Catch-22 meets Starship
Troopers in Nir Yaniv’s rollicking,
madcap military
sci-fi satire The Good Soldier
The Good Soldier by Nir Yaniv, a rollicking, madcap military sci-fi
satire that’s been described as “M*A*S*H in outer space” and “Catch-22 meets
Starship Troopers,” is the latest adult science fiction novel published by
Regina, Saskatchewan’s Shadowpaw Press.
As U.K author and critic Adam Roberts (Jack Glass) puts it, The
Good Soldier is “a rattling, SFnal updating of The Good Soldier Švejk
via Starship
Troopers (as
it might be: Švejkship Troopers): funny, pointed, readable, a subversive
depiction of the futility of war and a satire on the perennial logic of the
military mind and the structures of the army.” It is also, he adds, “highly
recommended.”
As
The Good Soldier begins, The Imperial Navy has long been at war. It is a
well-oiled machine, a mighty galactic power in which nothing can go wrong.
Enter
Pre-Private Joseph Fux, self-proclaimed Idiot, Second Class.
When
Fux arrives on board the light frigate UPS Spitz,
things immediately begin to go wrong. It’s not Fux’s fault. It never is. Accidents
just happen when he’s around, despite the best intentions.
And
as the always-cheerful Fux bungles his way through one job after another, he
throws the whole ship and its orderly crew into chaos. No one is left
unscathed: not the responsible and lonely Lt. Lipton, grieving for his lost
love; not the mercilessly logical Doctor Nightingale, who may or may not be
Lipton’s current romantic interest; not the overzealous Ensign Berseker, or the
pompous political officer, Commander Kapust. Not even the hidden, monstrous
Captain.
Knowingly
or not, Fux is an agent of resistance, his blind stupidity the only sane
response to the insanity of war. Something’s gotta give, and the tiny
spanner-in-the-works that is Fux threatens at last to destroy the entire
machinery of the Galactic Empire . . .
More praise for The Good Soldier
“In this amiable satire of the gung-ho heroics of military sci-fi,
Yaniv (coauthor of The Tel Aviv Dossier) sets a seeming simpleton against an
immense empire, and the contest is hardly fair . . . (A)n amusing alternative
to the usual run of martial marvels and battle-tested warriors. Military SF
fans will enjoy this gentle roasting.” – Publishers Weekly
“Drawing on a tradition of anti-war fiction and his own military
experience, Nir Yaniv meshes together classical American gung-ho SF with the
delightful absurdism of European literature to create an unforgettable
far-future fable for our times. Think M.A.S.H. in space, and you’ll
come closest to capturing the spirit of The
Good Soldier, but you’ll have to enmesh yourself in the
(mis)adventures of Idiot-Second-Class Fux and company of the good ship Spitz to find out for
yourself. This is one explosive novel you do not want to miss!” – Lavie Tidhar,
award-winning author of Central
Station and Neom
“A madcap dystopian satire that shoulders its way into the ranks
of Bill
the Galactic Hero and Catch-22,
then stands sloppily at attention as it smirks in the face of an apoplectic
political officer.” –
Alex Shvartsman, Award-Winning Author of The Middling
Affliction and Eridani’s Crown
About the author
NIR YANIV (niryaniv.com) is an Israeli-born multidisciplinary artist living in Los Angeles. He’s an author, a musician, an illustrator, and a filmmaker. He founded Israel’s first online science fiction magazine and served as its chief editor for ten years, after which he moved on to editing a printed genre magazine. He collaborated with World Fantasy Award-winning author Lavie Tidhar on two novels, including the “deranged sci-fi extravaganza” (per The Jewish Quarterly) The Tel Aviv Dossier, and his English- language collection The Love Machine & Other Contraptions was published by Infinity Plus in 2012.His most recent Hebrew novel, King of Jerusalem, was published in Israel in 2019. His short stories have appeared in Weird Tales, Apex, and ChiZine, among others.
Nir’s musical career includes soundtracks for film, dance shows, and theatre. His most recent work is the voice-and-drums animated album The Voice Remains (LifeArt Music, 2021). Nir has also directed several short films and music videos, both live-action and animated.
About Shadowpaw Press
Shadowpaw Press was founded in 2018 by Edward Willett. A member of
Literary Press Group (Canada) and the Association of Canadian Publishers,
Shadowpaw Press publishes an eclectic selection of books by both new and
established authors, including adult fiction, young adult fiction, children’s
books, non-fiction, and anthologies. In addition, Shadowpaw Press publishes new
editions of notable, previously published books in any genre under the
Shadowpaw Press Reprise imprint.
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For more information:
Edward Willett
306-536-5421
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