Spinward Fringe Broadcast 5: Fracture

Spinward Fringe #5

by Randolph Lalonde

The crew of the Triton, a rare, Earth built Space Combat Carrier, make their way to Ossimi Station, a safe haven for independent ships and traders. In a galaxy gripped by conflict and teetering on the verge of chaos, Captain Jacob Valance and his crew will be faced with the unexpected, the unknown, and an opportunity to save thousands of lives. Will their sympathy be their undoing?

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction, Adventure, Military Science Fiction, Ebooks, Space

177 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 2, 2009

About the author

Born in 1974, Randolph Lalonde has worked in customer service, sales, played drums for several heavy metal bands you've never heard of, dealt blackjack in a traveling casino, and serviced countless computers. He's also owned businesses in the design, printing, collectible and custom computer fields.

He completed writing his first novel in the fantasy adventure genre at the age of fifteen and has been writing ever since.

He self published his first novel;
Fate Cycle: Sins of the Past in 2004 and after taking a break has begun to release his work again starting with the First Light Chronicles series.

Randolph Lalonde has sold thousands of eBooks to date, enough to keep writing full-time for fifteen years so far. He is deeply grateful for his following of readers and strives to improve his skills to entertain them better. The Spinward Fringe Space Opera series has proven to be his most popular offering.

He currently resides in Sudbury Ontario and manages a chapter a day writing habit.

In his diminishing spare time he reads voraciously, tinkers with design, video editing and reviews the occasional film or television show. A science fiction and fantasy fan, he often comments on the state of the entertainment industry on his website, www.randolphlalonde.com.

Reviews

[Dan McGirt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Previous entries in the ongoing Spinward Fringe saga had the sprawling feel of a classic Edgar Rice Burroughs yarn, with several groups of characters having independent (though interrelated) adventures scattered across various ships and planets, but ultimately converging (at least those who survive). Lalonde changes up the pace with Broadcast 5: Fracture. It is a faster read than the last couple of outings. Though characters do split up, the action is tight and focused, covering one very hectic day in the life of the rogue ship Triton. If Spinward Fringe were a series on the Channel-Formerly-Known-As-SciFi, Fracture could be this week's episode: "The crew of the badly damaged Triton respond to a distress signal and come to the aid of an isolated space station under assault by raiders. But all is not as it seems in the Ossimi Ring." We get great action and problem-solving, several key character relationships advance, and there is a new development in the larger plot that promises more trouble ahead for the Triton crew. I'm definitely tuning in next week!

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good!

[The Pirate Ghost (Formerly known as the Curmudgeon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another strong showing by Randolph Lalonde. The Spinward Fringe series is a wonderful read and this is no exception. The journey getting the team back together keeps going foreward. The old crew meets the new crew under Jacob Valence (Don't call him Valentine) and there are harrowing escapes (some miraculously so) and wicked sci-fi villains in the mold of sci-fi villains before us. We start getting a glimpse that there is a deeper thread running through this series that holds them all together. Deeper than loyalty to Jacob Valence/Jason Valent. Stephanie is the coolest space chick in a long time (and yes, she'd kick my butt for calling her "space chick" if she were't so fictional). Frost is an interesting, almost anti-hero who is difficult to figure out, well not so difficult, but difficult to figure where his place and what his role his here.

Good things. Heroes have issues too. Strong Roles for female characters. The "big bad" is coming and more Mihn Chu Bu, Steph and the like.

It's a fun story, better than those that came before it and it keeps getting better. That's such a good thing....for me I mean...I'm reading it.

[Mick Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot going on here, the Triton has made it to the Ossimi Station, but first off find themselves in a fight to save it and the slaves found on the attacking ships. But it gets worst when the leaders of the station turn that around and cause a rescue force to attack the Triton. Life is never easy for the Jake and his crew, they are only looking for some place to repair the Triton and move on, but it not going to happen here.

[Andy Bak · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve picked these books back up after having read them several years ago with the intention of completing the series but have reached this far and yet again lost interest.
Obviously I have no idea what happens next but have found this book hard going. It feels as if it is going around in circles and is starting to get a little tedious.
The grammatical errors are also frustrating and unnecessary.
I’m afraid yet again I will be putting this series down without following through

[ron dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Number 5

Loved this book they just keep getting better as they move along. Just bought number 6 I'm starting it right now. Would recommend this book to any science fiction reader out there start at number 1 and hang on for a great ride.

[Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the BEST series I've ever read. L love these books!!!

Theres never a better book than the one yhst makes you laugh, makes you cry, and is made up of characters that come to full wonderful life. This is such a book.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This, Broadcast 5, is actually the beginning of a new trilogy set in our future out on the fringe of human colonization. The writer points out that even though there are hundreds of planets which have been colonized, and whole interstellar empires that war against each other, only 14% of the Milky Way has been explored and nothing outside of our galaxy. I like that because it's realistic in scope as far as how large the universe truly is.

For an Indie writer and someone that published through Smashwords this stuff is gold. Normally I give Indie writers a little bit of leeway since I know they don't usually have access to a professional editor and the other things that the Stephen Kings of the world have. Lalonde holds his own against what I would consider as the best science fiction in the genre though. He's a machine and I wish that I could cobble together writing at this level. I'm more than a little jealous because I feel like he puts my best efforts to shame. Anyway, when I rate him as a four and five star writer, that IS rating him against the stuff coming out of the professional publishing houses in the industry.

This book seemed shorter to me than some of the others set in this world and that was a little disappointing, but for $2.99 you still can't complain. Well worth paying it so that hopefully this guy can quit his day-job and write full time as soon as possible.

If you like Battlestar Galactica, the Lost Fleet, Star Wars, Star Trek, the Deathstalker series, or others, then check out Spinward Fringe. Make sure you start with the prequel, Broadcast Zero.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spinward Fringe Fracture is a continuing story in the Spinward Fringe Broadcast series, and it also appears to be book one of the Rogue Element Trilogy. Having read the preceding books in the series, this one felt like starting over in many ways because of the way the author chose to continue the story.

The once unflinching hero, Jacob Valance, is struggling with doubts and uncertainty about his mission. His daughter, Alice, is dying, and he's on unsure ground with his resurrected love, Ayan. On top of all this, he is reunited with members of the original First Light crew -- men and women he didn't serve with directly, but knows through memories. I personally liked the strong, sure of himself Jacob Valance better that we met in earlier books, although there were some flashes of that in this book.

Overall, I thought this book was a bit of a let down especially considering how it ends with nothing resolved. I was reading on a Kindle and didn't notice I was nearing the end of the book. I was literally surprised when I reached the last page and thought to myself, "That's it?!?" I have the next book in the series and will give it a read at some point, but I'm starting to lose interest in the series.

[Nanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book annoyed me which is why I am giving it a 2 star rating instead of the 3 stars it probably deserves. Going from a 450 pages book to a 175 page book in a series just felt wrong to me and the whole book felt sort of frantic as did the way the story was being told. In all honestly there was probably nothing wrong with the story but it simply wasn't the story I was hoping for after the last book. I think the author could have done a lot better with the setup he had created in the previous book and as this was supposedly the new course he wanted to take the series I am somewhat worried that what I liked about this series might not come back. I will still check out the next book though but if it's not to my liking like this one I will seriously have to consider dropping this series.

[Kane · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was better than the previous one. The one thing which stood out to me in this book is now throughout most of the book, the author kept switching between two different storylines to show that they were occuring at the same time. It kept going back and forth until the end when the two storylines combined. I have seen it before in this series and others but it seemed drawn out in this book. At first it wasn't to my liking because I ended up having big breaks in reading between chapters, but when I sat down at read it in a continous sitting it was not bad. I hope the author puts up the broadcast 7 up for sale, because it seems like he is already working on 8.

[Douglas Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

First paragraph. "It was the most irritating thing. Nerine could never stop her mouth from watering as she cut peaches and strawberries into a bowl and brought them to Captain Gammin every morning. He always watched the video feed from the galley as she did so. Eating half a strawberry once earned her a severe beating. All she had to do to remind herself of what a taste cost was run her tongue over the bare gum where two of her molars had been."

Lalonde, Randolph (2009-11-01). Spinward Fringe Broadcast 5: Fracture (Kindle Locations 163-166). Randolph Lalonde. Kindle Edition.

