The Pirates of Sufiro
After a bit of a delay, The Pirates of Sufiro by David Lee Summers is now available:
The story of a planet and its people — of Ellison Firebrandt the pirate captain living in exile; of Espedie Raton, the con-man looking to make a fresh start for himself and his wife on a new world; of Peter Stone, the ruthless bank executive who discovers a fortune and will do anything to keep it; and of the lawman, Edmund Ray Swan who travels to Sufiro seeking the quiet life but finds a dark secret. It is the story of privateers, farmers, miners, entrepreneurs, and soldiers — all caught up in dramatic events and violent conflicts that will shape the destiny of our galaxy.
Presented in association with LBF Books and Hadrosaur Productions.
“The Pirates of Sufiro is a fast-paced adventure filled with vivid characters including rebels, pirates, interplanetary pioneers and the mysterious Clusters — the children of the old stars. The first book in David Lee Summers’ trilogy starts the tale in rip-roaring, page-flipping action against a backdrop reminiscent of Asimov’s Foundation series.” Gary Every, Pushcart and Rhysling-nominated poet and author of Inca Butterflies
“Not unlike his other works, David Lee Summers’ novel, The Pirates of Sufiro offers extraordinary story-telling, diversity, and battles combined with fine writing, tight plots, and rich, memorable characters. This is definitely one author I’d read again and again.” Nicole Givens Kurtz, author of Zephyr Unfolding
“Along with fine storytelling, David Lee Summers shows a fine wit for cultures.” Uncle River, author of Promethius, the Autobiography
August 29th, 2006 at 8:13 am
This book seems to have an identity problem. The focus and the target audience drift. The basic voice seems to be written towards a very young adult audience but some very adult content pops up frequently. I like some of the ideas, and the characters are vivid but so far (7 episodes) it doesn’t hang together.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
Fair enough. This was my first book, written over twelve years ago and I realize as I’m reading that my writing has improved since I wrote this. Nevertheless, the book has remained in print for a dozen years and has its fans — and has spawned two sequels (Children of the Old Stars, which is available at Amazon.com and Heirs of the New Earth which is forthcoming). If you’re enjoying parts of it, I hope you stick with it. I think the book gets stronger as it progresses.
September 5th, 2006 at 6:49 am
Just noticed today that the print edition of Pirates has taken a nice price drop at Amazon.com — it’s now $10.85 for the trade paperback. A nice fringe benefit of a price drop on the printing end of the operation.
October 2nd, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Excellent book so far and it’s convinced me to pick up the hardcopy and any sequals. (and that’s saying something because I’m not a fan of series books).
I’ve often thought that if we could blast away from all the madness and find a new world that we’d only enjoy the freedom we seek for one perhaps three generations max. before the same corruption and trouble we escaped manifested itself on our new earth. (after all that’s what happend to those who came to America, history repeats) You’re book illustrates this theory to a “T”.
The only fault so far is that it seems to have gone off on another tangent and plot altogether around ch.8 on. Nothing wrong with that really, after all tv programs change gears all the time, its just it was quite of a sudden shift. Just different than I’m used to is all.
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:34 am
Thank you, Robocoastie! We do go through a couple more plot jags, then around chapter 12 it pulls together. Just as a heads-up, a slightly updated version of the sequel, “Children of the Old Stars” is in process now. When it’s available (hopefully in two weeks or a little less), it should go through a price drop at Amazon.com like Pirates did.
November 20th, 2006 at 2:15 am
I’ve been enjoying the book so far. I’m into the latest episode but I must say I nearly got lost a few episodes back when you starting jumping ahead in time. I’ve since gotten used to it, and I’d say it’s one of the best books I’m listening to at the moment.
December 11th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Thanks for the feedback, Chris. I’m hoping to record the final two chapters this week. Hope you continue to enjoy.
January 24th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Good book, just finished listening to it. Some of the plot jags were a bit odd but overall I really enjoyed the book. Any plans on putting the sequels up on podiobooks? I’ve asked for the hard copies as a birthday gift.
January 25th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Thanks, Ethan. Hope your birthday wish comes true!
I’d like to do the sequels. Right at the moment, my schedule with other projects has just gone crazy, though. Maybe once we get a little further into the year and things get a little quieter, I’ll give it a go.
By the way, Heirs of the New Earth has just come available on the Publisher’s website. The direct link is:
http://www.lbfbooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_33&products_id=200
February 18th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Hello again, DLS. Some time ago I spoke to you about the book on myspace but a lot has happened since this first contact. I will say again that the book is pretty damn good.
