This was a really fun sci-fi horror. Reminiscent of the Alien franchise--and, to be honest, if you've seen any of those movies you kinda know how it goes--Ness Brown utilizes some of the typical tropes of sci-fi horror, but it in no way bores you. The Scourge Between Stars is short, sweet (well, bloody), and to the point.

While I enjoyed the characters and the setup of The Scourge Between Stars, the horror elements were not developed well enough to leave a lasting impression. The novel would have benefitted from being more thoroughly fleshed out, with emphasis on providing greater deviation from the familiar plot points of Alien. When the engagements first started, the engineers had hypothesized that the fleet had encountered some kind of interstellar energy fluid, though their forebears hadn’t reported anything of the kind. As the engagements got worse, conservative explanations were replaced with the harrowing realization that they might not be the only ones roaming the void. I seriously hope this is like a prequel novella or something to a larger series. I would love more with these characters and within this SF-world. I’m doing much more than that,” he insisted. “I’ve developed and imported into Watson a processing library more sophisticated than anything Data has ever run before. This morning I put the finishing touches on a new series of tasks that should be able to find what we’ve been missing.”But in her dreams she had always emerged from the Calypso after her father and mother, with her sister beside her. No matter the promise this signal held, that dream would never come true. She was painfully reminded of that by the eerie sound floating out of Watson’s familiar face, a face stolen from the grave. I absolutely loved this little novella. It's the perfect amount of suspenseful and horrifying. I'm definitely going to be purchasing a physical copy when it comes out in April. He’d explained it to her before—the decades that the fleet had spent on Proxima b, exposed even at the terminator to the host star’s radiation tantrums, had corroded a number of systems and machines.

Tense, gory, and genuinely creepy…. Brown handles the astronomy and exobiology equally as competently as the interpersonal dynamics and trauma. The result is a sci-fi horror mash-up that holds its own with the classics of the genre.” — Publishers Weekly I'm here to report ship and mission status.' She looked as stupid yelling outside the bulkhead now as she had the first twenty times." If you do not look too deep, The Scourge Between Stars is an enjoyable and diverting book which can easily read in a couple of sittings, but as I grew up on science fiction giants who set the bar incredibly high, such Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, with other authors such as Robert McCammon and Scott Sigler, who blend science fiction and horror beautifully, found myself looking at the holes. On a number of occasions the book refers to “engagements” and as mankind has never previously encountered alien life, it is not clear what these dangerous “engagements” were. Meteor storms, asteroids or other unexplained space phenomenon I would presume. Again, more clarity would have helped.The doctor asked for you.” The android stood up in a well-oiled stretch of repurposed metal. “He’s made progress.” We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown, a tense sci-fi/horror blend set aboard a doomed generation ship—publishing April 4, 2023 with Tor Nightfire. Each of the ships in the fleet is named after goddesses and I liked the references. The characters also had distinct personalities and were fleshed out nicely, even for ones with limited appearances. The real spotlight however is in the story and intense atmosphere throughout the book. It perfectly captured the claustrophobia of being trapped in a hostile environment with nowhere to go. The ones behind the engagements probably weren’t gods, even with the ability to make interstellar war, but they were definitely too advanced for the fleet’s antiquated systems to detect or hail. The Calypso had no way of sidestepping the invisible crossfire of the skirmish that had drifted into their neighborhood since their species had last crossed this empty space. She looked as stupid yelling outside the bulkhead now as she had the first twenty times. “We voted to decelerate again today. Repairs are ahead of schedule, but we can barely take another hit.” She recited the items from the briefing at the wall. “I vetoed the delivery of extra resources to Orion and Cygnus Wards. There will be more demonstrations, but our ration levels are already critical.” After a pause, she shared what had happened in Data. “Otto may have figured out a way to avoid the engagements.”

