with their opportunities strictly restricted due to our ‘inferior’ nature to our overlords. Regardless, the charred embers of humanity’s fighting spirit lingers on - in the refugee camps, among the Arkships, within our protagonist, Gerard Arkanis.
A crew member on an alien salvage ship, he stumbles upon a long-defunct United Nations starship - the Excalibur. Together with a portion of the crew, a mutiny is staged, allowing Arkanis to take control of the Excalibur as its captain. Together with his crew, they successfully fend off a scouting fleet and send off a distress beacon, a message to all UN forces that the fight is not over.
Life these days is pretty hectic. It isn’t easy for most people to find time to read - there’s just so many other better things to do that we’re always swamped with thinking about the ‘next’ idea. Compared to a Gallup Poll in 1978, there was a nearly 15% increase in the number of adults who don’t read a book and by 2012, this number had increased to a staggering 23%.
Consequently, the average length of a bestselling book has fallen by 51.5 pages, from 437.5 pages in 2011 to 386 - a decline of nearly 11.8%. This phenomenon’s spawned a new breed of books - one that straddles the boundary between a short story and a novel - the novellas. One such book that caught my eye was Excalibur Lost, by Glynn Stewart. Sitting just under 150 pages, it’s about half the length of a full-length novel - more than enough to get through in 2 hours.
The worldbuilding, for one, is fantastic. Stewart creates a whole new universe within the span of 150 pages; page after page of dialogue, action sequence as the alien Medar attempt to prevent Excalibur from leaving the gas giant’s grip. The rapid-fire instructions, the palpable suspense of munitions fired encapsulates the extra Excalibur’s crew - Stewart’s magic touch can turn what seems to be a biblical myth, the “Respite” system, into an omnipotence that radiates hope. With the scenes on the bridge just as you’d expect from the naval battles of today, there’s no
Stewart’s exploration of interstellar war and its consequences draw parallels to our own in Excalibur: Lost. He places his protagonist in the perfect place to find a derelict ship, allowing him to engage in combat for the first time in many years. Yet, in the midst of all this, the ship is not just a tool for combat - it is a beacon of hope for all humans in the galaxy, a stark reminder of the tenacity that makes up all of humanity. It serves as a sobering reminder that when we reach our hands to the wider galaxy, there will be those who are stronger than us - but that when we are defeated, we will return, stronger than before.
Click here to check the book out!
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