Interstellar Railroad series by Felix Savage

free ebook Rubbish With Names

While there is a free eBook included in this series, not all of these are a free eBook, but rather most are an inexpensive eBook from an independent author. Felix Savage is an independent author and
Felix publishes and sells eBooks exclusively though Amazon. These types of eBooks are often much cheaper than offerings from the big publishers, though many times an independent author is just starting out and even the low price can seem like a bad deal. Not so with Felix Savage! Felix has been in the writing game a while and worked out the kinks long before writing the Interstellar Railroad series. While most of these are merely an inexpensive ebook, I would not have regretted paying more.

The series consists of 4 books (not a free eBook but an inexpensive ebook) and a prequel to the series (actually a free eBook), written later. The actual series name is: The Reluctant Adventures of Fletcher Connolly on the Interstellar Railroad.



The books in the series are:

(inexpensive ebooks)
Vol. 1: Skint Idjit
Vol. 2: Intergalactic Bogtrotter
Vol. 3: Banjaxed Ceili
Vol. 4: Supermassive Blackguard

(free eBooks, well a free eBook anyway)
prequel: Rubbish With Names

Each eBook costs $2.99 except the prequel which a free eBook if you http://felixrsavage.com/free-books/  sign up for this independent author's email list.

I really liked these books. The story is original, funny, and exciting. The characters and alien settings are fun and interesting, and it has a lot of action. The whole thing really resonated with me. The premise for the series is that, in the future, a sort of faster than light pathway suddenly appeared near Earth. Once Earth figured out what it was, and how to access it, they found it connects habitable planets throughout the galaxy. Ships attach to the path, sort of like a train on rails and so it is called The Interstellar Railroad. Explorers on this interstellar railway find the remnants of alien cultures, though no aliens remain alive in the portions of the galaxy explored when the series starts. However, they do find alien technology and the hunt for alien technology, or A-Tech as it is referred to in the series, is a thriving business. There are independent explorers, groups funded by large corporations, the mob, and pirates, all looking for the A-Tech find of the century. Our main character, the very Irish, Fletcher Connolly, and he, along with his dysfunctional friends, family and crew-mates, is in the A-Tech search game. Fletch is confident, smart and resourceful, but he has the worst luck, the worst friends and crew, and he has to contend with his homicidal piratical, and also very Irish, uncle throughout. This eclectic mix of associates produces crazy situations for Fletch and each book in the series highlights one such A-Tech misadventure.

I liked all four books in this short series, and it is short, consisting of just the 4 books and the free eBook prequel. Many independent authors create one series or "universe" and then write an endless amount of books in it. However, Felix Savage usually keeps a series short and this one is probably the shortest so far. I found the length perfect, though after the last book, I was ready to read more of it. I never felt like I was reading something from an independent author while reading these. I am surprised actually that Felix Savage is an independent author. I feel Felix's work is definitely worthy of a large publisher's attention.


The Characters

Fletcher (Fletch) Connolly - A-Tech hunter with terrible luck (I heard a lucky man makes his luck) and the main character. He is an Irish A-Tech scout who dreams of owning his own planet. He is always on the lookout for the A-Tech find of the century, however things never seem to go his way. His girlfriend is a sometimes traitor, his friends are often competitors, his uncle usually takes anything Fletch does find, either as a pirate or as a police officer, leaving him with nothing but debt and his true friends have worse luck than he does.

Donal O’Leary - Fletcher's long time friend and sometimes their ship captain, sometimes a partner in crime is a main character throughout the series.

Finian Connolly - Fletcher's violent heavy Metal pirate uncle, who at times is Fletch's competitor, sometimes his boss, sometimes a fellow explorer, sometimes a nemesis as a police officer, and always a family member.