[John Boettcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, the books in the series keep getting better and better. I thought that this read was a bit faster than some of his others, but not in a bad way. The story just flowed and the characters came upon some more moral and ethical questions and situations than they were used to dealing with in the past, which made the book very interesting to read. Still surprised at how fast these books are coming out.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This installment in the series was a quick read and is different from the others in not having an intricate plot with a lot going on. Instead, this is more of a quick snapshot--the action takes place over a couple of days in one place. The book ended abruptly and the story wasn't resolved in any way. I believe the action picks up immediately in the next book. Considering how short this one was, I think the author should have combined them into one complete story.

[Dale (Aus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a self published author I find this series of books outstanding. This story just builds from the first and gets you hooked further. The first 3 are free in an omnibus and worthy of the download. I now await the next to be published.

http://www.smashwords.com/ Has the first Omnibus of the "First Light Chronicles" for download.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Events continue to spiral for our beloved team from Freeground and the crew from the Sampson. As they hop from one fire to another, as old friends and lovers reunite, as a small crew and thousands of refugees meld into a family, this story continues to speed us along and surprise over and over.

A blast to read, hard to put down, and always engaging.

[Bas Kreuger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book, as Sci-Fi books go. Very fast paced (a bit too much now and then) and a good diversion from reading heavier stuff. And the price is right too ($ 0,00), so try it and see if you like it.
Lalonde uses a very technical SF writing style, with lots of detail on engines, weapons and shields, but human beings play a prominent part too luckily.

[Kimberley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book because the price was right. I wasn't expecting much, and so was pleasantly surprised and delighted when I looked forward to moments I could snatch away to read it. I'm looking forward to reading of further adventures of Captain Valent and the crew of the First Light in the rest of the series.

[Yvonne Boag · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Broadcast 5: Fracture, adversity never weakens the Triton crew or their captain; it just makes them more dangerous. This series just keeps getting better and better...(Click here to read the complete review).

[Suz L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would be a 5, but

This is a great series - wonderful storyline, characters; in depth descriptions of life in space and on spaceships - and the story has it all; love, enemies, war, survival, etc. But the incorrect use of personal pronouns is distracting and unfortunate. Read this series anyway though!

[Jim Kratzok · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series!

The continuing story of Captain Jake Valence and the crew of the Triton is a pleaser. I can't decide if it's worth 5 stars or not so I'll give it 4 for the abrupt ending. It came to a halt right in the middle of a scene that I think needed more of a finish.

Also, this book is a little on the short side of things. But otherwise, it's a good read.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another good entry within the Spinward Fringe series and a good start to the Rogue Element trilogy. This book did seem to have a few more editing errors in it than the previous books but nothing that spoiled my enjoyment.

[Eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great installment of the Spinward Fring series. The action is fast and plentiful, the characters are easy to like and are certainly underdogs. The text for the most part is free of profanity and devoid of overt sex. A great read.

[Alexander Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm finally back on track with this series, loving every minute of reading it and dreading the moment Randolph changes the whole thing again.

Lucky enough, things seem to stare where there put from here onwards and the story just keeps revealing more well hidden gems and jewels.

[Mayjori NoneYoBusiness · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my all time FAVORITE scifi series, possibly my favorite of any genre. The only problem is i get hacked off every time I read it cause it isnt long enough, short books, is actually pretty frustrating ;).

[Gary O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast-paced, action-packed series that will keep your eyes glued to the pages (or screen).

The edge of the seat style of these books is just fantastic. I really loved these and hope to read a lot more by this author.

[Brandy Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

ZOMG!!!!! I can't wait to read the sixth one. I have to find out what happens next.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another update in the 'will they ever catch a break sage' of Triton and crew. Hard core sci fir details mixed with internal story telling. Can it get a little worse for the crew, yes it can.

[Brian Rashap · Rating 5 out of 5]

I seem to be addicted to this "star trek" like serious... somewhat far fetched at times, but still greatly entertaining...and easy read in small bites.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent book by Lalonde. Some slightly annoying proofing errors, but made up for by the interesting story and fantastic characters.