''Void Dogs''
is a fantasy Space Opera by Alexandra Erin, better known for the adult fantasy series Tales of MU. This lighter, more comedic story follows the misadventures of the crew of the Shays Rebellion, a deep space cargo ship owned by a shady businessman and manned by nameless RedShirts and a crew of "lovable" rogues, including:
- Lilliana Corsair, scheming "den mother" and manager of the ship's affairs.
- Dick Unger, the pilot.
- Regan Bard, delusional mechanic. Possible exiled prince.
- Galatea Adams, oversexed computer expert.
- Leo Parda, a genetically altered cat man.
- Nick Bradley, a practitioner of the "clone lifestyle."
- Handy, AKA Handjob, one of a group of mass-produced parahumans with another set of arms instead of legs.
The ship's owner, Daniel Shays, doesn't care what the crew does as long as they keep the money coming in.
Provides examples of:
- Action Survivor: Lilliana
- Anvil on Head: When the ship is boarded, Handy drops various items including potted plants, a bowling ball and an anchor out of the air ducts onto the intruders. The incongruity of keeping things like potted plants, a bowling ball or an anchor in the duct system is noted.
- Author Filibuster: In a couple places, the action halts while the narration or a character explains something that bugs the author about science fiction. It's Played for Laughs.
- A Wizard Did It: Faster-Than-Light Travel, Artificial Gravity, anything else that's impossible or wildly improbable according to the laws of physics is said to be magic instead.
- BFG: Cicada's GSMR gun.
- BFS: Regan's monoedge sword.
- The Captain: Not present among this crew of sociopaths.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Regan, full stop. Most of the time, she barely seems competent. When the fighting starts, it's a different story. It helps that she's also The Berserker.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Regan. Half of what she says is delusions. The other half is lies.
- The Caper: The museum job.
- Deadpan Snarker: Leo.
- Dirty Coward: Daniel Shays. He's willing to throw non-essential personnel to a pursuing necromancer in order to make sure he gets away. Lilliana is a more pragmatic version of this.
- Dramatic Gun Cock: Lampshaded. A button producing user selectable gun cock sound effects is built into Cicada's high-tech BFG.
- Expy: Handy is essentially one of Lois McMaster Bujold's quaddies with her Comically Serious knob turned up to 11.
- Future Imperfect:
- One chapter includes references to Michelangelo Buonarroti's David sculpture and Edvard Munch's famous The Scream poster.
- Not to mention Regan's favorite author, the great Irish writer Marc Twain!
- Plus New York city was believed to be a myth for a long time, "An English colony on the American coast, seriously?"
- Insistent Terminology: Regan insists on putting a the before all names or nicknames
- Orphaned Etymology: Lampshaded repeatedly, including a self deprecating reference to an "early 21st century writer" who was notorious for her insistence on repeatedly lampshading Orphaned Etymology.
- Police Code for Everything: The Fickle Finger's security has a code for "exiled royalty has detonated a bottle". They also have one for "exiled royalty has detonated a turtle".
-
Schedule Slip: Seems to be getting better, though. - Space People: Liliana is a "space gypsy" while Handy is designed for zero-g work.
- Technobabble: ruthlessly mocked as scientific-sounding excuses for A Wizard Did It
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: The museum job.
- Used Future: used, abused, and sold at a discount.
- Wrench Wench: Regan, but don't call her a wench. She's actually the exiled prince of Nova Hibernia.