Harriet - Donal's actual girlfriend a main character in the series

Ruby - One of the original member of Donal's crew who ends up being a spy, a trans, a Stacker, a loyal friend and a main character in the series

Penelope - Attractive, moody, into BSDM, Donal's official girlfriend in the early books, and a Stacker. A Stacker? Fletch has this to say about Stackers in the first book:
"... she is a stacker. This technology we human beings developed all by our little selves, before the Railroad came along. Actually it’s a collection of technologies and practices—nootropics, prep schools, chips implanted in your brain, assortative marriage, prebirth genetic screening—they stack all these things together, and the end result is they’re so much smarter than the rest of us, they’re basically a different species.
Some scientists say they’ve already diverged from the rest of us. They’ve got better genes.
So what do stackers do with their great brains?
The usual:
Manage hedge funds
Work as consultants
Get useless degrees in the humanities
Run governments
Reverse-engineer A-tech
Raise the next generation of stackers
And when they’re bored of all that …
Operate spaceships"

Imogen - A sometimes space taxi driver, pilot, and mobster, she joins many of Feltcher's adventures, and is usually Fletcher's love interest. She also works for others and herself and we are never exactly sure who's side she is on.

Sam - The son of the infamous pirate Special Delivery Sam (who is Sam's mother actually) is a sometimes enemy, sometimes unknown and sometimes loyal friend to Fletch and his crew

The Interstellar Railroad - an A-tech artifact, possibly made of pure energy, that folds spacetime and allows ships using it to travel faster than the speed of light. It is called a railroad as it is shaped like railroad tracks or a ladder. The railroad is maintained by things called Gandy Dancers, which are humanoid in appearance but seem to only be a sort of automation. Nobody knows who created the interstellar railroad or if it continues outside our galaxy.

A-Tech - Alien Technology that everyone hopes to find and reverse engineer. Here is an A-Tech related quote by Fletch, in book #1, regarding why he can enjoy a cold drink on a hot alien planet that sums up A-Tech well:
"Some lucky bastard discovered an alien corpse that was still cold to the touch, despite reposing on a planet whose sun had expanded into a red giant. The body bag on that corpse proved to be reverse-engineerable, and said lucky bastard now has his own planet. That’s all it would take. One little tiny find that isn’t shite."

The Ghost Train - The Ghost Train rides the Interstellar Railroad and comes by our part of the Orion arm every two years. It stops at some planets and waits a a couple of days, possibly waiting for passengers. However, nobody knows anything about the train or where it goes. Some adventurous types have boarded the train but nobody has ever returned. Fletch describes its appearance as:
"It’s the size of several oil tankers joined end to end, clamped onto the Interstellar Railroad with a thousand chain dogs, like a silver caterpillar on an infinitely long twig."


The books (each a free eBook or inexpensive eBook)

All of the books' titles are prefixed with: "The Reluctant Adventures of Fletcher Connolly on the Interstellar Railroad:" and then have individual names as well as a number except the first one chronologically, "Rubbish With Names", which was written later (I think) as a prequel.

free ebook
Rubbish With Names

Book #0 Rubbish With Names (a free eBook prequel)
 I read this after finishing the series, but I think I would have enjoyed it as a starting place too, as it
introduces main characters and technology of the series and provides background that would have helped when reading the books. This book doesn't deal with the Interstellar Railroad or A-Tech hunting much, if at all, but follows Fletcher Connolly, his long time friend Donal O’Leary, his girlfriend Penelope and other main characters of the series on a job on a colonized alien world. The job includes picking up a, supposedly Cryogenically-preserved, dead body for a client. However, the body turns out not to be frozen and of interest to the mob, so we get a story of Fletch trying to find out what is special about the body while keeping from the mob and not letting it decompose too much. I really liked this short, and as I said it is a perfect starting place for the short series.


Book #1 Skint Idjit (an inexpensive eBook)

inexpensive ebook Skint Idjit

Working for his long time friend Donal O’Leary, Fletcher Connolly and crew are thrown off the Interstellar Railroad due to an accident, which is partly their fault. The ship is damaged and they land on a planet, they name Suckass, for repairs. They do a little A-Tech scouting while waiting for the crew to fix the ship and have to escape from some strange and dangerous creatures. They do find some A-Tech but while trying to capitalize on it end up in a battle between two pirate factions and and crashed a second time. This was a fun book, full of monsters, pirates, Heavy Metal Pirates, space battles, spies, traitors, alien stuff, Irish-ness, smart ass, and comedy. While I feel the later books are better, I still really liked the characters and premise, and it made me want to continue the series.


