Vole in Paradise

In the good times after staunching the AI uprising, humanity’s coolest bros gather on a pleasure planet to test their limits with extreme physical stunts, edgy sexual conquests, and drug-fueled ascension to enlightenment. They call themselves Daredevils, competing for fame and trophies on a wild planet of poisonous plants and sentient beasts. What could go wrong? A killer STD. Vole Ublion is a damaged veteran medic sent on her worst nightmare, leaving the safety of space for the grit and licentiousness of the ground, in search of patient zero, a charismatic rogue who has disappeared into the dangerous wild. To find him, Vole will need to open herself to exotic allies and delve into the darkness of her own violent past. In this dystopian, post-apocalyptic fantasy, a former military medic goes on a psychedelic, hardboiled quest for the key to a life-or-death mystery. Cargo ship commander Bo Oliason is missing. But as Vole faces her worst fears in pursuit of his secrets, she stumbles upon a world he sacrificed everything to hide. To solve the case, Vole must risk all she thought she knew about herself, the man she is hunting, and the shady powers shaping her world.  A hardboiled Science Fiction mystery story about solving a pandemic mystery in the wild days after the android singularity, uprising, and war, Vole in Paradise puts its main character in her least favorite situation, being on the surface of a planet. She must get to the source of a mysterious, deadly new STD ravaging the space station that is her home. But the moment she touches down on the Pleasure Planet of Bilioth, things get weird and progressively more bizarre. Her first stop is a bird burlesque shop called the Aviary. For a straight-laced former military medic, the goings-on surrounding Bilioth’s big festival are challenging. Even harder is confronting the mystery of her Patient Zero, a charismatic freighter captain, and the many smokescreens surrounding his whereabouts. As Vole penetrates the mysteries of Bilioth and its’ ludicrous pleasures, she stumbles on a dangerous array of corruption she may not survive. The deeper she goes, the more she learns that enlightenment may look silly, but some things are too beautiful and rare for commercial consumption. By making peace with her past and opening herself to the future, Vole gets more than she ever expected when she set off for paradise.