{"id":28774,"date":"2023-10-19T15:00:10","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=28774"},"modified":"2023-10-19T09:20:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T09:20:27","slug":"the-hard-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/10\/19\/the-hard-switch\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hard Switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Owen D. Pomery <\/strong>(Avery Hill Publishing)
\nISBN: 978-1-910395-70-7 (HB)<\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Worlds Enough but Never the Time\u2026 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a dog-eat-dog universe and commerce is the only weapon with real power. Everything knows that. However, in what appears to be a barely-fictionalised acknowledgment of the tone of our times, Owen D. Pomery (after wowing discriminating comics fans with books Victory Point<\/strong> & British Ice<\/strong>, or shorter pieces Between the Billboards<\/strong>, The Megatherium Club Vl. 1: The Great Ape<\/strong>) has again picked imagination as his instrument for low-key speculative pessimism and wrought one of the most sinister sagas in utterly ages.<\/p>\n

After studying architecture, mastering printmaking and succeeding in commercial illustration venues as varied as Tribune<\/strong>, Monocle<\/strong> and The New Yorker<\/strong>, subtle visualizer Pomery turns his Ligne Claire-influenced eye (like Herg\u00e9 jamming with Moebius) and seditious tendencies upon a declining tomorrow too much like the one we\u2019re all enduring\u2026<\/p>\n

A glorious paean to traditional \u201chard sci fi\u201d, The Hard Switch<\/strong> follows hard-working independent traders at the end of civilisation. Interplanetary, interstellar, and intergalactic travel\/trade depend on a substance called Alcanite. The mineral facilitates all converse between worlds and it\u2019s almost all gone. When there\u2019s no more, the universe faces an abrupt and total reversion to complete isolation-by-distance and everyone gets stuck wherever they are when the lights go out and the other shoe drops\u2026<\/p>\n

In advance of imminent inescapable disaster, many seek to monopolise what resources remain, whilst others – like cargo freighter crew Ada<\/em>, pilot Haika<\/em> and octopoid engineer Mallic<\/em> – graft even harder. They are exploring every wreck and rumour: stockpiling exotic artefacts or simple offworld nuts-&-bolts in anticipation of the worst panic buying spree in history\u2026<\/p>\n

On desolate desert world Dakhos, a chance encounter with other salvage-scavengers leads to a staggering theory when a truly ancient artefact hints at another method of star-travel predating – and utterly exclusive of – Alcanite. Humanoid Ada is descended from Mateaic nomads and the relic holds clues arguably confirming the legends that her kind roamed the stars before the over-exploited mineral was ever discovered\u2026<\/p>\n

Sadly, proving it won\u2019t pay bills, so they continue hauling cargo while quietly looking for more data. Their search sparks clashes with organised crime, murderous \u201chunters\u201d, and even people-smugglers, before their misplaced – and unaffordable – ethics lead to another mouth to feed after cargo-turned-sole-survivor Hodge<\/em> joins the crew. The 12-year-old also has plenty of close calls before the crew fetch up the world of a super-rich scientist who might have the information they need to offer civilisation a second chance, if not actual salvation\u2026<\/p>\n

Naturally, he\u2019s not at all what he seems, or what they need.<\/p>\n

Tense and action-oriented, subtle and potently affable, this yarn is packed with tension and intrigue as our unlikely stars seek a whole new\/old manner of interstellar transit and just staying alive for a sequel. Seductive and restrained in the Continental manner, The Hard Switch <\/strong>is a potent confection delivered in a beautiful, evocative and utterly compelling way no one could possibly resist. Therefore just don\u2019t\u2026 possibly all the vacation you\u2019ll need this year\u2026
\n\u00a9 Owen D. Pomery 2023.<\/p>\n

The Hard Switch <\/strong>is scheduled for release on October 24th<\/sup> 2023 and is available for pre-order now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Owen D. Pomery (Avery Hill Publishing) ISBN: 978-1-910395-70-7 (HB) Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Worlds Enough but Never the Time\u2026 9\/10 It\u2019s a dog-eat-dog universe and commerce is the only weapon with real power. Everything knows that. However, in what appears to be a barely-fictionalised acknowledgment of the tone of our times, Owen D. Pomery … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Hard Switch”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[42,239,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-british","category-drama","category-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7u6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28774"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28777,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28774\/revisions\/28777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}