What do you think?
Gunmaker
Martika Clybourne is the new legal consultant for 433 Platinum Mining LLC on Gavin Station, a torus happily spinning inside the asteroid, Eros. What was meant to be an easy job is turned upside-down when she's called to investigate an officer killed by bullet wounds on a station with no projectile weapons.
Her investigation turns up more corruption and shady business than she thought possible for such a small colony. But when the sixteen-year-old, alleged murderer is apprehended, two sides form: the officers and company enforcers against the station workers. Martika quickly realizes her recently deceased supervisor was the only person holding this spinning station of unrest together, and it's up to her to keep it from turning to chaos.
Come for the civil unrest and stay for the rebellion in Gunmaker by Chris Gerrib!
Her investigation turns up more corruption and shady business than she thought possible for such a small colony. But when the sixteen-year-old, alleged murderer is apprehended, two sides form: the officers and company enforcers against the station workers. Martika quickly realizes her recently deceased supervisor was the only person holding this spinning station of unrest together, and it's up to her to keep it from turning to chaos.
Come for the civil unrest and stay for the rebellion in Gunmaker by Chris Gerrib!
300 pages, Paperback
Published August 25, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Author
The Gunmaker is an exciting, fast-paced, ensemble sci-fi novel.
While there are many perspective characters, it prominently features Martika, the chief legal counsel for Eros 433, a platinum mining asteroid. The structure of the asteroid is reminiscent of an old mining town. The employees are all deep and hopelessly in debt to the management of the asteroid. Apparently, a "financial advisor” recommended they go into debt to buy company stock. When the price of platinum, and therefore the value of the stock, takes a plunge, they find themselves in a bit of a pickle.
Things take a turn when a 16 year old girl, Jane, avenges her father's death by shooting one of the security forces that killed him. A manhunt results and it all builds a sense of tension in the asteroid.
Eros seems like a real place. The setting is well defined; the residents live in little hooches (makeshift houses of sorts). The asteroid is spinning, which gives the residents gravity near the exterior, but not in the center. While the technology of the station is futuristic, it is all very believable to me, perhaps even bordering on possible to someone with an endless purse.
The characters in the book are also well established. Much of the leadership is a bit self-absorbed in a comical, yet believable way. The head of security fancies himself as some kind of chief of police and calls himself lieutenant. The station's nepotistic leader, Louis Gavin the III, calls himself “Senior Executive Vice President”.
The medium of the book was interesting as well. Most of it is limited, 3rd person, following the perspective character of that section (not always a chapter), but other mediums are used as well. For example, an interview style is used to frame some events of the book from the perspective of someone after the fact. Additionally there are emails between characters that serve the narrative.
The book has an exciting conclusion but does leave the reader wondering how some of the finer points turned up. For those interested in realistic sci-fi, unrestrained capitalism in space, and an engaging narrative, this is a book for you; I highly recommend it.
While there are many perspective characters, it prominently features Martika, the chief legal counsel for Eros 433, a platinum mining asteroid. The structure of the asteroid is reminiscent of an old mining town. The employees are all deep and hopelessly in debt to the management of the asteroid. Apparently, a "financial advisor” recommended they go into debt to buy company stock. When the price of platinum, and therefore the value of the stock, takes a plunge, they find themselves in a bit of a pickle.
Things take a turn when a 16 year old girl, Jane, avenges her father's death by shooting one of the security forces that killed him. A manhunt results and it all builds a sense of tension in the asteroid.
Eros seems like a real place. The setting is well defined; the residents live in little hooches (makeshift houses of sorts). The asteroid is spinning, which gives the residents gravity near the exterior, but not in the center. While the technology of the station is futuristic, it is all very believable to me, perhaps even bordering on possible to someone with an endless purse.
The characters in the book are also well established. Much of the leadership is a bit self-absorbed in a comical, yet believable way. The head of security fancies himself as some kind of chief of police and calls himself lieutenant. The station's nepotistic leader, Louis Gavin the III, calls himself “Senior Executive Vice President”.
The medium of the book was interesting as well. Most of it is limited, 3rd person, following the perspective character of that section (not always a chapter), but other mediums are used as well. For example, an interview style is used to frame some events of the book from the perspective of someone after the fact. Additionally there are emails between characters that serve the narrative.
The book has an exciting conclusion but does leave the reader wondering how some of the finer points turned up. For those interested in realistic sci-fi, unrestrained capitalism in space, and an engaging narrative, this is a book for you; I highly recommend it.
September 15, 2026
Gerrib’s gripping story pits a murder investigation against mounting corporate corruption and a colony edging toward revolt. On Gavin Station, a mining colony spinning inside the asteroid Eros, newly arrived legal consultant Martika Clybourne finds her supposedly straightforward job complicated by a suspicious death. When another killing follows—this time involving a weapon that should not exist—the isolated community’s simmering tensions threaten to erupt.
Gerrib makes particularly effective use of the novel’s closed environment. Gavin Station is technologically impressive but socially claustrophobic, a place where workers depend on the same corporation for employment, security, transportation, and much of everyday life. Falling platinum prices and mounting debts steadily increase the pressure, allowing the station’s economic problems to become inseparable from its growing political divisions.
Martika is an engaging center for the unfolding crisis. Wry, outspoken, and increasingly troubled by what she discovers, she must navigate the uncomfortable distance between protecting her employer and recognizing abuses that cannot easily be dismissed. Jane provides the novel’s more volatile counterpoint. Her intelligence and mechanical ability make her especially memorable, while her circumstances give the mystery an emotional urgency beyond the question of guilt. Gerrib expands the investigation gradually into a broader examination of authority, justice, labor, and resistance without losing the thriller’s momentum. Multiple perspectives deepen the portrait of a community whose residents disagree about both the source of their problems and what should be done about them. The result is a taut, provocative thriller about what happens when authority loses its claim to obedience.
Gerrib makes particularly effective use of the novel’s closed environment. Gavin Station is technologically impressive but socially claustrophobic, a place where workers depend on the same corporation for employment, security, transportation, and much of everyday life. Falling platinum prices and mounting debts steadily increase the pressure, allowing the station’s economic problems to become inseparable from its growing political divisions.
Martika is an engaging center for the unfolding crisis. Wry, outspoken, and increasingly troubled by what she discovers, she must navigate the uncomfortable distance between protecting her employer and recognizing abuses that cannot easily be dismissed. Jane provides the novel’s more volatile counterpoint. Her intelligence and mechanical ability make her especially memorable, while her circumstances give the mystery an emotional urgency beyond the question of guilt. Gerrib expands the investigation gradually into a broader examination of authority, justice, labor, and resistance without losing the thriller’s momentum. Multiple perspectives deepen the portrait of a community whose residents disagree about both the source of their problems and what should be done about them. The result is a taut, provocative thriller about what happens when authority loses its claim to obedience.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews