Your first day in the Waste can often be your last...
The first Post-Apocalyptic E-novel in the After-Skirmish series by C.W. Ashley.
In a vicious future, humanity is struggling to rebuild society after a near endless string of devastating wars known only as the 'skirmishes'. Currently the only semblance of civilization are the fortress-like 'Citadels' where the most fortunate live. Outside of these structures there is only 'The Big Waste' an almost endless stretch of barren land roaming with mutant predators and deadly bandits.
Ignition is a Citdael Destruction Derby star who is bored with his life of crashing cars every week, and decides to take a job delivering some cargo through the Big Waste for a change of pace. Not knowing quite how much it will change everything about his life.
The Big Waste contains examples of:
- All Women Are Lustful: Can Apply to Iggy's companions. All 3 make the first move with him, seeming to have a very healthy sexual appetite, although the true reasons for this vary among them.
- Amazon Chaser: Iggy ends up as this. All 3 of his companions are extremely powerful and deadly in their own way.
- Amazonian Beauty: Clarissa is 6'2, built with solid muscle and is described as very alluring. Sil also counts; she isn't as tall but still very toned.
- Ambiguous Gender: Penoli at first, but Iggy determines her to be female after she speaks.
- An Arm and a Leg: Slight subversion as Mode is an android who isn't fully built, and is missing an arm due to being incomplete.
- Bad Guy Bar: Subverted. The Iron Knuckle appears to be this when Iggy first arrives, but he soon finds the rough looking patrons to be quite affable and friendly (in part due to Iggy's Respected by the Respected celebrity status).
- Car Fu: Iggy was the number 4 ranked Derby Driver in the world for a reason.
- Cool Car: The Blockgain Chaser is a custom muscle car, infamously known the waste as the The Black Kill-Car
- Crapsack World: This for anyone living outside of the Citadel (which isn't even that great). The Big Waste is a polluted, war ravaged Death World filled with things wanting to kill, rob and eat you all the time. As one character says "Don't worry, you won't live long enough to starve out here"
- Distracted by the Sexy: Iggy. He is immensely attracted to his companions and they all steal his focus on more than one occasion.
- Full-Frontal Assault: Sil and Mode are both deadly fighters who have little concept of human modesty (justified due to being a Wild Child and Robot Girl respectively)
- New Neo City: Citdaels are societies attempt at this. Most people in Citadels live fairly safe lives in comparison to the rest of the world. They are Proto-Cyberpunk cities that have City Noir and Neon City for the wealthiest 'Citi-zens' and more of an Industrial Ghetto for the poorer class.
- Vampire-Werewolf Love Triangle: Downplayed. Iggy does have a relationship with both Sil and Clarissa. But apart from some initial wariness of each other, they get on fairly well and Clarissa comes to care about Sil nearly as much as Iggy does.
- Vampires Are Sex Gods: Clarissa. She's had lots of sex with lots of people and she's good at it. Though her true desire for it lies within the rush she gets from absorbing bodily fluids after climax.
- You Sexy Beast: None of the females in Iggy's Battle Harem are human.
