Mechanical Failure

By Joe Zieja

The Two Hundred Years (And Counting) Peace Treaty led to inept military bureaucracy, and no one is more perfectly suited to take advantage of it than R. Wilson Rogers (don’t ask what the ‘R’ stands for). After drinking, gambling, and swindling his way through the military, he’s ready for something bigger: professional space pirate.

But pirating is risky, namely it’s illegal, even in space. And when Rogers is arrested attempting to pull off his biggest con yet, his sentence is re-enlistment. More drinking, grilling, and poker? Rogers couldn’t agree fast enough.

However, the military he left is not the military he finds upon boarding the MPS FLAGSHIP. A conspiracy is afoot, with soldiers doing actual soldier things and AI-droids handling sensitive intelligence. Rogers is the only one who questions the droids' information, but the bureaucracy doesn’t care. Which means his worst nightmare: he might have to do actual work to prevent a war.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781625672339

Joe Zieja

Joe Zieja is an author with a long history of doing things that have almost nothing to do with writing at all. A graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Joe dedicated over a decade of his life to wearing The Uniform, marching around in circles and shouting commands at people while in turn having commands shouted at him. It was both a great deal of fun and a great nuisance, and he wouldn’t have had it any other way. Joe’s also a commercial voiceover artist and a composer of music for video games and commercials. He’s probably interrupted your Spotify playlist at least once to encourage you to click on the banner below and isn’t the least bit upset that you ignored him.

Reviews for Mechanical Failure

[pascale1812 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The exploits of R Wilson Rogers are ridiculous, hilarious, and entirely accessible for the reader with only a passing acquaintance with the sci-fi genre. Some jokes seemed over-used by the later chapters, but they were still surrounded by original moments which had me snorting.

I listened to this on audio, and audio-books aren't usually my thing, but I decided to give it a go since Joe himself was narrating. And, yeah, it was awesome. (For you Fire Emblem fans, it may take a few chapters to remember that, no, this is not Claude telling a bedtime story to the Golden Deer.)