Eleven top “ragtag crews” in space opera books

Jeff Somers is the author of Writing Without Rules, the Avery Cates series, The Ustari Cycle, Lifers, and Chum (among many other books) and numerous short stories.

At the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog he tagged eleven of the best “ragtag crews” in space opera books today, including:

Barbary Station, by R.E. Stearns

There’s a fine line between a ragtag crew and a band of space pirates, but we’re slipping in R.E. Starns’ Shieldrunner Pirates books—starting with Barbary Station—on a technacality, since at the time the series begins, the pirates’ reputation far outstrips their actual ability for plundering the galaxy, what with their troubles with a space station’s rogue A.I. It was that once-fearsome rep that attracted many of their ragtag members, including disgruntled engineering students/lovers Adda and Iridian, who pulled off a con to impress Captain Sloane after they left school with deep debt and no job prospects. Sloane’s crew always seems to be up against the ropes, which gives the series the feel of a classic ragtag tale. The final volume of the trilogy, Gravity of a Distant Sun, arrives early next year.

Read about another entry on the list.

Barbary Station is among Somers's thirteen unlucky ill-fated voyages in science fiction.

My Book, The Movie: Barbary Station.

The Page 69 Test: Mutiny at Vesta.

--Marshal Zeringue