Thanks again for putting this baby up on podiobooks and hope to see more of the series here soon.
February 28th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Thanks, Dianne!
I’ve now had a handful of people — including one person from LBF Books — ask if I’m going to record the sequels for Podiobooks, so it would seem the writing is on the wall. I just need to clear it with the boss at LBF Books and clear some time in my schedule and then I’ll see about starting Children of the Old Stars. It won’t be right away, but I’ll try to make it happen before long.
A couple of news items for anyone who happens to be in West Texas or Southern New Mexico: On Saturday, March 3, I’ll be signing “Vampires of the Scarlet Order” at Barnes and Noble on Sunland Park Drive from 2-4pm. On Saturday, March 17, I’ll be signing the print edition of “Heirs of the New Earth” (the third book in the “Pirates” series) along with all of my books at COAS Books on the Downtown Mall in Las Cruces, New Mexico from 10am until noon. For those not in the area, the books are available on Amazon.
June 17th, 2007 at 7:49 am
Just finished listening to the book straight through. it makes a lot more sense that way. looking forward to the sequels.
June 29th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Thanks for the feedback, James. I appreciate it!
I do have an update on Children of the Old Stars. My publisher has agreed to let me record the book for Podiobooks. I have some great music from Steve Starcher lined up and I’m looking for some additional voice talent to lend a hand. I’m hoping to have the first chapters ready to upload in September. Sorry it can’t be sooner than that, but I committed to editing a book between now and then. Things are moving forward, though!
August 24th, 2007 at 9:41 am
There are currently two interviews on-line that might be of interest to listeners of “The Pirates of Sufiro.” The first is with the book’s author (your’s truly) and it’s at: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/328042/a_few_minutes_with_writer_and_editor.html
The second interview is with the book’s protagonist, Ellison Firebrandt, and it’s at: http://www.talesofthetalisman.com/comics.html
As far as I know, the author interview will be available indefinitely. The Ellison Firebrandt comic interview will only be available until around September 7, 2007.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:48 am
Your story has promise but there are a few significant flaws that drag it down.
One, your presentation, I’ve heard some great voices and I’ve heard terrible voices. I’ve even heard annoying voices. But never have I heard such a dry and sterile presentation. When there are intimate encounters between the characters you deliver it in the same passionless voice as you used to describe firebrandt smoking his pipe! If you could just inject some passion into the telling I might have overlooked the other flaw.
Detail, at points in the story you introduce tech to the story and then fail to explain what it is or does in any detail.
for example the characters use heppler weapons but Admiral Firebrandts officer used a laser pistol and it wasn’t until the episode titled exploration that I realized the heppler pistol was a sort of laser. You are also quite sparse with other details such as descriptions of the characters (besides clothes and hair) and the enviroments.
I hope you have taken great strides in your writing and presentation and I wish you all the best, however I won’t be rushing to download the sequel.
March 10th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Thanks for the feedback, Zippy. I will take your comments about the reading to heart. That said, I don’t always project a lot of emotion in person. If I’m not careful, it would be easy to go over the top and sound artificial and fake the other way. I would rather be a little deadpan than sound like bad melodrama. Still, I will see if I can find a better balance in the next book I record. Descriptions are another somewhat tricky area in SF. Too much description and two things can happen, you can end up insulting the intelligence of the reader/listener or you find yourself writing SF that’s dated five or ten years after you write it. I think I have improved the level of description in my writing over the years — as I’ve said earlier, The Pirates of Sufiro is over ten years old now — but I will continue to look at that.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:26 am
This title has received 5/5 cabbages on this week’s installment of my weekly review. To see the complete posting, please visit the Podiobooks Community.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Whoo hoo! A perfect score! Ed Wood would be proud. Really what can you do when you get a review like this? When life hands you cabbages, you should make cole slaw.
There’s little I can add as a response to the audio and narration issues that I haven’t already said in posts here and with Children of the Old Stars.
Regarding the writing itself — I’ll admit I have my own love/hate relationship with this book. It was my first and nearly a dozen years after the original publication, there are things about it that I love and things about it that make me cringe. In the end, it’s meant to be good fun and hopefully it succeeds at that with most people who listen and read.
I’ll wrap up with a link to a recent review of the print edition:
http://bookreviewsbycrystal.blogspot.com/2008/03/pirates-of-sufiro-by-david-lee-summers.html