Trust me, if you think you know where this story is going, you're wrong. Combines the sudden, heart-rending fear of immediate danger with the freezing spun-out dread of being lost in infinite space. Just wonderful.” — David Wellington, author of The Last Astronaut The nitty-gritty: The Scourge Between Stars had plenty of thrilling action, but the story itself was too big for the short format. Otto’s lips pursed at the interruption. “Watson is the most advanced post-zettascale system ever constructed.” He didn’t have the decency, as its creator, to blush as he said so. “It’s about as difficult for her to ingest the data as it is for you and me to take a biscuit with our coffee.” NESS BROWN is a speculative fiction author by day and astrophysicist by night. They are a proud New Mexican living in New York City (and missing green chile) with their husband and two cats, Faust and Mephi. They are currently studying graduate astrophysics after several years of teaching astronomy and encouraging students to wonder about worlds beyond our own. The Scourge Between Stars is their debut.

Read The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

Horror details are skimpy, and are more about suspense of both mystery and situation than body-horror. Personally, that's exactly the kind of book I'm looking for. The Scourge Between Stars starts off feeling a bit like a haunted house story - there's inexplicable noises coming from within the walls, things malfunction seemingly without cause, panels explode, etc. It's an effective opening that primes us for Brown's ultimate reveal, even if that reveal isn't particularly surprising, shifting gears from haunted house to violent creature feature. It's very much an Alien clone (in fact, Jonathan Barkan opines that Alien is the perfect haunted house movie in his piece for Bloody Disgusting. If you're going to copy somebody's template, you may as well copy from the best, right?), but Brown puts in just enough of their own touches to make the story feel more like pastiche than pure derivative. Sadly, Brown's few attempts to make the story their own aren't quite enough to salvage the whole enterprise. For readers worried about it being too dark and gruesome, you get just enough detail to know what's going down but the body horror isn't too graphic. Ness Brown’s The Scourge Between Stars is a tense, claustrophobic sci-fi/horror blend set aboard a doomed generation ship harboring something terrible within its walls. The Scourge Between Stars has some nice jump scares and cool action sequences whilst recycling a well-used science fiction trope to favourable effect. The story nails the claustrophobia and loneliness of space, but I am unconvinced the cosmic horror-style vibe the ending connects with the rest of the narrative. Ultimately it is a solid read but has the potential to be much better if expanded and fleshed out. Grades:

It has a good heart: an interim female captain trying to find her footing, a potential romantic interest, the sense of scrappy, desperate humanity going to try and overcome the odds through science, technology and grit. With all the elements that were eventually brought into the story (spoilery thematic stuff family trauma, failed colony, missing fleet mystery, robots/AI, finite resources, insurrection, romance ), it might have been a bit too much for a novella. The Scourge Between Starshad so much potential, but unfortunately it ended up being way too ambitious for its length. Still, Ness Brown’s writing is really good, and despite my reservations about this book, I’d love to see what they come up with next. This novella has everything I want in a sci-fi horror: lots of action, excellent character arcs, and a solid resolution.”— Buzzfeed

Science fiction and horror go together like peanut butter and jelly. It’s a delicious concoction that begs to be devoured whenever it makes its way to my plate. And much like the sandwich, there is no perfect ratio of jelly to peanut butter, each sandwich offering its highs and lows, but always delectably finishable. But every now and then, you manage to perfect the unrepeatable ratio and create heaven for your tastebuds. The Scourge Between The Stars, a debut novella by Ness Brown, is one of those sandwiches with the right ratios, smashing together well recognized tropes of the combined genres, while adding her own spin to the tried and true formula. I trust you understand the magnitude of this moment,” Otto said, closing Watson’s mouth and cutting off the transmission. The Scourge Between Stars is a SF-Horror novella from Ness Brown. I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook, which is performed by my favorite narrator, Bahni Turpin. It could take weeks—months—years to translate this data.” Otto hummed. “Perhaps longer to figure out how to use it to map a safe route.” Just once,” Otto admitted. “That’s all I had time for after the briefing. That’s why I had Watson escort you here.”