Review of some Aston West Space Opera by T.M. Hunter

I'm a friend of Mr. Hunter's and I'm always excited when he releases more Aston West stories. Aston is my favorite space pirate and his adventures are always fun and exciting. 

What's cool is that Hunter has bundled his many Aston West space shinanigans into three story sets called "Triple Shots." He has five collections of such bundles and all are worth checking out. 

Here's my review of his latest:

Sweet Embrace and Other Adventures 

by T. M. Hunter 

Published by Crosshairs Press, 2015 (about 35 pages)

Three more Aston West adventures centering around the space pirate/smuggler's relationship with a relative newcomer to the smuggling game, knock-out beauty Diedra Cane. 

In tale number one, Conventional Wisdom, Aston gets in and out of a sticky situation...with a little help from Diedra. In the second story, Sweet Embrace, we see a more compassionate side to Aston, grace under fire, if you will. And finally, he wins the day in Ridealong, the third story where Cane's naivete once again gets our hero into a bit of trouble. 

If you like space opera, wild adventure, and a turnabout storyline, these triple shots are just the thing for a quick lunch break escape or bedtime reading.

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Review of Friends In Deed by T.M. Hunter

The Aston West Series by T.M. Hunter
Review by Lyn Perry

Although a sequel to Heroes Die Young, the short novel Friends In Deed can be read as a stand alone adventure. It is set in the Aston West universe and features a reluctant space pirate hoodwinked into carrying out one last deed with some former "friends" that he'd just as soon forget.

The protagonist's first person voice is wry and witty, but isn't overdone. We get to know Aston's back story a bit and can sympathize with his predicament, struggles, and decisions. Good story telling mixed with adventure and a plot that builds until the end. It is a fast paced thriller in space - space opera usually is, so fans of this genre won't be disappointed.

The novel starts strong; an early turning point and rising action hint at where you're headed but spools out enough mystery to keep the pages turning. Overall, fairly well plotted, but with a few loose ends - which allows, conveniently enough, for a third novel in the series, Death Brings Victory and also a fourth, All Good Things. The whole series is solid story telling, btw. 

Hunter's Aston West novels are adult themed, although nothing objectionable language-wise; however there are a few "senseless" deaths (not by Aston's hand) in book two, but this is part of the novel's subtle theme and poses a necessary crisis and internal struggle for the protagonist. Overall, the books are probably more YA and than MG if you're thinking you might want to buy them for your kids.

I'd recommend this series to anyone interested in adventure, even if space isn't your preferred setting. The science isn't intense, but the fiction is. In fact, I liked Hunter's collection of short stories, Dead or Alive: An Aston West Collection, enough to publish them via Tule Fog Press! 

So while I like Hunter's short stories featuring Aston, his novels (of which I haven't published any) allow the author's storytelling skills to really shine, in my opinion. I'd give them something close to an 8 out of 10. Well worth reading.

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Dead or Alive by T.M. Hunter

Disclaimer! I'm the editor and publisher of Dead or Alive - An Aston West Collection by T.M. Hunter. That being said, I think it reasonable to assume that if I liked these stories well enough to publish them I should be able to talk about them! After all, editors are simply people who promote stories they enjoy reading. So read on...

The Aston West series is classic space opera where rawhide adventure of the frontier meets sophisticated technology of the 23rd century. T.M. Hunter has developed an engaging and likeable antihero in Aston West, the reformed (?) space pirate who still manages to get himself into a number of ill-advised scrapes. That, despite the gentle guidance of his AI companion, Jeanie, who is his ship's brain and has a few adventures of her own.

In Dead or Alive, Hunter pulls together a representative collection of 11 new and classic stories featuring Aston, Jeanie, and a number of other recurring characters. These short fictions coordinate nicely with Hunter's longer works, Heroes Die Young and Friends in Deed. (Visit AstonWest.com.) These compact novels, along with the novella Seeker, establish the author as a fresh voice in the expanding universe of space opera/science fiction. T.M. Hunter is here to stay, and we can thank him that Aston West is as well.

Note: The Kindle, NOOK, EPUB, and other e-versions are on their way. In the mean time, you can buy a 10 story collection at iTunes for your iPad/iPhone (see the different cover to the left? That's why!). Also, the paperback is always available at CreateSpace.

Some Amazon Reviews:
“Fabulous book! I was kept in suspense on every page and I couldn't stop reading until the end!” - About Heroes Die Young

“My favorite sci fi hero is back! Aston West, the reluctant hero and space scavenger, seems like an old, dear friend to me.” - About Friends in Deed