Book #2 Intergalactic Bogtrotter (an inexpensive eBook)

inexpensive ebook
Intergalactic Bogtrotter

After a failed A-Tech hunt, where Donal looses the Skint Idjit, what remains of the old crew, plus Fletch's sometimes girlfriend Imogen, accept a job from Fletch's pirate uncle Finian. They head out onto the interstellar railroad hauling supplies for one of Finian's endeavors, which is probably a mission to settle a grudge between Finian and his old rival, another pirate, called Special Delivery Sam. As the supply ship of Finian's fleet they are last in line for everything and entrusted with only the most important duties like locating the fleet's barbecue grill. Eventually there is a space battle and Fletch et al are attacked by Special Delivery Sam's gang and forced off the railroad. They crash land on a barren planet that is a drift in space and find domed city like structures left behind by, of course, dead aliens. A-Tech? Possibly. More Pirates? Likely. Fun? Definitely!


Book #3 Banjaxed Ceili (an inexpensive eBook)

inexpensive ebook
Banjaxed Ceili

Fletch realizes that playing by the rules will not win him his own planet, and to save himself and his friends, he decides to "liberate" an A-tech artefact called The Gizmo of Rejuvenation from those better off than himself. This heist does not go well, of course, and Fletch must save his friends and and a one-time enemy from shady corporations, Biomodders an extreme saleswoman, his uncle, and the police while trying to salvage the something from the robbery. In this book we also get to see a little of The Ghost Train, which is a major character in the next book. While the plot is super simple, this book was a roller-coaster ride from beginning to end and I really enjoyed the 3rd book and I think it is my 2nd favorite of the series; book #4 was the best for me.



Book #4 Supermassive Blackguard (an inexpensive eBook)

inexpensive ebook
Supermassive Blackguard

GHOST TRAIN!!! Yes, in this one we finally get to see what it is like on The Ghost Train. After their heist goes does not turn out as well as they hoped, Fletch, his love interest, an old enemy, and his uncle Finian, end up on the infamous Ghost Train. Here they meet a new character Caleb Dunhill from Roswell Texas, and a couple Gandy Dancers. They are all stuck together on the train as it speeds towards the center of the galaxy and we get to see a lot of fun alien technology while tension builds between the eclectic crew, in spite of the enormity of the train. Their trip is full of adventure and danger both on and off the ship but the destination, it's the grand finale, really made the book for me. We meet a lot of aliens, hunt for A-Tech and Sam's long lost father, and ultimately have a of a showdown with the fate of humanity at stake via a pub quiz in the bar of the Nursing Home at the Core of the Galaxy. It is crazy, absurd, and totally out there, but I loved every bit of this one and it left me sad when it was over.

Felix says there will be another story written in this "universe" and while I don't like long series, in this case, I hope it happens.


Book links (mostly Amazon and a free eBook or an inexpensive eBook)

The Reluctant Adventures of Fletcher Connolly on the Interstellar Railroad: Rubbish With Names (free eBook)
http://felixrsavage.com/free-books/
(sign up for the author's mailing list and you get three free books, including the prequel for this series; all of which are good)


The Reluctant Adventures of Fletcher Connolly on the Interstellar Railroad Vol. 1: Skint Idjit (inexpensive eBook)
https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Adventures-Fletcher-Connolly-Interstellar-ebook/dp/B01HY5SJSS/


The Reluctant Adventures of Fletcher Connolly on the Interstellar Railroad Vol. 2: Intergalactic Bogtrotter (inexpensive eBook)
https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Adventures-Fletcher-Connolly-Interstellar-ebook/dp/B01IQMKGXO/


The Reluctant Adventures of Fletcher Connolly on the Interstellar Railroad Vol. 3: Banjaxed Ceili (inexpensive eBook)
https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Adventures-Fletcher-Connolly-Interstellar-ebook/dp/B01KJ8HFLE/

The Reluctant Adventures of Fletcher Connolly on the Interstellar Railroad Vol. 4: Supermassive Blackguard (inexpensive eBook)
https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Adventures-Fletcher-Connolly-Interstellar-ebook/dp/B01LXHX4GC/


Author's website (where you can get other free eBooks from this independent author):
http://felixrsavage.com/interstellar-railroad-series/