Rising Sun

Hell's Cross #0.5

by David Macinnis Gill

Ris­ing Sun is a stand-alone, a pre­quel to David Macin­nis Gill’s acclaimed Black Hole Sun.

Jacob Stringfel­low, aka Durango, once had a promis­ing career in the elite armed forces. That was before. Before his father betrayed him and his unit. Before he almost died and had an arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence flash-cloned to his brain. Now Durango and Mimi (the AI) are fig­ur­ing out how to get along and fig­ur­ing out how to stay in the game. Set on a vio­lent and unfor­get­table dystopian Mars, this is a must read for fans of the author’s Black Hole Sun tril­ogy and for any­one who loves intense, action-packed sci­ence fiction.

Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Novella, Fiction, Ebooks

125 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 5, 2013

About the author

David Macinnis Gill is the author of the award-winning novels Black Hole Sun and Soul Enchilada, both from Greenwillow/Harper Collins. His short stories have appeared in several magazines, including The Crescent Review and Writer’s Forum. His critical biography of young adult author Graham Salisbury, Graham Salisbury: Island Boy, was published by Scarecrow Press. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English/creative writing and a doctorate in education, both from the University of Tennessee.

He is the Past-President of ALAN (The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents) and an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. His non-fiction, book reviews, essays, and academic work have appeared in a variety of publications, including The English Journal, Teacher-Librarian, and many others.

David’s teaching career began in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was a high school teacher at Brainerd High School and briefly at the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences. He later joined the English Department at Ohio University as an assistant professor. Currently, he is an associate professor of English education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

David has been a house painter, cafeteria manager, bookstore schleper, high school teacher, and college professor. He now lives on the Carolina coast with his family, plus fourteen fish, two rescued dogs--an airebeagle and a border setter--and a nocturnal marsupial.

Reviews

[Skip · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vienne breaks Durango out of prison to join a crew led by Aziz to rescue a man named Medici's girlfriend, Charlotte. Charlotte has supposedly been taken for ransom by another dalit, nicknamed Razor, who runs a cesspool slum called The Warren. Of course, all goes wrong when the team attempts the rescue, and the team is shocked to discover that Aziz and Razor are brothers. Durango's latent leadership and refusal to kill innocents are the main takeaways in this novella.

[Perla The IB Teen Book Blogger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfection, I loved every word. More Durango, more Vienne!!

[C.O. Bonham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short Ebook, written entierly for marketing purposes.

Doesn't add much to the story world and kind of felt like a waste of time.

Guys book for sure, nothing but shootings and explosions. Though it does have some good one liners and the character of Mimi develops from a simple AI, to the sarcastic disembodied voice we've come to love.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is like a short prequel to Black Hole Sun. I've read the trilogy and if asked I might even admit to liking it. There's a lot of scifi action on Mars ... But I wonder if the story exists only to shoot people.

I don't know. It is what it is.

[Cheri Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

The holy trinity of fiction--humor, action and romance come together in blessed awesomness once again. I can't recommend these book highly enough!

[Jana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this "origin" tale of Durango. It explained a lot that the main trilogy just inferred. Loved it!

[Jessika Szypkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very poorly edited