Self published by Patrick Hester, 2013
Available on amazon.com and bn.com
Cord Cahill Serials #1
Copy courtesy of author e-mail list
Patrick Hester is probably best known in online SFF circles for podcasting (The Functional Nerds and the Hugo Award-winning SF Signal as well as producing Mur Lafferty’s podcast) and his blog (www.atfmb.com) and of course, a writer. With Cahill’s Homecoming, Hester has launched a series of novellas featuring Cord Cahill, a military man who returns to his home planet looking into the very suspicious open-and-shut case of his sister Kate’s death after receiving a video from her stating that if he was watching the video, she would be dead.
Much has happened since Cord left his home planet a decade and half ago. Cord himself is a Sentinel, essentially a galactic gun for hire, a Pinkerton agent in space. A man by the name of Tobias Jorgensen has staked a claim as the Big Man on the world, with everybody owing something to him. When Cord arrives and joins a card game being led by Tobias, Cord is seen as a threat to Jorgenson’s power. Although the men knew each other prior to Cord becoming a Sentinal, the re-acquaintance is far from amicable.
When Cord attempts to ask people he knew, friends and former acquaintances, about his sister’s death, few are willing to answer. Cord searches out his sister’s estranged husband Charlie, who has become the town drunk as a result of first, their failed marriage and then, Kate’s death. The two men come to an uncomfortable understanding in their quest for justice.
The immediate thing that came to mind, that resonated with me while reading Cahill’s Homecoming was the television show Firefly, mainly because of the mix of far future and frontier settings. I wouldn’t say Cahill might resemble Malcolm Reynolds, but both men have a gruff exterior which belie a more sympathetic heart. This is best evidenced in Cord’s his words to Charlie, despite their differences and Cord’s displeasure with how Charlie treated Kate, “Today we’re family and family takes care of its own.”
I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect reading Cahill’s Homecoming but I was quite happy with the end result. The novella was relatively quick read for me, and even if the tale had some familiar trappings and story movements, it was still a very polished, enjoyable and rewarding read. Although as a character, Cord Cahill seems ready made for series fiction, this particular story was the perfect length for the story Hester set out to tell. I felt Hester didn’t waste any words nor did he seem to cut himself short in telling the story.
In other words, I hope Patrick Hester has more up his virtual sleeve for Cord Cahill because the character is the type about whom I’d be very pleased to read more.
The novella is available on amazon.com and bn.com for just $2.99 and is well worth the price of admission.
© 2013 Rob H. Bedford
